Reflections Campaign

14 min read

We’re not stupid!

Session 40

TLDR
Important Points:

04.23.0347 | Half Moon Bay, Valzelia

Colosseum
  • We’re still in the arena
  • The glowing light crystals are salty after being licked
  • Yul is mining, gets 2 crystals!
Foyer
  • We’re back in the foyer with the piano
  • The gate to the arena closes
  • Yul opens the piano, weird glow in the middle
  • The piano will respond to certain frequencies, ie. pressing certain keys will cause something
  • Bookshelf along bottom, a locked door
    • Leather bound, unmarked, books, they appear to be very well-loved, opened frequently, but the contents of the books are blank, it’s for display
    • Yul gives Bloo a candle, which Bloo lights
    • See the heat is burning away at invisibility, these books were written in invisible ink, the spine reveals, “Todos and memos”
    • Some of the books are written in a weird incomprehensible way, but individually they’re words you understand
      • Memos: “Don’t forget to remove the orb from the piano when not in use, to reactivate, put it in the piano, note to self, where did I put the damn sheet music, if I locked it in the vault on accident again, she’s gonna kill me, oops”
      • Todos: “Don’t forget to tidy the bookshelves in the knowledge block, it must be kept pristine and orderly for the master on the block”
        • “Enter library with the piano key” + drawing of a circle
  • Mirror at top of room is embedded into the wall
    • Close the wardrobe mirror doors
    • says: 2 destinations”
    • Nim tries to walk into the mirror, Nim’s hands slips into the mirror, feels like entering water except with no resistance at all, no friction
    • Nim walks through, floating, and sliding through, feel weightless except you’re not floating, except you’re moving, and then Nim gets spat back out into the foyer
    • To us, Nim was in and out instantly, but to Nim it was a long time, maybe 2 minutes(?)
    • Bloo tries to walk in holding the orb, the orb is prevented from entering the mirror, infinite resistance
    • The closer bloo gets to the piano, the more the glowing spot in the piano reacts, it’s shining brighter
    • Bloo puts the orb in the piano, and the bookshelf door unlocks, and our reflections in the mirror are visible again
    • Nim pokes the mirror again, hand goes through but it feels different, it’s cold now
Distortion Block
  • Bloo walks through the mirror, but split up from Nim, in a different space
  • Nim is in a long hallway, a little claustrophobic
    • Spot you appeared as, potential way back, sees a key
    • See a weird crystal that looks holographic
    • Nim touched the crystal and is now in a different room, see a pedestal with a glowing blue tesseract
  • Bloo
    • Alchemy circle, open book, blue mushrooms on the wall
    • Pedestal
    • Hourglass
    • Banner on the ground
    • Hear something, the hourglass flips and there is sand falling slowly, estimate 1 hour
    • Book:
      • The page is open to a diagram and some recipes
      • Note on the page hastily written says:
        • Don’t forget that the objects from the Conjurator are not real. For all alchemic and enchantment purposes, they are, however, real. This is useful for experimentation and temporary duplication, as they retain all of their properties! Just remember to remove the objects from the Echo Transmitter. Only one object can be cloned at a time.
      • Recipes:
        • Green Mushroom + Vase → Knapsack
        • Blue Mushroom + Vase → Glowing Vase
        • Blue Mushroom + Mirror → Oil Panting
        • Blue Mushroom + Broken Mirror → Fixed Mirror
        • Green Mushroom + Moss → Glow Moss
        • Blue Mushroom + Moss → Shadow Moss
        • Blue Mushroom + Green Mushroom + Fey Dust → Fey Sparks
        • Fey Sparks + Crystal + Key → Enchanted Key
    • The conjurator is not in Bloo’s room
  • Nim found the conjurator with green mushrooms and the key
  • Sarah and Yul enter as well, and we’re all in separate rooms
  • Sarah sees moss on the wall, vase, broken mirror, and a very large metal like object that is labelled “echo transmitter”
  • Yul sees pocket of floating fey dust, a pedestal (same as Bloo’s), and a crystal
  • Words aren’t coming out, all of our communication is psychic, sounds like Bloo’s minor illusion thing
  • Sarah puts the broken mirror in the echo transmitter, and inside the conjuration pops an identical replication of the mirror
  • Nim holds the mirror, Sarah takes out the mirror, and Nim’s broken mirror vanishes
  • Bloo puts a blue mushroom on the pedestal, everyone feels the ground shake
    • The shaking stops, and then I remove the mushroom, nothing happened
  • 3 circles which I can place items on
  • Bloo stands on the pedestal, 2 seconds of shaking, nothing happens
  • Bloo fans out the banner, it’s a quite nice silk fabric
  • Nim gets warped back to the foyer, no longer have key or broken mirror
    • Come back, key and broken mirror on the floor
  • Sarah puts the mirror and moss and vase into the echo transmitter
  • Nim sees a mossy vase with a broken mirror inside
  • They cannot be separated
  • Bloo steps on first, then Yul steps on, bloo gets kicked off the pedestal after Yul steps on but before it shakes
  • Bloo puts the blue mushrooms on the pedestal first, and then Yul puts the crystal on the pedestal
    • Shake, when Yul puts the crystal on, falling on the pedestal, there is a large audio cue that you can hear, as the mushroom gets ejected, hear something unlock
  • Nim and Bloo’s rooms are opened!
  • Alchemy table begins to glow, blue mushroom repairs the broken mirror, now we have a fixed mirror!
    • The mirror in the echo transmitter (sarah’s side) is also fixed!
  • Make a knapsack, empty, sarah has knapsack
  • Green mushroom bounces it out of the knapsack
  • Struggle to open the knapsack
  • As yul takes the crystal back, everyone warps back to their original rooms, and the bloo/nim door is closed
  • Knapsack on pedestal, everyone gets warped back, more hallways open
  • Find a blue square, stand on it, when standing on, feel very cold
  • Yul has a new room, a pyramid, clear glass cover over kettle and tea cups
    • Note, from the true master of this place, i leave a gift, it might come in handy
  • Looks like we’re in the middle of frozen mountains
  • Yul sees Sarah!!!
  • Yul moves the crystal and fey dust to Sarah’s room
  • Yul pulls the knapsack out
  • Everybody is back in their OG position
  • Yul puts a regrown crystal on the platform
  • Nim gets fey dust, to make fey sparks
  • Sarah removes the fey dust, no sparks
  • Fey sparks on pedestal doesn’t open anything
  • Fey dust on Yul’s side connects Bloo and Nim
  • Enchanted key on pedestal, as all of the doors open, hourglass stopped
    • the key, as its placed, it vanishes

Puzzle answer/description

The diagram is a map of the rooms. There are 2 pedestals, one in Bloo’s room and one in Yul’s room. Only one object can be on the pedestals at the time. The diagram tells you what objects will open what hallways. Get the enchanted key and it is solved.

  • room with pyramid, glass case over tea cup and kettle is gone
  • Gaze into the pyramid, currently closed, but now appears to react to us, hear things on the other side, cackling and laughing, sneering, an annoying voice, Tabitha’s voice!
  • All start to feel a draft
  • 4 cups and a kettle, and it smells quite nice, there is steam, smells floral
  • Bloo drinks a cup of tea, perfectly brewed even tho it’s been sitting here for a while, floral jasmine notes, yum, feel calm, feel at ease, get temporary hp, and restore a spell slot
  • Everyone drinks a cup
  • In front of the pyramid, feel like getting sucked in, get the feeling this is one-way
  • Walk to the frozen tile, see breath only above the tile
  • Bloo steps on tile, it’s water, hear a crinkle (crunchy paper?)
    • A page that has nothing on it, looks torn, mending, dry and not torn
  • Bloo holds it up to fire, it’s a memo, has 4 numbers on it: 5 | 20 | 0 | 4
Foyer
  • We go back and go to the bookcase
Knowledge Block
  • Locked vault door, spinning bookshelf, more bookshelves, lanterns, a small study
  • 5 20 0 4 is safe dial, open the vault, get the sheet music
  • The sheet music is labelled: the song of self
  • Some interesting books, it’s an archive

Principles of Magical Analysis by Walt Riden

Let denote the set of spells in an arbitrarily large spellbook. If you are a wizard in this class, we can safely claim that , as otherwise you would not have made it this far. Now in an exercise left to the reader, prove that for all , where denotes the level of a damaging spell, prove that the damage function is bounded by some

Magica by Darnit and Fotte

Suppose we have a spell that draws from four aspects. We make no assumption on what such aspects, of course, as what is important is that there are four of them. Condensing the magical energy into a singular core will allow us to draw from each of the four aspects. However, we shall prove that adding a fifth would result in an unusable spell. This is due to the decomposition of these spell-sources. Analyzing the way these sources can be permuted results in a particular collection that is unsolvable.

  • Tattered book, well annotated

Empathy, and other Weaknesses of the Mind by T-

A pseudoscientific psychology text outlining “root causes” of weakness. The author claims empathy is the most striking weakness of humanity, leading people to become easily manipulated. The author is scratched out but “Ta” can be seen.

Humanity is unique among the other specimen in Faltera. Uniquely weak, due to their minds. You see, humanity is vulnerable to a specific and unusually overt form of manipulation. By abusing their weakness — their empathy — it is possible to force them to submit.

Bloodmancy and Life Magic by S. Clero

Foreword: None of this work could have been done without the help of my mentor, the famous Astrid Eredin. This work was supported in part by a grant from the Fusillan Royal Treasury in partnership with Parli Academy of Wizardy and Science.

  • thick on blood manipulation
  • infamous banned textbook, magical seal on it
  • protected by a glyph of warding, can open to the forward
  • Yul and book, hurts her brain, feels like she is forgetting something
Foyer
  • Go back to the piano
  • Sarah plays the piano, on the 3rd try, the orb is glowing!
  • The orb rises up, and now the mirror is starting to look a little different, it looks black and white
  • Our reflections are still there, but it’s a little different, to Nim and to Sarah, look mostly the same, a little fuzzy and blurry
  • In yul’s reflection, see an orb and several shards of the mirror swirling around, encased by orbiting blood vessels and beating like a heart
  • In Bloo’s reflection (sorean), see the soul of what once was, it seems to be a combination, last time you reflected, when we saw all those visions in the reflection when talking with Edwin, reflection looks diff now, looks like an amorphous fluid combination of Sorean and all the masks that I’ve worn as Bloo
    • But not connected, coexisting
  • Back into the mirror!
Reflection Block
  • Pop out of blue orb
  • On all 4 sides, there are different mirrors
  • Right mirror, standing mirror, sarah sees their own reflection
  • bottom mirror, broken, yul sees their own reflection
  • Left mirror, plain, nim sees their own reflection
  • top mirror, ornate, bloo sees their own reflection
  • We all step into our mirrors
  • Nothing but a black void, feel like falling, feel like being watched, hear laughing, cackling, sounds wicked, it’s the same laughter of Tabitha, she’s laughing, but she’s not the one watching us, feel a different gaze, a more powerful gaze, Nim starts to feel a little uneasy
  • Feel a presence judging us, but just as it all ends, as the falling is slowing down, and then we’re on our feet in front of the mirror, but the blue orb behind us is spinning fasts, something shiny, metal, inside it
    • It appears to be very very powerful
    • It’s oddly heavy for how slender it is, it’s a circlet, a headpiece
    • It looks like an identical copy of Goddess of Honesty Veritus circlet from her temple way back when
    • It’s a genuine article
    • Sarah has a helmet with the circlet indentation of the same circlet (helmet at beginning of this dungeon)
  • Sarah puts the circlet in the helmet
    • Feels her head is no longer clouded by extraneous thoughts, feel a sense of resilience, the helmet begins to glow, feel that she cannot tell a lie
    • Get helmet with following qualities:
      • Mental Fortitude: Your mind cannot be read against your will, and you can detect when any creature attempts to read your mind. You also have resistance to Psychic damage.
      • Truthful Tongue: You cannot speak any lies while wearing this helmet, however you are allowed to lie by omission or stretch the truth. You gain +2 to Persuasion rolls.
    • Yul takes the helmet
Distortion Block
  • Hear Seliph’s voice through the pyramid
  • Less his voice and his muffled screaming and struggling
Tabitha’s Block
  • In the corner, suspended in the air, see Seliph, struggling, bound up by several bony hands that are wrapping and tying him up
  • Seliph looks distraught and mortified, his mouth is covered by one of the bony hands
  • The hands end in shadow, see strings attached to the hands
  • “Defying the warning of Ruin!” says Tabitha
  • Similar pyramid thing, and staircase that leads to nothing
  • Gravity is lower, jump height is tripled, feel light
Tabitha Phase 1 Fight
  • Yul: dashes up the staircase then dashes towards her, walking on air?? hiding behind a wall
  • Tabitha: summons 2 orbs
  • Sarah: runs up
  • Bloo: runs up, casts Mirror Image
  • Tabitha: Eldritch blasts, twice on Sarah, one hits, Sarah spell cleaves, once on Bloo, misses
    • Cast Hex on Bloo, -Charisma
  • Nim: moves behind Bloo, hunter’s mark on Tabitha, and shoots Tabitha, hits
  • Orb 1: hits Bloo’s duplicate, bloo has 2 dupes remaining
  • Yul: moves around the wall, sacred flames orb 2, 6-7’d and burns and vaporizes orb 2
  • Tabitha: lair action, casts Vortex Warp on Nim, Nim gets warped to the right, between orb 1 and Tabitha
  • Seliph manages to wring his left hand out
  • Sarah: goes up to Tabitha to hit twice, hits once misses 2nd, cuts through Tabitha, notices also cutting strings, lop off one of her hands, it vaporizes, immediately cauterized
  • Bloo: tasha’s mind whip + silvery barbs, hits
  • Tabitha: casts Hold Person on Nim, Nim saves
  • Nim: Planar warrior, shoots an arrow, piercing straight through her head, strings collapse, descends into the ground, the strings binding Seliph fall, but he’s still panicked
  • Seliph: “That’s not her main body”
  • Hear cackling, still an active orb, hear more cackling, as the body falls, but more strings descend, she laughs, hear her laugh yet again, all that dark void around you, all replaced with heads of Tabitha laughing, spinning around in circles, look up, Tabitha’s body (with arrow in head), floating up, towards a monster, worse than spider dragon, it descends, 50 hands reach down with 100 heads, all of Tabitha’s face, eyes bloodshot, long noses bumping, blood dripping, she is laughing hideously
    • Hear several snaps of bones as her neck careens over, all 100 of them, all warped, her face, a crack, all 100 snap into a smile
  • Seliph is free!

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