DND Blog

A place to keep DND session recaps, from various campaigns.

The Hundred and Forty-Fifth Session

September 12, 2026, Campaign: As the ground quakes, evil wakes

After sleeping a night in the Sky Diamond Academy and helping them clean up some, we go to Setton to ask A.R.N. for their help with the academy's protections. A.R.N. burns the proverbial bridge of our relationship. We go to Quadroads to ask Moon for her help, but we encounter ithe issue that Moon cannot cast or speak. We go to the Ascendants for help; they say they shall not help, though they will improve aid to Sky Diamond's campaign against the Great Banyo Tree. This quite pisses off the Knights.

Table of Contents

  1. Last session
  2. Aftermath
    1. The Conversation
  3. Cleaning up the Teleportation Hub
  4. Recruiting A.R.N.
  5. To Setton
  6. Moon
  7. Ascendants
    1. Ryltar
    2. Percival
    3. Jerry
    4. Sunset
  8. Next Session

Last session

We helped the incompetent and under-leveled Dean of Divination Gon-Li explore the Vault beneath the Sky Diamond Academy, where he was sent to conduct an inventory by the other Deans, in response to a report of a break-in. Our explorations let the Devils in; he was influenced by a Devil when we entered. We discovered this, and then fought the Devils and the Vault's guardian Mage Hunters to escape. The Vault's protections squished the Devils.

Aftermath

But there was no break-in, at all. It was a trick.

The immensity of this moment collapses onto Gon-Li, who tells us that he did what he felt was right: when the assault came, he ran to the most-protected place he could find, in the mines. He felt a pressure there, which pushed him to bring someone down to the Vault, to bring someone into it.

He realizes that the other Deans have realized he's not up for the task. He crumples.

We spend some time building his self-confidence back up, but a band of magic activates on his arm, and he says, "People got hurt because I was a coward." He doesn't realize this magical item is doing stuff. "I just want—", he starts, but Ryltar interrupts: "Be careful with your words. Take great care with what you say. Consider them."

Gon-Li repeats himself: "I'm a coward. I'm not supposed to be here. I think this Academy is better off without me trying to teach people things that I don't even know myself."

"Have you considered," asks Jerry, "going to school to learn these things? 19 -2 = 17 Persuasion

"Maybe I was too cowardly to say that I was not ready." He pauses for a while. "Could you do something for me? Tell the other deans."

Ryltar says yes, but Jerry pushes him to tell them himself. He's afraid of the Dean of Necromancy; she's intimidating. We argue him around to it.

The Conversation

We go to the Deans' mansion, to the Dean of Necromancy's office. There are four chairs there, one for each of the Knights, but none for Gon-Li. She asks him whether he completed his task. He stammers; she says simply, "I know."

"Your continued employment here was only a matter of necessity. Now, understanding your place," and she looks out to the reconstruction of Sky Diamond, and the pulsing of the Sky Diamond tower itself, "your continued employment here has put the academy itself in danger, wouldn't you agree?"

Ryltar's 13 Insight: She's resigned to this.

Gon-Li speaks: "I will no longer be teaching here. I'll be leaving when my services are no longer …"

She says, "Helpful? Useful? In any way contributing?"

"That time has already passed." She looks to us. "Sky Diamond has much to do. When you leave, escort him from here."

Jerry asks, "While I completely understand if you want him gone, would you consider taking him on as a student?" We argue that, while he wished for this power, now he might earnestly desire to earn it.

The Dean of Necromancy asks him: "Do you? Are you willing to learn?"

Standing there, small and still, he says, "Yes."

There is a relief in the air of the office. She says to him, "There have been heavy losses in the area of the Banyo Tree. I want you to go there and help." So that's his fate, and his face is ashen. She tells him to go, and he goes.

We talk about what we saw in the Vault; she says it was an Amnizu.

We discuss what the Knights could do to help:

We make the suggestion about Moon to the Dean; she was the one who put the seal on Moon's magic. She will consider it.

Then we go to the Teleportation Hub, and offer our services. We determine a thing that might work, but we'll need to sleep first in order to regain access to 9th-level spells.

What else can we do?

In the morning, we put those questions to Commune, and come back with "No." on each.

Cleaning up the Teleportation Hub

Percival casts Reverse Gravity. It's like when Goku goes Super-Saiyan, when the rocks start floating behind him, and then they shoot upwards with intense speed, until they hit the top of the spell's effect.

Guy casts Wall of Force, waving his hands as the planes of force come into effect, leaving a nebulous gas roiling in a film across the building, joined by Ryltar's icy plane of Wall of Force, and these panels fold and stack against each other.

Percival drops Reverse Gravity, and the rocks drop. The rocks hit the Walls of Force with a tremendous boom, and fly sideways. Dust clouds spring up where the rubble falls.

As the dust clears, the chamber of the Teleportation Circles is revealed to be clear. There are two circles which are cracked beyond repair, but three are intact.

The crowd cheers. Casting on this scale hasn't been seen in Sky Diamond in some time.

Ryltar congratulates Guy on his good casting.

Recruiting A.R.N.

Percival sends a Message:

I have chanced upon a rare opportunity for which your skillset is perfect. Safety and novelty guaranteed. The reparation of an ancient artifact. Any interest?

A.R.N. responds with indecision. He wants to be convinced of actual security guarantees.

We tell this to the Dean of Necromancy, who says that there's some budget, but that she doesn't want to introduce people who aren't known to the academy.

To Setton

At the Hunter's Table, we ask for a meeting with Winifred, and eventually a runner comes back with a carriage. We take it to A.R.N.'s house, where we are met by him in an armchair in the entry.

We make polite small talk but he cuts to business. We discuss what needs to be done at Sky Diamond Academy: the Sky Diamond must be repaired. A.R.N. is willing to help, but refuses the moment we say that he would need to leave his house. The Sky Diamond cannot move from its location to be brought to him; he will not make a portal into his house, and our assurances of his safety are rebutted by the fact that he now refuses to leave his house because he's afraid that the Thieves will hunt him down.

Percival's 40 Persuasion gets him A.R.N.'s favor, so A.R.N. points to Ryltar and says, "Grovel. Beg." And so Ryltar does, on the floor.

A.R.N.'s eye turns to Jerry. "Beg." She walks over to him, looming over him in his armchair, in her most intimidating form, and says, "Please. Help them." and then walks away, to be someplace else.

A.R.N. turns to Embersia, who has plenty of experience groveling in front of Sergith and Vurguron. She does, because it is her duty.

A.R.N. turns to Percival, and says, "Grovel." Percival throws himself to the floor and crawls on toetips and fingertips, twists his head ever so slightly, "Please, O great one, —" he continues in this vein for a while.

He returns to Jerry. "Beg."

Jerry is quite fed up with his spoiled-child act, and tells him so. "If you were worthy of our regard, we would not have to beg. You are a spoiled child throwing a tantrum because of the conflict between your fear and what you know is right. Will you grow up, and help us, or will you leave it to us to save the world, again?"

No roll necessary. "Tell Sky Diamond, 'No.'"

"We will," says Ryltar.

Jerry doesn't even look at A.R.N.

"Leave!" shouts A.R.N. He shouts other things, too, but we're leaving.

We discuss whether to tell the bartender, but what reputation does A.R.N. have besides hiring a bunch of cold-blooded killers to kill thieves?

To Quadroads we go.

Moon

We appear in the Temple of Ioun.

We find Moon and ask her whether she would be willing to help. Could she help.

She writes, and scratches some stuff out. What we can see is "I would be willing to do anything to help that school." But then there's scratched-out "If she~"

She writes that the Sky Diamond wasn't created; it was found. It would be repairing it and regrowing it, not making it anew.

She's now arguing specifics why it can't be done, on specific magical engineering principles. Jerry says that that those are a lot of what-ifs

Ryltar drops the line, "The Dean said it was up to you."

She frustratedly scribbles, then writes, "I will pray on it. Quality over quantity, focus on the fundamentals, pray over the results."

Ryltar says we need to go talk to the Ascendants. But before he leaves, he quietly tells her, "I'm sorry to put you in this position."

She flips back and shows him a carefully-written note on an earlier page:

If I'm bound to the Abyss, as you are bound to Hell, then our souls will forever light the darkness, since the brief time we've been together.

Ryltar is touched, and stares into the darkness for a bit. Then hugs her, stands, and, misty-eyed, walks out.

Ascendants

We petition them for a meeting, and get one quickly. They ask why we want to meet; Ryltar explains that Moon is basically the only artificer who is willing and able to help Sky Diamond. Sky Diamond serves as the point of the spear against the Banyo Tree. Her inability to speak or cast makes it hard for her to contribute. Can the Ascendants remove this?

There is much debate. Percival makes a stirring speech.

The Ascendant of Ioun speaks: Though Sky Diamond's students are not followers of Ioun, they are still under Ioun. Denying them aid is wrong. I vote to lend aid to the barrier around the Banyo Tree. But there is nothing that we can do to aid in breaking the bonds of Moon.

Ryltar stares at him. "Can't, or won't?"

His question is drowned by the mutterings of the Ascendants.

"This is for the betterment of all," says that Ascendant Ioun.

Ryltar hollers back, "You don't understand! They don't need more of their own people; they have no more people. Staving off the inevitable will only result in more deaths."

"We can only do what we are able."

"Then are you unable to remove Moon's punishment?" asks Jerry, with a certain amount of heat behind it.

"We take no part of any means to unbind Moon."

The Ascendant of Ioun tries to step back, to mute his presence.

"So then you won't stop us if we do it," says Jerry.

The Ascendants move on to talking about things they can do to aid at the Banyo; they're no longer considering Moon.

Jerry says to Ryltar, "We've got some aid for Sky Diamond; they're not going to block us from helping Moon." But Ryltar doesn't hear her; he just disappears in a puff of icy Dimension Door.

Percival casts Silence on half the room, then plays his bagpipes, casting the spell, to drown out the conversation. But partway through, the spell is dispelled, and he passes a Wisdom save as he momentarily tenses and then continues.

Someone tries to speak: "Knights, I understand" — the Ascendant of Pellor — "that you are of upset, that this is a great personal matter to you. But we must," he looks at Ioun, "unify our forces to aid our allies in need. Let us launch to be the ones to ensure security around the Banyo Tree."

"You couldn't even secure the security of your own city," says Percival. "Look. We have the same goal here. The difference is that we're coming here to you with a solution. Did you not see how the lack of communication prevented any further progress? How quickly you acted to undo your verbal shackles, while not helping others? If our our architect remains shackled, then so too remains shackled the future of Sky Diamond, the Quadroads, and indeed the entire realm."

"But if you are unable to assist Moon, simply tell us," says Jerry, "because you shall be treated with greater regard than if you are able yet unwilling."

"We shall do nothing."

"Are you unwilling," says Jerry, "or are you unable?" 17 -2 = 15 Charisma is not enough.

"We shall not take action."

"Then we thank you for the aid that you are offering to the Sky Diamond. But we have no further use for you this evening. Good day." And she walks out.

Percival Dimension Doors out; Embersia thanks them for their time and respectfully exits.

Ryltar

Ryltar was willing to throw hands with powerful allies about this matter. But he's still thinking, still rational. As he walks away, there's a pale trail of ice, in his footsteps.

Ryltar knows that there's a way. Something that the Ascendants aren't telling him. Won't, or can't?

Won't, he decides.

Percival

Percival decides to go blow off steam by ranting to Moon about the Ascendants for a while, and then he realizes that he's hogging the conversation, and he shuts up.

Moon wasn't listening. She's doing architectural diagrams.

Jerry

She channels her rage. She paid attention to who was speaking in favor. One of those Ascendants was the Ascendant of Selune, of maidenly innocence, and Jerry has Batmanned her way in.

Jerry thanks her for her support for Moon. "How much do you like the current Ascendant of Ioun?" 19 + 4 Intimidation (cha) = 23

"Jerry. This isn't necessary. Take care of yourself. Take care of Moon. Take care of your friends. I believe in you, I believe in Moon, I believe that the people who can do something shall do something."

Jerry looks very tired, and she says, "Thank you for your sympathis, but sometimes you really just want to give someone nightmares."

The Ascendant of Selene tries to talk her down, and Jerry relents. "The other Ascendants who spoke in favor of Moon: are there any who approach the Ascendant of Ioun in knowledge of Moon's bindings? sigh I know; this is how I care for her. She's fine; we left her with a magical engineering problem and if I know her, she's going to be focused on that."

The Ascendant of Selune says that it's more about suporting Moon; helping her grow to be the best she can be. Jerry counters that if you want someone to help her, then you need to push them, pull them, and provide them all the tools and artillery support they need to win.

"It's not in our hands to help her."

"Well then whose hands is it," laughs Jerry.

"I don't know."

"Is there a type of candy that the Ascendant of Ioun really doesn't like?" But it's clear that she's joking. "Thank you for the talk." She Vanishes into the shadows of the office, and then stealths her way out.

Sunset

The sun sets.

Before going to bed, Jerry sends The Butler to collect healing potion ingredients from nature outside the city walls.

Next Session