Draft recap. Citations reference `S21` timestamps (HH:MM:SS). Speakers are labeled A–D; no real names asserted.
The party slipped past a cursed, memory-less werewolf "husband" living off mushrooms by his lake pavilion, then climbed into a shrine of Nimbaloth where they ground through crawling hands and fear-spreading flicker wisps before Abbas shattered the altar. Deeper in, two sarcophagus undead with life-draining longswords ambushed them, dropping mundane gear, and a hidden ghost wall revealed stairs going down. After exploring an empty scalar-track cavern and a poisoner's mushroom-hat kitchen, the party walked into a banquet hall of skeletons animated by blue skull-lights — and the session paused mid-fight.
The party has been delving the Abomination Vaults beneath Otari, hunting the scalar tracks that invaded the town. They had already fended off a barrage from similar blue flicker lights during "deadtime."
| 00:00:02 | Pregame setup and house-rule changes Table chatter and stream/event setup. Brief recap noises before play begins. [S21 · 00:00:02 · turn 0001 · scene 001] |
| 00:06:54 | The lake pavilion and the cursed werewolf 'husband' The party enters an immense cold cavern with a still lake and a stone pavilion raised on columns, encrusted with pale fungus, a campfire burning in the middle and stone bridges arcing to the walls. They hear barking from two sources. A hostile man in human form (his wolf companion barking) confronts them, telling them to stay back: 'This is my home.' He cannot remember his own name; his wolf 'calls me husband.' The party recalls knowledge about werewolves (weak to silver, transferable curse, trial on the full moon, ~three days away), and a double-crit recall places the next full moon about three days off. Diplomacy keeps things from escalating; the man matches a wanted poster despite being more rugged with long hair. His mouth is stained the same color as the surrounding mushrooms, suggesting he has been living off them. The party passes several attack-trigger checks and slips past him through a side passage, declining the fight. [S21 · 00:06:54 · turn 0018 · scene 002] |
| 00:48:57 | Climbing the rippling blue stair hallway The party moves into a five-foot-wide hallway whose walls shimmer and ripple with faint pale-blue energy. Stairs lead up to the west and down to the east, both reaching small landings; the heights don't match (ascending is shorter). They detect magic abound and climb a long series of vertical stairs, noting they are not yet at the third floor despite the climb. The ceiling stays low in places but rises higher overhead. [S21 · 00:49:04 · turn 0223 · scene 003] |
| 01:00:49 | Shrine of Nimbaloth: crawling hands and flicker wisps A vast octagonal chamber painted as a sprawling graveyard sunk into a swamp, every grave open and empty. A raised circular platform holds an altar stone gripped by seven deep finger grooves that pulse with faint blue light; four severed hands lie atop it. Abbas identifies it as a shrine to Nimbaloth, outer god of despair, ghosts, and swamp, and his face turns to anger. The table pauses to discuss double-size maps and where ranged characters may start a fight at a chokepoint. Combat begins: an aura of despair frightens the party on a will save, four crawling hands (recolored/upgraded undead, immune to many conditions) scuttle out, and flicker wisps rise and 'flicker' to confuse/fear and shock, healing off confusion. The hands grab throats (grabbed: extra action to speak/cast). The fight is long and grindy; the party (including Cid, immune to fear via 'retard bravery/rage') cuts down wisps and hands. Finally Abbas spends ten minutes of divine blasting to shatter the altar/shrine. [S21 · 01:01:32 · turn 0258 · scene 004] |
| 02:30:57 | Sarcophagi hall and the sealed dead Beyond the shrine is a wide 25-foot-high hall lined with upright stone sarcophagi carved as tormented, emaciated figures. To the northeast a 15-foot section of wall has crumbled into ledges dropping into a cavern; a brighter, constant blue light glows to the south. On a Nat 20, Venerus hears something like footsteps dragging chains. The party rests/heals and treats wounds. Abbas insists the dead, evil or good, must stay dead and the party does not disturb the sealed coffins. As Cid nears one, its stone lid turns transparent to show a long-dead body stripped of gear, then turns back to stone. Detect magic reveals no particular level here. [S21 · 02:34:24 · turn 0774 · scene 005] |
| 02:50:48 | Sarcophagi ambush: two undead longsword wraiths As Venerus steps forward, two sarcophagi pop open (lids see-through) and initiative is rolled. Two humanoid undead emerge wielding beautiful longswords with 'undodgeable' attacks and claws, each hit forcing a fortitude save; on failure the creatures' eyes brighten more crimson and writhe with life (life-drain). They scream low haunting melodies that frighten the party repeatedly and stack minus-two status penalties to fortitude. The party (with Cid immune to fear) trips, flanks, and grinds them down; both are eventually slain. They drop two longswords and two sets of studded leather armor — rusted, decayed, but worth regular value. Afterward Veve accidentally triggers a hidden brick that opens a sarcophagus/wall, and Venerus spots a tunnel; the party finds a shimmering ectoplasm 'ghost wall' with stairs leading down beyond it, of incomprehensibly high magic level. [S21 · 02:51:23 · turn 0837 · scene 006] |
| 03:39:45 | Empty scalar-track cavern and the poisoner's kitchen Through a rough-hewn cavern strewn with bones and scraps of metal cloth, Abbas gets the impression this is where the scalar tracks (the creatures that invaded Otari) were recently kept — but there are none now. The passages are likely natural/unnatural mix, not made by a giant worm. Beyond a wall with a side latch (a secret door operated by utensils stuck to the wall) is a kitchen: a squat chimney-less cast-iron stove, a large oak table covered in cooking utensils, and a skeletal body in long white robes with a tall mushroom-shaped hat slumped by the cupboards. The party finds a small black vial with a trace of a fast-acting consumable poison (normally ~20-100 uses, now empty); Cid recoils at the stench. Venerus identifies it. The party grabs clean utensils. [S21 · 03:40:07 · turn 1098 · scene 007] |
| 03:53:34 | Banquet hall: skeletons and blue skull lights (cliffhanger combat) A pair of brightly glowing chandeliers light a long banquet table set as if for a grand meal, with scattered settings and toppled chairs. Four skeletons in tattered finery lie about, some clutching their own necks; the food is rotted and putrid. Initiative is rolled. Blue skull-lights animate the skeletons; when a skeleton is destroyed its light becomes a floating burning skull that can fly through walls, beam a sickly blue fortitude-save light to channel/heal energy, and re-animate a corpse back into a skeleton. The party (Cid, Venerus, Veve smashing with chairs, Abbas blasting negative/harm damage) fights through repeated fear and slashing/dull-damage from the skeletons. Recall knowledge mostly fails. The session ends mid-combat as a deliberate pause: 'Would we like to pause our combat here?' Screenshot taken; the group breaks to play OSRS. [S21 · 03:54:20 · turn 1172 · scene 008] |