Session 145

General Summary

• The party decided to return to the restricted areas of the Tenderlove Research Facility to try to figure out more about what it is they're doing.
• They tried the stables first, only finding rows of sleeping workers and nothing juicy to speak of. The castle-like structure was much more interesting: it was fortified heavily to defend against actual attacks, complete with a "moat" of sorts with spikes at the bottom, but disguised to look like just regular terrain.
• Inside, they found a conspicuous trap door leading down to "The Pit", ugly terrain disguised as beautiful-looking terrain, various heavy machinery, a small bakery with its own outdoor section to get water, and a shrine to Abbathor, the dwarven god of greed.
• Though most of BFI are gold dwarves, there was one stone dwarf — a druid — arguing with one of the gold dwarves, trying to convince him to try some more unorthodox methods of production. The gold dwarf protested that "Jondi" insists on doing things traditionally, and so their hands were tied.
• The party snuck their way past a more heavily guarded and trapped area, breaking into the treasure room. They stole a trove of documents, including deeds to property, and 3500 gold. They then proceeded to "The Pit", with Dazki and Marvin distracting most (not all) of the guards so that Marvin could Dimension Door them out while Theran and Kesmet went down to explore.
• Down in "The Pit", various humanoids and a drider were kept in cages throughout. When they got to an actual research-looking setup, Theran spotted some extremely basic "experiments", as well as some setups aimed at causing and reversing petrification.
• Further in, they found a captive medusa, "Pho", who says she was being held for her tears, an essential ingredient in the cure for petrification.
• Pho recognized the name "Jondi": it's one of the Rockfeller siblings; Jondi herself wouldn't be here, but Carnegee is probably around somewhere.
• According to Pho, BFI wants the locations of her siblings so that they can make more of the anti-petrification potions, but she won't give it to them.
• Pho convinced Kesmet to set her free, and he used a couple of Dimension Door spells: one to pop her away, and the other to return to Theran.
• Kesmet then used a Dimension Door to take him and Theran back out to regroup with the others.

Full Recap

There's some discussion about what to do about the """research""" going on at the Tenderlove Research Facility, now that they've been spotted snooping around once already.

• Dazki and Theran generally want to do more snooping to figure out what """research""" is happening.
• Marvin is concerned that even if they report any nefarious deeds to Axecut, who's to say that the officials aren't in on it?

The plan is to snoop (under cover of Invisibility for all but Dazki), but also to make sure that they keep some Dimension Door spells ready for a quick getaway. Dwardazik will stay back because he's not stealthy enough, leaving Marvin and Kesmet to make sure they stay with Dazki and Theran, respectively, and Dwardazik will make sure the cart is prepped for a quick getaway in case things go south.   Kesmet (Animal Handling 16) convinces "Barf" to stay behind with Dwardazik. The dog stands up on its hind legs and salutes him.

Snooping

They Dimension Door in behind the gate, and then Kesmet makes himself, Marvin, and Theran invisible. The road forks off two ways: one towards a large fortified castle-like structure, the other towards a large (but not as large) area that's probably used as stables. The castle is heavily fortified as if "they are constantly worried about being invaded".   Sneaking into the "stables", it appears to have been repurposed as a sleeping quarters for the workers who keep the """research""" facility running. There are mismatched crates apparently used as cubby holes to store the workers' belongings. Dazki rifles through them to look for any access keys or other such things, (Investigation 32) finding nothing more than petty change and low-end jewelry. He decides to leave it alone, and the party generally finds nothing to keep their attention here, so they make their way to the large castle.   The castle is accessed via a drawbridge, which is currently down. At the other end of the drawbridge is a gate, and two minotaurs stand guard behind the gate. Off the bridge to the left and right appears to be just solid ground, but Kesmet tries to touch it to confirm, finding that it's an illusion. Looking through it, Dazki sees that it's actually a bridge over a large pit with metal spikes at the bottom.   The idea is for Dazki to use one of Kesmet's sticks of dynamite, light it, and throw it down into the pit off to the right. The party, hiding off to the left, will wait for the guards to come out to investigate, and then they will sneak in behind. It works like a charm — one minotaur guard opening a secondary gate leading into the castle proper — and they make their way inside.   Inside the first room are some slits where arrows can be shot out, and a very large metal trap door between the two gates with a large cranked lever behind it. They leave wax footprints behind them as they walk.

Main Floor Investigative Summary

• The central courtyard's terrain is also an illusion: rather than the green grass and lovely gravel that people see, the ground is instead ugly-looking, heavily trampled upon throughout all the activities that BFI has been doing back here.
• It seems that this is one of the places where the bulk of the activity is done by the day-shift workers, with large heavy machinery strewn about the courtyard.
• The minotaur guard who had retreated into the castle reported his findings to some BFI guards, who ordered an ogre guard to "sit on the Pit". The ogre seemed to know what this means, as he went straight to the metal trap door and literally sat atop it.
• There's a room inside with a small bakery, and a small outdoor section through that room with a water well behind it.
• Another room had a small shrine to (Theran's Religion 20) Abbathor, the dwarven god of greed. The same lizardfolk from earlier in the night was inside the shrine area.
• Generally, the machinery in this area is entirely mechanical, which is a very surprising fact given that the world as a whole makes heavy use of magic.

The two dwarves were chatting behind a closed door, (Theran History 20) one of them being a stone dwarf druid instead of a gold dwarf:

Gold: Jondi would never go for anything other than the most traditional, you know that!   Stone: There are many other methods of taming or servitude! You could do necromancy, possession, artifice, summon demons! Why rely on all this manual labor? You could tame 'em way faster! There's no way that your slow methods are gonna keep up with those gnomish artificers and their elemental golems. You're gonna be left behind in the dust! Is that what you want?   Gold: Listen, man, it's not that I'm not into it. It's that Jondi ain't havin' it, OK? And I'm not doin' no weird demon possession or anything like that unless Jondi knows about it.

Dazki picks the lock on a door leading to a large area. A (sleeping) minotaur guards stairs leading up to the rooftop, but the party are more interested in the offices down the hall. The next door, also locked, triggered a trap when Dazki tried to pick it, (Dexterity Save 28) but he quickly got his hand out of the way and resumed. (Thieves' Tools 31) He broke in: it's their treasure room. Dazki steals all the loose documents — including deeds to a lot of property, some in areas that seem more confusing than nefarious — and notices, as he flips through them to stuff them into the bag of holding, that BFI seem to be very particular about the wording of their contracts. They also steal 3500 gold worth of currency that was stashed in this room.   Having successfully emptied out what must be the main stash of a regional outpost for the largest organization in the country, the party decide to figure out what's going on down in "the Pit". Marvin uses a Dissonant Whispers spell to try to get the ogre to run away from the trap door, (Wisdom Save 18) but the ogre doesn't flee. Instead, he just points at Marvin. Marvin points back. The ogre points with a second finger. Marvin points with his second finger. The ogre scratches his head. Marvin scratches his head. Marvin casts another Dissonant Whispers. It works, and the ogre runs away.   Dazki and Marvin run into the courtyard to move the distraction away from the Pit, and Kesmet begins turning the crank near the trap door, which begins to lower it like an elevator. Seeing this, Theran stands on the platform. Archers begin firing at where (still-invisible) Kesmet is turning the crank, but Kesmet opens an Eversmoking Bottle to obscure them once more. Dazki fires a gunshot off into the distance to draw more attention his way. Once the crank is turned enough, Kesmet jumps down behind Theran, and they start investigating.

Pit of Despair

Theran gets spotted by a minotaur, whom he convinces to go upstairs to see all the commotion. They pass by various humanoids — and a drider — in cages on their way through. They get to a section that's dedicated to some kind of research — (Nature 27) mostly very elementary, basic experiments that Theran might have even done as part of his own education, but he notices that some of it is attempting to cure — and cause — petrification. Just past the research equipment is a single cage with a lone individual.   A female with simple clothing and a bag over their head. Pale, bluish-green skin.

Pho: What is it now?   Theran: Well, I'm sure I don't know. Who are you?   Pho: Surely, you know who I am? Why don't you come closer...?   Theran: The way you say that makes me want to do exactly the opposite.   Kesmet, whispering: I think that's Jumanji.   Pho: Just as ugly as the rest, then. Leave me here to rot. I'm done with you!   Theran: Why would Jondi want to keep you down here anyway?   Pho: I am valuable.   (Insight 13) Kesmet is a little unsettled at the way she hisses out "valuable".   Theran: In what way? For parts, for services, or something else?   Pho: I am part of "the cure", apparently. But it's mine! You can't have it!   Theran: Why would they need a cure for petrification?   Pho: You really don't know? Who are you?   Theran: It's almost as if I came down here looking for information! Oh, deary me! I'm afraid that you knowing who I am is not going to help you. But me knowing who you probably is.   Pho, reaching for the bars of her cage with her malnourished and thin hands: I'll give you whatever it is you want, if you just release me from my captivity.   Theran: You can't give me what I want. Not in the "deal with the devil" sort of way.   Pho: Bah, "deal with the devil"? I am cursed, but I do not deal in curses.   Kesmet: Hey, uh, secret-dude, she seems malnourished. Maybe if we give her some of that research food from the other room?   Theran: That might work.   GM: It's got a bag over its head. How's it going to eat it?   Kesmet: Hey, are you Jumanji?   Theran: OH, you're a Medusa! That makes so much sense.   Kesmet: So, does that mean she's Jumanji?   Theran: No, I don't think so.   Kesmet: Well, we've got to go find Jumanji. Or something.   Pho: Who is it you seek, exactly? Perhaps I can help you find them.   Theran: I personally just want to sit down and have a talk with Jondi.   Pho: Jondi? Oh, a Rockfeller. You won't find her here. She's the one who got me into this mess.   Theran: Do tell.   Pho: That doesn't seem like a fair trade.   Theran: Well, you're giving me lots of vague details. And I may want to let you out, but...   Pho: Jondi is one of the three siblings who run this wretched place. Jondi, the eldest, wouldn't be here.   Theran: Ah, so which of the three siblings is here?   Pho: That filthy betrayer, Carnegee.   Theran: Also a stone one?   Pho: ...I don't understand.   Theran: Carnegee, is he the one I saw upstairs? Looking like a druid?   Pho: No druids here.   Theran: Interesting. Well, anyway, it seems like this portion of BFI is interested in doing and undoing petrification. What possible use could they have for that? They're supposed to be providing workers, or the products that manifest from it.   Pho: They seem anxious. They smell an opportunity, and they grasp it. But I will not sell my brethren. They threaten to harvest me for parts instead, but they haven't.   Theran: So, here's the thing. It certainly seems like you've been imprisoned here unjustly. And I would like to have you not treated unjustly anymore. And I am a person who, you know, doesn't want to jump to false conclusions. However, I was told many stories in my childhood about Medusae and the havoc they could wreak. So while I don't particularly want to jump to the conclusion that such things would happen if you were to be let go, what guarantee do I have that this will not happen?   Pho: You want to sit here and make deals... with the person behind the bars? You want me to be a good little girl? Fine. Release me.   Theran: Again, what guarantee do I have?   Pho: I have nothing to give you.   Theran: Can you see through that bag?   Pho:

  Theran: Matchstick, what do you think?   Kesmet: (Kesmet 38) Fuck that. We've got our own problems to deal with. I'm just the taxi here. Free 'em, keep 'em there, whatever. We gotta find Jumanji, or somethin'.   Theran: Jondi isn't here, apparently.   Kesmet: Oh, right, right.   Pho: All right then, how about this? Eventually, these dwarves will either slay me for my precious juices, or they will somehow convince me to give them more of... "me". Do you trust these people?   Theran: I wouldn't be down here if I did.   Pho: To petrify and unpetrify for coin.   Theran: I don't trust this business as far as I can throw it.   Out-of-character discussion trimmed, which makes this seem like more of a non-sequitur than it was "live".   Kesmet: Can you produce three vials worth of the ingredient used for the anti-petrification potions?   Pho: It would have to be an awfully sad tale.   Theran: Ah, so your tears are what breaks this petrification. And the fact that you can't just produce them on-demand is what's causing them "problems".   Pho: They want to turn me into some sort of workforce.   Theran: They want to turn you into a cow.   Pho: They want me to give up the location of my sisters.   Kesmet: Are they in, like, similar situations, and different places like this?   The drider makes a howling screech from across the way.   Theran: And why is the drider here?   Pho: I really wish she would stop doing that.   Theran: Is she in a similar situation as yours?   Pho: Spider silk is very valuable.   Theran: Ugh. All right.   Pho: But she refuses to cooperate, and thus her brood remains untamed. ...not that I care, I just wish she would shut up.   Theran: OK. So, what you're telling me is that if I release you, you are not going to rampage through this facility causing destruction — understanding that that is the fastest way to get yourself caught and immediately harvested — and instead are going to stealthfully make your way out of this area as quickly as you can, and back to your sisters. Is this correct?   Pho: Yes, all of those things.   (Insight 27) She's lying. She's lying, Theran. She just wants out. She wants revenge on these ugly fucking assholes who have made her life heck. Do not let the medusa out! You weren't there for the Beholder, but let's not let the medusa out!   Kesmet levels with her to give her some advice on how better to exact her revenge, drawing on his own experience. (Persuasion 19)   Pho: Plot and scheme, you say?   Kesmet: Exactly. Now, it's very important: don't let the revenge poison you too much. Do some meditation or something. I let that happen to me, and I started forgetting what my family looked like, it was horrible. I had turned into a living revenant. But just calm down first, plot, get allies, and then execute your revenge! How's about that?   Pho: A mastermind in the aether. And the deal's better, as I still get my revenge in the end!   Kesmet: Yeah, just, like, do that later? Because if you try to do get your revenge now, you might fuck some shit up for us. And also all that other stuff, like, getting captured.   Pho: Well, it beats rotting in this cell.   Theran: Matchstick, this is not a good idea...   Kesmet: Eh, I've never been one for good ideas.   Kesmet: Also, if you run into some weirdos, they're probably our friends, and don't kill them...   Kesmet: Like, don't kill anyone you don't know for sure has wronged you.   Pho: I've never killed a soul.   Theran: Don't petrify people who have wronged you, that tends to give you a bad rap.   Pho: Well, that's their fault, now, isn't it?   Kesmet: Or petrify, or hurt, yeah, the point is, just please don't muck up our situation, all right? Just do that for me? And also, take my advice on the whole revenge thing.   Pho: Yes, I will not "muck up" your "situation". I will make sure my revenge is grand. They deserve it, after all.   Kesmet: Yeah, grand, and further down the line. I'm serious about that, you do need to take a day or two to calm down. Because you seem very distraught about being caged up in this cell. And it'll probably muck up their plans if they don't have you for the ingredient anymore.   Kesmet gets ready to teleport her out, but Theran stops them to give her one last warning.   Theran: Now, listen. Your path may take you past other people who were wronged by this business. They are not your enemy. And if you hurt them, then they will never be your allies.   Kesmet: But you want them as allies. Those are the allies I was talking about.   Theran: The thing is that, as you can probably tell by my earlier remarks, I deeply care for justice. And if I hear word that you are recklessly endangering people around you, then you may have to get a visit from me. And you and your sisters will not like that.   Pho: To be honest, I'm not all that concerned about you.   Theran: Hmmph. Well, I guess that's your risk to take.   Kesmet: Can we have your name?   Pho: You can't pronounce my name.   Kesmet: Do you have a nickname?   Pho: A "nickname"? ...really?   Kesmet: You know, something short that us common folk can pronounce.   Pho: You can call me Pho.   Kesmet: That's too hard. I'm gonna call you Stacey.   Kesmet: Anyway, please reach out your hand through the bars.

He uses a Dimension Door to take Pho somewhere far away near the stables, then pops himself right back next to Theran. Theran raids the experimentation area, retrieving "two things that cause petrification and two things that cure it".   They Dimension Door out and meet up with Dazki and Marvin on the way back to the longhouses, discussing what they found downstairs — and how much they very definitely need to leave before the sun comes up the next day.