Session Date: 31 January 2026
Guild Hall
The members of the 27th expedition are waiting in the Guild Hall. Before the party enters the main hall, they check in with the dragonborn Tavrin, where we get brief descriptions of each PC!
- Party checks in with the dragonborn Tavrin, where we get brief descriptions of each PC
- Fletcher asks Tavrin if Cassiopeia had arrived, says no, not yet. She seems to be late again.
- Mal and Pan know each other! :D
Main Hall
- On the other end of the hall is a fireplace, and above that is a large portrait of Lady Venus Nerelle.
- Captain Kivia Rosenz of the Crownguard, with a masked companion (Juno). They are not speaking to each other.
- Three of the people in the hall returned from previous expeditions.
- Investigation checks from Mal, Fugue, and Fletcher:
- two people appeared at once, a halfling bard Tiel and Pariston Dzemael, the youngest kid of the richest man in town
- Mal and Fletcher rolled high and found out that the masked man is the Captain’s lieutenant, Juno; he had gone on an expedition three years ago and reappeared out of nowhere without having come out of the Void.
- Near the fireplace, Tiel and Eros (human bard) are jamming with their instruments.
Encounters
- Pan walks up to Kivia and Juno, flicks the fox mask off his face.
- Perception check — he does not have human eyes… animalistic?
- A woman named Riza is arm wrestling Pariston; she gives off apex predator vibes as she easily defeats him. Paris goes off to sulk in the corner
- Pan tells Mal to challenge the woman but Mal offers Pan to fight instead.
- Fugue casts Guidance and Mal helps, giving Pan advantage.
- The first round is a tie, and on the second round, Pan wins. And on they go for five more rounds, probably.
- Fletcher talks with Tiel: she’s looking for her brother, which is why she’s going back down to the Void despite having escaped once already.
- When she mentions that the tiefling is a Dzemael, Fletcher says that she has beef with his dad.
- Pariston’s older brother was murdered shortly after he ran away, and now that he’s back, his father Lord Renoir Dzemael turned him away.
- Lady Venus pops in and takes Pariston upstairs for a talk.
- Mal follows stealthily and eavesdrops on their conversation.
- Lady Venus gives encouraging words to Pariston and calls him brave for going back down there. Pariston says he’ll do his best this time.
- A human woman with green hair arrives at the hall — this seems to be Cassiopeia, Fletcher’s friend.
- It turns out she asked to join the expedition, to which Fletcher isn’t thrilled about
Mission brief with Lady Venus
Now that everyone’s here, the expeditioners are ushered towards Lady Venus’s office.
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It has a huge desk, and a window behind it overlooking the Void. In the corner there’s a canvas with an unfinished painting of everyone in the 27th expedition.
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She says the Void is packed full of danger and secrets, and so the expeditioners must take an oath of secrecy.
- It’s a magical contract to be signed by name.
- Everyone agrees to sign it yayyy!
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She says her sister Vesta Nerelle, the Guildmaster, is in the depths.
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The 27th expedition’s job is to map the fourth layer.
- The Void is ~100 km deep (?)
- Moving upwards rapidly and through large distances can cause irreversible damage.
- The first and second layer have base camp set up already.
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This expedition will be split to two teams, one northbound and southbound.
- Northbound team consists of the more experienced members: Riza, Eros, Pariston, Juno, and Cassie.
- Southbound team consists of the rookies: The Party and Tiel.
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Tiel complains about being in the rookie team but someone (?) said she’s there to look after them (and vice versa for Cassie being in the other team) to make her feel better.
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Lady Venus distributes a bag of holding for each team — Mal and Riza take it for their respective teams. Fletcher tells Tiel she can make another bag of holding, an alchemist trade secret.
Shopping Time!
Everyone in the party gets 500 gold!
Booru’s Blades
- Mal buys a Shortsword of Warning
- Fugue gets a +1 Shield
- Pan sells their armour, shield, and longsword for 100 gold, and gets a (nerfed) Ring of Mind Shielding (no Invisiblity)
- Fletcher gets a +1 Battleaxe
The Apothecary Guild
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Mal - 2x potion of healing
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Pan - 2x potion of greater healing
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Fletcher - 1x potion of greater healing, 2x potion of healing
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Mick the half-orc is behind the counter. Says, “What happened to Rion was a little fucked up.”
- Fletcher: “It’s more than a little fucked up.” Turns out Rion got poisoned 3 days ago in a tavern far from where they’re supposed to be.
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Vera is looking for Fletcher. She’s planning a surprise to see her off, but she’s apparently shit at surprises.
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Fletcher goes to meet her boss Sebastian the Guildmaster (half-elf, short purple hair), and the rest of the party comes along with her.
- She asks him 1) why is Cass going down, and 2) did you know Dzemael’s kid is going down?
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There’s a weird look in Seb’s eyes, like he doesn’t know Cass was going; she’s basically an apprentice!
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Seb says, “It wasn’t meant to be her,” and Fletcher retorts, “It wasn’t meant to be her like it wasn’t meant to be me going down?”
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He says Cassie signed up to go down when she joined the Guild (implying she had wanted to go ever since she joined?).
- Fletcher: “I don’t trust a damn thing you say. I hope you’re not lying to me.” (Insight check — he is telling the truth.)
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Fletcher goes off on Seb; he’s stiffing his workers and fucking Lord Dzemael!
- He threatens to kill Fletcher’s sisters and looks connivingly happy about it.
- Fletcher threatens him back. Mal joins in.
Solo Adventures
Mal
Mal goes back to the Guild Hall and snoops around Lady Venus’s office.
- She finds notes about a missing vial of voidmatter, the only one that Guild has.
- In another room, Mal finds a cube: completely black with a purple ring on one side of it.
- After investigating, she pockets it and leaves.
- She enters a room with a few researchers; she asks them for any advice or tips on going down.
- The first layer is a mishmash of the underground and the city, like the Underdark.
- Second layer is forested, with weird dragons (dinosayrs) and the third is the Frostfell.
- Different worlds stacked on top of each other.
- Magic transportation is impossible in long distances, and if done so, there may be mutations possible (more related to the mind).
- The two from the 26th (Tiel and Paris) came up during an attack (where monsters come up out of the Void).
- Tremors signal the start of the attack which the two used to their advantage, even if it was an incredibly risky thing to do.
Pan and Fugue
Pan and Fugue pay Lord Renoir Dzemael a visit.
- A servant opens the door for them, and when Fugue mentions that he is a friend to the Lady of the house, they are immediately let in.
- Pan asks how they know each other, and Fugue mentions that Lady Ameliance Dzemael was once a client of his, who is now also serving under his goddess.
- He compliments Pandemonium on their name, says that it suits them.
- Lord Renoir arrives and he is looking extremely tired and disheveled.
- Pan tries to blackmail Renoir about his dalliance with Sebastian and also implies that Sebastian may have had a hand in the murder of his child. “He’s quite the adept poisoner!”
- Pan wants Renoir to keep an eye on Sebastian, basically.
- But Fugue tells Renoir about his wife, that she is now much more content ever since she entrusted her life to their goddess.
- He goads him into converting as well, taking advantage of his grief and love (?) for his wife, telling him to go to the House of Grief, where he can find Lady Ameliance there, safe and sound.
- The two leave, satisfied after ruining Renoir’s day (and possibly life).
- Pan asks about Fugue’s god but he is weirdly cryptic about it. Tells Pan he can only say who the god is after they join (LOL).
Fletcher
Fletcher goes to the poorer areas of town to visit her moms, Ruth and Eva.
- She finds Ruth first, who gives her a tight hug, and then her Mama comes from her workshop and gives Fletcher another hug as well.
- Very heartfelt moment between them, especially since Fletcher is about to leave for the Void.
- Eva gives Fletcher a magical toolbelt.
- Fletcher warns them that their entire family are in danger because of Sebastian.
- She says she found something in Sebastian’s things (for which her mom briefly gave her a scolding for rummaging through someone’s stuff without permission)
- She told Rion and Vera, and three days later Rion ends up dead.
- She tells her moms to get everyone to Waterdeep even if it’s the land of rich snooty wizards, but at least they’ll be safe there.
- Her parents agree to go, and they will take her sisters with them.
Back at the Guild Hall
- Vera is at the entrance of the Guild, waiting for Fletcher. “You’re not very good at surprises,” Fletcher tells her.
- Vera gives her one half of a Sending stone, hoping that it’ll work even when Fletcher is down there.
- Fletcher tells Vera that she told her family to get out of Luden’s Rest, and that Vera should probably do the same.
- The situation with Seb is a lot worse since he’d threatened to poison her sisters and Vera if they let anything slip.
- “I might’ve found what he used in the poison,” Fletcher says. (Voidmatter?)
- Fletcher also asks Vera if she took a sample from Rion’s body.
- Vera says it’s nothing she’s seen before, and that it might be something from down there.
- Fletcher agrees, says it’s her theory, too: “We’re alchemists, apothecaries. We like theories.”
- Vera gives her something she reverse-extracted from the body: a clear liquid of some sort?
- Fletcher reassures her that they’re going to make it right for Rion, and they hug. <3
- The party enters the Guild Hall, where they find Tiel waiting for them.
- It’s nighttime, and they settle into one large room with five beds.
- Pan, Mal, and Fugue seem to be looking forward to going down to the Void; Fletcher isn’t enthused about it.
- Nevertheless, the party turns in for the night, and tomorrow they must wake up early to head to the Void.