Session 31: Creepy Dolls Just Keep Coming
General Summary
Silas gets Anya back up with a potion and jumps back into the fight. Sikander stands protectively over Anya, destroying one of the bone piles, while Offa continues to fight from afar.
As this fight ends, Offa gives Sikander his lucky basilisk claw as thanks for protecting him as well and they all begin investigating the various boxes. Initially they find a fair bit of loot, (2 emeralds and 4 blue sapphires worth 150gp each, along with a box of tapered black candles. Taking a closer look at the doll, they find the face of a dead child behind the mask and a mysterious black potion falls from her dress.
The remaining boxes have ancient draconic written on them: "Here lies she the sister her masters doll. She is a friend of the shadow."
Reading this, they decide to destroy the caskets - Anya with fire and Sikander swinging away with Wibbles. They manage to destroy one, but the other remained undamaged. Looking inside they find a tiny doll in a pink costume with cheery living face with big eyes and ponytails. She starts speaking to Anya in Draconic, sharing her name is Anne Maybe and made of dreams (the party sensing sympathetic magic). Anya quickly realizes she will not be able to destroy the doll and asks Sikander to deal with her. Anne Maybe shares her idealistic desires, and Sikander tells her he loves her and is going to send her back to where she belongs. After she is knocked down by Wibbles, Offa stakes her in the heart, completely destroyed.
Offa then checks out the statue of Dred Garlu and finds a secret panel containing the form of a key made of darkness. As he tells the party about his find, Offa continues reading the runes, which tell the story of Dred Garlu like his grandmother would tell. He eventually finds one set of runes explaining the key is for unlocking the door to dreamlessness.
Meanwhile Silas cuts through a door that sends raw sewage into the room, prompting everyone to return to the larger room with the portcullis (after Anya slips and falls into the muck). They all agree a rest is necessary and settle down. All is quiet until Anya's watch, when she hears a high pitched voice sining in draconic. Peering through the door, she spots a group of mannequins surrounding a floating girl in the center.
She and Anya go back and forth, each eager to destroy the other. The doll shares she stands by the black door and her master looks forward to meeting all of them. In their verbal sparing, the elf and the doll mark each other. Shortly after, Anya wakes the others, shares her interaction, and they all agree to continue on.
Moving through the dungeon, the find mannequins and determine the correct way to find the doll. Coming to a locked stone door, they realize it is a terrible trap. Silas manages to disarm the trap and unlocks it, holding the knob as it swings open. As they creep along the wall of the room, a cloak is in the center, and the umbral vampire that escaped them before reappears with two minions, attacking the party. Sikander and Silas destroy the vampires, with help from Offa casting Feeblemind on the umbral and Anya throwing daylight into the room again.
The next door's puzzle baffled the party for a few minutes, until they dowsed the driftglobe and used Winter's Dawn glow to see the key hole properly. As Offa unlocks it with his key of darkness, the slates lower into the ground and the party looks inside, finding a pool of nothingness ringed by four mannequins covering their faces. To the side, a little girl laughs and a large armored figure, a Death knight known as Vlad the Poker, steps foward.
As this fight ends, Offa gives Sikander his lucky basilisk claw as thanks for protecting him as well and they all begin investigating the various boxes. Initially they find a fair bit of loot, (2 emeralds and 4 blue sapphires worth 150gp each, along with a box of tapered black candles. Taking a closer look at the doll, they find the face of a dead child behind the mask and a mysterious black potion falls from her dress.
The remaining boxes have ancient draconic written on them: "Here lies she the sister her masters doll. She is a friend of the shadow."
Reading this, they decide to destroy the caskets - Anya with fire and Sikander swinging away with Wibbles. They manage to destroy one, but the other remained undamaged. Looking inside they find a tiny doll in a pink costume with cheery living face with big eyes and ponytails. She starts speaking to Anya in Draconic, sharing her name is Anne Maybe and made of dreams (the party sensing sympathetic magic). Anya quickly realizes she will not be able to destroy the doll and asks Sikander to deal with her. Anne Maybe shares her idealistic desires, and Sikander tells her he loves her and is going to send her back to where she belongs. After she is knocked down by Wibbles, Offa stakes her in the heart, completely destroyed.
Offa then checks out the statue of Dred Garlu and finds a secret panel containing the form of a key made of darkness. As he tells the party about his find, Offa continues reading the runes, which tell the story of Dred Garlu like his grandmother would tell. He eventually finds one set of runes explaining the key is for unlocking the door to dreamlessness.
Meanwhile Silas cuts through a door that sends raw sewage into the room, prompting everyone to return to the larger room with the portcullis (after Anya slips and falls into the muck). They all agree a rest is necessary and settle down. All is quiet until Anya's watch, when she hears a high pitched voice sining in draconic. Peering through the door, she spots a group of mannequins surrounding a floating girl in the center.
She and Anya go back and forth, each eager to destroy the other. The doll shares she stands by the black door and her master looks forward to meeting all of them. In their verbal sparing, the elf and the doll mark each other. Shortly after, Anya wakes the others, shares her interaction, and they all agree to continue on.
Moving through the dungeon, the find mannequins and determine the correct way to find the doll. Coming to a locked stone door, they realize it is a terrible trap. Silas manages to disarm the trap and unlocks it, holding the knob as it swings open. As they creep along the wall of the room, a cloak is in the center, and the umbral vampire that escaped them before reappears with two minions, attacking the party. Sikander and Silas destroy the vampires, with help from Offa casting Feeblemind on the umbral and Anya throwing daylight into the room again.
The next door's puzzle baffled the party for a few minutes, until they dowsed the driftglobe and used Winter's Dawn glow to see the key hole properly. As Offa unlocks it with his key of darkness, the slates lower into the ground and the party looks inside, finding a pool of nothingness ringed by four mannequins covering their faces. To the side, a little girl laughs and a large armored figure, a Death knight known as Vlad the Poker, steps foward.
Report Date
17 Dec 2023
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