The session began in the ruins of Jing Xu, where the party, still reeling from the six-month time jump, regrouped with Asante. The party's return from the Dread Plane was immediately interrupted by a strange, shared psychic message confirming that Lenti had been recovered and was awaiting them at the Mushroom Castle in Nettle Peak. This confirmed that Ezekiel Dowelloft had honored his promise, pulling Lenti back from the mycelium network. While the relief of Lenti's return was profound, the character who emerged had undergone a complete transformation: they were now a Human, having lost all Shruman abilities, and their entire self-perception had been rewritten. The character firmly believes they have always been Human, remembering their past form only as a "vague, discarded dream". This new reality included the firm, unquestioned belief that their companion Dodd is a Gnome who has an identical twin, also named Dodd.
Regardless of Lenti's predicament, the party decided not to dwell on this initially, as time was of the essence in stopping the Yorrok before he could use the Shining Tetrahedron again. Asante provided their first lead on the Dark Hierophant, revealing a secret entrance to the Clockwork Citadel detailed in a journal belonging to Victor Dowelloft, Ezekiel’s father and the Citadel's original owner. Recognizing the need for a diversion, the party immediately sent Akemi, leveraging her formidable diplomatic skills, to rally the five races rescued from the Demiplane of Dread: the Scarecrows, Kukers, Phials, Tallows, and Gargoyles of the Ebon Accord. Akemi successfully convinced the alliance to launch a coordinated, visible assault on the Citadel’s main entrance to draw attention away from the secret approach.
Piloting the Goat Float leaf ship, the party set a course for a nearby lake near the Citadel. On approach, they were ambushed by their own old ship, the Hammership, now heavily armed and crewed by hostile evil clerics. A massive airborne battle erupted over the lake. Amidst the explosions and arcane fire, the party successfully disabled their former vessel. Though the Hammership was doomed, Cut-Cut desperately tried to guide the wreckage away from impact, executing a controlled crash into the lake that, while failing to save the ship, prevented the destruction of the ship’s Helm.
The first phase of the infiltration began with the party successfully employing a convincing bluff to bypass the two Citadel guards found near the landing site. Following the coordinates detailed in Victor Dowelloft’s journal, the group located a secret passage that descended into a flooded underground area. This chamber presented an immediate hazard, as its watery sections were populated with gruesome, oversized leeches. To avoid the contaminated water and the dangerous parasitic life within, the party relied on their mobility, using a combination of flying and leaping across platforms to navigate the unstable, submerged center chamber.
The passage led the team to two distinct mechanical obstacles, which required careful attention and teamwork to solve. The first puzzle was a complicated four-disk system where the goal was to rotate the concentric discs until the numbers in all eight radial columns summed up to 42. The second challenge was a gear-train assembly requiring the placement of five loose gears of different sizes onto specific posts to transmit rotation from the static power gear to all six target points, ensuring each gear spun to activate the mechanism.
The team worked quickly to solve these two complex mechanical challenges. Once both gear areas were correctly engaged, the ancient mechanisms successfully opened a large, ornate door. Beyond this newly revealed entrance, a wide staircase spiraled down, descending for several hundred feet, signaling their successful breach into the lower levels of the Clockwork Citadel. Upon their arrival at the bottom, they found not a hidden base, but a lavish ballroom, where the Dark Hierophant, Yorrok, and several evil priests were waiting. Yorrok, smiling smugly, revealed that the journal was a trap, planted for Asante to find. Combat immediately erupted. The battle was brutal, forcing the party to expend precious resources. Even Bao Bao was not immune, this time, with Yorrok targeting her specifically with a devastating Implosion spell that squished her like a bug. At one point, several party members were slain, though all members were miraculously brought back to the fight, most by the magical pomegranates (so we have a lot more bright red-colored party members).
As the fight reached its climax, the Dark Hierophant’s control fractured. Yorrok’s good personality resurfaced, and he immediately used his remaining power to dismiss the only two surviving evil clerics via teleportation. Declaring that he would end the cycle, he attempted to destroy his artifact, the Shining Tetrahedron, by joining the two split halves back together. This act of self-annihilation failed: instead, he split into two distinct figures—the good Yorrok and the evil Yorrok—each grasping one piece of the Tetrahedron. The resulting explosion destroyed both Yorroks and the artifact completely, leaving nothing but dust and silence.
Immediately after the explosion, Adrian's Library Card flashed, and a simple wooden door appeared in the now destroyed, once opulent ballroom. Adrian felt an urgent, palpable sense of a timer counting down, realizing the fleeting nature of this escape route. The party rushed through the doorway, narrowly escaping the Citadel as the session concluded.