Session 32 11/04/2026
General Summary
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Umbraday 25/05/2345
Genevieve’s
- G is carving her stone and thinking about everything going on, how she's going to get the frost steel for Lady Selene, unsure how she’s going to convince her family
- M is sitting with Syyrik, going over her notes and all the information they’ve gathered, getting a little lost in the moment as it’s like the old days when they would research, plan and solve mysteries together, momentarily forgetting about the current state of the world around her and the stakes surrounding it
- M asks Syyrik if he noticed if there any areas with higher guard coverage that might be worth checking out
- Nothing has come through the gate that leads to The Radiant Hall as they have traveled that road very heavily and that Varik probably knew of the paladins and opted to avoid that road
- They note that Varik is most likely traveling with carriage or the like and horses and that they would have to stable the horses somewhere as getting them into the sewers in unfeasible
- M recalls that the Blackthorns have a stable located in their barracks and says it would be worth checking out
- Syyrik warns against going to the thieves’ guild because of the potential of it being trapped as there were no signs of life
- M says if they go the path of trying to find “Nekros” and ending the possession, then Varik will definitely know they’re onto him and he knows where they are and will have the jump on them and that it seems more pressing to try and find where Varik’s body is and try to get the jump on him because he likely doesn’t know that they are aware that “Nekros” is just a pawn in all of this
- The group decide to send Alastros to check The Amber Hoof Stables
- M says non-lethal only, specifically looks at B, Alastros and Jazen (persuasion 14)
- Jazen rolls his eyes dramatically and Alastros scoffs
- M says they don’t want to figure out whatever else this blood magic affecting the town can and will do so if they need to “deal with” guards, do not kill, just knock out, Alastros reluctantly agrees
- M says someone should check around the stables at the Blackthorn stables, probably someone sneakier, as K mentions
- Syyric volunteers and M suggest C goes with, C then walks up behind Syyrik, starting him and says they can count on them with a grin, B is unsettled by this
- M asks Syyrik if he noticed any places that had more guard coverage than others, he says it was fairly even coverage apart from the town square which was empty
- Didn't run into anyone in the sewers other than roaming shadowlings
- Troglodytes fortifying where Lili went when she went looking for Kelsin and scouted the sewers
- Machine Lord taken over a cleared-out troglodyte location
- M wonders if going back to Lady Selene Vaeloria and asking if her people would have spotted anything, but remembers they really only stick to their area and don’t pay much mind to the town itself
- M says their focus right now should be on scouting an information gathering and that they shouldn’t jump on anything until they have a decent idea of where they will find him
- Banso’s crew take a walk around town to take in the goings on as it currently is
- M invites V to join her on the roof to keep an eye out and B patrols around Genevieve's
On the roof
- After sitting on the roof in silence for a while, M says “It’s just the two of you, isn’t it?” V sighs and says it is
- M says she knows the looks of a solo dad, V says “It’s been long and hard, but she’s a good girl. I worry for her” M says she’s definitely got a fighter’s spirit
- V says “You know I found her on more than occasions than one with some sort of weapon in hand. The girl was made for adventure” M says she’ll be a great adventurer one day
- V says “Yes, I have to believe this” and M says they’ll get her out of there and V meets her eyes and asks if it’s ok if he hugs her, she nods and they share a tender hug for a moment
- M says “From the daughter of a solo father, just know that I’m sure she appreciates the work that you put in, even if she doesn’t say it, or if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes”
- V laughs and says, “I think I know what you mean” he sniffles and says they should stop being “socially anti” and get back to the rest of the group and offers her a hand to get back up
A little bit Later
- Alastros and Draekos return, Alas looking frustrated (investigation 25)
- Draekos says there was nothing at the stables, but they did see a large stagecoach go the other way with 4 black horses go by in a hurry yesterday
- Draekos says he had to stop Alastros from taking it out on guards
- They relay that there were four black horses, it was completely covered so one couldn’t see in completely covered, one driver and one person sitting beside him
- Alastros says there was an elephant in the stables and can’t understand why no one seems to care about it, M says “No one's talking about the elephant in the stables”
- M says that sounds like their quarry and the group agree that 4 black horses seems a little cliche for “and evil douchebag”
- C and Syyrik return, Syyrik looks downtrodden, snuck into the barracks got past 4 guards (stealth nat 20 for 27 total)
- Guards were solo and not in pairs like they had been around town
- Syyrik gets M’s attention and does a coin trick says he made it worth their while
- C says there were a lot of black horses there but no carriage
- Guards seemed incompetent or out of the loop
- Banso’s crew return they witnessed a guard touch a blood flower, but didn’t break the connection with the flower, no one helped him, over 5 minutes was drained of blood (perception 31)
- Heard word of an entrance outside of town that would lead to the sewers near the orchard hidden on the property where Zalthea had killed the father and Lunae kidnapped the mum, leading B to find the kids
- Banso thinks machine lord might be in that direction, M says that sounds like a promising lead
- Otherwise, there is not a lot of activity above ground
- B says it seems like the orchard is their best lead, saying even if they ditched the carriage and stabled the horses at the Blackthorn’s, they still don’t know where the carriage is
- M says that they do know there an entrance to the sewers under the Blackthorn Estate because that’s where the master contract is kept
- B says it’s not like Black horses are uncommon so it wouldn’t be weird for the Blackthorn’s to have a bunch and suggests they head for the orchard as they can always change plans if it seems like a bust, the group agree
- M asks if they want to try and be sneaky because she can cast Pass Without Trace, B says he’d rather she saves her spell slots
- Lili gives her remaining healing arrow back to M
- B and G take a bathroom break before they head out and M and K talk about if they want to bring anyone with them, deciding that having Banso with them wouldn’t be silly as he was the one who recognised that might be near to where the Machine Lord was based
- They also talk about bringing Elira, so they have another healer with them
- V offers to looks after T as he took quite the beating earlier and needs to rest
- Lili is talking with Jazen about when they should leave, saying she would like to go asap
- Jazen looks to the group and says if they’re heading out, he and Lili will start heading out so they can free all the petrified folk because they don’t know if killing “this stone edge lord” will end the condition
- M nods, obviously anxious to have a solution for her own personal reasons
- Jazen places a hand on her shoulder and gives her a serious look and says “Trust me, I’ll find something”
- M has a character growth moment and decides not to say that she doesn’t trust people and instead just nods
- Lili looks like she wants to say something but isn’t sure if she should, instead notices the book about queer identities on the table and asks if it would be ok if Rebecca borrowed it
- M says that’s fine and asks Jazen if they were planning on heading that way before they leave or if she should send word, Jazen says they will and M hands the book over
- Lili and Jazen head for the door, as they’re leaving Lili says to Jazen “Do you think Tarruk would be offended if I told him I’m really good at bull riding and offered to show him?” Jazen says “Jesus Christ!” taking her by the arm and pulling her outside
- Once they’re a bit further away, he pins her to the wall and kisses her
- M rights a quick note that says, “Saving the world, back later xx – Micarafae” and leaves it in X’s outstretched hand, just in case
Heading Out
- The group, Banso and Elira head out towards the orchard
- Not a lot of guards, seem to be nervous
- Moving through town they try to be mindful of flowers, but B goes to steady push away some nearby debris and nearly puts his hand on a red vine twisting up its surface if not for K seeing that and warning him (Dex save K double nat 20 (21) M 21, G 20, B nat 1)
- Derek calls him an idiot as K points it out
- M cats firebolt on it
- B says good looking out to K then points to Derek and tells him to watch it, as George glows menacingly
- They make their way to the north gate which is much larger than the one that leads to The Radiant Hall and obviously sees more frequent use with a drawbridge across a dry ditch
- They make their way up to the orchard and M takes a beat to ritually cast detect magic before they proceed further
- M hums a countercharm as they walk, in part because she knows charm stuff has been going on, but also just to fill the eery silence that hangs around the town
Sunridge Orchards
- They notice there is no one at all around the orchard
- Primary crops apples and pears with some plums and a special looking greenhouse
- B looks in the greenhouse sees small cherry trees, but the cherries appear silver (nature K 13, B&M 12, G 4)
- B and M have heard of golden ambrosia cider before and know that it comes from Ravenswood
- K notices one turn gold as it ripens, recognising it as a golden cherry tree
- They note that these are regarded as precious and would normally be guarded
- B pockets a couple and M makes sure its watered
- They see an open storm cellar and head in, M notices a bunch of jams and preserves on the shelves, seeing a jar of plum jam and grabs it, stating it’s her father's favourite (perception 7)
- B opens one to have a taste (perception 9)
- K notices that in one spot on the dirt floor it sounded different (20 perception)
- G notices dust kick up as K stands on that spot, as if she stepped on something that shook in response, and not at all like a dirt floor, she bends down and finds a trap door that she pulls open, revealing dirt walls that transition into a stone spiral staircase (perception nat 20 for 23 total)
- M recasts detect magic and heads down first
The Sewers
- It has that familiar smell of the magically cleaned sewers they have been in before
- Elira elbows banso asks if they’re really doing this, he tells her to buck up, saying they might be facing the Machine Lord, looking to the group for confirmation
- M says that unfortunately seems to be the case, Elira says “Imagine what we can do if we can shut down what he’s doing over here. We don’t even know what he’s doing here”
- M says “Based on what Kree shared from talking to Zalthea’s spirit, it sounds pretty bad, and anyone working with Varik who knows what is going on, can’t be good”
- Elira gulps and Banso claps her on the back to shake it out of her and they continue
- B thinks he hears a clink heading away to the right (7 intelligence)
- The rest hear a massive intake of air to the left, repeating again after minute (intelligence M 17, G 13, K 12)
- M shushes everyone and asks if they hear that, B asks if she means the tinking noise, G says it definitely wasn’t a tinking noise, M saying it sounded more like bellows
The Mysterious Ticking Noise
- B walks towards clinking, hearing that sound of metal footsteps getting further away
- M doodle rings on the wall a little symbol to point them back towards the direction she heard the noise and follows B
- George helmet modes and B gets a little visual alert of the direction the sound was coming from
- They find a nightmare conduit seemingly made of iron that hasn’t noticed them
- M gets up beside him and nudges him then gestures to the nightmare conduit, asking if she should try to take it out, he nods
- M tries to remember if psychic damage was effective against them, recalling it seemed to hit just as hard as anything else (history 13) and she uses mind sliver on it, it saves with 15 intelligence
- M curses under her breath and decides to forego the quieter open, firing a firebolt at it but misses with an 8
- B runs up and grabs it, smashing it against the wall, hitting with 20 and dealing 13 damage, smashing its body as it emitting an ear-piercing
- G runs up and smacks it with her pickaxe hitting with 19 and dealing 11 damage, destroying it
- George scans the nightmare conduit saying it appears someone made an iron version of a nightmare conduit that is hollow inside, except for some wires
- B recognises it as being similar to things from Zaolu’s realm, though he has never seen anything like this
- B says Zaolu isn’t going to like this
- B notices inside it is a tiny crystal inside where a heart might be (investigation 17)
- M recognises it as a memory shard but this one has no memory stored within it and tells B to hold onto it
- B wonders what purpose it serves, asking M if she things they could take memories from people, M says she has no idea (arcana 5)
- B gets the sense that this thing wouldn’t be that smart and that wouldn’t be its purpose (arcana 17)
- M wonders if it’s used as a power source, maybe consuming memories as power, except this one was running without a memory, so maybe it harnesses power from it in another unknown way
- B theorises that maybe having a memory in it would act as an upgrade, but he would have to find one that contained a memory to confirm
- M ponders how one gets an empty memory shard, remembering what Moritha and Korbus had shared about them with her, the memory crystal is formed as a part of the process of extracting a memory and not a pre-existing vessel that a memory is inserted into
- B says they can either investigate the sound from before or they can see where the nightmare4 conduit was going, M says it was just doing patrols and it would be more fruitful to go back to where they heard the other noise
Investigating the Puffing Sound
- They head back to where M left the symbol but don’t hear the sound anymore
- They head in the direction it was coming from
- The come to an out of place construction of a welded steel wall blocking passage through the stone tunnel
- M says they do have G’s pickaxe that works against structures but that would be noisy and first looks for any visible lock or handle, but doesn’t find one, also not feeling anything from detect magic
- B find a loose stone and throws in to the floor in front of the door, nothing happens
- Above the door is a bright light but no sense of magic from it, B recognises it as akin to something from Zaolu’s realm and mutters about how pissed he’s going to be, George agrees
- B puts his ear to the door and hears, dragging, clinking, muffled voices and crying, a woman saying “how can you do this” and hears the intake of air again (perception 15)
- M tells him to get the fucking door open and he kicks it in (strength 22)
- Another door is removed from the world, to not trouble any further adventurers with its superior ability to block passage when it is close
The Lair of the Machine Lord
- The door opens into a large chamber bathed in a golden light with metallic pillars wrapped in wires that seem to be a recent addition that seem to be humming with energy
- Further in the chamber is more of standing torches that have been snuffed out as well as a dais with stairs going up to each side, containing mechanical humanoids made of iron that look far too people like to have been forged
- In the centre of the dais sits a machine with a large, translucent chamber with an iron cap, containing a man who is banging frantically against it as well as a woman on the ground in front of it, pleading and crying
- At the back of the Dais sits a man with orange hair in front of a console who cackles as he presses his hand onto a button and says “Never gets old”
- Air can be seen getting sucked through the tubes of the machine as it releases a black smoke or mist that fills the chamber as the man's flesh starts to turn into metal right in front of their eyes, leaving him as a featureless, but Human looking iron, automaton
- The woman scrambles back horrified as the Machine Lord cackles even move
- More tubes fill with a red liquid, before emptying into what would normally be a channel for sewerage that seems to have been blocked out from the rest of the system and now only contains a vast pool of blood
- M uses Message and tells the woman “First chance you get, run, go to The Radiant Hall, we’ll get this”
- She looks panicked and starts looking around, and doesn’t seem to have the strength to will herself to move
- M casts Melf’s Minute Meteors and hurls 2 at the console dealing 9 and 10 fire damage to the console, melting it and rendering it unusable in its current state but not totally destroyed
- ML saves against the first meteor with 14 dex save, taking 4 fire damage, then fails against the second with 11 and takes the full 10 and jumps out of his chair, slaps his knees and cackles before saying “You came to me, you guys actually came to me?! A little earlier than I was expecting, more of you than I thought” as he counts the crew
- He points to M and says “I was really hoping to bring you into this” as he points at the machine then adds “Almost had you, so I hear”
- M uncharacteristically says nothing instead just staring daggers at him
- ML says “Well, my mechanical army, attack!” as the automatons in front of him shamble forwards
Combat
Initiative
- Banso 22
- Juno & Junko 22
- Automatons 19
- Micarafae 15
- Gwinri 14
- Kree 10
- The Machine Lord 9
- Bruzrik 8
- Lady 8
- Elira 7
Round 1
- Juno and Junko head down the stairs using their full movement
- The group of automatons head down after them
- M casts slow on Juno, Junko and the four closest bots, Juno and Junko fails but use a legendary resistance to save (wisdom save nat 1 & 11) The for automatons also all fail with a nat 1, 3, 7 & 7 for their saves. M then hurls another meteor at the console, dealing 7 fire damage and destroying it, ML also fails with 3 dex save and takes 7 damage then hurls another at Jimbot who fails his dex save with 5-2 and takes 11 fire damage and is also destroyed
- The deck of cards vibrates in her pocket, wanting to be used, she pulls out a card taking 6 damage as she chooses to give it a small amount of her energy and a large dinosaur jumps out of the card it tries to speak but muffled due to lack of energy given, the number 1 appears under the card then she shifts into wolf form runs to Tombot and misses with double nat 1s then takes another swing hitting with 26 dealing 11 slashing and taking out Tombot, using action surge before moving to Clairebot missing with 12 then swinging again hitting with 16 and dealing 15 slashing also wiping them out
- Dino runs up to Juno and attempts to bodyslam, Juno fails their save with 11 the dino deals 25 damage number on the card turns to zero and gets sucked back into the card revealing a nameplate that says Yoshunmitsu
- K flies up, dashing to get to the dais tries to convince the lady to go with her 6 persuasion + 2 from Auspicious Warning as M helps her out by tell the lady they’re here to help, the lady puts her arms out and allows K to grab her, then flies her down over the blood pool to the front of the dais and places her down, telling her to run, the lady asks if they can save her husband, K says they’ll see what they can do, the lady then tells her to lookout as a bloody glob falls from the ceiling, K dodges out of the way with a 19 dex save as ML says “Ah they sent us another one”
- Derek flies to Juno misses with 14 then hits with 15 and deals 8 piercing but makes their con save. Juno grabs Derek and starts to encase him in metal and he is restrained (con save 8)
- ML throws off his jacket pulls out a keyboard smashing a button on it and Derek is pulled 25 feet into the glass chamber then takes the dodge action
- B runs up, flies onto the dais and tries to smash the glass, George gives a brief analysis of the material which is some kind of hardened plating, B activates his chainsword, ML claps his hands and says he needs to get that, B tells him to pry it from his cold dead hands and swings it and hits with 27 and deals 22 damage, causing a severe crack in the casing swinging again with 21 and dealing 24 damage
- The lady runs past M reminds her to go to the radiant hall, she asks again for them to save her husband, M says they’ll try
- Elira runs up to the nearest bot
Round 2
- Banso hits Tazzybot with 16 dealing 10 and taking him out and gives K bardic inspiration
- Juno runs up to G and punches her missing with 10 then hitting with 26 dealing 6 halved to 3 because of resistance. It points at a piece of debris on the floor that floats up and balls up in its hand and uses scrap enhancement
- Junko runs to Banso and misses twice with 14 and 11 and also uses scrap enhancement
- Aubrey bot moves and attacks Elira with 22 dealing 4 damage
- Husbandbot hits banso with 22 dealing 3 damage
- M casts mind sliver on ML he saves with int save of 18 then she throws two meteors at him he makes his first dex save with 18 taking half of 8 then fails with 4 and takes 8 for 12 fire damage total then she moves behind the nearby pillar
- G swings twice at Juno misses twice with 15 and 13, kicks aside collecting scrap con save 16
- K flies over to juno, stabs with her trident and misses with 6
- Derek fails to break out of the capsule (strength 2)
- Junko tries to metal thing banso he saves with 21
- ML moves towards the stairs, shooting at B, missing with 11 and 8. The machine trying to take in air but failing due to the massive cracks in its previously airtight chamber
- B tries to hit the container misses with nat 1 swings again hitting with nat 20 and dealing 37 damage destroying the recpticle, freeing Derek. B says he’s going to show him who the real machine lord is, M rolls her eyes, B rushes up to him
- The lady escapes
- Elira swings twice missing with 5 and 13
Round 3
- Banso hit Aubreybot with 17 and deals 10 finishing it then hits Junko with 20 dealing 10 damage and gives B bardic inspiration
- Juno swings at G would hit but M uses cutting words taking it from 19 to 13 saying “Not today, trash heap” Juno swings again but misses with 13
- Junko hits Elira twice with 19 and 26, dealing 13 and 5
- Husbandbot hits banso with 16 and deals 2 damage
- M shoots a firebolt at ML and hits with 16 dealing 5 fire damage
- G swings at Juno hitting with 18 dealing 15 slashing, swings again hitting with 23 dealing 14
- K stabs Juno with her trident using gold flame blade hitting for 21 and dealing 7 piercing and 5 fire
- Derek flies up to ML and swings missing with 10 and 9
- ML aims his staff at B hitting with nat 20 launching a giant sphere at him, which opens up into a net, wrapping around him and pulling him tot he ground before electrocutes him he uses adamantine bulwark negating the 17 damage. ML then shootts at Derek hits with 23 also restraining and electrocuting him for 8
- B breaks free of the net with 19 str hits ML with 26 dealing 28 then misses with 10+4 M calls out “Try not to kill him, he might have answers”
- Elira swings at Junko missing twice with 14 and 16
Round 4
- Banso misses Junko with a nat 1 and 16
- Juno swings at K hitting with 16 M uses cutting words reducing it by 4 causing it to miss, K uses halo of spores it fails its con save with 11 and takes 2 necrotic damage, swings again and hits with 14, dealing 11 and 12 damage
- Junko punches Elira hitting with 22 dealing 13 and 7 damage then misses with 15
- M fires a healing arrow at Elira, healing her for 12 then throws a dagger at Juno hitting with 19 and dealing 3 piercing
- G hits Juno with 20, dealing 12 damage then misses with 16
- K hits Juno with a nat 20 using golf flame blade and dealing 22 total
- Juno uses a legendary action to hit K but misses with 11
- ML fires another ball at B hitting with 20 and knocking him prone, dealing 8 damage then hits Derek hitting with 14 and taking 14 damage then turns and runs
- B breaks out of the next with a nat 20 str save, freeing Derek also then hits with ML, 17 dealing 25 damage bringing him to 0 gets the impression that killing him would disable the bots, but that if he’s alive they could maybe get him to share how to undo what he did to the man. (intelligence 19) He then moves to Juno missing with 10
- Elira heals herself for 15
Round 5
- Banso gives G bardic inspiration and attacks Junko hitting with 23 dealing 7 damage, missing the second with 16
- Juno misses K with a nat 1 then would hit with 16 but M uses cutting words reducing it by 4
- Junko hits Banso with an 18 dealing 14 and 9 then misses with 13
- M fires a healing arrow at Banso hits with nat 20 and heals him for 26 then throws a dagger at Juno missing with a nat 1
- G swings at Juno hitting with 12+6 dealing 12 then hitting again with 18 dealing 11 and taking it out, and allowing her a glimpse at a large memory shard core inside. She then uses portal fang, warping closer to Junko
- K moves closer uses frost bite it fails its save with 10 and takes 11 damage
- Derek flies over and throws his trident, hitting with 16, then uses twin needle sting hitting with 19, it fails its con save with 13
- B moves closer using heartfire it fails its dex save with 7, K, Derek and G all use their reactions to contribute and are able to take it out together
- Banso is to restrain Husbandbot and B moves to secure ML
Report Date
11 Apr 2026
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