S05E26: Kanye Puts On Earmuffs

## Aside

The group is introducing themselves to a new player, Matt! (Jarrod/Kanye's friend)

Matt is playing Sorith, a dwarven monk who uses the elemental path, and is a brewer and an alchemist on the side.

## Background

We literally just found Qualish - a bauble to hell informed us there’s a thing called a radio and he's been trying to talk to us this whole time.

## Session

Qualish is telling us to find his lab.

> **Kanye**: The wall screen was like that when we got there!
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> **Qualish**: Wait, what did you do to the wall screen?
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> **Nissa**: Nothing, we found it on the ground.
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Qualish reveals he was captured while on a supply run and then killed by the Medusa - however, he had been testing a device that would transfer his consciousness upon his death, and it worked so he's now in his machinary. He needs us to get his body back to his laboratory so that he can be resurrected.

Averlyth questions when Qualish was killed - sounds like it was quite some time ago.

Qualish offers a prize to entice us, with his services as an inventor.

Averlyth asks about the Kenku - he says most of them aren’t here anymore, but some still are ("tricky fuckers”). He casually mentions the acid spill - Averlyth presses him more, claiming we need all the info we can get in order to guarantee we can complete our end of the deal. He’s not convinced by the argument, but accidentally lets slip he had arrived at a town with a corrupt murderous Kenku population, and “who wouldn’t deal with them”.

Kanye is utterly convinced Qualish was framed for it.

Nissa is utterly convinced that Qualish totally killed the Kenku with the gelatinous cube, but did so with genuinely good (?) intentions.

Qualish wants some constructive feedback on all of his mechanisms, noting it was “mildly distressing” that all of his defenses were overcome by our group.

When the group hesistates, Qualish offers the Power Armor. Kanye immediately accepts the offer on behalf of the group, without any appropriate consultation.

Kanye asks Qualish if he has any good advice on what to do about the Medusa. He doesn’t have anything particularly helpful aside from the standard advice of not making eye contact, using mirrors, etc.

Kanye contemplates polishing his armor to a mirror finish. Kanye is informed this may take more time than he expects.

Averlyth asks if there’s a mirror shop in the city. Qualish reminds us there’s a marketplace we could buy practically anything at.

Averlyth lets Qualish know that we ran into his old crew - he was happy to hear about it, said their original bodies had been totally destroyed by the sphinx, it was practically a miracle that he was able to save their brains.

Kanye asked if we could get the island flying again - he says not likely. Nissa gives Kanye a gold star for a good question.

Kanye finally asks for some extraplanar craft and a contractual obligation for Qualish to help us get to limbo. He points out the lobster tank is already that type of craft, and that he can create a reinforced one to better survive the chaos realm.

Um asks how many Kenkus were there - Qualish admits he wasn’t sure, saw at least 6, could be up to a dozen.

*-- bio break --*

Kanye reads the fine print on the power armor and gets real nervous at the possibility of being possessed.

The group considers which marine animal we’d like our ship to be in the shape of.

*-- resume --*

Qualish teaches us how to power down the power armor (after verbal confirmation from the DM that he wasn’t going to have the armor possess us) and we find 4 batteries, plus 1 that we had from before. All in all, we have 25 total charges to use for the bonus actions in the armor.

We decide to take a long rest before the big fight.

*Retroactively*: While clairvoyancing, Averlyth had perceived a special nook in the hallway that appeared to be a place of honor, containing a terrified-looking gnome wearing wizard robes. This was passed onto the group, so we all have a general idea where to expect Qualish's body to be.

Kanye previously knew a Kenku (apparently they were a mime gang, when he was with a bad crowd???). Nissa knew a lot from book learning. Both of them share that they are dexterous enemies, capable of walking up walls.

The group is going to the Ptolus market and now apparently Kanye is apparently inventing a blunt halberd? He changes his mind after re-reading the powers available in the armor.

Kanye briefly wants a disco ball on a stick like a mace. Sorith points out it would result in allowing the Medusa to make eye contact with the *entire room*. Kanye considers a mirror shield instead.

The group spends 10 gold for 5 pairs of mirrored aviator glasses and a hand mirror.

Kanye remembers to make a signet ring for Sorith.

The group returns to the skylight at the Medusa building. Um establishes the ceiling is like 25ft up, so some people can jump and some really don't want to. Averlyth recalls she didn’t really see any other entrances in the hallway. There’s probably a secondary sneaky entrance that the Kenku used, but it would likely be under the slime, and probably also sealed.

After 20 minutes of debating the proper way to attack an undead medusa from above, Um proceeds to open a hole in the skylight, as sneakily as possible. He shimmies a glass person out of the way near the bottom without destabilizing the dome. He’s able to sneak inside and hang from the ceiling, while still wearing a mirror on his head.

Um quickly takes in 2 facts.

One, the Medusa does not appear to have noticed him. He can still hear it crawling around on the ground, muttering to itself about the Kenku. Insane and tormented, but unaware of him.

Two, in the nook where Averlyth mentioned Qualish’s body would be, there’s another figure sitting there. It’s one of the dancing figures we saw in the ballroom, but seemingly covered in ooze.

It waves at Um and beckons at him to come closer.

He makes his way further down the room. The figure continues to beckon him.

Despite being in a body of an automaton, it doesn’t read as “mechanical” to Um.

Sorith looks into the hole, sees Um hiding on a wall and pointing to the figure.

The group spends 30 minutes coming  up with basically the same plan as every other session - dramatic Kanye entrance and lots of blood.

Nissa and Averlyth both cast “Enhance Ability” on Kanye and Sorith respectively, so they have “Bear’s Endurance” to better survive constitution checks when the Medusa tries to glass them.

Sorith casts Gong of the Summit - which effectively casts the Shatter spell - 30ft down the skylight, directly at the Medusa, resulting in a dramatic entrance on Kanye's behalf.

Sorith can feel the shiver of the curse, but is not affected. He jumps into the hole with the superhero landing, within 10 ft of the Medusa. He spends a ki point, starts shooting fire out of his hands, and punches the Medusa with unarmed attacks. After that show of force, he dashes back out of range, against the wall.

Up until the shatter, the automaton was still beckoning to Um and Sorith. Now, she looks resigned and casts guiding bolt towards Um. The bolt of light hits the wall near him, narrowly missing, and lighting the wall up in sparkles.

Sorith is focused on the Medusa.

After the armature fires on him, Um notices movement around the building - his trained eyes notice there are other people sneaking in here.

Averlyth casts Protection on Poison on Kanye and then Sanctuary on Nissa - she’s not really motivated to do anything with the hole yet though.

Um fires a shot off at the armature. He’s pretty sure he heard a shattering sound and fucked up her ability to move pretty good.

The Medusa, unaware of anyone else in the room, closes in on Sorith and manages to slash at him with the short swords. The snake hair misses him, however.

Kanye unceremoniously busts through the skylight in a swan dive with Nissa on his back, sending a rain of shattered glass on both Sorith and the Medusa. Kanye takes double pot shots at the Medusa, dealing hella radiant damage and knocking her flat to the ground.

**Nissa yells “KANYE, EARMUFFS!” and then belts into the Horn of Blasting.**

The Armature completely shatters. The ooze around it collapses to the floor, surrounded by broken glass. Qualish’s statue is not shattered, but covered in microfractures, seemingly ready to crack at the next poorly timed sneeze.

6 dead Kenku fall out of the roof.

One of them wasn’t actually dead on landing but had the misfortune of landing near Um, who promptly stabbed him.

The Horn of Blasting, with 20% chance of self-destruction, did not explode.

Sorith, laser-focused on his target, punches the everlasting hell out of the Medusa with a flurry of blows until she outright dies.

With the fight over, we can see that there is no one else here.

Averlyth is still on the roof. She begins to tie a rope to slowly come down - halfway through, Kanye gets frustrated and just flies up to get her.

Um climbs up near the nook, and then notices an ooze is still on the ground. It’s coughing and spluttering but the face of the Kenku Priestess is unmistakable.

She splutters: “Why? Why would you ally with that monster?”

Um, the only one that can hear her, and totally unequipped with this exact situation, shrugs and she dies.

**Received Treasure**

* A gold necklace (1,200 gp)
* A pair of gold bracers (375 gp each)
* 10 gem-studded gold rings (50 gp each)
* Spell scrolls of animate dead, flock of familiars (see appendix E), and greater restoration
* One of Kwalish’s completed experiments—a set of clockwork-enhanced footwear that act as boots of striding and springing
* A collection of tiny glass statues of creatures, including a pseudodragon, an imp, and several will-o’- wisps, as well as several glass statues of hearts and brains—all vitrified creatures and once-living organs. The collection is worth 2,000 gp, but is very fragile.

Next time, the group will acquire loot and figure out how to move Qualish's body without shattering it.

> **Averlyth**: I have to apologize for remembering too late that I’m a cleric and have Turn Undead.
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> **DM**: To be fair, you’re not *that* type of cleric.
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The doorway in the archway of this room looks like the doorway that turned into a portal and brought us here.