Griffin O'Callahan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
icastsword) wrote2021-10-08 06:00 pm
icastsword) wrote2021-10-08 06:00 pm
Entry tags:
Session 87:Artificial Bravery & Shane Bishop
So Shane is having a very bad day.
But first, we have to clarify what the group knows in terms of psychopomps from Jericho. Jericho left last week's explanation mostly as a thought experiment based off of some of the shit we learned about what Nellie's dad was researching.
Also before we start, Ant wants to get us into a certain mindframe. We're not getting down to the wire, but there aren't going to be many more sessions in this arc. If we play this like Ant expects us to play it, this will lead to a more free-form campaign. What we need to start thinking about are the open-ended questions and mysteries that we've just gotten little hints and tastes of. We need to start thinking about how we want to look into these things.
We all have the start of our personal arcs
Nellie's dad is still out there somewhere, there's all of the stuff with Interplay. LaRue's notebook
Q: What would Griffin be personally interested in?
A: That is a secret I'm not sharing with you assholes yet.
What are we, as an investigative team, going to start focusing on?
Jericho and Inky are interested in destroying Interplay. Since Interplay is weaved heavily into the main narrative, don't worry, Jericho will get his chance.
Back to the Piano fight:
Shane is underneath the piano, weeping. He has 22 HP.
Everyone is gathered around this piano except for Nellie. Nellie, roll Perception: 15. Pip hears two things: Those sirens are getting closer, and from behind her, towards the museum, she hears gagging.
Ant: Inky, roll me that d100.
Inky, in singsong: Okay~
The dice say 52.
Everyone near the Piano is shrouded by a spectral shield dome. The piano starts making a retching motion, but no sound comes out. But Nellie hears the sound of retching.
We are out of combat. Most of us are trapped in this dome. Shane is feeling really brave about this dome. Really brazen. We can see out through the dome, and people outside can see inside.
Nellie rolls Stealth to approach the gagging - Nat 20! She manages to climb into the shrubs surrounding the museum, and she sees that goblinoid-looking fellow that escaped previously, gagging very, very fiercely. In fact, roll Medicine: 23. This goblin boy can't breathe. Can Nellie do the heimlich? She can, but there's nothing to heimlich out. Would casting Cure Wounds help? Not really, because it's currently linked to what's happening with the piano, so in order to get it to clear up, we need to clear up what's happening with the Piano
Nellie yells at Jericho through her cell phone.
Jericho relays this message: Pip says to Banish the Piano, bitch.
Shane casts Banishment. The piano goes still.
The goblinoid's eyes glaze over momentarily, and then it seems to get a little more color, and then it starts gasping and drinking in air.
Nellie tries to reassure it, but it jumps and runs.
Pip: HEY! No, get back here! I've got a gun!
BTW, the police are here. Also, a familiar car pulls up. Agent Wankins is also here.
What is Pip going to do in the meantime? She casts Expeditious Retreat to chase after the goblinoid. She can bounce in front of it and try to stop it. In fact, she's going to try to grapple it. She rolls Athletics vs the Goblinoid's Acrobatics or Athletics. With no modifiers, Nellie rolls a 14 to grapple. The Goblinoid also rolls a 14. Contest of Strength time. The Goblinoid is terrified.
Nellie casts Message: Calm down a second, I'm going to get us out of this!
The response she gets back sounds like a dozen different voices screaming at once, each one in a different language.
Nellie casts Greater Invisibility - she twins the spell so make both of them Invisible. When she makes it invisible, the goblinoid can kind of read her intent. It's not struggling as much, but is still trying to get out of her grasp. She hears the cacophony of voices in her mind - it's not as urgent. It sounds like it's asking a question. She rolls a 14 Insight to try to figure out what it's asking. She can pick out a couple of words of Sylvan in the mess of voices. She can understand "Why" and "Unseen"
Nellie: If those people over there spot you, you're going to be in a lot more trouble than if you just stay and talk with us. She rolls a 19 Persuasion. The Goblinoid stops struggling. It's very anxious because it's no longer in the cover of the shrubs.
Nellie tells it to take her hand, and the two of them will go wait for her friends in the bushes. It takes her hand like a frightened child.
This creature's skin is mottled, like a toad or a frog.
Nellie messages Jericho and tells him that she's got the little green guy she saw earlier. We need to keep this little lad away from Interplay for obvious reasons.
Jericho advises Nellie to just take off, since we're about to get an unfortunate visit.
Nellie will take her little friend back to the van.
Griffin is at Shane's side, rooting around in his bag looking for more potions, because the one Shane took obviously didn't do any good.
The police are setting up a perimeter, there are some men in black, and our good friend Caleb Watkins is approaching.
Watkins: Well well well, look who we have here. Mr. La Croix, why am I not surprised to see you in a magic dome, with a vandalized piece of vintage Americana?
Watkins circles the dome and asks: Why this? Why any of this? What am I expected to believe transpired here? Because I see five people, uhhhhh, and a broken piano in a magic spectral shield.
Watkins has his own sources but he would like to see if they line up with what Jericho knows. He wants to know how our crew happened to be in the right place at the right time to apprehend this vicious piano.
Jericho says we need to help our injured lad. Can we please get Shane some medical attention?
Watkins can't help but notice we're missing someone. Jericho's not sure what his point is? Sometimes his employees take days off.
Watkins blows us off and pretends to be uninterested but it's obvious he's still watching us.
Serra rolls Stealth. She rolls a Nat 20 Stealth to flip Watkins off. He doesn't notice.
After a couple of minutes, the dome fades away and we're left with a broken messed up historical piano and ourselves.
Griffin feeds Shane his best potion - the Superior Healing Potion. 8d4+8. After Jericho finished talking to Willikens he also feeds Shane a regular healing potion for an additional 2d4+4 HP for a total of 34HP
While Ryo rolls HP, Nellie guides her new friend back to the van. Greater Invisibility lasts for only 1 minute. Nellie continues to Message this poor anxious child with reassurances - she rolls a Nat 20 to Persuade this kiddo that things are going to be okay. As she continues to reassure it, instead of trying to tug away it starts sidling up closer to her.
Nellie has the Artificer Cantrip Guidance in Reserve. Now she rolls something to be sneaky - she rolls an 18 + 3 so 21 Stealth vs Ant's 24 probably Perception. They need to get to the parking lot, which is where the strongest presence of police cars are. She misses one cop in his squad car. She hears the door open and the guy shout, "THE HELL IS THAT!?"
Nellie casts Greater Invisibility.
The rest of us see that something has caught Watkins' attention. Nellie bamfs out of existence which only causes more confusion.
Hilary wants to know if people can go through Crimeny's Bag of Holding to our office vault. No, Ant is not giving us an instant escape bag.
Hilary wants to know if there's a body of water nearby. Not really, no.
Shane could summon a demon.
Jericho can cast Invisibility, and Crimeny has a ring with Invisibility stored in it. We conventionally hide the Goblin, polymorph Nellie into Crimeny, and Crimeny sneaks out on their own.
Since there was a commotion caused by Nellie, the guys at the checkpoint are shooing leaving cars through more quickly.
Shane splits off from the crew to go check for Divination Spells with Detect Magic. One of the three guys searching the cars has something that looks like an iPad. He holds it up and it gives the infrared of the people in the car, he sees that they're people, and they wave them through.
So they'll see our invisible goblinoid.
Change of plans: We cast Polymorph on the goblinoid, Nellie will cast fly on Crimeny, Crimeny casts Invisibility - wait, no, that won't work, Polymorph is concentration. If Jericho is concentrating on a spell his wings will be out.
Crimeny doesn't have to fly, they can just walk out
Fly, Polymorph, Invisibility - we'll cast Fly on Crimeny, polymorph the goblinoid, Crimeny casts Invisibility on themself, and leave. Jericho hides until Crimeny is clear since he'll have to concentrate out of glamor.
One of the guys looks up and sees Shane standing around bloodily like a serial killer. He asks Shane if he's okay.
I'm gonna use Deception on them. "EVERYTHING'S FINE!"
Shane rolls Deception with Disadvantage because they have eyes. He rolls a 21 Deception. The lads roll 21 Insight. They're on the fence; they should be doing their jobs and getting this guy help, but he's sure he's okay.
Shane convinces them two cars drove out of the lot while they were talking to Shane.
Now the guys we'll be trying to pass are super paying attention to the cars leaving.
Nellie casts Fly on Crimeny. Jericho casts Polymorph on the Goblin. Crimeny casts Invisibility with the ring.
Crimeny takes a key from the piano and leaves a calling card.
"You didn't C Sharp enough to stop this" -R
We don't all have to leave at the same time, so there's no reason for us to leave at the same time.
Kug, Shane, Griffin, Jericho, and Serra leave in the van, and Nellie escapes with Crimebot.
Watkins shows up to talk to us again as we leave in the van. This guy really needs a hobby, or some friends.
He wants to know that we'll get in contact with him if we figure out what's going on. He also wants to know where Crimeny's gotten off to. Jericho wants to say, "Did you check up your asshole?" Watkins tells Jericho he should keep better track of his employees. Jericho counters that he's Crimeny's employer, not their slave driver. Crimeny can do what Crimeny wants.
Watkins allows us to leave. Five or ten minutes later Shane gets a text message. It's from Watkins. Shane whines a lot, and then he reads it. Watkins has texted him, "Jericho knows something. I want to know what he knows."
He gets another text message a few minutes later: "I also need the whereabouts of Pippinalla Daphwort."
Jerk.
Crimeny returns to….the bunker or the office? The bunker is probably safer for the goblinoid.
Nellie is continually sending reassuring messages to the goblinoid. She is able to communicate that she is Friend, and Crimeny is Friend, and calm the little guy down.
Where are the rest of us going? Back to the office, but maybe we should make sure we don't have a tail? Yeah. Let's go to McDonald's.
With a 5 Perception, Griffin notices that whoever fixed his burger put extra bacon in it.
Once we get back to the office, Serra points to her spell list and we're all fully healed.
Nobody else noticed anything with their slightly better Perception rolls. We head back to the office to check for more tails. We can send Kug home on time, or earlier if we're feeling generous. We roll Perception around the office now. The Perception rolls are better - Now Griffin notices he got some extra nuggets.
Shane and Jericho peek out the window intermittently with a 22 and an unnatural 20. They see a couple of guys passing back and forth. They've seen these guys take this route before. Neither of them recognize these guys in the sense that they don't know who they are, but they do recognize that these two dudes have been on this route suspiciously often.
We're having a normal out-loud conversation in the office while texting a different secret conversation in our group chat.
We're going to leave the office through the fire escape one at a time. Jericho will cast invisibility on us one at a time until we all evacuate the office. We'll invisibly go far enough away to uninvisible and grab an uber. Rinse and repeat until we've all left the office.
Crimeny and Nellie head to the bunker. They head down the ladder. Nellie and Goblin friend will stay by the ladder while Crimeny goes ahead to prepare Holt for what he's about to see. Goblin friend is very scared. They also look like they're wearing traveling clothes. Not bluejeans.
Crimeny walks into the bunker. If the door is locked, they unlock it, because let's be real here. They walk in, and they see Holt at one of his terminals. He's working on something, and he has a Virtual Boy mounted on his face. He is working, and has not noticed Crimeny's presence.
Crimeny has to take a moment to ponder how to get his attention. Finally they decide to knock on the wall. Holt jumps and screams. He removes the Virtual Boy and rubs his eyes, because Virtual Boy.
Crimeny asks if Holt has played Super Mario 64. Holt has. Does Holt remember the piano? Yes. That piano. Crimeny explains that the rest of the crew is leading Interplay in circles before returning to the Bunker to throw them off the trail. Crimeny explains that Holt needs to be very calm, because his excitable nature will likely cause fight or flight mode in our goblinoid friend.
While Crimeny deals with the manager, Nellie asks our goblinoid friend if they have a name. Ant has to look up the name he gave this little guy. It looks at Nellie and slides its hand out of hers. It gestures to itself with both hands. For the first time she's not hearing a cacophony of voices, she's just hearing one voice. It says "Self, Toit."
Its name is Toit.
Nellie introduces herself. Toit tilts their head. It looks like it's trying to understand language, and eventually sounds out, "Pippinellie!" He's like a little pokemon. Inky loves him instantly. Nellie explains that the man in the bunker is also a friend, but he is still learning, and he can get very excited, so if Toit wants to run, she gets it.
Nellie carefully leads Toit in. She peeks inside first, just to see whether Holt is freaking out right now because she doesn't fully trust him. Holt is not freaking out, but he is sitting on the edge of his seat, because, Discovery! As Nellie leads Toit further into the bunker, Toit looks a lot less sure of itself. "Pippinellie?"
Nellie asks if we can have some more lights? Toit isn't digging the creepy mad scientist lab vibe. Nellie introduces Crimeny.
"Crimbly!"
Holt kneels down and introduces himself. "I am Professor Gustav Holt! I come in peace!"
Toit struggles with this. Holt gets it, and rephrases: "Holt: Friend." Toit mimics him and then lists off their other friends. "Holt. Friend Crimnly, friend, Pippinellie." They wander around and pat everyone on the forehead. "Friend, friend, friend!" Feeling more comfortable, Toit begins to wander around the lab, and touches everything.
Nellie tells Crimeny about the Psionic link she suspects between the piano and Toit. Holt asks if the piano thing was similar to the statues yesterday? Maybe. She did see a goblinoid. Maybe it was Toit that she saw? She tells Toit she has something to show them. They have some temporary eye trouble once they take the Virtual Boy off their head
Holt has some footage of the statue attack.
Does Holt record everything he sees?
Holt: When your memory has been scrambled as much as mine, it tends to help.
Fair.
Holt pulls up the video of Treeborg vs Griffin. Toit climbs up on the console. "Wooooow!" They see the little people in the screen and slap their hand on the screen.
Toit has been to this place before. They made the statues move. It was Toit that Nellie saw yesterday.
Holt asks if maybe Toit left the message?
Crimeny has a photo on their phone; they plug into the projector to put the photo up on the screen. Toit is enthusiastic! Toit did that ! :D
Nellie asks for an explanation.
Toit takes Nellie's face in their hands, and places their forehead against hers -and headbutts her!
She's had this experience before. When Nellie's mystery friend in the Right Hand of Mystra showed her the star map before they passed on. Toit brings Nellie back to that black inky place. She has a sense that she is floating along, and suddenly this inky black mess starts to dissolve around her. As that happens, she gets a glimpse of not just the Earthly Realm, but she sees the other five realms. And then she sees beyond that. She is suddenly lost in a membrane where she can see glimpses of all of the other planes - there's not just the six. There are many, many, many others. There are hundreds of planes, spanning away into the distance. If these were like windows with a definitive edge to them - the edges appear to be fraying. On all of these windows.
The six realms that we know of have much more deliberate and noticeable damage.
There almost seems like there's a layout to these things - she's seen this before. It looks like the Tree of Sephiroth. She can see shadows clawing at the windows of the roots of the tree.
The membrane is stopping these things from getting in.
There is one more thing pertinent to Nellie: If she were to overlay the map her friend gave her on top of what she's seeing, there's a much more definitive path leading further on.
But first, we have to clarify what the group knows in terms of psychopomps from Jericho. Jericho left last week's explanation mostly as a thought experiment based off of some of the shit we learned about what Nellie's dad was researching.
Also before we start, Ant wants to get us into a certain mindframe. We're not getting down to the wire, but there aren't going to be many more sessions in this arc. If we play this like Ant expects us to play it, this will lead to a more free-form campaign. What we need to start thinking about are the open-ended questions and mysteries that we've just gotten little hints and tastes of. We need to start thinking about how we want to look into these things.
We all have the start of our personal arcs
Nellie's dad is still out there somewhere, there's all of the stuff with Interplay. LaRue's notebook
Q: What would Griffin be personally interested in?
A: That is a secret I'm not sharing with you assholes yet.
What are we, as an investigative team, going to start focusing on?
Jericho and Inky are interested in destroying Interplay. Since Interplay is weaved heavily into the main narrative, don't worry, Jericho will get his chance.
Back to the Piano fight:
Shane is underneath the piano, weeping. He has 22 HP.
ROUND 2
It's Crime Time. The piano is kicking its legs in the air like a turtle, and it's trying to right itself. Crimeny wants to take the Super Scope and aim it at the keys. Point blank. Carpe Diem, motherfucker. Griffin tries to delay this, but Crimeny pulls the trigger. There is an audible click. A single bubble emerges from the barrel and grows to the size of a honeydew melon. Then it pops. And the blast from it flattens the piano. Crimeny needs to make a STR Save. They roll a 14, which delights Ant.
We see a Dickensian child sprint up to this living piano, produce a Super Scope out of IDK, the void, and pull the trigger. Everyone witnesses this melon bubble form and then pop. It's like a small bomb goes off. It's time for 6d6 Force Damage to Shane and the Piano: 21 Force Damage.
SHANE HAS 1 HIT POINT LEFT. He rolls a 10 STR save and is stunned until his next turn. Crimeny is blown back a few feet. They just rocket jump and land face-first in the dirt.
Holt is not getting this gun back. It's Crimeny's now.
There are some pretty fierce cracks running down the underside of the piano. Griffin can cast Mending, but actually he can't because if he does his glamor will drop.
The spell in the Super Scope is Epicenter of Major Force.
We see a Dickensian child sprint up to this living piano, produce a Super Scope out of IDK, the void, and pull the trigger. Everyone witnesses this melon bubble form and then pop. It's like a small bomb goes off. It's time for 6d6 Force Damage to Shane and the Piano: 21 Force Damage.
SHANE HAS 1 HIT POINT LEFT. He rolls a 10 STR save and is stunned until his next turn. Crimeny is blown back a few feet. They just rocket jump and land face-first in the dirt.
Holt is not getting this gun back. It's Crimeny's now.
There are some pretty fierce cracks running down the underside of the piano. Griffin can cast Mending, but actually he can't because if he does his glamor will drop.
The spell in the Super Scope is Epicenter of Major Force.
Epicenter of Major Force (5th Level Evocation)
You form a pulsing ball of light with both your hands, which explodes in all direction with you at the center. All creatures within 5 feet of you take 5d6 force damage and must make a Strength saving throw or are stunned until the end of their next turn. A creature that succeeds on the saving throw is not stunned.
You form a pulsing ball of light with both your hands, which explodes in all direction with you at the center. All creatures within 5 feet of you take 5d6 force damage and must make a Strength saving throw or are stunned until the end of their next turn. A creature that succeeds on the saving throw is not stunned.
Shane, it's your turn, what do you do with your 1 HP? Nothing, because Shane failed his strength save. He bleeds a little bit and some blood leaks out from under the piano.
The Piano is also stunned and cannot do anything.
At this point, Jericho can't cast a spell and he doesn't have a weapon because he used Morte's tome already. Jericho rolls an Unnatural 20 to spot the book. It's close enough he can get to it, but he won't be able to get it back. Inky wants to know if removing and crushing a tooth from Saro's Bag of Loose Teeth will drop his glamor. That in and of itself won't, however, Ant cannot say the same for what effect will happen. If the actual effect says, "You cast -" then Jericho's glamor will drop. Does Inky want to roll those bones? Jericho rolls an 18 Insight. Shane is under that piano, Jericho doesn't know if he's dead or alive. He knows the first thing Griffin would do is try to check on Shane. Also, launching off some Wild Magic when Shane's condition is unknown is probably reckless.
Hilary: Launching off Wild Magic, Full Stop, is also reckless.
Actually Jericho sees that Griffin is clearly moving into position to extract Shane from under the piano, so he delays his turn to help Griffin.
Hilary: Launching off Wild Magic, Full Stop, is also reckless.
Actually Jericho sees that Griffin is clearly moving into position to extract Shane from under the piano, so he delays his turn to help Griffin.
Nellie also delays until after whatever it is the beefy boys do. Ant declares that she can steady her aim while she delays and fire without disadvantage when she takes her Action.
Serra approaches the piano and kicks it. She rolls with Proficiency because she knows how her legs work. If she were kicking without proficiency Ant would question how she walks. She rolls a 16 to kick, and her attack hits. 1d4 says 3 damage. With her negative strength, the Piano takes 2 damage and she takes 1. She tells us the piano is solid wood.
Griffin is going to excavate Shane with a 21 Athletics roll. With Jericho's help, he hoists the piano up off the ground.
Jericho uses his delayed action to pull Shane out from under the piano and drag him clear. He rolls a 14 Athletics to drag. He can't drag him very far, but he can pull him far enough to bring him totally clear of the piano.
Nellie takes her delayed action to shoot the piano. But she rolls a 9 and her shot goes wide. Our audience scatters when they realize that little girl has a gun.
ROUND 3
Crimeny has regained their senses. How close to the piano is everyone else? Everyone is all up ins on the piano except Nellie. Crimeny sees the paragon/renegade options in the lower corners of their vision. They decide to roll Paragon because Shane is almost dead. HOWEVER, it is still time to experiment. How many ways can Crimeny start a fire? The answer is yes. How far away did Crimeny get knocked back? About 15 feet. They spend half their movement to stand up and the rest of their movement to approach. Scott checks Crimeny's inventory. Where did Crimeny get this thermos of coffee? At breakfast in Ozamuth's manor, so it's a couple of months old. Crimeny will prevent the piano from going anywhere by pouring the old coffee in the piano's keys once it gets itself upright.
What can Shane do? He's got 1 HP. He could summon a demon...But nah, he's going to fish out a potion from his man purse and drink it. Ryo rolls a d6 to determine which of Shane's three potions he drinks. She rolls a 2, and Ant tells her it's the Mystery Potion. But first she has to roll a d100. She rolls a 5. What does it mean to roll a 5? We're gonna find out. Ant giggles. Shane quaffs this potion, and all of a sudden, he is filled with unflappable courage. He does not fear death, he does not fear this piano, he does not fear anything. In fact, nothing can scare him. He is ready to embrace whatever happens, he is the master of his own destiny, let's fucking do this. He has immunity to Fear and temporary Inspiration. His Mystery Potion was a Potion of Courage.
Now it's the Piano's turn. Griffin is still holding it up. Time for a contest of Strength to see if Griffin can slam it back down before it rights itself. He rolls a 16 vs the Piano's 24, alas. The Piano rights itself and attacks Griffin. It hits with a 24 and does 28 Bludgeoning damage to the beef tank. It bonks him on the head with its lid. Rude.
Crimeny takes their delayed turn. Now that the piano is upright and attacking Griffin, Crimeny is going to mess with its internals with this old, stale, probably cultured, Infernal coffee. At this point we're just throwing science at the wall and seeing what sticks. Roll to attack with coffee. We'll call opening the thermos and dumping it in a regular melee attack. Crimeny rolls 19 to coffee. Griffin is at ground zero for whatever smell wafts up. He rolls a 13 Constitution save. Griffin takes 16 Poison damage, and the Piano stops bonking him because it is staggering. It starts to sway in place, like it wants to vomit.
Inky wishes to clarify something: This piano is behaving as though it is nauseous. Ant confirms that it sure is. In order for it to experience nausea, this means Ant is implying that it has a gastrointestinal system. This is feasible with what Ant has in mind. Therefore, Ant has also implied that it is unable to vomit.
"Yes..." the DM says warily, to the forensic pathologist.
Inky may now have a use for one of those teeth. Remember in Spirited Away, when Sen had to shove the medicine down Haku's throat because he was thrashing around too much? Can Jericho do that to the Piano with one of these teeth? Sure. Ant tells Inky to do what she's going to do, then he will resolve it. Roll a simple melee attack. Jericho can use proficiency since this is basically an unarmed attack.
He rolls a 24 to cram a tooth into the Piano. He rushes forward and leans into the top of the piano. He tosses a tooth in and grabs the lid and smashes it down. Roll Athletics to see if he can keep the lid shut. 23 Athletics. Jericho jumps on top of it and clamps his beefy arms down while the Piano stomps and bucks a little.
"Yes..." the DM says warily, to the forensic pathologist.
Inky may now have a use for one of those teeth. Remember in Spirited Away, when Sen had to shove the medicine down Haku's throat because he was thrashing around too much? Can Jericho do that to the Piano with one of these teeth? Sure. Ant tells Inky to do what she's going to do, then he will resolve it. Roll a simple melee attack. Jericho can use proficiency since this is basically an unarmed attack.
He rolls a 24 to cram a tooth into the Piano. He rushes forward and leans into the top of the piano. He tosses a tooth in and grabs the lid and smashes it down. Roll Athletics to see if he can keep the lid shut. 23 Athletics. Jericho jumps on top of it and clamps his beefy arms down while the Piano stomps and bucks a little.
Everyone is gathered around this piano except for Nellie. Nellie, roll Perception: 15. Pip hears two things: Those sirens are getting closer, and from behind her, towards the museum, she hears gagging.
Ant: Inky, roll me that d100.
Inky, in singsong: Okay~
The dice say 52.
Everyone near the Piano is shrouded by a spectral shield dome. The piano starts making a retching motion, but no sound comes out. But Nellie hears the sound of retching.
We are out of combat. Most of us are trapped in this dome. Shane is feeling really brave about this dome. Really brazen. We can see out through the dome, and people outside can see inside.
Nellie rolls Stealth to approach the gagging - Nat 20! She manages to climb into the shrubs surrounding the museum, and she sees that goblinoid-looking fellow that escaped previously, gagging very, very fiercely. In fact, roll Medicine: 23. This goblin boy can't breathe. Can Nellie do the heimlich? She can, but there's nothing to heimlich out. Would casting Cure Wounds help? Not really, because it's currently linked to what's happening with the piano, so in order to get it to clear up, we need to clear up what's happening with the Piano
Nellie yells at Jericho through her cell phone.
Jericho relays this message: Pip says to Banish the Piano, bitch.
Shane casts Banishment. The piano goes still.
The goblinoid's eyes glaze over momentarily, and then it seems to get a little more color, and then it starts gasping and drinking in air.
Nellie tries to reassure it, but it jumps and runs.
Pip: HEY! No, get back here! I've got a gun!
BTW, the police are here. Also, a familiar car pulls up. Agent Wankins is also here.
What is Pip going to do in the meantime? She casts Expeditious Retreat to chase after the goblinoid. She can bounce in front of it and try to stop it. In fact, she's going to try to grapple it. She rolls Athletics vs the Goblinoid's Acrobatics or Athletics. With no modifiers, Nellie rolls a 14 to grapple. The Goblinoid also rolls a 14. Contest of Strength time. The Goblinoid is terrified.
Nellie casts Message: Calm down a second, I'm going to get us out of this!
The response she gets back sounds like a dozen different voices screaming at once, each one in a different language.
Nellie casts Greater Invisibility - she twins the spell so make both of them Invisible. When she makes it invisible, the goblinoid can kind of read her intent. It's not struggling as much, but is still trying to get out of her grasp. She hears the cacophony of voices in her mind - it's not as urgent. It sounds like it's asking a question. She rolls a 14 Insight to try to figure out what it's asking. She can pick out a couple of words of Sylvan in the mess of voices. She can understand "Why" and "Unseen"
Nellie: If those people over there spot you, you're going to be in a lot more trouble than if you just stay and talk with us. She rolls a 19 Persuasion. The Goblinoid stops struggling. It's very anxious because it's no longer in the cover of the shrubs.
Nellie tells it to take her hand, and the two of them will go wait for her friends in the bushes. It takes her hand like a frightened child.
This creature's skin is mottled, like a toad or a frog.
Nellie messages Jericho and tells him that she's got the little green guy she saw earlier. We need to keep this little lad away from Interplay for obvious reasons.
Jericho advises Nellie to just take off, since we're about to get an unfortunate visit.
Nellie will take her little friend back to the van.
Griffin is at Shane's side, rooting around in his bag looking for more potions, because the one Shane took obviously didn't do any good.
The police are setting up a perimeter, there are some men in black, and our good friend Caleb Watkins is approaching.
Watkins: Well well well, look who we have here. Mr. La Croix, why am I not surprised to see you in a magic dome, with a vandalized piece of vintage Americana?
Watkins circles the dome and asks: Why this? Why any of this? What am I expected to believe transpired here? Because I see five people, uhhhhh, and a broken piano in a magic spectral shield.
Watkins has his own sources but he would like to see if they line up with what Jericho knows. He wants to know how our crew happened to be in the right place at the right time to apprehend this vicious piano.
Jericho says we need to help our injured lad. Can we please get Shane some medical attention?
Watkins can't help but notice we're missing someone. Jericho's not sure what his point is? Sometimes his employees take days off.
Watkins blows us off and pretends to be uninterested but it's obvious he's still watching us.
Serra rolls Stealth. She rolls a Nat 20 Stealth to flip Watkins off. He doesn't notice.
After a couple of minutes, the dome fades away and we're left with a broken messed up historical piano and ourselves.
Griffin feeds Shane his best potion - the Superior Healing Potion. 8d4+8. After Jericho finished talking to Willikens he also feeds Shane a regular healing potion for an additional 2d4+4 HP for a total of 34HP
While Ryo rolls HP, Nellie guides her new friend back to the van. Greater Invisibility lasts for only 1 minute. Nellie continues to Message this poor anxious child with reassurances - she rolls a Nat 20 to Persuade this kiddo that things are going to be okay. As she continues to reassure it, instead of trying to tug away it starts sidling up closer to her.
Nellie has the Artificer Cantrip Guidance in Reserve. Now she rolls something to be sneaky - she rolls an 18 + 3 so 21 Stealth vs Ant's 24 probably Perception. They need to get to the parking lot, which is where the strongest presence of police cars are. She misses one cop in his squad car. She hears the door open and the guy shout, "THE HELL IS THAT!?"
Nellie casts Greater Invisibility.
The rest of us see that something has caught Watkins' attention. Nellie bamfs out of existence which only causes more confusion.
Hilary wants to know if people can go through Crimeny's Bag of Holding to our office vault. No, Ant is not giving us an instant escape bag.
Hilary wants to know if there's a body of water nearby. Not really, no.
Shane could summon a demon.
Jericho can cast Invisibility, and Crimeny has a ring with Invisibility stored in it. We conventionally hide the Goblin, polymorph Nellie into Crimeny, and Crimeny sneaks out on their own.
Since there was a commotion caused by Nellie, the guys at the checkpoint are shooing leaving cars through more quickly.
Shane splits off from the crew to go check for Divination Spells with Detect Magic. One of the three guys searching the cars has something that looks like an iPad. He holds it up and it gives the infrared of the people in the car, he sees that they're people, and they wave them through.
So they'll see our invisible goblinoid.
Change of plans: We cast Polymorph on the goblinoid, Nellie will cast fly on Crimeny, Crimeny casts Invisibility - wait, no, that won't work, Polymorph is concentration. If Jericho is concentrating on a spell his wings will be out.
Crimeny doesn't have to fly, they can just walk out
Fly, Polymorph, Invisibility - we'll cast Fly on Crimeny, polymorph the goblinoid, Crimeny casts Invisibility on themself, and leave. Jericho hides until Crimeny is clear since he'll have to concentrate out of glamor.
One of the guys looks up and sees Shane standing around bloodily like a serial killer. He asks Shane if he's okay.
I'm gonna use Deception on them. "EVERYTHING'S FINE!"
Shane rolls Deception with Disadvantage because they have eyes. He rolls a 21 Deception. The lads roll 21 Insight. They're on the fence; they should be doing their jobs and getting this guy help, but he's sure he's okay.
Shane convinces them two cars drove out of the lot while they were talking to Shane.
Now the guys we'll be trying to pass are super paying attention to the cars leaving.
Nellie casts Fly on Crimeny. Jericho casts Polymorph on the Goblin. Crimeny casts Invisibility with the ring.
Crimeny takes a key from the piano and leaves a calling card.
"You didn't C Sharp enough to stop this" -R
We don't all have to leave at the same time, so there's no reason for us to leave at the same time.
Kug, Shane, Griffin, Jericho, and Serra leave in the van, and Nellie escapes with Crimebot.
Watkins shows up to talk to us again as we leave in the van. This guy really needs a hobby, or some friends.
He wants to know that we'll get in contact with him if we figure out what's going on. He also wants to know where Crimeny's gotten off to. Jericho wants to say, "Did you check up your asshole?" Watkins tells Jericho he should keep better track of his employees. Jericho counters that he's Crimeny's employer, not their slave driver. Crimeny can do what Crimeny wants.
Watkins allows us to leave. Five or ten minutes later Shane gets a text message. It's from Watkins. Shane whines a lot, and then he reads it. Watkins has texted him, "Jericho knows something. I want to know what he knows."
He gets another text message a few minutes later: "I also need the whereabouts of Pippinalla Daphwort."
Jerk.
Crimeny returns to….the bunker or the office? The bunker is probably safer for the goblinoid.
Nellie is continually sending reassuring messages to the goblinoid. She is able to communicate that she is Friend, and Crimeny is Friend, and calm the little guy down.
Where are the rest of us going? Back to the office, but maybe we should make sure we don't have a tail? Yeah. Let's go to McDonald's.
With a 5 Perception, Griffin notices that whoever fixed his burger put extra bacon in it.
Once we get back to the office, Serra points to her spell list and we're all fully healed.
Nobody else noticed anything with their slightly better Perception rolls. We head back to the office to check for more tails. We can send Kug home on time, or earlier if we're feeling generous. We roll Perception around the office now. The Perception rolls are better - Now Griffin notices he got some extra nuggets.
Shane and Jericho peek out the window intermittently with a 22 and an unnatural 20. They see a couple of guys passing back and forth. They've seen these guys take this route before. Neither of them recognize these guys in the sense that they don't know who they are, but they do recognize that these two dudes have been on this route suspiciously often.
We're having a normal out-loud conversation in the office while texting a different secret conversation in our group chat.
We're going to leave the office through the fire escape one at a time. Jericho will cast invisibility on us one at a time until we all evacuate the office. We'll invisibly go far enough away to uninvisible and grab an uber. Rinse and repeat until we've all left the office.
Crimeny and Nellie head to the bunker. They head down the ladder. Nellie and Goblin friend will stay by the ladder while Crimeny goes ahead to prepare Holt for what he's about to see. Goblin friend is very scared. They also look like they're wearing traveling clothes. Not bluejeans.
Crimeny walks into the bunker. If the door is locked, they unlock it, because let's be real here. They walk in, and they see Holt at one of his terminals. He's working on something, and he has a Virtual Boy mounted on his face. He is working, and has not noticed Crimeny's presence.
Crimeny has to take a moment to ponder how to get his attention. Finally they decide to knock on the wall. Holt jumps and screams. He removes the Virtual Boy and rubs his eyes, because Virtual Boy.
Crimeny asks if Holt has played Super Mario 64. Holt has. Does Holt remember the piano? Yes. That piano. Crimeny explains that the rest of the crew is leading Interplay in circles before returning to the Bunker to throw them off the trail. Crimeny explains that Holt needs to be very calm, because his excitable nature will likely cause fight or flight mode in our goblinoid friend.
While Crimeny deals with the manager, Nellie asks our goblinoid friend if they have a name. Ant has to look up the name he gave this little guy. It looks at Nellie and slides its hand out of hers. It gestures to itself with both hands. For the first time she's not hearing a cacophony of voices, she's just hearing one voice. It says "Self, Toit."
Its name is Toit.
Nellie introduces herself. Toit tilts their head. It looks like it's trying to understand language, and eventually sounds out, "Pippinellie!" He's like a little pokemon. Inky loves him instantly. Nellie explains that the man in the bunker is also a friend, but he is still learning, and he can get very excited, so if Toit wants to run, she gets it.
Nellie carefully leads Toit in. She peeks inside first, just to see whether Holt is freaking out right now because she doesn't fully trust him. Holt is not freaking out, but he is sitting on the edge of his seat, because, Discovery! As Nellie leads Toit further into the bunker, Toit looks a lot less sure of itself. "Pippinellie?"
Nellie asks if we can have some more lights? Toit isn't digging the creepy mad scientist lab vibe. Nellie introduces Crimeny.
"Crimbly!"
Holt kneels down and introduces himself. "I am Professor Gustav Holt! I come in peace!"
Toit struggles with this. Holt gets it, and rephrases: "Holt: Friend." Toit mimics him and then lists off their other friends. "Holt. Friend Crimnly, friend, Pippinellie." They wander around and pat everyone on the forehead. "Friend, friend, friend!" Feeling more comfortable, Toit begins to wander around the lab, and touches everything.
Nellie tells Crimeny about the Psionic link she suspects between the piano and Toit. Holt asks if the piano thing was similar to the statues yesterday? Maybe. She did see a goblinoid. Maybe it was Toit that she saw? She tells Toit she has something to show them. They have some temporary eye trouble once they take the Virtual Boy off their head
Holt has some footage of the statue attack.
Does Holt record everything he sees?
Holt: When your memory has been scrambled as much as mine, it tends to help.
Fair.
Holt pulls up the video of Treeborg vs Griffin. Toit climbs up on the console. "Wooooow!" They see the little people in the screen and slap their hand on the screen.
Toit has been to this place before. They made the statues move. It was Toit that Nellie saw yesterday.
Holt asks if maybe Toit left the message?
Crimeny has a photo on their phone; they plug into the projector to put the photo up on the screen. Toit is enthusiastic! Toit did that ! :D
Nellie asks for an explanation.
Toit takes Nellie's face in their hands, and places their forehead against hers -
She's had this experience before. When Nellie's mystery friend in the Right Hand of Mystra showed her the star map before they passed on. Toit brings Nellie back to that black inky place. She has a sense that she is floating along, and suddenly this inky black mess starts to dissolve around her. As that happens, she gets a glimpse of not just the Earthly Realm, but she sees the other five realms. And then she sees beyond that. She is suddenly lost in a membrane where she can see glimpses of all of the other planes - there's not just the six. There are many, many, many others. There are hundreds of planes, spanning away into the distance. If these were like windows with a definitive edge to them - the edges appear to be fraying. On all of these windows.
The six realms that we know of have much more deliberate and noticeable damage.
There almost seems like there's a layout to these things - she's seen this before. It looks like the Tree of Sephiroth. She can see shadows clawing at the windows of the roots of the tree.
The membrane is stopping these things from getting in.
There is one more thing pertinent to Nellie: If she were to overlay the map her friend gave her on top of what she's seeing, there's a much more definitive path leading further on.