Session 17: Into The Maw, Hands Held Tightly

General Summary

Perhaps the most robust session report to date incoming: the party did a lot this week, my oh my.
We resume in the childhood home of Amanita Guttata, saying an emotional goodbye-for-now to Caterina and Theophrastus. Num Erik Al requests some assistance with arrow coatings for damaging undead and is told to come back in a few hours; he also fights deeply with his own trauma and discomfort about receiving gifts, ultimately giving Amanita's parents gold for their efforts while clearly fighting back a little bit of a breakdown over it. (After the party finishes their other Endeavour escapades, they do return to retrieve these. See Rewards Granted for more.)

"I will be back soon. I promise on the spores in my bones and the love in my heart." ~ Amanita to their parents

From there, the team leapfrogs through different regions of The Endeavour:

Tinkerers/Inventors

Exploring the region for tinkerers and inventors, our Warforged L0L4 and ALEK51 politely field many an inquiry about their bodies, showing different parts of their chassis or build or abilities to curious inventors. Khashayar Entezami finds a lovely pair of alexandrite earrings with some magical properties (see Rewards Granted).

Metalsmiths

The journey into the Metalsmiths region is seamless from the previous region, yielding a transition from Warforged being a curiosity for creators and more a primary demographic of the area. The Metalsmiths area contains Warforged of all types, being worked on, working themselves, buying parts or advising on projects. It is also the location of the local Warmhearted Cold Metal union hall.
L0L4 finds herself subtly looking for others like her, yearning for a connection and clue to point her toward her history. She is unable to find it much in this space, but ALEK51 gently pulls her toward the WCM hall to seek resources. (The rest of the group follows somewhat awkwardly.)
In the WCM hall, Alek leads L0L4 to the counter where a lovely Warforged named Marigold serves as the concierge helping the two through requesting more information about their pasts. (Alek neglects to mention he's already got a file open, is a member of the WCM etc., in order to make L0L4 feel less awkward about it all.) Marigold walks the through the process and resources they provide:

• Searching the current databases and knowledge base for existing info

• Assigning a case manager to review further and begin conducting research to fill gaps in existing info

• Contacting the client with information, updates

• Optionally, adding the client to the registry of Warforged, a-la-geneaology websites alerting you "somebody in your family signed up, meet them here!" with contact info. Can exclude contact info to add data to the registry for mapping "family" trees without making connections.

The two metal party members provide what info they can about their past (with L0L4 feeling embarassed at how little she knows and Alek surprised to learn just how "old" L0L4 is, presumably hailing from before The Breaking). Marigold provides Alek with a printout of what they already have on his history, promising to see if there's any more info they can add/update. She also collects L0L4's contact info and promises they'll be in touch soon to look up more for her.
The two of them rejoin the party with L0L4 feeling a little vulnerable/raw but Alek sticking close for support for her.

Inkvale

The next stop is the tattoo-themed region, Inkvale, where nearly everyone wants a tattoo and everyone is able to be "convinced" to get one.

• Wynnie Bishop gets a sigil across both palms in silvery white to serve as arcane foci. (She trades a really cool--50 GP--rock for this.)

• Num Erik Al
requests a magically imbued bar on his left forearm (to see when drawing his bow) that grants a measure of necrotic resistance. (60 points of damage pre-resistance.) The bar changes color from green to yellow at half usage, then red at quarter remaining, then is "empty" when drained. Recharges after a long rest.

• ALEK51 (after a "loan" from L0L4 that she's unlikely to ever collect on) receives computer-chip-esque fingerprint tattoos on the tips of each finger, glowing softly with the same antique gaslamp orange of his eyes when casting magic, constituting an Illuminator's Tattoo.

• Amanita Guttata gilds their feathers with silver tracery, subtle but distinct, coursing through their plumage for +2 AC. (The tattoo artist lets the Owlin know that when one feather falls out and another grows in, the magic is still in place and the colors will reappear on the new feather in roughly a day.)

• L0L4 dedicates her upper right arm to a geometric tattoo with pops of color that sync with the LED-esque glow of her fiber optic hair. It provides +1 AC.

• Kitanya Evermoon gets a mostly cosmetic but very cool tattoo of a baking measurement chart on her left forearm. Instead of circles for each measurement, they are silvery glowing moons that when tapped show the connecting lines to other parts of the chart.

• Khashayar Entezami receives a redacted tattoo on their redacted in honor of secret. They refuse to confirm or deny that they got anything done and if it's on uncovered fur the party certainly can't tell.

Music

Having started their day with a series of heavier engagements, the party opts to end their evening in the Music region where they divide into various smaller groups to enjoy themselves after re-grabbing their rooms at Ann Naps in the Shade's Drifting Leaf inn in order to have a common meeting place to reunite/crash in later.
ALEK51 finds himself mother hen chaperoning partygoers to water and medical safety while Num Erik Al and Amanita Guttata seek out the comfort and quiet of specially set up sensory bubbles with seating, noise dampening, a good bar, and snacks. The party animals of the group (Kitanya Evermoon, L0L4 , Khashayar Entezami, and even Wynnie Bishop) take off to dance the night away. L0L4 finds herself performing in a way that is a nearly religious euphoric freedom for her, relinquishing the need for control or stress and just flowing. Wynnie and Kitanya dance until their hooved legs give out while Zami devotes the night to finding and saying a loving goodbye to friends in the area, playing xeir pan flute until the dawn.

When the partying ends...

Eventually, the party finds their way back to their beds and crashes hard. They rouse themselves in the morning with varying levels of efficacy ranging from "up at a polite, civil, decent time eating breakfast downstairs" to "sore legs sore ass sore head dragged out of bed at noon." Either way, however, the party has officially resolved their business. It's time to journey onward.

----

The Mill of the Gods

With no further errands to allow them productive procrastination from the dread hanging over them, the party sets off for the Mill of the Gods finally. The walk there is quiet, uneventful, unpopulated - eerie in its own way after the constant din and bustle of the Storysprawl they leave behind. The party makes various Wisdom saving throws against the Mill's innate repulsive effects, dragging each other along when one or another falters, fear or forced apathy pushing them to abandon the quest and just not bother with this whole mess.
The Mill itself is like stepping into another world for our heroes. The foliage falls away for the most part, as does the sound; even the sun seems to retreat behind a pervasive mist, setting the ambience of a creepy, abandoned open-air crypt. As expected, skeletons of titans dwarf the group, reminding them of their miniscule scale as they all think but barely dare to voice: "What's big enough to kill these things?" (Less daunting but still ominous/curious: "How does nobody know what happened here?")
The group presses into the Mill, distant discordant sounds of scavengers and the occasional creak of a dead tree in the nonexistent wind the only sound. L0L4 reaches out in some sort of pseudoreligious desperation, searching her mind to wonder "if we were to cry out for some sort of divine intervention here, would we even be heard?" The conclusion she reaches is that if anywhere were magical enough to court divine presence, it would be a place like this, and yet...she is certain as they creep under the shadow of these ghouls that no god will save them here.
Num Erik Al and Amanita Guttata both become aware quickly of a chilling fact: the group is being stalked. Because of course they are, right? The burn in Amanita's chest pushes them to a specific point in the Mill on whim or instinct alone, an internal divining rod pulling toward their goal, which becomes quickly obvious: a large, glowing red rift or portal of some sort, swirling with silent turbulence in the otherwise still air of the Mill. And as the party reaches this rift, however, several large masses of bone and flesh and necromantic malice rise from the osseo-detritus around them and surround to attack. The party rolls initiative and we adjourn to learn of their fate next time.

Rewards Granted

Gear and Items

• Khashayar Entezami: Alexandrite Earrings of Vigor (x2). Each dangling teardrop earring grants an extra 1d4 of healing once per short rest. Wearer can choose when to activate healing. Healing must come from a spell or skill, not a consumable.

• L0L4 : Contact card for Marigold. Grants ability to contact using Spellphone.

• ALEK51 : Genealogical Scroll. Includes all known information on individual lineage/origin for Arduelta Ostelli Arnohxien-Sadrowara-Alphanumeric Lexicon Erudition Knowledgebase 5.

Num's Haul from the Guttatas

• 5x Open-Tipped Arrows: Able to hold one brew, poison, potion, or concoction to be administered as injection instead of drink. 1 action to load tip, 1 bonus action to equip arrow. Reusable upon recovery of arrow (at DM discretion). Can be used to "stab" injectible versus ranged application. (Valuable for times when recipient cannot drink/breathe, does not have mouth/mouth is blocked etc.)

• 1x Open-Tipped Arrow of Healing: 1d6 of healing. Can be used to "stab" injectible versus ranged application. (Valuable for times when recipient cannot drink/breathe, has no mouth/blocked mouth etc.)

• Component pouch: Alchemical components. Miscellaneous herbs and plants, aids creation of potions or poisons related to health, resisting fear, dispelling/repelling undead.

• 3x Homemade Potion: Steelheart. Grants user advantage on resistance against next saving throw against Fear.

• 3x Homemade Potion: Deadhead. Grants necrotic damage resistance; reduces up to 50 points of necrotic damage (overall to be halved) OR 1 hour (whichever is shorter).

• 3x Homemade Acid: Insidium. Slick application for arrow or crossbow tip, weapon blade (smaller weapons only - DM discretion). On next hit, applies one of the following: negates resistance to physical damage OR one elemental (ex: acid, necrotic) resistance. Negation lasts for 1 round. (Application may be wasted on ranged miss, at DM discretion)

• 3x Homemade Acid: Rotaway. When applied to weapon (melee) or arrow/bolt (ranged), adds 1d12 damage to Undead creature in addition to weapon damage. (Application may be wasted on ranged miss, at DM discretion.)

Magical Tattoos

Players can add the tattoos however they like into their sheet but must include them. Examples of how they could be added below.

• Wynnie Bishop: Arcane Foci: Sigil Tattoos. Requires attunement; cannot be sold, transferred etc. Unattuned, magic reverts and tattoos become purely cosmetic until re-attuned. (Single attunement for both palms.)

• Num Erik Al: Magical Tattoo: Necrotic Resistance. Requires attunement; cannot be sold, transferred etc. Grants up to 60 points of necrotic resistance per long rest. Tattoo indicates amount of charge left at 100%, 50%, and 25%. Unattuned, magic reverts and tattoos become purely cosmetic until re-attuned.

• ALEK51 : Illuminator's Tattoo. (Unchanged from base game mechanics - feel free to copy from here.)

• Amanita Guttata: Magical Tattoo: Toughness. Requires attunement; cannot be sold, transferred etc. Grants +2 AC. Unattuned, magic reverts and tattoos become purely cosmetic until re-attuned.

• L0L4 : Magical Tattoo: Toughness. Cannot be sold, transferred etc. Grants +1 AC. (Note: Does not require attunement.)

• Kitanya Evermoon Cosmetic Tattoo: Baking Cheatsheet.

• Khashayar Entezami Cosmetic Tattoo: (redacted - see private channel)

Created Content

Tattoo references:
Wynnie:

Kitanya: (The chart itself, not the labels)

Report Date

30 Jul 2024

Primary Location

The Endeavour

Secondary Location

Mill of the Gods

Related Characters

• ALEK51
• Amanita Guttata
• Ann Naps in the Shade
• Kitanya Evermoon
• L0L4
• Marigold
• Num Erik Al
• OLD, to Remove
• Wynnie Bishop