Previous: Session 080; Next: Session 082
Start: 11th of Venusta, afternoon, Bill's Bimbos deep in the Praeten Oubliette - exiting the memory pool chamber.
In the exit doorway of the memory pool, the group used the chisel to wall off the forward path and set up an area to short rest. They bandaged their wounds, regrouped, and continued further into the Praeten Oubliette. The hall they walked down began to have niches on either side, with blank, featureless busts in them. After several dozen of these, the busts began to exhibit incredibly realistic detail. They smashed 2 random ones and continued on.
Near the end of the hall, the group found a doorway with the last four busts resembling some of their party members, who seemed to be missing since the short rest - Crax Goobadink, Aoife Sweeney, Dennis, and Dohwar. Immediately past these busts was the next chamber - the clay sculpture room. 2 headless clay golems stood motionless on the left and right walls (4 total), the ground was covered in clay and ceramic debris, and the back wall was lined with sculpting tools, workbenches, and shelves. Using a blank bust from down the hall, Arwa Hathspelt chiseled a smiley face on the bust, and set it onto the shoulders of one golem. It came to life and, like it's new face, seemed friendly to the party. At this point, they heard wind blowing and ceramic rustling down the exit hallway - an Efreeti spotted them in the workshop.
Combat started. The Efreeti used its control over the chamber to turn Smile the golem to its side, as well animate the remaining 3 golems by using busts from the hall. This was the busts of Dohwar, Dennis, and Aoife Sweeney. The party fought the Efreeti and its golems, destroying them all. Upon being defeated, the golems with the heads of their companions shattered, and the Bill's Bimbos inside were released. The Efreeti was slain, and immediately demoted to an Imp.
The room went quiet, and despite Calliope's warnings, Arwa Hathspelt picked up the Imp (Burnie Hathspelt, as that was it's first and only word for a time) and decided to bring it along. Nesdin took the bust of Crax Goobadink along to not leave him behind, and the group proceeded deeper into the Praeten Oubliette.
A short walk to the next chamber showed a featureless, 30 x 30 sandstone-brick room. Walking through it to the hallway opposite their entrance, they found themselves feeling the heat of the desert, a bright light ahead, and they found themselves exiting the Praeten Oubliette into the sun-scorched desert outside. Testing the limits a bit, Nesdin and Calliope flew around, and determined the desert was an illusion - sun stagnant, horizon unfamiliar and different from the Fyrbak Desert. They also saw buildings in the distance, somewhat familiar to them, but could not get any closer. Calliope was able to imagine a door familiar to him, the front entrance to the College of the Swan. He opened and got close to the door, but avoided being pulled in. Nesdin determined that the conjured door was a trap, and was actually a Sphere of Annihilation. He took control of it, moved it upward, and the sphere began to pull in the sky. The illusory landscape curved and the horizon pulled upward inception- or interstellar-style. He brought the sphere away from it, after the landscape became more similar to an inverted globe, with the desert stretching up and around them like a fishbowl. Now that the buildings on the horizon were above them and much closer, Calliope flew up to investigate. The building he recognized was one of the audience halls of the College of the Swan. Everyone recognized a building: Arwa Hathspelt at the O'Fisher and Sons garage, Nesdin at his family's cave, Rohtagels at his orphanage. They all went inside their buildings, and everyone failed the wisdom saving throw.
Time slipped away, the party members enjoying their Lotus Casino-type fantasies. It was Dohwar that managed to awaken Rohtagels, but not after significant time had passed. After being awoken, Nesdin used the door of annihilation to suck up the sand and the buildings, all of their lovely memories and experiences destroyed by its void, and the illusion was destroyed along with it. Bill's Bimbos found themselves back in that featureless chamber, now with a small black marble tinking to the floor (the Sphere, now inert). They continued onward.
The sandstone hall transitioned into a circular tunnel, and at the end they saw their reflections. A massive mirror blocked the way forward. After some discussion and testing, Rohtagels smashed through the mirror. The group followed through the shattered glass, and began to fall sideways. Nesdin's feather fall kept the "descent" manageable, the tunnel twisted and turned, and with it the gravity, until they landed.
At the bottom of the Praeten Oubliette, Bill's Bimbos found the empty library. Ahead, a shield with layered metal scales resembling a face hovered behind a lectern - Blank Face. A voice boomed out, questioning who the party was. Rohtagels fired back, frustrating the voice, and the two argued until more voices were heard falling from the tunnel. A group of Oxblood Outriders, led by Kellis Fryn, entered. Calliope easily convinced 4 of the Oxblood Outriders to touch Blank Face. Upon touching the shield, their eyes were filled with a yellow glow for a period, before all 4 collapsed on the dais.
End: 15th of Venusta, night. Beginnings of a fight between Bill's Bimbos, the Oxblood Outriders party, and the wielder of Blank Face.