A town-and-downtime session in Absalom. The party split up: Abbas went to the church and on to the Anatian archives to chase the missing spellbook, proving his story with Belcorra's journal pages from the Gauntlight basement and enduring a tense "price of knowledge" ordeal to get access. Meanwhile a broke Veve, Cid, and the one-handed Venris worked the markets — Venris pickpocketed a young thief for a bag of gold, the group joined the Pathfinder Society for the access (three memberships), and they browsed rune and relic shops (an alluring scarf, a cauldron rune). The session's main beat was Venris finally finding Morhand's prosthetics shop and negotiating a custom clockwork/transforming arm, settling on a deal to be mailed for after he leaves.
The party was in a tomb where Venris made a string of questionable choices that cost him his arm, though they recovered the cloak. They are gathering the relics of the heroes — the key, the cloak, and the sword — to break the fire barrier deeper in the Gauntlight, and still need the spellbook. They traveled to Absalom both to find Venris a replacement arm and to dig up information on that book.
| 00:00:22 | Pregame chatter and recap of the tomb The table eases in with banter (snow in Canada, table jokes) before settling into a quick recap. Speaker B sums up the situation: the party was in a tomb where Venris made questionable choices that cost him his arm, but they recovered the cloak. They have come to Absalom to find a robot/clockwork arm for Venris and to chase information about the spellbook they still need. [S34 · 00:02:05 · turn 0007 · scene 001] |
| 00:02:40 | Goals check-in: the four relics and the missing spellbook The party reviews their quest state. They are assembling the relics of the heroes to break the fire barrier in the Gauntlight/vaults: they already hold the key, the cloak, and the sword, and now need the spellbook. They have entered Absalom partly to seek a new arm for Venris and partly to find the book. The GM reminds them of the 'clockwork' lead for the arm. [S34 · 00:03:17 · turn 0020 · scene 002] |
| 00:04:38 | Abbas at the church and Anatian archives Abbas (Speaker C), who split off early in the morning, recounts his solo errand: he went to the church for information, met people there, and one of them sent him toward the Anatian archives. He carries a letter from Morbland (his 'doctor cleric' mentor/contact from Absalom, where Abbas spent his adult life after fleeing war in Sirium) and presents himself to an archive scholar — a catfolk wizard — to ask about the spellbook of a powerful mage. He invokes the name of the old evil 'the Cora' (Belcorra) and watches for a reaction, getting a raised eyebrow. [S34 · 00:04:38 · turn 0029 · scene 003] |
| 00:36:00 | Showing the archives Belcorra's journal and the relic quest To prove his story, Abbas produces the scalped journal pages belonging to Belcorra, recovered from the basement of the Gauntlight, which explain the inner workings and construction of the tower. He argues such material could only come from someone who actually went through the long-sealed, supposedly abandoned tower. He frames his goal: assemble the four artifacts to disable the fire barrier and go deeper into the vaults. [S34 · 00:36:56 · turn 0125 · scene 004] |
| 00:40:39 | The rest of the party goes shopping; Veve is broke While Abbas handles the archives, the rest of the party makes their way toward the clockwork district to shop for arm components. Players establish their characters' relationship to the big city: Veve is a street-raised orphan native to Otari who never had the funds to travel here, wide-eyed but completely broke; Venris (a young elf who grew up underground near Otari) is thrilled by the market and its 'juicy targets,' wishing he still had two hands for pickpocketing. Cid and Veve mostly window-shop with no money. [S34 · 00:43:46 · turn 0150 · scene 005] |
| 00:53:50 | Venris pickpockets a young thief Venris spots a young pickpocket working the crowd and decides to swipe the thief's coin pouch one-handed, blending in among monks rather than fleeing. He succeeds, peeks inside (city-money disappointing but real), and turns it into a teaching moment, casually chatting up the kid about his daily take, whether he works alone, and whether there is a guild in the city. The boy notices Venris's bandaged stump; Venris explains it was lost to monsters in his 'other line of work' and muses about getting a metal arm. He pockets the gold and rejoins Veve and Cid. [S34 · 01:04:19 · turn 0254 · scene 006] |
| 01:20:54 | Counting the take and the party's empty pockets The party huddles in a corner to count the stolen pouch out of the guards' sight. Venris asks how everyone is doing on funds: Veve has one silver (she spent all her money on potions to save people from becoming zombies, and some during her 'COVID'), and Cid has only the Ross Argentes sword he is tempted to sell. The group is broke heading into the arm hunt. The table breaks here. [S34 · 01:27:17 · turn 0386 · scene 007] |
| 01:43:30 | Joining the Pathfinder Society Venris recognizes the Grand Lodge / Pathfinder tower (using Cid's wayfinder as proof of his Pathfinder lore) and pitches the party on joining: access to information, artifacts, and supplies. Despite Cid's reluctance and Veve's mercenary angle ('we're joining a group for money'), Venris signs them up — three memberships. The recruiter logs Cid (spelled 'SYD'). Venris is cynical that low-rank recruits get sent on suicide security-guard missions but signs anyway, banking on the archive access. The recruitment isn't fully finished; a date is set to complete it. [S34 · 01:55:12 · turn 0472 · scene 008] |
| 02:05:30 | Abbas's archive ordeal: the spellbook, the condition, and the rolls Back at the archives, Abbas continues to convince the scholar, laying out the Gauntlight situation, the fire barrier, the four artifacts, and the story Otari/Otari told them. Speaking of faith and the Lady of Destinies, he frames defeating Belcorra as the task given to him. He sets a condition — that nobody outside the room hears of it — and shows the dangerous spellbook (compared to carrying plutonium/a nuke bare-handed). The scene turns into a tense ordeal with repeated saving throws and hero points (including a double-1 mishap and persistent damage), as if undergoing a magical exorcism-like test 'the price of knowledge' to access the archives. [S34 · 02:24:25 · turn 0621 · scene 009] |
| 02:46:00 | The rune shop and the alluring scarf The party browses shops. At a rune shop Venris asks about runes for a missing arm and prices a 'cauldron'/summoning rune (six gold) and other wares, declining to spend until the arm is settled, and gets a lead on the clockwork district and 'the kennel.' At an instrument/relic shop Veve eyes a relic granting +1 AC to a summoned animal (no one uses it) and an Alluring Scarf that grants fascinate; the party half-jokes about her taking, activating, and running with it. Veve mentally notes the relic vendor's location for her magic-user interest. Cid, broke and impatient, refuses to browse items he cannot buy. [S34 · 02:55:26 · turn 0734 · scene 010] |
| 03:18:30 | Morhand's prosthetics shop: ordering the clockwork arm Venris finally reaches Morhand's prosthetics shop and meets the maker — an elf who has his own mechanical arm. Venris (over)shares the whole adventure to build trust, shows the cloak and his ghost-touch Kukri, and admits to 'sticky fingers,' asking for a prosthetic that won't impede stealth or thievery and can store/transform into weapons. They discuss a transforming arm (3 actions to become a weapon, 3 to revert, 1-minute cooldown, holds two weapons). Venris weighs base steel vs. silver (silver costs much more, is significantly weaker, has low HP and a -1 Dex penalty, but resists fire). He negotiates the price down with an elf-to-elf lore appeal, lands a deal (low-grade silver ~235 gp / standard ~335 gp), and arranges to mail in payment since he may not return to Absalom within two weeks. He pays out (~167 gp) and looks forward to getting his arm. [S34 · 03:24:14 · turn 0838 · scene 011] |