A slow, investigation-and-downtime session with no combat. Abbas finished reading the Whispering Reeds and confirmed Venris's affliction is the body-and-soul-consuming "empty death," a mark for the outer god Nimbaloth — and that the book has no cure but can stall the fate with careful use. The party chased leads: a casual letter to Veve's wealthy Absalom friend (seeded with cult keywords), and the late researcher Zarmavdian's hidden notes in the Thresholds of Truth, whose blank pages hide a Nimbaloth secret behind a "key" they don't yet have. Venris applied the Unguent of Timelessness to his stump for a small save bonus. Overnight, Veve watched the cursed child Doriana and found a ruby that keeps spawning inside whichever stuffed animal she holds — and vanishing whenever a doll leaves the house. The session ended on Veve settling in to investigate the curse through the night (her occultism check failed) plus an out-of-game wrap-up.
The party revisited Menhems' young daughter, Doriana/Lorianna, who had fallen sick again under a curse — acting childish and clutching her toys. Veve grabbed a teddy bear that had a hard object inside, which led them to a Locate scroll to pinpoint the curse's magic source. They went back to read the Whispering Reeds; even Rin got hit by a wave from the Reeds. Venris believes he carries the same affliction that killed the priests' apprentice and afflicted some of the Rose Guard, and that a cure might lie inside the Whispering Reeds — but he lacks permission to read it, so Abbas is doing the reading.
On a soft cliffhanger: Veve settling in to spend the night with Doriana to dig into the curse, despite the failed occultism roll (she's aware she can still attempt it through the night). A notable table moment: when the group pushed Veve's player to spend a hero point to avoid the fail, the player chose to honor the failed roll; the GM backed player agency, let the fail stand, rejected the hero-point re-roll, and rewarded the player with an extra hero point for committing to the bit. The rest was out-of-game: testing a Foundry "break time" button, assigning characters to the AV campaign, CSS/Foundry-module requests, and scheduling (the GM probably can't make the coming Sunday).
| 00:00:00 | Pregame: where did we leave off, and a session debrief The table struggles to remember where the previous (short) session ended. Cid recaps it: they revisited Menhems' daughter Doriana/Lorianna, who had fallen sick (childish, clutching toys) under a curse again; Veve grabbed a teddy bear that had a hard object inside, prompting a Locate scroll to pinpoint the curse's magic source; they then went back to read the Whispering Reeds, and even Rin (Green) got hit by a wave from the Reeds. The GM checks in-game time (3 p.m.) and runs a brief out-of-game debrief about last session's investigation/social style of play, agreeing to lean into the party collectively solving the mystery and to ease off on certain meta concerns. Note: Venris (the afflicted PC) lacks permission to read the Whispering Reeds; Abbas/Visigoth is the one reading it. [S51 · 00:00:09 · turn 0002 · scene 001] |
| 00:14:22 | Abbas finishes the Whispering Reeds; the empty death and Nimbaloth With fewer people around, Abbas/Visigoth (with his shield up, bracing for backlash) takes an hour to finish reading the Whispering Reeds, rolling a strong Religion check (31 with guidance) and passing a Will save. The reading establishes that the 'curse of the empty death' is a sort of mark for Nimbaloth, and points to an adjacent, even worse affliction that consumes not just mind and soul but the body, hyper-accelerating the victim toward being consumed by Nimbaloth (this matches what afflicts Venris). Moderated, careful use of the Reeds can stall or even prevent that fate, and the book can be used as a weapon against the bolt of Nimbaloth. Finishing it grants a +2 item bonus to recall knowledge for the day. The party clarifies the Reeds (no real spell list to share) versus the Thresholds of Truth (which has spells, mostly keyed). No cure is found in the book itself. [S51 · 00:16:00 · turn 0132 · scene 002] |
| 00:31:17 | Chasing leads: the Absalom letter, the cult of Nimbaloth, and Zarmavdian Stuck for a cure, the party brainstorms outside help. Knowledge of Nimbaloth is cult-tier hidden lore, so they decide to write a casual letter to Veve's wealthy theater-lady friend from Absalom, fishing for any connections to scholars or priest/mage contacts who might know about the curse. They agree to seed it with keywords ('Void Breck' / 'dead side') as a tripwire and to invoke Zarmavdian — the campaign's established head researcher of the empty death — since anyone who worked with him is the likeliest lead. The GM hands out hero points to Venris and Abbas for narrowing the search. [S51 · 00:35:52 · turn 0297 · scene 003] |
| 00:46:00 | The Unguent of Timelessness applied to Venris's stump Venris recalls the potion the party got from the Menhems — the Unguent of Timelessness — reasoning from the Thresholds of Truth that the empty death 'steals space-time' and that the Unguent (made to stop a body from decaying / preserve corpses) might slow his symptoms. The GM confirms the item is rare but the party has the formula and can reproduce it (~150 gp materials sourced from Absalom). Venris applies the whole little vial to the stump where his arm/hand is gone (wrist up), gaining a +1 to saving throws lasting about a week. There's a long aside about whether his prosthetic 'auto mail' arm can be removed; ruled it cannot be easily disarmed (it is auto mail with a permanent metal connection). Cid (a fighter with no alchemy) inspects the formula and finds nothing special; Abbas offers to check it for religious significance. [S51 · 00:47:47 · turn 0391 · scene 004] |
| 01:04:15 | The Thresholds of Truth: blank pages hide a Nimbaloth secret Abbas digs into Tarnak's references in the Thresholds of Truth (page 437; gap to ~6800), noting blank pages between page 503 and far later. He uses his Strange Script feat (decipher a text, +2 circumstance to coded/cipher text) but cannot decode them; he can only feel a trace of the empty death's emptiness within those pages — something powerful is hidden there. Venris theorizes the author (Zarmavdian) deliberately censored and concealed dangerous findings so a careless reader wouldn't fall victim, like peering into the abyss. The GM rules that decoding the blank pages requires a 'key' the party very likely does not have access to yet, and prompts them for more leads (the Absalom letter; possibly the librarian who held the book; possibly Otari's lingering ghost, since Otari adventured with Zarmavdian). [S51 · 01:10:39 · turn 0570 · scene 005] |
| 01:25:30 | Otari's ghost as a lead; the Sagathi captive and the day's plan The party reasons that Otari (the Rose Guard rogue, called 'Otari'), who survived Belcorra's defeat only to be finished off by the cave creature and whose soul lingered, is their best surviving lead on Zarmavdian's concealment methods — worth visiting his ghost. They also note two pending threats: the captive Sagathi (a servant of Al Thor/Nimbaloth) that Rin is worried about being released into the world, and the question of letting it leave the Gauntlight (~a week out). The GM recaps how Otari died (the floor collapsed into the servants' quarters, the remaining Rose Guard defeated Belcorra, Otari fled wounded through the library to the cave and died, his soul lingering). Venris is fatigued from not sleeping; the party decides to rest the night before going back, with Abbas watching over Venris (+3 to his save). [S51 · 01:21:43 · turn 0660 · scene 006] |
| 01:39:42 | Night vigil: the teleporting ruby in Doriana's dolls Veve spends the night at the Menhems manor watching over the cursed child Doriana, who has night terrors, scratches her wrists, and clutches her stuffed animals. Veve (and later Abbas) discovers that a small hard object — a ruby identical to the one found before — keeps spawning inside whichever doll the child is holding, then vanishing from any doll carried away from the house. A whole subplot plays out trying to extract and contain a ruby: Veve cuts open a lion and finds the ruby; she Diplomacy-charms the sleepy child (DC, total 26) into handing over a doll; the ruby vanishes each time a doll is carried back to the Rockfish or Crook & Nook. The party laments not having sold the earlier (dispelled) ruby for 30 gp before it disappeared too. They decide not to dispel the new ruby, to keep an untouched plushie for the next day, and to consolidate everyone at the manor. [S51 · 01:43:20 · turn 0849 · scene 007] |
| 02:23:53 | Veve resonates with the curse; the failed occultism check and the hero-point standoff Cid carries the sleeping Venris to the Menhems manor so the party can stay together. Veve realizes she resonates with the magic coming from Doriana and that staying with the child through the night could let her further investigate the curse. She rolls an occultism check and fails. A meta moment ensues: the table pushes Veve's player to spend a hero point to avoid the fail, but the player prefers to honor the failed roll and let consequences land. The GM rules in favor of player agency, rejects the second (hero-point) roll, lets the fail stand, and instead rewards the player with an extra hero point for committing to the bit, then leads a discussion about when to use hero points. [S51 · 02:30:09 · turn 1274 · scene 008] |
| 02:37:39 | Cliffhanger and out-of-game wrap-up (Foundry tools, scheduling) The session ends on a soft cliffhanger: Veve will spend the night with Doriana to investigate the curse, but the occultism roll failed (she is aware she can spend the night despite the failure). The table spends the remainder on out-of-game logistics: testing a Foundry 'break time' UI button for marking AFK/back, character assignment to the AV campaign (vs Age of Ashes/AOA), CSS and Foundry-module requests (some built via ChatGPT), and scheduling — the GM likely can't make the coming Sunday and floats moving the next session to a weekday. [S51 · 02:37:39 · turn 1337 · scene 009] |