On the other side of the portal, despite being unable to see*, Randy has a sense of his surroundings. The ground underfoot is soft and springy; a thick carpet of grass grows beneath him. The scents of roses, cowslips, and hyacinths suffuse the air.

Beside him, Ethan sees the vast garden in which the brothers now find themselves. Ahead, a ring of standing stones rises from the flower beds. Glittering streams divide the garden and connect with a large pond shaded by willows. On the far side of one narrow stream stand Trisk and Picollo. Randy glimpses the hag who opened the portal vanish into the water. The garden is silent save for the sounds of music and voices coming from a colorful pavilion by the front gate. Eira, the elven druid who summoned the hag, kneels on upon the heath, palms soaked in lush grass, her long hair hiding her tears, but the movements of her back belie the gentle sobbing shrouded by her mane. 

A twilit palace emerges dreamlike from the clouds, the sky above filled with orange and purple hues. A great marble tower ringed by delicate spires casts its shadow over the rooftops below. Another tower teeters nearby, torn from its foundations and held aloft by a coiled beanstalk. Monstrous vines cling to the palace walls and choke the promontory of rock on which it perches.

<*this blindness is imposed by the player and they can end the condition at will or explain what will cause it to end, if they wish, or just keep it. If you do plan to keep it, will it be mechanical or just thematic/flavor? We can figure it out if you'd like. >

<end cutscene, but this is more of a social exploration segment, so you might not notice the difference.  Also, this is on you guys to move forward. I will run anything you do. This scene is from Wild Beyond the Witchlight. Yiure in the Feywild. I've set up for Caverns of Tsojcanth and Death of Szazz Tam. It doesn't matter where your PC started, you're free to pursue anything you like. And if that means something else entirely, I'm here for that, too. As you move around more of the scene will become apparent and you're free to explore any of it as much or as little as you wish.>

Players are up. Everyone but Sparhawk. He'll be along shortly.

Here's a list of some stuff in the garden you'd find just looking around. Feel free to interact with any of it

<I'll just keep describing things if nobody stops me. Lol.>

Ivy clings to a set of silvery gates embedded in the palace’s outer wall.

The double gate is 20 feet tall  Its silver-plated iron bars are spaced wide enough for Small humanoids to squeeze through. The wall encircling the garden is 40 feet high and is easily climbed due to the vegetation clinging to it.

Is the fountain outside or inside the gate? Can Trisk reach it to get a drink from it?

Youre all within the garden, surrounded by a the wall. The gate doesn't appear to be locked, and might swing open effortlessly. The fountain and everything else described are within the garden, but if you do want to look beyond the fence you can see a pretty wide expanse of the feywild.

Did you wish to try the gate? 

As you move through the garden, you notice that its features and most of its occupants except for some, like the guests in the pavilion, are frozen in time. Pixies are suspended in midflight or frozen mid-frolic in the stream, the waters of which are perfectly still. Forest gnome gardeners stand rigidly in flower beds, time-frozen water issuing from their tipped wooden watering cans, or atop small ladders, taking shears to topiaries in need of trimming. Bees and pollen hang motionless in the air.

A marble fountain rises from a plinth on the bank of the stream, overflowing with time-frozen water that spills from the mouths of sculpted animals. The frozen spray surrounding the fountain creates rainbows in the air around it.

The water can be handled and made to hold new forms as if it were soft dough, but any water removed from the fountain takes on the consistency of normal water.

Does Trisk wish to drink it?

Also, what's everyone else up to?

(OOC: Did you get my message I sent you Wile_E_Coyote?)

I was planning on having Trisk take a drink when it was first described as a fountain. But then you mentioned that everyone was frozen in time and the water too... so noticing that he probably wouldn't be too keen to take a drink of that water.

@Brian_Avery: Yeah, I figured that might be the case. That's why I asked.

@shimshon123 I just messaged you. Feel free to describe what's happening to Picollo.

Actually, @everyone: same.

I'm really trying to encourage proactive play, which means that prevents random things from happening. 

Trisk: roll Arcana, please.

Noticing the anomalous water in the fountain, Trisk glances at the streams that course through the garden.

Two streams flow into the pool near the center, or, rather, they used to flow before they were frozen in time. The streams emerge from culverts in the garden walls, but where the water comes from is anyone’s guess.

This water too appears to be time frozen, making the hag's disappearance into it a moment ago that much stranger. 

<While we're waiting on that...>

Hundreds of birds burst from the canopy of the ancient forest below you and scatter in all directions. Moments later, a much more fearsome creature erupts from the woods: a sinewy, pale-green dragon that takes to the sky and flies toward the palace. Its mighty wings carry it to great heights. Once above the palace, it drops like a stone and vanishes from sight behind the palace’s high walls.

<by the way, I haven't forgotten Cha!jil. She is also here, I think. Or with Tess and the Kate Tetrevess; Player's choice.>

The tiny 6 year old girl smiles at their new location. The bracelet around her wrist comes off and she hands it to Trisk and smiles. Strangly, her hair and eyes are blue and green now. Her skin even has a new green tint. The colors of spring. She climbs a tree and plays a merry tune, fitting with all around her. Some birds land in the tree, attracted by her tranquil song. Trisk notices first, but then any others that are watching. She seems to begin to fade, slowly, her form almost melting into the tree as she becomes ethereal. She is free of the curse.

And then, she is gone. The last few notes of the song of Piccolo carried by the wind. 

Trisk senses her presence no more.

<bump>

<I know I went a while without posting. So, I understand the loss of momentum. This walled garden is very exploration and full of non-hostile NPCs. Also, that dragon is in tbe castle if you want to check that out. I am trying to keep the game going but I hope the players will choose what they want to do n3xt based on their own motivations and conversations with NPCs. In your immediate reach are caverns of Tsojcanth, endgame WbtW, and death of Szazz Tam. But wr can go beyond that, top>

Trisk's Arcana: 18 

(Sorry for not responding earlier but the blindness was just an RP thing, like you know, when you enter a door with light before the sudden fade to black kind of thing? Something like that. Also I'd been very slow due to irl)

It hurts, the numbness of his legs plus the stinging pain that envelopes his skull at the moment... he thought he for sure died. Yet he can still feel the weight of his cracked, glowing armour weighing him down as he comes to his senses sort of. "Ugh... where... am I...?" Were the first words as he stands up still feeling incredibly dazed. "Wait... where... am I? Ethan? Where is he... Are we dead...?" He can still feel the numbness in his entire body; He needs to rest, but the next thing that catches his eye is... nothing. Literally. Just nothing, but plain stillness, evident from the water that appears to be gushing out from the waters.

"Wait... is it just me or... is everything... frozen in time?"