Session 23 - The Library Incident and a Party To Remember

Plot points/Scenes

Tying Up Loose Ends at the Facility

• Jarvis reports that nothing’s moving around in the inner sanctum - the screamo zombies seemed to have gone
  • They all stopped registering on the system simultaneously
  • Drant goes down to investigate - the hallway is lined with bodies piled with mechanical parts - it seems they fell apart - no longer magically enhanced
  • Drant crit fails his arcana check and decides it’s some sort of ancient Dwemer defense system
• Jalan checks on the giant spider - it’s missing its faceplate and some weird component in the shape of an eye that he doesn’t recognize (an oval with two flat lines next to it near the top)
  • Fritz investigates, it’s totally still functional but the piece that was taken was how it determined friend from foe
  • //she didn’t pick up on this right away, but this was until recently the resting place of the Millennium Eye//

• We get the little mechanical spider things to move the draugr bodies
• Meeting with Francesca
  • Hands us a document to give to Wizmur to get into the library vault
  • Warns us that we may want to be on our way, Stonedeep will not hold for long, or at the very least remain prosperous for long
  • Advice - want gold? Head to the port cities - there’s something larger at work here

Secrets Within the Library

• Walk in and can’t find Wizmur anywhere
• Fritz goes to the one secret room she found and he’s unconscious and bleeding out on the floor; Drant stabilizes him
• Wizmur wakes up
  • Apparently some female blur came through - he didn’t see her but he heard her
  • Show him the paper, he goes around the library and opens the other secret rooms - Fritz is now aware of how to access all the library’s secret rooms
  • We need to go to the front desk and ask for the book on “How To Cook With Mudcrab: A Poor Man’s Guide To Eating Healthy”
  • Librarian guides us to a room, shuts the door behind us, rumbling sound - elevator!!
    • The elevator is not really the best/most securely constructed...Fritz cringes internally
• Basement room
  • Special bookshelves made of metal and sealed in glass to keep the books sealed in and moisture/parasite free
  • 200 feet down at the end of the tunnel, there is a podium with a light on it, appears there used to be a book there but there isn’t any longer
  • Does it look like somebody’s still here?
    • Drant to look for clues, Fritz to guard the entrance
      • A panel in the elevator ceiling looks like it’s been removed and someone dropped down - looks like they might have followed someone down and came in after them
  • Jalan Detects Magic
    • Lots of books

• And the podium - but it’s residual magic - the book that was resting on it was really powerful
• He sneaks up to it - discovers that once the magic source was picked up it was immediately snuffed out - she must have put it into something that blocks magic
• Drant climbs up on the ceiling and tries to perceive from the ceiling
• Jalan tries to find the “flashiest” kind of magic and pick the lock to the bookcase
  • Ancient Guide to Manipulation Magic and its Uses
  • He starts looting all the books from all the shelves
    • Almost gets magically put to sleep but he can’t because elf so he just feels a little drowsy

• Elevator starts going up - Fritz rides with it, librarian at the top
  • L: “Are you touching my BOOOKSS”
  • F: “Sic him”
  • L: “Tall dwarf moss licking son of a bitch I’m gonna kill you for messing with my books….you too, knee-licker”
  • F: “What’d I do??”
• Magical system for detecting which books are in place and Jalan greed-looting the books off the shelves triggered a silent alarm
• Takes his enchantment book and tries to control the librarian’s mind
  • [Rolls 4]
  • J: “Fuck it, I’m gonna luck it” [5]
  • [D: *laughing* “These are not the books you’re looking for”]
  • L: “You better stop that, or I’ll make sure you’ll never have fun with a woman again...Underscum”
• Looks at the podium, notices the book missing, starts weaving a spell “I’ll kill you”
  • Fritz explains that that one wasn’t actually Jalan but the rest were
  • L: “I don’t want to hear another word from you, you knee-licker, we’ll let the bug do the talking for you”
  • F: “What’d I do??”
• Jalan stealths to the elevator, tries to get it to go up, Fritz (who has been guarding the elevator this whole time in case Naomi tries to sneak out) threatens to taze him
• Librarian attempts to cast a spell at Jalan but crit fails and hits the ceiling instead - minor tunnel collapse on top of her
  • D: “You should really be more careful around your books”
• Jalan tries to climb up the elevator, can’t climb the shaft so hides
• //retroactively, he was speaking to Naomi in thieves cant trying to levitate her out//

• Fritz unburies the librarian, she’s a bitch
  • L: “Don’t touch me, knee-licker”
  • F: “I’m fucking done being nice to you”
• Drant notices that Naomi’s somewhere behind him
  • D: “Jalan, get out of the elevator and close. The door.”
  • Fritz moves back to stand sentry at the elevator, Jalan sort of refuses to get out of the elevator for awhile but we do get the room on lockdown
• Drant judges that she’s somewhere in the room where the book was (as opposed to the little tunnel leading to the elevator/exit)
• Librarian casts some magic on a panel and starts messing with wiring, notices that there’s only one unaccounted for use of the elevator, so it only made the trip down unattended once...she’s still here
• Drant climbs up to the center dome of the ceiling and starts 360-thorn whipping
  • He’s hit in the back of the carapace with something that’s latched on and sending jolts of electricity through him - he resists it and pulls it out before he could take damage
    • Librarian says “it’s not me, if it were my ward it would’ve been a fireball”
    • F: “Fire….and books”
    • Librarian demonstrates magical bookshelves
• Fritz plans to immovable rod the elevator in the place where it’s most structurally stable so it doesn’t just tear through the floor if it starts to try to move
• Drant continues to Thorn Whip
  • Becomes incapacitated again
  • This time we notice that the arrow was shot from the top of the side of the main chamber
  • Jalan drags him back into the hallway
  • Concussive arrow knocks everyone back into elevator
• Naomi drops from the ceiling, we demand the book back
  • N: “How can I give you what I don’t have”
• Drant investigates (D: “Colonoscopy time”) - doesn’t find anything on her person….but has an idea
• Drant puts his hand on the podium…..there’s something there
  • Jalan dispels magic on invisibility: the book’s there!
• Jalan is very determined to bring Naomi to court and very against letting Fritz kill her
  • (F *grumbling* “I wasn’t actually gonna kill her…”)
• Librarian likes Naomi better than all of us
  • Fritz is very peeved by this
• Investigating the book
  • Written in a really strange dialect of Common, it would take while to even decipher
  • It’s got a shit ton of magical knowledge
• Some discussion over whether the book would be safest locked down here, in the government’s hands, or in our hands - eventually the librarian hands over the book to Fritz
  • L: “take good care of it you, you….gnome” *it took her effort*
  • F: “awww”
• Puts the book in the bag of holding, in the tinker’s pack
• ‘Friendly’ elevator ride
  • We decide not to leave Naomi to starve down here
    • (there’s so much magical knowledge down here anyway she’d probably get out eventually)
  • Naomi and Fritz briefly cat fight
  • Fritz tries to make peace and get the librarian’s name but she gives her some bullshit answer: “Patricia To You”
    • Fritz is done being nice to people for today
    • D: “There’s too much estrogen in this room”
  • The librarian takes one final swipe at Fritz: “discount dwarf”

Boys’ and Girls’ Day Out

• Jalan suggests we all go out for drinks - Naomi’s all on board
  • D: “I always get nervous whenever she’s all on board”
  • Fritz doesn’t want to go out, Naomi suggests a girls day/guys day - Drant and Jalan go get drunk and Naomi follows Fritz around
    • D: “You just want to go with her cause she’s got the book”
    • F: “I am so 1000% aware of this”
  • Fritz also just really doesn’t want to get drunk with Naomi around so decides to let her tag along on her errand to the Embassy where she’s going to ask some pointed questions regarding Naomi herself
• Jalan and Drant get all the drinks/drugs they want for free for breaking the siege and bringing commerce back to Stonedeep
  • F: “wait when we went to the library it was morning, what time is it now”
  • D: “Brunch crunch”
• On their walk to the Embassy, Naomi and Fritz…‘bond’
  • Naomi’s backstory: she was the bastard daughter of very powerful person and a not so powerful person, said she wasn’t worthy of being the powerful person’s daughter so she set out to prove them wrong, eventually got bored of proving them wrong and went free agent
  • (think she joined the Inquisition to prove them wrong? And then went back and fucked their shit up? I don’t know)
• Fritz gets an audience with Liverworth
  • The main purpose of this was to talk to Francesca about whether she was the one who tipped Naomi off to the library secret rooms, since outside of the party it was only Timothy and Wizmur and Francesca who had knowledge of them and somebody tattled
  • Francesca is visibly distressed to see Naomi and Fritz together, Fritz infers it’s because Naomi’s a scary person (though she’s aware that if Francesca did spill the beans to Naomi she’d be just as nervous that Fritz would be mad…)
    • F: “you seem very stressed out, Francesca.”
    • L: “Oh you know, haha, siege and all that...ha.”
    • F: “you were under siege yesterday and seemed perfectly normal...blink twice if you’re under duress”
    • *Francesca has been blinking rapidly this entire time*
    • F: “.......welp okay then.”
  • Fritz asks about our reward for clearing the siege (forgetting that our reward was technically the papers that got Wizmur to let us into the library vault)
    • She starts to concede but Francesca barrels ahead, offering the party the government’s 10% share in the Stonedeep Mine’s phantasmium business (that’s 10% of the whole business, and all of the government’s share)
    • F: “well…..alright then”
    • (D: “she’s about to get the hell out of dodge”)
• Fritz then heads downstairs (with Naomi in tow) to talk to Timothy
  • He seems equally as distressed to see Naomi and Fritz together but relaxes somewhat when he sees Fritz is calm/nonchalant
  • Fritz makes sure he’s feeling okay, all that, if there’s anything the party can do just ask, blah blah…
  • Then asks if he had given any information to Naomi while she’d been interrogating him yesterday (the last of the outside-party loose ends regarding the library intel)
    • He is very proud of the fact that he did not give up any information and that he would rather be dead than jeopardize such an important secret entrusted to him

Party Time!!

• Fritz is satisfied with her field trip to the Embassy and although she wants to spend some time tinkering in her workshop (she’s way behind for being level 7) she knows she’s not gonna shake Naomi so heads to the bar where Jalan and Drant are partying it up
• Drant and Jalan are already sort of wasted, Jalan way more so than Drant, and Naomi offers to buy us all drinks all night - Jalan is thrilled, Drant is indifferent, Fritz is distressed
  • First up is the “Dragon’s Breath TPK” (F: “for fuck’s sake”), made up of three shots in succession: red, green, clear
    • Red firey, green is sizzling, last clears out throat but makes you feel dizzy
  • Jalan just falls on the floor, super wasted
  • Fritz/Drant are fine
  • Naomi gets Jalan a room (he passes out), she brings him upstairs but is back in short order, and orders us another DB TPK
    • Fritz is pretty confident in her ability to hold it and does, but it hits Drant hard: in his own words:
    • Drant parties hard, standing on the ceiling (DM: “everybody in the bar is super into this”), ends up passing out while clinging to the ceiling and falls on the floor
  • Fritz bribes the bartender while Naomi is bringing Drant to his room with 75 gold to give her non-alcoholic drinks whenever Naomi tries to buy her drinks
    • Somehow sneaky bitch Naomi finds out, orders them a pair of shots something to do with Ogres, then suggests they do the switching drinks/linking arms thing friends do
    • Fritz points out that not only are we not friends, you don’t actually switch drinks with the other person
    • Naomi is super insistent, Fritz lets it happen and manages to remain unaffected by the alcohol, Naomi makes some snide comment about the drink “not tasting as strong as she remembers it” and goes to talk with the bartender
  • While Naomi’s being a sneaky bitch Fritz goes to check on her friends - they’re both passed out but alive and unharmed, in the recovery position in their respective rooms and she wakes them both up
    • J: “you can’t stop me, I’m a machine” and goes back downstairs to party
    • D: “my voice is purple”
      • Fritz gets Drant to call one of the wasps to the city, she wants to deliver a message to our extended party at the facility; Drant reminds her that Jill wants nothing to do with her but Jack comes in - Fritz writes out a note to Gregory detailing Naomi’s impending treachery and asks for support, says to bring whoever he deems appropriate with him as an “invitation to come party with us”
  • Downstairs, Jalan and Drant snort pixie dust and both take damage but have +10 movement speed for the next two hours
    • Drant’s sprinting all over the ceiling, popping his glow on and off like strobe lights, doing shots and taking drugs
    • Jalan tries to give Naomi pixie dust, Naomi initially refuses but when she consents she insists on taking it through a straw because ‘the tables are so dirty’
      • Fritz fails her insight check and is pretty sure she took it
    • Jalan is dancing with Naomi, she’s surprisingly nimble for how much she’s ‘imbibed’
      • Fritz is not falling for it
      • Bringing up pasts
        • N: “It must be such a burden to have your past follow you around” *looks somewhat pointedly at Fritz*
        • Jalan just drunkenly starts going on about his past and family and debts
  • Pretty quickly Gregory, Fishfingers, and Isabelle show up
    • Jalan gives Fishfingers pixie dust
    • Playing poker - and placing stakes (which Naomi defines)
      • Most interesting thing in Fritz’s backpack (Swiftcog mark - because it’s one of a kind and the closest to her heart)
      • Most interesting Jalan thing done four days (he wins! So he doesn’t have to share)
      • Drant’s biggest regret in life (getting kicked out of the hive)
      • Naomi’s favorite color (orange)
        • F: “mother f-”
  • Closing out the night:
    • Drant: do a shot, take some pixie dust, eat the cards, jump out the window
    • Gregory hits on the waitresses and fails, Fishfinger goes nuts with Jalan, Isabelle hits on Gregory but he doesn’t notice
    • Drant - while on his deep trip - becomes aware of how to cast Thorn Whip correctly and gets the fun skill DM mentioned at the end of last session
    • Awkward carriage ride
      • Jalan/Naomi makeout
      • Drant rolling on the floor
      • Gregory sad/defeated, Isabelle consoling him
      • Fishfinger + Fritz are the only ones not engaging in antics
        • *cue suggestive noises from Jalan/Drant*
        • F: “I’m actually gonna physically leave please no”

Hungover Morning

• Robin makes breakfast
• Jalan wakes up with Naomi
  • J: “Is she-”
  • DM: “She’s fully clothed”
  • J: “aw”
• Jalan/Drant/Gregory have hangovers, Fritz is fine
• The whole extended party of 15 is there, we buckle down to decide here and now how we’re moving forward
• Naomi’s gotta keep moving, Jalan offers that she come to Ambervern with us
  • Except, true to his nature, Jalan has no idea what the name of the city we’re travelling to is so Fritz has to offer that part
• Fritz mentions that last night she’d put some very specific things into the bag of holding inside her tinker’s pack along with the Millennium Spellbook (most notably the Millennium Scales and the system key)
  • NAOMI ASS MOTHER
  • Good thing she fucking mentioned that because apparently (we don’t know this) Naomi actually tried to pilfer shit off of Fritz while she slept
• It’s decided that Naomi’s coming with us to Ambervern
  • Fritz isn’t that pleased though Jalan’s ecstatic, she’s mostly glad that she can keep an eye on Naomi
• Stop by the mine
  • We notice that the paper Francesca gave Fritz yesterday is actually a hastily drawn IOU for 10% share phantasmium and we’re not sure it’s actually gonna fly by the mine owner
    • Surprisingly it does - mine owner expresses shock that the government turned over its entire share to us and agrees that they must be expecting trouble
    • Also expresses surprise that the government actually had a share - he had been under the impression that he’d just been paying taxes
  • Along with the money, as shareholders we now have a vote in the business, unless we’d like to delegate that while we’re on the road - Jalan insists that we maintain our vote
    • Tangerlyn says he’ll send ravens our way when it’s time for a vote, and gives us a medallion for raven tracking
    • The amount set aside for the government’s share is 200gp and it will continue to accumulate while we’re gone (it’s divided 60-60-60-20 [Gregory, at Fritz’s insistence])
      • Gregory pulls Fritz aside - G: “Hey, I just wanted to check in...is my main priority still to protect Jalan?”
      • F: “Wait, to protect - did he tell you that? No, no, that’s not...well yes, but main priority, listen up…”
      • She tells him how shady Naomi’s being and that aside from performing in combat he should be keeping a close eye on her and reporting anything suspicious to Fritz
  • Fritz pit stops at the phantasmium refinery (not the phantasmium shop she and Jalan went to early, this guy’s a recluse, very excited to talk) - she now has an idea of how to refine phantasmium ore into ingots

On To Ambervern pt. 1

• Drant’s aware from small signs on the side of the road that this place is a staging ground for ambushes
• Jalan offers drinks, Naomi only if Fritz takes some (this fucking song and dance again)
• We call it for the night but we’ll pick it up back on the road

Plot type

Session

Parent Plot

Act 2: Uprooted