Penelope spent the opening of this session trapped in a bubble circle in the spell room, stepped off aging roughly ten years, watched the mimic with more patience than anyone else in the party, then disappeared into the cult's ranks and ultimately ended the session in bear form, holding a vestry door shut against a building situation on both sides of it.
Penelope was standing inside one of the three circles when the bubbles began shrinking. She was still there when the book closed. When she stepped off, she had aged approximately ten years. Anar, who had not entered any circle, observed her condition and noted the aging was real.
With the spell room crisis resolved, Penelope found the mimic. It was exhausted, bleeding from a tongue wound, and more afraid than hostile. She sat close to it and observed it until she understood that. She pulled the curtain rod free. The mimic stayed still and made a sound somewhere between a whimper and a creak. Then Anar came through from the kitchen and killed it. Penelope noted the contrast.
Penelope entered the cult space with the rest of the party. She wore a cult robe and participated in the cover. When Anar and Puck managed the "Two Steves" bluff at the door, Penelope was already inside or followed without incident.
Penelope was in the ritual room during the encounter with the Grand Priest of Krokulmar. When Orimene went through the side door and discovered the room with the preserved heads, Penelope caught up to her. Orimene, reeling from the wild surge and from what she had seen, pressed her face into Penelope's hair.
While Puck and Anar were shackled and led downstairs under the priest's Suggestion, Penelope and Orimene were left in the ritual room area and needed to move without being seen.
Orimene used Thaumaturgy to throw a booming voice across the ritual room, making it sound like one of the acolytes had spoken. The DM ruled three minutes of mass confusion. Several cultists drifted upstairs. Three mandatory chanters stayed. In that window, Penelope and Orimene slipped into the vestry without a roll required.
Penelope cast Spike Growth centered on the statue — twenty-foot radius, cultists on difficult terrain — then Wild Shaped into a brown bear as a bonus action. She sat against the vestry door. The Strength check to hold it came up 21. That was the DC. The session ended there: bear form, door held, cultists on both sides of a situation with no clean resolution visible.
| Scene | Check | Result | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Aging (circle) | — | Aged ~10 years stepping off circle |
| 4 | Observation (mimic) | — | Understood mimic was exhausted and afraid, not hostile |
| 12 | Strength (hold door, bear) | 21 | Met DC exactly; session ended mid-hold |
| Ability | Scene | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Spike Growth | 12 | Cast on statue, 20ft radius; cultists on difficult terrain |
| Wild Shape (brown bear) | 12 | Bonus action; used to hold vestry door on Strength check 21 |
No items recorded as acquired by Penelope this session. The curtain rod she pulled free from the mimic was not listed as taken.
| Condition | Details |
|---|---|
| Form | Brown bear (Wild Shape active) |
| Location | Vestry doorway |
| Aging | Approximately 10 years added (permanent status unknown) |
| Spike Growth | Active on statue in ritual room (20ft radius) |
| Immediate task | Holding door against pressure; DC 21 held at session end |