### Conditions - **The Ribbon** - 1 use (-2 penalty to death saves) - **The Fiddle** - 1 use # Session Summary ### The Trial Continues... - Session begins with trial underway, and immediately Seraphine looks to replace her missing counselor, and the judge grants her permission to involve someone from the audience. - Mrs. Okum (the local Butcher's assistant) volunteers enthusiastically, and joins Holly's defense. - The trial continues where both Finneas and Holly are questioned, revealing that both of them seem to have had a hand in this incident, Holly having provided the bun that led to the student being transformed into a bun, and Finneas performing the ritual carelessly, resulting in the student being transformed into the bun. ### Morty Swings on a Swing - While the trial is underway, Mortimer asks for a recess to swing on a swing. - Ancient provisions allow for such recesses without exception, and Morty is granted permission to leave the courtroom. - He goes out into the square and begins swinging, when he notices that the swing next to him is swinging as well... - Soon a phantasmal figure appears in the seat of the swinging swing, and Morty learns that this is someone named William Lodge, who is infatuated with Seraphine, and seems intent on pursuing her. ### The Closing Statements - Closing statements are delivered, and the jury is then given an opportunity to present questions to clarify things for them. - The party seems to be leaning towards finding Finneas guilty, and Ember asks if she can see the hands of the accused parties to evaluate them. - The judge suspiciously agrees to this unusual request, and when they approach Ember she bites into the wrists of the accusing, causing an uproar in the courtroom. ### Shit Gets Crazy - At the order of the judge, the guards immediately close in on Ember, and they begin carrying her away to a nearby closet, where clerks of the court have opened the doors to reveal a person sized wicker man like straightjacket. - Eleanor suspiciously calls out from the audience that the group must only complete the trial ritual saying the words "What is born of the wood must return to the wood" once a guilty party has been decided. - They do, declaring Finneas guilty(!), and when they do the courtroom doors open, and a band of villagers playing drums and bagpipes begins filing into the room. The judge and the spectators repeat "what is born of the wood must return to the wood" in creepy unison, and each time the phrase is chanted, the judge seems to fall deeper into a distracted state of hypnosis. - The judge starts to fend off the hypnosis, demanding that Ember be held in contempt, but as each member of the party continues the chant, he eventually falls into a stupor, blindly proceeding with what appears to be some sort of ritual that functions as punishment for those found guilty. - **The fucking moon shines in, causing Mrs. Okum to go ham, turn into a werewolf. She goes directly for the guards and starts ripping their throats out.** - **Ember uses her moon enhanced powers and glamours one of the guards into slitting his own throat on the spot.** ### The Punishment Ritual Proceeds Without Finneas - Intent on appealing the result of the trial, and unwilling to subject his client to undue punishment, Parabellum casts invisibility and makes his escape from the courtroom with the aid of a mysterious and faraway goddess (*ahem* Thenessa *ahem*). A grateful Finneas is in awe of the ship and happy to be alive. - Meanwhile, the has begun and the "chaperones" of the court are going to proceed, with or without Finneas. The ritual demands a sacrifice, and Holly is the next in line. - Eleanor implores the party to go along with the ritual, and sneaks each of them a vial of something before falling in line herself. - The judge begins pulling on this massive chain that comes down from the ceiling, which seems to be causing the courthouse to descend into the earth. ### The Wickermoor Temple of Sacrifice - The courtroom continues to descend into the ground, where the party sees roots and earth passing by through the windows of the courtroom. The floor eventually cranks away revealing a flowing pit of some terrible liquid before them. - Mortimer sees what's going on and leaps into the pit after the descending courtroom, where he falls into Eleanor's arms. She gives him a vial and tells him to play along. - Randall Graham, who was leading the ritual procession, then takes Holly and brings her to a diving board like platform where he continues chanting "WHAT IS BORN OF THE WOOD MUST RETURN TO THE WOOD" as he presses his fingertips into her chest until breaking through her ribcage. He grasps her beating heart it rips it from her body before casting her into the pit. The spectators go into a frenzy. ### Randal Graham's Plan is Revealed - Randal then turns to those present, and reveals that he intends to use this opportunity to dispatch the interlopers that have been causing trouble throughout the community. He first turns to Eleanor, who is being held by the guards. - He brings her to the platform, and she says that she will be the one who is responsible for her death if this is truly where it ends, and leaps into the pit of her own volition. - Randall then turns to the other members of the party. A number of the members jump in, and a number of them stick around and plan to get back to Parabellum. - Eventually Randall gets to Louis, and a minor struggle ensues, but Randall ends up bear hugging louis and leaping into the pit after whispering a warning to Louis that this action will power the cult in some way. ### Eleanor's Ace up the Sleeve - Once beneath the earthy sludge, the party notices that they can somehow breathe, and are being drawn towards something in the water. They swim to it, and eventually get to a rooty tunnel that reveals a dry cave like passage beyond where Eleanor, Mrs. Okum, and the town Butcher are waiting. - Siv Harga (the butcher) is extremely concerned for Holly, frantically asking where she is and what happened. Mrs. Okum reveals that she was killed and cast into the pit. - Siv breaks down, kneeling and beckoning through tears to her lost lover Holly. She swears that she will return to Wickermoor and exact her revenge.