Leaving Waymoot, the party once more spoke on fate, during a rest along the road Merrit Thistlewick found the tracks of a man branded across his face, Vael’ric Nhalor identified the mark on an escaped dragon slave as the symbol of the Cult of the Dragon, dedicated to Tiamat. After traveling 24 miles to Espar and resting at The Watchful Eye inn, the party was guided off the main road by Rose’s animated rat, Tiptoe, to find her mother.
Crossing through a powerful perception illusion into a hidden homestead, Cinovas was struck with severe nausea as he realized celestial fate holds no sway in this domain. There, Mother Malkin revealed that the Archfey Cerunnos is being controlled against his will because his hunting horn was stolen. To commune with Cerunnos and learn her next steps, Myravyn traded a vial of her blood and entered a 100-year blood pact with Mother Malkin to retrieve a vial of Cerunnos’ blood. The ritual left Myravyn’s hand scarred with dark, spiderweb-like marks, and Cerunnos instructed her to seek clues in her former Feywild village.
After Mother Malkin recounted how she adopted Rose as a baby following her biological mother’s tragic death, the party departed. As Rose happily skipped along with fresh chocolate chip muffins, Vael’ric Nhalor and Merrit Thistlewick quietly pulled away at their riverbank campsite, recognizing Mother Malkin as a dangerous hag and agreeing to avoid her domain and keep a watchful eye over Rose.