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Message: <blockquote data-quote="limeskeleton" data-source="post: 9862075" data-attributes="member: 7047820">Session 06The party successfully navigated a swarm of paparazzi and adoring fans following their dramatic train defense. Kellen masked their faces and voices with magic, allowing them to engage without blowing their cover. Soon after, Thorgrim scared off an agitated cultist from the Circle of Inner Light who had been eyeing Kellen — and stole his peanuts for good measure.[SPOILER="Setting Lore"]The Circle of Inner Light was a faction we devised together in Session 0. They're a cult dedicated to an ancient (now extinct) civilization that accomplished enormous feats of magitech, something like the precursor species from Mass Effect or the Ring Builders from The Expanse. They're extremely opposed to anyone messing with Living Dungeons, though at this point we hadn't come up with a reason for why yet!The Church of the Gods is the creatively-named religious authority that unites the worship of the setting's 15 primary deities (all PCs from previous campaigns with these players!), serving as the city's primary political force and spreading its influence over several other nations as well.[/SPOILER]At last, they arrived in Divinigrad. After some exploration, including spotting Wanted posters of Nimble, the party got a sense of the growing tension between the Church of the Gods and the Circle of Inner Light. They made their way to the Racetracks to meet Kellen’s brother, Mortimer (a high-ranking official within the Church), where giant, explosive rhino-creatures raced across the arena and cheap beer flowed freely. Over drinks, Mortimer shared some of the problems facing the city:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Church vs. Circle: The Church is on the brink of declaring a crusade against the Circle.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Major Relic: The Circle recently acquired a dangerously powerful Relic, which has stirred the entire city.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cinderfell Involvement: The Cinderfell Conglomerate is trying to mediate the conflict—likely as a pretext to seize the artifact for themselves.</li> </ul>Deciding to involve themselves (like any good D&D party!), they tracked down Bronnus Cult-Joiner, a dwarven exile from the same city as Thorgrim. He turned out to be quite a talker, with the real challenge ending up being getting him to focus on a single topic long enough to get information out of him. After getting him good and drunk, they also swiped his runestone, a sort of magical key allowing them entry into the Circle's main base of operations in the city: the Luminary Spire.Disguised in stolen acolyte robes, the party infiltrated the tower, bypassing numerous security measures, teleportation networks, and bizarre puzzle chambers. Their infiltration was near-flawless, and they uncovered several disturbing secrets:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Circle is purchasing dwarven prisoner-slaves for Relic testing.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The cult’s highest-ranking leaders are surviving members of the ancient precursors (Prismari)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The rest of the Prismari have been transformed into Living Dungeons</li> </ul>[SPOILER="Reflections"]This session had no combat, but three separate skill challenges of varying complexity. The last one, the tower infiltration, was particularly fun since any success on a skill check let the players declare lore factoids about the Circle and their plans, as listed above. Great fodder for future sessions and a good way to encourage the players to tie in their PCs to the current circumstances.[/SPOILER]</blockquote>

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