The following is the in-character diary entry of Shal Noctis, a character in the live-play TTRPG podcast Spooky Dice Bag. This entry covers episode 149 – “Stash the Statue.” You can listen to the episode below.
1498 DR – Day 73,998 – Aftermath of the Unveiling
Following my revelation of my undead state, Deliverance seemed a bit perturbed and left the room. Given she did not draw a knife on me, I take that as a win on my part. Otherwise, with the pressing concern of the statue, Astrid took point on a sending spell to reach out to their contact, a Priestess who had put them on the trail of the statue’s location at the Boneshaper Manor.
Having dealt with the specific nature of sending spells before, my advice was to write down the message before sending it as word count was key. I was not willing to spare my parchment, as I have my diary to tend to, but I rather helpfully removed a patch of skin from my stomach as that was more vellum than skin at this point. Astrid was able to compose her message and returned the patch to my body. It appears now that I have a rudimentary tattoo. Not quite as stylish as Auzhan’s all those centuries ago, but I am sure he would have found mine to be funny.
Downtime, But Brief
I remained in the room with Umbra and a napping Randril as Astrid left the room to check on Deliverance. I offered to go, as I felt a little responsible for her condition given my hideous face, but was advised not to and that it was “girls’ stuff.” Now, I am no stranger to that phrase given the makeup of the monastery at Malatra – men, women, and two spirits alike had served Selûne. We were a small, displaced order in the lands I called home; we would take whoever was called to us.
At this time, I had seemed to lose track of Forte; I feel there is something more to the half-elf, but there is a certain cageyness; the revelation that they have a god inside of them is also interesting. The name Lektor is familiar to me. I feel we may have more in common than I thought, so much so that I am sure the others scratching around in my skull would agree. I am no stranger to shadows and dark places, and I suspect that is where Forte often finds themself.
A Knock at the Door
As we waited for the help to arrive, there was a knock at the room’s door, and visitors outside raised the first half of the code phrase; despite my having the phrase written on my arm, Umbra seemed to mistake the second half, and we were forced to pivot when the visitors had moved on down the hall.
I managed to wake up Randril so I was not left alone with the three visitors, who were the native Duergar. They also were clerics, which made me nervous. It was an awkward wait as Umbra went downstairs to collect the rest of our party.
I was not comfortable answering questions as to where we had collected the statue; I recognize there is a tense political situation between the Daugr and Dwarves of this region of the Underdark and the last thing I want to do is embroil myself and the Strixhaven party in some conflict by speaking out of turn. Thankfully Astrid returned to smooth things over.
At least, things felt smooth until we heard Deliverance knocking at the door. There was a commotion on the streets outside. We quickly shifted to the news task, again, planning how to deal with the statue and evade any pursuit.
It turned out a breakup would be in order.
To be continued in Spooky Dice Bag #150.
