(Patreon Exclusive) We’re Off to See the Wizards: Vecna Session 2 Play Report

What follows is a quick play report of the 2nd session of Vecna Lives! being ran out of the Prismatic Waystation discord server. Please be advised: the following contains some spoilers for the Vecna Lives adventure from 1990. 

Last time all the archwizards (save one) died. The remainder of the adventure consists of their henchmen (in a gender neutral sense) investigating the mystery of their disappearance. The session began in the estate of Imiric von Suss-Varren, Count of the Principality of Ulek, Chamberlain of the Privy Council, Commander of the Suss March, Knight of the Order of the Forge, His Shining Servant, a friend of the mage Otiluke, where gathered the aforementioned Lord Imiric (I shan’t be recounting his full title again) who is a gnome fighter-illusionist, Cymria of Celadon, an elf fighter-mage who was an apprentice of Tenser, Ortux the Hand, a human paladin of lawful good alignment and the right hand man of Bigby, and Yars Blud-Sigul, a dwarf barbarian, an erstwhile companion of Nystul.

At Imiric’s manor, they discussed the mysterious disappearance of their wizard companions. It was immediately decided that they needed to contact Mordenkainen, the leader of the Circle of Eight, to inform him of their strange visions and to possibly solve the mystery. The group split up that evening, with Cymria, a card-carrying member of the Wizard’s Guild, going to the guildhall to put her new compatriots on the guest book for tomorrow, and the rest of the party going to Otiluke’s house to see if they could gather any clues about the disappearance.

At the guildhall, Cymria had little success in either convincing the dwarven porters to allow her allies to enter sooner than guild regulations permitted or in convincing the drow librarian to tell her more about the activities of Mordenkainen. In fact, her attempt to bribe the librarian went so poorly than she all but earned his undying enmity for the mere suggestion (and for how paltry the bribe was, a further insult to the drow’s honor).

The rest of the group had more luck at Otiluke’s, but not before first coming across a few drunken mercenaries bullying a pair of goblins. Yars and Ortux told off the rapscallions (but for opposed reasons) while Imiric cast a spell to afflict the bullies with voices of self-doubt, encouraging them to leave the goblins be. 

Once at Otiluke’s house, Imiric spoke the password to bypass its magical defenses, Ortux lit the darkened interior and Yars admired the interior decor (very heavy on owlbears). They came across a series of correspondence in Otiluke’s study and, once they were re-joined by the dejected Cymria, began to decode the letters, revealing that the Circle of Eight had been on a mission to uncover the disturbance in the force, err, divination magic, but that Otiluke couldn’t go. That Imiric had also received a vision of Otiluke’s demise, but separately at the hands of an eyeball monster instead of by a lich, confirmed that something strange was indeed afoot. They spent the night at Otiluke’s house–Yars had the best sleep of his life on the owlbearskin rug while Ortux kept watch on the back porch.

The next day was spent in the Wizards’ Guildhall. There, the heroes conversed a while with the unwoke Tobin Potriades, an ex-friend of Mordenkainen, before Mordenkainen killed Tobin’s dog (but Tobin doesn’t necessarily hold it against the old chap). Next, they visited the Experimentarium, where wizards conduct experiments on living creations. There, they met “Yung Ser”, a mole-squirrel that Imiric could speak to by virtue of speaking the language of burrowing mammals. Yung revealed that she was once a wizard herself, and a member of the guild, before being accidentally turned into a squirrel and then into a mole-squirrel. It didn’t happen all at once.

Finally, they obtained an audience with Kieren Jalucian, the Guildmaster. Kieren was able to reveal some of the plans of the Circle of Eight, but in order to connect them directly with Mordenkainen they would need to meet at the Roc and Oliphant. Why there and not just in the guildmaster’s office? A reasonable question, but Kieren did not quite know the answer. Mordenkainen’s instructions are indeed mysterious, but must be followed.

They also broached the subject of restoring Yung Ser to human form. Kieren said it could be done and directed them to Ephraim Blackrod, master of ceremonies and of the Experimentarium. However, Kieren’s secretary, Michael, reminded them that Yung would still need to pay her membership dues which were in serious arrears. Unless, of course, it was revealed that her transformation was somehow the fault of the guild. 

Suspecting Michael of skimming off extra revenue from the guild treasury, Yars pushed Imiric into Michael so that Imiric could subtly cast a spell to divine whether Michael had any moral rot. Imiric determined that Michael did have some moral foibles: namely that he did skim some petty cash, but also that Michael was a homewrecker who had previously ruined two marriages. Imiric also divined that Michael had nice abs. There was definite chemistry there. For extra precaution, Ortux used his paladin senses to divine whether anyone in the guildmaster’s floor was evil or undead, including whether Yung herself was perhaps evil and deceiving them all. However, Ortux got the all-clear and they continued with their plan. 

The party had both wizards responsible for Yung’s transformations undo their magic. Ortux cured Tobin’s alcoholism, allowing Tobin to willingly turn Yung back into a regular squirrel. From there, Ephraim, after an exchange of funds, was willing to undo the original spell and turn Yung from squirrel back to human. Once it was revealed that Ephraim’s original spell was cast as part of his duties as then-assistant-master of ceremonies, Michael agreed to waive Yung’s debt to the guildhall. Yung promised her assistance to the party, if ever they needed it, just as soon as Yung would be able to reconnect with her long-lost husband and child, who she inadvertently abandoned during her years living as a rodent.

Will our heroes uncover new secrets from their meeting with Mordenkainen? Will our heroes enjoy a few brewskis at the Roc and Oliphant? Will people stop saying “oh you mean a beholder?” when asked about the eyeball monster? Tune in next time to find out!