%% date:: [[2023-09-12]] %% # [[103_20230912 Facing the shadows in the mirror]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[103_20230912 Facing the shadows in the mirror]] > We went into the tomb and saw that what was talking was a flaming skull that was floating in the air. There was also a statue of a green-eyed demon covering its eyes and cupping a green flame. It had three hands. Milla used *Manifest inscriptions* to find out that there were four doors, each with runes that showed: a hand holding a mirror, a flame, a face with a hand over eyes, and a sea of fire/lava. > > We went north to the room with the mirror rune, and found out that looking into the mirror created shadow versions of ourselves! We killed off Shadow Xenia and Shadow Scura, despite the sickening feeling of hurting someone so familiar... > > After we defeated the shadow versions, we entered the next room and found Vespin Chloras, chanting some arcane ritual with a magical sword in the centre of a lotus flower near him. ^summary %% ## Video https://notes.nicolevanderhoeven.com/ttrpgs/Temporary+White+Circle/103_20230912+Facing+the+shadows+in+the+mirror [Private video](https://youtu.be/aJFDgspvXWQ) 00:00:00 Retcons 00:01:27 Three times on Sunday and I get a point 00:02:37 Faction lore 00:09:37 Andy hates engineers 00:16:48 Taught to be submissive 00:22:55 Developers vs designers 00:26:44 Andy has sex on his mind 00:28:20 Lulu's dock is okay now 00:29:10 Start of game - going down the steps 00:31:14 Roll for initiative 00:32:40 Milla's more flexible and Andy is sexist 00:34:10 Round 1 - Flameskull's turn 00:37:59 Andy isn't prepared, Murathan does takebacks 00:38:45 Fuck math and people who use it for a living 00:41:00 Scura's turn (You don't have X-ray vision) 00:43:35 Milla's turn (Ice knife) 00:47:28 Wally's turn (HDYWTDT) 00:49:32 She's on the edge and I missed it 00:53:37 How much effort for a door? 00:54:26 Scura's weird attempt 00:56:32 Ganging up on me 00:57:22 Milla Manifests Inscriptions 01:06:17 Earth elemental opens south door 01:08:58 Nicole opens west door 01:11:48 I can do math, and Lay on Hands 01:17:13 Earth elemental opens north door 01:27:49 Andy shows off with Greek mythology 01:29:18 Shadow Xenia - roll for initiative 01:31:50 Dax was a 10, goldfish 01:32:29 Round 1 - Wally's turn (attacks mirror) 01:37:08 Scura's turn (she slashes herself) 01:40:58 Teaching Andy the ways to hurt Scura 01:42:34 Fake Scura's turn (Sacred Flame) 01:46:00 Break 01:47:44 Andy can do whatever he wants with it 01:48:41 Andy can do it with everyone 01:49:23 Andy's going to claim me 01:51:07 Warning the party about greater invisibility 01:52:09 Lulu snickers at Andy claiming Scura 01:53:28 Wouldn't it be fun if we were evil? 02:00:00 Fake Xenia's turn (Arcane Hand) 02:02:17 Xenia's turn (Magic Missiles) 02:04:20 Does Andy know wizard spells? 02:06:39 Milla's turn 02:07:18 Andy flusters Lulu 02:10:50 Dax's turn (Needle dispenser) 02:13:35 Round 2 - Wally's turn (destroys mirror) 02:14:59 Andy just wants me to say it 02:16:23 Scura's turn (Healing Word) 02:18:19 Andy loves that I hate this 02:19:01 Fake Scura's turn (Andy forgets spell rules) 02:21:33 Fake Xenia's turn (Fiery death) 02:25:07 Read the description of Shield 02:27:40 Scura sandwich 02:28:18 Milla's turn (I never skip her) 02:30:15 Dax's turn (Needle dispenser) 02:33:15 Can we take a quickie? 02:38:10 We open the door 02:39:44 Designers vs engineers part 2 02:40:13 What we see 02:41:54 And that's where we'll end it for today 02:45:09 It's kind of fun to face your shadow 02:46:48 It's dark in there, nope [Group video](https://youtu.be/INXqGvXm900) For group: 00:00:00 Retcons 00:03:55 Faction lore 00:30:19 Start of game - going down the steps 00:32:27 Roll for initiative 00:35:21 Round 1 - Flameskull's turn 00:42:17 Scura's turn (You don't have X-ray vision) 00:44:46 Milla's turn (Ice knife) 00:48:39 Wally's turn (HDYWTDT) 00:54:50 How much effort for a door? 00:55:47 Scura's weird attempt 00:58:34 Milla Manifests Inscriptions 01:07:33 Earth elemental opens south door 01:10:11 Nicole opens west door 01:13:00 I can math, and Wally lays his hands on me 01:18:24 Earth elemental opens north door 01:30:27 Shadow Xenia - roll for initiative 01:33:42 Round 1 - Wally's turn (attacks mirror) 01:38:18 Scura's turn (she slashes herself) 01:43:49 Fake Scura's turn (Sacred Flame) 01:45:15 Fake Xenia's turn (Arcane Hand) 01:47:55 Break, and back 01:50:16 Xenia's turn (Magic Missiles) 01:52:16 Does Andy know wizard spells? 01:54:37 Milla's turn 01:58:48 Dax's turn (Needle dispenser) 02:01:23 Round 2 - Wally's turn (destroys mirror) 02:04:21 Scura's turn (Healing Word) 02:06:59 Fake Scura's turn (Andy forgets spell rules) 02:09:31 Fake Xenia's turn (Fiery death) 02:13:13 Read the description of Shield 02:13:57 Xenia's turn 02:16:17 Milla's turn 02:18:13 Dax's turn (Needle dispenser) 02:25:49 We open the door 02:28:00 What we see 02:29:51 And that's where we'll end it for today 02:34:46 It's dark in there, nope ⭐ That we're all good enough friends that we can slightly mess with each other in a joking way. ⭐ The fireball from the Flameskull right off the bat was a nice way to set the scene. ⭐ The exploration and good old-fashioned dungeon crawling, Fire Bolt to the face included. ⭐ How the slow reveal of the map as we explored it added to the suspense. ⭐ The chuckling earth elemental and how Andy roleplays it chuckling every time. Never ceases to amuse me. ⭐ Milla's cool moment with Manifest Inscriptions. Happy to see that ability used in the perfect situation. ⭐ Wally's paladin kindness and protectiveness with everyone in the group. ⭐ The thrill/frustration of engaging my shadow self in combat. ⭐ The extra game of out-Scura- and Xenia-ing Andy and reading him to guess at his next moves. It was so satisfying to plant seeds and watch him fall into traps, like casting Inflict Wounds and hoping he'd do the same. SO satisfying. It just goes to show how complex all of our characters are now, and how difficult it would be for anyone else to just pick one up and play optimally. ⭐ The dramatic ending of seeing the spectral Vespin Chloras hovering in front of us, and the description of what we see. Happy that Sjoerd will be there for the big combat. 🪄 Sjoerd had been there with us. It's no fun when we're not complete. 🪄 More campfire talk and roleplaying after all the battles recently. 🪄 We would go to Level 20. I love our characters. 🪄 I'd remembered that both Scura and Dax had Absorb elements. I feel bad about that - I have the same spell and should have been the one to call it out. I'll take the damage as is, but for Dax, maybe we should consider letting Sjoerd choose whether or not to expend two spell slots to avoid taking 14 fire damage since we didn't play his character well? %% --- ## Recap ![[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/102_20230905 The one where Andy is exhausted#^summary]] --- ## Log Retcon - Potion of Speed: Haste - Ras-Godai are not Ras-Godai. They are [[The Crimson Order]]. - They worship [[Vespin Chloras]]. - [[The Cult of Torog]] is different from the Crimson Order. They're the ones that wanted to bring eternal darkness and feed on [[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Quajath|Quajath]]. - Crimson Order wants to destroy the Cerberus Assembly and raze Exandria to the ground and rebuild it. - Cerberus Assembly wants to destroy the Crimson Order and use [[Vestiges of Divergence|The Vestiges]] to do so. - [[The Ninth Revelation]] is the Church of Asmodeus ("The Nines") - They're a guild of wealthy nobles. - The Crown relies on them (and nobles) quite a bit to keep law and order and morality. - [[Kai Arness]] is also part of [[The Ninth Revelation]]. - Crimson Order and Ninth Revelation have shared goals. There's a flaming skull floating in air and a statue of a green-eyed demon. It's covering its eyes and also cupping a green flame. It has three hands. ![[1694544410340 - Combat]] Statue is grinning, cupping an arcane green flame in one hand. One mirror in its second hand. Covering its eyes in the other hand. Lulu uses a rune to *Manifest inscriptions.* Above each door lights up a hieroglyph. Above the northern door we see a hand holding a mirror. Above the western door we see a flame. Above the southern door we see a face with a hand over the eyes. West: sea of fire/lava. There is a statue that shoots out two fire bolts. North (mirror): ![[1694548004557 - Combat]] Wally hears lapping water by the next door. We do a *Prayer of Healing* and then open the door. There's a single lotus bloom in the shaft of bright red moonlight. The well-like thing above was actually the ceiling of this. *Leave this place, or Chloras will take his vengeance!* We see a spectral version of [[Vespin Chloras]], with long black hair, floating about 10 feet above the sword. He's chanting arcane words of power.