When someone asks you if you're a god, you say "yes!"

Scenario Overview #

The structural integrity of the Ark is threatened. Ereshkigal, the extraplanar entity bound to serve as the hull of the Ark, is dead, and the staff of the Department of Structural Integrity is gone. Ereshkigal's "body", in the form of the Sealed Tomb, still exists, and contains mysteries to be explored. Some Voidlings have entered the Ark and believe themselves to be gods; worse, some of them have acquired followings.

Over the course of the Con, players:

  1. Explored the Department of Structural Integrity, discovering lore about its staff and their relationship to the mission of the Ark.
  2. Unlocked successive layers of the Sealed Tomb, retrieving artifacts that could help them to defeat Voidlings throughout the Ark.
  3. Befriended the Cloven and helped teach them to fix the machinery that ran their water system, and who in turn worked with the PCs.
  4. Banished the Void Corruption from the being that called itself Barra, leaving behind a ship's cat.
  5. Banished the Void Corruption from the being that called itself Ioannis, god of Ignorance, and rechristened him as "Curiosity"
  6. Resurrected Arostal, First Warlock of Ereshkigal, and made a Pact of the Undying with her to grant her patron status and aid the power of the awakened Daglir reliquary to prevent the Ark from falling apart upon landing.
  7. Awakened Ratri's reliquary.

Background #

The Knights of Shadows once suppressed knowledge of extraplanar beings in order to maintain order – a perfect partnership between Janda and Ratri. The knowledge they suppressed became vital to the research to bind extraplanar beings.

It still took decades of research (and several lost teams) to discover, summon, and get Ereshkigal to sign the binding agreement. As part of the binding agreement (and kept secret), Arostal, Drow Knight of Shadows, Hierarch of Ratri, agreed to become Ereshkigal's first warlock. Arostal forswore all prior bonds and was locked within the Sealed Tomb with the reliquary of Ratri, where it would be safe. And there she waited.

When the Ark dropped through the Void, to an outside observer, the Ark left reality for all of 3 heartbeats. While in the Void, different parts of the Ark experienced wildly different amounts of relative time. Ereshkigal was destroyed, Fomalhaut dropped the Ark out of the Void, the weave of magic was restored once the Ark was back in reality, and the Sleepers awoke!

Expedition 1: A Bleated Awakening #

Friday 17:43 - Saturday 00:22 in JRR 198

Player Characters #

Flicker, Halfling Rogue
Migalito Lavatooth, Kobold Druid of Kjallintar
Prince Bulgogi, the first of his name, Bugbear Sorcerer
Ursus Zouzouvi, Bugbear Barbarian
Varka Spiritblade, Hobgoblin Sorcerer
Zoral, Orc Cleric of Ronkel

On the Expedition #

The Sleepers awake! Half the party finds themselves bound in crates, while the others are decorated in flimsy ropes made of goat hair. There is wood flooring in the part of the room where the crates are, and stone flooring elsewhere. It is a clean line between the two sections. Migalito's Comprehend Languages solves the communication problem between characters of different ages. Those outside the crates help those stuck inside the crates (except for Ursus, who bursts his bonds and demolishes the crate). They find among themselves Alice, a Divination Wizard, who is not much more forthcoming about her background, and a dead sleeper whose sternum has been cracked. Zoral casts Speak with Dead, and receives only the following response to his inquiries:

There is a vast presence in the dark. I hear murmuring, the occasional drip of something wet striking a hard surface. A sweet aroma of… ethanol wafts past. Suddenly there is light and I am momentarily blinded. I catch a glimpse of dim appendages retreating into a massive column of shadow. At its base stands a gazebo with seven posts supporting the roof. The silvery light envelops this scene, followed rapidly by five more layers, and then a final sphere of silver light.
I am called to the gazebo. At the same time, I know that recklessly penetrating these layers is dangerous to us all.
There are two exits to the room; the party hears sound coming from one, and decides to lie in wait. Two humanoid goat-people approach, and when Zoral makes his face shown, they initially throw a javelin at him, then seem to recognize his face! They cry out something about the "statues coming alive!" With Migalito acting as interpreter, Zoral earns their trust, and they excitedly tell the group about how they need to report back to the Speaker Larkin because they'll be rewarded and no longer outcast for bringing the information that the Statues have come alive, they have friends, and the Barrier has opened a way for the Cloven to expand.

The party determines that these goat-people, who call themselves Cloven, worship a god of time and change called Menthax. The Cloven once lived "elsewhere" but Menthax sensed the corruption in that place (note: this was the farm animal printer) and led them to the Cloven Lands, and protected them within a barrier of fast-moving time. Menthax assured the Cloven that one day the barrier would be removed, and the boom-and-bust cycle of the Cloven population would end, and that day has come.

The party chooses to go with their new friends to meet Larkin, the Speaker of Change who holds the closest mound – there are seven caverns of the Cloven Lands where the sun shines all the time, and a mound in each cavern from which the local Speaker preaches the word of Menthax. They find Larkin and her guards as they are scouring the caverns for Cloven outcasts to be "returned to the soil" in this time of change (when the Cloven population has reached the limits of the food the Cloven lands can produce). Larkin is very pleased, and sends runners to reorganize the scouring into a mustering, for the Cloven will now expand their lands!

Larkin accompanies the party back to the "statue room" in order to explore the other direction. They find a large storeroom with a dead human being devoured by a couple of rats, and see first-hand the effects of Void corruption upon some scavengers. Zoral hopes to Speak with Dead, but the woman's jaw has been eaten. They find upon the body a small metal plate that has "Jill Uwe, Supplies, Division of Structural Integrity" inscribed upon it, followed by "ARK:DSI:SUP:12". On the opposite side is a picture of a smiling Human.

There is a small stone monolith next to Jill's body. They manage to activate it, and get the following information:

The figments stabilize above the monolith, and you can make out a roughly kite-shaped structure depicted. It is hard to make out quite what you’re looking at, especially obfuscated as it is by a morass pulsing red flares across the entire image. But beneath the unclear image, is an entirely TOO clear message. “Odds of Survival: 0%”

Thaumic Power Reserves: 49%
Active Thaumic Generation: 0%
Life Support: 87% (then it drops to 86%)
Structural Integrity: [error, no data]

Well, now they know why they woke up. Jill's ID card opens up the door to the kitchen, but not to Daisy Grubb's office. Their attempts to open the door without another ID card fail.

The kitchen is clearly designed for feeding many people, with multiple ovens, counters, and storage for various kitchen implements. There are recipe books that have been strewn about, with "favorite dishes" marked and names they don't recognize. Near a nesting doll of silver eggs is a recipe for darioles (liqueur-filled cakes). There is a trail of blood leading from a pair of double doors to Jill.

Through the double doors is a very large open space nearest the kitchens are tables and chairs for a cafeteria space, but these have been turned over and upset, and there is more blood. Beyond the cafeteria space is an atrium with a stairwell on one side and large archway on the other. Blood trails lead from all around the large room through the archway. On the other side of the atrium from the cafeteria is a larger monolith, and a set of chairs facing a dais. The party accesses this monolith and projects the information they'd previously received upon the wall. In addition, they get a view of the exterior of the Ark, and the Void in the distance. They believe the Ark is moving away from the Void. (GM note: this wakes the Hunter of Barra hidden among the seats, but it is well-hidden, and the party does not make a concerted search of this area.)

The party decides to investigate the blood trail, and they are stalked by the Hunter. Somehow, Flicker makes a perception check and the party is prepared to fight the Hunter. When they force it to retreat, Barra appears and offers his blessing if they will join the Hunt. The party respectfully declines, and Barra tells them never to cross him again.

The party then finds its way to the Spine, and on to Hireling Hold.

Expedition 2: A Bleating Shame #

Saturday 01:19 - Saturday 05:52 in JRR 198

Player Characters #

Gwenillian of the Meadow, Human Druid of Danu
Macaron silver tongue, Human Wizard
Oro, Dwarf Warlock (Hexblade)
Zayah, Human Wizard

On the Expedition #

The party begins with a short investigation of the Cloven people. They have some concerns about Menthax, but decide there are more pressing concerns after visiting the Department of Structural Integrity's bathhouse and reading all the warnings about extended contact with "E__" and instructions for washing to get clean after such contact. (GM note: out of character, the players were suspicious that this was the equivalent of the warp core, and these were instructions on getting clean after being irradiated.)

They approach the larger monolith in the auditorium and begin to fiddle with it, attempting to get more information about the Department of Structural Integrity, and possibly to open some of the still-locked doors. Eventually they heard a clanging sound from the stairwell and footsteps coming from above… an intricately carved wooden runedoll, identifying itself as "Suzannes, daughter of Hione" appeared. The runedoll went to the monolith, fiddled with it for a few moments, and then asked the party to enter a small circle of light.

The party decided to trust the runedoll and are teleported to a circular chamber 40' in diameter and over 100' high. The chamber has faded runes that appear to be for containment and warding. Behind them is a door that will not open for them. Ahead of them is a broken door that has a picture of a silver sphere drawn upon it.

While the party examines the broken door, a silver light outlines the shape of a door at a point on the wall between the broken door and the door that won't open. The word "Might" appears on the door, as if being written.

The door marked "Might" opens upon a featureless 20-foot by 40-foot room with silvery walls and rounded corners. Once the party enters the room, the door closes and then disappears. The words "Let's begin" appear on the floor in the center of the room, again as if being written, then slowly fade. As the words fade, two rings grow out of the walls, appearing across the longest part of the room from each other, about 2 feet off the ground.

The party ties a rope to connect the two rings, and the 30-foot middle part of the floor drops out below them. Thankfully, all four party members were near a ring. The words "First Seal was cracked but that's not how this ends" appear on the wall, as if being written, and then fade again.

The party pulls on the rope and draws the walls of the room together. When the floors meet, a door appears with the words "Come on In" written upon it. They can hear a grinding noise behind the door. When they open the door, they can see another door beyond the word "Might" upon it. It looks very similar to the door they entered from the circular chamber. The ceiling of the room seems low.

Also within the room, not immediately visible from outside, is a drow woman whose arms are raised over her head, palms flat on the ceiling. She is the guardian of the room. Only the guardian can break the Seal, but the guardian is keeping the ceiling from crushing everything in the room. The party switches places with the guardian, and are barely able to hold up the ceiling together in time for the guardian to break the seal. The party then escapes through the door into a liminal space where they are offered a choice of items from a Treasury of relics that appear to be aligned to various gods.

Their choices made, they exit to the circular chamber. Upon entering the square where they entered, they are teleported back to the monolith, but the runedoll "Suzannes" has gone and the monolith seems lifeless.

From here, the party has concerns about Barra, and what he and his hunters might do to the Cloven. They explore down the passageway and fight a couple of Hunters. When they prove themselves worthy, Barra again appears. This time, Barra is interested in the relics they have acquired. In true PrinceCon fashion, the party promises that the next group of Sleepers will allow Barra to accompany them into a quest for more relics. Barra accepts this promise. As they leave, the party muses whether Barra was once a ship's cat before being Void-corrupted?

Cargo 6-7 #

Saturday 10:25 - Saturday 17:18 in JRR 198

Player Characters #

Ada Amastaia, Elf Artificer
Arthur Urarer, Kobold Barbarian
C.W. Geartooth, Bugbear Artificer
Grimoire Green, Kobold Wizard
Theriam Miskatomic, Elf Warlock (The Great Old One)
Thok, Orc Barbarian
Valkilm of clan Riner, Goblin Druid of Carrunos

On the Expedition #

This group was in possession of Hoel Bronzearm's ID card (recovered from another scenario), which they believed would give them access to areas in the Division of Structural Integrity (DSI) that were previously closed. Upon arriving, they found that the Cloven were in the process of removing all materials they could, to take back to the Cloven Lands. The kitchens and storage cabinets were bare, they'd removed all the tables and chairs from the cafeteria, the towels and soap were gone from the baths, and they were pulling apart the bunks in the barracks. However, the Cloven leaders were trying to wipe away the following words, scrawled on the walls of the barracks:

Hione is Knowledge–
Omniscient,
Sagacious,
Wise.
And yet, Hione is Fallible–
Ignoramus,
Idiot,
Fool.
Knowledge exists to be shared.
Hione is change.

The Cloven understood that this is a reference to another god, but Menthax is the only god, and the god of Change, so these words were disturbing. The party expressed concerns about Menthax, and decided to investigate the Cloven Lands. The artificers quickly determined that the Cloven Lands were originally designed as working gardens for the Division of Structural Integrity, and some of the systems were failing or clogged. They instituted a training program to teach the Cloven to make what repairs they could, while Valkilm taught them some farming techniques, and the barbarians taught them some battle techniques.

The party gained access to the Department of Binding (DoB: DSI), with Hoel Bronzearm's ID card. Larkin, Cloven Speaker of Menthax from the Seventh Mound, asked to accompany them, and they agreed. As they shut the door, a cat slipped in. Worried that this might be Barra in disguise, Thok tried to catch it, but it evaded him.

Within the room were rows of desks, overflowing with paperwork. The sort of place you'd expect to find copyists, accountants, or legal scribes. Each desk showed something of the personality of the person who worked there; were they neat, or messy. There are signs posted on the walls, exhorting employees to do their best; "You have the most important job!" and the like. There are checklists posted pertaining to safety regulations.

Unfortunately, it looked like everyone had died suddenly at their desk. All of them have cracked sternums, consistent with some of the Sleepers that had been found to this point. Searching through the papers showed that each desk had a copy of a 12-page document. It is an agreement with an extraplanar entity named Ereshkigal, who is contracted to keep the Ark safe during its journey through the Void. Each copy attempts to match the handwriting in the original document, and shows where edits were made. Most is very neat, though some appear to be scribbled, as if in haste. The most significant of these scribbled changes is that the head of DSI was changed from someone named "Arostal" to Hoel Bronzearm.

The door to Hoel's office was off the Department of Binding; in here the part found a memory cube from the time of the Binding with Ereshkigal, in which Hoel witnesses Arostal sealing the deal with Erishkigal, and removing themselves from leadership of DSI.

Theriam eventually coaxed the cat onto his shoulder, promising tidbits and calling it "Misky Junior".

The Department of Binding also had doors marked "6H" and "7B". 7B had a slot through which they could communicate with Runedolls that ran the archives of DoB:DSI. 6H opened upon the circular room that the previous party had discovered. They now believed that this was the chamber in which Ereshkigal was bound. The broken doors with the sphere and the word "Might" were there. A new outline of a door, with the word "Fortitude" appeared. The handwriting of the word seemed to be the same as Arostal's in the contract with Ereshkigal.

Through the door, they encountered trials similar to the previous party, only they had to contend with first with a room filling with water and ending up in a forest primeval where an unkillable girl (in appearance, perhaps a young Arostal?) roamed. Misky Jr whispered in Theriam's ear that if he accepted the Blessing of Barra, the Hunt would begin and they could pass the guardian of Fortitude. Theriam accepted the offer, though Thok wanted to find another way. He picked up the girl and ran as fast as he could, but proximity to her caused continuing necrotic damage. The mark of Barra was upon her, and Theriam struck a killing blow. The Seal of Fortitude was broken.

There was just enough time to try the Seal of Appeal before the 5pm event. This time the party was trapped between two mirrors, and had to find their way through the mirrors and past the guardian of Appeal. Anyone interacting with the guardian found themselves back in the antechamber to the guardian's room, with no memory of the interaction and a level of exhaustion. C.W. Geartooth sent a drone to follow the next interaction, and they discovered the guardian looked much like Arostal, and the moment someone saw or heard her, they would become bedazzled and walk back the way they came. The party bound their eyes and stuffed their ears and noses, and made a conga line past the guardian.

It was then time to defend the Ark!

Parable of the Timekeeper #

Saturday 20:44 - Sunday 01:03 in JRR 198

Player Characters #

Astra Voss III, Hobgoblin Warlock (The Seeker)
Barunka, Dwarf Barbarian
Dr. Dewey Melville Dorkas, Gnome Warlock (The Seeker)
Elloise, Elf Ceric of Ratri
Giglar Half-Bottle, Halfling Druid of Carrunos
Kerrygold Butterbrand, Halfling Bard
Vullcan, Dwarf, Paladin

On the Expedition #

The session began with the party intending to follow up on how the Cloven were doing, but this was interrupted by an unexpected marriage between Elloise and Barunka!

That settled, the party discovered that the Cloven had fully stripped DSI of all materials, and were figuring out if they could expand from here. (I have sadly forgotten whether it was this party or the previous one that mentioned a part of the Ark where they could find more farmland, but the Cloven went there!)

The party cracked the seal of Agility; once again the guardian looked like Arostal, but this guardian had incredible evasive and climbing skills, and their chamber was wide and tall with many features for a good climber. Giglar transformed into a giant spider, and began hemming in the guardian by spinning a web across the space. Barunka kept trying to grapple the guardian, who would turn the force of the barbarians attacks into a series of unexpected dances across the room. Finally, they managed to force the guardian to touch the Seal, which broke it.

Parable of the Trickster #

Sunday 10:53 - Sunday 14:45 in JRR 198

Player Characters #

Aeron, Human Druid of Iniki
C.W. Geartooth, Bubear Artificer
Calliope Havenfell, Human Warlock (The Celestial)
Hearthonrule, Dragonborn Wizard
Pidgeon B. Yarn, Gobin Bard

On the Expedition #

The party began the expedition knowing that two Seals were left, and that (hopefully) Daglr's reliquary would be awakened to be able to handle the landing of the Ark on Planet Candidate 50. However, what they found upon entering the Department of Binding was disturbing: the door to the archives had been torn open, and all the runedolls destroyed.

Through the door to 6B they heard crying, and in the center of the chamber knelt a large human, face in his hands and heaving sobs. When they called out to him, he turned and stood, his shoulder-length chestnut-colored hair waving as he craned his neck to face them. His shirt was torn in his distress, and he "accidentally" posed to show off his glowing muscles.

"Ew," said Hearthonrule.

He introduced himself as Ioannis, and explained that he couldn't find his family, only those constructs that were foul reproductions of his sisters, so he destroyed them. This reminded the party of the story of "The Hermit's Children", and they noticed that as they gave Ioannis knowledge, his muscles seemed to deflate. Hearthonrule launched into a lesson plan worthy of Annie.

The party noticed that a sixth door, the Seal of Sagacity, was already broken, and Ioannis explained, "she didn't like it when I didn't care about her riddles."

They entered the door of Prudence, and made it past the guardian by not speaking in her presence (this was difficult to get Ioannis to understand, but Hearthonrule's lectures had shrunk him to child-size, and so they simply clamped a hand over his mouth as they carefully filed past).

When they passed the Seal of Prudence, they found themselves in an ancient overgrown garden like the one in the story of the Hermit's Children. They were certain they had found Hione's reliquary, and perhaps "Menthax" is just how the Cloven see Hione. At the center of the garden was a gazebo with seven pillars, each carved in the shape of one of the Hermit's daughters. Lying on a table under the gazebo was the body of Arostal. The party had an item to resurrect her, and did so. As she woke, C.W. Geartooth welcomed the former priestess of Hione, who had given up her station to become the first Warlock of Ereshkigal the Undying. To their surprise, Arostal informed them that she had been a hierarch of Ratri, thanked them for their help, and asked for a small favor to ensure the Ark would land safely. Ereshkigal was dead, but she could be raised to Patron status, if one of them would agree to become her first Warlock. C.W. Geartooth did so.

Ioannis was rechristened as "curiosity" – this doesn't mean you already have knowledge, but is the drive to learn new things. Little Ioannis is no longer the "ignorant one" shut out from knowledge forever, but a student of Annie's.

PrinceCon 49 Summaries & Run Recaps: #

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