Arc 2 The High Priestess

II The High Priestess

Session 1

The party started the session off by getting by Feste and meeting up with Dianna backstage. Dianna was disappointed to not see Bruniik, but was still touched that the party showed up to support her. Patches gave her fake flowers and Andrea gave her a picture she sketched of her during the performance. They started to tell her of some strange goings on (drugged members of the audience, strange masked figures in the rafters, bluebird seeming afraid). Dianna had answers to some, but not all-- she did not answer any though, as she did not feel it was the time or place to talk about it.

After much discussion, the party split up to look for clues. Andrea, Hapa, and Patches went to investigate the rafters. Hapa and Patches stood guard as Andrea scanned the different levels. She found a trapdoor that lead to the roof, though no ladder or staircase led to it. She spider-climbed up and got through to the roof. It was pretty barren, and she found no clues on the roof. She noticed people going to a building behind the EHA, and made a note of it. She made her way downstairs as Patches and Hapa distracted Adelaide who was trying to kick them out. 

Gesiqu'h and Simon explored the halls and made their way to Bluebird's dressing room. Gesiqu'h found a bottle of something smelled off-- something that nearly made her tear up and twisted her insides, yet it was not alcohol. Gesiqu'h stashed it as "evidence." As they turned to look further into the room, Bluebird entered. She was shocked, but not afraid. Gesiquh explained that Dianna had allowed them back so they could tell her what a nice show it was. Bluebird was oddly distant through it all. She asked if Gesiqu'h had been around the city, to which she mentioned she had recently arrived. She asked about the College district, mentioning it was nice this time of year. Gesiqu'h and Simon left, and talked about how weird and kinda crazy she was.

Dianna and Radmar went to talk to Benji, Igna, Maxwell, and Bruniik. Bruniik was a little off-- he complimented the show and ran off with Igna. Benji tried to soften the blow, but ran off as well. Dianna was furious. Radmar and Maxwell tried to calm her down, but she just became sad. 

The rest of the party met up and discussed their findings and their plan. After a while, they left for Studio 39. Upon arrival, they met Shapesphere at the door (again). They went in and went to the bar. They talked for awhile, Dianna mainly explaining what had happened with the Puck Pills and her strange encounter with the man from the sewers. Eventually, a barback got tired of them taking up space and got their attention. Michelangelo was the barback and got flustered noticing who was in the group. Dianna tried to apologize for cracking his face with a prop sword, and went to give him the flowers Patches had given him. He was conflicted and upset, and "had to take a moment." 

Gesiqu'h tried to focus on Michelangelo's emotions and ended up getting overwhelmed with the music. It sounded like the train station when she left her father for City 20-- Michelangelo seemingly turning around and turning into her father. She felt pulled from him by a cold grasp as she was overwhelmed with a dark purple aura that practically was strangling her. Simon shook her out of it, and tried to comfort her. 

Session 2

The session began underground at Studio 39. Feste offers the party some Puck Pills. Everyone declines for various reasons, leaving Dianna to accept after Feste questions why she hangs out with them. She begins to hallucinate and takes Radmar out to the dance floor. She immediately slips and falls in front of Tybalt who makes some snarky comments back and forth with her before leaving. The hallucinations got the better of Dianna and she found him very attractive and went after him. She tried to pin him to a wall (in a sexy, flirty way) and ended up just falling onto him. He rejected her, but made a comment that he should find out if anything was different with the Puck Pills.

The party gathered up Dianna and they began to walk home. On the walk, Andrea spotted Hah'nu-- but the party got caught up talking with each other and he ran off. The party got home safely, and Simon lingered to say goodbye to Gesiquh. He remarked that he'd think of a second date idea and then he'd come find her to take her out. As he left, the reflection of the overhead light in his eye caught Gesiquh by suprise-- it was a purple glimmer in his eye. Conflicted, she went to see Ceridwen.

She asked Ceridwen about her dreams and if she could connect to Caiphon in order to get clearer answers instead of strange sort of portents of the future. Ceridwen warned against it, but offered her tea to help her channel the Dream Whisperer in her dreams that night. She went off and meditated with her tea and went to bed.

That night, she dreamt her room had a tentacle covered floor and that purple light was streaming in from the window. She tried to navigate the dream before finally connecting to Caiphon. She asked him what the deal was with the purple glow the things connected to her past had and why Simon had it too. Caiphon said that the glow is a mark left by his interference. Caiphon mentioned that he did not know her Simon, but might know some "Simon character." As their connection ended, Gesiquh saw many glowing purple figures-- one of which she recognized as Ceridwen. She noticed several books glowing in different colors in this purple cosmic space. She did not see Simon in the lineup. As the light dimmed, she saw a single pair of glowing purple eyes set into a pale-white face with misty marbling shifting beneath the surface. Then she woke up.

The following day was 40 degrees colder than most other days this time of year, and incredibly windy. The party got dressed and planned to go with Dianna to the Theatre to catch up after the performance. Gesiquh was approached by Ceridwen who gave her the name of a text to look for, and suggested that she ask the Sages for help-- namely the one in the market district who could help send her in the right direction if they don't have it. 

The party set off and saw how empty the streets were on such a cold day-- other than the Illithid. 

In District 13, Andrea noticed someone rummaging through an old truck and trying to stay hidden. She approached and talked with the guy who kept denying everything he had been doing. He ran off and Andrea followed, as did the rest of the party. Andrea noticed the CP officers that were on their way turn around after their radios started to go off. The party introduced themselves to him (after he got out of the dumpster he was hiding in). He introduced himself as Wilhelm, and then left. Andrea was going to follow, but had a moment of crippling fear come over her. Dianna noticed the nearby cameras were out in the direction he was headed, and that none of them were turning to look towards her after they came back on. She ran after him with Radmar while Gesiquh helped Andrea overcome her panic attack.

Dianna and Radmar went down another side street and saw Wilhelm trying to get through a door. On the other side of him, CP officers were beginning to round the corner. Radmar recognized that he used Knock to open the keypad-locked door. The CP officers went by on their usual patrol, Radmar and Dianna not drawing attention to themselves. The others joined back up, where Radmar mentioned that he saw Wilhelm use magic and that Dianna needed to talk to him about something. They followed inside.

The room had some tech trash and some other scraps on one side, and the other was a strange computer that seemed to be modded with Illithid tech. Radmar tried to detect thoughts, but was overwhelmed by, seemingly, The Overseer. Radmar appeared possessed by the faceless voice for a moment before short circuiting and passing out. 

Session 3 

The session began with Radmar experiencing a telepathic connection to an entity that sounded like The Overseer. He saw memories playing on screens like they were video files. He saw a woman made of data and code attempting to look at a file that says "Access Denied." She asked him what the file was, and he stated that he did not know. Neither had access to it, and so she took a copy of the file with her as she left his mind. 

Radmar woke up to Dianna and Andrea shaking Radmar and slapping him to try and wake him up. He felt fine, aside from the jostling he was getting from the two of them. After they caught up on what each other saw, they thought that finding Wilhelm would be the best idea to get Radmar's memory back/unlocked since he was the one who could have done it.

Andrea and Dianna explored upstairs, where they found a shrine to the Overseer. Horrified, Dianna tried to keep Andrea from messing with the equipment on the shrine. 

Radmar followed where Wilhelm may have gone, and found that he was just too late to catch up to him. Lane followed and found a small note in a drawer that stated "Praise Be to The Overseer."

Radmar and Lane went up to join the other two who were tussling over Andrea trying to touch the shrine. Radmar walked up and fiddled with the mouse and keyboard to reveal a long log. He clicked two videos and it showed the same person at the start of the log, many years ago, to now. This individual was excited to worship the Overseer and mentioned various religious rites and rituals that he would perform in Her name. He even mentioned having the hope to be upgraded to a High Priest soon. 

Dianna messed with the computer and pulled up a map of the city with many glowing dots, many of which were located in District 8. When they attempted to identify the dots, the computer asked for a password. They failed and got locked out and the room turned red. The party fled. 

On their way to the theatre, Khrystahl waved Gesiquh and talked to her about Simon and warned her about his commitment issues with her friends. She made a few comments that revealed a bit of an abusive/bully relationship that her friends have with her, adding to the confusion with Lane and Simon's relationship.

Flashback to the bar at Studio 39 the night before and Patches was asked by Hapa if he wanted to go for a walk. Patches accepted and the two went up to the street. The two walked around and Hapa asked where Patches wanted to go and he said to "surprise me." Hapa got very excited and took Patches up to District 8. Patches had his eyes closed the whole walk until he felt the ground beneath him disappear for a moment. When he opened his eyes, he saw the whole of the city lit up in its nighttime lights glittering before him. 

Hapa and Patches talked about magic for a bit, leading Hapa to "teach" Patches how to do his magic. Patches unsuccessfully did any magic, but Hapa helped him along. Eventually the conversation took a turn and they talked about home. Patches excitedly talking about how he could never do the magic that Hapa could do, but talked about his skill getting out of a locked box and other tricks. Hapa remarked that his skill with "magic" was just like Patches's performance skills. 

The discussion went on and Hapa became less animated and more melancholy as they felt more homesick and lonely. Patches turned into a bear to cheer them up and Hapa leaned into him. Patches and Hapa made a promise that they'd get Hapa back to Wildspace and that Hapa would show Patches around. 

Hapa falls asleep for a time before Patches wakes him asking how they were gonna get down. Hapa tried teleporting them again, but failed. They had to wait until morning. Hapa prestidigitated Patches's clothes to be warm, as if just out of the dryer. 

In the morning the two jumped off the tower and Hapa teleported them onto the street safely. The duo went off and ran into Andrea, Dianna, and Radmar. They discussed what had happened and then went to the theater. Dianna met with Lady Hermia who said that they would have Dianna in more shows coming up. In the meantime, she might need Dianna to fetch another package from the City Crawlers, as the contents have gone missing from their last package as of the last night. She said it was a cocktail they make that Bluebird refuses to perform without. Dianna said she could go get more, and offered to pay-- but Hermia assured her that would not be necessary. Before leaving, Dianna asked about the masked/caped figure in the rafters. Hermia became visibly upset and said that it was probably nothing more than a shared delusion or a side effect of the Puck Pills and nothing more. 

Dianna went to leave, and Hermia asked for Dianna to not injure any more of the cast or crew. 

Session 4

The session began with Dianna stepping out of Lady Hermia's office, greeted by a crew pressing their ears against the door. After scolding them, the party moves to the main room where Dianna explains that Bluebird's bottle is missing and that she has to look for it. Gesiquh returns to the party and gets caught up on what was going on. Andrea and Dianna go to find bluebird's quarters while Gesiquh, Radmar, Patches and Hapa discuss plans. Gesiquh says that she has something to say, but can't say it in the speakeasy-- Hapa and Patches can tell that she knows something about the missing bottle-- so the party heads outside.

Meanwhile Andrea and Dianna find Bluebird in her room. They ask her about her missing item, to which she nearly forgot she was missing. Dianna teased Andrea about dating Bluebird, to which Bluebird was oblivious. They ask her a couple of questions, and it seemed as if she was trying to say something but was forced to say something else-- as if she was speaking off a script instead of a conversation. Dianna and Andrea left feeling uneasy.

The party outside discussed the bottle Gesiquh stole after they all promised not to talk about it to Dianna. Radmar and Patches smelled and tasted the liquid, both having adverse reactions. Radmar eventually realized that the dreadful memories he was recalling when smelling the drink were moments of heightened emotions-- and heightening his emotions at the moment he was smelling it. He determined that the liquid had some sort of connection to the Shadowfell. At this point, Dianna and Andrea rejoined the party. 

The group discussed what was found out, keeping the missing bottle in Gesiquh's bag a secret. The party started to tell Dianna that the Passerine Society was drugging Bluebird in order to keep her around. Dianna got angry, and a very scared, when it was brought up that perhaps Bluebird was a lot like Dianna once upon a time and that Dianna could be the next Bluebird if they don't stop whatever is happening. Dianna did not want to hear any of it and threatened leaving the group, but Patches de-escalated the situation and the party went back to the apartments for brunch and to retrieve the Clown Map they received a few days ago.

After their brunch, the party went back out to District 19 to search for landmarks on the map. The party found a backlot filled with discarded theme park equipment. In its center, a vile carousel. Their attempts to sneak in and look around were foiled by Buddy Buttons. The party geared up for a fight, but Buddy spoke as if they knew the carousel was a sort of test for initiation. The party went along with it and got on the desecrated horses. 

Radmar and Hapa got on the horses adorned with bones and severed heads. Gesiquh and Patches got on the horses covered in food but missing mouths. Dianna got on the armored and blood stained horse. Andrea got on the oozy, smelly horse. The carousel began to move and distorted music played. Suddenly, Dianna throws a javelin at Gesiquh-- but misses. Andrea manages to get a clean shot off on Radmar. Their sudden bloodlusts were sated after the music played longer. Then Gesiquh and Patches became debilitatingly hungy, becoming Exhausted. Radmar also got ravenously hungry, simply becoming distracted. The carousel continued to move and the party called out to each other, apologizing for all that has happened in the minute that has gone on. Gesiquh, Patches, and Radmar all took psychic damage as they thought they saw pustules bursting out of their skin. The carousel kept moving along, testing their willpower. Gesiquh called on Caiphon's guidance, but it left her worse off than when she started. Everyone but Patches and Hapa felt their essence being drained, causing them to lose a hit die-- except for Radmar who lost two. The carousel began to slow down, but it had one last test for them. Everyone but Gesiquh lost a hit die-- except for radmar who took necrotic damage for his lack of hit die, leaving him nearly unconscious. 

Session 5

The session began with the party recovering from the Apocalyptic Carousel. Dianna was adamant about finding supplies to help Radmar, and even carrying him away-- but the party opted to have Hapa go find supplies after Radmar insisted he's been in worse situations before. Hapa created a duplicate of themself and sent if off to find a medical kit. The party went through the newly opened passage to the Carnival to find a road of different game stands. Patches could tell some of the clowns just wanted people to play their games, while others were intent on them losing. Meanwhile, Gesiquh had a brief moment where she saw the carnival from City 12 take over and a memory of going with her parents played out before her.

Dianna helped Patches find the right hammer to use for the Strong Man game in efforts to give him an edge. Patches became hybrid-bear Patches and critically crushed the bell, destroying the game. The clown gave him the Maul of Mayhem, and offered a second prize for breaking the game. Patches gave the Battle Rattle to Dianna for helping him. 

Gesiquh and Radmar went to play cornhole together. The others tried to distract the opposing clowns, leading one to accidentally score on themselves. The game was tied, so they went into a sudden death-- which they tied in again. After a final sudden death, Gesiquh and Radmar won. Gesiquh left with rose colored glasses and a halfing book on agriculture. Radmar left with a bitten sun hat and a glass figure of a rust monster.

Andrea did the Balloon Darts game, and tried to smooth talk the guy into letting her use her gun, but he refused. She only got two balloon popped on her first attempt. After trying again, she managed to get all 5 and she walked away with an opalescent conch shell that she could hear some faint laughter come from inside. 

Dianna went to the skeeball set up and flirted with the clown there. He said "sure" to Dianna's request to "clown around." She managed to get 270 points and got a bag of animal balloons (19 balloons). Patches suggested that Hapa try, and they got 240 points-- also leaving with a bag of animal balloons.

Radmar made a pit stop at the caricature stand and got his portrait drawn. The party then gathered up and followed a beckoning Buddy Buttons to the main tent. The party entered and Dianna approached the lone table with the lone phone in the center of the ring. The party answered the three riddles without fail, and saw the Gibbering Mouther sulk away. Gesiquh and Dianna noticed how Buddy became Horrifying and dripped black ichor from his eyes during the last riddle. When he came out into the ring, he had cleaned up his face and gave Dianna the key in the form of a large clown nose.

The party set off to try and find the next location on the map. Radmar deduced that it would be in some warehouse near the stadiums. Dianna led the party there and they began to search. Andrea followed the clues and led the party to a back alley where there was a clown-face door that was missing its nose. Dianna raised the clown nose to the door, where it was revealed to be a mimic. The mimic clung to the door, awakening that mimic too. The door shifted to the side and the party entered.

The party could see the dimly lit fun house mirrors and heard the discordant mumbling of something under the tarp-covered cage in the center of the room. 

Session 6

The session began with the party entering the warehouse at the end of the map. The party found a large cage with a strange Death Kiss inside. It demanded to be entertained or the party would be devoured. A music box was wheeled in and the party began dancing. After a moment, the music switched as four boxes were brought in. They fell open and four corrupted humanoids were revealed and they charged at them. 

They mostly maintained their dancing while combating the creatures, satisfying the Hierophant of the Dark Hunger. Their reward was a single request each. 

Radmar asked for the lost treasure of circus-ness, which turned out to be a strange reverse photobooth magic mirror thing. He later went inside and saw that he had to say something he wanted to see and press the large button, to reveal whatever it was he wanted to see. He asked to see his mother. It showed an eladrin woman standing on a beach. She did not seem well, but he couldn't gleam much else from it. 

Andrea asked about if Dusty was alive. The Hierophant responded "that's one way to say it," insulating that Dusty was not in the best of health, but was also not yet dead.

Gesiquh asked where is Gesiquh Chlaerq, causing the Hierophant to go mad temporarily. It could not come up with an answer, and offered another question. She asked if her friends were dead. It was unable to say for sure, stating that "they are... and they aren't..." She noticed a dark aura around the Hierophant, but saw a few small glimpses of purple in the midst. 

Dianna asked for someone to fall in love with her. The Hierophant gave her a Hadaran Love Potion that will make the consumer hers forever. 

Hapa asked to go home. The Hierophant said he was unable to do so, as that would go against the plans of the Dark Hunger. It stated that Hapa had already been saved, and that they should be grateful for the Dark Hunger.

Patches asked for the Killer Klownz and the Hadar cult to go back to where they came from and give back the land they took from the Street Performers. The Hierophant said that it could not do that. The Klownz and the Cult could not leave for the same reason Hapa was unable to be sent home. It also stated that it owned the land that they Klownz were on, prompting Dianna to realize that the Death Kiss was once a fun Beholder named Bamdrolsh that ran the Theme Park. It had fallen into a nightmare that caused it to become a Death Kiss, and the Hadar cultists seemingly twisted it further into a follower of Hadar.

Patches then asked for the Street Performers to be safe from the Klownz and the Cult's feasting and sacrificing, at least until the Illithid go away and then they will leave the city. The Hierophant agreed to this, saying that the Street Performers will not be harmed. This left the party wondering who else will get targeted by the Hadar cult. 

As the party was leaving, Gesiquh met Dubán and was briefly charmed by her Echoing Soul. Dubán seemed intrigued by her, and Gesiquh noticed that he wasn't being nice just to be nice-- but that he seemed to have some alterior motive.

The party started going down the street with the large box and Patches, unsure that the box was what they endured all of that for, hopped inside and asked where the lost treasure was. He saw a live feed of the party moving the box down the street. Patches got unnerved and told the party that the mirror seemed to hijack the feed from the camera down the street. The party then took turns going in and asking other questions of the box.

Dianna asked to see her brother. The screen showed a blizzard, but then switched to show an earth genasi man in the streets of City 4. Another man walked up to him and sat next to him. The two adjusted their hoods so Dianna could see it was her brother and an aasimar before the feed cut out. 

Gesiquh asked the mirror to see her parents. There was some strange purple glimmers in the screen and it showed the building she grew up in. Frustrated that it wasn't her parents, she asked again. The mirror formed a shoddy hologram static image of her parents holding hands. 

Andrea asked to see Dusty. She saw him restrained and the screen had strange Illithid writings. A symbol flashed before her before the screen cut out. She believes he is in a prison. 

The party talked a bit afterwards about the implications of the mirror and concerns about giving it back-- however, they could not come up with a way to keep it out of other bad hands. 

Session 7

The session began with the party moving the Mirror of Fun-tastic Fortune to the Backlots in order to return it to the Street Performers. Before returning it, the party had one last go at using it.

Radmar asked to see B'nestre's sword, which was shown to be lodged in a bloated and burnt clown corpse in a small battle field somewhere in the city. Radmar then asked about the royal children he attended to, to which made his tadpole squirm while the screen reported "Not Found." He then asked about the various members of his family. There was no image of his father. His sisters were seemingly safe in City 12 and City 6. Lyvcaryn, the sister in City 6 was seen with large covering over one of her eyes. He asked a final question about the memory that was seemingly locked or copied by the Overseer, to which the screen displayed "Access Restricted."

Dianna asked about Bluebird. She managed to see glimpses into some of the other rooms as the camera looked for her. She noticed that something was off about Hermia (grey-scale features, but applying flesh-toned makeup) and the goliath man was in the room with her. It turned to Bluebird, who was sobbing uncontrollably.

Andrea asked about her mother, to which it scanned but did not produce any image. She attempted again, but the longest lasting image was of ruins outside of a city.

Patches asked Gesiquh to search for his troop. She saw a few harengon in an alleyway, distraught and seemingly reserved. She told Patches that they were there, they seemed okay, and that they had been eating. Dianna went to comfort Patches, but turned away when Andrea walked up first.

The party was then led to the big top by the twin mime fairies, where they met with Augustus the Ringleader. Dianna was brutally honest about what they had just done to get the box, as well as the trauma the box itself seemingly caused. Eliwicke was elated by the story of adventure, but Augustus was concerned about the aggression. Patches told them about the request he made to the Hierophant of Hadar about keeping them safe, to which Augustus was pleased to hear. Dianna continued to try and rain on Patches's parade by saying that other people will get harassed or die now, but its fine-- something Patches and the rest of the party were not pleased to hear. Patches stood his ground against Dianna, causing her to storm off.

Hapa followed (leaving a copy of themself with the party). trying to see what was going on with Dianna. She made it clear her intent was to run off and do her own thing out of her frustration. Hapa attempted to convince her that her friends needed her, but she scoffed. Hapa asked about where she was going, and began to ask why she was going to do so. Pulling no punches, Hapa asked why she was going to do all of this if it was going to make her boss upset anyways. He also referenced that in the two days they've been with the party, Dianna has seemingly gone off on her own at most signs of issue with her, leaving her party behind. Dianna flashed back to her final argument with her brother, causing her to be left speechless. Hapa said that she should go with the party home, but that she is capable of making her own choices and dealing with those consequences. 

The rest of the party comforted Patches as he dealt with the emotional impact of standing up to Dianna. They then decided to go home, offering Hapa to come with. Hapa denied, saying that he had some things to find for Maxwell and Ceridwen the following day. They parted ways, and the party set off home. 

Dianna went up to the Eurydicean Hall of Arts to find Bluebird. She finds her, and asks if she is alright. She was very quiet and spoke low, saying she felt fine. Dianna tried to plan to pull her aside after the show to "talk business," but Bluebird was not interested in that. She said that they could talk at a later date, refusing to specify when that date would be. Frustrated, Dianna left-- headed for the Ebony Fly on the Wall. 

The rest of the party went home. On their way, they saw a raid on a building-- warned by the gaze of a large-eyed Owlin. The party continued on until Radmar saw someone hiding in the shadows, watching them. Andrea and Patches noticed Radmar's gaze, and noticed the girl in the alley. Patches physically pointed her out to Gesiquh, causing the girl to get out of hiding to speak with them. Patches introduced everyone and tried to explain why he pointed her out of her hiding spot. Andrea noticed that she was a Reborn. Gesiquh noticed a strange aura and blur around the girl, erasing features to make her almost look like a Faceless of Zhudun. Gesiquh also noticed that the girl was looking at Radmar as if she recognized him. She looked at Gesiquh with some fear, and like she thought she should know her. She finally introduced herself as Morana as the party set off. Radmar patted her on the shoulder, and simply felt how cold she was.

The party discussed the strange Morana and her apparent Zhudun-influence as they made their way back to their apartments.