This is a writeup of Session 2 of Miranda Elkins’ Cuccagnat campaign, where we exploring and plundering the mysteriously abandoned manse of the famous wizard Prospero the Blue. It was hastily written up for record keeping purposes during play and may make for poor reading. If this campaign sounds like fun to you, there are still spots available. Consider joining in!

Legend

  • Bold text: NPC or monster
  • Italics: Location or feature
  • Underline: Treasure

Characters

Player Characters

PC Class and level Player
Prospero the Violet Magic-User 1 A.
Wren the Weird & Purple Changeling 1 M.
Kain Fighter 1 K.
Graciela the Good Cleric 1 B.
Petra Dwarf 1 KC

Hirelings

Hireling Class / Type Employer
Fina Thief Graciela
Dame Losaneta Fighter Prospero the Violet

Ok ok so

We spend a while shopping and downtiming and take on Petra. We set off to revisit Prospero’s Manse and check out that orchard we kept ignoring, paying the Worminger the customary 5 gp.

We land on the island and travel along the white gravel path through the overgrown gardens to the escarpment. On the right lies the squat blue tower, on the left on orchard full of statues. From this distance we note that they are all life sized and many are kneeling, and they all appear to be made from the same marble.1 We check out the orchard.

The trees are plum trees. The statues are all in different poses, are hyperrealistic, and appear to be pleading or otherwise frightened. They are right on the ground and not mounted on plinths. Their clothing bespeaks a servile class. There are no visible puncture wounds, which rules out cockatrices and basilisks, suggesting a medusa or petrification spell.

We find the spot on the escarpment where we saw the man in the red tunic last session. We spend a turn knocking around and reveal the secret passageway. Prospero the Violet casts Continual Light on his dagger and carries it aloft as a torch.

We explore some corridors for a while when Wren feels a breeze suggesting a secret door. Fina and Petra get to looking for its source. Dame Losaneta puts her back into it and opens the door revealing a workshop with a hunched over humanoid creature wearing a blue cape. It looks like this:

ohdear.png

Prospero ejaculates an “oh dear!” drawing its attention.

It gets mad at us because it is the former king of the island, named Caliban. It draws its sword in rage at our trespass but Prospero hastily informs him that, great news, Prospero the Blue is dead,2 Prospero the Violet is his next of kin,3 and Caliban’s rightful domain is now restored to him.

Caliban shows us his blown glass foot which is a treasure I guess.

Wren asks if Caliban has more art to show us and he shows us a drawing of a green glass vitruvian man. Then he howls something about Prospero’s notes being incomprehensible and hands us a journal written by Prospero the Blue.

The notes are for making a living construct out of glass. Prospero the Violet uses read magic to identify them and offers to explain them to Caliban, but he isn’t terribly interested.

Graciela puts Fina up to nabbing something from the room as the rest of us leave. Caliban draws his sword and puts her down before Kain can intervene. Kain: “This did not have to end in death. We could have resolved it peacefully.” Caliban waves him off and resumes his worth as Graciella sees to preparing Fina’s body for burial (looting it).

Anyway we go back to exploring and check out another room near the secret workshop. We find a long, narrow room that looks like some kind of chapel or theatre. Pews are strewn throughout. At the end of the room is a stage, a pit before it emanating green light. On the stage: 6 glass statues identical to those in the sketch.

We speculate for a while as to whether these things can animate. Then Graciela takes a step into the room and they do in fact animate. Prospero’s recollection of the notes he skimmed informs him these “would be a rough time to fight.” We rapidly leave the room and shut the door.

Exploring further East find a staircase leading downward. Have we already discovered level 2?

We find what appears to be some kind of kitchen or refectory, equipped with a stove, a table, and some pantries coated in yellow dust. Dame Losaneta digs around the stove and finds a potion that looks like “a silvery, glittery nail polish”.

We fashion janky gas masks out of a torn up sack and water and Graciela sets to checking out the pantries. The left one opens safely and reveals a pouch of saffron! Opening the other she is blasted with yellow mold spores and narrowly passes her save (thanks to the gas mask)! The food inside is likewise coated in mold and might be quite rotten. We can come back for it later.

As we are making our exit from the room we hear Nessuno singing through the hallways. We hide under the table and in the corners of the kitchen until he moves on and call an end to the session.

Summary

Deaths

  • Fina

Treasure Acquired

  • Pouch of saffron
  • Unidentified potion found in the oven resembling “silvery, glittery nail polish”

Monsters Defeated

  • None

New friends and/or enemies

  • Caliban

Open Loops

  • Who was the guy in the red tunic we saw going in the secret door?
  • Is there any way to safely deal with yellow mold?
  • Did Caliban’s notes include any instructions or command words for controlling the glass men?
  • Where does the staircase lead?

  1. Oh we got a petrification situation for sure. ↩

  2. We have no idea if this is true. ↩

  3. This is almost certainly false. ↩