Session 76

General Summary

• The party entered the "Art Studio", a magically silent room with several "patients" on operating tables who were being tended to by a cultist we're calling "The Surgeon".
• Dazki attempted to negotiate with the cultists in this room, but the silence made that impossible, so combat ensued.
• The silence could be removed (and re-added) by blowing on a horn attached to a device that amplified its inherent abilities — the silence, however, was covering up screams from the "patients" on the operating tables.
• Another cultist joined the combat early. Covered in unkempt heavy armor (later discovered to be Scorpion Armor) and carrying a Pyroconverger, this entity was also able to command its allies to attack even when it wasn't his turn.
• A fireball from Kesmet wiped out about half of the "patients" on the operating tables during combat, leaving just three who were still technically alive by the end.
• The party was able to take out all the cultists and clear the room.
• Grogery was able to heal up two of the three remaining "patients".
• The party used the cellstone to make an end-of-day report to Annu about the state of the dungeon, signaling that they may not be able to follow up for a few days.
• Dazki invited in the half-orc from before, explored just far enough west to confirm that there were no immediate threats in that direction, and disabled the mechanisms on all three doors leading into the "Art Studio" so that the party could take a long rest there.
• Marvin looted and identified the Pyroconverger.
• Dwardazik tried out the heavily armored cultist's armor, only to discover that it was cursed to deal massive poison damage to whoever puts it on. He quickly tried to take it off, taking enough additional poison damage to knock him unconscious.
• Dazki noticed that someone had tried (unsuccessfully) to get into the room during Dwardazik's watch.
• Grogery saw Dwardazik unconscious and healed him a little so that he could stand.

Full Recap

The session opens with the party having just entered the "Art Studio" in Vicra Lammergeyer's lair.

Art Studio

As soon as you step into the room, the entire room is completely, eerily silent. It appears to be a medical room, or torture chamber (or both?). There are operating tables, some currently in use. Masked cultists are tending to healing (or creating) wounds, the person on the table obviously protests and struggles, but in complete silence. Other victims are too weak and exhausted to express any opinions about what's going on.   There is a spider-like humanoid assisted by tubing and other implements that dangle from the ceiling. It's difficult to tell where his tools end and he begins. Many arms to manipulate the tools, many eyes solely focused towards the work on (what you hope to be) a cadaver in front of it, its various implements dexterously cutting, injecting, slicing, and sewing: a whirling display of speed and efficiency, singularly devoted to the task at hand.

Combat Summary

• The silence of the room prevented all spells with verbal components from being cast, but the effect was lifted when a cultist blew on a horn that was attached to a wall. With the silence lifted, the wails and screams of the victims on the operating tables became very prominent...
• The cultists and surgeon had a strong tendency to use healing magic on the injured members of their ranks, so some huge early hits from Dazki and Dwardazik were all but negated by the time they had the opportunity to attack again.
• Early in the combat, a cultist wearing heavy armor joined to defend against the party's attacks. He had a legendary action to command allies to attack, at the end of each round.

• Marvin gave Dazki a Haste buff that miraculously stayed up throughout the entire encounter.
• The surgeon seemed not to favor moving from where he started; instead, he cast spells with wide area of effect and injected some sort of acid into Dwardazik with a syringe when he approached.
• Kesmet mostly stuck to attacking with daggers, including a few pre-poisoned ones that he picked up from some dead cultists during the fight, though he did pull off a fireball that quickly eliminated most of the threats throughout the room (as well as some of the victims on the operating tables).
• The armored cultist, upon seeing Marvin, said "Your presence was requested", and swiped at him twice. He responded with a dissonant whisper: "And your presence was requested to... fuck off!", forcing the cultist to flee.
• Later, the armored cultist pulled out a strange-looking gun/wand that spat out fire in a cone in front of it.
• Marvin finished off a cultist with an insult about its dick size.
• Once the armored cultist was the only one left and surrounded by the party, Dazki offered to let him live if he dropped his weapons. The cultuist did not, though he did cease further attacks, and so Kesmet finished him off with a Burning Hands.

After combat, Grogery begins attending to some of the victims on the operating tables, bringing Dazki along to benefit from the healing as well. He sees that the one that the surgeon was operating on appears to be too far gone to stabilize. When Dwardazik sees this, he rushes over and starts shouting.

Dwardazik: Guys! Kesmet, Marvin, get over here! Let's see if we can save these folks!   Kesmet: Do they need a wound cauterized?   Dwardazik: I dunno. They might. It looks pretty nasty. Judging by what I see, that's —   Grogery: NO, NO! That makes them even more incompatible with life!

Dazki, after taking what healing Grogery was able to give him, goes to investigate the horn on the wall. The horn is affixed to the wall, with some magical contraption. The horn is formidable on its own, but being attached to this contraption seems to enhance its innate properties. Blowing on this horn will, indeed, add or remove the Silence condition to the area. He blows on the horn, causing the room to fall silent once more.   Dwardazik tries to ask "What the hell just happened?!", but nothing comes out. Kesmet uses a Minor Illusion to spell out, in the air, "What the hell just happened?!". Dazki points to the horn and motions for them to be quiet. Kesmet acknowledges that he can go along with this, but Dwardazik is still grumpy and signals for Dazki to turn it back while Grogery throws a boot at the elf. Dazki shakes his head.

---

Marvin examines the body of the armored cultist. The armor itself is very unkempt — the cultist clearly did not take very good care of this armor for some reason — but quite formidable. It's made up of some sort of reinforced chitin. He grabs the flame-throwing gun in order to study it later, to see how it works.

---

After Dazki signals that he's not turning the silence back off, Grogery throws up his hands in frustration and goes back to healing the wounded victims. Of the three victims still alive on the operating tables, Grogery is able to heal two, but the effort involved means that he cannot save the third one, whom the surgeon was "operating" on just moments before the combat started.   Dazki starts a conversation by writing on a piece of paper that he shares with the group:

Dazki: The other cultists are expecting silence. This gives us a couple of minutes, at least.   Marvin: We should consider locking the door we came in, if possible.   Dazki: Stop looting that corpse and check the door. I'll look down the hallway where armor dude came from.

The door to the north resembles the door leading south from the starting room. It leads to the "Main Art Gallery", its plaque reading "Pain is only skin-deep. It is what's inside that really matters." Dazki investigates the door, looking for a way to jam the mechanism so that it will not be able to open from the other side.   The door to the west leads to "The Living Quarters", its plaque reading "Life is a balance of pleasure and pain." It also has a peephole, which Marvin looks through to see a couple of undead standing on pressure plates on the other side. The undead are tied to leathery leads that dangle from the ceiling. Unlike the half-orc from the other door, these have some leeway to be able to walk off the platforms if they choose. Marvin writes on the note paper to alert the others to look through that peephole.   Dazki returns and blows the horn again.

Dwardazik: Ahh, finally!   Dazki: I jammed the door to the north that goes to the "Main Art Gallery". We should be able to undo it from this side, but they can't get through from the other side without breaking it down.   Dwardazik: And the door to the south?   Marvin: It's closed, but probably not locked.   Dwardazik: We saw the door to the side. Does it look like a problem?   Marvin, shuddering: It's unsettling, to say the least. It looks like a couple of undead creatures standing right by the door, just... hanging out? I don't like it. Honestly, I know there's a lot of death in here — and I wish that horn got rid of our sense of smell instead of our sense of hearing! — but I think we could all use a rest. If we can secure this room, it wouldn't be too bad.   Dwardazik: I don't disagree, but can we do anything about those doors we can't lock? Barricade them?   Dazki: Let me see if I can jam these other doors before you do.   Grogery: OK, but let's get that half-orc in here first!   Dwardazik: That's not a bad idea, Grogery.

It takes some persuasion, but Dazki is ultimately able to convince the half-orc that it's safer in the "Art Studio" than out in the hallway. Once the half-orc is safely inside, Dazki fiddles with the pressure plate in the hallway to make it no longer possible for blood to open the door.   When he investigates the door to the "Living Quarters", he doesn't see any way of disabling it from the "Art Studio" side.

Dazki: Hey guys, if we want to secure this door, I'm going to need to do some stuff on the other side. Are we OK opening it and seeing what's in there? Or do we just want to barricade it and hope no one comes through?   Dwardazik: We'll do it your way. I trust it better.   Grogery: I can dust those zombies at a moment's notice, if we need to.

Dazki turns a dial. The undead are hoisted up in the air by the leads tied around them, and the door opens.

Dazki: Do we want to just jam these pressure plates, or do we want to first explore what's down the hallway to see what's in the "Living Quarters"?   Dwardazik: Well... maybe you with your stealth, and we'll cover the rear?   Dazki: OK, I'll stealth forward. You wait back here. If I'm not back in 10 minutes, jam some scalpels into the plates and try to fuck with it as much as you can.

He heads down the hallway, past a chair. There are two cultists in the room, which does indeed seem to be for living quarters. All of the space that would be used for living, however, seems to be taken up by sculptures and paintings that someone just refuses to clean up. Otherwise, just a door to the north and a hallway to the south. He returns to the rest of the party to let them know this.

Dwardazik: We should be good to jam it, then? Or do we want to take these guys out now?   Dazki: I think our best chance is to jam it now. They might notice, but we'll be able to hear them fucking with it. Probably.   Dwardazik: That sounds like a plan. Jam it, and we'll deal with that later.

Dazki does succeed in jamming the plates, but this triggers a trap of poisonous gas. He comes back into the "Art Studio".   Grogery pulls out Annu's orb to give the report for the day:

Grogery: We are currently deep in the lair of Vicra Lammergeyer. The lair, which is embedded in a Giant Ant nest, is also surrounded by a self-proclaimed "Turmoil containment area". The lair seems to be inhabited by several cultists/artists working for Vicra, undead servants and guards, and some of Vicra’s flesh-warped creations.   Grogery (cont'd): There are also several captive humanoids here, most in some state of poor health, whom Vicra is keeping here for experimentation and "supplies".   Grogery (cont'd): The lair is adorned with some murals and poems which may provide further clues towards Vicra’s intentions or plans, so I will describe them for you now: Grogery proceeds to describe the murals, The Nest of the Songless Bird, and the six-faceted central pillar.   Grogery (cont'd): We are taking refuge in a cleared area of the base in order to regain our strength and plan our next move. Expect silence from us for the next few days, as it is unclear if we will find another time in the near future when we can safely send to you without alerting people that we are here.   Annu: You will give me the location of the infected zone. I will properly dispose of the contaminated individuals. You will not disrupt the crime scene or any potential for investigations.

While that's going on, Marvin suggests that Dwardazik could look at the armor from the one cultist.   Grogery arranges the bodies along one side of the room and enlists Kesmet's help in cremating them.

Long Rest

First Watch: Marvin

Of the three civilians rescued (the half-orc and the two victims from the table), two are intentionally keeping their distance from the third, a ragged-looking elf. Marvin leaves them alone.   Marvin identifies the gun / wand that was recovered from the armored cultist:

Second Watch: Dwardazik

Dwardazik checks out the armor from the armored cultist. It's a shame that it's been so poorly kept: it's a very wonderful-looking piece of armor, apparently made out of plate from giant desert scorpions. He discovers its basic properties, then dons it. As he does so, he takes massive poison damage. When he tries to take it off, he takes more poison damage, knocking him unconscious.

Third Watch: Dazki

Dazki stops his meditation and sees the unconscious Dwardazik with the armor half-off. He tries to shake the dwarf awake, unsuccessfully. He takes off the armor the rest of the way, as Dwardazik stabilizes.   For his watch, Dazki walks around to survey the area. It looks like some of the cultists were carrying vials of poison gas that they could have thrown, though this never happened during combat. Examining the door to the "Living Quarters", someone had attempted to get through (presumably during Dwardazik's watch), unsuccessfully. If nothing else, they're now aware that something is going on in this room. He spends the remainder of his watch camped out, intently watching that door (but keeping an eye on the others).   Dazki also sees that the ragged-looking elf stands out, inspecting the kitchenware on one of the far tables and making the others uncomfortable.

Final Watch: Grogery, Dazki, and Dwardazik

Dazki: Someone came and messed with this door. We should be prepared for anything to happen. I'm sure they know that there are other ways into this room. I don't think our cultist disguises are going to matter anymore.   Grogery, with a sigh: Yeah...   Dazki: Also, maybe go check what happened to Dwardazik. It seems like he passed out, maybe a little too much ale or something. I couldn't really tell.   Grogery: It's not like him to drink without offering some to other people.   Dazki: He was also halfway into that weird chitin armor.   Grogery: That's... probably got something to do with it. Were you able to get him awake after he passed out?   Dazki: No, I wasn't sure if he was just asleep or what. I didn't want to make things worse — he didn't look like he was bleeding out or anything, but you're the doctor, not me.

Grogery goes over to Dwardazik and heals him up to get him out of unconsciousness.

Dwardazik, rasping: That... armor... is cursed!   Grogery: Sounds like it...   Dwardazik leans against the wall.   Grogery: You think you're going to be OK?   Dwardazik, still rasping: No... I don't think I've ever experienced such pain in my veins...   Grogery: What happened? Sounds like you put on the armor, and then it tried to kill you?   Dwardazik: That's exactly what happened!   Grogery: The question is, how was someone walking around in it?!   Dwardazik: It only happened when I put it on and tried to take it off. The pain was so... I need some rest.   Grogery: Ohhhhhhh... probably cursed so that it hurts you if you try to take it off.

Tease: Next Time on Mirage...

A pleading knock comes on the "Main Art Gallery" door. Grogery quiets Dwardazik down and moves to the door to listen.

Voice: Come on guys, you gotta let me back in! I don't remember how to open this door, and I'm sorry, but you gotta let me back in!