Troll Bridge

Historian: Shannon. Date: 02/03/2025

TLDR – The party makes their way to the bridge with the troll that Bungle told us about last session. We sneak him across the bridge, not before learning that this is a very well maintained bridge that scales its toll prices based on the income of those trying to cross it. The troll - Grub Stomper - allows us to pass for a lesser price because we’re the Tattercoat Knights. We reach Bungle’s cottage only to find that he has been robbed by Doctor Quasit, and only a few of his items remain. We got one item, an infinite stick of butter, for free, and bought a bag of dream sand that Astranna used. She quickly found out she couldn’t dream walk, but send a dream. Alfie had a prophetic dream of their own, one seemingly tied to water. We set off for the Lake of the Fated Winds, ending the session after seeing something moving under the water.

Date: 2 Lionnir 777AR- 3 Lionnir 777AR.
Caleb gave the recap of the last session.
We allowed Bungle to lead us to the bridge.
On the way, Alfie checked in with Jericho as he had recently started to accept that he may not be in a dream. He, while still puffing on his cigarette, admitted he’s still freaked out about it.
- “I have no idea how any of us got here or where here is.”
After saying his concerns were reasonable, Alfie asked about Jericho’s mother’s ability to tell the future through dreams. They then admit that they had a prophetic dream about Bungle before we met him. They asked Jericho if that was normal.
Jericho says that while it’s normal for him due to his altered view of the world, it’s not something that normally develops out of nowhere.
- “If you’re an oneiromancer, yes, it’s normal.”
Alfie states that they haven’t had dreams like this before. They then suggest that falling into the Sky Bound lands could have been what led to them developing dream divination. Jericho corroborates this, saying that none of us were Aether souls before arriving in the Sky Bound lands so it’s within the realm of possibility that it caused the development.
Alfie told Jerich about the other parts of the dream, talking about the apple pie in a mausoleum. Jericho said that oneiromancy wasn’t his specialty, so he wasn’t much help when it comes to interpretation.
- “I wish I could help you and I will try to help you going forward, but I don’t know a ton about this.”
Jericho stopped suddenly, swearing and going through his divination books. He cast Augary, and his question was “Is Stella ok?”
He felt a general warmth through himself and a peaceful breeze in the trees. He interpreted this to mean that his sister (Stella) was ok.
Anja asked him if he was alright, and he said that he was. He does deep breaths to calm himself down. Anja then tells him that she thinks he’s been dealing with being in the Sky Bound lands the worst out of everyone. He admitted that when he was walking in the woods, he was trying to find his sister. He didn’t check earlier because he believed he was in a dream.
Gwyn asked if his sister was ok, and Jericho said she was.
- “I don’t know why I was worried. She can handle herself fine.”
Anja sympathises with him on being worried when there is someone you care about a lot and not know how they are doing.
He said his divination wasn’t detailed, but it was at least nice to know generally that she is ok.
Jericho then said he appreciated everyone’s patience when it came to him believing he was in a dream. Anja and Gwyn said they couldn’t blame him for having that reaction. He then tried to give the gold piece she gave him for the iridology reading.
- “I barely know how to do iridology. I am bad at iridology. I only tried it because I thought I was still sleeping.”
Anja tells him to keep the money, but he said he will give her a reading with something he knows how to do better for free.
Astranna said she couldn’t help with Jericho’s sister, but she noted that information helped him relax, so she gave him the magical notepad we took from Bungle last session. Jericho takes it, thanking her for it.
Astranna said she didn’t need it, as she had a knack for reading people. Bungle then starts to say that he could use the notebook, but we proceed to pretend it was just the wind. He proceeds to get upset, insisting that we need to look down to see him.
Jericho then tries out the notepad on Bungle, learning his height (3’5”) and place of birth (Limerick). He also has no last name to be provided. Jericho can ask for more general information.
Jericho asked for Bungle’s net worth (300 gold coins), and his current residence (Residence of Finnegan Cogsworth on 878 Acorn Way).
Jericho picks any plants that look soft to put in his pocket for Piero. Piero thanks him, but asks for celery. Jericho said he doesn’t have any, but promises that when he finds someone who sells vegetables he will get him celery.
We then arrive at the bridge, seeing the troll. The troll looks hairy and has large tusks. He orders us to stop, saying that we have to pay the toll in order to pass the bridge.
Gwyn quickly shoves Bungle in her bag despite his protests. Newton stays back as we talk with the Troll.
Anja asks why they had to pay a toll, and the troll said it was to support the people who built and maintained the bridge. The bridge itself looked very nicely built and maintained, suggesting that the tolls were used for their intended purpose.
Alfie asked how much the toll was, that was when the troll asked for their name. Anja answered with her own. He then asked what her profession and annual income was. She answered seamstress but was unsure of her annual income due to a lot of her work being inconsistent commissions. The troll suggested around 300 gold, then he told her her toll would be 200 gold.
Anja admitted that it was a steep toll, but the troll agreed but said the bridge was important and the water was deep.
Alfie asked about what benefits the troll got for working the bridge, to which he said dental and paid leave.
We tell him that we are the Tattercoat Knights. He said he thought we’d all be taller. We try to get passage by saying we don’t make money for this. He says he doesn’t believe that we didn’t make any money in the past year.
He states that he is in fact a licensed bridge troll who studied at TU, saying he could do an audit for us.
Jericho used Inquisitor on him, and learns that he is a licensed bridge troll.
Alfie asked if it stood for Troll University or Toll University, to which the troll got upset at the stereotyping. This got them a successful use of their Shameless power.
Astranna offers for us to do a job for the troll, but the troll has no job to give us.
The troll talked a bit about how he got this job - he fell into gambling debt after betting it all on red 18. Jericho relates to this, saying he also fell into gambling. He bet it all on black. He then tried black jack, but that went worse.
- “I’m a diviner, I tell the future as part of my job and I still lost.”
Jericho and the troll exchange names, this is when we learn that his name is Grub Stomper. He then asks Jericho the same questions he asked Anja, this is when we found out Jericho’s business isn’t doing well.
We tell Grub that we encountered Doctor Quasit before, and we foiled his plan to make the Sky Bound Lands 99% humidity all the time. He’s impressed by this, and that’s when he does an audit for all of us. This takes 3 hours. He decides a subtotal for all of us including Newton would be 53 gold.
This toll would allow us unlimited bridge access for the next 7 days, after that we would have to pay the toll again.
We all pitch in 10 gold for the toll, Alfie pitching in the additional 3 gold pieces.
Bungle audibly sneezed, which Gwyn and Anja tried to cover up unsuccessfully (Gwyn made a spirit check with Anja’s help and it failed)
That’s when Astranna cut in, saying Henrietta sneezed. Grub bought it and allowed us to pass. We cross the bridge, Bungle in bag, with no issue. We keep him in the bag until we’ve been out of sight for a while and pull him out. This is when Bungle admits that he is a tax evader. He then starts running towards his house, all of us in tow.
When we arrive at his house, the door was ajar. Bungle did not leave it like this, insisting he’s meticulous about everything. Jericho points out that Bungle previously stated that he kept all of his product in a pit, to which Bungle exclaimed that it was a product pit and they had no respect for onomatopoeia.
Upon entering his house, we notice it’s empty, and there’s a huge pit in the center. The pit is empty save for one box and a note. This note said “Your Items have been confiscated by Doctor Quasit for the use of taking over the Sky Bound Lands. Rejoice!”
Jericho tried to use the notepad to get Doctor Quasit’s location and found out one of the caveats of the item is that you have to see your target.
We try asking Newton how he found Doctor Quasit originally, to which he told us that he didn’t find him intentionally.
Anja called Doctor Quasit a “water rat”, an insult that Bungle liked.
Bungle examines what items he had left, and he found the infinite stick of butter, Dreamer Sand (50 gold pieces), and the Revenant Spear (100 gold pieces).
The Dreamer Sand gave the dream walker power. The Revenant Spear drains 30 stamina when used, but when you kill a humanoid you regain all lost stamina points.
Bungle gives us the stick of infinite butter and we go back and forth on whether we're going to get the Dreamer Sand or the Revenant Spear. We ended up deciding that the Dreamer Sand is going to be more useful for us right now as we aren’t trying to kill anyone. We all pitched in, and Anja was initially going to carry the sand until we remembered that cats like to do their business in sand. The bag was promptly handed over to Gwyn.
Bungle then gives us his business card. It had a chant on it we could say to let him know where we were.
- “Bungle Bungle the best trader around. Bungle Bungle he’ll save me a bundle.”
Bungle goes to make us the promised toast, and we allow him use of the infinite butter.
As we eat and feed our pets, a patch appears on our coats. The bridge patch allows us a permanent +5 walking speed.
Maple still wants fish, and we want to help Newton find the best fishing spot in the Forest over Yonder. We decide we’ll go to the lake we passed, the Lake of the Fated Winds. We ask Bungle about it, and he doesn’t tell us much.
- “It’s like um, an ancient secret ritual lake.”
Maple is unhappy she doesn’t have fish, but is at least happy because she believes we’ll be staying in Bungle’s cottage. She is unhappy to find out they will not be.
Jericho does a bibliomancy reading for Anja, the word she got was “blessing.” She then said Maple was her blessing.
As Jericho and Piero were settling in for bed, Piero asked for Jericho to take Maple out. Maple then threatened to eat him. Anja gave Jericho a needle that was then fashioned into a tiny sword for Piero. Anja tried to warn Maple not to eat Piero, and had her agree to not eat Piero for the rest of the week if Anja got her fish.
We set up watch (Jericho, Gwyn, Alfie). Astranna gets the dream powder from Gwyn to contact her mom. Gwyn asks her to let her know how it goes.
Astranna uses it, and all she can do is craft a dream, not dream walk. She crafts a dream of her home, including puffy white clouds and the family shrine.
As everyone goes on their watches. Not much happens. Everyone watches Maple.
Alfie has a dream, seeing something floating 10 ft below them underwater. It’s an anchor, it has a slight glow across its center iron beam. There was also a person Alfie couldn’t identify.
Alfie dives down to see it, and it shifts into a blade and it starts to sink. Before the light fades, a bell appears and chimes three times. Something with tentacles pulls them up and they awaken. Gwyn had just awoken them for their watch.
Gwyn asked Alfie about their dream, and they said all of their dreams are vivid so it’s hard to tell which ones are prophetic.
Alfie tells everyone the details of their dream over breakfast.
Astranna also clarifies to Gwyn she wasn’t able to dream walk with her mother, only send a dream.
Gwyn and Astranna talk about their mothers. Their mothers were both protective. Gwyn’s mother is an artificer working in Shouvaden, Gwyn is also an artificer.
Bungle passes out after using the Revenant Spear.
We set out of the Lake of Fated Winds lead by Gwyn. As we approached, the trees seemed to grow taller. The lake also looked very vast and deep.
Newton started fishing and we all approached the edge.
Jericho saw something scaled beneath the surface.