# [[001_20210509 The Vergessen Sanatorium]] %%<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1CMJofI360g" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>%% ## [[Session Summary]]: Karolin approached you, Wilotel and Carmilla, with a job she'd been offered by a contact: rescue an elderly woman named Jannika Jäger, who was being kept in a building in the wilderness near Rexxentrum. The building is called Vergessen Sanatorium. You broke into the building, and with the help of a captive fighting through the bars of her jail cell, killed a strange combination of a lion and a woman. Esha, the captive, joined you in your search once she recognized the description of Jannika as the kind woman that had previously occupied the cell next to hers. You found a note with some sort of poem written on it, something Esha remembered the lion-like guard, Anja, attempting to memorize. You proceeded to explore the rest of the rooms in this building. The first contained cruel iron cages, and the second contained a horrific torture chamber. In the second one, you found a journal detailing findings and observations of "subjects" that, it was hoped, would one day become part of an elite team called Volstruckers. Finding both empty, you continued down the corridor to the third room, where you came face to face with a little girl that seemed less than human. ^summary ## Housekeeping - [x] [Syrinscape](https://syrinscape.com/online/cp/follow-invite/172269-4c983d3a-2906-4075-b89c-327d84815017/) - [x] Character sheets and dice rolling on D&D Beyond, or just use physical dice - [x] Map on [Owlbear Rodeo](https://www.owlbear.rodeo/game/xaVzgEdZS) - [x] Need to end by 6:30 pm at the latest, so it's going to be a quick one. - [x] I've never run a one-shot before, so we'll see how we go. - [ ] If at any point there's something that happens in the story or in the game that you're not comfortable with, please speak up and I'll steer it in a different direction. - [ ] Escalation die ## Review the characters - [[Esha Sagewing]], Aereni Wood Elf Bard (College of Glamour) - excellent memory for maps - was captured and taken from her home - [[WiloTel]], Scourge Aasimar Ranger (Beast Master) - [[Carmilla]], Tabaxi Monk (Way of Mercy) - [[Karolin]], Changeling Wizard (Bladesinging) ## Summary Karolin has hired Carmilla and WiloTel for a heist. She tells them she's been contracted by The Myriad to rescue someone from inside the Vergessen Sanatorium, an asylum in the Pearlbow Wilderness near [[ttrpgs/The Slayers Five/Rexxentrum]]. The woman they want to rescue is [[Jannika Jäger]], an older woman in her fifties. She has information the Myriad will pay for. WiloTel's Xhorhasian origins may come in handy as there are rumors that the Sanatorium is guarded by strange creatures not seen on this side of the Ashkeeper Peaks. Carmilla has a reputation for breaking into places unseen and unheard. Karolin has studied the arcane, which will likely be necessary as the owner is a wizard of the Cerberus Assembly. Inside, the party find Esha Sagewing, who has been abducted and was held captive for training as a Volstrucker. Esha previously met Jannika when Jannika was placed in the cell next to hers. Jannika had given her some food because Esha was sick from the poison that her captors had used to restrain her. Jannika is being kept in a secret wizard's tower that can only be accessed by dealing with the Vergessen guards, a puzzling mosaic floor, and one of the Volstruckers, [[Mina Braun]], who initially fools the players with her real Volstrucker crystal scars but eventually turns against them. If the players defeat Mina, she will use her _misty escape_ to get away, leaving them to enter the tower and rescue Jannika. If the players do not defeat Mina, she will stop short of killing them, rendering them unconscious instead so that she can help [[Trent Ikithon]] turn them into Volstrucker. The Vergessen Sanatorium is a Volstrucker outpost specifically for creating shapeshifters. Trent is trying to create shapeshifting spies trained in the arcane to train under his command. Ora, the only changeling he's had until Jannika, would have been his crowning jewel. ## Strong start > Wilotel, the Pearlbow Wilderness is not a forest you've travelled in before, but you like that. The treeline begins almost abruptly at the edge of the nearest city, Rexxentrum, and continues north as far as the Dunrock Mountains. A small river branches out from the Erdeloch, bisecting the forest. After several hours of travel, you find yourself at the very end of this river. The call of birds in the morning air dies away as grass turns into manicured lawns and stone paths. In the distance, you see a large stone structure, just as the note that you received describing the meeting point said. > > As you creep closer, you spot a figure hiding, not too successfully, also scouting the place. Upon seeing you, she pushes back her hood, and you recognize her face. She is human, with one side of her head shaved in horizontal lines, and a mess of hair on the other, springing free from the hood. You know this woman. Karolin. She's hired you for a few jobs before, mainly the extermination of dangerous beasts that threaten the villages on the edge of the forest. You don't know much about her, but you know she keeps her word and pays well. > > "Na gut, I knew you'd be the first to make it," she says as she recognizes you. > > Could you describe yourself, please? (description) > "We're waiting for another," Karolin says. "This job is a little trickier than normal, so I wanted to play it safe." Just then, you hear a throat clear, as you turn to a stranger that approached while you were talking. Carmilla, could you describe yourself? (description) > "Gut," says Karolin, "we can start. We've been contracted to rescue someone, a woman named Jannika Jäger. I'm not sure what she has done, exactly, but she has somehow pissed off some rich old wizard. Our employers are paying us quite a bit of Geld to get her out." ### What we know The objective: rescue Jannika Jäger. - Intel: daytime is the best time to infiltrate, as there are more reinforcements that arrive at night. Today is the Hazel Festival (10th of Quen'pillar 835), so the masters are at an event in Rexxentrum. - Rumors of strange creatures that haven't been seen on this side of the Empire - This is called the Vergessen Sanatorium, which provides magical care for the mentally disturbed. - The Vergessen Sanatorium is not heavily guarded from the outside; any guards present are meant to keep people in, not out. ## Vergessen Sanatorium ![[floor-ground.png]] Breaking in - Two windows on the side - Guard goes outside to the latrine if players wait and scout long enough. - DC 15 to unlock the door (nonmagical) ## Foyer > As you enter, you hear a keening wail that speaks of unbearable despair, and as you stand in the shadow of the entry gate of this bleak, fortress-like building, it modulates, forming some kind of word—perhaps a name? But then other screams escape the small, barred windows, joining it like an eerie choir and obscuring its meaning. It’s hard to believe anyone deserves whatever fate awaits them in this place. ![[01-foyer.jpg]] ### Baddies [Encounter - Foyer](https://www.dndbeyond.com/encounters/bc32e9e9-6c95-42fd-8fc7-7d620a2b1edd) - [ ] [Empusa](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/1652746-empusa) CR 5 - [ ] [Veteran](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/veteran) CR 3 A soldier (**veteran**), Paskal Winkelhock, sits by the table. He is standing guard and writing observation notes on the prisoners when the players enter. The empusa, Anja, is skulking in the corner, stealthing (DC 20). ### Holding cells > The iron bars of four small prison cells run floor-to-ceiling in the wall. A foot of stone separates the four chambers. The bars are rusted with age, and one of the cells, the second one, shows signs of an escape attempt. While most of the bars are about three inches apart, someone of great strength attempted to bend the bars of that cell open, managing to expand the space to perhaps four inches. The cells’ doors each have thick iron box that obscures its locking mechanism. 1: [Frog king](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/1652924-toad-king) 2: 3: 4: Esha Sagewing ### Loot - [ ] Observation notes > 7th Quen'pillar 835. Subject 285 acquired in raid for 284. Female elf. Subject has displayed healing and mental magics. No other known forms. Protocol: interrogation. > 7th Quen'pillar 835. Subject 284 acquired. Male human. Subject casts minor spells. Other known forms: 1, amphibian. Protocol: interrogation. > 1st Quen'pillar 835. Subject 283 acquired in Subject 2's escape. Female human. Subject has minor healing capabilities. Other known forms: none confirmed. Protocol: isolation and interrogation. - [ ] Other observation notebooks in bookshelf > Subject 1 acquired. Female human. Subject is infant with innate arcane abilities. Acquired with Subject 2. Protocol: separation and immediate training. > Subject 2 acquired with Subject 1. Female human. Subject is infant with volatile psionic abilities. Known forms: 1, human. Protocol: isolation and study. > 2nd Cuersaar 834. Subject 2 escaped. - [x] Sickle + 1 - [ ] note with riddle: > Dawn breaks with stirring air, > As sun shines down on new day fair > > Midday blaze bakes earth and grass, > The farmer waits for heat to pass > > Evening cool brings water, wine, > Drink and laughter passing time > > Night sees shining, roaring fire, > as wood and coals burn on the pyre. ## First Cell DC 15 to unlock door. ![[02-first_cell.jpg]] - The room is about 30 feet wide. On one end it has two tables pushed together, with what looks like some rudimentary weapons on it as well as a long, poker-like implement. - Two cages are placed in the middle of the room, slightly smaller than it would be for a human, and a low growling comes from one of them. The cell is occupied by a young [Nkosi](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/1653043-nkosi) named [[Mshindi]] ("the champion") in one of the cages. Trent's people were attempting to capture his sister, and he saved her but got captured in her place. He will immediately want to leave and find his sister and people. The other cage is empty, but bloodied. > Moonlight-like bright eyes meet yours, above a dark, furred face. The creature cautiously steps out of the cage and into the torchlight, and you see the purse of an unmistakably feline mouth, braided dark hair adorned in some areas by beads, and fingers coming to clawlike points. Mshindi had gone through the first stage of breaking in-- pain and pleasure, food as conditioning, like an animal. He takes his weapons and armor from the floor nearby before he leaves. > His skin ripples like a chill passing, but where it goes striped fur grows. He stretches like a cat, and his limbs stretch, growing lithe and powerful. If you had blinked, you might have missed the change. But there’s no missing what you see before you now, a person transforming into a night-colored lion. ### Loot - [x] Arrows +1 (x20) ## Second Cell ![[03-second_cell.jpg]] Trap in the hallway between the first and second cells: 4d10 necrotic damage, DC 15 to detect and disable. > (Perceived) A sharp, acrid smell of decay stops you in your tracks, and you reflexively glance at your feet. They are inches away from what seems to be a pressure plate. Glancing around, you notice a small crack between the stone wall, suspiciously regular. The crack runs from both sides of the plate, up the walls, and across the ceiling. > (Triggered) The floor shifts beneath your foot with an audible click. You only have enough time to blink your eyes closed instinctively as a smoky haze shoots out from the crack and fills your lungs with a charred, ashy air that makes you cough. Entering the room: DC 15 to unlock. > This wretched and dank chamber looks like a hellish place to be trapped. Its walls are scored by former prisoners’ nails, recording their last bleak thoughts before death. Spiked chains covered in rust, dried blood, and bits of flesh dangle over a fly-specked splatter of gore on the wall and floor of the far wall. > In the center of the room is a wooden slab like a table, but slightly larger. And on it lies a young human girl, around 9, who looks up at you with fear in her eyes. Her wrists and ankles are shackled to each corner of the table, where metal chains attach from the table to the floor. "Please, no more. I can't do it better. I've tried." [[Mina Braun]], [vampire](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/vampire) Mina is farther along than Mshindi was-- she shows scars from residuum crystals being placed in her skin, and has clearly been tortured. She pretends to be too scared to go anywhere, but really she wants to kill Jannika and be Trent's prized Volstrucker. She couldn't do that before because she hadn't figured out the spell. ### Loot - [ ] Rhythm-Maker's Drum ## Mosaic Room ![[04-mosaic_room.jpg]] > This room is wider than the previous two cells, and where they were dark and gory reminders of the kinds of activities done to the prisoners here, this room is extravagant. The walls are made of marble, with some intricate flourishes where the 10-foot high ceiling meets the walls. There are what looks like colored bits of glass that line every inch of the floor. Mina shrinks back and involuntary rubs her arms at the sight of them. They are in different colors of blue, yellow, green, and some red that create a cheerful landscape entirely out of place in this dismal place. Mina may say that she's heard The Man (Trent) absentmindedly muttering something, like a song or a limerick, under his breath when he's entered this room. > Dawn breaks with stirring air, > As sun shines down on new day fair > > Midday blaze bakes earth and grass, > The farmer waits for heat to pass > > Evening cool brings water, wine, > Drink and laughter passing time > > Night sees shining, roaring fire, > as wood and coals burn on the pyre. After the puzzle is solved, Mina will attack with a Charm. > As soon as you do that, a few things happen. First, the crystals in the floor all give off this high-pitched sound in unison, like the sound when air hits an open bottle just right. The frequency of the vibration seems to rise from the floor and into the air, where it grows in pitch and shuts off. And there, where there was previously blank wall, is now a door, faintly outlined in blue. > Secondly, *person who was the nicest to Mina*, make a Wisdom saving throw. > _Failed_: You feel this vibration rise in the air, you even feel it in your skin as it lifts, and suddenly you feel a different sensation... in your mind. You turn instinctively to Mina, who is looking at you with an intensity you haven't seen in the child. You feel the intrusion settle in your mind like a fog. For the first time since you've met her, Mina smiles. And you see the two gleaming points of fangs in her teeth. > _Succeeded_: You're elated by your success with the door that appears, but something's not right. You recognize a presence in your _head_ that shouldn't be there. It's sickly sweet, like a suffocating fog of heavy perfume. You push it away and look around, trying to find its source, and find Mina looking at you with a snarl on her face, and you see two points of teeth flash at you as she whirls around and jumps onto the marble, clambering up like a spider. [Vampire](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/vampire), CR 13 Escalation Dice moves - 0: - 1: Climb onto the ceiling - 2: Turn into a bat - 3: Children of the Night, `dice: 2d4` swarms of bats - 4: swarms of bats arrive - 5: - 6: Turn into a mist Legendary resistance - [ ] 1 - [ ] 2 - [ ] 3 Legendary actions per round (at the end of another creature's turn) - [ ] 1 - [ ] 2 - [ ] 3 Wilotel: concentration > _Mina is defeated:_ As you....., Mina's mouth opens in surprise and screams. As the scream dies away, so does her form, shrinking and dissolving into mist. The mist swirls, her last scream still echoing faintly within it, and moves towards the door. At this point, nothing is attacking you. What do you want to do? ### Loot - [Gulthias staff](https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/gulthias-staff) - 1000 gp ## Tower ![[05-tower.jpg]] > You step through the arcane gate and see another, smaller room, with a stone staircase leading up into a tower. A wizard's tower. You head up the stairs to the top, where you find a room that is extravagantly decorated, an extension of the mosaic room and a stark contrast to the rest of the Vergessen Sanatorium. > > Tapestries adorn the wall, a richly embroidered cerulean rug runs from the top of the stairs like a noble's welcome, bookshelves are crammed with what looks like well-worn books, and you get the sense that this is a prison fit for a princess. It's still a prison, but it's a comfortable one nonetheless. > > There you find, sitting on one side of the plush bed, a woman with a shock of gray hair, looking significantly older than what you expected. Karolin, who's at the head of the group, rushes forward to her. "Jannika Jäger? We have orders to rescue you." > > Jannika, initially surprised at the entrance of four strangers in what looks like her bedroom, looks at Karolin. Then narrows her eyes, and then a hand flies to her chest. "Is it you?" she asks breathlessly. > > Karolin smiles ruefully, steps back, and bows her head in respect. As she looks up, her face is changing, a ripple of skin starting at neck and spreading out towards her body until, standing before you where Karolin was, is the pale, shifting skin, black eyes, and pointed ears of a creature you've only vaguely heard described in stories: a changeling. > > "Sehr gut, Frau Jäger," Karolin says, and there's a relief in her voice. "That is true. Ich bin Lin. Tell me, wo ist meine Schwester? Where is my sister?" She holds up her fist, not in a threatening way but as if it's evidence of something. She flicks her wrist, and between her knuckles grows a very small, but noticeable, little knife made of arcane energy that wasn't there before. And that's where we'll end the game. ## Secrets and Clues - [ ] Vampires can't regenerate if they are damaged with radiant damage. - [x] Trent Ikithon is capturing young creatures of high natural magical ability to be his Volstruckers, an elite team of magical soldiers. - [ ] Recently, Trent has been particularly interested in shapechangers, to work as Xhorhasian spies in addition to soldiers. - [ ] The Cerberus Assembly has been dealing with the [[Shadowhand Essek]] to get a [[ttrpgs/The Slayers Five/Luxon Beacon]]. This will eventually start the war between the [[Dwendalian Empire]] and the [[ttrpgs/The Slayers Five/Kryn Dynasty]]. - [ ] The breaking in process involves pain and pleasure in turns, then, at a later stage, residium crystals in the subject's veins. This amplifies their magical abilities. - [ ] When vampires are created, the strongest emotions they felt are intensified. When Mina was turned, her strongest desire was to have her father be proud of her. That has carried over to how she feels about Trent. - [ ] Vampires have powers of regeneration, but they do have weaknesses that would stop them from regenerating: exposure to sunlight, radiant damage, and running water. - [ ] 150 years ago, the Furious Twelve, led by Damota Tarak, won a series of battles, retrieving two [[ttrpgs/The Slayers Five/Luxon Beacon]]s and paving the way for the [[ttrpgs/The Slayers Five/Kryn Dynasty]]. - [ ] The [[ttrpgs/The Slayers Five/Bright Queen Leylas Kryn]] unified the wastes of [[ttrpgs/The Slayers Five/Xhorhas]] into a single [[ttrpgs/The Slayers Five/Kryn Dynasty]] under the blessing of the Luxon. - [ ] The [[ttrpgs/The Slayers Five/The Cerberus Assembly]] has been sending spies to [[ttrpgs/The Slayers Five/Xhorhas]] and may have a lead on someone on the inside who might be sympathetic. ## Monsters - [ ] [Nkosi](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/1653043-nkosi), CR 1/2 - [ ] [Huli Jing](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/1653083-huli-jing) CR 9 - [ ] [Flithidir](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/1652898-flithidir), CR 1 - [ ] [Kamaitachi](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/1653188-kamaitachi), CR 5 - [ ] [Bouda](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/1653223-bouda), CR 5 - [ ] [Green Slaad](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/green-slaad), CR 6 - [ ] incarnate gloom ToB II p.213, CR 13 ### Used - [ ] [Veteran](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/veteran) - [ ] [Empusa](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/1652746-empusa), CR 5 - [ ] [Vampire](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/vampire), CR 13 --- ## Log 22 Esha 26/45 - 1 bardic inspiration, 1 1st level spell used 21 Karolin 45/45 18 Mina 100/144 <<<< 16 WiloTel 39/39 - 2 zephyr strikes used 15 Swarm of Bats 4 Carmilla 39/39 - 2 ki points used ![[Battle paused.png]]