15 - The thing is in the dollhouse
| Session 1 | Session 14 | Session 15 | ||
| ◀◀ | ◀ | ▲ | ▶ | ▶▶ |
| Ashira Brolin Frostbite | Ashira Brolin Frostbite | Ashira Brolin Frostbite |
I'm sure of it!
Skabatha offered us tea. I didn't want tea. I wanted what was stolen from me.
The deal
She played innocent, as if she didn’t know. But I told her, clear and direct: "My smile." She had it. I learned it was locked away inside some item. Brolin’s lost secret-keeping, Dhanell’s lost handwriting—she had those, too. Neatly tucked away like trinkets in a collector’s hoard. Of course, she wouldn't give them back for free.
She wanted something in return. The children that Will had freed—she wanted them back. She wanted Will, wanted us to deliver him like a parcel. A unicorn horn. And to ruin one of Endelyn’s plays. Some of these things, I knew, the others wouldn't agree to. But we listened, feigning patience, and she invited us inside for something to eat.
The kitchen
We passed the room with the paintings. I pretended we had never seen them before. She didn’t know we had. Good. She blamed Will for that intrusion. Even better. In the kitchen, a girl—Mishka—was ordered to cook for us while Skabatha went away for a few minutes. A locked grate held a dwarf below, Elkhorn. He was with something called Valor’s Call. Captured when fighting the League of Malevolence. None of that mattered to me, but others wanted him free. Maeve, ever the opportunist, realized that the key she received some time ago fit the grate’s lock. Elkhorn was free in moments, slipping away after he found his sword and shield.
Then, the girl. Mishka. They wanted to free her, too. This was reckless and foolish. It would make it harder to get what we came for. I should have said no. But… I didn’t. Something stirred inside me. Something I didn't recognize. I took my lockpicks and freed her chains. She ran. And as we heard Skabatha returning, we had to run also. No time to plan. No time to think.
But Brolin had a clever idea. As we ran, he shouted: "Will! You can't free the kids!" A trick, a misdirection. I joined in: "We will catch him!" Skabatha took the bait. She flew off, hunting Will. And that was our chance. Loomlurch was unguarded.
The bedroom
I told the others I wanted to go back. To search her room. There was hesitation, but they followed. Zephyr, ever the performer, greeted the tin soldiers with formal airs, and they let us pass. The lock to her room was easy enough. IT was a study with a lot of books. But I went upstairs: a bed, a dollhouse, a jar of moths. One door to a balcony and another door to a room with bird cages and clockwork sparrows. I rifled through some letters—nothing about my laugh, but worth taking. Frostbite, who had somehow turned into a spider, crawled into the dollhouse. Inside, he found things on the attic: two wands, slippers, a small violin, a golden eye, a broken mirror. Probably the trinkets that contained our lost things!
The dragon
But the dollhouse wouldn't open. Magic, likely. I tried the roof, the windows—nothing. We were running out of time. So I suggested the simplest solution: we take it with us. Frostbite, now himself again, lifted the house. Then—
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. CLICK.
A box snapped open. A green dragon emerged. "Leave it there!" it commanded. Frostbite didn't hesitate. He threw the dollhouse towards the dragon and ran. I hesitated. But then the dragon inhaled, its chest expanding, preparing to breathe something—fire, poison, I didn’t wait to find out. I turned and ran, following the others.
The escape
We fled into the forest, and decided to follow Elkhorn’s tracks. We would have to return to Loomlurch later. But not until we knew how to open that dollhouse. While we walked, I read the letters I had taken. Two from Bavlorna. One from Endelyn. The hags were afraid of the Jabberwock—a friend of Zybilna. The unicorn horn, combined with someone's true name, could free someone from the cauldron. The hags wanted the horn to free Bloodybeak, a creature they hoped could stand against the Jabberwock. And if they couldn’t find Elidon’s horn, they planned to take Lamorna’s. Perhaps they were behind the attack.
The children
The tracks led us to Little Oak, where Will and the children lived. Will was pleased we had freed Mishka. I also learned that Maeve had stolen two things from Skabatha—a hag’s eye and a magic quill that wrote in blood. So much for her stance against stealing. I didn’t judge. If anything, I approved.
We stayed the night. Elkhorn decided to stay with the children. We talked about what to do next. Brolin asked who wouldn’t mind turning in Will. I admitted I’d prefer that over giving up the unicorn horn. Others were staunchly against it. Fine. First, we figure out the dollhouse. Turning in Will is a last resort. For now.
| Session 1 | Session 14 | Session 15 | ||
| ◀◀ | ◀ | ▲ | ▶ | ▶▶ |
| Ashira Brolin Frostbite | Ashira Brolin Frostbite | Ashira Brolin Frostbite |
Updated on: 10:55
