2/1/2023 The session began with the party investigating Baron Markowitz’s manor. The party started at the top of the house where they had killed the two mimics. In the floor just below that, containing the dining hall, Igny cast Divine Sense, and learned that bound demon souls were everywhere! It seemed the Baron had summoned minor demon souls to power all sorts of “conveniences,” such as a dumb waiter that could raise and lower itself. On the second floor, the party searched the Baron’s office and found that Markowitz had hastily burned most of his documents. One piece of burnt paper still had some text legible in the corner, which read “that beneath” – appearing to reference a place. Reaching the first floor, the party decided to search the library in earnest, but to first send Dethjak back to Eleva with a message from the party. The message instructed the town to send some guards to monitor the house, to request high level clerics to be requested from the nearest city to dispel the demons in the house, and to start preparing Eleva’s defense. In the library, the party found a very large collection of books – probably about 150 in all. Casting Detect Magic, Chance discovered four magical books. The first was a book that appeared to show how to summon high level demons. The second was a book on practical uses of bound demons around the home. The third was a book on summoning. As for the final book, Igny forgot to take notes on it. Maybe something about farming? Anyway, around this time Maddeus found a trap door under the rug of the library! The party decided to investigate, but didn’t want to leave Ragin Bunce, their halfling historian friend, alone to his own devices among such… interesting books. The party left Helegan behind to keep Bunce out of trouble. When the party opened the trap door, it collapsed telescoping down into 60 feet of stairs to a corridor below. Using the sunstones for light, the party continued down the corridor and around a corner. As they walked down the hallway, Igny, who was leading the way, walked straight into a gelatinous cube! The cube attacked him, swallowing Igny whole. The rest of the party began attacking the cube with Igny still inside. With every attack they made, Igny was also damaged. However, with his tough armor and magical resistances, Igny was able to weather the secondary blows. Igny struggled and briefly escaped from the cube, only to be swallowed again soon after! Fortunately, the party was able to kill the cube and free Igny. The remains of the cube contained 103 wheels, a small medallion with a strange sigil, a small pyramid with runes on it, and a larger pyramid. Chance examined the pyramid and determined that someone had used it to summon the gelatinous cube. Just then, there was a commotion from upstairs, and the party backtracked to investigate. Helegan was holding Bunce in the air by the back of his collar. For his part, Bunce hardly seemed to notice as he was excitedly shouting, “look what I found! His journal!” Indeed, it appeared to be Baron Markowitz’s journal. Skimming the most recent entries, the party didn’t find anything immediately useful, and handed the journal back to Bunce, who was very protective of it. At this point, the party was pretty beat up from their fights with the halflings and the cube, so they decided to head back to Eleva for a well-earned rest to recuperate. Back in Eleva, they checked in with Baron Kirin, the Issaries Guild representatives, and the Hetman. They confirmed that Dethjak’s instructions had been received and acted upon. Additionally, they learned that some woodcutters were attacked by goblins in the nearby forest. This was causing supply issues for the town as there was no ore or wood until the goblin threat was resolved. The party talked it over, and decided that Xaris would stay and lead the defense of Eleva, starting with investigating the seriousness of the goblin threat. The rest of the party would return to the lower levels below the manor and see what they could discover there. If the goblins proved too much for the town to handle without the party’s help, Xaris would let the party know and they would address that after they returned from their second trip to the manor. The party decided to take a long rest and would continue their adventures the next morning: Windsday of Harmony Week. And with that session ended. TL;DR: the party searched the manor and Igny got swallowed up by a gelatinous cube (twice)