Session Notes 3/13/26

Level 17, part 17

The Seekers arrive in the Mystral Valley and enter the Temple of Tyr, where they find Rachel and the Scalebearer have met. The pilgrim town is crowded with soldiers and travelers alike, and the temples are opening their doors to those who need it.

A ripple of magic passes over the group, and Keksel, Calum, and Sashi share a vision. Calum remembers a childhood memory of the first time he cast Prestidigitation in an orchard, and Sashi remembers casting Minor Illusion during his urchin days, and Keksel remembers the first time he cast Mending. Then each of them sees Angel’s Peak, and each other, and the stars above them begin to fall. When they snap out of it, only the other Seekers (plus Acantha and the Scalebearer) seem to have felt the disturbance. Keksel and Calum theorize that this is an effect caused by the powerful magic that is about to be enacted in a place that is already sensitive to magical disturbances.

Yael wants to get the teleportation sigil for the Mystral Valley, so everyone heads to the library, where they find Balasar, Orsic, and Iami who have recently arrived. Lieu hands Acantha her Scribe’s Pen to show off the graffiti she’s added to her friends’ faces, and lends it to Acantha, who grins. The Seekers decide to set up a shelter for those who need a place to stay, and also set aside time to teach Acantha and the Scalebearer what they need to do for the ritual. They also want to set up an elaborate arena/stage for the battle, decked out with Glyphs of Warding, so they head to the Temple of Mystra to find as many wizards as they can.

When they arrive, two professors are leading several students— one professor ran away from the college to join the rebellion, and the other replaced them, but it seems they’re all working together now. A student teaches Calum the Glyph spell, while Acantha takes her opportunity to use the Scribe’s Pen to write on Calum’s back while Lieu giggles delightedly. There is some bickering back and forth between Acantha and Grunka, until Yael and Sashi begin checking Atiro out and the two paladins decide they need to join forces to make sure Atiro doesn’t have a threesome with the couple.

Sashi and Yael head to Angel’s Peak to try to commune with Vanziel to make sure she will be present for her part of the ritual, and when they do, another vision occurs. This time, Yael remembers herself as a little kid, running away from something. Terrified, she casts Eldritch Blast on what turns out to be another little girl– a young Acantha. Again, they see the stars fall, and an angel above. Yael thinks it might be Vanziel, but upon reflection thinks it is actually Aselti. When she comes to, Vanziel confirms she will be there for the ritual.

One of the wizards mentioned that there may be more spell components available at Ricky’s, the used goods store that Calum got chased out of the first time he was here. Lieu really wants to go shopping, so she and Grunka look for magic items and fun stuff. Among other things, Lieu finds a Cloak of Many Fashions and also a jar of eyeballs– of which Grunka determines that one is cursed.

They take their finds back to the Temple of Mystra and Orsic identifies the cursed eyeball as the eye of a powerful lich– truly the last thing anyone wants to deal with right now. Orsic trusts Grunka to make sure no shady wizards– or warlocks– get their eyes on it.

Later in the day, the Seekers regroup at the tavern, where a tiny, dragonfly-sized Serula greets Lieu excitedly. Evidently, her large form proved too intimidating for the locals. She and Lieu chitchat while the rest get a table with the Scalebearer. Suddenly, they realize everyone they need is here except for Kallia. Just as they think it, a cat appears and transforms into one of Kallia’s disguises.

As the group talks, a third magical ripple echos, this time taking Serula and the Scalebearer. Whatever the Scalebearer saw frightened him– he saw a memory of his connection with Tyr, where Serula had a memory with an old friend. Kallia confirms that these visions didn’t happen when she did her version of this ritual– either this is due to Aselti’s influence, or whatever Calum intends to do with the spell Mystra gave him is causing strange effects echoing back to the past– which is now the present.

With everyone assembled, Calum builds a magical fortress and Kallia explains the details of the ritual for the uninitiated. A spellcaster of each persuasion, along with Serula, Acantha, and Vanziel, will form a circle and concentrate on the ritual. At least one of the nine participants in the ritual must maintain their concentration for half a minute– 6 rounds– though if they falter, they can muster the effort to rejoin the ritual. If everyone loses concentration on the ritual, it fails and must be reattempted. Also, Aselti’s body will have to be killed, either before or after the completion of the ritual.

Calum checks up on the civilians he has invited into his tower, and ends up speaking with an older gentleman who used to be an adventurer himself and intended to come be of service. Unfortunately, the rest of his party decided not to come and he’s a little old for all this. Calum is talking about ways he could be of service when the man spots Sashi and yells “THIEF!” Turns out this is the same guy who Sashi robbed back in his early days to get his adventuring start. The man stomps off in a huff after Calum points out that his adventuring party probably did similar things in their day.

With lodgings set up, the group discusses battle plan logistics: they will set up a concert stage complete with programmed illusions of Seekers the band performing and dotted with Glyphs of Warding that will heal them throughout the battle and interfere with potential foes.

They go to sleep and have a dream of Aselti: again, they are on Angel’s Peak, and stars are falling. “See you tomorrow,” she says ominously in the black book still in Calum’s possession. When the Seekers wake up they get busy with preparations– Calum making arrows to ward off starspawn, Orsic handing out sunglasses specially made to protect the group from their radiant light. Balasar checks with Sune and determines that the final battle for the fate of the world will begin at dawn the next day.

Orsic approaches Grunka and Calum with an odd rock in his hands. It originated from the Mystral Valley, but he has been experimenting on it with alchemy. Calum posed him an academic question a while ago: what is so special about diamonds that only they can be used to resurrect people? After some experimentation, Orsic believes the rock he offers Grunka could be used as a component for the Revivify spell, albeit with some odd potential side-effects. Grunka pockets it, thanking him for his help. He’s really run himself ragged the last few days.

The rest of the day is devoted to preparations of the glyphs on their stage. Balasar sets up some particularly large healing spells, then requests to be taken back to the army encampments to be with his wife. He says goodbye to the Seekers and exits the stage. Everyone involved in the ritual stays, intending to camp on Angel’s Peak.

Grunka approaches Acantha, realizing she has not had a chance to talk to Atiro yet. She tells her that Atiro has been her friend and ally since Cad’halash, but that he has missed his sister. Acantha scoffs, though she is plainly troubled. She doesn’t know who she and Atiro are anymore. He doesn’t want to go back to the Underdark, and she’s going to rule in it. Atiro would have done anything to leave. “Well,” Grunka says hesitantly. “He would have done anything, short of leaving you behind.” Acantha pauses at this, then scowls, reprimanding Grunka to mind her own business before making a beeline to her brother to have a much-needed talk.

The group settles for bed. Lieu finds her pen and an invisible note from Acantha expressing gratitude for sharing the joke. She also discovers a mustache drawn on her face, which she laughs at and doesn’t remove.

The morning comes. The Seekers get up early to set up their ritual before the sun rises. A circle of chalk, the components they worked so hard to collect, and their hard-won allies. A force from above: Vanziel, the fallen angel. From below: Acantha, the demigod-ruler of the Underdark. And from the realms between: Serula, Queen of the Nixies.

They see the Queen approach from the direction of the rising sun: first one dot, then several, as undead dragons separate in a flock. But the one in the center appears much closer than it is– because the Seekers realize it is enormous. An ancient undead dragon approaches, with body parts cobbled together from various draconic corpses, including multiple heads of various sizes and colors. Riding atop it is the amalgam: Her Majesty, the Queen of Chaos.

Stars begin to fall around them as starspawn appear. The rock they stand on tears itself apart, as the Queen of Chaos takes advantage of the Seekers’ ritual to attempt to tear the barriers between the planes apart herself. Lava flows from the cracks in the rock.

The Seekers prepare for one last battle.

Session Notes 2/8/26

Level 17, part 16

The Seekers are taken to Atiro and Acantha’s old room. It’s been stripped clean– making room for new recruits. Lieu sends a message to Acantha so they can meet. Acantha gives her location and says if anyone gives them trouble, “the Voice bids us there,” and also it’s okay if the Seekers kill people.

In the highest part of the prison tower, Acantha is there in her giant snake form. There’s also the crystal that once contained a dragon body, now broken and empty. Acantha and Atiro are somewhat shocked to see each other– it’s been a while. Acantha dismisses her attendants so that she can “speak to her outside advisors” in private.

Acantha says that most of the Speakers fell in line as soon as she arrived, and the rest are being “worked on.” The previous night, the radiant starspawn assaulted the tower and broke into the crystal. There was a dragon inside, but it didn’t do anything– just fell out, limp. It looked dead at first, but eventually got up and away.

Atiro doesn’t know what to say. Acantha seized power and wants to use it to make the Yuan-ti city “how it should have been.” Atiro doesn’t care about that as much as he does the fact that Acantha ran away, and he only heard about her safety from the Seekers. Acantha shrinks.

Before the siblings can get into it, Calum interrupts, trying to figure out where the dragon’s body might have gone. Calum finds a single white scale– except everyone else sees a different color. There is incredibly powerful illusion magic on the scale, but Yael is able to see that it’s gray. Leira, goddess of illusions, is the one god Calum can remember who wasn’t found after the war. She originally sided with the Queen of Chaos.

Lieu reaches out to ask Balasar if he’s ever heard of a gray illusion dragon. Crystal and gem dragons are mostly found on other planes, and there are dragons associated with aspects of magic, or other forces. Dragons of shadow– and a lot of illusion magic is shadowy and gray. Calum tries to scry on it, but can’t, and a question pops into his head: is an undead creature the same creature as it was when it was living? What about a mindless creature– might that be considered an object, which can’t be scried upon?

While the Seekers chew on that, and decide to see if they can’t track the starspawn, Calum sends a message to Kallia letting her know to arrive at the Mystral Valley soon. Acantha sets her two best advisors on a mission together to try to keep things in order while she’s gone.

Atiro leads the way on the search, with Acantha helping him, falling back into an old pattern. They leave the city and enter the tunnels, where the dragon would have been too big to get through. Atiro comments that he wouldn’t have known to look for footsteps before meeting the other dragons. Calum and Atiro figure out what happened: two starspawn were killed, then another along the line. Ahead, there are some footsteps of someone stepping into the liquified remains. The dragon backtracked quite a bit. The starspawn caught up to the dragon after it got lost. Other starspawn must have caught up with the dragon too– and at that point, there are no more bodies. Which means there was conversation.

With that, the trail comes to a dead end. The Seekers decide it’s about time to head to the Mystral Valley and begin preparations for the battle to come.

Session Notes 2/1/26

Level 17, part 15

Renaith’s human form is much younger than how the other gods they’ve met portray themselves– she looks eighteen where the rest look middle-aged at least. She begins fitting the two of them for another set of outfits. “It gets harder and harder to see after the next few days. Something happens that alters the course of history. It’s a crossroads we can’t come back from. But the last point I can spy involves you.”

She hands over six pairs of knitted stripey socks– Socks of Fate. She asks after the other god bods, and asks to pass a message along to them, that they can visit her if they want to. Yael offers to take her to the palace to meet them, but she demurs.

Back at the palace, Calum finds Orsic and gives him his fancy rocks. They talk a while, then Orsic asks Calum what is going to happen to Iokala. Calum rolls a natural 20 considering this. He doesn’t know. He knows there is no way of knowing. She might be sealed away with the Queen. She might die with her body. But maybe, just maybe, during the moment that Curiosity is torn away, the other pieces might be torn apart as well.

Orsic breaks down in his grief: for his sister and for his dad and for all of this. After a few moments, he stops himself. “I need to make things.”

Meanwhile, Lieu heads over to find Keksal, making stew for everyone. He recruits her to get ingredients. She fiddles with her necklace– the one she got from the drow mummy in the Underdark. Keksal actually worships Lolth. She takes the necklace off and hands it to Keksal, though she is clearly reluctant and on the verge of tears.

“Miss Lieu, I don’t need this.” Lieu is surprised. “The way I worship Lolth is different from what your ancestors did. I don’t need fancy pendants. But Miss Lieu, you’re crying. I appreciate your offer, but I think this is a part of your heritage. You aren’t ready to let it go, you don’t have to let it go. Even if you think it might be better used in someone else’s hands. So long as you want it, it always has its place in your life.”

Lieu cries and says thanks. She also says that it’s a useful component for really high level spells that require a relic, so if Keksal wants to use it as a spell component in the final fight, he can, but she will take it back when it’s all over. They shake on it.

Grunka joins shortly after– she feels guilty about leading the group into the Green Palace, and Lieu staying behind. Lieu isn’t having it, insisting that she made her choice and that Grunka shouldn’t regret hers. Grunka tells her that she was so worried about her, and that she loves her and the rest of the Seekers.

The Seekers regroup, and make plans for the next day. Lieu messages Acantha to let her know she’s alive. Calum looks for Mystra to see if she can help him figure out how to unravel Iokala from the Queen; Mystra indicates that it is possible, though it might help stabilize the Queen.

Everyone heads to bed. Yael and Sashi are alerted by a frantic knock on the door. It’s Iami, and she wants to talk to Sashi. She heads to the Temple of Tyr. “What does this place mean to you?” she asks. “A lot of things. It’s still important,” Sashi says, after a long time of thinking. “Damaged things can heal.” Iami offers a blood sacrifice to the fountain that Sashi once turned to blood.

“Everything I did was for the sake of making you stronger. And a fine warrior you are. But if it caused you pain, I am sorry.”

“It made a great warrior. One whose instincts would keep them going no matter what. It didn’t make me a hero. Traveling, seeing… it hurt, as well. But they did that for me. And sometimes, they need a warrior, too. But I’m glad I’m not just a warrior, because I don’t think that would be enough.”

Iami pats him on the shoulder and then pulls him into the world’s most awkward hug. Sashi makes it a real hug. For all the time he spent with the Archons, he never hated them, only himself. He doesn’t blame her. “I’m proud of you, and all that you’ve accomplished,” Iami says. “I could not have asked for–”

“Don’t say ‘a better student,’ I was a terrible student.”

“You were. I went to bed with a headache almost every night. But you learned.”

“And you helped me survive to be a good person, even if I was a bad student.”

Reality is a lot messier than stories, but reality is still more inspiring. Iami is glad Sashi found his path, even if Sashi could still stand to take things more seriously. She doesn’t know what will become of the Archons, but she counts Sashi as at least one representative of the values. Sashi doesn’t want to abandon the Archons entirely, and asks Iami to be his mentor in that.

“Sashi’imi. I hope you are not thinking of giving up on the world for the Archons.” Sashi denies it. He wants to help the Archons see more of the world, instead.

The next morning, Balasar prepares another feast and casts quite a lot of magical protections on the Seekers. Calum fetches Mystra and Grunka suggests bringing Kindrik to her so they can protect each other, should the Queen of Chaos try any more shit. Mystra is a bit flustered but pleased by this idea, so Calum makes the request. “Misty’s there? Okay,” is all Kendrik says.

About five minutes later the guard at the teleportation circle rushes in– Kindrik is already here. He and Mystra lock eyes. Immediately the energy is charged. Flirtatious? Fond? Complicated? “I hear you’re Kindrik now.” “Not to you.”

Talona walks in and the tension rises again, but Balasar sends her a death glare that says “do NOT ruin this for them.” Talona rolls her eyes and manages only a bit of sarcasm, but then Yael drops the bomb about Renaith. Now all three of the dragons at the table are faced with finding out their fellow god is alive, in some sense, and hasn’t announced herself for thousands of years. 

Kindrik and Mystra agree to go off and come help at opportune moments, though Mystra is still extremely hesitant about it. Talona breaks off to go visit Renaith. The Seekers get distracted chatting about differences in races and childhoods, and eventually realize they’ve gotten distracted and should probably head out to the Underdark, as they were meant to this morning.

Atiro pulls out an old sweater from the Underdark, and Sashi prepares to teleport everyone back to the Underdark.

My new horror series “Session Notes” (The Journal of Dr. Jonathan Braun) … A Memory: A 10-year-old draws a devil in bright red with yellow claws. Father erupts: “Where did you learn this?!” Answer: … “From church, Dad… From the books at church.” The silence that followed was deafening. “You’re not supposed to be drawing what adults draw! You’re just a kid!” … As if spiritual calling recognized age limits. As if Samuel had not heard God’s voice while still a child sleeping in the temple. But that brutal censorship taught me something more valuable … the sacred art of hiding divine revelation within forms that spiritual cowards might accept. Camouflage becomes survival. #SessionNotes #PsychologicalHorror #HorrorWriting #ReligiousTrauma #DarkFiction

Session 2 (3rd day of spring)

JUNE 26 2024 vaals player is not present

we slept in tavern in [[Dry Rock]] called [[fallen gate]]
get caravan [[Quest 2 – escort to hot box]]
towards the town of [[Hot Box]]

Va'al has a migraine and Xeya is staying in caravan

1st day of travel

we pass by our old gnoll fight
the smell of flowers ([[Sing song]] blood)
the smell of rot is still there
caravan stops for the night

1st Night

Bing and sing are on guard
Nat 1 and 11

ROLL INITITIVE
[[Laxnesh]], [[Va'al]], [[Sing song]], [[R! hyena]], [[Bing Bong]], [[Aranay]]

we see 2 rotting hyenas with no ears and bite marks
confirmed they are they same ones we fought

Hyena misses Bing ( surprise round)
sing hits for 6 dmg
lax NAT 20 hits for 8 dmg
Va'al turn undead
sing hits for 6 dmg
Hyena hits Bing for 10dmg
hyena hits sing for 12dmg
Bing as reaction hellish rebuke for 1dmg
Aranay eldritch blast for 9 hp

lax ring of fire misses
Va'al miss with crossbow
sing pushes hyena into fire succeeds
hyena hits Bing
BING IS DOWNED
Aranay misses

lax hits the hyena attacking Bing for 10 dmg
Va'al heals Bing for 14 hp
sing hits for 4 dmg
hyena hits sing for 4 dmg
hyena hits Bing for 13 dmg
Bing thunderwave and shoots hyena up 10 feet and kills it

lax kills the other one

Va'al is paid 2 Gp for caravan trip

sing song makes[[ Purple Grape]] out of blood

OTHER DAYS ARE UNEVENTFUL

we arrive in [[Hot Box]]

¾ goats are not sober

sing song starts selling Purple Grape makes 50GP
we meet [[Layton]] the barkeep, as we stay at the [[Happy Cat Inn]]
Va'al pays
bing plays at inn for 10gp and a bag of drugs
bing sees two bright blue lights
Its [[Solaras ]] the great beastit stops, sniffs and looks directly at us

we sleep

6TH of spring

we misses a double new moon
NEW [[Quest 3]]
clear out [[needle wolfs]] which are non native and should be in the [[forsaken woods
]]
price = ???
we decide to walk
as we walk we talk
laxnesh thinks they are a child

aranay rolls a Nat 1 for perception

AMbUSH

needle wolf attack lax and hits for 5 dmg
needle wolf attacks sing and hits for 4 dmg

INITITIVE
Aranay, sing, needle, lax, Bing

Aranay hits for 5 dmg with eldritch blast
sing hits for 3 dmg
needle hits lax for 14 dmg
lax hits for 16 dmg and disengages
Bing casts healing word and thunderwave 1 is dead

Aranay misses
sing hits for 9 dmg
needle wolf hits Bing for 4 dmg
needle wolf hits sing for 3 dmg
laxnesh misses
Bing casts prestidigitation with a spell slot but misses

Aranay casts chill touch for 6dmg
sing hits with a NAT 20 and its dead
needle hits Bing for 9 dmg
lax throws dagger needle wolf has 1 hp left
Bing bong misses with vicious mockery

Aranay misses
sing misses
needle wolf hits
lax kills it

WE GO BACK TO HAPPY CAT INN

The mayor which is whom we are getting payed by is named [[Stoned Steve ]]
he is 8ft tall very buff and very sweet.

we get 7 Gp each and weed brownies

we recount that the needle wolfs looked starved

NEW QUEST

[[Quest 4 – SAVE SAD STAR VALLEY]]

MAGIC ITEMS COLLECTED
[[sing songs magic handkerchief]]
[[Scimitar +1 musical sword]]

Sesion 1 (1st day of spring)

People Present:
whole party is present

Irl Date: 6/8/2024

we start at the town of [[Dry Rock]]
everyone has a help wanted poster for an adventure
we all interduce ourself before the [[Cap. Gunther]] walks in and interduces himself name was not given.
[[Quest 1 Starter]]
the city has been down on guards, and have had to hire adventures e. some scouts have disappeared, best they can guess it was due to gnolls

party head out

we Hear snapping of twigs and [[Bing bong]], [[Va'al]] and [[Aranay]] see eyes and are the only one who can see them.
Vaal casts light
which are [[Mourners]]
each mourner seems interested in a specific individual
they are approaching
Bing bong casts fairy fire
which hurts them and scares them away the middle one seems to be more interested but does flee. mourner left behind black substance Va-al goes and touches it
it is [[despair]]
Va-al is sobbing
Bing bong helps him

it is 1oclock

we hear sound of battle
we join and roll int
[[Laxnesh]] goes first stealth under caravan not spotted
Va-al bites a [[hyena ]] and kills it (5 dmg)
Hyenas turn: Bing 2 damage, Sing takes 4 damage, it does not hit [[Xeya]], Aranay takes 5 damage
Hyena end turn
Sing Hits with short sword for 4 dmg
Aranay cast firebolt for 2 dmg
Bing casts thunderwave for 8 dmg kills 1 hyena + knocks [[gnolls]] back
lac(held action) nat20 sneak attack for 20 dmg kills gnoll
xeya kills gnoll
lac kills another
Va-al bites Nat 20 and kills
Hyenas turn misses 2x Nat 20 on sing
sing is unconscious
Bing throws healing Aranay gives it to sing
sing is back up
bit hits hyena for 2dmg
lac kills another
Va-al fails at barking

Fight IS over

we get :
36 ears(18gp)
[[enchanted silver ring ]]

it is 3:00
we sleep
we go back to Town

SESSION END

note: this is copied from obsidian so sorry for weird formatting

he’s gonna show back up to his kingdom and live the end of battle tendency

After the last Kickstarter, I only had three Session Awards sets left to sell. I worried they’d sell out right away, and people would be upset. BUT instead no one has bought them at all! 🤷

You just never know anything! I might steal a set for myself…

Session Awards Sticker Set

Albatross in a Crows Nest Notes:

Albatross in the Crows Nest - Google Drive

City of Ghost Sessions 10-12

Ran my players through some more :)

In general the party finished their adventure in the Undercity, journeying to Irene’s old home and finding it haunted - I used the Haunting of Willowby hall with a minor reskin and it thoroughly spooked them. They ran and I allowed it mostly because they tossed the “Golden Goose”. Because the Undercity is just a reskinned Heart: The City Beneath said goose was actually a hellspawn little monstrosity but either way they made it out, with one spellbook as their prize and no money to show.

It was kinda depressing.

On the surface we kicked off personal drama with Ally’s father’s disease progressing, and Cady’s relationship with Zil evolving as Zil specifically tried to get Cady to get rid of a rival Psion called Karlin. It ended with Karlin giving some hard truths about the nature of Cady. The players have not fully clued in to what’s going on here but the drama was delectable.

I ended the session by bringing in the reveal of an outbreak of the Red. The Red is a fungus, that seems to either create or be drawn to the Undead. The players knew it existed and opted not to investigate when it was clear city guards were poking around a building infested with the stuff. So far they know it’s a hive mind/super organism, that is outcompetes most other fungi, and that its makes undead “act funny.”

As of now, an NPC called Ethel, who is a particularly strong willed ghost, has journeyed into the Undercity and now appears able to mass possess any undead connected to the Red.

This, as you might imagine, is bad.

City of Ghosts Session #9

Party has been traversing the Undercity using modified heart rules.

I’ve taken system strain and use it as a stress meter. I roll a d12 and if it rolls under total system strain, roll on a rolltable that uses the Heart fallouts. Sometimes I pick the best, sometimes I roll. Fallout has only occurred once so far and the players are playing it cautious.

This last session had more combat than usual. WWN can be very swingy and I want players to feel like they hit hard and CAN be hit hard. Swarms are dangerous as is. Solo monsters I think need to be hitting with twice their hit die and decent weapons (sorry Cady, you will be one shot).

Full honest, the heart Delve system is not…great. It does not provide a great amount of detail on how to construct a delve and generally I found myself going back to old formulas. I think maybe if I was running it with the Heart classes, whose moves and desires form good ideas for beats in a delve, it might be different. As it stands, C-.

For each Delve I do use the Resistance system but represent it with a Clock. Procedure looks like this:

• Party declares destination and sets out
• Roll survive to not get lost (getting lost results in no progress on the clock)
• Roll notice to spot danger before it spots you

Each segment of the journey, or beat, is usually a paragraph of an encounter I wrote with an optional stat block in case it turns violent. Each beat is usually tied to: a PC backstory or plot, a goal, or a faction.

It is no small feat to prep it all, but if I prep 10 beats I can kinda throw them wherever they make sense. I also have them default to a 1d6 roll against the clock for progress at the end of each beat and so far the Delves have been Resistance 8.

It’s been working really well so far.

Other note: Finally introduced the concept of Though Diseases to my party. This was mostly a way to narrative debuff my Oracle/Though Noble player, who, while weak and easily killed, has seemingly infinite on tap mind reading and future sight. This gives me a convenient way to make her far more cautious and nullify some of the party’s feelings of her character getting away with too much.

Session Notes 11/24/24

Level 15, part 19

The Seekers teleport into the room where Yael has been trapped in a cage, but Acantha is knocked out and Balasar and Sashi take heavy damage. Calum is able to temporarily banish the Grand Mistress, while Balasar buffs the party and attracts a lot of hits. Sashi gets Acantha standing, and she frees Yael, taking the papers with the ritual chant on them. Keksel casts Greater Invisibility on Acantha.

The Grand Mistress cannot get out of Calum’s maze for the life of her. The Seekers successfully kill a blood sacrifice for the ritual, and get to work on the rest of the Yuan-ti. Acantha is able to complete the ritual invisibly before the Grand Mistress even shows up– but she is very conflicted. Many of the Seekers have formed bonds with Acantha– but it’s Keksel, who grew up underground in an oppressive government, who has the chance to reach out to her in her final moments as a humanoid. “You’re not alone. We’re all here to help you.”

“Move forward. In wisdom, and in power.”

Acantha begins to transform. Her arms and legs combine, she sprouts small wings and fangs dripping with venom. She is a 100ft long snake. The Seekers gather around the place where the Grand Mistress will reappear, and Calum releases her from the maze. Acantha and the rest tear the creature apart. After all this violence, Balasar delivers the final blow with a kind of gentleness, in combination with his spiritual weapon in the shape of a black dragonborn– power and wisdom together.

Acantha turns back into a humanoid form– a little different. She has feathers on her back, and snake/avian features, and her limbs are elongated. Her eyes are bigger and glossier. Balasar hands her a mirror.

Acantha looks at the mirror in shock. “We don’t look the same anymore,” she says, talking about Atiro. When the Seekers try to reassure her, Acantha yells at them, asking why they did this. She intended to betray them. She tried to kill them when they first met. Yael shrugs and says Acantha doesn’t get to choose who cares about her. Sashi admits he tried to kill her too, but couldn’t figure out a way to swing it. “Sashi, you’ve always made the most sense,” Acantha cries.

Somewhere in the Green Palace, Lieu reflects on the reason she gave Acantha the directions to the Thieves’ Guild. Knowing that Acantha would feel isolated in her feelings, hoping that she would find people who understood her and let her feel accepted. Lieu never knew if she made the right choice, but now, knowing that Acantha was, in fact, at the Green Palace, working with the Seekers, remembering Orrij ask “we’re not going to leave her, right?”

Lieu thinks she made the right choice.

Calum looks over the remains of the ritual. He finds an ancient prayer hidden in the Grand Mistress’ gullet– “For the Hidden One.” Acantha says it’s heresy, speaking of wisdom and power in many forms, but if it’s here, then it’s not heresy, but the truth.

At this point, the remaining Yuan-ti guards and assassins enter, and Acantha transforms back into her new giant snake form, and hisses: “She no longer commands you. I and my company defeated her. I usurp her position, and under my command, we will usurp the ways in which all of our people have been lied to. We will make for the surface, we will fight the demons, and claim our rightful place in the sun. Is that clear?”

Level up to level 16!

Session Notes 11/17/24

Level 15, part 18

The group sends a message to Sashi again, hoping he will be able to respond and is not dead. He tells them he is blind and bound after being attacked by invisible assassins. The group asks Acantha about the relic. She says it used to be a powerful magic item, but no longer; Calum is able to confirm that it is dormant.

Calum contacts his friend from another plane to gather intelligence, then asks whether it is a piece of Curiosity that he speaks to when he does this. “An eternal echo to those who serve no god. A whispering. A forgotten knowledge. I’ve had many names. And Curiosity was one of them.”

In the morning, Balasar wakes up early and wakes up Acantha– she slashes at him on impulse. He tells her he’d like to cast Legend Lore on the Yuan-ti amulet. She sees a Yuan-ti escaping from underground with it, then passing it along from priest to priest. A strangely long, snakelike dragon takes a scale and hands it to an enormous snake with five heads. “Salonius, use this as a focus for wisdom. May it grant you power. I must go and join my kin. Remember that you are my children. Find strength.” The scale was crafted and connected to a band of gold. It once gave its owners the ability to fly, protection from fear and charm effects.

Acantha thanks Balasar for doing this for her. Balasar asks what she will do with the snake transformation. She says she’ll help fight the demons and then go meet her brother, a good-hearted man. Balasar can tell she isn’t actually certain she’ll go to Atiro, who she has a complicated relationship with, but subtly encourages it. He also tells her he wants her to be happy. Acantha grins and replies that that, at least, will not be a problem. Balasar compliments her scale and she gets embarrassed and wakes the other Seekers.

Yael scries on Sashi. He’s bound with dimensional shackles. Septimus’ mom is with him, scouring through old notes at an ancient altar. Beside them is a huge snake skeleton, meticulously put back together piece by piece.

The Seekers plan to pretend to be manacled– Balasar takes them to the local Temple of Sune to get trick cuffs. Then, the group heads into the secret tunnel that Acantha has found. Septimus’ mother greets her son, delighted to see he has the artifact and ready to begin the ritual. She recognizes Acantha, who apologizes for having “taken so long” to retrieve the relic.

Yael, as Septimus, greets his mother and gets her to drink Balasar’s Philter of Love. “Septimus” tells his mother that he’s made a deal to free Sashi in exchange for the relic. Instead, Yael says that another guard is a traitor and will work as a blood sacrifice. The Seekers are escorted out of the chamber, and Yael talks to Septimus’ mom– who says that the way she got to power was to give up all weaknesses including love. Yael realizes something is off about this– the Bearer sends inspiration helping her see the truth, and the truth is that Septimus’ mom is definitely going to kill him as soon as the Philter wears off.

Keksel disappears from the group and sets the snake guards on edge. A man in a cloak dashes past, saying “I bring news.” He announces that Septimus has been arrested, and is very confused to see Septimus in the ritual room. Yael manages to convince the messenger that Septimus must be an imposter, but she doesn’t quite convince Septimus’ mom. Yael gets Hold Person cast on her.

City of Ghosts Session #7

After dangling an NPC (Sir Tristan) in front of them for weeks, the party has finally met one of my best pieces of work. Additionally we are burning through downtime at an excellent pace. The last couple sessions have covered the events of a couple weeks, which is fine by me.

The next segment I will be running them through a modification of Heart: The City Beneath. I’ve hacked WWN System Strain into stress, made some numbers tweaks, shaved off the deadliness a bit, and we’ll see how it runs. I think it’s actually going to be really really fun.

After summoning the spirit of Ethel, Starlight’s lover, the party is faced with a strangely red tinted specter. Ethel seems aggressive, but when she passes into the aura of Murdrus’ protection from possession and feeds on Star, she calms down. She does, however, talk somewhat enthusiastically about the City Below, how beautiful and red it is, and filled with teeth.

The party finds this offputting, even Star, but ask their questions. Murdrus asks where the Von Wiess estate is, and Cady asks about the door to Sterling’s lair. They get vague (but more useful than they realize) descriptions.

After this the party entered downtime.

Wanting to make good on their deal with the Crimson Daggers, Ally reached out to Cady and the girls went to Star to see about spying on Sir Tristan, one of the inner circle of Blackthorn’s ruling government.

They find him at the Magistrate’s office, making judgements and hearing complaints. He is in full plate armor, that he never takes off even in Cady’s vision, and he takes Goat Theft and Tax fraud very seriously. After posing a fake crime (egging of houses) to speak to him, he calls them on it and they leave.

They then tail him, confirming he does not take off the helmet and feeds stray kittens.

Meanwhile Meta calls on Cornelia for an afternoon visit. They talk necromancy and work life balance, and Cornelia invites him to join the Inheritors, only for him to decline.

Murdrus, whose been watching her, sees the meeting and breaks into Cornelia’s home. He finds her flush with magic items, but her security, while subtle, is omnipresent. He leaves her place untouched, even the mirror he knows is a portal to the Inheritor’s headquarters.

Finally, once they have done everything they needed, the party gathers to head into the Undercity.

Every time I read my session journal, I get feelings.

Like the unholy kind of feelings, as in I WANNA MURDER FICTIONAL FOLKS

Session Notes 10/27/24

Level 15, part 17

Septimus is quickly captured by the guards. The Seekers get the code word to tell the assassins to call off their contracts for the remainder of the day. He wanted the conjuration professor returned from the front lines in order to have her look over a ritual he is working on, which will transform a body into a “perfect” body. He wants to use an ancient Yuan-ti ritual to transform himself into a snake demigod.

He needed to locate or recreate a Yuan-ti artifact and make a few blood sacrifices. The artifact must be valuable and contain some form of biological material. The bird snake lady that chased down Yael will be in charge now– she’s Septimus’ mother. She also tried to do this ritual, but her attempt failed.

The Seekers are escorted to the palace to have their audience with the Empress. Upon viewing her, Yael can see that she is, in fact, a polymorphed dragon; it seems that legend is real. After telepathically interrogating Septimus, she casts Power Word Pain on him, ultimately sending him “down below” for further punishment.

Then, she asks the Seekers what they want from her. They explain that they need a sorcerer for the ritual to seal away the Queen of Chaos. The Empress assigns the Bearer to the task. She grants each of the Seekers a draconic boon, then dismisses them.

The Seekers, now plus the Bearer, return to their hotel rooms and meet Acantha. They explain that they have to save Sashi from the ritual, and propose that they use the ritual that is already there to make Acantha a giant snake instead of Septimus. Acantha reveals that the amulet she took from the Green Palace is actually the missing part of the ritual: a Yuan-ti relic with sufficient age and value.

DND TODAY AHHHH

> multiple people trying (and failing) to explain how sex works to Raja

> clandestine action that will Likely Have Consequences later

> merrigold being super cute and wholesome, rygore being a trashfire, badger being a college kid, rishana being a troll

> Patri trying his best and being hella cute and admitting some feelings 🥺

> “only one bed” trope, immediately made worse

Session Notes: City of Ghosts

Going into session 4 of this game.

WWN is beginning to feel better? The system is fitting better, things are turning. Specifically I’ve made some adjustments to crafting that are beginning to be capitalized on. The base info is good if a little pricey, so I’ve simply made renown a more active currency and really leaned on the “well you can cut cost/time if you adventure for it” and it feels good.

Additionally balancing is getting easier. There’s an innate logic to what the game wants to allow players to do so I’ve found it super simple to homebrew magic items, rituals, and encounters in a way that blends pretty seamlessly with the ongoing adventure.

I do find I am leaning heavily on other system knowledge to invent rulings on the fly - things like deepening the disease rules to make an upcoming disease a real ongoing campaign threat, chase rules, etc - but I mostly feel confident in these things and maybe I don’t need as many rules as I has originally feared.

Have you seen this Floon?

Coming up to the Guard we had passed earlier, Saget and Hollis questioned us. We told them we’d found Renaer in the hideout and confirmed that we killed the kenku, but that the Zhentarim were already dead when we got there.

Assad: “What’s a kenku?”

Saget looked super tired and wasn’t mad about the Xanathar Guild and Zhentarim beating each other up, so he let us be, since Renaer vouched for us.

Alec, a guard stationed further south, screamed, looking scared down the alley, saying a small creature snarled at him and went down an open manhole. Saget sent Alec and Hollis down the sewers to investigate and told us to leave.

We went toward Spices Street, which was close by, and Renaer stayed with us in the hopes of finding Floon.

We found the Half Stout restaurant, which is across from a bar. The door of the restaurant was closed, but Xander used Misty Step to get inside and open the door for everyone.

Nice!

-3- was the last to go inside and got spotted by a drunk halfling who is peeing on the side of the building. He passed out, though.

The restaurant is modest, but looks well-cared for. A little too nice to be in the Dock Ward.

Cassius checked the pantry, but didn’t find anything interesting in there. Xander headed down the stairs. The walls were covered in grafitti. He steps on a creaky step, but no one seemed to notice.

We opened the door to the cellar, and it turned out to be near the Xanathar prison where Xander and I were held.

In the cellar, a 4’ rat attacked us. It bit Cassius, and -3- dealt it the final blow. The bite feels warm to Cassius, and neither -3- nor Holly could heal him. It looks like this is a curse.

The body of the rat reverted into a halfling. Assad picked up 5G from the body and gave it to Cassius.

The layout looked familiar and I was able to get to the goblin lookout closer to the cells. I was able to take out a sleeping goblin guard, pointing out the door to the cells to Xander.

Most of the group went inside to the cell room. Holly grabbed the keys from the fallen goblin and opened a cell where one of the Zhentarim agents that helped me escape is locked.

I ask him about what was on the other side of the double-doors on the right side of the room on the day they escaped and he said that it looked like a ball with tentacles.

No, thank you. No, thank you. No, thank you. No.

There was nothing else in the cell room other than the doors, so we went toward where the other sentry was stationed.

I managed to get the other sentry goblin, but another goblin came through and beat up -3- pretty bad. Going into the room and through a hallway on a higher level that crosses the water, Xander and I found a trapped chest.

I managed to open the chest without activating the trap (for once!) and found our things and a little extra beside! I kept a really beautiful bracer that had some daggers embroidered on it and Xander kept some magical paper.

There was a door past the chest and came through the west side of the room. 2 more doors were on the east side, one toward the north, and one toward the south. In the room, a pile of wooden furniture was in front of the north door, guarded by a duergar and a bald human with eyes tattooed on his head.

The duergar was so mad that we were there, but didn’t really explain what was going on. Trying to hit him, Cassius, Xander, and Holly hit the wood barricade and door instead, burning it down.

A gray ooze came out from behind the barricade to join the fun.

Xander grappled the human while he was trying to escape, but he ended up running away after we defeated the duergar and the ooze.

I misty stepped past the human to get through the other door and found Floon in the room down the hallway. He was kneeling at the feet of a half-orc, and surrounded by 2 goblins, a mind flayer, and an intellect devourer.

NO, THANK YOU! NO, THANK YOU! NO, THANK YOU!!!

While we’re battling the half-orc, the mind flayer goes past the double-doors into the room with the cells and disappears.

We managed to kill everything else and -3- laid hands on Floon to cure him.

I found the half-orc’s spell book on him. Xander found 100G and 2 healing potions under the throne where the mind flayer was.

Renaer ran to Floon and apologized for getting him caught up in this mess.

Going back into the room with the cells, we noticed the pedestal in the middle of the room was gone. Hollycover, Assad, and Xander pull a lever in the corner, bringing the pedestal back, but were unable to trigger anything else.

In the room where we found Floon, -3- found a small entrance behind some wood panels, and a corridor that appeared to have been dug out. -3- went through, then Assad, who got briefly stuck, but -3- managed to pull him out. Everyone else made it through without any issues. The corridor ended at a basement.

2 halflings (a man—Peabody—and a woman) appeared on the other side of a door, looking scared and confused.

We explained that we didn’t mean any harm and let them know that their basement is connected to the sewers, asking them to take care of the corridor. We pay them 1G and they let us out, offering us some tea on the way.

We went back to the Yawning Portal and Bonnie arranged for our rooms. Assad already has a room paid for a fortnight. Hollycover, Argan, and -3- share a room. Cassius got a room on his own. Xander and I shared, since we don’t need as much sleep as the others.

Once everyone was settled, Assad asked for a plate of cheese to be delivered to Cassius. Cassius could smell the cheese through the door…

Xander stayed up for a while studying from the spellbook I’d found earlier.

Taverns, Hideouts, and Dives

We had all split up that night agreeing to meet up with Volo at the Yawning Portal at sunset.

ALT

Cassius had gone early to the My and Glitz with a tarp that Sister Margat gave him to repair the broken window / door.

My gave Cassius a tailored leather jacket with a cloth hood meant to hide his horns, offering him a partnership in the shop, which he accepted excitedly.

He managed to get off early from his shift in the shop when he mentioned meeting with Volo, leaving My shocked / impressed.

ALT

-3- invited Hollycover to go pick up something at Father Giuseppe’s house that he left for him there. Argan and Xander tagged along.

His house was a few blocks from the temple. It’s a humble home, but well-constructed. Not something a poor man would own.

The note Father Giuseppe left told -3- to open the chest in his bedroom. In it, they found: clothing, wristbands similar to Holly’s, an old and blunt but well-made sword (likely from the priest’s adventuring days), and a handy haversack.

-3-, Holly, Xander, and Argan are unable to read the writing on the wristbands.

Xander is fascinated by -3- and asks if he can experiment on him.

-3- explains that he doesn’t know who made him or why, that Father Giuseppe found him as he is, and that he would be OK with experiments as long as they’re not destructive.

The bag works like a bag of holding. To get an item out of it, you think of what you want to take out as you’re reaching in. There was a walking stick and 20G inside the bag already.

Everyone went back to the temple for Father Giuseppe’s funeral. Various people attend and speak kind words.

-3- had given the money that Father Giuseppe had received from Dalakhar the previous day to Sister Margat. He’s not sure what the amount was.

ALT

I decided to stop by my room after being away for so long to close my account and pick up my things: adventurer’s pack, a change of clothes, and my jeweler’s tools. Not sure I want to stick around where the Xanathar Guild know where to find me.

ALT

We met up at the Yawning Portal at sunset. A lady in white looked up at us as we came in, but went back to her drink.

There was a group of 4 raggedy people near her table. One of them was bald and has eyes tattooed all over his head. They started singing a drinking song:

Deep and dark down below,
where only fools and braggarts go,
where monster roam and dangers mortal,
few survive the Yawning Portal,
stand your ground or ring the bell,
and hope you make it up the well!

A leonine warrior (Assad) was on the 1st floor, having a drink and taking in the sights.

A drunk guy, hearing the song, threw something at the bell near the bar and headed toward the portal.

Volo is near his table. He greeted us and motioned us to go upstairs to the second floor.

One of the Portal’s workers, Bonnie lowered the drunk guy into the Undermountain.

Volo bought us all a round, but after a few minutes the bell suddenly started ringing and the drunk guy was getting pulled back up, followed by 5 or 6 stirge and a troll.

ALT

ALT

We all stepped up to get rid of the monsters while Volo hid under the table. Notable moments:

• -3- dashed down the stairs with his bag, drawing a short sword and a buckler from the bag.
• I stayed by the second floor railing and managed to shoot down a stirge with the crossbow I’d gotten the day before. Cassius commented on what a good shot it was… Fuck.
• Holly jumped from the second floor and fell on a table.
• Assad chopped off the troll’s arm and got covered in troll blood.
• Durnan’s just playing around with this troll. Absolutely destroys it with a 4-attack flurry looking bored. Note to self: don’t fuck with Durnan.

After the troll died, Durnan pushed it down the portal and the remaining stirge followed it: an easy meal.

Volo called us all back up to the table, inviting Assad too. He offered each of us 10G to hear him out and all of us accepted.

He said he needs help finding Floon Blagmaar, his friend who has been missing for 2 nights. They had been out drinking in a Dock Ward tavern (the Skewered Dragon), and he had not seen him since. He tried speaking to his wife, but he said she was kind of stupid and too worried to share any information.

If we’re able to find Floon or information on where he is, Volo will give us 100G each. We agreed to help.

Xander asked whether Volo knows the halfling restaurant he remembers being sold in. Volo uncomfortably shared he is likely looking for a restaurant in Spices Street in the Dock Ward.

ALT

After agreeing to help, we all went to the Dock Ward and found the Skewered Dragon. All the houses near it are leaning against each other and looked really ramshackle.

The Skewered Dragon is a dive. The building looks like it’s falling apart and one of the windows is broken. The bar was full of sailors and a bard with a violin was passed out in the corner.

One of the sailors was feeling chatty and told us about seeing Floon in the bar 2 days ago with Renaer Neverember.

They left around 1 AM with Floon drunker than Renaer heading west toward the docks, and were followed out by 4 humans. One of them was bald and had tattoos on his head.

Xanathar Guild…?

I was trying to get a bit more information from the barkeep and the chatty sailor, when Assad flat out asked about the suspicious people and where they came from and the barkeep kicked us all out.

Out on the street we headed west toward the dock and passed by a group of the Guard arresting some people who were in a fight (with some dead bodies lying on the street). One of the men being arrested is the Zhentarim agent who ran away from the temple. I made eye contact and we recognized each other, but walked past.

We passed by the Old Xoblob Shop where everything is purple and there was a purple beholder plushie in the display window. At the same time, a gnome (Xoblob?) is exiting the shop, about to close.

He seemed tired, so I offered to walk with him while we talk. Xoblob mentions he saw 2 nobles get attacked 2 nights ago, both with red hair. Once he reached his apartment, around the corner, he got very scared of us as we kept asking questions and ran inside.

In the alley, Xander found the unicorn amulet Volo told us Floon wears, covered in mud. As we investigated more, he found a small blue pearl lying on the ground and we came through a small alley to what appeared to be abandoned warehouses.

Near the closest warehouse, a winged serpent symbol was attached to a tree…

Everyone decided to investigate the very obvious Zhentarim hideout but only -3- and I were the only ones concerned by this development…

There were dead Zhentarim agents throughout the building, with several smaller closed off rooms near the entrance. Each room had a single rat inside. We got rid of them as we looked. Looting the bodies, Xander found a dagger and gave it to me. I added it to the dagger and buckler -3- had given me earlier, as I was still without my things.

As we headed further inside, Holly cast thaumaturgy to let anyone and everyone in the area know that there are priests of Ilmater here to help.

No, announcing our presence is a wonderful idea! I loved this! What if I just die?

Thankfully, no one responded from inside, and no one seemed to hear or care outside.

Wandering deeper inside, 4 kenku attacked us in the main room. We killed most of them, but Assad got pretty badly hurt in the process.

He was able to grapple the last kenku, who pleaded for mercy.

We tried reasoning with them and we learn that they were sent by the Xanathar Guild and that the group came from the sewers. I tried to convince them to tell us where the sewer entrance was, but he was too scared of Xanathar and said they have nothing left to live for. We killed their family…

There was a cubby under the stairs and Xander, Argan, and I found Renaer Neverember inside, gagged and handcuffed. I borrowed Cassius’s sewing needle and managed to get the handcuffs off.

Holly asked for the handcuffs to restrain the kenku and give Assad a break.

Renaer told us he was taken by the Zhentarim because they thought he knew the location of the dragons hidden by his father. (He does not.)

Assad asked for Holly’s permission and dealt the final blow to the remaining kenku while the rest of us investigated the warehouse.

We found Renaer’s locket. It’s about the size of an eyeball, open and empty. He was not aware that it opened. It was a gift from his father after his mother’s death.

Is the eye that Baharn asked Cassius to sew into his shoulder what was in the locket? Did the gnome from the temple take it?

Xander found a hidden cache behind a wall that had 10 lbs silver ingots and 4 fine paintings of Luskan, Neverwinter, Silverymoon, and Baldur’s Gate.

I carefully cut out the paintings from their frames and -3- allowed us to store the loot in his bag.

We get out of the hideout, Renaer grabbing a short sword from one of the dead bodies. We take him to speak to the Guard and take a short rest.