Session 43: The one with the imminent nuclear explosion (March 28, 2024)
Last session, our heroes prepared for bed in the Free Ride, a cheap tavern in Fischer’s Hearth in Eken. Heph used his alchemy supplies on the piece of paper retrieved from General Angst Störung’s desk, revealing it to be an arcane schematic for a Lucien Blind. The details were precise but rushed, as if the symbols had been jotted down in a short period of time. Even more strange were a number of figures that were not familiar to Heph, although their runic nature was evident to Maho upon seeing them.
Elias, who had been busy at work with his purchase from Fantasy JoAnn Fabrics, pulled out Jarles, who now had two googly eyes affixed to his hilt. They blinked, and in surprise Jarles discovered that he could now see more clearly, and in color! Taking the opportunity to bribe him with even more eyes, Elias asked him who he thought Heph was. Jarles said that initially he thought he was Leo the Grammarcist, a figure who his companion Zilyana Valric had tried to keep him safe from. Jarles didn’t seem as cautious about Heph anymore, and they discussed the history of elven Soul Blades and gnomish oragasts, and how the practice of infusing an object with a soul was outlawed in Homeburr. Heph resolved to learn more about it at the library. Elias helped Maho put some googly eyes on her sword, laid Jarles to rest in the bed, then climbed out the window to sleep on the roof while Heph retired to his hammock and Maho return to her room with Joerg. They spoke briefly about plans for keeping Joerg safe, and how it may be nice for Maho to visit him in Ivalgo, and then drifted off.
Elias woke up to Isabella Isabelli staring at him. She said the party left Wildeport without telling her, so she hopped on a boat and found them here. Elias felt she was hiding something, and that combined with Jarles saying he had seen her near the site of Rormir’s disappearance made him cautious. He brought her down into the room, where she met Maho, asking whether she was a new Devotee of the Heavenly Cap.
Despite Isabella’s eagerness to continue on to Bad Zamdorf, the party went to the Eken Institute to make use of the library there. They met the woman working the information desk, who informed them they would need a student ID or other paperwork to access the library. Never to be deterred by bureaucracy, they headed that way anyway, using Isabella to distract the attendant with facts about deserts as they walked in dressed as scholars. Elias noticed that Isabella’s awkwardness seemed to be an act, and that behind it was a seamless confidence. He also noticed that she scratched at her ear fairly often.
The party set about studying. Heph found a couple-century-old biography of Leo the Grammarcist, which explained how he joined the gnomish movement that opposed creation of oragasts because of their poor quality of life and lack of agency. He also found mention of Leo’s bracer, which was passed down along generations up to a number of names Heph recognizes from his mother’s side of the family. Elias found a book on Zilyana, which said she was known for her skill at weaving spells through song, and that she had made several Soul Blades throughout her life, a fact Jarles was unaware of. A bit of a wild spirit, she traveled much, adventuring for a time in the Haden Desert before making her way to Mavern.
Maho set about looking for books on fortunetelling and picture books of legendary weapons. She ended up finding more stories by Ami Hojo, uncategorized in a corner. But she also came across Isabella on the upper level of the library, reading a book on binding spells and mind control. Upon noticing Maho, her face softened from intense focus to relaxed affability. In her inner robe pocket was a piece of paper, covered in even black writing and scattered across with words and symbols in red ink. At the bottom was a signature, the first two letters “H” and “e” visible outside her pocket. She looked at Maho and said “I didn’t expect to see you up here. Let’s talk about what you saw.”
- On the second floor, Maho and Isabella are talking
- Maho asks for clarification what she saw, and Isabella seems to relax a bit, realizing that Maho doesn’t really know what she wasn’t supposed to see
- Maho saw the papers, but deceives Isabella into thinking she didn’t see anything weird
- Maho explains she is up there to look for books on fortune telling and books on legendary weapons
- Isabella points her a few aisles over to find a book on legendary weapons
- Maho can’t tell exactly what the papers she saw are, but from what she knows of runes it seems like it’s related to magic in some way
- The aisle Maho is going to is labeled “Magical Artifacts and Legendary Weapons”
- Maho finds some interesting stories from the Haden desert, one is the legend of Zora, a human hero who fought giants in the desert
- Zora’s Furrow is said to have been plowed by her sword as she walked across the desert
- Her sword did not have any googly eyes
- Some weapons historically have gained magical enchantments through interactions with other objects
- Maho sees Isabella put the book she was looking at on a table and lay the paper from the cloak behind it, and she starts muttering to herself and studying the two objects together
- After 10 to 15 seconds, the paper seems to start smoking, and Maho
approaches her and asks her if everything is alright since she smells smoke
- Isabella seems surprised, and asks if something is on fire
- Maho asks her if she leaves a sword out to get struck by lightning if it’ll turn into a lightning sword
- Isabella charms Maho (Charm Person) to prevent her from asking too many questions about the papers, and invites her to sit down
- Maho agrees, and sits down to look at the book she found with too many words and not enough pictures
- Isabella pulls out the paper again, semi-concealing it behind the book, and smoke begins to rise again
- Maho sees the smoke, and asks about it again, and Isabella claims it is incense
- Maho, now charmed, doesn’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be incense
- The smoke thickens, the paper curls, and it starts to heat up
- The paper suddenly combusts in a burst of flame, leaving a few pieces behind
- Downstairs, Heph feels a sudden change in his thoughts, like an
external force is influencing his thoughts to head in a certain direction
- He hears a voice in his head that says “Act in support of Sentin Thornwillow’s goals and do not act in opposition to him.”
- The words feel binding, and Heph feels a compulsion to act in accordance with the instructions, and thinking about disobeying them makes him feel like he is approaching a source of heat or energy
- Elias notices a flash of light on the upper level, and he and Heph notice each other looking up
- They come together and Elias asks if Heph saw the light, Heph didn’t but tells Elias about the force he felt in his mind
- Elias asks where Maho is, and neither of them know, and think they should find her
- Isabella says she must have run out of incense, and Maho doesn’t
see any additional fire
- Maho explains that the previous time there was fire it ended with a hole in a building and someone dying
- Isabella excuses herself and leaves, and she says she’ll catch up later when we leave the library
- Heph and Elias notice her coming down the stairs, and at the same time Heph realizes it was Isabella’s voice he heard
- Elias moves to intercept her before she leaves the library, and
casts Charm Person
- She resists the spell, sighs, says well I guess now is the time, waves her hand, and stone starts grinding upstairs
- Maho sees a lion statue lift its head and roar
- Heph bolts closer to Isabella, and tucks in behind a bookshelf
- The readers look up in confusion, but don’t move yet
- Maho sees various statues come to life and begin to move, and calls out to Marka Pola (a reader) to ask if this is normal, and he says he thinks it’s a joke
- The statues look hostile to Maho, so she runs up to a statue of a cloaked praying man and smacks it for 11 bludgeoning damage, feeling a thin but absorbent layer of some sort of magical shell around the statue
- Maho suggests Marka get out of there, and activates giant’s might to grow in size, and smacks the statue again with her maul for 9 more damage
- The statue now looks bloodied, like it is grimacing
- Elias flourishes his cloak, points at Isabella, and shouts “Guards! Stop! Thief!”
- Four of the readers, Gino, Saul, Mary, and T.L. yell at her and tell her to stop
- Saul pins a badge to his coat, and says he’s a guard in the shopping district and “security never takes a day off”
- Elias pulls out the tentacle rods and smacks her with it, but only two of the tentacles connect
- Elias yells out “stop her!” and then runs and hides behind one of the spiral staircases
- Isabella moves up to Natalie (a reader) and tries to grab her, but isn’t able to grab her, and points at Natalie, threatening to kill her if she is harmed
- Frank yelps from behind the door, and then something heavy slams against the door
- Saul runs up to Isabella to try to grapple her, but trips and falls on his
face on the way there
- T.L. tries the same thing, and he manages to successfully grapple her
- Mary dashes over to surround her
- Heph catapults a book at Isabella’s face, and she seems angry about it
- Gino also runs over to Isabella
- The statue next to Maho punches at her, dealing 12 bludgeoning damage, which Maho avoids taking with stone’s endurance
- The other statues upstairs start to converge on Maho
- Maho hits the lioness with her maul, imbuing it with stone strike, and deals 13 damage
- She then swings at the cloaked one, dealing 11 damage, severely damaging the magical barrier
- Action surging, she manages to hit it critically, finishing it off with 18 damage and shattering the magical barrier and cracking the surface of the stone
- Elias runs up to Isabella and hits her again with the tentacle rod and this time all 3 tentacles connect for 13 bludgeoning damage
- She fails a concentration check, and the statues stop moving
- She fails a constitution check to the tentacle rod, taking a bunch of debuffs from it
- Elias dashes away and tucks behind a bookshelf
- Isabella is frustrated, and Misty Steps away, opens the door to the library, and walks out
- She says “you know what to do” and 4 large figures in baggy cloaks walk in to the room, dragging greatswords at their side and wearing porcelain masks
- Isabella yells to Heph that she is working with Sentin, and Heph realizes that the spell she cast on him is Geas
- Saul shrugs because she got away and says “I guess security does take a day
off”, and after some encouraging words from Elias, rallies the
troops and they all group up to try to form a wall
- Heph runs up to the group, and casts thunderwave, knocking 3 of the goliaths back
- Maho sees the statues come to a standstill, and seeing Heph and Elias fighting downstairs, jumps over the railing to join them
- Heph and Elias briefly fill Maho in, she sees the goliaths which she recognizes
- Heph, seeing Maho as a giant, puts the pieces together and realizes these creatures are the goliaths that he has read about
- He tries to tell the group to break the goliath’s masks, but realizes that
could be against Sentin’s wishes, but decides that
self-defense is not directly opposing his wishes, and continues to tell
everyone to break the masks
- Nat 20s, man
- Maho throws a rock at goliath 5, dealing 11 damage and knocking it prone, and prepares to attack the first one that come into range
- Goliath 5 gets up and walks towards Maho, and Maho vaguely recognizes the gait of the person, and she thinks it might be someone she knew many years ago named Suzuki Bond
- Goliath 5 tries to hit Maho, but misses a couple of strikes
- Maho asks quietly “Suzuki?” and gets no response, but Elias says “gesundheit”
- Goliath 2 takes two swings, hitting Maho with both for a total of 21 damage
- Goliath 3 approaches, and Maho releases her held action, hitting it for 27 damage
- Goliath 3 swings twice, hitting once and dealing 11 damage
- Goliath 4 comes at Maho, hitting her twice for a total of 24 damage
- With that hit, Maho goes down
- Elias dives behind Maho, and hides himself, then pops up and shoots Isabella with his crossbow, dealing 17 damage to her, hitting her in the shoulder and knocking her unconscious
- Elias then retreats behind all the readers and says “I took out the leader, get them!”, and hands T.L. a health potion to give to Maho
- T.L. pours the potion into Maho’s mouth, healing her for 7 health
- The rest of the readers run up and surround Maho, facing off against the Goliaths
- Saul takes the book he was reading, and tries to whack Goliath 5 in the face, but misses
- Extra #3 tries to stab Goliath 5 with knitting needles, but misses
- Hans Gruber goes after Goliath 4 with a baseball bat he has for some reason, dealing 4 damage, which scuffs the mask slightly
- The rest of them that are outside of melee range help Maho stand up
- Heph casts Shatter on 2, 3 and 5, dealing half of that damage to their masks, then runs up the stairs to get a better vantage point
- Heph sees the masks vibrate, and thinks they may explode when they are broken
- Maho shoves Goliath 5 to the ground, pulls out her googly-eyed Katana that for some reason is still warm, takes a deep breath to heal 6hp, then strikes his mask, dealing 18 damage, half going to the mask, and the mask forms cracks
- Maho notices the Bands of Loyalty on the goliaths, but can’t tell what purpose they serve
- Goliath 5 stands up and takes a swing at Saul, cutting his head clean off, then turns to Maho, but misses the second strike
- Elias notices one of the readers, Marka Pola doesn’t look terrified, and he spots a tiny bit of pigeon poop on her shoulder
- Goliath 2 hits Maho, but Maho reduces the first hit with stone’s endurance, the second hit deals 12 damage, taking Maho down again
- Goliath 3 steps over Maho, beheading Natalie and Hans
- Goliath 4 steps over Maho, beheading T.L. and Gino
- Elias retreats back a bit, hiding behind a table, and shoots his crossbow at Goliath 4, targeting the mask and dealing 21 damage total, the mask is cracked and as badly damaged as Goliath 5
- Extra #3 disengages and runs up the stairs, and Mary disengages and runs away
from the goliaths
- Kal decides not to run down and hides in a corner
- Marka Pola tries to leap down from the upper level and do a combat roll, and takes a bit of damage, and her hat falls off, and it is Ana Cardi
- Ana throws a dagger at Goliath 3, targeting its mask and hitting it for 7 damage total
- Heph blasts Goliath 4 with magic missiles, cracking it really badly and it is vibrating really aggressively
- Maho saves on a death saving throw
- Goliath 5 dashes up the stairs, getting right up on Heph
- Goliath 2 moves up and smacks Ana, hitting her once but missing the second strike and knocking itself prone on a nat 1
- Goliath 3 also moves up to Ana, hitting her for 22 damage
- Goliath 4 runs up the stairs, but can’t quite get to Heph
- Elias runs up to Goliath 2, yells “Ana no!!”, Elias pulls out Jarles, who yells “Elias no!!”, and then stabs Goliath 2 for 24 total damage, almost destroying the mask but not quite
- He then makes a second attack with a dagger, dealing an additional 1 damage
- Extra #3 disengages, leaps off the stairs, and runs away to hide
- Mary continues to run away to hide
- Ana says “well this sucks”, spins the ring on her finger and disappears in a puff of mist, reappearing behind Maho and dumping a potion into Maho’s mouth, who heals for 17 health
- Heph casts Mirror Image and continues to wait for 4 and 5 to approach
- Maho gets up, and smacks Goliath 2 in the mask with her Maul, dealing 14 total damage
- The mask’s rattling intensifies, and then a massive blast of light