Back Through the Leaves

The circle did not return them gently. One moment, the party was leaving Cynthia's cave with the Void Realm still clinging to their clothes. The next, they stepped through a ring of leaves that spun around them and fell apart in Astrid Ironhoof's garden behind the Little Shope of Horticulture. Gravenhurst came back all at once. Noise. Smog. Familiar city air. The ordinary ugliness of home felt almost merciful after snow, Githyanki, bears, and the cold pressure of another plane. Astrid met them with the exact mix of curiosity, exhaustion, and worry they had earned. They had been gone long enough that she had started wondering whether they had decided to move permanently to another plane of existence. Looking at them, she made the practical call: they needed to come inside and rest. But Gravenhurst had not waited quietly while they were gone. Astrid showed them an envelope from the Queefdom sealed with crimson wax. Baron von Queef was hosting a grand masquerade, and the invitation carried the promise of a new-era announcement. To Astrid, it had the stink of politics dressed up as theater: a fancy party meant to make people forget the bodies Baron had left behind. That was only the formal problem. The stranger problem was already outside her shop. Pop-ups had appeared around the city overnight. Odd vending machines had been stationed nearby, as if Gravenhurst had started growing arcane storefronts while the party was away. Whatever had changed in the city, it was public, fast, and impossible to ignore. Then Astrid looked out the window and found the last piece of bad news. It looked like the party had angered either the Thieves Guild or the Black Ward. Maybe both. The rescue from the Void Realm was over. Virgil was alive. PBJ was with Nick. Maine carried a grimoire that might become a path. Victor still had a wooden stump where an arm used to be. Ash had left Cynthia's cave with less goodwill than he entered it. And Gravenhurst had changed without them. The party was home, but home had become the next problem.