# [[039_20230318 Dangerous Dioramas of Absalom]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[039_20230318 Dangerous Dioramas of Absalom]] > The party spent 8 days in downtime activities in Otari, with Zuhri retraining abilities and gathering information about werewolves, Vayle learning Stitch Flesh and investigating Ayla's body, Bond crafting guns for his kobold friends, and Ash researching his past identity as Father Tyson. They learned about Duskwalkers from Gloam and hired a new hireling named Rogun who can see invisible things. Returning to The Gauntlight, they discovered a secret passage behind a destroyed statue that led to a chamber with a dead purple worm containing a dwarf skeleton, then explored further to find dioramas of Absalom facing various disasters that triggered magical traps, dealing significant damage to the party before they retreated to heal. ^summary --- ## Recap ![[038_20230311 Hand-to-hand fighting#^summary]] --- ## Log Day 27 5 pm Downtime! - [[Zuhri]] - 5 days to retrain *Intimidating Glare* to *Battle Medicine* - Talk to [[Keeleno Lathanar]]: Get an image of his wife. - He doesn't have an image of his wife. He didn't have money to get an artist's rendition of her. - He wishes he could find the necklace of his wife that he gave her when he got married. He describes it to me. He still thinks that Jaul has it. It wasn't with her when she died. - Today is the 5th of Gozran, and he's about to close the market early to mourn his wife. - Talk to [[Worly Win]] in [[Stone Ring Pond]]: Ask how I can turn a werewolf back or find out if a wolf is a werewolf. - She still patrols the Otari Hinterlands looking for signs that [[Jaul Mesmin]] might have returned. - I asked her how she'd know if something is a werewolf-- as a druid, she would know. I invited her to come with us to tell us. She said she might be convinced if we get proof. Werewolves have a hybrid form. Not quite wolf, not quite man. I describe the wolves and she says they just sound like normal-looking wolves. If we see a wolf change at the sight of a full moon or recoil at the sight of silver, that would be a good sign. On a full moon, a werewolf can't control itself and must enter its hybrid form. - The next full moon is in 2 weeks. - Get healing potions (4) from [[Magiloi]]. - [[Vayle]] - Learns how to *Stitch Flesh*. - The first people he's referred to are [[Vandy Banderdash]] and those in [[Dawnflower Library]]. There aren't any known tailors in this town. - Note: [[Leno Lafenol]] is the same as [[Keeleno Lathanar]] - As Vayle approaches [[Odasa]], a symbol she has on her shield glows. Obviously she knows there's someone undead nearby. Can't see her eyes - she's always cloaked. - Goes to [[Keeleno Lathanar]] - Keeleno gives them a handkerchief belonging to his wife. - The necklace is more precious than Jaul's death, if we have to make a choice. - [[Jaspen Bond Callistair|Bond]] - Goes to see his kobold friends at [[The Thirsty Alpaca]]. They have new guns that they say they got from a ship-- from new people who arrived. - Learns that there were tunnels dug under the Thirsty Alpaca that *caused* it to collapse. - The names of the two young [[Stonescale Kobolds]] are [[Gran]] and [[Andy]]. - [[Calamity's Ruin]] have been in a tough fight. - [[Ashnefrotty|Ash]] - Researched who he was: [[Father Tyson]]. - Known to have founded two schools of monk monasteries. He's been survived on both by his two best students, one leading each: [[Jade Quarion]] and [[Maestro]]. Both schools devoutly followed [[Aroden|Tyr]]. - Side of Maestro: Followed the redeeming side of Tyr. - Jade's side: Followed the more warring side of Tyr against demons specifically. - When these students rose to prominence, Tyson retired. The last time people spoke of him was when he was resurrected after being captured by a demon. He led a quiet life after that. - The two students still seem to be alive and in good standing with the nations around at the time. - Noticed that his friend [[Odasa]] is still here, researching something. - [[Gloam]] says they fought a ghost, a shadow. There was a secret door behind the morlocks' room - there was a majordomo that was left there for centuries that had become a thing of shadow. - [[Gears]] went amok at the worst possible time. Once the shadow slashed [[Dread]], Gear saw blood and went crazy. [[Shawanti|Bee]] had to stop him from biting all of them while they were fighting the ghost. There was a big circular room there, probably under the lighthouse. Calamity's Ruin didn't get to explore it. - Gloam is reading up on a race of creatures called [[Duskwalkers]]. They seem to describe her (Gloam)-- creatures with slightly gray skin that resemble other humanoids (dwarf, human, and gnome like her) but with faded gray eyes. Gloam's eyes are two different colours (one green and one red) and her skin is pale gray. - We didn't see any circular room on [[The Gauntlight Level 2 - Morlocks]]. - Ash remembers that the time that he met Gloam, she was crying. She was in a forest by a tower. She was crying about losing a sister and Ash remembers comforting her. When Ash helped Gloam look for her sister, she couldn't find anyone around that looked like her sister. Gloam couldn't remember what she looked like, just that her only family was her sister. She felt like she lost her sister, and then she was alone in the forest. She was a lot younger then. Ash kept her company. Ash asks if she ever found her sister. Gloam shows him the pictures in the book of Duskwalkers. "I think I'm one of them. I think I'm a Duskwalker. According to this religious text, Duskwalkers are dead souls that were given life by the gods. They have a complicated way of recognising who gets a second chance at life and they are turned into Duskwalkers. I think I was not a gnome. If I'm right, this is a track I haven't been into. it might lead me back to my sister if she's still alive." When she's with Dread, he's all business. - She says the sigil on her shield detects undead. It glows when they are near. She knows it's Pharasma's symbol. And she's a devout enemy of the undead, so Gloam thinks she's not one. - Ash didn't attach to Gloam the way he did to Zuhri. - Ash suggests that Gloam look up [[Karsh]] to protect her and maybe join Calamity's Ruin. I get a hero point! - Vayle - Talks to [[Skram]]. Pays him to investigate and try to track [[Ayla]]'s body down. - Bond - Makes two guns. He gave one to the Stonescale Kobolds, and he's going to sell one to Skram. We spend 8 days. News - There's a new hireling in town, a chubby chonky person who claims he can see invisible things. He doesn't have armor or weapons but he can point out invisible things. 8 sp per day. He can't see in the dark, but he can see invisible things and ghosts. He claims he sees the light at the top of the lighthouse. His name is [[Rogun]]. Skram lends us the silver sickle for 1 gp per day. We go back to [[The Gauntlight]]! We go to the Shrine to the Ghost Queen room. - improvised shrine - towering statue in a feminine shape covered in sheets of moss - bare spot decorated in mud and bone that depicts the same feminine form. Someone has destroyed this statue - There are morlocks here when we enter, but they remember who we are and leave us alone. We feel that they seem to want to attack us, but something's stopping them from being violent. Ash and Vayle see that the mud and bone form is an indicator for a secret door. Ash easily opens the door. - 5' wide hallway with alcoves on either side (3 alcoves on each side, spaced 5 feet apart) - One of these alcoves was where the majordomo came from, presumably. He was a shadow, according to Gloam. - 35' long - stone sarcophagi stand upright within each alcove. - Signs of an obvious battle here. - Shadows found to be incorporeal undead. They feed on those who stray too far from the light. They're dangerous undead, resistant to many attacks. They're incorporeal-- only a well-prepared party can damage them. They can fly, are vulnerable to light, and they can steal shadows. They hide in your shadow, steal it, and kill you-- you die when your shadow is stolen. They fought and defeated the shadow here. - There's a door at the other end. We open the door! - 35' x 35' room. - Coil of blue light connects ceiling to floor. It seethes and writhes and dances. - Dessicated remains of an enormous purple worm with shrivelled, tattered flesh. It's about 50 feet long. it's long dead. - Zuhri casts *Phase bolt* and almost cuts it. It's so dry. It seems long dead. - I know it's a legendary creature that can devour small towns like [[Otari]]. Based on the thickness of the hide, dessicated stinger on its tail, and teeth that probably once held venom, it was probably not easy to kill. - I cut off its head and it seems like it had just eaten something when it died. It's a skeleton wearing unusable scale armor. It has also been dead for a while. It was a dwarf holding a warhammer, pointing it into the belly of the worm. The contents of his bag are also not usable anymore. - Closed door to the east. We go through the door to the east. - Intersection with dead ends on either side. It forks to the north and south but there are dead ends. - Rogun doesn't see anything invisible. But he does see a secret door! So does everyone else but Bond. It's easy to see that there are two wall stones that you can push together. Ash opens it: (south) - Familiar 10' diameter room. It's the elevator! We go to the northern door. - Rogun points out that there's a rusted ring on the wall that you can pull. It opens up the northern door. The door opens down. - Torture room that we've seen before, that Karsh destroyed. - This is south of the path that Skram went through while he was possessed by the green light. `dice: 4d78` We keep going until we see another door that has Dread's handwriting. It's a double door. Ash opens it. - L-shaped area. - 10' wide, 40' going north (door opens north). it goes north and then east. - Several wide alcoves adorn the wall of this hallway. - Each alcove contains a diorama of the same city ([[Absalom]]) facing different perils. But I know that these perils did not occur. They're not real events. - Alcove to the left: city in a massive fire. It's well-kept. It's not dusty. The whole room is damp and feels like it hasn't been opened in a while but it's not dusty. - Alcove to the right: city has been overrun by a devastating tsunami. - Further on the left: destroyed by an earthquake. - Further, when the hallway turns, on left: being attacked by an enormous tentacled monster. - Giant squid, like a legendary monster. - Last on right: invaded by city of undead. The undead are rising from Absalom's graves and there's an out-of-place lighthouse shining on them. From the diorama, a panel opens and hits me (Z) with a beam! - 48 damage to Zuhri! - Then 26 on Ash! It's bludgeoning damage from water. *Summoner's Precaution* to unmanifest Ash to keep Zuhri up. - 24 damage to Vayle! (sonic from the earthquake) - [!] Shield block works only for physical damage. - Damage to Rogun. Mental from the monster, negative from the undead. There's a light that moves haphazardly towards us, goes to the door with the minotaur skeleton, and then disappears from our view. Treat Wounds: - Zuhri 1 hour - Bond 1 hour - Zuhri 10 mins. I'm at 57/64. [[Flybaby]] comes and complains that we're bleeding all over his floor. We run away! We go to the elevator. We go to the room with lots of ribbons of light. Vayle gets healed 4d8 per turn! We're back in town and fully healed.