# [[040_20211002 Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme]] ## Session Summary From The Owlery, we went to the Library of the Cobalt Soul, a gated complex in Port Damali. We saw an unusual concentration of guards and other people outside the gates, and were told when we approached that the Library was under quarantine. After identifying ourselves and saying that we had been with Adanor, we were let through to the Firefly Cellar, where we met Adanor, who explained that there was an infectious disease that had been identified within the Firefly Cellar, and that four bodies so far had been found as people had begun to kill themselves. We talked to everyone in the Cellar, honing in on the kenku caretaker, Crinkle, and the little girl, Gailby, as we started to realize that the sickness was a singing sickness that had already spread to everyone. We traced the song to a book called _Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme_, which we found hidden in Crinkle's chambers. The book depicted scenes from the lyrics, which we found scrawled in blood next to the bodies of Yowen and Ebder, and played a tune that seemed to skip after the third stanza. We took the book to Varnyr, who began to work on fixing it. Meanwhile, we saw shadows begin to appear near Gailby, attempting to go towards her. We engaged in combat, and a few turns in, Varnyr emerged, having fixed the book. It played the entire song, including the last stanza, and we barely have time to register it before the ghost of Shemshime himself appears as if summoned from the book. ^summary --- ## Housekeeping - [x] New Zoom link. - [x] Immy, do you now have Dropbox working for Obsidian? - [x] I'll just be dumping photos into session logs from now on. Feel free to put them into pages and organize them. - [x] Let's just say that when you crit, you can either roll twice the number of dice (as per D&D Beyond, and as per the standard rules). - [x] We may not be able to meet next week ## Recap ![[039_20210926 Perriweather's Heist#^summary]] ## Strong start > You're inside [[The Owlery]]. [[Plank King]] has just told you that if you don't want to talk to [[Doctor Waldorf Perriweather]], you need to find another person from [[ttrpgs/The Slayers Five/The Myriad]] to talk to. Let them talk to the Plank King if they want. When they come out: > As you push past the double doors of The Owlery, you see 12 [[The Crownsguard]] waiting for you. One of them steps forward. "I'm sorry to bother you, but we've received a troubling report. We'll need you to come with us. Your lives may be in danger." If the party resists, two guards will look at each other and hand them a note, saying that Adanor mentioned there might be trouble. The note says _Trust Adanor. Keep your little knife sharp for the right people. - S_. It's a note from [[Silva]]. ## Scenes - [x] Group is escorted to [[Library of the Cobalt Soul - Port Damali]], where they are quarantined in [[The Firefly Cellar]]. Adanor locks everyone inside. - [x] **Event 1: Quarantined**: [[Adanor]] explains the situation. He believes he was infected by a sickness, and might have passed it to the party as well as [[The Moonlight Chateau]], where he had gone previously to speak to [[Darrak Flametongue]], Perriweather's bodyguard and Cobalt Dragon. - [x] Everyone who was at the Moonlight Chateau is there, plus some people from the Cobalt Soul. Include references to the tune - NPCs ask them to be quiet or hum/drum the tune themselves. - [x] Party explores the rest of the Firefly Cellar, and eventually finds the book in [[The Firefly Cellar#F11 Crinkle's Room]]. - [x] **Event 2: [[Flint]]'s outburst**: he starts singing the tune at the top of his lungs. If the party don't already know that it is a singing sickness, they find out now. - ```ad-info A sound tears through the Firefly Cellar, overpowering all other noise. Though it rapidly rises to an uncanny pitch, you recognize Flint’s voice. _NA-na na na, NA-na na na, NA-na na na NA!_ ``` - Influence: `dice: [[The Firefly Cellar#^influence]]` - [x] **Event 3: Yowel's corpse starts singing.** - ```ad-info The tune continues to tug at each of your minds, willing you to intone its sequence of notes. The notes take on the shapes of words you’re certain you’ve never heard before but are somehow familiar to you as lyrics. You become aware that the song is not only in your head. Somewhere nearby, a deep and melodic voice is singing the words. ``` - [ ] Influence: `dice: [[The Firefly Cellar#^influence]]` - Give players [[Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme#Lyrics|the lyrics]], if they haven't already found the lyrics in [[The Firefly Cellar#F9 Gailby's Room]]. - [x] **Event 4: Dr. Perriweather attempts to escape.** - ```ad-info Dr. Perriweather, biting his lip to keep from singing, slumps to the floor with his back against a wall and his head in his hands. His wife, Apphida, shrieks and goes to touch him, but he suddenly springs up and takes off at a full sprint towards the spiral staircase and the entrance. ``` - [ ] Influence: `dice: [[The Firefly Cellar#^influence]]` - [ ] Party learns that the disease has already spread outside the Library of the Cobalt Soul. The only ones they had not been able to quarantine were the twin drow girls, who remain unfound. Aro has been spreading the sickness unknowingly. - [ ] **Event 5: Puppets**: DC 15 Charisma saving throw or be charmed for 1 minute - ```ad-info The air around you feels thick. It presses in on you from all sides, prickling your nerves. Your muscles twitch, as though something is yanking on them with invisible strings. ``` - [[Crinkle]] and [[Gailby Smallstone]] run out of the room and go to [[The Firefly Cellar#F11 Crinkle's Room]]. - [ ] Influence: `dice: [[The Firefly Cellar#^influence]]` - [x] Gailby attacks Crinkle. (though this didn't happen as planned; Gailby attacked Crinkle using a dagger.) - ```ad-info Gailby appears in the doorway, blood spattered on her face and down the front of her clothes. She’s shaking, with wide eyes, and holding a large, square book that has blood on the corner of its metal spine. ``` - [x] Influence: `dice: [[The Firefly Cellar#^influence]]` - [x] Party fix the mechanism (DC15 Int to notice, DC15 Dex to fix). - Repairer must pass DC13 Int saving throw and take `dice: 4d6` psychic damage on a failed save or half on a successful save. - The last stanza plays. They involuntarily sing along and learn the words to the last stanza as well. Play FULL song (`shem_master-mixdown.mp3`). - > See a daughter grinding grain > Wish the spirit's time was through > Trap set for the shadow's bane > Her millstone killed it true - > The book trembles, and its mechanical inner workings squeal to a halt for a moment before whirring back to life. You hear clicks, and shadows burst forth from the book like steam from a kettle, collecting along the ceiling until wisps of darkness outline a vague humanoid figure. Meanwhile, the scenes inside the book transform, creating an entirely new picture that includes tiny cutout figures of yourselves. - [ ] **Event 6: Shemshime**: Party fight Shemshine and realize the only way to defeat him is to crush him, just like in the book. - Influence: `dice: [[The Firefly Cellar#^influence]]` - Things they can use to crush him: - The _Flying Book sculpture_ suspended from the ceiling in [[The Firefly Cellar#F1 The Stacks Balcony]]. - The bookcases in [[The Firefly Cellar#F1 The Stacks Balcony]] and [[The Firefly Cellar#F2 The Stacks]]. - The stone table in [[The Firefly Cellar#F2 The Stacks]]. - They can lure Shemshime into position using the book. - When something is dropped on him, Shemshime must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. If it fails, Shemshime vanishes and: - If the book is intact, he is yanked into the book and it slams shut, silencing the music box and ending the curse. - If the book has been destroyed, he is pulled into the nearest closed book. The book transforms into a copy of [[Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme]], destroying its original content. - [[Adanor]] takes the book and locks it away in one of the secure vaults. ## Secrets and Clues - [ ] Darrak is an undercover informant of [[Cobalt Soul]] within [[ttrpgs/The Slayers Five/The Myriad]]. He is reporting on Perriweather's activities. - [x] [[Ravinha]] is [[Chessia Wakiam]]'s latest protegé and lover. Ravinha does not approve of trafficking people, but is too blinded by her love for Chessia. - [ ] Chessia Wakiam is the same woman who trained Lira. She is intrigued by the possibility of Lira working for her again, but is not one to use force. She prefers to get them young. She claims innocence as to where the children came from, as she only receives and trains. - [ ] Aro has unwittingly spread the disease while working in [[The Charred Circus]]. - [ ] [[Doctor Waldorf Perriweather]], as the owner of [[The Owlery]], know exactly what messages the party have sent to the [[Plank King]]. - [ ] Chessia Wakiam is more than willing to replace Perriweather as the representative of The Myriad to parley with [[The Revelry]]. She has more at stake, with her business relying on a steady flow of slaves. - [ ] Chessia runs two brothels in the city, but her real money is made by picking and training people to sell to the elite of the Menagerie Coast and [[Dwendalian Empire]]. - [ ] [[Flint]]'s lycanthrope tendencies are coming to the forefront. Full moon is in a week, and he's getting restless. - [x] [[Silva]] is the Cobalt Displacer, and contacted [[Adanor]] about Ora. She thinks Ora and the party could be assets to the [[Cobalt Soul]]. - [ ] The Myriad want free reign from The Revelry on their ships. In return, they will share forces and help create a Revelry front that [[Clovis Concord]] ships cannot cross. ## Locations - [x] [[The Firefly Cellar]] ## NPCs - [x] [[Adanor]], Cobalt Soul monk that was grappled by Boris - [x] [[Doctor Waldorf Perriweather]] - [x] [[Apphida Perriweather]] - [x] [[Chessia Wakiam]], owner of the Moonlight Chateau - [x] [[Darrak Flametongue]] (Perriweather's guard and informant for Cobalt Soul) - [x] [[Rurik Shatterblade]], Perriweather's guard - [x] [[Enelyel]], madame of the Moonlight Chateau - [x] [[Ravinha]], Chessia's protegé and lover - [x] [[Varnyr]], scribe of the Cobalt Soul - [x] [[Crinkle]], kenku custodian and keeper of the book - [x] [[Gailby Smallstone]], daughter of the deceased [[Ebder Smallstone]] ## [[Loot]] - [x] [[Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme]] --- ## Log 12:00 Psychic Whispers: Crinkle, Lira, Boris for 4 hours from 13:00-17:00 There are 4 bodies that had been killed, the first two of which had been burnt already - 1 Avowed, studying folk magic - 1 Avowed studying the moons, Catha and Ruidus - [[Yowen Pilt]], visiting scholar: brought *Halfling Superstitions* and _Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme_, but was studying "sexual anthropology" - [[Ebder Smallstone]], father of Gailby: Nav - The Girl with the Dragonborn Tattoo - Damalian Nights - Toby Dick Ora asks Nav to put the porn books in her bag for later. Nav is studying *Halfling Superstitions*. - 30 Ora - 21 Boris - 18 Shadows - 14 Jamedi - 8 Flint - 8 Lira Shadow AC: 16 A - 13+4 - 27 B -7 O -9 O -B: miss, 8+7+10 - 13 - -17 C End time: 14:00 [[Ziri]] is [[Adanor]]'s love