The session opened with the party gathering in the safety of Lenti’s Mushroom Castle, where she had just completed a solitary, cleansing journey and returned with two. brand-new-and-improved Dodds. Henry, Tom’s possum companion, arrived with a letter summoning the group to Tom Paronskaft’s Curiosity Shop in Rivière Dorado. For the first time, Elyn’s companions would meet her adoptive father. Tom introduced them to an unexpected guest: Morwen, the Gnoll Inquisitor, accompanied by her massive Battle Bird mount, Rust. Morwen, tight-lipped about her quarry, explained she was hunting someone in the Demiplane of Dread and required the party’s combined strength to survive the journey ahead.
Tom wasted no time with pleasantries and revealed his role as the keeper of the Sigil of Wrath. He expressed deep resentment toward the Dark Hierophant, whose disregard for the well-being of Bald (sigil-bearers) felt like a betrayal of his oath. In defiance, Tom had forged a Sigil of Deception (twisting his oath to brand Elyn with a “Sigil denoting lies”) and presented it to Elyn. To ensure its safe adoption, Lenti volunteered to enter an extradimensional box maintained by Tom, a space where time flowed inconsistently. She spent a full month attuning to the Crown of the Rat King, Chastity, while only minutes passed for the others. Emerging with the Crown, Lenti allowed the Sigil of Chastity to briefly possess her and applied the Sigil of Honesty onto Elyn. The two sigils merged into a single, intricate Sigil of Balance, neutralizing the chaotic influence.
With the sigil matters resolved, the party boarded the Goat Float and traveled to the edge of the cursed mists. Echo was left behind due to the Domain’s corrupting nature. Guided by Elyn’s Sunken Eye Compass, they entered the swirling gray fog on foot and emerged around 9:00 AM in the “brighter version” of Daggerford. Temporal instability was immediately apparent, as was the strange way the townsfolk perceived them: Korloth and Loarkon appeared as Orcs, Cut-Cut as an Elf, Lenti as a Southern Grazanite wearing a massive sombrero, and Morwen as a shaggy human riding an ostrich. Adrian spoke briefly with a quiet hooded traveler and learned that the tavern offered free bread and ale to the poor, a kindness confirmed by Elara Gruff, the tavern co-owner. Later, at the Temple of Tymora, Father Morian condemned the party and demanded the "Orcs" leave his house of worship. Outside, they overheard Goruk, the Mine Supervisor, discussing the dangerous buildup of flammable, poisonous gas in the mine shafts. That day, Elyn successfully infiltrated Lord Vayne’s castle and discovered he was using psionics to pacify distraught peasants.
Then, the town’s routine soon unraveled into nightmare. After the midday clamor, the party experienced their first reality shift into the darker version of Daggerford, a ruined landscape. Drawn by the sound of a crying baby, Adrian investigated a broken orphanage and found a Doll Golem in a crib. It attacked immediately, joined by three clown-clothed Carrionettes and a Vampire Child. Morwen showcased her power, slamming her Orc Double Axe deep into the Doll Golem. The party was winning the brutal fight when reality shifted back to the brighter version, revealing Korloth standing over a child he had accidentally knocked to the floor with his hammer. They were promptly ejected from the orphanage.
Refocusing on the mines, the party convinced Goruk that they were national inspectors (quite a feat since Gorak mentioned that they had an inspection earlier that day) and entered the shafts. The party determined that the poisonous gas was a natural but dangerous phenomenon unlikely to threaten the surface. Upon further investigation, they traced a stream of new water to the Well Gem beneath the main cistern and confirmed a catastrophic crack that was leaking water into the mines at an alarming rate. At 6:00 PM, they witnessed the Dusk Assembly were the citizens of Daggerford had to pay tithes and swear fealty to LordVayne. They then secured lodging at the Guilded Cage Inn, where they confirmed their blurred identities in a full-length mirror. The main cistern collapsed at 9:00 PM, presumably from water erosion from the broken Well Gem. They rushed back to the Inn, where Bao Bao realized she was no longer recovering psionic energy—a chilling sign that reality itself was resisting their healing powers. As time ran out, they confirmed their theory: water from the cracked gem had raised the level of the gas to a high enough level to impact the town. Just before midnight, the town exploded in fire and destruction and immediately reset.
Early the next morning, Elyn infiltrated the castle again and found a massive Emerald Gem in Vayne’s unoccupied study. Like most things in the brighter version of Daggerford, she could not interact with it. Afterwards, the party then persuaded the ever-dismissive Lord Vayne to protect the Well Gem. He revealed a shortcut beneath the cistern, where they found the Gem still intact. Vayne agreed to let them guard it and promised a detail of guards that never arrived.
While waiting, Morwen slipped away unnoticed on Rust to pursue her own undisclosed mission. Minutes later, reality shifted. The Well Gem was gone and the area dry. Elyn and Cut-Cut scouted the now-obliterated castle and discovered a miraculously intact stained-glass window in the nearby ruined chapel. When Elyn touched it, the Psionic Lich-Vayne appeared and demanded her submission. The window animated into a Glass Golem, and two nearby Gargoyles joined the assault. Elyn was immediately petrified by the Gargoyles, and the rest of the party rushed to her aid. During the battle, Lenti was also turned to stone, this time by the Glass Golem’s Prismatic Ray. The Dodds retrieved the party’s magic chisel to un-petrify Elyn, and Phillip used it to free Lenti. After a hard-won victory, the party recovered the huge emerald from the Lich’s corpse. Elyn identified it as Vayne’s Phylactery, recognizing both the danger of his resurrection in 24 hours and the possibility that it could help them gain access to his lair or crypt. Soon after, reality shifted again to the lighter version of Daggerford.
Back in the immutable echo of the town, the party investigated the untouched Vayne Family Crypt. On the crypt door they found an emerald-shaped impression and deduced that the lock mechanism required a precise sequence of gem-cutting stages like a combination lock. To unravel its secrets, they sought out Madam Zira, the silver merchant that they met on the first morning in the Lady Luck tavern, who was soon revealed to be Vistani (a culture of nomadic people who dwell in ornate wagons). With her guidance, they studied a tome on gem-cutting and pieced together the crypt’s potential combination. Zira then introduced them to her sister, Madam Varka, a fortune-teller whose Tarokka Reading concluded the session and offered veiled insight into the nature of Daggerford and the party’s next pursuit: the Grim Rapier.