Recap - 2026-03-12

The group woke from their long rest after barely surviving the worms in the city’s intestines the previous day. Gobbie, the only one who chose to sleep on the beds with the runes, woke up feeling relatively less rested than he expected. The rest awoke feeling rested and ready to face the day.

Timandra, their unwilling but capable host, made them another fancy breakfast, which they relished, and then they decided together to set off for the crypt wherein lies the Pyxis Of Pandemonium, told to Tag by his golden elf friend in the Molten Curtain.

Angelus told the group he was going to stay with Dreri, as she was not feeling well after the last battle coming so soon after the loss of her boat. He told them he would catch up later.

They decided to lose the imp that was assigned to them by Quintus, and with Tag’s magic, were handily able to do so. Celebrating their victory at losing their shadow, they followed the directions given to Tag, and found the city almost intuitively easy to navigate, as if the stone cobbles under their feet were a dry riverbed and they were following it downhill.

They were halfway to their destination when they came across a small clearing between the tightly-packed obsidian cylindrical buildings that pepper the city, and saw a man sitting on a bench.

He is tall and thin, with ashen skin, and is wearing rags, wrapped loosely around his body. Sitting in his lap is a ivory box, with bands around it seemingly made of the same Obsidian stone as the city. He gives you a half-smile as you approach, and shakes the box. No noise comes from the box as he does, and he frowns at it preformatively. “More’s the pity,” he says, opening it to show you it is empty, “Seems someone failed to pay their taxes this morning.”

Chibro first claimed to Tag that the man couldn’t see them, but then realizing this was not true, stepped forward to challenge him. Kor stepped in behind to support. Chibro asked the man how much the tax would be. The man explained that had they given their payment overnight, “the easy, civilized way,” it wouldn’t have been much, but as it was now, they would need to pay back payments. One or two years of their lives.

Chibro and the rest of the group balked at this, and Chibro asked the Tax Collector how long he himself would live, and under whose authority he collected these taxes. He shared he lives long past his natural life, as he gets to share in the taxes collected for the city, but that he naturally live hundreds and hundreds of years. He also said that he is collecting taxes on behalf of Nerissa, the High Prefect of Civic Affairs and Information.

Chibro offered to pay a “relative” tax: Six months of life, as his lifespan was less than a century. The Tax Collector balked at the short life Chibro had at his disposal, and, after consulting with the city, agreed. The group stepped forward and each gave of their life, and the Tax Collector’s box filled as they did, sounding more and more full with each shake he gave it. He then longstepped his way into the city’s shadow, and the group continued on.

Upon arriving at the location given to them, they found themselves up against the wall separating the lower ward from the higher wards. The obsidian wall stretched far in either direction, featureless. Tag cast Locate Object in an attempt to find the Pyxis, and found that it was beneath them. Kor inspected the wall, and found a slightly discolored section. Chibro and Tag both remembered some ancient poem about the Pyxis, or a box like it, and attempted to recite it, but were unable to speak the words.

Kor and Chibro decided to break the wall down, and as Kor broke through, three enormous red oozes pushed their way out of the wall, dripping onto the floor, and attacked. The battle was over quickly, with:

Josiah using his animated bullets to rip the oozes to shreds,
Chibro blasting them away with his newly earned weapon,
Gobbie valiantly and honorably saving Greebo between smashing the oozes,
Kor ripping them apart with his mace,
Greebo slashing at them, and then later, when made bezerk by his axe, at Kor.
Tag and Cath tag teaming the oozes and ripping them apart with blade and claw.

Once the oozes were defeated, they entered the crypt.

The first room they came across was a long and winding hallway, with a ceiling that sloped down, down, to a three foot tall passageway. Etched on the far wall was the sentence (in Primordial, which Josiah translated):

Thou that seeketh the source of humanity’s sickness, must first bear thy own ills.

Josiah had his animated bullets fly forward and tap the floor, and they set off a trigger that breathed a greenish miasma into the hallway beyond the plate. Chibro and Josiah decided to explore ahead, as Chibro had his Periapt of Health to keep himself well, and Josiah had his rebreathing helmet.

However, as Josiah crossed into the miasma, crawling on his hands and knees as quickly as he can, he felt the miasma affecting his exposed skin. He was able to shake it off at first, but it soon became worse. They both came around the first corner and saw a small basin set in the wall at what would be waist height for a small creature, filled with pure water. They both inspected it, and were not sure what to do. They touched it, and then continued on.

Kor, Tag and Gobbie followed after. Kor, arriving at the basin first, and remembered a religious ritual his tribe took part in before each ceremonial meal. He followed the practice here, washing his hands, then moved on, feeling sickly from the miasma.

Gobbie and Tag came to the basin, and decided to wash their hands as well, and continue on.

Chibro and Josiah came around the next corner, and discovered a basin at floor level. Chibro got down and inspected it, and drank some of the water. It tasted very fresh, but didn’t have any other effect. Josiah, now feeling very ill, decided to hop into Chibro’s bag of holding, trusting his friend to carry him through.

Kor came to the second basin, and continued the ritual, washing his feet.

Gobbie and Tag both came to the second basin, with Gobbie shrugging off the miasma’s effects, but Tag feeling very ill, and Tag washed his boots in the basin.

Chibro came to the end of the tunnel, and found no door or exit. He did find one more basin, and a pumice stone sitting next to it. Unsure of what to do, he waited for the rest of the group. Kor came around and washed his face, then reverently tapped the pumice stone. Nothing happened. Tag, feeling diseased, came around with Gobbie, and they watched as Chibro pulled Josiah back out of the bag and had him inspect the final basin. Josiah confirmed what Kor had been doing as the right path, and Kor washed his face, using the pumice stone to scrub away the miasma. At this, the door opened into another hallway.

In the middle of this hallway was a small pile of sand. Chibro inspected it, but found nothing odd, and blew it away with his trunk. Josiah also inspected it, but found nothing odd.

They continued on, and found a doorway at the far end of the hall. Chibro listened at the door and heart muttering or smacking or something from inside, as well as the chinking and plinking of coins.

He opened the door, and saw a six foot tall dais, with gold and treasure piled around it up to the top, making a ramp of treasure. At the top, he saw that which he held most dear in the world. The rest followed in, and saw their own most dear object.

For Chibro, it was his bag of holding, where all his worldly possessions dwelled.
For Josiah, it was the sister weapon to the one he carried, crafted by his creator and lost to him.
For Gobbie, it was Tyr’s laws, literal and present, on a golden scroll.
For Tag, it was a reminder of his past, a literal token from his lost home.
For Kor, it was his familial weapon, a maul passed down from generation to generation.

Chibro, after taking a moment, saw that the bag was not his own, and saw there was something off about it. As he did, a monster dropped from a hiding spot in the ceiling and began to devour the items. Each person saw the monster devouring their own object, and Tag, Kor, and Gobbie all ran forward to get their items. When they touched the pile of gold, they each felt a compulsion to focus only on the treasure, and on getting as much of it as they could. Gobbie, through the unwavering duty to Tyr, managed to shake it off and get his scroll from the monster before it could devour it.

Tag and Kor, however, were compelled to grab the gold, as much as they could. Each second that passed, they heard the monster chewing and devouring their most important possession in the world, and yet, they were compelled by the treasure. Finally, the monster swallowed their possessions, and Tag was knocked unconscious by the strain. Kor was badly damaged by it as well. When the monster had eaten its fill, it vanished, and the treasure turned to ash. Chibro found a Ring of Mind Shielding in the ash, and Gobbie realized that the Scroll was actually a Spell Scroll of Fey Summoning.

On the wall, they say another etching:

Thou that seeketh the source of humanity’s greed,
must first save that which you hold dear.

They continued onto the next room. Listening at the door, Chibro heard the faint sound of rain. He stepped into the room and saw, on the wall:

Thou that seekest the source of humanity’s misery,
must first make peace with your own.

As Chibro read this and entered the room, he was immediately teleported to a small 35 foot long hallway with stone walls on either side. He was waist-deep in snow, with a howling wind chilling his trunk and ears, the cold wetness of snow against his body, melting then refreezing as he walked, ice biting at his ears.

Gobbie followed, and found himself in an identical hallway, but his was filled with swampwater, muck, mud and was more humid than he could bear. There were swarms of bugs flitting around him, biting at him.

Tag followed, and was teleported into an empty 35 foot long hallway. He walked to the end, and stepped out into another hallway, and saw a series of five doors. He tried one, and, in his incredibly weakened state, took a moment to sit and rest.

Josiah followed, and found himself in an identical hallway, but his too was cold and icy. Unlike Chibro’s, however, he found himself sliding on ice, with incredibly thin air, gasping with each breath, as though on top of a mountain. Every gust of icy wind tore through his clothes like they weren’t there. The sleet cut at his face and his arms.

Kor followed, and found himself in a similar hallway, equally as miserable, stuck in a muggy, mosquito-ridden rainforest, with hot water dripping from the massive sun-warmed leaves.

They all fell into deep and abiding misery, trapped, unsure of what to do.

Chibro smashed against the walls on either end, at either side of him, blasting away with his gun, trying desperately to blow his way free. But he was trapped. Alone. Miserable.

Gobbie tried to magically compel the bugs to leave him alone, tried to force his way out, tried to channel the divinity of his god. But he was unable to focus because of the gnats. He was alone. Miserable.

Tag continued to rest, trusting his friends would find him.

Josiah cast spell after spell, trying to blow apart the wall, believing a door must be there, somewhere, anywhere. But the fire of his magic was whipped away by the wind. He was alone. Cold. Miserable.

Kor raged, smashed, but to no avail. He was alone. Miserable.

Finally, Chibro stopped. He took a deep breath. He leaned into his senses, tried to see if this was an illusion. The wind buffeted him, the ice bit at him. But it lessened, slightly, as Chibro sought to calm his mind.

Gobbie stopped, and focused on the tenets of Tyr, and the bugs slowed in their swarming.

Tag focused on the words on the far hallway, thinking through what they said.

Josiah stopped, and listened. He knew what magic looked like. He remembered the illusion of the last room.

Kor paused. Listened.

Chibro leaned into his senses, imagining the crackling of a fire, the smoke tickling his nose. He imagined the sounds of birds, the smell of a freshly plowed field. The feel of damp ground under his fingertips. He focused on what his newly aquired plane could become. And he calmed himself. He found peace, acceptance, among the misery. And the door opened.

Gobbie focused on the bugs, remembering the last time he was eaten by gnats like this, and the misery of it while on one of his myriad missions to Tyr. But then, he remembered the relief of returning back to his temple. Of the joy of the reunion. The taste of warm bread after weeks on the road. The absolute calm of completing a holy mission. He found joy, calm, and relief. And the door opened.

Kor raged again, smashing against the walls. Finally–finally, he remembered a lesson from his tribe’s elders, and fought to find his center. It took him far longer than the rest of the group, as his power comes from rage, not control. But he breathed deeply, focused on his tribe, and the door opened.

Tag pondered on his most miserable moments, and realized: He couldn’t remember it.

Josiah stopped, and focused on his magic. He was a wizard, after all. He knew what illusions were. He had dedicated his life to studying the arcane. He reached out his magical senses, and focused on the arcane energies around him. He calmed his mind as it expanded out around him, drifting into the eddies of energy that swirled past him. And as he did, he found calm. He found purpose. He found truth. And the door opened.

The group came together on the far side of the hallways. Sharing their stories (and Josiah’s never-ending soup and coffee), Tag realized: He had given his most miserable moment to Mirna the Mirror Witch, back in the Outlands. He no longer had a moment for this place to resurrect, and he was immune to this room’s effects. He sighed in relief, and then got up, as the group continued on deeper into the crypt…

Song(s) of the Session

Illness: https://youtu.be/Svfd999aej8?si=eS8bpNQmNTibJZCX
Greed: https://youtu.be/-j8ClcGAUtQ?si=BFYKskQNdeCy3PtO
Misery: https://youtu.be/7LBYrDx_784?si=aWyBfIBDct8cX1Ws

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