Session 005

Session 005: Night Of The Living Bread #

Date: 2026-06-27

Chapter I: The Watchful Eye #

The smog of Caliphas clung heavy and thick as Al, with the quiet grace of a seasoned cleric, melted into the shadows of the Greystove Metalworks alley. Prying through the gloom at a grated window, he bore witness to a tense exchange between the elusive Tharivol and the hulking factory foreman, Rosamund Ferris. The two frantically discussed hiding “tillers” and desperate refugees in the lower vaults to evade the Order of the Chain—a ruthless sect of Chelish Hellknights currently sweeping the district. With a parting kiss to Rosie’s cheek, Tharivol stepped backward into the shimmering maw of a portal, vanishing into the night.

But the shadows offered little sanctuary.

The rhythmic, mechanical wheezing of the factory abruptly died, and Rosie stiffened, her gaze snapping directly toward Al’s hiding spot. Outside the alley, the skin around Rhea’s finger seared with sudden, agonizing heat. The magical messaging ring they had been gifted shed its glamour, its gemstone twisting grotesquely into a frantically rolling eyeball. Rosie’s voice, now a grinding screech of metal-on-metal, echoed from the ring directly into Rhea’s mind. Revealing her dark allegiance with Lucinda Glaze and the dreaded Agnes Hollow, Rosie commanded her iron-wielding workers to fetch the eavesdroppers from the alley so they could be ground into “fresh marrow”.

Chapter II: The Bellflower Breakout #

Just as Rosie’s thugs flooded into the alleyway, the thick fog parted to reveal a terrifying complication: a heavily armored phalanx of Chelish Hellknights. The two hostile factions collided in a violent clash of steel and iron, entirely ignoring the adventurers caught in the crossfire.

Capitalizing on the bloody distraction, the “Smash Sisters”— Helena and Rhea—gripped the rusted bars of the factory window. With a terrifying display of raw, synchronized barbarian muscle, they tore the heavy iron grating completely free from its stone frame. Inside, the party found themselves perched on a precarious catwalk, twenty feet above a massive vat of bubbling, molten slag. Empowered by a scroll of Fleet Step, the trio vaulted across the treacherous rusted beams, sprinting past the sweltering danger with breathtaking agility.

Dropping into the lower smelting vaults, Rhea and Helena once again put their immense strength to use, effortlessly ripping a heavy industrial padlock and its sliding track straight out of the stone wall. This granted them access to the hidden refugee hold, where they met Pearl—a battle-scarred tiller of the emancipatory Bellflower Network, armed with little more than a fire poker.

With the sounds of slaughter echoing from the factory floor above, the party helped Pearl move heavy crates to reveal an industrial runoff chute. Without hesitation, the adventurers and refugees plunged into the dark metal slide, riding the chute down into the stagnant, freezing canal waters below and slipping away into the night.

Chapter III: Secrets in the Chapel of Pharasma #

Dripping with foul, soot-stained canal water, Pearl led the party to a dilapidated, abandoned Pharasmin chapel hidden within the rundown Cairn District. There, huddled around a meager fire, Pearl introduced Corvan, a frail and nervous Egorian who formally worked as a silent valet for a powerful Chelish noble family.

Corvan, blessed with a photographic memory, carried a dangerous secret in his mind: mental ledgers proving that several Chelish noble houses were embezzling funds from the Church of Asmodeus to finance a private mercenary army. Pearl revealed that the Hellknights currently terrorizing Caliphas were not sanctioned by the government; they were rogue mercenaries bribed by these corrupt nobles to hunt Corvan down and execute him before he could reach the free nation of Andoran to publish his findings.

Piecing together the night’s horrors, a grim realization settled over the party: they had stumbled onto a full Hag Coven operating in plain sight. The terrifying Agnes lurked in the subterranean dark, Rosie the iron-hag ran the factory, and Lucinda operated a bakery in the upscale Laurelight Hill district. But rest would not come easy. Just as the party settled in to sleep, the night was violently interrupted. A magical earpiece, previously given to them by Vesper, crackled to life with a frantic, broken distress signal. Through the static and the sounds of a struggle, Vesper managed to convey that her laboratory was under attack.

Chapter IV: The Squared Circle of Trust #

Spurred by Vesper’s midnight cry for help, the party set out the following morning to unravel the coven’s plot. To avoid the roaming Hellknights, they donned spectacular disguises: Helena and Rhea proudly wore matching 90s-style “Smash Sisters” wrestling merchandise, while Al adopted the persona of their veiled, completely silent manager, “Miss Elizabeth”.

Arriving at the Quarterfaux Archives, they found Vesper and Stacee’s underground lab completely ransacked. Stacee revealed that Lucinda the baker-hag had broken in overnight and stolen the Voice Of Sarenrae—a deadly artifact capable of commanding the followers of Sarenrae into a mindless, zombie-like army.

Seeking to turn their cursed surveillance tool into an advantage, Stacee expertly modified Rhea’s Hag’s Eye ring. She disabled the hags’ scrying ability while leaving the messaging function intact, adding a helpful indicator light to notify the party if the coven ever attempted to listen in again.

Before confronting the hag, the party stopped by the Nobleman’s Stitch to retrieve their commissioned gear from the eccentric tailor, Clerebold. The upgrades were impressive: Rhea and Helena received an under-suit that ejected reactive thorns when struck as Al (As Miss Elizabeth) donned a new cloak fitted with hidden compartments. In a shocking turn of events designed to gather intel on Radvir the vampire, a date was successfully propositioned by Al, leaving the blushing Clerebold anticipating a night out with his new acquaintance.

Chapter V: The Great Pastry Caper of Ravenous #

Operating under their wrestling aliases, the party infiltrated Lucinda’s upscale bakery, Ravenous—an establishment draped in mahogany paneling, magical lights, and the heavy scent of spun sugar.

Working the counter was Fistula Skycrusher, an Orc baker. In a masterclass of charismatic bluster, the Smash Sisters bonded with Fistula over their shared heritage as nomadic raiders. Securing her friendship and gifting her a Smash Sisters t-shirt, they successfully arranged a double date at a local dive called “The Night Owl” to keep her thoroughly distracted.

While Fistula was occupied, “Miss Elizabeth” (Al) feigned a bathroom emergency and melted into the shadows of the kitchen. Sweeping the cellar below, Al looted twenty gold pieces and a paper with 3 names written on it from a desk before making a horrifying discovery. Poking a large, illusion-cloaked burlap sack of flour with his scabbard, the hag’s magic broke to reveal piles of dead humans and halflings waiting to be used in her plans.

Hearing Fistula approach the cellar stairs, Al shrouded himself in a Cloak of Shadows, cranked the massive bakery ovens to maximum heat, shoved some nearby burlap sacks inside as a distraction, and sprinted out the back door.

Fistula burst from the kitchen, screaming for the city guard.

Caught at the exit, Helena deployed a wildly unhinged bluff, claiming she was suffering from severe alcohol withdrawals, desperately needed a stiff drink immediately, and couldn’t possibly be held for questioning. Moved by her new friend’s “plight,” Fistula compassionately covered for them, allowing the Smash Sisters to flee into the bustling crowds to rendezvous with Al in a nearby alley.