Barnaby Vere, a cleric of Gradska, joins the party. Seven strange women reflect on the party's decisions so far. The lich Ishild recruits Haden at the Hollin Grimoire, telling him to capture an honest man, and Brandy Cranston recruits the party to spring her uncle Carter from Hobnail Prison. A mystery woman attacks Burgess Lorentz at the Mooncalf, but she dissipates into a moon shadow and escapes when the party beats her.
Rob joined the campaign playing Barnaby Vere, a cleric of Gradska. We decided that Barnaby joined the party after their fight at the Cathedral of Gradska in Game 4, and Rob briefly described him (my notes):
Barnaby, or "BV" for short. A cleric, but not by choice, he was drafted. He's 45, he walks with a limp, has more grey hair than he should. He's seen some stuff, and he's been guided to come and assist this party. As he's walking into the cathedral, everything is warping, he was supposed to be here at the beginning, but he got lost. His god is a god of war, not directions. Gradska is his god.
Rob also expanded on this a little more, later in the game.
I owed the party a few things from the last game, including rewards from Mia Whitman and Zoe Shaw. Mia gave the party 1,000 gp and an heirloom of Whitman house, which she explained was the second-to-last royal house of Hollin.
Coin of the Queen's Touch
Zoe Shaw gave the party 2,000 gp worth of Greencake and an heirloom on Shaw House, which was a privateering house:
Tin of Greencake
A small tin of Greencake, which Shaw House's privateers took from a Blackwells ship near Hilde. Zoe doesn't know what Greencake is, but she knows that the Blackwells eagerly buy it back, no questions asked. She estimates that the Blackwells embassy would pay about 2,000 gp for this tin.
Earring of the Mind's Eye
They gave the coin to Haden and gave the earring to Barnaby, because he was a WIS-based cleric. They gave the Greencake to Virgil to sell on the party's behalf, even though he had kept most of the money from selling the circlet in Game 2.
I also gave out some inspiration:
The party finished the last game at the Board offices near the Great Council Square. As they left the building now, they saw seven strange women, dressed in black Victorian dresses with buttons all down the front. They addressed Virgil, saying:
Virgil the Vagrant. Or after the fights with the harpies and Astrid, Virgil the Victorious sounds more correct.
Virgil replied, "For you madam, I would be Virgil the Vicissitude." (I believe it was.) They continued:
In real life, in Roman times, "Virgil" was the poet who wrote the Aeneid. Later in the renaissance, Dante wrote Virgil into the Inferno, and he guides Dante through Hell and Purgatory.
In the Inferno, Virgil represents human reason. For instance, Virgil tells Dante:
What reason can see here, I can impart; For what lies beyond, you must wait for Beatrice, For that is a matter of faith."
So it seems that Dante's Virgil might have your same skepticism about Ajana. Although, to the best of my knowledge, Dante's Virgil never said, "if god doesn't help him, then screw god."
The women recalled that Virgil had received the "REJECTED" sticker for rolling a 1 trying to use the cipher disk, and the "DISAPPOINTMENTS ALL OF YOU" sticker for rolling 1 initiative in the fight at the cathedral. So now they gave Virgil:
Ring of Abject Success
A plain copper ring.
Once a day, when you roll a 1 on an attack roll, save, or skill check, the roll instead becomes the lowest value that makes the roll a success.
They addressed Kiltak, and recapped his history of killing captives.
They asked if Kiltak was evil. Kiltak stood by the killings, saying they weren't evil, just brutal. If captives didn't cooperate, he'd kill them.
They woman asked if Kiltak could blame his sword Oath Keeper, and Kiltak went along, saying "I'll agree it's the sword." They asked what we actually knew about the sword. Kiltak said it belonged to his father, Kiltak used it in the military, and named it Oath Keeper to remember his promise to avenge his parents.
They addressed Elgis, saying:
"Elgis was banished from the family estate and cut off from its wealth and protection" and is making his way "not through inheritance, but through power earned in his own name."
What is Elgis's exact relationship with Garth though? Do they have any contact now? Does Elgis wish Garth harm?
Elgis said he wasn't in contact with Garth. Elgis didn't wish Garth harm, but wanted to shame Garth by overshadowing him and getting ten times his glory. He wanted to make Garth regret banishing him.
They asked if Elgis would be okay making his fortune by taking Garth's fortune. Elgis said yes possibly, he'd be very open to taking Garth's fortune, getting back into the old house, and booting Garth out.
Rob observed that the seven women were a Greek chorus.
The women addressed Haden:
Haden Greymark. You told Aurora that you didn't know who discovered the fairy children, but you do have pretty convincing evidence.
Are you actually working for Aurora, or against her?
Haden said that he was working against Aurora, and the women said that was playing a dangerous game.
The women questioned whether they should have given the Penance Stone back to Merrick, saying that he was the one who lost it in the first place, and that giving it back was like giving a loaded gun back to a baby. Kiltak said he'd fought tooth and nail not to give it back to Merrick but had been overruled, and the party discussed stealing it back from Merrick.
The characters wanted to sell the Greencake from Zoe Shaw and the She-Wolf's bell from Game 3, then go to Ishild's lair to find Laurel.
They went to the Blackwell's embassy to sell the Greencake back to them, as Zoe had suggested. The Blackwells bigshot at the embassy was noticeably irritated to again be buying his own Greencake back from the Shaws, but the party noticed him looking them over, seeing if he could use their services in the future.
Virgil made a Persuasion roll to negotiate the price. He rolled a 10, so the Greencake sold for the baseline price that Zoe had suggested, 2000 gp.
They went to the Admiralty office on the Great Council Square to sell the bell. They were referred right up to Parja, the Admiralty Secretary, who asked how much they would like for it. They asked whether Parja was surprised or impressed, or what his reaction was to seeing the bell. I said that Parja was a major figure - basically Hollin's Secretary of Defense - and wasn't easily rattled, but they could see that he was surprised and happy to see the bell. They asked for 1,000, and Haden rolled 14 on his bargaining Persuasion roll, so Parja gave them 1,200.
Astrid had told them that Ishild's lair was under the abandoned Gramercy Books in Braddock, and they went there to look for Laurel. When they got to the bookstore, they found it long-abandoned but still full of books, and they searched for any antique or valuable books, and for traps and secret doors. Barnaby rolled a 15 Perception and they found two valuable books:
Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, by Daria al-Haleem
Describes the construction of "four automatic musicians that floated on a lake to entertain guests at royal drinking parties."
+1 Arcana to the bearer.
Astronomical Clocks and the End Time, by Manfred Unger
The book says that some astronomical clocks are designed with the assumption that the universe will end in a finite time.
+1 Nature to the bearer.
I believe they gave "Astronomical Clocks and the End Time" to Barnaby and the "Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices" to Haden.
Barnaby 15 Perception roll also turned up a secret door:
He goes over to a bookshelf and swings it out from the wall. Behind, there's a door decorated with an elaborate tessellated pattern. Instead of a door knob, it has two fist-sized holes with a large lever next to them. When you put your hand into the correct hole and turn the handle inside, the hole will close on your arm as you turn the handle. When you've turned the handle all the way, it snaps into place and you can't remove your arm. You pull the lever with your other hand, your hand is released, and the door opens. If you put your arm into the wrong hole, this procedure will break your arm into a hundred pieces. It's an ancient and time-tested device - the most a perfect locksmith or thief can determine from inspection is that there's an exactly equal chance of each hole being the correct hole.
The players asked if they could further inspect the door or somehow deduce which hole was the correct one, but I repeated, "the most a perfect locksmith or thief can determine from inspection is that there's an exactly equal chance of each hole being the correct hole." I summarized by saying it was an abstract puzzle, they just had a 50% chance of picking the correct one.
Kiltak and Elgis had the most hits and they discussed who would take the chance, and Elgis volunteered. Elgis put his hand in the hole and pulled the handle to close the hole on his arm. He rolled 50/50 and succeeded - the mechanism released and the door opened.
They ventured inside, and found 10 large floors of bookshelves going down, each with an opening in the middle that let you look all the way down. At the bottom, below the 10 floors of books, they could see a dirt floor. They asked if there was any smell, and it smelled like books.
Virgil volunteers to Stealth down and explore. He went down the ten floors without any problem, and at the bottom, on the dirt floor, he found a large pit; next to the pit, a skeletal man or creature sleeping on a day lounge bed with an opium kit nearby; a man asleep in a cage nearby; and a woman asleep in a cage nearby.
There was some discussion about the "skeletal" man - was it alive or dead? Was it "skeletal" or a "skeleton"? Barnaby (I believe) rolled a Nature check to learn about the creature and rolled an 22. He learned that it was a lich, and that liches were 18th level. We also briefly discussed how lich would store part of their soul in an external object so that if you killed them, they could come back, like Sauron for example.
Kiltak wanted to kill the lich - Ishild - even though he was 18th level, and there was some talk of trying to break the game. He started to sneak up to the sleeping lich. Barnaby cast Command on Kiltak to try to stop him, but Kiltak made the save to resist the Command. Virgil then tried to trip Kiltak, which was an Athletics (for Virgil) vs. Acrobatics (for Kiltak) contested skill check. Virgil won, and Kiltak re-rolled using his inspiration, but failed again.
The commotion woke up the lich, the man, and the woman. He read the party's minds and focused on Haden. He learned that Haden was working for Aurora, and he asked if Haden would like to "step up" to working for him. Haden was open to the idea and asked what he would get from it. Ishild said he could give Haden powers beyond those Aurora had given him, and would give Haden Laurel if Haden did everything that Ishild required.
Haden asked what would be required.
Ishild's opium malaise suddenly disappears and he says:
Haden, do you know the riddle of the two guards? The guards guard two doors - behind one is freedom, and behind the other is a hungry lion. A hungry lion, Haden, and certain death. You want to ask the guards which door to take to escape. One guard only tells the truth, but the other guard only lies, and you don't know which is which. You can only ask one question - what question do you ask to find the door to freedom?
In recent weeks it has become extremely urgent to find the answer to this riddle, or at least the larger class of problems to which it belongs.
It has become extremely urgent.
Ishild continues:
A lesser mathematician might approach this riddle with just logic, Haden. But unfortunately, logic alone really doesn't solve everything.
Ishild gets up and approaches the man in the cage. Ishild says:
This unfortunate man is a compulsive liar, and goes by the name "Modalye Grellen." For the last few weeks, I've been using this liar to study the paradox, "This sentence is a lie."
As he reaches the cage, Ishild picks up a cruel-looking steel rod, and Modalye recoils to the back of the cage. Ishild says to him:
Is "This sentence is a lie", a lie, Modalye? And if you did tell me, how should I interpret the answer of a liar?
Modalye doesn't say anything, but cowers in the back of the cage. Ishild says more loudly:
Is the sentence a lie?
Modalye doesn't say anything, and Ishild starts to scream:
Is the sentence a lie, you lying traitorous sack of shit? Is the sentence a lie?
Ishild starts to violently beat the cage with the rod, and it rings and echos throughout the Grimoire. Modalye starts to scream in horror, but Ishild screams more loudly to be heard over him, "Is the sentence a lie?", creating a rising torrent of screams in which each tries to shout over the other.
Eventually Ishild becomes exhausted and steadies himself against the cage, regaining his composure a little. He says to Haden:
Is the sentence a lie? I tell you Haden, Modalye's pain will tell the secret of it, before he dies.
But before Modalye dies, he will also play the liar in the two guards riddle. But for the riddle, Haden, I also need a man who compulsively tells the truth. I need you to find me a compulsive truth-teller and capture him for me, or lure him here.
And if you would, also please bring me two doors and a hungry lion.
The party discussed how they could find an honest person. They considered just casting Zone of Truth cast on someone, but since the duration would be temporary, they thought that Ishild wouldn't be satisfied. They darkly suggested that children were honest and that they could give Ishild a child.
In the previous game, Dan said that Virgil wanted to donate some gold pieces to local orphans, and he thought that if he gave the gold to Chambers the Apothecary, Chambers could forward the money. I asked again if Virgil wanted to give the money to Chambers to disperse, or give it directly to an orphanage. For instance, there was an orphanage next to Foundling Gate, between Braddock and the City of the Dead. Dan said Virgil would prefer to give the money to Chambers and remain an anonymous donor.
Virgil gave Chambers 500 gold pieces to give to the orphanage.
Dan also told us (my notes):
Dan sees an evolution of Virgil - Virgil comes to believe more in Ajana...right now he’s not really able to believe. But there was a moment at the altar where Virgil learned that the True Name of Ajana is “everything true that can’t be proved.” That was a moment for Virgil, and he told Merric that “he sees.” So Virgil observes Merrick more and sees his behavior and sees if it rings true as Ajana. So he becomes more of a believer in Ajana.
And also with the orphanage: more of a Robin Hood, a fun loving jester but looking to steal from the rich and give to the poor, and make some kind of orphanage [Virgil's own creation]. Possibly get laid in the process. He's not a celebate monk. Evolving over time with that.
Barnaby's like a Crocodile Dundee. He can read and write, but he's from a family of herbalists who discouraged him from going to the city. Dragged into this by a wonderful god...who told him to heal people and keep them going. There’s an assistant to the god that Barn "deals" with and they are yapping in the back of his head telling him what to do.
The party still had time before their dinner with Burgess Lorentz and Terian, and I asked what they wanted to do. Barnaby has just come into the city from being a hermit outside of Lofton, and he wanted to find a room in the Mooncalf and get cleaned up. Elgis and some of the others went to the Mooncalf bar for some whiskey.
As Elgis and the others were getting their drinks, Brandy Cranston came into the bar, spotted Elgis, and sat down at the bar with him. Elgis knew Brandy Cranson as a Hobnail gang member, but also:
While Elgis was living with Garth though, he heard a few stray comments suggesting that Brandy is actually a spy who infiltrated the Hobnails for the secret police.
Brandy tells Elgis that the secret police have arrested her uncle, Carter Cranston, and taken him to Hobnail Prison. Brandy thinks it’s personal - Carter and the secret police chief Durer are partners in some business scheme that’s gone south, through the bank.
Brandy’s boss in the Hobnail gang is Ulrike, the gang’s second-in-command. Ulrike has agreed to help Brandy sneak into Hobnail Prison and free Carter.
Brandy knows that Elgis freed his girlfriend from Hobnail Prison, and asks if he would help break Carter out.
Elgis asked what was in it for him, and Brandy said she would make it worth his while. Virgil gave Brandy the eye, but Brandy didn't show any interest. Elgis wanted to "toy with her a little more," and lined up some drinks on the bar. As they drank together, Brandy quickly got buzzed and started to answer questions pretty freely.
Regarding freeing his girlfriend from Hobnail Prison, Elgis said he'd been found innocent. When Brandy responded that despite the acquittal, he had indeed freed his girlfriend from prison, Elgis said again that he'd been found innocent. Brandy insisted that, nonetheless, Elgis's girlfriend was no longer in prison, and Elgis seemed to accept that.
Elgis asked about the "business scheme" that Durer and Carter were mixed up in. Brandy said that it was a "tontine," a longevity insurance policy where multiple subscribers all invest and receive dividends from their investments. If someone in the tontine dies, their dividends are split between the survivors. So, conflict is inherent to the tontine. Elgis asked who the other tontine subscribers were, but Brandy said only the bank that organized the tontine would know that.
Rob wondered aloud why, if the Hobnail gang leader operates out of Hobnail Prison, and Hobnail Prison was the secret police prison, why the secret police hadn't busted the Hobnail gang leader. Rob rolled an Insight check, and realized that Ulrike was probably going into the prison with Brandy, not to free Carter Cranston, but to kill the Hobnail gang leader and take the top spot himself.
Elgis told more of his backstory to the party, and said that he did break his girlfriend out of Hobnail Prison. His girlfriend has ties to the gang, so he wasn't interested in killing the gang leader. He also told them that Brandy worked for the secret police.
The party discussed whether to side with the Hobnail gang or the secret police. Kiltak suggested they should break the Hobnail leader out and leave Brandy's uncle in. Virgil asked whether it would be better to side with the secret police or not, saying "this might be a pivotal moment for us," and that they could leave accusations in the Lion's Mouth to "blame someone else" if they had to. Elgis said that his father Garth had been the secret police head, and Fayne said that Elgis was a softy who was still hung up on the girlfriend he freed.
Kiltak and Virgil said they would join Elgis in breaking into the prison, with Kiltak saying he would follow Elgis anywhere. Haden and Barnaby "guessed" they would go along.
Haden wanted to learn more about fairies. Kasskar, the rogue trader who lived at the Mooncalf, was a former PC who'd seen everything in the original surreal Hollin campaign. I'd suggested him before as a good source on anything "fucked up" in Hollin, and Haden went to look for him.
Haden tracked Kasskar down to his regular room in the Mooncalf opium dens. Christian said Haden would ask Kasskar about fairies and get "really weird about it."
Kasskar knew all about fairies, which seemed to surprise Christian a little. Kasskar offered Haden a hit on his opium pipe, which Haden accepted. They had a stoned discussion in which Kasskar told him:
Haden thanked Kasskar and took his leave, and Kasskar said he was welcome back any time.
Burgess Lorentz and Terian arrived at the Mooncalf for their celebration dinner with the party. Burgess showed the party the newly completed portrait of his Mooncalf watch company, which showed the watch as strident posing warriors with pikes. It was painted on the west wall of the Mooncalf's barroom, alongside the portraits of past watches.
They picked a table in the courtyard, where they'd seen the Black Cabaret in Game 3. But just as they were sitting down:
You're just sitting down with Burgess when a gray-haired man, maybe a businessman, comes into the room. He looks around the room for a few seconds until he spots Burgess, then quickly walks over.
The man says he's Giles Ulm. Giles says when he got home from work just now, he found his wife Selma dead. Would Burgess come right away? When Burgess hears this, he becomes alarmed and says, "Selma’s dead? You know Tamir Rabi was found dead just yesterday at House Hanan."
And then immediately:
As Burgess and Giles are talking, a young woman comes into the room. She scans the room for a few seconds, then she also approaches Burgess.
She asks, "Burgess Lorentz?" Burgess replies, "Yes, ma'am, I'm Burgess, the watch captain."
The woman asks again, "Burgess Lorentz, of Lorentz House?" and Burgess replies, "Yes ma'am, Lorentz House."
When Burgess confirms who he is, the woman suddenly raises a long device from her cloak and levels it to attack him.
They rolled initiative, The woman getting advantage on her initiative roll for surprise, but Elgis and Kiltak still went before her in the initiative order. She struck out with her rapier and hit Elgis, who suffered psychic damage - a "waking nightmare." She also summoned swarms of Luna Moths to fight for her.
Although the woman had AC 16, the party consistently damaged her, and Elgis finished her with a critical in the fourth round. However, instead of going to the ground, she turned into a Moon Shadow and dissipated, escaping. Her "long device" and rapier remained behind, and rattled on the ground as she disappeared.
The party was pretty beat up, and Barnaby healed them with Prayer of Healing, giving every 17 points back. Barnaby said, "Best dinner party ever!"
The long device was a blunderbuss, and the rapier was:
Bat's Head Rapier
They gave the rapier to Virgil.
They asked Burgess about the attack, but he said he didn't know anything. Barnaby rolled Insight on Burgess, and it seemed that Burgess really didn't know why he might have been attacked. Elgis rolled Investigation for clues, rolling a 12, and I just referred them back to the Bat's Head Rapier description.
We had a little more time, and Virgil wanted to find the seven strange women again and ask about some of the party's investigations. He didn't know where to look for them, and he went to ask people at the Mooncalf, and found one of Miss Miller's toffers, Velvet. He Persuaded Velvet to go someplace quiet with him and questioned her. Velvet didn't know anything about seven strange women, or women dressed in long black dresses with buttons down the front. I believe that Virgil then asked about the missing Masters of Revels, Livingston, Ella, and Kent. Velvet did know that those three had come to Miss Miller's Thursday night salons, and that Miss Miller and Ella were involved in some kind of financial enterprise together. Regarding the "Thursday night salon," the players asked what day it was, and I said it was Wednesday.
They discussed what to do next, and I believe they decided to visit Miss Miller first, possibly at the salon the next night, and then sneak into the prison with Brandy and Ulrike.
The characters went to level 4 after this game.
Here is a Notebook LM AI "podcast" recapping this game.