The Cereal Box:Log/Session 12
Session 12
The motley and Strong made their way into the train after briefly calling Johnny Starlight, Roper and Billy. Johnny explained that he had vowed not to interfere with the meeting, so... good luck with that.
The motley entered the train car, which had a (now closed) gateway to the hedge. They reopened the gate and found a trail of blood leading them into the woods, with indications suggesting that they were meant to find the trail. They skulked and followed the trail to a clearing where the Red Eyed Woodsman had bound all eight of the newcomers, who appeared to be drugged. He had already decapitated one of them (a canoptic jar woman they learned was named Ife Fatim). He demanded that they immediately give him the location of Carl Crowley, the True Name of Lyrissa Diamondheart, OR hand over the Man With the Badge's badge. The motley refused and a fight ensued, at the onset of which the Red Eyed Woodsman killed another hostage, a car man named Troy Benz.
Strong was attacked by a werewolf creature known as the Fruit Brute, which he threw into a nearby tree. Nikolai, Evie and Alana piled onto the Woodsman, while Hestia tried to intimidate him. April used her contracts to learn that the Woodsman is afraid of the Man With the Badge, but that didn't seem helpful. Sephie went to help free hostages.
The remaining hostages were Crystal Quartz, a jeweled woman, Elissa Krantz, a Cyclops, Orlando Wood, a leaf man, Chelsea King, a living vinyl phonograph, Joshua Carlisle, a butterfly man much like April (although his wings were torn off), and Blair Hopkins, a sort of anime jackelope. A fearsome battle continued, with the woodsman axing people, throwing a tree at them, and spreading narcotic poppies. Meanwhile, the trees pelted the changelings with disgusting fruit. Strong and the Fruit Brute battled and, with Evie's help, he killed it, delivering the thrilling one-liner, "YEAH! Yeah." Ernie declared it a "FRUITALITY."
Blair shook off her bindings, grabbed a sword-shaped chunk of hedge, and went about freeing the other hostages. Likewise, Elissa Krantz was able to break free of her bindings, and went on to assist. April and Sephie freed the rest. The woodsman was overcome, and, as the hedge violently shifted to a pacifistic tone, the voice of the Collector came through, promising to "bring the woodsman home", at which point, it begged them to kill it. Alana and Nikolai obliged, but Alana's coup de grace was somehow insufficient to kill it. When Nikolai killed it, it broke into pieces of junk like a fetch coming apart.
They made it out of the hedge, and Ernie told Johnny Starlight about the situation. Starlight congratulated them, but followed it by saying, "That's two on your boss Billy." Billy, meanwhile, was adamant that introductions should continue, and the motley took the newcomers to their house for medical attention before taking them subsequently to their new digs and showing them around.
It was determined that the Collector happened to be Chelsea, Joshua, Blair and Orlando's Keeper (Elissa's Keeper was the Lotus Eating Beast, and Crystal's was The Moleman Prospector).