Legion of Superheroes - Lead up to Season 3 - It’s a Family Affair

Written by our GM
As might be expected for a program centered on teens, there has been lots of family drama. Quatro Lad put his parents, Ouro and Myrn Rud, into witness protection when he narced on the Golden Wolves on Rimbor, but Universo managed to hold them hostage anyway, along with the family members of other students. He took them back into hiding after they were freed, but thanks to an encounter with Lady Memory on Talok VIII he forgot where he left them. Reports of a wild Quatro’s encounters with the Science Police on Zuun seemed to answer that question. Though soon thereafter there were similar reports of drunken Quatro misbehavior coming from Ventura.

Katrina had a contentious relationship with her parents, Rupesh and Zsuzsanna Ramachandra, and they were only too happy to marry her off to crime lord Vid Gupta. After Katrina gave birth to Phora, he was given over to them to care for while she was on the run. They in turn turned him and Skid’s brother Catd over to ZsaZsa Patil, who was operating Gupta’s former gang, now called Nagini. During a fight, Katrina’s mother admitted that she was adopted and that she had been left with them as an infant by what they interpreted as a Naga but was probably actually a Durlan. The infant serpent took on human form, patterned after them, and grew to be Katrina.

Dynasty has a similarly contentious relationship with her mother, Callista Ramirez, a prominent politician on Earth who worked in close concert with Vid Gupta/Universo. It was Callista’s disapproval of her ancestral powers that led her to wear a mask and hide her true identity. While Dynasty was on the run, her mother revealed her identity to the public, but somehow that genie has been put back in the bottle, and now only her closest friends and teammates, and her fiancée Nightwind, know her true identity.

Dynasty’s father, Hermen, with whom she has a much closer relationship, is a member of Metropolis’s City Council. After the family’s home was trashed during a fight with familial enemy Vandal Savage, Hermen bankrupted the family trying to keep up their lavish lifestyle. Dynasty encountered him on Ventura where he claimed to be on business but later admitted that he was gambling to pay their debts. Apparently he was successful, because Dynasty’s bank account is once again full.

The villain Universo, who seemed to have an unusually close relationship with Callista while she worked with him when he was disguised as Vid Gupta, claimed to be Dynasty’s real father. But she compared their genetic profiles and ruled out that possibility. Surely Universo was just jerking with her.

Kyle, Dynasty’s brother, was content with being a holovideo-game-playing slacker until Vandal Savage attacked him. After losing a chunk of ear before his sister saved him, he decided that he needed to be able to protect himself and so joined the Science Police Academy on Mars, though he’s been less than a stellar student there. His dead body showed up on Ventura, two of them actually, and Dynasty determined that they were clones, though there was a slight variance from Kyle’s current genetic markers. Later, when confronting Vandal Savage on Tartarus, Dynasty discovered a whole lab of clones of Kyle in various states of growth and undergoing various experiments conducted by Mantis Morlo. She put down one of these clones herself. Savage was also using some of them to feed his need for the blood of his ancient enemies through arcane rituals.

Speaking of brothers, Kid Skid’s little brother Catd was another of Universo’s hostages, after which he hung out with his big brother for a while until, as mentioned above, he ended up in the custody of Nagini to serve as a playmate for the rapidly aging Phora. Now that he’s been rescued again, and his older brother is once more alive, will he continue to hang with the Legion or will he finally return to Ghoran Prime, where he has been selected for a special reseeding overseen by President Det Sillas? Also on Ghoran Prime, of course, are Skid’s other brother, Sallam, and his parents Khom and Khori, who seem to be the most normal of Academy parents.

We can’t talk about families without looking at perhaps the most dysfunctional one, the unusual unit of Katrina, Quatro, and Phora. When under Universo’s mind control, the former two apparently mated, and shortly thereafter Katrina discovered she was in the advanced stages of pregnancy and ten years younger, though she had no memory of the conception. The pregnancy continued to advance rapidly, perhaps due to the use of Skid’s healing powers, or so Katrina theorized. Very shortly, she gave birth to a Quatro/human hybrid and thus learned who the baby’s father was. A reluctant mother, especially since she was undercover and on the run, she sent Phora (Hindi for “four”) back to Earth with Power Boy and Catd. Power Boy turned them over to the baby’s grandparents, who let Nagini have them. Phora continued to age rapidly and is now a pre-teen, in Katrina and Quatro’s custody once more.

One odd (well, odder) factor in this, weeks ago the team was attacked by a grown Quatro that was seeking Dynasty’s father. In battling him, he demonstrated notable hostility toward Quatro Lad and Katrina. At one point in the fighting, he became a snake before being taken by Mordru’s acolytes. The team speculated that he was actually Phora from the future, brought back for the atmospherium-studded nipple ring he wore, to be used in their magical ritual. Was this indeed Phora and why did he want Hermen Ramirez? And from how far in the future was he, given Phora’s rapid aging?

Legion of Superheroes - Lead up to Season 3 - Real Genius

Written by our GM

Quatro Lad for all his physical might and fighting ability was never the smartest vacuum tube in the circuit board. But during a fight with ravenous Cthot-ids on the planet where Mordru’s acolytes were hiding, his brain got sucked out of his skull by these mind-flayer-like creatures. Nevertheless, he kept operating on a primal level due to the secondary brain that Quatro males have at the base of their torsos. Dynasty used her green energy to regenerate his brain, not realizing that natural Quatro biology would do that. As his real brain grew back, Quatro became smarter and smarter, and his skull expanded to fit his double brain, with the downside of occasional blinding pain. Now Quatro is the smartest Legionnaire (in Brainiac 5’s absence), but he still seems to solve problems with his fists, bringing the boom-boom to the bad guys. Will his intelligence continue expanding or will his head eventually burst?

Legion of Superheroes - Lead up to Season 3 - A Tree Grows in Metropolis

During what should have been a routine mission at a powersphere in Bayouopolis, Kid Skid was set aflame by the homicidal villain Sun Emperor. Dousing the flames in the nearby swamp, he found himself possessed by the Green energy of the Earth, which manifested as a ghost of Alec Holland, a previous host of the power. Although, the Green gave Skid increased powers, the plant life in the swamp and then around the Earth began dying. Holland compelled Skid to take the Green to his home planet of Ghoran Prime and deposit it deep with the ancient structure known as the Node.

Earth’s biosphere, however, died completely. Antonio Stefanacci (Former Curator of the Museum of Mystic Arts in Sanangelopolis, Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, Assistant Instructor at the Legion Academy, Wearer of the Helm of Nabu, and Servant of the Lords of Order) devised a spell that, with the proper ingredients gathered by our heroes, allowed Kid Skid to jumpstart the biosphere. Plant life once again flourished across Earth, at the cost of Skid’s life. Just hours after his induction into the Legion, they mourned his death and planted a tree in his honor.

But Skid, still present in disembodied form in the Earth, was able to concentrate his essence in this tree and regrow his body, though as a child. Will it be the same Skid of old, or something new?

Legion of Superheroes - Lead up to Season 3 - Now You See Me

Written by our GM

One of the stranger alterations to the timeline involves Jacques Foccart, the second Invisible Kid. In the previous timeline, he gained his powers after coming to Brainiac 5 to help his comatose sister. Brainy’s malevolent computer creation, Computo, took control of the girl, and Foccart drank the original Invisible Kid’s serum to help defeat the menace, after which he became a Legionnaire. Eventually, Laurel Kent set him up with Katrina Gupta, and the two began a tentative, polite relationship. In the new timeline, with no Brainiac 5 and thus no Computo, it made sense that Foccart never became Invisible Kid or a Legionnaire. But he suddenly reappeared in the new timeline with powers and membership in the Legion. He is vague and confused about his own origins and spends much of his time skulking invisibly around Legion HQ. The Time Trapper must have reinserted him into the timeline, but why?

Legion of Superheroes - Lead up to Season 3 - Heart of Darkness

Written by our GM

Possibly also related to the War of Magic and Time is the fate of Talok VIII, home to the Legionnaire Shadow Lass. The heroine and her cousin, former Academy student Shadow Kid, gained their powers in a magical cave, where their ancestors gifted them with control over darkness. When our team visited the same cave after fighting a time-displaced Fatal Five (see above), Dynasty spoke with her ancestor Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, while a confused RJ Brande, the Legion’s benefactor, appeared to Katrina. Thereafter, the shadows, which seem to be related to the dark dimension that Dynasty travels through, started expanding beyond the cave. They now envelop the entire planet, trapping Shadow Lass there when she returned to nurse her injuries from the Universo Uprising. The entire planet has now been quarantined by the United Planets.

Dynasty’s trips through the shadow dimension had become increasingly tumultuous and unpleasant, especially for her passengers. The last journeys, however, have been calm. Is this connected to the shadows of Talok VIII?

Legion of Superheroes - Lead up to Season 3 - Magic Time

Written by our GM.

As mundane gangs have operated on the terrestrial sphere, larger forces are also facing off. There once was a truce between Time and Magic, as embodied by the Time Trapper and Mordru, that resulted in the Time Accords, assuring that one force would not intrude upon the realm of the other. Dynasty unwittingly pushed against the truce, but it was broken when a quartet of Mordru’s acolytes, commanded by the insane Daxamite Ol-Vir, tried to collect various artifacts from throughout time to bring the Dark Lord Darkseid back. The Super Moby-Dick, the Fatal Five, Universo, and a Quatro assassin were all pulled from various other times so that the acolytes could gain items they possessed. The heroes eventually defeated Ol-Vir, who was killed by the three surviving mages, and the artifacts were returned to their proper time, but the damage was done.

The White Witch, better known as the Black Witch now due to her descent into madness at the death of her sister, Dream Girl, tried to enlist Dynasty onto Team Magic. The Time Trapper, who may or may not be Dynasty’s ally Katrina Gupta, has similarly tried to woo her for Team Time. It’s unclear how or even whether the Time Trapper’s alterations to the timeline fit into this war, which will surely continue to affect our heroes.

Legion of Superheroes - Lead up to Season 3 - Gang War

Written by our GM

As mentioned, Vid Gupta’s former gang now has Katrina as its leader, with its wealth funneled through her bank account. Before she learned this, she was faced with periodic choices that she made mostly at random. Her first choice was between money and drugs, with her choosing the former. Then she chose a woman over a man, both of whom she remembered as being connected with her husband.  She also seems to have inadvertently caused the death of Pflx Rambo of Ventura (who remains dead). At another point, with similar lack of knowledge Dynasty chose Frzz Takol-C, the first wife of Vid Gupta, to die instead of Dynasty’s own father. An assassin using high-tech weapons of Hindi design is responsible for both deaths.

Katrina discovered that the woman she chose initially was ZsaZsa Patil, who was previously Gupta’s second-in-command and seems to have designs on controlling the gang herself. She had possession of Katrina and Quatro’s son, Phora, who has aged into a pre-teen despite only being a few months old (see below). The team rescued him and Skid’s brother Catd from her, despite numerous illusions and hints of great power that she had.


Meanwhile, Quatro’s old gang on Rimbor, the Golden Wolves, whom he had narced on leading him to join the Legion Academy for protection, has been increasingly active. They made one attempt to retrieve him, which failed, but they have been increasingly active offworld, especially on Ventura and Tau Ceti V and seem to be allied with a larger organization. Their rivals, the Emerald Dragons (to whom Ultra Boy had belonged), have also moved operations offworld, leading Science Police observers to fear that a Gang War is heating up. No doubt our team will be affected by the increasing violence around the UP.

Legion of Superheroes - Lead up to Season 3 - Who Is Katrina Gupta?

Written by our GM.

A late addition to Season 1, Dr. Katrina Gupta introduced herself as Vid Gupta’s daughter who had gained her powers due to an accident involving the rare element atmospherium (Science!), which also caused her amnesia. Vid Gupta was supposedly the Chief of Staff to President Mojai Desai, but actually turned out to be old Legion foe Universo, who had disposed of the real Vid Gupta and taken his place.

But wait, it turned out that Katrina wasn’t Gupta’s daughter but rather his wife! Her overbearing parents, the Ramachandras, had married her off to “businessman” (actually crime lord) Vid Gupta before Universo’s impersonation. Universo as Gupta had no desire to be saddled with a wife as he carried out his universe-dominating plans, so he took advantage of her amnesia to tell her she was his daughter and pawned her off on the Legion Academy with hopes that she could be of use to him there.

But wait, it turned out that Katrina’s parents aren’t actually her parents! To her surprise, she discovered from the Time Trapper that she was adopted. Her mother finally confessed that decades ago during a war between the snakelike Naga and their ancient foes the Eagles, the King Naga had deposited his infant snake with the Indian couple for safekeeping. He never returned, and the shapeshifting infant took human form and was reluctantly raised by the humans.

But wait, it turned out that a battle between Durlan and Thanagarian armies had occurred on the same day that Mrs. Ramachandra said the Naga/Eagle war had happened! It seems that Katrina isn’t a Naga but rather a Durlan. Does that mean she can shapeshift?

But wait, because of her marriage to the real Vid Gupta, Katrina inherited his “business,” actually a criminal gang, and was suddenly independently wealthy, to her adoptive parents’ great joy. But ZsaZsa Patil is contending for control of the gang, now called Nagini (see below), so whether this windfall remains Katrina’s is in question. The Ramachandras had turned over Katrina’s son, Phora (see below) and Kid Skid’s brother Catd to Patil, from whom our heroes had to rescue them.

But wait, during an encounter with the Time Trapper, “he” revealed that “he” was actually a future version of Katrina, her simmering villainous urges finally come to light! Have the Legionnaires actually been fighting a future version of one of their own this entire time?

Legion of Superheroes - Lead up to Season 3 - Crisis in Time

Written by our GM.

Time has changed. The main changes to the timeline seem to center around the non-existence of Brainiac 5 and his two preceding ancestors. Without Brainiac 5 in the Legion, the third body of Triplicate Girl was never killed by his creation Computo. Jacques Foccart never became Invisible Kid II. Mon-El was never permanently cured of lead poisoning and so resides in the Phantom Zone, where Phantom Girl has become his girlfriend, leading Ultra Boy to hook up with Shadow Lass. Legion flight rings are less efficient, as are intergalactic communications. Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet both died in battle. Tellus never graduated from Legion Academy to the team. For some reason, the President of Earth is no longer Katrina Gupta’s ex Kel Wynters but rather Lyna Rosas, someone who wasn’t even a candidate in the last election.

 Rond Vidar and Circadia Senius likewise do not exist. Without them and Brainiac 5, there is no Time Institute and no time travel through normal scientific means. As a result, Superboy never joined the Legion. Without his presence in the 30th Century, his descendant Laurel Gand was never inspired to join the Legion Academy until recently when she was moved by the sacrifice of Kid Skid (see below). Cosmic Boy and Night Girl, however, were apparently outside of time when the changes occurred and still have an operational time bubble now that our protagonists enabled them to escape from the Time Trapper’s realm at the end/beginning of time.

 The planet of Naltor, whose inhabitants can all see the future, has been wiped out by Roman soldiers from the distant past. Likewise, Dream Girl was killed by an ancient Roman, driving her surviving sister, the White Witch, mad with grief.

 Harmonia Li, a scientist from the previous timeline’s Time Institute, still inexplicably retains her memories of the old timeline and apparently others as well. Despite her unexplained hostility toward Dynasty, she has been working with our heroes to restore the timeline.

 With a still-extant time bubble, will our heroes follow through on their plan to travel to the past to restore Brainiac 3 and hopefully his descendants to the timeline and undo the Time Trapper’s meddling?

Things You Need to Know before Legion Academy Season 3

Yes, this is another game we've been playing using Mutants and Masterminds based on the Legion of Superheroes comics from DC. No, I've never summarised this game before, there is a first time for everything. The best way to think of this is, this is a TV show on CW that is a cross between their super hero offerings and their soap opera-y teen dramas.

Our characters
Katrina Gupta (my char) a.k.a. Quantum Cat - human who was exposed to a large dose of atmospherium. This gave her energy manipulation abilities and limited flight.

Dynasty - human who has pre-crisis Green Lantern abilities. This includes magical manipulation of "green flame" and shadow mastery abilities.

Quattro Lad - quattro (four armed purple gorilla like alien) who has super strength and a libido to match.

Kid Skid - ghoran (sentient tree alien) who has the ability to alter friction

What follows are a series of posts written by our GM to remind us of what we have previously done.

With a long hiatus since the end of Season 2, viewers will no doubt have forgotten many of the convoluted plot points and character arcs still dangling. Following the ratings slump of Season 2, there’s news that Season 3 will introduce a new character, get rid of that weird telepathic bug that replaced Kid Skid, and finally wrap up a number of dangling threads. So to help everyone get back up to speed, here’s a Rimborian dozen of  things you should remember.

Shattered Star - Beyond the Doomsday Door - Bob's Dulcet Tones

*Catching up*

The party casts a number of buffs just before they enter the final room where they face Ardathanatus.

The interior of this great, forty-foot-high cathedral shimmers with a nauseating pale green light. The room seems even larger for the lack of furnishings, save for a few crumbling pews and four immense pillars. To the north, a pair of towering wood and metal doors lie closed. It is from the edges of these looming doors that the foul green light emanates, as it seems to leak out along the walls in writhing streams. Twisted bodies of strange and not quite humanoid forms lie strewn about the north end of the room, and a strangely disturbing wind seems to pulse in the very air.

Standing there are Ardathanatus, four sinspawn, and two gongornians

The sinspawn lurking at the far end of the are room wielding bows and arrows. Ardathanatus casts blade barrier to block the party. Tryptic steps forward and yells, "UNFORGE THESE BLADES!" With a gesture the blade barrier vanishes.  The gongornians attempt to cast something upon Tryptic but he shrugs off the foul magics.

Morrigan leads off with a fireball (I should have cast haste; I'm a dumbass), bolstering it with her arcane energy. The cathedral echoes with a resounding BOOM as the entire place fills with flame. The magical fire washes over the vile mob.

Wil charges in and is slashed by one of the gongornian. Akeela is also wounded and fails to land a bite on Ardathanatus. Wil is able to land a palpable hit, but Ardathanatus still stands.

Jazeem leaps and lands a hit on Ardathanatus.

The four sinspawn level their bows at the attacks. Two fire at Akeela, one fires as Wil, and one fires at Jazeem - however, all miss.

Kandamereus moves in and begins casting. Koriah lands a hit on the gongornian.

The other gongornian attacks Akeela and lands a number hits (75 points of damage in one round).

Tryptic attempts to move in.

Ardathanatus casts blasphemy and a wave of magic passes over Tryptic, Wil, and Jazeem. Tryptic is dazed while Wil and Jazeem is weakened. He follows up and heals himself. The gongornians press their attack and Akeela falls.

Morrigan dispels magic on Ardathanatus. Wil draws his shield. Jazeem activates his flaming fists and punches. Sinspawn fire at Jazeem but only minimal hit.

Kandamereus finishes casting and 2 shadows emerge and attack.

The battle continues (editing out repetitive minutia).

After several rounds, Jazeem manages to knock Ardathanatus out.

SUDDENLY THE DOOMSDAY DOOR OPENS AND THE QLIPPOTH LORD YAMASOTH APPEARS! 

Yamasoth attempts to draw the dying form of Ardathanatus into his realm.

Morrigan summons the couatl, Tsikinal, who owed them a favor for rescuing him (didn't note that episode). He appears and holds on to Ardathanatus.

Wil and Jazeem continue to fight the gongornians.

Picture by Sypherianlp
over at Deviant Art

Yamasoth glares at Wil, Jazeem, and Koriah as a wave of vile energy wash over them. The magic twists the form of the three: Wil becomes a goat, Jazeem is again a chicken, and Koriah becomes a cat. However, Jazeem is able to recall who he actually is.

They are pulled into the other realm and the doors slam shut.

Kandamereus and Morrigan lock the doomsday door.

Jazeem presses his attack with his acidic chicken feet.

The party manages to destroy the gongornians and the sinspawn.

Tsikinal appears with the body of Ardathanatus.

Tryptic heals the party and they return to the lighthouse where Morrigan can cast break enchantment.

Shattered Star - Beyond the Doomsday Door - GotoMeeting with Kandamereus

The party is on its way deeper to Windsong Abbey having just fought off a bunch of shadows. They leave the ossuary and continue down the hallway when suddenly a bunch of spikes shoot out at the party. Jazeem and Akeela manage to dodge out of the way and avoid being hurt. The rest of the party is hit with the stone spikes. Morrigan and Tryptic realise the trap is magical in nature but don't know how to avoid it in future.

The party heals up and tries to figure out the next move. They look around the room and realise is a large crypt with 6 stone sarcophagi. They all the symbol of Yamasoth. Jazeem opens the lid of one of them revealing dust. None of the remaining sarcophagi have anything in them.

The party continues into another chamber. The walls are decorated with luminous designs that create a lattice of spirals, with symbols of moons and tiny skulls decorating the ceiling. One set of designs on the face of the room’s central pillar is larger than the others, and seems to be a line of runes.  Morrigan examines the runes (which are written in Abyssal), "Present a key to the end times and utter the invocation favoring the dead and be counted as acolytes of the harbinger of last days."

Suddenly, the walls flash with a cold blue light and a wave of energy passes over the party sending a cold shiver up their spines.  Small spheres of light appear over the heads of each of the party and they are attacked. Morrigan identifies them as a type of will-o-wisp that have been corrupted by Qlippoth powers. They slash out with cold damage. The party manages to defeat them despite the fact they are resistant to Morrigan's magic attacks.

The party continues deeper and comes into another room with 4 sarcophagi. They open a sarcophagus and a mummy is inside. It moves and attacks. At that moment, the other 3 open with mummies coming out to attack. The party starts to fight. As the battle rages, other mummies enter the room from the hallway and join the battle. The party handily defeats them (with help from Morrigan's fireball spells).

The party heals and comes into another room.  A single sarcophagus sits near the middle of the west wall, its side decorated by the symbol of Yamasoth. A set of double doors stands to the southwest, each bearing a skull-shaped lock.  A humanoid figure is in the in room and looking at them. He speaks to them and asks what happened in the intervening years. Morrigan answers truthfully.

He says his name is Kandamereus and agrees to help stop Ardathanatus.

The party goes to the doomsday door and attempt to open it. They fight two stone golems flanking the door.

They party suspects Ardathanatus is in the next room. Morrigan realises they are low on power and are about to have their asses handed to them.

Shattered Star - Beyond the Doomsday Door - I don't like funions

The party continues and comes across an intersection. They go to the left and find another shut stone door. They enter the room and find a lounge contains a cushioned wooden bench, wall-mounted glass cabinets, a round table with wooden chairs, and a large bulky chest. There is a table with a naked man strapped to it. The room contains two of, what appear to be, chain devils.

Wil and Akeela attack, but Akeela is unable to trip them.

However, Morrigan notices that there is something odd about these beings. She deduces that they are actually animate dreams. The battle is joined by the rest of the party.  After a hard fought battle with some close calls, they manage to defeat them.

The man they rescue (who is not evil) is completely oblivious to what is going on having had his wisdom drained. They take him back to the lighthouse. Where Casamir restores him. The man is a cleric of Aureon named Gein. He reveals that Ardathanatus had forced him to create strength potions for them. When he was out of ingredients, they tortured him. Unfortunately, Gein doesn't know how close Ardathanatus is to the Doomsday Door.

Morrigan realises that some of the equipment back in the torture chamber that could be used to create an alchemical golem.

Gein describes the area and indicates what to expect in the underground abbey.

The party returns to the underground complex. They look through the room where they found Gein. Morrigan finds some spellbooks! They also locate Gein's equipment and holy symbols.

The party goes deeper.

They enter a room decorated with frescoes showing images of the space beyond the sky, an expanse populated by stylised suns, constellations, and planets.  They find another doomsday lock. Halfway through entering the unlock pattern, another sonic blast fires off. However, they are able to make it through.

In the next room, the party is attacked by shadows. The heroes manage to defeat them.

They continue exploring.

Shattered Star - Beyond the Doomsday Door - I'M A CHICKEN, MARGE!

A crablike creature scuttles toward them on six stumpy legs, and wielding a scimitar appears, slashing at Wil. Jazeem and Wil move to attack as Akeela attempts, unsuccessfully to trip. Tryptic swings his hammer and attempt to flank but misses.  Morrigan recognizes it as a gongorinan and blasts it with a scorching ray which doesn’t do quite as much damage as she hoped. Koriah swings her sword at it and connects for massive damage.

The battle rages on but after many confusion effects, the party manages to take the Qlippoth down.

he party continues and enters what seems to have been an apothecarium. The party looks through the room and locates some valuable components such as gemstone dust, bits of gold, and some tools. They also find a philosopher's stone.

The party continues and walked down starts into a room that is partially covered with decorative slabs of pale green marble carved with intricate reliefs depicting a tangled forest populated by all sorts of beasts. They find a doomsday lock and try to pass through the door. However, they are immediately hit with deafening blast and shockwave of force. Tryptic is permanently deafened and almost killed. Morrigan casts a repair on him to bring him back.

They look through the portal and see a cliffside ocean which vanishes showing only the stone wall. Morrigan studies it and realizes it is a malfunctioning portal. They move on to the next room and are attacked by two more gongorinans.

A battle ensues. During the battle, Jazeem is TURNED INTO A CHICKEN and Wil is taken down. Tryptic and Morrigan push themselves to the limit with Morrigan casting mending as necessary to keep him up. They do manage to destroy the qlippoths. The party returns to the Lighthouse.

The party reverses the baleful polymorph on Jazeem (who thankfully doesn’t think he’s a chicken) and then returns to the underground and come across and underwater sea cave with a chest and several piles of gold. There they meet a group (6) sea drakes.

The drakes demand a tribute from them. Wil antagonizes them into a fight which the party barely manages to survive.

Shattered Star - Beyond the Doomsday Door - This is why we can't have nice things

The odor of alcohol permeated the huge room. Several crates, barrels, kegs, and racks for wine filled the room—many of which had been opened, emptied, upturned, and shattered. The party looked around the room and tried to speculate as to what happened.  

Suddenly, arrows shot out from nowhere, hitting Koriah and Tryptic. Around the room, five beings with dead grey skin and dull white eyes appeared wielding bows. Morrigan looked at one and immediately recognized these foul creatures as “skulks”. The beings surrounded them and prepared to press their attack. 

With a gesture and a whisper of draconic words, she cast scorching ray at the nearest skulk. Beams of burning light shot from her hands, burning its skin. Tryptic drew his warhammer and charged the skulk. The hammer connected with the skulk in the chest. Meanwhile, Koriah moved towards a couple of skulks. She deftly whipped her aklys around their ankles, causing them to fall prone. Seeing this, Jazeem leaped toward the two on the ground and pummeled them mercilessly. Finally, Wil and Akeela moved toward two others. Akeela grabbed the legs of one and tripped it as Will swung his axe, cutting into the skulk. 

In a defensive move, the skulks vanished. The sharp thud of an arrow near Morrigan alerted her to the presence of another skulk that entered the room. A few whisper words later another scorching ray shot from her fingertips into the skulk just as Tryptic charged. The steel of his hammer connected with the skulk. The sound of ticking became clear as a large Clockwork golem lumbered into the room. The golem raised its heavy arm and bashed Morrigan over her head. Koriah gasped and moved in to start hitting the golem with her icy sword followed by Jazeem. On the other side of the room, Wil and Akeela managed to scent out the skulks and proceeded to attack, killing one. 

Skulks again knocked their arrows and struck Wil and Tryptic. Realising the seriousness of the situation, Morrigan cast haste on the party and shrouded herself in shadows. Tryptic bashed the skulk and prepared to turn on the clockwork golem. Jazeem and Koriah continued to keep the golem occupied with each cut of Koriah’s sword filling with frost. Wil and Akeela killed another skulk and struck at the final skulk who tried to flee. 

Morrigan focused and summoned an ice storm to box the skulks in. Tryptic moved in to attack the clockwork golem with Jazeem and Koriah. The golem grabbed Jazeem in its vice-like grip and smashed his other fist against Tryptics chest. Koriah continued slashing the golem with her sword as Jazeem continues punching.  Wil and Akeela moved in to continue hitting the last camouflaged skulk. Akeela trips it and Wil gashes it with his axe. 

Morrigan cast glitterdust in the remaining area of the room, but no skulks in were in the area. Tryptic hit the golem again with his blessed warhammer sending the golems head flying.  The golem explodes. Tryptic, Jazeem, and Koriah were all caught in the blast. The explosion killed Tryptic. Will and Akeela easily finish off the skulk they are fighting. 

The party assessed their situation knowing that while Casamir could indeed raise Tryptic, he didn’t have enough diamond dust with which to perform the ritual. Wil flew to the city of Fairhaven, Aundair in hopes of acquiring the necessary materials to resurrect Tryptic and purchase a teleport scroll for Morrigan so she had access to the spell. 

MEANWHILE, IN THE AFTERLIFE 

Tryptic finds himself in line in the world of the dead. 

A black-robed skeleton with blue flames in the eye sockets appears before Tryptic.  

Just before vanishing, His hollow voice intones, YOU ARE BECOMING A PROBLEM. ONCE IS USUALLY WHAT PEOPLE GET. TWICE IS A BAD COINCIDENCE. DON’T GO FOR THREE.  

Next, the person in line in front of Tryptic turns around. It is his warforged friend he cannot remember the name of.  

“Oh Tryptic. We need to have another talk, really. It was a good fight I’ll give you that. We need to figure out how to boost your defenses a bit, because we can’t keep doing this. If you get back to Sharn, seek out the Warforged in ‘down below’ – the lowest rungs of Sharn. He won’t be hard to find.” 

BACK IN EBERRON 

The party returned to the lighthouse where Casamir had taken up residence. They go through the items the skulks had: several +1 composite short bows, steel unholy symbol which the party realizes is Yamasoth – the clippoth lord, and arrows made of ghost iron. 

Jazeem and Morrigan saw a group of kobolds, led by a kobold named Bic, who entered the abbey to investigate the area looking for salvage. Jazeem and Morrigan advised them to leave after which Morrigan gave them 45 gold. 

Wil returned from Aundair with the items he purchased. Casamir raised Tryptic and the group rested. 

The next day, the party returned to the beer/wine cellar and continue exploring. They found an attached brewery in the hall the golem came from, but nothing else of interest in that area.  Further exploration of the passages revealed a room with running water. In the center was a 20 foot cistern full of water.  

The next room the party entered was decorated with paintings.  The paintings depicted life-sized clerics with painted musical notes to indicate they are singing. As the party examined the paintings more closely, Wil realized that some of the clerics on the paintings don’t have musical notes coming from them. These 'clerics' revealed themselves to be skulks which raised their bows and fired at the heroes. 

The arrows flew out and hit Wil but missed everyone else. The party divided up and under the effect of a haste spell from Morrigan, started fighting. The party  makes short work of the skulks (like 2 rounds). 

The party examines the rest of the room and found another metal door with a doomsday lock on it. Wil opened the lock allowing the party to pass through. 

The next room smelled stale and contained an alcove with a faint flickering light. Wil examined the floor realising there had been a great deal of traffic through the room and down the stairs.  The party proceeded further down the stairs that ended in a room painted with frescos. The frescos depict a line of people queued up to talk to a blind old man. WIl and Morrigan realised that it is a depiction of one of the nameless priests of Yamasoth. Writings depicting words were shown coming from his mouth. "The passing of the last [untranslatable] at the dawn of an age of lost omens." 

The party continued and soon encountered another lock. They realised they are in an area protected by locks. Passing through, they found a room painted to depict the inside of a cathedral such that if you stand in the center it looked like you were in the center of a cathedral. A blast of magical energy washed over the party giving them a momentary feeling of depression and sadness but they suffered no ill effects. 

At this point, they encountered a horrific creature of some type. 

Shattered Star - Beyond the Doomsday Door - Everybody must get Stoned!

Playing via FaceTime! Couldn't get as much detail as I'd like as poor sound quality due to electrical noise.

Akeela jumps in and attacks and trips the giant and Will moves in and hits the redcap. Tryptic moves in and attacks the redcap as well. Mórrígan attempts to use Dominate Person on the redcap (I wonder why it failed 😑). The battle continues with the hill giant quickly being defeated. The redcap carves a swath of destruction but is defeated shortly.

The party looks around the room and sees the statue of Koriah. 

As the party looks around with Mórrígan standing just outside of the room a wave of magic passes over everyone in the room as a MEDUSA appears.

Mórrígan immediately averts her gaze but not before seeing Jazeem, Wil, and Akeela turn to stone. The Medusa quickly beats Tryptic into submission forcing Mórrígan to flee back to the lighthouse where Casamir awaits.

Mórrígan gets just enough XP to level giving her access to a few higher level spells

She rests and works a plan of attack to save her friends. The next morning she prepares her spells (including echolocation), turns invisible, and returns to try to take down the Medusa.

The battle commenced with Mórrígan casting Hold Person and Ice Storm. While she managed to start whittling her down, the Medusa casts some healing spells on herself (ugh, she's a cleric). The battle went down until Mórrígan was almost out of magic finishing the Medusa with her Arcanist acid jet ability.

She breaks enchantments on the party and heals Tryptic using her mending cantrip. They return to Casamir. They rest. Koriah tells the story about fighting her way in and being attacked by the Medusa. She produces the Doomsday key.

The party returns to attempt to get past the doomsday door. They are hit with a variation of the maze spell. They were removed from conventional reality and had to succeed at an intelligence check to get through. The party manages to eventually succeed after almost succumbing to ability damage.

Mórrígan figures out that a combination is required to bypass the lock.

They return to Casamir for restorations.

They return to the lock and Wil attempts the combination that was on the bookmark.

The door opens and leads to a steep stairway going down to a pair of double doors.

They push the doors open into a room with broken wine casks.

Shattered Star - Beyond the Doomsday Door - Stone to Wall spell

Casamir raises Wil from the dead and allows the party to rest as he continues to tell them story of what has been going on and explaining the lay of the Abbey.

As previously mentioned, Casamir's daughter Koriah had been turned to stone by Ardathanatus and his followers who are members of the Cults of the Dragon's below. Casamir tells them that it appears she is in across the covered bridge in the cliff-side tower that overlooks the ocean.

Casamir further tells them that he believes Ardathanatus passed through the Doomsday door, but it has relocked. Unless the party can locate the key - they likely cannot follow. However, it is possible that if they find his daughter first, she could hopefully assist.

Casamir says the way to get to the cliff-side tower is back through the dining room where the party killed many of the giants. There is a pair of guardrooms and then a grand staircase that leads to the tower proper. From there, there is a walk way across into the cliff-side tower. To get to the lower part of the abbey, the party most pass the doomsday lock which leads to the stairs that go down. Casamir reiterates that he doesn't know where the key to that lock is. He explains that the clerics of the abbey always used hidden trapdoors to go into those parts and left the lock alone. Casamir doesn't know what state they are in as Ardathanatus knew about them and may have done something.

The party decides to attempt to bring the statue to Casamir in hopes of him breaking the stone enchantment. Casamir says the tower has a couple studies the great meeting room where the clerics of the abbey were.  Before the party leaves, Casamir says, "When you do eventually go to the lower parts of the abbey, a couple floors down you will find the chapel to the wind song. That is where the blowing wind enters to make the song. If the other clerics and Ardathanatus haven't found it, there is a hidden stash of equipment in a secret panel behind the altar there."

The party leaves Casamir in the lighthouse and heads to the tower. They make their way to the guardrooms at the base of the tower. Sure enough, there is a stairwell to the upper floor. Draped over the bannister is a circlet with an extravagant headdress. Will attempts to inspect the headdress and accidentally activates a pit trap. However, thanks to a long lasting "overland flight" spell, he doesn't fall. The party realises that this is one of the trap doors Casamir indicated. However, the doorway at the bottom is blocked via bricks.

Will picks up the headdress revealing a glyph on the bannister. The glyph explodes in a sonic blast causing a damaging shockwave. When the party recovers, inspection reveals the headdress is a headband of mental prowess +4 to wisdom and charisma!

Tryptic takes the headband.

The party continues up the stairs. They go into a circular room with windows looking out over the sea. There is a door next to the stairway. Another door leading further into the tower. Three chairs that are facing the windows - nice spot to sit and meditate. The windows have been smashed.

The party goes through the next door and enters a rectangular room that is almost completely lined in wood. There is a round table and a single cushy chair. There are several stools sitting next to a large fireplace. Two tall bookcases flanking a window with flowery stained-glass designs.

Tryptic examines the window - it's well crafted.

Morrigan looks at the books. The books are unusual. They are poetry and litanies. They are written in Aklo and Abyssal. They are grim and blasphemous and worth 400 gold. If you reference them making knowledge planes/religion +2 circumstance bonus. One has an unusual bookmark with a verse written on it.

The verse on the bookmark

The party debates if this is a route through the maze or some sort of combination before moving onward.

They find themselves in what appears to be the NW corner of the tower.  The room has high back leather chair overlooking the ocean Tryptic notes stains on the chair and concludes they have pets.

Party continues into the "tower proper". They pass through a door that opens into a huge room open central chamber surrounded by an ambulatory creating an inner room with 5-foot arches lead to the centre. The centre has a 20 feet ceiling vaulted supported by wooden timbers. There are 18 ornate wooden chairs - each has a holy symbol of a deity.

The party is met by a band of redcaps, mummies, and some sort of zombie bugbear who quaffs a potion and orders them to attack.

A desperate battle follows which the heroes barely survive.

Afterwards, the party examines the room and the chairs with holy symbols and finds evidence that someone was decapitated, but nothing else beyond the gear the monsters had.

The party continues exploring and come to an enclosed bridge that leads to the next tower. The walls are decorated with stained glass of beautiful landscapes.

At the end of the hall are a couple of Vrocks who attack. They summon another Vrock. However, the Vrocks prove no match for the party who make very short work of them.

The room beyond is finely tiled with ceramic and glass and has a pleasant floral aroma. A large stone circular bath arises from the floor.

Standing there is a grinning redcap and a hill giant.

Shattered Star - Beyond the Doomsday Door - Will isn't grateful about death

Note: being in a rock band has it's advantages. I recorded the episode and summarised it at my leisure. Hence, these will be more coherent and consistent from now on.

Our heroes were just inside of Windsong Abbey planning what to do next. They heard the sound of giant boots stomping around outside and cries of an intruder alert being shouted. Will realised they were coming towards them. They braced themselves for the onslaught.

"HEY! YOU COME OUT SO WE CAN SMASH YOU!" yelled one of the hill giants.
Wil retorted, "Come in so we can smash you!"

The giants and ettins, however, did not fall for the ruse. The party heard sounds of piping followed by arguments.

Morrigan activated her Shard's major image power to attempt to lure them in, but failed. As a result, the party finally realised they needed to step out and face TWO HILL GIANTS!

Morrigan led off with Dominate on one of the hill giants and ordered him to attack the other.  Jazeem immediately jumped into combat with the other. Suddenly, the door behind them exploded open and they were attacked by 2 ettins.

Jazeem, Will, and the dominated hill giant carved a swath of destruction.

Suddenly, Jazeem fell over laughing hysterically. Will quickly realised that hideous laughter had been cast to subdue Jazeem. Morrigan cast See Invisibility and observed a redcap had joined. However, upon realising it was seen, it fled.

Shortly into the battle, a multi-tentacled being appeared and cast acid fog. Morrigan managed to dispel the fog after a couple of attempted dispels.

Tryptic managed to keep Jazeem in combat with his healing ability.

Will and Akeela used scent to give chase. While Jazeem, Morrigan, and Tryptic Mirror dealt with the giants and ettins, Will and Akeela followed the trail and ran into a large pack of redcaps who gleefully killed Will. When the three remaining adventurers arrived, they vengefully killed the vile fae.

As they decided what to do next, Morrigan hears a voice in her mind, "I assume you are the ones that caused all of the commotion last night, may I assume you intend no harm to Windsong Abby?"

Morrigan responded that this was true. The voice invited them to the lighthouse and told her to bring Wil's body. They were greeted by a cleric of Olladra who introduced himself as Casamir Azmeren. Realising his name is familiar, Jazeem realised that he was related to Koriah Azmeren. Casamir confirms he is her father.

Casamir revealed the following information...

About a century ago, there was a full compliment of clerics here. Ardathanatus was a cleric of  the Keeper and asserted he was not necessarily evil. However, something happened to him and he murdered one of the other clerics and left the Abbey. A few weeks ago, he returned with giants, redcaps, skulks, and other horrible beings. He killed all of the other clerics either in the Abbey or the "chambers below". They attempted to fight back, but Ardathanatus' forces were too strong. Casamir took refuge in the lighthouse and cast a sending spell to his daughter asking for help. However, she was overwhelmed when she arrived. Casamir explains that Koriah had been turned to stone by one of Ardathanatus' 'generals'.

Finally, Ardathanatus' forces took the Koriah statue to the cliffside tower and then into the chambers below. Casamir confirmed that Ardathanatus was carrying something that looked like the shard but didn't know if that was indeed what he had.

Interesting things happened to Will in the afterlife before Casamir raises him. (I think Will made a mockery of the experience, personally).

Casamir further explained that below the Abbey is "The Doomsday Door". Before the Abbey was built, this was a temple to the Cults of Dragon's Below. In particular, it was for a lord named Yamasoth. Casamar thinks that Ardathanatus wants to open the door and free Yamasoth and that he'd kidnapped the Masked Abbess - the cleric in charge of the Abbey as she had the key.

The party vowed to help.

Before they decided to rest, Morrigan ordered the dominated hill giant to go home.