Act IV, Chapter 8: "Secret Rat Level" (2024/08/24)

 The party uses their sidekicks to silently hash out a plan. No one wants to fight the 60 ft manifestation of Azrael's will today, so we opt to try to sneak around. Knowing from the Conclave chat that those green streetlamps are bad news for our chances of remaining stealthy, we loop around the north side of the nearest streetlamp to reach the west side of the tower. Once we're hugging the side of the turbine tower, we slowly shuffle along the wall towards the entrance behind the Aspect. We are all nearly in position when the worst possible thing happens, we're spotted! Something about Flynn, perhaps his snazzy new bowtie, has caught the attention of the Aspect. We roll initiative as the Aspect lays into Flynn.

Berrik rushes forward and posts up near the entrance so that his friends can pass through - as the choker-bearer, he's gotta be the bridge. The Aspect sees what's going on and tries to grapple our well-accessorized wizard. Lotty refuses to allow this and somehow goads the Aspect into grappling her instead. Null grabs Flynn and rushes through the now-accessible doorway, hoping that Berrik will be able to rescue Lotty. Meanwhile, Lotty has been carried off a ways from the tower. The Aspect starts walloping her, hoping to coax the party back outside. Lotty is somehow charmed by the Aspect during this exchange. Inside, Flynn searches for a way back outside. Outside, Berrik casts Time Stop with the aim of rescuing his friend, gaining three turns. He Dimension Doors to the wrist of the gargantuan Aspect, grabs Lotty, and Dimension Doors back to the tower entrance. He uses his movement to drag her through the entrance, which now closes behind them. With his last turn, he gives Lotty a potion (which she doesn't actually need, because she has Temp HP for days). As the party catches their breath, Null hears a roar and pounding footfalls fast approaching. She shouts something along the lines of "Oh lawd, he comin!'" and drags a very confused Lotty across the room, away from the wall where they were standing. Berrik and Flynn are hit with rubble as the wall caves in. The Aspect doesn't have a penchant for late-90's fashion and so will opt to create his own tower access with sheer force instead. Flynn starts blasting, Lotty continues to be confused - this Aspect guy can't be all that bad, can he? The Aspect keeps reaching in and eventually manages to grapple Berrik, pulling him outside. Berrik gets the shit kicked out of him before the the Aspect drops him to the ground. As he hits the cobblestone, our pal Berrik appears to fall unconscious.

Null is frozen and starts to panic. She wants to go rescue her friend but knows she doesn't have enough movement to get back to the safety of the tower. Going outside would leave them both exposed, but staying inside might ensure certain death for Berrik. She starts to dissociate, imagining a combat situation where things are free and easy. Rats in a basement. We win! Everyone lives! Roll credits.

Null is too preoccupied with her anxieties to remember that Berrik's name is in Flynn's book - he gained one HP when he hit the ground instead of falling unconscious. Berrik uses his next turn to Dimension Door back into the tower. Null snaps out of it and lobs a pathetic Chill Touch at the Aspect, missing entirely. The Aspect is super pissed to have lost his quarry, so he decides to widen the hole in the side of the tower, Kool-Aid man style. Poor Berrik is hit by flying rubble, and actually goes unconscious this time. The gang realizes they need to get out of reach of the Aspect ASAP. Null drags Berrik's body upstairs and feeds him a potion to bring him back up. Lotty and Flynn soon follow. Before long, the charm effect wears off and Lotty realizes the Aspect of Azrael wasn't actually that chill after all.

Upstairs, the Ashen Company finds themselves in kitchen of sorts. Fresh produce spills out of every container in sight. We explore a bit more and find a central chamber equipped with several growing chambers. The baddies have been cultivating their own produce, but this stuff feels off. Necrotic energy radiates from the growing contraptions, tainting the produce. On this floor, we are also able to ambush and put down two wandering cultists without making too much of a ruckus. Not much else to see here, up we go to the next level.

This next floor is curious and maze-like. The grated flooring illuminates the inner clockwork mechanisms of the tower, catching Lotty's interest. Shelves and shelves of books on the arcane line the walls, but it's really just the basics. The rare and forbidden texts on stuff like soul magic and phylacteries are more closely guarded. The gang splits up and goes exploring. Null spots the Aspect having a temper tantrum outside, through a window that shouldn't exist. Flynn and Null eventually meet in front of a closet. They yank it open to reveal a lich in the middle of a study sesh. The lich casts Cloudkill. The spell doesn't wreak too much havoc, because Null breaks the lich's concentration on her next attack. She shuts the door in its face, and the lich takes the opportunity to Dimension Door elsewhere. Berrik and Lotty meet back up with their friends at the lich study closet. Berrik peruses the scrolls left behind and pockets scrolls of Chain Lightning, Power Word Kill and Circle of Power. The gang starts to wander again, looking for that lich.

We find him! Plus a bunch of Death Knights. Battle ensues. Null kills the lich pretty quickly, but the Death Knights are annoyingly resilient. They've got hellfire orbs, smites and a penchant for banishing people, especially Lotty. But we battle on, whittling them down. Lotty has smites of her own and Berrik whips out the big guns of Curse of Doom and Draconic Transformation. However, fate has other plans for Flynn's approach. It isn't his Eldritch Blasting or Walls of Stone that finally win the day, it's his smart new bowtie! The remaining Death Knights know they don't stand a chance in the face of such a bold approach to fashion. A man walks down the street wearing a bowtie like that, you know he's not afraid of anything. There is weeping and gnashing of teeth, rending of garments, and then the Death Knights are no more. Combat is over and it appears we have cleared this floor.

Act IV, Chapter 7: "I can take the trouble, 'cause I'm 60 feet tall." (2024/08/17)

We interrupt the party's devastating moral dilemma with a collaborative, OOC group project. We all have flashbacks to our time in the trenches of post-secondary education. After a couple of hours and some meandering discussions, we finally hammer out the ways in which our allies would best render aid in Act IV. Somewhere out there, Michelle happily sips a mimosa and experiences no audio issues.

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Alright, back to the story! The Ashen Company remains in the abandoned fort where they defeated Dr. Madam Trolley. Several tanks, along with their doomed occupants, are scattered throughout the premises. The tank containing Niko and Silas is perched on the stone dais that previously hid the entrance to Trolley's demiplane. A mechanical heart floats between them, keeping both alive.

We consider our options. Bringing both back would require a successful Wish spell from Berrik, crippling him and putting the whole success of the mission at risk. Bringing one back would require some difficult checks to give the heart to one. It would also condemn the other to death and their soul to the turbine, denying them any kind of resurrection. We all know Silas would want Niko to live, even if it came at the cost of his own life. However even if we did manage to fulfil Silas's wishes and bring back Niko, what would we do with the surly, traumatized, maimed tween in this horrible place? We wouldn't be able to keep him safe or evacuate him. There is a very good chance the kid would be brought back only to die permanently.

We hem and haw. Eventually we remember the spell that Berrik cast on Remmi to keep the Soul Rot at bay. Sequester could be twinned with some white exaltium, rendering our boys invisible and unable to be targeted by divination. The spell would also keep their condition from catching up with them for the time being, and keep them out of harms way until the soul turbine is destroyed. Once that's out of the picture and Erithax is defeated, we are free to bring them both back with medicine, magic or resurrection. All we need is 5000 gold worth of gem dust!

As we are going through our pockets for the material components, Null hears a commotion in the courtyard. She spots an older, unkempt human-looking man rummaging around. Trinkets and junk are slung across his body, jingling slightly as he inspects an empty tank. She rushes over to get his attention, not wanting his salvaging to attract the attention of the ghost dragons above. It's clear right off the bat that this guy (Carwin) is not all there. It takes a few tries, but she manages to coax him inside and out of sight via a piggyback flight on her back.

Carwin proves difficult to interact with and starts off by being hostile and racist towards Flynn. He asks Null to kill the goblin warlock, and turns to leave when she refuses. Flynn, despite being a failed merchant, know a potential business transaction when he sees it and so uses his book to secretly instruct Null to "kill" him. Null knows the sacred laws of improv and proceeds to emphatically pretend to kill her friend. Carwin immediately goes for Flynn's body, intending to take his head (goblin heads are good luck?). Null stops the vagrant from "stealing her kill" and Lotty, now seeing the situation for what it is, steps in to back up Null. Lotty also has to rebuff the strange man's interest in her own gear. Carwin is losing patience with us and seems ready to leave. If we're going to do business we better get this going now.

Thinking this guy must have something of worth to offer after surviving so long on Myridia, Null offers 3 poisons for barter. It turns out Carwin speaks the language of commerce quite well, and so offers the rogue a rusty key off of a ring of hundreds. As she accepts the trade, the key feels warm to the touch. Flynn, not wanting to miss out on doing business, pops up from being " dead" which sends Carwin running. Flynn manages to chase him down and coax him back with the promise of another trade - the Gambler's coin. Carwin offers Flynn a very snazzy bowtie and promises that it will help him charm the pants off anyone. They have a deal! 

Okay, now Carwin really wants to get going. We ask him how he avoids the influence of Erithax. In a rare moment of lucidity, the strange man tells us that a broken mind cannot be indoctrinated. Null tries to get assurances that he won't tell the enemy about them. Berrik and Lotty surmise that he wouldn't be believed even if he did. Carwin takes his leave, grabbing a piece from an empty tank before exiting the fort altogether.

Back to the task at hand! We scrounge the necessary dust together with the help of Lotty's jeweler's kit. Flynn will pony up a white exaltium for the spell. Berrik crushes and casts the Sequester spell on Silas and Niko. The two disappear from view but the tank remains. Our friend and his ward are now as safe as can be under the circumstances. Berrik suffers a wild magic effect that leaves him unable to remember anyone within ten miles, but it isn't long before his friends figure out the exaltium did something to him. Lotty casts Greater Restoration to set him right. We spend ten minutes prepping for our journey to the tower. Lotty and Flynn cast Nondetection on themselves, as they are without Mind Blank. Berrik ritually identifies Null's new key as a Runic Key. Flynn is confident his new smart new bowtie is powerfully magical. Right before we leave, Lotty and Flynn roll against indoctrination. Flynn avoids another point, but Lotty does not. Null and Berrik still have Mind Blank and are fine. Lotty casts Pass Without Trace from a scroll on the group, which allows us to successfully sneak out of the fort. We narrowly swerve a cultist ambush outside, and finally - at long last -  make our way to the base of the soul turbine tower. On the way, Lotty and Flynn stop in an alley to rid themselves of their indoctrination via more Greater Restoration scrolls.

It takes us twenty minutes to reach our destination. As we hide near the base of the tower, the area is noticeably quiet. I guess Erithax felt his forces were needed elsewhere? Four streetlamps illuminate the area around the tower's base in an eerie green light. Berrik and Lotty figure these lamps are probably bad news for our stealth mission, as they appear to be some kind of security measure. Should we try to get rid of or avoid them?

Before we can answer, a vast chasm of fire opens on the ground in front of the tower. A 60 foot tall demonic being twerks out of the hole, tits out and cheeks clappin'. Homegirl is wreathed in flame and chain -  a crown of fire adorns four sharp horns. This baddie wields a fierce polearm - a scythe with obvious big bardiche energy, emitting both flame and shadow. Lotty recognizes the vibes of this one from run-ins in her previous adventures - this is an Aspect of Azrael and she is serving Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, Talent... and probably our imminent deaths?

Act IV, Chapter Six "Now this is an orphanage that needs to burn down" 10/08/2024

 As the Ashen Company take stock of their surroundings with no obvious way of escape and surrounded by a chambers of presumably people.

They determine the tanks contain those who are able to withstand the harrowing bone scribing that gives them powers but they have not yet had the Marionettest's controlling mark put on their necks - presumably the bad guys don't want to waste resources marking those who don't take to the procedure. The liquid in the tanks is healing the wounds made by the procedure and with how wounded they are essentially keeping them alive. 

Some of this knowledge was learnt as Lotty & Flynn were studying the controls of one of the tanks; Lotty is of the mind that these people are doomed, The Ashen Co do not have the healing magics to save them and if they could; what would they do with them? Bring them along whilst they try to stop the world from ending? She recklessly decides to empty a tank and speed up the process of their discovery and - in her mind - release the person in the tank. The group watch the horrifying death as a red headed goliath dies in agony in the tank.

Null, knowing that Silas & Nikolai are in another tank, is especially concerned about Lotty's actions as the group reveal several of the other tanks to uncover the innocents contained. Null shows the group the tank and believing their friends dead Lotty suggests that digging up the dead is a new low even for Trolley. Null needs to let the group know that their memories aren't real but is worried that Flynn doesn't have mind blank so she writes out a message and shows Lotty, at first Lotty tries to comfort Null believing grief has got the better of her but after Null convinces Lotty to cast greater restoration on herself she's shocked and horrified. Even after such an ordeal it didn't even matter, the sacrifices made, the separation and false memories did nothing - the worst possible thing for Nikolai still happened. 

In a way that could only happen between Null & Flynn with Null hiding notes and Flynn trying to see Null ends up pining Flynn and sitting on him a little longer than could be tolerated and Flynn shocking grasping Null and little harder than he meant to. After verballing knocking their heads together they get to thinking about the situation. Silas & Niko are sharing a heart, it seems like Silas is empowering his adopted son, without some kind of miracle intervention they can only save one of them and even then it won't be easy.

They can't take this decision lightly, if they destroy Trolley this demi-plane will disappear and they all return to the fort, tanks included and they'll worry about it then. As they discuss a way out an invisible Trolley starts to invade the thoughts of the Ashen Company frustrated at the mind blank she manages to dis-spell the effect from Lotty but not Berrick or Null.

A fight ensures, every time Trolley is damaged the attacker takes half as much damage in kind but the Ashen Company persevere taking it to the bitch with some heavy hits, healing prevention and wizzardly live saving skills they batter her down. Null lands the final blow driving her sword through Trolley with purpose, driving her all the way back down to the well of her evil contraptions. Nulls stolen childhood, slain father and brother, kidnapped mother and sister ripped from her side avenged. As Trolley splutters her last she calls out for her master.

Immediately back in fort they killed the Death Tyrant, Trolley is reanimated with puppet strings and the Marionettist is not finished with this vessel. Whilst it is clear Trolley is no longer there her body rises up to fight again. Berrick heals the group and applies the healing to Puppet-Trolley too after a tip from the conclave and sees it does some serious damage. Wasting no time Berrick casts a high level heal spell and decimates the puppet. 

Berrick claims the Choker of Silence that will allow access into the turbine tower.

Act IV, Chapter 5: "*slaps roof of demiplane* This bad boy can fit so many unspeakable horrors in it." (2024/08/03)

 We return to our heroes after a long break. Attempting to infiltrate a fort in their pursuit of Dr. Madam Trolley, the Ashen Company finds themselves face-to-face with a Death Tyrant. They best it fairly quickly, and start to explore the otherwise empty fort. Null finds some keys that help things along. However, after a minute the Tyrant returns at full strength so we have to backtrack and start the battle again. As Berrik banishes the Tyrant to buy them some time, Lotty surmises that there must be some kind of totem in the vicinity that keeps it from permanently napping. We lock it the room we found it in and run upstairs, trying to get as far away from the banished monster as we can in one minute. 

We are rushing across some palisades towards a door when we hear a crash and the screeching whine of bending metal. It's out and coming this way. We see it appear through some grated windows at ground level across the courtyard behind us. We're not sure whether to run, fight or look for the totem at this point. It takes advantage of our apprehension and targets all its rays at Flynn, who is closest to it. Flynn, who is invincible, is unfazed by this and shrugs off seemingly countless effects. Null tosses a Chill Touch back towards the creature, and then moves forward to unlock the door ahead. Inside, she spots some furniture to her left and a curious stone dais on the opposite side of the room. She lets her friends know there's something weird in here. Flynn casts Blindness on the Tyrant and puts some distance between them. In short order, all of the Ashen Company are inside the room. Flynn conjures a Wall of Stone, so that when the Tyrant regains sight we'll be out of view. 

We all gather around the empty but definitely not empty dais and try to figure it out. We're sure there's something hidden here. Everyone is pretty sure we're not supposed to step on the dais. Null takes out a single ball bearing and tosses it towards the dais. As it hits the platform, the room suddenly crackles with a burst of chain lightning. Okay, nobody touch it! A combo of Arcana checks and Detect Magic from Berrik tells us that the dais is hiding 5 magical effects: 2 illusion of 2nd level or lower, 2 evocation of 6th level or lower and 1 conjuration of 8th level. At this point we hear the Tyrant bust through the grates and enter the courtyard, and we figure it's probably got its sight back by now. We are currently hidden from view, but it will be searching us so we have to act carefully. Thinking the higher level effect is the most important to dispel, Berrik dispels the conjuration. As the Tyrant is still roaming around outside, he uses pink exaltium to cast the spell silently. Wild Magic surges as he crushes the exaltium in his hand, and he doesn't know that any future scrying he does will now relay wildly inaccurate visions. Berrik senses that whatever conjuration magic that was present is only temporarily suppressed. Okay, that clearly wasn't the Death Tyrant totem we were looking for. Now what?

Despite our caution, the Tyrant is closing in. Null takes off, trying to lure the Tyrant away while the rest of the group figures out next steps. Berrik's eyes search the room for clues and he quickly notices a faint red light emitting from inside the drawer of a nearby desk. The drawer is, of course, locked. He tears the Knock spell out of Ezra's now tattered spellbook and casts the spell to pop open the drawer. Picking up a glowing red miniature figure of the Tyrant, he knows this is what they've been looking for and that he needs Lotty to start smashing it immediately. Berrik hands the figure over to our party tank and she obliges. As soon as her wrench makes contact with the figure, the Tyrant stops following Null and retreats to deal with whoever is messing with its longevity. It throws everything it has at Lotty, who almost succumbs to a Sleep Ray but manages to stay conscious. As she smashes the Tyrant's mini, the monster continues to retaliate. She shrugs off another Sleep Ray, but can't overcome a Petrification Ray. Lotty drops the mini and takes out an Anti-Petrification salve from her pack, placing it next to her before she freezes up. Flynn does what Lotty would have told him to do, which is blast that Death Tyrant doll to smithereens ASAP. As the totem is destroyed, the Tyrant's eyes flare red. Except Lotty, who is now petrified, everyone goes all in to defeat the creature. 

As soon as the Death Tyrant falls, Berrik rushes over to apply the Anti-Petrification salve to Lotty before it's too late. Before too long, the entire Ashen Company is limber again. Berrik returns to to the dais to figure out next steps. He figures the conjuration effect he suppressed will be back in ten minutes or so, and suspects it may be a demiplane or teleportation effect (despite such things apparently being impossible in this place.) In the mean time, he gets to work dispelling the illusion effects. Flynn sidles up to Lotty and asks if she will cast Catnap on him while they wait for the conjuration effect to return. She obliges and Flynn starts power-napping in a nearby barrel. 

Null doesn't really need healing or rest right now, so she uses this time to rifle through the furniture in the vicinity. Inside some combat undergarments from a nearby drawer, the rogue finds a small handwritten note that reads "How many times do I have to tell you? The passphrase is: Good children get rewarded." She shudders as she is hit with a flashback of the second part of that mantra: Bad children get punished. As Trolley's words echo in her mind, she is rattled by the unwelcome memory but manages to shrug off any immediate debilitating effects. Null walks the note over to Berrik and lets him know that she has the passphrase.

As Flynn's Catnap comes to an end, we gather in front of the dais to prep. Berrik dispels one of the remaining evocation effects, while either Flynn or Lotty (I don't remember who) dispels the other. The gang gets some last minute healing in before they go to confront Trolley wherever she's gone. Starting with Null, the Ashen Company each recites the passphrase scornfully as they step onto the dais and through into a newly available demiplane.

The Ashen Company appears in a rustic, humble kitchen with three doors. They find an equally humble adjoining bedroom. As we try to snoop, we find the contents of it are illusory. Flynn opens the door opposite the bedroom and finds a long hallway lined with even more doors. The warlock is eager to get moving and starts rushing down the corridor, randomly opening doors. He eventually opens a door and witnesses a horrific tableau of a child being beaten and whipped. Flynn fails a saving throw and becomes frightened. He shuts it and keeps going, advising his pals not to open any doors. As Null passes a small closet, she can't help but feel its familiarity - she knows this is where she and other children would have been kept between procedures at the orphanage. Null grits her teeth and urges Berrik to keep moving.

As they further explore the complex, it's clear that this place is a copy of the orphanage basement. They enter a sterile looking chamber with several familiar-looking, person-sized vertical tanks. We most recently saw gooey, naked lightning guys in these back in Pacapa. Flynn explores further, going through a door to the south of the chamber. It's the control room from the orphanage basement, where a small fire turned into a destructive inferno thanks to the clumsy interventions of Flynn and Silas. Flynn's fingers twitch at the sight of so many levers and buttons. 

Back in the tank room, Lotty and Berrik peer inside a couple of tanks and find a teen human-looking girl and a young dwarf, both suspended in some kind of liquid within. Null, deeply uncomfortable with this whole situation, cautiously steps into the tank room. As she nears the tank closest to the door, she feels pulled by a familiar presence within. Full of dread, she tentatively wipes away the fogging condensation on the outside of the glass. In silent horror, the rogue processes the sight of the bodies of Silas and Nikolai. Their chest cavities are open and their hearts are gone. Both are connected to a separate, artificial heart device floating in the tank with them.

Is this real or another horrible manipulation? Guess we'll find out!

Act IV, Chapter 4: "Summer vacation = Short notes" (2024/06/30)

 Hey gang, it's been a month! There's been some content updates since we last spoke:

Counterspell is gone!!

Executive action has been taken to stabilize the Fate Point market!

The Nemesystem was tweaked so baddies can Taylor Swift their way out of an inconvenient effect for the low, low cost of one action.

Listen gang: the rules may change but the story remains the same. I'm gonna try to make sense of what I scribbled down a month ago. We exist in the context of all in which we live and what came before us, just super heckin' burdened by the trials of this soul-powered necro-city. Let's fucking notes.

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Emily, surprising no one, asked a question to begin the session. Null has a whole hour left on her cloak. Yay!

Okay, we're still in a street fight after Trolley fled (presumably towards the fort we swerved earlier). The cultists, erstwhile counterspell spammers, really ruined our day with all of the counterspell spamming, STR-draining swords and super convenient flying ability. Boneclaws and Death Knights were also present. We try to focus on the cultists as they try to focus on us, but the other dudes have different ideas. Flynn gets his ass beat and all of his shit counterspelled. Berrik also gets all of his shit counterspelled. These clowns clearly don't give a shit about conserving spell slots! Lotty almost gets carried off by a Boneclaw, but she finesses her way out of it like the queen she is. More culling fog shows up. As we whittle down the cultists, we realize they all have Death Ward on them. When we have a second, we will text the Conclave to let them know.

Berrik is tired of this shit and hides behind cover so that he can go invisible uninterrupted. He will then use his next turn to cast Mass Healing Word on some cultists in the culling fog - as expected, it deals necrotic damage to them instead of healing them. Good to know! We will text the Conclave about this too. The battle continues, cultists are getting whittled down. Flynn, who had entered Dao form to lessen the hurt of his ass getting beat, returns to a painful goblin form hopeful he can start blasting. The final cultist tries to cast Disintegrate on Lotty as a final "fuck you" to the Ashen Company, but Berrik makes sure that save is a Nat 20 portent. The cultist dies of stab wounds, but probably would have died of embarrassment soon anyway after that maneuver. Boneclaws are down, then the final Death Knight. We survive! Weak and hurt, we rush over to Lotty for some Greater Restorations and quick heals before we hoof it for the fort. 

A few hundred feet later, we are carefully approaching the looming fort we think Trolley fled to. Lotty, wearing the Pauldrons of the Lost Legion, hears some ghostly tactical advice from her shoulder phantoms. They tell her there are two points of entry - the gate and the side door. We think it over. Could we, the Ashen Company, ever take a subtle approach? Could we resist temptation and not bust through the front door like the Kool-Aid man? As we are going over our options, someone (I think Lotty) lobs a firebolt at a cultist standing guard on the palisades hoping to open a surprise attack. The Ashen Company is surprised to see the magic careen through and past the illusory baddie. Well shit, what now? Well we don't trust the front gate now, so side door it is.

We roll up to the side entrance and decide to try a sneaky approach. Null lockpicks the door. It swings open and the Ashen Company find themselves facing a Death Tyrant. Fun! 

I wrote down that the Pauldrons said more stuff here but I can't remember what it was. Oh well.