Id: dc232fef-59f4-4b63-b4f9-7d6676b4df5a
SessionDate: 2024-08-25
GameDate:
{
	Day: 4
	Month: Istenarum
	Year: 3322
}
Author: Logan
Title: Escaping Playtime!
Text: "Cassian turned as he pulled the lever again, startled by a small doll grinning from ear to ear, \"Wanna play?\" they asked before stabbing the Druid. Kit rushed to his defense and got a fit hits in after Cass summoned magical vines to wrap around the murder toy. Just as he was about to strike with a stronger spell and Kit about to clench the living object, it disappeared, not invisible just completely gone from view. Cassian did what he could to heal the wound given to him before waiting for the others to come back from the secret rooms. 

While Cass and Kit struggled against the evil plaything, Saxon charged through the secret passage to assist Dheir and Xedran in their fight against a Cloaker. It attempted to wrap itself around Dheir again, but she managed to slip out of it as Saxon and Xedran took their own strikes against the creature. Soon the trio used their combined might and magic to bring down the creature previously though to be a cloak. After a brief rest, the three of them explored the target practice room and the burned remnants of a library next to it. While searching the rooms, Xedran managed to find what appeared to be a secret door but no way to open it. After they finished their search, the went back towards the secret passage that led them here. Cass just steadily flipping the lever until they notice and come through. Once the party was all together, the trio explained what they saw while Cass explained the doll showing up, attacking, and leaving with no more than creepy child giggling. 

The party took a moment to catch their breath and discuss next steps, Xedran went back to the small room a scroll and scrap of journal was found in, casting Comprehend Languages to discover it was the last words of the skeletal remains nearby. In it they described a secret passage no longer working due to fire in the library destroying the trigger. During this time, Dheir and Saxon found various pieces of furniture from the tea room and attempted to block the passage doors, hoping the need for a lever puller would no longer be required. Unfortunately, the mechanisms and doors of the passage were too strong as they crushed the pieces without struggle. 

Xedran brought the information he gathered back to the group after finding what appeared to be the location of the trigger. He stayed with Saxon and Kit at the griffin statue while Dheir and Cassian went to investigate this trigger. They found a small hole in the wall, Cass held up his Sky Orb and coaxed out the many tiny specks of starlight to form a Star Spirit in the shape of a spider. Once it solidified, he instructed the Spirit to crawl into the hole and follow it to the end. Once it found what remained of the trigger, it began to produce silk and attach it to the trigger before weaving a thin rope of spider silk back out of the hole for Cassian to pull gently, leading to a clicking noise and the secret door opening. 

The pair investigated the new room, finding it to be a coat room of sorts, only thing of note being a few plain cloaks hanging up and a door. Dheir investigated the coats for another cloaker but found none. They continued towards another door, where Dheir peaked her head out into a small empty courtyard, no magical field seemed to keep the elements away as plantlife existed in the small place. While looking around, Dheir noticed a small gate/door in the wall, she cautiously opened and looked out of it seeing the freedom the party were searching for. She came back and told Cass of the door and they both decided to get the other three before trying to escape (trying to work out how to get everyone through the passage as well). As they leave the coat room though, the murder doll appeared with their creepy giggle and attacked them, giving Cassian another deep wound before disappearing again. 

Meanwhile, Saxon and Xedran were playing patty cake and gossiping while sticking near to the statue. The doll appeared next to them with the same murderous glee and attacked! The surprise strike got a lucky hit on Xedran, but with a quick reaction from Saxon pulling their new magical sword, calling out the command and lighting it ablaze. They struck the doll with the flaming sword, harming it greatly, \"That's not fair!\" it called out before disappearing again. The pair took defensive stances, preparing themselves against such an evil and creepy thing as this murderous doll with a habit for disappearing. Xedran used his mage hand to pull the lever continuously, hoping the other two would notice.

On the other side of the passage, while Cassian used some druidic magics to heal some of his wounds, Dheir began talking him into leaving. Cass was in agreement but they needed to come up with way to get everyone on this side of the passage. They discussed teleportation, breaking the walls, but then Cass remembered one of the ancient constellations from the scrolls he got from Voynich's Manuscripts in Kuridu, in the shape of an octopus. They decided on the plan, and started to work their way back through the cloak room out to the courtyard and out the gate. There, Cassian focused his sky orb on the pattern of stars not often observed by those of today, pulling starlight out of the orb and solidifying it into an octopus, wrapped around Dheir. Dheir then dashed through the building, waited for the right moment to dash through the passage, finding the trio of Xedran, Saxon, and Kit. She put the octopus (that's currently holding it's breath while Cass looks through it's eyes) on the griffin statue and let it take the place of Xedran. She told them there was a way out and they should take it. 

With fast agreements, the party escaped through the same path Dheir took in. They found Cassian outside in the midday sun, and once they were all out he dismissed the Star Spirit. They all left the grounds of the Haunted Manse, eager to get back on the road after losing a day of travel. Though when they looked back before it was out of view, they saw on a balcony the murder doll smiling their creepy smile and waving goodbye, seemingly recovering from the burns Saxon gave them. The party continued forward, wanting to put the episode behind them, they walked till the evening letting Saxon find them a spot amid some hills. 

They settled in for the night, Dheir taking first watch. While it was mostly quiet, she did see a star falling from the sky in the direction close to where they were traveling. She noted the direction and made a wish. The night proceeded without further incident but as soon as they were all awake and she mentioned the falling star, Cassian quickly asked where it fell and went in the direction she specified. He didn't know what it would be, if this was an omen, or something new, but a star falling felt important. He lead the group onwards and they walked for a few hours before finding the crater it landed in. While still warm, it was cool enough to touch, a dark looking metallic rock. Saxon used their innate connection to magic to touch the fallen stone, learning that if the outer shell were to break, something would come from inside it. Cassian was determined to take it with them regardless, deciding there was a reason the stars had dropped this before them. Though he has never heard of anything coming out of a fallen star, the only way to find out for sure was to be there when it happened, and if it didn't happen soon, they were on the way to his Circle and they may know something. Saxon pulled out some rope and tied the meteorite up in a way to carry on their back. Cass suggested putting their cloak over it to better hide from any prying eyes while they were on the road. 

The party continued on their, course correcting enough and finding a road to follow. It wasn't long on this journey before they heard what sounded like combat on the other side of a large boulder. Kit did his best attempt at sneaking forward (but failed :( ) seeing a group of guards whose metal armor seemed almost completely rusted away and in danger of being eaten by a large Rust Monster. Saxon relayed this information to the group and they all prepared themselves to assist the nearly naked guards!"