Dan Chapman hoshisabi

Session 8 (June 12, 2026)

FR-DC-PND-AO-08, or I'm Not Supposed to Be Here

Roaring River walked Dak home to his parents, Skara and Borsk. Skara was already carving a memory-bone for Dak’s first hunt by the firelight when they arrived. Afterward, she pulled River aside to ask what really happened out there — the “dead run.” River framed it carefully: not a cover-up, just the truth shaped the right way. The elk would have come down on the others regardless, and Dak had already done everything a first hunt asks of a boy — he didn’t need to prove it again. The Persuasion roll came with advantage for hitting exactly the angle a worried mother needed, and it landed clean. Skara spent the rest of the visit asking River about his own life before Coldpeak.

Back at camp, the brewer Brekk told the old story of Gunt the Fool — a long-ago watchman whose anti-ghost brew of garlic, river water, and fermented milk worked so well it drove off the ghosts, the other guards, and sleep itself, all at once. With the night watch thinned, the camp wanted something better. Dr. Medicine took it on, rolling a 21 on Alchemist’s Supplies — a clean success, with an unplanned bonus brewing up alongside it. Meanwhile Broken Tusk came to Alina with a question and a confidence: should the tribe push hunting into the mountain’s shadow, with Kaarsk pressing for it and Savin’s strange immunity to the mountain still unexplained — and, bundled with it, what little is known about Savin’s childhood abduction, the bandage, and the mountain’s pull he’s never felt. Alina rolled a 17 on Arcana to shape her own read of the working, and the augury’s answer came back the same single word as Session 6’s: Woe. What it revealed about Savin — and what the augury said about the road ahead — Alina kept to herself.

Then came Pasha’s memorial — not a burial, Broken Tusk said, but something “for us.” Berg led the rite, rolling Religion with advantage and guidance for a “dirty 29,” the best roll of the night. All four of them stood for it. A blue glow rose over the grave, the candles, and the blades each of them held, and when it faded, every blade from the rite — Berg’s, Dr. Medicine’s, Raydin’s, and River’s — had become Moon Touched, glowing with their own light. Each of them walked away holding a Candle of the Deep: a cold blue-white flame that burns even underwater.

As Pasha’s memorial wound down, an Elk tribe scout named Ulfe sought out Raydin specifically — the two had history, an old card-game debt, and Ulfe offered to forgive it entirely in exchange for help with his brother. That brother was Bjarne, out at a cache site near the City that Never Was, wearing a mage’s Glamoured Studded Leather and speaking in a language nobody recognized. Along with the plea, Ulfe handed over a scroll, a potion, and a locket recovered from the same cache — Alina’s History check (17, with advantage) placed them as Netherese, the possessions of that same dead noble mage. Ulfe had kept him restrained and intoxicated, trying to manage him until help could be found. By the time the party reached the tent, Bjarne was raving, acting erratically, and surrounded by wreckage — and Berg’s sharp ear picked out a second voice under the babbling, calm and clear once Alina’s Comprehend Languages sorted it out and she translated for the table. It spoke Netherese. It said it had died a long time ago and shouldn’t still be here. It had a wife and children once, and it had refused to go through with whatever the others gave up willingly — and lost everything for it. The locket the party offered was his — he recognized the woman and child pictured the instant he saw it — but recognition alone wasn’t enough to reach him. It was Raydin’s illusion, conjuring that same family back into being in front of him, that finally got through — just long enough for the babbling to ease, before the compulsion reasserted, worse than before, and the party found out what they were actually dealing with: an Allip, the lingering remnant of one of the City’s own — someone who, like Savin, had been “partially taken” and never came back from it — riding inside Bjarne and turning Ulfe, Klaud, and Snurre hostile with its babble all at once. Wisdom saves went around the tent — fail for 10 psychic damage and stunned, succeed for 5. Alina answered first, arcing a third-level Witch Bolt into the Allip. Its touch hit Berg for 18 (Dr. Medicine, diagnosing: “the Lich cannot legally drain your life without your consent”), but Berg Second Wind’d back for 13 and put his pike through it twice — the second swing rerolled with Savage Attacker — and the Allip finally let go, the illusion of its family the last thing it saw. Bjarne came back to himself almost immediately, blinking at a tent full of armed strangers and three very confused friends. Raydin’s Hypnotic Pattern had already caught all three hunters in a single trance — full effect, no allies caught in it — and while Klaud and Snurre stayed under, Berg knocked Klaud out cold with the flat of a dagger (advantage from the stun, a “dirty 20”) and River dropped Snurre with a non-lethal rapier strike and a sneak attack. Ulfe stayed patterned too, undisturbed — Dr. Medicine’s only note: nobody wake him up yet. Among what Bjarne had been wearing: Glamoured Studded Leather — given to the party, no longer wanting to be near it.

Player Highlights

Roaring River portrait

Roaring River (Eric) — Walked Dak home and gave Skara the story she needed: not a cover-up, just the truth framed right — the elk would have died anyway, and Dak had already done what a first hunt is supposed to do. The Persuasion roll came with advantage for hitting exactly the angle a worried mother needed, and it landed clean enough that Skara spent the rest of the visit asking about River's own past. Stood for Pasha's memorial alongside everyone else — his blade came away Moon Touched, and he picked up his own Candle of the Deep. Also has an eye on the Glamoured Studded Leather Bjarne handed off, if nobody else wants it.

Alina Shandorath portrait

Alina Shandorath (Dominic) — Broken Tusk came to her with a question and a confidence: whether the tribe should hunt into the mountain's shadow, and what almost nobody else at Coldpeak knows about Savin's past. Her Arcana roll (17) shaped her read of the working, and the augury came back the same word it gave in Session 6 — *Woe*. Both the omen and what she learned about Savin, she kept to herself. When Ulfe handed over what his brother's cache had turned up, her History check (17, with advantage) placed it as Netherese — the possessions of a dead noble mage. In the tent, once Berg's ear caught the second voice in Bjarne's babbling, her Comprehend Languages sorted it out, and she translated for the table as the Allip explained, calmly, that it had died long ago and shouldn't still exist — then she opened the fight against it with a third-level Witch Bolt before the rest of the party closed it out.

Berg Wurdnowwah portrait

Berg Wurdnowwah (Josh) — Led Pasha's memorial with a guided 29 on Religion, the best roll of the night — the ceremony that left every blade present Moon Touched and put a Candle of the Deep in everyone's hands. In the tent, his sharp ear caught the second voice buried in Bjarne's babbling — the first sign something else was going on — before taking an 18-damage hit from the Allip, Second Wind'ing back for 13, and putting it down with two pike strikes — the second rerolled with Savage Attacker — then knocking Klaud out cold with the hilt of a dagger.

Raydin portrait

Raydin (Nadir) — Ulfe came back specifically for him — an old gambling debt, fully forgiven, in exchange for help with a brother whose name Raydin had to ask for twice before performing just the right amount of concern. Cast Shield to soften an incoming hit (AC 22), then Minor Illusion to conjure the Allip's family back into being in front of it — enough to ease the babbling for a moment, before the compulsion came roaring back. When the fight broke out, closed the whole scene with a single Hypnotic Pattern that caught Ulfe, Klaud, and Snurre all at once — full effect, no allies caught in the blast.

Doctor Medicine portrait

Doctor Medicine (Henry) — Helped Brekk brew the camp's new ghost-repellent with a 21 on Alchemist's Supplies, and the same batch produced a Potion of Necrotic Resistance as a bonus. In the tent, ran the Medicine check that told the party how to handle three confused hunters without killing them, and capped it with the only instruction that mattered once Raydin's Hypnotic Pattern landed: "Nobody wake them up." Also diagnosed Berg's brush with the Allip: "the Lich cannot legally drain your life without your consent."

Achievements

Already a Man

Already a Man — River walked Dak home to Skara and Borsk and, with advantage on the roll, gave Skara exactly the story she needed: the elk would have come down on the others regardless, and Dak had already done everything a first hunt requires of a boy — he didn't need to prove it again. The roll landed clean, and Skara spent the rest of the visit asking about River's life before Coldpeak instead.

Better Than Gunt the Fool

Better Than Gunt the Fool — Brekk's story of Gunt the Fool — a watchman whose anti-ghost brew of garlic, river water, and fermented milk drove off the ghosts, the other guards, and sleep itself, all at once — set the bar low. Dr. Medicine's 21 on Alchemist's Supplies cleared it easily, and the batch came with an unplanned bonus: a Potion of Necrotic Resistance.

Moon Touched

Moon Touched — Broken Tusk asked Berg what Pasha's people did for their dead, and Berg invented the rite on the spot — a guided 29 on Religion, the best roll of the night. A blue glow rose over the grave, the candles, and every blade held during the ceremony. When it faded, all four blades — Berg's, Dr. Medicine's, Raydin's, and River's — had become Moon Touched, and each of them walked away holding a Candle of the Deep: a cold flame that burns even underwater.

I Should Be Dead Already

I Should Be Dead Already — Inside Bjarne's wrecked tent, Comprehend Languages picked a second voice out of his drunken babbling — calm, Netherese, and not his. It was an Allip: the lingering remnant of a citizen of the City that Never Was, someone who — like Savin — had been "partially taken" and never came back from it. It said it had a wife and children once. The locket the party offered was his, recognized on sight — but it took Raydin conjuring that family into being with an illusion before it responded at all, calming just long enough for the babbling to come roaring back worse than before.

Nobody Wake Them Up

Nobody Wake Them Up — With the Allip destroyed and Bjarne blinking back to himself, Raydin's Hypnotic Pattern had already caught Ulfe, Klaud, and Snurre in one trance — full effect, no allies caught in it. Berg knocked Klaud out cold with the hilt of a dagger, River dropped Snurre with a non-lethal rapier strike, and Ulfe stayed under, harmless, until it was safe. Dr. Medicine's only instruction: nobody wake them up.

Rewards