Session 80: Sentin Singles Out Heph (May 1, 2025)
Last session, our heroes escaped a treacherous house of traps and horrors, the Hopeful Ermine, when Maho used the Bidirectional Bivalve to open up a portal back to the safe house. There, the party noticed that the defeated Mistguard soldiers had been removed. Heph recognized the chaotic power emanating from the captured Harengon as being similar to Wild Magic he had seen before, and identified her mask as a Lucien Blind, but specifically tailored to better contain and control that magic. He then healed Izume, helping her come back to consciousness.
Once awake, she wasn’t sure if she was in some sort of dream. However, Maho convinced her that everything around her was in fact real by carving a life rune in the wood of the wall, displaying a technique that was immediately recognizable to Izume as Maho’s. Izume, slowly coming to, chastised Maho for never visiting and abandoning her to her runic studies without a talented classmate to “work with”. She described how she and Suzuki were captured from the village of Hojo. While the other goliaths imprisoned with her were fitted with masks, she was interrogated about the layout of Cryptop and the location of other villages. Staying loyal to Hojo, she did not give anything away, forcing Sentin to rely on a, ultimately failed, memory extraction experiment.
Izume attempted to make the most of the situation, using this as a chance to practice a diplomacy that she had been unable to use living in an isolated village and kept on the sidelines by her chief father. She also recognized the wood from Rormir’s staff as that of the karamatsu tree. She told Maho that after she left, her studies had continued. The masters of the village revealed to her a technique, whereby by drawing runes with the ash of fresh karamatsu more powerful glyphs could be created.
The party decided to infiltrate the meeting for aspiring artificers a bit later in the day. Ana created convincing nerd disguises for Maho and Elias, standard high pants, suspenders, and braces for the former and a crypto bro outfit for the latter. With Ash and Izume left to keep an eye on the spontaneously-combusting Harengon, and the new technique taught to Maho, the party climbed into their wagon and set about running some errands before the meeting.
- Before leaving, Maho quickly checks her globe to do some Augury to
forecast the results of going to the meetup
- She uses the new rune technique she learned to augment the globe
- She gets a distinctive sense of weal and woe, implying there is some good and some bad to be found at the meetup
- Heading to Promenade Square, they first stop by the smith that Maho
dropped her plate armor off at
- Maho, in disguise, pretends to be picking up her armor for her mistress, and the shopkeeper gives her the armor without any question
- We next drop by Galleon Trading, intending to pick up some health potions
- Heph greets the gnome with the traditional gnomish greeting, which is a high-kicking dance that ends in a hip check and shaking that booty
- Heph says we’re looking for health potions and to check out what else he has
- He has 3 potions of healing and 2 potions of greater healing
- Heph buys one potion of healing and Elias buys the rest, and Elias buys one greater healing and Maho buys the other
- Kab Bapkap rolls out his collection of magic items, and reveals some items, the first of which is the Ring of the Grammarian that Elias immediately buys
- The second ring allows absorbing a creature’s essence, but it’s a bit expensive at 3500gp
- Heph negotiates for the Horseshoes of Speed, proposing 500gp instead of 600gp, but with a natural 20 on persuasion, Kab comes back with 400gp, which Heph agrees to
- Heph attaches the horseshoes to Woahdoe Boedough, making him a lightning fast horse
- We next head into Paddy’s, and see it is a normal magic item and
tincture shop
- The shopkeeper brings out a few special magic items
- Maho buys the Companion’s Band, to get her own animal companion
- Elias buys the Lavender Fizz Bomb
- Heph asks if she can whip up some sort of tincture to give a headache (will impose some difficulty on concentration checks), and she does, coming up with 3 and selling them for 180gp after some negotiating
- Maho buys two vials of perfume, one vanilla and one peanut butter, the latter of which will give advantage on Animal Handling checks
- Heading back to Galleon Trading, Kab is fiddling with a
little bag under the table
- Elias tells him he is thinking about the Immovable Rod, but it’s a bit pricey, and he offers 300gp for it, which Kab accepts
- Heph asks about the bag he was fiddling with, and he says it’s not for sale
- After some persuasion Heph convinces him to talk about it, and he reveals it’s a bag of beans
- Elias goes to walk away, but the rod is still locked, and unlocking it we walk away
- Loading up into our wagon, we speed towards the convention center with Woahdoe
Boedough, arriving a bit early
- Following signs for the meetup, which advertise Sentin as a special guest, we head into the convention center, getting to a side convention room set up for a meetup, with a stage and some tables
- Before heading in, Heph stops the group and suggests we don’t go in as a group, because if Sentin sees us together he might figure out who Elias and Maho are
- Elias puts on a nametag saying “Mr. Blockchain” and heads in, and doesn’t see Sentin, and goes to the table with Hankle and Dzhod, saying “hey, what’s up!”
- Dzhod’s vibe is similar to what Elias is going for, and Hankle seems to have poor hygiene
- Dzhod is talking Hankle’s ears off a bit, saying he doesn’t have the skills, but he has business acumen, charisma, etc.
- Hankle notices Elias and greets him, and Elias asks him about meme coins, and Dzhod ends up launching into a little spiel about the blockchain
- Maho enters the room, wearing a nametag saying “Muun”, and heads to
the table with Claudia and Xxmindprison69xX
- Claudia seems to be trying to start a conversation, but mindprison doesn’t seem to readily engage in any conversation
- Mindprison is telling Claudia it’s silly to wear her wizard robes because it’s subscribing to what the Man wants her to look like, and Maho approaches the table and takes offense to the notion, telling mindprison appearances matter
- Mindprison talks about how they are infiltrating the place and don’t want to reveal any personal information about themselves, and Maho comes back saying you have to wear what you believe
- Mindprison points out that Maho is wearing clothes that say you can walk all over her
- Heph checks that the room is clear and then walks in, choosing to
sit with Sylvia
- She is fairly young and dressed in fine clothes, and is clearly wealthy, she seems disappointed nobody is sitting with her, but is maintaining her composure
- Maho notices she is a member of the aristocracy in the Bismarck Empire, the cousin of the Princess
- Heph asks what brings her there, and she explains she is doing a challenge to learn a new skill every month, and this month is artificery
- Last month she learned how to do a backflip, and she stands up and does one
- Heph starts using Prestidigitation to make a little box that can clean things
- Dzhod is talking all about the blockchain, and Elias is just
smiling and nodding along
- Elias asks how it works, and Dzhod explains that nobody really knows
- He says it’s all in the cloud, and Elias looks at a specific cloud and sees some interesting structures in the cloud
- Elias asks about “Cedric Thornpillow”, and Dzhod explains he wants to network with and learn from Sentin, and Sentin is a personal hero of his
- Elias pretends the same is true of him, and asks Hankle about Sentin
- Hankle is more impressed by gnome artificers, they created Penix, a hard to use arcane core, and the elves’ Bacentosh is too pretty and streamlined
- Elias asks if he has a problems with elves, and Hankle launches into a thing about how elves are “casuls”
- Elias grabs him by his vest and pushes him up against the wall, and he hands over 5gp, which seems to win Elias over
- Elias pickpockets him, doesn’t find any more money, but does find a blueberry scone arcane core running Penix, and a super worn out pocketknife, and Elias doesn’t care about any of it and drops it under the table
- Maho is still thinking about the fact that she is lacking her usual
intimidation factor
- Maho asks mindprison if she’s there to take down the Man, and if the Man is Sentin, and mindprison seems to think he’s the top Man and she can learn his secrets by watching him
- Maho asks Claudia what she thinks about that, if she also thinks Sentin is the Man that needs to be brought down
- Claudia answers that she isn’t trying to bring him down, she’s trying to learn
- She talks more about how wizardry doesn’t pay, and how artificery might be better for job prospects, and she is hoping for a sneak peek of his new invention
- Maho tries to convince her Sentin could be up to shady stuff, and she doesn’t care, and Maho tells Claudia she doesn’t like her
- Mindprison likes this, and reaches out to Maho for a fist bump
- Maho continues to try to convince Claudia that they are going to take advantage of her, and she might get too deep before she even knows what is happening
- Maho doesn’t seem to be very convincing to Claudia, and Claudia is a bit nervous but rather unswayed by the argument
- Maho continues to talk about the Man getting to her dad, and Claudia is getting a bit nervous, and mindprison asks Maho if the Man got to her dad
- Maho responds that she got got, and asks if Maho wants to help take down the Man, and Maho says she’ll help
- Mindprison reveals her name isn’t really Xxmindprison69xX, and asks Maho if her real name is Muun, to which she responds no, and mindprison kicks Claudia out of the table
- Sylvia notes Heph is making something and asks what he’s making,
and he explains it’s a cleaning box
- She asks how it works, and Heph explains how it works, and she blows her nose into her handkerchief and drops it in, and it cleans the handkerchief
- She seems very interested in the box and asks if she can take it, and Heph lets her take it
- Heph asks how she has the time to learn so many things, and she reveals she is the cousin of the Princess
- They get onto the topic of drugs, and Heph mentions he did the mushrooms with his dad, and Sylvia seems very intrigued by this
- Cutaway to Heph’s dad, who is riding a carapskit home with a group of bikers who were impressed with his ability to do drugs
- Heph and Sylvia continue to discuss drugs, Heph giving Sylvia the idea to do Spooky Poof in a tomb, and she invites him to hang out later and try it, bringing any friends he wants with him
- She gives Heph a Sending Stone to get in touch with her
- Elias, looking over at mindprison, notices that she is a robot of
sorts, and Elias uses message to let Maho know that
mindprison is an automaton of some sort
- After a bit mindprison asks Maho what it’s like having a dad, and Maho seems a bit caught off guard by the question
- Mindprison reveals her real name is Xxmindprison2000xX and she is undercover
- Maho explains she worries about her dad because he is wimpy, and mindprison asks if he is wimpy like Maho
- Elias also notices multiple pairs of feet behind the red curtain, some of which are tough leathery shoes and some of which are metallic
- One of the pairs is a nice pair of shoes which Elias recognizes as
belonging to Sentin, and he parts the curtain and
steps out onto the stage, looks over the audience, and says “I apologize for
being late. I had a meeting which ran over. Welcome one and all, aspiring
artificers, I hope you have enjoyed your conversations with each other, this
will be an informal- oh, there is someone I recognize here, Heph.
Lucky me, it is good to see you here.”
- Mindprison and Maho both tense up when Sentin appears, and Elias readies a pen to throw at him if trouble starts
- He asks Heph what he is doing there, and Heph responds that he didn’t even know Sentin was going to be there until he showed up
- He apologizes for singling one of us out, then he proceeds to do it again and asks Heph where his friends are
- Heph responds that they aren’t artificers and aren’t interested in artificery
- Sentin says this is going to be a learning experience for all of us, and maybe even an opportunity to make new friends
- Heph is half-smiling at him the whole time, and at the end he half-smiles back