Session opens. Puck, Penelope, and Orimene are still in the spell room from last session.
DM calls DC 25 Arcana check — all three fail. Magical bubbles materialize over each character on their circle.
Each player is inside their own bubble; Puck falls prone briefly, then stands.
Multi-voiced Deep Speech chant begins; the party does not speak Deep Speech.
Penelope claps for Winston — he appears but cannot read Deep Speech and fades.
Orimene rolls Arcana 16: the bubbles "breathe" with each chant cycle.
Sound from outside the bubbles is muffled (described as Charlie Brown effect). Anar can hear a faint vibration.
Puck forces one hand through the bubble membrane. Anar can hear him clearly through the rupture.
Anar, in the adjacent room, is still dealing with the impaled mimic.
00:09–00:33 — Scene 2
Anar Investigates the Spell Room
Anar wedges the curtain rod into the doorframe (DC 12, success) to contain the mimic without holding it himself.
Enters the spell room for the first time. Spots a book on a central lectern that is not moving despite surrounding turbulence (Perception 14 vs DC 15 — barely misses; DM allows because the anomaly is obvious).
Approaches the lectern. Attempts to close the book — DC 20 Strength, rolls 1. Fails.
Brief vision: a huge dark face surrounded by tentacles reaching toward him. Pulls back.
Grabs Puck's hand through the bubble rupture. Both roll Strength with advantage.
Anar: 19. Puck: Nat 20 (with –1 Str modifier, still strong enough). Puck is pulled through the bubble membrane.
Puck's boots remain in the circle. The boots walk to the center of the circle on their own and hold position. They begin aging.
00:33–00:54 — Scene 3
Closing the Book and the Aging Cost
Orimene tries a running jump out of her bubble — Nat 1 + 3. Bounces straight back.
Puck goes to the lectern. Pushes the book (Str 15 — partial movement, book stays planted). Stabs the book with his dagger (rolls 3, miss).
Puck gives Anar his last Bardic Inspiration die (D6): "My Lord, help me get my friends out."
Bubbles start shrinking each round. Pressure builds on the trapped players' shoulders. Puck's boots deteriorate further.
Anar attempts the book again with Bardic Inspiration available: rolls 19 + 1 Str modifier = 20. Exactly meets the DC. The book closes.
All three bubbles vanish. Penelope and Orimene step off their circles. Puck — already pulled through earlier with Anar's help — is simply free of the ritual at this point too.
DM confirms: all three have aged approximately 10 years. Anar, who was never inside a circle, is unaffected. Orimene (Tiefling, was ~23) is now visibly ~33.
Puck's boots have degraded to high-tops.
Winston appears and relays that Zala said to "just close the book." The party notes the timing.
Anar ropes the book tightly (leather unlike any beast he has skinned — not deer, not cow, nothing identifiable). Stows it in his backpack. He calls it "the demon book."
00:54–01:18 — Scene 4
Looting the Spell Room
Puck investigates the side table: spell components for L1/L2 spells — enough for four long rests. All party members take a share.
Spell scroll of Mage Hand found on the table. Per 2024 rules it must be on the user's class spell list — Puck takes it.
Puck collects roughly 12 sheets of Deep Speech ritual research notes from the floor near the lectern.
Orimene confirms the constellation map Zala needs is in Markos's room, not here.
The house begins shaking with each chant cycle from the ritual elsewhere in the building. Looking outside, the lawn and trees appear to have taken on a glass-eel appearance — green, translucent, undulating. Chunks of earth break away and float in place.
The circles are drawn in chalk directly on the stone floor.
Penelope approaches the pinned mimic. Animal Handling 21 vs DC 15 — success. The mimic is afraid of the party and not aggressing. Penelope removes the curtain rod from its tongue. The mimic whimpers; it is badly injured and bleeding from the tongue.
Anar puts the mimic down: coup-de-grâce roll 11 + bonus, success. Orimene dissects the body. Found: 5gp and an Adelaide family signet ring. Orimene takes both.
~12–13 silver pieces worth of silverware recovered from the dining room by Anar and Penelope.
Group debates floor 2 (ritual room / music) vs. downstairs (cultists). House shaking intensifies the debate.
Anar grabs bottles of port from the kitchen while the debate continues.
01:18–01:24 — Scene 5
The Vote and Heading Down
Penelope argues for the cultists: "a known threat" compared to the unknown second-floor risk.
Group votes to go downstairs. Everyone agrees.
The chanting from the building has shifted to a single droning hum.
Party moves through the kitchen and toward the cellar entrance.
01:23–01:35 — Scene 6
Sneaking in as "Steve"
Anar takes the secret barrel door (Stealth 17 + 5 = 22) but a single floorboard squeaks. Cultist hears it.
Cultist opens the curtain: "Excuse me, can I help you?" Anar bluffs as "Steve" (plus-one guest).
Puck steps out from behind the curtain as a second "Steve." The cultist accepts this without question.
Cultist hands Puck and Anar pamphlets. Instructs them to put on robes ("you should know this"). Informs them Markos is downstairs and this hall keeps the crystals attuned.
Puck pulls the robe on over his leather armor. Anar refuses to disrobe ("I'm too shy"); cultist accepts this and walks away.
Anar casts Disguise Self (Gloom Stalker feature, not a spell slot) instead of putting on a cultist robe. This counts as being ritually disguised.
A different cultist returns, hears the tail end of the spell sound, asks "did one of you cast a spell?" Slapstick noises follow; the cultist is not satisfied but closes the curtain and moves on.
Penelope and Orimene remain hidden in the storage area near the casks and the secret barrel door.
01:35–01:55 — Scene 7
Disrupting the Ritual
Five cultists total in the ritual room: one main priest who never stops chanting; four supporting, with at least two always praying and others rotating.
Statue in the room: humanoid figure with elongated head and tentacles for a face (mind-flayer-like).
Anar begins chanting out of order, working in a "meow." Puck plays Pip slightly off-key (Performance vs DC 13, fails) — they keep going. The cultists continue the ritual around them.
Anar reveals a hidden proficiency with the thalar (a kazoo-like instrument) and joins the chant.
Penelope and Orimene re-open the secret barrel door; the room resonance masks the noise.
The main priest stops chanting, stands, picks up a drum, and begins his own chant.
Priest moves toward the corner side door. Anar brushes past and picks his pocket: Sleight of Hand 27. Success. Anar takes 3 points of static-shock damage from the contact. The priest, interrupted, identifies himself as the Grant Priest of Krokulmar.
During the pickpocket, Anar's hand encounters the fact that the priest wears no undergarments. (Out-of-game amusement; in-game Anar plays through it without breaking cover.)
Penelope (Perception 11) scans the room. Orimene rolls Nat 20 Perception and spots an unused side door covered by stacked boxes.
Penelope sneaks to the curtain and casts Message. Whispers as Markos, telling the priest to come upstairs and "take as many as you can spare" to "fulfill Markos's will."
Orimene sneaks to the unused door (passive 15 vs DC 12, success) and opens it.
01:52–02:07 — Scene 8
The Autopsy Room
Orimene opens the unused door. It is a repurposed dissection room: body parts in a wok-like green-flame pot; a pile of limbs; shelved jars with floating heads in liquid.
Orimene fails her Constitution save (Nat 1). Rolls Wisdom Insight 18. She sees Elra's head turn in its jar and look directly at her.
Orimene's grief triggers a wild magic surge. D100 = 42 — DM rules this as an improvised result tied to Orimene's existing wild magic condition (a traumatic scene caused the effect, not a spell cast). Result: Inflict Wounds on self; D10 roll = 3 damage.
Penelope reaches Orimene. Orimene presses her face into Penelope's hair.
Penelope closes the curtain over the jars and shuts the door behind them.
02:01–02:15 — Scene 9
Mass Suggestion and Capture
The Grand Priest commands Puck and Anar to keep chanting and demands to see their signet rings as proof of membership.
Both bluff successfully on the initial demand.
Anar uses Disguise Self plus minor illusion to produce an illusory signet ring. He draws his short sword — the priest can feel the blade but cannot see it through the illusion.
Priest casts Mass Suggestion. Keyword: "grovel."
Anar fails the Wisdom save and goes prone. Rerolls using Fey Ancestry advantage. Succeeds.
Puck makes the Wisdom save and plays along (Performance 15 vs DC 15, success).
Puck casts Suggestion from Zala's spellbook on the priest (one use consumed): "Take me and my friend to Marcos and leave everybody else here, not chanting. Tell them it's done." Priest fails the save (rolled 13).
Outcome: The Grand Priest directs two acolyte/guards to shackle Puck and Anar and lead them toward the spiral staircase. The Grand Priest himself remains in the ritual room.
02:15–02:36 — Scene 10
Distractions in the Hall
Penelope and Orimene at the cracked door, watching the ritual room. They debate options.
Anar uses Druidcraft to grow flowers from the statue's tentacle face, then uses it again to summon a swarm of faeries that dance around the base of the statue, miming lewd gestures and a comical attempt to topple it. Cultists murmur and several cluster around to look.
Orimene uses Thaumaturgy to project a booming voice as ventriloquism: "Get your asses upstairs" — timed to sound like one of the acolytes. Cultists are confused.
DM rules: approximately 3 minutes (~5 rounds) of mass confusion for the cultists. Several drift upstairs. Three remain as mandatory chanters (the chant cannot stop).
DM notes: Markos normally communicates with cultists telepathically, so the booming voice doesn't read exactly as him, but the confusion stands.
Party briefly considers toppling the statue. DM confirms: immune to two damage types, AC above 13 — not a practical target.
02:36–02:42 — Scene 11
Descent to Markos
Puck and Anar are pushed down the spiral, well-shaped staircase. Air goes cold then warm. Purple light flickers at the bottom.
The domain: Two dome caves carved out, joined by a 12ft stone archway. A large magic circle. A headless plate-armor figure kneeling at the center, holding a greatsword across its lap — dry-ice tendrils ooze from the neck hole.
Markos Delphi is visible: regalia headpiece, sunken thousand-yard stare, speaking Deep Speech, tentacles visibly growing larger from him as he chants. He is reading from the Codex.
Four large crystals emanate purple light. Glimpses into the Far Realm are visible inside each crystal.
Two guards present in the chamber.
Puck casts Command ("Drop") on Markos (DC 13). Markos's head turns Exorcist-style to look back at Puck, then resumes chanting. No effect.
Anar attempts Sleight of Hand to lift a key from a guard: rolls 9. DM sets DC at 15–20. Failure.
02:39–02:50 — Scene 12
Bear-Barricade and Session End
DM offers: the distraction in the upper room is sufficient for Penelope and Orimene to slip through the ritual room without a stealth roll.
Both move into the vestry: makeshift guard posts, four large linen chests.
Penelope casts Spike Growth centered on the statue (20ft radius). Four cultists are outside the radius; the remaining three mandatory chanters are trapped inside on difficult terrain.
Penelope wild shapes (bonus action) into a brown bear and sits against the vestry door.
Strength check from the bear: 18 + ~3 modifier = 21. This is the DC any cultist must beat to push through the door.
The booming voice from Thaumaturgy alerts the cultists upstairs that something is happening — but Markos communicates telepathically, so the call doesn't read as him and causes continued confusion.
Session ends: Puck and Anar shackled in Markos's domain below. Penelope (bear) barricading the vestry door above. Orimene with Penelope. Three chanters inside Spike Growth. The headless armor still kneeling. The Codex still open in Markos's hands.