Session 41: Panic! at the Rodeo (February 29, 2024)
Last session, our heroes continued their confrontation with the infamous TK. Receiving advice from Heph to “keep it simple, no lies”, Maho gave a brief and limited account of the encounter in Frau Bino’s Excellent Casino, leaving out how the fire was started, how Mandel was knocked out, why she ended up fighting Central Command, and how Heph and Elias fit into all this. She said two guards were the only people who could associate her with Mandel (and thus with TK himself), cleverly avoiding mention of the drunk man who saw her accost Mandel. Heph and Elias took the blame for the fire, and Heph said that Maho was mistakenly lumped in with that duo after they blew a hole in the wall. Elias also made some attempt to loop TK into his smuggling operation.
TK informed Maho that she was fired, and could no longer be associated with him. She would remain alive, as she still had a use. Her father Joerg would also have to move out of his house by the end of the day. Maho in response decided to finally confront TK about the Lucien Blinds and his deals with Sentin Thornwillow. TK smiled, but deflected by saying he was maintaining a diversified portfolio to ensure the success of his business. Maho responded that he had a “shit business”, to which he indicated his manor and responded that he thought he was doing pretty well.
The party left Sender Manor, Karrl remaining to observe if anything interesting would happen while they were gone. On the way back to Tap That Glass, Heph asked whether the prophesy Elias received from the proprietor of the Widow Seer may have been about Ash, shaking him slightly. They arrived to Barth just finishing up the masks, with Joerg and the guards still present in the basement. Maho explained the situation to Joerg, and while trying to figure out next steps, felt a warmth coming from her pack. She pulled out the crystal ball that once belonged to the Widow Seer herself. It shone with a light that blinded everyone else in the room, but to Maho it was as if it illuminated a previously-unknown space before her. She saw comfortably through the light a building, the Museum Arcanum, and felt beside her an older feminine presence, protective but sad.
- The vision fades, and Maho asks if anyone else saw that
- Heph responds that he saw a blinding light, and Maho explains the vision
- Maho suggests that we stop by the museum briefly
- Elias suggests that Maho’s dad could go back to Ivalgo, and the group decides to bring Maho’s dad to Morty and Spraus
- Barth has finished the masks Maho had asked for, and gives them to Maho
- Elias shows him the porcelain masks again, he thinks they are simplistic, but stumbles over the words because he is new to common
- Joerg puts the mask on, and puts his glasses on top of the mask
- Maho changes out of the pegasus costume and dons the mask
- The group heads to The Free Ride
- It is a single story wooden building with saloon doors
- Elias bursts through the doors dramatically
- People are not super interested in him, he asks where the bull is, but clearly sees it to the left side of the bar
- There is a person riding it, and the guy riding it gets thrown off and lands on a table
- Elias immediately rushes to the bull, Heph walks in and also is immediately distracted by the bull and heads over there
- Elias cuts the line for the bull, and hears a relieved sigh behind him, and he sees Spraus in line waiting to go
- Elias backs off and drags Spraus to the bull first
- Heph is so absorbed by the bull that he doesn’t notice Spraus or Morty
- Maho gets her dad settled at a table, people notice her mask but don’t seem to pay much attention to Joerg
- Spraus begins riding the bull, and he manages to hang on briefly
- As it speeds up he loses his grip, but Elias uses Mage Hand to help him out, flattening him to the bull
- He lasts for a while, but eventually loses his grip and slides off the bull
- Heph determines the bull is not entirely magic, but has some slight magic to it, but can’t figure out exactly how it works yet
- He notices his dad fall down, and snaps out of his trance
- Heph asks Mort and Spraus to help get Joerg back to Ivalgo and find him a space
- Mort offers to take the whole house, and Heph asks Spraus if the empty lot is still there, and suggests Mort just dump the whole house in that lot
- Elias tries to ride the bull, but is instantly thrown off of it, sliding off the other side after he leapt on
- Mort strikes a deal with Maho to take care of her dad in exchange for a favor later
- Mort thinks Maho would be good at the bull, and she explains she is banned because of a scheme TK hired her for to sell free rooms to people
- Mort gives Maho a sticky lollipop head thing in response to her mentioning she’s now unemployed, saying it will hopefully tide her over, and then heads over to get Joerg to ride the bull
- Elias mutters to himself about the stupid bull
- Maho suggests Heph give it a try, to see if he can earn a free room
- Heph also immediately falls off, his armor dragging him straight off
- He takes off his armor to try a second time, and manages to hang on for a while, but flies off
- Maho grabs him, spins, and shotputs him back at the bull
- Heph uses his utility seatbelt to make a hammock, which catches him, and he is just along for the ride for the rest of the bull ride
- The bull eventually slows to a stop, Heph stands up on the bull and everyone cheers
- The bartender gives Heph a nod of approval, and Heph heads over to the bar to get his free room, the bartender gives him a piece of parchment that says “One Free Ride”
- Heph puts his armor back on, and Elias is sulking by the door
- Heph and Maho go ahead to head to the museum, Elias stays behind and makes eye contact with Mort
- He motions Mort to stay silent, then draws a card, and illusory bandits appear and the whole place erupts into panic
- The bandits have money bags with the letter G with a line through it on them
- Hearing the excitement, Maho asks if someone else is winning, and Elias responds “yes”
- The group approaches the Museum Arcanum, which is a modern stone building that
seems out of place in this world
- Maho pulls out the orb, and feels that feminine protective presence again, with more familiarity she starts to recognize it as a parental presence
- Maho senses a figure next to her, which gestures for her to continue in, and the figure appears to be the Widow Seer, the shopkeeper’s Mom
- Heading into the museum, there isn’t a large crowd, but a teenage elf wearing a uniform is manning the front desk
- He is the tour guide, and we all pay one gold to get into the museum
- He takes us on a tour through the room of unknown magical artifacts
- The room of unknown artifacts has glass cases along the wall, but not all of
the objects are in cases
- First Melvrin points at a glittery cloak, and calls it the Shroud of Mesmerization, which can turn you invisible, control minds, and enact telekinesis
- Heph thinks it is unrealistic that scholars haven’t narrowed down at all what the thing can do
- He next points us to The Unknowable Pants (they look like lederhosen), which he says will allow you to lift heavy objects
- Heph thinks the pants are just cheap costume pants, and grant no abilities
- Maho asks if the giants made them, and Elias asks why they aren’t giant if the giants made them, and the tour guide seems stumped for a bit
- From what Elias can tell, he is speaking from knowledge, and not just making stuff up
- Next, Melvrin points us as the Cipher of Maimon, a scroll that Maho notices is written in giant
- Melvrin claims it is a spell that can rewrite reality, but Maho sees it is titled as “The Naked Now” and it appears to be a rough draft of a theater production about the crew of a ship that encounters a stranded ship, find the crew of the stranded ship to be dead, and the crew of the ship all end up falling ill and a construct man fucks in it
- The author’s name is someone Maho recognizes, with the last name Hojo, a sibling of someone she knows
- Melvrin finally points us at the Fell Switch, a wooden handle covered in leather with 3 leather tails coming off of it, which they believe is an ancient weapon forged by the gods
- Heph feels like he’s heard of an item like this before, but can’t quite place it
- Melvrin wraps up his spiel, and Elias claps excitedly
- Melvrin asks for a tip, and Elias gives him a shiny rock from the magpies
- He seems disappointed, expressing interest in going to Arkos
- Heph asks him why he’s interested, and finds he really wants to go see ACE
- Elias steals the pants, and Heph tries to cast identify on the switch, but Melvrin notices Heph
- Elias successfully steals the pants and puts them on, they fit surprisingly well
- Maho and Melvrin are now discussing the armor styles of the combatants
- Elias steals the cloak, and Heph identifies the switch while they continue conversation
- Maho explains her favorite costume was Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter
- Heph realizes the switch is a Tentacle Rod, and messages Elias to come snag that as well, and Elias steals that too
- Melvrin asks Heph to say his catchphrase, he says “It’s Hammer Time” and launches lightning at the mannequin, the guy notices the cloak is missing, and notices Elias is wearing the cloak and the pants
- Heph puts out the fire, and Melvrin asks for us to leave, return the artifacts, and give him an autograph, not in that order
- Elias starts to leave without returning them, and both he and Heph sign his flier
- Melvrin goes to call the guards, and Elias slams the door of the Sending cabinet shut to stop him
- Maho uses a rune in her mask to get him to let us leave, and we walk out, Elias stealing the scroll for good measure
- Back in the lobby, the group sees the entrance to the Gnomish Tinkering and
Magic of the Natural World
- We head into gnomish tinkering, Maho and Elias notice a painting above the timeline depicting a gnome that looks a bit like Heph
- Maho also notices an accessory on the gnome’s wrist that looks just like Heph’s bracer
- Heph knows this gnome to be Leo the Grammarcist, but can’t really see the resemblance
- While Heph is looking back and forth between the painting and his bracer, Maho and Elias see Melvrin heading towards them, and wave at him
- He seems a bit off, Heph thinks they may have damaged him
- The group decides it’s not worth hanging around, and leave him standing there waving at us
- Elias runs back and grabs the painting before he leaves
- He cuts the painting out of the frame, rolls it up, and stashes it
- He then walks into Fantasy JoAnn Fabrics and tries to sell the frame, and trades the frame for a bag of googly eyes
- We decide to go get Joerg’s stuff, Maho and
Heph heading to the house and Elias going to
Barth’s to get Jarles
- Karrl returns, and relays images of various groups coming and going from TK’s manor
- There are all sorts of people that come by, the majority seem to be poorer, and the poorer people seem to take longer to get let in, if they’re let in at all
- Elias heads to Barth’s, where he gets Jarles back, the sapphire is gone and it’s a regular sword now
- Barth asks Elias to keep Maho and her father safe, and Elias says he can’t promise that, and then leaves
- Elias heads to the house, where Heph and Maho have been packing up the books, papers and other personal effects
- Heading back to The Free Ride, there are very few people, and
Mort is just riding the bull on a tame setting
- Mort heads to his room, Heph redeems his free room and lets Elias and Spraus stay with him
- Maho pays for a room for herself and Joerg, Charvey acts big like he could take Maho and she better watch herself
- Maho makes a threatening noise, and he scampers away
- Heph mixes up the solution to make the text visible, and Elias works on a secret project that he hides from Heph