The Vengeful Notes 2026-06-20

Castle Malthrek Plot

• Castle Malthrek, near Mt. Thibris, is occupied by Reformist-aligned forces.
  • Duke Ellington Malthrek appears parasitized at first.
  • Many guards are loyal, compromised, or willing to follow him.
  • Ordinary servants, especially kitchen staff, mostly seem to be following orders.
• Reformists believe Mark, Luke, and Duchess Antoinette Malthrek are dead.
  • The belief may come from removed parasites ceasing contact.
  • Antoinette’s parasite was intentionally kept alive.
• The mourning period is being used to gather western Seneran Reformist cells.
  • Nobles, retinues, and agents are expected over the next month.
  • Visible funeral preparations include lanterns, tables, and a mourning feast.
  • The kitchens are producing more food than the visible diners require.
• The gathering appears to conceal a coup attempt.
  • Reformists plan to blame Crown Prince Marlion Dragonheart for Travertines and the Malthrek deaths.
  • They may intend to force another Dragonheart onto the throne.
  • Local hierarchy includes Candlebearer, Bearer of the Cup, and Bearer of the Whip.
  • Cupbearer is shorthand for Bearer of the Cup.
  • Bearer of the Whip can also be called Whip-bearer or Whiplaird.

Party Cover and Local Allies

• Lime and Justin remain in the kitchens.
  • They help with dinner service and blend in with servants.
  • They mostly hear rumors while the feast continues.
• Miya and Lord Boyle stay elsewhere with Martha.
  • John, Rebecca, Emily, and Mark move through different castle and cave positions.
  • Mark often uses dog form for cover.
• Mark communicates by dog behavior and pantomime.
  • He asks for food and possibly utensils or a better way to speak.
  • Emily has a Speak with Animals rune, but using it openly could draw attention.
• The party finds local Hicklander allies.
  • Martha’s food house may know Mark from the estate.
  • Marjun, shortened from Marie-Jean, is the castle head chef and a Hicklander spy.
  • Kelthyr Kulok has been moving between Hicklander cells and investigating Reformists.
• Mother Superior has been drugged or sedated.

Thralmals and Hag Deal

• The Thralmals remain linked to the mysterious Veil over Senera.
  • The exact nature of the connection is unresolved.
  • The site resembles Surrey in volcanic activity, geysers, restorative pools, and elemental sprites.
• Duchess Antoinette had a blood deal with the hags before her Reformist conversion.
  • The hags protect the Thralmals under that bargain.
  • The Children of the Crone are probing or attacking the hags.
  • Matthew Malthrek’s survival may be needed to keep the Thralmals safe.
• Kelthyr was restored in the Thralmals’ pools.
  • He agrees to help against the Reformists.
  • He is later sent to decode recent Antoinette journals.

Duke Ellington Extraction

• The party extracts Duke Ellington to test his commitment and control.
  • His grief over his presumed-dead family suggests he is not fully committed.
  • The party does not remove his parasite immediately.
  • They give him a likely Ring of Mind Shielding.
• The ring temporarily suppresses or severs the parasite link.
  • Ellington can think clearly for the first time in a long while.
  • The parasite may have resisted the ring being restored.
  • Attunement may require sleeping with the ring.
  • Once attuned, the ring may become undetectable.
• The network reaction remains uncertain.
  • Reformists are not visibly panicking.
  • They may not have noticed, or may be allowing the party to feel safe.
• Ellington provides surviving intelligence.
  • Matthew Malthrek must be extracted from wherever Marlion, Tiphanie, and Fina are or are expected to be.
  • Matthew’s safety may determine whether hags can leave the Thralmals to aid Castle Malthrek.
  • Fina is Proserfina Prunus Subhirtella, a changeling from the Feywild and Inkwell Academy researcher who studied Fey Crossings.
  • She loved exploring ruins, and the idea of exploring ruins in another world exhilarated her alongside her attachment to Cotto.
  • She adventured in the Feywild with Cotto and chose to come to Cotto’s world after they fell in love.

Antoinette’s Journals

• Ellington gives Rachel Antoinette’s belongings and journals.
  • Rachel transports them in a bag of holding.
  • Recent journals are encoded.
  • Older unencoded journals may exist.
  • Ellington burned some materials in the past, but not everything.
• Ellie also tried to read or decode the journals.
  • The party hopes the journals explain Antoinette’s Reformist conversion.
  • They may identify local priest involvement and broader Malthrek corruption.
• Reformist conversion was framed as helping the people, the Malthreks, and Senera.
  • Ellington and Antoinette met Garward Eastonton together, mostly after the war.
  • Father Karam Dunweather may have become overtly Reformist around the same period.
  • Andy Anderson may know more about Dunweather.

Memory Restoration

• The party decides Antoinette must remember to help meaningfully.
  • A construct or warforged memory vessel is discussed but set aside as too slow.
  • Feywild construct lore mentions Autumn Court use and Spring Court rejection.
  • Anton Lightning may be needed to repair existing warforged.
• The faster method is Encode Thoughts.
  • Emily Hazeldine or another caster sustains the cantrip.
  • Minfilia says Henson used old elven crystal memory magic.
  • The practice is obsolete and tied to an uncertain old age or era.
• A living parasite-linked sample is transferred between vessels.
  • The sample wriggles and requires careful handling.
  • A focused extraction retrieves roughly a year of recent memory.
  • The memory appears as shimmering strings woven like spiderwebs or silk.
• The memory mass is placed into Antoinette’s mind.
  • She reacts with severe pain and near-screaming.
  • Ellington holds her and restores the mind-shielding ring to her finger.
  • The ring turns invisible because she is already attuned.
  • Antoinette calms and recognizes the recovered span as about a year.

Antoinette’s Recovered Crimes

• A second Encode Thoughts extraction targets older memories.
  • The search focuses on shards, children, and trade.
  • Antoinette is near the safe limit for memory work that night.
  • A Lesser Restoration potion eases pain but not exhaustion.
• Antoinette remembers setting up charities across the Malthreks.
  • They appear to have groomed and recruited people.
  • Nobles and lower-status people were both targeted.
  • Adult clubs also served compromise and recruitment purposes.
• The deeper memory reveals child trafficking.
  • Reformist agents took children “not in any families.”
  • Elven children were sought to test whether elven shards had greater capacity.
  • Antoinette gave them at least two elven children about five years ago.
  • She does not know where they were taken.
• Antoinette’s remorse is complicated.
  • She cannot tell whether guilt belonged to her past self or returned after restoration.
  • She remembers ignoring children’s cries and caretakers’ suffering.

Shards, Mark, and Gwyniviere

• The party links Parvèse, shards, spellcasting children, and possibly magic items.
  • The exact relationship remains unresolved.
  • “Sliver” is not an established Bastion Falls term in this context.
  • The relevant pieces are shards of the broken Emerald Shield of Spring.
  • The word shard is descriptive of shattered pieces, not a world-spanning metaphysical category.
• The relevant Parvèse matriarch is Rosemunda Parvèse.
  • Rosamunda is a transcript/spelling drift, not the canonical spelling.
  • Rosemunda was exiled to the Feywild before parasites were discovered.
  • Her parasite status is therefore unknown, not confirmed infected or confirmed clean.
• Antoinette had an orb within the past year.
  • It gave or enabled limited magic.
  • She expected to receive her own shard after Mark was integrated, initiated, or infected.
• Mark’s parasite came before Luke’s and was smaller.
  • Something may have resisted it.
  • Reformists may eventually have suspected Mark carried a shard or remnant.
  • Mark’s parasite is confirmed dead.
• Antoinette pushed Mark toward Gwyniviere Rannek.
  • The plan was to infect or influence Gwyniviere and the Ranneks.
  • Travertines needed to be resolved first so the match would not appear rushed.
  • Mark realizes parasite influence may have shaped his feelings.
  • Antoinette advises honesty with Gwyniviere and watching her reaction.

Oren Bell

• Emily, as Sister Rachel, is expected to meet someone tied to Lady Maribel Veyne.
  • Lady Maribel Veyne is tied to the Bearer of the Cup role, also called Cupbearer in shorthand.
  • The priest may intend to test or advance Rachel’s Reformist status.
• Oren Bell first approaches Rachel in the lantern-lit garden.
  • He appears elven or Fey-adjacent but has rounded humanlike ears.
  • He notices Mark in dog form and calls him afflicted or cursed.
  • A leaf with silver writing delivers the message: Graveyard at night.
• In the graveyard, Oren greets Emily in Elvish.
  • He senses something in her that reminds him of his grandfather.
  • He is surprised by her high-elf nature and Feywild freshness.
  • He knows she is meeting Lady Maribel Veyne tomorrow.
• Oren recounts local elven history.
  • Humans made a binding deal or oath with elves, then betrayed them.
  • Elves were hunted and killed one by one.
  • Survivors hid or were mistaken for human.
  • Human memory and short lives are contrasted with elven grief.
• Oren’s nature remains uncertain.
  • Emily challenges the significance of his name.
  • He denies being an avatar of the Green Lord.
  • He is the Bearer of Joy.
  • He feels like an ancient wood spirit tied to old hatred.
  • He may not be properly alive, dead, or revenant.

Feywild and Elf Lore

• Oren asks whether Feywild people know local elves still exist.
  • Emily says they are known to be here, though the exact explanation is muddy.
  • Oren refuses to name who sent him.
  • He seems disappointed the party is not the “Kindred” he hoped to find.
• Fey court lore is revealed.
  • Mab betrayed the court and became Queen of Air and Darkness.
  • There is no longer a Queen of Winter.
  • The Winter Court is now ruled by the Prince of Frost.
  • There is no Spring King.
  • Lord Oberon no longer rules Spring because he ascended.
• Shadowfell lore surfaces later.
  • A powerful archfey created a court and the Shadowfell as the Feywild’s opposite.
  • That archfey became the Raven Queen, called the Queen of Pain.
  • An elf speaker refuses to say the Raven Queen’s name.
  • She has a last-resort item that could consume life within a mile, but does not want to use it.

Church, Wards, and Mark-Like Golems

• The party enters the closed but unlocked castle church.
  • The Talbito stained-glass window is visible.
  • One red intention candle remains half-melted.
  • The priest is absent.
  • A magical orb is sensed in or near the church.
  • Door wards remain obvious and powered.
• A new crate appears near the office route.
  • It contains an ornate casket large enough for a Mark-sized body.
  • Inside is a crafted golem resembling Mark Malthrek.
  • Identify labels it a person-like construct or flesh golem.
• More caskets are later discovered.
  • The party reports three perfect-copy golems.
  • They resemble John or Mark’s family members: Antoinette, Mark, and Luke.
  • They may be decoys, replacements, resurrection props, memory vessels, or torture theater.
• Kelthyr says the craftsmanship suggests a master flesh-golem maker.
  • The party prefers not to fight the golems.
  • The maker may matter more than the inactive constructs.

Planning the Night Strike

• The party weighs acting tonight or waiting until tomorrow.
  • They want to know who is loyal, coerced, parasitized, or salvageable.
  • Removing a central controlling figure may recover some lower-ranking pawns.
  • They are outnumbered by guards, paladins, and Reformist agents.
• Court wizards are suspicious.
  • Stacy is one of the court wizards.
  • Ellington says they are away gathering incoming vassals and supporters.
  • The wizards are meeting forces on the road rather than remaining at the castle.
  • They have been deployed to meet Viscount Leighman, Earl Barkres, Count Ranlis, and Viscount Monserrat.
  • One wizard may be strong enough for Teleportation Circle.
  • Others use Dimension Door and possibly orbs for travel.
  • Their deployment appears connected to the wizard’s tower.
  • The party wonders whether Castle Malthrek has an older Kalassarian permanent circle.
• Reinforcements are limited.
  • Hicklanders can be called, but few are high-level casters.
  • Minfilia is absent and hard to contact.
  • Tiphanie may still be worth contacting.
  • Paladins, Aigral, Lime, Justin, John, Lord Boyle, Miya, and Kelthyr are considered.
• Compassion toward some Reformists increases.
  • Parasites may be suppressible or removable.
  • Rings of Mind Shielding may block influence.
  • Father Karam may or may not be recoverable.

Highbury, Fagus, and Dorothy

• Baron Highbury’s condition is a major mystery.
  • Reformists may have failed to infect him.
  • They may suspect fey protection.
  • Enchantment or sustained abuse may have replaced parasite control.
• Fagus Malthrek resents Highbury.
  • The resentment appears tied to Charlotte Highbury.
  • Charlotte Highbury is Baron Dunum Highbury’s daughter.
  • Charlotte bore Dorothy Marie Campbell with a nobleman known as Torch, not with Fagus.
  • Highbury hid Charlotte and the child at a secret estate.
  • Fagus allegedly found them and had them killed.
• Dorothy’s body was never found.
  • Highbury still speaks of Dorothy, who hates being called Dottie.
  • Dorothy is Dorothy Marie Campbell, also known as Miya Campbell and Dorothy Highbury.
  • She is Charlotte Highbury’s daughter and Baron Dunum Highbury’s granddaughter.
  • The party connects her to Dorothy of the Hags of Hama, currently on Raibon Island.
  • Highbury later suggests testing her with Where Ivy Dares to Grow by H.B. Charlie.
• Monique or another niece remains unresolved.
  • Highbury does not know what Fagus’s people did to her.
  • Fagus left people behind in the library.

Reformist Items and Tactics

• A desk is laid out with Reformist ritual implements.
  • A censer.
  • Two orbs.
  • One larger orb.
  • The items support prolonged group adult rituals.
  • The larger orb may restore vitality so rituals can continue.
• Other tools are considered.
  • An invisibility cloak from a confused Poasan-spy and Quinn chain.
  • A cursed Wand of Fireballs that may impose Silence near casters.
  • Moreaux mushrooms, rejected because innocents could be affected.
• Orb tactics are debated.
  • An Orb of Absorption may drain wards.
  • Orb of Repulsion suits can suppress magic around wearers or targets.
  • Justin Pasteur and Lord Boyle each have such suits.
  • Lime may have a larger orb hidden in a lead box.
• Containment options include Wall of Force and Silence.
  • Silence should block Sending and Message.
  • Antimagic Field is likely unavailable.
  • Banishment is rejected for local parasite-bearing targets.

Mark’s Eye and Specter

• Mark is chosen or strongly considered as the invisible tower infiltrator.
  • The cloak requires full body coverage.
  • He may carry a boxed orb to disable wards.
  • The party worries the orb could interfere with invisibility or his new eye.
• Emily offers a Glass Eye of True Seeing.
  • It must be socketed into an empty eye socket.
  • It grants true seeing to sixty feet.
  • It can reveal true forms, glamours, invisible creatures, Ethereal watchers, changelings, doppelgangers, face-stealers, and hag disguises.
• Emily performs immediate surgery.
  • Mark is restrained with wolf manacles in case pain triggers transformation.
  • Emily uses bracer tools, surgical implements, potions, Lesser Restoration, and a support necklace marked L.H..
  • The initials stand for Lyudmila Hazeldine, Emily’s full name.
  • The necklace is Emily’s Periapt of Wound Closure.
  • The old eye is preserved in a flask.
  • The surgery succeeds, but Mark needs the support item during recovery.
• Mark sees a hidden specter-like watcher.
  • He strikes it with one of Emily’s sharp tools.
  • The specter reports to the Hags of Senera.
  • The party worries there may have been other rotating watchers.

Hedge Maze Infiltration

• The party advances into Oren Bell’s or Castle Malthrek’s hedge maze.
  • John and Mark help guide the route.
  • A ward-draining orb disables nearby protections.
  • Whip cracks and an old man’s distressed sounds are heard ahead.
  • John remembers being abandoned by Mark in the maze as a child.
• The route is trapped and deceptive.
  • A blocking hedge is revealed as illusory.
  • The obvious route is likely trapped.
  • A hidden route through the false hedge seems safer.
  • Another hedge is a mimic-like monster.
• A binding glyph anchors the hedge guardian away from its caster.
  • Disabling the glyph might alert the caster.
  • The party avoids it.
• Pass without trace is activated through elven magic.
  • The party slips past with strong stealth.
  • Healing potions are distributed because no dedicated healer is present.
  • A sight rune causes Mark to react as if he can see through clothing.

Fenwick and Fagus Ambush

• The party reaches the maze center.
  • Baron Highbury, not yet identified by the party, is being whipped and sexually assaulted.
  • Dame Elspeth Fenwick is the whip bearer.
  • Fagus is present, watching and laughing.
• The party launches a surprise attack.
  • Mark attacks from concealment and maims Fagus.
  • He covers Fagus’s mouth and muffles him.
  • Emily uses the Gem of Brightness to blind Fenwick.
  • Bend Luck turns Fenwick’s save into a failure.
  • John attacks Fenwick with a longsword and Green-Flame Blade.
• Fenwick retaliates with Lash of Confession or a similar whip ability.
  • She declares the whip will cleanse sinners’ souls.
  • John and another target succeed on Charisma saves.
  • They still take half damage.
  • She later breaks blindness, then is blinded again by eye-targeted Magic Missile.
• Fagus struggles against Mark.
  • Mark uses the orb against Fagus, his back, or his sword.
  • The sword appears suppressed or temporarily mundane.
  • Fagus breaks free but is badly wounded.

Maze Combat Resolution

• Emily lassoes Fenwick and restrains or controls her.
  • John obeys the “do not kill” instruction.
  • He brings Fenwick down with Green-Flame Blade strikes.
  • Fenwick is later treated as alive.
• Mark transforms and drops invisibility when the cloak falls aside.
  • He attacks Fagus with claws and bite.
  • He mauls Fagus badly enough that Fagus would die if Mark were not stopped.
  • Emily or another ally calms Mark with touch and Animal Handling.
  • Fagus is left unconscious, then captured and bound.
  • The party keeps him alive because they need him to help clear Reformists from the Highbury barony.
• Fenwick is taken alive.
  • She remains blinded after Emily targets her eyes with Magic Missile.
  • She is magically bound or otherwise restrained strongly enough that Emily expects to Counterspell anything she tries.
• The old man victim survives.
  • A healing potion closes some lacerations.
  • He asks whether he can meet Charlotte now.
  • Fenwick’s whip appears to have damaged his will and mind.
  • The effect is not simply Modify Memory.
• The captives are reduced for transport.
  • Fenwick, Fagus, and the old man are likely the three reduced targets.
  • Mark carries them under the Cloak of Invisibility.
  • Wards are drained on the way out.
  • The party returns to the kitchens under servant or clergy cover.

Kitchen Regroup and Highbury

• Lime and Justin are in the kitchen when the party returns.
  • The reduced captives are hidden under the invisibility cloak.
  • Mark shifts to dog form for cover, then later changes back and dresses.
  • Fagus, a Fagus-aligned goon, and Dame Fenwick are identified among the captives.
• The old man is identified as Baron Highbury.
  • He is frail, cold, partly unclothed, traumatized, and unstable.
  • Someone removes the bag from his head.
  • He fears Fagus and Fenwick.
  • He says the Reformists hurt him many times.
• Greater Restoration is cast on Highbury.
  • The transcript context points to Emily as the caster, apparently using a Greater Restoration scroll or other limited casting source.
  • Mark is asked to move away because moon-related power may affect him.
  • Active wounds, scabs, and scarred-over damage improve.
  • Very old scars remain.
  • His mental and magical recovery remains uncertain.
• Highbury learns Antoinette is alive and being freed from Reformist influence.
  • John says his mother was also used by Reformists.
  • Highbury is told not to look at his abusers.

Dorothy, Legally Bare, and Family Proof

• Highbury is asked whether he still has family.
  • He first says no.
  • Dorothy Marie Campbell is raised as his granddaughter.
  • Lime or Emily knows Dorothy and says she hates being called Dottie.
• Dorothy is described as about twelve.
  • She is heavily freckled and brown-haired rather than red-haired.
  • She was rescued from terrible circumstances.
  • She has said she has no living family.
• Highbury proposes a verification question.
  • Ask Dorothy about Where Ivy Dares to Grow by H.B. Charlie.
  • This may prove a family connection.
• Lime retrieves Legally Bare from storage.
  • She partially covers the image and shows it to Highbury.
  • Highbury recognizes the woman shown.
  • The identity and significance of the image remain unresolved.

Rebecca, Kelthyr, and Allies at Rest

• Rebecca spends time with Kelthyr’s dolls.
  • Kelthyr compares Rebecca to a doll and calls her cute enough to be one.
  • Rebecca now speaks somewhat more than when she first came aboard.
  • She still talks about Wunderplat.
• Rebecca asks about a doll for Liana.
  • Liana is a young Hama dryad growing unusually fast.
  • Oscar and Minfilia may be trying to slow her growth.
  • Her survival away from a grove remains unclear.
• Kelthyr is still working around encoded journals and ciphers.
  • Someone addressed as Henderson is trying to identify a cipher.
  • More journals are delivered.
  • Cipher work is deferred because the relevant helper is too tired.
• The party plans a morning regroup.
  • Humans are told to sleep.
  • Some allies remain awake or on watch.

Miss Narmaya and Werewolf Threads

• Miss Narmaya is discussed as a vampire.
  • She appears like a twelve-year-old human with black hair, snow-white skin, red lips, and dark yellow eyes.
  • She can take an adult form but dislikes it.
  • Once she tastes blood, she can know a person’s history and ancestry.
  • She is described as physically the strongest among “us.”
• Vampire traits are reviewed.
  • No mirror reflection.
  • Invitation limits.
  • Charm to gain invitation.
  • Difficulty being painted directly.
• Mark may need to meet Father de la Fouet.
  • Father de la Fouet is a werewolf whose family condition awakened differently.
  • Jean-Paul de la Fouet is notorious for killing Navy officers.
  • Jean-Paul has scandalous wedding and wife-stealing rumors.
• Oren’s aura is reconsidered.
  • He smells or feels like a tree in winter.
  • He may carry an original-refugee quality.
  • He may want revenge against Senera.

Unresolved Hooks

• Castle and Reformists
  • Identify the noble maintaining low-level magic near Highbury.
• People and identities
  • Confirm who remains in the library.
• Items and magic
  • Confirm Orb of Absorption versus Orb of Repulsion rules.
  • Confirm Fenwick’s whip ability name and mechanics.
  • Confirm the Wand of Fireballs curse and Silence interaction.
• Combat and aftermath
  • Confirm whether Highbury’s mind was restored or only his body.
• Oren and Feywild
  • Confirm whether Oren Bell is elf, elf-adjacent, wood spirit, or something else.
  • Confirm whether “Kindred” is a proper noun.
  • Clarify the “absolute” Reformist threat.