Session 3 — Summary

The session picked up in the secret spell room with Puck, Penelope, and Orimene each trapped inside their own magic circle bubbles. Every attempt to force their way out failed — the bubbles pushed back like dense magnetic sludge. Anar, still on the other side of the wall dealing with the impaled mimic, wedged the curtain rod into the doorframe and then stepped into the spell room for the first time. He spotted a book on a central lectern that wasn't moving despite papers and clothing swirling in the turbulent energy around it. When he tried to close the book — and failed — the runes momentarily flashed and he saw a glimpse: a huge, dark face with reaching tentacles. He pulled back.

Puck punched one hand through the bubble membrane. Anar grabbed it and pulled; both rolled Strength with advantage. Anar hit 19, Puck rolled a natural 20. Puck came through — but his boots stayed behind in the circle and began to age. The bubbles started shrinking each round, pressure building on the remaining three. Puck gave Anar his last Bardic Inspiration die — "My Lord, help me get my friends out" — and Anar made exactly 20 on the next Strength check. The book closed. The bubbles vanished. 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 had aged roughly ten years. Anar was unaffected; he never entered a circle. Puck's boots were degraded to high-tops.

Anar roped the book with its strange, unidentifiable leather cover and stowed it in his backpack, calling it "the demon book." The group looted spell components (enough for four long rests), a Mage Hand scroll (Puck), and twelve sheets of Deep Speech ritual notes. Penelope befriended the injured mimic with an Animal Handling roll of 21 and removed the curtain rod from its tongue. Anar put it down; Orimene dissected it and found 5gp and an Adelaide family signet ring inside. Winston appeared briefly with ghost tea the party could not drink.

The party voted to go downstairs after the cultists rather than investigate the second-floor ritual — a known threat they judged easier to evaluate than the unknown music above. Anar grabbed port from the kitchen and led the descent. Using the secret barrel door, he slipped in with a Stealth of 22 but a floorboard squeaked anyway. He bluffed his way in as "Steve"; Puck emerged as a second "Steve." A cultist handed them pamphlets and robes, told them to keep the crystals attuned, and walked away. Anar cast Disguise Self instead of putting on a robe; a returning cultist heard the spell and asked if someone had cast — the moment passed without incident.

In the ritual room: five cultists, a main priest who never stopped chanting, and a humanoid statue with an elongated head and tentacle-face. Anar disrupted the chant by inserting a "meow" and playing the thalar (a kazoo-like instrument he turned out to be proficient with). Puck played off-key. The priest stopped chanting, picked up a drum, and began his own. When the priest stepped toward a side door, Anar brushed past and picked his pocket — Sleight of Hand 27. Three damage from a static shock. The priest identified himself as the Grant Priest of Krokulmar. Anar, mid-pickpocket, also discovered the priest wore no undergarments, which caused out-of-game amusement but no in-game consequence.

Penelope cast Message, whispering as Markos to the priest: "Take as many as you can spare and come upstairs." Orimene rolled a natural 20 on Perception and spotted an unused side door behind stacked boxes. She snuck through it. The door opened to an autopsy room: body parts in a green-flame pot, a limb pile, jars of preserved heads on shelves. Orimene failed her Constitution save (Nat 1), then rolled Wisdom Insight 18 and saw Elra's head turn to look at her from one of the jars. Her grief triggered a wild magic surge — D100 rolled 42, DM ruled Inflict Wounds on self, 3 damage. Penelope caught up; Orimene pressed her face into Penelope's hair. Penelope closed the curtain and the door.

Back in the ritual room, the priest confronted Puck and Anar, demanding their signet rings. Both bluffed. Anar held an illusion of a signet ring and drew his short sword to the priest's throat. The priest cast Mass Suggestion ("grovel"). Anar failed the Wisdom save, went prone — then rerolled with Fey Ancestry advantage and succeeded. Puck made the save and played along with a Performance of 15. Puck cast Suggestion from Zala's spellbook on the priest: "Take me and my friend to Marcos and leave everybody else here, not chanting. Tell them it's done." The priest failed the save (rolled 13) and directed two acolyte/guards to shackle Puck and Anar and lead them toward the spiral staircase. The Grand Priest himself remained in the ritual room.

Orimene used Thaumaturgy as a booming voice ventriloquism: "Get your asses upstairs," making it sound like one of the acolytes. The DM ruled roughly three minutes of confusion — several cultists drifted upstairs, three remained at mandatory chanting. Anar grew flowers from the statue's tentacle face using Druidcraft and summoned a swarm of faeries that danced around the statue's base, miming lewd gestures and a comical attempt to topple it; cultists clustered around the statue, distracted. Penelope and Orimene slipped into the vestry through the distraction. Penelope cast Spike Growth centered on the statue (20ft radius), trapping cultists inside on difficult terrain. She wild shaped into a brown bear and sat against the vestry door — Strength roll 21, establishing the push-through DC for any cultist trying to force it. Session ended there. Below, Puck and Anar were shackled in Markos's domain.