| [S1 · 00:02:11 · turn 0026 · scene 001] [S1 · 00:03:06 · turn 0034] [S1 · 00:05:56 · turn 0050] | Pregame setup: names, minis, and character intros The table sorts out Discord names, mini selection, and audio levels, then each player introduces their character: Venris Greystone (cavern elf rogue obsessed with the Gauntlight lighthouse), Veve Hao (orphan/street bard with a fey bond), Cidolfus (former count of Mulon, framed for regicide, now a fighter), and Vizigar/Visigoth (an edgy cleric of Pharasma raised by wandering monks). Ages and elven lineage are established. |
| [S1 · 00:12:20 · turn 0096 · scene 002] [S1 · 00:19:55 · turn 0154] [S1 · 00:33:54 · turn 0281] | The hook: Wrin Sivinxi gathers the party at the Crook's Nook GM frames the setting: the Gauntlight lighthouse outside Otari has mysteriously lit up for the first time, and the astrologer/star-reading priest Wrin Sivinxi is worried. She gathers the characters at the Crook's Nook tavern (a known thieves' hangout famous for clam chowder). Cid separately questions the Towerkeeper about strange occurrences (fishery holes, the burnt-down Thirsty Alpaca, haunting rumors). The party agrees to investigate the keep and report back to Rin. |
| [S1 · 00:39:17 · turn 0323 · scene 003] [S1 · 00:41:00 · turn 0340] [S1 · 00:41:39 · turn 0343] | Last preparations and travel to the keep through the fog The party debates buying an alchemist's toolkit (~3gp) but lacks coin; only a healer's toolkit is on hand. They set out from Otari, travel a trail past the forest into a foggy swamp ('Fogfen'/'Fogton'), and arrive at crumbling ruins on an island in a marsh dominated by the colossal Gauntlight lighthouse. Cid effectively takes point and they discuss approach and roles before entering. |
| [S1 · 00:56:45 · turn 0482 · scene 004] [S1 · 01:04:48 · turn 0562] [S1 · 01:21:54 · turn 0718] | Watchtower entry and first fight: the taunting mitflits Entering the moldy watchtower, the party hears scuttling and spots blue goblin-like mitflits (fey tricksters) up in the webbing, taunting them and offering 'magic pixie mud' (their own droppings). Only Venris understands their Sakvroth speech. After a mitflit makes an attack throw at Venris, initiative is rolled. Veve casts Forbidding Ward on Venris and Sustains a Light; Venris and Cid drive the mitflits off, and Venris later climbs up and kills one, looting a short sword and ten darts. Recall Knowledge identifies them as mitflits. |
| [S1 · 01:33:49 · turn 0813 · scene 005] [S1 · 01:41:36 · turn 0887] [S1 · 02:12:49 · turn 1113] [S1 · 02:29:10 · turn 1256] | The drawbridge, the pond corpse, and the giant toad (slurk) The fleeing mitflits throw a bait pouch of insects into the murky pond before escaping. Cid scouts a rickety 20-foot drawbridge to the main ruin and forces open a barely-hinged door into a large L-shaped hall scarred by fire/battle damage. Veve spots a half-decayed three-foot scaly humanoid corpse on the pond bank. A slurk (a big tusked toad) emerges where the bait landed; the party provokes and fights it (Venris bow, Veve, Vizigar's Divine Lance). It lands a crit ram on Cid for 12 before being killed. Loot: a 4gp pouch and a spiked snare. A ten-minute break is taken near the two-hour mark. |
| [S1 · 02:38:38 · turn 1345 · scene 006] [S1 · 02:50:20 · turn 1454] [S1 · 02:51:36 · turn 1465] | Looting the toad and lighting the main hall After the slurk dies the group loots: Venris recovers coins from a bag of mitflit droppings (adds ~2gp), pockets the 4gp pouch (poorly hidden from the party), recovers a couple of arrows, and confirms the bait was just nasty insects. Veve cleans/heals with Prestidigitation and a muse song. They re-light the dark L-shaped hall with Light and torches; Venris Recall Knowledges the fire/battle scars as recent (within the month), not ancient. They decide to push toward the lighthouse top room by room. |
| [S1 · 02:57:52 · turn 1520 · scene 007] [S1 · 03:53:45 · turn 2031] [S1 · 04:08:59 · turn 2166] | Sinkhole room: more mitflits, a giant maggot, and Otari's grave The party advances into a collapsed-ceiling room with a ten-foot sinkhole and hears mitflit shrieking. They catch four mitflits squabbling over food and open with a joint sneak attack (Venris lands repeated headshots; Vizigar threads Divine Lance shots). A slow giant maggot/grub also engages, sickening Veve with a vomit attack. Venris disarms a seven-foot armored skeleton holding a +1 morning star (inert). Recall Knowledge reveals this sinkhole is where Otari, the Rose Guard's rogue, was swallowed and died during the recent battle between the Rose Guard and the sorcerer (Belcorra/Valphora). |
| [S1 · 03:45:14 · turn 1952 · scene 008] [S1 · 04:20:56 · turn 2279] [S1 · 04:32:24 · turn 2387] | Stone walkway skeleton and the final mitflit ambush Beyond the room a 15-foot stone walkway connects to an outbuilding, guarded by another inert seven-foot armored skeleton with a morning star. Hearing more enemies behind a door, Cid props a dead mitflit as bait and forces the door, triggering a final ambush. The party (Venris sneak-attack/critical kills, Vizigar threading shots, Cid pinning enemies, an enemy caster using Bane on Venris) wipes them out. Loot: short swords, ten darts each, and 9 silver pieces. |
| [S1 · 04:33:44 · turn 2399 · scene 009] [S1 · 04:38:38 · turn 2444] | Session wrap-up: feedback and the crit/fumble table GM pauses the game with the party at the walkway and gathers feedback. They agree to trial an optional critical-hit / critical-fumble effects table going forward. Players reassure the GM about his slow prep/pace and discuss arrow/loot management. The mitflits get nicknamed 'the Misfits.' |
| [S2 · 00:00:47 · turn 0008 · scene 001] [S2 · 00:01:33 · turn 0017] | Pregame setup and recap of Session 1 Table sorts out streaming, Hero Forge minis, and Foundry/broadcast tooling. Players recap Session 1: they met at a tavern in Otari, took a quest, traveled to Gauntlight Keep, crossed the ruins' first building, killed a toad, and fought through rooms of mifflits, ending right after combat without searching the area. A melee PC's weapon was reflavored/upgraded between sessions, and the table jokes that the rogue keeps pocketing money. |
| [S2 · 00:11:22 · turn 0118 · scene 002] [S2 · 00:16:58 · turn 0187] | Interrogating the surrendered mifflits After the Mitflit fight, two survivors beg for their lives in Sakvroth (voiced by Venris and the GM). The party questions them about the area and their 'boss.' The mifflits say they were 'getting ready' on orders but were never told a plan. The party ties them up; one is killed after a shit-bag gag goes wrong (he chokes), and one is kept gagged as a prisoner. |
| [S2 · 00:19:41 · turn 0209 · scene 003] [S2 · 00:45:53 · turn 0476] [S2 · 00:46:02 · turn 0477] | Exploration: hidden alcove, blocked staircase, and the teleportation circle While Veve spends ~30 minutes regaining focus/spells, the others explore. They find a hidden alcove with strange scraping grooves, a rubble-buried staircase leading down that they can't access, and odd carvings in the floor. After several checks, the party identifies the carvings as a broken/inert teleportation circle whose silver and valuable materials were carved out. They also debate, out of character, how recent the magical battle that wrecked the walls was (Visigoth thinks recent, Venris thinks legendary/ancient). |
| [S2 · 00:57:25 · turn 0584 · scene 004] [S2 · 00:59:29 · turn 0599] [S2 · 01:32:25 · turn 0892] | The iron-stairs chamber and the blood ghost (haunt) Cid forces open a stuck steel door into a tall circular room with iron stairs winding up to a trapdoor in the ceiling ~100 feet above. A fresh-looking bloodstain marks the floor as if a human-sized creature recently bled to death. A ghastly female elf/half-elf ghost rises from the blood and acts twice in a surprise round, blasting the party with cold blue eye-beams and negative damage (Fortitude saves), draining blood and screaming. Veve's counter-performance and heals keep the party up; Visigoth (with a +3 exorcism background bonus) successfully exorcises the apparition. They learn it is only an image/remnant of the spirit and will return; Venris wipes the bloodstain away with water and a rag, and the blood vanishes into the stone cracks. |
| [S2 · 01:39:57 · turn 0971 · scene 005] [S2 · 01:49:08 · turn 1062] | First aid, watch order, and resting decision Drained and near half HP, the party decides to camp rather than trek back through the forest to Otari at night. They debate Rest mechanics (sleeping in armor causes fatigue; fatigued after 16 hours without rest). Visigoth treats wounds (more proficient than Veve), and the party heals up, removes armor to rest, and sets a watch order. An extended out-of-game break for minis/tooling fills part of this stretch. As they settle in, they hear scuttling and a door slamming closed nearby. |
| [S2 · 02:30:00 · turn 1381 · scene 006] [S2 · 02:32:26 · turn 1404] | Tracking the noises and the climb-and-flank gambit Investigating the noises, the party finds a large nest-like chamber on a bridge over the swamp, with rubble, sticks, and bones piled like foul nests. They hear more than three voices laughing, one deeper than the rest, and the laughing starts when the door opens. They plan a pincer: Cid and Visigoth stay at the door while Venris and Veve jump out and climb a ~15-foot wall to flank from above. A long, contentious sequence over climbing rules and how much in-game time passes ensues (grappling-hook fails, repeated athletics climb checks). Eventually both reach the top, the laughing mifflits spot Veve, she yells for the others, and initiative is rolled. |
| [S2 · 02:59:57 · turn 1666 · scene 007] [S2 · 03:24:27 · turn 1883] [S2 · 03:58:36 · turn 2216] | Boss fight: Skrawng's Mitflit warband and the spider-creature The party battles the crowned Mitflit 'king' boss (Skrawng) on his rubble throne, several Mitflit minions with darts/blowguns (some poisoned) and short swords, and a large non-spider spider-creature. Cid (rapier) demoralizes the boss (frightened 2) and, with Visigoth's guidance/snagging strike support, butchers the spider and multiple mifflits. Venris shoots from the unstable roof, falling prone at one point. Veve heals and casts Divine Lance/shield. The boss poisons targets with blow darts and even crit-fumbles a dart into his own ally. With his warband dead, the boss throws down his trident and surrenders. |
| [S2 · 04:13:07 · turn 2353 · scene 008] [S2 · 04:07:18 · turn 2300] [S2 · 04:30:07 · turn 2517] | Interrogating Skrawng, looting, and resting The party spares the surrendered boss, who names himself Skrawng (king of the mifflits). Loot from the warband: a trident (1 GP marshal melee weapon), Skrawng's blowgun and 7 blowgun darts (only 2 were poisoned), a mud-and-rock crown, plus ~8 darts and a short sword per Mitflit; the spider-creature carried nothing. Skrawng reveals key intel: ghosts in the dining room, a swamp/river 'dragon' (drake) under the boathouse that likely ate a group of big, sneaky people who arrived about a week ago; a pet creature named Buzz Buzz kept behind the stable; he avoids the top of the lighthouse (a big ghost there); and the mifflits were recently driven up from the dungeon level beneath Gauntlight by 'mushroom-eye people.' The party keeps the boss as a roped prisoner/tour guide, ties up the survivor, dumps the dead in the river, takes watches, and rests. Session ends; XP to be awarded next time. |
| [S3 · 00:00:54 · turn 0011 · scene 001] [S3 · 00:11:04 · turn 0072] | Pregame banter and recap Table chatter while waiting for the late player (D). The group recaps session 2: exploring the castle/Gauntlight, fighting a ghost in the lighthouse, capturing the snake-person leader of the 'mud lickers' as a prisoner, and resting overnight. The GM mentions setting up a GM screen for faster Pathfinder 2e rules access and notes Foundry/Pathbuilder inventory bugs that reverted some character data. |
| [S3 · 00:25:11 · turn 0191 · scene 002] [S3 · 00:33:55 · turn 0267] [S3 · 00:38:24 · turn 0302] | Interrogating the captured boss The party questions their snake-person prisoner ('boss' of the people opposed to the mushroom-eyed folk). He demands they kill all the 'mushroom eye' people and bring him the king's head in exchange for treasure. Through intimidation (Veve) and coercion, he is pressured to draw rough maps of both the surface and the dungeon. He warns of threats: Buzz Buzz (a fly/bug monster) in the NE, Sting Sting (a big stinger pet locked behind a collapsed door), a swamp/salt dragon under the ruined boathouse, ghosts in the dining room, and a sneaky boatload of big people seen a week ago. He marks a way down behind a cabinet near the lighthouse. The party frees him and leaves to check the lighthouse lights first. |
| [S3 · 00:51:01 · turn 0411 · scene 003] [S3 · 00:57:41 · turn 0481] | The bloodstain room and the boathouse The party cautiously opens the room where they previously fought a ghost and finds the magical bloodstain has returned. Venris wipes it up with his bedroll (ruining it) and they discard it. Peeking out the open door into the collapsed boathouse, Venris spots and retrieves a discarded bedroll and notices a recently-used smoldering campfire and a rowboat, suggesting sneaky intruders may still be in the area. They decide to head to the lighthouse stairs. |
| [S3 · 01:02:18 · turn 0528 · scene 004] [S3 · 01:13:00 · turn 0632] | The locked lighthouse trapdoor Climbing the lighthouse stairs, the party reaches a locked metal trapdoor in the ceiling. Venris repeatedly fails to pick the lock, breaking his thieves' tools picks twice even with aid and Veve's guidance. The GM rules the lock is unusually complex (four chambers instead of two). Cid repairs the picks with a crafting check. The party concludes the lock is beyond Venris's current skill and decides a key must exist somewhere; they resolve to keep exploring for another way up. |
| [S3 · 01:21:15 · turn 0697 · scene 005] [S3 · 01:25:33 · turn 0735] [S3 · 01:29:47 · turn 0772] | The rotted office: vials and the hidden stairs In a decayed office room (rotted books, desk, chair), Venris searches a drawer and finds three alchemical items: a glass vial wrapped in inscribed leaflets (common and Elven jumbled words), a metal receptacle with clear rosy liquid (identified via Medicine as a minor elixir of life), and a thick glass vial of clear bubbly liquid. Visigoth/Abyss reasons the inscribed one is likely a potion of tongues/languages but cannot confirm. The third remains unidentified pending an alchemist kit. Venris then finds and opens a hidden staircase leading down into the dungeon by pulling a book on a shelf. |
| [S3 · 01:35:53 · turn 0825 · scene 006] [S3 · 01:37:18 · turn 0837] | Devotion room, keys, magic weapons, and the hidden chapel door Deciding not to descend yet, the party explores a triangular devotion room with rotted armor and tapestries. Venris finds a rusted ring of six iron keys (pocketed sneakily; only Abyss notices) and discovers a hidden wooden door behind a fallen tapestry, leading toward the previously-seen ghost room. The GM clarifies it is a double-walled door arrangement. A player (D, Danny) crashes/disconnects; the table takes a 15-minute break. |
| [S3 · 01:58:38 · turn 0891 · scene 007] | Break and reconnection Roughly fifteen-minute break while player D (Danny) reconnects after a disconnect (Foundry/Tailspire/Discord dropped). The GM hands out a hero point to everyone for Danny coming back. The GM reports he now has a battlemap prepared for going downstairs. |
| [S3 · 02:02:51 · turn 0919 · scene 008] [S3 · 02:09:36 · turn 0970] [S3 · 02:21:46 · turn 1072] | Entering the chapel of Nimbaloth Past two doors, the party enters a large, cold chapel: condensed water on walls carved with countless skulls, a smoldering human corpse wedged in a wall crack, three short flights of steps to a white-stone altar, and four 20-foot stained-glass windows depicting ghosts rising toward a four-pointed orange star. Venris loots a pinned-up thief's corpse (rapier, four daggers, a silver ring) and equips the +1 Mulan Rapier upgrade. Visigoth detects magic from the altar and corpses and feels a nagging, can't-quite-recall sense of dread. Two corpse-light ghosts rise from the bodies and combat begins. |
| [S3 · 02:39:29 · turn 1221 · scene 009] [S3 · 02:54:07 · turn 1363] [S3 · 03:28:52 · turn 1727] | Combat: the corpse lights and the zombie thief Initiative is rolled (Cid first at 21). The corpse lights are weak in sunlight (becoming stunned and clumsy when exposed). Cid grapples and crushes the first ghost with crits from the Mulan Rapier. Venris critically fumbles, stabbing himself for double damage and dropping to dying; Visigoth heals him via a divine burst (back to 4 HP, wounded 2). A third corpse light reanimates a thief's body into a zombie thief, which casts a void/death-light cone that frightens the party. Veve supports with Soothe, shield, courageous anthem, telekinetic projectile (mostly missing), and counter-performance to negate fear. The party flanks, shoves the zombie into sunlight, and Venris finally finishes it; the remaining wisp is slapped/destroyed at Visigoth's insistence. |
| [S3 · 03:31:45 · turn 1755 · scene 010] [S3 · 03:53:22 · turn 1951] | Post-combat looting and the amulet Veve heals the party (including a critical Medicine success). Cid finds a gold, purple-gem-encrusted amulet on a silk cord, later identified as a Channel Protection Amulet (resistance vs harm spells); he keeps it, holding it suspiciously in-hand and palming a pickpocket attempt by Venris. Visigoth/Abyss repeatedly rolls Religion to recall the chapel's significance and remains unable to place it. Veve refocuses; downtime healing is performed over multiple ten-minute intervals. |
| [S3 · 04:08:49 · turn 2073 · scene 011] [S3 · 04:13:42 · turn 2123] | Identifying Nimbaloth and the altar nook loot After an in-game hour of searching, Venris finds a hidden nook behind the altar containing a 1st-level wand of heal and an unidentified scroll. Visigoth finally succeeds (with guidance) on a Religion check and recognizes the chapel as a shrine to Nimbaloth, the Empty Death, a reclusive outer god who devours souls so they have no afterlife or resurrection, whose edicts involve creating incorporeal undead. He declares the room a disgrace and urges the party to leave. The party hears scuffling behind a locked door (a Sphinx-thing / the buzzing Buzz Buzz area). |
| [S3 · 04:22:55 · turn 2207 · scene 012] [S3 · 04:40:16 · turn 2297] [S3 · 04:51:00 · turn 2382] | Unlocking the trapdoor and the caged lantern chamber Venris reveals (and clumsily exposes, failing a Deception roll when he dropped the keys) the ring of keys; one bronze key bears a lighthouse engraving and another a book. Using the lighthouse key, the party unlocks the iron trapdoor and ascends into a circular caged chamber ringed with black metal bars and shimmering force, containing a faintly magical lantern (the Gauntlight's source) and another still, non-dripping bloodstain haunt near a bedroll. Buzz Buzz is seen flying nearby. With it being midday the haunt is dormant; the party debates returning at night versus exploring the dungeon below, leaning toward going down. Session ends with friendly wrap-up. |
| [S4 · 00:00:14 · turn 0004 · scene 001] [S4 · 00:02:08 · turn 0020] [S4 · 00:05:26 · turn 0045] [S4 · 00:08:11 · turn 0067] | Abbas alone at the graveyard: the dead start to rise Abbas, a Pharasma cleric, is alone near the Otari graveyard as undead begin to rise from the graves. He takes a cautious, calculated approach rather than charging in. He throws a Divine Lance and destroys a rising skeleton. Most of the undead are not interested in him; instead they stream toward the cliff edge near the library and plummet over the precipice to their (re-)deaths. The whole town can see the commotion, with torches and guards mobilizing. A brief flash of bright yellow light appears at the end of the path. |
| [S4 · 00:08:47 · turn 0072 · scene 002] [S4 · 00:10:15 · turn 0082] [S4 · 00:13:47 · turn 0118] [S4 · 00:14:29 · turn 0123] | The rest of the party races up the path Cid and Venerus (also rendered Venice/Venerance/Venero) spot the rising figures from town and rush toward the graveyard to protect the villagers, drawing weapons. They move through and around the library and find piles of broken skeletons and zombies that re-die when they hit the ground. Guards mobilize behind them. The party catches up to Abbas. Guards urge the group onward and begin erecting barriers to keep the dead from coming down the path. Abbas confirms the divine light they saw was his. |
| [S4 · 00:16:22 · turn 0140 · scene 003] [S4 · 00:16:38 · turn 0141] [S4 · 00:17:25 · turn 0152] | Initiative: the graveyard clash begins The GM calls for initiative as the remaining undead turn toward the party instead of jumping off the cliff. A blue/divine light reveals the field. Veve is still en route (getting ready / putting shoes on), so she joins the fight late. Initiative order is established (Abbas 16, Cid 12, Venerus/Venero 10). A side discussion about real-world time constraints frames whether to start the encounter now or push it to next session; they choose to start. |
| [S4 · 00:22:39 · turn 0196 · scene 004] [S4 · 00:24:12 · turn 0212] [S4 · 00:27:49 · turn 0241] [S4 · 00:35:00 · turn 0307] | Mowing down the undead The party tears through waves of zombies and skeletons. Abbas crits a zombie with Divine Lance (27 vs AC). A rules discussion clarifies that Pharasma grants no sanctification, so Divine Lance deals no holy weakness damage here, though heal effects would trigger a target's vitality weakness. Venerus learns that zombies fall apart to slashing (they resist piercing) and crits one in half with his rapier. A skeleton appears wielding a crossbow, prompting jokes about an 'ancestral crossbow' it was buried with. Venerus drops several undead; Abbas crits another with Divine Lance plus a weakness-5 hit. Guards stand by enjoying the show. |
| [S4 · 00:35:44 · turn 0316 · scene 005] [S4 · 00:39:57 · turn 0363] [S4 · 00:42:33 · turn 0391] | Veve joins the fray Veve finally arrives ('It's been forty years') after stopping for food, and rolls into initiative. She tries throwing a barricade at a skeleton (fails, it gets stuck), then shoots it cleanly with a regular arrow, knocking its head off mid-melee to the party's mock-horror about firing into the fray. The fight winds down: a skeleton crit-fails an attack and shatters its own hands on Venerus; Venerus and Veve keep landing hits while Abbas blasts holes through zombies with Divine Lance. |
| [S4 · 00:44:08 · turn 0403 · scene 006] [S4 · 00:46:19 · turn 0424] [S4 · 00:47:03 · turn 0431] [S4 · 00:47:33 · turn 0437] | Victory, and a mysterious beam Cid and Abbas finish the last undead. The party regroups; almost no one was hit (Abbas took a single hit). Guards praise the adventurers and suggest burning the bodies down below. As the group starts to walk off, a beam of light suddenly focuses on a spot near them, tracing a line across the ground, and everyone freezes. The session ends on this cliffhanger, to be picked up next time. |
| [S5 · 00:00:11 · turn 0001 · scene 001] | Pregame table chatter Players catch up before the game: late-night driving stories, a friend's forgotten phone, general banter. No game content. |
| [S5 · 00:01:55 · turn 0015 · scene 002] [S5 · 00:11:35 · turn 0080] | Recap of Session 4 Speaker B delivers an in-character recap of the previous session: descending from the lighthouse/keep, fighting Buzzy Buzz and maggots, Cid getting grabbed and nearly killed by a maggot, leaving the heap, spotting Nimbaloth cultists, returning to Otari to shop (alchemist's toolkit, identifying potions), the failed seduction of the sexist blacksmith who bonded with Cid instead, lodging arrangements, and finally the cemetery undead attack where zombies and skeletons fell behind the library. The recap ends as the party levels up to level 5 and a bright light from Gauntlight focuses on them. |
| [S5 · 00:12:04 · turn 0084 · scene 003] [S5 · 00:19:55 · turn 0161] | The blinding light and the teleported quill-spider The Gauntlight beam intensifies and blinds the party (one perception fumble jokingly explained as a bug in the eye). A large green spiny spider-like creature is teleported into the graveyard and immediately launches quills at Venris. Initiative starts and the new fight begins in near-total darkness, with only the dark-vision characters able to see. |
| [S5 · 00:22:07 · turn 0187 · scene 004] [S5 · 00:28:44 · turn 0246] [S5 · 01:00:34 · turn 0541] [S5 · 01:13:06 · turn 0682] | Fighting the quill-spider in the dark Extended combat against the toxic-oil quill-spider. Cid grapples it (slick/oily, hard to hold); the creature speaks Undercommon/Sakvroth, says it was sent to feed, and taunts 'You tools are nothing against me, die.' It sprays acid/poison oil cones, nearly one-shots Venris (down to 1 HP after a 20-damage bite). Venris, scared, runs for the barricade; Veve fails to physically stop him. The GM makes several rulings (checking monster HP, sustaining the light spell, movement/flanking). Eventually Venris lands the killing blow (resolved with a hero-point/cinematic reroll narration) and the spider is obliterated. Venris ends prone at 1 HP. |
| [S5 · 01:16:24 · turn 0727 · scene 005] [S5 · 01:17:52 · turn 0738] | Aftermath: looting the spider and the cleared graveyard The graveyard is cleared; the Gauntlight beam dims but is not fully off. The party determines (via knowledge checks) that the spider was teleported in while the zombies/skeletons were reanimated locally. Venris spends ten minutes trying to extract the spider's poison but fails a crafting check (vials too thin, oil too slick). Visigoth has already left for the library. The skeletons carry no loot. The party heads to report to Rin / the library. |
| [S5 · 01:24:15 · turn 0804 · scene 006] [S5 · 01:53:30 · turn 0882] [S5 · 01:57:13 · turn 0911] [S5 · 01:58:15 · turn 0919] | The library, the mayor, and the town's plea At the library the party meets the mayor (heard as Menhem/Mandhem) and frightened townsfolk. Rin is vindicated ('I told you guys, I wasn't crazy'). The town and mayor formally hire the party to descend below the keep, find the source, and stop it, offering 50 gold apiece. Venris tries to negotiate 50% up front; the half-folk library girl (who seems to know him) tells him off but, after he points to his wounds, begrudgingly heals the party. The tavern barkeep separately asks them to find a missing group of her employees who went to the keep and never returned, offering another 50 gold total. The mayor offers the party lodging at his manor. Includes an extended out-of-game break. |
| [S5 · 02:08:03 · turn 1009 · scene 007] [S5 · 02:08:31 · turn 1012] [S5 · 02:21:00 · turn 1128] [S5 · 02:27:48 · turn 1196] | Rest, library research, and morning shopping The party takes a long rest. Visigoth/Abbas researches the library, learning the Rose Guard founded Otari after slaying the evil Belcorra (they came from Absalom), but finds no mention of any basement or way down. In the morning the party shops: Venris buys a signal whistle, crowbar, and a writing set (to copy maps), then visits the weapon-shop blacksmith ('Carman / Blades for Gladys', Cid's would-be boyfriend) and buys a wakizashi (a 'weeb' weapon). Veve performs music to little appreciation. Visigoth revisits Yasmer to ask about her missing employees. The party reconvenes with Rin, who warns of mushroom-folk and the poultice creatures and hopes they find Belcorra's resting place below the cupola. |
| [S5 · 02:32:43 · turn 1229 · scene 008] [S5 · 02:50:30 · turn 1391] [S5 · 02:55:34 · turn 1445] | Back to the keep: Boss Crog and the copied map The party returns to the keep. The bodies they previously left have been cleared away (a clue). They find Boss Crog (the mitflit leader) and his surviving buddy in the back room; the floor map they had relied on has been scuffed/cleaned away. Boss Crog dislikes Venris and refuses him, and intimidation rolls fail. Visigoth/Abbas, the 'reasonable one' the boss likes, negotiates a fresh copy of the map (takes ten minutes; they end up with two copies). Meanwhile Venris scouts ahead and finds two hooded Nimbaloth cultists praying at an altar, with the looted thief's body laid on the altar and a flail at their side. |
| [S5 · 03:02:31 · turn 1529 · scene 009] [S5 · 03:09:28 · turn 1601] [S5 · 03:34:25 · turn 1837] [S5 · 03:49:13 · turn 1947] | Combat: the Nimbaloth poser cultists at the altar The party engages the two hooded cultists. A rules discussion establishes there are no surprise rounds; they roll stealth for initiative, and the cultists are not off-guard (they noticed the party but kept praying). Venris opens with arrows, then closes with rapier/wakizashi; Cid grapples and snags; Visigoth/Abbas uses divine lance; Veve keeps missing arrows (breaking windows) and gives guidance. The cultists cast weak harm, divine lance, grim tendrils, and bless for minor void damage; one taunts 'Asma is nothing compared to our lady.' Both cultists die, one impaled through the skull by Venris's wakizashi. Post-fight, the cultists are revealed as posers/fakes (not real Nimbaloth initiates) who were uselessly casting harm on the dead thief. |
| [S5 · 03:48:24 · turn 1939 · scene 010] [S5 · 03:52:47 · turn 1982] | Looting the cultists and healing/bleed cleanup The party loots the cultist bodies: flails, daggers, and leather armor. A messy bleed/treat-wounds sequence plays out (Venris has persistent bleed; Veve heals him but a misordered first-aid/treat-wounds attempt and a natural 1 cause confusion). The bleed is eventually stopped. Venris hands the healing wand to Visigoth/Abbas, the only one trained to use it; Venris and Veve both fail to learn to use it. |
| [S5 · 03:55:57 · turn 2012 · scene 011] [S5 · 04:20:01 · turn 2201] [S5 · 04:27:23 · turn 2265] [S5 · 04:36:45 · turn 2349] | Descending the lower levels and chasing the green light The party decides to go downstairs rather than check the boats. Using the copied map (shared via Discord), they descend past Belcorra's office into a new dungeon level, finding empty/decrepit rooms, a hidden pivoting passage revealed by a chair pushed against a wall, and a vaulted hallway with broken metal brackets. In a washroom Venris reads glowing common words on the wall: 'I was Otari... Save me from below!', which transform into a green ribbon of light that slithers off at 20 ft speed. Venris obsessively chases the light deeper and deeper, ignoring warning signs (a rising horned skeleton that Abbas narrowly outruns, the magical green light, and finally a room of magical white mist that Venris walks straight into). The session ends on a cliffhanger as Venris enters the misty room and Abbas's eyes widen in alarm. |
| [S5 · 04:39:10 · turn 2369 · scene 012] [S5 · 04:43:21 · turn 2404] | Postgame wrap-up and scheduling Out-of-game debrief: the table reflects that combat now flows well but exploration is still finding its feet, and that the town roleplay improved after the break. They discuss starting earlier next week (possibly 9 instead of 10) and the GM jokingly tells everyone to 'have a new character ready' given the cliffhanger. |
| [S6 · 00:00:04 · turn 0001 · scene 001] [S6 · 00:01:49 · turn 0012] [S6 · 00:04:58 · turn 0031] | Recap: Returning to the Keep and Chasing the Green Light A player-narrated recap of the prior session: the party returned to town, met the mayor and assembled townsfolk who asked them to go back and investigate the source of magic (Elthora/'El Thora') beneath the keep. They descended a level, found a green light behind a door with a message on the wall, and chased the fleeing light 'like a cat chasing a laser pointer' through doors, ignoring a room of bomb remains, until a hidden door let them skip down a level. A mist surrounded a character as they reached the next room. The party is still level 2. |
| [S6 · 00:09:56 · turn 0065 · scene 002] [S6 · 00:11:14 · turn 0081] [S6 · 01:35:06 · turn 0966] [S6 · 01:36:38 · turn 0987] | Combat: The Mist Stalker in the Fog Room The magical mist surrounding Venris solidifies into a giant tentacled eye-creature (later identified as a mist stalker, a corrupted water elemental) and combat begins. The whole room is filled with concealing mist, forcing flat DC 5 checks to attack. The creature repeatedly grabs, immobilizes, and constricts the party, dropping Venris and Cid to dying multiple times. The party burns through many hero points on failed rolls. Veve/BB keeps the front line alive with healing songs and fast healing; Abbas supports with Bless and Forbidding Ward. After a long, brutal grind the party finally kills the lone mist stalker. They afterward learn wind could have dispersed the fog, and that the creature was far above their level ('we shouldn't be here'). |
| [S6 · 01:48:01 · turn 1099 · scene 003] [S6 · 01:49:24 · turn 1108] [S6 · 01:49:30 · turn 1110] | Aftermath and Healing: Looting the Supply Cache Exhausted and battered, the party recovers over several ten-minute exploration intervals using Treat Wounds, Battle Medicine, and focus-point recovery, while debating whether to retreat. Searching the room, Venris finds a hidden emergency supply cache behind a sliding stone wall containing two lesser healing potions and an unidentified greenish-yellow liquid (later identified as an oak / oaken-resilience potion). Cid drinks a potion. The party decides to head back upstairs toward the previous floor and the boats. |
| [S6 · 01:58:39 · turn 1201 · scene 004] [S6 · 02:00:31 · turn 1219] [S6 · 02:06:50 · turn 1287] | Exploration: The Hazard Mound, the Boats, and the Forming Skeleton Climbing back up, the party rediscovers the stairs they came down, plus a nasty steaming biological mound (harmful mold hazard) blocking one route, a cavern with boats / a pilot ship, and a doorway where a giant horned skeleton was forming. Abbas recall-knowledges the mound as harmful mold removable only by someone trained in Survival. Veve (the self-styled 'Poop Mancer') tries to slip past the mound, takes ~10 damage and retreats. With the mound impassable and the forming skeleton cutting off their escape route, the party decides to fight the skeleton. |
| [S6 · 02:13:33 · turn 1366 · scene 005] [S6 · 02:17:23 · turn 1404] [S6 · 02:41:37 · turn 1652] | Combat: The Skeletal Giant with the Glaive The party opens the door to a room of ruined furniture and large bones; Veve telekinetically grabs a bone, which finishes assembling a skeletal giant (mindless undead with a glaive, half-plate, and horns). Cid critically disarms it with a Snagging Strike, dropping its glaive. The giant fights with horns/charge and a phantom 'broad swipe' (still acting as if it holds the glaive). The party grinds it down; Veve finishes it by telekinetically shattering a wooden chair into it. They loot the giant's half-plate (good condition) and recover the glaive. |
| [S6 · 02:56:13 · turn 1788 · scene 006] [S6 · 03:04:58 · turn 1873] [S6 · 03:10:11 · turn 1928] [S6 · 03:13:34 · turn 1956] | Exploration: Mapping the Vaults, Torture Chamber, and the Collapsing Nimbaloth Shrine The party explores further, hearing distant sloshing water (suspected swamp/dragon area) and a faint crackle of fire-and-water behind a door. They try to align their in-game map with the keep's lighthouse and conclude this dungeon level does not match their existing map. Venris uses a brass ear to listen through doors. They find and clear a torture chamber (rack, tongs, chains, whips), and a rusted ring that opens a hidden passage. Beyond a secret door is a circular room with a mossy Nimbaloth skull symbol on the eastern wall; the party smashes the magical idol, which collapses the room's floor into a ~30-foot brick pit/tunnel with a door at the bottom. Past another door they glimpse a circular room with a coiling pale-blue light-ribbon and the desiccated remains of an enormous worm apparently being reanimated — they slam the door shut. They deduce this circular room sits directly below the lighthouse. |
| [S6 · 03:20:28 · turn 2014 · scene 007] [S6 · 03:24:02 · turn 2055] [S6 · 03:47:06 · turn 2289] | Combat: Ambushing the Morlocks in the Hall Investigating a snarl from the direction they came, the party spots pale gray, mushroom-eyed humanoids (morlocks) carrying clubs. Venris uses his Surprise Attack for the first time, sneaking up and critically hitting/bloodying one before they fully react. The morlocks speak among themselves ('I told you they were here'). The party drops and chases the fleeing, nearly-dead morlocks; Veve tries hooking one with a chain/rake taken from the torture room. Venris switches to a shortbow to finish a runner with a headshot. The session ends mid-cleanup, with the party agreeing to loot the corpses (only clubs and tattered clothes) and resume next time. |
| [S7 · 00:00:30 · turn 0007 · scene 001] [S7 · 00:02:53 · turn 0023] | Recap of last session A player recaps the prior session: killing a worm-like elemental in the fog (with Venerus nearly dying), clearing rooms of mold and animated skeletal remains, discovering a secret room with a teleportation glyph/worm carcass, and encountering the Morlock ('mushroom') people, one of whom was sniped while fleeing. |
| [S7 · 00:12:12 · turn 0127 · scene 002] [S7 · 00:15:42 · turn 0159] | Healing up and returning to the teleportation room The party rests, heals (Abbas/Veve soothes and treats wounds), and returns to the circular teleportation room with the giant worm carcass and a ribbon of pale blue light. Cid investigates the corpse, digging out a +1 warhammer from a skeleton inside, but triggers the bursting light hazard, taking damage on failed reflex saves. They confirm the worm is dead and the magic is too strong to identify. |
| [S7 · 00:22:43 · turn 0228 · scene 003] [S7 · 00:44:24 · turn 0444] [S7 · 00:54:42 · turn 0538] | Shadow ambush in the sarcophagus hall Venerus opens the double doors into a narrow hall lined with alcoves/sarcophagi and is ambushed by Shadows that rip pieces of his shadow away (enfeebled). The fight is brutal: Venerus drops to dying 2 from a crit and is dragged to safety by Veve/Abbas. The shadows hide in the alcoves and recoil from the magical light spell. The party learns the shadows ignore torch/fire but are weakened by magical light and damaged by healing magic. |
| [S7 · 01:11:39 · turn 0699 · scene 004] [S7 · 01:50:01 · turn 1086] [S7 · 01:56:31 · turn 1150] | Regrouping, investigating the shadows, and a long rest Out of initiative, the party debates how to handle the shadows, treats wounds (Venerus stays wounded after a failed treat-wounds), and has a long rules discussion about Battle Medicine in/out of combat. They decide the circular worm room is safe (pristine immaculate walls), take watches, and complete a long rest. Enfeebled ends after a couple hours. A real-life break is taken and a late player returns. |
| [S7 · 01:41:08 · turn 1008 · scene 005] [S7 · 01:33:24 · turn 0923] | Second shadow encounter and clearing the hall After the rest the party re-enters the sarcophagus hall with everyone carrying a light, prepared to use healing magic against the shadows. They fight and dissipate the shadows (healing magic destroys them on contact), confirm the dead shadow spoke Necril, and finally clear the corridor. They learn the shadows are non-magical creatures shaped like a person, recoiling from magical light, not afraid of fire. |
| [S7 · 02:25:05 · turn 1349 · scene 006] [S7 · 02:28:49 · turn 1383] | The improvised shrine and the dead rogue Venerus finds a lever; pulling it opens a wall in a former kitchen rebuilt as an improvised shrine to a violent deity (a bone idol decorated with mud and blood). Below the shrine the party loots a crimson bloodstone, a magical glowing rune stone, and a magical obsidian gem. A stabbed, throat-slit human corpse with a bird tattoo is identified as a member of the rogue/thief group sent by Yinyz Mara (the questgiver), who bore the same tattoo. The body is days (under a week) old. Sarcophagi are all empty. |
| [S7 · 03:25:14 · turn 1922 · scene 007] [S7 · 03:25:34 · turn 1925] | Morlock cell ambush While Cid struggles fruitlessly to pry open sealed sarcophagi (with the contractual crowbar) and a door leading downstairs is opened, four Morlocks ambush the party from cells, screaming about sacrificing intruders to 'the Ghost Queen'. A long fight: Veve/Abbas is stabbed repeatedly, daggers fly, and the party grinds the Morlocks down one by one (thrown-arrow crit, warhammer skull-crush, a Morlock hurling its weapon at allies). The party prevails but takes heavy damage, then heals. |
| [S7 · 03:51:34 · turn 2187 · scene 008] [S7 · 04:01:21 · turn 2276] | Exploring down: silver room, swamp cavern, and a river drake The party descends and explores: a non-magical octagonal silver-metal/rune chamber (a deactivated teleportation-style room they cannot operate), a flooded swampy cavern with ruined rafts and rope/pulley remnants and signs of a large serpentine creature, and a wet tunnel. Cid identifies the sleeping creature as a River Drake (a Drake, not a true dragon; ~level 3-5). They scout further and find a second Morlock throne room. |
| [S7 · 04:27:44 · turn 2512 · scene 009] [S7 · 04:28:32 · turn 2518] | Audience with Graugus, King of the Ghost Queen's Morlocks In a throne room (mattress 'throne', bones, an attendant), the Morlock leader Graugus, King of the Ghost Queen Warlocks/Morlocks, parleys (in Necril/Sakroth, with Venerus translating). After a botched sneak attack, Graugus offers a choice: become a sacrifice, or prove worth by slaying the river monster and bringing him its head. The party agrees, planning to kill the drake then return for information and to eliminate him. Graugus is perceived as lying about controlling the drake and warns this is not the entirety of the Ghost Queen's Morlocks. |
| [S7 · 04:50:35 · turn 2720 · scene 010] [S7 · 05:09:33 · turn 2909] | Slaying the River Drake The party lures the sleeping river drake out by throwing a thunderstone/lightning item into the mud. The drake's acid breath (10-ft burst, persistent acid) catches most of the party; Cid is knocked unconscious by a critical tail lash. Using Runic Weapon (cast for the first time on Cid), bow fire that keeps the drake off-guard, sneak attacks, and a thrown-arrow projectile, the party kills the river drake. Venerus lands the final head shot. |
| [S7 · 05:22:59 · turn 3038 · scene 011] [S7 · 05:41:29 · turn 3231] | Rat swarm and the drake's treasure After healing, a rat swarm ambushes the party; Abbas's Concordian Choir and Venerus's skewering crit wipe them out. The party builds a raft from drake parts and scrap to cross the deep water, and Cid dives to recover a sealed sea chest. Inside: a pile of gold (36 gp, ~9 each), a bronze serpent rod, a bluish-purple wand (a Wand of Fear, claimed by Abbas/Veve), and an ornate compass with a slot. Items are partially identified. |
| [S7 · 05:45:13 · turn 3269 · scene 012] [S7 · 05:49:40 · turn 3315] | Identifying loot and wrapping up Walking back toward the Morlock king's room, the party identifies items: the obsidian gem is a fear-related talisman; the rune stone is a Battle Medicine boost talisman (lets the holder use Treat Wounds as Battle Medicine, 1-hour cooldown); the crimson bloodstone is a valuable gem; the compass is unidentified; and one rod casts a toggleable Light spell. Cid swipes the light item. They split gold (9 gp each) and end the session with the dragon's head in hand, several items still unidentified, before re-entering Graugus's room. |
| [S8 · 00:00:11 · turn 0003 · scene 001] [S8 · 00:04:04 · turn 0029] [S8 · 00:05:31 · turn 0041] | Recap of Session 7 Speaker B recaps the previous session: exploring the big room under the lighthouse, fighting morlocks, shadow creatures that stole the party's shadows and made clones, prying open sarcophagi/coffins (making noise), encountering a morlock leader who negotiated a truce and tasked the party with killing a drake/river dragon, then slaying the dragon and recovering its treasure. The party was about to deliver the dragon's head to the morlock leader. The GM's music intro interrupted the recap. |
| [S8 · 00:08:57 · turn 0069 · scene 002] [S8 · 00:11:10 · turn 0089] [S8 · 00:10:11 · turn 0082] | Delivering the Dragon's Head; Dubbed Lackeys of the Ghost Queen The party returns to the morlock leader's throne room and presents the drake's head. The leader accepts the trophy and 'dubs' the party Lackeys of the Ghost Queen (the party self-styles as 'emissaries of the Ghost Queen'). He begins a guided tour of morlock territory, starting through a decorated hall and a trapped room (Venris notes he could disarm the traps). Two morlocks fiddle with a clockwork device worth a bit of gold. |
| [S8 · 00:17:41 · turn 0154 · scene 003] [S8 · 00:19:55 · turn 0176] [S8 · 00:25:46 · turn 0222] [S8 · 00:28:51 · turn 0247] | Tour of Morlock Territory and Ghost Queen Lore The morlock leader (named when the party angers him: Siddharth Malvin / 'Cid Malvin') walks the party room-to-room through filthy trash-strewn halls. He shares lore about the Ghost Queen: she is the morlocks' god who rules the vaults; they came up from deeper floors; they feed her bodies/flesh as offerings so she can 'come back to flesh.' He warns the party not to speak her name and rails against the 'heretic ghouls' from below (the Cult of the Canker). He points out the shrine, the prison (barred door), and stairs down to a library where the ghouls are. The party plays along as loyal lackeys while privately planning betrayal. |
| [S8 · 00:35:20 · turn 0309 · scene 004] [S8 · 00:43:32 · turn 0381] [S8 · 00:44:52 · turn 0392] | Planning the Betrayal Out of the leader's earshot, the party debates next steps. They confirm the prisoners are the captured friends of the tavern lady (people from Otari with a guild tattoo) being saved as sacrifices. They decide to turn on the morlocks, isolating and killing them in groups, and to free/arm the prisoners. Venris sets caltrops and a spike snare near the tinkers' double doors. Cid proposes disguising Venris as a prisoner so they can approach the tinker morlocks under pretense; Venris dons a wig, fake mustache and spirit gum from his disguise kit. |
| [S8 · 00:46:48 · turn 0414 · scene 005] [S8 · 00:49:47 · turn 0441] [S8 · 01:07:02 · turn 0586] [S8 · 01:08:12 · turn 0599] | Combat: The Tinker Morlocks and Makeshift Ballistas Cid escorts the disguised Venris toward the tinkers, claiming the boss sent a sacrifice. One tinker morlock recognizes Venris as 'the elf' and grabs a makeshift ballista/projectile launcher, firing handfuls of junk for heavy damage. Combat breaks out: Abbas joins through the door (debate over initiative timing/door opening). The morlocks wield oversized non-standard weapons and war hammers and are surprisingly sturdy (walking on walls). Cid uses snagging strike, exacting strike and a hero point (crit); Venris uses sneak attacks and the 'Zoro' rapier flourish; Abbas casts divine lance ('divine lens'). Both tinker morlocks are killed. |
| [S8 · 01:11:19 · turn 0637 · scene 006] [S8 · 01:17:30 · turn 0702] [S8 · 01:22:08 · turn 0753] | Looting the Engineer Room and Freeing the Prisoners After the fight the party loots the room (two war hammers, two makeshift projectile launchers - too broken/shoddy to be worth taking, eight handfuls of junk; Venris drags a corpse onto a caltrop). They open the barred door to the prison and free three starving prisoners marked with the Osprey Club tattoo. Inside the prison/well room they find three suits of studded leather armor, two rapiers + one broken rapier, a lesser healing potion, and 13 GP. Venris arms the prisoners (a dwarf, a halfling and a human) and re-sets the caltrop/snare traps. The party learns a fourth member of the prisoners' group is dead. |
| [S8 · 01:25:25 · turn 0792 · scene 007] [S8 · 01:29:03 · turn 0844] [S8 · 01:32:26 · turn 0878] | Escaping the Vaults; Fetching Veve The party escorts the freed prisoners out of the vaults. Venris splits off to retrieve Veve (V V), who had been left (AFK player) near the teleportation room before the river drake cave; he sneaks back through the dungeon, avoiding notice, and recovers her. The GM notes he went back for Veve because he misremembered her location and worried the morlocks would find the corpses and then her. The party reunites and exits to the surface. |
| [S8 · 01:59:32 · turn 0952 · scene 008] [S8 · 02:01:51 · turn 0967] | Journey Back to Otari; The Wandering Stranger On the road back to Otari the party passes a strange wandering figure with a big backpack 'like the Majora's Mask hat seller' (and a long real-time break while the GM looked things up). They ignore him. The prisoners recount how their group (the Osprey Club) came down through the pier seeking loot, ran into morlocks and a river drake, and got captured. The party debates whether to tell the survivors about their dead companion. They escort everyone to the tavern in Otari. |
| [S8 · 02:05:10 · turn 1000 · scene 009] [S8 · 02:05:21 · turn 1003] [S8 · 02:14:08 · turn 1094] | The Tavern Lady, the Osprey Club, and the 50 Gold Reward The party delivers the freed prisoners to the tavern lady in Otari, who is grateful. She rewards the party the agreed 50 gold and reveals the rescued group is the Osprey Club, a low-tier Otari thieves' guild / fences. She offers future work and lets the party stay the night free. Venris shows her his sorted loot (a crimson red bloodstone, a runestone, a sickly obsidian gem, an ornate compass). She identifies the bloodstone (sells it for 15 gold), the runestone (a +1 weapon potency 'potential' rune, found on the altar base), and the ornate compass as a Pathfinder Society wayfinder. |
| [S8 · 02:22:45 · turn 1182 · scene 010] [S8 · 02:42:50 · turn 1358] [S8 · 02:59:48 · turn 1485] | Downtime: Shopping, Crafting, and Identifying Items Over a long rest and a day (or two) of downtime in Otari the party shops and crafts. Venris sells his half-plate, transfers his weapon potency rune to his short bow, then later buys a kukri and transfers a +1 rune to it (selling the rapier) so he gains an agile weapon. Cid commissions a cold-iron +1 rapier with backswing from the blacksmith (44 gp, partly funded by selling a +1 war hammer and a small loan from Venris, 'with interest'). Abbas sells a comprehension elixir and a skeptic's elixir to Rin and consults her about the unidentified items: the sickly obsidian gem is identified as a Fear Gem. The wayfinder is given to Cid. Quest gold (12 gp each, plus split bloodstone money) is distributed. |
| [S8 · 02:49:48 · turn 1409 · scene 011] [S8 · 02:52:58 · turn 1432] [S8 · 03:07:18 · turn 1540] | Otari History and Rin Reads the Stars Cid visits the Odd Stories bookshop (run by a red-haired bespectacled keeper) to research Otari and the Gauntlight keep: the Rose Guard, led by figures from Absalom, came to investigate the keep over rumors of a dark magician (the horror); they fought and won, Otari died, the keep was abandoned and the survivors founded the town of Otari. The mayor's family later built the Plume of Otari (a log flume) that revived the lumber-export economy. The keeper offers to buy curious books. Later, Rin offers to read the stars for the party using her astrology lore; on a critical success she gains a cryptic omen/clue about the party's next week (to be revealed next session). |
| [S8 · 03:05:40 · turn 1528 · scene 012] [S8 · 03:05:50 · turn 1532] [S8 · 03:24:29 · turn 1679] | Level Up to Level 3 and Session Wrap The party hits level 3. Venris becomes an expert in thievery, takes Fleet (now 40 speed) and Shadow Mark, and notes his innate dodge against equal/lower-level creatures. Abbas takes Continual Recovery and becomes a medicine expert. Cid takes Fleet. An extended rules debate runs about the Terrain Stalker feat versus Feather Step and how avoiding-notice stealth checks work in difficult terrain (rubble), left unresolved with a pin. The GM defers revealing Rin's star-reading omen until next session. Session ends. |
| [S9 · 00:01:54 · turn 0019 · scene 001] [S9 · 00:05:05 · turn 0048] | Pregame: leveling, retraining, and archetypes Table chatter and bookkeeping. The party hit level 4; the GM explains they can retrain feats (not ancestry), and that level 4 opens archetype dedications. Cid (D) settles on the Duelist dedication after considering Swashbuckler (which needs Charisma). Player banter about Player Core 2 being added to the rules database. |
| [S9 · 00:06:47 · turn 0075 · scene 002] [S9 · 00:10:24 · turn 0106] | Recap of Session 8 The players recap last session: they killed a swamp dragon/drake and returned its head to the Morlock leader, who was unimpressed but showed them around (including a prison). They freed prisoners, trapped the main hall with caltrops/snares, killed Morlock engineers, returned the prisoners to Otari (one died), sold loot, identified items, reached level 4, and asked Rin to read the stars. Veve was out of commission ('tummy ache') for the prior delve. A side discussion about bard spontaneous vs prepared casting and signature spells is deferred. |
| [S9 · 00:14:44 · turn 0143 · scene 003] [S9 · 00:17:10 · turn 0163] | Rin's oracle reading and the prophecy Rin (an oracle in Otari) enters a near-possessed trance and delivers a prophecy in response to the party's question about whether more invasions will come from the Gauntlight. Verse: 'The gauntlight being a door, it remains bound in shadows held by chains. As restless tides rise once in turn, the monster's path shall then return.' The party reads this as confirmation that further invasions of Otari will come and they should clear the Gauntlight as soon as possible. Danny picked the question on the party's behalf. The party also notes a +1 circumstance bonus to saves from the reading (later forgotten in play). |
| [S9 · 00:20:23 · turn 0191 · scene 004] [S9 · 00:21:24 · turn 0201] [S9 · 00:26:15 · turn 0247] | Otari errands: new rapier, the mayor talk, and Ginjana's lead The morning after, the party runs town errands. Cid picks up a newly forged weapon, Rajani's Malunar Rapier (cold iron, a near 1:1 replica of his Malunar rapier), from the blacksmith. The blacksmith reveals he is a descendant of a Rose Guard hero (the Rajani line) and badmouths the mayor, claiming the mayor only holds the office because of his name; he says he'll be mayor one day. Venris nerds out and bonds with him over the Rose Guard, fishing for relics/heirlooms (wink-wink, maybe). Cid visits Ginjana (the smuggler/'mare') at the Crooked Nest tavern to ask what she was after in the Gauntlight; she deflects, pointing to her men Goral and Shadowly who went off on their own and lost a partner. The party gains the option to make money smuggling/stealing around town with her crew. Cid keeps reservations about meeting the mayor. |
| [S9 · 00:30:13 · turn 0274 · scene 005] [S9 · 00:31:53 · turn 0291] | Return to the Gauntlight: signs of an intruder The party travels back to the Gauntlight (about 30 minutes out). At the entrance they spot signs that someone has recently come by (door moved, a trail), but the tracks fade by the bridge. They debate whether to check in with the Morlock boss (who is waiting for the Mortar Lord's head) or explore unchecked areas. They decide to first investigate a building/room they had skipped near the boathouse. |
| [S9 · 00:42:05 · turn 0401 · scene 006] [S9 · 01:33:45 · turn 0893] | The ruined dining hall and cobbled ghosts Investigating a ruined fancy dining hall (collapsed ceiling, moldy tapestries, a pulverized dining table), the party notices air shimmering around the rubble. While searching, six cobbled ghosts surge out of the rubble. All three present (Veve, Venris, Cid) roll Will saves; the casters are frightened (Cid resists via Bravery). Veve blasts with a sonic choir spell (4d4); physical attackers pass through the ghosts harmlessly. The fight prompts a long ruling on basic saves vs spell DC (the GM realizes he'd been using fixed save values rather than rolling against the spell DC). Viz/Abus attempts an exorcism that takes a delayed cast; the ghosts defend the rubble and retreat when Venris (their fear target) leaves. Eventually the ghosts are dispelled/exorcised. Under the rubble: a pile of tiny bones (thrown in the water to lay the spirits to rest), 3 GP, 20 SP, a box of caltrop-snare components, a wolf-tooth talisman (magical), and a vial of black liquid labeled 'yum'. |
| [S9 · 01:27:54 · turn 0840 · scene 007] [S9 · 01:19:26 · turn 0753] | Boathouse, pier, and the lens workshop spyglass The party explores the collapsed boathouse area where Ginjana's boys had recently camped (a fresh-ish campfire, a relatively new rowboat). Venris scouts ahead alone over a broken pier, climbing roofs with a grappling hook (and nearly falling). He spots a bejeweled spyglass in a ruined lighthouse-lens workshop. A long mid-game rules tangent clarifies bard spontaneous casting, signature spells, and learning vs preparing/heightening spells (deferred to after the session). The party forces open a stuck study door. |
| [S9 · 02:23:38 · turn 1326 · scene 008] [S9 · 02:39:28 · turn 1481] [S9 · 02:43:44 · turn 1513] [S9 · 03:08:42 · turn 1758] | Mr. Beakers the brownie and the soulbound doll In the study, a glowing 'spooky' orb tells the party to leave; it is revealed to be a brownie (a fey, nicknamed Mr. Beakers) using Ventriloquism + a Light spell to fake a ghost. Venris grapples and squashes the little fey; it cooperatively points them toward a 'shiny' (the bejeweled spyglass). The party finds a series of four paintings: Absalom in flames ('so shall the fools suffer'), the Cupola Gauntlight in its prime ('let the light shine forever'), a shredded 'the artist at work', and a portrait of 'the lady of the light' identified as Belcorra, with Aklo scratched beneath reading 'I serve you still, you shall be avenged.' In the lens workshop a soulbound doll (creation of a 'Master Zene') attacks; it has a soul-holding gem on its back. Venris crits it down. The brownie returns enraged over the stolen spyglass and casts a confusion/enchantment on Venris, who attacks the party (slashing Veve, breaking down a door) until Cid trips him and he snaps out of it. The brownie is finally killed. The soul gem is broken, releasing the soul to the afterlife. |
| [S9 · 03:59:06 · turn 2292 · scene 009] [S9 · 03:59:29 · turn 2294] | Down the spiral stairs: servants' quarters and the book note A spiral staircase leads down to a lower level with two doors. The party explores a bedroom/study (impersonal decor) and finds a scrap of paper listing book titles -- 'What the Worm Knows', 'Brave Feasts', and 'Secrets of the Skull' -- with a transcription note signed 'my love' promising to return the books soon. They also find a smelly servants' quarters reeking of wet dog. Loot and hero points collected. |
| [S9 · 04:08:42 · turn 2389 · scene 010] [S9 · 04:37:31 · turn 2693] [S9 · 04:51:55 · turn 2823] | The blood siphon nearly kills Cid Around a corner in the dark, a medium-sized blood-draining monster ('blood siphon', not found in standard references, with a slashing weakness) ambushes Cid, bites his head, restrains him, and drains his blood, dropping him to dying 3 (one hero point used to recover, then he escapes the grab). The party struggles to find the creature's weakness; recall knowledge eventually reveals the slashing vulnerability. The fight is brutal -- Cid is downed and nearly killed -- but Venris's arrows wear it down. Veve finishes it by telekinetically hurling Cid's thrown Malunar rapier (slashing) through its throat, beheading it; its body bursts in a cloud of blood hitting everyone (4d6) except Cid. |
| [S9 · 04:55:00 · turn 2852 · scene 011] [S9 · 04:59:09 · turn 2891] | Cleanup, healing, and end of session Post-fight, Veve uses Prestidigitation to clean blood off the party and treats wounds; everyone heals up over multiple ten-minute intervals while standing watch. The GM hand-waves the rest. The party bunkers down, does not split up, and stops for the session before exploring the remaining basement room. Veve's player calls it (kids, 5-hour session). Venris declares the Kukri garbage and offers it to Cid as a throwing weapon. |
| [S10 · 00:00:08 · turn 0001 · scene 001] [S10 · 00:09:52 · turn 0092] | Pregame table chatter Off-topic table banter before play: audio/mic setup, a running joke about Speaker C's drinking, MMO/Ragnarok talk, and a rules tangent about a fast-healing spell (sustaining it up to four rounds for ~16 HP). Waiting on a fourth player (Dan/Danny) to be DM'd. Not story-relevant. |
| [S10 · 00:16:54 · turn 0147 · scene 002] [S10 · 00:18:55 · turn 0158] [S10 · 00:20:35 · turn 0168] | Recap of last session Speaker B recaps the prior session: returning from town into the vault, a first-floor room with ghosts on a collapsed table that targeted feared characters, meeting up with Ben Reese (Venris), a brownie using illusions who wanted a shiny item recovered, a room of paintings (one a torn portrait of the place's builder, plus a burning-city/slum image), a possessed-puppet fight (loot: a gemstone behind the puppet that controlled it; the brownie's item was an ornate spyglass), the brownie turning hostile and casting confusion on Ben Reese, and a basement room with a giant blood-sucking creature that nearly killed Cid before the party slew it (it exploded in blood). |
| [S10 · 00:22:21 · turn 0183 · scene 003] [S10 · 00:24:30 · turn 0213] [S10 · 00:26:49 · turn 0238] [S10 · 00:27:33 · turn 0244] | Searching the servant's room and the undead-creation chamber After healing up, the party searches nearby rooms. A servant's bedroom holds an abandoned straw bed, a dresser of out-of-date servant's clothing, and a stinky barrel that turns out to be old pickles. The next room is grim: a metal table with leather straps and an iron band, plus a contraption part-spyglass, part-drill with a sparkling black gemstone (onyx) set in it. Abus (cleric) recognizes it as an abomination used to assist creating undead (drill penetrates the skull while the scope focuses necromantic energy) and refuses to enter / destroys it. Cid takes the black onyx. |
| [S10 · 00:28:29 · turn 0255 · scene 004] [S10 · 00:30:34 · turn 0276] [S10 · 00:34:05 · turn 0308] | Descending deeper and scouting doors The party agrees to push deeper with caution, ready for a strategic retreat. Cid jokes about removing every door from its hinges (door phobia for B V, his companion). They set a marching order (Venris first, Cid second, Veve third), avoid notice, and douse their lights. Venris listens at two doors: behind one, heavy non-human/non-humanoid breathing; the other is silent. They choose the breathing door first to avoid being ambushed from behind. |
| [S10 · 00:36:56 · turn 0332 · scene 005] [S10 · 00:38:00 · turn 0344] [S10 · 00:53:39 · turn 0508] [S10 · 00:53:49 · turn 0510] | The bored devil warden and the cell block Behind the breathing door is a demonic-looking creature that orders them to drop their weapons; Venris identifies it (Religion) as a 5th-level infernal/war devil (a 'wardein') that can only reach this plane via a higher being's orders or contracts. The room walls bear hundreds of hash marks (counting days); an iron door with a barred window holds a skeleton in fungus. Venris plays along, surrendering, while Veve tries (and fails) to sneak up; her dropped loot hits the wall and blows her cover. The devil is bored, tired, and just wants to find its contract so it can leave. The party negotiates: they will retrieve the devil's contract from 'the library' in exchange for it letting Venris go. They leave without combat. |
| [S10 · 00:59:21 · turn 0560 · scene 006] [S10 · 01:01:19 · turn 0572] [S10 · 01:10:00 · turn 0614] | Chasing the green message-light The party shouts to the devil that they are already in the library area and backtracks toward a previously-seen green light. In a room with a tattered sofa, the south wall's green light forms a message: 'The Horror fell to the Rose Guard, but we never knew of these vaults below,' then slithers off the wall and flees. The party chases it at max speed through connecting rooms (passing already-looted areas and stairs) toward a never-opened door. They briefly debate returning to town instead but decide to open one more room first. |
| [S10 · 01:10:53 · turn 0622 · scene 007] [S10 · 01:13:56 · turn 0651] [S10 · 01:29:13 · turn 0844] [S10 · 01:58:16 · turn 1183] | Library ambush: combat with the ghouls Opening the door reveals a long library hall lined with stone book-shelves; the chased light continues and several ghouls (like the single stronger one fought before) are present. Initiative is rolled. One ghoul asks if they are 'here to donate flesh to the canker.' Veve opens with Courageous Anthem (+1 offense). The fight is messy: Venris's Deny Advantage rogue feature keeps him from being off-guard when flanked; a tripped Cid rolls snake-eyes and is knocked unconscious by a fumble (head hit), then revived. Multiple ghouls fumble (one bites a wall, taking attack penalties). Abus casts Forbidding Ward, Light, and heals. Ghoul bites can paralyze (Venris gets paralyzed and nearly dies but survives a fortitude save; Abus 'giga heals' him). The party grinds the ghouls down with crits, thrown books ('education'), and flanking. |
| [S10 · 02:07:50 · turn 1291 · scene 008] [S10 · 02:09:19 · turn 1307] [S10 · 02:26:43 · turn 1517] [S10 · 02:47:43 · turn 1750] | The ghoul cultist As the ghouls are cleared, a ghoul cultist (a 3rd-level spellcaster) emerges from the darkness, threatening that the party will be 'beset by the canker.' Abus identifies it via Religion (recall knowledge): ghouls are former humanoids turned by a cannibalism-borne fever ('ghoul fever'). The cultist hits Veve repeatedly with darkness/tendril rays and a paralysis effect, and chants a harm/pain spell. The party counters with Veve's compositions and counter-performance, Cid's snagging strike + trip combo, Venris's sneak-attack short bow, and Abus's Divine Lance. Abus also uses positive-energy Heal against the undead cultist for massive damage, and the cultist is finished off (an arrow to the back of the head). |
| [S10 · 02:56:35 · turn 1832 · scene 009] [S10 · 02:59:56 · turn 1864] [S10 · 02:53:14 · turn 1801] [S10 · 03:01:55 · turn 1885] | Looting the library and the adjoining ritual room Post-combat, the party loots. The cultist wore a rope necklace with two lumps of decayed flesh (non-magical); other ghouls had nothing of value. The library hall has signs over doors (work room, safety, repair storage) readable via Sakvroth. An adjoining room has divans, low tables with rotting flesh, and a twisting ribbon of pale-blue light with infected-tissue creepers (Abus warns it will cause damage like the prior light). Venris finds an ajar brick revealing yet another empty, inactive teleportation room with silver fittings; Abus cannot activate it. Society recall knowledge reminds them of Morlibint, the wizard proprietor of 'Odd Stories' library in Otari, who buys rare tomes. They take the cultist's head (the brownie/'more look' figure wanted these ghouls dealt with) and gather a bulk of potentially valuable books. |
| [S10 · 03:17:53 · turn 1959 · scene 010] [S10 · 03:22:37 · turn 1992] [S10 · 03:46:40 · turn 2169] | Break and rules discussion on the Aid action A ~10-minute break (Cid/B away) stretches into a long out-of-game rules discussion. Speaker D (Venris's player) and Speaker A (GM) debate how the Aid action should be adjudicated, especially whether Veve can Aid using Performance instead of an attack roll, the role of the Distracting Performance feat, and skill-feat design philosophy. They review bard feat options for the upcoming level 4 (Triple Time, Rallying Anthem, Melodious Spell, Uplifting Overture, Hymn of Healing). Mostly meta/table discussion; useful for how the GM rules Aid going forward. |
| [S10 · 03:52:24 · turn 2216 · scene 011] [S10 · 03:52:52 · turn 2218] [S10 · 03:57:23 · turn 2259] | Deciding to catalog the library (downtime setup) Back in-game, Abus and Cid set aside one bulk of interesting books. Abus explains that with a few hours' research and an 8-hour cataloging effort the party can gain a +1 bonus to regional-history / arcane / occult investigation checks in this room, and that Morlibint in Otari may buy some tomes. The party decides to barricade the library doors with bookshelves, tables, and chairs and stay to organize/catalog the books now (one or two staying awake), accepting the risk of a possible ambush. Session ends as they set up the barricade and begin. |
| [S11 · 00:00:05 · turn 0001 · scene 001] [S11 · 00:04:11 · turn 0046] | Pregame banter and table chatter Players banter before play: health/medication talk, a parallel Age of Ashes campaign Speaker D also runs, and setup of Discord stream-sharing for in-session images. |
| [S11 · 00:04:50 · turn 0051 · scene 002] [S11 · 00:05:35 · turn 0056] [S11 · 00:06:56 · turn 0069] | Recap of last session (demon prison, library books) Speaker B recaps prior session: exploring the blood-worm/blood-siphon room, a table used to make undead, getting caught by a demon guarding a prison, Veve gaining a 'slave' (the thief), a deal to find a demon's contract in the library, barricading the library to study its books for bonuses (regional history, arcane topics), and deciding to return to town. A buyer wants to purchase the books. |
| [S11 · 00:08:55 · turn 0090 · scene 003] [S11 · 00:14:55 · turn 0145] [S11 · 00:25:51 · turn 0228] | Return to town; Rin's Wonders and reading the omens The party arrives in Otari and visits Rin's Wonders (open 24/7). Venris uses a Read the Omens fortune (DC 16) to ask where the demon's contract is; the clue confirms it is NOT in the main library and that ~5 of 40 rooms on that dungeon level remain unexplored. Speaker C asks Rin about the mayor; Rin (channeling Carman's view) explains Mayor Vailia/Svailia's troubled background. Rin offers supports: 10% off wares, +1 circumstance to forgery/decipher/learn-a-spell, and lodging-style benefits. The party shops: Venris buys a striking rune (~58.5 gp after discount), and Rin shares lore on awakening the inactive teleport portals (a rare 'waking/awakened portal' spell, 2 casters, ~500 gp to craft from scratch). |
| [S11 · 00:35:58 · turn 0331 · scene 004] [S11 · 01:02:25 · turn 0591] [S11 · 00:48:05 · turn 0455] | The Crook Snook: Carman, Veve's performance, and the sword quest The party heads to the Crook Snook tavern (Yin Yes Mira's place, run by the thieves; first drink on the house, free lodging for the party). Carman Rajani is present with his crew, throwing daggers. Veve performs for earn income (~23 performance) and a knife-throwing bit happens with Carman ('Ace of Blades'). Carman, drunk, reveals he covets his family's ancestral longsword 'Rose Gente' displayed at the library, claims Rose Guard founder blood and a right to the mayorship, and lost every election. The party (esp. Cid) discusses helping him get the sword back 'for a fee.' Venris proposes taking a week of downtime to retrain and research; the party agrees. |
| [S11 · 01:13:18 · turn 0692 · scene 005] [S11 · 01:24:23 · turn 0770] | Rules clinic: emblazon armament, religious symbol focus, lodging Extended rules discussion. Venris (cleric of Pharasma) asks whether a shield emblazoned with his deity's symbol by a blacksmith could function as a religious symbol/focus without taking the Emblazon Armament feat, losing the feat's +1 bonus but keeping focus utility. The GM rules it's likely fine to just have it inscribed (and optionally blessed by a Pharasma priest); Vandy Vanderdash at the library is named as a renowned priest of the sun god (Sarenrae) who could refer them. Also: simplifying currency tracking (silver into gold) is hand-waved. |
| [S11 · 01:30:48 · turn 0840 · scene 006] [S11 · 01:30:59 · turn 0843] | The Rowdy Rockfish: lodging and a missing-son request Veve (and briefly Venris) go to the Rowdy Rockfish, run by a Dwarf woman (Venker Bale / 'Vorina'). Venris gets free lodging as 'the hero priest.' The Dwarf woman pleads with a request: her son Lazda (a dwarf with a big red beard) has gone missing; she asks the party to spread the word / find him. Veve later negotiates to work (perform) at the Rockfish for earn income, paying 8 sp for a room; the old proprietor dislikes 'hyphy' Taylor Swift and wants smooth/old crooner classics. |
| [S11 · 01:42:14 · turn 0962 · scene 007] [S11 · 02:00:26 · turn 1108] | Downtime begins: Venris retrains lore into Society The week-plus of downtime starts. Venris retrains his level-1 Cavern Lore into Society training (planning to reclaim cavern lore later via Additional Lore at level 4); GM debates the ruling and lets it stand, taking 9 days. Mechanics of supports/parlor/church/library discounts are worked out (helpful disposition reduces a week to 5 days; church/parlor/library each support different retraining types). Bandy Vanderdash at the Donflower library gives Veve a quest: a hired group of adventurers (a cleric, a squire, and others) went missing weeks ago while investigating town disappearances; she hands over a journal as a lead. |
| [S11 · 02:21:47 · turn 1322 · scene 008] [S11 · 02:13:58 · turn 1230] | Market run: selling potions and the onyx (scam attempts) Cid and Veve go to the bustling Otari market to sell loot: an onyx (sells for ~20.5 gp after haggling), plus an Oath Potion and a moderate Skeptic's Elixir. A gnome alchemist tries to claim the Oath Potion is a lesser 'Vart/Festival' potion (a scam attempt) and lowballs them. They notice a group of rough, pelt-wearing humans (the 'fur boys') around a tall leader and an 'Irish' guy; one rudely tells the party to back off. They decide to bring 'the alchemist' (Venris in disguise) back later to negotiate. GM notes Oath Potion was renamed in the remaster. |
| [S11 · 02:29:41 · turn 1411 · scene 009] [S11 · 02:52:58 · turn 1664] [S11 · 02:50:50 · turn 1645] | Retraining continues: Veve swaps spell, Cid seeks martial training Veve retrains Concordant Choir into Invisibility; after failing to find the book at Odd Stories (Morblin's bookstore, with assistant Carl) and the library, she borrows the book from Rin to learn it. Morblin gives Veve a quest to bring rare tomes ('odd stories'), 5 gp each. Cid befriends Commander Martis Longsaddle at the Otari garrison (a 50-something Absalom city-watch veteran) and retrains Double/Second Strike into Marshal Dedication (eventually succeeding); he is asked to bring in wanted criminals from the bounty board. The bounty board shows nine wanted posters. Veve also retrains a feat (Panic the Dead -> Healing Hands). |
| [S11 · 03:13:23 · turn 1858 · scene 010] [S11 · 03:25:38 · turn 1973] | Library awakening-portal lore; selling potions in disguise; blacksmith runes The party delivers the dungeon books to Morblin (5 gp total, GM forgot the value). At the library they learn awakening the portals needs a rare ritual, location/passcode-specific per portal ('IP-based'). Venris disguises as an old dwarf alchemist and successfully haggles the Oath Potion + Skeptic's Elixir to ~33 gp, snatching the coin. At the blacksmith (Carman's shop), Venris gets his rune inscribed (~6.5 gp) and the party buys/applies a second striking rune for Cid (total ~72 gp inscriptions+rune), pooling gold. Venris does V V's shopping: swap to studded leather, sell a dagger. |
| [S11 · 03:43:16 · turn 2155 · scene 011] [S11 · 03:51:15 · turn 2245] | Veve's botched charm, market owner Calino, and the longbow rune Cid vouches that Veve is 'cool' to Carman, but Veve (played by Speaker A) tries Subtle Charm on Carman and fails (he saves), souring the mood; the party smooths it over with diplomacy. Veve seeks a weapon potency rune for her longbow but the market scammer's stall has vanished. She finds market owner Calino Lafanar (the 'Irish' leader), who admits the post-Gauntlight chaos and points her to merchant Patricio (stall 2) who applies the potency rune for 2.5 gp over a day. Calino offers a guard/intimidation job and notes he buys wolf/warg pelts above rate; he warns about the 'Stone Ring Pawn' boys. |
| [S11 · 04:09:58 · turn 2415 · scene 012] [S11 · 04:06:16 · turn 2382] | Night scene with Carman: the sword scheme and his backstory A private night meeting at the Crook Snook. Carman confides he's losing patience and is tempted to steal his sword, Rose Gente. Venris and Cid steer him away from a heist toward a con / fair-and-square political angle, leveraging the party's standing as heroes. Carman reveals more backstory: his parents were killed years ago by a 'high woman'/bounty target from Absalom (an old bounty on the board), he hunted the killer for years and got scarred, and he may leave town for another country if he gets the sword. The party leaves him to mull it over. |
| [S11 · 04:20:42 · turn 2509 · scene 013] [S11 · 04:32:45 · turn 2597] [S11 · 04:39:17 · turn 2649] | Downtime wrap-up, day tally, and the solo-runs proposal The group tallies remaining downtime days (~5 left, Cid finishing Marshal retrain over 5 days). Cid explains his backstory tie to Carman (he too seeks a hero/family weapon via Rin's omen-reading). The docks/Otari fishery are mentioned (lore of a young green dragon's cave once cleared by another adventuring group). Venris earns income with the thieves (pickpocketing/cons) in the market. Venris proposes solo 'book runs' into the vaults (Discord RP); the GM warns it'd be a real, potentially lethal solo session and that the books aren't all in the one library, so the idea is shelved. No level-ups this session; XP confirms they're not close to level 4. Next session in two weeks. |
| [S12 · 00:04:46 · turn 0046 · scene 001] [S12 · 00:24:16 · turn 0217] [S12 · 00:35:14 · turn 0344] | Downtime in Otari: shopping, retraining, and earned income The party wraps a week of downtime in Otari. A recap covers last session's retraining: Cid trained into a martial/leader archetype (auras) and into Society lore (losing some Caves familiarity for a level); Visigok swapped harm-undead toward healing-hand spells; Veve traded an old spell for Invisibility. Shopping continues: Visigok handles a wand-of-1st-rank-spell trade-in (a healing wand becomes a permanent bonus Rage/Mystic Armor slot) and picks up a steel shield bearing Pharasma's symbol; Veve buys studded leather armor and sells a healer's toolkit and dagger; Venris earns coin via pickpocketing/burglary downtime (about 20 silver); Veve earns about 11 silver performing; Visigok teaches/helps at the farmers' guild (meeting halfling Jella Highstepper at a shrine to Erastil). The GM notes that retraining into martial archetypes will require finding a teacher (the guard captain). |
| [S12 · 00:42:52 · turn 0419 · scene 002] [S12 · 00:48:14 · turn 0465] [S12 · 00:50:24 · turn 0486] | Consulting Rin: questions about the future before the descent The party visits the seer Rin to ask divination-style questions before returning to the dungeon. Cid asks whether Gauntlight (the lighthouse/keep) will attack Otari in the coming week; Rin reads the sky and says they are safe for today but cannot see far. Visigok asks whether they will encounter demons/undead on the lower floor and is told the forces of hell and undeath certainly lie where they have explored. A treasure lead about caves/scoundrels below 'the fishery' from the starter box is revealed to already be looted ('the valuables beneath the fishery are taken'). The party discusses the ledger from Vandy Bandar Dash about a vanished party and decides the town disappearances are not connected to Gauntlight. |
| [S12 · 00:58:40 · turn 0546 · scene 003] [S12 · 01:00:47 · turn 0567] [S12 · 01:16:36 · turn 0735] | Return to Gauntlight: the broken bridge and the Morlock lair The party departs Otari the next morning and re-enters Gauntlight through the main entrance (avoiding the boathouse where they angered a demon). They find the entry bridge more broken than before, with fresh muddy humanoid tracks and black fur/hair, suspected to be the fur-clad men from the market (possible werewolves). They listen on the open third-floor hall, leave an opened bloody door alone, and revisit the Morlock allies, bluffing past them with deception. They note the cleaned-up/repositioned gas body and the decomposing dragon corpse showing bite/stab marks (the Morlocks have been eating it). |
| [S12 · 01:21:41 · turn 0788 · scene 004] [S12 · 01:33:25 · turn 0914] [S12 · 01:34:37 · turn 0925] | The reading room, the friendly Morlock, and a purple worm tunnel Through a previously-unexplored door the party enters a large cross-shaped chamber with couches, dead plants, and a dry lighthouse fountain. A solitary, fevered (ghoul-bitten) Morlock lives here among books; Venris befriends him, and the party searches for the books on their fetch list, finding only an encyclopedia (which Veve keeps for its weight as a thrown weapon). Veve finds a hidden door to the south. Beyond it is a circular dugout identified (via Nature) as a purple worm's tunnel, presumably made by the worm they encountered upstairs. They hear a distant cry for help and decide to investigate, walking at half speed. |
| [S12 · 01:36:13 · turn 0942 · scene 005] [S12 · 01:50:50 · turn 1065] [S12 · 02:13:45 · turn 1291] | Manny the mushroom-picker and the rock swarm A wounded half-man, later named Manuel ('Manny'), runs to the party claiming cobolts ambushed him in the caves; his fresh, jagged stone-dagger wounds confirm his story (Visigok treats them). Tracking his blood trail through difficult terrain, the party is ambushed by a swarm of earthen aberration pebbles (blind, with tremorsense; ~50 little rocks counted as one large swarm). The party fights with thrown rocks (Veve), snagging strikes (Cid), arrows (Venris), and Visigok's Divine Lance, eventually destroying the swarm and a second wave. Veve's Lingering Composition courageous anthem buffs the team. |
| [S12 · 02:40:42 · turn 1577 · scene 006] [S12 · 02:55:53 · turn 1761] [S12 · 02:59:28 · turn 1806] | Surface exit, intellect-devourer cobolts, and Manny's spacious pouch The tunnel emerges above ground in the forest of Otari, about an hour from town. While retrieving Manny's mushroom bag, the party is ambushed by cobolts wearing 'fancy hats' that are actually intellect devourers (brain-eating creatures puppeting the dead cobolts via tremorsense). The party kills them; the hosts are already corpses and cannot be saved. Venris pickpockets/keeps Manny's bag, which turns out to be a Spacious Pouch (type I) extradimensional container; after escorting Manny safely to town, Manny gifts the bag to the party. The party maps the new cave entrance (closer to the shore, toward the Gauntlight trail), re-enters the tunnel, and Veve and Venris refocus. |
| [S12 · 03:37:00 · turn 2014 · scene 007] [S12 · 03:31:27 · turn 1949] [S12 · 03:46:24 · turn 2109] | The gibbering room and the scrying eye (avoided) Back in the tunnel, the party finds a hard-to-locate passage leading to a large cavern with a pond and an aberration covered in eyes and mouths producing maddening gibbering (Aklo words; a will-save hazard). Veve partly understands the Aklo. Venris scouts it invisible (via Veve's Invisibility), takes the noise effect, and the party decides it is too dangerous and turns back, noting it on their map. While speed-running back through the dungeon, Venris opens a door and sees a magical scrying eye, retreats, and marks the door 'Don't Open.' The party passes a ghostly librarian figure and various disturbed rooms. |
| [S12 · 03:55:04 · turn 2197 · scene 008] [S12 · 04:04:13 · turn 2298] [S12 · 04:18:04 · turn 2443] | The tattooist ghoul (Roth) boss fight In a former writing studio repurposed into a flesh-tattoo workshop (skin stretched over desks, post-mortem tattoos), the party confronts a sophisticated ghoul named Roth who weaves tattoos into flesh and monologues threats ('Your corpse shall be a canvas for my finest ink'). Venris opens with an invisible sneak attack to the neck; the fight involves trips, snagging strikes, Divine Lance, and Veve's anthem. Roth bites Venris (who contracts ghoul fever) and heals by eating flesh, but is killed. Visigok and Veve treat Venris's ghoul fever so he is no longer a carrier. |
| [S12 · 04:34:47 · turn 2627 · scene 009] [S12 · 04:46:10 · turn 2743] | Ghoul ambush and clearing the workshop rooms Immediately after Roth dies, more ghouls (former scholars turned ghouls) ambush from the corridor and shadows. They grapple Cid and try to grab the others; the party fights free with trips, snagging strikes, Vitality Lash, and a thrown cookery 'boomerang' finishing blow from Venris. All ghouls are decapitated. The party recovers and prepares to investigate the boss/workshop rooms. |
| [S12 · 04:56:31 · turn 2844 · scene 010] [S12 · 04:59:08 · turn 2872] [S12 · 05:21:01 · turn 3081] | Gerald the librarian ghost and looting the workshop The party meets the tethered ghost of Gerald Caldren, a former scholar/scribe who locked herself in her room when the others starved and turned into ghouls. She confirms a recent group of fur-and-pelt-clad people (matching the market men) opened her long-locked door, and identifies the Boathouse-portrait queen as Lady Belcorra. After calming her (and the Belcorra topic) with diplomacy/religion, Visigok severs her tether to her work table and lets her pass on (she was a level 5 ghost). The party searches the rooms, recovering several books (including the hidden book they needed and other list books via crits), a +1 silver low-grade hatchet, a blue-and-white wand, a key, a gold paperweight, and a rugged metal monocle eyepiece (unidentified magic). Books are stored in the new spacious pouch. They call it for the night, planning to resume next session. |
| [S13 · 00:00:03 · turn 0001 · scene 001] [S13 · 00:01:13 · turn 0013] | Pregame setup and stream troubleshooting Table chatter while getting the stream started: brightness, a flaky power situation that might force a phone stream, and general banter before play begins. |
| [S13 · 00:02:28 · turn 0028 · scene 002] [S13 · 00:04:36 · turn 0049] [S13 · 00:08:31 · turn 0092] [S13 · 00:13:48 · turn 0132] | Collaborative campaign recap (the whole story so far) The group rebuilds the full campaign so far from memory: clearing the Gauntlight's first floor and the mitflit boss; the cemetery undead and a monster teleported into Otari that rallied the townspeople; a deal with Skrong to deal with the Morlocks (whom they ended up helping more than killing); killing a dragon; following the ghostly green light into deeper floors; the worm room, shades, ghouls and Morlocks; the boathouse and the little creature who wanted a shiny spyglass that Venris stole; the soul-stone doll; the blood worm that nearly killed them; the great library; a contracted/deal demon that jailed Ben Riss; training in town; clearing rearranged Morlock rooms; an infected goblin boat; and finally exorcising the ghost lady (Velcora) of the library workroom. |
| [S13 · 00:16:50 · turn 0163 · scene 003] [S13 · 00:21:20 · turn 0204] [S13 · 00:26:13 · turn 0250] [S13 · 00:30:02 · turn 0284] | Searching the library workroom and side offices Post-exorcism, the party searches the third-floor library workroom and adjacent rooms. They identify the unidentified eyepiece as giving a +1 to Crafting and give it to Veve, the party's crafter. They find a magical book-repair storeroom containing two scrolls of 2nd-rank mending plus an unidentified 3rd-rank arcane scroll. They open and search Velcora's personal office (Everlight crystal lighting, love letters to her, nothing valuable). One locked door buzzes faintly when listened to. A purple-sludge bathroom is dismissed as a 'shit room.' |
| [S13 · 00:35:31 · turn 0332 · scene 004] [S13 · 00:38:24 · turn 0357] [S13 · 00:41:23 · turn 0390] | Scouting the ghoul cultists in the restricted collection The party finds a large library annex where humanoid figures are carefully repairing shelves and re-shelving books. Venris (avoiding notice) scouts and counts at least three, including a spellcaster, then quietly closes the door. The group debates whether to push on (the demon's contract or other clues could be inside) or clear this room first; they choose to engage. Venris opens the door for the attack; it creaks and combat begins. |
| [S13 · 00:42:10 · turn 0397 · scene 005] [S13 · 00:46:55 · turn 0441] [S13 · 01:01:06 · turn 0586] [S13 · 01:51:54 · turn 1054] | Combat: ghoul cultists and their canker-cult caster A long, grindy fight in the cramped hallway/library annex against a pack of ghouls and a ghoulish cultist spellcaster (canker/cancer cultist) who fights from cover behind a ladder, casts void-damage AoE spells, and tries to lure the party toward his 'high priestess.' Veve repeatedly uses Counter Performance to negate fear effects. The table works through delay-initiative confusion and the GM rules on off-grid attacks and reposition-vs-prone. Abus/BV blasts with Violent/Divine Lens fire and Vitality Lash, Cid trips and impales ghouls, and Venris gets repeatedly bitten and infected with ghoul fever, ending paralyzed. A thrown chair decapitates one cultist. The party kills all ghouls and the caster. |
| [S13 · 02:11:17 · turn 1242 · scene 006] [S13 · 02:25:35 · turn 1362] [S13 · 02:28:35 · turn 1383] | Aftermath: looting, the Nimbaloth door, and book recovery After the fight the party heals up (Abus medicine, sooth/heal spells) and tries to cure Venris's ghoul fever, which is already at stage four. They loot Morlock and cultist bodies (foul flesh necklaces, nothing wanted). The GM reveals the room is the 'restricted collection,' whose curated books grant a +2 item bonus to regional history, arcane, and occult checks; Veve recovers six bulk of books (nine total with the prior three). They examine the imposing stone north door carved with Nimbaloth feeding on her worshippers; the caster had gestured at it as the high priestess's location. The party decides they cannot handle what is behind it now and prepares to leave. |
| [S13 · 02:41:11 · turn 1504 · scene 007] | Break Short table break ('five while I pee'), with idle chatter and a returning-from-break bit before play resumes. |
| [S13 · 02:49:41 · turn 1517 · scene 008] [S13 · 02:56:44 · turn 1586] [S13 · 03:05:34 · turn 1668] | The werewolf hunters and the illusory decoy Venris reminds the party that this room is where the ghostly green Otari/Gauntlight light trail led, but no one saw it. Leaving, the party runs into a band of hunters (led by Lathenar; a member named Jasper, another Rogan) searching for a werewolf named Jal/Jow, who mock 'the throwny woman that made a fool of herself at the market.' The hunters were tipped to the way down by Lathenar. The party deflects them by casting an illusion (figment) of a fast werewolf-like blur down the corridor, distracting the hunters away. Venris drops caltrops behind them as they leave. |
| [S13 · 03:08:45 · turn 1706 · scene 009] [S13 · 03:19:14 · turn 1800] [S13 · 03:21:15 · turn 1819] | Escape from the Gauntlight and the firefly light in the swamp The party routes out through the boathouse at night (around 11 PM). They glimpse an unfamiliar door (skipped) and route back through the blood-siphon area. Outside on the island, a light like fireflies (hair-like fibers, ribbons, eerie yellow light) approaches across the swamp at about half their speed. Venris spots a soccer-ball-sized thing peek near a doorway. The party cuts line of sight with trees and makes it back to town; a recall-knowledge identifies the lights only as (dire?) fireflies. |
| [S13 · 03:25:50 · turn 1855 · scene 010] [S13 · 03:39:01 · turn 1974] [S13 · 04:14:03 · turn 2364] | Downtime in Otari: curing Venris's ghoul fever Back in town the party takes Venris to Rin for healing. Over several in-game days they fight the ghoul fever with Treat Disease checks, Veve's Guidance, a Cleanse Affliction spell, town help (+2 circumstance), and a stockpile of anti-plague potions funded by selling nine recovered books (45 gold). The disease repeatedly climbs and drops stages amid brutal dice luck (many natural 1s, a malfunctioning VTT die the group rerolls). Multiple hero points are spent across the days. Eventually the fever is fully cured (stage zero). Cid spends the time buying potions and is celebrated; the alchemist and librarian (Bandy Van Der) become well-acquainted with the party. |
| [S13 · 04:16:54 · turn 2391 · scene 011] [S13 · 04:19:00 · turn 2409] | Wrap-up and next-session pointers Session wind-down: XP to be tallied later (possibly near level 4). Cid plans to spend remaining downtime gathering information on the side-quests they've been ignoring. The GM reminds the party of an ignored traveling potion-seller boy in the fog/woods and closes out. The 'lesson' of the session: ghouls have ghoul fever, and the party admits they missed several earlier fever checks. |
| [S14 · 00:00:37 · turn 0009 · scene 001] [S14 · 00:03:09 · turn 0029] [S14 · 00:06:40 · turn 0059] | Recap and XP reconciliation The table recaps the prior session in the Gauntlight Keep library: looting rare gears, a monocle/eyepiece, scrolls and books; Venris getting bitten and starting to turn into a ghoul before being cured back in town; tricking the bounty-hunter 'fang breakers' from the market; a ghost by a lake; and the big carved Nimbaloth door behind which they sent the bounty hunters. The GM reconciles outstanding XP (avoiding the bounty hunters, surviving ghoul fever, the librarian/exorcism room) bringing the party to 843 XP, likely a level-up next session. |
| [S14 · 00:12:55 · turn 0116 · scene 002] [S14 · 00:14:23 · turn 0130] [S14 · 00:17:19 · turn 0154] [S14 · 00:27:55 · turn 0246] [S14 · 00:31:28 · turn 0272] | Downtime in Otari: Calino, the werewolf bounty, and town rumors While Venris recovers (about five days of downtime), the party gathers information in Otari. Abbas speaks with the bounty-poster Calino (the man who hired the 'fang breaker' bounty hunters), who reveals his wife was murdered ~30 years ago by a serial killer he believes was a werewolf named John Long, last hiding among the druids at the Stone Ring Pond before being chased to the sea. Calino offers to double the bounty and pay high prices for wolf/werewolf pelts. The party also learns of caves/tunnels beneath Otari (from when goblins/'pubs' inhabited the town), cobalt deposits, missing townsfolk, fires at the farms and the Flume, a collapsed building, and a separate adventuring group that found a network of caves with a (now-dead) young green dragon below the fishery. |
| [S14 · 00:36:46 · turn 0311 · scene 003] [S14 · 00:40:14 · turn 0343] [S14 · 00:49:32 · turn 0412] | Earn income: Veve's patrol and party planning Veve takes up a contracted guard patrol under head guard Lars 'this long saddle', earning income with Intimidation ('bad cop') for 5 silver/day, plus a pair of aviator-style sunglasses. The party debates next moves: return directly to Gauntlight Keep versus pursuing the werewolf bounty, the cave system below town, or the Flume/giant's wheel to the east. They discuss theories about the Gauntlight's blue light (teleportation/sacrifice) and the moving green light that seems to be guiding them. They decide to head back to the Keep to keep exploring, leaving in the morning. |
| [S14 · 00:54:10 · turn 0446 · scene 004] [S14 · 00:58:53 · turn 0486] [S14 · 01:08:40 · turn 0575] | Return to Gauntlight via the cave; the friendly turning ghoul The party travels through the fog back to the Gauntlight Keep via the hidden cave entrance (the quickest route to the library and one the rival bounty hunters likely don't know). They pass the half-turned 'friendly ghoul' guarding the latch door, who is still cured/not fully turned and re-closes the stone door behind them. They move through familiar rooms in marching order (Venris scouting/avoiding the light, Abbas carrying the magic light source), retrieve Veve's ankle-snare trap, confirm the mist stalker and other corpses are undisturbed, and decide to first check on the bounty hunters they had sent off to their likely deaths. |
| [S14 · 01:10:03 · turn 0590 · scene 005] [S14 · 01:23:49 · turn 0714] [S14 · 02:10:47 · turn 1179] | Coin flip and combat: the three ghoul-turned bounty hunters A coin flip decides the party heads toward the room where they sent the bounty hunters rather than the unexplored door. Listening through the door, Venris hears munching; inside, three of the four werewolf-hunter 'bros' have turned into ghouls and are eating corpses of their own dead. The party ambushes them: Venris sneaks in via a stealth roll, Veve buffs with Courageous Anthem and lingering composition, Abbas crit-crushes one with Vitality Lash (head explodes), and Cid trips and finishes the rest. After the brief, lopsided fight, they loot leather armor and ~49 arrows, earn hero points, and the party heals up over ten minutes. They hear a woman's voice and slow voices through the far door. |
| [S14 · 02:26:18 · turn 1315 · scene 006] [S14 · 02:36:43 · turn 1407] [S14 · 02:42:44 · turn 1454] | Investigating doors; the flesh-statue room is found The party listens at and checks several doors. Veve loudly opens one revealing stairs leading down. Through the far heavy doors, Abbas peeks into a vast room of smashed empty book display cases dominated by a towering Frankenstein-like figure of a woman built from stitched-together flesh and tattered sheets (estimated 80-90% complete, blonde hair, possibly an image of Belcorra). A green-robed spellcaster ('sorceress') works on it while the surviving ghoul-hunter leader (later named Jasper) brings her flesh from other ghouls. The party plans an ambush: Venris goes invisible to flank the caster while the others handle the brute; Abbas casts Forbidden Ward and Veve preps buffs. |
| [S14 · 02:51:50 · turn 1465 · scene 007] [S14 · 02:56:13 · turn 1488] | Mid-session break and Path of Exile chatter An extended out-of-character break. The table discusses Path of Exile 2 builds and class balance (spellcasters plateauing around level 15-20, melee/monk scaling, blood mage being weak, Stormweaver/Chronomancer). Two players step away briefly; hero points are jokingly docked for taking longer than five minutes and for 'having kids'. |
| [S14 · 03:08:38 · turn 1592 · scene 008] [S14 · 03:21:34 · turn 1717] [S14 · 03:43:18 · turn 1974] [S14 · 04:03:48 · turn 2177] | Boss fight: the canker witch and Jasper The ambush kicks off. Veve bursts the doors and sings as a diversion; invisible Venris sprints across the room and lands a big sneak attack on the green-robed witch ('the canker will consume you'), who is revealed as a ghoul/vampiric spellcaster (Vampiric Feast, mental/will spells). She nearly drains Venris, repeatedly re-infecting him with a not-quite-ghoul-fever necromantic curse that halves his healing. The hunter leader Jasper hunts and bites the cleric Abbas hard (forced hero point on a fortitude save), but Cid trips and decapitates Jasper. The party grinds down the witch (Abbas Vitality Lash/Divine Lance, Veve arrows and thrown glass shards) until a thrown glass shard scalps her and she falls. Abbas then immediately destroys the flesh abomination statue with Vitality Lash/Divine Lance before it can be completed. |
| [S14 · 04:04:59 · turn 2190 · scene 009] [S14 · 04:21:26 · turn 2335] [S14 · 04:22:22 · turn 2342] | The destroyed staff: loot lost to Abbas's faith The witch dropped a powerful necromantic staff (later valued at 230 gold, the rarest item found so far). Abbas (cleric of Pharasma) insists it must be destroyed; Venris wants to sell it. A coin flip lands tails (Venris's loss), Abbas Divine Lances the staff to dust, and over ten minutes disintegrates it along with corpses, doors, and the witch's golem remains. The party recovers consolation loot: a silver salve, a composite short bow, ~5 silver arrows, leather armor, and four everlight crystals (15 gp each, total 60). Veve keeps the head of the witch to present to the morlock as proof of the bounty. |
| [S14 · 04:38:30 · turn 2498 · scene 010] [S14 · 04:42:49 · turn 2542] [S14 · 05:05:55 · turn 2779] | Betraying the morlock: the missionary 'reward' The party returns to the morlock leader to claim the werewolf-quest reward, presenting the witch's head via Veve (named 'Hansen' in-fiction by the GM). The morlock instead grants them the empty title of 'missionaries of the ghost queen' and tells them to leave and spread her dominion. Disgusted at the lack of a physical reward, the party rolls initiative and attacks: Abbas opens with Divine Lance, Cid (delaying with a 35 initiative and six actions) dominates, Venris regains his good mood once Veve casts Runic Weapon on his dagger. They cut down the morlock leader (who calls himself Ralphus) and his ghoul attendant (Hansen). |
| [S14 · 05:11:13 · turn 2830 · scene 011] [S14 · 05:25:47 · turn 2987] [S14 · 05:31:00 · turn 3043] | The acid slug ambush; cliffhanger pause As the morlock fight ends, a slimy slithering creature (a mindless acid slug, acid-immune, immune to mental effects) ambushes from behind with a fear moan and acid attacks, splashing Veve and Cid. The party begins fighting it (Cid trips and snagging-strikes it, Abbas Divine Lances a tentacle, Veve repositions to buff) but real-life time runs out. Cid's player has a scheduling commitment, so the GM pauses mid-encounter, taking screenshots to resume next session. |
| [S15 · 00:03:11 · turn 0026 · scene 001] [S15 · 00:04:14 · turn 0032] | Pregame banter and recap Stream/Discord technical issues are sorted out, then Veve's player (D) gives a recap: the party talked to an Otari villager about a werewolf-hunting bounty group (the 'Fangbreakers'/'Vanbreakers'), found that group turned into ghouls and killed them, then fought and killed a tall aberration boss who dropped a staff that exploded (destroying loot/gold). They cut off the boss's head, returned to a kobold/Morlock group, were given a 'title' as a reward, disliked it, and combat broke out. |
| [S15 · 00:09:33 · turn 0081 · scene 002] [S15 · 00:12:37 · turn 0117] [S15 · 00:19:02 · turn 0187] | Combat: aberration boss and Morlock reinforcements Initiative resumes mid-fight against a large fleshy aberration that shrieks (forcing Will saves), spews acid (a crit deals 16 acid damage plus splash), and sickens Cid. The party (Venris, Cid, Veve, Abbas) grind it down with strikes, lingering composition, and divine lance while repeatedly being sickened and forced to retch. A pair of Morlocks ('swarming stance' jumpers) burst in through a door; the party kills them and one fleeing Morlock escapes through a slammed door. The party closes doors to slow incoming reinforcements (four more Morlocks/scavengers sighted) and ends initiative to heal up. |
| [S15 · 00:57:55 · turn 0610 · scene 003] [S15 · 01:00:14 · turn 0636] | Healing behind the door and looting the boss Out of initiative, the party barricades a door, retches off sickness, and heals with battle medicine, treat wounds, and Veve's healing focus spell. They loot the aberration's body (its head comes off easily) and find a rolled-up parchment map of the downstairs floor in its robes, which lets them complete missing rooms on their own map. Cid scouts a nearby barghest lair (water-dripping cavern, mud-and-bones nest) but finds nothing valuable. They decide to head back upstairs toward town the way they killed 'the dragon.' They hear Morlock footsteps fleeing downstairs and discuss why the reinforcements never attacked. |
| [S15 · 01:20:00 · turn 0845 · scene 004] [S15 · 01:26:30 · turn 0912] [S15 · 01:28:27 · turn 0929] | The Morlock king Boss Scrug and the knighting Tracking footprints and following the orb/buzzing-door hints, the party returns upstairs to the Morlock king 'Boss Scrug.' Venris presents the ghoul-leader's head; Scrug, who speaks Common, mistakes them for heroes, introduces his new family of Mitflit offspring (silly Milly Nilly etc.), swears the Morlocks will not invade Otari (Venris senses he is lying / would have done it anyway), and 'knights' Abbas with a Sotari tradition that involves kissing the disgusting queen's hand. The party gets XP/'a title' for completing the Morlock-related quest. Abbas notes the bright light over the room with the purple worm earlier. |
| [S15 · 01:32:10 · turn 0976 · scene 005] [S15 · 01:38:45 · turn 1043] | Night travel back to Otari The party leaves the keep at night during a new moon. The Fen is thick with fog; they arrange lights and travel in a box formation through swamp and forest, avoiding any spotted lights (possible fireflies/will-o-wisp threat) and noise. Abbas glances back at the dark Gauntlight tower. They recap loot/kills (sorceress, three barbarians, the staff lost to the void). They make it safely to Otari (a stone-ringed town) late at night and decide to rest. |
| [S15 · 01:49:29 · turn 1142 · scene 006] [S15 · 01:51:12 · turn 1155] [S15 · 02:05:00 · turn 1302] | Otari downtime: inn, Carman, the rockfish, weapon repair In Otari at night: a drunk NPC named Carman throws knives at the tavern wall, puts his arm around Cid, rambles about a hidden stash at 'Smugglers' Refuge' north of town, and is rebuffed when he propositions Cid. Veve pays for a room at the 'Rowdy Rockfish'-style inn (the innkeeper lady teases her). Everyone takes a long rest and heals to full. In the morning Venris needs his bent runed kukri repaired but has no gold; the town blacksmith is closed (he was up drinking with Cid). The party reports the Fangbreakers' fate to the bounty merchant (Clean-O) who still wants the werewolf 'Jasper' confirmed dead. They find a second blacksmith at the market who repairs the kukri for 5 silver and offers a rune transfer (4 gold, takes a day). |
| [S15 · 02:58:57 · turn 1435 · scene 007] [S15 · 03:06:28 · turn 1494] | Break and level-up to 4 Long real-life break (~02:13 to ~02:53) for a late player. The party levels up to character level 4 and discusses new feats and choices: Venris takes Mobility, Lore (Cavern) expertise, and Dread Marshal Stance (intimidation-based fear aura, debated assurance use); Abbas/Cid takes Raise Symbol (free raise shield + saves bonus, auto-crit vs vitality/void) and Dubious Knowledge (failed Recall Knowledge yields one true and one false answer). Veve gets Combat Reading (see monster strengths/weaknesses) and Impressive Performance (perform in place of diplomacy), and swaps Guidance for Void Warp. |
| [S15 · 03:21:23 · turn 1640 · scene 008] [S15 · 03:25:28 · turn 1677] | Return to the Vaults and the silver sword closet The party plans completionist exploration of the keep (recapping unexplored rooms: the eye door, buzzing door, multi-eyed/mouthed crazy-making abomination, Belcorra room, downward stairs, etc.). Returning at midday/foggy, they enter a cleaning closet lined with tools where Venris finds and pockets (into the bag of holding) a silver sword/silver-headed cane amid brooms and buckets. A loud clatter alerts a pair of buzzing creatures behind a door. |
| [S15 · 03:53:39 · turn 1962 · scene 009] [S15 · 03:39:51 · turn 1836] [S15 · 04:08:34 · turn 2101] | Combat: the invisible buzzing devil A winged, mandibled, buzzing devil (later 'the boy') opens the door and attacks Venris. It is highly resistant to all physical damage except silver, and weak to holy/piercing. After taking hits it casts invisibility (no verbal/somatic components noticed) and the table spends a long time on detailed PF2e invisibility/undetected/hidden/seek rulings, agreeing the constant buzzing keeps it 'hidden.' It evades the party (broom-throwing included). A separate door reveals a chamber with two dust-covered broken clockwork automatons/robots. The devil eventually goes silent and the party loses track of it before re-engaging. |
| [S15 · 04:11:57 · turn 2137 · scene 010] [S15 · 04:25:06 · turn 2285] | The bat swarm and capturing the devil The devil summons a large swarm of bats (immune to precision and to grapple/prone/restrain). Venris obliterates the whole swarm in one big crit (26 damage, no precision). The devil ('the boy') is then spotted on the floor on all fours; Veve uses Point Out so the party can target it. Cid snags-and-strikes it down to near-death, and it begins telepathically begging for its life, claiming it was forced/contracted to be here. |
| [S15 · 04:29:59 · turn 2341 · scene 011] [S15 · 04:37:50 · turn 2410] [S15 · 04:34:09 · turn 2380] | Interrogating the devil and Otari's memory The party restrains the contracted devil (constructed by 'the Velcora'/Belcorra and bound by a contract to clean the washroom). It does not know where she keeps the 'phylactery/crux.' To prove its usefulness it shares a memory: a badly wounded rogue stumbling from rubble through a ceiling collapse into the washroom, sealing the door with a bloody handprint. The party identifies this rogue as the legendary adventurer Otari Ilvashti (Roseguard) — thought to have died above the keep but actually died inside — who left a 'save me below' message and went toward the green-light room. The party releases the devil (will destroy its contract if found) and notes the two broken automatons and a crude childlike hell-mural on the walls. |
| [S15 · 04:59:23 · turn 2605 · scene 012] [S15 · 04:52:57 · turn 2551] [S15 · 05:22:18 · turn 2816] | Chasing Otari's light and the library ghost The party retraces where Venris last saw Otari's chasing light, checking doors. They find a small alcove/teleportation circle (silvery inlaid runes, similar to a portal room but with ash/scorch marks) behind a secret shelf door, and confirm a door leading back toward the loud mind-warping abomination (which they avoid). In a library/scriptorium they encounter a ghostly librarian (a 'master' speaking Sakroth/Sakros) who treats them as tardy apprentices. Playing along, they loot necromantic books ('What the Worm Knows', 'Secrets of the Soul', 'Grave Feasts', Morblin's-list books) and a magical chain shirt + a portrait of a smirking drow from a skeleton's hands. Cid opens a secret door (another Corral/shelf). The session ends on a cliffhanger as the ghost notices them and combat looms; the party plans to lie their way out rather than fight (silver and cold iron are ineffective vs the ghost). |
| [S16 · 00:00:03 · turn 0001 · scene 001] [S16 · 00:00:37 · turn 0005] [S16 · 00:01:32 · turn 0011] | Recap and pregame chatter Speaker A recaps the prior session: the party met a devil bound by contract to lick the walls, who traded a vision of events from hundreds of years ago for his life. The party connected the 'save me below, I was Otari' wall message to a blue light deeper underground. They resumed a careful door-by-door approach, met an angry ghost demanding they transcribe/work, and Cid opened a secret door that revealed where the ghost had passed through a wall, provoking her. Pregame banter follows about making a new character and the previous combat. Initiative is rolled to begin the ghost fight. |
| [S16 · 00:05:07 · turn 0052 · scene 002] [S16 · 00:15:19 · turn 0157] [S16 · 00:18:24 · turn 0180] [S16 · 00:41:44 · turn 0415] | Fighting the grieving ghost (first engagement) Combat against an angry, weeping ghost who screams 'you're not my Vullock' (the name is transcribed variously as Vullock/Voloch/Volo). The party discovers she is immune to precision/bleed damage and resists most physical damage, and that she is too strongly tied to the world to be exorcised. Abbas recovers a portrait from a skeleton on the floor (which the party believes is the ghost's own body) depicting a lost love named Voloch; confronting the ghost with the portrait and the truth that her love is dead lands a 'slowed' condition on her. The party throws chairs (no effect, non-magical), fires arrows, and Venris stabs with a magical kukri for minimal damage. The ghost crits party members hard. The group begins to suspect they may not be strong enough. |
| [S16 · 01:18:12 · turn 0779 · scene 003] [S16 · 01:24:38 · turn 0843] [S16 · 01:37:08 · turn 0983] [S16 · 01:56:18 · turn 1179] | Sneaking, looting the body, and ghost retreat tactics The party decides not to kill the ghost outright (described as a level-6 monster vs a level-4 party). Veve casts Invisibility on Venris, who sneaks into the room using his Shadow Mark skill to loot the skeleton/body. He recovers a chain shirt (magical, runed) and the portrait (gold plaque with a name, transcribed 'Ball Grisney'). The party debates whether the ghost is tethered to the body or the portrait; when Venris drags the body out, the ghost follows, suggesting the body is the tether. Combat is messy with repeated hide/seek, invisibility, picking a locked door, and the ghost critting Viz down to ~4 HP and dealing 48 damage on one crit. Healing rules (Healing Hands d10 vs d8) are corrected mid-fight. |
| [S16 · 02:25:39 · turn 1495 · scene 004] [S16 · 02:26:36 · turn 1505] [S16 · 02:36:00 · turn 1594] [S16 · 02:39:05 · turn 1631] [S16 · 02:40:18 · turn 1640] | Defeating the ghost and looting the room The party stops fleeing and fights the ghost to the end, using Veve's figment of the husband to distract her, the Dread Marshal aura to frighten her on crits, and repeated stabs from Venris and Cid. The ghost is bloodied and finally falls, departing with 'I'll see you on the other side, my love' after Cid's successful intimidation effectively exorcises her. Loot recovered: the magical (runed) chain shirt, the portrait, and several books from the desk/cabinets including named necromancy tomes (The Worm, Grave Feasts, Secrets of the Skull) plus a stack of scrolls, one of which is an infernal devil contract. The GM confirms the ghost was a level-6 creature. |
| [S16 · 02:40:02 · turn 1638 · scene 005] [S16 · 02:42:22 · turn 1667] | Identifying the contract's owner (the jailer devil) The party determines the contract belongs to a devil bound to the prison/cell (the jailer), distinct from the wall-licking 'Tong' devil whose contract this one is not. They resolve to take the contract to the jailer devil, then take a short break. (Continues in scene 007.) |
| [S16 · 02:48:41 · turn 1687 · scene 006] [S16 · 02:50:04 · turn 1701] | Break and off-topic dice/table bit A table break: Venris's player spams a huge number of d100/d40 dice on the virtual tabletop to 'brick the map' as a joke, and an NPC food vendor 'Mochi' is referenced. Off-topic banter; no story progress. |
| [S16 · 02:54:37 · turn 1744 · scene 007] [S16 · 02:59:59 · turn 1807] [S16 · 03:03:13 · turn 1839] [S16 · 03:03:27 · turn 1841] | Freeing the jailer devil with the contract The party returns to the wall-licking devil (still cleaning walls), who confirms the contract is not his but belongs to the jailer at the prison. They take the contract to the jailer devil (this one's name transcribed as Horlock), knocking loudly with a worthless ring. Venris and BB read the contract aloud with the devil; a clause states that if no new order arrives within 99 weeks and 99 days, his service ends and he is free. Reading it triggers the clause and the devil snaps his fingers, incinerates, and vanishes (freed). His empty cell grants the party XP; the cell contains a fungus-covered Morlock corpse. Cid does not want Venris near devil dealings and hands the contract off (to BB/Veve). |
| [S16 · 03:13:14 · turn 1947 · scene 008] [S16 · 03:35:55 · turn 2214] [S16 · 03:38:58 · turn 2256] | Cultists and the gibbering mouther The party explores rooms near the blue light. Behind several doors they find two cultists kneeling in prayer before an aberration resembling the one that made noises in the tunnel (now identified as a gibbering mouther / 'Gibbering Mouther'). Combat ensues. The cultists cast tendrils of darkness, bite, and inflict bleed; the aberration emits a sickening foul stench (fortitude saves). Cid uses Divine Lance and the Dread Marshal aura; Venris stabs and frightens. Both cultists are killed; their bodies wear necklaces of flesh. The party avoids the gibbering mouther and closes the door on it. |
| [S16 · 03:42:22 · turn 2291 · scene 009] [S16 · 04:04:16 · turn 2545] [S16 · 04:05:54 · turn 2568] [S16 · 04:06:52 · turn 2576] | Violet fungi fight and final rooms (butcher / meat locker) The party finds a room with two violet fungi (level 2, mindless, 60-ft tremorsense, weak to fire, inflict 'violet rot' poison/enfeebled). Venris crafts and fires burning arrows; the party defeats both fungi with fire and ranged attacks. Further exploration reveals: a collapsed elevator confirming this level connects to where Abbas previously blasted a skull/floor near the worm above; a butcher's-block office with a +1 low-grade silver hatchet wedged in the desk; and a former bedroom repurposed as a meat locker full of dead Morlocks. The Morlock locker is too foul to search and is closed off. |
| [S16 · 04:09:07 · turn 2599 · scene 010] [S16 · 04:10:26 · turn 2614] | Wrap-up and stopping in the corridor The party agrees to call it for the night, considering returning to town. They note the level is essentially cleared except an unexplored corridor and a room with a noise behind it (plus the stairs down). They leave the minis in the corridor at a decision point about which way to go next. |
| [S16 · 04:58:06 · turn 2647 · scene 011] [S16 · 05:37:17 · turn 2806] | Post-game off-topic (video game session) Post-session off-topic chatter while players play an unrelated auto-battler / deck-building video game (references to vendors, sextants, regals, haste, items, poison builds) interspersed with a long improvised 'Beach Mouse' song bit. No campaign content. |
| [S17 · 00:00:19 · turn 0005 · scene 001] [S17 · 00:05:06 · turn 0037] [S17 · 00:09:56 · turn 0087] | Recap and Path-Choice Planning The table opens its 17th session with a recap of session 16: fighting the same ghost three times before defeating it, finding a demon contract, taking it to the jailer demon (who eventually freed himself and vanished), burning past blue earthy flame to interrupt two cultists animating a many-eyed creature, and exploring new rooms off the library. The party debates which way to go next; Cid wants the corridor, BB/Venris lean toward a nearby room, and they settle on pushing through the corridor with Cid scouting (avoid notice). They also discuss the level/XP timeline (leveled to 4 mid-session 15) and that Speaker B must leave around the two-and-a-half-hour mark. |
| [S17 · 00:13:46 · turn 0130 · scene 002] [S17 · 00:19:07 · turn 0186] [S17 · 00:21:58 · turn 0220] [S17 · 00:45:14 · turn 0465] | The Reading Room and the Will-o'-Wisp Fairy Venris opens a door (a library/book key fits) into a comfortable reading room: thick carpet, glowing chandelier, incense, oversized chairs, a mossy-skull fountain, and shelves of books. A small evil fairy-like creature sits awkwardly reading an oversized book. It detects as evil; combat begins. The creature repeatedly turns invisible and blinks through the light, lobbing 'mouth of light' attacks and a ceiling beam (5d6 fire). The party (especially Veve, half-joking about jarring it as a pet/light source) batters it with chairs and a thrown sofa. Cid crits it with cold iron, Abus and Venris land crits, and it is finally splatted against the wall by a thrown sofa. |
| [S17 · 00:49:28 · turn 0497 · scene 003] [S17 · 00:50:39 · turn 0505] [S17 · 00:51:40 · turn 0515] | Reading Room Loot: Necromantic Books and the Magical Tome The party searches the reading room. They find the book the creature was reading, written in an unrecognized language with a colorful quill beside it. Cid identifies a necromantic tome titled 'Pathways of the Worm' full of grisly ritual-sacrifice illustrations; Veve (Visigoth) burns it after skimming, on the principle that dangerous knowledge should not be kept. Veve also finds a separate magical book worth a notable sum, handed secretly to Venice (Venris) to hide in the bag. They grab the colorful quill (worthless, kept on a hat) and the everlight crystal from the chandelier as a light source. |
| [S17 · 00:56:58 · turn 0571 · scene 004] [S17 · 01:02:31 · turn 0633] [S17 · 01:07:31 · turn 0687] | Locked Doors, Lock-Pick Trouble, and the Magical Pickaxe Back in the main hallway the party notices Gauntlight's beam is fatter/wider than ever, an ominous sign. Venice tries every key on a locked door (the rusted iron keys fail, the silver key fails, a key breaks in the lock) then starts a 10-minute lock-pick repair after breaking picks. Meanwhile the others explore: a surprisingly clean bathroom, an unfinished chisel-marked room where Cid finds a shimmering magical pickaxe (added to his belt; not yet identified beyond 'magical'), and a furnace room where the air is blisteringly hot with no visible source, pinpointed to a metal bin with a hatch lid; the heat radiates magic. |
| [S17 · 01:16:49 · turn 0756 · scene 005] [S17 · 01:21:15 · turn 0798] [S17 · 01:32:15 · turn 0888] [S17 · 02:05:04 · turn 1216] | The Haunted Furnace and the Bickering Scholar Ghosts When the furnace hatch is opened, two shrieking burning ghosts (scholarly nerds who constantly bicker about how they should have taken Absalom) erupt. The ghosts inflict stupefied (stacking up to 4) and fire/mental damage, burning memories from those who fail will saves. Cid is nearly killed (down to 1 HP twice), kept alive by Abus/BB's healing hymn and Veve's heals. The furnace bin has object immunities, so weapon attacks pass through the ghosts and dent the bin uselessly; only Abus's exorcism, demoralize/intimidation, and a final exorcism end them. Everyone present (including a late-arriving Venris) gets stupefied and loses memories; Cid forgets his mother's name and that he is a priest, Venice forgets details about Rajani/Carman, Abus loses a soldier's name and lore. |
| [S17 · 02:10:44 · turn 1272 · scene 006] [S17 · 02:12:26 · turn 1290] | Furnace Loot, Memory Loss, and the Songbird Ring After the ghosts are banished, everyone is left stupefied for a while and must decide which memories were burned away (GM rules a lost memory is gone permanently). Inside the furnace, beneath ashes, the party finds an elegant copper ring engraved with songbirds; Veve identifies it (religion) as letting the wearer cast the spell Ventriloquism. Venice keeps repairing his lock picks, having broken three things inside the lock and raised its DC, finally fixing the picks in five minutes once his stupefied wears off. |
| [S17 · 02:18:43 · turn 1366 · scene 007] [S17 · 02:24:13 · turn 1427] [S17 · 02:37:43 · turn 1575] | The Sculpture Room and the Wooden Woman Cid finally shoulders through the stubborn locked door into a room with shelves, a partially completed/ruined sculpture of a sprawling city on a circular table, and a wooden figure resembling a woman that animates and attacks. It hits brutally: a crit splinter volley plus a double-fisted crit (38 damage) drops and nearly kills Cid. Venice (BB) creates a distracting diversion to hide Cid, Veve heals, and Venris hauls Cid to his feet and hands him his sword. Cid trips the construct prone but misses follow-ups. The party, out of spells (no level 1 or 2 spells left, one refocus point), decides to retreat; Cid books it out the door and the session ends mid-disengagement, with the wooden woman still a live threat. |
| [S18 · 00:01:58 · turn 0006 · scene 001] [S18 · 00:06:10 · turn 0012] | Pregame and recap request Table banter before resuming. The party asks the GM ('Master Cid') for a recap, the GM offers extra hero points, and combat is resumed from where it left off last session. Players don't quite remember where they left off. |
| [S18 · 00:08:46 · turn 0028 · scene 002] [S18 · 00:25:58 · turn 0110] [S18 · 00:33:26 · turn 0144] | Fleeing the wooden creature and the secret workshop Resuming combat against a wooden/construct-like creature (mindless, takes Venerus' kukri to the gut, splinters fly). The party disengages and slams a door behind them, escaping the creature. They push into a previously unentered secret room: a damp workshop with seven alcoves of magical/alchemical apparatus, a glass tank holding a goblin corpse in outdated servant clothing, a work table with a large open book of construction-and-necromancy notes (recognized via Arcana/Occultism, +2 for being a priest of Asmodeus). They find a doll with a gem-socket indent in its back; because the party previously broke 'the gem,' they cannot use the doll to talk to whatever it stores. Veve/Visiga receives a hero point and a momentary prophetic glimpse from her goddess. |
| [S18 · 00:50:53 · turn 0214 · scene 003] [S18 · 00:50:59 · turn 0215] | Leaving the vaults and the blue light in the sky The party takes the doll and leaves at max (non-hustling) speed back up the stairs and out of the building, past the boathouse area where they previously killed a foe. Outside, thick fog and pitch-black night, but a bright blue light shines in the sky above the Gauntlight, lighting the fog. The party heads around the building toward town. |
| [S18 · 00:54:22 · turn 0228 · scene 004] [S18 · 01:01:06 · turn 0270] [S18 · 01:50:46 · turn 0495] | Will-o'-wisp ambush in the swamp Turning a corner, the party is swarmed by flickering golden lights across the swamp: will-o'-wisp-type creatures (later named 'flicker whisk'). One rushes Abbas and confuses him with no save (an energy/life suck plus a confusing flash). The creatures hide their black bodies until they attack, heal themselves when they feed, shock with electricity, and repeatedly inflict confusion via Will saves. Abbas is knocked unconscious early then revived; Cid is briefly 'left for dead' around the corner but survives. Multiple party members cycle through confusion, flinging weapons (Venerus' kukri sticks in a corpse; the party fights with improvised weapons and fists). The party eventually kills several wisps and flees, escaping the swamp (Visiga/Bizath stumbles on the broken bridge), cutting through the forest to avoid more lights. |
| [S18 · 02:36:25 · turn 0747 · scene 005] [S18 · 02:48:52 · turn 0788] | Break and table chatter The party reaches the edge of Otari; a ten-minute break is called. Extended off-topic table chatter (spilled drink, a scratched-CD bit, ordering a bed and plates on Amazon). Speakers C and D briefly appear during this stretch. |
| [S18 · 02:59:38 · turn 0850 · scene 006] [S18 · 03:08:39 · turn 0891] [S18 · 03:16:19 · turn 0942] | Race through Otari and the head of the guard The party rushes through the forest toward Otari; more lights emerge but ignore them. They reach town to find guards patrolling, no civilians out, doors barred — the town is braced. They debate going through town vs around (fastest route to the library is through the graveyard). Veve/BB refocuses to inspire the troops. Cid's friend Lardis Longsaddle, the Head of the Guard, flags them down: the guards are prepping the graveyard but can't abandon all posts; Menhem's manor and the Gauntlight cupola are visible from the coast. The Gauntlight beam fires again over Otari, lighting the port — last time this preceded skeletal monsters (scalathraxes). Initiative is called. |
| [S18 · 03:27:51 · turn 1015 · scene 007] [S18 · 03:56:04 · turn 1192] [S18 · 04:07:01 · turn 1271] | Battle at the fishery against the scalathraxes The Gauntlight has spawned scalathraxes at the fishery. Venerus arrives first to find guards slaughtered and a couple still spearing the monsters. The scalathraxes obliterate the city guardsmen with venom, bites (poison Benrist/Venerus must save against), and quill volleys. One heroic 3rd-level guardsman (the 'gamer'/'most gamer guardsman') holds the line and sacrifices himself, dying with his hands up; the GM notes a building is built for him in the future. The party regroups; BB/Veve snipes with a longbow from behind; Cid (in his confused-but-effective 'retard' mode) crits and 'masterfully cuts off every limb' of the last scalathrax, finishing the fight. Venerus gets coated in toxic flammable oil. |
| [S18 · 04:10:59 · turn 1293 · scene 008] [S18 · 04:16:37 · turn 1328] [S18 · 04:19:30 · turn 1342] | Aftermath, loot, and the missing Carman The guards celebrate; head guard Arnold shakes Cid's hand. Clerics finally remove Cid's long-standing stupefied condition with a Restoration/recovery spell (no check, no charge after seeing his heroics). Venerus harvests scalathrax oil (valuable flammable alchemical component) via crafting attempts; the party nets 40 gold. The sun rises. At the tavern ('Crooks') the party notices Carman is absent — he would have been there — a worrying loose thread. Cid wants to investigate the library (the sword is stored there). The session ends with the party reluctant ('we just went through the Gauntlight'). GM notes today was a fully improvised, non-prep session, and reminds the party of hidden books and stealth/shopping options. |
| [S19 · 00:00:07 · turn 0002 · scene 001] [S19 · 00:04:16 · turn 0015] | Pregame and recap Table chatter and the GM's recap. A recall-knowledge gag about an NPC (Venris vs. Velquoro) plays out. References to a recent victory over the Skaladraxes and a fallen NPC nicknamed Giga Chad/Chadus set the table before play resumes. |
| [S19 · 00:06:52 · turn 0034 · scene 002] [S19 · 00:14:46 · turn 0091] [S19 · 00:25:50 · turn 0143] | Library fire and the stolen Rose Argent The party reconvenes at the Crook's Nook after resting, then is alerted to a fire at the Otari library. Arriving, they find a section of the library burned and the Rose Argent (Rosar Gentis) heirloom sword stolen from its pedestal. Captain Longsaddle (Lardis) and proprietor Vanderbash blame Carman, a local drunk who had publicly claimed the sword as his family heirloom. Witnesses saw Carman leave with his trademark hammers; the case was smashed. Cid investigates the crime scene and finds a wet patch and beer droplets, earning a hero point. |
| [S19 · 00:30:33 · turn 0175 · scene 003] [S19 · 00:53:16 · turn 0274] [S19 · 00:59:39 · turn 0292] | The bounty: bring Carman back The guard captain offers a 10 gold bounty to bring Carman back alive (initially misspeaking 'dead or alive'). Vanderbash and the priests stress Carman is a years-long menace who has crossed a line. Cid leans on his new thieves' network and learns Carman frequents the Smuggler's Refuge, a smugglers' cave about an hour north of town where teenage 'wannabes' hang out. The party debates whether to take the job. |
| [S19 · 01:17:55 · turn 0374 · scene 004] [S19 · 01:18:25 · turn 0377] [S19 · 01:23:09 · turn 0397] | Rin's: identifying the vault loot and omens Part of the party visits Rin (the psychic) to identify magic items recovered from the vaults. Identified: a wand of quench (3rd level), a scroll of hypercognition, a vial of black adder venom, a +1 striking pickaxe, and a +1 potency chain shirt. Rin charges 10 gold for services. She tries to read omens/stars but the fog ('foffin') is too thick and she declines until tomorrow. Society/recall checks establish the last invasion of Otari/Gauntlight was roughly a couple of weeks (later pinned to 30 days) prior. |
| [S19 · 01:34:03 · turn 0458 · scene 005] [S19 · 01:40:46 · turn 0493] [S19 · 01:43:52 · turn 0509] | Smuggler's Refuge: scouting Carman Veve (B V) and Venris head to the Smuggler's Refuge guided by teenage hangers-on, who hit on Veve the whole way. They find Carman sitting on a crate admiring the recovered Rose Argent (a rose-and-thorn pink-tinged blade, judged a +1/+2 striking weapon with extra magical properties). Carman is hostile to Venris, insults Veve, and talks of fleeing to Nidal. Tension nearly turns to violence. The party scouts and confirms Carman brought supplies, prepared to run. |
| [S19 · 02:17:35 · turn 0609 · scene 006] [S19 · 02:18:41 · turn 0621] [S19 · 02:20:09 · turn 0630] | Downtime: reading vault notes (Borbo/Mr. Beak lore) Back in Otari, the party rests and reviews recovered notebooks. Abus reads notes revealing the goblin in the tank / soul-bound doll the party defeated (Mr. Beak) was Borbo, a devoted servant of Vulk/Vollok who voluntarily gave his body and soul for a promise of immortality, becoming the bodiless doll. The notes reveal Vollok's obsessive, one-sided relationship with Belkhorum. Party earns 30 XP for the books (located on level 2, room B2). |
| [S19 · 02:12:09 · turn 0587 · scene 007] [S19 · 02:25:36 · turn 0663] [S19 · 03:26:31 · turn 0927] | Shopping and selling day in Otari A long downtime day of selling and buying. Necromancy books sold to Moblint's Odd Stories for ~25 gold (worth far more, ~2.5k 'on pop'), unlocking the shop's support (+1 circumstance bonus to forgery/decipher writing/learn spells, 10% discount). Identified items handled: crafter's eyepiece, +1 chain shirt, a ventriloquist's ring (cast ventriloquism, +1 deception, 60 GP). Venris quietly hides extra books and crystals from Abus (deception checks). Various runes and gear sold/bought; Genia's/Mara's shop offers earn-income via thievery. Society checks pin the last invasion to exactly 30 days ago, tied to Cid's banishment anniversary. |
| [S19 · 03:09:12 · turn 0860 · scene 008] [S19 · 03:09:49 · turn 0864] | GM aside: going off-book Out-of-character, the GM floats that the party's choices around Carman and the sword could take the campaign 'off book' into improvised, open-ended territory with real consequences. He weighs prep cost vs. the appeal, mentions using a community supplement, and asks how far the players want to deviate from the module, leaving it to their in-character decisions. |
| [S19 · 03:39:14 · turn 0979 · scene 009] [S19 · 03:41:41 · turn 0989] [S19 · 03:51:52 · turn 1027] | Confronting Carman: talking him down The full party returns to the Smuggler's Refuge at night. Carman, drunk (minus 4 to his Will/diplomacy interactions; Veve suffers -4 vs him), rants that the Rose Argent is his family's, that he tried four times to be mayor and lost, and that the sword's luck would let him win. He admits the library fire was just a distraction. Through aided social checks (Cid aids, Veve's nat-20-tier result), the party promises to help him square things with the town and to be his 'girlfriend,' calming him. He agrees to return but refuses to release the sword. |
| [S19 · 03:56:16 · turn 1057 · scene 010] [S19 · 03:59:53 · turn 1084] [S19 · 04:07:29 · turn 1122] | Return to Otari, the sword surrendered, and the coin pouch The party brings Carman to the Otari garrison. Captain Longsaddle is almost annoyed they returned him alive. A Will save (DC, at -4) decides whether Carman surrenders the sword; he fails (must beat 8, +4 bonus) and the sword is yanked from his hands. He is arrested, begging the party to talk to the captain and lower his sentence. The captain hints he may 'lose the key,' and tosses 10 gold as reward (caught by Venris; split V V 7 / Venris 3). On the cave-to-town walk Venris noticed Carman's jingling sack of coins (~110 gold) and, via thievery, lifted it; Carman later 'trusts' him to hold it, letting Venris keep 10 and expecting 100 gold back. Session ends with talk of leveling pending XP accounting. |
| [S20 · 00:00:03 · turn 0002 · scene 001] [S20 · 00:02:34 · turn 0007] | Recap and morning in Otari Session opens with a recap request. The party wakes in the morning in Otari and assembles to head to the garrison. |
| [S20 · 00:04:24 · turn 0013 · scene 002] [S20 · 00:14:59 · turn 0077] [S20 · 00:15:55 · turn 0083] | At the garrison: the captured arsonist and his diamond The party visits the garrison where Lardis thanks them for bringing in a prisoner (Carman) who set fire to one of Otari's oldest buildings and stole a sword. The hungover prisoner, in jail, frets about money he 'borrowed' and a diamond, and asks the party to talk to the mayor on his behalf. The party passes a Diplomacy check with Lardis. Lardis directs them to the mayor. |
| [S20 · 00:17:36 · turn 0093 · scene 003] [S20 · 00:23:39 · turn 0126] [S20 · 00:31:05 · turn 0177] [S20 · 00:41:46 · turn 0235] | Meeting the mayor at the flume The party finds the mayor working at the flume instead of his usual place. The mayor and a half-orc discuss the prisoner Carman: punishment for arson is normally death, burglary normally costs a hand, but the council may settle on roughly ten years prison. The mayor explains Carman is a descendant of Vaunt Jeljust / the Rose Guard, that the heirloom sword Rose Argent (Rosargentis) belongs to the town library and Carman has never earned the right to claim it. The mayor asks the party to talk Carman into reforming and offers them a side job: investigate 'hooligans' and shenanigans plaguing the flume, the lifeblood of Otari. He names other council members: Vandy at the library and the captain of the guard. |
| [S20 · 00:49:51 · turn 0270 · scene 004] [S20 · 00:51:00 · turn 0275] | Return to the Gauntlight; the party regroups The party regroups (one member had been waiting on a bridge in town for the others) and travels back to the Gauntlight. By now they know the dungeon layout well, so the GM stops hiding mapped rooms. They re-enter at a familiar floor and decide which unexplored rooms and doors to check, including a pile of refuse and a door they had not yet entered. |
| [S20 · 00:56:48 · turn 0307 · scene 005] [S20 · 00:59:56 · turn 0327] [S20 · 01:05:47 · turn 0365] [S20 · 01:14:13 · turn 0415] | The diorama hallway: disabling the city-peril traps In an L-shaped hallway lined with wide alcoves, each alcove holds a small magical diorama of a city facing a different peril (tsunami, fire/inferno, earthquake, tactical monster, undead army). Each diorama is a trap that would have lanced out energy beams. The trapfinder (Venris) detects and disables every one with strong rolls, spending a hero point. The dioramas depict Absalom (not Otari) in past sieges, with the Gauntlight lighthouse shown as a tiny island in each. The hazards reset on a one-hour timer. The party spends time inspecting the dioramas. |
| [S20 · 01:23:42 · turn 0453 · scene 006] [S20 · 01:27:45 · turn 0473] | Language exchange ruling (Aklo / Necril) Encountering a ghoul who speaks Aklo, the table debates how learning uncommon languages should work. They rule that for this campaign you must find an NPC/character willing to teach an uncommon language and then retrain (RK / downtime) into it. As a chain: Veve teaches Aklo to Abbas, and Abbas teaches Necril to Veve (described loosely; exact chain may be imperfect). The ghoul is the NPC source for Aklo. |
| [S20 · 01:23:03 · turn 0451 · scene 007] [S20 · 01:42:04 · turn 0555] [S20 · 02:15:04 · turn 0752] [S20 · 02:21:06 · turn 0786] | The Ghoul King's webbed lair: spider combat A low-ceilinged, web-covered chamber with a cross-shaped table holds a creature that calls itself the 'king of the ghost city' and demands the party bow and present offerings. Combat erupts: the boss is a large spider-creature with web traps, a noose trap, twin parry, and a grab/reposition that strings a victim up on the gallows. It is joined by smaller spiders ('Spido') with poison bites that inflict stupefied, off-guard, and poison damage. Venris gets grabbed, hung on the noose, and starts suffocating before Cid cuts him down. The party kills the boss and the spiders. Abbas overkills one spider with a spell, scattering it. Loot is found under the table. |
| [S20 · 02:25:08 · turn 0810 · scene 008] [S20 · 02:26:03 · turn 0816] [S20 · 02:29:46 · turn 0835] | Looting the webbed lair: opal, light orbs, fire bead Searching the webbed lair, the party recovers a bundle of webbing affixed under the table containing: a mesmerizing opal (a silver-bound opal pendant talisman that upgrades a Deception-to-Feint success to a critical success, worth ~7 gold); five heavy metal orbs that emit light and can be affixed to arrows as 'shining ammunition' (party converts five arrows); and a blueberry-sized glass bead with a flickering light at its core that resists immediate identification. The central table shows an illusory map of Absalom from several hundred years in the past. |
| [S20 · 02:37:31 · turn 0865 · scene 009] [S20 · 02:38:30 · turn 0869] [S20 · 02:41:33 · turn 0887] [S20 · 02:57:19 · turn 0955] | The room with the red eye: Venris confused Moving on, the party finds an ancient torn sofa in one room and, in another, an eerie red eye opens on the wall and watches them. Venris critically fails a Will save against it, becoming confused and frightened 3, and starts attacking the party while screaming paranoid conspiracy ravings ('the government controls everything'). Cid disarms him; the party eventually grapples and ties Venris down. The eye-creature deals mental damage (16, halved on a Will save). Over several rounds the frightened condition ticks down and the confusion ends; Venris returns to normal. The party debates Venris's ongoing redemption arc and Cid's lingering distrust. |
| [S20 · 03:25:33 · turn 1085 · scene 010] [S20 · 03:27:30 · turn 1098] [S20 · 03:57:46 · turn 1267] [S20 · 04:00:11 · turn 1283] | The wood golem of Belcorra and the burned library The party re-enters the room with the red eye, which is a wood golem depicting Belcorra, guarding an illusory sculpture of Absalom amid shelves of annotated books on Absalom's past sieges. Abbas throws the previously found glass bead, revealed as a 'frozen lava' / fire bead that detonates as a fireball, scorching the library and destroying most of the books. The wood golem is mindless, immune to magic (except fire) and resistant to physical damage; it unleashes volleys of splinters and heavy fists. The party kills it (Cid lands a critical decapitating blow). They salvage about one bulk of books for Blint but lose three burned ones, and the room's history bonus is lost. |
| [S20 · 04:09:54 · turn 1324 · scene 011] [S20 · 04:13:24 · turn 1342] [S20 · 04:16:19 · turn 1361] | Descending: the Gauntlight warning and the cavern lake The party finds the way down through the room where they took the light orbs. On a stairwell door, glowing green letters flicker a warning: 'Gauntlight is a weapon built to raze Absalom! It must be brought down.' The party descends into an immense cold, damp cavern with a still lake, giant mushrooms, and a fungus-encrusted stone pavilion on columns in the middle of the lake, lit by a flickering campfire. As the session ends, they spot a wolf and a man: Leon Ironhaven (Ironhaven) stands before them. |
| [S20 · 04:18:44 · turn 1371 · scene 012] | Wrap-up and new characters Post-session table talk: rules chatter about speeds and pre-remaster vs remastered catalysts/rituals, and the GM asks players to roll up their next characters. Mostly out-of-character wind-down. |
| [S21 · 00:00:02 · turn 0001 · scene 001] [S21 · 00:00:52 · turn 0006] | Pregame setup and house-rule changes Table chatter and stream/event setup. Brief recap noises before play begins. |
| [S21 · 00:06:54 · turn 0018 · scene 002] [S21 · 00:07:24 · turn 0021] [S21 · 00:34:02 · turn 0144] [S21 · 00:43:55 · turn 0199] [S21 · 00:44:33 · turn 0205] | The lake pavilion and the cursed werewolf 'husband' The party enters an immense cold cavern with a still lake and a stone pavilion raised on columns, encrusted with pale fungus, a campfire burning in the middle and stone bridges arcing to the walls. They hear barking from two sources. A hostile man in human form (his wolf companion barking) confronts them, telling them to stay back: 'This is my home.' He cannot remember his own name; his wolf 'calls me husband.' The party recalls knowledge about werewolves (weak to silver, transferable curse, trial on the full moon, ~three days away), and a double-crit recall places the next full moon about three days off. Diplomacy keeps things from escalating; the man matches a wanted poster despite being more rugged with long hair. His mouth is stained the same color as the surrounding mushrooms, suggesting he has been living off them. The party passes several attack-trigger checks and slips past him through a side passage, declining the fight. |
| [S21 · 00:49:04 · turn 0223 · scene 003] [S21 · 00:57:10 · turn 0248] | Climbing the rippling blue stair hallway The party moves into a five-foot-wide hallway whose walls shimmer and ripple with faint pale-blue energy. Stairs lead up to the west and down to the east, both reaching small landings; the heights don't match (ascending is shorter). They detect magic abound and climb a long series of vertical stairs, noting they are not yet at the third floor despite the climb. The ceiling stays low in places but rises higher overhead. |
| [S21 · 01:01:32 · turn 0258 · scene 004] [S21 · 01:05:00 · turn 0272] [S21 · 01:23:18 · turn 0360] [S21 · 02:30:46 · turn 0762] | Shrine of Nimbaloth: crawling hands and flicker wisps A vast octagonal chamber painted as a sprawling graveyard sunk into a swamp, every grave open and empty. A raised circular platform holds an altar stone gripped by seven deep finger grooves that pulse with faint blue light; four severed hands lie atop it. Abbas identifies it as a shrine to Nimbaloth, outer god of despair, ghosts, and swamp, and his face turns to anger. The table pauses to discuss double-size maps and where ranged characters may start a fight at a chokepoint. Combat begins: an aura of despair frightens the party on a will save, four crawling hands (recolored/upgraded undead, immune to many conditions) scuttle out, and flicker wisps rise and 'flicker' to confuse/fear and shock, healing off confusion. The hands grab throats (grabbed: extra action to speak/cast). The fight is long and grindy; the party (including Cid, immune to fear via 'retard bravery/rage') cuts down wisps and hands. Finally Abbas spends ten minutes of divine blasting to shatter the altar/shrine. |
| [S21 · 02:34:24 · turn 0774 · scene 005] [S21 · 02:36:20 · turn 0782] [S21 · 02:48:19 · turn 0819] | Sarcophagi hall and the sealed dead Beyond the shrine is a wide 25-foot-high hall lined with upright stone sarcophagi carved as tormented, emaciated figures. To the northeast a 15-foot section of wall has crumbled into ledges dropping into a cavern; a brighter, constant blue light glows to the south. On a Nat 20, Venerus hears something like footsteps dragging chains. The party rests/heals and treats wounds. Abbas insists the dead, evil or good, must stay dead and the party does not disturb the sealed coffins. As Cid nears one, its stone lid turns transparent to show a long-dead body stripped of gear, then turns back to stone. Detect magic reveals no particular level here. |
| [S21 · 02:51:23 · turn 0837 · scene 006] [S21 · 02:56:56 · turn 0866] [S21 · 03:29:24 · turn 1058] [S21 · 03:33:06 · turn 1076] | Sarcophagi ambush: two undead longsword wraiths As Venerus steps forward, two sarcophagi pop open (lids see-through) and initiative is rolled. Two humanoid undead emerge wielding beautiful longswords with 'undodgeable' attacks and claws, each hit forcing a fortitude save; on failure the creatures' eyes brighten more crimson and writhe with life (life-drain). They scream low haunting melodies that frighten the party repeatedly and stack minus-two status penalties to fortitude. The party (with Cid immune to fear) trips, flanks, and grinds them down; both are eventually slain. They drop two longswords and two sets of studded leather armor — rusted, decayed, but worth regular value. Afterward Veve accidentally triggers a hidden brick that opens a sarcophagus/wall, and Venerus spots a tunnel; the party finds a shimmering ectoplasm 'ghost wall' with stairs leading down beyond it, of incomprehensibly high magic level. |
| [S21 · 03:40:07 · turn 1098 · scene 007] [S21 · 03:44:24 · turn 1118] [S21 · 03:48:41 · turn 1144] | Empty scalar-track cavern and the poisoner's kitchen Through a rough-hewn cavern strewn with bones and scraps of metal cloth, Abbas gets the impression this is where the scalar tracks (the creatures that invaded Otari) were recently kept — but there are none now. The passages are likely natural/unnatural mix, not made by a giant worm. Beyond a wall with a side latch (a secret door operated by utensils stuck to the wall) is a kitchen: a squat chimney-less cast-iron stove, a large oak table covered in cooking utensils, and a skeletal body in long white robes with a tall mushroom-shaped hat slumped by the cupboards. The party finds a small black vial with a trace of a fast-acting consumable poison (normally ~20-100 uses, now empty); Cid recoils at the stench. Venerus identifies it. The party grabs clean utensils. |
| [S21 · 03:54:20 · turn 1172 · scene 008] [S21 · 03:57:25 · turn 1184] [S21 · 04:23:28 · turn 1343] | Banquet hall: skeletons and blue skull lights (cliffhanger combat) A pair of brightly glowing chandeliers light a long banquet table set as if for a grand meal, with scattered settings and toppled chairs. Four skeletons in tattered finery lie about, some clutching their own necks; the food is rotted and putrid. Initiative is rolled. Blue skull-lights animate the skeletons; when a skeleton is destroyed its light becomes a floating burning skull that can fly through walls, beam a sickly blue fortitude-save light to channel/heal energy, and re-animate a corpse back into a skeleton. The party (Cid, Venerus, Veve smashing with chairs, Abbas blasting negative/harm damage) fights through repeated fear and slashing/dull-damage from the skeletons. Recall knowledge mostly fails. The session ends mid-combat as a deliberate pause: 'Would we like to pause our combat here?' Screenshot taken; the group breaks to play OSRS. |
| [S22 · 00:01:29 · turn 0017 · scene 001] [S22 · 00:02:12 · turn 0021] [S22 · 00:03:19 · turn 0025] | Recap of prior sessions Players recap recent events: last session they convinced Regani to turn himself in; they passed the werewolf room with a social encounter and no fight; explored crypts where monsters rose from tombs; encountered a terrifying ghostly magic wall they avoided; found a secret door to a kitchen showing traces of poison; opened into a banquet hall full of skeletons; learned that destroyed skeletons release a spirit that tries to possess another body (must confirm the kill); and found the Skeletrax's nest. Session 22 picks up mid-combat against the banquet skeletons. |
| [S22 · 00:12:21 · turn 0123 · scene 002] [S22 · 00:21:21 · turn 0228] [S22 · 00:32:47 · turn 0341] | Banquet hall: finishing the skeleton fight The party finishes the combat against animated banquet skeletons and the spirit/wisps they release. The skeletons' attacks include a cone/life-drain effect (fortitude saves) that drains HP. Venris flanks and lands big sneak-attack hits; Cid (martial with shield) tanks and crits; Veve takes reflex saves and tries a comedic chicken-bone throw (wasting a hero point on rotted chicken bones). Each downed skeleton must be confirmed or the wisp escapes to possess another body. The party obliterates the last wisps; combat ends with the group victorious. |
| [S22 · 00:42:23 · turn 0442 · scene 003] [S22 · 00:44:46 · turn 0462] [S22 · 00:54:06 · turn 0563] | Looting the banquet hall and the Everlight Crystal Post-combat, the party searches the banquet hall and skeleton corpses. They recover assorted cutlery (a few GP), roughly 24 GP in coins split between Cid and Venris, a jangling silver bracelet, and an arrow with green scales and a fanged iron head. Venris heals via Treat Wounds while searching. He identifies the bracelet as a Bracelet of Dashing (Jangling No More) granting +1 acrobatics and a +10 ft speed status bonus on activation, and keeps it. The arrow is identified as likely transforming a struck target into a snake to bind it; valuable, average price (~10-20). The party repeatedly fails to pry the Everlight Crystal out of the chandelier and gives up. |
| [S22 · 01:00:44 · turn 0635 · scene 004] [S22 · 01:02:27 · turn 0655] [S22 · 01:06:54 · turn 0696] | Exploring side rooms off the banquet hall The party opens the surrounding doors one by one. They find a dishwashing room/scullery (a large washing tub with a skeleton foot), a chamber with twisting runes and polished metal discs that Abbas hoped (wrongly) was a portal, a room with a sloping refuse chute large enough for a person plus storage bins of old bones and broken tools (including a human skull among the trash), a room with stairs going up, and a wine cellar. Venris investigates the chute, intending to roll a stone down it to gauge depth. |
| [S22 · 01:12:02 · turn 0757 · scene 005] [S22 · 01:27:18 · turn 0899] [S22 · 01:57:07 · turn 1208] [S22 · 02:01:38 · turn 1253] | The poltergeist: Venris flung toward the chute An invisible force grabs Venris and shoves him toward the refuse chute; he barely clings on (acrobatics) and ends prone in the chute, then climbs out. The party realizes an invisible spirit is using telekinesis (movement resembling Veve's psychic projectiles). Abbas, a Priest of Pharasma, recall-knowledges it as a poltergeist tied to an old corpse in the refuse room. It materializes when challenged, frightens the party, and hurls chairs and dishes (telekinetic storm). Venris's sneak attacks are blunted because the ghost is immune to precision damage. After a drawn-out fight the party kills/banishes the poltergeist, but its spirit is still not at rest. |
| [S22 · 00:26:54 · turn 0284 · scene 006] [S22 · 02:07:14 · turn 1309] | Laying the servant's spirit to rest and looting the chute room The party investigates the long-dead corpse in the refuse room: a lowly servant who fell, dented his skull on debris, died, and was forgotten (dried blood pool nearby). Abbas performs last rites, empathizing with the forgotten servant, and the spirit passes on. Venris searches the body and the chute; the GM shows a Discord image of what lies down the chute. |
| [S22 · 02:09:07 · turn 1324 · scene 007] | Break and table chatter Roughly ten-minute table break with off-topic chatter about monitors and sunlight; play resumes confirming the exorcism is complete. |
| [S22 · 02:21:12 · turn 1349 · scene 008] [S22 · 02:24:28 · turn 1380] [S22 · 02:35:49 · turn 1484] | Wine cellar and finishing room searches After the servant's letter is found (a sad note about keeping a hated job to feed his family), the party finishes searching. In the wine cellar they find three Chateau Lafite 1787 bottles, well-stored and valuable; Cid takes them, telling Venris they are 'regular wine' (a half-joking deception). Another store room holds two more slumped skeletons (kitchen crew, poisoned). The players and GM discuss map layout and the unfound location of the Nimbaloth altar; the GM warns them they are metagaming too much. Cid continues Treat Wounds across the searches. |
| [S22 · 02:52:38 · turn 1648 · scene 009] [S22 · 03:01:00 · turn 1732] [S22 · 03:07:17 · turn 1794] [S22 · 03:08:23 · turn 1808] | Ambushing the leech-creature (Sackroth speaker) Venris sneaks through the last door and finds a humanoid-shaped creature made of countless eye-leeches, reading at a table about images that look like 'the Gauntlight' and other major plot material. He attempts a stealth ambush (Sonic Blow, spending two hero points), but all attacks miss as the creature's leeches scatter and reform, negating precision and his strikes. The creature speaks Sackroth (which Abbas understands): 'You fucking fools finally made it here.' It casts a fireball-like spell that paralyzes Venris for one round. The creature is clearly higher level than the party. |
| [S22 · 03:15:14 · turn 1873 · scene 010] [S22 · 03:33:31 · turn 2061] [S22 · 03:37:04 · turn 2093] [S22 · 03:37:46 · turn 2103] | Leech-creature fight and the cliffhanger darkness The party fights the leech-creature. Veve uses Distracting Performance to make Venris hidden; Venris lands flanking sneak attacks but its precision immunity and self-protective leech-scattering blunt the damage. The creature vomits swarms of leeches (basic reflex, blood-draining) and resists. It reveals it serves a queen: 'It's too bad you're all gonna die before my queen's plans come to fruition.' On its final turn it casts a magical darkness spell (20-ft burst) that even normal darkvision cannot pierce. The session ends on this cliffhanger in the dark. |
| [S22 · 03:38:06 · turn 2106 · scene 011] [S22 · 03:43:24 · turn 2161] | Wrap-up: precision rules and new character Post-session discussion. The GM and players talk about a new character to be made next week (Cid's player to draft a sheet and review it in session). They debate precision-damage immunity in Pathfinder 2e, given how many Abomination Vaults enemies (ghosts, oozes, swarms) are immune; the GM tentatively agrees to homebrew that Ghost Touch should let the rogue deal precision damage to ghosts, and discusses treating ghost resistance rather than immunity to damage. |
| [S23 · 00:00:04 · turn 0002 · scene 001] [S23 · 00:02:42 · turn 0026] | Pregame setup and resuming the boss fight Table chatter about Monster Hunter friend lists and stream setup, plus a recap that the enemy is made of leeches that scatter and re-form into a humanoid shape rather than transforming. The GM (Speaker A) declares the party is resuming the ongoing combat against the leech-swarm enemy. |
| [S23 · 00:03:22 · turn 0030 · scene 002] [S23 · 00:09:59 · turn 0090] [S23 · 00:16:32 · turn 0146] | Magical darkness and the counteract scramble The whole room is plunged into magical darkness (a 2nd-level darkness spell) that even darkvision cannot pierce, forcing flat DC 11 checks to hit. The party retreats out of the room while the GM and players work through the counteract rules. Veve (V V) attempts to counteract twice; the first fails, but a later roll succeeds and the darkness subsides. Abbas's Divine Lance also helps clear it. The boss taunts the party throughout. |
| [S23 · 00:34:48 · turn 0298 · scene 003] [S23 · 00:23:51 · turn 0221] [S23 · 00:45:12 · turn 0391] | Phantom Pain, area saves, and the heightening ruling Combat continues with the boss landing a Phantom Pain on Venris (failure: full + persistent damage, sickened 1) and an area attack forcing fortitude saves (void damage plus bleed on Veve). The table debates how Phantom Pain's heightening works (heightened plus 1 per level, so at 3rd level it scales up). The boss casts Shield repeatedly and retreats toward a corner. Venris later retches off the sickened condition, ending the persistent damage. |
| [S23 · 00:58:39 · turn 0544 · scene 004] [S23 · 01:02:42 · turn 0580] [S23 · 01:03:16 · turn 0587] | Recall Knowledge: a leech swarm with physical resistance The party deduces, via a successful Occultism Recall Knowledge (27), that the enemy is a swarm-type creature: immune to precision damage and with physical resistance, which is why their slashing/piercing hits are heavily reduced. It is known to have additional unidentified weaknesses. Mirror Image complicates targeting (1-in-4 chance to hit the real creature). Void Warp and chip damage slowly wear it down; it is described as 'Blooded.' |
| [S23 · 01:14:40 · turn 0713 · scene 005] [S23 · 01:16:43 · turn 0736] [S23 · 01:17:41 · turn 0744] | Mist, mirror images, and the boss closing on the casters The boss layers up mist/cloud effects (concealment, sickened 1, slowed 1, poison) and refreshes Mirror Image. Veve burns hero points trying (and mostly failing) to counteract, eventually clearing a mist with a counteract success. The boss shoves past Cid to swarm Abbas/Venris in melee ('This is what happens when casters run up!'), dealing piercing swarm damage. Venris nearly drops and is kept up only by an earlier self-heal. The party keeps the boss low while leeches regenerate. |
| [S23 · 01:46:42 · turn 1081 · scene 006] [S23 · 02:06:02 · turn 1286] | Worms within flesh, hero-point chair, and the kill The boss casts a worm/poison spell making targets off-guard while persistent damage lasts, plus more poison and a Suggestion ('sit') countered by Veve's counter-performance. Veve cycles through nearly all saved hero points and heals (Soothe-style temporary HP). The party grinds the boss to single-digit HP as it self-sustains with regenerating leeches. The killing blow comes when Veve hurls a chair (Vile Projectile) and the boss's body is squished between chair and Abbas's shield, dispersing into maggots. |
| [S23 · 02:07:05 · turn 1292 · scene 007] [S23 · 02:18:42 · turn 1400] | Mopping up the scattering leeches The boss's body breaks apart and leeches scatter in every direction trying to escape. The party blocks the door and stomps/perception-checks to crush the fleeing leeches. Veve steps away briefly (player has to leave soon). One leech is flagged as nearly escaping past Abbas before the swarm is fully stamped out. The boss's final words warn 'you cannot kill us.' |
| [S23 · 02:11:16 · turn 1336 · scene 008] [S23 · 02:14:51 · turn 1369] [S23 · 02:18:05 · turn 1394] | Loot: scrolls, a journal, and the suspicious lantern On the desk the party finds a Scroll of Comprehend Language, a Scroll of Paralyze, and an unidentified scroll (identify check failed). There is also a journal / assorted papers and a lantern. The lantern emits a pale blue light identical to 'gone-lights' / undeath light tied to the graveyard's resurrection theme; it is not intrinsically evil but favored by those with sinister/necromantic intent, and is very valuable. Venris quickly snuffs it (hero point used) and hides/downplays it from Abbas, secretly thinking of 'the staff.' The GM teases next session's question: who was this person and why were they so strong, with answers in the journal. |
| [S24 · 00:02:17 · turn 0018 · scene 001] [S24 · 00:11:30 · turn 0087] [S24 · 00:22:01 · turn 0175] | Recap and post-battle search of Vol's suite After a quick GM recap (the party had just killed a 'leech-created' foe/larva-boy, identified as Volux/Vulloc Asne from the portrait), the party heals up and searches the grisly painting-filled chamber. They read through the dead caster's notes (in Aklo/Sakvroth), learning the gauntlight's power has been restored and that a 'void glutton' squats in Belcorra's old suite. They recall-knowledge the missing dwarf 'Lazda' (son of the Ruddy Rockfish owner) and an unknown 'void glutton.' A hidden compartment in a table leg yields a small iron key, which Venerus adds to his keychain. |
| [S24 · 00:27:17 · turn 0215 · scene 002] [S24 · 00:29:15 · turn 0230] [S24 · 00:40:39 · turn 0350] | Identifying the lantern of empty light and reading the blueprints The party finds a stashed lantern with a blue flame. Using Identify Magic they determine it is connected to Nimbaloth, not intrinsically evil, can act as a bullseye lantern and once/day fascinate a target. They decide to sell it. They also find blueprints/maps of multiple floors of the Gauntlight and spend time cross-referencing them against where they have already explored, mapping out the second floor completely. The GM awards everyone an extra hero point. |
| [S24 · 00:48:09 · turn 0422 · scene 003] [S24 · 00:49:30 · turn 0433] | The hidden passage and the trapped dwarf Lazda A door closes on its own; the party hears a faint scream behind a graveyard painting. Searching reveals a latch behind the painting that swings it open to a circular chamber. Inside, a flickering nauseating ribbon of pale blue light tortures a dwarf bound to a table, wounding and healing him in a loop. The party recognizes him as Lazda, the missing dwarf they read about. |
| [S24 · 00:58:47 · turn 0516 · scene 004] [S24 · 01:03:01 · turn 0556] [S24 · 01:46:32 · turn 1032] | Combat: rescuing Lazda from the invisible skull and ribbon of light A grueling fight against an invisible flying-skull monster (a will-o-wisp-type creature, higher level than the party, immune to most magic) that lurks within the blue ribbon of light. Venerus repeatedly dashes in (rope-tied, bracelet of dashing) to unlock Lazda's four manacles while the light and skull deal heavy electricity damage. Venerus is dropped to dying multiple times and saved by emergency healing. A botched rope-pull (double nat-1, GM hero-point reroll) snaps the rope. Veve uses See Invisibility to point the creature out; Abbas casts Sanctuary on Venerus. Eventually the dwarf is fully unlocked and dragged out, and the creature is sliced in half / destroyed once it leaves the light. |
| [S24 · 01:51:57 · turn 1086 · scene 005] [S24 · 01:53:25 · turn 1098] [S24 · 01:54:57 · turn 1112] | Belcorra speaks through Lazda As Venerus grabs Lazda to drag him out, the dwarf's face twists into a smirk and a mocking female voice (Belcorra) fills the air, taunting the party: they have earned 'a fraction of my attention,' Vol was 'but a test,' and her faithful still prowl the halls. The light strikes Venerus again before the presence vanishes and Lazda is left faintly breathing. The party treats wounds and prepares to leave. |
| [S24 · 02:36:07 · turn 1444 · scene 006] [S24 · 02:43:00 · turn 1511] [S24 · 02:48:07 · turn 1561] | Escape and the hidden study: Belcorra's journal and The Whispering Reeds The party carries the unconscious Lazda toward the surface, reading the last of Vol's notes about the void glutton and the completed ritual. They detour to a previously-suspected secret room (found by pushing a hidden brick) containing a stocked study. Loot includes: Belcorra's large journal (mostly Aklo/Sakvroth, first-person, confirming Belcorra is active), an alchemy book, a dangerous tome called 'The Whispering Reeds' (a near-priceless Nimbaloth religious text, <10 copies exist, dangerous even to read), and a folio with loose papers including a ritual scroll for awakening/activating a portal (Gauntlight). A failed attempt to set up Cozy Cabin in the dungeon (ceiling too low). The party escapes to Otari safely. |
| [S24 · 03:01:27 · turn 1675 · scene 007] [S24 · 03:24:31 · turn 1873] [S24 · 03:29:36 · turn 1916] | Returning Lazda and the artifact-selling debate Back in Otari, the party returns Lazda (Mr. Vangerdale's son) to the Ruddy Rockfish; the grateful family gives Cid a lesser sapling shield (buckler that transforms into a tower shield) plus free housing/parlor benefits. The party debates at length whether to sell or keep the dangerous artifacts. They visit Rin's Wonders; Rin buys the lantern of empty light (250 gp), refuses the Whispering Reeds (priceless, no buyer, maybe should be burned). Long argument about the Pathfinder Society as a safe destination for dangerous artifacts. The party agrees to sell the lantern. |
| [S24 · 04:28:00 · turn 2484 · scene 008] [S24 · 04:36:15 · turn 2571] [S24 · 04:57:16 · turn 2754] | Downtime: shopping, retraining, and the trial of Rajani A week of downtime in Otari. The party sells assorted gear (lantern for 240/250 gp, Whispering Reeds back to bag, viper arrow, mesmerizing opal, wand of barrage/Force Barrage [magic missile], Vol's portrait frame, paralyze scroll). Cid/Venerus buys and applies a ghost touch rune. Abbas learns the Awakened Portal ritual (rare; needs silver to activate portals). Veve/BB earns income via Garrison/intimidation; Venerus earns income; Venerus retrains a level-4 class feat (re-composing his Rallying Anthem song). They speak with the mayor (Mr. Vangerdale) about the upcoming trial of Rajani (a captured fugitive who turned himself in, found after 30 years) and meet his daughter Doriana, who has been having strange dreams. The session ends with the party awarded 969 XP, approaching level 6. |
| [S25 · 00:00:21 · turn 0004 · scene 001] [S25 · 00:02:09 · turn 0015] [S25 · 00:04:01 · turn 0031] | Recap and downtime wrap-up The GM (Speaker B) recaps the prior session: after fighting Belcorra/the leash guide, the party found a secret door to a chained dwarf (Lazda) being used in a ritual, fought and killed a ghostly threat, freed the dwarf (son of the Rowdy Rockfish's owner), then returned to Otari for a shopping spree, sold loot (easing Veve/Bigok concerns about necromantic items), and kept the unreadable priceless book. They learned Carman's trial is about one to two weeks out and used the downtime for earning income and retraining (relearning songs). The GM also resolves a lingering question about the awakened portals: the first-floor portal stripped of its silver is defunct/empty and would need time and money to rebuild, while the others just need to be activated and used with the spell. Mentions the whispering reeds / talking to Vany as a pending thread, and that the in-world year is roughly 4721 AR. |
| [S25 · 00:08:40 · turn 0079 · scene 002] [S25 · 00:12:18 · turn 0113] [S25 · 00:15:21 · turn 0139] | Gathering at the trial; Venris volunteers as defense On the day of Carman Rajani's trial, a large crowd gathers in Otari's town square at a makeshift court with three seated judges (Bandy/Vandy Banderdash, Osef/Ozable, and Lardis Longsad), plus library scribes, the Head Priestess, the Mayor, and the head guard. The mood is hostile, almost a public lynching. The party positions: Venris (Speaker A's PC) will actively help, Veve (Speaker C) watches, Abbas/Venice (Speaker D) attends. Venris speaks to Carman, learns no defense lawyer was provided (none is legally required in Otari), and after asking the judges, Abbas/Venice volunteers to defend Carman. Venris improvises a disguise-kit 'tie' and prepares to assist. Lardis is openly hostile to the defense. |
| [S25 · 00:19:50 · turn 0193 · scene 003] [S25 · 00:38:56 · turn 0364] [S25 · 00:46:10 · turn 0428] | Witness testimony and cross-examinations The trial proper begins. Van D reads the charges (theft of secret artifacts and fire/arson). The prosecution (the town lawyer) calls witnesses: Bandy/Vandy testifies about the library fire (rolls a 1, stutters; admits she did not actually see Carman set it). An acolyte claims he saw Carman flee out the back with the sword after a crash. The defense (Abbas/Venice with Venris assisting) cross-examines hard: establishing the fire was controlled/quickly put out, that no one actually saw Carman light it, and discrediting the acolyte's eyesight by having him misidentify the color of a charm on Cid's neck (calls a green/blue necklace 'red'). The charges are clarified: theft, arson, and evading/resisting arrest. Multiple objections (often punctuated by table-slapping bits) and diplomacy rolls land in the defense's favor. |
| [S25 · 00:52:56 · turn 0486 · scene 004] [S25 · 01:30:53 · turn 0828] [S25 · 01:39:52 · turn 0913] | Defense case, Carman's testimony, and plea negotiation Defense presents its case. Venice calls himself (Venris Greystone) as a witness and argues no theft (sword returned same night, merely 'borrowed' an ancestral heirloom), no resisting arrest (Carman turned himself in), and that the arson was an unproven distraction, framing Carman as a drunk who repents. A timeline wrinkle (the sword was actually returned the next morning, not the same night) is hand-waved as honest forgetting. Carman takes the stand and, coached to stay vague and not confess, delivers a tearful repentant speech (high deception rolls). The defense negotiates a plea with the town lawyer and three judges: prosecution opens at 5 years prison plus admission to theft and fire; full guilty could be up to 10 years. After hero-point-fueled diplomacy, the offer drops to roughly 1 year prison plus heavy community service, sobriety/AA-style probation, and tavern ban. The defense rejects the prison time and elects to proceed to closing arguments. |
| [S25 · 02:10:37 · turn 1199 · scene 005] [S25 · 02:11:12 · turn 1204] [S25 · 02:11:48 · turn 1211] | Closing arguments, deliberation, and verdict Closing arguments: the prosecution argues guilt on all three charges (theft proven by the heroes returning the sword, fire as a distraction during the attack). The defense pivots to 'no proof, no evidence' and that the prosecution is convicting on reputation, plus a plea offering community service, sobriety, and Carman's value as the town's best blacksmith for arming the heroes against the Gauntlight. The GM resolves deliberation via per-judge flat-check rolls (with a deception-based penalty and argument-based DC reductions): Osef and Lardis are swayed; Vandy fails her checks (too personally affected) but her goal was always public service. Verdict: GUILTY of theft and arson, NOT GUILTY of resisting arrest. Sentence: 1 year of public service rebuilding the Donflower Library, keep his blacksmith shop open with discounts to the heroes and Otari residents, mandatory sobriety/AA with sponsor and probation, and a tavern ban. Zero prison time. Carman is grateful; the party considers it a win. |
| [S25 · 02:18:31 · turn 1268 · scene 006] [S25 · 02:37:44 · turn 1328] [S25 · 02:38:16 · turn 1333] | Break and post-trial downtime decisions The table takes a ten-minute break (real-world chatter about food, snow, an off-road event). On return, the party notes a time skip of about a week of downtime (earning already rolled). They observe Abbas/Venice's deepening eye-bags (he is not well-rested and is hurrying the party). They discuss whether the Gauntlight is truly disabled: freeing Lazda did NOT fully power it off; saving Lazda was progress but they are 'not done.' Carman's blacksmith shop will reopen in the morning. The party decides to head back into the Gauntlight Keep this morning rather than rest further. |
| [S25 · 02:39:16 · turn 1342 · scene 007] [S25 · 02:41:30 · turn 1365] | Otari errands, an awakened-portal sighting, and a watcher in the streets Before leaving, the party checks in with Rin/Wrin (the stargazer NPC), who can't read the clouded stars but is grateful for the progress on saving Lazda, though she still feels doom and gloom. Abbas/Venice leaves two remaining bottles of wine with an NPC as a quasi-gift/invitation. Visiting Menhamm's manor (nat 20s), they see his family and kids playing normally. Leaving the manor, Venice gets the eerie sense of being watched/followed in the streets, but two more nat-20 perception checks reveal absolutely nothing there. The party then heads to the Gauntlight Keep. |
| [S25 · 02:54:54 · turn 1477 · scene 008] [S25 · 03:05:14 · turn 1571] [S25 · 03:01:50 · turn 1534] | Descent into the keep and the armored intruder's trail The party takes the coastal/shortest route into the keep toward the third floor, planning to hunt the werewolf (Jaul). They pass the friendly young mushroom-creature lad in the library (startled by the door), who reports it has been quiet. Following the trail, they discover signs that a single bipedal armored creature (greaves-shaped bloody footprints, Gauntlight scratch marks, average humanoid) has rampaged through the level, ignoring the ghoul corpses underfoot. Critically, the intruder tore through the secret room under the cupola where the party had earlier found the priceless book and Nezrucan's remains, hacking the magical walls with a massive sword/blade (scars at least an inch into stone), clearly searching for something it did not find. They decide to leave the abomination (no anti-sound prep) and proceed to the werewolf, prowling toward his lair with Shadow Mark and silver applied to weapons. |
| [S25 · 03:20:40 · turn 1709 · scene 009] [S25 · 03:52:56 · turn 2003] [S25 · 04:43:26 · turn 2509] | Boss fight: Jaul Mesman the werewolf and his wolf The party forces open the iron-banded door into the cavern lair (a 35-foot stone pavilion on columns over a deep, bottomless lake). Combat begins against Jaul (initially in humanoid form, revealed as a spellcaster, ex-druid disguise) and his animal companion wolf. Jaul buffs the wolf with Runic Body and later unleashes Lightning Bolt (a 120-ft line, 3rd-level) that hits much of the party, then transforms into werewolf form. Cid takes heavy damage (his tower shield is broken by a ~40-damage bite, then he is tripped), and a flowstone/ground-slam AoE crits Cid for ~50/24 damage. Veve (Venice/Speaker C's PC) tumbles through and lands huge silvered crits with the Kukri/Sonic Blow flurry, exploiting the werewolf's silver weakness. Jaul is obliterated. Notable mechanics: corner-shot allowance, cover stacking with the tower shield, shield block rules, silver weakness not multiplying on crits, and a failed counteract (Dispel Magic) attempt by Abbas against the transformation. |
| [S25 · 04:47:30 · turn 2552 · scene 010] [S25 · 04:49:20 · turn 2576] [S25 · 05:00:30 · turn 2690] | Looting Jaul, the lost guitar, and session wrap After the kill, the party loots Jaul: a +1 striking guitar (Qatara-style), a bejeweled necklace engraved with a porpoise/dolphin bearing the name 'Ila' (identified as belonging to the murdered wife of Calino/the quest-giver, taken as a grisly memento), a sack of mushrooms, and shredded armor. They want his pelt/head and silver-melted remains as proof/bounty for the townsperson who hired them. Jaul dropped a SECOND guitar (also likely a striking guitar) into the lake when he transformed; Veve dives but the lake is bottomless/too murky and the second guitar cannot be recovered now (they consider returning with water-breathing later). They also spot a chute and two more tunnels off the cavern. The session ends mid-keep; the GM proposes moving to every-other-week Saturday 9 AM sessions for longer playtime, and notes the trial prep came from a ~30-page document plus a ChatGPT rough outline. |
| [S26 · 00:00:13 · turn 0003 · scene 001] [S26 · 00:02:13 · turn 0026] [S26 · 00:02:39 · turn 0028] | Recap and leaving the Gauntlight The GM recaps the previous session: the party defended Carman Rajani in a mock court, finished off the werewolf (Joel) with a destructive sonic blow, found a striking guitar in deep water and bloody footprints throughout the library leading into a secret room. Carrying the werewolf's severed head, the party heads back upstairs and out to Otari to turn in the bounty before going back into the dungeon. |
| [S26 · 00:13:54 · turn 0130 · scene 002] [S26 · 00:22:38 · turn 0224] [S26 · 00:27:15 · turn 0263] | Turning in the bounty to Calino In Otari's market the party meets the bounty-giver (the merchant who lost his spouse to the werewolf). Cid butchers the belt first then Abus reclaims it; the party presents the severed head plus a recovered locket. Learning the werewolf's huge wolf companion was the man's wife, the merchant doubles the bounty plus extra: roughly 27 gold 5 silver split four ways. He offers future intimidation work patrolling the market and a 20 percent merchant discount. |
| [S26 · 00:33:14 · turn 0320 · scene 003] [S26 · 00:45:52 · turn 0428] [S26 · 00:46:40 · turn 0435] | Selling the tainted guitar and shopping Venerus sells the dead werewolf's striking guitar (the Qatar/guitar weapon) to the merchant for 100 gold, keeping the money personally since it was his recovered loot. He plans to transfer or buy a striking rune for his composite shortbow, buys a mirror and five sacks, and the party splits to shop and head to the Rockfish tavern. Venerus buys two potions of water breathing. The Rockfish (Laza and her mom) feed and house the party. |
| [S26 · 00:50:48 · turn 0473 · scene 004] [S26 · 00:59:32 · turn 0540] [S26 · 01:01:01 · turn 0550] | Lazda's tale of captivity Over dinner at the Rockfish, the rescued man (Lazda) tells of his captivity deep underground: a figure with a pale blue lantern abducted him; a blue-stone-skinned chained woman (Vaughrrest) tortured and studied him; a Leech Man (Volo) experimented on him coldly; and a void-like swirl of eyes watched, learning from his suffering and answering to something else. Recall checks identify the chained woman as a Sarvarist/evangelist of pain (perfection through pain, self-mutilation). The party realizes there are at least two more sentient enemies in the Gauntlight. |
| [S26 · 01:17:27 · turn 0670 · scene 005] [S26 · 01:30:22 · turn 0782] [S26 · 01:39:00 · turn 0842] | Suspicious 'Absalom guards' on the road Next morning Venerus's new bow is not ready; the party leaves town without it. On the road they encounter a dwarf in a green cloak with two thuggish 'Absalom City Guard' enforcers carrying hidden blades and crossbows. Cid and Abus sense the trio are imposters/bounty hunters hunting a red-haired tiefling woman (Snemi/St Amy). The party deceives them, refuses to help, and steers them away, wishing them harm. The party also discusses the campaign schedule shift and the upcoming Age of Ashes alternation (out-of-character). |
| [S26 · 01:40:24 · turn 0851 · scene 006] [S26 · 02:01:35 · turn 0995] [S26 · 02:13:42 · turn 1104] | The watching-eye haunt and couch room Back in the library the Morlock boy is gone (signs of a fight). Cid investigates the secret 'painting' room behind the library using a mirror to avoid looking directly; an eye/haunt watches but fades when ignored, leaving a destroyed couch with old battle blood. The GM frames it as a possibly-temporary haunt. The party finds two small teleportation circles behind the room (one with silver, one without). Long discussion of awakened-portal vs teleportation-circle ritual mechanics; the party decides not to blindly jump through unknown portals. |
| [S26 · 02:45:33 · turn 1422 · scene 007] [S26 · 02:57:33 · turn 1544] [S26 · 02:58:11 · turn 1550] | Activating the portals and leveling up Abus/Veve perform the awaken portal ritual on the couch-room portal (it lights up, awakened for several days though the far end was not found). They then link a portal on this floor to the one on the second floor near where they killed a 'dragon'. Repeatedly teleporting back and forth grants 30 XP per teleport, pushing the party to level up (Venerus visibly ages each pop). Loot/XP from the merchant quest is also reconciled. They debate going to fetch Venerus's bow versus pressing on. |
| [S26 · 03:04:40 · turn 1609 · scene 008] [S26 · 03:15:33 · turn 1703] [S26 · 03:20:30 · turn 1737] | Diving for the second guitar In Joel's room Venerus hands off his gear, drinks a water-breathing potion, and dives the deep ocean-fed cave water to find the second striking guitar. After repeated failed searches in murky, tide-shifting water he finally recovers an identical weapon striking guitar (planned to be sold). He notices an underwater passage leading elsewhere. Abus later sees a faint green light emanating from that cave, which the party flags but chooses not to pursue. |
| [S26 · 03:27:25 · turn 1809 · scene 009] [S26 · 03:41:49 · turn 1932] [S26 · 04:07:18 · turn 2074] | The looping staircase and the Aurora's suites Heading up the pale-blue energy stairway, the party finds the stairs impossibly loop back on themselves (a magical effect). Venerus spots an off section of wall and discovers a hidden door. Beyond it is a chain of well-kept suite rooms (lounge, formal lounge, dining room) showing burned-in echoes/holograms of the Aurora (a well-dressed blonde) and the drow Vollok conversing, the Aurora reading the Whispering Reeds book, and finally the Aurora dining on a disturbingly human roast arm. Each room has another door deeper in. |
| [S26 · 04:08:27 · turn 2085 · scene 010] [S26 · 04:22:02 · turn 2208] [S26 · 04:24:23 · turn 2223] | Rules debate: hero points on secret checks Initiative is rolled as a void-like creature ambushes the party. A long table rules discussion follows about whether a player may spend a hero point (a fortune effect) preemptively on a secret recall-knowledge check, and whether the GM rolling a secret twice (rolling low penalty) stacks. The GM rules case-by-case, dislikes stacking fortune effects, and refunds a hero point. They read PC Core p.450 on secret checks and fortune/misfortune effects. |
| [S26 · 04:31:25 · turn 2274 · scene 011] [S26 · 04:48:48 · turn 2432] [S26 · 05:55:14 · turn 3085] | Boss fight: the Voidglutton The party fights the Voidglutton, a whispering-behemoth void with seven-fingered needle hands and eye-tipped tendrils that thrives on arcane energy and feeds on fear. It webs/immobilizes Venerus and Veve, crits Veve badly, and casts 4th-rank darkness blocking even darkvision while forcing the party to roll to move. Venerus lands a heavy Sonic Blow and stacks bleed; a healing potion literally saves him at 2 HP. Veve's level-2 dispel fails to counteract the rank-4 darkness. Venerus finishes it with a final Sonic Blow; the creature dissolves and its eyes drop to the floor. The party recognizes it as the Voidglutton (Vollok's patron). The Aurora briefly appears via portal/echo with blood on her hands but does not engage. |
| [S26 · 06:16:47 · turn 3265 · scene 012] [S26 · 06:21:09 · turn 3309] [S26 · 06:23:03 · turn 3333] | Looting the nest: bodies, beads, vial, and longbow In the octagonal nest, three bodies are mounted in ectoplasmic webbing: a transparent-skinned Munavri-like killer (worshippers of Abaddon), the drow Vollok, and a drider (drow/spider flesh-warp). Cutting them down releases them and they rapidly decay, freeing them from the Voidglutton's preserving webs. Loot recovered: holy prayer beads (recognized from one of Cid's old teachers/masters), an unidentified vial, and a composite longbow with runes (an upgrade, likely Veve's). Venerus tries to burn the web with limited success. The session ends; the rescued man never returned to check on them. |
| [S27 · 00:02:03 · turn 0016 · scene 001] | Pregame: Foundry inventory setup and custom items Table chatter and tooling: organizing inventory in Foundry VTT, making custom items (e.g. the 20% Otari market discount parchment as a treasure item), and onboarding a new/returning player (Richie) into Foundry. Includes off-game banter. |
| [S27 · 00:07:19 · turn 0060 · scene 002] | Recap of the previous session A player-given recap: last session they killed Jaul and his wolf companion, returned to Otari to report to the quest-giver (Mr. Irishman / Koradval), got paid in coin plus the discount parchment, sold one of the qatars, heard Lazarus's story at the Rowdy Rockfish, returned to the Gauntlight, fooled the watching-eye room with a mirror, activated portal rooms on two floors, descended further, and fought and killed a 'void glutton' that had bodies trapped in its tendrils. They released the bodies and set fire to the loot room. They are now in Belcorra's/Velhor's bedroom area. |
| [S27 · 00:13:07 · turn 0105 · scene 003] | Identifying loot in Velhor's bedroom The party identifies items recovered last session: a vial (failed earlier), a bowl, and holy prayer beads found on a corpse. Venris makes a crafting check (+12, rolled 28) and partially identifies a mist potion (later confirmed as a lesser mist form elixir). They decide to head back to town to sell loot and collect commissions. |
| [S27 · 00:36:03 · turn 0303 · scene 004] | Out-of-character loot-distribution discussion (the bow, armor rune) A long mixed in-character / out-of-character discussion about how loot has been distributed, sparked by who should get a +1 striking longbow. Cid (C) and Venris (A) clash in character about Venris keeping loot (armor rune, a qatar). The table agrees out-of-character to stop the in-game loot-distribution drama because it slows the game and gets heated, and to default to giving usable gear to whoever can use it. The striking longbow is handed to Veve; Abus (B) gives Cid 65 gold for the trade. A +1 striking pick remains available to sell. |
| [S27 · 00:48:15 · turn 0399 · scene 005] | Leaving the vault: the watching-eye room and exit choice The party searches the abandoned personal quarters (Velhor's), finds nothing, and heads back up through Jaul's bloody area. They pass the watching-eye room; Abus enters with eyes covered but still feels watched, confirming the paranoia effect is active again. Venris senses he could likely disable it but defers it for later. They decide to leave through the cave system rather than via portals (first-floor portal is destroyed). On the way they tell the mushroom/myceloid folk where to find fresh bodies (Jaul and the wolves) to eat. |
| [S27 · 01:07:24 · turn 0564 · scene 006] | Combat: ambush by the screecher in the caves While traveling out through the caves, a large purple-winged screecher (a paranoid Darklands ambush predator) crit-ambushes and restrains Cid. It is large, has shadow shift (concealment in dim light), and a sonic 'moan' attack. Abus cannot escape the grab. Veve (D's tactic) shoves it off Cid critically; it falls prone. Venris hero-points a sneak-attack flurry for ~45 damage. Cid sudden-charges in. The creature uses a will-save scream attack that would sicken/nauseate; Veve's counter-performance (with a hero point) wards the whole party. Venris, Cid, and Abus finish it off. Recall knowledge identifies it but its lore is described as inscrutable. |
| [S27 · 01:40:27 · turn 0898 · scene 007] | Treat wounds and exit to Otari After the fight the party treats wounds and recovers in the caves, sets a marching order (Venris scouting ahead avoiding notice, Cid rear guard), and continues out to see sunlight and reach Otari in daylight. |
| [S27 · 01:55:00 · turn 1036 · scene 008] | Otari shopping: selling loot and buying an armor rune In Otari the party sells the recovered second qatar to the quest-giver for 100 gold (split evenly), sells the +1 striking pick and Veve's old +1 longbow at the market (magic weapons ~100 gp each), and keeps a Black Adder Venom vial and the lesser mist form elixir. Cid buys a +1 armor potency rune (160 gold, with 20% discount = 128) from the Garrison since Carman's shop (Blades for Glaives) is closed. Cid commissions the rune applied to his armor by the master smith (ready ~10am next day). They pick up Veve's composite bow commission. |
| [S27 · 01:59:24 · turn 1077 · scene 009] | Telling Lazarus the tale and lore about Absalom's Grand Bazaar The party visits the Rowdy Rockfish to tell Lazarus (Laza) about killing the void glutton; he praises them as heroes. They discuss Absalom and its Grand Bazaar (in the Coins district) as a place to find higher-level magic items someday. Abus opts to sleep at the Wins/temple rather than the tavern. |
| [S27 · 02:10:08 · turn 1167 · scene 010] | Abus consults Wrin Sivinxi about the Whispering Reeds Abus reports the Gauntlight findings to Wrin (Rin) — the void glutton, rescue of the Hazda, portal activations, the watching-eye room, Belcorra's journal, the visions. He shows her the Whispering Reeds found in a secret room in the Temple of Nethys/Nimbalov; she pales, knows the dangerous stories about them, and warns they could be a useful weapon but risk madness ('the empty death'). With her blessing and a prayer to Pharasma, Abus reads the Reeds: he passes the DC 27 will save (nat 20) and learns a spell that deals 5d6 positive damage to a single incorporeal undead within 30 ft (DC 27 will save), once per hour, two actions. He also learns the book grants up to 3 uses/day of a list of common spells (including fear at 3rd level), but every use exposes the reader to the empty death (paranoia/madness). |
| [S27 · 02:28:03 · turn 1297 · scene 011] | Break and the Cyclops/Sisian helmet purchase After a five-minute break (and table banter about the party's gold imbalance and a 'backpack' character joke), the GM offers a unique 6th-level item the party can find while perusing the market: the 'Sisian' / Cyclops helmet (winged ornate brass helm). It grants +1 AC and saves vs evil creatures and a once-per-hour 6d6 (cold or fire, 15-ft line) eye-beam attack. Veve haggles it down (performance + deception rap-god bit) to ~170 gold. A long in/out-of-character loot discussion follows about who should wear it; because it stacks oddly with mystic armor/rallying anthem status bonuses, it is given to Cid to wear for now (tank), with Venris willing to take it otherwise. |
| [S27 · 02:58:50 · turn 1563 · scene 012] | Rest, morning pickup, and returning to the Gauntlight The party rests overnight; in the morning Cid collects his now +1 armor. Table banter about wealth distribution. They decide to return to the Gauntlight, this time entering via the front door / first floor in daylight to see if anything changed, rather than the caves. Discussion of the destroyed first-floor portal vs the activated (but short-range) second-floor portal. |
| [S27 · 03:09:21 · turn 1646 · scene 013] | The fake Absalom-guard dwarf and his thugs reappear On the forest road to the Gauntlight the party again meets the dwarf and his two human bruisers who pose as Absalom city guards. Sense Motive confirms they are lying. The dwarf drops the pretense: he is hunting 'some many' (a target) and proposes 'finders keepers' on anything valuable found below. The party suspects they are slavers/bounty hunters (the dwarf carries slave-chain manacles and a bag like the one looted before). The thugs tag along into the Gauntlight but hang back outside, too scared to descend. The party tells the myceloid mushroom folk in Sakvroth that the three thugs behind them are fair game. |
| [S27 · 03:24:49 · turn 1783 · scene 014] | Descending through the Gauntlight; the mushroom kids Descending the Gauntlight, the party finds the myceloid/mushroom creatures (including Boss Kron's 'kid') looting and squabbling over random items. Venris befriends them, gives a mushroom child his old main gauche, and they wave the party through. The party passes the portal room (unchanged) and heads back down toward the watching-eye room and the hands room. |
| [S27 · 03:33:49 · turn 1857 · scene 015] | Attempting to exorcise the watching-eye / paranoia haunt Venris learns he cannot permanently disable the watching-eye effect himself but Abus could possibly banish it magically. The GM frames it as a restless spirit/haunt requiring repeated religion checks while resisting recurring fear/frightened conditions. Abus (cleric of Pharasma) attempts a multi-check exorcism aided by Venris; the party endures multiple frightened conditions and will saves. After several failures and accumulating fear, Abus retreats and the haunt remains unresolved. The GM ties the retreat to a narrative 'a soul that failed to pass.' Hero points (including one earned from reading the Reeds) are spent. |
| [S27 · 04:04:50 · turn 2152 · scene 016] | The hands room, a trail, and the green light cliffhanger The party passes through Jaul's room (his body has been eaten/gone) and reaches the room with the hands altar. A perception check finds one hand has a squished finger and a short footprint trail — something heavy stepped on it. Survival/tracking shows a short trail across the altar. As Abus looks down the corridor toward the fiery barrier, a green ribbon of light (same color as Otari's lights, the same green light seen where they fought Jaul) emerges from the tunnel and darts around. The party chooses to pursue the light next session rather than the one unexplored room. Session ends on this cliffhanger; next session noted as 'AOA'. |
| [S28 · 00:00:23 · turn 0002 · scene 001] | Pregame and table setup The group returns to the Abomination Vaults dungeon after time away (and a different campaign). Banter about mini sizes and the cramped map before play resumes. |
| [S28 · 00:01:06 · turn 0008 · scene 002] [S28 · 00:03:22 · turn 0024] | Following the green light back through the pavilion The party again notices the recurring flickering green light and decides to follow it. Benri (animal companion) helps track its direction. They push through a dark corridor back toward the pavilion clearing, passing the carcasses of the white creatures (whites) they killed earlier. |
| [S28 · 00:06:10 · turn 0049 · scene 003] [S28 · 00:07:06 · turn 0062] | Dangerous mushrooms at the clearing Cavern Lore reveals the pale mushrooms lining the area are not only inedible but release a dangerous pollen. Cid covers his mouth/nose with his cape; Abus copies with a cape, and the party advances cautiously while keeping distance from the spores. |
| [S28 · 00:10:31 · turn 0096 · scene 004] [S28 · 00:17:46 · turn 0159] [S28 · 00:18:25 · turn 0165] | The dead garbage monster under the chute The party reaches a rusty metal chute over a pool, where a huge mound of fungus hides the long-dead, rotting carcass of a garbage-eating monstrosity (the creature that nearly ate Venris before). Recall Knowledge identifies it as a refuse-dwelling beast that carries Filth Fever and can sicken. The party covers their mouths, holds their breath, and dashes past it with fortitude saves; everyone passes (Veve rolls a nat 20). |
| [S28 · 00:26:13 · turn 0232 · scene 005] [S28 · 00:32:10 · turn 0286] | The clean water and the cozy cabin rules debate The party wades into knee-deep, suspiciously clean cave water (a natural cenote per Venris). A long table tangent debates the rules of the Cozy Cabin spell, which requires carried wood (550 board feet) because the spell only has the manipulate trait for wood, not glass. Eventually they move on; Cid lets the cave-expert Venris lead the scouting. |
| [S28 · 00:36:15 · turn 0329 · scene 006] [S28 · 00:40:06 · turn 0357] | Scouting the island and the rotted rogue Discussion of light ranges so Venris can scout ahead in darkness. On a low rocky island covered in pale green mushrooms, the scouts find a human skeleton in rotted leather armor clutching a rapier. As Venris approaches, a green light rises from the skeleton, which speaks a warning: 'Beware. The eyes of anti-death are around us.' Initiative is called. |
| [S28 · 00:47:33 · turn 0431 · scene 007] [S28 · 00:49:52 · turn 0449] | Table interlude: spell books, free archetype, and AP talk During the initiative break the table resolves Foundry spell-management issues. The GM rules that, now at level 6 and friendly with Otari's market, all players may add any spells (full book access) for both in- and out-of-game convenience. A free-archetype request is declined for now, with the GM offering it as an in-campaign reward if earned. Tangent about Stolen Fate / Ruby Phoenix APs as AV continuations. |
| [S28 · 00:53:48 · turn 0493 · scene 008] [S28 · 00:55:35 · turn 0510] [S28 · 01:10:51 · turn 0660] [S28 · 01:40:17 · turn 0949] | Combat: flickering will-o'-wisps and Otari's ghost The party fights several flickering will-o'-wisp / void-glutton-like creatures (burning skull boys) that flicker invisibly, deal electric shocks, and try to confuse the party into PvP. Otari's rotted rogue ghost fights alongside them, infesting a party member's shadow each turn to strike with a ghostly hand. Cid takes heavy shock damage (18-19) and is healed by Abus. Venris gains a +4 circumstance bonus to saves from sheer hatred of these creatures and crits a save (immune to their flicker for 24h); elves/Venris are ruled immune to the electricity. The party grinds the wisps down (Cid crits for 37, Venris obliterates one) and the fight ends. Otari's infestation gives a fortitude save; Cid fails it twice and is exposed to Field/Filth Fever. |
| [S28 · 01:55:59 · turn 1107 · scene 009] [S28 · 02:16:28 · turn 1264] [S28 · 02:19:29 · turn 1292] | Roleplay: Otari's ghost tells his story With combat over, the party speaks with Otari's ghost. He confirms his identity and is moved to tears that the town bears his name and that the Rose Guard survived. He recounts being wounded when Belcorra attacked, fleeing into the lower levels, getting attacked by an octopus-like creature, and dying of fever down here alone. He explains the Gauntlight is only a vessel whose true power has never awakened and does not need the 'lens'; that some source of its power keeps spirits (including Belcorra) bound; and that the barrier on the main corridor was erected by Belcorra's spirit as a protective eggshell. He believes the barrier has a weakness tied to the Rose Guard. |
| [S28 · 02:25:52 · turn 1336 · scene 010] [S28 · 02:29:24 · turn 1366] | The four icons and the Kalin Key Otari reveals the barrier can be pierced by gathering four personal icons of the Rose Guard. He gives the party his own: a skeleton key shaped like a skull, his 'Kalin Key' (logged in Foundry as a skeleton key). He names the other three icons: Bull's Rosa Argentis (Rose Argentis), Asefna's Cloak of the Huntress, and Zarmavdian's spellbook (Threshold's Truth). The party already knows where the Rosa Argentis is. He warns Belcorra is expanding and must be stopped. |
| [S28 · 02:33:45 · turn 1399 · scene 011] [S28 · 02:34:08 · turn 1401] | Wrap-up: the quest forward and Cid's fever The group ends early (GM tired, next week is the other campaign). New quest established: break the barrier by gathering the four Rose Guard icons (one obtained: the Kalin Key; Rosa Argentis location known; the other two unknown). They plan to hit the library for research. Otari cannot be healed of his affliction or helped to pass on; he will remain as a helpful quest-giver. Cid is now infected with Field/Filth Fever and symptoms will appear within hours. |
| [S29 · 00:00:32 · turn 0005 · scene 001] [S29 · 00:02:11 · turn 0014] | Table talk: the no-rule and YOLO framing Out-of-character session-zero-style discussion led by the GM (Speaker A) about avoiding saying 'no' to players, reframing limitations as alternatives to find together, and treating the virtual tabletop (Tailspire) maps as loose interpretations. References a prior frustration where a player wanted to use a spyglass/long-range tree position. GM signals today will be a 'YOLO in Pathfinder' style session. |
| [S29 · 00:11:29 · turn 0079 · scene 002] [S29 · 00:12:46 · turn 0090] | Recap with Otari's ghost and the plan to find the relics Recap of the standing situation: the party is with the ghost of Otari, who has told them to find the Rose Guard relics. A magical barrier in the depths can only be broken by the artifacts. The party decides to return to town to pursue the artifacts. |
| [S29 · 00:14:24 · turn 0106 · scene 003] [S29 · 00:26:54 · turn 0218] [S29 · 00:31:51 · turn 0264] | Escape from the vaults: rot field and the impersonator thugs The party dashes back out of the vaults. They pass the rot/disease field with a +4 bonus (already aware of it) and easily succeed. The GM and Speaker D discuss random-encounter mechanics (3d6 vs d20 tables). Hearing voices ahead in the large fourth-floor tunnel, Veve casts group invisibility (shared, 30 ft radius, 10 minutes) and the party holds onto each other while sneaking past. They overhear the dwarf-led thugs who had impersonated guards, now openly armed (crossbows, shortbows, warhammers, one with a climbing kit), complaining the adventurers had cleared the area. The party avoids them and teleports/exits safely back to town by afternoon. |
| [S29 · 00:35:57 · turn 0296 · scene 004] [S29 · 00:42:25 · turn 0353] | Back in town: deciding to see the mayor Party returns to Otari town in the afternoon (~3-4 PM). They decide to seek out the mayor about the Rosary Argentis (Rose Guard sword) and leads on the other artifacts. Cid is feeling early, near-placebo symptoms of his filth fever (scratchy throat, possible headache). Veve splits off to the Dawnflower library to research a new uncommon level-3 spell. The party learns the mayor (Menham/Osif) also runs the lumber mill outside town in the afternoons, so they head there. |
| [S29 · 00:54:12 · turn 0465 · scene 005] [S29 · 00:56:13 · turn 0483] [S29 · 00:57:31 · turn 0494] | Audience with Mayor Osif: the Rosary Argentis and artifact leads At the mill, a half-orc foreman the party has met before walks them to Mayor Osif's office. The party explains finding Otari's ghost, the magical barrier broken only by Rose Guard artifacts, and shows the Kalian/Galian key (one of Otari's personal effects, recognized in a portrait of all four Rose Guard). The mayor provides leads on the other artifacts: Zarmavdian's spellbook 'Threshold of Truth' is in the Anathenian Archives in Absalom (restricted); the Huntress's Cloak is buried in her tomb; the Rosary Argentis (the sword) the mayor will secure in a couple days. He requests the party return the Kalian key and sword to Otari's archives afterward; Venerus deceptively/non-committally agrees (will saving throw used to press later). |
| [S29 · 01:02:28 · turn 0538 · scene 006] [S29 · 01:12:17 · turn 0620] [S29 · 01:16:45 · turn 0655] | Filth fever exposed: the library quarantine outbreak begins GM clarifies out-of-character that filth fever is being played like COVID; the party must maintain social distance from Cid or risk recurring fortitude saves. The party takes Cid to the Dawnflower library for treatment. When Venerus mentions 'filth fever' to Bandy Vanderbesch, panic erupts: the priests slam the doors, lock down the library, and put the whole building under quarantine ('Covid lockdown'). Cid is hauled off as 'patient zero' into an isolation shrine room, stripped of armor. Veve (invisible) is trapped inside; Venerus passes his fortitude save and is cleared. A 'hit squad' of priests goes out to trace contacts and the town starts social-distancing protocols. |
| [S29 · 01:31:37 · turn 0776 · scene 007] [S29 · 01:38:36 · turn 0830] [S29 · 01:40:14 · turn 0841] | Visigoth and Morblint: chasing the Threshold of Truth While Cid and Veve are quarantined, Visigoth (Speaker D) finds the bookseller Morblint at the 'Odd Stories' shop. Visigoth gets a +1 lore bonus toward Zarmavdian knowledge from Morblint's rambling. Morblint reveals: the Threshold of Truth spellbook is locked in the heavily restricted Anathenian Archives in Absalom, accessible only to certified wizards/scholars; he never got in despite years of trying but befriended a head librarian there and offers to write Visigoth a recommendation letter (ready tomorrow). Venerus eventually joins the shop. Visigoth (originally from Absalom) accepts the help. |
| [S29 · 01:47:59 · turn 0912 · scene 008] [S29 · 01:51:18 · turn 0935] [S29 · 01:56:34 · turn 0964] | Homebrew ruling: background lore scales to expert + the Huntress's Tomb lead Table rules discussion (largely out-of-character) led by Speaker B/D: background lore skills are weak because they stay trained, so they house-rule that a character's background lore is upgraded to expert (not scaling to master). Applied to Venerus's Rose Guard lore and Visigoth's theater lore. Venerus then rolls a 26 Rose Guard recall knowledge: the Huntress's tomb is sealed below Otari, requires the mayor's holy symbol of Aspenthar/Sephen to open, and the party alone will be permitted entry. Bandy reveals the tomb was deliberately locked after a priest reported concerning things; she offers to accompany the party down once the quarantine is handled. |
| [S29 · 02:22:02 · turn 1169 · scene 009] [S29 · 02:40:30 · turn 1342] [S29 · 02:40:53 · turn 1346] | The quarantine climax: cleanse affliction and saving the kid Long disease-resolution sequence over ~24 hours of in-game quarantine. Four people went into the danger zone: Cid (patient zero), Veve, a young girl 'Sally', and a pirate-looking tengu adventurer. Cid and Venerus are eventually cleared; Veve and the others worsen to stage three (stage 4 = unconscious, stage 5 = death). Visigoth/Cid (the divine caster, Speaker D) returns with prepared Cleanse Affliction and runs an extended counteract-rules debate (counteract level math, disrupt vs reduce, what level to assign the disease). A key ruling: the disease's level is the ghoul/'ugly' source, not Otari, dropping the counteract DC to level 2. With a +4 bonus the caster cleanses the child (saved), then Veve (cured), and finally the tengu. Everyone survives. |
| [S29 · 02:45:33 · turn 1385 · scene 010] [S29 · 02:48:23 · turn 1408] | Wrap-up: pointing toward Absalom Session wind-down. GM notes (out-of-character) that the artifact hunt is homebrew material outside the published module, and the next arc will send the party to Absalom (described as a Metropolis / 'New York'), where finding spells can be nearly free. Players bank hero points (Visigoth/Venerus get one earmarked specifically for spell-research). Venerus flags they should earn money before Absalom. Veve defers her spell-finding rolls until Absalom. Session ends in the late afternoon (~5 PM) in-game. |
| [S30 · 00:03:21 · turn 0024 · scene 001] [S30 · 00:04:44 · turn 0037] [S30 · 00:05:33 · turn 0042] | Pregame setup and recap of Sessions 28-29 Table sorts out Foundry/audio, then recaps where Sessions 28-29 left off: the party finished speaking with Otari's ghost and learned which relics are needed to break a barrier. They returned to town with Cid sick, spoke to the mayor at a distance, treated the plague at the Downflower library; Cid recovered from the disease on his own while Veve did not, and a child nearly died but was cured in time. Cid investigated Morblin's bookstore for the Zarmavian spellbook (one of the relics) and found it gone, likely now in Absalom. They decide to skip the nighttime regroup and pick up the next morning. |
| [S30 · 00:07:41 · turn 0060 · scene 002] [S30 · 00:18:24 · turn 0155] | Morning regroup at the Crooked Nook The next morning the party reconvenes at the Crooked Nook tavern (Venris's lodging). Cid sleeps at the Downflower library; Veve/V V at the Rowdy Rockfish; Beast may be retraining via the cozy/cabin spell. The party shares coffee (a major Otari export), with running banter about Otari's coffee obsession and an espresso 'machine' (joked to be a wizard). They discuss next steps: Cid knows all relic locations, the others know three (from the mayor's earlier info). They agree to visit the mayor first about the Rosa Argentis and the graveyard, then split: Cid goes to find Beast / check Morblin's, the rest head to the manor. |
| [S30 · 00:33:27 · turn 0292 · scene 003] [S30 · 00:38:18 · turn 0339] [S30 · 00:39:49 · turn 0351] | The mayor's manor: the Rosa Argentis and the crypt problem At the manor, Mayor Osef Menhemis and the cleric Vandy are stressed by bad news. The mayor formally hands over the Rosa Argentis (a relic the party needs), described as a long-sword-shaped silver/pink rapier; mechanically a +1 striking longsword granting a +2 bonus to aid allies and a 'Flurry of Flowers' ability. Vandy reports that strange sounds were heard at the family crypt in the graveyard; clerics Father Thalos and young Aren were sent to investigate, and Aren returned with rotted fingers, raving, repeating 'the end is here.' Father Thalos and Aren are at the church/library. The party agrees to investigate the crypt. |
| [S30 · 00:44:26 · turn 0395 · scene 004] [S30 · 00:47:18 · turn 0418] [S30 · 00:47:57 · turn 0421] | Cid's errands: Morblin's and Carman Cid splits off, visits Morblin's bookstore (Beast not there), then runs into Carman/Carman in the street. Carman admires the Rosa Argentis, asks to hold it and swings it once (Flurry effect), vowing to one day earn the sword back for his family. Carman mentions he is back working/worshipping but is on probation and being heavily taxed by the mayor's office, hinting he may raise his prices. |
| [S30 · 00:51:23 · turn 0457 · scene 005] [S30 · 01:01:13 · turn 0539] [S30 · 01:11:01 · turn 0629] | Interviewing Father Thalos and Aren at the library At the Downflower library, the party (Cid first, then the rest) questions Father Thalos about what happened in the crypt. Aren keeps mumbling 'the end is here' / 'it's empty' / 'it's going to consume it all.' His fingers rotted like dead wood, unhealable by any cure or cleansing; his mind is drifting and he denounced his god. Thalos recounts: they descended to the first chamber, Aren heard crying, opened a coffin (Mithra/Mithras) and found a fish-sized hole; his hand decomposed almost instantly; Thalos sealed the crypt. Party rolls recall knowledge trying to link the affliction to Belcorra/Nimbaloth and to the 'empty death' epithet from Cid's book; results are ambiguous gut-feelings, not a clean match. Group hero points refreshed to a full party fix. |
| [S30 · 01:27:24 · turn 0757 · scene 006] [S30 · 01:25:58 · turn 0744] [S30 · 01:38:53 · turn 0799] | Crypt lore: Sephna, Bulrajani, and the missing tomb Vandy walks the party to the mausoleum, sharing lore on the way. The crypt is the Menhemis family tomb; Mayor Osef descends from A Sephna. Two levels: five sarcophagi for recent dead on the first, the rest of the family below. A long-suppressed family rumor: A Sephna and Bul/Rajani decomposed days after their deaths and, contrary to the heroic 'happily ever after' Rose Guard tales, A Sephna actually killed Bulrajani (the fighter who carried the sword) because Rajani went crazy. Sephna has no real tomb, only a statue and belongings (including a cloak) at the far end of the second level. Venris is shocked and gains a personal quest to learn the truth. Vandy is estimated to be roughly level 5. The party debates marching order; only one way in/out, so a rear guard is moot. GM gives a meta speech that homebrew encounters are built for the environment, not scaled to party level. |
| [S30 · 01:59:56 · turn 0997 · scene 007] [S30 · 02:10:35 · turn 1112] [S30 · 02:16:51 · turn 1163] | Descent: ghost footsteps and the magically sealed door The party descends with Vandy, Menhemis, and frightened priests. They hear distant moaning, then phantom footsteps of an entire group running up past them; will saves push several priests, Abbas (Cid), and Vandy to frightened. They reach the first-level chamber: five sarcophagi (the open one is Mithra's), wall tombs with name plaques, infinite-feeling magic, a small fish-sized hole in each sarcophagus, and a caving-in section of ceiling with a softball-sized hole to the surface. As the party enters, the stone door slams shut and is magically locked. After many failed athletics attempts, Venris uses the Kalen/Kaline key (Loosen Lock/knock) and thievery to unlock it; a clutch hero-pointed roll succeeds and the door is reopened. |
| [S30 · 02:53:25 · turn 1506 · scene 008] [S30 · 03:08:28 · turn 1649] [S30 · 03:27:34 · turn 1829] | Haunt combat: the entombed spirit and the cobold child Investigating an altar/embalming workstation triggers a hazard: a powerful force trips and pushes the party toward the wall; Venris is knocked into a sarcophagus for ~20 damage. A howling humanoid face bulges from the wall over the sarcophagus, growing tendrils, and initiative is rolled. A frightened cobold-child ghost manifests cowering ('get away from me'); Cid exorcises it. The wall-spirit grapples and constricts Venris; his ghost-touch kukri does little (the tendrils feel unreal). Cid recall-knowledges the haunt: such haunts form when a murder victim is entombed in a wall, yet no Menhemis is a known murder victim, and the corpses here are under ~10 years old (Sephna's events were ~500 years ago / forty-seven-something on the calendar). Cid pushes open the grandpa Sarah's sarcophagus; the spirit screams and flees the mausoleum. Combat ends. |
| [S30 · 03:40:21 · turn 1960 · scene 009] [S30 · 03:37:01 · turn 1921] [S30 · 03:59:17 · turn 2133] [S30 · 04:24:16 · turn 2363] | Tarnak's secret: the Unguent of Timelessness and corrosive moss The party finds the sarcophagi nearly empty (bodies and most cloth gone), connected by fist-sized holes following a path between coffins, with chalk-like film and corrosive dead moss. Menhemis reveals a secret family history at the embalming station: Tarnak, secret son of A Sephna and Otari and distant father of Maklani (creator of the flume), became obsessed with a particular bul late in life; when he and his wife died their bodies vanished, terrifying him into seeking a remedy: the Unguent of Timelessness, an old family tonic preventing decomposition of bodies or wood, used for generations until Tarnak's death. He offers the formula. Below lie preserved bodies of Tarnak, his wife Sarah Lynch (Mithra), daughter Maklani, husband Bayland, and others. Venris touches the rotted-wet clothing and finds seven evenly-spaced divots carved into the stone (recall knowledge yields nothing). Corrosive wilted moss deals 20 damage on a touch despite a passed save; the party debates whether to retreat for an alchemist but decides to press on. |
| [S30 · 04:52:45 · turn 2628 · scene 010] [S30 · 05:10:15 · turn 2800] [S30 · 05:17:13 · turn 2869] | Second level and Veve's possession (cliffhanger) The party forces open the decayed second-level gate into a room with golden double doors, four paired sarcophagi, moss, fungi, and water, plus a hole in the ceiling. As they get their bearings, a will save is called and an ethereal blurred figure rushes Veve and vanishes into her. Veve loses bodily control and speaks Dwarven, then Tengu, then Common in a Tengu-type voice demanding 'Release me if you ever wanna see this bitch live.' Cid recognizes the language is linked to a Tengu he once cured but believes them unrelated. Cid restrains and grapples the possessed Veve (immobilized/off-guard, no manipulate actions); the spirit makes her bite her own tongue for damage. Cid lodges a sack/object to stop the biting and calls Vandy to help exorcise. The session ends mid-exorcism on a cliffhanger as Cid begins the rite ('go to the river of souls and accept Farazma'). |
| [S30 · 05:17:55 · turn 2876 · scene 011] [S30 · 05:18:02 · turn 2877] | Wrap-up and scheduling Out-of-character wrap-up. The GM notes he is prepped to finish this whole dungeon and proposes a midweek session (possibly Wednesday). He mentions being broke and needing to job-hunt, which may force a schedule change, but prepping remains his priority. Players discuss availability; next session is to be Age of Ashes (AOA) or this Abomination Vaults thread, TBD. |
| [S31 · 00:02:36 · turn 0009 · scene 001] [S31 · 00:03:26 · turn 0017] | Pregame: hero points, table chatter, and tech crashes Players gather, joke around, and wait on Tellspire/Obsidian. The GM (Speaker A) collects current hero-point totals before recapping: roughly two for Veve, two for Cid, one for the rest (later reduced to about one each). Mostly off-topic table chatter. |
| [S31 · 00:10:42 · turn 0104 · scene 002] [S31 · 00:13:50 · turn 0123] [S31 · 00:15:03 · turn 0132] | GM recap: the Menhaem crypt investigation The GM recaps how the party got here: weird events in the crypts of the Menhaem family. Vandy sent the party (and recalled her own priests) to investigate after some of her priests failed to recover. The party was briefly locked in but priests keep an open door, coming in and out to top the party off from haunts, ghouls, and ghosts. Strangely, none of the spirits present belong to the Menhaem family, whose 500-year-old remains have mostly crumbled to dust; some corpses are simply gone, with a corrupting substance eating the stone. A hole roars down through the crypt floors from above. Last session the party pushed downstairs and Veve (VB) was overtaken by a spirit that petrified her; Cid restrained and sacked/gagged her while Abbas began an exorcism commanding the spirit to the River of Souls. The possessed Veve also began speaking Tengu. |
| [S31 · 00:15:42 · turn 0137 · scene 003] [S31 · 00:29:38 · turn 0274] [S31 · 00:32:33 · turn 0301] | The exorcism backfires: spectral blast and chains of sin Abbas's exorcism rolls 29 but the spirit inside Veve resists and lashes out in a wave of desperate energy. Everyone but Abbas fails a Constitution/Fortitude save and is shoved back; Venris crit-fails (17 then a 9). Then a second effect (tagged mental and cult) wraps the whole party in heavy spectral chains forged from their own sins and regrets; only Veve escapes. Venris, a follower of Calistria, defies the chains by feeling no regret over his thievery (deception then +2 for faith). Cid uses War Lore (+1) then an Escape action to break free. Veve continues to hear the spirit's voice: 'No escape, no mercy, no river... only void that devours all.' Cid repositions Veve but she is anchored to the room by an invisible tether. |
| [S31 · 00:51:41 · turn 0466 · scene 004] [S31 · 00:52:30 · turn 0476] [S31 · 01:01:27 · turn 0556] | Calming the spirit: Veve befriends 'Britney' Veve tries to communicate with the spirit possessing her, asking how to escape the room. The spirit only repeats 'there is no escape, all I feel is doom.' Veve casts Soothe (an emotion/healing spell, +4 to Diplomacy) channelled through a performance and succeeds, calming the spirit so it becomes friendly toward her though still terrified. The party nicknames the spirit 'Britney.' Abbas's repeated exorcism attempts go awry (a crit fail nearly harms Veve); Veve tells Abbas to stop exorcising it because the spirit may help them figure out why she is trapped. Everyone breaks free of their chains. |
| [S31 · 01:05:33 · turn 0595 · scene 005] [S31 · 01:13:02 · turn 0659] | The bog-rot mummy bursts from its sarcophagus A sarcophagus breaks open. A foul-smelling, decayed mummy infested with bog/rot bursts out and rolls into initiative. It exudes a stench (DC 19 Fortitude) and rushes Abbas, clawing him for ~10 damage. Defending, Abbas avoids contracting Bog Rot, a curse-and-disease new to the campaign: a creature killed by it melts into noxious sludge and can't be resurrected except by a 7th-level resurrect ritual. The GM clarifies Bog Rot is a common, mundane affliction of this creature and unrelated to the disappearing bodies and corruption seen so far. Cid trips the mummy (athletics 31) and steps away, telling allies to finish it prone from range. |
| [S31 · 01:23:41 · turn 0746 · scene 006] [S31 · 01:54:28 · turn 1003] [S31 · 01:55:33 · turn 1010] | Veve's spirit casts Spiritual Attunement to the Bone Yard With Veve's permission, the Tengu spirit takes over and casts an unfamiliar, uncommon, divine-feeling spell (later identified as Spiritual Attunement) that attunes Veve's spirit to the Bone Yard in the Outer Sphere. A tear of blood and 6 damage mark the casting. The GM explains the cosmology (Inner Sphere vs Outer Sphere, with the Bone Yard among the Outer Sphere planes). The spell does not teleport; it splits the spirit between the crypt and the Bone Yard and grants Veve resistance to vitality and void damage. The spirit screams out in Necril (Tengu) for the Wardens/psychopomps of the Bone Yard, calling that 'something devours the rightful flow of souls.' Veve gleefully dubs herself the 'Bone Slayer.' |
| [S31 · 01:37:48 · turn 0878 · scene 007] [S31 · 01:57:06 · turn 1024] [S31 · 02:26:39 · turn 1298] | The Erastil-priest mummy and Shared Invisibility A second, less-deformed mummy emerges, wielding an ivory diamond-pattern staff, and casts Crisis of Faith on Cid (Cid passes with a GM +2). It hammers Abbas hard (18 damage, then 8 more), and Abbas keeps passing Fortitude saves against Bog Rot. Veve casts Shared Invisibility (subtle, 30-ft emanation, 5 willing creatures, 10 minutes), cloaking the party. Recall Knowledge reveals the priest-corpse was once a priest of Erastil (an ivory relic remains) but the controlling magic is undead, not Erastilian. Vandy realizes the mummies are 'no regular mummies — they're being controlled,' and tells the party to find the main one. Osef runs off to fetch reinforcements; Vandy casts a divine lance and misses. |
| [S31 · 02:39:09 · turn 1392 · scene 008] [S31 · 02:44:05 · turn 1440] [S31 · 02:49:00 · turn 1492] | Opening the screaming tomb: the void-thing revealed Veve's recall knowledge pinpoints the closed sarcophagus next to the Erastil-priest as the source: inside is something the trapped spirit fears most. At Cid's urging ('don't attack the mummies, open the tombs'), Venris crowbars the sarcophagus (athletics 25) bearing the name 'Serafa' and sticks his head into the moss-filled hole. A piercing auditory hiss erupts; Veve protects the party with a counter-performance (Fascinating Performance, granting allies a 24). The save (DC 25) is against being Fascinated; most fail. The session breaks here. Several near-death moments; everyone is low on HP and hero points. |
| [S31 · 03:04:48 · turn 1642 · scene 009] [S31 · 03:06:14 · turn 1658] | Break and 'going to Absalom' banter Five-minute break. Out-of-character talk about a planned trip to Absalom (the party has no money for it and most characters don't even know it was the plan), and a player already drafting a backup character. The GM teases that a future campaign will not be Golarion-adjacent and far from Absalom. Mostly table chatter, with some campaign-relevant Absalom/Morblin/Mayor threads surfacing. |
| [S31 · 03:08:31 · turn 1681 · scene 010] [S31 · 03:26:56 · turn 1851] [S31 · 03:29:40 · turn 1878] | Fascination, the figment lure, and a psychopomp vision Post-break, the opened tomb reveals a fist-sized amorphous void-creature: swirling blues and sickly yellows with corrosive tendrils, half-consuming a corpse. It Fascinates the party (Venris and Cid stuck repeatedly failing Will saves). A third mummy rises. In the Bone Yard, a psychopomp answers the spirit's call: a robed, mist-winged figure on 'Judgment Street' saying 'your call is heard, lawful; I shall see the balance restored.' Veve casts Figment to project an illusion/vision of it and lure the mummies. Abbas's recall knowledge IDs Bone Yard lore (River of Souls, psychopomps as shepherds of the dead). A bumped-into Cid finally breaks free (lucky 20). |
| [S31 · 03:41:25 · turn 1983 · scene 011] [S31 · 03:51:37 · turn 2078] [S31 · 04:02:39 · turn 2169] | Reinforcements, a void blast, and the cliffhanger end Venris and Cid finally land Vitality Lash hits on the mummies (16 damage) once they step outside the invisibility emanation. Osef arrives leading a troop of reinforcements down the stairs. The void-creature unleashes a pointed-burst spell (DC5 to scatter): everyone in the area takes 15 spirit/necrotic damage and is sickened 2 / slowed 1; Vandy crit-fails. A still-fascinated Venris walks up and grabs the void-creature, taking pending unresolved damage. With players (especially the one running Veve/Mochi) tiring, the GM ends mid-turn on a hard cliffhanger: the party is at very low HP, the void-blast damage to Venris is unresolved, and Veve notes her spirit buddy's resistance (Spiritual Attunement) was forgotten and should be applied next time. |
| [S32 · 00:07:02 · turn 0052 · scene 001] [S32 · 00:14:32 · turn 0099] | Pregame chatter and tech setup Players gather, deal with streaming/Discord/Foundry setup, drink and joke around. Off-topic table chatter about cats, immune systems, and website issues before the GM calls for the recap. |
| [S32 · 00:15:16 · turn 0105 · scene 002] [S32 · 00:18:26 · turn 0133] | GM recap of the crypt cliffhanger The GM (Speaker C) recaps the previous session: the party descended into a crypt, fought ghosts, and uncovered a rotting blue/yellow orb-like creature (a foul cancer) attached to a legless corpse. Cid had asked Venris to open a tomb; Venris became fascinated, walked up, and touched the thing, failing multiple checks including a double nat-1. Veve has been talking with a spirit possessing her that has a connection to the Boneyard. Priests (NPCs) were rolling into the scene. |
| [S32 · 00:18:49 · turn 0136 · scene 003] [S32 · 00:31:51 · turn 0250] | Venris touches the rot; his hand decays Combat resumes as Venris touches the foul cancer. His hand blackens and rots, he is dropped near death with persistent bleed, and his fingers crumble. Cid grabs and repositions the legless corpse (with the purple rot-thing on it) away from Venris with an Athletics check, becoming frightened on contact. Cid then crit-attacks the creature with the Mulona/sword, which decays and is destroyed (gonzo) on contact, leaving only the hilt. The invisibility spell on the party breaks when hostile action is taken. |
| [S32 · 00:46:31 · turn 0384 · scene 004] [S32 · 00:48:53 · turn 0399] | The spirit, the Boneyard, and the coming psychopomp The spirit possessing Veve communicates that 'she is coming' to handle the corruption. Veve heals herself and Venris (level-three Heal stops the decay, cauterizing Venris's arm somewhere below the wrist). Recall-knowledge checks establish the incoming being is a psychopomp, specifically a Marigna, guardians/shepherds of the dead tied to Pharasma in the Boneyard. Veve uses Diplomacy to make the spirit helpful to her. Mummies' stench imposes sickened/slowed conditions; the party rolls saves. |
| [S32 · 01:17:55 · turn 0701 · scene 005] [S32 · 01:21:41 · turn 0742] | Mummy fight: priests, champion, and the party nearly wiped A brutal mummy combat. NPC reinforcements arrive (Osef, Vandy, Father Eldric/Eldritch, an NPC champion, and many priests), telling the party to hold off and not touch anything until 'she' arrives. The mummies' fists carry mummy rot disease and a stench; a giga-rolling NPC priest casts a Divine Lance AoE that critically hits, nearly killing Venris and downing Veve (crit-fail, dying two). The NPC champion smites and mashes mummies. Cid fires the Cassisian helmet laser line, burning a mummy. The party is badly battered but kept alive by NPC heals and bardic support. |
| [S32 · 02:16:28 · turn 1247 · scene 006] [S32 · 02:33:36 · turn 1403] | Veve possessed; intimidating the priest; the third sarcophagus stirs The party tries treating Venris's mummy rot (Cleanse Affliction, second-rank). Veve allows the spirit to take possession; it cuts her hand and Intimidates the mummy-priest (Demoralize), making it unfriendly and forcing it to drop its staff, plus a spell that leaves the creature off-guard. Combat continues with the champion smiting, Venris flanking with his ghost-touch Kukri (precision damage), Cid striking with the Rose Sargentes sword. Two of three sarcophagi rumble; the third sarcophagus then opens and something ancient stirs to roll into initiative. |
| [S32 · 02:51:22 · turn 1581 · scene 007] [S32 · 02:58:33 · turn 1656] | McLani rises as an undead boss The thing from the third sarcophagus is revealed to be McLani — the legendary founder/restorer of Otari, creator of the flume, a renowned warrior-lumberjack-inventor and a Rose Guard descendant — now an undead boss. She is scarier than the priest, grapples and bites the NPC champion (52 damage, nearly killing him) and inflicts frightened on the party. The party and NPCs whittle her down with sword strikes, precision damage, and bardic Rallying Anthem / Lingering Composition support. |
| [S32 · 03:21:26 · turn 1887 · scene 008] [S32 · 03:23:41 · turn 1901] | The Marigna arrives and sacrifices herself to destroy the cancer The Marigna (winged psychopump) enters through a silver tear, declaring 'This corruption is beyond mortal sin.' She lays hands on the foul cancer, channeling pale light; both she and the creature dissolve, liquefy, and burn away to nothing — destroying the rot at the cost of her own form. McLani collapses; spirits rise from McLani's body and the sarcophagus and are released, including the spirit within Veve. |
| [S32 · 03:24:20 · turn 1909 · scene 009] [S32 · 03:42:10 · turn 2058] | Aftermath: spirit's gift, mummy rot cleansed, and loot The departing spirit gifts Veve three spells (including Spiritual Attunement) as bonus spell slots she can learn or teach. Venris's mummy rot is cleansed by the priests (Cid never actually got infected). The party recognizes the rot is an echo of the 'empty death' tied to the restroom/reads in the book and the young Arn boy at the library. Loot recovered: the cleric's guardian staff (given to Veve), the Cloak of the Huntress (taken from a pedestal in a room with two statues behind a relic-locked door; Venris puts it on though it may suit someone else better). Venris's Mulona/Rose sword hilt is fully destroyed, runes ruined. |
| [S32 · 03:59:42 · turn 2223 · scene 010] [S32 · 04:01:28 · turn 2241] | Debrief, theories, and session wind-down The GM asks the players for in-character theories about what happened. The party connects the rotting moss/cancer to the empty death and the whispering reeds, the moss-covered skull at the elevator, and theorizes Belcorra (Bolcora) may be targeting the area to take revenge on Asefna's legacy or to stop the party from gathering the relics, possibly tied to the gaunt-light beam. Venris wants his hand restored (regenerate at ~14th level). The session ends late with the party tired; the cloak's identity and the GM's decision on it are deferred to next session. |
| [S33 · 00:01:06 · turn 0008 · scene 001] [S33 · 00:03:08 · turn 0020] | Pregame and player-led recap of the crypt The table opens with a loose, player-driven recap (mostly Speaker A and Speaker B) of where the campaign stands. The party is hunting the artifacts of the original heroes (the Rosgar/origin heroes who defeated Velkorra) to break a magical barrier deep in the vault, on the advice of Otari's ghost. Pieces gathered so far: Otari's key (given to Venris), the Rose Argenti sword (given to Cid by the mayor, tied up with the Rajani family wanting it back), and Asefna's cloak. Still missing: a spellbook they believe they can trace via Absalom. They recap that Venris lost his (left) hand to the rot last session. Players openly admit they barely remember the details and joke about rewatching 30 episodes of stream. |
| [S33 · 00:08:36 · turn 0059 · scene 002] [S33 · 00:11:57 · turn 0081] | Aftermath at the church: no regrowing the hand Back in scene, the party finishes recovering Asefna's cloak (the GM withholds its abilities until they learn to use it). NPC allies Vany/Bandy, Manhems, the champion and the clerics clean up the crypt. The town grows fearful: 'she' (the corruption tied to Gunfor/Go Clara) is back and getting stronger, attacks on the town will worsen, and the leaders want to barricade and push toward the Gauntlight keep via the Thresholds of Truth. Venris is taken to the church to heal, but no cleric is powerful enough to regenerate his arm; he is left with a nub. A young priest mentions that in Absalom one can get 'automatic mail' (auto-mail) prosthetics / a 'robot arm.' Venris becomes obsessed with the idea. |
| [S33 · 00:19:51 · turn 0129 · scene 003] [S33 · 00:23:25 · turn 0148] | Planning the trip to Absalom The party resolves to travel to Absalom both for Venris's prosthetic and to chase the missing spellbook. They spend the night in Otari (Cid/Abbas at Manhems's guest room, Venris back at the Brook Snook/Crook Snook tavern with his drinking buddies). The party agrees to ask the town for money in the morning. Veve notes she 'learned' three spells from the spirit within her last session but currently cannot access/use any of them. Asefna's cloak is handed to the GM-side for review; the GM is undecided and reluctant to give an item he can't take back. |
| [S33 · 00:37:20 · turn 0251 · scene 004] [S33 · 00:42:54 · turn 0298] [S33 · 00:43:10 · turn 0300] | Shaking down the town for gold and a letter of introduction Next morning Venris lobbies Manhems for funds toward the auto-mail (city prices ~2,000 gold; the lumber company can only cover ~500 gold, given as up-front credit/cash 'from the company' for the town's defense). Manhems warns the auto-mail and luxury goods are an Absalom specialty. Crucially, he gives the party a sealed letter of introduction to Kaixyan, a catfolk wizard and head librarian of the Anathenium archives near the West Gate, who holds the dangerous 'Thresholds of Truth' book in a private collection; the letter should at least get them in the door. He name-drops the Grand Bazaar and the Clockwork Caravan (clockwork automaton wagons that sell curios/inventions) as leads for the prosthetic, and directs them to Alauria Galantine for carriage transport. |
| [S33 · 01:00:55 · turn 0443 · scene 005] [S33 · 01:12:54 · turn 0534] [S33 · 01:16:59 · turn 0562] | The road to Absalom by carriage The party hires the burly carriage-runner Alauria/Olaria Galantine (a delivery woman who recently lost a courier) and rides for Absalom — roughly a day by horse versus three on foot. On the way out they pass a section of the Otari flume that was damaged and set on fire (a dozen logs spilled and crashed; the flume has been dammed and shut down for now), with Manhems directing the cleanup; Venris offers help and is waved off. On the road Alauria gossips: the 'Shadow of Thornwall' menace last seen northwest of the island, a red-haired tiefling 'Sinemi/alpha hunter,' and her own assistant who took a detour off this very road and was found turned to stone. The roads grow dangerous at night. |
| [S33 · 01:20:35 · turn 0598 · scene 006] [S33 · 01:23:22 · turn 0622] | The werewolf howl and the Windfisher Inn Deeper into the night the party hears (DC 25 perception) the howl of a werewolf under a full moon, which the GM ties back to a werewolf the party once fought in the vault. They press on and reach the outskirts of Absalom — its massive besieged wall in the distance — and stop for the night at the Windfisher Inn, a tavern with huge windmills that turn even on a still, windless night thanks to a magical contraption. Venris and Cid share a room; Veve takes her own; the 'giga'/master room atop the windmill stays magically cool while downstairs bakes. |
| [S33 · 01:29:00 · turn 0664 · scene 007] [S33 · 01:33:01 · turn 0693] | Venris's nightmares: the Pull of the Void In the night Venris suffers vivid nightmares (the lingering rot/empty-death effect from last session). Cid is woken as Venris thrashes in a cold sweat; half-asleep, Venris reaches a stub for a dagger and tries to put it to Cid's throat before calming. A second, lucid nightmare follows: Venris runs through the vault as the walls close in and a consuming void presses everything inward like a squeezed beach ball before he wakes. Cid fetches Veve; recall-knowledge checks on the phenomenon turn up nothing concrete (the table knows nothing about this 'void/fultism'). They resolve to ask about it in the morning. Veve also has an anxious, restless night. |
| [S33 · 01:53:04 · turn 0851 · scene 008] [S33 · 02:01:37 · turn 0913] | Into Absalom: the gates, the Harnlands, and splitting up In the morning the carriage-runner explains she can go no further; the party walks into Absalom proper. They pass the Harnlands — battlefield outskirts littered with the dead and ruined ballistae of past sieges — and the besieged West Gate, then split up. Cid/Abbas heads for the Anathenium library via an old church contact, recalling (society) a contact named Hans, a clergyman at the House of Seven Faces, a Desna cathedral in the flood-prone 'Puddles' slum; he passes Statue Street (a grim landmark where overcrowded prisons once released nonviolent criminals into a closed street, the dead becoming 'decorations'). Mention is made that the campaign is set ~2.5 years after Age of Ashes ends. |
| [S33 · 02:08:02 · turn 0962 · scene 009] [S33 · 02:12:06 · turn 1004] | Cid reunites with Hans and gets a guide to the archives At the House of Seven Faces, Cid/Abbas finds his old friend Hans, a clergyman buried in work. Hans hugs him (knowing Cid hates it), and after Cid downplays the situation around the dangerous book, Hans assigns a junior cleric to escort him to the Anathenium archives. Hans drops a hook by asking whether Cid has heard what 'Alyra' has been up to the past few years, and invites him back later for a story. |
| [S33 · 02:21:40 · turn 1073 · scene 010] [S33 · 02:25:46 · turn 1106] | Venris and Veve hit a dive bar for prosthetic leads Venris and Veve go looking for the seediest watering hole to gather info (sense motive confirms the pricey city beer is just normal pricing, not a scam). The barkeep gives leads on the auto-mail: a craftsman named Morheim with a Bazaar shop focused on prosthetics and assistive tools (mostly wood, maybe some magical prosthetics), and the famous Clockwork Caravans (hard to track down; come to the same spots weekly). He warns against the Clockwork Cathedral zealots in the Wise Quarter — transhumanist cultists who believe machines bring salvation: 'you go in for an arm and walk away with three.' Veve can earn income performing at the bar for the night. |
| [S33 · 02:27:00 · turn 1115 · scene 011] [S33 · 02:29:10 · turn 1131] | Session wind-down and out-of-game banter The GM calls the session there, info-gathering wrapped. He jokes through alternate 'endings' (Venris becoming a Robo God, Cid wandering off and getting lost forever). Out-of-game banter follows about one player having quit doing magic tricks ten years ago (2015), tabletop being the new hobby, and arranging a future Commander/Magic spell table game with Danny and Manny. |
| [S34 · 00:02:05 · turn 0007 · scene 001] [S34 · 00:03:42 · turn 0024] | 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 · 00:03:17 · turn 0020 · scene 002] [S34 · 00:03:36 · turn 0023] | 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 · 00:04:38 · turn 0029 · scene 003] [S34 · 00:24:36 · turn 0078] | 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 · 00:36:56 · turn 0125 · scene 004] [S34 · 00:36:58 · turn 0126] | 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 · 00:43:46 · turn 0150 · scene 005] [S34 · 00:49:21 · turn 0166] | 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 · 01:04:19 · turn 0254 · scene 006] [S34 · 01:11:08 · turn 0286] | 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 · 01:27:17 · turn 0386 · scene 007] [S34 · 01:30:49 · turn 0410] | 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 · 01:55:12 · turn 0472 · scene 008] [S34 · 02:00:05 · turn 0492] | 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 · 02:24:25 · turn 0621 · scene 009] [S34 · 02:38:16 · turn 0657] | 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 · 02:55:26 · turn 0734 · scene 010] [S34 · 03:09:47 · turn 0786] | 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 · 03:24:14 · turn 0838 · scene 011] [S34 · 04:02:02 · turn 0992] | 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. |
| [S35 · 00:01:39 · turn 0014 · scene 001] [S35 · 00:03:12 · turn 0023] | Pregame chatter and shopping setup Players banter (vampire character jokes, modding Final Fantasy) and re-establish where everyone is: this is a downtime/shopping day in Absalom. Recap of last loose ends — Venris managed to buy his mechanical replacement hand on layaway, leaving roughly 425 GP in his pocket to spend; he was at the prosthetics shop, Veve at a music/instrument shop, Abbas (VisaGock) at the library after a book, and Cid 'babysitting' the others. The GM struggles to read back the magic-item names because the ASR garbles them ('anchoring' = the rune 'calling'). |
| [S35 · 00:24:58 · turn 0168 · scene 002] [S35 · 00:59:21 · turn 0324] | Window-shopping the magic markets of Absalom The party browses Absalom's magic shops at length, weighing items against their thin budget (Venris ~410 GP after the arm). Discussed/considered: a reading ring (bought by Venris, ~15 GP), the Vine of Roses chain whip (Marshal, two-hand 1d8 — passed over), a memory palace, snagging runes, burnished plating, reinforced cords, twinning chains, chakrams, a tri-bladed guitar, a piranha knife, and a fancy suit of armor Veve covets but can't afford. Venris (a thief) muses about stealing but decides against burning their fresh reputation in a new city. They settle on small, cheap items only. |
| [S35 · 00:34:34 · turn 0215 · scene 003] [S35 · 00:34:56 · turn 0219] | Inventory check: the four relics While settling the book interaction at the library, Abbas confirms the party's relic tally: they now have all four relics needed for the locked door back at Otari — the key (given by Otari), the rapier (held by Cid), the cloak (recovered earlier), and the book Abbas just retrieved. Cid is joked to be 'about to lose the Rapier.' |
| [S35 · 01:21:14 · turn 0464 · scene 004] [S35 · 01:22:59 · turn 0475] | Veve works a crowd and befriends a wealthy mark Veve wanders Absalom looking to perform for coin and to make connections, and clocks a rich, dying old man and his entourage. She picks up a dropped letter and uses it as a pretext to approach, introducing herself ('my name's Vee V, I'm fairly new to the city'). Rather than take the offered bag of coins, she pushes it back and asks for friendship and an invitation instead — making a social connection at the cost of immediate gold. The GM calls it 'the most expensive hero point of my life.' |
| [S35 · 01:38:17 · turn 0530 · scene 005] [S35 · 01:49:37 · turn 0574] | The invisible heist and the alarm trap Venris eyes a building to break into. Veve casts Invisibility on him (10 minutes), and casts it on herself, keeping watch around the corner while pretending to tune her guitar. Venris sneaks inside, but as a thief automatically spots a trap — an alarm with a high chance to trigger. The plan: grab onto his cloak, run together while invisible, and bolt if the alarm sounds. He attempts to disable the alarm with Thievery (using his Kale/infiltrator key) and they extract without being caught. Cid declines to join the 'heist' and heads back. Afterward the pair agree on a hand-signal ('invis signal') so Veve can instantly cloak Venris in future thefts. |
| [S35 · 02:23:26 · turn 0698 · scene 006] [S35 · 02:31:41 · turn 0726] | Venris at the tavern: meeting Butch and the Knackery lead Venris finds a bar (one with a rainbow-painted door 'more my kind of place'), does a coded knock, buys a drink, and chats up the bartender. He shows off his new metal arm — into which he's already embedded his Kukri — passing himself off as an honest adventurer who lost the hand to 'ghosts, zombies, monsters.' He name-drops a place a friendly thief mentioned (the 'Knackery'), and meets a contact named Butch. He fishes for directions to the rival/opposing thieves' establishment despite being warned off it, and leaves with a lead and directions back to his inn. |
| [S35 · 02:53:09 · turn 0806 · scene 007] [S35 · 02:55:32 · turn 0816] | Veve lost in the city; Cid stuck at the closed gates Veve, still invisible, gets turned around in the huge city with no landmarks, uncloaks in a dark alley, and tries to find an inn — balking at a 600-GP-a-night hotel and trying (unsuccessfully) to trade a live performance for lodging. Meanwhile Cid finds the city gates closed and learns he needs a merchant's or permit to pass, since he's on an errand from Otari. He name-drops the Otari guard captain (Lardis/Lesmin) who once served in Absalom, mentions the party is helping with monster trouble at the Gauntlight, and vouches for his missing companions ('BB Hal' the bard and her friend) to the guard so they can leave together in the morning. |
| [S35 · 03:06:02 · turn 0867 · scene 008] [S35 · 03:07:54 · turn 0879] | Reconvening at the inn; Venris's nightmares and the empty-death dread The party regroups the next morning. Abbas tells the others (and consults Abbas's own knowledge) about Venris having had nightmares — making noises, moving a lot — about being 'eaten by that thing from the catacombs.' The party debates whether this lingering dread is the same as the 'empty death': Abbas recalls it isn't exactly the same thing but works the same way, and tries Occultism (a poor roll) to learn whether it's a permanent affliction needing a cure/ritual or just a side effect of losing his hand. No firm answer; the worry persists. |
| [S35 · 03:26:41 · turn 0943 · scene 009] [S35 · 03:27:27 · turn 0944] | The book grants Free Archetype Venris lays out his shopping haul on a bed and notes most of it has no finesse (so it suits Cid more than him), hoping their freed jailbird craftsman can later make finesse versions. The big reveal: studying the new book (Armadvion's spells) magically grants the whole party Free Archetype — they can take the archetypes the book offers or any archetype they want. Cid jokes the only reason to keep Abbas/VisaGock alive (free archetype baked into his build) is now gone. |
| [S35 · 04:23:52 · turn 1310 · scene 010] [S35 · 05:10:07 · turn 1604] | Archetype shopping: Venris becomes a Ghost Hunter (and a spellcaster) A long out-of-character leveling discussion as everyone picks a free archetype. Venris narrows from Ghost Hunter / Undead Slayer / Eldritch Researcher and locks in Ghost Hunter: he gains Investigate Haunting (trap-finder for haunts), haunt lore, and — crucially — innate occult spellcasting, turning Venris into a (weak, Charisma-zero) spellcaster who can now use wands and scrolls without Trick Magic Item. He picks cantrips plus a few minor spells (Read the Air, Time Sense, Seashell of Sound, Unlucky Number). Abbas (VisaGock) leans Eldritch Researcher (tied to Zarmavdian). Cid takes champion feats: a 15-ft Champion's Aura, devotion/divine-health saves, a champion reaction granting allies resistance, and a blessing granting bonus speed and a property rune. Veve dithers between Dandy, Celebrity, Oracle, and Familiar Sage and leaves undecided. |
| [S35 · 05:14:17 · turn 1633 · scene 011] [S35 · 05:05:55 · turn 1578] | Session wind-down and table chatter The session winds down with the GM signing off ('I'm gonna have breakfast. Good run.'). Veve keeps deliberating over Oracle (its mysteries, curse-bound revelation spells) and combat-focused options versus her social-bard identity. Side chatter about whether the campaign will continue with the same characters after the dungeon (the GM suggests a break and possible retraining), plus joking and Veve's in-character flavor lines to close. |
| [S36 · 00:00:11 · turn 0002 · scene 001] [S36 · 00:03:51 · turn 0023] | 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 · 00:14:17 · turn 0079 · scene 002] [S36 · 00:16:19 · turn 0087] [S36 · 00:29:44 · turn 0147] | 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 · 00:46:58 · turn 0200 · scene 003] [S36 · 00:51:55 · turn 0237] [S36 · 00:53:25 · turn 0244] | 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 · 01:00:18 · turn 0274 · scene 004] [S36 · 01:03:46 · turn 0289] [S36 · 01:04:09 · turn 0292] | 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 · 01:44:31 · turn 0424 · scene 005] [S36 · 01:44:39 · turn 0426] [S36 · 01:50:16 · turn 0442] | 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 · 02:02:26 · turn 0488 · scene 006] [S36 · 02:10:19 · turn 0558] | 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 · 02:23:23 · turn 0664 · scene 007] [S36 · 02:26:44 · turn 0683] [S36 · 02:49:32 · turn 0837] | 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 · 03:24:40 · turn 1102 · scene 008] [S36 · 03:27:52 · turn 1122] [S36 · 03:18:23 · turn 1055] | 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 · 03:39:55 · turn 1211 · scene 009] [S36 · 03:42:43 · turn 1233] [S36 · 03:53:04 · turn 1324] | 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 · 04:04:52 · turn 1411 · scene 010] [S36 · 04:26:34 · turn 1584] [S36 · 04:47:58 · turn 1756] | 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 · 05:00:13 · turn 1824 · scene 011] [S36 · 05:07:57 · turn 1873] [S36 · 05:13:54 · turn 1910] | 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 · 05:23:34 · turn 1988 · scene 012] [S36 · 05:25:17 · turn 2008] | 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. |
| [S37 · 00:06:43 · turn 0035 · scene 001] [S37 · 00:11:22 · turn 0053] | 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 · 00:13:46 · turn 0062 · scene 002] [S37 · 00:14:10 · turn 0066] [S37 · 00:14:41 · turn 0073] | 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 · 00:19:22 · turn 0088 · scene 003] [S37 · 00:23:42 · turn 0113] [S37 · 00:26:22 · turn 0120] | 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 · 00:46:25 · turn 0223 · scene 004] [S37 · 00:50:57 · turn 0254] [S37 · 01:14:09 · turn 0371] | 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 · 01:41:54 · turn 0508 · scene 005] [S37 · 01:53:16 · turn 0565] | 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 · 02:18:16 · turn 0628 · scene 006] [S37 · 02:29:55 · turn 0690] [S37 · 02:40:57 · turn 0770] | 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 · 02:48:43 · turn 0808 · scene 007] [S37 · 02:50:16 · turn 0819] | 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 · 03:21:44 · turn 0993 · scene 008] [S37 · 03:22:53 · turn 1001] | 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 · 03:35:02 · turn 1064 · scene 009] [S37 · 03:47:13 · turn 1149] [S37 · 03:58:52 · turn 1179] | 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 · 04:05:53 · turn 1221 · scene 010] [S37 · 04:26:03 · turn 1357] [S37 · 04:42:26 · turn 1437] | 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 · 04:45:36 · turn 1442 · scene 011] [S37 · 04:48:38 · turn 1459] | 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. |
| [S38 · 00:00:09 · turn 0001 · scene 001] [S38 · 00:02:07 · turn 0010] | Pregame: card pulls and Foundry setup Off-topic table chatter about League of Legends trading cards, the standard meta, and people copying Chinese decklists. One player (Dan) isn't on Foundry; the table is on TaleSpire/Foundry. The GM eventually moves toward initiative. |
| [S38 · 00:05:22 · turn 0031 · scene 002] [S38 · 00:07:45 · turn 0047] | The fungal infection: diagnosing the mushroom rot Picking up from the Gauntlight, the party realizes Venris has a spreading fungal skin infection (a 'clicker'-style zombie-mushroom rot) caught from white, fluffy, moss-like mushrooms in the dungeon. Nature/Medicine checks identify it; the party worries it is contagious and possibly airborne. They resolve to quarantine the afflicted and take them to town for treatment rather than risk infecting Otari ('Remember the last time we almost caused the pandemic?'). They decide against the inn (to avoid contaminating a room) and head for the church/library where they were isolated before. |
| [S38 · 00:14:24 · turn 0088 · scene 003] [S38 · 00:17:53 · turn 0116] | Escorting the sick to the Dawnflower church/library The party walks the afflicted (Venris, plus 'Avis' the priest and Menries, all unwell) to the Dawnflower Library, which doubles as the church and has the isolation room from a previous visit. They warn the townsfolk to stay back; Veve plays up a dramatic, theatrical scene ('My boy! What have they done to my boy?') to keep onlookers at a distance. They make sure the party dog/companion does not pickpocket anyone and spread the fungus. Venris is dismissive ('it's just a little itchiness'), having rolled a 1 on his own knowledge check. |
| [S38 · 00:26:11 · turn 0159 · scene 004] [S38 · 00:29:19 · turn 0178] | Cleanse Affliction and the counteract flowchart A long mechanics interlude on curing the fungal disease. The party works through the affliction/counteract flowchart: counteract level is half the source's level rounded up, counteract check = spell modifier + proficiency, and a casting only counteracts if its rank is at least the affliction's. A first NPC-priest (Vandy/Bandy) attempt with a level-two casting fails the counteract (14 vs 18). They establish the disease level and DC and note they may need to repeat the cleanse the next day. |
| [S38 · 00:36:00 · turn 0210 · scene 005] [S38 · 01:28:43 · turn 0441] | Venris's nightmares: the empty-death curse surfaces Beyond the fungus, Cid raises a deeper worry: ever since Venris lost his hand at the Manhames family catacomb to the creature banished by the psychopomp, he has had nightmares, night-sweats and shaking that are getting worse. Venris insists he remembers no nightmares at all ('You're the one that's saying I'm having nightmares'). Meanwhile Bandy (the examining priest) becomes terrified and bolts after looking at Venris's arm/condition; Veve tries to soothe and calm her with a performance/Soothe (botching a roll and faceplanting in the sand). The party quarantines Venris and asks the priests to watch him from a distance as he sleeps. |
| [S38 · 01:36:36 · turn 0464 · scene 006] [S38 · 01:42:34 · turn 0484] | Library research and Father Thalos's grim diagnosis While the priests work, Cid asks the librarians for books on undead classification and mummies; Veve half-heartedly tags along and pulls plant/fungus books (and a quip about mushrooms being fungi, not plants). The catacomb priest, Father Thalos, examined Venris and believes Venris carries the same affliction that killed his apprentice — whose corpse turned to dust in two days. Comparing timelines (Venris is two to three days in, slower than the apprentice), the party realizes this 'turning to dust' empty-death curse is the real threat. They are pointed toward Zarmavdian's notes/journal for clues. |
| [S38 · 01:53:16 · turn 0539 · scene 007] [S38 · 02:05:21 · turn 0623] | Curing the fungus and the 'I'm going to die' confession Cleric Abbas ('Avis') retcons his prepared spells to bring Cleanse Affliction now that he knows Venris is diseased, and works through the heightening/counteract rules (the free stage-reduction is separate from the counteract roll; the table admits they earlier 'completely fucked it up' applying the minus-one). With a heightened third-rank casting plus a guidance bonus he counteracts and clears the fungal rot, reducing the slowed/sickened. Cured of the fungus, Venris then bluntly tells the cleric the worse news: Father Thalos says he has the apprentice's affliction and will turn to dust, sooner or later — 'we all will.' |
| [S38 · 02:14:57 · turn 0680 · scene 008] [S38 · 02:16:57 · turn 0695] | Shopping for clothes; Venris pesters Carman Rajani Newly cleansed and no longer contagious, Venris realizes the priests burned his fungus-contaminated clothes (and possibly disinfected his leather armor, sparking a worry about a destroyed +1 rune). With nothing to wear he heads to the blacksmith Carman Rajani ('Virgani'/'Raj Johnny'), who likes him, to beg for clothes and armor adjustments. There's banter about pickpocketing only the wealthy, a plague-doctor get-up, and Venris using his own crafting to alter the borrowed gear so it isn't disgusting. He gets dressed and runs off to find Menhames. |
| [S38 · 02:32:25 · turn 0781 · scene 009] [S38 · 02:37:16 · turn 0793] | Menhames hands over Zarmavdian's journal and books Venris (with the others) runs to Menhames's home and recounts the whole tale: the fungus (now cured by Veve/Abbas) and, more importantly, Father Thalos's verdict that he carries the same dust-turning affliction that took the apprentice — lost in Menhames's crypt. Menhames, though not an expert, hands over a journal and books, including Zarmavdian's writings, hoping the party finds something to prevent it. Venris takes the journal eager 'not to turn to dust' and the party debates whether to roll for the research or just read it out narratively. |
| [S38 · 03:17:09 · turn 0969 · scene 010] [S38 · 03:18:55 · turn 0982] | Reading the journal, the Thresholds of Truth, and the gathered books The party settles in to read. Venris insists, aggressively, on reading not just Zarmavdian's journal but the gathered books — most notably the Thresholds of Truth, a spooky tome the cleric fears could worsen the curse or threaten Venris's soul (Venris: 'I'm willing to take that risk'). Venris does the 'skip the weird pages' trick he used on Morlibint's book. They cross-reference notes for any mention of the 'empty death' and the Gauntlight. Venris's languages matter: the writings are part Necril, part Aklo; he can read the Necril parts and considers buying a translation aid. |
| [S38 · 03:27:44 · turn 1027 · scene 011] [S38 · 03:27:30 · turn 1024] | Hero points, translation shopping, and the Otari market discount Venris lobbies (successfully) for a hero point after a day of heavy roleplay — the dramatic performance, spooking the priests, the poses for the children — while Veve notes she's already maxed on hero points and gets them 'like candy.' Veve performs to make money. Cid checks the wanted posters on the way (names crossed out; one matches the 'fake guard from Absalom,' a.k.a. Songbreaker). Venris shops for a way to read the Aklo text — a Comprehend Languages potion / translate scroll / wand — and applies the party's 20% Otari market discount. |
| [S38 · 03:44:37 · turn 1106 · scene 012] [S38 · 03:56:14 · turn 1140] | Monster prep for the return to the Gauntlight Looking ahead to going back into the Gauntlight, Cid does Recall Knowledge research on the monsters they expect: the mummy, a Hydra (the snake-like things in the water — do they regenerate heads?), and a black ooze/slime seen coating a floor and walls (caustic? testable with a copper coin since most party weapons are piercing/slashing, not bludgeoning). One named monster, the Sugati/'Cora Slack' (named, therefore likely more dangerous), is left for next time at the Gauntlight library. The session ends with Cid thanking the helpful librarian/Morlibint and calling it a night. |
| [S39 · 00:00:42 · turn 0003 · scene 001] [S39 · 00:02:18 · turn 0008] [S39 · 00:03:04 · turn 0013] | Recap and downtime bookkeeping in Otari The session opens back in Otari (Watari) after the crypt ordeal. The party recaps: they returned to town, went to the Dawnflower ("down") library after noticing Venris had caught something nasty down in the vaults, and got him treated. Abbas needed roughly two days to recover from stupefied. The table handles deferred downtime: buying/selling that was retconned as having happened in Absalom, earn-income for the day, and Venris's plan to retrain a feat (which is gated on first being able to buy an item, since shopping only just opened). Venris is also still owed information on the Thresholds of Truth book. |
| [S39 · 00:16:28 · turn 0058 · scene 002] [S39 · 00:17:50 · turn 0062] [S39 · 00:27:09 · turn 0098] | Translating Belcorra's journal and chasing the empty-death lead Venris transcribes and translates Belcorra's recovered journal from its original language into common (spending a piece of income paper) so the rest of the party can read it, then shares it. The party tries to recall knowledge about who Belcorra is, who she served (a counterpart/greater power opposed to Pharasma), and what the 'empty death' that corrupted the book actually is; all they really have is that it is a curse that prevents a soul from passing on. They recall that asking Morlibint at the library long ago yielded only children's tales, and consider using a library (Gauntlight/flume) for deeper research, but worry about the time cost. |
| [S39 · 00:34:46 · turn 0123 · scene 003] [S39 · 01:02:44 · turn 0263] [S39 · 01:03:56 · turn 0269] | Earn income: making money and music in town The party spends a downtime day earning income. Venris rolls Making Money / Crafting and crits a 20, getting four silver instead of two and gaining +5 reputation; Veve earns income by playing music. The table works through a long rules discussion about whether her instrument's performance bonus (the +2 'while playing' clause, virtuoso, master vs expert proficiency) applies to the earn-income check, settling on a total in the low 30s but capped by the task level the GM sets. Copper-coins-in-fungus and 'I'm too heroic for this campaign' table bits run through here. |
| [S39 · 01:05:55 · turn 0278 · scene 004] [S39 · 01:07:46 · turn 0289] [S39 · 01:11:31 · turn 0303] | Carman and the throwers bandelier: retraining Quick Draw Venris visits Carman (Carman Rajani) the blacksmith/knife-thrower to show off his new throwers bandelier and ask for training. He demonstrates by drawing and hurling ten chakrams at Carman's practice wall; they identify as +1 striking chakrams (giga chakrams) dealing good damage, plus the bandelier holds four bolas and four 'filter forks' already loaded. Venris asks Carman to help him retrain one of his thief feats into Quick Draw (draw-and-strike in a single action), since his throwing currently costs two actions. Carman agrees to train him over about a week; Venris is thrilled. |
| [S39 · 01:15:54 · turn 0326 · scene 005] [S39 · 01:41:08 · turn 0448] [S39 · 01:50:53 · turn 0500] | Snooping at Manhem's manor: the mayor's sick daughter The party heads to Manhem's (Manhattan's) manor on two errands: borrow Tarnak's journal, and quietly investigate why the household is so tense. Cid chats up the servants and learns the mayor's young (~12-year-old) daughter, Dorianna, is gravely ill; Osef (her father) and his wife stayed up all night and are now resting, and a doctor was just seen leaving. Venris searches the manor library for a journal written by Tarnak. The party finds a family painting/photo: the man looks like a 'black Otari' (resembling Otari's ghost) and is identified as Tarnak, son of Otari, with the woman being the founder/re-founder McLani (the undead that nearly killed them in the catacombs). The party starts connecting Dorianna's symptoms to Venris's own affliction. |
| [S39 · 01:52:53 · turn 0511 · scene 006] [S39 · 00:45:48 · turn 0180] [S39 · 02:05:24 · turn 0584] | Tarnak's journal, Sefna's condition, and Venris's parallel The investigation deepens. Venris (resigned that he may die soon) keeps researching his own condition while the others borrow and skim Tarnak's journal. Manhem grants permission to borrow the journal and relays that Tarnak's 'troubles' were proven wrong / didn't yield the feared results, and that he traveled widely. The party recalls that Sefna (Asefna / Azephnovos) killed Belcorra, that Sefna showed early symptoms like Venris's, and that Tarnak knew something about Sefna's condition and made 'something that helped' with it. They use diplomacy/sense-motive on Manhem and decide the priest-cleric (Abbas) should examine Dorianna. The party agrees Venris should sleep somewhere trusted (the Dawnflower library) so his nightmares can be observed. |
| [S39 · 02:23:14 · turn 0669 · scene 007] [S39 · 02:27:10 · turn 0688] [S39 · 02:39:17 · turn 0773] | Dorianna, the Motley/Mummy Man, and the failed Heal The party meets Dorianna directly. She looks gaunt with dark eyes, wakes in the night with 'conclusions'/nightmares, and shows them a drawing of her imaginary 'friend' — a 'magic man' the party recognizes with dread as the Motley Man / 'Mummy Man.' Abbas/Venris examines her and casts Heal (it lands but does nothing for the affliction), concluding her max HP seems mysteriously drained—she is 'full' but full to a reduced ceiling, and the cause is magical/curse-like rather than disease. They distract her with floating lights and chakram tricks to secretly Detect Magic. Privately they note the disturbing match between her 'friend' and the mummy/empty-death thread, but say nothing aloud, and reassure Manhem before leaving. |
| [S39 · 02:51:49 · turn 0847 · scene 008] [S39 · 02:55:12 · turn 0869] [S39 · 02:59:24 · turn 0891] | Consulting Wrin (Rain) and wrapping up; the shop question Before leaving early for the Gauntlight, Venris stays the night at Wrin's (Rain/Rings) to lay out three things: Venris's worsening affliction, Dorianna's mystery illness and her 'Motley Man' friend, and the legendary Thresholds of Truth book he acquired. He links it to the Whispering Reeds he read at Wrin's place and the 'empty death (but not really).' Wrin knows the broad story of the fight with Belcorra and the aftermath with Vol and Acephonus, but nothing specific about Venris's condition. The session closes on table business: no level/XP awarded yet (it's 'been a while'), hero-point bookkeeping, and a back-and-forth with the GM about keeping a town shop stocked with new items each week. |
| [S40 · 00:01:02 · turn 0003 · scene 001] [S40 · 00:02:52 · turn 0012] | Recap of the town downtime and the keep's light The table recaps where they left off: a big shopping/downtime stretch in Otari, lots of talking with Menhez/Menhem (whose children are sick, seemingly unrelated to Venris's affliction), and a conversation with a sick child. They note the mummy still locked in a room by a traitor, and that there was a strange light coming from the keep (the Gauntlight) when they left. The day ended and the party went to sleep without waking yet. Venris is still suffering from his arm affliction and the resulting fatigue. |
| [S40 · 00:15:55 · turn 0064 · scene 002] [S40 · 00:32:17 · turn 0152] [S40 · 00:38:31 · turn 0194] | Venris's affliction, and lore on Nimbaloth and Belcorra's journal Venris wakes from nightmares; his ruined arm gives him fatigue (a -1 status penalty to AC and saves, and he cannot perform exploration activities), and trying to remember the dreams makes it worse. He buys a peppy drink/coffee from a vendor and forces himself to be ready. The party does recall-knowledge on the corruption: Nimbaloth (the Empty Death) is a goddess-like force of nature that consumes everything until nothing remains, contrasted with Pharasma. They tie this to Belcorra's journal, which mentions feeding 'the mouth' so Nimbaloth can feed through a place that touched the Empty Death, and to a passage from Tarnak's journal about 'her touch' (a ring of seven shallow pits where no plant grows). Venris reads his lost hand and nightmares as a brush with the Empty Death. The party decides to head into the dungeon anyway. |
| [S40 · 00:46:31 · turn 0232 · scene 003] [S40 · 00:55:50 · turn 0314] | Into the Gauntlight: the starving ghoul ambush The party re-enters the dungeon (the main entrance of the keep) and finds gnawed bodies with bite marks. They recognize the work of their 'ghoulish friend that was starving' and roll initiative as it is found eating the corpses. The fatigued Venris fights with his new metal rapier-arm (a striking blade he can morph from his arm); the GM calls 'He's eating the bodies. Kill him!'. The fight opens with positioning and sneak attacks; the party also realizes the foes can turn others into ghouls (ghoul fungus). |
| [S40 · 01:18:58 · turn 0478 · scene 004] [S40 · 01:44:33 · turn 0668] | Ghouls and will-o-wisps: a grinding fight The encounter expands as will-o-wisps join the ghouls. Veve uses a counter-performance (a visual 'flash' bit) and bardic songs (Courageous Anthem, Rallying, Soothe), and throws a book at an enemy. Venris splits off to handle the wisps with his ghost-touch rapier-arm and sneak attack, throws a chakram, and repeatedly dances near death (down to ~27 of 66 HP), spending hero points and his Lucky Number reaction to survive. Cid (the fighter) works the front with Martial/Dread aura, snagging strike, sudden charge, and a dramatic killing blow ('I pierce in from below straight to the heart, ripping his body in half'). The party clears the ghouls and wisps but is battered. |
| [S40 · 02:11:13 · turn 0796 · scene 005] [S40 · 02:15:05 · turn 0818] | Break, healing, and the road back to the mummy After a break, the party heals up (Battle Medicine and bardic support bring Venris back to full, though the fatigue penalty persists). They navigate the dungeon, debating the portal/teleport circles, the shortcut to a deeper level, and whether to revisit Otari (the Rose Guard fanboy NPC) for lore on Belcorra and what happened after Otari died. They cross the 'Stinky Mushroom Room' that almost killed them once, holding their breath and using the bottle. The party decides to deal with the imprisoned mummy first before touching the portal. Venris magically picks the mummy's lock (Knock plus Thievery, using his Kalen key). |
| [S40 · 02:19:30 · turn 0846 · scene 006] [S40 · 02:21:13 · turn 0853] | Negotiating with Shaqim, the freed mummy The party opens the door and frees Shaqim, a knowledgeable, cloaked mummy trapped long ago by a traitor named Jafiky/Jafuki. They remind him they kept their word. Shaqim warns the place is teeming with danger (mimics, monsters) and speaks of the Sugasti ('Sugasty') swamp creatures that are smart enough to use alchemy and lay traps. Venris overshares about his arm and the Empty Death, asking if Shaqim recognizes the affliction; Veve accidentally Demoralizes/scares the mummy by casting on herself, briefly raising tensions. Cid tries to keep things civil and extract information, but Shaqim starts giving 'orders'/chores; Venris refuses to be treated as a servant and the deal frays. The party leaves to scout, promising to return for information. |
| [S40 · 02:45:20 · turn 0992 · scene 007] [S40 · 02:53:56 · turn 1050] | Scouting onward and the reviving skeleton fight The party scouts a new, expansive glowing room. Venris's Oracular Warning triggers (granting initiative bonus and temporary HP) as they roll into combat against skeletons that revive — the same self-resurrecting foes they fought before. Venris flubs a feint and dances near death again, while Cid (with Martial aura and a striking weapon) holds the line. The decisive turn comes when Venris draws a new striking light hammer from his thrower's bandolier and crits with a sneak-attack flanking strike ('this hammer is cool'), and Cid follows up; the skeletons go down. The session ends mid-dungeon as the party wonders if they leveled, with Venris joking he may now main the light hammer. |
| [S41 · 00:00:59 · turn 0003 · scene 001] [S41 · 00:01:08 · turn 0005] | Pregame chatter and tech troubles Players gather while one player's GPU/stream crashes and comes back. Off-topic banter (a 'Costco girl' running joke, no-boyfriend jokes) before the recap. One player jokingly garbles the last session as 'killing Blue Cora in the Mwangis' and a 'Hydra beneath the Geld Lake' before settling into the real recap. |
| [S41 · 00:03:00 · turn 0014 · scene 002] [S41 · 00:03:26 · turn 0016] | Recap: the freed mummy, the bone gladiator, and Venris's affliction A player recaps the prior session: the party was in town trying to find the cause of Venris's worsening affliction (his lost hand / rot), then returned into the Gauntlight. They went to the room with the mummy and freed it; Venice swiftly picked the lock. The freed mummy turned into a 'beach' (lich-like undead) and started giving orders; Cid playfully wanted to be its slave, Venice refused, and the party is play-acting compliance with no intent to obey. In the next room a big skeleton ('bone gladiator') rose and was quickly killed. Venris is showing off a new light hammer. The mummy will give information only if asked specific questions when the party returns. They also fought cultists/ghouls. |
| [S41 · 00:10:17 · turn 0051 · scene 003] [S41 · 00:24:00 · turn 0156] | Looting the skeleton room and probing the teleportation portal The party searches the room after the bone gladiator. Venris looks the skeleton over for anything of value; identification yields only one gold piece (a 'sad day'). They examine an active teleportation circle/portal in the room and a nearby chasm. They confirm the portal reads as active both ways and debate whether it is a trap. Cid (the bard player) wants to throw or 'time' an object into the portal to see what comes back; Venice throws a 'spool'/object through it. After ten minutes nothing comes back through, so they decide to leave the portal alone for now. The party heals up during the downtime. |
| [S41 · 00:37:29 · turn 0229 · scene 004] [S41 · 01:00:48 · turn 0361] | The gladiator quarters, the Absalom-on-fire painting, and the flesh-warper theory The party scouts the symmetrical halls flanking the see-through-walled arena (gladiator quarters / prisoner rooms with empty footlockers). They examine wall paintings/depictions, one of which depicts Absalom on fire, and joke about selling the 'antique.' Venice scouts ahead with lights-out / avoid-notice while the others keep a healthy distance. They find a torn-up creature with tentacles and a jaw/mouth and recall-knowledge it, connecting it to the Sagathi flesh-warpers Jafarke mentioned and to the hybrid 'mixed creatures' seen earlier in Belcorra's lounge and the Gorum monster fight. Theory forms: the flesh-warper Sagathi who trapped the mummy makes these spliced creatures from spare body parts. |
| [S41 · 01:14:52 · turn 0406 · scene 005] [S41 · 01:49:11 · turn 0562] | The deadly blade trap: pressure plates, initiative, and a near-death scare Venice (Venris) steps onto a pressure plate, triggering a metallic blade trap that fires blades down the hallway and into the room. A long debate about what the initiative roll represents (perception to react vs. turn order) follows. The party retreats into a side room after learning the closed door isn't struck by the blades, using it as cover. Veve is dropped to roughly 9 HP ('mostly dead') by the blades; the party patches up with Battle Medicine (myself/Veve/Cid) and 10-minute heals. Veve's Oracular Warning grants the party temporary HP / a +3 damage reduction. The GM calls it the deadliest trap they have faced yet. |
| [S41 · 02:08:33 · turn 0698 · scene 006] [S41 · 02:03:35 · turn 0654] | Looting the alchemist lab, glue bombs, and Acklo lore In a side room with a stone desk that looks like someone was trying to figure out the trap, the party finds a portable alchemist lab (the Sterling/expanded alchemist toolkit, granting +1 alchemical crafting) and three glue bombs. They sort out the rules: alchemical bombs are ranged weapons, work with Quick Draw, use Dexterity for the strike (so the bard/best-Dex character should carry them), and don't 'tag' into the bag of holding the same way. Venris reads a small book; the text is in Dwarven/Elven/Necril and Acklo (Aklo). Veve, who knows Aklo, can read it while refocusing. |
| [S41 · 02:25:26 · turn 0785 · scene 007] [S41 · 02:38:33 · turn 0823] | Disabling the six-blade trap one plate at a time The party works out a method to clear the blade trap: stand safely inside the room (the door is never struck), have Veve use Mage Hand to trigger the pressure plates from cover while Venice studies the blade pattern, then dart in to disable plates one at a time with Thievery. The trap has six blade plates that pop on a roughly two-second cycle with a brief refraction period. Venice disables them across multiple cycles, worried the noise might aggro a wandering monster (e.g. the mummy). The GM jokes that barring the door only works 'when the GM doesn't have an idea of what monster to put in the next room.' |
| [S41 · 02:57:00 · turn 0891 · scene 008] [S41 · 02:58:11 · turn 0900] | Break and finishing off the trap (two down, then all six) The table takes an hour break (off-topic Disneyland / kids chatter). On return they continue disabling plates ('two down out of six'), confirming that walking calmly past the now-cleared plates is safe. Cid touches the see-through window magic to peek into the lower chamber with statues/pillars and confirms the stairs don't lead down to them. They scout the gladiator quarters/footlockers (empty) and a secret door / cave-in back toward the skeleton room. The blade trap is fully disabled. |
| [S41 · 03:20:44 · turn 1036 · scene 009] [S41 · 04:36:16 · turn 1368] | Back to the mummy Chafkin: the quest to kill Jafuque and the map The party debates next moves (down the stairs, the portal, or back to the freed mummy) and chooses to revisit the mummy, named Shaqim/Chafkin, who wants the party to destroy a worm-like creature called Jafuque/Jeff Key (the flesh-warper that embraced/trapped the mummy). They roll a fear/paralysis save vs. the mummy's aura (Cid is immune to fear 1 via the Dread Marshal aura). They confirm the spliced monsters are Jafuque's creations. The party offers to kill Jafuque (or capture it alive, which Venris wants) in exchange for information, and Venris points at the Gladiator Meat Hall teleportation circle to ask where it leads. They also recall the devils Cormac (released from a contract) and Soslaring, and an unfound devil Ubian. The mummy hands over / lets them copy the dungeon map (anything returning through the portal gets a sigil on its forehead). |
| [S41 · 04:42:18 · turn 1424 · scene 010] [S41 · 04:44:38 · turn 1442] | Repairing the portal, downtime antics, and the half-level Back at the portal room, Venris attempts to repair/attune the Awakened Portal teleportation circle (an occultism ritual, ~1 hour). They sort out that Awakened Portal needs no secondary caster (it says 'up to five'), so Venris casts it solo rather than risk a -4 from a failed Aid. During the hour, Veve mischievously throws bones and fire into the portal while Venris practices throwing his daggers/chakra and watches a 'spooky shadow' he spotted, sending Veve away to keep her clear of it. The ritual succeeds ('this actually works'). The GM awards both Veve and Venris a half-level for their contributions (trap-disabling and healing) plus a couple of hero points, and the session ends with the party leveling up. |
| [S42 · 00:02:23 · turn 0006 · scene 001] [S42 · 00:03:08 · turn 0013] [S42 · 00:06:30 · turn 0039] | Pregame setup and last-session recap The table settles in (tech/Foundry hiccups, a player wrangling his kids). One player recaps where they left off: last session began after killing the 'Vega skeleton'; they messed with the awakened portal, freed/questioned a mummy who explained that 'Victoria is in the Coliseum' and that the portal can be thrown from the Coliseum, and they disabled some rolling-blade traps. The party leveled up. They decide to go fetch Abbas before choosing what to do next. |
| [S42 · 00:09:04 · turn 0053 · scene 002] [S42 · 00:14:33 · turn 0092] [S42 · 00:22:33 · turn 0113] | Crossing to the far wing and the starry hallway The party leaves the portal room and crosses to the opposite, unexplored side of the floor, debating the route past a big staircase that leads down toward 'the laboratories' / next floor. They move with Avoid Notice (Venris scouting ahead with Foil Senses and Expeditious Search). They pass back through the star-ceilinged hallway and a room of crafted statues, choosing not to mess with the statues, heading toward the 'big hole' where they'd previously heard sounds. |
| [S42 · 00:30:14 · turn 0143 · scene 003] [S42 · 00:34:29 · turn 0164] [S42 · 00:34:54 · turn 0171] | Listening at the doors; looting healer's kits Venris listens at a row of doors: one has light (and maybe something/someone inside), one is silent, and behind another there is definitely something making metal-clanging, heavy-breathing noises. The party clears a safe-feeling room and divvies up loot: a couple of expanded healer's toolkits (one good one and some 'crappy' ones), with the rest crafted into a spacious pouch. They note the torch-light is everlight-style and the place has been left alone a while. The party stacks status buffs (a +2 status song) before pressing on. |
| [S42 · 00:52:58 · turn 0283 · scene 004] [S42 · 01:00:33 · turn 0337] [S42 · 01:01:40 · turn 0344] | The lit room: fighting the spirit ghost / specter The party opens the lit door and rolls initiative on a ghostly creature (a 'spirit ghost' / specter, tied to the prior 'Vega' undead). It frightens the front line on its appearance. The party can't reliably hurt it at first (Vitality Lash is half-effective, Martial Aura damage doesn't apply to non-attacks). The fight turns once Venris repositions behind it, transforms his clockwork arm into a ghost-touch blade, and lands precision (sneak) damage thanks to the ghost-touch rune; thrown ghost-touch attacks also connect. The specter is put down. |
| [S42 · 01:11:06 · turn 0412 · scene 005] [S42 · 01:19:31 · turn 0465] [S42 · 01:22:08 · turn 0481] | The pit and the everlight lamps Post-fight, the party investigates the room: a deep pit/shaft (they drop a marble/light to gauge the ~30-foot depth and debate climbing down, deciding there's no gear worth it) and the wall lamps, which they try to detach to identify. Venris fast-searches the room with Expeditious Search while Cid does a thorough search; nothing else of note is found. Only one door remains. |
| [S42 · 01:29:01 · turn 0517 · scene 006] [S42 · 01:47:05 · turn 0566] [S42 · 01:48:15 · turn 0578] | The cackling stalker and a bathroom/snack break Between fights, the party buffs (Vital Beacon prepped, defensive songs) and a fast invisible/concealed creature keeps stalking them — heard as a bird-like cackling/crow sound behind the party, repeatedly fleeing when noticed and 'laughing at Veve.' They debate chasing it (Venris is fast enough with a Bracelet of Dashing) but decide not to split up. This stretch is interrupted by a long real-life break and off-topic table chatter (a card-game / sealed-product tangent). |
| [S42 · 01:53:53 · turn 0614 · scene 007] [S42 · 01:59:05 · turn 0633] [S42 · 02:00:33 · turn 0645] | Sizing up the last room; the chains spring Venris sneaks into the final room to scout a single creature ('This is Bob. He works in accounting.'), signals one enemy, then accidentally hits a chain on the way out — a loud jingling that alerts the whole room and triggers initiative. Venris uses Oracular Warning (granting allies +2 initiative and temp HP). The room is revealed as a chain-filled death trap, and Venris is immediately grabbed/dropped. |
| [S42 · 02:11:54 · turn 0721 · scene 008] [S42 · 02:12:41 · turn 0727] [S42 · 02:32:24 · turn 0851] | Chain trap: Venris freed by the Kaline key, Cid grabbed The chain creature grabs and crit-bleeds Venris (dropped to ~2-3 HP, persistent bleed, prone). He digs out his 'Kaline key' and casts its focus spells — Word of Freedom to break his own grab, then Unfettered Movement on Cid so Cid auto-escapes the literal chains — and crawls toward the exit. Cid repositions and the party tries to seal the door behind the creature. Veve/the bard heals Venris to full (a level-4 heal clearing the bleed), and the front line shimmies back out of the room rather than fight inside the trap. |
| [S42 · 02:36:34 · turn 0888 · scene 009] [S42 · 03:07:03 · turn 1101] [S42 · 03:33:20 · turn 1300] | Fighting the chain spirit in the doorway; her regeneration Out of the chain room, the party fights the spirit 'she' in the hallway/doorway — she is concealed in dim light (DC 5 flat checks to target), inflicts a fear effect, and has regeneration that can only be stopped by silver or a good/holy effect. Venris throws chakrams and flanks for precision/sneak damage; Cid repositions her with athletics, demoralizes her, and finally lands the killing blows once they confirm his Rosa Gentis longsword is actually silver (the trait was missing from its Foundry sheet and they add it mid-fight). Cid cuts her head off with an 'advantageous assault.' |
| [S42 · 03:36:56 · turn 1327 · scene 010] [S42 · 03:42:20 · turn 1360] [S42 · 03:46:04 · turn 1388] | The cackling jester returns; Venris leaps the pit to catch it With the chain spirit dead and the party healing up, the cackling bird-like stalker (described as a jester / 'Shaco if he was a bird furry') reappears behind them. The party rolls initiative to chase it. Venris activates his Bracelet of Dashing (speed 50), sprints through the rooms, makes an athletics long jump across the pit (DC 15), and tackles/grabs the creature with his sword still out — 'You caught him, boys.' A player then has to leave to take care of his kids, ending the session on the cliffhanger of the captured jester. |
| [S43 · 00:00:55 · turn 0001 · scene 001] [S43 · 00:04:22 · turn 0005] | Pregame chatter and tech setup Players wait on a member who is dealing with their kids, fight with streaming/connection ('learn how to cloud'), and joke around before the GM gets the map and recap going. |
| [S43 · 00:05:46 · turn 0017 · scene 002] [S43 · 00:06:52 · turn 0029] [S43 · 00:11:49 · turn 0064] | Recap: the chain creature and the laughing bird The party reconstructs where they left off: they were right outside the mummy's room, then explored a room with a ghost/haunt and a room with chains, where a chain creature nearly killed Cid before they defeated it. As the fight ended they heard a laughing tengu/raven-crow-like creature; Venris acrobatically leaped to catch it but it turned out to be an illusion (a 'mirror image' style trick) and the real creature escaped down the stairs. Venris recall-knowledges it as some kind of spellcaster having fun with them. The party also notes a room with medicine/medical stuff that had no encounter. |
| [S43 · 00:16:06 · turn 0089 · scene 003] [S43 · 00:17:41 · turn 0104] [S43 · 00:26:37 · turn 0160] | Looting the chain room and the rusted-hand disease scare The party searches the cleared chain room (Venris using Expeditious Search) and a rusted crate/grate down a drop. Venris realizes he grabbed a chain carelessly and may have caught a disease, asking the party caster to 'clean my rust-covered hand' (he now fights with a metal/clockwork arm he uses to touch suspicious things first). They examine corpses on the stairs for sword-slash wounds, comparing them to something seen back at the library. Venris is exhausted and tired and pushes to portal back to town rather than risk more encounters or another mummy/disease. |
| [S43 · 00:48:36 · turn 0282 · scene 004] [S43 · 00:50:38 · turn 0294] [S43 · 01:06:47 · turn 0369] | Town rest and the great anti-plague / Cleanse Affliction debate The party portals back to Otari to rest. A long out-of-combat rules debate covers how to handle the lurking disease: Antidote is only for poison, Elixir of Life only lasts ten minutes, and the eight-hour disease onset is brutal. They settle on buying lesser Anti-plague (3 GP, +2 to the save) and otherwise waiting until symptoms show before spending money. They argue whether a prepared Cleanse Affliction simply suppresses an affliction or only counteracts on a save, and decide to ignore it until symptoms appear, then go full-blast with a heightened Cleanse Affliction. They rest at the inn; the GM (and a player) catch up on reading Tharnax's / the other guy's diary, gleaning no new info. |
| [S43 · 01:22:07 · turn 0423 · scene 005] [S43 · 01:25:35 · turn 0444] [S43 · 01:26:39 · turn 0448] | Back into the vault: the prison cells and the flesh-heaps After a long rest (Sunday the 19th), the party heads back in, taking the long way around to avoid the fungus. Venris scouts ahead (Lights off, avoiding notice) into a prison-like room of cells. The first two cells are quiet; the third holds irregularly 'popping' heaps of flesh that look like monsters waiting to animate. The party debates whether it's worth the risk of disease for little obvious loot, guessing the place is where the Seugathi keep and experiment on prisoners to make gladiator fodder. Venris notes Veve's kinetic hand could try to dig out something shiny through the bars. |
| [S43 · 01:39:40 · turn 0514 · scene 006] [S43 · 01:46:21 · turn 0550] [S43 · 02:08:21 · turn 0734] | Combat: smashing the flesh-heaps The party fights the popping flesh-heap creatures, which are resistant (slashing weapons are bad; bludgeoning is better, per what they learned from the jelly/slime). Venris swaps to throwing weapons — a bola/bowler, light hammers, and chakram from his thrower's bandolier — landing sneak-attack damage on off-guard targets set up by Cid's flanking. The bard supports with Courageous/Lingering Anthem; the cleric-caster sustains Vitality Lash. Venris takes bleed and ~23 damage in the exchange but the party grinds the creatures down. They loot the cells afterward and find a copper key. |
| [S43 · 02:22:26 · turn 0805 · scene 007] [S43 · 03:02:19 · turn 0989] [S43 · 03:10:54 · turn 1026] | The portcullis hall and the shadow ambush The party returns toward the hallway where Venris failed to catch the laughing bird. They light-open a portcullis (worried about what melted the bars), and Cid wants to jam the gate/lever open with a dagger in case of a trap or being cut off. Venris (now touching things with his metal arm first) explores ahead. They find more bodies and skeletons. A shadow ambushes and ganks Cid, then spawns a clone/shadow of Cid (Cid shadow). Venris flanks with his freely-transformed Ghost Touch blade for sneak attack, and this triggers a long mid-combat rules argument over whether his precision damage works against the shadow given his ghost-touch rune (a previously-agreed homebrew). Venris records both his with-precision (19/23) and without-precision (11/15) numbers and says he'll take the lower for now. During this stretch one player (the Venris player) goes quiet/leaves to feed a pet, and another player leaves the call. |
| [S43 · 03:43:15 · turn 1172 · scene 008] [S43 · 03:54:04 · turn 1219] [S43 · 04:00:09 · turn 1241] | Out-of-game: the precision-damage / house-rule blowup A long table-level (out-of-character) discussion. The Venris player has quietly left after frustration built up (mini placement, getting hit at the start of fights, and a strength-draining status crippling a strength-based build), and the bard's player also dropped, so play stops. The remaining player and the GM debate whether mid-session is the right time to relitigate house rules (scouting +1 to initiative; precision damage vs ghosts via the ghost-touch rune), the player advocating 'pick a ruling fast, play on, and discuss it after the session,' and floating that the GM could simply rule things his way silently rather than asking players to argue. They dig into GM-vs-player friction, whether Pathfinder's rules-heaviness suits this GM's improvisational style, and the importance of documenting house rules in the Discord 'house rules' channel. |
| [S43 · 04:09:25 · turn 1280 · scene 009] [S43 · 04:37:56 · turn 1394] [S43 · 05:07:18 · turn 1528] | The Venris player returns; apology and 'play it, discuss it later' The Venris player rejoins and apologizes, explaining he wasn't angry or in disagreement but frustrated (frustration compounding after a hard day at work) and stepped away to feed his pet without announcing it. The conversation continues to the core philosophical split: one side wants to suspend disbelief and not require every mechanic to 'make sense' in-world ('I don't care how scouting works, it works magically — let me just play'), while the GM prizes rules-as-written consistency and fairness so that a character death always feels fair. They land on a working agreement for the immediate dispute: for the running session the GM's ruling stands and cannot change mid-game; any change to a previously-agreed homebrew (the ghost-touch precision rule) happens out of session and gets documented. They agree to revisit the ghost-touch precision question calmly before the next (Sunday morning) session and end the night. |
| [S44 · 00:00:22 · turn 0004 · scene 001] [S44 · 00:35:29 · turn 0367] [S44 · 00:35:44 · turn 0369] | Cold open: finishing the shadow fight (Cora / Siora) The session opens mid-combat with no real pregame. The party is finishing a fight against a steel-shadow assassin and a shadow-spawn it spawned from one of the PCs' shadows. The GM (Speaker A this session) recaps the cliffhanger: the party was ambushed by the shadow last time and the strength PC was hit with enfeebled. Cid is enfeebled 3 and is healed via a crit Battle Medicine (which also reduces enfeebled by one through Unusual Treatment). The shadow tries to copy/absorb light, casts magical darkness (countered by sustaining a rank-4 light spell, with a debate over the light-vs-darkness rules), and is whittled down. Veve debuts a new cone/area attack (5d4, reflex DC ~25, dazzles). Cid lands the killing 'righteous blow of fury,' bending his Rosargentes sword in anger; the shadows dissipate with no loot explosion. |
| [S44 · 00:44:13 · turn 0455 · scene 002] [S44 · 00:51:21 · turn 0517] [S44 · 00:53:52 · turn 0539] | Looting the guard stations and the bloodseeker beaks Post-fight, the party explores adjacent rooms: guard/archer stations, restrooms, and a portcullis defensive position. The side doors are unlocked; a double door is briefly thought locked, then ruled unlocked. They find empty weapon racks holding two 'bloodseeker beaks' (long hollow proboscises harvested from a bloodseeker beast, basically giant-mosquito mouths). Veve runs a Thorough Search (taking double time but turning every success into a critical success), which reveals a hidden call button on the southern wall that opens an elevator-style tunnel to a door. Cid/Abbas tries and fails to smash a magical stone door (a crit leaves not even a scratch). A small bedroom (narrow bed, warped wardrobe, footlocker) is found and reported clear. |
| [S44 · 00:56:34 · turn 0560 · scene 003] [S44 · 01:11:55 · turn 0705] [S44 · 01:13:06 · turn 0713] [S44 · 01:20:24 · turn 0771] | The assassin's footlocker: Cora's poison codex, emeralds, and the magic hat Self-shutting (automated) doors trap the party in the bedroom. The footlocker holds a wide-brimmed red feathered hat (magical), a pouch of tiny emeralds (~25 gp), and an old, fragile journal that is the property of 'Cora Fallow Glade.' Abbas uses the Strange Script feat to read it: it is a poison codex / assassin's codex, with notes that Cora was Belcorra's chief assassin sent to kill people for her. With a writing kit Venris transcribes the formulas (hunting spider venom, giant scorpion venom, giant wasp venom, malyas root paste) into his crafting recipes before the book crumbles to dust on closing. The party evaluates the poisons (most are low-DC and outleveled; giant wasp venom DC 25 and malyas root paste DC 26 are the keepers). The red hat is identified as a Greater Transmogrified Masquerade Scarf (casts illusory disguise on the wearer; needs to be invested; can't impersonate a specific person without a higher-rank effect). The shadow PC (Cid/the mummy?) tries it and ends up just looking like a mummy. |
| [S44 · 01:50:39 · turn 1040 · scene 004] [S44 · 01:53:05 · turn 1063] [S44 · 01:54:48 · turn 1077] [S44 · 02:12:12 · turn 1231] | The masquerade host and his arena: the Red Holiday Following a secret lever-door, the party steps into a massive lit Coliseum and meets its host: a maniacal masked figure with an ornate jeweled crimson Kukri, who 'almost caught up to' Venris before. He is chillingly relaxed (a salesman, not a threat) and invites the party to participate in his bloody games, his 'Red Holiday,' promising treasure and gold to participants. He recognizes the party from the age the Gauntlight was operating; the GM notes this host made himself a mummy long ago to survive the years. Venris (Venris) stalls hard, using Read the Air and salesmanship to buy 'an hour of preparation.' The party debates whether to fight him; recall-knowledge / size-up suggests he is no chump and is utterly unafraid of the whole party. The host lets them leave to prepare, pointing them to a door back toward the room with the portal the skull came from, then leaps down into the arena floor without wings. |
| [S44 · 02:18:57 · turn 1302 · scene 005] [S44 · 02:22:48 · turn 1342] [S44 · 02:29:21 · turn 1399] | The long cave tunnel and the choice to delay the arena Opting to prep before the arena, the party opens the first double door and finds a very long (1000+ ft, ~quarter-to-half-mile) man-made cave tunnel with a distant glimmer of sunlight/exit. Venris scouts ahead. They decide to rest to wear off Cid's lingering enfeebled (about an hour) and check other doors first. Behind a second double door (down by the bridge), Venris overhears two arguing voices with a 'posh British' accent; a Haunt Lore check identifies them as bound spirits — specifically a poltergeist (and the party recalls vulture-geist haunts from level four). The party preps ghost-touch weapons to fight. |
| [S44 · 02:39:27 · turn 1478 · scene 006] [S44 · 02:50:30 · turn 1583] [S44 · 02:51:26 · turn 1590] | Ambushing the poltergeists; the ring of wizardry Venris sneaks in (crit stealth), reveals his illusion-disguised arm into its true rapier blade, and one-shots the first poltergeist with a crit (40 damage, sneak + deadly d8 + piercing). The second is finished a round later with a Feint into an off-guard sneak strike. The wrecked elegant meeting room has a glyph-controlled wall that can be turned transparent to look down into the arena. Among the rubble Veve finds a dented lead-lined steel box (Venris crit-forces it open) containing a platinum Ring of Wizardry (type I, arcane only, ~360 gp). With no arcane caster, the party decides to sell it. |
| [S44 · 02:54:43 · turn 1620 · scene 007] [S44 · 03:01:05 · turn 1680] [S44 · 03:02:55 · turn 1699] | The Smuggler's Refuge and the music below Another door reveals stairs down to the next floor, from which muffled lute/violin/drum music echoes (a band, but no performer present, so the party declines to descend there). The party debates how to kill time before the arena. Venris mad-dashes the full length of the long cave tunnel and discovers it caves in near the end at a 'Smuggler's Refuge' secret side-entrance — which he recognizes connects back to the little cave where Carman hid out. Clearing the cave-in would take ~40 hours of manual labor (divisible), but it offers a known fast route in and out of the arena level. The party retreats to rest. |
| [S44 · 03:05:20 · turn 1716 · scene 008] [S44 · 03:12:56 · turn 1772] [S44 · 03:15:24 · turn 1794] [S44 · 03:46:32 · turn 2106] | Random encounter: cultists and a will-o-wisp (session ends mid-fight) While the party tries to rest off Cid's enfeebled, the GM rolls a random encounter (a 2, which hits): four hooded cultist 'priestly' figures (oracle/cleric types) plus a floating skull that turns out to be a will-o-wisp ('the light guy', level 6). The fight is at very long range down the hallway, so Veve finally uses her longbow. Abbas crits with Holy Light/Divine Lance for 40+ fire damage, scattering the cultists; the will-o-wisp crits a PC for ~50 damage in one turn, feeding on fear and regaining strength. The party hammers the cultists and the wisp, but the session is cut short mid-combat because the GM has to leave for a 2pm event. No clean resolution; the encounter and the arena are both left pending. |
| [S45 · 00:00:13 · turn 0002 · scene 001] [S45 · 00:03:02 · turn 0017] | Pregame tech chatter (Windows / streaming) The session opens cold with stream/Foundry tech troubles and an off-topic argument about Windows 10 vs 11 and Linux while the GM (Speaker A) waits for everyone to load in. No recap is given; the GM simply resumes at the top of initiative. |
| [S45 · 00:05:10 · turn 0036 · scene 002] [S45 · 00:38:53 · turn 0347] [S45 · 00:49:37 · turn 0464] | Combat resumes: Nimbaloth cultists and the invisible will-o'-wisp The party resumes a fight in progress against a 'gaggle' of grey-green hooded cultists (flail-wielding priests of Nimbaloth) who have all cast Sanctuary on themselves, plus an invisible flying creature (a will-o'-wisp type) that is immune to magic, casts Searing Light/Shocking Grasp, regenerates, and goes invisible. The party works around Sanctuary (each attack forces a will save) while Abbas/Abbas heals via Vital Beacon (touch) and Hymn of Healing, Veve/VV shoots with a longbow, Cid raises his shield, and Venris strikes the wisp with sneak-attack precision. They cut down the cultists one by one; the last cultist flees, leaps over a railing, and survives a 40-foot fall into the poltergeist room/arena passage. |
| [S45 · 00:53:47 · turn 0499 · scene 003] [S45 · 01:01:53 · turn 0581] | Regroup: the stone wall, Carman's hideout, and the call to the arena Out of initiative, the party patches up (Hymn of Healing fast-healing math; battle medicine). They discuss the stone formation wall where Carman was hiding and the ~20-hour job to break through it for the tower, joking about explosives and the lumber yard. The party then heads toward the arena to confront the level-10+ leaping figure they glimpsed. Venris is keen to fight; Cid suggests letting Venris go in alone while the others watch from the seats in case it's a trap. |
| [S45 · 01:17:16 · turn 0671 · scene 004] [S45 · 01:18:49 · turn 0690] [S45 · 01:38:35 · turn 0848] | The Cheery Man and the rules of the arena The party enters a cavernous arena (a wide walk 30-40 feet above the floor, six torch-lit balconies, a giant gong, twin staircases). The leaping figure flies up to meet them and introduces himself as 'the Cheery Man,' an arena master who offers battles for treasure. He lets challengers pick 'good odds,' 'fair odds,' or 'dead odds,' fights one set at a time, and warns that once a battle starts it is to the death, with non-participants barred from interfering ('I will cut you'). Venris accepts a 'fair' fight and is teleported to the center of the arena under a Victor sigil. The Cheery Man fills the stands with an illusory roaring crowd. While exploring, the party also spots oddly-posed petrified statues and something reptilian moving beneath them. |
| [S45 · 02:03:04 · turn 1080 · scene 005] [S45 · 01:56:48 · turn 1016] [S45 · 02:33:07 · turn 1360] | Two combats at once: Venris solos the Executioner, the rest fight Basilisks Two combats run simultaneously. In the arena, Venris is matched 1v1 against the Executioner, a robed figure with a cleaving great-axe who marks a target for death (+1d12 precision), lands intimidating strikes (frightened), and is 'fat and slow.' Up on the balcony, the rest of the party fights two Basilisks lurking among the statues, whose petrifying gaze forces repeated fortitude saves (avert gaze gives only +2). Veve's Courageous Anthem/Rallying Anthem and a Spray of Stars (dazzle) help; Cid tanks with his shield and Marshal aura, crit-tripping with Snagging Strike; Abbas hits with Divine Lance. The party realizes the lurkers are Basilisks and that Basilisk blood can restore petrified victims. |
| [S45 · 03:06:43 · turn 1699 · scene 006] [S45 · 03:09:54 · turn 1730] [S45 · 03:10:53 · turn 1740] | Basilisks down; the petrified statues and Basilisk-blood clue The balcony fight winds down: Cid crit-kills one Basilisk (splitting its skull) and the other is whittled away. Abbas examines the badly-damaged statues — recognizing one as a Darklands U Death-hand (pale vampire-like humanoid) and another as a larger flesh-warped abomination — and recalls that Basilisk blood can restore petrified beings. The two mostly-intact statues are posed mid-run/mid-walk and hold petrified weapons (a unique-looking chakram and a composite short bow). Abbas chooses not to share the weapon detail with the group yet. |
| [S45 · 03:39:25 · turn 1986 · scene 007] [S45 · 03:39:59 · turn 1993] | Hit-and-run to the kill: Venris outlasts the Executioner Alone in the arena, Venris adopts a hit-and-run strategy: step away with his rogue mobility, land the occasional crit (stacking persistent bleed), and avoid the Executioner's slow great-axe swings while the illusory crowd jeers. Dropped to 4 HP, he survives a thrown-great-axe gamble by spending his reaction, range-trips the Executioner with a bola, then gritting his teeth spends a hero point to dash in and finish the foe with a stab between the eyes. |
| [S45 · 03:43:53 · turn 2024 · scene 008] [S45 · 03:46:24 · turn 2055] | Victory prize and the solo-vs-party debate The Cheery Man teleports back, congratulates Venris, and pays out: 50 gold to the victor plus a choice between the War Caller's Chimes of Destruction (cast Shatter once/day, 100 gp) and Healer's Gloves (+1 Medicine, once/day heal 2d6+7). Venris takes the gloves and immediately uses them to claw back from 4 HP. He then lobbies the party to fight together for more rewards, conceding that the solo fight taught him how much he relies on the group (no flanking, all feints failed). Cid and Veve come around; Abbas/Visigok stays skeptical, seeing arena loot as a waste versus the Gauntlight problem. The party heals up (Vital Beacon, Soothe, Treat Wounds, refocus). |
| [S45 · 04:03:04 · turn 2210 · scene 009] [S45 · 04:06:49 · turn 2253] [S45 · 04:08:05 · turn 2266] | The loaded coin, the augury, and the deadly-fight cliffhanger With the vote at a gridlock, Venris proposes settling it on a coin flip — but Abbas inspects the coin and discovers it is loaded (it lands heads twice), busting Venris's 'level-zero' cheat. They redo the flip honestly with Abbas's own coin and the party agrees to one more fight. Abbas casts a 10-minute Augury to ask what they'll be fighting (GM defers the result to next session). The party commits to a 'deadly'-odds fight as the next-session cliffhanger. The session closes with an out-of-character conversation in which Speaker C raises that the GM laughing at the party's missed rolls during a serious near-death fight hurt his enjoyment; he apologizes for over-reacting and the GM acknowledges his thoughts. |
| [S46 · 00:01:21 · turn 0017 · scene 001] [S46 · 00:01:45 · turn 0019] | Pregame chatter and recap Players settle in and joke around (some private/offensive bits), then the GM (Speaker B) calls for a recap. The recap: the party found a new exit leading to Rajani's old hideout, dispatched ambushing cultists, and Venris handled a near-deadly 1v1 in the gladiator arena. They were then ambushed by basilisks (handled with no petrification) and found petrified statues of unusual creatures plus an interesting chakram. They decided to try reviving the petrified statues with fresh basilisk blood before tackling a full-party arena fight. Abbas (Abbas/VisaGock) and the party debate whether basilisk blood can un-petrify the statues partially, establishing that you must coat the whole statue and the blood must be under an hour old. |
| [S46 · 00:39:43 · turn 0419 · scene 002] [S46 · 00:44:53 · turn 0473] | Reviving the petrified statues with basilisk blood The party coats the first petrified statue (the one holding a chakram) in fresh basilisk blood to un-petrify it, with the rest of the party readying actions to strike the moment it animates. As each creature reawakens it is immediately barraged down (Divine Lance crits, sneak attacks, blade strikes) before it can act. The first creature slurs out something in 'Sarcoth' / Undercommon and dies; the second, before dying, shouts 'War Chieftain Gerfell, Belcorra needs the eye.' The creatures are identified (via Abbas's knowledge) as Urdefhan ('Uthul-han / Utehan'), Undercommon-speaking Darklands warmongers. Loot from the two: a Tamchal chakram (auto +1 striking), a steel shield, and a +1 striking composite shortbow; plus disgusting saved fingernails in one's bag. Abbas then casts Augury about the upcoming arena fight and gets 'nothing' — a glimpse of empty, foreboding darkness. |
| [S46 · 00:52:30 · turn 0547 · scene 003] [S46 · 00:58:51 · turn 0610] | Choosing the odds: fair vs dead The party heals and preps (10-minute treat-wounds, talismans, poisons), then goes up to the arena host ('Cheeryman') to set up the promised full-party fight. They debate the betting odds — fair odds vs dead odds — weighing better loot against survivability, noting Venris nearly died in his earlier 1v1. After a vote they settle on fair odds. Abbas/VisaGock pulls Venris aside and tells him a secret meant for no one else (a 'just-in-case' contingency, kept off-screen). |
| [S46 · 01:10:19 · turn 0720 · scene 004] [S46 · 02:01:51 · turn 1179] [S46 · 02:43:15 · turn 1566] | Arena fight, round 1: the chimera and two manticore-pugilists The full-party arena fight begins. The opposition: a large three-headed chimeric manticore (dragon head with a blue fire/arcane breath weapon, lion head, goat head; tail spike attacks) plus two smaller flying manticore-type 'pugilists' (Paradar) wearing hand wraps of mighty blows — agile, fast, clawed unarmed hitters with imprecise scent and ranged tail spikes. The party drops the first flying mook quickly (Cid beheads it after slicing its wings). Veve (V V/BB) is crit-dropped to dying one by a pugilist's flurry, then healed for 43 by Abbas. Veve uses her Oracular Overload / Overload Vision reaction to dazzle the chimera, and later Shared Invisibility (with a big rules debate over 'targets' vs 'targets within an emanation'). The chimera's breath is shut down by stupefy from a fumbled goat-horn ram. Venris chips the chimera with poisoned blade, bloodseeker beak, and rapier; Cid fears it with Rosargentis crits; Veve finishes with a 40+ acid Chromatic Ray. The party wins round one. |
| [S46 · 03:02:32 · turn 1778 · scene 005] [S46 · 03:11:08 · turn 1864] | Prize loot and the 'best of three' surprise After the win the illusion crowd fades and a few real monstrous spectators (dwarf-types, a lizard person, a halfling, a rat-creature) head down. The host offers a prize pick from three magic items: a Greater Rhinoceros Mask, a spirit-sighted (ethereal) crossbow, and a Greater Folding Boat. The party takes the boat. The host then reveals the arena fight is a BEST OF THREE — they've only completed round one and must continue with no healing between rounds. The party decides not to push their luck and to withdraw to rest. |
| [S46 · 03:33:37 · turn 1966 · scene 006] [S46 · 03:34:28 · turn 1974] | The mummy's deadline, and back to town Heading for the teleporter the party passes the mummy NPC's area; he's half-packed and leaving, says he only needs a couple more days and urges them to be quick. He wants 'Jeffy/Jafucky', leader of the Segabe (the Sagati creatures), dead — they've taken over a lower laboratory floor. Cid tells him 'not yet, but soon.' The party takes the portal back to town to rest, heal, and shop, planning to descend to the laboratories next. |
| [S46 · 04:15:54 · turn 2349 · scene 007] [S46 · 04:25:47 · turn 2444] | Town downtime: selling, shopping, and Venris's arm Extended town downtime. The party sells junk and unusable loot (steel shields at 50gp each, mutagens, the bloodseeker beak, a ring of wizardry, the +1 striking composite shortbow's runes, healer kits, gems/reagents). Venris pays the first half (167.5gp) of his clockwork arm's 335gp cost. They buy Veve a +1 armor potency rune (and discuss the pricier 'locus leather'), a Marvelous Mini Chest, an instrument harness for the bard (so she won't drop her instrument when she dies), and look at a greater staff of healing (deferred — too expensive). They keep the folding boat for likely future water levels. Venris shows the Tamchal chakram to Carman, who warns the Urdefhan ('Earth-and-Huns') are violent warmongers. Overnight, Venris suffers worsening nightmares from the Whispering Reeds book corruption — no condition yet, but the symptoms are becoming noticeable. |
| [S46 · 05:13:34 · turn 2860 · scene 008] [S46 · 05:32:00 · turn 3040] | The eyeless sonic horror (sester chan) in the lower arena Next day the party descends and hears a piercing sonic cry behind a door. They make improvised earplugs from a sack and enter a blood-stained 20-foot chamber ringed by a transparent-stone observation gallery — a side mini-arena. Inside an eyeless, three-eared reptilian horror (a 'sester chan' of the Deathron Darklands) is destroying crystal chunks with an amplified Sonic Cry. Venris rushes in alone (riding the arena high) and the fight proves brutal — repeated 30+ sonic-burst damage, a near-TPK feel, lots of spent hero points and missed rolls. Venris's blade/kukri is reduced to broken on a crit fumble. The party grinds it down (trips it prone, Veve's Telekinetic Projectile and a Chromatic Ray, Cid's flurry, divine lances) and finally smashes its head in. Abbas spots a large WORM-shaped shadow slithering in the gallery above. |
| [S46 · 05:29:21 · turn 3020 · scene 009] [S46 · 05:37:42 · turn 3077] | Aftermath: mending the arm and the room's purpose With the sester chan dead and no loot on it, Abbas hands Venris a scroll of mending; combined with Venris's repair kit it fixes his broken weapon-arm (one point past the broken threshold). The GM clarifies the room: a 'testing grounds' / side mini-arena with a transparent (two-way, here) observation gallery, used for grudge matches between gladiators, fed by a portal like the one upstairs (the portal does NOT funnel into the main arena as the party assumed). The party notes the worm above and a portal exit, and the session wraps mid-exploration to be picked up next time. |
| [S47 · 00:01:35 · turn 0011 · scene 001] [S47 · 00:03:25 · turn 0028] | Pregame: PC overclocking, webcams, and a quick recap Table tech chatter (server region, RAM/XMP overclocking, whether to use webcams) before the GM gives a short recap: last session the party fought in an arena, defeated a beast that was 'just teeth as a face' and a chakram-wielding foe on a lower floor, and took the teleporter back to the room above so Venris could repair his broken prosthetic arm. Visigok (Abbas) noted he'd seen a worm-like shadow and wanted to retreat to somewhere safer. |
| [S47 · 00:05:28 · turn 0055 · scene 002] [S47 · 00:16:19 · turn 0157] [S47 · 00:25:12 · turn 0229] | Repairing the shifter prosthesis (and a silver-grade rules dig) Back in the safe room above, Venris casts a mending scroll on his Shifter Prosthesis (item level 6) and the party heals over repeated ten-minute rests. A long rules discussion: what grade/material the arm is (settling on standard-grade silver, hardness 7, 28 HP, 14 broken threshold), the higher repair DC for working one-handed, and the fact that the level-1 mending scroll can't actually repair a magic item (needs heightened 3rd). Venris fails his Crafting repair checks (DC 25/26) twice, wasting twenty in-game minutes, even with an aid. Carman Rajani briefly teleports in to ask if they want another arena run; they decline and he leaves. |
| [S47 · 00:40:25 · turn 0351 · scene 003] [S47 · 00:42:40 · turn 0376] [S47 · 00:46:18 · turn 0408] | Venris's solo dash to town and the miss stalker ambush Rather than waste the day, Venris splits off to run back to Otari alone (using his cave lore and double speed) to get his arm professionally repaired. On the beach an elite miss stalker ambushes him from the water for 34 damage and grabs him; he uses Word of Freedom for a free-action escape and runs 80 feet clear. He reaches Carman Rajani's shop in Otari; Rajani fully repairs the prosthesis (crit success, expert crafter, 40 HP healed), gives him a minor healing potion (1d8), but has no 3rd-rank mending scrolls. Venris runs back to the party (avoiding the miss stalker), getting a quick Heal to top off; the whole detour costs about an hour. |
| [S47 · 00:54:36 · turn 0485 · scene 004] [S47 · 00:57:24 · turn 0518] | Tracking the music to a hidden door Reunited, the party treks across already-cleared vault rooms toward the music they'd heard coming from the poltergeist room area. Veve, searching as the party moves (with Thorough Search and Investigate), crit-finds a hidden secret channel in a wall that opens, cutting their travel time. As they approach, muffled music in Saqqroth (the Darklands tongue) grows clearer; Veve confirms it's a small band — drums, a lute, and a bass lute. The party decides to investigate together. |
| [S47 · 01:01:21 · turn 0551 · scene 005] [S47 · 01:33:46 · turn 0809] [S47 · 01:36:39 · turn 0831] | Through the trash stairs into the Warp Brood Tavern Venris opens the door onto a foul, garbage-strewn stairwell (greater difficult terrain — animal carcasses, broken flagons) descending to a tavern. Inside is a band of four flesh-warped/subterranean performers on a stage, a crowd of Morlocks, a bartender, and a big terrifying bodyguard near the western double doors. The creature locks eyes with Venris but only flips a page of its book. The party enters warily, weapons stowed, pretending to be patrons. Abbas (Visigok) recognizes the bodyguard as a flesh-warped 'Dritter' (a drow-and-giant-spider hybrid). The bartender tells them they're in the Warp Brood Tavern and to not bother the boss. |
| [S47 · 01:57:40 · turn 1018 · scene 006] [S47 · 02:07:07 · turn 1099] [S47 · 02:35:02 · turn 1345] | The performance challenge: party vs. the house band Rita the rat (the band's singer) recognizes the party from the arena and proposes a friendly head-to-head: each side faces off in pairs with performances — music, acrobatics, feats of strength — and the crowd judges who's best overall. It's a non-combat skill contest. Veve wows the crowd with a guitar solo (nat-20 lute performance); Venris juggles chakrams with sleight-of-hand tricks against Nox; Cid does a one-handed feat of strength balancing Veve on a chair against the dwarf (Drashkin); and the whole party closes with a group number (Venris's acrobatics and Occult light-show, Abbas on triangle, Cid on drums) that wins the day. The contest dissolves any remaining suspicion between the two groups, and an approving onlooker (later revealed as the owner) watches from a back door. |
| [S47 · 02:41:15 · turn 1399 · scene 007] [S47 · 02:54:18 · turn 1496] [S47 · 03:00:36 · turn 1557] | Talking with the band: the Sagathi, the owner, and the lay of the land The band hangs out with the party and answers questions. The tavern is a haven for Darklands 'underdwellers' who came to the arena; most of the Morlocks here are hoping to be flesh-warped by the Sagathi (the big alien worms, led by Jafuki/'the cigar') whose territory this is. The owner — a rough, grumpy woman named Vishari — opened the place and keeps a wary deal with the Sagathi. The band identify themselves: Rita (rat/singer), Nox (a Caligni dark-folk), Griz the lizard 'Zulgath' (smelly subterranean reptile), and a Drashkin (subterranean evil dwarf king type). A long out-of-game discussion clarifies Venris's heritage: he is a cavern elf (remastered drow), surface-raised and 'whitewashed,' sharing language and some ancestry with this evil-leaning crowd but not aligned with them. Veve knocks on Vishari's office; Vishari rudely throws them out, and they back off politely. |
| [S47 · 03:07:33 · turn 1611 · scene 008] [S47 · 03:07:44 · turn 1612] [S47 · 03:13:50 · turn 1672] | Snooping the back rooms: dressing room loot and the dwellers' offer The party explores the tavern's back rooms — a private dining room where Nox and Griz are eating, a 'performers only' dressing room, and a backstage. In the dressing room they find the band's well-kept instruments, including a +1 striking battle lute (Venris identifies it but the party leaves it, as it belongs to the owner); a velvet curtain worth ~5-10 gp is noted but left. The band sketches the surrounding map: tunnels into the caverns, a viewing room for the arena, and long hallways with two sets of double doors that are the only way the Sagathi come in. The party debates how to win over Vishari (she only cares about the tavern and is short on supplies/good ale) and whether to deal with or avoid the Sagathi. |
| [S47 · 03:25:48 · turn 1775 · scene 009] [S47 · 03:29:10 · turn 1809] [S47 · 03:31:32 · turn 1836] | Reward, a gambling hustle, and the double doors out The band scrapes together a small reward for the great show — a bag of coins (5 gold, 11 silver, 8 copper). Venris notices two Morlocks gambling at a crude 1v1 card game called Towers, joins with 10 gold, and cheats with Thievery/sleight-of-hand to fleece one of them (winning ~5 gold 4 silver), then tosses 5 silver back out of pity. He morphs his prosthesis into a giant thumbs-up on the way out. The party advances toward a long hallway with two sets of double doors; the spider bodyguard closes the doors behind them as they leave. The GM calls it there for next time. |
| [S48 · 00:03:35 · turn 0040 · scene 001] [S48 · 00:04:50 · turn 0056] | Pregame: setup, prep banter, and the Morlock mini Players gather, deal with Foundry/Unity load times, and joke around. The GM (Speaker A) admits he salts the asset list with random mobs so the party can't metagame the encounter, and there's table chatter about characters leaving the party if absent players (Rod/Golm) don't return. The GM points out everyone's new Morlock mini before calling for a recap. |
| [S48 · 00:09:20 · turn 0094 · scene 002] [S48 · 00:10:58 · turn 0113] | Recap: the Warp Brew tavern, the Sagathi, and the new floor The party recaps last session: they did a 'bardic barging' bit, learned a shadowy figure is likely a Sagathi (flesh-warper), and explored the Warp Brew tavern where the Morlocks are eager to be flesh-warped by the Sagathi while the band and others stay neutral. Cid spoke with a Morlock bartender who mentioned the Sagathi. The GM cleans up the map (a frosted/opaque gated wall, a grate leading down, added stairs). The party's stated goal: open the double doors on this new floor and possibly find the named Sagathi. They take a short break. |
| [S48 · 00:25:14 · turn 0192 · scene 003] [S48 · 00:44:53 · turn 0382] | Opening the doors: the flesh-warped bounty hunters charge The party advances in darkness toward distant heavy thudding. Venerus crashes a door open on a nat-1, rolling everyone into initiative. Cid peeks out and recognizes a squad of meaty, hulked-out flesh-warped humanoids with war razors led by a dwarf — the same Absalom 'fake guards' / bounty hunters the party once met, who set out to capture the party's bounty and have since been flesh-warped into hyper-aggressive abominations. There is an extended ruling debate about combining stealth and initiative into one roll. The party kills the lights, Cid raises a martial aura and shield, and the bruisers charge. |
| [S48 · 01:16:01 · turn 0656 · scene 004] [S48 · 01:15:29 · turn 0649] | The exploding-blood brawl A long, grinding fight against the flesh-warped bounty hunters. Venerus opens with a rapier sneak-attack crit (53 damage); Cid flanks and tanks behind a tower shield while his martial/Dread aura buffs the party; Abbas chips in with Divine Lance; Veve throws rocks and daggers and sustains Courageous/Rallying and Lingering Composition songs. The enemies explode in 'cancer blood' on death, forcing reflex saves on everyone nearby (the tower shield helps cover Veve/Venerus). One bruiser swaps to a crossbow and critically shoots his own ally in the back. A demoralize lands frightened on Venerus, and at least one PC catches 'Bellstreck Tetanus' from the flesh-warp affliction. The party grinds the squad down to nothing. |
| [S48 · 02:37:47 · turn 1445 · scene 005] [S48 · 03:06:08 · turn 1661] | Looting the bodies: the wanted poster and the Bloody Barbers' journal The party loots the dead: three war razors (one +1), a regular crossbow with ~18 bolts, simple manacles, a climbing kit, a wanted poster (30gp bounty on a red-haired tiefling bounty hunter, with island locations noted on the back including a crossed-out town, Otari, and a lighthouse), and a locked journal stamped with a shaving-knife/barber symbol. Cid treats Venerus's lingering affliction with Medicine (suppressing a clumsy condition that will worsen in about a week). Cid recaps the floor's lore for the party: a beat-up devil named Aravian/Rabian one floor below, contracted by Belcorra to raise her an army, now trapped honoring the contract since 'the Cora is dead'; plus the Zebub janitor (Sazlarin) and the Vordeen Horloc prison-guard the party met earlier. |
| [S48 · 03:21:53 · turn 1811 · scene 006] [S48 · 03:29:55 · turn 1880] | The Bloody Barbers revealed; the abomination guarding the stairs Venerus picks the journal's lock; it logs targets, marks an unimportant low-level gang affiliate, and confirms the squad belonged to the Bloody Barbers — an Absalom barber-gang that 'gives a Crimson Shave' (cuts throats), runs burglary and narcotics, and could be a whole side-campaign if the party wanted. Manny (Venerus's player) has to leave to pick up his kids, so the GM keeps the session going. Listening at a door, the party hears rasping; they open it on a holding-cell room (shackles, fetters, bloodstains) with double doors, two staircases leading down, and a massive horrifying abomination standing guard above the stairs. They roll initiative. |
| [S48 · 03:49:06 · turn 2076 · scene 007] [S48 · 04:26:46 · turn 2484] | The tentacled guardian: a near-deadly fight A dangerous fight against the abomination — a huge, scarred, battle-hardened flesh-warped creature (later identified as a cruelly flesh-warped elf, ~level 11) with 20-foot tentacle reach and a mind-lashing attack. It crits Venerus for 38 and stuns/paralyzes him with an emotional/occult 'empty void' vision, and slashes a nerve (slowed). Oddly, the creature is already frightened of something. With Venerus's player away for part of it (Speaker B also running Veve/'VV'), Cid tanks with Champion's reaction and tower shield, Abbas casts Holy Light, and the party slowly wheels it down with hero points until it dies. The party debates afterward whether they should have spent time on recall knowledge before charging in. |
| [S48 · 04:48:37 · turn 2640 · scene 008] [S48 · 05:11:52 · turn 2846] | Identifying the guardian; scouting the side rooms A recall-knowledge identifies the abomination as a flesh-warped elf (twisted into misplaced limbs, loose flesh, and bony protrusions), most likely yet another Sagathi experiment set to guard the stairs down. Veve (run by Speaker B as a second sheet) does a thorough search and spots something shiny. The party scouts: a Zebub/devil flying in a hallway (identical to the 'cleaner boy' devil), a slime/tomb-jelly room digesting Morlock corpses (loot left intact: steel shield, chain shirt, pick, caltrops, chains — they leave it as a predictable fight for later), an old prison area whose dust shows a single hoofed devil trail and a large worm-creature's drag marks, and a cave sloping down. They decide not to chase the named Sagathi down the devil stairs and instead push on. |
| [S48 · 06:02:43 · turn 3243 · scene 009] [S48 · 06:21:38 · turn 3459] | The chained Sagathi: 'You must be the intruders!' Peeking through doors, the party finds a Sagathi chained near a handrail beside a stairway with a dim orange glow and sulfurous stench rising from far below (the devils). The Sagathi speaks Aklo (only Abbas understands it), calling out to a Grothlet guardian before turning on the party as 'intruders.' The Grothlet has a sickening 'Pidus Moan' aura; the worm-like Sagathi squeezes through five-foot gaps and wields a longsword from a serpentine tail. It proves notably weaker than the previous guardian. Venerus drops it in a single Sonic-Blow barrage on his turn. |
| [S48 · 06:35:32 · turn 3597 · scene 010] [S48 · 07:01:08 · turn 3814] | Grothlet mop-up, Sagathi loot, and the cliffhanger laboratory door The party finishes the Grothlet (a Divine Lance crit + chakram), then loots the dead Sagathi: a plain longsword, a venomous bite, an alchemical/chemical toolkit, a key for the Grothlet's manacles, and a wand of See Invisibility (2nd-rank). They conclude this 'weak' Sagathi is NOT the named one (Jafaki/'Jeff Key') and plan to go back to the mummy NPC (Chafkin/Shefkin) for hints on identifying the real one, or research at the library. Exploring on, they find a clairvoyant transparent-stone wall overlooking a flooded cavern with two still huge formations (presumed hydras), and reach a laboratory antechamber with two keyed plinths and a handleless door. Venerus's F10 key fits the eastern plinth and the door starts to open — the session ends on this cliffhanger. |
| [S49 · 00:01:02 · turn 0013 · scene 001] [S49 · 00:14:20 · turn 0117] | Pregame setup and last-session recap The group settles in, deals with stream/Foundry setup, and recaps the previous session: they're deep in the Abomination Vaults laboratory level, have fought exploding flesh-warp creatures and a massive Sgathi (one nearly killed Venris), looted a diary tying the place to a flesh-warp operation, peeked into hydra caves, and arrived at a room with two plinths. The GM and players debate house-ruling lockpicking (one attempt vs. multiple) before letting Venris try the second plinth's door. |
| [S49 · 00:18:05 · turn 0150 · scene 002] [S49 · 00:18:22 · turn 0152] | Venris cracks the master plinth with Glide-lock and a hero point Venris uses a 'glide-lock' key that casts Knock (+1 status) plus his thievery training to attempt the master-level four-pronged plinth lock. Against the odds he rolls four thievery successes in a row (with a hero point), opening the door despite the GM's certainty it shouldn't have worked. The GM jokingly promises he'll 'enjoy dying later today.' Behind it lies a second identical door. |
| [S49 · 00:22:45 · turn 0190 · scene 003] [S49 · 00:27:54 · turn 0239] | Combat: the gray Sgathi spellcaster in the gallery Beyond the door is a gallery overlooking the bloodstained room where they once killed a Sgathi, fronted by a window of cloudy stone. A gray Sgathi (a flesh-warp worm-creature, subspecies of the purple one they killed before) charges, demanding to know where the party got their keys. It casts shield, wields a wand and a poisoned longsword, and screams a sonic 'destructive harmonic.' Venris disarms its wand, recalls its will save is weakest, and the party taunts it. The casting Sgathi's harmonic scream is resisted. Combat is interleaved with a long table discussion of how emanation/burst/cone area templates are drawn. |
| [S49 · 00:48:42 · turn 0433 · scene 004] [S49 · 01:11:15 · turn 0659] | The ethereal walls drop; a second Sgathi behind glass The first Sgathi interacts with a glyphed pedestal/altar that drops the see-through walls, turning them ethereal and exposing a second similar creature below. The party drives the gray Sgathi spellcaster down (Venris crit, 40 damage) and finishes it, then Abbas/Visigok investigates the altar, learning it is a magical control mechanism for the walls and gaining the ability to raise and lower them at will. He raises the walls again to wall off the second creature. The party realizes both Sgathi are effectively the same statblock (one black/gray, one white/purple). Loot: empty writing slates, chalk, the poisoned longsword, and a wand identified as a Wand of Status (2nd level). |
| [S49 · 01:23:42 · turn 0763 · scene 005] [S49 · 01:32:06 · turn 0834] | Freeing the three flesh-warp prisoners Venris listens at a door, then sneaks in to find a meeting room repurposed into a filthy prison: three captives in wooden pillories — a deep gnome warrior (the longest-held), a drow named Falksy, and a skulk (later named Jadzeli). Venris easily picks the shackles. The party debates their own in-character prejudices about drow (evil reputation) and skulks (fringe scavengers) before deciding to escort them out. The GM frames a moral contrast between misjudged outsiders and 'true evil' aligned with Belcorra. |
| [S49 · 01:38:16 · turn 0889 · scene 006] [S49 · 02:08:15 · turn 1173] | Roxy: the drow's flesh-warped brother and the mercy kill Falksy realizes the second Sgathi behind the glass is his brother Roxy — it wears their mother's bracelet. He begs the party to save or free him; the GM and party establish (Fullmetal Alchemist style) that this flesh-warping is irreversible and Roxy is too far gone. Abbas configures the wall to carry sound both ways so Falksy can speak to Roxy; the screaming and a sonic blast confirm Roxy can't be reached. The party agrees to a mercy kill: they lower the walls and let Falksy deliver the finishing blow (with a borrowed longsword) on his own brother, a heavy emotional beat, while the rogues hammer Roxy down. |
| [S49 · 02:28:38 · turn 1273 · scene 007] [S49 · 03:20:41 · turn 1785] | Combat: the modified Morlocks (electric needle-jaws) An oracular warning (Veve's curse-bound oracle power) triggers initiative. A blue arcane light heralds a pack of 'modified Morlocks' — metal-plated jaws that spray needles dealing piercing + electricity, and that physically stack ('dock') on each other for cover bonuses. A third Sgathi joins, licking its poisoned sword. The fight is rough: Abbas/Visigok is confused (forced to Divine Lance an ally) and Cid is targeted hard, but the party tears through with crits — Cid cleaves one in half (46 dmg), Venris lops the last one's head off (59 dmg with deadly). A secret tunnel is found where they emerged, with stairs up and a double-door hallway. |
| [S49 · 03:44:13 · turn 2003 · scene 008] [S49 · 03:55:14 · turn 2085] | The mummy Shafkim's lore-dump: Jafki, Belcorra, and the devil war The party heals up (ward medic) and returns to the mummy NPC Shafkim, who is nearly done packing to leave. He confirms flesh-warping is irreversible, then gives a long history: Jafki ('Jeff Key') was the first Sgathi Belcorra found and made into a master flesh-warper to build her 'perfect soldier,' granted full authority over the laboratory level. After Belcorra's death, a loyalist named Tarkina (a bone devil) tried to take command and was killed by Jafki, who declared independence. A months-long war between the Sgathi and the devils (led by Urvane, a contract devil) ended in an uneasy truce. Finally, a strange brightly-dressed 'Cheery Man' tricked and imprisoned Shafkim. He urges the party to hurry back and kill Jafki before he leaves. |
| [S49 · 04:21:07 · turn 2247 · scene 009] [S49 · 04:10:27 · turn 2150] | Escorting the prisoners out; the drow's origin and farewell The party portals/walks the three prisoners out via the Dawnflower Library, learning more on the way: the skulk woman is missing a hand (replaced by a hook) and obsesses over 'the man in colored rags' who 'takes hands.' Falksy explains he and Roxy are drow from the deep settlement of Yildaris, snatched on a foraging run by earth-hands, handed to devils, then to the Sgathi; he feared becoming a drider. The deep gnome offers to take the skulk (Jadzeli) to safety; the drow heads home to Yildaris. They part ways outside the caves, each declining to enter town, and the party returns to Otari (about three hours). |
| [S49 · 04:32:04 · turn 2344 · scene 010] [S49 · 04:47:08 · turn 2490] | Back in Otari: research tablets, shopping, and downtime errands In Otari the party reads the looted research tablets — Jafki's flesh-warp/arena experiment notes cataloguing specimens (hellhounds, a manticore, a drider, a greater shadow, a plague doctor, etc.) and 'arena battles' of beast-on-beast and captive-on-monster, including notes of the party's own fights. They split errands: Abbas takes the tablets to Morblin (who pays a few gold and explains Sgathi are near-alien beings 'from space'); Venris restocks light hammers and continues throw-weapon training with Rajani; the party plans to sell the Wand of Status but keep a wand of See the Unseen; they buy earplugs, a lock, a spellbook blank, and order a 3rd-rank scroll of mending from Absalom. They sort out Cleanse Affliction counteract rules for Venris's 'fail-strike tetanus.' |
| [S49 · 05:15:00 · turn 2715 · scene 011] [S49 · 05:15:33 · turn 2719] | The Menham child's curse: the Motley Man and the word LENG At the Menham manor the party finds the daughter (Doriana) far worse: feverish, regressing to childishness, scratching her right hand and raving about a 'Mommy Man' / 'Motley Man' who visits her dreams. Abbas crit-succeeds a medicine check (after Veve calms her with a performance) and reads 'LENG' (L-E-N-G) scratched into her wrist. Recall knowledge identifies the cause as a Denizen of Leng — a malevolent extraplanar being from past the dimension of dreams — and that she is under a high-level curse, not a physical disease. The party reconstructs the timeline (the curse started days ago) and connects the Motley Man's brightly-colored rags to the 'Cheery Man' who imprisoned Shafkim. |
| [S49 · 06:05:44 · turn 3114 · scene 012] [S49 · 06:14:14 · turn 3206] | Dispelling the curse and the ruby in the plushie After working through the counteract rules, Veve (with a nat-20 on her second try) successfully Dispel Magics the Leng curse off Doriana; the LENG writing vanishes and she stabilizes. Veve then telepathically hurls the girl's griffin plushie at Cid for a crit, cracking his skull — and the broken plushie disgorges a fist-sized ruby that had appeared inside it only after the toys were brought down two days ago. The family swears the ruby wasn't there before. A search of the attic finds nothing else magical. |
| [S49 · 06:33:09 · turn 3366 · scene 013] [S49 · 06:33:49 · turn 3372] | Wrin's intel: the Leng ruby is a focus; Urvane the contract devil The party brings the day's findings to Wrin Sivinxi (the Starseer). She confirms Jafki is a powerful 'floor leader / boss' beyond the party, and that Urvane is a Fistophilus (contract devil) — a high-level being Belcorra must have contracted, oddly still bound long after her death. On the ruby, she identifies the Denizens of Leng: travelers in black ships who use rubies mined from Leng's quarries as foci to extend the reach of their magics, warning the party to keep the ruby away from the child. Since the magic is already dispelled, it can't be traced back. The session ends here; play resumes the next in-game evening. |
| [S50 · 00:02:19 · turn 0008 · scene 001] [S50 · 00:04:10 · turn 0018] | Pregame chatter, tech setup, and last-session recap Players deal with computer/Foundry setup and off-topic chatter (Windows 11, power problems, scheduling the next sessions to 9pm). The party recaps the prior session: they cleared the catacombs (killed the 'Sigati'/things, trapped the creature below), returned to Otari, and checked on Manhattan/Menhems' daughter, working out what was wrong with her (connected to 'Lang' markings and a ruby hidden in a stuffed doll). They consulted Rin, who recognized the creature from a drawing as one of the offline 'folk' likely responsible. The party decided to spend downtime in town because Venris keeps having worsening nightmares. |
| [S50 · 00:18:39 · turn 0145 · scene 002] [S50 · 00:21:18 · turn 0168] | Venris is fading: the darkness clouding his soul Abbas uses an occultism check to gauge Venris's condition overnight. The veil between Venris's life and death is shrinking; normally his soul would pass to the river of souls, but a darkness is clouding him and his decline is slowly worsening. Abbas can't pin down how long Venris has left, but feels certain the answers lie in the Whispering Reads, and that if nothing is done Venris will be lost. Venris stays in town to rest, fatigued. The party discusses his 'anti-symptom' feat (reducing a clumsy/feeble/stupefied condition by one) and that Cleanse Affliction at base rank only reduces stage but doesn't cure stage-one affliction (the Velstrack/Valstrack disease). |
| [S50 · 00:34:30 · turn 0284 · scene 003] [S50 · 00:35:24 · turn 0295] | Planning the day: read the book, treat Venris, help Doriana The party plans the day in town. Abbas intends to read the Whispering Reeds (the book), but wants someone present this time in case it goes wrong; he repeats the contingency he once gave Rin (if he is overcome, seek the person Abbas knew in Absalom). The party will also recheck on Menhems' daughter Doriana and try to treat Venris's affliction. Abbas debates using a higher-rank Cleanse Affliction (counteract) versus the base version, and whether to wait for the sixth/seventh-level priest (about a week away) who could cast it heightened. |
| [S50 · 00:39:23 · turn 0326 · scene 004] [S50 · 00:56:06 · turn 0484] | Doriana's night terrors return; the teddy bear's secret The party arrives at the Menhems manor to find Doriana (~12-14) has had her night terrors again and reverted to a childish, conflicted state clutching a teddy bear and talking about her 'Motley Men' adventures. The scratches on her arm again read 'Lang' (confirmed by occultism). The party suspects another ruby/object has been implanted in a toy, as before. Veve/Cid use a Soothe + performance/Diplomacy check (success, aided by Abbas's Guidance) to befriend her again; Doriana hands over Teddy, and squeezing it reveals a hard object inside. They want it intact this time so it can be magically traced. |
| [S50 · 00:35:24 · turn 0295 · scene 005] [S50 · 01:14:40 · turn 0618] [S50 · 01:22:01 · turn 0688] | Hunting a Locate spell at the Dawnflower Library and market Abbas pockets the teddy bear and heads to the Dawnflower (Don Floor) Library to find a way to cast Locate and trace the cursed object's source. He consults the library's Vandy/Vendy, who is shocked, hasn't heard of 'the innocents of Lang,' and lacks the magic. Cid scours the market and luckily turns up an uncommon scroll of Locate (60 gp; paid from Cid's pocket, to be charged back to the mayor/Menhems). Reading the spell reveals problems: base Locate is 500 ft, only targets objects, and a creature/ancestry target needs the 5th-rank version, which the party can't yet cast. Abbas instead learns the 3rd-rank Locate from the scroll (16 gp materials, 3 hours, religion check), consuming the scroll, and repays Cid. |
| [S50 · 01:56:49 · turn 1005 · scene 006] [S50 · 02:00:00 · turn 1034] | Curing Venris's disease and prepping to read the book at Rin's The next morning Venris is bedridden and fatigued (sleepless, not yet better). Abbas debates whether the heightened (3rd-rank) Cleanse Affliction with its counteract effect can clear Venris's Velstrack disease. He casts 3rd-rank Cleanse Affliction (success on the counteract, rank 4 vs the disease) and fully cures the disease — Venris feels the muscle-straining relieved. Abbas catches Venris up on Doriana's ruby, teaches that he learned Locate, and the party heads to Rin's. Abbas warns Venris not to directly read or touch the Whispering Reeds; an occultism check (25) confirms Venris can safely accompany as long as he isn't directly exposed. |
| [S50 · 02:06:55 · turn 1086 · scene 007] [S50 · 02:19:15 · turn 1199] | Reading the Whispering Reeds: the rot emanation strikes At Rin's, with the party guarding him, Abbas reads the Whispering Reeds (granting a +2 item bonus to recall knowledge about Nimbaloth and the empty death). Decoding it (religion 33), he involuntarily triggers a spell baked into the text: a 20-foot emanation of indistinct whispers and seven evenly-spaced 'divots' that rot vegetation and flesh. Initiative-style perception is rolled; the high rollers caught themselves and were warned, while the low rollers — Rin, Cid, and Veve — are caught. They take 19 points of mental damage (DC 27 basic Will save; Cid succeeds for half) and a -1 penalty to emotion-effect saves for one minute. Abbas passes his own Will save and faces the empty death directly. |
| [S50 · 02:24:54 · turn 1260 · scene 008] [S50 · 02:25:49 · turn 1267] | What the empty death does: cursed souls and Nimbaloth Surviving his Will save, Abbas (religion 33) uncovers grim lore about the empty death: a failed save would leave a victim incomprehensible; dying under its effect curses and marks the soul; the victim immediately becomes a chaotic-evil ghost in agonizing pain; and that ghost rolls a recurring flat check, a failure on which sees it consumed by Nimbaloth and utterly annihilated (restorable only by a 10th-level effect or wish ritual). The GM confirms this is essentially what Venris has — 'ghost seeds,' a not-fully-blown version. The party recalls the maddened apprentice (Tarnak-linked) who disintegrated, and ties together the catacomb undead as souls pulled from the river of souls and devoured by Nimbaloth. |
| [S50 · 02:46:35 · turn 1420 · scene 009] [S50 · 02:53:15 · turn 1477] | Theories: the Rose Guard curse, the dust-prevention tradition, and Belcorra A long lore discussion ties the threads together. Tarnak (Tarnett) studied and proved a method to keep a cursed body from turning to dust, born of his belief in a hereditary curse that killed his Rose Guard parents. The GM relays Menhems' grandfather's story: the Rose Guard (Vol/Volrajan, Asefna, and a more-independent wizard) suffered for years; a maddened Vol nearly killed a townsfolk, Asefna interjected, Vol was killed and crumbled to dust, and Asefna later took her own life and also turned to dust. The party theorizes Belcorra hates the Menhems/Rose Guard line and sent the rot-creature to destroy the protected bodies (which is why the catacomb corpses crumbled), with Pharasma's power being how the original servant of Nimbaloth was defeated. The party concludes it is all related, and Venris resolves to read the book himself; Abbas argues he should keep reading it instead, being more than three-quarters done. |
| [S50 · 03:31:15 · turn 1794 · scene 010] [S50 · 03:33:55 · turn 1813] | Cliffhanger: the interrupted reading, Rin's shop, and session wind-down Abbas heals the party (Treat Wounds / heal, Rin included) and pushes on with the reading. He asks Rin for a concentration potion/mutagen; the GM browses Rin's Wonders shop (a star-themed dome of curios) but finds nothing with a Will-save bonus — she has Cleanse Affliction at rank 3, the same the party already uses. The GM rules Abbas's last reading attempt a failure: he was interrupted before learning new information and now owes a Will saving throw, deferred to next session. The GM will compile and share the Tarnak journal and 'Thresholds of Truth' excerpts so Venris could safely pre-read Tarnak's (no immediate Will save), while the Thresholds of Truth's safety for Venris is left uncertain. Session ends. |
| [S51 · 00:00:09 · turn 0002 · scene 001] [S51 · 00:00:23 · turn 0006] [S51 · 00:11:12 · turn 0091] | 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 · 00:16:00 · turn 0132 · scene 002] [S51 · 00:20:47 · turn 0167] [S51 · 00:30:49 · turn 0252] | 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 · 00:35:52 · turn 0297 · scene 003] [S51 · 00:37:39 · turn 0311] [S51 · 00:44:37 · turn 0368] | 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 · 00:47:47 · turn 0391 · scene 004] [S51 · 00:53:26 · turn 0441] [S51 · 00:56:07 · turn 0455] | 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 · 01:10:39 · turn 0570 · scene 005] [S51 · 01:12:11 · turn 0583] [S51 · 01:16:11 · turn 0616] | 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 · 01:21:43 · turn 0660 · scene 006] [S51 · 01:30:15 · turn 0728] [S51 · 01:32:24 · turn 0750] | 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 · 01:43:20 · turn 0849 · scene 007] [S51 · 01:51:58 · turn 0945] [S51 · 02:08:49 · turn 1109] | 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 · 02:30:09 · turn 1274 · scene 008] [S51 · 02:34:31 · turn 1313] [S51 · 02:35:04 · turn 1316] | 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 · 02:37:39 · turn 1337 · scene 009] [S51 · 02:43:34 · turn 1385] | 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. |
| [S52 · 00:00:16 · turn 0002 · scene 001] [S52 · 00:08:33 · turn 0068] [S52 · 00:36:35 · turn 0262] | Recap and the manor night: Doriana's ruby curse Picking up in the manor in Otari, the party recaps the prior night: they are sheltering and protecting a child, Doriana, whose cursed ruby keeps teleporting back to whatever doll she is holding (hourly through the night, stopping around daybreak), seemingly linked to a marking/scar on her arm. Veve (V/BB) stayed up watching the child and has unlocked an 8-hour occultism exploration activity to investigate Doriana's affliction; she failed an earlier Locate-based occultism check. The party debates burning Veve's spell slots to dispel the curse versus saving them for a fight; eventually a counteract dispel succeeds on the last casting and the curse object is dispelled for now. |
| [S52 · 00:43:46 · turn 0319 · scene 002] [S52 · 00:56:22 · turn 0435] [S52 · 00:46:18 · turn 0342] | Daytime downtime in Otari: retraining, shopping, and grim news While Veve sleeps off her all-nighter (the party reschedules the day so she can be at full strength by ~2 PM), the rest take downtime in town. Venris finishes retraining out of Trapfinder into Quick Draw (later flavored as becoming a 'haunted fighter'/ghost hunter), buys a Snap Leaf talisman (feather fall + invisibility on a fall), and learns the town is suffering: another fire at the plume/flume, and crops at the farms rotted overnight (~two nights ago). Players debate earning income; Cid/Abbas largely chill and do a recall-knowledge on the invisible-paged book. |
| [S52 · 01:04:27 · turn 0519 · scene 003] [S52 · 01:04:43 · turn 0520] [S52 · 01:11:38 · turn 0584] | Planning the move on the mummy and descending into the vaults The reassembled party debates how to handle the mummy NPC they owe a quest to (retrieve a Sagathi/Zagathi head in exchange for a floor map that turned out to be a spell page). They are torn between completing his bargain and Bryn/Ryn's wish to stop him from leaving. They plan an opening: Abbas will cast Silence (an aura around himself), Venris may go invisible, and they will talk first and only attack if he insists on leaving. The party travels to the beach, enters the cave, and steps through the paralysis-aura portal into the vaults. |
| [S52 · 01:14:55 · turn 0612 · scene 004] [S52 · 01:17:34 · turn 0633] [S52 · 01:18:30 · turn 0641] | Parley with the mummy Jav Cam Inside, they find the mummy (Jav Cam / 'Jafucker') wrapping up his own work. Speaking through the party's spokesman, they tell him they have come to finish retrieving the Sagathi's head and ask him to hold off leaving for a couple of hours; a Diplomacy check lands. The mummy reveals (via a time-telling spell) he plans to leave at midnight to return to his native Osirion, giving the party roughly nine-plus hours. They agree, regroup, and head deeper toward the laboratories, settling marching order before initiative. |
| [S52 · 01:30:54 · turn 0772 · scene 005] [S52 · 01:31:58 · turn 0783] [S52 · 01:57:05 · turn 0983] | Combat: Dreshkin patrol and Noth, the flesh-warped bandmate Initiative breaks out against a patrol. The enemies are Dreshkins (Morlocks flesh-warped with electricity, who fire needle-cone sprays and electrified 'loot'/lute blasts) and, in the back, Noth — one of the Luthi performers from Shadowmallet's band at the arena competition, now flesh-warped, in purple armor, and very hostile to Venris. A long argument plays out over whether Venris can use Stealth/Surprise Attack when the foes were clearly waiting for the party (the GM rules no this time). Venris slings chakrams (quick draw), Cid does a leaping Sudden Charge crit to behead a Dreshkin, and the flesh-warped foes burst with white-hot flame and electricity on death. The party kills them, finds only garbage loot (a hand crossbow, a basic musical instrument), then climbs a secret stair to a portal room to heal and refocus. |
| [S52 · 02:22:38 · turn 1262 · scene 006] [S52 · 02:24:53 · turn 1291] | Tracking the drag marks to the secret passages After healing in the safe portal room, the party investigates the bloody tracks: Dreshkins cleaned up and dragged bodies, and a set of three-toed, four-clawed-per-foot scratch/drag marks (a victim dragged still struggling) lead from under a wall to a hidden button. They open secret doors and stairs, weighing several routes toward the laboratories and the arena viewing area, looking for the Sagathi they were hired to behead. |
| [S52 · 02:47:54 · turn 1468 · scene 007] [S52 · 02:53:26 · turn 1520] [S52 · 03:30:46 · turn 1893] | Combat: Sagathi researcher and Dreshkins in the mine-fog Opening a secret door, they ambush a Sagathi researcher (worm-like, longsword and reach) flanked by Dreshkins. The Sagathi emanates a mind-fog/confusion aura: anyone starting their turn near it must save or be confused, perceiving allies as Sagathi. Venris fails his will save and, confused, slashes Cid in the back twice; the confusion ping-pongs around the party while the Dreshkins megamorph into a 'Giga Dreshkin' and spray needle cones. The party grinds them down — Cid repositions/slams a Sagathi, Abbas Divine Lances, Venris crits with his transforming arm-blade — and clears the room. Loot from the bodies includes research notes (F20) on flesh-warping the arena combatants. |
| [S52 · 03:39:36 · turn 1981 · scene 008] [S52 · 03:40:19 · turn 1987] [S52 · 04:00:01 · turn 2158] | Loot and door-by-door search for the Sagathi leader The party reads more flesh-warping research notes (battles staged in a transparent-walled arena), heals fully, and searches the corpses. From a Dreshkin's satchel they recover a wand of illusory creature (2nd-level) and a tarnished silver key (filed as F20, alongside earlier keys E5 and F10). Venris listens at doors and lockpicks; a 'very complicated lock' barely succeeds but needs more, so he switches to the new F20 silver key, which fits. They prep formation — Abbas and Cid hanging back, ready for confusion — and push the fancy double doors open. |
| [S52 · 04:02:00 · turn 2175 · scene 009] [S52 · 04:05:26 · turn 2212] [S52 · 04:35:12 · turn 2498] | Boss fight: the Sagathi alchemist and his drider Behind the doors is the leader's chamber — books, smoking bottles, dissected specimens pinned to the walls, and a morlock head kept alive by tubes and wiring, screaming. The Sagathi alchemist speaks Common ('You finally found me') and is backed by a drider that casts fireballs and acid arrow. The boss spams 4th-level confusion, throws assorted bombs (a green poison/'enfeeble' arrow, acid flasks with persistent damage), creates a phantasmal-killer image of the most fearsome creature imaginable (nearly forcing a death save), and uses hypercognition to recall-knowledge the party. Abbas lands a Calm on him, briefly stopping his hostility while the party repositions and heals, but he resumes, levitates ~50 feet up, drinks healing potions, and keeps confusing the party (a confused Cid hits Veve for 44). The party can't pin the levitating boss down (Venris's grapple/jump and telekinetic pulls mostly fail). |
| [S52 · 05:23:59 · turn 2946 · scene 010] [S52 · 05:43:39 · turn 3147] [S52 · 05:44:54 · turn 3161] | Retreat and cliffhanger With players running low on real-world time and the boss un-pinnable in the air, the party decides to disengage. Venris casts shared invisibility, and the group falls back out of the chamber; Cid (Cidolfus Memolund) closes the door behind them as the session is called mid-fight on a cliffhanger, the Sagathi alchemist and his drider still alive inside. |
| [S53 · 00:00:02 · turn 0001 · scene 001] [S53 · 00:08:01 · turn 0067] [S53 · 00:12:18 · turn 0102] | Corridor cat-and-mouse with the flesh-warper The session opens mid-combat. The party is fighting a large Morlock researcher (named Jafakai) who clings to the ceiling, can turn invisible, and refuses to come into melee. The party fights from a corridor/doorway: Venris throws light hammers (with conceal checks because the enemy keeps going invisible), parries, and retreats; the enemy tumbles/skitters along the ten-foot ceiling. Both Cid and Venris are hasted. The party deliberately funnels the fight back toward the enemy's own laboratory. |
| [S53 · 00:21:46 · turn 0189 · scene 002] [S53 · 00:28:28 · turn 0243] [S53 · 00:47:00 · turn 0385] | Wrecking the lab to flush out Jafakai Inside Jafakai's laboratory, the party decides to bait the invisible enemy by smashing his research. The walls are lined with shelves of bottles, vials, smoking glass, and slime. Cid finds and throws a 'bottle of lightning' at a Morlock head kept alive by a machine of tubes and wires; it overloads, electrocuting the Morlock head which screams in agony. The party then gleefully smashes obsidian files, bottles (acid, herbs, jelly), and bookcases to enrage and provoke Jafakai, who is reduced to lobbing bottled lightning at Cid's shield from a distance while clinging to the ceiling. |
| [S53 · 00:51:30 · turn 0431 · scene 003] [S53 · 00:53:50 · turn 0454] [S53 · 00:55:54 · turn 0473] | Pinning and killing Jafakai The haste finally runs out and the enemy is visibly weakened, covered in scaly off-color patches. Cid lands a 48-point strike, then uses Rosa Argentis to 'nail in place'/pin the creature against the wall (choosing to drop the weapon to keep the pinning effect). The GM notes a slashing choice would have done triple damage and even decapitation. Venris dives in below the creature and stabs twice with his rapier/striking blade for heavy precision damage. The flesh-warper is killed. |
| [S53 · 01:04:46 · turn 0566 · scene 004] [S53 · 01:07:53 · turn 0597] [S53 · 01:13:18 · turn 0651] | Mercy-killing the Morlock head and looting the lab With Jafakai dead, the still-screaming captive Morlock head is mercy-killed: Venris makes an occultism check to disconnect the machine, letting the Morlock rest peacefully. The party searches the wrecked lab thoroughly (twenty minutes). Loot recovered: a ~200gp staff, a crafter's eyepiece, a vial of moderate antiplague, a four-prong round key (from Jafakai's body, who is named in foundry as J-A-F-A-K-I), two wands (Peaceful Rest and Magic Missile), Jafakai's +1 striking rapier, a +1 composite longbow (no striking), an expanded alchemist's lab, a superb repair kit, an alchemist's pouch/vial bandolier with infused elixirs (misform elixir, bottle of lightning, plus mystery green/white potions), and Jafakai's personal flesh-warping research notes. The flesh-golem machine is deliberately destroyed so the dangerous flesh-warping knowledge does not spread. |
| [S53 · 01:33:01 · turn 0806 · scene 005] [S53 · 01:35:45 · turn 0826] [S53 · 01:35:01 · turn 0819] | Break and the betrayal plan The party takes a short break to refocus (recovering focus points, waiting up to twenty minutes; they have until midnight). They confirm out-of-character that this is roughly a 10-level campaign and they are about to hit level 8 and near the end of the Abomination Vaults. They then plan to revisit the floor's mummy spellcaster they had a bargain with: Cid will deliver 'the goods' (a soul item) and collect their reward (information), while Abbas pre-positions to cast Silence on Cid so they can shut down the mummy's spellcasting and ambush it. The mummy's aura inflicts paralysis on a failed will save. |
| [S53 · 01:43:40 · turn 0902 · scene 006] [S53 · 01:51:30 · turn 0964] [S53 · 01:55:39 · turn 1007] | The bargain, the gift of the map, and the double-cross The party enters the mummy spellcaster's room. Its paralysis aura locks down Cid (crit-fail nat-1) and frightens the party. They go through with the bargain: Cid hands over the soul-item bag, and the mummy 'smiles' and gives them parchments — a corrected/updated map of the floor showing where the portal chamber is (it is not where they thought, by the kitchen) and how the laboratory connects via the upstairs stairwell. As soon as Cid turns to leave, Abbas casts Silence (a subtle 10-foot emanation, one minute) on Cid to muzzle the mummy's spellcasting, and the party turns on the mummy. A successful deception check sells the fake retreat. |
| [S53 · 02:14:17 · turn 1178 · scene 007] [S53 · 02:30:38 · turn 1323] [S53 · 02:52:39 · turn 1520] | The invisible mummy nightmare A long, frustrating combat against the mummy spellcaster. Venris trips it, but the mummy goes invisible (a 'calmly put his hand to his chest' invisibility) and then slips away, exploiting that the party is deafened by their own Silence aura and so cannot hear or smell the invisible foe. The mummy casts Dispel Magic (level 4 counteract) at the Silence and fails. The party debates the invisibility/hidden/undetected rules at length, seeks repeatedly (mostly failing through body-blocking allies and crit-fails), and tries to flush the enemy: Veve throws junk and uses Spray of Stars (cone) to set the bed/room on fire to reveal it via smoke, while Venris 'snakes' cell-by-cell to physically bump into the invisible mummy. Venris eventually bumps it and points it out, but attacks keep missing. |
| [S53 · 03:18:52 · turn 1761 · scene 008] [S53 · 03:30:36 · turn 1874] [S53 · 03:40:07 · turn 1964] | Holy light, Rosa Argentis, and the kill Abbas casts Holy Light at the now-revealed mummy (it has the unholy trait), doing ~15 fire + 19 spirit damage and lighting it on fire so it is at least concealed by smoke rather than fully invisible. Cid charges in with Rosa Argentis, the party rediscovering the sword's silver/peachwood and ghost-touch properties that punish undead (effectively +2 vs undead). After a string of crits — Veve/BB throwing a dagger, Venris cleaving 'between his neck and shoulder' — the mummy spellcaster falls. The GM notes both bosses 'died effectively in one turn once you actually connected.' |
| [S53 · 03:42:47 · turn 1993 · scene 009] [S53 · 03:44:29 · turn 2012] | Level up and wind-down The session ends with the mummy's body and scrolls burning in divine fire. The party levels up to 8 ('blind fight on level eight finally done'). Cid gets the MVP marker (twice in a row, for the killing blow). The players celebrate beating two invisible/floating bosses and look forward to fighting something that isn't invisible. They agree to plan their level-up choices offline (Venris checking whether his thrown-rock damage die improves) and sign off. |
| [S54 · 00:00:02 · turn 0001 · scene 001] [S54 · 00:21:18 · turn 0144] | Consulting Otari's spirit about Zarmavdian's journal The party brings Zarmavdian's recovered journal to the bound spirit of Otari, noting it contains hidden writing on apparently blank pages that they cannot read. Otari, a former party-mate of Zarmavdian, pages through it like an old man with dementia, re-experiencing memories. He recalls Zarmavdian once showing him a concealment magic but can't remember the details; he promises to think on it and find them an answer if they return. (Speaker D is the GM this session.) |
| [S54 · 00:25:39 · turn 0170 · scene 002] [S54 · 00:35:19 · turn 0211] | Recall knowledge on Otari's binding and the wand of peaceful rest The party tries to recall knowledge on whether Otari's spirit can be freed or his worsening condition healed. They confirm his soul is bound here for a reason tied to the Gauntlight (not the disease), and that his decayed appearance reflects how he died. There is a hint that the 'rot' and his dementia are getting worse, but not enough evidence to be sure. The cleric casts a wand of peaceful rest on Otari's visible corpse to slow further decay, which Otari appreciates though his body is already gone; the GM privately notes it may affect the spirit's rot. |
| [S54 · 00:39:54 · turn 0242 · scene 003] [S54 · 00:49:11 · turn 0327] | Back in town: shops closed, return to the cursed child The party returns to Otari (the logging town) around 5 PM only to find the markets already closing; a Diplomacy attempt to keep a vendor open fails. They head to the Menhems manor to check on the cursed child, where the recurring Ruby keeps reappearing roughly hourly inside her stuffed dolls. Veve plays with the girl to slip the doll holding the Ruby to Abbas (a deception/performance success), and they prepare to take it to Rin for analysis. |
| [S54 · 01:10:22 · turn 0493 · scene 004] [S54 · 01:12:43 · turn 0515] | Rin analyzes the Ruby; the locate attunement and the denizen of Leng Rin (the town's psychic) surgically extracts the Ruby and works out it is a conduit for the denizen of Leng tied to the dimension of dreams, built with a variation of the locate spell; destroying or moving it just makes it rematerialize with the girl, and only destroying the creature will save Doriana from being drawn wholly into the dream-dimension. Over a night-long investigation (aided by Abbas, who knows locate, plus Rin's and Veve's bonuses), Veve attunes to the Ruby: she divines the denizen's name (Yazongleer), gets a mental image of him and his lair (a black-stone chamber with a fire-lit map of the Inner Sea / Otari), and unlocks the ability to spend ten minutes focusing on the Ruby to cast a 5th-level locate that only targets Yazongleer. They see him casting on a mirror-image 'reversed' Ruby of his own. |
| [S54 · 01:33:11 · turn 0697 · scene 005] [S54 · 01:46:23 · turn 0830] | Morning shopping, rune transfers, and downtime selling The next morning the party does downtime in town. The market hasn't replenished, so they mostly sell and reorganize gear: a +1 striking rapier and +1 composite longbow are sold, ephemeral potions (misform elixir, elixir of life, cognitive mutagen) are deleted, and a broken expanded healer's toolkit and a duplicate alchemist's lab are sold. Cid arranges with Carman (the smith) to transfer his striking rune from a composite longbow back to his old non-composite family-heirloom longbow (an 8-hour, next-day job). Venris keeps the party's pooled ~370 gold. Veve/Venris retrains the never-used Shadow Mark feat into Titan's Wrestler (and Cid retrains too). They debate keeping a rank-1 Force Barrage wand versus a scroll. |
| [S54 · 01:54:48 · turn 0904 · scene 006] [S54 · 02:06:01 · turn 1016] | Into the vault: tracking Yazongleer and looting a storage closet The party returns to the Abomination Vaults via their usual route, with Veve sustaining the locate spell, which points down and to the southwest toward the Gauntlight's depths. They search a previously-unchecked storage closet and loot a Hand of the Mage, an Emerald Grasshopper talisman, two Ichthyosis mutagens, and a (broken) splinter find. They sort out exploration activities (avoid notice, scout, follow the expert, detect magic, sustaining locate) and descend the wide spiral staircase past a window overlooking a vast cavern pool with an orange sulfurous glow far below. |
| [S54 · 02:21:55 · turn 1130 · scene 007] [S54 · 02:49:16 · turn 1357] | Sneaking past the grothlet brigade and the witch fire Deeper in, Venris (avoid notice + swift sneak) scouts a chamber: a 15-foot pentagram door to the west, a rubble-choked southwest stair, and a hallway where a Barbazu devil drills a brigade of grothlets near a shimmering orange wall. The party slips past using Follow the Expert (Venris, a master, grants +3). Venris then scouts a room of fifteen transparent pillars, each holding a creature frozen in time (a dryad, a gibbering mouther, and others). A patrolling incorporeal undead appears: a recall-knowledge identifies it as a witch fire, a 9th-level hate-filled undead that attacks on sight and needs ghost-touch. The party times its patrol loop and sneaks through a door toward where locate points. |
| [S54 · 03:23:15 · turn 1583 · scene 008] [S54 · 03:55:09 · turn 1905] | Confrontation with Yazongleer and combat cliffhanger Venris opens the door to Yazongleer's chamber and they roll initiative tied at 28. Yazongleer (the Motley Man / denizen of Leng) is found with two severed hands crawling on their own (one recognized as belonging to a missing, mute prisoner). A tense parley fails: Venris tries to bluff/goad him into dismissing his minions (a failed Deception), and Yazongleer, hostile, threatens to throw them to the witch. Combat breaks out: Cid raises his shield and uses his Dread Marshal aura (Menacing, +2 damage); Venris casts Organ Sight on Yazongleer, discovers he has no lungs (so doesn't breathe), and crit-chops one frightened crawling hand for 30 damage; Veve uses Fortissimo + Courageous Anthem (a success, +2 status) and grabs a chair to smash him via Venris's Inspired Stratagem. The session ends as Yazongleer reaches for something hidden behind his back, with Cid potentially getting a reactive strike — a cliffhanger. |
| [S55 · 00:01:26 · turn 0011 · scene 001] [S55 · 00:04:18 · turn 0037] | Pregame: a missing player and how to run Cid Off-topic table setup (PC hardware troubleshooting) followed by a real-world table discussion: the player who runs Cidolfus ('Cid') is absent and out of contact for two weeks, which the table finds worrying. They weigh options for a three-player party (find a sub, bring in a new PC, or collectively control Cid) and decide that for today the remaining three will run Cid together in combat, accepting that no one will actively roleplay him. This is private table chatter, not in-fiction content. |
| [S55 · 00:02:00 · turn 0015 · scene 002] [S55 · 00:11:29 · turn 0104] | Recap of the cliffhanger: the surrendering denizen The party resumes mid-combat from last session's cliffhanger. The enemy ('Doriana', a denizen of Leng) had been pleading to surrender and let his hostage go, but was secretly reaching behind his back. The party decides he's bluffing. Cid takes the reactive strike with the Rosargentus sword (crit, 38 damage), triggering its critical specialization that humiliates the target. The enemy, enraged and bleeding severely, casts on Cid and forces a will save; Cid fails (Phantom Pain, mental damage + persistent). A Nat 20 climb action by the enemy opens a hidden door, revealing a hallway. Initiative order is Cid, then Abbas, then Venris. |
| [S55 · 00:20:28 · turn 0185 · scene 003] [S55 · 00:31:13 · turn 0280] | Killing the denizen of Leng (organ sight crit) Venris finishes the denizen. He had pre-cast Organ Sight (a 3rd-rank spell granting bonus precision damage) and lands a critical hit: 2 weapon dice plus 46 precision (organ sight) plus sneak attack. The GM rules the creature has both precision resistance and critical-hit resistance (because it is a ghost-like being), so the damage is heavily mitigated but still leaves it 'mortally wounded.' After a couple more strikes, Venris slashes its torso in half, revealing disgusting sinewy purple-and-black mismatched organs. The body crumbles to dust, leaving robes and equipment. The denizen's 'hands' (severed-hand creatures) flee; the party lets them go and searches the room. |
| [S55 · 00:35:08 · turn 0313 · scene 004] [S55 · 00:45:52 · turn 0372] | Looting the body: ruby, fragment, scrolls, maps Searching the denizen's body and room, the party recovers: a +1 striking Kukri (pocketed, Venris already has one), a Ling Ruby (a real-money/marketplace item to be logged), and a magical decorative fragment of black-and-red metal in a diamond/V shape with embossed designs — clearly part of a larger multi-piece object. They also find two dream Message scrolls (3rd rank). On the floor are a very old map of the Inner Sea and a newer map of Otari and its surroundings assembled from scraps. The party jokes about the enemy's mangled name ('Jeffy/Jafucky'). They take time to identify items in this safe room. |
| [S55 · 00:51:16 · turn 0420 · scene 005] [S55 · 01:06:36 · turn 0548] | The trophy room and the outcast's curse Exploring side rooms, the party finds a wall of more than a dozen severed hands from different creatures nailed up as trophies (previous victims), including the hand of a skull-creature they had rescued earlier. A recall-knowledge check (denizens of Leng and their magic) reveals the hands are manifestations tied to the dimension of dreams: voodoo-like representations whose appearance would progressively come to resemble the victim (e.g., Doriana/Larianna). Investigating notes confirms the affliction on Larianna was the 'outcast's curse,' which makes the bearer act like (and be treated as) an unwanted child. A second room is a creepy shrine: a filthy silk pillow, unlit rare-wax candles, a wooden box, and charcoal wall-drawings of the same teenage girl. Venris burns the drawings and gathered hands. |
| [S55 · 01:20:38 · turn 0626 · scene 006] [S55 · 01:43:12 · turn 0830] | Ambush in the corridor: the severed hands Pushing down a hallway, the party spots a severed hand waiting to ambush around a corner. They fight several of the fleeing hand-creatures in the cramped corridor (debate over the oracle's Oracular Warning premonition and whether it should pre-trigger). The hands are weak — Cid and the party cut them down — but they burst with pus on death, forcing reflex saves and inflicting the sickened condition (pus in the mouth). Abbas retches/heals between rooms. The hands revert to assorted random-creature and partial-human forms when destroyed. A dog-vet break is taken mid-fight. |
| [S55 · 01:55:01 · turn 0911 · scene 007] [S55 · 02:00:20 · turn 0949] | The floating head and the deathly white light Behind the next door the party hears a woman humming. The black-walled chamber holds an open trapdoor to a crawlspace and a floating woman's head bathed in white light at its center. The light snaps off and initiative is rolled. Venris (a ghost/haunt specialist) recall-knowledges the creature as a will-o-wisp — the same kind of thing that had been confusing/flickering at them before — but this one radiates a deathly white light and is confirmed immune to magic, suggesting it is something more. |
| [S55 · 03:15:35 · turn 1293 · scene 008] [S55 · 04:45:19 · turn 2053] | Fighting the magic-eating wisp in the dark A long, grinding fight against the unique will-o-wisp (a 'special ghost' / undead-flavored air elemental, a priest of Pharasma). It turns invisible and casts heightened (4th-rank) Darkness that not only blinds the party but interrupts and drains their spellcasting at the source. The combat becomes a light-vs-darkness counteract puzzle: Veve/Venris must counteract the Darkness with a 4th-rank Light spell to even target it, while it re-casts Darkness and blasts deathly-white-light AoEs (24+ damage, sickened) and cold rays. Venris uses See the Unseen and dark vision; Veve's Oracle visions (DC 5 to target hidden) help the others. A substantial out-of-character dispute between Speaker B (Venris's player) and the GM over concealed-vs-hidden movement in darkness stalls the fight for several minutes before play resumes. Eventually Light is counteracted in, the wisp casts Sanctuary on itself, and the party breaks through with Battle Cry rally tactics. Venris lands the killing blow as the wisp tries to flee, and it fades into mist leaving only a skull. |
| [S55 · 04:48:06 · turn 2078 · scene 009] [S55 · 04:58:02 · turn 2166] | Scouting ahead through the peepholes After the kill, the party patches up (refocus/healing) and notes the black-walled room is described as simulating the void of oblivion granted to those consumed by the empty death. Venris spots head-level peephole indents in the walls. Looking through, Abbas sees: a large muscly creature wielding a chakram in an open prison cell (shaped like the Mulvental they met with the basilisk), Dreshkins — flesh-warlocks fused with mechanical pieces — drilling deeper in, flashes of blue electricity, and (down the crawlspace chute) the eerie green flame of the witch-fire warden / green witch from earlier. The party maps out the network of separate hallway rooms ahead. |
| [S55 · 05:05:37 · turn 2228 · scene 010] [S55 · 05:07:12 · turn 2240] | Push on or pull back? Planning the retreat The party debates next steps. They came down here urgently chasing Doriana (their Locate spell had only a 10-minute window), and that goal is now done — Doriana is dead, the hands and the bonus ghost handled. They weigh pushing deeper (Dreshkins, the chakram creature, more rooms) against overextending on spells and getting caught between the green witch and the drilling enemies on a bad retreat ('old JRPG' soft-lock fear). The GM reminds them of an unchecked door nearby. Tentative plan: maybe deal with the green witch on the way out, then head back to camp/Otari to regroup before pushing further. |
| [S56 · 00:06:30 · turn 0040 · scene 001] [S56 · 00:08:09 · turn 0051] | Pregame, recap, and combat prep for the witchfire Mic check and a brief recap: the party is deep in the vault (level 8), having held back near a creepy trophy room and discussed doubling back. They prep to fight a 'fiery green thing' just outside the room that they recall is a witch-type spellcaster ('witch fire'). The party plans an opening combo: cast haste on Venris and a silence spell to shut down the caster, then rush in. Recall-knowledge checks mostly fail; they confirm it is a witchfire but learn no weaknesses or resistances. They pre-roll initiative. |
| [S56 · 00:21:03 · turn 0159 · scene 002] [S56 · 00:59:38 · turn 0557] | The witchfire fight Hasted and shrouded by silence, Venris sprints through the darkness toward the glowing witchfire and engages. The creature's witch fire attacks set party members alight with sickly green flame and inflict fire/void damage plus will saves (Venris is hit with an emotion-type effect that locks his reactions). The silence proves decisive: when the witchfire tries to flee above the silence to cast, it provokes attacks of opportunity, and the party severely wounds it with Venris's silver ghost-touch striking blade (precision/sneak damage, crits) and Cid's aura/strikes. It tries to cast a 6th-level Phantasmal Calamity (11d6) but is cut down mid-cast. The GM notes it was a 9th-level creature the party (level 8) dropped before it landed more than one spell. |
| [S56 · 01:16:17 · turn 0648 · scene 003] [S56 · 01:23:36 · turn 0703] | The menagerie of frozen monsters and the hag's vision The party explores the chamber: a 30-foot room with 15 transparent pillars, each holding a monster frozen in time under shafts of light — a gug, a drider, a dryad, a gibbering mouther, a goguk, and more, including a fearsome gogiteu/gug-tech. One southern pillar is empty and charred; when Venris looks inside he gets a flash-vision of Belcorra burning a hag alive with the same sickly green flame — revealing the witchfire was the hag, imprisoned and burned by Belcorra, that later broke free. A hidden ladder/crawlspace inside one pillar connects to the room where the will-o-wisp ghost-head was. They learn the witchfire could return in a couple of days (it is bound here by rage and agony, possibly not even truly a ghost). A north 'one-way mirror' wall lets watchers observe the east room. |
| [S56 · 01:52:51 · turn 0989 · scene 004] [S56 · 01:57:02 · turn 1024] | The scrying room: talismans, a gem, and Belcorra's gaze The party slips into an adjacent room with a crude altar holding a swamp-water scrying bowl (long disused, but radiating magic). Beside it they find a Gallows Tooth talisman (makes a creature off-guard), a small unidentified transparent gem, and a Grim Trophy (seven ears on a nail — a lesser intimidation talisman to demoralize). While searching, Venris fails a save and Belcorra's hateful visage stares back from the scrying bowl, dealing 28 mental damage and leaving him stupefied for a minute. They debate options (keep exploring, revisit the NPC Otari, or return to town) and decide to sneak back upstairs, wary of a Barbazu (bearded devil) heard ordering 'brothlets' nearby and of being watched through the one-way mirror. |
| [S56 · 02:26:43 · turn 1172 · scene 005] [S56 · 02:33:22 · turn 1246] | The grave knight appears: 'There you are' As the party climbs back up and the lights come on, a heavy clatter of steel announces an ominous dark figure in giga-armor on the floor above — 'Finally, there you are.' Recall knowledge identifies it as a grave knight (of Nimbaloth), a cursed undead far above the party's level and the 'fear of fears.' It taunts them ('It's about fucking time I get rid of you pests'). The party — having seen this thing before (it trashed a room, stepped through corpses, went after the book) — immediately decides to flee rather than fight. Veve casts shared invisibility, but the grave knight can see through invisibility and locks onto them. |
| [S56 · 03:11:51 · turn 1591 · scene 006] [S56 · 03:15:01 · turn 1623] | The desperate flight from the grave knight A long fighting retreat. The grave knight smashes through doors with its great sword and slams Veve, grabbing her by the hair (14 bludgeoning + cold, life flashing before her eyes) despite her invisibility. Venris turns into the party's hero of the hour — opening locked doors with a confusing ring of keys (a notes-vs-roleplay struggle at the table), lobbing the keyring to Cid, then range-tripping the grave knight prone with a bola to buy time. The knight blasts cold air (Venris crit-evades; Cid takes 25 cold). The party reaches a teleportation-circle room, activates it, and escapes floor by floor — first to the giant-purple-worm level, then up through the ruins — kicking past little mitfits and finally getting outside the Gauntlight/Dauntlight as the knight laughs and screams 'Your flesh shall be fed to the hound.' |
| [S56 · 03:44:14 · turn 1889 · scene 007] [S56 · 03:50:51 · turn 1963] | Back in town: Doriana healed, rewards, and a grave warning The party teleports out and reaches the Menhem family manor in Otari around 1 PM. Doriana (Menhem's daughter), now free of the Denizen of Leng that possessed her, is fully healed and rushes to hug Veve; Wrin Sivinxi is there and reveals Doriana is a powerful psychic with a bright future. A Ruby the family was watching has turned into a Wand of Locate, gifted to the party. A grateful Menhem offers each PC (Master Abbas, Miss Veve, Sir Cid, young Venus) an item of 7th level or below from Absalom. The party recounts the grave knight; Wrin freezes and urges them never to engage it — they will die a horrible, agonizing death. The party sells junk talismans (Grim Trophy, Gallows Tooth, Emerald Grasshopper) and a +1 striking weapon for cash, finally no longer poor. |
| [S56 · 04:09:28 · turn 2123 · scene 008] [S56 · 04:12:07 · turn 2137] | Grave-knight lore and session wind-down The party plans to spend a full day shopping (item rewards take in-game time to fulfill) and rest before adventuring again; the GM tracks the in-game date (the 23rd). Religion checks reveal grave knights are cursed undead — anyone who dons a grave knight's armor becomes a grave knight themselves — but whether this one can inflict the 'empty death' is unrelated to its being a death knight. It is a grave knight of Nimbaloth, adorned with the Empty Death's symbols. The party agrees the knight is hunting them and will become a recurring 'tyrant' threat; they resolve to research it at the library and gauntlight, meet up next morning, and wait for an absent player (Vol). |
| [S57 · 00:01:14 · turn 0013 · scene 001] [S57 · 00:04:32 · turn 0044] [S57 · 00:06:34 · turn 0067] | Long rest in Otari and grave-knight research The party takes a long rest in bustling Otari and recovers spell slots. While Veve keeps everyone topped off with Soothe, the group splits up to do downtime research. Someone visits Morlibint (Morblint) in the library to dig into the grave knights they've been dreading. Morlibint info-dumps: grave knights are tied to and created through their armor (rip enough of it off and that could weaken them), they carry powerful anti-divine 'unholy'/sacrilegious magic that can shut off or null divine magic by mere presence, but any holy damage greatly harms them once you get past their defenses — and they are among the best knight-warriors imaginable. The library has no book that actually describes grave knights. |
| [S57 · 00:09:23 · turn 0088 · scene 002] [S57 · 00:08:05 · turn 0079] [S57 · 00:14:36 · turn 0132] | Shopping: emergency-escape potions, fire-resistance gear, and a sold ring The party shops to prep for the grave knight / 'tyrant' that has been stalking them in the Gauntlight (a creature that nearly killed two of them with an ice-cone, ~50-something cold reflex damage). They buy eight Potions of Emergency Escape (drinking one makes you fleeing from all hostiles for one minute with a +40 status bonus to Speed — you cannot choose to fight, like a Pokemon escape rope) so everyone carries two for a guaranteed bail-out. They look at fire-resistance items (a Cindergrass cloak / Charm of Resistance granting fire resistance 5) after realizing only fire damage was available against the cold tyrant. Venris tries to buy back a Ring of Wizardry he had sold; the buyer no longer has it, and the shopkeeper tells him to come back tomorrow. |
| [S57 · 00:21:35 · turn 0176 · scene 003] [S57 · 00:23:17 · turn 0190] [S57 · 00:40:36 · turn 0345] | Otari unavailable and map review of unexplored vault rooms The party tries to call on Otari (the Rose Guard rogue) for information, but he is 'not ready' to answer — explicitly tied at the table to a player (Danny) being absent, so that thread is deferred ('come back tomorrow'). With time to spare, the group pulls up the vault maps (borrowed from Abbas) and methodically reviews which rooms they have and haven't explored across the upper levels: the arena complex, the gladiator/meatball trap rooms, the mummy chamber, the slime/jelly rooms, the serpents-in-the-water below, a torture chamber, a portal chamber moved off the tavern, and unexplored kitchen/storage/pantry, sauna and spa, caves, and reservoir. They settle on clearing the sauna/spa and the unactivated portal as easy next targets. |
| [S57 · 00:41:58 · turn 0359 · scene 004] [S57 · 00:29:33 · turn 0258] [S57 · 00:32:07 · turn 0273] | Back to the Gauntlight tower top — the haunt is gone The party sneaks back through the vaults (avoiding the roaming grave knight) and Venris runs up to the top of the Gauntlight tower to check the haunt he previously fled from. The ghost does not appear, the bloodstains there and on the previous floor are gone, and the lattice/lens of the lighthouse-like beacon is missing — only the empty mount where the lens would sit remains. Nothing responds to him. He rejoins the party. |
| [S57 · 00:45:04 · turn 0388 · scene 005] [S57 · 00:46:40 · turn 0405] [S57 · 00:47:15 · turn 0409] | Reactivating the teleportation portal Rather than risk the obvious portal, the party takes the stairs with lights off, Venris on point, and reaches the portal room. Abbas leads an hour-long attempt to reactivate an awakened-portal teleportation circle, with Veve and Venris assisting as secondary casters and Cid keeping watch. Venris crits the Occultism check (a 33), and the GM rules the portal will remain active for at least a year. |
| [S57 · 00:53:59 · turn 0475 · scene 006] [S57 · 00:55:22 · turn 0487] [S57 · 00:57:28 · turn 0507] | The sauna stalls and the four ghasts The party explores the spa/sauna complex. Opening a long hall reveals a nasty stench of rot and four changing stalls rigged with makeshift clockwork mechanisms tied to a lever. When Venris peeks into a stall, a grey rotted hand lunges to grab him (he saves on reflex), and gnarling screams erupt from all four doors — each holds a ghast (a powerful king-of-the-ghouls ghoul), foaming, rabid, screaming cursed words in Common. Unable to melee or throw safely through the holes, the party puts them down by spamming Electric Arc cantrips (Abbas would use Divine Lance but doesn't want to risk blasting the doors). The ghasts die; the GM awards a hero point. The party searches the bodies (the clear source of the smell) and finds nothing but a roach. |
| [S57 · 01:05:30 · turn 0575 · scene 007] [S57 · 01:09:37 · turn 0613] [S57 · 01:09:22 · turn 0611] | Merchan the gladiator in the sauna Searching the rest of the sauna rooms, the party finds them mostly empty traditional saunas until they open a stone round chamber holding a living NPC: Merchan ('Merci'), a self-styled boxer/pugilist gladiator wearing Hand Wraps of Mighty Blows. He is boorish and crudely sexist toward Veve, demanding she 'come sit next to the champ' (Venris and Cid deflect, calling her trouble). Merchan brags he has beaten everyone at the Cheeryman arena and wants a fight with 'Charlie'/'Vizhar', the owner of the War Brew, whom he calls a coward. He insults the party and they leave him. On the way out, Veve spots a small chest tucked under the bench behind him; Cid notices Merchan's Hand Wraps of Mighty Blows. The party leaves the chest for now. |
| [S57 · 01:14:41 · turn 0666 · scene 008] [S57 · 01:16:09 · turn 0679] [S57 · 01:17:11 · turn 0689] | Picking the locked door to the ghost's secret hall The party investigates a scuffed, kicked-at steel locked door. Venris activates his Failing Key item to cast Knock, then picks the lock (Thievery, ~29) and after about thirty seconds finds a small set of stairs winding up. With his superior speed he runs to the top and confirms it just connects to the secret hallway leading to the room that had the ghost (Vollok). He reports back. The party agrees to leave the tavern run and a re-visit to Otari for next time, and the GM asks for a 'TLDR of the TLDR' recap entry. The in-game session effectively ends here, rolling into out-of-character scheduling talk and then a long break. |
| [S57 · 01:18:51 · turn 0710 · scene 009] [S57 · 01:28:39 · turn 0738] [S57 · 02:30:19 · turn 1055] | Scheduling talk and a long off-topic watch-party break After the game wraps, the table discusses real-life scheduling (open days, who is unavailable, next week likely skipped). From roughly 01:28 onward the recording captures a very long off-topic break: audio from a YouTube tech video about 'Lossless Scaling', then an extended watch-along of episodes of the TV show 'The Boys' (Homelander's birthday special, Soldier Boy, Starlight, A-Train, Compound V, Vought). None of this is campaign content; it runs to the end of the file with no return to play. |
| [S58 · 00:00:00 · turn 0001 · scene 001] [S58 · 00:03:16 · turn 0024] | GM recap: graveyard knight, escape potions, and the lower portal A player reads a 'Super TLDR' of the prior session: the party studied the Grave Knight (confirming its armor-bound, anti-divine aura and that it is only vulnerable to holy power if its armor/defenses can be broken), bought potions of emergency escape in Otari, and returned to the Gauntlight. In the dungeon they found fading hauntings, critically activated a lower teleport portal (good for a full year), uncovered a route toward the Darklands, killed trapped gas/creatures in a rotten spa corridor, found a secret stair linking the sauna wing to upper rooms, and ended on a crude, boastful sauna-dwelling pugilist (with magical hand wraps) guarding a small silver chest. Venris, now a magic-user, killed wolves through a door with spammed Electric Arc without even entering initiative. |
| [S58 · 00:09:01 · turn 0082 · scene 002] [S58 · 00:12:11 · turn 0114] | Tech setup and the Cheery Man's jumpscare After Foundry/stream setup chatter (the GM now streams the DM's full-map perspective instead of the limited player view), the party is back at the door to the upper levels. The recurring laughing prankster NPC, the 'Cheery Man,' appears right next to Venice/Venris to try to scare the party with a playful entrance; his cackle is now a familiar, non-threatening sound. He announces he had to 'replenish his stocks' and asks if they are ready for another go, then disappears when the party refuses to play along. Venris reports back that it was just the broom shortcut upstairs, nothing of use. |
| [S58 · 00:25:35 · turn 0224 · scene 003] [S58 · 00:28:30 · turn 0243] [S58 · 00:29:27 · turn 0249] | Abbas reviews the party's accumulated notes and journals While the others scout, the GM has Abbas (Abus) sit down for an in-character hour reviewing everything the party has accumulated across the vaults: Belcorra's journal, Vandy's journal, Drah_/Draft Key's notes, Vollok's notes, Balfor's journal, Tarn's journal, stacks of maps, and torn library pages. The review surfaces a recurring motif of 'the fulcrum, the lattice, and the lenses.' Belcorra's notes describe the lattice not being built to produce the output she wanted, and her resolve to tear it down and build one that obeys. Vollok's blueprints all show slots for four lenses, with a single cryptic line: 'I was able to recover them. I'll keep them safe.' A player reads a Belcorra excerpt: the Gauntlight 'was made to be a sword, and it will burn.' |
| [S58 · 00:41:54 · turn 0366 · scene 004] [S58 · 00:37:37 · turn 0324] | Where are the lenses? Theorizing the Gauntlight's path The party debates where Vollok would have hidden the recovered lenses. Lining up the maps, they reason the Gauntlight beam runs straight down the tower from the cupola through every floor (it lined up with the library and Lazda's draining chamber). They recall Lazda was shackled and consumed for power in a secret room connected to Vollok's study. The party concludes that if they want the lenses they likely must descend as far down the beam's path as possible. They worry about the 'worm on the second floor' (a teleported creature, likely a sacrifice/power source) and decide a trip up to Otari is still pending. |
| [S58 · 00:51:00 · turn 0452 · scene 005] [S58 · 00:56:39 · turn 0491] [S58 · 01:11:02 · turn 0601] | Avoiding the Grave Knight: how the teleport portals work The party plans how to move through the vault without being caught by the Grave Knight stalking them, and works out the teleport-portal rules with the GM. Each activated portal is like a hallway: stepping in, a character gets a memory/HUD-like sense of where each connected tunnel leads (not a live feed). Someone with no prior knowledge would see the available exits but not know which floor each goes to. The knight is not confirmed able to use portals (only seen chasing on foot), but could ambush at single-path portal rooms. Veve insists she can sense the others inside the portal-space and simply follow them, though no one else shares that confidence. They agree to use teleport rooms when possible and decide to head to Otari, routing via the library to floor four. Venris reminds everyone to keep their potions of emergency escape ready (his in his non-metal arm). |
| [S58 · 01:12:47 · turn 0614 · scene 006] [S58 · 01:26:23 · turn 0730] [S58 · 01:35:33 · turn 0806] | Tense descent through the library; the knight's presence The party tries the sixth-floor portal but the third-floor link is locked/expired, so they reroute through the second-floor portal and descend toward the library. Moving in marching order with scout/avoid-notice/investigate exploration actions, they pass the empty ghoul-Morlock room and grow tense. The lingering touch of the Grave Knight manifests as a dread aura: Cid (whose hair the knight pulled) keeps shedding clumps of hair and feels a cold sweat and the knight's presence; Veve repeatedly swears she hears or senses the knight behind them. They find a bloody greave-print and a knocked-over chair at the bottom of the stairs, but every check turns up empty. The party debates whether to silently coordinate via Veve's Message cantrip during invisibility/stealth. |
| [S58 · 02:08:19 · turn 0958 · scene 007] [S58 · 02:08:40 · turn 0960] | Searching Vollok's lounge and Lazda's chamber; note fragments After a break, the party searches Vollok's makeshift lounge and the connected circular chamber where Lazda was drained (its light now gone since Lazda's rescue). Veve (afraid of bugs) pretends to search and finds nothing; Abbas investigates and Venris, caring less about the maggots, sifts the maggot/pus-stained pages. They recover fragmentary notes referencing the beam being at 'full strength,' 'no intermediaries,' 'trials, more victims,' and a chilling page: 'the Gauntlight remembers its purpose and soon, so shall the world' burn. The notes mention a 'filthy dwarf' subject (Lazda) proving unusually durable, implying these are among Vollok's last writings before the Gauntlight fired on the town. |
| [S58 · 02:15:58 · turn 1021 · scene 008] [S58 · 02:16:37 · turn 1027] [S58 · 02:54:02 · turn 1342] | The Lantern of Empty Light The party recalls a lantern Vollok kept, recovered earlier and never logged in Foundry (Venris had it in his bag of holding). Veve identifies it as the 'Lantern of Empty Light': a level-six item that flickers with the same pale-blue light that powered the Gauntlight, resurrected the dead, and harmed the party. On handling it she is frightened (drops it, briefly feeling 'the emptiness, the void') but recovers. Examining it, Abbas recognizes its resemblance to the failed lattice blueprints, concluding it is a failed experiment reworked into something else. The blue glow is tied to Nimbaloth / the empty death. |
| [S58 · 02:34:34 · turn 1195 · scene 009] [S58 · 02:46:22 · turn 1282] [S58 · 03:07:07 · turn 1438] | Piecing the Gauntlight together: lattice, lenses, and Vollok's role A long lore synthesis. The GM walks the party through what they now understand: the Gauntlight teleports monsters and once raised the graveyard dead, the beam runs down the whole tower, the lattice is the steel 'skeleton/framework' that houses up to four lenses (like multiple magnifying glasses), and Vollok had a very direct hand in the lattice/lenses but his latest work was draining souls (Lazda). They debate whether the lenses are physical (the blueprints show a steel structure) or some magical/teleported energy-construct, since hauling lenses up thirteen floors seems impossible. Venris twice checked the cupola and found it empty both times — something is clearly missing up there. The GM rules they can't solve it all here and points them onward. |
| [S58 · 03:23:22 · turn 1567 · scene 010] [S58 · 03:35:43 · turn 1684] [S58 · 03:45:25 · turn 1759] | The ghost of Otari: 500 years, and the Rose Guard's bound souls The party pushes through a stench hazard (failed saves; Cid sickened) and reaches the ghost of Otari, the Rose Guard companion left tending the great four-foot book on 'journal duty.' Tearful, he learns from them that roughly five hundred years have passed since the Rose Guard assaulted the Gauntlight. Touching the party's relics (Venice's key, Cid's sword/club, the cloak on Veve), he is stunned to sense his dead comrades: he believes each relic houses a fragment/memory of a Rose Guard soul, and that those souls never traveled the river of souls as he did. He reveals the book's final pages are magically locked, accessible only to their maker (a dwarf comrade he describes as a skilled but unsuspected necromancer), and that to read them the party must either find that comrade or sever the binding that traps these souls. He recalls, lying trapped, hearing Belcorra's scream echo from a floor below. |
| [S58 · 03:52:55 · turn 1816 · scene 011] [S58 · 03:58:24 · turn 1870] | Wind-down: theories, Locate, and 'where else have we seen a bound soul?' End-of-session theorizing. The party suspects the missing Rose Guard souls may be in an unexplored upper floor of the tower, possibly victims of the empty death or bound by a curse during the battle with Belcorra. They float casting Locate (500-ft range) and revisiting Wrin (Rin / 'Rune Fulcora') as someone who might know more. A secret recall/religion check by Abbas comes back confident that the souls are NOT actually inside the relics. The GM leaves them with a pointed prompt: the last time they saw a soul imbued into an object was 'Mr. Beak' / Mr. Beaker, the bird that carried the soul-gem meant for the puppet/doll. Session ends at midnight. |
| [S59 · 00:00:08 · turn 0002 · scene 001] [S59 · 00:14:46 · turn 0131] | 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 · 00:00:13 · turn 0003 · scene 002] [S59 · 00:00:40 · turn 0005] | 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 · 00:28:16 · turn 0262 · scene 003] [S59 · 00:46:55 · turn 0432] | 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 · 01:01:39 · turn 0552 · scene 004] [S59 · 01:14:07 · turn 0655] | 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 · 01:23:12 · turn 0734 · scene 005] [S59 · 01:22:09 · turn 0732] | 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 · 01:36:58 · turn 0833 · scene 006] [S59 · 01:52:58 · turn 0955] | 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 · 02:14:33 · turn 1126 · scene 007] [S59 · 02:31:38 · turn 1288] | 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 · 02:50:57 · turn 1473 · scene 008] [S59 · 03:39:06 · turn 1943] | 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 · 04:32:53 · turn 2523 · scene 009] [S59 · 04:34:33 · turn 2542] | 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. |
| [S60 · 00:02:36 · turn 0014 · scene 001] [S60 · 00:03:45 · turn 0022] | Pregame: tech setup and the missing bot Players load up Foundry and TalSpire, deal with a streaming/bot host being blocked by port-security issues (no bot today, promised for next week), and settle in before the GM calls for the recap. |
| [S60 · 00:04:36 · turn 0029 · scene 002] [S60 · 00:08:11 · turn 0053] | Recap: the bearded devil, Vollok's lenses, and the Drover's Band The party recaps last session: after hanging around Otari and doing minor investigation into Vollok and the lenses (turning up little), they dove deeper into the Gauntlight/Abomination Vaults and killed a bearded devil and his exploding minions. They tie Vollok's torn-up workshop to a 'create undead' operating table beneath the lens workshop. Venris looted a Drover's Band (~600 gp) from the captain/devil and shows it off; the party leaves it unclaimed for now. Venris is cleared of his sickness but not at full HP. |
| [S60 · 00:16:33 · turn 0115 · scene 003] [S60 · 00:33:17 · turn 0254] [S60 · 01:02:28 · turn 0501] | The blood-red light alarm in the octagonal pyramid chamber The party reaches a large octagonal pyramid chamber where a blood-red light cones down from a tiny crystal embedded at the apex of the ceiling. Recall knowledge and detect magic determine it is an alarm/trap reactive to organic matter or life energy (not vision/light), with a thievery option requiring a master to disable. After many experiments (sliding chakrams, the metal arm, a wooden boat, glue bombs), Venris floats a chakram up with Hand of the Mage's telekinetic hand to block the crystal, then permanently glues a leather scrap over the centimeter-wide hole with a defused glue bomb, neutralizing the alarm and earning a hero point. |
| [S60 · 01:04:42 · turn 0518 · scene 004] [S60 · 01:14:12 · turn 0609] [S60 · 01:51:11 · turn 0936] | Barracks ambush: Dreshkins and the Movitok healers Behind a door the party hears lightning and creaking metal and recognizes more Dreshkins. They breach a prison-block-turned-barracks and roll initiative on a surprise round. Venris crit-opens by gutting a small Dreshkin (57 damage) and finishes it; Cid/Abbas and the party drop the rest. The larger Movitoks raise shields on command, brawl, and explode on death (void/vitality damage), nearly dropping Abbas (down to 6 HP). Veve/BB throws food and furniture (a jug for 42, a stool for 46) at them. Vitality Lash and Sonic Blows fly. The room is cleared but messy; loot includes two steel shields and two +1 tamchal chakrams. |
| [S60 · 02:15:43 · turn 1070 · scene 005] [S60 · 02:20:09 · turn 1114] | Looting, healing, and the suggestion-haunt office After a break the party loots footlockers (steel shields, +1 tamchal chakrams, some silver) and spends ~30 minutes healing back to near-full with repeated channeled heals. Opening a filthy prison-office door triggers a ghostly 'GET OUT' suggestion-haunt that deals auditory damage (~19) and urges them to flee; Veve's Counter Performance protects allies and her annoying voice breaks the compulsion. Recall knowledge identifies it as a suggestion trap powered by a ghost, with hidden runes/buttons. The party disables/searches it out, finds a manacle-and-chain secret button opening to a familiar hallway, and reads worthless prisoner logs. |
| [S60 · 02:33:02 · turn 1243 · scene 006] [S60 · 03:07:42 · turn 1556] | The will-o'-wisps that got away Listening at a new door, the party spots two will-o'-wisps (invisible, terror-feeding skull-flames immune to magic) in a portcullis hallway whose metal is crusted with dried blood. Venris uses his wand of See the Unseen and the party engages. The wisps go invisible, shock the party for electricity, and trade blows; one is killed (Veve's bow finishes it) but the second flees, books it up a staircase that connects back to the tavern level, and escapes despite Venris's pursuit. The party declines to chase it solo and presses on. |
| [S60 · 03:12:01 · turn 1599 · scene 007] [S60 · 03:28:02 · turn 1734] [S60 · 03:39:51 · turn 1831] | Rescuing Sinemi the tiefling bounty hunter Behind locked cell doors (one empty, the ant's former cage) the party knock-picks a cell and finds Sinemi, a horned tiefling bounty hunter (a wanted criminal, 30 gp bounty) chained and starving. After a joking debate about cashing her in, they free, water and feed her. She explains she was hunting on a contract from a devil named Irvane/Erevian who has put a big bounty on Carman Rajani (wants him captured alive), tied to Rajani's Rose Guard connection and the Rosa Argentis sword. She names Kalido, the big armored creature (the 'Dead Knight') as a creepy higher-up she always avoided, and describes the deeper drow city/necropolis reachable by elevator. The party gives her a light hammer and steel shield and lets her go. |
| [S60 · 03:49:35 · turn 1915 · scene 008] [S60 · 03:43:06 · turn 1861] | Party council: the devil, the Dead Knight, and where to go With Sinemi gone, the party debates strategy. They now know Irvane/Rebian holds an office behind a sigiled five-pointed-star door (a magical lock), with a blacksmith forge / Hellfire Forge to its right and an elevator to the drow city straight ahead. They worry more about the actively-hostile Dead Knight (Kalido) than the cunning devil, weigh whether to bait the devil with their Rajani connection, and decide to finish exploring the floor first — starting by clearing the upstairs torture chamber they'd skipped. |
| [S60 · 04:03:12 · turn 2003 · scene 009] [S60 · 04:09:02 · turn 2057] [S60 · 04:33:50 · turn 2300] | Torture chamber: the devil ambush The party returns to the upstairs torture chamber (iron maiden, nail table, bloodstained walls) and finds fresh hoof-marks — devils now roam this floor freely. They ambush a Zebub and two Barbazus; the bearded devils' glaives inflict hard-to-remove infernal bleed. Venris one-shots the Zebub and disarms a Barbazu; Cid's Rose Argentis (silver + peachwood) crit-decapitates devils; Abbas's champion Retributive Strike and Veve's anthems support. The devil reinforces with a monkey troop and another Zebub/Barbazu wave ('the devil has a sense of humor'), but the party grinds them all down and then spends actions clearing the stubborn infernal bleeds with first aid. |
| [S60 · 04:51:11 · turn 2464 · scene 010] [S60 · 04:55:34 · turn 2500] [S60 · 05:01:10 · turn 2541] | Torture-chamber loot and the sigil-door decision Searching the torture chamber the party finds a bent bloodletting kukri (a +1 striking crimson-blade kukri that grants temp HP / persistent bleed on crit) — Venris recognizes the owner and absorbs it into his clockwork arm; a standard-grade cold iron shield; two +1 glaives (later judged just basic glaives) and a couple moderate acid flasks. They heal to full. The iron maiden holds only a scallop (a gross gag). For next time the party resolves to head left to the sigiled five-pointed-star door / Hellfire-forge blacksmith room (Irvane's place) rather than the city elevator, ending the session at the sigil. |
| [S60 · 05:02:33 · turn 2550 · scene 011] [S60 · 05:18:17 · turn 2576] | Postgame: scheduling and unrelated stream bleed-through After the in-fiction wrap-up the table schedules a midweek (Wednesday) make-up session. The remainder of the recording (from ~05:18 onward) is unrelated audio: a Riftbound trading-card-game tournament broadcast/commentary that bleeds into the transcript and is NOT part of the campaign. Excluded from the recap. |
| [S61 · 00:01:01 · turn 0013 · scene 001] [S61 · 00:03:32 · turn 0037] | Pregame, tech setup, and GM recap The table boots up (broadcast/stream, Foundry, one player's 'Tailspire'/Foundry client crashing) and the GM recaps the campaign so far: the party has been pushing into the deepest level of the vaults, fought a bearded demon drilling a troop of exploding 'thinggies', dealt with a red-light trap room (jamming a blue-bomb trap with Mage Hand), freed someone called 'Tsunami', cleared a screaming room with will-o-wisps, and ended last session deciding which path to take near a forge. Player C asks for the recap in the GM's 'voice'. |
| [S61 · 00:10:43 · turn 0090 · scene 002] [S61 · 00:21:36 · turn 0149] | The pentagram door and the silver shard As the party nears the forge, they examine a fourth door emblazoned with a huge glowing pentagram. A small shard of silver they obtained 'from the Diddler' is recognized as slotting into a hand-sized circular indentation (with five deeper sub-indentations) on the door. The pentagram is magical, gives off light rather than heat, and won't burn them, but its full properties are unknown. Venris listens at the forge door and hears mechanical metal-tapping, crackling electricity, and a distant fluttering of wings; a recall-knowledge check suggests a 'zebub' (winged fly-demon). The party debates going into the forge versus interacting with the pentagram door, and decides to enter the forge area, possibly invisibly. |
| [S61 · 00:29:14 · turn 0205 · scene 003] [S61 · 01:22:34 · turn 0718] | Prison-cell fight: Dreshkans, the Zebub, and the monkey swarm Opening the doors reveals a hall of open prison cells capped by a large double door; four 'Dreshkans' (needle-spraying bearded-demon types) and a flying Zebub turn on the party. The Dreshkans brace on all fours to spray cones/lines of piercing-and-electric needles; the party answers with Cid's blade and aura, Venris's sneak attacks, and Veve's bow headshots and offensive song. The Zebub casts a swarm of monkeys that ransack Venris's pockets (going for his bag of holding) and blasts a deafening cacophony, then flies above Veve and licks/mandible-attacks her face, inflicting spirit damage and lasting facial scarring (sickened). Venris and Cid grind the Dreshkans down; Cid skewers the Zebub on his Rosa Argentis rapier. On hitting the Zebub the party notices she wears a necklace with a pendant resembling their own silver shard, plus a key. |
| [S61 · 01:42:31 · turn 0838 · scene 004] [S61 · 01:43:45 · turn 0851] | Looting the cells: a second shard, a key, and an armory After a short break (and Foundry/region troubleshooting), the party searches the prison cells, finding them stocked with destructive war supplies (pitch, lantern oil, fuse cord, flint and steel, hundreds of arrows) staged for an inevitable assault on Otari. They loot the dead Zebub's key and a second silver fragment identical to their own (the two fit seamlessly into a 'V'). Venris uses the key to open a locked storage room holding valuable explosives: an explosive arrow, three 3rd-level spell-strike arrows, three young-red-dragon-breath potions, and ten moderate alchemist's fires. Venris also has a 'Drover's band' (from a previous session) to sell or give away. The party hears a slow, deep anvil-ring past the double doors and distributes alchemist's fires (two each). |
| [S61 · 02:00:43 · turn 1002 · scene 005] [S61 · 02:24:02 · turn 1219] | The Hellforge: the bearded smith and the winged devil-master Sneaking the heavy double doors open breaks a red pentagram seal and starts initiative. Inside the charred forge: a bored Barbazu (bearded devil) with a black, red-glowing glaive, and a winged, bald, angelic-looking devil forge-master who hates being 'put on such trifles.' The master's horrifying voice frightens Venris even on a successful save; he wields the unblemished glaive, casts Evil Divine Wrath, hurls flaming light hammers, and whips an animated rope of his own hair (Ernest hair) that entangles, slows, and restrains Venris's weapon-arm. Veve spends turns reading and then invoking the devil's true name as a debuff setup, even throwing the half-forged weapon at him. Cid crit-kills the Barbazu in essentially one strike with the Rosa Argentis, then the party stuns and whittles the master down; Cid lands the killing critical, triggering a retributive-pain burst. The forge-master leaves persistent fire on the party as he dies. |
| [S61 · 03:05:42 · turn 1666 · scene 006] [S61 · 03:09:07 · turn 1698] | Forge spoils: the hellforge glaive, a third shard, and the smith's journal With both devils dead the party loots and explores. From the bodies: a third silver fragment (now three of five for the pentagram), a +1 striking war hammer, four mundane light hammers, a (left-behind) breastplate, and ~100 feet of the master's 'Ernest hair' rope. The master's black-red glaive is recovered and craft-identified as a unique +1 flaming striking 'Hellforge' weapon (evil, fire, forceful); the forge itself radiates dark demonic energy. The smith's journal complains about being forced to mass-produce mundane iron weapons (swords/spears) instead of another 'Giga Hellforge glaive.' Searching turns up raw materials: five iron chunks, two silver chunks, and an adamantine chunk. Abbas (now champion-leaning religious) refuses to use the evil gear; the party plans to identify and craft later at Carman/Rajani's workshop. |
| [S61 · 03:15:32 · turn 1759 · scene 007] [S61 · 03:31:46 · turn 1888] | The hellforge anvil and the Wall-of-Force elevator to the Darklands Abbas recalls that hellforge anvils have a great weakness to holy water — even a drop would split the forge and release a large blast of evil energy (or make the forge explode). With no holy water on hand and the priest unwilling to leave such a forge for the enemy's armies, the party tables destroying it until they can return from Otari with holy water. Inspecting the pendants confirms they form a pentagram lock for the door (normally five pieces, but Abbas suspects he could fool the magic with as few as three or four via religious magic). They cross the foul muck and reach a drill chamber whose elevator is sealed by a high-level Wall of Force (orange, requires ~disintegrate or brute force to remove); it overlooks a massive dark cavern/dome the party suspects is an access to the Darklands. They link this to a temple of Nimbaloth referenced in Bulcora's journal and resolve to bring a disintegrate spell and holy water next time. |
| [S61 · 03:49:28 · turn 2047 · scene 008] [S61 · 04:42:52 · turn 2531] | Three doors and the Oscelus 'watcher' fight Past the muck the party finds three doors: scratching-on-stone (left), heavy non-human breathing behind warning signs ('DO NOT DISTURB IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIMBS'), and softer feathery fluttering. They pick the scratching door and breach it. Inside, a large winged bone-scorpion devil (an Oscelus) stands carving the walls, watching, and speaks telepathically in riddling questions ('Who are you?', 'You have eyes but do you truly see?'). It deals AoE mental damage to anyone who tries to parse its words/walls and inflicts phantom-pain mental damage, sickness, stinger poison (enfeebled), and trips. Veve invokes its true name; Abbas lands a Fear; Venris and Cid grind it with Sonic Blow and the holy Rosa Argentis (extra damage to undead/fiends). It cannot take vitality damage but is bloodied and finally bashed apart. Recall knowledge identifies it as an Oscelus — an inquisitor devil of Stygia that hunts heresy and tortures lesser fiends. |
| [S61 · 04:44:24 · turn 2540 · scene 009] [S61 · 04:45:01 · turn 2546] | Session wind-down and character-art planning The party stops after the Oscelus, choosing to hold and not progress through the watcher chamber's far door without Veve's player fully present. The GM proposes a between-sessions project to redo everyone's character art/minis now that the AI models have improved, asking each player to DM what gear they want visible. Players sort out scheduling for the next session before signing off. |
| [S62 · 00:02:29 · turn 0024 · scene 001] [S62 · 00:03:52 · turn 0031] | Pregame chatter and recap of the philosopher fight Tech setup, mic/volume joking, and a player recap. Last session the party explored a corridor/room near the elevator, fought what they took to be the Hellforge's blacksmith, debated whether they can use (or should destroy) the Hellforge, and then cut down an undead 'philosopher' (nicknamed Skelly Spider Boy) who covered the walls in inscriptions. They are level 8 and wary of the grave knight coming down the stairs and cornering them. |
| [S62 · 00:14:28 · turn 0133 · scene 002] [S62 · 00:13:23 · turn 0124] | Healing up and the door that cracked open The party hears a faint bubbling behind a door and decides to patch up before pressing on (a ten-minute Treat Wounds, healing Cid and the others). Three unexplored doors surround them. Veve swears she briefly saw one of them crack open and close again; the party ribs her about 'seeing things,' then resolves to check it. |
| [S62 · 00:35:07 · turn 0300 · scene 003] [S62 · 00:42:36 · turn 0360] [S62 · 00:51:59 · turn 0428] | Sizek the imp: the amulet, Aravian, and the lay of the dungeon Behind the door is a frightened, foul-mouthed imp who calls himself Sizek and has been stuck here for centuries taking notes for the devil Aravian (Erabian). Despite Cid's hostility (a paladin who badly wants to smite the devil), Venris and Veve keep the peace and pump the imp for intel. Sizek reveals: the boss is Aravian, who locked himself behind a door that opens with an amulet of FIVE pieces (the party has 3-4 from the enemies they've killed: Barmacock the smith, Ickin the guard, the Quartermaster/'creep', a 'bub'). The fifth piece is held by a 'sarglock'/serpent creature lurking in water up in the laboratories. Aravian has an arrangement with 'old Belcorra,' broke a deal back in hell over something he never delivered, and is now too scared to return. He blocked the route down with magic and rubble. The grave knight is named Kalido Harovex, a mercenary and 'cousin of Cora.' The imp also describes the gug behind one door, a summoning chamber Belcorra used to bring the devils, and the 'farm' down the elevator where prisoners were sourced. He begs the party to kill Aravian so his contract ends. |
| [S62 · 01:10:21 · turn 0567 · scene 004] [S62 · 01:10:51 · turn 0573] | Blocked path down, and choosing to go up The party finds the route deeper blocked exactly as the imp warned: a pile of massive rubble that would take days or weeks to clear. With the way down sealed by Aravian's magic and stone, they decide they have to go through Aravian. The GM awards a villain point for the imp RP and ribs Cid for nearly blowing the scene by wanting to attack the devil; the party climbs the stairs to look for the fifth amulet piece (the water creature in the labs). |
| [S62 · 01:37:19 · turn 0805 · scene 005] [S62 · 01:48:29 · turn 0895] | Sodhounds and the living landslide Climbing into a mossy cavern toward the still water, the ground erupts and combat starts. Several small mossy 'sodhounds' (earth-elemental dogs that meld into and form out of the stone, bleeding no blood, going for metal) attack, followed by a larger humanoid earth creature, the 'living landslide,' that uses a Sliding Earth charge to trip Cid and Venris. The party tears through them: Venris splits the hounds with his bloodletting kukri and thrown chakrams, Cid (Abbas) casts Divine Lance and crits the golem, and Cid the fighter cleaves with sonic blows. The party's casters note the elementals' binding to the area is weak and could be undone by a four-hour ritual consuming gems, but decide it isn't worth the money/time. The landslide and its three sodhound 'puppies' are all killed. |
| [S62 · 01:58:52 · turn 1002 · scene 006] [S62 · 02:05:12 · turn 1053] | Gemstones and the dark water cavern After the fight Veve spots a glimmer and the party recovers six gemstones from the earth (the loose 'shiny rocks,' likely the same kind a binding ritual would consume). Pressing on, they reach a large pool under stalactites with five square shafts in the ceiling and the transparent stone wall watching from above. Light into the water reveals two large shapes moving below. Recalling Morlibint's library notes, the party warns each other these may need their heads cauterized with fire or they'll regrow. They probe the water carefully and take a break before fully engaging. |
| [S62 · 02:25:03 · turn 1121 · scene 007] [S62 · 02:27:57 · turn 1147] | The hydras surface Venris lands a lucky crit on a shape in the water and a multi-headed serpent — a hydra — wails out, dragging the party into initiative. A second hydra reveals itself; the two are huge five-headed creatures that regenerate severed heads unless the wound is cauterized. Cid (Abbas) lands a crit-fail Fear on one hydra (frightened 3) but the other shrugs it off. Venris's organ-sight and fork attacks do big damage but the heads just heal back. The party realizes each head is its own target and that only fire (or acid) will stop regeneration, while Venris (Visigoth/Cid the fighter) tanks one hydra one-on-one with his shield. |
| [S62 · 03:20:43 · turn 1591 · scene 008] [S62 · 03:15:24 · turn 1546] | Cauterizing the hydras with fire and the Hellforge glaive A long grind to put the hydras down by stopping their regeneration. The party uses alchemist's fire, Veve's Spray of Stars focus, and crucially the fire-tagged Hellforge glaive (recovered from Venris's bag mid-fight, earning a hero point) to sever-and-cauterize heads one at a time. One hydra keeps diving into the water to regenerate out of sight, forcing repeated Seek checks. The party miscommunicates about flanking and reaction-baiting (the GM teases them for not working as a team), but methodically cauterizes head after head. Both hydras are eventually reduced to their last heads and finished off. |
| [S62 · 03:49:59 · turn 1873 · scene 009] [S62 · 03:55:01 · turn 1917] | Hydra loot, no amulet piece, and the boat onto the water Searching the dead hydras turns up no amulet fragment — these were not the right creatures. Venris carves one open with his metal arm and finds only the half-digested eye of a creature the party had thrown down earlier. The GM muses about a Monster-Hunter-style harvest system but they settle for a small gold roll from a few hydra talons (plus a half hero point 'for trying'). Believing the fifth amulet piece is still out in deeper water, the party deploys a shape-shifting folding boat (rowboat form, holds a pilot plus two) and Venris and Viz/Cid get aboard while Abbas walks the ledge — but Cid's plate armor nearly sinks the boat, prompting a GM rant about magic runes that let you swim in plate. The session ends here on a soft cliffhanger; the water exploration is deferred to next session. |
| [S63 · 00:00:13 · turn 0002 · scene 001] [S63 · 00:00:23 · turn 0005 · scene 001] [S63 · 00:01:26 · turn 0023 · scene 001] | Recap, Website Talk, and the Boat Plan The table recaps that the party had fought hydras, got onto the boat, and started sailing. Before play fully resumes, the group spends a few minutes looking at the private campaign-memory site and joking about its character summaries. |
| [S63 · 00:04:15 · turn 0073 · scene 002] [S63 · 00:07:41 · turn 0154 · scene 002] [S63 · 00:09:09 · turn 0190 · scene 002] [S63 · 00:17:24 · turn 0334 · scene 002] [S63 · 00:24:04 · turn 0444 · scene 002] | Searching the Flooded Chamber The party paddles and wades through the flooded chamber looking for a remaining star-pendant fragment. Abbas uses Detect Magic and light to search the water; the hydra remains have no magic, but deeper in the chamber the party detects and pinpoints a magical object on the bottom. |
| [S63 · 00:24:45 · turn 0462 · scene 003] [S63 · 00:26:11 · turn 0492 · scene 003] [S63 · 00:30:43 · turn 0593 · scene 003] [S63 · 00:35:51 · turn 0683 · scene 003] [S63 · 00:47:48 · turn 0975 · scene 003] [S63 · 00:49:15 · turn 1007 · scene 003] | Venris Dives for the Bracelet Venris dives after the magical object while the others discuss bottled air, telekinetic assistance, underwater light, swimming rules, and warning signals. He reaches a bracelet-like item on the bottom, but Veve's premonition and Abbas's seeking reveal a hidden amphibious creature stalking him. |
| [S63 · 00:50:10 · turn 1020 · scene 004] [S63 · 00:51:59 · turn 1056 · scene 004] [S63 · 00:57:28 · turn 1162 · scene 004] [S63 · 01:05:09 · turn 1340 · scene 004] [S63 · 01:10:03 · turn 1393 · scene 004] [S63 · 01:13:30 · turn 1473 · scene 004] | The Underwater Ambush Begins The creature rushes Venris underwater. Venris resists a magical pull downward, dodges its bite and tentacles, and swims back toward the boat with Cid's help. Veve sustains defensive music, Abbas strikes it with Divine Lance, and the creature raises the water level, submerging the non-boat characters and obscuring itself. |
| [S63 · 01:14:41 · turn 1497 · scene 005] [S63 · 01:31:20 · turn 1860 · scene 005] [S63 · 01:37:19 · turn 1998 · scene 005] [S63 · 01:42:18 · turn 2116 · scene 005] [S63 · 02:07:29 · turn 2686 · scene 005] [S63 · 02:18:10 · turn 2959 · scene 005] | Rope, Rising Water, and the Blinded Monster Venris deploys his rope of climbing to help Abbas and Veve, while Veve uses Telekinetic Maneuver to pull the boat closer. The creature attacks from below, but Veve's Ocular Overload blinds it, causing a fumble that leaves it fatigued. Venris drinks a water-breathing potion and dives back in; Cid follows, striking with Rosa Argentis before the table takes a break. |
| [S63 · 02:30:41 · turn 3107 · scene 006] [S63 · 02:35:17 · turn 3228 · scene 006] [S63 · 02:43:43 · turn 3469 · scene 006] [S63 · 02:55:20 · turn 3756 · scene 006] [S63 · 02:56:39 · turn 3804 · scene 006] [S63 · 03:06:30 · turn 4086 · scene 006] | Dispel, Torrent, and the Boat's Destruction After the break, Abbas confirms the creature's magic is a spell effect and successfully uses Dispel Magic, though the water level does not drop. The party batters the creature with melee attacks, Haste, and Veve's telekinetic projectile. The monster answers with a crushing water torrent and then destroys the folding boat with a critical bite before Veve finishes it. |
| [S63 · 03:08:57 · turn 4149 · scene 007] [S63 · 03:10:58 · turn 4197 · scene 007] [S63 · 03:12:00 · turn 4226 · scene 007] [S63 · 03:12:41 · turn 4239 · scene 007] [S63 · 03:19:03 · turn 4379 · scene 007] [S63 · 03:19:39 · turn 4395 · scene 007] [S63 · 03:21:28 · turn 4432 · scene 007] | Fragment Recovered and the Retreat Decision The creature sinks. Venris recovers the bracelet and another pendant fragment, then the party heals and refocuses while identifying the bracelet as a Lesser Armory Bracelet. The party now has four fragments and discusses tricking the lock into accepting four as five. Venris scouts a ceiling door back to a known room, Abbas casts Augury about encountering the grave knight Khalido Harvex before returning to town, and the group decides to head back. |
| [S64 · 00:01:05 · turn 0011 · scene 001] [S64 · 00:01:18 · turn 0017 · scene 001] [S64 · 00:01:22 · turn 0019 · scene 001] [S64 · 00:15:46 · turn 0258 · scene 001] | Recap and the Long Way Out The party recaps that they defeated the water creature after the hydras, lost the folding boat, recovered a lesser armory bracelet, and meant to leave the Gauntlight to rest. After technical delays and route discussion, they choose the normal detour rather than swimming back up. |
| [S64 · 00:18:07 · turn 0317 · scene 002] [S64 · 00:21:40 · turn 0384 · scene 002] [S64 · 00:32:17 · turn 0582 · scene 002] [S64 · 00:36:22 · turn 0659 · scene 002] [S64 · 00:36:53 · turn 0670 · scene 002] [S64 · 00:43:53 · turn 0787 · scene 002] | Scouting Past the Library The party retraces stairs, halls, kitchens, secret doors, and portals toward the surface. A table ruling gives Venris an extra ahead-of-party perception chance when he scouts; he hears the grave knight's metal steps in the library, warns the group, and they reroute through older portal paths until they reach Otari around sunset. |
| [S64 · 00:48:06 · turn 0890 · scene 003] [S64 · 00:49:51 · turn 0944 · scene 003] [S64 · 00:50:30 · turn 0955 · scene 003] [S64 · 00:51:52 · turn 0976 · scene 003] [S64 · 00:54:06 · turn 1030 · scene 003] [S64 · 00:59:37 · turn 1160 · scene 003] | Menhem Manor and Doriana's Secret In Otari, Abbas and Veve visit Menhem Manor to check on Doriana. The GM confirms Doriana's hand is healed, the gem is gone, and she is sleeping normally again; privately, Doriana shows Veve that she can levitate a plushie, and the GM frames the emerging power as something she was already developing and likely why she had been targeted. Menhem also reminds the party that the promised level-seven item reward still needs more days to arrive. |
| [S64 · 01:01:27 · turn 1195 · scene 004] [S64 · 01:03:14 · turn 1225 · scene 004] [S64 · 01:04:50 · turn 1254 · scene 004] [S64 · 01:05:29 · turn 1265 · scene 004] [S64 · 01:07:19 · turn 1308 · scene 004] [S64 · 01:09:28 · turn 1358 · scene 004] [S64 · 01:12:45 · turn 1421 · scene 004] | Venris Warns Carman Venris finds Carman Rajani at the bar, sober under probation terms and throwing knives. Carman explains how he tricked Sanemi by leaving her in a dinghy with her gear gone, but says he does not know the name Uravian/Erevian. Venris privately tells him that Sanemi had been hired by a contract devil to bring Carman alive into the vaults; Carman is shaken, says probation keeps him in town, and promises to keep helping with equipment. |
| [S64 · 01:16:22 · turn 1487 · scene 005] [S64 · 01:17:47 · turn 1517 · scene 005] [S64 · 01:19:53 · turn 1560 · scene 005] [S64 · 01:20:40 · turn 1573 · scene 005] [S64 · 01:23:26 · turn 1623 · scene 005] [S64 · 01:25:30 · turn 1660 · scene 005] [S64 · 01:26:14 · turn 1673 · scene 005] [S64 · 01:30:15 · turn 1753 · scene 005] [S64 · 01:37:45 · turn 1877 · scene 005] [S64 · 01:44:32 · turn 1991 · scene 005] | Bandy and Menhem on the Rajani Line Cid visits Bandy at the Dawnflower Library. Bandy says she is recovering by prayer, gives Cid two holy waters, and answers questions about Uravian, Vol Rajani, Nidal, and the Rajani line. Later, the party regroups at Menhem Manor, shares what Carman and Bandy said, receives hero points, and hears Menhem's family lore about the Rajanis, Rosa Argentis, and Vol's role defending early Otari. |
| [S64 · 01:45:41 · turn 2016 · scene 006] [S64 · 01:46:48 · turn 2040 · scene 006] [S64 · 01:50:19 · turn 2112 · scene 006] [S64 · 01:52:18 · turn 2161 · scene 006] [S64 · 02:12:10 · turn 2556 · scene 006] [S64 · 02:12:31 · turn 2566 · scene 006] [S64 · 02:13:32 · turn 2589 · scene 006] [S64 · 02:13:54 · turn 2596 · scene 006] | Night Watch and Market Accounting The party stays at Menhem Manor, handles Venris's nightly condition checks, wakes safely, and spends the next morning selling excess loot. They convert silver and cold iron chunks into ammunition and a cold iron chakram, keep the hellforge glaive, and leave the adamantine chunk undecided for the moment. |
| [S64 · 02:32:16 · turn 2920 · scene 007] [S64 · 02:33:32 · turn 2952 · scene 007] [S64 · 02:34:55 · turn 2984 · scene 007] [S64 · 02:42:23 · turn 3138 · scene 007] [S64 · 02:48:51 · turn 3280 · scene 007] [S64 · 02:53:58 · turn 3398 · scene 007] [S64 · 02:55:38 · turn 3438 · scene 007] [S64 · 02:56:37 · turn 3463 · scene 007] [S64 · 02:59:21 · turn 3521 · scene 007] [S64 · 03:08:09 · turn 3709 · scene 007] [S64 · 03:16:00 · turn 3856 · scene 007] [S64 · 03:31:54 · turn 4224 · scene 007] | Runes, Rosa Argentis, and Spell Access The shopping day expands into special deliveries, scrolls, wands, and runes. Abbas buys a Quick Runner's Shirt and support magic; Venris buys a bottomless stein, crafting leathers, and potions; Cid receives a resilient armor rune. Carman refuses to modify Rosa Argentis, demonstrates that its Blossom Veil still works, and is surprised when Cid can activate it too. The table also leaves broader spell access mostly unchanged for now, with needle darts and similar options pending GM handling. Veve receives an unread letter from an Absalom friend. |
| [S64 · 03:35:22 · turn 4299 · scene 008] [S64 · 03:38:25 · turn 4350 · scene 008] [S64 · 03:39:34 · turn 4371 · scene 008] [S64 · 03:41:01 · turn 4395 · scene 008] [S64 · 03:44:28 · turn 4458 · scene 008] [S64 · 03:50:01 · turn 4561 · scene 008] [S64 · 03:50:30 · turn 4570 · scene 008] [S64 · 03:51:52 · turn 4597 · scene 008] [S64 · 03:52:31 · turn 4611 · scene 008] [S64 · 03:54:11 · turn 4643 · scene 008] [S64 · 03:55:26 · turn 4664 · scene 008] [S64 · 03:58:16 · turn 4714 · scene 008] | Second Night and Research The party spends the remaining downtime retraining, moving gear to Menhem Manor, and sleeping through another night. Veve has soreness after the off day, Abbas fails to improve Venris's sleep support, but Venris's will save leaves him with night terrors and no other symptoms. On the morning of Desnus 26, the party picks up finished rune work, researches contract devils and grave knights at the Dawnflower Church/Library, and learns enough to treat both Uravian and the grave knight as threats above anything they have yet fought. |
| [S64 · 03:59:45 · turn 4735 · scene 009] [S64 · 04:00:58 · turn 4758 · scene 009] [S64 · 04:02:49 · turn 4789 · scene 009] [S64 · 04:03:26 · turn 4800 · scene 009] [S64 · 04:04:17 · turn 4820 · scene 009] [S64 · 04:05:45 · turn 4840 · scene 009] [S64 · 04:07:16 · turn 4869 · scene 009] [S64 · 04:13:52 · turn 4963 · scene 009] [S64 · 04:14:33 · turn 4973 · scene 009] [S64 · 04:14:39 · turn 4976 · scene 009] | Back to the Warded Door The party returns to the Gauntlight by the cave entrance at 10:30 on Desnus 26. They discuss whether to face the grave knight or Uravian first, realize they still lack one of the five fragments and may need the imp's information again, and decide to inspect the warded door directly. As Abbas investigates with prayer and detect magic, the runes light up and the door begins to open. |