Regicide (Suns Apart - Campaign 2 - Session 6)

PCs:

Cassian Carmine - Master of the Loom (Weaver 1st degree); wielder of Sleep, Alleyways, and Moonlight

Iziki'el - Master of the Loom (Weaver 1st degree); wielder of Blood, Infinity, and Freedom

Naniz - Initiate of the Mysteries (Goetic 1st degree); Blue scholar

Xeni - Shaper (Maker 1st degree); School of Matter, expert in smoke

Content warnings for this session: body horror

Buckle up for a packed session!

• The trending topic around Satyrine this week is the start of The August Invisible Tournament, a week long event that's basically the arcane olympics for vislae, held each year at The Grand Assembly in the Marquis Quarter
• The PCs gather at Ultan's shop to discuss their plans. Ultan seems cheery and is serving drinks. Apparently he landed a major contract with the Goetic Order to supply their print needs and offer his linotype expertise.
• Shaltromo is in Ultan's shop to discuss the current situation with the PCs. The ruins of the Inquisitor's Theater have become more dangerous and there has been increased activity both from white swine and Dark shadows, but he is still reticent to permanently relocate despite Iziki'el's assurance that it is for the best
• The PCs ask about paths from the sewers to Zyan above, believing Fire on the Velvet Horizon to be somewhere in the city.
• Shaltromo provides a rough map his people have compiled and points out several options:
• A hidden cove controlled by river pirates which his people have been observing and believe must have some connection to the city above based on the traffic they've observed going in and out
• Various private passages between underground guild strongholds and their surface strongholds. There may be many, but Shaltromo knows of at least the catacombs of the Fleischguild which provide access to their surface shrines and abattoirs
• A gate his people have observed which bears a sign marked "Knowing Bee Sweetforge" 

• The PCs decide they will brave the river and seek one of these passages, but first they want to go to the Theater of Punishments and kill the Queen Sow because... I mean it would be a nice gesture to the Guildless and after all Xeni did already go to the trouble of building a magic bomb and everything so... who are they to pass up a boss fight?
• The PCs head through Ultan's door and into the Guildless's territory, using their southern passage to access the Theater of Punishments through the dressing room they almost TPK'd against shadows in last time they were here
• They notice the room is a lot cleaner grime wise, although there is a faint sheen of clear slime in some places
• The mirror that was previously here is shattered, and Xeni's little onion knight automaton is weirdly fixated on smashing the mirror shards into smaller and smaller fragments.
• Xeni questions what's up with it and surprisingly it responds (they didn't know it could speak), uttering a short phrase in Invisible: "mirrors are a virus"
• The PCs peer into the gloom of the room beyond, observing the broad wooden stage dominating the center of the room, and the numerous pares of hateful porcine eyes staring back from just beyond their lantern light
• Partially quoting from Through Ultan's Door Issue #1:
• "The 3' wooden stage in the center of the room has seen better days. It is collapsing at several points. At the opening between it and the ground, it has been stuffed on all sides with straw, rotting cloth, paper, and broken furniture. Small tunnel-like holes lead in at various points. The stage covers the massive Queen Sow of the white swine. Her great, flaccid girth occupies most of the space under the stage. She is fed by her offspring from a set of holes in the northeast corner of the stage, and they nest and suckle at her teats in the collapsing southwest corner. The nest is damp with the fluids and afterbirth of the swine and [is difficult to set fire to]"
• Xeni pulls out her large unlabeled package and unwraps it to reveal a bazooka
• she removes the rocket included with it and loads in her custom bomb constructed around a small wooden cask containing a small golden sculpture imbued with a web spell
• The bomb should explode with a binding effect that will also ignite targets, and should only affect creatures from Blue (like the swine) due to the "law" aspect imbued from adding the blood of Inquisitors
• BOOOM
• Xeni launches her bomb into the most open space she can see in the side of the stage, hoping to get it as deep as possible
• It goes off with a spectacular effect, exploding arcane webbing around the room which ignites a half second later, flames rushing along the binding strands with deadly effect.
• The room is lit up with angry red flames, the squealing of many swine, and the oddly off-putting smell of barbeque
• There is a noise like the spine of a ship breaking and the wooden stage splits in half as the Queen Sow of the white swine stands upright and reveals its full mass.
• it is a horrible thing, roughly shaped like the other swine but possessing many mouths and snouts in place of eyes or a proper face, sporting three large clawed arms arrayed with smaller vestigial appendages, and dotted with rows of birthing orifices down each flank 
• About half of the ~15 pigs in the room are slain and the Queen Sow is wounded by the effects of Xeni's bomb. The other vislae take up defensive positions against the surge of furious swine while Xeni loads the original rocket into the bazooka and Iziki'el begins to weave.
• Iziki'el and Xeni unleased a deadly combo attack:
• Xeni fires a rocket (d12 damage!) at the Queen Sow
• Iziki'el weaves Infinity around the rocket as it is fired, causing it to teleport into the body of the Queen Sow, exploding from within
• A flux on the weave means his magic has attracted unwanted attention
• I draw a Sooth card for this: The Looming Shade
• Iziki'el hears a blood curdling shriek from far behind the party. Something is happening to Shaltromo and the Guildless
• Pig flesh and vital fluids rain down upon all present, and three half formed, unborn swine crawl forth from the mess of their queen to assault the party

• The swine continue to fight but have difficulty doing too much to the party through the chokepoint they have prepared, and are also now making morale checks due to their losses and the death of their Queen
• Xeni and Naniz remain to rout the rest while the weavers (Iziki'el and Cassian) rush to assist the guildless
• Like really rush. Naniz cast a haste spell on them.
• The weavers enter the dried up baths (room 13) and see several Guildless face down in black puddles at the bottom of the baths. Shaltromo himself is sitting between the two baths, apparently having an intense seizure and casting unnatural shadows around the room
• Iziki'el shines his lantern at Shaltromo and the shadows he is casting all around scurry behind him as if hiding, and Shaltromo crab walks backwards in apparent fear
• Naniz enters the room close behind them and confirms what they suspect: Shaltromo is failing to fight off possession by the Weaver of Shadows
• Naniz wishes he could exorcise the Dark spirit but alas! Goetics are not instructed in the ways of banishment until Second Degree
• Naniz and Cassian hold Shaltromo's body down while Iziki'el takes an Indigo candle (designed to detect lies) from Naniz and holds it before Shaltromo's face. He speaks to the dark entity and demands it come out.
• Shaltromo's head tips back and his throat gurgles with a dark liquid, from which the voice of the Weaver of Shadows emanates
• It promises it will grant them all manner of things in exchange for the lives of the Guildless it is holding hostage
• The candle flickers wildly at the entity's every word, indicating lies
• The vislae are unimpressed and turn the lantern light brighter
• The Dark entity states that it holds all the cards and illustrates this by having all the Guildless lying face down in the baths and hold knives to their own throats, while Shaltromo's body chokes out insane laughter
• Iziki'el is Fed Up With This Shit(TM) and pulls out a Wicked Key (basically a crystalized wish) he received as a token of friendship from Claviger several weeks ago when they met at Cafe/Bar
• He jams it right into Shaltromo's chest and a keyhole manifests to accommodate it. It turns with a weighty clunk and Darkness instantly flees from the room and all the Guildless go slack
• A moment later they shakily rise, groggy and weak but themselves again, including Shaltromo
• Shaltromo looks at Iziki'el and expresses a mixture of thanks and resignation
• "You saved our lives, and perhaps our very souls... I'd call us even. And I see now that you were right... This is no place for us anymore. We will fully relocate to your city of Satyrine. Perhaps there we will be accepted. Perhaps there we can make a life, beyond the reach of Darkness."
• The Guildless gather their things and evacuate through Ultan's door. Iziki'el assists them.
• Cassian and Naniz return to the Theater of punishments to rejoin Xeni, who is looting the place.
• She finds a partially ruined spellbook containing two usable spells: Testify, and Chain of Evidence (both apparently written by the Inquisitors)
• There is a large statue at the end of the room, behind which the vislae know there is a hidden room, thanks to Queequeg's map
• from the module:
• "The statue at the end of the room is made of basalt. It depicts a robed figure, with a long beaked mask. She pulls apart her robes, and dozens of small-er beaked masks peer forth form the darkness beneath, pressing out. Lapis Lazuli borders her robes, and the eyes of the masks sparkle with polished carnelians and peridots. There are [1600c] total worth of gems that can be removed by characters who scale the statute ... at a rate of [100c] per player per round. The cubic plinth on which the statue stands is covered in swirling forms. Careful scrutiny of the pattern will reveal that there is a small piece missing, in the shape of a sun"
• The PCs aren't sure how to unlock the secret passage without the missing sun piece, but they like gems and begin to strip the statue
• Cassian's weaver senses tingle and he feels the presence of something nearby which resonates in a way that reminds him of the clear ooze they saw in the dressing room earlier.
• A strange boy in noble finery walks through the carnage towards them, holding a swan that is stiff and rod straight, strung with strings like a mandolin. He is followed by a woman nursing a white lobster at her breast and smiling serenely.
• Cassian does not like this at all and bravely hides behind the statue
• Naniz approaches the strange beings and is promptly attacked by two large oneiric puddings hoping to feed on his thought rich brain matter. Their projected forms dissipate when he gets close to reveal their true ooze forms.
• Cassian is all like "I told you so" but Naniz has already sprung into action and summoned a spirit of the Gold Sun (transformation, renewal, turning points)
• The spirit manifests above him as a floating ring of chain about the size of a large barrel. His summoning roll affords two terms and he compels it to act beyond its forte so it will help him fight, and to reveal its name
• The spirit is called "Banzatoul, the Morphing Chain", and can randomize whatever passes through itself into something similar but different
• Naniz gets wacked by acidic pseudopods a few times but manages to swiftly defeat the puddings by having Banzatoul throw itself upon them
• One ooze becomes a bored, three headed cat and the other becomes a frightened white swine which the vislae immediately slay
• The PCs begin enthusiastically throwing various things through Banzatoul
• Cassian throws dumps his portion of the gems through, which become bloodsilver, which he puts right back through hoping theiy will morph into orbs and he can Noösphere deposit them to save inventory space.
• They continue to morph into different forms of currency until the pile eventually becomes a small lizard apparently made of solid gold.
• Cassian happily lets this lizard scurry away, to the dismay of Xeni who is frustrated to see hundreds of crystal worth of money run off.
• Xeni throws her main spellbook through Banzatoul and incredibly, it becomes Fire of the Velvet Horizon, the lost book Naniz has been seeking!
• Naniz pleads with Banzatoul for all these changes to be permanent and Banzatoul asks whether Naniz will make it his familiar one day. Naniz says "sure" and displaying the stunning naivete of the Gold Sun, Banzatoul decides that sounds perfectly reasonable and cheerily makes all changes permanent.
• The vislae gather up their loot and prepare to head back through Ultan's Door
• Right in front of the door they bump into a masked group of adventurers from Zyan Above who are muttering about "hunting Guildless scum" and pondering where the strange door leads.
• The Zyanese party consists of:
• a large caterpillar beast bearing a howdah
• a damask robed, leonine masked man wielding a great spear
• a damask robed, spiral masked woman Naniz can tell is a magic user
• two plainly dressed packbearers with simple masks and heavy burdens of equipment
• They are startled by the PCs but, seeing that they are unmasked, assume them to be exile scum and demand they grovel before their Zyanese masters
• The PCs display surprising tact and with the help of Naniz as a translator (everyone can understand the Indigo the PCs speak but only Naniz can understand the Blue which the Zyanese speak), the party manages to convince the Zyanese explorers they are actually vislae from Indigo and have traveled here from Satyrine by means of magic to learn about Zyanese culture and consort with Zyanese sorcerers
• The Zyanese seem surprised to hear Satyrine exists but are so taken with the PCs that they forget about the strange door and the Guildless they were hunting, and instead invite the PCs to come back to Zyan Above with them and speak to the other members of the Explorers' Guild
• The female mage in particular seems excited to learn from the vislae, and gives her name as Maneeshaneru
• The spear wielding fighter seems the more cautious or the two, but introduces himself as Ulilamamo and leads everyone back to their boat (a sort of catamaran) docked on the great sewer river at area 25
• They offer the party hookah (which Xeni readily accepts) and cast off into the filthy river, headed for Zyan Above, lost city of Blue!

End of session!