September 02, 2023

Hook

Welcome to [the] Chilis [Session 1] (Ruefang; Cayali)

Plot Synopsis

CoGM: Spencer

The party awakes in Chongbai, for whatever reasons they were there- and meet with the old red and gold dragonborn hirer, Huangdi. The party consists of an elven Priest of Rudri- Maloghurst, a beasthide Wolverine Warrior- Bjorn Stonecrusher, an orc Marine- Glork, a human Priest of Mishra- J. Quin Oppenhimer, a human Wolverine Warrior- Guts Berkman, an elven Psion- Gwindor Cúthalion. After meeting up they travel from Chongbai to the shore in very little time. The party does not catch wind of the oddity this time and takes no notice. They take a small boat ride to the island of Xindao, with Glork breaking the old rickey dock upon landing. The party saves him from drowning (as he just stood there slightly beneath the surface of the water) and continues on for another 1-2 hours to the small run-down temple. A few members are able to figure out that the temple was dedicated to the Earth Dragon of old. After a series of questions, Huangdi and the party part ways and the party enters his abode. They explore, with Glork raiding the cupboard because he was hungry. The rest of the party discovers an open secret passageway, which the intruders appear to have descended down into. The party decides that actually, they want to bring Hunagdi down with them into the temple- but when they go outside to look for him- they find nothing but his tracks leading into the chilis and disappearing. The first half of the party, confused by this turn of events, think that- at first their hirer is a ghost. Because of this, they begin to break the things inside- hoping to stoke the anger of the possible ghost to make him appear again. Though after a while of destroying the home, the party begins to receive collateral damage from the things they are chucking around as the temple begins to fight back.

During this time, Oppenhimer decides to chuck a gunpowder-filled-chili pepper down the stairs. Though because of the curve of the stairs it doesn't get too far. This might have alerted the people at the bottom of the stairs but only one of the players at the top seems to take notice. After receiving enough damage the first half of the party abandons their efforts and rejoins with the rest of the party. The noises that the party had heard before down the stairs have now gone silent.

They descend into a poorly maintained and broken chamber. The puzzle that appears to be here is now upturned and nonfunctioning. The entire place is clogged with dust, and there appears to be dragon scales mixed within the rubble. The place is lit by a singular torch near the door, filling many of the crevices in the room with shadow. A figure (Rico) emerges from a deep crack in the opposite side of the room and the tells the group to fuck off. The party- having none of his shit- immediately turns aggressive and attacks him. The party is made aware of the rest of the Lithicore party through the sound of guns cocking from the shadows. Combat ensues, in which Rico teleports away after a heavy blow and 1 member, Giles, is able to run away while the rest of the Lithicore party is brutally slaughtered. Giles is subsequently captured, and essentially tortured through different means. At first they were tied upsidown, then had chilies shoved into their mouth, while also having chaos magic cast on them a few times. One of these casts (9972) caused the day to restart on the island back to midnight.

[Dawn of the second first day] 5/6/10081
The party wakes up again, all their memories of the previous not-day intact. Huangdi is still in the city- slightly annoyed, but expects the party and is able to gather them quickly. They begin walking for the island earlier than the previous day. Upon arriving on the shore- Oppenheimer takes notice of the weird magic teleportation-illusion that Huangdi used to speed up travel. The party sets sail and arrives on the island around noon, with Glork not breaking dock on arrival. The party- suspicious of Hunagdi (and not wanting him to vanish again) attempts to attack and grapple him while he's still here. Surprised, Huangdi runs off (escaping many grapple attempts) and disappears into the chilis. The party continues into the abode the same as last time, choosing not to break anything.
This time they are also stealthy, and descend into the depths of the temple to find it different. The floor they descend down to appears to have been restored somehow- the puzzle is functioning again and the ruins/rubble that used to clog the room have disappeared. There are still a few dragon scales in the corners, but they are cleaner than they were the first not-day.
Rico, upon spotting them, immediately becomes hostile, lobs a bomb down the tunnel at the party and the fight begins. Giles shits themselves as they also remember the previous not-day. This time, two members escape as the party eviscerates the rest of the Lithicore members and Rico teleports away again. Two members, Dale and Giles, escape using the boat that the party took to get there (as they were chased for 2 hours to the dock). The session ends there as the party loot the corpses and start to attempt to open the door to the rest of the temple.

Noteworthy Postgame Events