Session Date: 01/18/2026
Session Start
We work on putting together disguises so that we can get through this place without raising suspicion. Arythas turns into his elf form and then uses the hat of disguise to hide his armor. The rest use Misha’s disguise kit and they all get gussied up to try to get through this. Grot says that Rdest doesn’t look very disguised and does his best to help her try to better disguise herself. It’s not particularly helpful.
Dia speculates if we can get into contact with the rebellion leader and Rohan comments that Grot is likely it; he explains he didn’t get far as he was immediately caught and beaten into a pulp, so there isn’t much fighting spirit. Rohan thinks we should only gather information at this time and Rdest comments that the harengon should have an idea of how much to dig and where to dig, so they will have a lot of information for us.
Arythas uses the hat of disguise to look like a human. Rohan tries to make himself look human. Misha does his best to look like a very large harengon. Rdest wears a head scarf (similar to a little Russian grandma). Dia leaves behind her very wet hat, but otherwise dirties her hair and wears workers clothes. We send Grot to leave and bring help to help the people we do wind up rescuing.
As we leave the little safe area we find that there are now wanted posters with our faces - rewards including extra food rations and the ability to live another day. There are automatons that have been deployed to search for us, but they are currently unaware of us at this exact moment.
We will split the party: Dia & Arythas, Rdest & Rohan & Misha.
Before we go, Rohan asks Rdest if there are any derogatory names for employers. Rdest doesn’t understand, explaining that there is no real such thing - there are master craftsmen, a master to work under as an apprentice - it’s not a servant situation. Rdest starts to suggest possible excuses as to why he’s here after Rohan suggests he’s a traveling merchant, and Misha suggests that perhaps he could pretend to be a bard - Rdest does say that there are bards and music in their society.
Rdest, Rohan, Misha
Rohan suggests that they spend some time working to keep up the illusion. Rdest actually works, Misha looks like he’s working, and Rohan tries to work but doesn’t do a great job of it.
Rohan gets frustrated and stops, frustrated, and asks aloud where north is again. Someone shouts out that you don’t need to know where north is, just dig. Rohan asks how he’s supposed to know which way to dig. Someone comes up and grabs Rohan and points him at a wall. They hand him a pickaxe and tells him to dig, and that they have a quota to fill and they’d like to eat tonight.
Rohan starts digging and asks where they’re digging to, exactly. The person says nobody tells them anything and the automatons hit them if they don’t work fast enough.
Rdest wanders off and uses the confetti cloud disguised as a dust cloud to open up and peek inside of an automaton to find a data path to receive orders from the mad mage and where the mad mage command center is per se. They are not directly connected to the mad mage, they have a program with subroutines they follow, but they are not directly connected to the mad mage to be used as a vessel or anything like that. She wipes a little bit of the memory of the automaton so that it doesn’t remember her meddling.
Rdest triggers the alarm and the alarm sounds across the entire camp.
Dia & Arythas
We go in a direction away from the others and Dia asks around about the elders of this community. We find an older harengon man with a cane that is actively working with the others - we find him sharing food with some of the others and take care of them. Dia positions herself next to him and pretends to work, while Arythas works beside them.
He explains they were kidnapped from their village and a female voice has told them to work or die, and some of them have already died. Dia apologizes and asks if he can give some direction and he explains that they usually tell you where to go and this area is the sleeping area. He explains that the place is to be built to her specifications and - after Dia asks what those are - there is someone around here that might have the plans.
The harengon man explains that he can see that Dia is not who she says she is. Dia gives a very abbreviated explanation as to why we are here and that we can’t share much but we wish to help and get everyone out of here. He seems receptive and Dia explains that we need a map, if possible (he pulls out a paper and shows the plans that she’s given him) and he requests to know what happens to people who are taken away. We find out his name is Wierch Dia promises to do what we can.
Things Go Wrong
When the alarm goes off Arythas rolls his eyes and groans, commenting that they shouldn’t have left them alone. Dia, over the ear piece, asks if we should scatter and the party that’s been made goes into the tunnels to be found while the others keep their cover? Misha advises that Arythas and Dia go and hide this out, and then Misha tells Rohan to run. Misha then grabs Rdest and begins running.
Rohan knocks over some rocks to make a diversion. He then gets the attention of the automatons and books it away. He winds up diving into a pile of rocks to hide.
Misha with Rdest run down into a hallway and continues running until finding a room lined with automatons. Rdest is quite excited and squirms to try to get out of Misha’s grasp, and Misha sets her down. He instructs her to stay there and then leaves, as he’s realized Rohan is not with them. She observes and makes notes about the automatons.
Misha, outside now, notices a blast door has lowered - they have been sealed outside of the search area and are in theory safe.
Dia starts talking over what we can do: Dia and Arythas can look for a place where the wall is thin and begin working on getting people out while the others gather information, or we can try to come up with something else. Rohan suggests that Misha and Rdest continue to investigate and Rohan will try to connect with Dia and Arythas, and will otherwise investigate if he cannot. Dia and Arythas will start looking for a way out.
Misha and Rdest
There are 30 automatons in the room that they are in. Rdest is aware that there are around 60 automatons down here.
Rohan, Arythas, and Dia
Rohan manages to find Arythas and Dia and we begin looking around for a drill. Rohan manages to find one but it’s missing a power source required to make it work. Wierch says that the drill was “busted” when they got here, so Rdest would be our best bet of operating it.
The mad mage projects her voice and says: “You know what? I’m very tired of this. I just wanted to have a base, a place to do my work. I have a whole new batch ready for that hobgoblin loser I’ve been dealing with, and I just want to do my work. I am wiping this place. Everybody dies!”