Whispers of Mana-Yood-Sushai

A group travelling through Ultan's door to explore the strange world of Xyan . . .
==The Characters==
*Aeris, Knight of No House - wakeful sleeper, strong of heart. [Emily]
*Caenn, Mage A young mystic who seeks out new experiences and heightened states of being. [Andy]
*Erebos, Mage A wizened scholar of the Albrecht Academy; Saturnian to the max! [Ben]
*Garviel, Cleric of House Ibis, youngest son of a noble line since exiled from the priesthood of Mitra. [Matt]
*Lan, Mage fleeing an awful mentor she is laying low. [Wei]
*Marus, Cleric of Mananan a heastrong youth in fishscale armour wielding a swordfish blade. [India]
*Rhea, Thief an orphaned street urchin whose story is bound with Garviel’s in some way... [Serena]
The Vital Spire of Caenn the Navigator
==Sessions==
: N.B As records get increasingly detailed (rambly) viewpoint is Aeris' - mistakes, omissions or outright glibness Emily's ;)
===Session 1 { April 17th 2020 }===
Ultan's Door is knocking around out back of a printmakers? Printmaker's assistant Samir shows adventurers through. The door is ornate, Cerulean with a swan-head handle. Admission is 10g
Aeris swiftly discovers XYAN is a place of madcrazy harsh justice with grotesque punishments :|
Garviel loots a scroll - Hermeneutics of the Crook'd Law.
Chomped by two evil white pig monsters - they teeter about upright, squealing and giggling hysterically and have human hands.
In a hidden chamber under a decrepit stage we find a kind of courtroom with a gilded Aphatis marionette + two other static automata - one maiden-esque with a parasol; the other, suited, looks male...
End of Game/Exp:-
- Stepped through Ultan's door! (This tale I related to the mysterious & silent 'Guildless')
- Discovered Aphatis Marionette!
- Battled with white swine monstrosities!
- Learned Hermeneutics of Crooked Law from suspicious Watermelon!
===Session 2===
In this game a great and ghastly white sow skulking and suffering beneath the decrepit stage was crushed to death by a mighty spell of Erebos' + efforts from the rest of the party. We went to the trouble of dragging the corpse back to the Guildless partly as they appreciate the victuals and also as Aeris may well manage to faff some pretty good armour from the hide...Towards the end, we encounter a few people native to Xyan in another part of the complex; they are Ulilamamo & Maneeshaneru of a leonine (they're wearing lion-esque masks) Explorer's Guild. They are riding a giant caterpillar and have two servants? One had a spear...
- We learn from them that sewer wormz = poisonous. (The gold mesh sort of thing in their starfish faces are because they are filter feeders? Party encountered sewer worms when inspecting a boat moored elsewhere, earlier...)
- They mention a butcher-y FleischGuild down 'river' and as none of us are wearing masks we appear Guildless to them...
- They have a flipping map! But are really quite curious about our doorway to the waking world. (Rhea is distrustful of these folk who are effectively strangers...)
- They will be making their way to some ‘white jungle’.
===Session 3===
We all head West through an arch off the atrium (fountain, past some lovely strung up avian-masked corpses...) Double doors lead out. A 'red path' leads to the derelict bar/lounge? (which leads to the abandoned theatre too? (Somewhere else is the room that had a tree/shrub/vine growing out the archaic tome; I obtain the roots from it > ash > lye > treating hide for armour, whoop).
Heading North from there this session... We appear to reach a blind, branched corridor BUT! Aeris pulls the Eastern torch sconce and FINDS A SECRET ROOM! Which only leads to a FLIPPIN' ARMOURY!!   (Loot o’Clock!!!)
[We briefly return to the Guildless - based back nearer Ultan's Door - who give the party a sealed letter to deliver to, apparently, other Guildless?]
Afterwards we saunter vaguely downwards under a triangular room into ominous cave where those armed shadow puppet creatures emerge (Encountered briefly before faffing about with the marionettes beneath the decrepit stage).
Everyone gets to Do a Fight and Rhea successfully scoops some of the shadowy essence with the Magical Spoon into the Ebony Box (which is not a coffee can ¬.¬ and ++ good for a DownTime request made by NPC Leander).
We force open a heavy metal door somewhere - there are three with dolorous statues flanking them - and  further shadows attack us from outside, but behind the door is merely a sad, empty oubliette.
Emerge elsewher into a Massive Cavern spanning which is a rickety, dilapidated bridge which nonetheless Garviel successfully crosses. Yet more shadows emerging and attack from all round...  There are different levels to this cavern and about forty-odd ft down is a tunnel - in the middle of this dark plateau a further deeper, darker ominous pit. (Pretty sure this is filled with viscous? “cabling” which struck with a magically glowing rock emanates an eerie purple light...)  In the middle of this is a flipping terrifying creature:- bulbous, eyeless head; blue sagging skin; too many limbs surrounding some gaping, fang'd maw... Transpires this freaky-ass monster "generates" the shadow creatures we keep encountering by 'spinning' them with creepy, gnarled hands.
[ I think down a side-tunnel there was also some hostile mage who clouded green noxious gas around Caene & Rhea but a (missed :s) arrow from Aeris made it leave? Howver, turns out - next session - it’s clear this is just another sort of shadow thing the ‘Weaver’ can gen ].