Open Threads & Mysteries

Rolling list of unresolved mysteries and active campaign threads. Keep this page broad; use Current Status for “where we are right now.”

Active / high-priority as of end of Session 022 - The Mine of Blood and the Dragon’s Vigil

• Exit anomaly / missing time: the conroi emerged near Caerleon and the squires insist only ~7–7.5 hours elapsed. Memory/place doesn’t line up.
• Wells “burned” claim (distortion?): squires insist Wells was burned in the war; treated as unreliable testimony / glamour until verified.
• Merlin in crystal + dragon guardian: Merlin is located in the Caerwent copper mine, encased in crystal and guarded by a dragon; you withdrew to regroup.
• Caerwent mine blood-magic ecology: green slingers whose spiked shots spawn more creatures when they draw blood; their blood heals and some was collected—safe resource or cursed trap?
• Uther blowback: refusing the royal progress earned +10 Contempt; what retaliation or political consequence follows?
• Guido reveal: the many-handed abomination you slew became Guido. What was he, and what does it imply about Lady Wells / the Ladies of the Lake?

(Advanced: the immediate “death clock on exit” crisis was addressed by hiring a chirurgeon on return.)

Open threads / mysteries (in session order)

• (480 / S05) Winchbank dragon egg & the women-in-white thread: what was Lady Niev really doing when she sold/provided the “fairy dragon” egg (via Sir Blaine) that nearly killed people at Winchbank? (Source: Session 005 - The Fairy Dragon and the Ogre’s Return).

• (481 / S06–S09) The wyvern hunt is still open: Merlin’s wyvern quest wasn’t conclusively closed; the local name “Wyvern of Idris” may refer to the same ongoing threat as Wyvern (escaped). (Sources: Session 006 - The Shield of St. Crispin and the Fall of the Wyvern, Session 008 - The Giant King of Deira and the Fairy Road, Session 009 - The Death of Aurelius and the Fall of Bedegraine).

• (482 / S11) Glastonbury tunnels: dverga/smithy presence: the hidden underworld complex suggests something (tracks/smithy/hatchery) beyond the Red Cultists — and these dverga have raven feet. Who else is down there, and what do they want? (Source: Session 011 - The Hag of the Passage and the Lady of the Well).

• (482 / S12) The Dunkerton giant: the giant that slaughtered Caradoc’s conroi—dead, escaped, or still roaming? (Source: Session 012 - The Burning of Dunkerton and the Peace of Summerland).

• (483 / S11–S12) Escaped Red Sorceress: Red Sorceress (Glastonbury) escaped custody by swapping places with Brother Maynard; possible link to Children of Shepton.

• (483 / S12) Children of Shepton: why they appeared with the horses; who “led” them.

• (483 / S11) Liam’s bargain: Lady of the Well + Chest of Rubies (Liam) + future debt.

• (484 / S13) False-flag raids: False-Flag Raiders (Deiran Shields) (fresh overpainted shields; Silchestrian accent).

• (484 / S15) Yellow-and-red shields: Yellow-and-Red Shields (unknown) — who are they and why are they hitting “Saxons”?

• (484 / S15) Women in white: Lady Niev, The Woman in White (Silchester), Unknown name - Woman in White (White Stag).

  • Niev sub-thread: if Niev is one of the “women in white,” does the Winchbank dragon egg incident connect to the wider white-cloaked network? (Source: Session 005 - The Fairy Dragon and the Ogre’s Return).

• (484 / S14) Court intrigue: Lady Rhianneth and the death of Sir Marius of Caerwent.

• (484 / S15) York siege strategy: River drain weakness at River Foss.

• (484 / S15) Black Dog omen: Black Dog of the Moors (Drimant’s warning).

• (484 / S15) Drimant’s allegiance (really): Drimant presents himself as a “neutral chronicler,” yet he:

  • gives omen-level warnings (the Black Dog of the Moors)
  • suggests York’s defenses may be magically strengthened
  • and intervenes directly in the Sherwood ambush (vanishes/reappears behind Ælflaed and knocks her unconscious while chanting)

  Is he neutral only between kings, but protecting a chosen conroi (or Millicent specifically)? Or is he “helping” to steer the party into a larger plan/trap? (Source: Session 015 - The Road to York and the Ambush in Sherwood; see also Drimant).

• (484 / S16) Merlin thread: Merlin was caged by cult activity; Eosa claims a Merlin-like Cymric man suggested taking York.

• (484 / S15) Lincoln under siege: Lincoln threatened by the Angles of Anglia.

• (484 / S16–S17) Wilderspool / Wyrd Pool: what is the underlying power, and what was the sacrifice meant to accomplish? (Sources: Session 016 - The Centurion-King, the Well of Wilderspool, and the Hag of the Dead, Session 017 - The Wyrd Pool of Wilderspool).

• (484 / S18) Serpent Lodge aftermath: the surgeons/serpent-things are slain and the lodge is destroyed, but what was the broader cult network, what became of any survivors, and what consequences follow Ælflaed’s death? (Source: Session 018 - The Serpent Lodge and the Fall of Ælflaed).

• (485–486 / S19) The true well’s bargain + the impostor: what did the Wilderspool true well actually demand/accept, what answered from below, and how did the false Ælflaed manifest in York (and what was it)? (Source: Session 019 - The Well of Bargains and the Demon Princess).

• (485–486 / S19) Political blowback in York: the conroi accepted a pact of friendship with Eosa, then killed the “princess” revenant in his hall—what retaliation or pursuit follows? (Source: Session 019 - The Well of Bargains and the Demon Princess).

• (485–486 / S19) Merlin missing / Excalibur broken: where is Merlin, who has the three pieces of Excalibur, and can it be reforged before the realm collapses? (Source: Session 019 - The Well of Bargains and the Demon Princess).

• (485–486 / S19) Sir Madoc’s disappearance and redeployment: was Madoc’s February kidnapping an extraction, a test, or an enemy action—and what is his actual status now in Escavalon? (Source: Session 019 - The Well of Bargains and the Demon Princess).

• (487 / S20–S21) Otherworld crossing + Guido: What was Guido (guide vs trap vs transformed), and what does his death imply about Lady Wells / the Ladies of the Lake? (Sources: Session 020 - The Road Beneath the World, Session 021 - The Glass City and the Man in Vitriol).

• (487 / S20–S21) Merlin’s fate & the “save him” plan: Merlin is dead in this future (body preserved in vitriol; dissection imminent). How can the conroi intervene—likely by going back before that endpoint? (Sources: Session 020 - The Road Beneath the World, Session 021 - The Glass City and the Man in Vitriol).