Wednesday Pendragon Campaign

Session 017 - The Wyrd Pool of Wilderspool

5 min read

In-game year: 484 (location: Wilderspool)

Immediately after slaying the Hag of the Dead, the company takes custody of three brain-fed infants—revulsed, but under Millicent’s orders to spare them and place them in proper care. The hag’s corpse resists burning; Drustin severs her head and buries it beneath a marked stone before the company enters Wilderspool.

Wilderspool appears calm but proves deeply uncanny: no church, and townsfolk treat worship as a personal choice. Ælflaed, Madoc, and the infants are entrusted to a surgeons’ guild of robed women marked with serpent symbols. During a tense night of strange noises and violations, Drustin wakes with marks on his neck; by morning Ælflaed, Madoc, Drimant, and the squires have vanished, and the trail leads to the taboo-ridden Wyrd Pool—where a serpent rite is underway.

Scene/Beat Log

  • The company decides the three infants will live; they are carried toward Wilderspool to be placed in care.
  • The hag’s corpse cannot be burned; Drustin removes the head and buries it beneath a marked stone.
  • Wilderspool: no church; townsfolk claim worship is a matter of personal choosing.
  • Ælflaed, Madoc, and the infants are left with a surgeons’ guild of robed women bearing serpent symbols.
  • Night unease: Millicent hears unseen crying; Drustin wakes with marks on his neck and memory of breath on him while he slept.
  • Morning: Ælflaed, Madoc, Drimant, and the squires are missing; surgeons’ house locked; keepers insist the missing left in the night.
  • The company learns:
    • Drimant visited a mystic, Madam Eva
    • Squires took the company’s horses
    • Trail leads northwest into the hills toward the Wyrd Pool
    • Wilderspool seems notably absent of children
  • At Madam Eva’s cart: she warns of taboos on the path—no animals, no arms, ritual cleansing. Liam receives a reading: he possesses no lifeline.
  • The company frees a pit prisoner near the north tower: Maewyn Succat, a Christian priest imprisoned for attempting to exorcise a serpent-eyed woman. Millicent feeds him turnips; he joins the company.
  • On the trail: a strange marble livery in the hills holds the company’s horses and equipment—proof their missing companions came this way.
  • At the sacred pool: heaps of discarded clothing suggest ritual purification. The company distrusts the custom and continues armed.
  • Consequence of defiance: all horses brought past the boundary fall dead at once.
  • The company continues on foot; Liam and Millicent remain armored. Drustin and Geraint remove armor (fearful for their gear).
  • At the summit: cultists encircle the pool; Madoc and Ælflaed are bound and dazed; a red-haired priestess presides.
  • The priestess slits Madoc’s throat and casts him into the pool; he smiles vacantly, seemingly drugged/enchanted.
  • Battle erupts. A serpent-woman rises from the waters, splitting the fight.
  • Millicent enters the pool, hauls Madoc free, and stabilizes him with successful first aid, staunching the throat wound.
  • Drustin frees Ælflaed. Geraint and Liam engage the serpent creature; Geraint lands telling blows. Succat attacks the priestess with reckless faith.

Characters (appeared / impacted)

  • Millicent — orders the infants spared; leads into the pool to save Madoc.
  • Drustin — beheads/buries the hag’s head; wakes marked at Wilderspool; frees Ælflaed.
  • Liam — receives “no lifeline” reading from Madam Eva; fights serpent creature; briefly disarmed.
  • Sir Geraint — helps fight the serpent creature; deals telling blows.
  • Ælflaed — missing; found bound at the rite; freed.
  • Sir Madoc — abducted; throat cut; thrown into the pool; saved (bleeding controlled).
  • Drimant — vanishes; known to have sought the pool.
  • Maewyn Succat — imprisoned priest; joins; assaults the priestess.
  • Madam Eva — mystic; warns of taboos; reads Liam.

Consequences & New Facts

  • Wilderspool’s “surgeons” bear serpent symbols and appear connected to a cult rite at the Wyrd Pool.
  • The Wyrd Pool enforces taboos with real power (horses die instantly when brought beyond the boundary).
  • Liam’s reading: “no lifeline” (ominous prophecy / metaphysical condition).
  • A Christian priest (Maewyn Succat) has been imprisoned in Wilderspool for opposing serpent-eyed women.
  • The serpent rite is halted: Millicent beheads the red-haired priestess; the serpent creature is slain (final blow from Maewyn’s staff).
  • Madoc and Ælflaed survive, but remain dazed/unresponsive.
  • Liam breaks and wanders into the forest in madness.
  • Assterius is currently mad and was not present.

Timeline entries to add

Open questions / needs from Session 17 summary

  • Where did the squires go, and where is Drimant at end of session?
  • What happened to the three infants left with the surgeons?
  • Any in-game date/season to tag this session?

Next: Session 018 - The Serpent Lodge and the Fall of Ælflaed

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