Session 4 picked up exactly where 3 ended: the party standing five feet from Markos's ritual circle, the wooden doors sealed behind them, tentacles fusing into something that was no longer quite a man. Markos laughed off the previous session's failed spell and kept chanting. The window for a peaceful resolution was closing, and Puck decided to try talking his way through it anyway.
The approach was reasonable on paper. Puck spoke to Markos about his daughter Gertie — if he finished this ritual, she would die. Markos wavered. Something in the circle pulled him back. Anar, speaking only in Gnomish to keep the conversation private, had a different plan: there was something glass in his pack that might help. Puck did not ask what it was. Initiative rolled, and the talking was over.
Combat went badly fast. Whatever was happening to Markos, the guards flanking him were fully functional, and Anar took thirty-four points of damage from a single hit — dropping him to zero hit points before he'd had a turn. The rest of the party kept fighting while Anar fell into somewhere else.
The spirit plane sequence was the session's most unexpected beat. Anar found himself standing outside his own body, watching the fight continue without him. He was not alone. Spirits of the previous adventuring party — the ones who'd died clearing this same manor — were present in the space. One identified herself as Elra. They pointed Anar toward four Far Realm crystals. In the time Anar had before death pulled him back, he smashed all four. Back in the material plane, his death saving throws ticked along: one failure, then two successes, then stabilization. Puck's Healing Word brought him back into the fight.
The ritual broke. Exactly how isn't fully recorded — the transcript catches the aftermath more than the moment — but Markos was freed. His hands were injured from contact with the demonic book. The entity that had been pulling the strings retreated, and the Codex disappeared into the circle. The room was quiet.
Puck, who had been running a Disguise Self as Gertie since early in the fight, let the illusion drop. Zala arrived — in human form now, the curse lifted. She'd been watching from her room. She was glad it was over.
The post-combat stretch involved looting, debriefing, and a slow unwinding. The party found coins, a leather-bound tome, summoning crystal fragments, and a collection of smudge sticks with a spirit-cleansing function. Zala offered a meal and drink to help the party recover; the party declined, Anar wanting to leave. The atmosphere shifted from desperate to something approaching relief.
Then the entity spoke to Anar. Not visibly, not loudly — just a whisper that only he could hear: "I won't forget you, Anor. I'll always be here." Anar told Zala. Zala said she'd follow up. The tone of the scene changed again.
Zala wanted the Codex. The party had it. What followed was a strength contest — Zala won — and she committed to locking it somewhere it couldn't be used. There was no dramatic confrontation about it; she was matter-of-fact, and the party let her take it. Whether that was the right call is an open question that didn't get asked aloud.
The group left the manor. Nature had returned in their absence: birds, sunlight, the Seelie Market visible from the grounds. They received two hundred and fifty gold pieces each from Gertie as reward. Penelope, checking the wagon back near the gatehouse in Greyhawk City, found something worth noting under the cotton: three bundles of human skin and a five-pound bag of thumbnail-sized pearls. She covered it before the others arrived.
At the Seelie Market, the party encountered a gnome bard — a valedictorian from the same bardic college Puck attended. The conversation turned to Puck's mentor. Puck referred to this person only as "Fred," a placeholder name, then dropped it. The gnome's response implied the mentor had gone missing from the college, which sits weeks away by boat at Rift Canyon. No one had a plan for what to do about that yet.
The session ended with the party in the market, the entity still active somewhere, and a missing mentor that nobody had officially started looking for.
| Event | Significance |
|---|---|
| Markos freed from the ritual | The immediate threat resolved; Codex gone into the circle then recovered by Zala |
| Anar downed and entered the spirit plane | Smashed four Far Realm crystals in spirit-plane form; received entity's parting message |
| Entity whispered to Anar | "I won't forget you, Anor. I'll always be here." — confirmed threat hook; Zala to investigate |
| Zala took the Codex | Will lock it away; party did not contest this |
| 250gp each awarded | Largest single payout to date |
| Wagon contents found | Three bundles of human skin and thumbnail pearls — Penelope only; others not present |
| Mentor missing | Puck's bardic college mentor disappeared; Rift Canyon, weeks away by boat |
Still active. It spoke directly to Anar as the session ended. Zala knows and intends to follow up, but no timeline or method was established.
Puck's mentor — referred to only as "Fred" — has disappeared from the bardic college at Rift Canyon. The gnome bard at the Seelie Market confirmed this. Rift Canyon is weeks away by boat.
Human skin bundles and pearls, covered before the party rejoined her. The others don't know. No plan was made about what to do with this information.
Zala has it. She says she'll lock it away. The party took her word for it. Whether the Codex stays locked is not guaranteed.
Riley mentioned again. The Adelaide family signet ring. GG mark appearing on Penelope's hand. None of these were resolved or directly addressed this session.
Broken. Markos is free, injured, but alive. The immediate threat to the manor and whatever summoning was underway has ended.