Session 6: Maze of the Minotaur and the Titan

Session 6 is the sixth recorded session and the party’s first full session inside The Warrens proper. After completing the sludge-pit fight from the previous session, the party long-rests inside an enemy storeroom, finds a mind-controlling sentient bookshelf they wisely avoid, navigates a Minotaur-themed labyrinth via right-hand rule, and engages the Titan — the boss-creature behind Maelis Dirn’s experiments. The fight introduces a five-node mushroom mechanic that the party only partially understands, and the session ends mid-combat with the Titan still alive, Maelis Dirn herself revealed and casting from cover, and the party scattered. Notably, this is the first confirmed session of Terry played as a wizard rather than a bard.

Session 6: Maze of the Minotaur and the Titan

Metadata

• In-game date: unknown
• Locations visited: The Warrens (sludge-pit room, sarcophagus storeroom, mind-control bookshelf room, Maze of the Minotaur corridors and central Titan chamber)
• Major NPCs present: Maelis Dirn (revealed at last; speaks in person), the Titan (boss creature)
• Factions involved: Maelis Dirn’s Warrens operation, The Hollow (referenced in environmental cues), the Ascendancy / Project (referenced via Hugo’s recognition of the Titan)
• Sessions referenced (callbacks): s5 (sludge-pit combat continuation, the first regenerating fungal-zombie, the Hollow Guardians’ “thieves or servants of the Hollow?”, Caelumn’s spore detonation)

Executive Summary

The party long-rested in a Warrens storeroom after a phase-spider ambush nearly killed them, found a mind-controlling sentient bookshelf and dragged Caelumn out before he prayed himself into oblivion, and entered the Maze of the Minotaur. They mapped Maelis Dirn’s experimental notes (a Titan bound to five fungal nodes via a soul-thread weaving), spotted forged shipping documents through Duskwatch, and triggered the Titan boss fight. The Titan regenerated via fungal-mushroom clusters scattered through the maze; Hugo received a vision-trance during a stun that granted him 80 ft of movement for the next ten minutes, allowing him to sprint the maze hunting nodes while the rest of the party held the line against the Titan and the now-revealed Maelis Dirn. The session ended mid-combat with two of the five nodes destroyed, the Titan re-enraging, and Maelis herself sniping from cover.

Narrative

The session opened with the recap of Session 5 (delivered by Caelumn) and a brief continuation of the sludge-pit aftermath. Vasquez spent his time post-revival glaring at Caelumn: “I take 38,000 sax damage. Being burned and being brought back isn’t exactly helpful in this situation but I’m alive at least for now” ^[8].

The party investigated the dead fungal-zombies more carefully and confirmed the bodies had injection ports — human subjects deliberately mutated. Terry noted his rough conclusion: “Lads, I think they’ve got some kind of special orifice. I think they might be humans” ^[9]. They moved on through what proved to be a vast chamber with broken stone doors and roots like nooses, behind which a “slow rumble of something massive is breathing” ^[10].

Cautious investigation in two side rooms revealed a Minotaur-glyph in the centre of the floor and two sarcophagi with gemstones in their forehead-crests (untouched: lessons learned from prior dragon-cave smitings). Caelumn opened crates in the eastern storeroom and a phase-spider dropped from the ceiling. The combat was bad: the spider phased through portals, scored two natural 20s in three turns, and downed both Caelumn and Harvo, both poisoned and paralysed for one hour. Hugo’s Black Mask onyx ring triggered for the first time mid-combat — when reduced to 0 HP not killed outright, the demonic-blade feature dealt 1d8 necrotic damage back to the spider and restored Hugo to 4 HP. Terry’s held-action true-strike crossbow shot dropped the spider when it teleported out of a portal directly above him.

With no other safe option (nine hours back to the surface and two paralysed allies), the party barricaded themselves into the storeroom and long-rested inside the dungeon. Terry cast Alarm. Hugo built a barricade with assistance from Vasquez (Strength check, advantaged, nat 20). Vasquez extracted a single vial of phase-spider venom with Alchemist’s Supplies. Everyone made the Wisdom save against creeping fungal tendrils trying to root into their bodies during the rest — except Caelumn, who rolled a nat 1 and woke with one level of exhaustion. They cleared the rubble in the morning to find: three healing potions (dusty), a salve, a silvered short sword (claimed by Terry), and a Gloom-Touched Buckler (identified by Harvo over ten minutes; claimed by Hugo). Caelumn was denied a Heroic Inspiration he was promised for the recap, in possibly the universe’s most fitting karma.

The party exited the storeroom heading south and found a side room containing a bookshelf of dusty scrolls that began speaking telepathically — but only to Terry. “Come closer Terry. We got secrets. Many secrets. Stories untold.” Terry’s Arcana check (16) confirmed bookshelves don’t normally talk to people; he refused to enter. Caelumn (“alright, whatever, I’ll do, I’m not a bitch, I’ll go look at the bookshelf”) entered, failed his Wisdom save with 12, and began grovelling in front of the bookshelf as a follower. Hugo strode partway in, made a nat 20 Strength check, and dragged Caelumn out by the leg without entering himself ^[11]. The bookshelf was abandoned, its contents unread. Terry: “Right, well, I’m not a nutter. I’m not going in there” ^[12].

A further side room contained a stone-and-roots desk covered in Maelis’s research notes. The notes described “Tri-cap bio-gloom. Cultiver binds soul thread. Three nodes to hold the weave. Two pulses to seal.” — diagrams of a hulking giant with veins traced in ink the same violet as the bio-gloom. A second stack of papers was a forged shipping ledger routing goods through Duskwatch. Hugo, taking the papers, recognised the experimental approach as fundamentally different from his own backstory’s (Project Veilbreak) but couldn’t place where he’d seen it. Loot from this room: 2 scrolls of Guiding Bolt (1st), 1 healing potion, 1 antitoxin, 1 bio-gloom toxin, and a stoppered jar containing a violet bio-gloom mushroom cap preserved in resin (claimed by Harvo, who described it as “trying to bind to me through the glass”).

Then they entered the Maze of the Minotaur proper — a vast labyrinth with 60-foot-high walls. Hugo proposed and the party adopted the right-hand rule. They committed to it doggedly, even after Caelumn accidentally stumbled into the central chamber while wandering and discovered where the boss was. The maze’s design was non-standard: corridors all 15’ wide, walls 60’ tall (so flying enemies could in principle traverse), and the DM had blacked out explored corridors on the VTT, then partially relented when reminded the players already had memory of what they’d walked through.

In the central Titan chamber they found another node — a “super node” channelling magical energy inward toward the maze itself. They debated destroying it; Hugo suggested it might be ONE node of five, not the central one. Caelumn opened a third sarcophagus (with the help of his crowbar — Strength check 13 with advantage), evading the acid trap with a 17 Dex save (taking 6 acid). The corpse inside was unremarkable. Then they heard “thatch — thatch — thatch” approaching from the south, and the Titan boss fight began.

The Titan emerged: a giant orc-shaped creature wrapped in chains digging into its own skin, glowing with purple aura, shadows replacing bullet wounds. The first round established the mechanic: ranged attacks (Harvo’s force ballista, Caelumn’s chromatic orb) struck the Titan but the shadows reformed, healing it. Caelumn’s Web spell at the maze entrance restrained it briefly but Harvo’s Eldritch Cannon firebolt set the web on fire (Caelumn lost both the restraint and the rest of the Web area in a single round when Harvo accidentally torched it). The Titan walked through.

Mid-fight, the Titan threw two boulders at Hugo (13 + 18 bludgeoning) and forced a Wisdom save which Hugo failed: he was stunned and pulled into a vision — fighting the Titan as it had looked before, surrounded by allies he didn’t recognise being torn in half. He struck for damage in the vision and emerged stunned no longer, but with 80 feet of movement for the next 10 minutes. The DM thereby introduced the mechanic: the Titan was a memory the party had been a part of, somehow — and Hugo recognised the orc.

While Hugo sprinted through the maze hunting fungal mushroom clusters (the five nodes), the rest of the party held the line in the central chamber:

• Terry spent his big-spell turn on Jim’s Magic Missile (4 darts, 1 with a nat 20 for 15 damage), then mostly cast Blade Ward and used Silvery Barbs twice to save Caelumn from one-shots.
• Caelumn burned through his sorcery points and most spell slots: Sorcerous Burst (force, lightning), Witch Bolt at 3rd level for 25 damage, twin-spell Chromatic Orb (lightning, no force-damage allowed by DM), Shield to block a Maelis arcane bolt at 23, Cure Wounds (one Free use, plus level-1 cast).
• Vasquez went down twice over the course of the fight to bludgeoning, was revived by Terry feeding him a greater healing potion (14 HP), Action Surged once for 11 + 9 fire damage on the Titan (his last primer charge), and crit twice during the boss phase.
• Harvo fired the Force Ballista repeatedly. The Titan threw a boulder at the cannon for 21 bludgeoning damage and destroyed it — Harvo summoned a second cannon later in the fight.

Maelis Dirn appeared mid-fight, the actual boss of the location: a witch-flavoured caster firing arcane bursts for 14–19 damage per ray. She held back behind a wall and used her ring (the Soulbinder’s Packed Ring in retrospect) to mark Vasquez and command the Titan to crush him. Maelis had a personal shimmering barrier that gave attackers disadvantage and resisted damage. Across the second half of the combat, Hugo killed two of the five mushroom clusters by reckless-attacking through them at full sprint; each death weakened the Titan’s regen.

The session ended mid-combat with: the Titan regenerated and back on his feet (round 12 of combat); Vasquez down again; Caelumn crushed by a thrown boulder for 42 (4 short of insta-kill) and saved only by Terry’s silvery-barbs forcing a re-roll which also rolled a 17 on Callum’s AC but Caelumn cast Shield to negate; Maelis fired ice-knives at Vasquez from cover; the Titan’s anti-magic / shadow-reform mechanic still partially active. Hugo was still sprinting the maze with one node yet undiscovered. Terry had run six rounds west into a dead end and was running back.

Dialogue Highlights

1. The DM (NPC: bookshelf), telepathically to Terry: “Come closer Terry. We got secrets. Many secrets. Stories untold.”
2. Terry to the bookshelf: “Right, well, I’m not a nutter. I’m not going in there.”
3. Caelumn, walking willingly into the bookshelf room: “Like, alright, whatever I’ll do, I’m not a bitch I’ll go look at the bookshelf.”
4. Hugo, dragging Caelumn out by the leg with his nat 20 Strength: “I will try and, like, with one hand…”
5. Maelis Dirn, voice drifting through the maze when Hugo killed the first node: “stop! stop! you’re ruining everything!”
6. Maelis Dirn to Hugo, recognising him: “Liar. I see the project’s work on you. You work for them and you will die and you will become a pet.”
7. Hugo, to Maelis: “I hate this as much as you do right now. You can have the Titan for all I care.”
8. Vasquez, on Caelumn’s continued spell-casting choices: “You really are pathetic.” (delivered by Maelis Dirn about Vasquez, but Vasquez’s reply is also worth recording: “I’ve been called worse, at least I don’t look like a hag.”)
9. Terry, to himself, after running an entire branch of the maze that turned out to be a dead end: “You must have been smiling so fucking hard watching me walk the wrong way to a dead end.”

NPCs

1. Maelis Dirn (aliases: Malus, Maelis Dirn, Mavis Dern, Coven Filth): the boss of the Warrens, a humanoid arcane caster with a personal shimmering barrier (disadvantage to hit, damage resistance). Wears a soulbinder-style ring; commands the Titan via the ring. Recognises Hugo on sight as a Project subject. Status: alive (but engaged). Disposition: hostile. Faction: Warrens / The Hollow / shipping operation through Duskwatch. New this session: yes (first in-person appearance). Last seen: s06.
2. The Titan (aliases: the failed experiment, the giant): a soul-bound construct made by Maelis from a previously-existing humanoid (orc-like). Soul-bound to five fungal nodes (“three to hold the weave, two pulses to seal” — updated to five nodes in later research notes). Regenerates fully when reduced to 0 unless a node is destroyed. Hugo recognises it — past life. Status: alive. New this session: yes.
3. The Mind-Control Bookshelf (telepathic NPC): unknown entity inhabiting a bookshelf in a Warrens side room. Telepathically charms a single party member and forces grovelling worship. Resisted via Wisdom save. Was abandoned, not destroyed. New this session: yes.
4. The Phase Spider (aliases: teleporting spider, alien-spider): blink-spider that ambushed from the ceiling in a side room. Two crit hits early; capable of paralysing on Con failures. Killed by Terry’s true-strike crossbow. New this session: yes (one-shot, killed).

Locations

1. The Warrens (storeroom): side room off the spore-zombie cavern with sarcophagi, crates, and minotaur statues. Used as a long-rest barricade. New: yes.
2. The Warrens (mind-control bookshelf room): small room containing a sentient telepathic bookshelf full of dusty scrolls. New: yes.
3. The Warrens (Maelis’s research desk room): stone-and-roots desk covered in lab notes describing the Titan binding ritual; also a forged shipping ledger routing through Duskwatch. New: yes.
4. Maze of the Minotaur: 60-foot-tall labyrinth with 15-foot corridors, dead ends, multiple sarcophagi. Connects the Warrens to the central Titan chamber. New: yes.
5. Central Titan chamber: glowing channeling-circle node, Maelis’s command room, with a buried decayed heart as offering. New: yes.

Items & Loot

1. Gloom-Touched Buckler: shield with bio-gloom resin coating. Identified by Harvo (10 minutes). Claimed by Hugo. Suspected to confer some bio-gloom-related effect; mechanics unclear at this point.
2. Silvered Short Sword: from the storeroom. Claimed by Terry.
3. Three healing potions (dusty, normal): from storeroom; Caelumn took all three.
4. Salve (from storeroom): unidentified.
5. Two scrolls of Guiding Bolt (1st level): from Maelis’s desk room. Held in party inventory; not on any current spell-list.
6. Healing potion (1) + Antitoxin (1) + Bio-gloom toxin (1) + Greater healing potion (1): from Maelis’s desk room. Distributed to party.
7. Stoppered jar with bio-gloom mushroom cap in resin: from Maelis’s desk. Claimed by Harvo. “Tries to bind to you through the glass” — possibly mind-control vector.
8. Vial of phase-spider venom: extracted by Vasquez via Alchemist’s Supplies after the spider fight (single dose).
9. Maelis’s research notes (updated version, the “final version”) and forged Duskwatch shipping ledger: held by Hugo for the next session.

Currency split: none recovered this session.

Combat Encounters

Encounter 1: Phase Spider (~5 rounds)

• Party state at start: full HP from prior short rest.
• Party state at end: Caelumn and Harvo down + paralysed for an hour; Hugo at 4/full (saved by his pact ring); Vasquez at half-HP; Terry uninjured.
• Monsters faced: 1 phase spider (Medium aberration, blink mechanic; CR ~3-5 estimated).
• To-hit results: 4 attacks, 4 hits (including 3 nat 20s within rounds 1-3).
• Saving throws: 4 Con saves attempted, 1 succeeded (Hugo’s first save; failed his second, was poisoned and paralysed).
• Damage types: piercing + poison from spider bite; thrown handaxes (Hugo, slashing), crossbow bolts (Terry, true-strike), force ballista (Harvo, force), Tasha’s Hideous Laughter (Terry, no effect — saved 16).
• Party resources: Hugo’s onyx ring (Black Mask pact) triggered demonic-blade self-revive, Caelumn used Heroic Inspiration on his death-save Wisdom, Terry spent a 1st-level slot.
• Notable rolls: Hugo nat 20 first hit (16 damage); spider 3 nat 20s in first 3 rounds (Caelumn down, Harvo down, Hugo down to 4 then back up via ring); Terry held action true-strike to kill it on its return.

Encounter 2: Long Rest, Cleanup, Mind-Control Bookshelf

• Long rest: Caelumn fails Wisdom save vs. fungus tendrils (nat 1) → 1 level exhaustion.
• Bookshelf: Caelumn fails Wisdom save (12) → grovels. Hugo nat 20 Strength check pulls him out. No combat resolution.

Encounter 3: The Titan + Maelis Dirn (~12 rounds, ENDS SESSION INCOMPLETE)

• Party state at start: full HP, full slots (post long rest plus minor expenditure).
• Party state at end: Vasquez down (round 11); Caelumn at 5/29 HP; Harvo at low health; Terry at half HP after a 30-damage hit; Hugo running the maze.
• Monsters faced: The Titan (Huge construct, soul-bound to 5 fungal nodes; CR unknown — homebrew); Maelis Dirn (Medium humanoid arcane caster, shimmering barrier giving disadvantage to hit and damage resistance; CR unknown — homebrew).
• To-hit results against party: ~10 attacks; key hits — Hugo for 13 + 18 (boulders, Wisdom save → vision-stun); Caelumn 42 (boulder; Terry silvery-barbs’d for re-roll, Caelumn shielded the re-roll); Terry 30 force (Maelis); Vasquez 26 + 0 (Titan slam crit + 12 graze, downed); Harvo 17 + 16 (boulders, downed and stabilised by Caelumn’s healing potion administered as reaction).
• Saving throws: many. Hugo’s Wisdom save against vision-stun failed but the reward was a 10-minute 80’-movement buff. Caelumn’s Shield re-roll defence held against Maelis ranged attacks twice. Vasquez death save nat 20 to recover.
• Damage types: lightning (Vasquez gunblade primer, Caelumn Sorcerous Burst, Caelumn Witch Bolt at 3rd → 25), force (Caelumn Sorcerous Burst, Harvo cannon, Terry Jim’s Magic Missile), thunder (Caelumn Sorcerous Burst), fire (Vasquez primer charges, Harvo Eldritch Cannon firebolt, Caelumn — accidentally set the web on fire), radiant (Terry true-strike crossbow), bludgeoning (Hugo handaxes, Vasquez gunblade, Titan boulders).
• Party resources: Hugo 2 rages; Caelumn ALL sorcery points + many slots; Vasquez Action Surge + last primer + Second Wind 2x; Terry 2nd-level slot for Jim’s Magic Missile, 1st-level Web (Caelumn — wait, Web was Caelumn at 2nd level), 1st-level Cure Wounds; Harvo ~3 Eldritch Cannon summons (one destroyed mid-fight).
• Notable rolls: Caelumn nat 20 Witch Bolt at 3rd → 25 damage; Hugo nat 20 multiple times; Maelis nat 20 ice-knife at Vasquez (saved 21); Vasquez death save nat 20 for self-revive.

Clues & Foreshadowing

1. “Three nodes to hold the weave, two pulses to seal” (Maelis’s lab notes; updated to five nodes in the final draft). Confirmed during combat: each node destroyed weakens the Titan’s regen.
2. Hugo recognises the Titan. The Titan turned to him before disappearing “like he knows you” ^[13]. Maelis’s “I see the project’s work on you” confirms Hugo and the Titan share a backstory — Project Veilbreak / the Ascendancy.
3. Forged shipping ledger through Duskwatch: routes goods (presumably bio-gloom toxins) toward Velkris. Maelis is exporting.
4. Dawn-Mercy clue (foreshadow only): not yet introduced; the urn-woman appears only in s07.
5. Bio-gloom mushroom cap “binds to you through the glass”: even physically separated, the resin-preserved cap exerts magical pull. Implies bio-gloom magic can corrupt at distance.

Open Mysteries & Unanswered Questions

1. Who is “the project”? Maelis named it; Hugo’s pact-giver hinted at it. Cared about: Hugo (primarily), Terry, Harvo.
2. Why does Hugo recognise the Titan? Best evidence: trance-vision during combat, the Titan’s “knowing look” before disappearing. Cared about: Hugo.
3. What is the bookshelf? It charmed Caelumn into worship, has secrets, was abandoned unread. Cared about: Caelumn, Harvo.
4. Who is Maelis exporting bio-gloom toxin to? Forged ledger routes through Duskwatch into Velkris. Cared about: Hugo, possibly the Broker.
5. Can the Titan be permanently killed by destroying all five nodes? Best evidence: research notes imply this is the binding mechanism. Untested fully.

Quests

1. [active] Kill Maelis Dirn for the Broker: Maelis is now visibly engaged. Two of five nodes destroyed; Titan still alive. Reward: untaxed entry, payment.
2. [active, new] The Duskwatch Shipping Ledger: forged documents routing bio-gloom exports through Duskwatch. Major future plot beat. Held by Hugo for follow-up.

Faction & Relationship Changes

• Maelis Dirn is now a personal enemy who knows Hugo by sight and has named him a Project subject.
• The Titan has a backstory tie to Hugo (mutual recognition).
• Bookshelf entity unresolved; effectively walked-away-from.
• The party still owes the Broker the kill.

Table Rulings

1. Eldritch Cannon push 5’ is mandatory, not optional (re-affirmed; Harvo was reminded he cannot choose not to push).
2. Eldritch Cannon range from artificer: must be summoned within 5’ of caster in the new (2024) rules. Discussed; DM accepted Harvo’s reading that it can later move further than 5’ on its own movement.
3. Crit damage = double the rolled total, not double the dice rolled (re-affirmed).
4. Web spell + fire: any 5-foot cube of webs exposed to fire burns away in one round, dealing 2d4 to creatures that start in the fire. Caelumn was caught off-guard when Harvo’s firebolt detonated his own Web.
5. Drinking a healing potion: bonus action to drink yourself; action to administer to another. Re-affirmed.
6. Holding an action and using a bonus action both is not allowed (Vasquez asked about priming + holding; ruled no).
7. You don’t need movement to go prone, only to stand up from prone. Clarified mid-Titan-fight.
8. Twin Spell: only allows a second target on a single-target spell; does NOT increase the spell’s level. Re-clarified for Caelumn (third time this campaign).

Callbacks

• s5: The fungal-zombie regen mechanic (three nodes) reappears, scaled up; Hugo says “this is the same as the creature we fought last session.”
• s5: The Hollow Guardians’ “thieves or servants of the Hollow?” still unresolved as a faction-allegiance mechanic.
• s5: Caelumn’s pre-rest Wisdom save corruption-fail callbacks the bio-gloom environmental theme.
• s4: Hugo’s pact ring (Black Mask) triggers in the spider fight for the first mechanical use.

Next Steps

• Finish the Titan fight (continues into s7).
• Find and destroy the remaining 3 fungal node clusters in the maze.
• Engage Maelis Dirn directly once the Titan is permanently down.
• Investigate the forged Duskwatch shipping ledger (held by Hugo).
• Decide the fate of the abandoned bookshelf.

References

1. ^ Session 6, line 312 — DM describes minotaur-glyph chamber (giant minotaur icon in centre, glowing statues in corners, paired staircases).
2. ^ Session 6, line 395-410 — Phase spider ambush from ceiling (DM: 'this creature is on the ceiling right above Callum' at L396).
3. ^ Session 6, line 877-906 — Long rest inside storeroom; Caelumn fails Wisdom save and is exhausted.
4. ^ Session 6, line 1041-1090 — Mind-control bookshelf calls to Caelumn.
5. ^ Session 6, line 1226-1263 — Maelis's lab notes: three nodes / two pulses / Duskwatch shipping ledger.
6. ^ Session 6, line 1454-1456 — Updated note: five nodes instead of three.
7. ^ Session 6, line 2538-2540 — Maelis Dirn speaks: 'liar, I see the projects work on you'.
8. ^ Session 6, line 159-161 — Inline citation.
9. ^ Session 6, line 186-189 — Inline citation.
10. ^ Session 6, line 226 — Inline citation.
11. ^ Session 6, line 1085-1087 — Inline citation.
12. ^ Session 6, line 1054-1055 — Inline citation.
13. ^ Session 6, line 612-613 — Inline citation.