Session 3 — Detailed Report

Location:

Secret Spell Room, first floor, behind the dining room plaque trigger.

Participants:

• Puck, Penelope, Orimene — trapped inside individual bubbles on the three magic circles
• Anar — on the other side of the wall, managing the pinned mimic
• Winston — summoned by Penelope's clap; unable to help; fades

What Happened:

• DM called DC 25 Arcana checks for the circle activation. All three failed. Bubbles materialized over each character. Puck briefly prone, then stood.
• A multi-voiced Deep Speech chant began cycling. Players don't speak Deep Speech.
• Penelope called Winston. He cannot read Deep Speech and has no way to help. Fades.
• Orimene rolled Arcana 16: learns the bubbles "breathe" with each chant cycle.
• Sound is muffled inside the bubbles (DM: Charlie Brown effect). Anar can feel vibration but not hear words.
• Puck pushed his hand through the membrane (his strong fingers from playing lute gave him an edge). Anar could hear Puck clearly through the rupture in the bubble.

Rolls:

• Arcana check DC 25: Penelope 11, Puck ~1 equivalent, Orimene (failed) — all fail
• Orimene: Arcana 16 — learns bubble breathing pattern
• Puck: Strength (push hand through membrane) — succeeded via narrative / finger-strength reasoning

What Happened:

• Anar wedged curtain rod into doorframe (DC 12, roll success) to contain the mimic without holding it.
• Entered the spell room — first visit. Saw a book on the lectern not moving despite turbulence (Perception 14 vs DC 15 — DM allowed the observation because the anomaly was obvious).
• Walked to the lectern; tried to close the book. DC 20 Strength, rolled 1. Failed. Brief vision: vast dark space, enormous tentacled face reaching toward him. Pulled back.
• Grabbed Puck's extended hand through the bubble. Both rolled Strength with advantage.
• Anar: 19. Puck: Nat 20 (–1 Str modifier, result still sufficient). Puck pulled through the membrane — skin visibly stretched across his face.
• Puck's boots stayed in the circle. They walked on their own to the center and held position. They began aging.

Rolls:

• Anar: Strength to wedge rod — success vs DC 12
• Anar: Perception — 14 (DC 15, allowed by DM)
• Anar: Strength to close book — 1 (DC 20, failed)
• Anar: Strength with advantage — 19
• Puck: Strength with advantage — Nat 20 (–1 modifier)

What Happened:

• Orimene: running jump attempt at bubble — Nat 1 + 3. Bounced straight back onto the floor.
• Puck: Strength push on book — 15 (partial, book unmoved). Dagger stab at book — rolled 3, missed.
• Puck gave Anar Bardic Inspiration (last D6 die). Said: "My Lord, help me get my friends out."
• Bubbles shrinking each round. Trapped players feel pressure on shoulders. Puck's boots degrading.
• Anar: Strength on book with Bardic Inspiration available — rolled 19 + 1 Str modifier = 20. Book closes. Bubbles vanish instantly.
• Penelope and Orimene stepped off their circles. Puck — already pulled through earlier with Anar's help — was simply free of the ritual at this point too. All three aged ~10 years. Anar unaffected (never in a circle).
• Orimene (Tiefling, was ~23) now visibly ~33. Puck's boots are now high-tops.
• Winston appeared: Zala said to "just close the book." (Timing noted without comment.)
• Anar roped the closed book — leather cover unlike any animal he has skinned. Stowed in backpack. Called it the demon book.

Rolls:

• Orimene: Athletics/Acrobatics to jump out — Nat 1 + 3, fail
• Puck: Strength to push book — 15 (partial)
• Puck: Attack roll on book — 3 (miss)
• Anar: Strength to close book — 19 + 1 mod = 20 (DC 20, success)

What Happened:

• Side table: Spell components (L1/L2) for four long rests — all characters take a share.
• Spell scroll of Mage Hand found. Per 2024 rules, must be on caster's class spell list to use. Puck takes it.
• 12 sheets of Deep Speech ritual research notes collected by Puck from around the lectern.
• Circles drawn in chalk on stone. No other concealed items in the room.
• House begins shaking with each chant cycle from elsewhere in the building. Outside: lawn and trees appear glass-eel-like (green, translucent, undulating). Earth chunks breaking free and floating.
• Penelope: Animal Handling 21 vs DC 15 — mimic is more afraid of the party than aggressive. She removes the curtain rod from its tongue. Mimic whimpers; profusely bleeding from tongue wound.
• Anar: coup-de-grâce on the mimic — roll 11 + bonus, success. Mimic dies.
• Orimene: dissects the mimic. Found: 5gp and an Adelaide family signet ring (matches the iron gate emblem on the property).
• Anar and Penelope search the dining room. ~12–13 silver pieces worth of silverware recovered from the china cabinet.
• Anar grabs bottles of port from the kitchen before departing.

Rolls:

• Penelope: Animal Handling — 21 (DC 15, success)
• Anar: Coup-de-grâce — 11 + bonus (DC 12, success)

What Happened:

• Party vote: downstairs to the cultists (Penelope's reasoning: known threat; less unknown than the second-floor ritual). All agreed.
• Anar approached via the secret barrel door. Stealth 17 + 5 = 22. A floorboard squeaked; a cultist heard it and came to the curtain.
• Cultist: "Excuse me. Can I help you?" Anar: "I'm Steve." Puck stepped out: "I'm Steve." Cultist handed them pamphlets. Instructed them to put on robes ("you should know this"). Markos is downstairs; the hall keeps the crystals attuned.
• Puck put the robe over leather armor. Anar refused to disrobe ("I'm too shy"). Cultist accepted and left.
• Anar cast Disguise Self (Gloom Stalker feature, no spell slot). A second cultist returned, heard the fading spell sound, asked if someone cast. Slapstick noise; the cultist closed the curtain and moved on.
• Penelope and Orimene remained in the storage area near the casks.

Rolls:

• Anar: Stealth — 17 + 5 = 22 (floorboard squeaked regardless)

Setup:

Five cultists: one head priest (never stops chanting), four supporting (two always praying, others rotate). Mind-flayer-like statue at the front.

What Happened:

• Anar inserted a "meow" into the chant. Puck played Pip off-key (Performance vs DC 13, failed — kept going). Anar revealed thalar proficiency and joined in.
• Penelope and Orimene cracked the barrel door; room resonance masked it.
• Head priest stopped chanting, picked up a drum, began his own chant. Moved toward the corner side door.
• Anar brushed past and picked his pocket: Sleight of Hand 27. Anar took 3 static damage. Priest announced: Grant Priest of Krokulmar. (Anar also determined empirically that the priest wore no undergarments.)
• Penelope: Perception 11. Orimene: Nat 20 Perception — spots unused side door covered by stacked boxes.
• Penelope snuck to the curtain and cast Message, whispering as Markos: "Take as many as you can spare. I need you upstairs. Bring as many as you can spare." — framed as Markos summoning the cultists to fulfill his will.
• Orimene: Stealth (passive 15 vs DC 12) — success. Moved to the unused door and opened it.

Rolls:

• Puck: Performance — failed vs DC 13 (continued anyway)
• Anar: Sleight of Hand — 27 (success; 3 static damage taken)
• Penelope: Perception — 11
• Orimene: Perception — Nat 20
• Orimene: Stealth — passive 15 vs DC 12, success

Location:

Repurposed Dissection Room — accessed through the unused side door in the ritual room.

Contents:

• Wok-like vessel on open green flame — body parts inside
• Pile of limbs
• Shelved jars containing floating heads in alcohol-smelling liquid

What Happened:

• Orimene: Constitution save — Nat 1. Failed.
• Orimene: Wisdom Insight — 18. She saw Elra's head turn in its jar and look at her.
• Orimene's grief triggered a wild magic surge. D100 = 42. DM ruled: Inflict Wounds on self (tied to Orimene's existing wild magic condition — emotional shock, not a spell cast). D10 = 3 damage.
• Penelope reached Orimene. Orimene pressed her face into Penelope's hair.
• Penelope closed the curtain over the shelves and shut the door behind them.

Rolls:

• Orimene: Constitution save — Nat 1 (fail)
• Orimene: Wisdom Insight — 18
• Wild magic surge: D100 = 42 → Inflict Wounds on self → D10 = 3 damage

What Happened:

• Priest commanded Puck and Anar to keep chanting; demanded signet rings as proof of membership. Both bluffed (no roll called).
• Anar: Disguise Self + minor illusion to produce illusory signet ring. Drew short sword to priest's throat — priest felt the blade but could not see it.
• Priest cast Mass Suggestion. Keyword: "grovel."
• Anar: failed Wisdom save, went prone. Rerolled with Fey Ancestry advantage — succeeded. Stood back up.
• Puck: made Wisdom save. Performance 15 vs DC 15 to play along convincingly — success.
• Puck cast Suggestion from Zala's spellbook (one use consumed): "Take me and my friend to Marcos and leave everybody else here, not chanting. Tell them it's done." Priest: failed save on 13.
• Result: Grand Priest had two acolyte/guards shackle Puck and Anar and lead them down the spiral staircase. The Grand Priest himself remained in the ritual room.

Rolls:

• Anar: Wisdom save (Mass Suggestion) — fail, then reroll with Fey Ancestry advantage — success
• Puck: Wisdom save (Mass Suggestion) — success
• Puck: Performance — 15 vs DC 15 (success)
• Priest: Wisdom save vs Suggestion — 13 (fail)

What Happened:

• Anar: Druidcraft — grew flowers from the statue's tentacle face, then summoned a swarm of faeries that danced around the base of the statue, making lewd gestures and miming comical antics about toppling it over. Cultists clustered around the statue, distracted.
• Orimene: Thaumaturgy (booming voice, ventriloquism) — threw her voice to sound like an acolyte: "Get your asses upstairs." DM ruled ~3 minutes / ~5 rounds of mass confusion. Several cultists drifted upstairs. Three mandatory chanters remained (ritual cannot stop).
• DM note: Markos communicates with cultists telepathically — the booming voice doesn't read exactly as him but the confusion effect still applied.
• Party briefly evaluated toppling the statue: immune to two damage types, AC above 13 — not practical.
• Penelope and Orimene slipped into the vestry unchallenged (DM waived the stealth check — distraction sufficient).

Location:

Markos's Domain — two dome caves carved from rock, joined by a 12ft stone archway. Underground.

Contents:

• Large magic circle on the floor
• Headless plate-armor figure kneeling at center — greatsword across lap, dry-ice tendrils from neck hole
• Four large crystals emanating purple light — Far Realm glimpses visible inside each
• Two guards
• Markos Delphi: regalia headpiece, sunken thousand-yard stare, reading the Codex aloud in Deep Speech — tentacles visibly growing from him as he chants

Actions Taken:

• Puck: cast Command on Markos — "Drop." DC 13. Markos's head turned Exorcist-style to look at Puck. Then returned to position. He continued reading. No effect.
• Anar: Sleight of Hand to lift a key from a guard — rolled 9 (DC 15–20). Failed.

Rolls:

• Puck: Command — no effect on Markos
• Anar: Sleight of Hand — 9 vs DC 15–20 (fail)

What Happened:

• Penelope: Spike Growth centered on the statue (20ft radius). Four cultists outside the radius; three mandatory chanters trapped inside on difficult terrain.
• Penelope: Wild Shape (bonus action) into a brown bear. Sat against the vestry door.
• Bear Strength check: 18 + ~3 modifier = 21. This is the DC any cultist must beat to push through the door.
• The booming voice effect confused cultists upstairs; they knew something was happening but the call didn't read as telepathic Markos.

Rolls:

• Penelope: Wild Shape Strength — 21 (DC for cultists to force door)

Session-End State:

• Puck and Anar: shackled in Markos's domain below
• Penelope (bear): barricading vestry door above
• Orimene: in the vestry with Penelope
• Three chanters: inside Spike Growth, on difficult terrain
• Grand Priest: remained in the ritual room (under Suggestion); two acolyte/guards escorted Puck and Anar down to Markos's domain on his orders
• Markos: reading the Codex, tentacles growing
• Headless armor: still kneeling