Session 53

General Summary

• After a short rest, the party traveled to The Red Lady to take out Baxton.
• Shortly after they engaged, Baxton revealed his scar to be not a scar at all, but an evil green eye that had just been closed the whole time.
• This reveal came with an unusual spell that caused everyone in the area to switch places, and all those who failed the save saw everyone else as clones of Baxton.
• During the confusion, Kesmet burned an old lady to death, and the aftermath of a Baxton simulacrum explosion killed an unfortunate elf from necrotic damage.
• Dazki landed the killing blow on Baxton, but not before an otherworldly voice spoke telepathically around him.
• Right after Baxton died, the woman known only as "Red Lady" started sobbing uncontrollably with relief. A burn mark in a spiral pattern has appeared around her right eye.
• Baxton didn't poof away. He definitely could have poofed away, as Grogery forgot to cast silence. Maybe that's important?

 

Full Recap

The session opens with the party at their house in the middle of a short rest.  

Premeditating a Murder

Dazki takes the bird and sends a message to Annu Adabra:  

Doing the job. If successful, expect pardon for service to the firelord or charges dropped. Box location coming: later date.

  The reply is quick, but not instant:  

Outside of my jurisdiction. My counsel will be of a high priority councilman.

  Grogery has made peace with the decision to kill Baxton: he has lived a long life, they have tried talking him down from his convictions, and he can do far too much damage to innocent people. If he repents at the end of his life and is worthy, then his afterlife will be fine.   Dwardazik and Kesmet are also concerned. Dwardazik also feels that it's for the best.  

Barry: So, are we saving the turtle, or...?   Dazki: We're saving a lot of people. Including the turtle.   Kesmet: I see what you did there.   Dwardazik: The turtle is encompassed in our overall plan to save the city.   Barry: Before you guys go, can I have, like, a journal or something?   Dazki: Yeah! I don't have one on me.   Kesmet: I do have a blank one. He takes out three blank pages from it for himself and breaks the included charcoal stick in half, then hands the rest of the journal and half of the charcoal stick to Barry. Here you go, don't lose it.   Barry: I don't... I don't plan on losing anything. I don't lose things!   Dwardazik: ...really? Is that one of your skills? Are you good at tracking things? I don't think we've really discussed this, actually...   Barry: I mean, I haven't lost, like, a single thing, right? You think that's, like, a power?   Dazki: It could be! We'll have to explore that more... tomorrow.   Dwardazik: I should have given you my keg of ale!   Kesmet: Dwardazik. It was used to save our lives. Most importantly, mine.   Dwardazik: But was it worth it?   Dazki: Yes. We're not dead.   Dwardazik: But was it worth it?   Dazki: You can get more ale. You can't get... alive... again.   Grogery: Well, actually...   Dazki: You can get more ale more easily than you can get alive again.   Grogery: Agreed.   Barry: OK, well... don't get yourselves killed or anything, OK?   Dazki: We'll certainly try not to.   Dwardazik: Lad, why do you suspect that I'm gonna fall? This dwarf goes nowhere but to victory!

  Near the end of the short rest:

Dwardazik: Ahh, nothin' like a good ol' breather! Feels good to be in a house that you own, eh? Not sitting in no in... wait a minute... we're not still payin' for rooms in the inn, right? We don't have a running tab, do we?   Grogery: I mean, we haven't been back there in a while... we do have our cart and buffalo over there.   Kesmet: They're keeping it stored for us.   Dazki: By now, they might consider it abandoned property?   Dwardazik: It's only been a few days...   Dazki: It's also possible that the House of Steel might have confiscated it as evidence by now, if they knew we were staying there.   Kesmet, sarcastically: Oh no, a whole cart!   Dwardazik: I miss that cart. We traveled through the field of ants, grain, and ants.   Grogery: And dinosaurs!   Dwardazik: And undead.

  The other preparations having been made, Kesmet changes his hair, skin, and eye colors to disguise himself, and the party hails a carriage to The Red Lady. They walk right in the front door.  

A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Baxton

  It's just a normal day for the normal citizens in the Red Lady. Two bouncers guard the front entrance, and they give the under-dressed party members a scowl, but they're with Dazki, so they're good to go. Inside, the lighting casts a familiar red glow. The woman known only as the "Red Lady" sits cross-legged playing a sitar. An elderly human couple are here, perhaps reliving their youth. The only waitress working at the moment is an overworked-looking Fire Genasi woman. There is also an elf drinking away his frustrations, and a second elf relaxing on a bench.   And, of course, Baxton, going through some paperwork with a fancy pen.   Dazki takes the chair next to Baxton while the party moves in and sits at the table that's closest to the front door. Dwardazik motions for the waitress, loudly orders the stiffest dwarven ale that they have... and then quietly asks how expensive it is. Kesmet asks for just a water. As the party orders, Baxton address Dazki, of course without looking at him:  

Baxton: Do you also find that music helps you concentrate?   Dazki: It depends on the music. Certain kinds tend to be more energetic than others, but music like this is certainly soothing.   Baxton: I find it gives me energy. I grow weary of wading through the same, tired world. Aren't you? Hearing the same, tired ideas. Quenching the same, tired thirsts. Cowering from the same, tired fears.   Dazki: So is that your goal? To remake things?   Baxton: It's my penchant for novelty. Towards facing down the unknown. The reviled. The taboo. It tends to rub the tired people the wrong way.   Dazki: It's not right to be afraid of looking the weird in the eye, so to speak.   The waitress leaves the party's table to go to the back.   Baxton: I see your "friends" have followed you, as ever.   Dazki: It's always good to have friends around. You never know when something will happen, especially when the guards are onto you like they are with us. Always good to travel with backup.   Dwardazik, to the rest of the table: Just so you guys know, I'm gonna down this drink and then   Grogery: I thought we were trying to get the staff away from him? And then silence him? Or was it the other way around?   Dwardazik: As it happens, I can disarm.   Baxton: It's foolish to rely on them. They only hold you back.   Dazki: They keep me fully aware of myself.   Baxton: You'd best be careful of them.   Dazki: Why is that?   Baxton: You are a shining pupil, but the neighbors might be blinded by the shimmer of jealousy. Do you trust in the ability of your companions to follow you in your illustrious path, or will they be blinded by it, protégé?   Dazki: I trust them to do the right thing, and that is all I ever try to do as well: the right thing. We all have our flaws, our issues. What sets us apart is how we work to overcome them.   Baxton: Well, I am willing to put in the effort, and I have reaped the rewards of my risky ventures.   The waitress is back at the table. Dwardazik takes the ale and tips her a gold coin. Kesmet takes his water.   Dazki: Indeed! You have nearly everything you need! There's just one piece missing, isn't there?   Baxton: Oh? And what would that be?   Dazki: Why, the item you had us procure, of course?   Dwardazik chugs his ale, while Kesmet takes little sips of his water.   Baxton: Bah, I'll get more.   Dazki: But this one would make it much quicker, wouldn't it?

  Dwardazik stands up and rushes in to attack Baxton. Baxton is not caught off guard, but Dwardazik's attack still hits him first.  

Boss Fight: Baxton Mandrim

Dwardazik opens up with a barrage of attacks at Baxton. Baxton's walking stick is attached to a belt on his side, making it harder to disarm, but the ale-charged dwarf manages to do it anyway, knocking it aside. Dwardazik rushes over to where it landed and throws it to Grogery, but Grogery fails to catch it.   In response, Baxton moves a little so he has vision of everybody. He shouts:

Your betrayal is useless! I wield the powers of a being beyond that of a mortal or a god. A piece of the Mirage himself flows within me. This altercation was decided before it even began!

  At this, everyone in the building is overcome with sour nausea and terrible dizziness. A static creeps the edges of their peripheral vision, tunneling and tunneling. Heavy, dark smoke drips from Baxton's form as he closes his eye and draws a deep, concentrating breath. Still their stomachs twist, still their vision narrows, still their heads spin until their limited vision sees little more than a disfigured man in a pin-striped coat. The terrible scar making up the right-half of his face twitches slightly, before blinking open suddenly. No longer a lumpy scar, but a grotesque, crooked eye of sickly green that adjusts to seeing the light for the first time in what must have been ages. As their vision narrows and narrows, it eventually fades to black, but before it does, all see the face not of a corrupted politician, but of a monster. No longer Baxton Mandrim, this is now just a disfigured man. As they all lose vision completely, the voice of a gentleman creeps into their mind:  

With your eyes, I deceive.
Your friend and foe both interweave.

  All feel like they are falling, unable to tell which way is up. Minutes later, vision slowly blurs back into function. Feet are on solid ground, and all take stock of their surroundings. All are still within the Red Lady, but not (for the most part) where they were before. Trying to shout information out loud is less than ideal, because all voices seem to emanate from around the room, leaving it difficult to tell who's saying what when (although the intended words do come out, with the speaker's voice).   Several of those in the building, including Dwardazik and Kesmet but not including Dazki and Grogery, see everyone else as the disfigured man himself. Those with Baxtonvision may or may not have noticed two additional entities in the room, who are invisible to everyone with true vision until they attack, at which point they are seen to be two of Baxton's monk-looking simulacra.   Dazki and Grogery, both having resisted the worst of the spell's effects, see the room as it truly is, but they hesitate to take decisive action immediately because of how oddly everybody else is behaving, e.g.:  

• The waitress uses her special Genasi fire cone ability... at the two bouncers and Dazki.
• The red lady runs to the thrown staff, grabs it, and whacks her sitar at her target... even though she is no match for the monk-like simulacrum.
• One of the bouncers makes a beeline for and attacks... the elf man, who just a few short minutes ago was trying to drink his sorrows away.
• As the elf lady tries to run away, she is attacked by... the old woman.

  Of course, the disfigured man and his henchmen have always seen everything clearly, so they have a clear advantage at the start of the fight. However, as the fight continues, the flow of combat reveals some information:

• For those who can see true, everyone they can see has been using abilities that are consistent with their character (even if their choices of targets are questionable), so it probably isn't a body-swap or anything.
• For those who see only the disfigured man, certain individuals who are doing necrotic damage with their melee attacks, something that only the simulacra and Baxton are reasonably likely to be able to do.
• For those who see only the disfigured man, another individual swung with the nondescript weapon they were holding, but when they missed and it smashed, it made a sound that was a lot like the sitar that the woman on stage was playing.
• Both of the fire wielders are safe from the party's attacks, since only the waitress and Kesmet can wield fire.

  True to form, the disfigured man couldn't keep his mouth shut during the fight, which might have given an edge to the party members who couldn't tell for sure who he is:

I am in control here! I own your fates! You lack vision!

  Eventually, both of the simulacra do die; as we've seen before, they both explode into massive amounts of necrotic damage when this happens. The first kills the depressed elf man instantly (turning him into just bones), and the second does quite a lot of damage to Dwardazik.   Partway through, Kesmet takes a hit that manages to snap him out of it, and he is able to see true for the rest of the fight (Dwardazik stayed in Baxtonland until a couple of seconds before the end of the fight). One of the first things Kesmet looks to see: the person he took out with a fire bolt was actually the old woman (of course, it looked like Baxton to him at the time). And next to her is... oh, her husband, who must have had truevision the whole time: as soon as Kesmet hit her for the first time, the old man dashed to her from outside, as fast as he could. When Kesmet finally killed her, the husband had just laid down next to her, prone, for the rest of the fight.   Another quote from the disfigured man, as he becomes more injured and desperate, right as he casts a very Arms-of-Hadar-like spell:

You still lack vision! You cling to this husk of a land here, these walking corpses you call friends! You would be more studious if they were gone.

  When Dwardazik sees clearly, he realizes that he did quite a number on the Red Lady herself when she was just trying to get by.   In the final round of the fight, as Dazki raises his weapon to make the killing blow on Baxton, the entire room is met with a telepathic otherworldly echo, with an unfamiliar voice saying:

An inadequate disciple.   Unruly.   My vision: rescinded.

  At the epicenter of the psychic voice is a disquieting yet familiar sight: the face not of a monster, but one of humanity, terrified of mortality and in over his head. A thin stream of iridescent dark ichor runs from his nose. The disfigured man locks eyes with Dazki, with a face not of hatred nor of composure, but of pleading terror. This is the same face Dazki has seen three times before: it's the same face that people make immediately after being released from Baxton's control... only this time, Baxton is the one making it. Dazki presses forward and slays Baxton, saying nothing more than, "I'm sorry".   A series of dark pulsating veins emanate in a spiral pattern from Baxton's sorcerous eye, his jaw and neck tensing in pain as he is stabbed, but the face is more of disappointment and relief, not anger. His last words:

Your actions will end your miserable existence.

  At this, Baxton collapses, the thick dark veins start to pulsate, almost boiling as if the skin were liquid, even starting to eat away deep into his face until part of his skull is exposed.  

Aftermath

Dazki falls to his knees and stares almost catatonically at Baxton's melting corpse.   Kesmet walks up to Dazki trying to console him.

Kesmet: You had a choice there, and you made the right one. There was no reasoning with him. He was way too thirsty for you, and he caused all this death and destruction. He may have been a puppet, because... the darkness... you know what, we need to get out of here.   Dwardazik: Don't fall for its plans. It wants you to feel this way. We came in here with the decision to do this. We own it. Nothing has changed, except that the mission is now complete. On your feet!   Dazki takes a deep breath and nods his head: You're right.

  Dazki then rifles through Baxton's pockets, looking for anything useful or anything that can be used as evidence. He has:

• A wand that he used to cast magic missiles on Kesmet earlier.
• A ring, doesn't look like a signet ring. Dazki takes.
• His signature pinstriped cloak is still in good condition. Dazki takes.
• 25 platinum, 756 gold, 25 silver.
• A key to one of the rooms upstairs.
• A weird brass potion bottle with something smokey inside.

  Dwardazik pours some holy water on Baxton's boiling, bubbling corpse and goes to pick up his shield.   Grogery takes stock of the two dead people, thinking about what funeral rites will need to happen for each person. It's his way of burying the trauma of this encounter by dealing with the logistics of dead people. While doing so, he notices the Red Lady herself: she's somewhat collapsed, sobbing frantically with... relief?... quietly to herself. Grogery goes over:

Grogery: Are you all right? Do you have injuries that need attending to?

  Upon examination, other than the damage from Dwardazik's pickaxe, she seems to have a burn mark in a vague spiraling pattern around her right eye, as if burned by acid or boiling water. It looks like it's seen something similar to what had happened with Baxton, though not quite as extreme, as if something had boiled away just underneath the flesh. Dwardazik comes over:  

Dwardazik: My lads say that I might have hit you on accident while I was fighting off that black beast over there. I came over here to see how you were doing and apologize for that. It wasn't your scuffle to be in.   Red Lady: It's over! It's finally over!   Dwardazik: Yup. We got him. He puts a hand on her shoulder, but she is inconsolable. He takes Baxton's walking stick from her that she was holding.   Grogery: Dwardazik, can you keep an eye on her condition and let me know if it gets worse? I have a lot of hurt people to try to attend to.   Dwardazik: Can't be much worse than myself... I'm barely standing!   Grogery: How much do you think I can help you? It looks like most of your problems right now are necrotic...   Dwardazik: It's pretty bad... same stuff from before, the weakness. I feel frail, but I'm sure some of these cuts can be tended to. Then again, I may not be the most important case here... but we did it. Baxton's gone.

  Throughout all the commotion, Grogery forgot to cast silence. Interestingly, Baxton never "poofed away", as it has been called, even though he had ample opportunity.