Episode Summary: Session 7

Summary

Session 7 begins with the party recovering from their encounter with Nick Silver, who had immobilized them with his technologically-enhanced staff in the previous session. Following Nick Silver's advice about alternate entry points, the party approaches New Smoke—a fortified industrial town surrounded by 20-25 foot walls of wooden palisade and pounded metal, with black smoke constantly billowing from foundries within. Rather than risk the heavily-guarded main gate where they witness suspicious confiscation of technological devices, the party opts to infiltrate through The Dried-Up Canal entrance that Nick Silver had mentioned.

After Sucks Benedict uses his Trap Expert abilities to assess timing-based dangers at the Canal Entrance, and Safia provides aerial reconnaissance in pigeon form, the party successfully enters the Underground Drainage System beneath New Smoke. When the group becomes disoriented in the maze-like tunnels, Vasso discovers his magical abilities by casting Guidance for the first time, summoning a glowing green light that leads them to a ladder. The party emerges into the Market District through a manhole in the merchant tent of the Pine Cone Man, a well-liked local vendor.

The infiltration goes awry when Sucks Benedict's loud antics and Safia's theft attempt are discovered by the Pine Cone Man, who captures both of them. After tense negotiations involving the entire party, they strike a deal: in exchange for 45 gold each and the Pine Cone Man smuggling their contraband pumpkins and Goober into town, the party agrees to retrieve seeds the merchant believes can restore the Dried-Up Canal—seeds the Pine Cone Man claims shouldn't exist.

Events

The session opens with extended out-of-character conversation among the players, including discussions of Dayna's recent birthday, coffee preferences, and Abdul's meeting with Colin about a coupon book project. Shawn experiences audio quality issues that the group troubleshoots before gameplay begins.

Shawn recaps the previous session: the party encountered Nick Silver, a traveler with a technologically-enhanced staff who immobilized the entire group after Brad's character attempted to stop him. The staff may have belonged to Dr. Felix Dornell, who had red-blonde hair. Abdul's character had gifted Kat a credit card after losing a bet. Before that encounter, the party had engaged in a sweater competition and attempted to make pumpkin snowmen while loading Goober with pumpkins.

The players discuss Vasso's character development, with Dayna noting that learning about lies has made him "more knowledgeable, but sadder"—his eyes now appear less shiny, with gold flecks looking tarnished or brownish. Abdul has Sucks comment to Cat about Vasso's changed appearance. The group also discusses how Saffron became a recurring element in their campaign due to an offhand reference, and how people commonly mispronounce their podcast name as "Sprout Lore" instead of "Spoutlore."

Shawn welcomes the party to the next phase of their journey. After the tense encounter with Nick Silver, the party approaches New Smoke, seeing walls rising 20-25 feet high made of wooden palisade and pounded metal sheets. Black smoke belches into the sky from industrial activity. A long line of people waits at the main gate, undergoing thorough searches. The party witnesses New Smoke Guards confiscating what appears to be a Game Boy Device—a plastic and metal square with a screen—from someone in line.

The party discusses various schemes to bypass security, including poisoning pies or using Kat's arrows. Brad suggests making pumpkin spice pies with Goober that could provide a bonus to parlay. Ultimately, they decide to follow Nick Silver's advice and investigate The Dried-Up Canal entrance. They navigate their cart through underbrush and Pitcher Plants, with Sucks feeding Goober pitcher plant nectar. Goober has grown significantly larger from the pumpkins, now almost as large as Sucks himself, who carries him in a Bjorn-style carrier while wearing his zip-off pants in shorts mode.

Behind a pile of shattered boulders blocking sight of the town walls, the party discovers the canal—a man-made waterway that appears to predate the town's construction, now dry for at least 20-30 feet before filling with dirt and rocks. A metal grate is set into the wall where the canal passes underneath. Sucks uses his Trap Expert move, rolling a 10, giving him three hold to spend on questions about potential dangers. He discovers that timing is critical: "If you walk into the canal at the wrong time, you will be in danger." After surveying the area, Sucks performs a WWE-style pose-down and thanks The Sniff Lord for his dexterity.

Safia shapeshifts into pigeon form for aerial reconnaissance, using Shapeshift to survey New Smoke. She reports that the town looks like a "Mad Max town"—ramshackle buildings made from mixed materials, with numerous foundries and smelters creating constant work, noise, and smoke. The party witnesses brutal treatment at the main gate, reinforcing their decision to use the underground route.

Sucks spends his Trap Expert hold to time their entrance, allowing them to rush through the canal while keeping out of sight. They reach the grate under the wall, finding that the heavy metal grating has been compromised, allowing entry into the dark Underground Drainage System. The canals form a grid-patterned maze with occasional shafts of light from grating overhead.

When the party becomes disoriented in the tunnels, Vasso kneels down and asks "God or his Mother Earth to guide them and their way." Shawn reveals that Vasso has a spell called Guidance. Vasso suddenly stands and starts walking down the canal, with a ball of green light forming in front of him. The light leads them through the tunnels to a ladder, where it bursts into motes of green light and fades away. Kat praises Vasso's newfound ability: "Your ability to, like, talk to God and, like, trick it into doing stuff for you is fucking dope."

The party reaches a ladder leading upward, but Monster the kitten goes feral and deals damage to Sucks when he tries to restrain her. They hear singing echoing from above—close, maybe five feet away. Sucks and Vasso begin singing to coax Goober up the ladder.

Safia climbs the ladder in pigeon form and discovers they're in the Merchant Tent of the Pine Cone Man, who is "absolutely holding court at his stall." The merchant is well-liked in town, and Safia spots a manhole cover set into the ground behind a woven basket full of rolled-up rugs. She attempts to use Discern Realities but gets a 6 or lower, failing to gather useful information about the situation.

Safia tries to steal items from the merchant's stall but is caught. Meanwhile, Sucks emerges from the manhole loudly announcing: "I am on the market. I'm open to all takers, Ladies, anyone who wants a piece of sex Benedict, come and get it." The Pine Cone Man immediately identifies them as thieves, declaring "So it's thievery, is it? Thief. You're caught. Your ruse is up. Thief." Sucks responds: "It's pronounced ruse, you ruse."

The Pine Cone Man closes his tent, telling customers to return tomorrow, then confronts the party: "Is this how you generally conduct business? Crawl through a secret tunnel, pop up wherever you feel, and then start yelling and fighting and trying to jump men in their own tents?" The party introduces themselves—Vasso as "guardian of the fence" and Sucks as "leader of this ragtag group and also speed skating champion in my high school."

During negotiations, the Pine Cone Man examines the party's contraband. When he finds Pumpkin Seeds, he becomes extremely excited: "I didn't think this was possible. Do you understand what this could mean?" He explains that these seeds could potentially restore The Dried-Up Canal. The merchant warns the party: "There are three things that I don't appreciate. Being lied to, being threatened, and being spurned."

The Pine Cone Man proposes a deal: he'll give them 45 gold each and smuggle their contraband into town (including Goober and the pumpkins) if they retrieve more of these impossible seeds for him. He admits: "I feel that I am going to grow to regret this deeply." The party accepts, with Abdul noting out of character: "Can I also just say, guys, the reason I was so quick to be okay with that deal was because he gave us each 45 gold and we were only supposed to get a total of 45 gold."

Shawn clarifies the reward: "45 gold. Gold for the review is not very much. So it makes more sense to give you each 45 gold. Especially for how many sessions that you guys. You guys were traveling to this place for a real long time." Abdul also notes that seeing Safia as a sickly-looking pigeon makes Vasso "not feel inferior to her anymore."

Key Developments

The party successfully infiltrates New Smoke through The Dried-Up Canal system, avoiding the heavily-guarded main gate where New Smoke Guards confiscate technological devices
Vasso discovers his magical abilities, casting Guidance for the first time to navigate the Underground Canal System—a cleric spell that manifests as a green glowing light
Sucks Benedict uses Trap Expert (rolling a 10) to identify timing-based dangers at the Canal Entrance, earning three hold to ensure safe passage
Safia performs aerial reconnaissance using Shapeshift but fails a Discern Realities roll (6 or lower) in the Pine Cone Man's tent
Monster the kitten goes feral in the tunnels, dealing damage to Sucks
Goober has grown significantly larger from consuming pumpkins, now almost the size of Sucks himself
The party is captured by the Pine Cone Man after Safia's theft attempt and Sucks's loud entrance through the manhole in his tent
The Pine Cone Man discovers Pumpkin Seeds among the party's contraband and becomes extremely interested, believing they could restore The Dried-Up Canal
The party negotiates a deal: 45 gold each plus smuggling services in exchange for retrieving more of the impossible seeds
Vasso's character development continues—he has become "more knowledgeable, but sadder" after learning about lies, with his eyes appearing less shiny and gold flecks looking tarnished
The party learns that New Smoke is a heavily industrialized town with constant foundry work, made from ramshackle mixed materials in a "Mad Max" style