March 31, 2025

The grey frog-like humanoid advanced on the party and cast Cloudkill, doing quite a bit of damage to the party. Most of the party focused on downing the ettins while Harvey poisoned his blowgun with the psychedelic tree poison he’d gathered in the bog a while back and hit the gray frog-monster (it's a slaad. I’m just going to say it's a slaad). One might think a frog-like embodiment of pure chaos would be resistant to poison and/or confusion effects, but one would be wrong. Also, damage doesn’t give a fresh save.

The party managed to whittle down the ettins while the slaad wandered around in a daze the whole time. Mario got knocked down at least twice, but Six made a surprise appearance as the universe glitched him into existence twice (Hi, Kristie!) and kept healing Mario back up.

The bad guys were finally defeated, and Major Kalak appreciated the party’s help in finding the spy and thwarting the assault. The party was able to attune the mimir to the gate, Six described the gate, using a more matter-of-fact descriptive style than the bard had traditionally done.

Major Kalak also brought the party to the officers’ arming tent and gave everyone a reward (200g each, I think?) plus an item. Everyone had the choice of +1 armor or shield, a cloak of protection, or planar restraints (the handcuffs that prevent dimensional travel, I forget the name). Most folks took the cloak (which stacks with a ring of protection), but a couple folks may have taken armor. The party then left Rigus with slightly more approval from the guards than they entered, albeit still “slaties” and essentially civilians.

The party decided Automata should be last, so Excelsior, Lawful Good location of the portal to the Seven Heavens was next. The trip took several weeks but was mostly uneventful. Along the way, Harvey kept an eye out for possible new sources of poison and while going through a rocky desert halfway there saw scorpion tracks.

The tower was halted and Nine and Harvey disembarked to track the scorpions to their lair and hopefully harvest some venom. They saw a mix of small and disturbingly large tracks, and upon finding the lair a bunch of scorpions burrowed up through the sand and attacked! Harvey and Nine vs 2 giant scorpions and some packs of regular sized scorpions. In bad news, the scorpions rolled well on initiative and Harvey was surprised. The two made a start on whittling down the bugs, but several stings and mixed luck on saving throws later, Harvey went down. Nine, trying to deny the scorpions their feast, grabbed Harvey and successfully bounded away from the fight while Harvey managed to stabilize rather than bleed out during the escape. Whew! Fortunately, everyone was fully healed by the time they reached Excelsior.

Excelsior seemed like a much bigger town than most of the others they’d visited. Giant crystal towers soared into the sky, surrounded by idyllic shops and gardens with clouds and pleasant smells tastefully drifting by. Sort of like if Disney designed the business center of a city.

The party parked the tower on the outskirts of the city and were immediately greeted by a lantern archon which offered directions to notable landmarks. The party received efficient directions to the gate, which was atop a tall tower reached by a vast flight of stairs. The archon warned that anyone of corrupt intent or impurity would find the ascent “harrowing”.

As the party started climbing the stairs they discovered their non-Lawful Good thoughts physically weighed on them, making it difficult to climb the stairs. Everyone had to make multiple saving throws, the difficulty based on how far their alignment was from LG. None of the DCs were very high, but the party rolled badly and accumulated a bunch of stacks of exhaustion. Harvey actually hit 5 stacks and collapsed unconscious. A pair of guardian celestials flew over, picked him up, and set him in a garden to nap.

At the top of the stairs was a large meditation area full of contemplative residents of Excelsior and the swirling gate. Six described the gate to the mimir in straightforward terms, and a dog-headed celestial began chatting with the party. They guessed the party were adventurers and asked for help. 

The hound guardinal was a member of the city guard, and citizens had been going missing. They had a suspect in custody, an elderly retired tiefling named Sincerity who had recently moved to Excelsior and had been in the vicinity of a few of the victims shortly before they disappeared. But, she maintained her innocence and the investigators had no direct evidence.

There wasn’t a lot of crime in a city devoted to LG, and the investigators were tightly restricted in what they were allowed to do. While the hound certainly condemned any rule-breaking, it did note that the party would not be as tightly encumbered. Since Sincerity was currently in custody the party might have a freer hand. The hound offered to bring the party either to where Sincerity was being held or to her home, but then the hound anticipated being called away on other business for a few hours. The house offered to compensate the party for their time during the investigation.

The party, still suffering from exhaustion, asked about magical healing to fix it and the hound was non-committal. As the party considered their options, the session ended.