A quieter, investigation-heavy session that turned bloody at the end. After a long "where did we leave off?" reconstruction, the party tried to revisit Volok's old workshops and ran straight into the patrolling grave knight — which they dodged by a GM Nat 1 and a false trail of knocked-over books through the library. Re-examining Volok's necromancy labs, they confirmed the strapped table is a Create Undead apparatus and pieced together that Volok smashed his own lens workshop in grief after Belcorra's death. No concrete new lead on the lenses surfaced, but the "Gauntlight is a literal death-beam" theory hardened. Routing down toward the witch-fire floor, the party ambushed Corloc the Barbazu and his squad of exploding groffleets — a long, attritional fight won on Venris's chakram crits and his clockwork-arm silver blade, plus Veve's silver arrows. Loot: a magical Drover's Band (gloves) and a plain glaive off Corloc's body.
The party investigated old records and Volok's notes, linking the Gauntlight's destructive beam to a four-lens lattice design, Volok's hidden lenses, the "blue void light," and Lazda's use as a living conduit whose suffering helped awaken the Gauntlight. The biggest takeaway was the spirit Otari (Otari) sensing his old party might still be alive somehow, or tied to the mortal realm — though he doesn't know how or why. The session left open whether hidden book pages, missing Rose Guard connections, Volok's soul experiments, and the Gauntlight's "empty light" are all part of one deeper purpose.
| 00:00:02 | Pregame setup and 'where did we leave off?' The group trickles in late and spends a long stretch reconstructing where they left off, reading the prior recap and checking Foundry state (spent spells, the in-game clock) to confirm whether they were still in Otari's (Otari's) room or already leaving. They settle that they had finished the long conversation with Otari and were heading back, taking a long rest to recover spells. Mixed in is off-topic table chatter (asking for a backup contact method, jokes about phone numbers and AI). One player had missed the prior 'sauna' session, which the GM rules they can hand-wave as a missed long rest. [S59 · 00:00:08 · turn 0002 · scene 001] |
| 00:00:13 | GM recap: Volok's notes, the Gauntlight beam, and Lazda the conduit A read-aloud recap of the previous session: the party investigated old records and Volok's notes linking the Gauntlight's destructive beam to a four-lens lattice design, learned of Volok's hidden lenses, the 'blue void light,' and Lazda's use as a living conduit whose suffering helped awaken the Gauntlight. The big takeaway was Otari (the spirit Otari) sensing his old party might somehow still be alive or tied to the mortal realm, though he doesn't know how or why. Unresolved threads: hidden book pages, missing Rose Guard connections, Volok's soul experiments, and the Gauntlight's empty light all possibly being one deeper purpose. [S59 · 00:00:13 · turn 0003 · scene 002] |
| 00:19:41 | Avoiding the grave knight and fleeing through the library As the party moves to revisit the lens workshop and Volok's labs, Cid hears the unmistakable clamp-clamp of the grave knight echoing through the infinite spiral staircase, direction unclear. Venris (Venice) keeps message communication open with the whole party and they try to Avoid Notice while the GM debates whether the knight is aware of them. The grave knight closes in; Venris drops a staff and they nearly roll initiative, but the GM rolls a Nat 1 for the knight, so the party books it and gains a full round of running. Venris (Swift Sneak, 40 ft) lays a false trail of knocked-over books to mask their path, and they slam doors and lose the knight, returning to the upper workshop area. [S59 · 00:28:16 · turn 0262 · scene 003] |
| 00:55:29 | Re-investigating Volok's necromancy labs The party re-examines Volok's basement workshops. The large strapped operating table with a spy-glass-and-drill contraption is identified (by Abbas) as a Create Undead apparatus: the drill penetrates a restrained victim's skull while the scope channels the ritual, granting a +2 to the second-rank Create Undead ritual (which costs a black onyx, the gemstone that used to sit there). A second workshop blends construct-craft and necromancy, focused on transferring mortal souls into constructs or vermin swarms; the goblin floating in the tank is the now-empty vessel whose soul was extracted into the gem on 'Mr. Beak,' a puppet/doll the party already destroyed. Veve keeps a small empty soul-collecting doll. The party recalls a granted favor (a prophetic-glimpse +2 status bonus from freeing a soul) Abbas still holds. [S59 · 01:01:39 · turn 0552 · scene 004] |
| 01:20:34 | The hall of paintings and the ruined lens workshop The party passes the hall of four portraits: Absalom in flames ('So shall the fools suffer'); Gauntlight keep before its collapse, its beam meeting a pale blue light full of sneering ghostly faces ('Let the light shine forever'); a third painting (the artist at work) now totally shredded; and a fourth, an empty circular space for 'the lady of light,' scratched with 'I serve you still. You shall be avenged.' One portrait, of Belcorra, had previously been cut out by the party. [S59 · 01:23:12 · turn 0734 · scene 005] |
| 01:23:33 | Theories: Volok's grief, the lenses, and the Gauntlight's true purpose Investigating the smashed lens workshop, the party concludes the destruction wasn't searchers but Volok himself in a fit of rage, most likely triggered by Belcorra's ('Belcorra') death — the self-described pained-artist simp tearing his own station apart. They reason the three Volok-tied stations (lens workshop, create-undead table, soul-transfer lab) are vertically/closely clustered but not directly connected. Recall-knowledge on the Rose Guard confirms the 'happily ever after' story is false. The party reinforces a long-running theory (Cid arguing the literal reading) that the Gauntlight is a death-star-like beam meant to teleport/create creatures, raise the dead, and even 'raise the land' (Razang) — tied to Belcorra's claim it would be a sword that destroys the earth. No concrete new evidence is found; the lenses' wartime location remains unknown. [S59 · 01:36:58 · turn 0833 · scene 006] |
| 02:01:53 | Routing down via the portals; the locate-the-knight debate The party decides to head back down toward the floor with the witch-fire and the 'creepy guy.' They weigh routes (a 500-gold portal repair is judged too expensive), debate whether the grave knight is mysteriously anticipating them, and consider casting Locate on his sword to track him — concluding Locate targets a specific observed object or nearest-of-a-kind, and that casting on his armor would fail since a grave knight essentially IS its armor (only obliterating the armor permanently destroys it). They take the long, lower-risk route through the portals and the spiral staircase, avoiding the knight, and on the lower floor spot Corloc — a Barbazu devil 'captain' (the fired guard) commanding several explosive groffleets. Venris recall-knowledges them as ~5th level, fire-immune, glaive-wielding, carrying Avernal Fever. [S59 · 02:14:33 · turn 1126 · scene 007] |
| 02:34:29 | Ambush combat: Corloc the Barbazu and the exploding groffleets The party sets an ambush, Veve posted with her longbow while Venris scouts the corner. Venris opens with a stealthed double-chakram crit, decapitating a groffleet whose head-explosion chains splash damage into the pack. A grinding fight follows: Corloc the Barbazu charges in with a glaive that inflicts heavy slashing plus an Infernal Wound (persistent bleed that refuses to stop and burns with hellish energy), repositions Venris around with each Forceful strike, and shrugs off Abbas's Command-to-drop-weapon. Venris's clockwork arm transforms into a silver blade that finally cuts Corloc down; Veve's silver arrows prove key against the devil's resistances. The groffleets spew acid and self-detonate (a tree-falls running joke when one explodes out of range). Cid tanks with shield and sling; Abbas heals through it. The party prevails, taking acid, bleed, and sickened conditions but no deaths. [S59 · 02:50:57 · turn 1473 · scene 008] |
| 04:20:02 | Aftermath: healing, looting Corloc, and wind-down After the fight the party spends time clearing persistent bleed (first aid with assisted-recovery, lower DCs) and Abbas burns a big party-wide Medicine heal. They debate whether to push into the unknown room or backtrack to heal. Venris loots Corloc's putrid, sickening corpse — repeatedly failing Fortitude saves (sickened) but obtaining magical gloves (a Drover's Band) and the devil's glaive (mundane, no runes, 1 GP). The session ends with the players (only three present near the end) wrapping up and agreeing to resume next Sunday. [S59 · 04:32:53 · turn 2523 · scene 009] |