Session 7: The Rizzbot Strikes Again

General Summary

See also: Bartleby's Big Day Out, Cloven Hoof Game is Out of Control, We Rizzed Too Close to the Sun, The GM Almost Made Us Cry etc.
Note that Bailey was not present this game so we'll assume Tervik is Business Man-ing in the background.

Whoo, what a jam-packed session for a "casual downtime game" ey?
We flash back to Wynnie Bishop collecting her boons from Third Place, a book entitled "The Evolution of Godcrafting: Making Something from Nothing and Figuring it Out as We Go." She also takes on Kafka the bookwyrm as her scholarly ward.
Wynnie also asks Annotatia if the elder wyrm knows anything about Godcrafting that she has not seen written down. Annotatia is still relatively young in the grand scheme of draconic creatures that can live for eons but she offers this statement that is the beginning of a theory she's formulating on the subject:

“I don’t believe anyone has asked the question of who seeks to gain something from the world reconnecting to The Web.”

Which sent Wynnie into one of a few different Canon Event life crises of the day.
Skip forward to Katallo & Katarin's Antique, Artifact, Artifice, and Assorted Oddity Assessments where the gang gets the low-down on the Arcanum Portentia. (Skip to that page for more info on the card itself - Lazy GM.)
The real juicy stuff, however, is when Katallo begins to speak on what is on the back of the card - the strange sigils or symbols there. He says that scholars hypothesize these sigils were used as somatic components for spells before The Breaking, a theory relating to the fact that remnants of them can be found in temple ruins. (Num Erik Al remembers seeing similar markings in his spelunking of temples in the past, so it makes sense.) He posits that each symbol is related to a specific school of magic and that they may have been used to strengthen spells or alter their effects somehow.
The wise Dragonborn sees Wynnie's face light up in interest about this fact and cautions her to be careful trying to recreate the past too closely. He warns that sematic shift has almost certainly occurred--the phenomena of the name for something changing over time--and that what we call a spell now may be done differently than a spell by the same name nearly 1000 years ago, with dangerous consequences if we try to follow their math step-by-step in our current world. He likens it to trying to recreate a recipe that used now-extinct ingredients in that we cannot predict the end result safely. Wynnie is subdued but seems to heed him. For now. Who knows.

GM note: Sematic shift is a super cool concept if you're curious. Think "gay" no longer meaning "happy" or how what Romans called "concrete" is different than our concrete of today. What does it mean for something to change but share a name? If the end result is similar but all of the component parts are different, is it the same as it was before? (Oh no, we're Ship of Theseus-ing, abort! Abort!)

The gang also visits Rine's Friends and Familiars to get some info on their Bookwyrm babies. Rine tells the gang that much like The ABC Crew of mimics, bookwyrmlings will generally stay away from your treasured paper if you feed them well before they need to go hunting. The more engaging the material (or more sentimental) the better, both to make them feel satiated enough to not eat your spellbooks but also to help grow their Intelligence; bookwyrms learn by consuming and do better with food that means something, rather than the scholarly version of gruel. Rine also reminds them that each bookwyrm will develop its own personality and prefer certain types of material as food (which will later inform the type of hoard they create). L0L4 immediately feeds Bartleby a limerick of hers, intent on making a bard of the boy. You know. A Bard-L-By.
(Rine also lets them feed treats to a litter of baby Cerberus she's tending to, which sends everyone into hysterics at how sweet they are.)
The party then trudges back to the AHARRG Guild Hall to turn their quest in to Gleddy Goodvine who effuses about how proud she is of the group for going above and beyond with Piras, performing community service well beyond their job requirement and establishing themself as stalwart pillars of the guild's philosophies so quickly. She pays them each 1 SP for their work, but more importantly says she has prepared some gifts for each of them to welcome them to the guild in true Guild Mom fashion.
The full list of gifts can be found in the Gleddy's Gifts tab of Dortlitt's Store doc but as a summary:

• For Tervik Likkus, a Sending Stone (a spell phone, if you will), Sending Shard (a fantasy address book/rolladex), and a custom Sigil all for Tervik. She gives him a signet ring with the sigil embossed in it for use as a signature, because "a Business Man should have a way for people to contact him." The Sending Stone is handy for the whole party (with the Shard already encoded with Gleddy and other important names' sigils) but the sigil and ring are a gift for a business man she can see is trying very hard.

• For L0L4 , a Composition Notebook (:D) and magical microphone. The notebook can store and recall songs it records and the mic is perfect for a Bard who performs with her voice, amplifying magical spells with Verbal components by 5 ft. One step closer to Vocaloid Queen of Ostelliach. Would that be O-Pop? Is L0L4 an O-Pop Idol?

• For ALEK51 , a gauntlet to enhance his mage hand abilities (copyright to Dortlitt), a comfy basket for babehs to snooze in on his chair, and a bitchin' pack of stickers: "I don't need roads, I'm all-terrain!" / "I brake for books" / and "This machine kills fascists." The third of which is skipping being a bumper sticker for the chair and getting slapped right on Alek's chassis.

• For Amanita Guttata, reusable contact lenses that dim bright daylight to comfy dusk for nocturnal creatures (which Amanita pops in and instantly feels their Bitchiness level drop by 3 as they're able to relax some) and a very cool Hexiglass container for 4 different biomes worth of shroom growing on the go. Given that Amanita had been planning to invest in a mobile lab soon anyway, Gleddy made a very happy Owlin indeed.

• For Num Erik Al, he of typically stoic disposition, Gleddy provides a magical Little Black Book that will only open for him, a novelty enamel pin that can list his name as whichever of his epithets he trusts the person to know, and most tenderly of all...a basket of homemade treats thought long lost from the Village of Verailles. Destroyed over 50 years ago, Num had been avoiding the ruins out of pain but Gleddy was able to find a variety of nostalgic treats and trinkets that made our little gnome a little dewy-eyed.

• For the terminally scholarly Wynnie Bishop, a ruby red enchanted quill that captures her dictation either verbally or telepathically and a very nifty bookmark for cross-referencing resources with any known to the Scriptorium Soiram.

• And finally, for Kitanya Evermoon, a Flatstrolabe (:D) - an interactive star chart that maps whereever a person is located and can help identify celestial bodies; a magical seasoning shaker for all her cooking needs; and a jar of trinkets and charms for a stylish hippie Satyr to braid into her hair and fur.

Sufficiently emotional by the thoughtfulness of their guildmaster (and GM mwehehehe) the party divides their gold up and heads to Dortlitt's Store-tlitt.
There, they pick up some new things as well as strike a few bargains. Of note:

• Amanita picks up a Cartophilian Compass, a compass fueled by mobile fungus for navigating dungeons

• A Bag of Holding for the party using party funds (plus a little by Kitanya)

• A signal whistle for each of the party, even Amanita who does not have lips to blow a whistle

• An Alchemy Jug for drinking and mayonaissing for Kitanya the Chaotic Bimbo alignment chef

• Custom don't-lose-your-hand-to-a-cursed-relic gloves for Num, who lets Dortlitt measure his hands by tracing a hand turkey around them and promising to come back in a week for the goods.

• A promise of optic operation for L0L4 who would like to have darkvision like the rest of the cool kids

With downtime for the rest of the evening, the party splits into a few groups:

• Alek and Wynnie keep L0L4 company as she lays down in the infirmary for Dortlitt, who happens to be the resident "doctor" for Warforged, who makes some bitchin' roles to plan out Darkvision contacts for her. He gets the plan and L0L4 pays him 20 GP to come back in 3 days for Special Eyes.

• Kitanya makes snacks.

• Num goes to have some alone time in the room, where he cherishes his gift basket from back home and talks with Albert and Basil, both to teach them knowledge and connect. Albert parrots some words back in a promising display of speech and Basil asks precocious questions about Num's hometown. Everyone sheds a tear or three.

• Amanita beelines to the Scriptorium with their spore collection and renewed vigor.

After L0L4's optometrist consult, Alek collects Num and they head to the Scriptorium. Wynnie, Kitanya, and L0L4, however...are having a mother fucking girls' night at the aptly-named Striptorium burlesque club.
Num gets a tour of the Scriptorium, Alek does a data dump with the archive staff then takes his own tour of the Scriptorium, and the girls get a tour of the Strip torium. Amanita buries themself even further in books - in the necromancy department, specifically.
In the Striptorium, Wynnie Bishop becomes enamored with a Changeling who introduces themself only as The Weirdling (they/she) while leading an intimate philo-scholarly discussion on the nature of identity and change while changing herself and the audience with magic. Kitanya Evermoon is pulled in several directions initially. However, upon meeting a tall, lithe, sensual Aasimar with skin like the sparkling void of a starry sky named Beateah (Bay-uh-TAY-uh, they/them), Kitanya is held rapt. Both Wynnie and Kitanya roll spectacularly on rizzing up their companions and walk away with spell phone numbers (sigils) for their respective chat partner. Meanwhile, L0L4 is taking Performance notes from the stage, especially a pair of dwarves using the stage, props, and each other to choreograph some truly entrancing boogie-ing.
The party reconvenes after a long, fulfilling day a-glow with positive experiences and settles in for a well-deserved long rest.
They get the long rest, but they also get woken up by Amanita Guttata shrieking in pain as their chest feels fit to bursting with a burning migraine-like feeling glowing red hot...and also literal glowing red light. Amanita takes rapid psychic damage and falls unconscious before anyone can truly react, to the party's horror. However, they wake up just as suddenly, seemingly fine and unharmed...physically at least. For Amanita seems gripped by an unshakeable compulsion upon awaking again and flies out the door, an Owlin caught in an irresistible thrall. The party goes to give chase just as the ground shakes and their ears ring with a deafening shrieking wail echoing throughout the guild hall.
Meanwhile, Kitanya knows nothing of this because in true bimbo spirit she's just grabbing some water from the mess hall. Well, she's blissfully unaware until she sees Gleddy coming down the stairs in full plate armor with her hammer in tow, feels the ground shake, hears the otherworldly shriek, and sees her party burst out of their room in their nighties chasing a crazed mushroom Owlin out the door. Huh. That's weird.
Cliffhanger: achieved!

Rewards Granted

So many, dude. So many.

• A new book for Wynnie.

• Spell-cro for Alek.

• A small hand mirror & Alchemy Jug for Kitanya.

• A bespelled Emerald Pen for Num.

• Signal whistles for everyone.

• A tantan (tambourine) for L0L4.

• Topped-off bolts and arrows for L0L4 and Num.

• A bunch of thoughtful gifts from Gleddy - see "Gleddy's Gifts" tab.

• 97 GP 5 SP each from their adventure

• 100 more GP down payments for Wynnie and Amanita on their layaway for each's Staff of Defense. (Amanita: 200/1000. Wynnie: 175/1000.)

• Special protective dungeoneering gloves for Num, to be picked up in a week (5 days).

• Darkvision lenses for L0L4, to be picked up in 3 days.

• The "numbers" of 2 cuties at the Striptorium.

• Super special secret necromantic knowlege to a diligent studier Amanita

Campaign

Ostelliach Campaign

Protagonists

L0L4

Neutral Good Warforged (Entertainer)
Bard 4

29 / 29 HP

STR
15

DEX
10

CON
13

INT
11

WIS
11

CHA
15

ALEK51

NG/CG Warforged (Cloistered Scholar (Sage))
Artificer 5

43 / 43 HP

STR
7

DEX
18

CON
8

INT
17

WIS
14

CHA
16

Amanita Guttata

True Neutral Owlin (Hermit)
Druid - Circle of Spores 3

25 / 25 HP

STR
8

DEX
16

CON
14

INT
12

WIS
16

CHA
8

Num Erik Al

()

8 / 8 HP

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Wynnie Bishop

Kitanya Evermoon

Neutral Good Satyr ()
Cleric 1
Stars Druid 1

15 / 15 HP

STR
14

DEX
8

CON
13

INT
8

WIS
18

CHA
11

Player Journals

How could this happen to me? by Amanita Guttata

Report Date

17 Apr 2024

Primary Location

Cities of Mercy and Wrath

Related Characters

• Annotatia
• Dortlitt
• Gleddy Goodvine