Session 5: Angelkiss, Demonkiss

*For a list of all sessions, see the page Sessions.*

It's initiative! There are ten graves that endlessly spew out skeletons.

(*Author's Note: Kale introduced a homebrew "minion" rule for this combat! minions are like regular enemies but if they take any damage from an attack or a failed save, they die. If two minions are next to each other, they take cleave damage. If they're lined up, ranged attacks can hit multiple of them. Minions have a certain amount of hit points, and if that amount is exceeded by a melee attack, any damage over that amount transfers to the next minion. If the damage also exceeds the next minion's hit point value, then it transfers to the next one, and so on. Minions are scary in swarms, but not on their own*)

As the fight goes on, Looney notices strange wet noises coming from one of the mausoleums, and crawling out of it is an amalgamation of all the flesh from the skeletons - a creature the size of a car, made of skin, bones, and musculature.

When the party starts getting overwhelmed, an ally presents herself from a different mausoleum. An aasimar woman named Elara runs out of the small building, and Looney recognizes her from his past.

Though Inkcap falls unconscious again, the party dispatches the flesh monster. However, the skeletons keep coming, and Athleo and Elara still feel the necrotic waves that attracted them to the graveyard in the first place. While the rest of the party fight off skeletons, Looney displays a strange ability to teleport into the locked mausoleum from which the flesh monster came. He discovers a sarcophagus labeled, "Here lies Dremont the Vile. May he burn in hell." On top of the sarcophagus lid is a black wooden staff. Attached to its head is a strange porous stone etched with glowing red runes. Looney surmises he must destroy the stone, so he whacks it with his hammer. It explodes into dust, and all the skeletons disanimate. Now that the stone is gone, Looney can see the head of the staff is a bright lime green crystal with three clawed fixtures holding it in place.

While the party attempts to find out how to get Looney out of the locked mausoleum, he grabs the rusted bars and bends them open, nearly snapping them, allowing him to slide out. He flirtatiously greets Elara, who returns the flirtation.

Roxy asks Looney for the staff, who initially seems resistant to the idea, but when she expresses that the gem in its head is expensive, he agrees to hand the staff to her. He attempts to remove the gem from the staff, which he takes damage for, and he hands the staff to Roxy after being unsuccessful.

As the party descends the hill to return to the road, they see a camp fire in the distance. They find a caravan led by an eccentric dwarven man named Rendol Brewer. He claims to be an alcohol merchant heading to Gardicore to take advantage of the open market. He tells the party that he left the capital because his business was suffering when people stopped going out to taverns due to rumors of activity of a Cult of Xixix.

Elara attempts to cast sleep on the Godling but only manages to affect Roxy's companion Sparky and Rendol.

Looney leaves the Godling at the campsite and asks for Elara and Roxy to accompany him to a private area out of earshot. He shows them the contents of the jar. Inkcap approaches this collection of people, and Looney draws a dagger and tells her, "not now." This draws Athleo's attention, who also approaches, who also gets stopped by a pointed dagger. When this doesn't dissuade Athleo, Roxy plants a kiss on Looney, which startles Athleo who then wanders off to find Inkcap and explain why Looney pointed his dagger at them. He tells her, "That's just how you say hello in this world. Do you want to say hello back?" In response, Inkcap throws her sickle at Looney, which slices his ankle.

This altercation draws the attention of the Godling. He angrily shouts in a language that nobody speaks, turns invisible, and walks away. Elara casts a see invisibility spell to watch the Godling walk away. When doing so, she also sees an ominous humanoid shadow looming over Looney with one white circle and one white x mark for eyes.

Looney attempts to have a private moment with Elara. Athleo attempts to follow, but Looney sees, and again points a dagger at Athleo. He returns dejectedly to the camp. Looney takes off his mask and kisses Elara in private. Elara runs off into the night, and the session ends.