Session 9: The Death of Harvo

Session 9 (“The Death of Harvo”) is the ninth recorded session of the campaign and the first death of an active player character since Cholmondeley’s in session 3. Inside the Black Vein Quarry, Vasquez accepted a bargain with the entity later named Mharos and physically transformed into a half-demon-elf; Hugo was dominated by a Succubus and decapitated Harvo with a hand-axe critical; Terry’s attempt to play the Rite of Returning at the funeral pyre failed and cost him a permanent point of Charisma. The session is widely cited as one of the most emotionally heavy of the campaign ^[25].

Session 09: The Death of Harvo

Metadata

• In-game date: unknown
• Locations visited: Black Vein Quarry (mine corridor, crystal node chamber, funeral pyre alley above the mine)
• Major NPCs present: the Succubus (alias “Empraros”/“Mharos”, initially impersonating an old man kneeling at a cracked crystal); a deceased priest of Ilmater (corpse only); Mharos (newly bonded to Vasquez)
• Factions involved: The Broker’s contract chain (mining quest); Ilmater’s clergy (a fallen cleric, identity unknown); whatever buried Mharos in this quarry centuries earlier
• Sessions referenced (callbacks): s07 (Risa, Dawn Mercy investigation), s08 (Vasquez’s Umbrafall arrest as “Bruise”, Jack the cellmate, Charlatan’s Die looted from a previous succubus, party split over the experimental potions), s03 (Cholmondeley’s death, used as a comparator)

Executive Summary

The party, mid-fight with quarry specters, was offered a bargain by an unseen presence; Vasquez accepted and was forcibly transformed into a half-demon-elf, his face scars and oral bracing erased and replaced with horns, runes, and ember eyes. Pushing deeper, the group walked into a succubus’s mind-pull and were forced to relive their greatest failures; only Terry failed his save, taking the Frightened condition into the subsequent fight. The succubus dominated Hugo, who critted on a hand-axe throw and decapitated Harvo, ending Mordane’s first character; the succubus was killed shortly after, but the cost was paid. At the funeral pyre, Terry failed a Performance check on his people’s Rite of Returning and took a permanent -1 to Charisma as a result.

Narrative

The session resumed mid-combat in the Black Vein Quarry. As specters closed in, Vasquez felt a presence settle beside him offering to help him hold the weight he carried; he reached back. The DM described pain “blooming white-hot as nerves scream and your vision blurs” as horns tore through Vasquez’s skull and runes appeared on his skin ^[1]. The remaining specters faltered, their despair drained into him; Vasquez’s allies finished them quickly with magic missiles and a Force Ballista shot. The transformation was clearly not cosmetic — Vasquez’s race changed from elf to half-demon-elf, his face was healed (the metal bars previously holding his mouth closed fell out), and Mharos introduced itself in his head as Empraros: “I am what remains when fear is carried too long and hope is set down. They buried me because I would not stop spreading that weight” ^[6].

The party found a deceased priest of Ilmater half-buried on a higher platform — gold chain, ivory hand grasping a ruby heart with a smirking and a sad face. Caelumn, rolling a 20 on Religion, identified the symbol; nobody recognised the body. Hugo pocketed the pendant for the Broker. The party climbed the platforms, fought a sniper-pair of skeletal archers and a CR3 wight on the upper deck, and found a one-way illusion wall in the back corner. Through it, a man knelt before a hovering cracked red crystal that radiated enchantment; he turned, smoke rushed past, and the party were each yanked into a personal vision.

Each player was asked to describe their character’s greatest failure. Vasquez relived a knife he tried to forge to impress his adopted dwarf father, Bison — the mould shattered ^[7]. Harvo relived the failed research into restoring his lost hand. Terry relived playing the Rite of Returning for his dead sister, where the song failed and “no echo, no answer” came back; his people’s lore says that means either the player lacked faith or the soul was already gone ^[8]. Hugo relived a battlefield massacre where, crazed by bloodlust, he turned on and killed his entire prior team. Caelumn relived his time at the Platinum Order never being able to live up to his ancient draconic blood. The succubus mocked each in turn. Wisdom save results: Vasquez 18 (passed), Harvo passed, Hugo 17 (passed), Caelumn used Heroic Inspiration but failed (his words “rang hollow”), Terry failed at disadvantage and broke out Frightened and “scarred”. The vision ended; in its place stood a full Succubus.

The succubus combat was decisive. Round one Caelumn opened with Witch Bolt at first level for 11 damage. The succubus flew over Hugo and used Charm/Dominate Person; Hugo failed his Wisdom save and became dominated. She pointed at Vasquez: “Kill that one.” Hugo, raging at full stacks, threw a hand-axe at Vasquez and downed him (the second axe being a near-miss), then nearly executed him on the next turn. Caelumn’s quickened Magic Missile broke concentration, freeing Hugo, but the succubus re-cast Dominate on Terry (failed) and pointed Hugo at Harvo: “Kill that one.” Hugo’s first axe hit, the second was a natural 20 critical for 23 damage. Harvo’s reduced max-HP from the spectres’ necrotic drain meant he could not survive the crit. The DM asked his last thoughts; Mordane gave them: “Well, fuck.” ^[4]. Hugo’s hand-axe took his head from his body. The succubus repositioned and dominated Terry, pointing him at Caelumn; Caelumn used the Bloodwell Vial / draconic-ancestor “no” to make her miss, and Hugo — now free — finally killed her on a re-roll (29 damage, two axes, “tomahawk” to the neck). Terry tossed Vasquez a healing potion at flat DC15, hit, and revived him on his last legs.

Caelumn attempted to bind the succubus’s soul with the Soulbinder’s Packed Ring at second level; CR3 against a fourth-level slot was outside range and the spell fizzled ^[9]. Hugo crushed her decapitated head under his boot. Vasquez, now hosting Mharos, reported feeling “schadenfreude” — pleasure at the wight’s death and “weirdly enough, a little bit happy about what’s happening in the group right now” ^[10].

The party hauled Harvo’s headless corpse and his head out of the mine, gathered wood, and built a pyre. Vasquez cut a small piece of metal from one of Harvo’s weapons and turned it into a charm to wear, “carrying on his legacy”. Hugo said a brief eulogy: “you were smart, probably smarter than a lot of us here” ^[11]. Caelumn said burial rites and lit the pyre with a created fire. Terry then attempted to perform his people’s Rite of Returning to bring Harvo’s soul into the harmony — and rolled badly on Performance (he is not yet proficient in it). The voice from his vision came back: “it’s your fault that she’s not part of the harmony.” The DM ruled the failure permanent: -1 Charisma to Terry, permanently. The session ended on the pyre.

Dialogue Highlights

1. Mharos (in Vasquez’s head, upon transformation): “I am Empraros. I am what remains when fear is carried too long and hope is set down. They buried me because I would not stop spreading that weight. You feel it already. That’s why I could reach you.”
2. Hugo (after the transformation, awareness of being one of the original party): “We don’t have to. We are one. You all heard that, right? That voice that said that we are one?”
3. Vasquez (to the unseen voice): “You said that you were hiding away or somebody put you away. What exactly are you?”
4. The Succubus (first words to Vasquez in his vision): “Ah, what a nice gesture. If only you could have been the dwarf your father wanted you to be — but now you carry something much worse inside of you, something that would make him recoil.”
5. The Succubus (to Terry in his vision): “Beautiful tune. Too bad it’s the wrong one. And she had such faith in you. Well, I guess that’s what you get when your family doesn’t like you.”
6. The Succubus (to Hugo on the battlefield vision): “My, you are quite the perfect little monster they made, aren’t you? Not even your allies are safe.”
7. The Succubus (whispered telepathy after dominating Hugo): “Kill that one.”
8. Harvo’s last words, as the hand-axe came for his neck: “Well, fuck.”
9. Hugo (kneeling at Harvo’s body after the fight): “I really hope you do stop me next time” — said wordlessly to Vasquez via a small smile ^[12].
10. Vasquez (post-combat, to Hugo): “I’m going to make sure that the next time that this does happen, I’m going to actually stand after you hit me. So what doesn’t happen?”

NPCs

1. Mharos (aliases: Empraros, Maros, the parasite, the demon, “the voice”): half-demon-elf entity, now bonded to Vasquez; feeds on misery and despair. Disposition: predatory but co-dependent. Faction: itself. New this session: yes (introduced; transformation scene). Status: bonded to PC, present from now on.
2. The Succubus (no name given): impersonated an old man, then the kneeling priest at the crystal; CR4. Disposition: hostile. Used Dominate Person twice. Killed this session. Faction: unknown — apparently working the Black Vein Quarry crystal node, possibly tied to whatever buried Mharos originally. New this session: yes. Status: dead.
3. Deceased Priest of Ilmater (no name): corpse on a high platform of the quarry; held the Ilmater symbol pendant; wore studded leather; carried a short sword that channelled necrotic energy. Faction: Ilmater clergy. Disposition: dead. Likely a previous adventurer who came to investigate the quarry. New this session: yes. Status: dead.
4. Bison (mentioned only): Vasquez’s adopted dwarf father, named for the first time during the failure-vision. Faction: dwarven family. Disposition: presumed neutral. New this session: yes (named).

Locations

1. Black Vein Quarry (lower mine): continuation of the previous session — black stone cavern with violet glowing fungus, pickaxes still rhythmically striking. Site of the Mharos transformation. Connections: the broader Umbrafall mining contract from The Broker.
2. Quarry upper platforms: 10/15/20/25/30-foot stepped platforms accessible via ladders and a wooden bridge; site of the skeletal sniper fight. The deceased Ilmater priest was found half-buried at one of these platforms.
3. Illusion-walled corridor: a one-way illusion wall in the upper-right of the upper deck, detected by Hugo’s Detect Magic (illusion school). Beyond it is a tunnel into the crystal node chamber. New this session: yes.
4. Crystal Node Chamber: small open cavern where the Succubus had been kneeling at a cracked red crystal with black cracks, hovering over a pedestal, radiating enchantment magic. The crystal was destroyed in the combat (and Hugo pocketed the shards). New this session: yes.
5. Funeral pyre alley (outside the mine): wood-gathered pyre site where Harvo was cremated. New this session: yes.

Items & Loot

1. Ilmater holy pendant: gold chain, ivory hand grasping a golden ring with a ruby heart, smirking and sad faces. Hugo took it; intends to show the Broker.
2. Cracked Red Crystal (shards): enchantment-school, was being used by the Succubus to corrupt the miners into ghosts (per Caelumn’s post-combat Intelligence check, ^[13]. Destroyed. Hugo picked up the shards.
3. 17 silver and 2 gold pieces (from the dead Ilmater priest)
4. Studded leather armour, longbow, short sword (from the dead Ilmater priest, all heavily used; not taken)
5. Quarry skeletons: rusted gear, no take.
6. Harvo’s gear (post-death): a +1 wand from his infusion (the gun) — the infusion lapses on death, so non-magical now; one healing potion (Hugo took it); the metal piece Vasquez cut for a charm.
7. Currency split: not formalised; Hugo took the priest’s coin and the loose change; Harvo’s healing potion went to Hugo.

Combat Encounters

• Specters of the Quarry (continued) (final 2-3 rounds): party state at start: Caelumn nearly downed, Vasquez and Hugo bloodied. Party state at end: combat over, all alive, Vasquez transformed.

  • Monsters: 4-5 specters (CR roughly 1 each).
  • Party resources: Caelumn cast Magic Missile; Vasquez used the new “soul-drag” implicit feature from the transformation; Hugo’s Force Ballista; Terry’s Silvered Shortsword + True Strike.
  • Damage types: necrotic (resisted by Vasquez post-transformation per ^[14], radiant (effective).
  • Notable: Vasquez’s first attack post-transformation, soul-draining absorption animation.

• Skeletal Snipers + CR3 Wight (Upper Quarry) (~12 rounds): party state at start: full HP after long rest. State at end: Hugo bloodied (heavy slashing), Caelumn and Terry largely intact.

  • Monsters: 2 skeletal archers, 1 CR3 wight (taunting Vasquez with “What makes you so special? Why did it succeed with you?” ^[14].
  • To-hit vs party: skeleton 25-foot-high cover, prone-and-pop tactics. Wight had radiant-glow short sword.
  • Saves: Constitution save by Caelumn vs. life-drain (16, succeeded).
  • Resources: Hugo raged, Vasquez used Action Surge twice in the session, Caelumn used Mirror Image.
  • Notable rolls: Hugo climbed and dropped the ladder; Caelumn missed the soul-bind attempt at second level (CR3 vs fourth-level needed).
  • Table ruling: shoving with magical bludgeoning works at elevation; magical-non-magical resistance has been removed in 2024 rules — undead are now flat-resistant to bludgeoning/slashing/piercing or not resistant at all ^[15].

• The Succubus (~6 rounds): party state at start: bloodied from previous fight, Terry Frightened, all wisdom-save survivors except Caelumn (failed) and Terry (failed at disadvantage).

  • Monster: 1 succubus (CR4) — used Dominate Person on Hugo and Terry, Fiendish Touch, fly speed.
  • To-hit vs party: Hugo’s hand-axe natural 20 crit vs Harvo (23 damage on a reduced-max-HP target, decapitation).
  • Saves: Wisdom saves vs Dominate — Hugo failed (15 DC), Terry failed, Caelumn passed via shield + draconic-ancestor reroll.
  • Resources: Caelumn cast Witch Bolt, Quickened Magic Missile (broke concentration on Dominate), Shield twice, used Heroic Inspiration; Hugo raged, two-axe attack; Terry threw a healing potion at flat DC15 (hit); Vasquez Action Surge’d a fire-then-lightning charge combo.
  • Notable: Harvo killed by friendly fire from a dominated Hugo; succubus’s last damaged form was visibly tougher than expected — fire was resisted, lightning seemed even weaker.
  • Caelumn attempted to bind the succubus’s soul into the Soulbinder’s Packed Ring at second level, failed (CR3 vs fourth-level slot needed).

Clues & Foreshadowing

1. Mharos’s claim about being buried: “They buried me because I would not stop spreading that weight” ^[6]. Source: Mharos to Vasquez. No interpretation offered.
2. The wight’s accusation: “What makes you so special? Why did it succeed with you?” ^[14]. Source: skeletal/wight commander to Vasquez during combat. Implies the wight was another candidate for the same bargain that Mharos offered and was rejected.
3. The cleric of Ilmater in the quarry: this is unexplained — a cleric of a non-local god died investigating this site before the party arrived. Source: corpse, holy symbol.
4. The cracked red crystal radiated enchantment, not necrotic: per Hugo’s Detect Magic check ^[16]. Per Caelumn’s post-combat Intelligence reveal ^[13], the crystal was the channel by which the Succubus corrupted miners into ghosts.
5. Mharos is satisfied by group misery: at session end, after Harvo’s death and the inter-party tension, Mharos is reported “weirdly enough, a little bit happy about what’s happening in the group right now” ^[10].
6. Terry’s sister’s harmony: the succubus’s vision and the failed funeral both centre on the question of whether Terry’s sister is gone or whether Terry failed her. The vision tells him “maybe you did do it on purpose”; the funeral failure compounds it.
7. Vasquez resists necrotic damage now: per the wight’s failed life-drain ^[14].
8. Mharos exists as a “concept”: “I am more of a concept than a thing. I am what remains when hope is given up and misery gets to breed” ^[17].

Open Mysteries & Unanswered Questions

1. Who buried Mharos in the quarry, and why? Best evidence: Mharos’s own claim ^[6]. The wight implies others tried to host it (“Why did it succeed with you?”). The cracked red crystal may be the seal.
2. Why was a cleric of Ilmater in Black Vein Quarry? The party assumes another adventuring group came to investigate; identity, intent, and outcome unknown. Hugo kept the pendant to ask The Broker.
3. The rare ore that the miners were extracting was never recovered ^[18]. Where did it go, and why was the Succubus running this operation?
4. Terry’s missing sister: is the failed Rite of Returning genuinely his fault? Was the song unsung because Terry failed faith, because the soul was already gone, or because of demonic interference? The succubus said one thing; the funeral failure repeated it.
5. Can Harvo be brought back? Discussed and dismissed by the party — no resurrection magic available, head separated from body, Caelumn doubts the funds and “backing” exist ^[19]. Vasquez asked Mharos for help; was met with silence.
6. What kind of entity is Mharos precisely? Mharos declines to define itself beyond “a concept”.
7. Will Vasquez’s allies trust him? Caelumn checked for “dark urges” early on; Vasquez passed by handing over a pickaxe and reporting nothing.

Quests

1. [Status: completed] Mining Quest (Broker): kill whatever was killing the miners in Black Vein Quarry. Giver: The Broker. Reward: 100gp (per s10 — to be paid). Progress: succubus killed, crystal destroyed, ore not retrieved, miners confirmed dead/transformed-into-ghosts.
2. [Status: active] The Egg Quest: not directly progressed this session.
3. [Status: active] Hugo’s Devil Pact: dormant this session.
4. [Status: dormant] Risa’s Sister Conspiracy: not progressed this session; party will return to Umbrafall next.

Faction & Relationship Changes

• Harvo is dead, by friendly-fire decapitation. Mordane’s first character ends.
• Vasquez is now bonded to Mharos, a half-demon-elf parasite that feeds on misery. The party is uneasy but not hostile; Caelumn checked for dark urges, Vasquez reported none yet. The bond is permanent; the transformation is visible.
• Hugo carries trauma — he killed an ally under domination. Vasquez’s exchange with him at the body (“the next time this does happen, I’m going to actually stand after you hit me”) establishes a fragile understanding.
• Terry is permanently socially weakened (-1 CHA), with associated effects on his Charisma saves, social rolls, and Performance. His character also has a new internal narrative thread of failure regarding his dead sister.
• The Succubus is dead; that local Aurelia/Black Vein Quarry threat is ended.

Table Rulings

1. Race-change as a story consequence: Vasquez’s race is rewritten on the character sheet from elf to half-demon-elf with new visible features (horns, runes, ember eyes), new face (scars healed, oral bracing fallen out), and new resistances (necrotic seemingly partly resisted). DM-introduced, no RAW citation.
2. Soulbinder’s Packed Ring vs. CR: spell slot two levels lower than the creature’s CR gives 25% chance to bind, but the slot must still match — second-level slot vs CR3 was outside range and the spell fizzled with no save ^[9]. Caelumn’s spell slot is consumed regardless.
3. 2024 magical-resistance change: undead are no longer resistant to non-magical damage with the magical-weapon exception; they are flat-resistant to bludgeoning/piercing/slashing or not at all ^[15]. DM confirmed at the table.
4. Throwing a healing potion to a downed ally: flat d20, DC15 to hit a precise target; on hit, healing applies as if drunk ^[20]. Used successfully on Vasquez.
5. Failed performance can have permanent stat consequences: Terry’s failed Performance check during a culturally-loaded ritual (the Rite of Returning) cost him -1 Charisma permanently ^[21]. DM-imposed; precedent for ritual-significant skill checks.

Callbacks

• Cholmondeley (s2-s3): referenced as comparator when Caelumn first sees the Ilmater pendant (“It would be good if you had that Chumley guy” ^[22] and again when Hugo discusses bringing Harvo back (“you didn’t do it for your friend Chumlee did you” ^[23].
• The Charlatan’s Die (s8): looted from the previous succubus, mentioned in the recap, hand-held by Caelumn.
• The experimental potions (s8): party purchased at Whisper Coil before going to the mine.
• Risa / Dawn Mercy / lye in the urn (s7): mentioned in the in-session recap; the party plans to return to her.
• Vasquez’s arrest as Bruise (s8): mentioned in the recap.
• Earthwing (Terry’s owl familiar): shot down at the start of the session; replaced later via Find Familiar. Terry will not forget; “There better be something that killed my familiar I’m coming to find you motherfucker” ^[24].

Next Steps

• Take Harvo’s ashes/body and the crystal shards back to Umbrafall.
• Report to The Broker: collect mining-quest reward, deliver the Ilmater pendant for identification, see if the rare ore can still be located.
• Decide what to do about Risa’s sister and the Dawn Mercy lead.
• Address how to travel and live with a visibly demonic Vasquez (turban suggested by Terry).
• Vasquez will continue trying to interrogate Mharos for information.
• A new ally is implied next session: Mordane is bringing in a replacement character.

References

1. ^ Session 9, line 78 — Vasquez accepts Mharos's bargain; physical transformation.
2. ^ Session 9, line 1100-1196 — Mind-pull illusions, succubus revealed.
3. ^ Session 9, line 1196-1318 — Succubus combat, Hugo dominated.
4. ^ Session 9, line 1316-1318 — Harvo decapitated; "Well, fuck.".
5. ^ Session 9, line 1631-1648 — Terry's failed funeral performance, -1 CHA.
6. ^ Session 9, line 187 — Inline citation.
7. ^ Session 9, line 1104 — Inline citation.
8. ^ Session 9, line 1130 — Inline citation.
9. ^ Session 9, line 755-765 — Inline citation.
10. ^ Session 9, line 1513 — Inline citation.
11. ^ Session 9, line 1627 — Inline citation.
12. ^ Session 9, line 1512 — Inline citation.
13. ^ Session 9, line 1562 — Inline citation.
14. ^ Session 9, line 495 — Inline citation.
15. ^ Session 9, line 640-644 — Inline citation.
16. ^ Session 9, line 1080 — Inline citation.
17. ^ Session 9, line 197 — Inline citation.
18. ^ Session 9, line 1574-1580 — Inline citation.
19. ^ Session 9, line 1548 — Inline citation.
20. ^ Session 9, line 1437 — Inline citation.
21. ^ Session 9, line 1646 — Inline citation.
22. ^ Session 9, line 346 — Inline citation.
23. ^ Session 9, line 1549 — Inline citation.
24. ^ Session 9, line 278 — Inline citation.
25. ^ Session 9, line 1318 — Inline citation.