### Conditions - **The Ribbon** - 1 use (-2 penalty to death saves) - **The Fiddle** - 1 use # Session Start > **SLASH**!!! > Seraphines dagger whips through the air with vicious precision, and the swipe of the blade through Friar Olaf's neck slices straight through the flesh to his spinal cord, allowing his head to start to tip backwards before he grasps at the gaping wound with both hands. His desperation is in eyes as they search for aid, finding none. He falls to his knees as the blood pours out of him, and just as you expect to see the life drain out of him, his body begins to convulse... > > Huge goosebumps boil under skin that goes white, then grey, then dark purple. Olaf's body cracks and tears as his muscles grow violently until his body bursts through his brown robe. Bony finger-like appendages sprout along the length of his forearms, stretching the skin from wrist to waist into a thin sheet to form batlike wings. > > The transformation settes, and the beast before you snarls and flashes sharp teeth, still dripping with blood. > > "AhhHhhhh!! I feel... INVIGORATED! You DARE betray one of the chosen in the sanctuary of the crimson mother herself? YOU FOOLS! Tonight the Crimson Rose will FEAST on your BLOOD. ALL OF YOU!" > "Guard, seize these imposters!" # Session Summary #### The Cat Has Left The Bag Session started with the party in a precarious situation within Friar Olaf's private quarters. - Friar Olaf, in his transformed state, began attacking the party savagely, but Seraphine's quick thinking disarmed his assault after a well worded Suggestion spell sent him into the courtyard where he pitched the faithful on the idea that the octo posse turned him as part of "The Prophecy". Some of them seem to buy it, others scream and run in fear. - Olaf in monster form then proceeded into the courtyard desperately trying to convince them of what he "knew" to be true. - Inquisitor Cromwell then appeared from the room next door, apparently very intent on discovering the meaning of the disturbance. She did not seem to love what the party had to say. - Fortunately, Bimbap was successful in seizing her and shuffling Cromwell away to Olaf's quarters before things got out of hand. - Parabellum then proposed the idea of using a blood magic spell as part of a grand presentation aimed at validating their claim to the prophecy... #### The Ritual Sacrifice of Inquisitor Cromwell Following through with Parabellum's idea, the party then ushered a reluctant Inquisitor Cromwell to the balcony, where they spoke of the prophecy and performed "The Ritual". - Parabellum casted blood harvest, spilling blood asunder. - Bimbap continued the ritual, preaching in grand fashion before he lifted her skyward and ripped her arms clean from her body. - She slumped to the ground at first, but then began transforming just like Friar Olaf had. - In her beastly invigorated form, Cromwell then turned to attack the party just as *someone* began opening the door to the cathedral in the distance. - Ember used this opportunity to further convince the crowd by turning the blood rain from Parabellum's spell into coin that rained from the heavens. - Bimbap, remembering the reputation of the crimson faithful for quelling uprisings in the past, jumped up and flew to the door to prevent Renathyr from discovering the chicanery that was afoot. #### Bimbap Intercepts Father Renathyr Bimbap successfully disrupted Renathyr, pushing him into the cathedral before he could see what has happened, and a discussion ensued between them. - Bimbap presented a very compelling case - Father Renathyr's associates had turned their back on him, and were in the process of attempting a coup. - He delivered an epic speech where he attempted to persuade Renathyr to unsheath his sword and hand it over as a means of preventing an otherwise certain catastrophe. - Renathyr appeared to agree and presented the sword to Bimbap, but as Bimbap touched it he blacked out momentarily before waking up in a significantly... different... place. - Parabellum, keeping a pulse on the situation, had meanwhile flown to the belltower where he searched for an angle to utilize his magic in an effort to disable Renathyr. Again, Renathyr detected his presence in the belltower. - The Father materialized before Parabellum once more, and once more seemed far too casual in his conversation. - Parabellum asked Renathyr for some wine to quench his thirst, and Renathyr obliged, presenting an exquisite bottle to the mechanical mastermind. Parabellum reached to receive the wine, but to his surprise he was also transported with Bimbap to an unfamiliar and dark chamber. #### Cletus' Proposition While Bimbap was dealing with Renathyr's intrusion, Cletus et. al. formulated a plan to try and leverage Cromwell's hunger for power by suggesting that she could be one of the eight of "The Prophecy", and ride this train straight to displacing Renathyr from his throne. - Documents confirming her desire to unseat Renathyr were simultaneously discovered by Louis while he conducted a search of her quarters. - Cromwell was absolutely tantalized by Cletus' extremely compelling proposition, and quickly agreed to the offer before transforming back into her human form. - On Seraphine's advice, Cromwell then immediately dispatched Olaf, who she saw as another obstacle in her way of the throne. - Meanwhile, Louis was reading into Olaf's missive, where he discovered instructions on how to access a secret passage beneath the main altar in the cathedral. He informed the party of this critical information, and they proceeded to the cathedral to learn more... #### THE VEIN The party then knocked at the door of the cathedral, and after no response was returned, they entered to discover that neither Bimbap, nor Parabellum, nor Renathyr himself where anywhere to be seen. - After a quick performance to convince the faithful in the cathedral of the legitimacy of the prophecy, they went to investigate the alter, where the golden chalice was exactly where it was described in Olaf's missive. - They identified a big titty lady amongst the followers, and demanded that she present herself as an offering critical to the prophecy before cutting her hand and guiding the slowly dripping blood into the chalice in order to open the passage described in Olaf's journal. - Realizing that they're going to need significantly more flow to extract the required pint of blood, they then were obliged to create a more generously flowing source by slitting the big titty lady's throat and aiming the torrent of blood into the chalice. - An omnipotent presence then overcame Ember as it spoke to her, expressing satisfaction that Ember was growing ever nearer to her grasp! - The ominous voice dissipated, and Olaf's instructions proved reliable when the alter groaned aside to reveal a large vertical shaft dropping down into a passage below... #### The Inner Chamber The party continued on into the dark passage, wading through the endless flowing blood before arriving at a sphincter like door. - Louis then used his magical bag to produce a rat that he flung by the tail at the door, revealing a large monstrosity composed entirely of animated blood. - The monster seemed to be guarding the door, and mentioned something about the chosen being granted passage. - Through the sphincter they could just barely see Renathyr, Bimbap and Parabellum on the other side. - Parabellum, seeing his friends on the other side, then used his magic to blow a musty blood queef through the sphincter portal. The blood elemental seemed slightly offput by this. - Parabellum also learned of Renathyr's powerful abilities when he attempted to target him with a magical spell, which he resisted. - Renathyr was in the middle of lecturing his "new friends" when Inquisitor Cromwell stepped through the sphincter, apparently granted passage by the blood monster guarding the door. - Cromwell then challenged Renathyr, demanding he vacate his position so she could take his place at the helm!