# January 12, 2026 | Lhara ex Machina > [!Summary]+ meta > **Role Call**: [[Cyran Forge-Acolyte Unit 10-D|Tendy]] • [[Boldran Evans|Boldran]] • [[Kouneli]] • [[Styx]] • [[Cheeto]] • [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] > **Where We Are**: [[Sharn]] > **Tagline**: The party learns that 'shadow agents' doesn't mean 'expendable,' and [[Kouneli]] discovers that chivalry isn't quite dead. [[E4 - You Get What You Pay For|↶ Last Session]] |[[The Bleeding Veil| Campaign Home ↝]] ## This Session The laboratory combat goes from bad to worse as homunculi and animated swords, and rats systematically drop party members one by one. Just as [[Cheeto]] fails his third death save the shifter cavalry arrives. After securing the schema and looting ancient Galliforian coins, the party navigates back through the sewers with [[Bloody Spear]] in tow. Emerging into Middle Wards, they intervene when a watchman harasses a scholar named Chandra for her aberrant dragonmark, then settle into the [[Iron Keel Tavern]] for the night—still carrying a (deactivated?) magical artifact that recently tried to kill them all. ^session-summary ## Session Log ### It's a goddamn bloodbath The homunculi are _not_ fucking around, and the party is getting absolutely worked. - [[Styx]] goes down to a blade arm through the chest. [[Cyran Forge-Acolyte Unit 10-D|Tendy]] drops next, followed by [[Boldran Evans|Boldran]]. The swarm of rats adds insult to injury by nibbling on [[Cyran Forge-Acolyte Unit 10-D|Tendy]]'s wires. - [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] scrambles over [[Kouneli]]'s prone body while [[Cyran Forge-Acolyte Unit 10-D|Tendy]] stabilizes [[Styx]] with a gentle reassurance: "You will awaken soon, [[Styx]]"—while definitely not rubbing his crotch area. Definitely not. - [[Bloody Spear]] inexplicably touches the schema's runes, triggering a massive force wave that drops both [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] and [[Cyran Forge-Acolyte Unit 10-D|Tendy]] immediately. [[Cheeto]] rolls his third failed death save and actually _dies_. - As [[Cyran Forge-Acolyte Unit 10-D|Tendy]]'s vision fades, he sees blue light from the hallway and catches the glint of an eyepatch as an ironwood staff slams into the ground with a pulse of radiant energy. ### Deus ex [[Lhara]] [[Lhara]] arrives with [[Thi-Chaik]] in tow, and she is _not_ impressed with this shitshow. - Everyone gets mass healed back to consciousness. [[Lhara]] tells [[Styx]]—who's trying to flee—"The fight is _that_ way" and points back into the laboratory. - She proceeds to absolutely _dismantle_ Homunculus 1 with her ironwood staff, marking Homunculus 2 with some kind of hunter's mark, and yelling a single command word at it. - [[Bloody Spear]], having taken significant damage from touching the schema, casually decapitates Homunculus 1. [[Thi-Chaik]] shifts into wolf form and tries to help but whiffs completely. - [[Lhara]] deactivates the schema by touching specific runes in a precise pattern—taking 15-20 seconds of deep concentration while it wobbles in midair before clattering to the table. She stares at it like Gandalf staring at the One Ring in the fire. ### Mysterious ancient loot and a warning With the homunculi down, the party takes stock of the situation and investigates the room. - [[Boldran Evans|Boldran]] roots through crates and finds nine closed wine bottles, one intact healing potion, and twelve weird gold coins - [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] examines the coins and recognizes them as ancient Galliforian seals—possibly among the _first_ coins ever minted in Galifar - [[Kouneli]] attempts to study the schema's shifting giant runes but can only determine it's an "almost unintelligible dialect"—some kind of cipher perhaps - [[Lhara]] snaps out of her schema-induced trance and gets serious: "Listen. Stop talking. Shut up. I can't be here. It's very important that the professor receives that schema. It can't fall into the wrong hands. You have to go now." [[Thi-Chaik]] winks and disappears, and [[Lhara]] fades away, leaving the party with instructions to meet her at [[The Drunken Dragon]] when they're done. ### [[Bloody Spear]]'s employment situation As they make their way back through the sewers (uneventfully, thanks to the map), [[Bloody Spear]] provides some context. - He reveals he's been happily independent for his entire career, originally hired by House Orien during the Last War to deliver messengers safely through battlefields - This particular job? A contract from House Denieth. He seems confused but pleased to tag along with the party for the schema delivery. - Examining the destroyed homunculi, [[Bloody Spear]] is genuinely perplexed: "But the oldest warforged are forged in the 960s YK..." Everything in the laboratory was thousands of years old... ### Aberrant dragonmark street justice Emerging into Middle Wards the party witnesses a watchman manhandling a human woman at the edge of a bridge. - [[Kouneli]] immediately notices books spilling from her satchel and her tricorn hat floating away—then sees the angry red aberrant dragonmark on her left hand with colorful bursts of energy coming off it: "Fascinating! An aberrant dragon mark!" - [[Styx]] confronts the watchman: "Why are you manhandling this woman? Is your job to throw innocent people from the heights?" Two solid intimidation checks convince the guard to let her go. - The woman—Chandra—thanks them profusely while gathering her books (all about Lhazaar's legendary migration from Sarlona). - [[Kouneli]] attempts to sage-splain history to Chandra until he quickly realizes she's the world's foremost expert on this historical topic and he knows basically nothing. Now he smitten. - Chandra gives [[Kouneli]] a small crystal bauble as thanks, says "In another life, maybe," and reveals she's been planning an expedition that she now has the perfect excuse to take. She winks and scurries off into the crowd. ### [[The Iron Keel Tavern]] Rather than risk the last sky coach up to Upper Wards with a magical schema and no money for fancy lodging, the party opts to stay in Middle Wards. - [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] leads them to [[The Iron Keel Tavern]]—a soot-stained warehouse converted to tenements that leans slightly and is propped up by "temporary" iron girders - The sign shows a ship's keel wrapped in chains, and the place smells of machine oil and cheap tobacco. Perfect for a group of sewer-soaked adventurers with a magical cog to hide. - The party settles in for a long rest, facing the immediate problem of how to disguise a giant glowing magical schema from the other patrons.