Session 37: The Spy Wall, the Sealed Door, and the Mummy Who Wants Out

S37 Recap: The Spy Wall, the Sealed Door, and the Mummy Who Wants Out

TL;DR

A long, methodical dungeon-crawl session. With the Rose Guard relics finally breaking the barrier, the party explored a new floor of the Abomination Vaults: a spore-mushroom room (where they grabbed two ancient silver collector's coins using a bottle of bottled air for clean breathing), a magical one-way scrying wall used to spy on the rooms, and a room of off-world star paintings. They found a third teleportation circle and began activating it as an escape route — but Venris botched the attunement and got Stupefied. The big find was a sealed, runed door: behind it, an imprisoned undead named Shakim, a centuries-trapped former servant of Lady Belcorra, who warns that a different, more dangerous servant now controls these floors and jailed him. The party stalled him with half-truths, chose not to free him yet, and retreated to town for ~2 days to rest, shop, and clear Venris's Stupefied condition.

Previously on

The party "got the action from Absalom," returned to the vault, ignored some enemies, and reached the barrier they couldn't previously pass — now gone thanks to the Rose Guard relics. They descended a floor, killed two "Groutlots" and a "Mouter," then two mimics, and passed rooms with treasure and a hole-filled room of "jumpy boys" whose name nobody could recall.

What happened

Recall knowledge. The party studied the mimics and the hole-dwelling "jumpy" creatures, floating that they're "living traps" or even alien offspring of a parent creature, possibly tied to a monster carcass from a lower level near Otari. They discussed harvesting the creatures' acid/glue secretion for crafting or poison.
The mushroom room. A room packed with pungent mushrooms that release dangerous spores if disturbed. Venris (Cavern Lore +13) confirmed they're harmless unless touched or eaten. Veve used a telekinetic-hand cantrip to fish out shiny objects; the party recovered two ancient silver collector's coins. Venris repeatedly breathed from a bottle of bottled air (effectively infinite clean air) to search the room safely, then everyone cleaned the spores off him and the bottle.
The spy wall. Past a plain "waiting room" and a secret-handle door, they found a "weird wall" identified (Occultism) as a magical one-way scrying surface for watching the rooms — likely to monitor slaves/prisoners. They connected it to Belcorra's earlier scrying of them.
The star paintings. A room of paintings, including a night sky that "does not look like our night sky" — possibly a different plane — with an eye / connect-the-dots motif they later tied to teleportation.
Home base and the sealed door. Hurt from before, the party pulled back to the "mimic room" for Treat Wounds healing while Venris scouted a fireplace room (magical fire burning for centuries, spiders gathering at the light) with three doors: one locked, one open, and one sealed shut from the inside with stakes and warded with protective runes. They read the wards as deliberate containment and decided not to dispel them.
The third teleport circle. Venris picked the locked door into another teleportation circle (their third). Reasoning these work like an elevator between floors, they began the ~1-hour attunement to bring it online as an escape route. They theorized the warded door + teleport magic might be meant to trap something that can teleport (a demon/devil).
Stupefied. During the attunement Venris failed a check, grabbed his head, and was hit by an ongoing mental effect. He burned a hero point to dodge the critical failure but still ended up Stupefied — bad enough to threaten his spellcasting and force a trip back to town. The GM ruled Soothe wouldn't help (not a qualifying mental/manipulate effect).
Shakim behind the door. Listening at the sealed door, the party heard rustling paper and a voice begging "help me." Through Cid/Abbas's diplomacy and a Sense Motive check, they learned the prisoner is an undead mummy (a "withers"-type that uses magic-preserved paper to sustain itself) named Shakim, a former servant/administrator of Lady Belcorra, trapped for centuries by another servant who still controls these floors. Shakim has a personal vendetta against his jailer and pleads to be freed in exchange for information.
Retreat. With Venris Stupefied (needs a 24-hour/long rest to clear) and the casters spent, the party stalled Shakim with half-truths (they "need tools" for the runed door) and chose to leave for town for ~2 days to recover, sell loot, and update NPCs — exiting via the front/cave entrance, judged safe.

Aftermath and theories

The party suspects the bigger boss of these floors is the other servant who jailed Shakim — currently the most dangerous thing in the vault and probably still running the place.
The warded sealed door, the spy wall, the eye paintings, and the teleport circles all seem to be one surveillance/security system, possibly Belcorra-era, possibly meant to contain something that teleports.
Slashing/looting marks on dead monsters suggest someone else is actively moving through the vault.
The loud, empty room they passed earlier may be a coliseum/gladiator arena.

Decisions made

Do not dispel or open the runed sealed door for now; do not free Shakim yet.
Activate the new teleportation circle as a fallback escape route.
Retreat to town for ~2 downtime days to rest, clear Venris's Stupefied, shop, and update NPCs.
Harvest/keep the collector coins; leave the mushrooms intact (no burning).

Open questions / reminders for next session

Who is the "other servant" now controlling these floors, and how dangerous is Shakim's jailer?
Do they come back to free Shakim for information, or leave him sealed? (Cid wants info; Veve/others wary.)
What's behind the sealed runed door beyond Shakim — and is it the thing the wards were built to contain?
The new teleport circle's activation should be finished/confirmed.
Off-session shopping: the player asked to handle shopping over text before next Wednesday's game.
The Carman Rajani thread: the party expected custom crafting from helping Rajani; the GM has ruled custom crafting off the table, so what does Rajani's debt actually grant?
Venris's Stupefied clears after the long rest in town.

Scene timeline (11)

00:00:46	Pregame chatter and tech setup Players trickle in and joke around while waiting on a late arrival (Mochi/Mana). Off-topic real-life chatter about a sketchy Uber ride in Mexico, Walmart, Canadian bacon, Dia de los Muertos / the movie Coco, snacks (Reese's-style peanut butter cups, chicken nuggies). Not story content; held for private quote candidates only. [S37 · 00:06:43 · turn 0035 · scene 001]
00:13:46	Recap: Absalom, the broken barrier, and the new floor A player recaps the prior session: the party got 'the action from Absalom,' returned to the vault, ignored some enemies, and reached the barrier they previously couldn't pass. Thanks to the Rose Guard relics the barrier is now gone, so they descended to the next floor down. There they were greeted by two 'Groutlots' (groutlots/morlocks?) and a 'Mouter,' which they killed, then a room with two mimics they also killed, plus rooms with treasure and 'the holes on the floor with the jumpy boys' (creatures whose name nobody recalls). [S37 · 00:13:46 · turn 0062 · scene 002]
00:18:07	Recall knowledge on the mimics and the 'jumpy boys' The party uses Recall Knowledge to learn more about the mimics and the hole-dwelling 'jumpy' creatures. They float that the things are like 'living traps' or even 'aliens,' possibly offspring of a parent creature still nearby, and connect them to the carcass of a monster from a lower level (near where Otari/Hotari was). Venris has only 11-12 Occultism; they discuss harvesting the creatures' acid/glue secretion for crafting or poison use. [S37 · 00:19:22 · turn 0088 · scene 003]
00:29:39	The stinky mushroom room and the collector coins The party scouts ahead with lights off, listens at doors with a 'brass ear,' and opens a room full of pungent mushrooms that release dangerous spores if disturbed. Venris (with Cavern Lore +13) IDs them as harmless unless touched/eaten. Veve uses a telekinetic hand cantrip to fetch a shiny object; the party recovers an ancient silver 'collector's coin' (and a second one). Venris breathes from a bottle of bottled air (effectively infinite clean air) to safely search the room and grab the coins, then everyone cleans the spores off him and the bottle. They consider but reject burning the mushrooms (smoke risk). Earlier inventory from prior rooms is tallied: bottled air, Wand of Summon Animal, climbing bolt, control-scale C-touch elixir. [S37 · 00:46:25 · turn 0223 · scene 004]
01:21:13	The one-way spy wall and the star-painting room Pushing on, the party finds a plain 'waiting room' with countertop dishes and scratch marks, and a secret-handle door leading to a room with a 'weird wall' that turns out to be a magical one-way scrying surface used to spy on the rooms (likely for watching slaves/prisoners rather than guards). They identify the magic via Occultism. They then find a room of paintings, including a star/night-sky scene that 'does not look like our night sky' (possibly a different plane), with a connect-the-dots / eye motif. Venris keeps swapping between Search and Investigate as he scouts. They tie the spy-wall and eye-painting to teleportation and to Belcorra/Belcorra's earlier scrying of the party. [S37 · 01:41:54 · turn 0508 · scene 005]
02:01:10	Healing at 'home base' and the runed sealed door Hurt from the prior fight, the party pulls back to the 'mimic room' as home base for ~10-30 minutes of Treat Wounds healing while Venris keeps scouting (async). He reports a room with a magically-lit fireplace (burning for centuries), normal-sized spiders gathering at the light, and three doors: one locked, one open, and one sealed shut from the inside with stakes driven into it and protective runes around it. The party reads the runes as powerful, deliberate containment magic and decides not to dispel it: whatever was sealed in was important enough to lock away, and if it were strong enough to matter, it wasn't worth provoking. They compare the runes to gear sold from 'Belcorra's room upstairs.' [S37 · 02:18:16 · turn 0628 · scene 006]
02:42:54	Lockpicking into another teleportation circle Venris picks the locked door (four pins, rolling each) and finds another teleportation room/circle, the third the party has seen. They reason these circles act like an elevator between floors (second-to-third, possibly second-to-fourth) and decide to activate this one as a fast escape route, which takes about an hour of attunement work by the caster (Venris, with Veve able to Aid/Guidance). They theorize the sealed-door warding plus teleport magic might be meant to trap something that can teleport (a demon/devil), and connect the spy-eye painting to teleporting behind walls to watch the rooms. [S37 · 02:48:43 · turn 0808 · scene 007]
03:21:44	Venris is Stupefied attuning the circle While working the teleportation circle, Venris fails a check and is hit by an ongoing mental effect, grabbing his head. He spends a hero point to avoid the critical failure ('I will take not the critical failure'), but ends up Stupefied. Veve asks if Soothe could protect against the stupefy; the GM rules it is not a mental/manipulate effect Soothe would help with. The condition makes spellcasting hard and threatens to force a return to town. Meanwhile Venris is distracted, fiddling with his mechanical arm and reorganizing his bag. [S37 · 03:21:44 · turn 0993 · scene 008]
03:35:01	The voice behind the sealed door: Shakim the mummy Listening at the sealed door, Venris hears the rustle of paper and a voice pleading 'help me.' The party makes contact with the imprisoned creature, who gives a name (rendered Ja/Shakim/Shechim/Chefkin). Through Cid/Abbas's diplomacy and a Sense Motive attempt, they learn: he is an undead (a mummy 'withers'-type that uses magic-preserved paper to sustain itself), a former servant/administrator of Lady Belcorra who has been trapped here for centuries by ANOTHER, more dangerous servant. That other servant still controls these floors and is the bigger threat. The mummy has a vendetta against his jailer and pleads for the party to free him in exchange for information. The party is split on whether to trust or free him, and resolves to leave the door alone for now. [S37 · 03:35:02 · turn 1064 · scene 009]
04:05:10	Decision to retreat to town; stalling the mummy With Venris Stupefied (a condition needing a 24-hour rest / long rest to clear) and the casters spent, the party decides to retreat to town for ~2 days to recover, shop, and update NPCs. They make the teleport room their fallback but ultimately plan to leave via the front/cave entrance (judged safe since their NPC allies are thriving). Cid/Abbas stalls the trapped mummy Shakim, telling half-truths about needing tools to open the runed door and that they'll return in a day or two for his information. They note slashing/looting marks on dead monsters along the way, suggesting someone else is active in the vault. The party connects the super-loud empty room they passed to a possible coliseum/gladiator area. [S37 · 04:05:53 · turn 1221 · scene 010]
04:42:26	Wrap-up: shopping logistics and the Rajani crafting question Session wind-down. The party agrees to spend one downtime day shopping and another recovering / visiting key NPCs to update info. A player asks the GM to enable the shop off-session (over text) so the next Wednesday game starts with shopping done. A longer out-of-character discussion follows about Carman Rajani: the player feels it was implied/'coded' that helping Rajani (the blacksmith) would unlock custom crafting of cool gear (Cid already has a custom-crafted sword), and is disappointed that custom crafting is off the table. The player stresses they want acknowledgment of the feeling, not a fix. [S37 · 04:45:36 · turn 1442 · scene 011]

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