Castle Kelpsprot Session Recaps

 Castle Kelpsprot Session Recaps

I have had the wonderful privilege of being in Rowan's Castle Kelpsprot campaign since fall 2025. It is a science-fantasy campaign in which the players are all "castaways" who have washed up on shore at the gatehouse of the titular Castle Kelpsrot mega-(castle)-dungeon. Castle Kelpsprot is a homebrew system of Rowan's devising. It is meant to be "HUD-less", meaning players interface with rules as little as possible. Castaways have two stats (swords and sorcery) and a pre-generated background with bespoke starting items. You can see Rowan's blog over at The Dododecahedron and get more of an idea about the campaign and game system from the Castle Kelpsprot Player's Guide.
 
Below I have posted my backlog of session recaps so as to not clutter my feed too bad. Apologies for the inconsistent writing style, it took me a while to settle into it. These are written mostly for the purposes of other players in the campaign, but some people expressed interest and I thought it would be fun to share them. 

 Session 1

I have attempted to mark anything I am unsure of the validity of. Apologies as well if I have misattributed any ideas or actions—I am biased and can most clearly recall my own deeds.

In attendance:

Sir Imago (he/him)

Daeren of Grigiamba (he/him)

Lady Harlowe (she/they) (me!)

At the gatehouse:

  • Penelope's bracelet?
    • The thief was bow legged with a face like porridge and dark, stringy, greasy hair.
  • Crabapple the missing chef
    • Crabbapple often foraged in the shallows, a region to the east where plenty of edibles can be gathered

    Bertie has a collection of mundane items that can be borrowed with collateral. Lady Harlowe leaves a silver piece for a rope and grapple hook, along with an extra pint of whale oil for greasing hinges and floors (unfortunately not for molotovs…). Bertie has no large stash of marbles, so her hopes of Looney-Tunes shenanigans are dashed. Daeren leaves his tablet in exchange for [something], and both he and Sir Imago take lanterns.

    Into the Castle: (around 9:00 in the morning)

    The atrium is a large room with two levels of balconies and exits to the west, north, and east. Far above the party's heads are filthy and cracked windows (a skylight?). To the west can be seen some sort of courtyard, from the north the smell of carrion and filth, and to the east the smell of the sea.

    Lady Harlowe wishes to go west and investigate the state of her inheritance, but Sir Imago is worried about finding Crabapple, who is probably to the east. Lady Harlowe and Daeren are convinced by the promise of better food at the gatehouse when the cook is returned, and so the party steps east.

    Immediately to the south was a room with bas-reliefs along the walls and a stone statue of a draft horse sized guard dog. The dog's head swivels to follow the party as they pass, so they decide to continue down the hallway. The dog lets out a single grating bark, but does not pursue.

    A hallway branches around to the north, and Sir Imago takes a peek into that hallway and around the corner as it branches again to the west. He hears a quiet squawking sound, something has spotted his light! He calls out to the creatures. Two humanoids step forward, with the heads of gulls. They have too-small wings and downy feathers across their body, and are armed. They inform Sir Imago that he is trespassing, which is rather rude. Sir Imago apologizes and introduces the party. The gulls introduce themselves as Crabtrapper (gray head) and Weatherall (white head, red splotch on beak).

    These gullfolk inform the party that they are the guard post of a larger group which resides in the central courtyard and a small portion of the castle. Recently, some foolish red haired and freckled younger fellow (who the party deduces to be Waldren, Sir Wendolyn's twin brother, who is currently missing) ran through the courtyard fleeing from a large beast. It was approximately 20 feet long, could fly, and had a triangular maw. The gullfolk were able to trap it in the feasting hall, which adjoins the courtyard. The catch is that some of the gullfolk (including women and children) are trapped in one of the rooms adjoining the feast hall, and that this outpost has been cut off from the rest of the gullfolk. There is also another guard post to the north and east of the atrium (which is also cut off from the courtyard?). Alternate routes to the courtyard exist, but they are circuitous and dangerous. They promise rewards if we can help them, including access to speak to "Jasper" and "Jade" who are knowledgeable about Kelpsprot

    (Some of the following information we got later when we came back to speak to the gulls, but for completeness I will put it all here)

    • Urgency: The trapped gullfolk in the boat hall are will run out of food and starve in the near future.
    • Alternate Routes to The Courtyard: Travel west to the small courtyard around the tower of the Eagle, then head north and east. Dangers include:
      • The aforementioned Eagle which can be found near the tower and in the central courtyard: it serves the Sentinels of the Eagle, and will eat anything it finds; though it is friendly with the gullfolk. Negotiation with the Sentinels could grant us safe passage, especially since we are helping the gullfolk.
      • Scavengers: some sort of pack-hunting creature
      • A large white bear who patrols around the Tower of the Eagle and the surrounding courtyard; demands tributes of fish and seals
      • "Kidnappers": whatever form they take, they are fond of snares and traps
    • The feast hall and adjoining rooms:
      • West: the boat hall/ship hall, where the trapped gulls reside.
      • South: the door leading to this guard post, barred with a ship's anchor
      • North: Main door to the central court. The beast cannot be allowed to exit that way, as it would wreak havoc on the gullfolk.
      • East: A small network of rooms which forms the gull's main foothold in the castle. Gullfolk could be evacuated in order to give slightly more space to work with confronting the beast.
    • The beast:
      • 20 feet long, flies, triangular maw
      • when listening at the door to the feasting hall, it could be heard crashing around; and it sounded as if massive insect wings were buzzing

    The party promises to the gulls that we will return soon, but we must look after finding our own missing chef first. We continue east, and encounter a domed alcove with a staircase heading down underwater (high tide has flooded that area). Of interest are two statues, which the party investigates. The north one is of a figure with a watering can watering a potted plant. Crumbs of soil can be seen in the pot. Lady Harlowe attempts to water the "plant" but it has no effect. Sir Imago considers putting the water in the (functional) watering can, but that has no effect either. Daeren investigates the southern statue, an soldier with a spyglass. Daeren spots that the spyglass is hollow, and contains a real glass lens, and a similar lens can be found in the back of the head of the statue. Lady Harlowe holds a lantern up to the back of the head, and the statue focuses the beam onto an ill-fitting stone in the wall. When depressed, the south wall of the alcove magically parts, revealing a room to the south!

    Inside the room to the south is a large oil painting of an armed mob somewhere in the castle. Wet tracks run from the west to the east between two archways. Daeren steps into the room and confirms that there is a similar stone on the other side to trigger the secret door, and is startled by a voice from the west. The party steps into the room and quickly shuts the door, hoping to avoid revealing the secret door. In the room to the west are two uniformed figures with sopping wet heads and hats, eating dried kelp in the dark. Along the walls of the room runs a metal trough full of water. In a dull and slurred voice one of them asks "How did you get here?" "You look like you need a bath." Upon questioning, these two (Felicity and Ardent) are stewards of the castle. At intermittent intervals, they completely submerge their heads in the seawater (supposedly the "bath" they said we need). We question them about Crabapple, and they know who he is. They say he is happy and doesn't want to speak to the us. Lady Harlowe pays them a silver piece to bring Crabapple to speak with us, so we can at least confirm he is still alive. As Felicity goes to fetch crabapple, the party considers jumping Ardent while he's alone, but the fact that he is completely unarmed and unarmored unnerves the party.

    Felicity returns with three others in tow: another steward (this one armed—perhaps the stewards do not possess supernatural abilities, a gull (Eel-Catcher), and Crabapple. Eel-Catcher and Crabapple's heads are sopping wet with seawater, and in the same dull slurred voice they profess that they are part of a happy family. They help pickle the fish and kelp, and they don't have any desire to do anything else. While the party talks, Sir Imago(?) checks out the rooms to the east, which contain a very nice rug and a storeroom full of barrels. The party concludes they are not equipped to rescue Crabapple and Eel-catcher from what is obviously some sort of brainwashing, and bid the stewards farewell. They inform us the normal entrance to their territory is to the east (where previously there was flooding) and then south.

    In order to obfuscate the existence of the secret door, Lady Harlowe pretends to read an incantation from a "scroll" (her deed to part of the castle) while Sir Imago discretely pushes the stone button to open the door. The stewards look on dumbfounded as the wall parts and the party steps through.
    On the way back to the gatehouse, the party stops to inform the gullfolk of finding Eel-catcher, and learns he is one of three gulls from the guardpost who went missing while hunting. Lady Harlowe uses her rope and grapple in the atrium to take a quick peak to the lower balcony, and finds a room containing two mosaic murals. On the north wall is a mural of nude figures relaxing in a bath, and on the south wall is a mural of people relaxing and socializing in a garden.

    (My) Questions and Future Objectives

    • Help the Gulls
      • Fight the beast? My best idea is to somehow ensnare it and enlist the gullfolk soldiers to help us "kick it while it's down". It would take a rather large net. Could favor with the eidolons of dominion allow us a "command word" type effect to stun the beast?
      • The Dwarf Fortress Solution: trap the beast in a *different* spot. Unfortunately it seems there is not a good candidate. The best place would be the boat-hall, but that is where the civilians are trapped.
      • Find an alternate route to the courtyard/clear a safe path: this would help the guard post, but not the trapped civilians; though maybe the main group would have more information or resources to help us with that. Personally I think exploring the second and third floor balconies could possibly be promising there.
      • Find a secret entrance to the boat hall? Unlikely but worth a shot.
      • Tunnel a new entrance into the boat hall? This would attract unwanted attention, but could avoid the beast entirely.
    • Save Crabtrapper (and Eel-Catcher and possibly two other gulls)
      • The fighting prowess of the stewards may be less than we feared, as they do use conventional arms and amour. We are unsure of their numbers, but it is more than the three we saw. We would also somehow need to restrain the brainwashed members to drag them back to the gatehouse.
      • They seem to need to continuously dunk their heads in the seawater, cutting off access could dry them out. If they do not have their own water source, sieging their hideout could work. A vigorous toweling or sponging could also suffice?
    • The statues:
      • I have a hunch the northern statue will also do something. Perhaps adding soil/fertilizer and then watering it? (the crumbs of dirt in the pot are what give me that idea)
    • Grinsquelch
      • The gulls asked Sir Imago if he owed fealty to someone named Grinsquelch. No idea who he is other than that.
    • The state of my inheritance
    • Unfortunately it seems a great many dangers are in that direction, and more time-sensitive matters are going to delay my investigation.

     Session 4

    November 2nd, 2025

    In Game Date: 4th of Spring, ~midday

    Castaways:

    Daeren (he/him)

    Lady Harlowe (she/they)

    Gull (he/him)

    A pirate on a pilgrimage to find the lost tomb of ___(?) washes up on shore. In accordance with prophecy, he names himself after the first thing he sees through the gloom and fog: a gull. He promptly joins the rest of the cast of castaways who catch him up to speed on the goings-on of the castle.

    Our current goal: continue to free captives of the jellyfish in order to gather both more bodies and more supplies for fighting the beast in the feast-hall.

    Daeren had sustained two wounds (earlier that day/yesterday) but decided to press on, fearing delay may lead to the demise of the trapped gulls and a strengthening of the soakers/jellyfish’s stronghold.

    Lady Harlowe borrows an oar, a net, twine, and medical supplies from Bertie; Gull takes the set of chainmail that was confiscated from the Kidnappers (?).

    The party sets off, and Lady Harlowe hucks her (Bertie’s) grappling hook to the third-story balcony. Once on the balcony, the party sees an odd sight—skeletons held together by yarn—but they seem to be of no harm so Gull bids them a nice day and the party moves on.

    There were two skeletons on the west side of the balcony. One was in a rocking chair knitting, and the other held a mallet to a gong as if ready to strike it and sound an alarm. They wore poorly crafted but brightly colored, almost childish clothing. On their heads they wore burlap sacks, with pain and yarn decorating it to look like a raggedy ann doll version of a person. They turned their heads to watch us, but did not respond otherwise.

    The eastern side of the balcony had a statue of a whale’s head, the inside of which was a tunnel leading to a room that contained a spinning revolving door of stone wall. The opening reeked of carrion.

    The southeastern archway contained a room with a tiered roof, light scattering through the boarded up-ceiling. There were crumbling remains of swallows nests. Along the north and west walls were large copper basins/troughs which contained potting soil (wonderful! That can be used to mess with the statue to the east). On the south wall was a box shaped contraption with a crank (upon inspection it was revealed to be an oil-and-hand-crank-powered egg incubator.

    Staying on task, the party left back out onto the balcony and took the northeast archway, which opened into a large hallway. At the end was a staircase going down to the second floor, where some daylight and a canvas tent could be seen, and a set of double doors leading south.

    Gull cast open the double doors, revealing a room filled with black sand. There were two archways on the east wall, a staircase in the south, and a painting on the south wall.

    The painting was a still life of ____. We later retrieved it, though it is amateurish and probably only valuable to an art historian/collector.

    Recognizing this as the trapped entrance to the soaker lair, Lady Harlowe pulls out her 10 foot pole oar and casts silence. She steps out onto the black sand, oar prodding in front. Immediately she triggers a bear trap, which silently snaps shut. Two others are found throughout the room. Gull collects them for future use.

    Through the northeastern archway was an iron statue of a lobster with gold leafing. In the southeastern archway was an iron statue of a kneeling knight, presenting a sword as if to be knighted. The sword, not affixed to the statue, was ornate and bejewelled. (I don’t remember any description more specific than that). Daeren suggests knocking it loose from the statue with the oar or a grappling hook while Gull inspects the arms to ensure it was not some “Indiana Jones Boulder Trap”. Lady Harlowe can’t resist her greed and attempts to grab the sword, but as she steps close she freezes in place, unable to will herself to reach out and grab it.

    (Test favour with Eidolons of Dominion—INDIFFERENT).

    Daeren tells the statue he accepts its offer of fealty and attempts to grab the sword.

    (INDIFFERENT)

    Gull says something along the same lines but more dramatic which the author of this recap unfortunately does not remember.

    (INDIFFERENT, Gull didn’t have any favour entries to roll against)

    Stymied, the party heads east into a large pillared room. Light spills down from the stained glass windows, which depict five pointed gold crowns on a red field. A twelve-foot tall hourglass lies smashed against the north wall, black sand trailing through the archway to where the bear traps were. On the east wall are four rusted cages and scraps of rotten wood, as well the charred remains of a painting frame.

    Daren examines the cages, which seem to be in usable shape. The hinges would need work and some minor repair jobs would need to be done. Gull attempts to use his pirate-based education to estimate the duration that hourglass would be, but it is far too destroyed to be able to tell anything more specific than “a long time”.

    At that moment the sounds of footsteps echo up the stairs; both boots and the soft slaps of gull-person feet on stone. Daeren shutters his lantern and the party hides against the wall flush with the archway. Gull steps out into the archway and he sees Ardent the steward and a gull-person, illuminated by Ardent’s lantern. Both are wearing soggy hats, and both are armed.

    Gull calls out to them “Where I’m from, it’s polite to remove your hat as a greeting.” In the meantime, Daeren leads Lady Harlowe into the room with the statue of the lobster, hoping to flank the two soakers. Ardent gestures to the gull person, who starts to make their way towards the stairs.

    Ardent has no time to respond to Gull’s greeting, as upon seeing the gull-person heading to the stairs, Lady Harlowe and Daeren burst out from the northeastern archway, charging to catch the gull-person before they can alert the other soakers. Ardent moves to block the top of the stairs and block the parties approach. Daeren and Gull rush Ardent down with a furious onslaught while Lady Harlowe—-net and shield in hand—-rushes past in a mad bid to catch the fleeing gull-person.

    All three of us used a reckless approach. I (Lady Harlowe) attempted to rush past while Daren attempted to force Ardent out of the way and Gull attacked Ardent’s lantern-arm.

    Ardent’s mace bears down on Lady Harlowe as she rushes past, shield raised. It splinters, absorbing most of the shock of the blow. Gull uses the opening to land a vicious cut on Ardent’s arm, making him drop his lantern and mace and leaving him helpless.

    Lady Harlowe, unthreatened, casts their net at the gull-person, and then Daeren and them drag the helpless tangled body up the stairs while Gull holds Ardent at swordpoint. The commotion seems to have drawn attention as the sound of footsteps and weapons being readied can be heard from down the stairs. The party rushes out the double doors to the north with their new captives, the still life painting from the south wall, and their captive’s weapons and lantern.


    Lady Harlowe was chosen randomly as the target to be threatened. A d20 roll of 14 and an armour die of 7 (d8 for unarmored) let to receiving one wound and having her shield splintered.

    Once on the other side of the door Lady Harlowe takes her oar and slots it through the handles of the door, barring it (Nael’s idea). Almost immediately, the door begins to shake and buckle as it is battered from the other side.

    Daeren pulls out his seawater-soaked sack, and the jellyfish are held at swordpoint until they unlatch their suckers from their hosts and allow themselves to be collected. Ardent and the gull-person immediately begin to freak out, but after reassurance that we are friends they settle down and we learn the gull-person is Snowtail (one of the three that went missing with Eelcatcher.

    Daeren points out that there are only somewhere between three and five soakers left. Hoping to push the advantage, Lady Harlowe proposes that Snowtail and Ardent help us free their mind-controlled friends. Ardent, however, is in no state to fight.

    The party decides to gather reinforcements from the gull outpost and flank through the secret door, so they rappel back down to the first floor from the balcony (The rope and grapple have to be left on the balcony as we can’t unhook it from the ground floor). Ardent returns to the steward base as we pass it, thanking us for freeing him. At the gull outpost Snowtail stays behind while Eelcatcher and Crabtrapper join the party. On the other side of the secret door is another pile of black sand (certainly containing a bear trap). Daeren uses his shield as a makeshift spade in order to shove the sand away, and then the bear trap is safely disarmed. After ascending the stairs to the second floor, the party can hear that soakers are still on the third floor attempting to bash the double doors open.

    Daeren proposes the party scours the lair for “free-floating” jellyfish and polyps in order to use them as hostages. After a brief search, jellyfish and polyps are found floating in the bottom level of the tower, accessed through a hatch. With Gull’s empty rum cask and Lady Harlowe’s net, a handful of jellyfish are easily snared, though the polyps are too small and too far underwater to catch. Gull then sets some of his bear traps at the bottom of the stairs to the third floor and Lady Harlowe calls out for their unconditional surrender. Daeren directs them in descending the stairs one at a time and releasing their host. The detached jellyfish are placed in seawater troughs located in the lair.

    The freed hosts include:

    • Crabtrapper
    • Two stewards, Felicity and Melody
    • Kingfisher the gull-person
    • Seamus the Seal (a man with a large bushy mustache and generally seal-like body proportions and appearance. He says he sells whale oil to denizens throughout the castle).

    The gulls and stewards return to their respective hideouts, but not before being enlisted to help transport the soaker’s equipment stash to the gatehouse. Crabtrapper and Seamus come with the party to stay in the gatehouse.

    The rooms in the place that used to be the soaker lair are as follows:

    South: A tower. A hatch in the floor leads to a lower level that was flooded at the time. Many jellyfish and polyps could be seen within. A hatch in the ceiling leads up to the next level, and rope ladders are there for ascent and descent.

    West: Metal troughs of seawater (these were moved here from the 1st level room they were in before). There was also a bookshelf and some smashed lamps.

    North: Large pile of discarded equipment. To the west was a metal airlock-style door with a crank in the middle. On it were engravings depicted a five pointed crown.

    East: ~½ dozen cots, with buckets of seawaters such that soakers lying in the cots could soak their heads in the buckets.

    Northeast (top room): Empty; dilapidated plaster on the north wall had art depicting some art scene, but there was not time to examine closely.

    Northeast (bottom room): In the middle of the room, on its side as if tipped over, was a lifelike statue of a robed woman recoiling. She had an amulet around her neck (was it part of the statue?). The statue had no plinth or stand.

    …And the loot recovered from their lair was:

    • Chain mail
    • A bag of caltrops
    • A coil of rope
    • A pulley
    • A palm-sized steel mirror
    • A gambeson
    • Leather and shell lamellar
    • An arcane tome (2 quires)
    • Flint and steel
    • Medical supplies (two uses)
    • A wicker basket full of shriveled up mussels, oysters, and clams
    • Several more books from the shelf (5 quires)
    • Four foothold traps

     Session 5

    November 15th, 2025

    In Game Date: 4th of Spring (that’s also what my notes say for session 4, so who knows?)

    Castaways:

    Professor Bandersnatch

    Rodric

    Sir Imago

    Lady Harlowe

    Rodric the Discarded Reconstruction washes up on shore and joins the party.

    (My) Goals:

    • Check out the potted plant statue with our newly discovered dirt
    • Rescue the Sentinel
    • Deal with the Beast

    Lady Harlowe urges the party to rest overnight so she can clear the fatigue from her spellcasting.

    Planning to go west at some point during the day, Lady Harlowe buys a bucket of fish to appease Dandelion should she appear. She then drags the whole party on her errands as she climbs to the third floor balcony to retrieve her (Bertie’s) rope and grappling hook, unbar the door to the soaker hideout (and retrieving her oar), fetch a sackful of dirt, and emerge in front of the potted plant statue through the previously discovered secret door.

    *While passing through the soaker lair, the party tosses a fish or two from the bucket in the troughs full of pilot jellyfish. Rodric inspects the immaculately detailed statue (the amulet is part of the statue). Its amulet has a (broken circle symbol I think?), which Rodric touches, to no avail. The party also inspects the triptych mural in the ex-soaker lair. It contains three scenes; on the left are downtrod peasants tithing to a priest. The middle shows people being rescued and taking up arms. The rightmost panel shows the crowning of a 5-armed king. The last scene seems to take place somewhere in the castle. Notably, the arms of the king seem to sprout out of his body without rhyme or reason.

    *The yarn-knitted skeletons were still in their same positions as previously. I think they are likely constructs animated from some knitting necromancer, possibly of a childlike persuasion.

    *Professor Bandersnatch surveys the height of the ceiling in the atrium while we pass through and surmises the Castle is likely around 5 stories tall.

    Once in front of the gardener statue, Lady Harlowe filled the pot with soil and water, at which point the stones of the wall to the north shift, revealing an archway.

    *Lady Harlowe was almost certain that adding soil to the pot was not originally her idea, but I checked my notes and apparently it was? Either way Sir Imago and Daeren also deserve credit we all found the secret door statues together in session 1.

    Through the archway was a sandy courtyard; wedged in the sand was a trunk-sized shell (which we did not investigate) and to the east was a tower with double doors that seemed in good repair. The party quickly moved past both, scouting north in hopes for another route to the central courtyard.

    At the north end of the courtyard, a set of wide stairs leads. The party skipped those for the moment, and peeked into the room to the north. Inside with a sack, which Lady Harlowe prodded with her oar. Satisfied with it’s nonresponse, the party looted the sack, which contained:

    • A pint of whale oil
    • Chalk
    • An empty rum bottle
    • A coil of rope
    • A half dozen iron spikes
    • An arcane tome (3 quires)
    • A linen drawstring bag with £1 4s 17¢

    The room to the east was empty, save for vertical scrapes along the walls. The door between the “sack room” and “scrape room” has a portcullis in between.

    Sir Imago and Professor Bandersnatch believed that heading up the stairs will connect locations the party has been to before, so they leave the courtyard behind and head upstairs, the rest of the party in tow.

    At the top of the stairs the party encountered a statue. The statue peered west, with its right arm outstretched and its left arm raised high, palm down and fingers curled as if grasping something. Professor Bandersnatch looped a coil of rope through the hand and gave a firm pull, but the statue did not budge. He also inspects the general area the right arm is pointing, but cannot find anything notable in the area.

    * Scott also asked if the statue in any way resembled the king from the mural earlier. The statue bore neither the visage nor the three extra arms of the king in the mural.

    * So far close to half of all statues we have encountered have been connected to secret doors or otherwise been magical in nature, so it seems quite plausible this one does something too. Plus I know Rowan has listened to at least some 3d6 DTL, and the Halls of Arden Vul are rife with manipulable statues of Thoth. It's possible that it rubbed off on him :)

    The party continued west, following the small trail of daylight coming from that direction, emerging into a rather large room. Several canvas tents and stashes of supplies filled the room. To the north the walls were taken up by huge stained glass windows. Most notably was large stone statue of a stork with a ~5 ft. beak that ambled across the room. Recognizing the statue as probably being allied with the Stewards, the party hailed it and had a lengthy conversation.

    • The statue is Slatebeak, and it defends this Steward camp
      • Recently the stewards from this camp have gone missing. The 4 stewards who live on the second floor left to visit the shallows and have not returned for several days. (This seems to be a different group than those that were captives of the soakers).
    • The dog-like statue that guards the first floor Steward base is named Nicefang.
    • Slatebeak knows some about the beast in the feasting-hall
      • It is called a Mawfly, and they generally glide over the oceans, using their large maw to scoop up large amounts of fish.
      • They have insectile wings, and a rather triangular maw.
      • Nicefang would probably be a decent match one-on-one against the mawfly, but Slatebeak is far weaker than the mawfly.
        • The statues would only help if ordered by the Stewards.
    • The party offers to inform the other group of Stewards of the empty base and missing fellows, for which Slatebeak thanks us.
    • Faction Relations:
      • The Stewards and Gulls are not enemies, but have no love for each other. The Stewards find them mildly distasteful. (Possibly due to their dedication to different Eidolons)
      • The Stewards are also rather neutral towards the Sentinels, though they do hold some resentments about the danger caused by the Eagle.
    • Slatebeak knew nothing about the statue to the east. (P. Bandersnatch)
    • When asked about accessing the Undercroft, Slatebeak professed knowledge of a pit to the west, and that Cousin Klaus could also grant access to the Undercroft. (P. Bandersnatch)
    • Professor Bandersnatch, upon hearing of the distaste between the Stewards and Gulls, is sure to inform Slatebeak of the Gull’s assistance in rescuing several Stewards from the pilot jellyfish.

    The large stained glass windows to the north showed another three part image. The left showed robed figures with broken circle amulets being hanged and people burning a pile of books. The central pane showed extravagant priests overseeing a feast, and people in stocks and gibbets in the background. The rightmost panel was unfinished, and has some pieces of stained glass but does not form a full image.

    Through the stained glass the central courtyard could be seen—a massive expanse of fields being cultivated by the gullfolk.

    Sir Imago’s illustration of a Mawfly.

    The party departed through the southern passage,immediately encountering a statue that portrayed a cat lickking its lips, surrounded by fishbones. Professor Bandersnatch tosses a fish towards the statue, and a silvery heat shimmer in the shape of a housecat sniffs the fish and turns it’s nose up in disgust.

    “Mackarel again!” It exclaims. Upon further questioning, the cat-apparition desires to eat new and novel fish, as it tires of the same old fare.

    *It may be worthwhile to attempt feeding the cat a pilot jellyfish. Maybe they are delectable?

    The party backtracks the way they came, retrieving the dirt from the gardener statue (which closes the door) and heading to the first floor Steward outpost in order to meet with the fabled Cousin Klaus.

    The first room of the steward base has makeshift partitions separating some cots, as well of a bas-relief of stone animals tearing a part robed figures with a broken circle amulet. Harmony, a steward, leads us to the east, passing several more partitioned rooms, and entering into a sort of common room filled with relaxing stewards and some canvas tents. Odd pipes run along the western wall, which have piles of blankets set up near them. We see another statue animal, this one horned, who’s name is Skarnskull.

    Harmony leads the party up the stairs and into a room which contains a floor to ceiling sculpture of a mans face, with a scrap of sailcloth covering its left eye. Harmony gestured to it, introducing it as Cousin Klaus.

    Cousin Klaus speaks with a voice like boulders, and the moving of his mouth revealed a stairway down through his gullet.

    • Cousin Klaus expressed gratitude for our assistance in returning some of the lost stewards.
    • When Sir Imago asked if the passage in Klaus’ gullet led to the undercroft, Klaus became irate.
      • “That’s all anyone ever asks me about! No, you cannot use me to enter the undercroft. I want my eye back! Have you any idea what cobwebs and spiders in your empty eye socket feels like!”
        • “As someone with many composite body parts, I sympathise” -Rodric
      • Klaus’ eyeball was stolen many, many years ago by “Meddlers” (servants of the barmy meddler). If it can be returned, he would be greatly pleased and would allow passage to the undercroft. (Sir Imago)

    The party thanks Cousin Klaus for meeting with them, and promises to be on the lookout for Klaus’ missing eye.

    *As of Session 7, we have located Klaus’ eye. It is in possession of the “Blemmyes”.

     Session 8

    December 20th, 2025

    In Game Date: 6th of Spring, morning

    Castaways:

    Lady Harlowe

    Professor Bandersnatch

    Sir Imago

    Hazel Wehrlite

    Egil Lothbrok

    THE PLAN:

    • Fetch extra gull-persons for backup.
    • Sneak into the feasting hall while the mawfly is a sleep and attempt to attach a jellyfish utilizing the silence spell.
    • If that fails, retreat to the east and attempt to surround the mawfly and restrain or kill it.

    Leaving the gatehouse into the atrium, the party heard a tune coming from the balconies, most likely from where the yarn-skeletons were on the third floor. Heading east, the party informed the gull-person outpost of their plan to defeat the mawfly, and requested additional gullpower. Eelcatcher and Kingfisher agreed to accompany the party. The party then used the secret door behind the looking-glass statue to fetch several pilot jellyfish and put them in a bucket of seawater.

    Professor Bandersnatch agreed to don a pilot jellyfish so the party could communicate their plan. As the jellyfish latched onto his skull, his face slackened and he responded in a dull and slurred voice to the party. Lady Harlower promised the jellyfish a large and powerful host and the possibility of clearing a new habitat for its brethren as long as it agreed not to kill the party. The puppeted professor agreed to the terms, and the jellyfish allowed itself to be removed.

    The party then heads west to the courtyard surrounding the tower of the eagle, and scales the wall into the central courtyard. The gull-people toiling in the fields are excited to see Eelcatcher and Kingfisher, and are ecstatic to hear of our plan to deal with the mawfly. Snakeskewer agrees to complement our force in case using the jellyfish does not go as planned.

    Through the stained glass windows, the party could see the mawfly, restlessly thrashing about. They camp out, waiting for the creature to fall asleep, which it did in the late morning.

    The party prepared the rooms east of the feasting-hall as a defensive position. Worktables (2 made of wood, 1 of driftwood, 1 a very unique seeming steel table) are tipped over as barricades, and two party members stationed themselves with the kidnapper’s net and extra jellyfish, hoping to snare the mawfly and get a second chance to attach a pilot jellyfish.

    *Rowan repeatedly pointed out how difficult it would be to get a jellyfish on a moving and unwilling target. He basically outright said it would be impossible unless the target was either asleep or restrained.

    Lady Harlowe prepared to cast silence and proceed into the feasting hall, jellyfish in hand, when Egil interjected. Egil proposed that instead of risking life and limb for a rather far-fetched plan, Lady Harlowe could simply use her silence spell to creep across the feasting hall and escort the trapped gulls to safety.

    Lady Harlowe casts silence (19 - no fatigue), and creeps into the feasting hall. Hanging from the rafters was the hulking form of the mawfly. Lady Harlowe took out a piece of chalk and wrote a short note on a splinter of wood, and then shoved it under the doorframe to the boathall. A small crack opened in the doorway, and a young gullperson peered out nervously. Lady Harlowe demonstrated the existence of the silence spell, and then beckoned for the gull to follow. After a moment of deliberation, the gull followed Lady Harlowe across the feasting hall, passing again under the bulk of the mawfly.

    The young gullperson (Highflyer), was ecstatic to be rescued, and said that the gulls in the boathall were almost out of food, though they did have enough water to last a bit longer. Also, there was a young adventurous sort who was trapped in the pantry adjoining the feasting hall (the party surmised this to be Waldren, the missing sibling of Sir Wendolyn). Highflyer insisted on being escorted back in order to inform the other gulls that the party could be trusted, so Lady Harlowe, Egil, and the Professor set out again across the feasting-hall. Highflyer ducked inside the boathall, and after a minute of quiet deliberation, more gulls emerged to be escorted across the hall.

    Several tense trips were made across the hall, and silence was cast again (5-> a blinding flash of violet light, but the spell was cast out of sight of the mawfly so it did not cause issue). All of the gullfolk were safely escorted out of the feasting hall, as well as Waldren, who was locked in the pantry in the southeast corner of the feasting-hall. The gullfolk rejoiced at being rescued, and Proudbill (possibly some sort of leader?) thanked the party. Unfortunately, the treasure the gullfolk meant to reward the party with was in the boathall, but once the mawfly starves it will be safe to access.

    The party gains two points of favor with the eidolons of the sky, for freeing the gullfolk and for avoiding slaying the mawfly.

    Surprised at the ease of freeing the gulls, the party deliberated what to do next. Sir Imago was a proponent of attempting to confront the kidnappers, and the rest of the party agreed it seemed to be the most logical next step. Waldren was temporarily left with the gullfolk, and Eelcatcher, Crabtrapper, and Snakeskewer departed.

    The party scaled the wall back over to the wall to the smaller courtyard, and headed west towards the kidnapper’s pit. At the bottom was a large net, with bells attached near the center. Professor Bandersnatch proposes Lady Harlowe cast silence on his emergency buoy in order to drop into the net, negating the sound trap and allowing the party to dismantle the trap entirely. Lady Harlowe casts silence, but fatigue overcomes her and she faints (16 on the die). Professor Bandersnatch hauls her over to the Sentinels of the Eagle, who agree to watch over her. Gus the Sentinel agreed to accompany the party, since they were working to free the Sentinel Gale.

    Meanwhile, Egil (with Sir Imago’s sword—the only sharp object in the party’s possession at the time) rappelled into the pit and cut the net loose from the ceiling, allowing the rest of the party to descend safely and without alerting the Kidnappers.

    At the bottom of the pit was a large circular chamber, with double doors to the east and an open passage to the north. From the east doors emanated a faint whiff of rotten meat and carrion, so the party decided to head north instead.

    The north passage opens up into another circular room. In the center was a giant cylindrical fishtank about 12 feet tall, choked full of murky algae filled water. On the west wall, each brick seemed to be etched into a bas-relief of little faces. On the east wall, a passageway was blocked by a large stone slab with carving of a single face taking up the whole surface.

    A large yellow fish presses up against the glass and waves a little fin 👋. The professor presses his ear up against the glass and speaks to the fish. It introduces itself as Glum. Glum is rather glum, as it has been stuck in the tank for a very long time, with only algae to eat and Igor to talk to. (Though once someone fell in the tank and drowned, and then Glum ate them). When questioned, Glum said the kidnappers descend from the south, and very rarely they pass by Glum when they head north. When asked, Glum clarifies that the tank is freshwater.

    Igor is probably the carved stone slab to the east (perhaps “second cousin Igor”). It also seems likely that the corpse of the drowned fellow that Glum ate probably has some form of trinkets, baubles, equipment, or gold.

    Reaching the end of their mystical and enigmatic “session time”, the party decides to head back to the gatehouse. On the way they retrieve Lady Harlowe and Waldren. Sir Wendolyn is very grateful to the party for rescuing Waldren and offers sparring lessons to any castaway with spare downtime.

     Session 9

    This time I will avoid changing verb tenses every half-paragraph because I’m fairly certain that if I keep doing it all of my previous English teachers will simultaneously have a heart attack.

    Jan 17th, 2026

    In Game Date: 7th-9th of Spring, morning

    Castaways:

    Lady Harlowe

    Professor Bandersnatch

    Sir Imago

    Egil Lothbrok

    Isaac Inkwood, Acquisitions Librarian

    THE PLAN:

    • Recon the Kidnapper lair and try to make progress on saving Gale

    The party rests on the 7th and 8th of Spring so that Sir Imago and Lady Harlowe can heal their wounds. Isaac and Egil fish to be ready to feed Dandelion her double share that Egil promised her.

    The party sets out around 5AM into the Atrium. It is a clear-ish and dry day. The atrium is quiet. (no skeleton music…)

    As the party sets out west, Isaac questions why doors so close to the gatehouse are undisturbed. After listening at the second door and again hearing the sound of something wet sliding around, the crunching of glass, and the slight smell of molasses, the party decides it is better to leave the door shut.

    Seeing Dandelion in the Courtyard of the Eagle, the Professor steps forth and asks Dandelion if she has seen the kidnappers, and where she has seen them come and go from. Dandelion says the kidnappers seem to have been less active, and she has on occasion seen them running into the first tower west of the gatehouse, though she does not know how that connects to their lair. Egil procures the parties two buckets of fish, fulfilling his promise to bring Dandelion a double helping of fish to make up for the parties earlier transgression (not having any fish). The professor apologises to Dandelion for delaying her meal with his questioning, and the party leaves Dandelion to her lunch.

    The first tower west of the gatehouse is proceeded by a room half full of sand and half full of seagrass growing in a marsh. Fearing traps, Lady Harlowe sticks her oar in the sand—it’s quicksand!

    I then had a very far-fetched idea that the quicksand could be a “false” trap, and sinking into it could drop you into another room. (As a child who made minecraft “secret bases” with water puddles as their entrance, this seemed entirely logical). The professor (rope in hand) was happy to test my theory, and merely got very sandy for it. Rowan said it makes him wish he had written something like that, so I think I still won at D&D.

    Isaac, worrying that the part of the room choked with glasswort may also be hazardous, tosses a pebble to ensure it doesn’t sink in quicksand or muck. It seems safe, at least from where he stands.

    Egil urges the already sand-caked professor to see how far across the quicksand he can crawl if he tries to shuffle forward on his stomach (again with a rope around his waist for safety). He sinks much slower, but can’t make much more headway.

    There is much discussion and observation of where a rope could be anchored in the room. The possibility of spiking a rope along the periphery of the room is discussed, but eventually the party decides to use the professor’s rope trick spell to anchor a grappling hook on the doorway to the tower. The party then uses that rope one at a time to pull themselves along while attempting to spread their weight out as evenly as possible on the quicksand. More poking and prodding with an oar in the seagrass proves the ground on that side of the room is perfectly safe.

    The “odd shape” on the floor of the tower turned out to be a burlap sack full of sand, with three silver pieces next to it. Otherwise, the only thing in the tower is the ropeladder leading up. After inspecting the west wall and the middle of the floor for signs of secret doors or hatches, the party loots the silver pieces and heads up the rope ladder to the second story of the tower.

    The second floor of the tower is barren other than another rope ladder leading up. The sixth slat of driftwood glistens with some gelatinous oily substance, which Isaac wipes off before Sir Imago leads the way up to the third floor. The professor sniffs the residue, which has a sharp and unpleasant smell.

    The third floor of the tower has exits to the walkways of the castle to the west and east, as well as another rope ladder up to the top of the tower. There is also a small cask of water and partially eaten fish (evidence that people seem to camp out here? Based on later discoveries it is likely a spot where Kidnappers would camp out).

    A quick check of the top floor reveals a few things. First, a coil of rope is attached to the north side of the tower, presumably to be tossed down to allow someone to cross the quicksand. Second, the tower has a nice view over the top of the castle. From the tower, the party sees the vague shapes of gull-folk in the distance farming. On top of the Sentinel of the Eagles’ tower, the titular eagle rests in its nest (a giant pile of driftwood and other materials with a ship’s mast sticking out). To the west is a massive smooth sided metal cube, taller than the rest of the castle. No windows can be seen, but there are several grates laid regularly throughout. To the northeast the party can see the glass and steel tower that adjoins the courtyard of the eagle.

    Lady Harlowe (erroneously) believes the Salters in the next tower west must be in league with the kidnappers, and that the party should attempt to take them by surprise. After casting silence (4), a horrible acrid smoke billows forth from her, and the party exits the tower westward (silently) choking. Sir Imago and Egil take the lead, and the party stalks into the next tower silently.

    In the salter tower, the hatch downward is spiked shut, preventing the salters from reaching this floor of the tower. Presumably, the kidnappers did this to secure their rampart route. The hatch to the top of the tower is shut, and there is no ropeladder.

    Lady Harlowe is quite disappointed that the Salters are not in league with the Kidnappers, as that would make her feel much less bad about evicting them later.

    The westernmost tower has no ropeladder going up but there is a hatch going down. West, the walkway continues until butting up against a wall (the base of a larger tower?). In the corner is a sack, which turns out to be a bag of caltrops! Isaac grabs the sack and the party heads down to the second level of the tower.

    The second floor has no exits other than the hatch downward. The ropeladder is pulled up, and next to it is a sealed bucket with some sort of clear and odorless liquid. A rope comes from the bucket and dangles down the hatch, such that if the rope is pulled the bucket would dump its contents onto the passerby. The party presumes that this is a trap left by the kidnappers, and whatever the contents of the bucket are they must not be nice.

    Sir Imago guards the hatch while the rest of the party descends to the ground floor of the tower. The professor steps ahead and scouts the east hallway. He ends up on the other side of the kidnapper’s pit, in a four way intersection. West is a set of metal double doors, one bearing the trichetra symbol. Based on the construction and location, those doors seemed to be an entrance to the huge metal cube the party saw earlier.

    Further exploration is halted by the sounds of padded feet coming from the west. The professor retreats to the tower, and the party hides up against the wall of the tower, lantern shuttered, hoping to observe whoever passes. Several sets of footsteps draw near in the darkness, and as they pass in front of the tower they halt.

    *sniff*

    *sniff*

    The party is had! They unshutter the lantern and back up from the doorway in a defensive formation. As the creatures descend, the party gets a brief glimpse of dessicated humanoids with digitigrade legs, skinless vulture heads, and terrifying talons.

    Rowan informed us that the creatures (scavengers) would be attempting to down a party member and drag them away. Afraid of losing one of our own, we all declared a “risky” approach.

    Sir Imago kicks the bucket down onto one of the scavengers as they rush, and it wails in agony as its skin boils and bubbles and it collapses to the ground. The professor throws the kidnapper net at the group and snags one, sending it to the ground. The professor’s crossbow seems to do little against the scavengers' slight and bony bodies. The remaining two scavengers are cut down by the party, but not before the professors shield is splintered and he is grievously wounded (three wounds reduced to two by the shield splintering, unconscious). Lady Harlowe and Egil sustain an excruciatingly painful wound from the creature’s talons (one wound, cannot wear armour until healed).

    Note: The professor was unarmoured. Egil and Lady Harlowe were both wearing chainmail. Everyone took a risky approach. Rowan telegraphed that all of us doing a risky approach ended up being very overkill, but he said he it was still somewhat reasonable as we did not know their combat prowess going into it. In the future as long as we are well equipped and prepared I would imagine that a risky approach could be unnecessary. Having someone be dragged away is a horrifying thought though. Big props to the Rowan’s combat system for allowing for objectives like that in the normal conflict resolution system. I find it very fun.

    Inspecting the restrained scavenger, Lady Harlowe attempts to put a jellyfish on the scavenger, but it fails to latch in place or find any purchase (scavengers cannot be piloted). The scavengers also have a vulture-like beak and very papery skin (perhaps fire is useful?).

    After stomping the restrained scavenger’s skull in, the party retreats the way they came back to the gatehouse. Along the way, the Lady Harlowe retrieves the grappling hook used to cross the quicksand and Egil instead anchors the rope with spikes and then buries it a little way under the sand and muck to hide it.

     Session 10

    Jan 24th, 2026

    In Game Date: 9th-13th of Spring, early morning

    Castaways:

    Lady Harlowe

    Professor Bandersnatch

    Sir Imago

    Egil Lothbrok

    Meryl Streep

    THE PLAN:

    • Check the top floor of the tower from last session (if there was no rope ladder, there must be something good hidden up there!)
    • Save Gale

    The party rests several days to heal their wounds (most notably so that Egil and Lady Harlowe may get rid of their excruciating wound and wear armour again). A bucket of fish is purchased with two silver from the “fish fund” in order to appease Dandelion, should she be encountered.

    As they prepare to set out, Meryl Streep, Whale-friend washes onshore after turning against his wailing crew in a new-found respect for ocean life.

    The atrium is quiet, and is foggy with a light misty rain. The party heads west, using the half-buried rope to cross the quicksand into the first tower west of the gatehouse; then up to the third floor ramparts and over to the third tower west of the castle. Egil uses a rope and grapple to clamber up to the top floor of the tower. He sees a multitude of skeletons scattered over the open top of the tower, and calls Meryl up to join him.

    There are five skeletons of large fish, one dolphin skeleton, and three human skeletons. One of the human’s phalanges glints with the shine of gold—a gold ring with a large ruby set into it, and a silver ring with wing adornments. The two of them grab both rings, and finding nothing else notable, descend to meet the rest of the party.

    Lady Harlowe dons both rings. The gold one has no effect (but seems very expensive). Upon donning the silver ring however, she feels much lighter (a ring of feather-falling). Egil closes the hatch to the top of the tower (leave no trace!) and the party returns across the quicksand to the southwestern hallway.

    The professor approaches the Sentinel’s tower and raps on the door, inquiring about news of Gale and requesting additional support as the party pursues Gale’s rescue. Gus agrees to accompany the party, and gives a warning about a scavenger nest down the hallway to the northeast of the Eagle Tower.

    The kidnapper’s pit is still net-less. At the Professor’s behest, Lady Harlowe tests the extent of the featherfall ring’s powers by attempting to walk across the trick board; as soon as she steps on the middle section it pivots, dropping her (slowly) into the pit.

    Unfortunately feather falling is not the same as weightlessness.

    From the northwest, the party hears boots and churning wheels from somewhere across the pit. A man with a lantern runs around the corner, followed by another pushing a wheelbarrow full of barrels. Both are unarmed and unarmoured. As they see the party, they halt and prepare to run back the way they came. Egil calls out a friendly “Good morning!”, at which they stop and parley from the other side of the pit.

    The two men (Dave & ???) turn out to be “water runners” for the paraspiders. They are not enthralled, but are paid a small fee for the service of delivering water barrels to the various factions of the castle. Even the kidnappers leave them alone, as they are also dependent on the paraspiders for water. They ask the party not to tell the paraspiders of their conversation, and then proceed to the gatehouse by using a series of clamps to hold the trick board in place over the pit.

    The party descends into the undercroft, and heads north to chat with Glum. Glum is happy to eat the bucket of fish the party brought, and upon questioning gives some helpful information. It saw the kidnappers soon after we dismantled the net milling about and having some sort of discussion. Glum also saw two kidnappers with a prisoner ascend the pit and return without the prisoner. Also, kidnappers recently returned with a new prisoner in tow.

    Gus describes Gale to Glum, and Glum confirms that the prisoner that the kidnappers took away was in fact Gale. Gus is devastated and is eager to seek revenge and see if the key can still be retrieved.

    Listening at the double doors east of the pit, the party hears the sound of rattling metal. Egil and Sir Imago push the double doors open, revealing a large lit hall, in the middle of which was a kidnapper next to a set of chains. Upon seeing the party, the kidnapper yanks the two metal chains just before a crossbow bolt from the professor sinks into his chest and takes him down. At the other ends of the chains are two cages, out of which two scavengers are released.

    Lady Harlowe casts caltrops in the doorway, but the scavengers ignore the party and descend on the downed kidnapper. The professor looses a bolt at the scavengers and slays one. The remaining scavenger flees through the southmost of the two other exits from the chamber. Moments later, screams are heard from down that corridor. Sir Imago, Egil, and Meryl take the lead and pursue the scavenger into the compound.

    *The north wall ofthat room had a large painting of a feast day in some grand hall. In the background were robed figures w/ broken circle amulets being hanged.

    The party passes through a small kitchen before stepping over a tripwire and entering the remnants of a dormitory. It is covered in blood, with one corpse tangled in a hammock, and two more bodies splayed out on the ground. The door to the northwest seems to be the door to a jail cell, as it is locked and has a small slot that can be opened. The party leaves it for the moment and follows the trail of blood to the east.

    East of the dormitory is a storage room that serves as a four way intersection. In the storerooms are plenty of provisions, but also ropes, manacles, spikes, and other equipment. On the floor is a partially constructed large net, presumably to replace the one the party dismantled. The south door is a similar slotted metal door, but the party passes it by to follow the blood trail. Egil urges the party onward, not wanting to waste the opportunity given by the parties “shock troop”.

    At that moment, a bloodied kidnapper started running down the hallway toward the party, but upon seeing our numbers turned and fled. The kidnapper fled through the small gathering-room to the east, out the double doors and into the rest of the undercroft. Lady Harlowe barred the door with an oar to keep them out.

    On the way the party passed by a room with several sets of manacles attached to the wall, as well as a metal table with restraints and another slotted door on the west wall.

    In the small gathering room was the corpse of the scavenger, as well as wooden tables and stools (of rather poor quality) and a manually-triggered net trap in the north doorway.

    Hoping to clear out the lair, the party returns heads back west and checks the first northern door (locked). Egil knocks on the door, and two voices respond. Egil pretends to be a fleeing kidnapper, asking them to let him in or the scavenger will kill them all, but the kidnappers are not moved. Meryl ponders using his battleaxe to tear down the door, but the party is concerned about the amount of time that would take. Instead, Egil demands their surrender. After a brief argument is heard, the door opens and one kidnapper steps out and surrenders.

    While Gus puts a set of manacles from the storerooms on the surrendered man, Egil demands to know who the other kidnapper was. The party's captive reveals that the fleeing kidnapper is Tigress, their leader.

    Leaving Gus to guard the prisoner, the rest of the party gives pursuit. As they round the corner, they see Tigress exit out the west passageway of a large throne hall. The party’s passage is blocked however, by several sets of manacles attached to the bronze throne which reach out to grasp any intruders. Lady Harlowe attempts to invoke the eidolons of dominion to stop the chains, but it is of no use, and Tigress escapes.

    The surrendered kidnapper, named Tristan, provides the party with a key to the prisoner cells. After freeing the prisoners, the party returns to the gatehouse with all the equipment/treasure throughout the lair.

    Loot recovered from the Kidnapper Lair:

    • Half a dozen seal skin rugs (~3 silver each, taken as tax by Bertie)
    • Macabre feast day painting (from west entrance, value unknown)
    • Two gambesons
    • One set of chain mail
    • One set of brigandine armour
    • Two shields
    • Crossbow (with bolts)
    • Broadsword
    • Falchion
    • Spear
    • Axe
    • Few dozen iron spikes
    • Three pulleys
    • Two sacks of caltrops
    • Three coils of 60’ rope
    • Four 12’ lengths of chain
    • Four sets of manacles
    • A pair of shears
    • A set of iron manacles inscribed with ornate anchors - when clasped their weight magically increases to about as much as a large person.

    Incidental Loot:

    • Ring of feather fall
    • Gold ring with ruby (~60gp value)

    Still within the Kidnapper Lair:

    • Several nets
    • Two large cages
    • Furniture
    • Preserved foods
    • The bronze chain throne
    • Unexplored rooms!

    Rescued/Captive Personages:

    • Beanpole (prisoner)
      • Young person, returned to home with Blemmyes
      • May be able to ask Blemmyes for favour in return for saving them
    • Worm/Tristan (kidnapper)
      • Was working with kidnappers in order to pay off debt to paraspiders and free his researcher companions who were captured. Happy to quit working for the kidnappers. Another one of his companions was also working with the kidnappers, but was slain by the scavenger
    • Aegis III
      • Was previously a kidnapper named Jackal (Tigress’ right hand man), but after going missing seems to be inhabited by a new consciousness, Aegis. Aegis serves the “true ruler of the castle” but is cagey about providing any more information. Seems to be very old. Aegis says people disagree on whether the true ruler is currently in the castle or is prophesied to return, but will not give his own opinion.

     Session 12

    February 28th, 2026

    In Game Date: 13th of spring, afternoon

    Castaways:

    Lady Harlowe

    Professor Bandersnatch

    Sir Imago

    Accompanied by:
    Waldren!

    …Lady Harlowe shows up late…

    Lady Harlowe catches up to the rest of the party as they stand in a four way intersection northwest of what was the kidnapper's pit. East is a door depicting scribes and other scholarly stuff (certainly access to the library where Dandelion, Astrid, and her guardian reside). North is a door depicting a vista of open sky. West is another circular room with several exits, as well as two people in traveling garb.

    The two people call out a greeting and gesture the party over. Their expressions are noticeably vacant, and they are completely unarmed. The professor gestures to the two people to come towards him, fearing a trap or ambush. The two oblige, and approach to converse.

    They introduce themselves as Cornelius and Morgana. They ask the party if they are “looking for work,” as they are currently working as “keepers of the temple” who “bring forth water from the temple”. The temple is through the double doors to the west, and they encourage the party to come with them that way. When asked about their lives before the temple, they seem unable to remember any such time.

    The party backs up and converses among themselves. Obviously Cornelius and Morgana are under the sway of the Paraspiders, so the party decides to forcefully rescue them. They approach Cornelius and Morgana, and the Professor tells them we are back to consider the offer.

    As Morgana goes to rap on the double doors (which would call over a paraspider), Lady Harlowe attempts to invoke the eidolons of dominion to command the two of them to stop. (It fails.) The professor casts rope trick with a flash of green light, casting forth the animated rope to constrict Morgana, while Sir Imago hurls the kidnapper’s net onto Cornelius.

    Lady Harlowe approaches Cornelius and Morgana, and places pilot jellyfish on both of their heads. As the tendrils latch onto their heads, their expressions become even more vacant and slack. In a drawl, Cornelius asks “what can we do for you?”

    Lady Harlowe orders the two of them to follow the party, and the professor instructs them to pretend they belong if anyone spots them. The north door turns out to be locked, and as the party returns east they hear the sound of the water-runners approaching from the south.

    The party lends their caps to Cornelius and Morgana in order to hide the jellyfish as the water runners approach. Cornelius says “good day, how are you?” To ease Duncan and Elroy’s questioning looks, the professor tells them that he found Cornelius and Morgana wandering around in a daze. This seems almost to make Duncan and Elroy more concerned, as the thralls do not normally wander more than a few steps from the door to the temple. Duncan and Elroy start to suggest that the party bring the two thralls back over to the double doors, or allow Duncan and Elroy to escort them.

    Lady Harlowe whispers a command to Cornelius and Morgana, instructing them to flee south in a few moments. As Duncan and Elroy converse with the professor, Cornelius and Morgana make a break for the south, as fast as their clumsily-piloted bodies allow. Duncan and Elroy look on in shock as Lady Harlowe assures them that the party will capture the thralls and return them to the paraspiders (a bold-faced lie).

    After catching up with the twice-enthralled Cornelius and Morgana, the party heads up the ladder in the tower to the south in order to check the top floor of the Salter tower. It’s a bust—just a few bones from eagle-lunches. Instead the party descends back to the first floor and heads west in the direction of what seemed like an observatory.

    The passage turns north, with a door to the west. To the north, the familiar stench of carrion and filth emanates (a scavenger den). The door to the west is rotted and rusted, but doesn’t budge when Lady Harlowe shoulders it. Instead Sir Imago takes his iron spikes and busts the lock on the door, shoving it open.

    Inside are archways to two small rooms and a ladder up. In the entry lobby, a large model solar system hangs from the ceiling. It is about 16’ across, and seems quite complex and valuable. In the west room piles of rotting wood (the remnants of shelves) are covered in a fuzzy greyish mold. Lady Harlowe orders Cornelius and Morgana to clear the rubble, fearing toxic mold.

    Meanwhile Sir Imago and the professor inspect the other room. Inside is a rectangular ceramic plate with a pentagonal depression. The depression has small holes at each point of the pentagon.

    Seemingly, a lock with a strange pentagon-shaped key. Notably, the Crown has five points.

    Cornelius and Morgana come forth with two shiny brass objects. One is a small collapsing telescope, and the other is a round, disk shaped tin. Inside is a spool of microfilm, in serviceable condition.

    Issac, Acquisitions Librarian, has a portable microfilm reader that can be used to view the contents.

    The party returns to the gatehouse. Tristan immediately recognizes Cornelius and Morgana as two of his researcher companions who were taken by the paraspiders. Upon removing the pilot jellyfish, they come to their senses and are no longer under the influence of the spiders. Their memories are hazy, but they give some actionable information.

    They were exploring when they were caught by an armed group led by one of the paraspiders. After paralyzing them with fear with its gaze, they were taken captive and cocooned in a web. When they emerged, they were under the control of the spiders. Thralls stay inside the temple and its immediate vicinity, where they procure water from the temple.

    Rowan telegraphed that Cornelius and Morgana know of the general daily operations of the temple, as well as a vague recollection of its layout. However, their memories are fuzzy and unclear, so they may not remember everything that they have experienced.

    Loot Recovered:

    • Small brass telescope (from the observatory)
    • Spool of microfilm (from the observatory)

    Loot not recovered:

    • The big solar system model

    Friends made:

    • Cornelius - captive of paraspiders, now residing in gatehouse
    • Morgana - captive of paraspiders, now residing in gatehouse

     Session 13

    March 14th, 2026

    In Game Date: 14th of spring, morning

    Castaways:

    Lady Harlowe

    Professor Bandersnatch

    Egil Lothbrok

    THE PLAN:

    • Check out the upper floors of the observatory
    • Go talk to Glum, clean his tank, and perhaps explore more of the Undercroft

    Sir Imago sleeps in and the party decides to leave him his beauty sleep.

    The castaways hear news that the Mawfly in the Great Hall has starved to death! The party heads towards the gull’s home and meet Eelcatcher. She beckons the party into the Ship Hall west of the Great Hall. (The Ship Hall is where the gulls were previously trapped because of the Mawfly being in the Great Hall.)

    The Ship Hall is dominated by a massive sailing ship that spans most of the hall. It hangs from chains in the ceiling, suspended around 12 feet from the ground. The masts have been truncated in order to fit in the room, and it is covered in a strange resin-like substance. Also, the figurehead is missing. Otherwise, it is a normal sailing ship, albeit covered in gull-folk nests.

    Someone throws down a rope ladder from the ship, and a gull hands the party a small sack, which contains the rewards for dealing with the Mawfly. Eelcatcher again thanks the castaways for their help. Professor Bandersnatch asks Eelcatcher if they know the origin of the ship, but the gulls do not know. Egil (a seafaring man) recognizes that the style of sailing ship is quite old. Additionally, it seems that the room was built around the ship, rather than the ship having been assembled inside a pre-existing room.

    After asking permission from Eelcatcher, Egil leads the party to check the room west of the Ship Hall. It is a circular room with a rather high domed ceiling. Most notably, an 8 foot white sphere floats near the peak of the roof, with a white vase hanging from it on a segment of rope or twine. On said ceiling is a mosaic, which depicts the night sky with stars and planets visible. On the north side of the wall is some sort of writing, but the party’s lantern light does not reach high enough.

    Professor Bandersnatch casts rope trick, sending a coil of rope up to tie itself around the sphere, which he then pulls down. The buoyancy of the sphere seems to be just enough to keep the vase aloft, but is very easily overcome. The vase is a large white planter vase, decorated with painted fruit trees. Inside the planter vase are remnants of soil.

    Thinking of the secret door near what was the jellyfish lair, Lady Harlowe empties a small sack of dirt into the vase and waters it. Nothing happens. The party considers how to get up to reach the writing, and Egil thinks to tie a lantern to the white sphere and let it float up towards the ceiling. That plan works, and the lanternlight illuminates gold or brass embossed lettering which reads: “9th day of Autumn in the year 3462”. The party heads back to the gatehouse and deposits their rewards (60g and an orange/yellow topaz), the sphere, and the vase.

    Note: currently, it is the year 4201.

    The party decides to check the clock and mural adjoining the observatory. Lady Harlowe observes that the night sky in the mural there and the in the mural next to the Ship Hall seem to match but it is hard to tell if they are the exact same without taking lots of time and making drawings. The clock on the west wall is a device of arcs, ellipses, dials, and displays. It shows the time, day, and the stage in the lunar and tide cycles. There does not seem to be any manipulable part (so it can’t be turned to say “9th Autumn 3462”).

    After the thought that perhaps a secret door opens on 9th Autumn was brought up, Tom remarked that he can’t wait to find out when the calendar has progressed that far, about six years from now.

    Stymied, the party heads west, towards the observatory. They take the ramparts, hoping to avoid having to pay a toll to Dandelion, but encounter her on the west side of the pit anyway. She is not very hungry, but happily catches the fish the Professor throws to her. The Professor asks her about scavengers in the area; she says she smells them to the north, but hasn’t seen any recently. She also mentions that she ate a woman; Dandelion’s description matched that of the Tigress.

    Bidding Dandelion good day, the party departs to the observatory, passing under the solar system diorama and heading upstairs to check the second floor. On the way, Egil notes the stench of scavengers to the north.

    The second floor is full of the rotted remains of various pieces of furniture: couches, tables, bookshelves, and the like. The east wall is dominated by a very peculiar mechanism. It is made up of a series of concentric metal rings, sat in a depression in the wall. There are 6 wider rings with pictograms and colors matching the planets from the solar system diorama, and 3 smaller rings which depict small objects with a tail (likely comets). There is a series of cranks which can be used to manipulate the rings.

    The colors of the planets are as follows: orange, blue-white, green, gray, red, yellow.

    The colors of the three smaller comets are: green, violet, white

    Arranging all of the celestial bodies does not do anything. The party ponders making the arrangement match the arrangement of the planets in the mural of the 9th of Autumn 3462, but that would require working from detailed drawings.

    Additionally on the second floor is a room separated by an archway. Egil checks it out, finding a small room with the south wall covered in a large piece of dark, curved glass. At the base is a plate with an octagonal depression (similar to the pentagonal one downstairs). At Egils behest to avoid being too sidetracked before seeing the whole picture, the party lets both contraptions be and heads to the third floor.

    The third floor has a huge domed ceiling, through which protrudes a large telescope, at the bottom of which is a metal control platform mounted with a series of levers, wheels, and cranks. Scattered about the room are metal drafting tables, with many detailed astronomical diagrams, stacks of paper, charcoal pencils, and stacks of books. But what catches the party’s eye is the eight foot tall suit of ceramic armour seated at one of the drafting tables, intent on its work. Similar to wineheart, in its torso is a porthole, which appears to be a black void with small flecks of light.

    The suit of armour stands and observes the party. Lady Harlowe calls out a friendly greeting, and the suit waves, but says nothing. The party then asks a slew of questions, which it answers by nodding yes or no.

    • Can you speak? No
    • Do you know Wineheart? No
    • Is there a person piloting you? No
    • Do you mind us being here? Shrugs. Seems more welcoming to the professor (who has more favour with the eidolons of sky, which this creature could plausibly serve).
    • Do other people come here? No
    • Do you have orders to protect this place? Yes
    • Is it okay if we look through the telescope? And is it okay if we mess with the contraption downstairs? Yes to both
    • Do you ever leave? Shrug and small nod

    Unfortunately the telescope is currently unusable, as it is daytime. The professor bids the construct good day and the party heads downstairs. After fiddling with the wheels some more the party departs the observatory and heads to the undercroft to speak with Glum.

    The professor greets Glum, with a “how are you today?” Glum, ever the optimistic sort, responds “bored and depressed”. The professor casts gills and dives into Glum’s tank to clean out some of the algae on the glass, so Glum can see out better, which Glum quite appreciates. He also collects the various fish bones and a human skeleton, clearing up the floor of thetank. Among the bones of the human skeleton is a small green plastic rectangle looped on a synthetic thread. On its face is a stylized wing symbol. The party gives Glum some fish.

    Glum is quite happy about all that, but expresses a desire for sun or a larger enclosure. It says it is nice to be able to see out, even if Igor is even uglier than it remembers. At that point Igor, the stone slab to the east, voices his indignation. The party asks Igor a few questions as well.

    • Do you know Cousin Klaus? Are you in contact with the Stewards? I know of him, but have never met him. I feel a sort of kinship. I have not seen the Stewards in many years.
    • What do you want (Prof)? I wouldlike for Glum to see the sun again and be happy, as we are good friends who have only had each other for company for some time. I do not mind being here alone, I will simply slumber until someone is here to talk with me.
    • What is up with the faces on the blocks to the west? They have some form of animation, but are not very intelligent. Mostly they talk about being afraid of being dismantled.
    • Can we pass by to the hallway you block? I am closed for a reason, and I can not just let any person through. Perhaps if you proved yourself, such as by helping my good friend Glum.
    • Do you know of any dangers to the north (Egil)? No, not really.
    • Do you ever see paraspiders down here? No

    Lady Harlowe puts on the green pendant and thinks happy thoughts, hoping it can make her fly. It doesn’t. Egil peeks north, finding a four way intersection. In the center is a statue of a tall, burly woman with an apron and hammer in hand. Her other hand is outstretched palm up. An inscription on the plinth reads “Stonemother Sama”. Notably, the plinth is a separate piece of stone than the carved floor, and the statue is a separate piece from the plinth.

    We hypothesize that the pendant could have to do with the large metal cube to the west. Perhaps it is some form of ID card? The statue can plausibly be manipulated, perhaps revealing a passageway or stash of treasure.

    North is a T intersection, east is a set of double doors, and westward the passageway opens up into a room. The professor leads the party west, into a long narrow hall with high vaulted ceilings and many alcoves containing life size human statues. They are all finely carved by incredibly skilled sculptors. All have aprons, hammers, chisels, and various masonry tools. It seems like the place would be of great interest to the Stewards.

    The party starts heading back to the gatehouse, but encounter two blemmyes near the pit, with a small fire that they are throwing books onto. Egil asks if the party may help, and the blemmyes oblige, giving Egil the books that are left. They just want the books taken far away, as being near books give them headaches. They found these books west of here at the top of a rope tower, and they knew the books were near because they felt the start of a headache. Also, a scavenger ate one of them, but the survivors are nonplussed by this.

    The book we recover from the blemmyes is arcane in nature and worth 2 quires.

    On the way, the party checks Tigress’ body in the courtyard. Her chainmail is wrecked, and her sword was taken by Astrid. Nothing else is on the body except her tiger-skin cloak. Egil finds it quite fetching, and dons it.

    After returning to the gatehouse, the party has Isaac use his microfilm reader to check the spool of microfilm that was previously recovered from the observatory. It includes many diagrams and sorcerous equations, amounting to three quires of arcane knowledge.

    TREASURE RECOVERED:

    • 8’ diameter white sphere, buoyant enough to lift a large vase or a lantern
    • white planter vase, decorated with painted fruit trees
    • 60g (quest reward; split among all castaways)
    • orange/yellow topaz (quest reward; split among all castaways)
    • 2 quires of knowledge (split between the Professor, the Lady, and Egil)
    • 3 quires of knowledge (owed to Sir Imago, Lady Harlowe, the Professor, and Isaac?)
    • small green plastic rectangle looped on a synthetic thread. On its face is a stylized wing symbol

    The quires have already been allotted on the downtime sheet.

    TREASURE NOT RECOVERED:

    • Cool solar system diorama
    • Probably a lot of useful books on the third floor of the observatory

    OTHER LOOSE ENDS:

    • Why did the white planter vase have remnants of soil? Why put it there? Is it possible the vase is magic?
    • Are the two murals (the one in the ship hall and the one adjoining the atrium) depicting the same night sky, or are they depicting different time periods? What is the significance of either mural or the clock?
    • What is the card for?
    • What is up with the statues, both Mother Sama and the ones in the hall?

    I know Rowan has listened to 3d6 DTL, and I’m really getting Hall of Worthies vibes. I think we should start trying to move the arms on some statues.

    Comments

    Post a Comment