Session 36: Back to the Vaults — Mouthers, Mimics, and a New Hand

S36 Recap: Back to the Vaults — Mouthers, Mimics, and a New Hand

TL;DR

A "getting back into it" session after a long break. Venris returned with a new clockwork hand that transforms into a ghost-touch blade — and a strange new ability to sense the dead, plus troubling dreams. The party wrapped up town business in Otari (Venris paid the mayor back 300 gp and reported the recovered relics; Abbas quietly consulted a scholar about the book, the Whispering Reeds, and the empty death), then took the silver portal back down into the Abomination Vaults. On the seventh floor they ground through two packs of acid-spitting, exploding gibbering mouthers and a room of goblin mimics, with a fair bit of friendly fire and a lot of Foundry/character-sheet bookkeeping. Veve finished becoming an Oracle of the Cosmos. Loot was modest: mutagens, a 2nd-rank Heal wand, a guardian staff, a magic bolt, and a little gold.

Previously on

Abbas got "the book" (Zarmadvian's spellbook) after a long interrogation, Venris got his new hand, and the party did light shopping in Otari. They had already returned to the dungeon gate. Venris has begun having weird, haunted dreams tied to his new ghost-sensing power.

What happened

Over the rest in Otari, Venris tested his new clockwork hand ("What is this new power? ... I see dead people") and the party discussed his unsettling dreams. Abbas used detect magic to study the affliction, noting it felt close to the empty death but not quite the same.
Town errands: Venris checked in with the mayor, reported the relics were recovered, and handed over 300 gold pieces from the bounty money to help the town's repairs and thank them for funding his new arm.
Abbas, carrying the book covered under his dueling cape, consulted a scholar. He shared what he knows about the empty death and the Whispering Reeds curse, tied it to the magic in Zarmadvian's spellbook, asked about anything related to nightmares, and pressed (lightly) on Rose Guard lore — but withheld the actual pages.
The party returned to the Abomination Vaults via the silver teleportation portal (the second-floor circle, since the first-floor one was missing the silver). They passed the "fake guards" — the bounty hunters posing as guards they met on the road — and chose to leave them be.
Hearing the telltale sound of a known threat, Venris cut up a sack so everyone could plug their ears (wetted cloth) against a mind-affecting noise. Veve cast Oracular Warning, granting the party +2 initiative and temporary HP (and increasing her curse-bound).
First combat: gibbering mouthers — eye-covered aberrations that spit acid and explode when killed. Venris opened with sneak-attack bow shots, then switched to his ghost-touch prosthesis-blade. Veve stacked bardic songs and threw daggers/rocks; Cid held the line with shield, martial/Dread Marshal aura, Snagging Strike and Sonic Blow; Abbas threw Divine Lance and Forbidding Ward from the back. The party ground them down while working around the acid explosions.
They rested, healed, and Venris picked the lock on a quiet room using his Kalin/Calino key (knock spell + Thieves' Toolkit Infiltrator). The key critically failed once and broke (losing its bonus until repaired). Inside: a weapon rack with alchemical/magical loot.
Loot identified and split: moderate mutagens (Juggernaut to Cid, plus a Quicksilver and others), a magic wand with a 2nd-rank Heal (now usable by Veve via her Oracle archetype), a summon-animal wand to sell, and a guardian staff (forbidding ward / sanctuary / spirit link) taken by Veve. Long out-of-character session on Foundry encumbrance — Abbas is near-encumbered carrying both the book and the Whispering Reeds.
Second combat: another pack of the exploding aberrations plus something trying to shove Venris into a pit. Venris landed a crit deadly arrow (~51 damage) but later crit-failed a sword swing and accidentally sliced Cid, who was caught in between. They cleared the pack and found a cavern of holes/levers under a dim red light, recovering a magic crossbow bolt and a little gold (7 gp each).
Final combat: goblin mimics, one disguised as a weapon rack, in a room that flickered in and out of existence. They grabbed and stuck to Cid's sword and Venris's transforming arm. The party fought free — Cid Snagging and striking, Venris landing crit sword strikes after freeing his arm, Abbas casting Divine Lance, Veve hurling objects (including a dead mimic) — and finished them off.
Mop-up: the now-empty room yielded a couple of touch elixirs. A player realized he'd been double-adding his Courageous Anthem damage on Foundry the whole time. Session ended on scheduling (next session Wednesday) and goodbyes.

Decisions made

Venris paid the mayor 300 gp toward the town's repairs and confirmed the relics were recovered.
Abbas consulted a scholar about the book / empty death / Whispering Reeds but withheld the actual pages.
The party left the "fake guards" alone rather than helping or confronting them.
They returned to the Vaults via the second-floor silver portal.
Veve finalized her build as an Oracle of the Cosmos (first revelation → spray of stars; Oracular Warning) and took the guardian staff.
Loot split: Juggernaut mutagen to Cid, Heal wand and guardian staff routed to Veve, summon-animal wand earmarked to sell.

Open questions / reminders for next session

Venris's haunted dreams and his new ghost-sensing power are unexplained — possibly an echo of the empty death. Abbas is investigating.
The empty death, the Whispering Reeds curse, and Zarmadvian's book are all linked; Abbas is gathering scholarly leads (including anything tied to nightmares).
The seventh-floor cavern has unexplored holes/levers, a dim red light below, and a flickering/vanishing room — not yet investigated.
Abbas (Visigog) is carrying near-encumbering weight (both the book and the Whispering Reeds at 2 bulk each); the party floated leaving a book behind.
The Kalin/Calino key is broken (loses its bonus) until repaired.
The fates of Ballroy and Acessna, and what was found "with Morland," came up but were not resolved.

Scene timeline (12)

00:00:00	Pregame: streaming setup and Veve's oracle build Players gather and get the stream/Discord running while joking about cats and card games. The bulk of this stretch is the GM (Speaker A) walking Veve's player through her new Oracle of the Cosmos archetype on Path Builder/Foundry: oracle dedication, divine spell access, cantrips, and which feats to take. Off-topic table chatter throughout. [S36 · 00:00:11 · turn 0002 · scene 001]
00:14:17	Recap: the book, the new hand, and a restful night in Otari The GM recaps where the party left off: Abbas got 'the book' (Zarmadvian's book) after a long interrogation, Venris got his new clockwork/mechanical hand, and the party did some light shopping in Otari. In-character, Venris flexes his strange new ghost-sensing power ('I see dead people') and the party discusses his troubled, haunted dreams during a night's rest. Abbas tries to magically diagnose Venris's affliction with detect magic, noting it is close to the empty death but not quite it. [S36 · 00:14:17 · turn 0079 · scene 002]
00:36:42	Town errands: paying back the mayor and returning the relics Before heading back to the Gauntlight, the party runs town errands. Venris checks in with the mayor of Otari, reports that they recovered the relics, and hands over 300 gold pieces from the bounty money to help with the town's repairs and to thank them for funding his new arm. The party also references seeing the diviner and a 'twink'/Mira NPC; they decide to skip that and meet at the edge of town. [S36 · 00:46:58 · turn 0200 · scene 003]
00:54:12	Abbas consults a scholar about the book and the empty death Abbas, carrying the book covered under his dueling cape so as not to be surprised, consults a scholar/contact. He thanks the contact for help, explains what he knows about the empty death and the Whispering Reeds curse, links it to the magic seen in Zarmadvian's spellbook, and asks whether the contact knows anything from his reading that could help — especially anything tied to nightmares (Venris's). He withholds the actual pages, giving only context. He also probes Rose Guard lore and the fates of Ballroy and Acessna. [S36 · 01:00:18 · turn 0274 · scene 004]
01:15:39	Back to the Vaults: the silver portal and the fake guards The party returns to the Abomination Vaults, taking the silver portal/teleportation circle (the second-floor one, since the first-floor circle was missing the silver) toward the deeper levels. There is a long real-world break (~9:47 bathroom break) and more Foundry/character-sheet maintenance mid-scene. In-fiction they pass the 'fake guards' (the bounty hunters posing as guards they met on the road, still looking for the female bounty) and decide to leave them be rather than help or confront them. They wield their relics and descend deeper. [S36 · 01:44:31 · turn 0424 · scene 005]
01:54:35	Earplugs and the approach to the screaming room The party hears a familiar dangerous sound ('the stinky one' / 'the thing with the eyes') and recognizes the threat. To guard against a mind-affecting noise, Venris cuts up a sack and passes out little chunks of cloth (wetted in water) for everyone to plug their ears. They debate which creatures to engage first, set up lighting (the front-liners lack darkvision), and Veve casts Oracular Warning before initiative — granting the party a +2 status bonus to initiative and temporary HP equal to half her level, but increasing her curse-bound counter. [S36 · 02:02:26 · turn 0488 · scene 006]
02:11:13	Combat: the gibbering mouthers A drawn-out fight against gibbering mouthers (the eye-covered 'spit-take' creatures that spray acid and explode when killed) plus a sound/aberration threat. Venris opens with sneak-attack bow shots before transforming his metallic hand into a ghost-touch blade. Veve stacks bardic songs (Courageous Anthem, Rallying Anthem, Harmonize, Lingering Composition, Counter Performance), and joins in by hurling daggers and rocks. Cid holds the line with a tower shield, his martial/Dread Marshal aura, Snagging Strike and a Sonic Blow, while Abbas drops Divine Lance from the back and uses Forbidding Ward. The party works around the creatures' acid explosions and grinds them down. [S36 · 02:23:23 · turn 0664 · scene 007]
03:04:42	Healing up and picking locks: the weapon-rack room After the fight the party heals (Abbas/Veve Treat Wounds, Veve refocusing to clear curse-bound), takes a 10-minute rest, and finishes more Foundry/character-sheet upkeep. Venris scouts ahead, listens at a row of doors, and reports one mostly-empty, one with a light metal scrape, and one 'spooky' with lots of creatures. He picks the lock on the empty room using his Kalin/Calino key (casting knock for a +4) and a Thieves' Toolkit Infiltrator. The Kalin key critically fails once and breaks (loses its item bonus until repaired). Inside is a weapon rack with magical sticks/alchemical items. [S36 · 03:24:40 · turn 1102 · scene 008]
03:39:00	Loot and inventory: mutagens, wands, and encumbrance The party identifies and divvies up the room's loot: moderate mutagens (a Juggernaut taken by Cid, a Quicksilver, plus others), a magic wand holding a 2nd-rank Heal (now usable by Veve thanks to her new Oracle divine access, and by Abbas), and a summon-animal wand to sell. Veve takes a guardian staff (forbidding ward / sanctuary / spirit link occult spells). Extended out-of-character bookkeeping over Foundry bulk/encumbrance — Abbas (Visigog) is night-encumbered carrying both the book and the Whispering Reeds (each weighing 2 bulk); Veve sheds arrows and shuffles items to fix overweight. [S36 · 03:39:55 · turn 1211 · scene 009]
03:59:46	Combat: the second pack and a friendly-fire mishap Pushing on, the party fights a second pack (two more of the same exploding aberrations, plus something that tries to hurl Venris into a pit). Venris opens with a critical deadly-arrow shot (~51 damage). In the messy melee he critically fails a sword swing and accidentally slices Cid, who is caught between them, then apologizes. Cid uses Snagging Strike / Advantageous Assault and his Dread Marshal aura; Veve throws rocks/daggers and keeps songs up. The party clears the pack, finds a cavern with mysterious holes/levers and a red dim light below, recovers a magical crossbow bolt and a little gold (7 gp each), and presses on. [S36 · 04:04:52 · turn 1411 · scene 010]
04:48:48	Combat: the goblin mimics and a vanishing room Venris investigates a weapon rack / obsidian-crystal hatchet and an unsettling room that flickers in and out of existence. Veve's spidey-sense (Oracular Warning) tingles. The threat turns out to be mimics — specifically goblin mimics, one disguised as the weapon rack — which grab and stick to Cid's sword and Venris's transforming hand. The party fights free: Cid Snags and strikes with Advantageous Assault, Venris lands crit sword strikes after freeing his arm, Abbas casts Divine Lance, and Veve hurls objects (including a dead mimic) at them. They finish the mimics off. [S36 · 05:00:13 · turn 1824 · scene 011]
05:24:00	Mop-up loot and scheduling wind-down After the mimics, the party checks the now-empty room and grabs a couple of touch elixirs/bottles. A last out-of-character beat: a player realizes he had been double-adding his Courageous Anthem damage bonus on Foundry the whole time. The session ends on scheduling talk (planning the next session for Wednesday) and goodbyes. [S36 · 05:23:34 · turn 1988 · scene 012]

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