%% date:: [[2024-01-16]] %% # [[118_20240116 Bow to the sun and the hidden mickey]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[118_20240116 Bow to the sun and the hidden mickey]] > We went through the teleportation portal and found ourselves on a rock floating in the middle of magma. Scura healed everyone. We explored a little bit and found a small chamber of respite that seemed like it had been a place of meditation. Wally opened it up with the Morning Star, and we took a long rest there. > > The next morning, when we woke, there were arcane sigils on the floor. We all jumped over the gap in the magma through two illusory walls, to find ourselves in combat with two fire snakes. We disposed of them quickly, but not before some cultists came by. We followed them and saw that there was a ritual that they were in the process of carrying out-- they were just about to slit the throat of a hapless victim that was bound against a large residuum crystal. We killed the cultists, and found that the prisoner was a female Pallid Elf that I didn't recognise. ^summary %% ## Video Notes: https://notes.nicolevanderhoeven.com/ttrpgs/Temporary+White+Circle/118_20240116+Bow+to+the+sun+and+the+hidden+mickey [NVDH Video](https://youtu.be/Bn6uYCK9HK8)  00:00:00 Xenia is looking dapper 00:01:31 Recap by Sjoerd - Andy actually listens this time 00:04:14 30-year-old port wine 00:04:30 Character updates for Level 12 00:05:17 Milla can be farther away from the action now 00:07:12 Wally is more convincing 00:07:36 Andy acts out Wally being charming 00:10:23 Game starts 00:20:50 Guidance, un-guidance, guidance again 00:25:39 Nicole wore the right shirt today 00:40:54 Wally wonders if he can reach down to the hole 00:46:36 Nika puts a small key in a huge hole 00:49:07 Don't stick your wand in random holes 00:51:51 Entering the Chamber of Rest 01:04:01 Andy is super hot 01:08:51 A terrible wail, and the arcane circles appear 01:11:43 Scura casts Commune 01:11:39 How can I get rid of the buzz on my microphone? 01:15:00 Daily Sending to Music but Andy's not listening 01:17:04 Nika's shadow comes out to play 01:20:51 Second watch - Xenia 01:23:10 Third watch - Wally 01:24:57 We get a long rest and Xenia saw what Scura did there 01:25:31 The mobile thing is on a different thingabob 01:27:52 Break 01:28:29 Andy wants to know what's in Tyler's red box 01:29:10 Back from break, Scura casts Aid 01:28:39 That other thing is no longer? 01:33:50 Trefoil 01:35:56 Andy's not a gamer and gets a different reference, texts me 01:41:14 Nonconsensual spellcasting 01:46:02 Roll for initiative with the fire snakes 01:47:07 Finishing Andy's sentence again 01:47:31 Round 1 - Scura's turn (held Toll the Dead) 01:49:11 Xenia's turn (Ray of frost) - HDYWTDT 01:50:41 Wally's turn (Morning Star) 01:55:40 Cultist's turn (There's an intruder!) 01:57:15 Snake's turn - HDYWTDT 01:59:14 I do the maths for Andy just in case 01:59:55 Milla's turn (Chromatic orb) 02:02:24 Nika's turn (rapier) - HDYWTDT 02:10:33 Andy skips me again 02:11:42 Round 2 - Scura's turn (Toll the dead) 02:13:34 Xenia's turn (Sacred Flame) 02:15:03 Wally's turn (Hold Person) 02:16:58 Cultists' turn 02:21:52 Nika's turn (rapier) 02:24:56 Scura's turn (Sacred flame fails) 02:32:13 Xenia's turn (Toll the dead) - HDYWTDT 02:31:44 Is she hot? 02:33:50 Is she pale like me? 02:34:36 Too much Guidance for everyone [Murathan's video](https://youtu.be/P7AmPhWC2as) 00:00:00 Character updates from Level 12 00:03:06 Wally lands with more charm than before 00:05:54 Game starts 00:16:21 Guidance, un-guidance, guidance again 00:21:10 Nicole wore the right shirt today 00:36:25 Wally wonders if he can reach down to the hole 00:41:07 Nika puts a small key in a huge hole 00:44:38 Don't stick your wand in random holes 00:47:22 Entering the Chamber of Rest 00:59:34 Andy is super hot 01:04:22 A terrible wail, and the arcane circles appear 01:06:14 Scura casts Commune 01:07:10 How can I get rid of the buzz on my microphone? 01:10:31 Daily Sending to Music but Andy's not listening 01:12:35 Nika's shadow comes out to play 01:16:22 Second watch - Xenia 01:18:41 Third watch - Wally 01:20:28 We get a long rest and Xenia saw what Scura did there 01:21:02 The mobile thing is on a different thingabob 01:23:23 Break, and we're back 01:24:10 That other thing is no longer? 01:28:14 Trefoil 01:30:22 Andy and Murathan are talking about different references 01:35:40 Nonconsensual spellcasting 01:40:28 Roll for initiative with the fire snakes 01:42:17 Round 1 - Scura's turn (held Toll the Dead) 01:43:37 Xenia's turn (Ray of frost) - HDYWTDT 01:45:07 Wally's turn (Morning Star) 01:50:07 Cultist's turn (There's an intruder!) 01:51:42 Snake's turn - HDYWTDT 01:53:41 I do the maths for Andy just in case 01:54:22 Milla's turn (Chromatic orb) 01:56:51 Nika's turn (rapier) - HDYWTDT 02:05:00 Andy skips me again 02:06:09 Round 2 - Scura's turn (Toll the dead) 02:08:01 Xenia's turn (Sacred Flame) 02:09:30 Wally's turn (Hold Person) 02:11:25 Cultists' turn 02:16:19 Nika's turn (rapier) 02:19:23 Scura's turn (Sacred flame fails) 02:21:40 Xenia's turn (Toll the dead) - HDYWTDT 02:26:11 Is she hot? 02:28:17 Is she pale like me? 02:29:03 Too much Guidance for everyone 02:32:44 Pelor's back door ⭐ This map, and the arcane circle addition at the four-hour mark, is gorgeous! Love the colours and the drama. ⭐ The idea of Scura having these secret things she does every night for four hours while everyone's sleeping. ⭐ The little moment of Scura getting her shadow to play with Nika's shadow on the wall. ⭐ Getting to talk to Sehanine for the first time. I imagine Scura was quite emotional. 🪄 We'd had time to roleplay a bit on the eve of a battle, maybe while keeping watch. You know, in case some of us don't make it. ⭐ Learning about some unspoken rules Nika follows. ⭐ The feeling of mounting tension as we weigh killing cultists and freeing prisoners with running to the climax of this story arc. ⭐ Finding another Pallid Elf! This has prompted me to think of what life in the Grove was like, the clan Scura belonged to, and whether or not she has (had?) family there. %% --- ## Recap ![[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/117_20240109 Away from the Soulja Boy and into the flames#^summary]] --- ## Log We're surrounded by bubbling magma. Above us is blackness. Otherwise in complete darkness. [[Hellfire Prison]] I do *Aura of Vitality* to get everyone up a bit at least. Nika doesn't like stepping into circles. The architecture of the place that we were in had some giant influences but was probably older than that. This new place is mostly natural, and maybe slightly formed by giants. There's some sort of wall or door in front of us with four skeletons in front of them. Milla says it says "Bow to the sun. Repent and enter." She uses *Manifest inscriptions.* There's an image of a red moon rising (!) and the `u` in the word SUN is an unusual shape. Two of the skeletons look like they've collapsed in front of the door. Xenia triggers a trap (*Glyph of Warding*?) that deals damage to him. | Player | Languages | | ---- | ---- | | Milla | ==Infernal==, Sylvan, ==Telepathy== | | Nika | Elvish, ==Giant==, Gnomish, Sylvan | | Scura | ==Druidic==, Elvish | | Wally | Dwarvish, Elvish | | Xenia | Dwarvish, Elvish, Gnomish | Where the rising sun is, about a foot from the bottom of the door, there is a hole about the size of a grapefruit. It's about half a foot deep, smooth, dark, polished, with a couple of grooves inside. Nika's key expands to fit the lock. It seems to move around the mechanism of it. The sun glows and then it dims down again. As it glows, the morningstar starts to glow on Wally's hip. Mechanically the door has been unlocked but something's holding it back. Wally turns the morningstar and all the glyphs light up. A title lights up: *The sun door. The door of [[Pelor]].* (This is confusing because [[The Star of the Morning|The Morning Star]] was from [[Raei]].) We enter the chamber. From this side, the sun is on the higher end of the door, about seven feet up. This place looks like a room of quiet, like maybe a prayer room. There are also remnants of parchment on the ground, as well as some crumbled wooden things to sit on. Xenia gets the sense that for a very long time, or frequently but a long time ago, this had some protective magic. The northwestern wall is an illusion. It goes out to the magma, and then the wall on the other side has some spikes on the bottom bit. We see that that's an illusion too. Nika sucks at keeping time, apparently. Long rest! Scura takes watch for four hours. Near the end of the fourth hour, we hear a terrible wail. I cast *Commune*: 1. Will we have to fight Desirat? *Unsure.* 2. Is there anything we can do to stop Desirat from being freed? *Yes.* 3. Have I served you well so far? *Yes.* I try to cast *Sending* to [[Music]] but it doesn't seem to work. I get the feeling that it can't happen from prison. %% *Death Ward* on me and Wally, four hours before the watch ends. %% *Aid* on me and Xenia, 2nd level. 5 max HP boost. Then I take my long rest (by meditating for four hours). *Aid* on Nika, Wally, Milla. ![[twc-hidden-mickey-trifoil.png]] ![[twc-trifoil-2.png]] ![[twc-cultist.png]] ![[118_20240116 Fire Snakes - Combat]] This room is dimly lit, eerie purple and turquoise glow.There's quite a bit of blood around. Up ahead are two cultists huddled around a large crystal on a turret. THere's arcane energy focused out of it in some way. We see a humanoid chained to a turret and a third cultist is holding a dagger to them. The crystal is very large, and it's almost like a theatre spotlight that they can maneuver. *Vigilant blessing* on Wally. They've been cutting throats and pouring blood on this crystal. They were going to do the same to this humanoid, who is a half elf. She has pale skin and bedraggled hair. She's filthy. [[Merilda Gentleriver]] She's pale like me! I don't recognise her though. Andy made a comment about how we don't know much about the lore of how [[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Desirat|Desirat]] was trapped. Hmmm...