Session 10: Old secrets and new goals

General Summary

Session Start and Summary

Summary of prior session: 3 pts
A quick refresher on Chronicler's Luck (see House Rules) was provided.

Afternoon discussion at The Spotted Cap

Having largely finished their mutton pie and flat beer, the group continues to discuss what happened during the prior foray to the Llyrian Moon Facility. There's some musing about the quality of the wood used, the tree it was derived from and the processes involved in making it warforged-ready. The subject of the tree having been turned to stone comes up, and the group discusses the basilisk, the eggs Sunny recovered from the lair, and the gastrolith that Leucis is carrying (that was used to de-petrify the Llyrian Tree).
The subject turns to Nock 's status as apparently being constructed of this material (at least in part) and the several thousand parts shipped to somewhere called Sunhaven. Kolvonnin is interested in seeing the Sun Carving and Sunny's peculiar experience Identifying it. Kolvonnin doesn't know where Sunhaven is, but it seems to pre from before The Calamity so that's hardly shocking. Kolvonnin considers inquiring of Einar if he's heard of it.
The group tallies up the books (On the Properties of Moonlight, Herbalism: A Compendium, and The Finest Enquiry of the Wizard: A True Heir) that have been collected; Maya expresses an interest in the herbalism book.
Word arrives from Roger that the research is done but that he's tapped out and needs to sleep, so arrangements will be made to discuss his findings the next morning. A note of unknown contents was also given to the shroomfolk at the same time.
Leucis and Maya get the ok from Harridra for Maya to stay the night at the Temple of Selune. The other party members have arrangements to stay elsewhere (Kolvonnin and Ol'Harb at the Ruined Temple of Pelor; Nock at Roger's Bargain Basement, Sunny at the Cap itself) but all remain at the tavern for Sunny's evening show.

Sunny's Evening Performance

Sunny performs a series of known songs, leading into a recent composition about the party's exploits on the way to and inside the Llyrian Moon Facility. He works some audience members into the performance a little bit, but avoids involving the actual party members who were there as he's unable to gauge their comfort level with joining in. This performance being a novel song, it goes over pretty well - Sunny nets 2g 124s.

Evening at the temple of Selune

The pair discusses Herbalism: A Compendium and Maya elects to fold his own notes into the volume.

Evening at the temple of Pelor

Across the bridge, it's quiet - the town guards don't patrol this side of the river. The stained glass mountain glows faintly but the temple is otherwise dark. Kolvonnin lights up the morningstar as a light source, placing it on the altar. Kolvonnin clears a room for himself in the back, and Ol'Harb takes a break at the top of the Sailor's Nest Rope in the main room.

In the rest of town

Nock notes that Roger is dozing at his counter, looking relieved and satisfied. Sunny does some drinking and turns in.

Rise, Shine, and Gather

A new day dawns (canonically, this is the 22nd day of the month of Stormwake, see The Calendar of Pascelus).
The group does their morning preparations:

• Ol'Harb surveys the west side of the town, noting the ruined state of the buildings and the removal of most valuable materials. He catches and cooks some fish for an early breakfast once Kolvonnin is done with his morning setup.
• Kolvonnin says a long prayer at the altar, then meets up with Harb for breakfast.
• Maya and Leucis observe the hustle and bustle at the temple as they prepare for a new day, then head to the Spotted Cap.
• Sunny gets in some stretches and warmups before breakfast, then meets up with folk downstairs.
• Nock notes that Roger is gathering his research notes for his meeting that day.

Roger's analysis of the research

As folks accumulate in the Bargain Basement, Roger indicates that he's arranged for a meeting room at the Spotted Cap. The group with Roger is led into what appears to be a basement storeroom full of covered furniture with a large table in the middle. It appears that the storeroom has been rearranged to allow space for this meeting with the table as a place for Roger to lay out his notes.
(Full details of what Roger found are here but below is a summary and the characters' reactions.)
Roger begins by explaining that the documents recovered contain a lot of information that he didn't understand or wasn't relevant to the questions the group had asked, but that he made copious notes referring to the source documents for what he was able to find. He then starts in on one of his stacks of notes.

1. Dating system
   He can work out the documents relative to one another but not their time relative to the current date. However, there's reference to a comet that seems to indicate the documents are at least 150 years old.
   
2. Overview of what the facility was for
   Roger gets sidetracked at this point to mention the peculiar incompleteness of the documents. He originally suggests damage, but this looks similar to the issue with missing information Leucis encountered with other written items.
   The Llyrians originally built the facility to build warforged, though the research took longer than the production. The warforged themselves were designed to be immune to some forms of Necromancy - the group puts together that warforged cannot be raised as undead. The most recent runs were mass-produced models but a few prototypes had been made and archived at a place called Leng. No one recognizes the name spoken, but Sunny recognizes the name when it's written - in the original Primordial it looks like something he saw on his rite of passage, on an archway or sign.
3. Why make the warforged army?
   Warforged weren't the goal, they were the designed by several groups working together as an answer to a threat considered unstoppable without resistance to being raised as undead. The group muses about how dangerous a foe that needed this sort of response would have to be, and how strange it is that no one knows about the battles that must have happened. Maya wonders aloud if the lycanthropes from the Ironmere area are involved, so Roger segues into...
4. Involvement of lycanthropes and wolfsbane
   The warforged parts were packed in wolfsbane to preserve the transformative properties that had been imbued into the material using some alchemical process based on lunar magic. Several warnings about the process itself mentions it can cause lycanthropy if not handled properly.
5. Location of Sunhaven and how they were transporting things there
   The few references in the documents mention a "fitting" process that shows musculature over some sort of bone analog. It's location isn't directly referenced, but it's confirmed that the Sun Carving is a bidirectional portal that operates on a rigid schedule.

The group tries to digest what they've learned and how to proceed with this new information.

• In terms of chasing down lycanthropes, it's discussed that the region south of Ironmere is the only place known to have issues with them. The party reasons that since the lycanthropes who acquired the curse from the material process obtained it a different than usual way, they may act or appear somewhat different than the standard lycanthrope. Maya and Leucis recall that the lycanthropes they saw were all in their mixed form, acted disorganized, and didn't even speak that they can remember. Harb and Maya postulate that the time since the original people were cursed may be quite long, long enough that these are descendants or people who have long since lost themselves to the curse. Roger suggests that there may be someone else trying to work out how to make warforged but unaware of the Tree or the danger of the process.
• In regards to the Llyrians and their motives, the party discusses that it's odd that the facility was so hidden. Harb suggests they might have been at war, and Nock adds in that it's unlikely they'd advertise being a secret weapons facility. Maya suggests checking out other ruins to find more clues towards other places to look. Nock further suggests securing the Tree against others who might misuse it. The party knows little about the Llyrian Sect beyond their interest in moon magic and alchemy (based on what else they found in the facility).
• Nock catches a bit of a drawing in Roger's papers that seems to be an detail sketch of an arm with Dwarvish labels. The materials involved seem to refer to dwarf-craffted stone. The party's attention turns to Sunhaven - they would really like to get Kolvonnin a good look at the Sun Carving.
• It's theorized that the dwarves who made the bones may be the same as the Pelor worshippers who made the morningstar. Further, they could even be responsible for both the sun temple and the moon temple in Stonebridge, since the same light-passing and amplifying properties were in evidence there as in the room with the Llyrian Tree in theLlyrian Moon Facility. Sunny points out that sunrods were in both the temple and the Llyrian Alchemy Lab as well as a recipe and letter. The party reviews what it knows about dwarven settlements, but none seem to be near a desert.
• The group considers the stained glass mountain they saw recently. Maya inquires if the room with the Tree had something similar, but the roof was a dome of plain, smooth stone (light was present, but the source wasn't visible). Nock comments that the dome was further underground that would allow for direct exposure to light anyway. Maya suggests that the roof might be made of the same materials as the bridge in Stonebridge. Leucis adds that the light was more intense than natural moonlight would have been for the lunar phase while they were present.

Next Steps

In Town

• Kolvonnin will reach out to his fellow priests of the sun for any info about Sunhaven via letter.
• Sunny could send Moon a letter to pick his brain on what he recalls about Leng. He should be in Grayhill soon.
• The group will check in with Harridra Flintchip about any dwarven settlements she knows about.
• Harb will read through the shipping documents for places the Llyrians sent things.
• Luecis to look at the research scrolls for the mentions of Leng utilizing Roger's notes.
• Nock has a few items to prepare/acquire before leaving.
• Maya want to get map updates (places from Nock's memory, maps from Sunny).

Leaving Town

• Return to the Llyrian Moon Facility while awaiting responses from letters.

Session Feedback

Jeremy: Direction which is good. Worth mentioning that 5th is flatter math than prior editions.
Matt: Lack of combat. Direction is good.
James: Luck mechanics - 3 point max up to this point, may change in the future. Physical dice allowed, especially given how wonky DnDB has been.
Meg: Snail pace. DnDBeyond dice suck.
Eddy: Mighty info-dump. Character interactions were good.
Heather: A little lost in bookery.