Session 16: Through the Sewers, Onto the Skiff

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Session 16
Session 16: Through the Sewers, Onto the Skiff
Session
In-fiction date27 March 843 A.I.
Recordedunknown
Party presentTerry, Hugo, Caelumn, Vasquez, Althea
LocationsEldwythe sewers (deeper), Sewer outflow, Skiff towards White Lantern Shrine

Session 16 completed the Eldwythe sewers crawl and put the party on a boat bound for Aurelia. The party found a Hat of Disguise in a hidden crate when water broke its invisibility [11]; Althea Stormsoro identified it by ritual, and Vasquez attuned it on the boat and became a dwarf [12][31]. Fungal creatures risen from the sewer water stunned half the party before Terry and Althea killed them [14][268], and a seven-lock door with a word in a different language on each lock took twenty minutes to brute-force [18][19]. In a sarcophagus chamber, lifting a potion from a chest woke two flameskulls and ghouls; Caelumn, Althea and Terry all went down before both skulls were put out [206][24][25][26][27][28]. The party slipped past the Aurelians at the sewer mouth, took a skiff and chose to sail to the White Lantern Shrine to meet Phil Flowerforge’s contact Hett Varn, roughly three days away [165][8][30]. The session ended on the water, with Sevryn’s words ringing in their minds: “Everything is happening the way it’s supposed to” [6]. The ending was retconned at the start of session 17 (see Retcons).

Session 16: Through the Sewers, Onto the Skiff

Metadata

  • In-game date: Later the same night as session 15, all in the sewers; the skiff puts out into cold night air [7], with about three days’ sail ahead [8].
  • Locations visited: Eldwythe sewers (the crate, the flooded fungal room, the seven-lock door, the corridor of walls, the sarcophagus chamber, the basin chamber, the sewer mouth); a skiff on open water.
  • Major NPCs present: fungal creatures, two flameskulls and ghouls, an unnamed injured smuggler, Mharos (a voice to Vasquez), something on the ceiling, the Aurelians at the sewer mouth (unseen); Sevryn (his words at the close).
  • Factions involved: Aurelian forces (holding the sewer mouth, with dogs on the party’s trail).
  • Sessions referenced (callbacks): s15 (Phil’s stash and hat, Hett Varn, the lost backpack, Mharos); Maelis Dirn’s shipping papers; Umbrafall (biogloom).

Recap heard at start of session

The recording opens mid-scene, with the party already at a crate in the sewers, so no recap of session 15 is on it [9].

Executive Summary

Pressing on through the Eldwythe sewers, the party tipped over a crate and found the Hat of Disguise when water broke its invisibility [10][11]; Althea identified it by ritual [12]. In a flooded room, bodies rose as fungal creatures whose spores stunned four of the party in turn before Terry and Althea killed the two big ones [13][14][15][16]; Hugo found the Biogloom to be a cultivated strain prized for rare potions and poisons, and cut out a spore gland to use as a bomb [17]. A seven-lock door with a word in a different language on each lock took Hugo twenty minutes to brute-force [18][19]. Beyond it, magical walls cut Vasquez and Althea off from the others [20]; Caelumn got the rest through by walking backwards into the wall [21], and lifting a potion from a chest in a sarcophagus chamber woke two flameskulls and ghouls [22]. Meanwhile Vasquez and Althea healed an injured smuggler, who told them of a hidden stash and of something in the ceiling before drinking a potion and vanishing [23]. They joined a fight in which Caelumn, Althea and Terry all went down before Hugo and Vasquez put out both skulls [24][25][26][27][28]. The party slipped past the Aurelians at the sewer mouth, took a skiff and chose to sail for the White Lantern Shrine and Hett Varn, about three days away [29][8][30], and Vasquez attuned the hat and became a dwarf [31]. The DM closed on Sevryn’s words ringing in their minds, that everything is happening the way it’s supposed to [32]. At the start of session 17 the DM retconned the ending: Vasquez and Althea never reached the skiff [33][34].

Narrative

The recording picks up at a wet crate holding two healing potions, a greater healing potion, a smoke bomb, about 50 feet of silk rope, a hooded lantern, a flask of oil, and 12 gold and 8 silver in a wet pouch [9]. With no backpack, Caelumn pocketed one healing potion and gave the rest to Hugo, “the pack mule” [35][36][37]. Something unseen moved in the crate [38]; Caelumn shoved Terry’s head in to look, but Terry saw only a crate [39]. When they tipped it over, water hit the hidden thing, the spell fizzled away and a top hat appeared, which Terry knew at once: “That’s the hat of disguise that we were looking for” [40].

Caelumn tried to slam it on Vasquez’s head without warning, “just praying that it’s not a cursed item” [41]; Vasquez’s Sleight of Hand of 12 beat him, and he gently pushed the wrist aside [42]. “We don’t know if it’s cursed,” he said, and suggested Caelumn try it on himself [43]. Althea offered to identify it instead [44] and ritual-cast Identify over ten minutes, laying out granite, basalt, slate and limestone in a runic pattern, while Terry ritual-cast Detect Magic [45]. The others talked religion: Vasquez expected the fanatics at the gate to impale him, and Caelumn called himself “just a believer in the holy word”, of a faith “pretty accepting” [46], until Terry’s story of a cousin’s Filarion wedding drove Caelumn to suggest turtle soup [47]. It was a hat of disguise, letting its attuned wearer cast Disguise Self [12]; Terry’s Detect Magic found nothing else magical, though the spores carried a residue of what the DM called “biomagic” [48].

Hugo could not recall what lay behind the biogloom, beyond something in Umbrafall [49][50], so he passed Maelis Dirn’s shipping papers to Terry: most of her cargo went through Dock 13 in Umbrafall to Duskwatch, a couple of days from Mirestrand and Velkris, and where it went next they could not tell [51]. Through Earthwing’s eyes Terry saw a big room hung with wet fungal curtains, skull-sized clusters breathing faint clouds into the air, and bodies in the water below [52]. The DM put Caelumn right on where they were: these were the sewers of Eldwythe, a town of a few thousand, not of Aurelia [53].

Terry went first behind Bladesong into the deeper water [54][55]. A fungus burst in Caelumn’s face on a natural 1 for 6 poison, and the bodies rose [56]: two big fungal creatures and smaller “servants” [57]. The big ones shook out purplish spores that stunned anyone who failed a Constitution save; Althea, Caelumn, Vasquez and Hugo were each stunned in turn, Althea’s Bless dropping with her [14][58][59], and the stunned Caelumn took a spore through his shoulder for 12 [60]. Terry, behind Shield and Mirror Image and with a Constitution save the DM called “so stupid”, killed one big one, leaping on its back to drive both swords into its throat as it burst into spores and fungi [61][62][63][15]. Caelumn’s natural-20 Fire Bolt rolled two ones for damage [64]; Althea’s Toll the Dead dropped the other, a kill she made with a cowbell crushed out of iron and thrown at its face, and the servants powered down [16].

After the fight Vasquez gave Althea the schematics of his gunblade, and her gem, shining brighter, mended his armour with a surge of holy power [65]. The table broke for 15 minutes [66]. Hugo’s check on the bodies, an 18 at advantage, showed a strain of Biogloom that someone could have cultivated across this whole cavern to sell, a relatively rare component that buyers in Umbrafall use for finer potions and poisons [67][68]; who those buyers are, perhaps House Tallow or Umbrafall’s Tallow Ward, is a question for the DM. He filled seven vials [69] and, on a Medicine check of 14 after the DM refused Sleight of Hand, cut out a spore gland the size of a grapefruit that should burst like a powder bomb if thrown [70]. “It’s not a war crime if it’s the first time, right?” he asked [71].

At the end of a tunnel stood an iron-banded door, added later and “patched by practical hands”, its thick handle ringed by seven locks, each with a sliding catch and a short line of writing [18]. Terry and Althea could read the first, “open”, in Common; Hugo the second, “closed”; Caelumn the third, “open” [72]. Mharos offered to read the fourth for Vasquez, who ignored him and slid every lock to open; the handle did not move [73]. Althea’s ritual Identify showed the door was not magical [74], and Hugo brute-forced the rest like a binary counter, which the DM said took about 20 minutes [75]. The answer was open, closed, open, closed, open, closed, closed; an Investigation check, which Hugo had failed by one, would have shown that locks 1, 3 and 5 were the worn ones [76]. The other four were in Infernal, Giant, Undercommon and Halfling [77]. Hugo relocked the door from the far side, inverted [78].

Beyond it a wall appeared at the end of the tunnel, and another cut Vasquez and Althea off from the rest [79][80]. An inscription in Common read “keep your eye on the wall” [81]. Vasquez struck his wall and nearly dented his gunblade [82], and when the voice in his head said “Feed me your misery”, he held up a finger to Althea and slammed his head into the wall for a nosebleed and 1 bludgeoning [83]. On the other side they tried closing their eyes, cleaning the wall, and Hugo placing his eye on it “ever so gently” [84]. Meanwhile Terry’s link to Earthwing was cut: “Something came out of the dark” [85]. At last Caelumn, looking at the inscribed wall, walked backwards into the other one and passed straight through [86]. Hugo had tried the same thing at the start; the DM, who had missed it, apologised and gave them their ten minutes back [87], and Terry named it a “quantum wall” [88].

Vasquez and Althea, hearing dogs barking behind them [89], came into an older room of four stone drains with worn carved faces, a basin overflowing with glowing roots, a lantern on a dry ledge, and “a half-dead smuggler slumped against the wall” [90]. The roots seized Althea as she hopped the basin, and Vasquez’s Athletics of 23 pulled her free [91]. Taking Vasquez’s armour for Aurelian, the man asked “You’re with the white cloaks?” [92]; he had run into trouble sneaking goods through, and he bargained for healing with a warning of something hiding in the ceiling and an ambush down the line [93]. Althea healed him [94], and he told them of a small hidden stash to the west, “Just push in the wall and it should fall”, holding gold, rope, rations, biogloom toxins and healing potions, then drank a potion and vanished, small splashes heading south [95][96]. Vasquez’s Perception of 18 found the thing on the ceiling, blended into the biogloom and vines [97].

Through the wall the main party found a narrow chamber of older stone with five stone sarcophagi and, on a low plinth, a small iron-bound chest [98]. Caelumn opened it: a diamond worth about 300 gold, 10 gold, 53 silver and 20 copper, and a potion bottle that looked empty but felt as if it held liquid [99]; Terry bet on invisibility [100]. As the weight shifted something clicked, a pulse ran through the floor, black light flashed in the plinth’s seam, and a sarcophagus ground open [101]. After initiative [102], a ghoul clawed Hugo, who made his Constitution save [103]. A skull grinned at Caelumn before a Fireball, as Hugo called it: Terry took 24 fire, halved by Absorb Elements, Caelumn half, and the ghoul beside Caelumn the full brunt, since “the skulls are immune” [104][105]. Terry chopped that ghoul’s head off, and Hugo drove his longsword through another’s heart [106][107]. Caelumn drank his healing potion, then provoked a skull’s opportunity attack to line up a shot; a fiery ray through his back for 18 fire dropped him [108], and he told the DM: “You’re taking the actual piss, aren’t you?” [109].

Vasquez and Althea heard the fighting and came through a door to join it [110]. A second blast hit Terry for 21 fire [111]. Althea’s Turn Undead frightened two of them, but a skull’s Magic Missile, four darts for 20 force, knocked her out [112]; Terry’s critical hit for 19 severed a skull’s chin, which floated back up and reattached, crooked [113], and a ghoul bit the unconscious Caelumn for two failed death saves [114]. Vasquez poured his greater healing potion down Althea’s throat for 17 [115], and Hugo fed Caelumn a healing potion for 9 and knocked a skull’s chin to the floor for good [116]. Caelumn’s cold Chromatic Orb hurt the far skull [117], whose second-level Magic Missile, maximum damage twice, met his Shield and dropped Terry with 10 force [118]. Althea’s second Turn Undead caught two more [119]. As a skull floated off, Hugo’s opportunity attack stabbed it through the back and put out its fire, and Vasquez, at advantage, split the other clean through for 12 [120]. Hugo gave Terry a healing potion for 5 [121], and the last frightened undead was left to run towards the Aurelians, ending initiative [122][123].

With Terry on 5 hit points behind Blade Ward, they went on past rats that something had disembowelled [124], Althea warning of “something we shouldn’t fight right now up there” [125]. Vasquez rolled a 7 on the group Stealth check, but the DM said there was “no way I can make that fail”, and they slipped past the Aurelians holding the end of the sewer to a small skiff bobbing against the current [126]. The DM paused to load the scene, since he “didn’t actually expect you to make it this far” [127], and Vasquez chose “life instead of loot” over the smuggler’s stash [128].

“As the skiff slips free of the sewer mouth, the cold night air hits you hard, and the stink of the tunnels give way to salt water, wet reeds and distant smoke. Behind you, the sewer mouth vanishes into the dark, and ahead the waterways open wide, and for the first time since the Aurelian ambush, the choice is yours.” — Nick (DM), [7]

The DM offered Phil’s contact and “the mouth of the lion”, Maelis’s trail to Velkris, or Umbrafall to gather strength [7]. Hugo, sure the casters would struggle in Aurelia, also floated going to Sevryn for a way to find the Egg [129][130], and Caelumn doubted they could beat “their elite dude” [131]. On the boat Vasquez spent an hour attuning the hat and turned “from a devil-kin-looking individual to a dwarf” [132]. Hugo reckoned the posters showed him only in his helmet [133], and Terry that Bladesong “isn’t technically magic, it’s dancing” [134]. The DM corrected Hugo that the White Lantern is a shrine, not a pub, and placed it a bit north towards the coast from Aurelia, roughly three days’ sail [135]. Caelumn said “sod it”, and the party voted for the shrine [136][137].

“As you guys set a course, you fold out the sails and you drift slowly towards either your fate or your doom, and the only thing that rings in your mind at this point is Sevryn telling you everything is happening the way it’s supposed to. And as you set your sails towards the pale city of Aurelia, you feel a strengthened bond between you, from what you’ve achieved, from what you’ve gone through, and to where you’re going. And that, dear friends, is the end of today’s session.” — Nick (DM), [32]

Dialogue Highlights

  1. Terry, as the hat appears: “That’s the hat of disguise that we were looking for.” [138]
  2. Caelumn, hat in hand: “I’m not gonna wear it. I’m turning around and I look at Vasquez without any warning I slam it on his head just praying that it’s not a cursed item.” [41]
  3. Vasquez, refusing it: “I don’t know what this is. […] We don’t know if it’s cursed. We don’t know if it’s going to make this and he points to like generally the entirety of himself worse.” [43]
  4. Caelumn, on his faith: “I’m just a believer in the holy word.” [139]
  5. Terry, as the fungus bursts in Caelumn’s face: “Caelumn you motherfucker!” [140]
  6. The DM, on Caelumn’s critical Fire Bolt: “As it hits, it just hits almost like a wet surface. And it just looks down. And yeah, it’s still standing.” [141]
  7. Hugo, with his spore gland: “It’s not a war crime if it’s the first time, right?” [71]
  8. The DM, on the lock puzzle: “For the sake of brevity, because you’re brute forcing this, it’s going to take you roughly 20 minutes to figure out the combination.” [142]
  9. The injured smuggler, seeing Vasquez’s armour: “You’re with the white cloaks?” [143]
  10. The injured smuggler, healed: “I’m sure if it wasn’t for you, I would have been toast… but if you go down the south and to the west, there’s a small hidden stash. Just push in the wall and it should fall.” [95]
  11. Vasquez, as the smuggler vanishes: “If you ever need any more assistance, we’ll be waiting around Aurelia, I guess. Same goes for our side. If you want to help us out as a thank you, we’d appreciate it!” [144]
  12. Hugo, as Caelumn walks through the wall: “Hold on. Nick, I did that earlier. I did that at the very start.” [145]
  13. Caelumn, burned through the back by a skull: “You’re taking the actual piss, aren’t you?” [109]
  14. Vasquez, passing up the stash: “I choose life instead of loot” [146]
  15. Terry, on Aurelia’s ban: “Bladesong isn’t technically magic, it’s dancing.” [134]
  16. The DM, closing: “Sevryn telling you everything is happening the way it’s supposed to and as you set your sails towards the pale city of Aurelia” [6]

NPCs

  1. Fungal creatures (new, unnamed): bodies in the water that rose when the spores burst [147]: two big ones, one about 15 feet tall, that shook out stunning purplish spores, and smaller servants that stood like empty vessels once the big ones died [148][149][57][67]. Both big ones killed [150][57].
  2. Flameskulls (two, new): floating skulls that cast Fireball and Magic Missile, immune to their own fire [104][151][152]; one reattached its severed chin [153]. Both put out [27][28].
  3. Ghouls (new): at least three from the sarcophagi; one clawed Hugo, one bit the downed Caelumn [154][155]. Terry and Hugo killed one each [106][156]; one, frightened by Turn Undead, was let go [122][123].
  4. The injured smuggler (unnamed, new): “a half-dead smuggler” who had run into trouble sneaking goods through the sewers [90][157]. Healed by Althea, he told of a stash and of something in the ceiling, then drank a potion and vanished [158][95]. Never named in the fiction. Status: alive, gone.
  5. Mharos (inside Vasquez): offered to read the fourth lock [159] and demanded “Feed me your misery” before Vasquez’s head met the wall again [83].
  6. Earthwing (Terry’s familiar): scouted throughout [160][52][161] until Terry’s link to it was cut when “something came out of the dark” [85]. Status: unknown, presumed dead.
  7. The thing on the ceiling (unknown): blended into the biogloom and vines, spotted by Vasquez [162], as the smuggler had warned [158].
  8. Aurelian forces: holding the sewer mouth, with dogs on the party’s trail [163][164][165]; the party slipped past.
  9. Sevryn (off-screen): the closing narration had his words ringing in the party’s minds [32].
  10. Hett Varn (off-screen): the contact they sail to meet, a red-headed dwarf with forehead goggles [166].

Locations

  1. Eldwythe sewers, the crate: Phil’s hidden hat among the crate’s contents [9][11]. These are Eldwythe’s own sewers, under a town of a few thousand [167].
  2. The flooded fungal room: low ceiling, wet fungal curtains, skull-sized clusters breathing clouds, bodies in deep water [168][169]; a biogloom crop someone could have cultivated [67]. The first fight.
  3. The seven-lock door: an iron-banded door set into older stone at the end of a tunnel [18][170].
  4. The corridor of walls: a dark dead-end with “keep your eye on the wall” on its far wall, where magical walls appeared and vanished [171][172][173].
  5. The basin chamber: older than the sewers, with four carved stone drains, a basin of glowing roots and a lantern on a dry ledge [90].
  6. The sarcophagus chamber: narrow, of older stone, with five stone sarcophagi and an iron-bound chest on a low plinth [98]. The second fight.
  7. The sewer mouth: held by the Aurelians, with a small skiff “definitely more than sufficient for all of you” [165][174]; beyond it salt water, wet reeds and distant smoke [7].
  8. White Lantern Shrine: “a bit north towards the coast from Aurelia”, roughly three days’ sail [8]; a shrine, not a pub [175]. The destination.

Items & Loot

  1. Hat of Disguise: found when water broke its invisibility [11], identified by Althea [12], and attuned by Vasquez over an hour on the boat, turning him into a dwarf [31]. Destroyed in the session-17 retcon [176].
  2. The crate’s other contents: two healing potions, a greater healing potion, a smoke bomb, about 50 feet of silk rope, a hooded lantern, a flask of oil, 12 gold and 8 silver [10]. Caelumn kept one potion and Hugo the rest [35][177], until Caelumn took the lantern from Hugo’s pack [178].
  3. The chest’s contents: a diamond worth about 300 gold, 10 gold, 53 silver, 20 copper, and an unidentified potion in a bottle that looks empty but feels as if it holds liquid ([179]; DM ruling 53). Who carries them is not stated.
  4. Hugo’s biogloom: seven vials and a grapefruit-sized spore gland that should burst like a powder bomb [180][181].
  5. Healing potions used: Caelumn’s own [182]; Hugo’s on Caelumn for 9 and on Terry for 5 [183][184]; Vasquez’s greater healing potion on Althea for 17 [115].
  6. The gunblade schematics: given by Vasquez to Althea, whose gem mended his armour in return [65].

Combat Encounters

  • The fungal creatures [185].
    • Trigger: a fungus burst in Caelumn’s face as he stepped into the water [186].
    • Enemies: two big fungal creatures and smaller servants [147][57].
    • Notable rolls: Caelumn’s natural 1 on the first save and another on a later one [187][188]; his natural-20 Fire Bolt with two ones for damage [64]; Terry’s +9 Constitution saves [189].
    • Saving throws: the spore shakes stunned Althea, Caelumn, Vasquez and Hugo in turn [14][58][59].
    • Damage: the first spore burst, 6 poison [190]; the creatures’ blows, bludgeoning and poison, up to 14 [60][191][192][193][194][195][196][197].
    • Resources spent: Bladesong, Shield and Mirror Image for Terry [198][62]; second-level Bless for Althea [199]; Innate Sorcery, Misty Step and Dissonant Whispers for Caelumn [200][201]; Rage and Reckless Attack for Hugo [202]; inspiration for Hugo and Vasquez [203][204].
    • Resolution: Terry and Althea killed the big ones, and the servants powered down [15][16].
  • The sarcophagus chamber [205].
    • Trigger: lifting the potion shifted the chest’s weight [206].
    • Enemies: two flameskulls and at least three ghouls [207][106][156][208][209].
    • Party state at start: Vasquez and Althea cut off by the walls, joining from the basin room [210][110].
    • Notable rolls: Hugo’s 25 against the ghoul’s touch [211]; Terry’s critical hit for 19 [212]; the skull’s maximum Magic Missile damage [213]; Hugo’s 23 opportunity attack [214]; Vasquez’s 25 at advantage [215].
    • Damage: Fireball, 24 and then 21 fire [216][217]; the skull’s ray, 18 fire [218]; Magic Missile, 20 force on Althea and 10 on Terry [219][213].
    • Resources spent: Bladesong and Absorb Elements for Terry [220][221]; Turn Undead twice for Althea [222][223]; Rage for Hugo [224]; a cold Chromatic Orb and Shield for Caelumn [225][226]; the greater healing potion and three healing potions [182][227][183][184].
    • Downs: Caelumn, with two failed death saves [24][228]; Althea [25]; Terry [26]. All brought back with potions [227][183][184].
    • Resolution: both skulls put out; the frightened undead allowed to run [27][28][123].
  • The basin roots [91]: initiative was rolled only to track the restraining roots; Vasquez dodged them and pulled Althea free with a 23.

Clues & Foreshadowing

  1. A biogloom farm (DM-stated): the fungal cavern could have been cultivated to grow biogloom for sale, a rare component that Umbrafall buyers use for finer potions and poisons [67][229]; whether those buyers are House Tallow or Umbrafall’s Tallow Ward is a question for the DM. Detect Magic found the spores’ “biomagic” like Umbrafall’s but more diluted [230].
  2. Maelis’s cargo (DM-stated): most went through Dock 13 in Umbrafall to Duskwatch, and what happened next is unknown [231]. That some came through these sewers is only Terry’s guess [232].
  3. A stash to the west (the smuggler’s word): gold, rope, rations, biogloom toxins and healing potions behind a wall that falls when pushed [95][96]; whether it exists is unresolved (DM ruling 52).
  4. Something in the ceiling (DM-narrated): the smuggler’s warning, the thing Vasquez saw blended into the vines, and rats something had disembowelled [158][162][233]; whatever cut Terry’s link to Earthwing “came out of the dark” [234].
  5. “Keep your eye on the wall” ([81]; solved): walking backwards into one wall while watching the other let them through [235]; how it works was never explained.
  6. Sevryn’s words (DM narration): everything is happening the way it’s supposed to, ringing in their minds as they set sail [6].
  7. The Egg: taken by Aurelian forces in session 15, its exact location unknown (DM ruling 26); Hugo guesses the man who took it went back to Aurelia [236].

Open Mysteries & Unanswered Questions

  1. What happened to Earthwing? [85]
  2. What is the potion that looks empty? [179]
  3. Who is the injured smuggler, and will he turn up again? [157][95]
  4. Who built the seven-lock door, and why? It was added later, “patched by practical hands”, and is not magical [18][237].
  5. Who is farming biogloom under Eldwythe, and for whom? [67][229]
  6. Where is the Egg, and could Sevryn help find it? [238]. See The Egg Quest.

Quests

  1. [Status: active] The Egg Quest: the party sails towards Aurelia to recover it [239][30].
  2. [Status: active] Phil’s Contact at White Lantern Shrine: about three days’ sail; tell Hett Varn that Phil sent them [166][8].
  3. [Status: active] Aurelian Persecution: the Aurelians hold the sewer mouth and track the party with dogs [163][165].
  4. [Status: deferred] The Duskwatch Shipping Ledger: the cargo’s route traced to Duskwatch [240]; Velkris passed over for Aurelia [7][30].
  5. [Status: deferred] Risa’s Sister Conspiracy: waits on Aurelia [241].
  6. [Status: new] The smuggler’s stash: to the west, not visited [95][128].

Faction & Relationship Changes

  • Sevryn: his words ring in their minds as they set out, affirming the course [6].
  • Aurelian forces: hold the sewer mouth; the party slips past [165].
  • Mharos: still pressing Vasquez, offering to read the lock and demanding misery [159][242].
  • The injured smuggler: owes Vasquez and Althea his life; Vasquez offered help around Aurelia [243].
  • Althea and Vasquez: traded gifts, the gunblade schematics for a mending blessing [65].

Table Rulings

  • Bonus-action potion for another creature within 5 feet: Hugo quoted the rule and the DM agreed [244].
  • Throwing a healing potion is an improvised weapon attack [245].
  • Rituals: Identify on the hat and on the door, ten minutes each [246][74]; Terry ritual-cast Detect Magic beside Althea, flavouring his rituals as muttered stories [247][248].
  • Inspiration cannot be handed to another player [249], but it can buy a reroll on a save [203][204].
  • Stunned means incapacitated, so Hugo lost his rage [250].
  • The wall: Hugo’s earlier attempt, which the DM had missed, was honoured, and the party got its ten minutes back [87].
  • Hat of Disguise: an hour to attune, then the wearer can cast Disguise Self [12][251].
  • Group Stealth: one poor roll did not sink the group [252].
  • Wizards’ prepared spells can be changed on a long rest [253].

Callbacks

  • Phil’s hat (s15): the hat Phil described is found [254][138].
  • The lost backpack (s15): Caelumn has nothing to carry things in since losing the dragon egg [35][255].
  • Maelis’s papers: Hugo’s shipping documents from Maelis traced her cargo through Dock 13 to Duskwatch [51].
  • Umbrafall’s biogloom: the sewer’s glow is weak beside Umbrafall’s [256], and Detect Magic found the same kind of magic, diluted [257].
  • Feeding Mharos (s15): Vasquez slams his head into the wall again, as in session 15 [83][258].

Retcons applied this session

  • None during the session itself. At the start of session 17 the DM retconned its ending [33]. As played, Vasquez and Althea boarded the skiff with Terry, Hugo and Caelumn, Vasquez attuned the hat and became a dwarf, and all five sailed for Aurelia [31][6]. As retconned, Vasquez and Althea split off from the party and never came back; the party had to choose between fleeing the Aurelians and going back for them, and left them behind [33]. The DM restated it for Caelumn’s player: they were captured by the Aurelians [34]. The Hat of Disguise “exploded” and is gone [176]; Terry objected, “I want one where he keeps the fucking hat”, but the change stood [259]. The skiff therefore left with three aboard, and a few hours out it came on a wreck under a scorched golden sunburst, with Mike and Steven clinging to it [260]. This recap’s party_present keeps the session as played. Vasquez and Althea are departed, in the same category as Cholmondeley, Harvo and Ruin, not a rescue in waiting (DM ruling 25), and the hat is destroyed (DM ruling 54); the calendar marks the retcon on the session 17 date.

Meta notes

  • Polar (Vasquez) and Maliwana (Althea) left the table between sessions 16 and 17, so this was the last session for both characters; the retcon above is their exit in the story, and their player pages give the circumstances.
  • The recording starts mid-scene at the crate [261].
  • There was a 15-minute break after the fungal fight [66], and Toby’s connection was slow for a stretch around it [262][263].
  • The DM had not expected the party to reach the skiff and paused to load the scene [127]; the table half expected a level up at the close, and none came [264].

Next Steps

  • Sail to the White Lantern Shrine, about three days away [8].
  • Find Hett Varn, give him Phil’s note and tell him that Phil sent them [166][265].
  • Get into Aurelia in disguise, keeping the casters’ magic out of sight [266][267].
  • Recover the Egg, perhaps with Sevryn’s help to find it [238].
Entities in this session

People (9)

Locations (9)

Things (9)

References

  1. ^ Session 16, line 18-160: Hat of Disguise found, Althea identifies, Vasquez attunes (later).
  2. ^ Session 16, line 286-296: The flooded fungal room; these are Eldwythe's own sewers.
  3. ^ Session 16, line 818-995: Seven-lock binary puzzle door.
  4. ^ Session 16, line 1240-1556: Sarcophagus chamber ambush (2 flame-skulls + ghouls).
  5. ^ Session 16, line 1601-1626: Skiff escape, choice towards White Lantern Shrine.
  6. ^ Session 16, line 1753: The closing narration, with Sevryn's words.
  7. ^ Session 16, line 1626: Inline citation.
  8. ^ Session 16, line 1717: Inline citation.
  9. ^ Session 16, line 18-20: Inline citation.
  10. ^ Session 16, line 20: Inline citation.
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  33. ^ Session 17, line 130: Inline citation.
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