2/15/2023 Windsday of Harmony Week. First thing in the morning, Xaris and Dethjak headed off to the east to investigate the hobgoblin threat. The rest of the party prepared to return to Baron Markowitz’s estate. Ragin Bunce decided to join them as he wanted to use the library. Bunce also told the party what he had learned from reading the Baron’s journal so far. Apparently, the green demon from the painting had not been summoned by the Baron. However, the demon did exist in Chagna Fel and was attacking everyone it encountered, including the halflings. The Baron’s feverish obsession with the demon was apparently concerned primarily with how to stop or control it. When the party arrived at the estate, the guards at the manor discreetly pointed out a tiny creature watching them, perched on the exterior of the house. The party not-so-discreetly tried to watch it, and it scurried into the house. Mobec, Chance, and Maddeus took positions around the house to make sure it didn’t fly away, while Igny and Helegan entered the manor to try to find the creature. Meanwhile, Ragin Bunce, accompanied by a guard, went to the library to continue to study the Baron’s journal. As Igny proceeded up to the second floor, he heard a commotion coming from the library. Igny and Helegan went back down to investigate and found Bunce unconscious on the floor, and the guard explained that a tiny creature attacked them, biting both of them and stealing the Baron’s journal from Bunce before flying away. Helegan deduced that Bunce may have been poisoned by the bite, and Igny used Lay On Hands to cure Bunce, who woke up immediately. Igny fetched Chance, explaining what had happened. Chance investigated the library, and found some claw marks at the top of the bookshelves, leading to some vents. Meanwhile, outside the house, Mobec spotted the creature, later identified as a homunculus, flying away with the journal from the large hole in the roof. Mobec cast Guiding Bolt, hitting and killing the creature mid-flight. Maddeus, seeing the journal fall on the roof of the house, quickly climbed up and retrieved it. Bunce was overjoyed to have the journal returned to him. The party proceeded to the library and went down the secret hatch in the floor to the underground passageways. In the passageway, they noticed some symbols written on the wall that they did not remember seeing last time. Wary that it might be a trap, Maddeus fired a bolt at it from a distance. However, he missed, and the bolt went straight down the hallway into the next room, where it seemed to alert something to the party’s presence. With subtlety out the window, Chance cast Firebolt at the symbols, causing the corridor in that area to fill with frost. It did indeed seem to be a trap, but was now triggered and left inert. The party continued down the hallway to an opening, where a female spirit sat at a desk surrounded by half a dozen hobgoblins wearing chainmail. The spirit, apparently blind, asked if it was the Baron who approached, and whether he had “recovered the disk of worlds.” Chance valiantly tried to convince the spirit not to fight us, but when the spirit explained that it sought to “bring Old Ones back to Zhalindor,” it became apparent that her goals were mutually exclusive with the party’s, and battle ensued. Igny quickly cut down two of the hobgoblins, but then the spirit, apparently a banshee, unleashed a potent scream causing Maddeus and Helegan to both fall unconscious. Mobec cast silence on the banshee, while the party picked off two more hobgoblins. Chance and Igny focused their attacks on the banshee and were able to kill her. The two remaining hobgoblins fled down a corridor. Meanwhile, when the banshee died, two doors off of the room seemed to unlock. Igny opened one of the doors to reveal a room with two succubae and two enthralled hobgoblins. The succubae tried to charm Igny, but he was not fooled by them. Instead he drew Kekax and started advancing on the succubae, cutting down the two hobgoblins who tried to block him. Just then, there was a popping sound and the succubae disappeared! Maddeus searched two chests in the room to find 327 wheels and 4 healing potions. Igny left the room to tell Chance what had happened, but just then the succubae reappeared, charmed Chance, and disappeared with him into the ethereal plane before anyone could react! Igny was left calling for Chance, but to no avail. Helegan, witnessing everything, explained that the succubae were probably bound to a specific object in the area and could only charm Chance for 24 hours before they would have to return with him. The party quickly deduced that a small pyramid on the banshee’s desk was the item binding the succubae, and the party promptly left the manor to prepare a “welcoming party” for the succubae at the all shrine in Eleva. Meanwhile, the succubae showed a great interest in Chance’s disk of pocket dimensions, and they even traveled with him to the beach the party had visited several times before. The succubae were insistent that one of the buttons on the disk would lead to an island with some important items, but Chance was not convinced. The succubae took Chance to a grotto, where pictograms on the wall showed images of Old Ones being sealed away. One was apparently buried in the fiery mountains to the north west. When the 24 hours ended, the party was ready with as many Issaries guards as they could muster, forming a firing squad. The party told Chance to duck, and he quickly dropped the ground as dozens of arrows and bolts hit the two succubae, but again they disappeared to the ethereal plane. The party was left wondering what they should do with the pyramid that bound the succubae. Should they destroy it? Hide it somewhere far from them, like in one of the pocket dimensions? And with that the session ended. TL;DR: Chance ditched the party to have some fun with two succubae