Session 122
General Summary
- The party found themselves back in time as a bunch of mice whom Grogery had been stowing away through a small hole behind a pantry.
- Pendel's minions had changed something about this timeline: SaliCoo (elven for "Honey Dog") has been killed, and everyone but Theran blames Grogery.
- They followed clues to a hedge maze, where the sound of a ticking clock was driving nearby animals mad, causing them to attack... including a displacer beast.
- The party eliminated the displacer beast right near the damaged automaton and the half-eaten corpse of SaliCoo.
- They retrieved the ticking device, placed it in the Altar of Clarity, and Sent a message to Theran. They were then immediately yanked into the next timeline.
Full Recap
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Among Finnigan Perry's books on top of the crate, the party found a guide that he had written for them explaining what was about to happen. Editor's note: that link has a TL;DR on it for quick reference, but you can read the in-universe text at that link by clicking "Read the Document" on that page.
Prologue
You awake in a small wooden space, surrounded by large bales of straw and burlap. The space here is cramped, smelling of starch and dried fruit. A small amount of light creeps in through a gap in the wall. The wall is wooden, and the one with a gap in it contains a large painted mural of grapes.
Dazki: OK, does anyone know where we are? Dwardazik: I wouldn't have a clue. Marvin: I think "WHEN we are" is the better question.
You look around at your space, in the dim light, and you notice that the straw and the burlap are very big and very thick — but when you look around at your companions, they all look normal — (Perception 22) except Dazki sees, through a reflection in a polished screw, that the five of them are rats.
Dazki: Uh, guys... look in that water over there real quick? Tell me what you see. Yep. Dazki: So... this is weird. Marvin: Naw, man, this isn't real. I refuse to accept that. That is an illusion. I refuse. Grogery: Well, the straw does look awfully big...Editor's note: my recording had about a 30-second hiccup here, but basically what had happened was that the party learned that they're the size and shape of rats to everyone else, and their power has been scaled down to accordingly, but mechanically they still have their normal stuff and abilities for this.
Marvin: This didn't happen when we fought the Custodian Engine! Grogery: We were purposely put near a crew who could do something about it, and we took their spots. I guess the only people in here were rats. Marvin: "People"?! Grogery: The only things in here that could host our consciousness. Kesmet: The only unimportant beings here. Before, whenever we fought some stuff, "we" died, so it didn't mess up the timeline, because "we" were always going to die. Grogery: I guess the question is, does anyone recognize this barn? Is it important to anyone's past or anything?
You notice, behind the mural of the grapes, there's a little slit where some light is poking through.
Dazki peeks his head out.
What you see is a giant pantry, big sacks of grain and elven cooking wine towering over your mousey form. In the corner of this pantry is a small entity of golden light, like an aurora. It's hunched in a corner, and it's murmuring to itself in elven — as if it's memorizing a prayer.
Dazki: Uh, Grogery... does this look at all familiar to you?
Grogery's Timeline (Mouser No More)
Grogery: Yeah, this is starting to feel a bit familiar to me. Marvin: How so? Grogery: When I was young, they often put me in a pantry like this one to get me out of the way if I was... umm... getting a bit "too much to handle". Their words, not mine. I think they wanted me to be a sort-of ratter in here — and it was good food when I was younger! — but I kind-of stopped wanting to kill the mice back here as I got a bit older, and I would instead try to practice spellcasting and rituals in secret in here. The mice I found, I would just shove them in the hole that we're in now to get them out of the pantry. Marvin, a bit concerned: You wouldn't cast spells on mice, would you? Grogery: I don't think I was that far along yet... maybe I was? I don't know. Dazki: Well, I definitely saw a young goblin-sized glowing figure out there. Grogery: Then yeah, that would probably be me. If it was a matter of Pendel trying to make it so that I never found you guys, maybe he was trying to make me a more successful mouser, or get me kicked out? I'm not really sure what seems "off", here. Kesmet: Then let's just do the past exactly as you remember it! There we go! Dwardazik: Maybe we should explore beyond here... Dazki: Yeah. Marvin: We've got to be careful, then, because if we get spotted running around as mice, then Grogery, they're going to think you did a poor job, right? Grogery: Sure, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing right now. Marvin: Were you ever admonished for doing a poor job "handling" the mice? Grogery: I eventually stopped doing it, didn't I? Marvin: You stopped killing them. Grogery: Right. Kesmet: If we want to sneak around, I can make us all invisible, but we'd have to be careful. Marvin: Let's keep that as an option. Dazki: We're small. We're mice. We hopefully won't be that easy to spot. Dwardazik: We should keep our resources for in case we get in a tight situation. Marvin: Yeah. Were there a lot of mouse holes throughout the house? Grogery: It's a castle. Of course there's mouse holes. Marvin: OK. Yeah. Let's try not to get separated. It might be really easy for that to happen.They squeeze into the pantry.
There is a large door that blocks your way. You imagine that would be how other people would get into the pantry. There are large sacks of grain, elven cooking wine, a variety of fresh herbs dangling from a rope at the top.
Dwardazik, leaning back to look: Is that what I think it is? Is that a bottle of wine?! Dazki: It says it's "cooking wine". Dwardazik: Oh. Damn. Wait, that just made me think: if I jumped into just a normal-sized dwarven tankard, I could swim in it! Marvin: Yo! That sounds — Dwardazik: I'm not saying I'm going to do that, Dazki, just chill for a moment. But if I'm going to be in a pantry, I've gotta think about the bonuses. Marvin: We've gotta take advantage of these opportunities when we find 'em. Kesmet: We need to figure out what we're supposed to do here and move onto the next scenario. Marvin: We will! Don't worry, we will. Kesmet: I'm very worried! Dwardazik: I mean, I'm worried too, but — (he shrugs) — what else do we have to worry about? Some discussion about plans for what to do next. Grogery: We need more information, so one of us might need to get out of here. Maybe we should have some of us cause a bit of a distraction while someone else gets outside, and then we can all try to get outside? Dazki: All right, I'll try to cause a distraction. The rest of you can try to work your way out of the room somehow, and hopefully, I'm still fast and agile enough in this form.The others fumble around for a while trying to get the door open and failing comically. Once Dazki is in position and sees this — and notices that the aurora-like being seems completely oblivious to the shenanigans — he knocks a bottle of wine off the shelf.
You hear footsteps angrily stomping towards the door.
The party members all hide from whoever is approaching.
The door swings open as an elven housemaid in an apron — very tall, especially for you guys — looks around, says some rude things. Not at the being of light, but about the being of light.
They scurry out of the pantry.
Entering into this large prep kitchen, there are various elven cooks and whatnot preparing root vegetables and soup stock for later. Though the one who opened the door has gone off to fetch something to clean the mess up with, there are some more still chatting around as they work.
They have a whispered conversation on the other side.
Dwardazik: Any cats around? Grogery: If they had a cat, why do you think they'd have used me as a ratter? They have a dog, though. Marvin: Bastards. Grogery: It was more of a foxhound than a ratter dog, though. Marvin: You never saw the dog run around with a rat in its mouth? Grogery: No, it was up somewhere, getting pampered better than the actual children. Marvin: That's fucked.
The cooks are standing around, idly chatting and sharing rumors while they prep.
Chef: I'm just glad I'm on meal prep today. I feel so bad for whoever has to deal with the cleanup. That little pantry rat must have really made a mess of things this time. To slaughter Verrik's prized foxhound like that must have left quite a stain on the altar's tapestries and rug. Sous Chef: Wait, Theran said he killed the dog in self-defense! He said it had gone rabid or something! Chef: Honey, we both know he's just taking the blame to defend that little goblin from persecution. SaliCoo may look intimidating, but her heart is like the sweetest of caramels. I don't buy this whole "attack dog" angle at all.The party members who understand Elvish relay the gist of this to the others in whispers.
Grogery: OK, apparently "I" killed SaliCoo. Kesmet: Good job... who the fuck is that?! Grogery: The foxhound I was just talking about. That's definitely what got messed up. Marvin: So it didn't actually happen? Grogery: No. Kesmet: How are we gonna fix that?! Marvin: Easy. We have a person who can resurrect the dead. Grogery: Dead people. Not animals. Marvin: Why doesn't it work on animals?! Grogery: They don't have the same kind of soul. It's complicated. They don't exactly teach that kind of thing in cleric school. Marvin: God, I need a drink. Kesmet: You guys heard what Dazki said about our reflections. We're technically mice right now. Maybe the dog counts as "people" to us? Maybe we can resurrect the dog! Grogery: We can give it a shot. Dwardazik: Why mice? I understand something's up with that foxhound, but what can a mouse do that can change the past? To change this outcome? Kesmet: We're gonna have to figure that out. Marvin: Maybe it's because we can go around unnoticed? Grogery: Frenzied dog. Theran probably killed that dog in self-defense. We need to find proof of that, and make sure it ends up in an obvious place. Dwardazik: That makes more sense. I like that. Kesmet asks a question with a major error in it. Grogery: No — my brother, Theran, killed the dog in self-defense. "Dad", Verrik, is upset about it. People think "I" maybe killed the dog. We need to prove that this was a rabid-dog situation. Obviously, this has Dennis's fingerprints all over it. Kesmet: OK. Sad about the dog. Not too sad about it because that's pretty close to a werewolf. What if we just get to the dog and infect it with rabies? Grogery: The dog is already dead. Kesmet: I know. The idea is that if they test it, or if they see the foam on its mouth, they'll be like "yep, totally rabid". Dazki: How would Theran have defended himself against a dog and then not had any marks on him? Dwardazik: Maybe a bloodied bandage or something? Grogery: Even then, you could flip it around and say that the dog was trying to defend itself. I guess we could go try to find Theran. Dazki: I feel like finding the dog would be a better bet? Grogery: Yeah... they mentioned something about there being blood on the altar and the tapestries and whatnot, so it might have been in one of those shrines or worship rooms? Dazki: All right. Do you know which one it would most likely be? We can follow you. Grogery: Sure. Apparently there's someone still on cleanup duty, so we might be able to smell the blood. Dazki: Great. Let's head there first. Dwardazik: I agree. But everyone, let's be careful now.They stealthy head towards exiting the kitchen area, heading towards the altar where they believe the incident would have happened. They do get spotted part of the way through, but they're fast enough and close enough to run the rest of the way out.
Dwardazik: Why was it done in an altar? Marvin: I guess that's what we need to find out. Dwardazik: That almost sounds like he was trying to sacrifice it. Marvin: But if this is Dennis we're talking about, who knows why Dennis does the things he does? Grogery: Dennis doesn't even respect dogs. He murdered the dog. All right, we're going towards the Altar of Clarity. It's where they made the holy water, I think.
Alternate Clarity
It's a bit of a journey, and it's strange — Grogery, you feel nostalgic and everything, but it's hard to keep track of time and distance with travel and everything. Time seems to almost speed along. As you continue traveling, you hear a voice. It's almost tinny, like the voices that you've heard through the Rotor of Return, which you do not still have.
Marshall: I'm picking up a strange, dissonant signal. Location of origin: Theran Daointa'ar's chamber. Relevance confirmed. I'm patching it through now!
Apparently, relevant information has been picked up, and you start hearing the sounds of a boy frustratedly scribbling notes in a book. You hear a door open, and then you hear the footsteps of a servant entering the room. Then, the sound of a metal tray of food being set down on a desk. Grogery recognizes the voice as Fil'amon ("Fil").
Fil: As difficult as the situation may seem, you know how the lord and lady are once they've made up their mind. You and I both believe, with the whole of our hearts, that neither the dog nor the goblin would seek to harm anything. And yet, we can't deny that something has happened here. Without any evidence, it's your word against hundreds of decades of prejudice. The sound of the writing stops abruptly, and a book slams shut. Theran: I don't care who believes me. I know what happened. I know who did what, and what did and did not happen! If the dog had slain Grogery, they wouldn't even raise their voice! They wouldn't even raise an eyebrow! They only believe what they want to believe — and I know they don't believe in me. The silence of the room — and Fil's silence, in particular — speaks volumes within the space. In the silence, he tries to hide the fact that he is certain — too certain — that they plan on eliminating that goblin. And, to break the heavy silence, Fil speaks up. Fil: Kid... just don't do anything overly rash.
There's the sound of footsteps, as Fil turns to leave the room. Theran fiddles with something under his writing desk, and then after one long heavy sigh, he resumes scratching out text on a paper once again. You hear Theran's thoughts as they race to the surface: what he wants to say, as he jots down the letter he's writing. Though you can't make out the words exactly, you realize that the letter is full of emotion and an ultimatum:
This is the last straw. If the family choose to eliminate his best brother, then Theran is going to run away from home. This time, he means it.
The static ceases once again.
Grogery: So. Dennis made the dog go nuts and try to kill "me". Theran (or "I") killed the dog back in self-defense. They obviously think that "I" did it, and they're going to kick "me" out of the house for it. Theran's ultimatum is that if they kick "me" out of the house, then he's running away. Which is not good for either of us. Dwardazik: "kick you out"? ...they're gonna kill ya, lad. Dazki: ...yep... Grogery: ...so, basically, we need to find evidence that something happened. Dazki: So we need to hurry up. Kesmet: What if we just twist things so that "Grogery"'s punishment is to go find that weird address in Ashport? Grogery: This is too soon in the timeline for that. I would miss you guys entirely. Kesmet: Oh snap. You're right. I dunno, I can't even keep the present straight, let alone the past! Dwardazik: So what would convince your parents that it was a setup by Dennis? We can't go back further in time, so we have to get proof, right? Grogery: We could try finding the body of the dog to see if there's any rabid bite marks or signs of disease. We could look at the scene where it happened. If there's tons of claw marks on the furniture, then that's not something a dog would do in self-defense. Marvin: How would your brother have killed the dog in the first place? If he did do it in self-defense? Grogery: Probably stabbed it with a knife or something. Dazki: I think we need to get to the scene first and investigate that as quickly as we can.
You reach the (relatively) small Altar of Clarity. There are two young elven men, busy pretending to clean the scene. One of them is more keen on reciting poetry than doing any of the actual mopping, and the other one is distracted by his own appearance in a mirror.
The large blue mithral-colored floor is, in fact, marred by drops of blood, large spatters of it running across the very font that would be used to purify water, tinging the holy water (you would imagine) a very unnatural shade of pink.
Dwardazik: Is there any way we could purify this? Isn't it, like, an insult to your god or something, Grogery? Grogery: You know how it's not "technically morally wrong" to desecrate a dead body if it's for a good reason, but it's still super not-cool, right?
The body of the dog seems to have either vanished or been removed, but there is still some evidence about. The young elves are doing a poor job at getting it cleaned up in a timely manner.
(Investigation 22) There was indeed some sort of fight or struggle that took place here. Possibly between an individual and a dog. It seemed like the dog has done quite a bit of damage to this place. That, or it was a goblin — there are long tears on a rug, of something digging furiously. There's slobber and blood mixed together and smeared all across the side. Little pawprints and footprints abound in some sort of standoff.
And one thing that doesn't quite fit any of the three potential combatants here: large scratches in the polished floor, which seem to have been made from metal and not claw or tooth or radiant energy.
Kesmet voices a thought that maybe these two young elves might be in a sort of disguise similar to how the party's true nature is concealed from those around them.
Dazki: I... think I know what you're getting at? Kesmet: Weren't there agents, or something, of Dennis who were also in the past fucking things up? And this is something that they fucked up? Marvin: It's possible... Kesmet: So they could still be here! Kesmet: Err... "when"-here, in the... what's the word for "here" but in time? Grogery: I guess... "now"? Kesmet: Yeah, all right. Kesmet: They could still be in the now! And that guy's looking in a mirror. I wonder if we can distract them? Maybe simulate the loud voice of somebody who's in charge? Like that one elven lady who was probably yelling at huge light-giant Grogery about spilling the wine. Grogery: Oh, she is not in charge. Kesmet: Maybe not "in charge", but she seemed like the kind of person to come yell at them? Grogery: Not really. She's just part of the servants working in the kitchen. These are just other servants here, I guess. I mean, technically, these are the ones who got stuck with this, so probably lower on the totem pole, but... Dazki: Well, if someone who sounds like they have authority comes in and starts yelling at them, they have a chance to just jump and start doing it. Kesmet: I just want to gauge their reaction upon hearing that. Dazki: Better idea — I think you were really close to something there, Kesmet! — the guy who's looking in a mirror, someone should scramble up and see if they can look in the mirror as well, to see if that looks like an elven person or if it looks like a werewolf or automaton or something. Kesmet: Yeah, no, hang on — if they're the bad guys, then to us, they would look like the real thing, right? Because we're both on the same bullshit? But in the mirror, they would look different? Marvin: It's possible... Kesmet: Or if they would look different to us anyway, because we're in... different bullshits..., then the mirror might not be helpful at all. Marvin: Worth a shot. Dazki: I think Dwardazik might be the best one to climb up. Dwardazik gives him a look. Kesmet: ...I have these two hand mirrors. Why not just look at them with our own mirror? Dazki: Oh. Yeah. That's much better.He looks. They check out.
Kesmet: But now we have mirrors, to use to see if things don't look the way they should. Grogery: Well, we look like mice in the mirror. The mirror shows us the way things are supposed to look. Dazki: Anyway, we found the scratch marks and damaged carpet that don't look like they fit properly. The big marks down there that look like they were made with metal. Problem is, I don't know how to draw people's attention to it. I can't move a big slab of stone. Especially not as a rat. Marvin: Ultimately, I think we need to find whatever the person used to kill this dog. Wherever the person might have been. Kesmet: The metal scratches imply that it might have been an automaton that did it. Does that sound legit? Marvin: It could also have been a blade, who knows? Grogery: I'm assuming that the dog that was killed is probably where most of this blood came from. Do you think we could look for indication of where the dog was killed? He tries, (Investigation 11) but all he can really make out is that the scrape in the floor and the majority of the blood definitely intersect at some point. Dazki: How about we follow the scrape?
It leads in something of a straight line, out towards one of the large windows.
Grogery: Someone might have dragged something and tossed it out the window. Let's go over there. Dwardazik: We should go over there safely. Perhaps a distraction? Dazki: I don't think we need a distraction for these two. Kesmet: I can probably make an illusion of a really loud sound? Grogery: Ooh, you could make it sound like Dennis, and then if either one of them reacts in a specific way — Dazki: I think we probably don't need a distraction. Look at the two of them. That guy is doing his hair. That one is just reading a book of poetry. If we're quiet and careful about it, we don't need to worry. Kesmet: You know who else read books? Braxton! Grogery: Baxton, and literally everyone here.They easily make their way over to the window ledge without raising any alarm.
(Perception 30) Something struggled to get out this window. Something fell hard onto the ground. Something carrying something else. And as whatever metallic thing scraped its way across the well-manicured lawn, you notice along the side of the window: dog hair. Whatever has cause this metal scrape has also stolen the body.
Dazki, after explaining that: ...so I think we should scurry down and continue following the trail. Dwardazik: I thought the body would've been taken by somebody in the house? Dazki: Doesn't seem to be the case. Dwardazik: Now this is getting strange.They head off to follow the trail.
Finally Getting A-hedge
The trail isn't too hard to find. Once you know what you're looking for, these things add up. It takes you further and further into the vast, well-manicured garden of the Daointa'ar estate.
As you travel, you want to feel safe and secure where you are. It's a pretty garden, full of... nothing dangerous to an elf, or a dwarf, or even a halfling. But being so small, everything feels so much more ominous, as if your rodentlike cowardliness is getting the best of you.
Out of a nearby topiary, you notice a few katydid-looking insects happily sipping away at the nectar of some nearby flowers. Usually pretty peaceful — but the creatures, upon seeing you, get very angry. They fly at you — and though you are rats, they are still small even for you and are easily thwarted.
Traveling a little bit further, below a hummingbird feeder — ripe with nectar but free of hummingbirds —, passing by flowers full of bees that don't seem to be drinking nectar. Going still further, it's weird — the birds don't sing, the bugs skitter uncomfortably, and everything seems abnormally aggressive. Everything in this garden seems out to get every other thing.
Kesmet: Do you think that whatever enraged the dog is some sort of magic thing that's making all the animals more aggressive? Dazki: Could be. Dwardazik: Could be. Has anyone ever encountered something like this? Dazki: Nothing I know of, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. Grogery: There are magic items that can calm animals down and make them obey orders. Seems like there could be something that would make them get more agitated.
Your little mousey ears hear something that you probably wish they hadn't: *tick*, *tick*, *tick*, loudest as the trail approaches a nice little hedge maze. A fun little side thing for the elven children to do within the garden.
(Wisdom Save 2, 6) Marvin and Kesmet immediately move into the maze, seemingly compelled to reach a destination within.
Combat Summary
- Grogery immediately cast Calm Emotions on the two to bring them back to "normal" for the duration.
- At the start, they heard an agitated cat, and Dazki also heard a hawk which he warned the others about. The "cat" turned out to be a displacer beast that attacked right away.
- As the displacer beast took more damage, it would jump the hedges to mitigate some of the incoming hits, only to ambush right back again on its next opportunity.
- Dazki positioned himself to take an attack of opportunity on the displacer beast the next time it would jump away, but it focused its attacks on him and knocked him unconscious before he could capitalize on that.
- When the displacer beast got extremely heavily damaged, it fled towards a particular spot in the maze. Chasing it down, the party saw what was so special about this spot. Dwardazik finished off the displacer beast with some overkilling hammer slammers so they could deal with what they saw in this nook...
You have found the body of what looks to be a mostly-consumed dog corpse. And, indeed, there is an automaton here — although its leg seems badly damaged. It cannot move from this spot.
It's a familiar clockwork automaton, with the bronze gearwork in the beautiful white porcelain. The glass face, with the pulsing line in the center, ticking in time with its internals.
Dazki: You guys try to figure out a way to get this "dog" out of here, while I try to find a way to disable this automaton so that hopefully this maddening ticking will stop.
(Tinker's Tools 17) While you don't manage to stop the ticking per se, you do find that this automaton is built slightly differently from the other one that you've dealt with in the past. The ticking mechanism within it is actually removable. Removing it reveals that it has a similar shape to that of a music box, though it still ticks incessantly.
This is the heart of the problem, this maddening ticking.
Dazki moves to smash it.
Grogery: Don't! We need evidence. Kesmet: Of what? A music box? Grogery: Evidence that this is what caused the dog to go berserk. Dazki: Mauled dog. This is not something that a person would do. Kesmet: A mauled dog is enough to prove that it wasn't "Grogery". He's not covered in blood and half-full of dog meat. Grogery: If it was as simple as that, "I" would not still be suspected! We need irrefutable proof. Dazki: Fine! OK, OK. Dwardazik: You sure that's really the best option, though? Dazki: I trust Grogery. Grogery: I can keep it silent for ten minutes. Dwardazik: OK. We're mice. How are we going to display this proof? Grogery: Put it somewhere obvious. Dwardazik: And they're going to link this ticking to the kind of madness? Kesmet: What if we also drag this displacer beast so they'll think this killed and ate it? Dwardazik: ...you're going to drag the corpse of this apparently-now-dead displacer beast over next to what apparently killed the dog? Grogery: OK, let me think a bit...
(Medicine 17) Theran stabbed this dog to protect Grogery from the dog, and then the displacer beast ate most of it.
Grogery: It seems like it would be pretty obvious to tell that this music box makes animals go crazy. Dwardazik: Could we simply place the music box where it could be found, with a note explaining what it is, and then let the proper person find out what it is so they can analyze it? Marvin: I don't think people are going to buy that. Grogery: Or I can put it where it belongs and Send to Theran telling him the details. Dazki: That's a good idea. Dwardazik: That might work. Grogery: He would know to say "put this next to a cat, or something, and watch it go nuts". Dwardazik: That's the plan, then. Grogery: And also where SaliCoo is right now. Grogery probably would have been seen leaving. So our goal is to get this back in the house first. Dazki: OK, give us directions.They start heading back, carrying the music box with them.
There's a dicey case where you do see a small pigeonhawk (massive to you), and it does take a dive for you, but you are able to jump into one of the thornbushes to avoid it (Dwardazik and Grogery taking some damage in doing so).
They arrive at the temple.
Dazki: Yeah, we should deposit this here. Grogery, you said you were going to do a Sending? Grogery: Yep. Grogery (Sending to Theran): Music box in Clarity room that makes animals, including SaliCoo, go berserk. Present as proof of self-defense. SaliCoo's body in hedge maze. Theran's "response": I think I'm going to check that altar one more time... there's got to be proof in there. There has to be. Grogery: OK, he got the message. Dwardazik: Nice. So, what do we do now? Hide and observe, or...? Kesmet: If it's anything like the other ones, once we've succeeded, we'll just be pulled into the —
The world starts to dissolve around you into darkness, as you get pulled into the.
