Session 116: When last we met 3/2/25

When last we met, The party had gained access to the inner sanctums of the Order of the Perpetual Shroud having gained an unwilling Tour guide - the receptionist they met at the beginning.

He leads them into this grand gallery filled with paintings and various miscellanea of artifacts held behind glass display cases. The party ask the curator what dangers lie ahead, he simply warns them not to stare at the paintings for too long a period. The party asks why that is and he is unable to articulate it in words due to the repressive nature of the Necklace of Carceri he wears. He instead demonstrates by staring at a painting himself.

The party look on as they see an exact copy of the curator form within the painting. It grows more and more true to life as they look on. Eventually Vandread commands the curator to look away and the figure disappears.

Nearby Sebastian remarks how he sees himself in one of the paintings and remarks on the figure getting closer. By the time Mistral yells at him to look away, A Sebastian doppelganger emerges from the painting and attacks Sebastian.

Celeste tries firing an arrow at a different painting and tears a hole in it which drains all paint and color from the canvas, Out of which emerges a grey skinned thin man which stands up and then looks at Celeste and takes the shape of her, tuning into an exact copy. From here a small fight breaks out as the party attempt to deal with these imposters.

Mistral takes out fake Celeste with 4 eldritch blasts. Upon its death, it turns back into the grey skinned humanoid. Its true form. Meanwhile the fake Sebastian is bashing the real Sebastian's face in. Both Vandread and Romaia fire eldritch blasts at it to get it to desist. Hurting it but not killing it. Finally it takes two arrows from Celeste's bow to put it down for good. The false Sebastian transforms into another one of those thin grey skinned things.

Vandread works out that these things are Doppelgangers. Shapechangers that can form into indistinguishable copies of whomever they look at. Though some other powerful magic allows them to inhabit these paintings. With that dealt with, the party resolve to steal a few of the paintings for themselves, hoping to figure out the magic that powers it and perhaps create little pocket dimensions for themselves back at home.

The party then proceed to raid the entirety of artifacts in this gallery (apart from one very large cannon), and place them into their various bags of holding. From there, they move on to a hallway that stretches unnaturally far off. They ask the curator about it and he says The hallways have enchantments on them, they will be trapped in an endless loop in this hallway unless they fix their hearts on where they wish to go. They ask him to try and get them out, but his intelligence is severely diminished so he opens the door at the other end of the hall and he and the party end up right back where they started.

After that Mistral takes point and passes a check in order to break the loop and get them to the next area. They find another massive hall, this one seeming to be a library or archive of some kind. They explore two adjacent rooms nearby. Celeste opens the first door and sees a small archive room filled with books seemingly moving by themselves and endless whispers filling the space. She closes that one deciding against going in there for the time being.

She goes into the other door which seems to lead into an office where someone is sitting at their desk. She casts pass without a trace and heads into the office without its occupant raising any alarms. She poses as an initiate and asks where to get books for battle plans. Her deception works and he gently corrects her that those books are outside in a specific stack. She leaves the office quietly and alerts the rest of the party.

They decide to try and capture him in a necklace of Carceri. Celeste, Mistral and Vandread re enter the office. Finding him distracted with his nose in a book. Mistral sneaks behind and successfully clasps a necklace around him, rendering him harmless. They proceed to ask him questions about who he is and the organization of the Order of the Perpetual shroud. He breaks down their entire hierarchy and their origins, pointing them in the direction of the Grand Harbinger, The mysterious leader of the order, whom he says all but a few select elders never even see or speak to. Vandread thanks the Archvist Mervyn Gwyn for his information and says he will pay the Grand Harbinger a visit. He instructs the Archivist to remain under his desk and not leave or talk to anyone except for personal business like mealtimes and hygiene. They then leave him in his office.

They then turn to the far end of the Library where several "Sentinels of the Veil" - journeymen members of the order, stand in their way. Do they try to sneak past them? or do they fight their way through to the Harbinger. We'll find out next time!