Rock the Vote

Rock the Vote — Ch 1.6

Tomorrow the parliament of the sky-city votes on what to do about the whole world below — and our heroes need to be inside the most heavily-warded building in El Cinede before the gavel falls. Guards on every door, anti-flight runes on every window, and one very good reason to hurry. So naturally, the plan is to throw the loudest, drunkest, keg-standing-est concert the High Spire has ever seen. What could a stack of spiced wine, a glowing Pope hat, and a magic instrument that makes people lie possibly get past? Get out the vote — and get in the door.

Chapter / Episode	1.6 — Rock the Vote
Arc	Above the Clouds
GM	Steve
Date / Duration	2024-09-12 · ~3h10m (gameplay from 00:04:15)
Party	Xeros (Dave), Basil (Brin), TBD (Chris), Foulclaw (Jesse), Gypsy Jenkins (Haley), Nortle (Steve)
Joins / Departs	Gypsy Jenkins rejoins after a long absence — then rides off on a solo mission (Haley’s last regular seat at the table)
Ends on	Gypsy Jenkins stowing away on an airship with a dying Manni Dugal bound for Lashara, while the rest stay to face tomorrow’s vote

Synopsis

The morning after their triumphant theatrical debut, the party collects its rewards and its shopping list. Turgra Strongsmith has gifted Xeros a new instrument — The Lying Lyre, whose sonorous notes force everyone in earshot (DC 16 Wisdom save) to tell lies for an hour — which Xeros immediately road-tests on a returning Gypsy Jenkins, turning her tearful homecoming story into a lovingly-fabricated mess. Errands follow: Basil collects her commissioned Veilstone Knuckles from Lyle McStabby and Foulclaw gets his talons sharpened; the whole crew then discovers the perils of a wine tasting at The Winery & Finery, where a lightweight, drunk-off-his-tailfeathers Foulclaw and a wine-buoyed Xeros trade the most sincere “you’re the only real friend I’ve got” of the campaign so far. A keg of spiced wine (plus red cups, tubing and a ping-pong ball from Gimp the Imp) rounds out the arsenal.

At the Ascendant’s Library — really the parliamentary capitol of El Cinede — the party learns the stakes: tomorrow Fauna Sneeler of The Crew forces a vote on whether the sky-city stays isolated from, opens trade with, or moves against the land of Kouréas below, opposed by Mars Von Eck of The Host. To get inside a building bristling with guards, magical traps, and anti-flight runes, the crew does the only sensible thing: they throw a “Rock the Vote” pre-vote rager. Xeros rides Nortle in atop a wall of kegs under illusory spotlights and a disco-glowing Pope hat, TBD shreds guitar, Foulclaw runs a silent-image jumbotron, and Gypsy Jenkins gets the door guard Jaden thoroughly plastered. Doorway clear, they slip into a darkened Parliament.

What follows is a heist in five acts: a levitating pressure-plate puzzle (solved with tear-away cargo pants for ballast), a pair of riddle-gargoyles named Barry and Jill sent into chaos by the Lying Lyre, a shrunken TBD Mission-Impossible-ing down on Veil Stones to disarm a rune lock, and an animals-only teleport ward on Fauna Sneeler’s office that only a wolf-shifted Gypsy Jenkins can cross. Inside, Foulclaw speed-reads a set of notes that lay bare exactly how far the Crew is willing to go — and Xeros, disguised as a janitor with Nortle as his cleaning cart, cons a nat-20 confession out of Mars Von Eck himself, whose office turns out to be hiding the very person Lashara sent them to find. As the night ends the party splits: Gypsy Jenkins is deputized to smuggle the sick, secret-laden Manni Dugal home, while everyone else stays behind to sway a vote that could decide the fate of two worlds.

🎵 Song Recap (rhyming — drop into an AI song generator)

Scheme: AABB verses + chorus. Suggested vibe: arena rock-anthem, big power chords, “Like a Prayer” swagger.

(Verse 1) Turgra hands a liar-song, a lute of gilded lies, Xeros gives the bunny-rogue a homecoming disguise; New brass on Basil’s knuckles, a keg upon the back, A drunk and weepy owl-boy who’s finally found his pack.

(Chorus) Rock the vote, rock the vote, let the spiced wine flow, Light the Pope hat like a disco, put on the biggest show! Guards get sloppy, doors swing wide, slip beneath the shield — Rock the Vote tonight, and see what the archives yield!

(Verse 2) Two plates in the ceiling, cargo pants for weight, Barry lies and Jill won’t tell you which one’s straight; Seven inches tall on a veil-stone dive so clean — The coolest thing he’s ever done, and nobody’s seen.

(Verse 3) A wolf slips through the ward where the wingless cannot go, A diary of horrors that a country shouldn’t know; A janitor, a nat-20, a Host man going pale, A gnome behind the door with the end of the tale.

(Outro) Rock the Vote… the party’s done, the ballot’s still to come — One rides off with a dying man, the rest await the drum.

📋 Point-by-point breakdown (player catch-up — everything that happened)

1. 00:04:15 · 🎭 RP — Gypsy Jenkins returns to the Blackguard’s Inn with a story about a message from a falcon and a great-grandmother’s deathbed fortune (grandma Madame Cecilia — of unfortunate profession).
2. 00:07:37 · 🎒 Loot — Turgra Strongsmith rewards Xeros for last session’s performance with The Lying Lyre (1d4 charges/day; 30-ft, DC 16 Wisdom save → lie for 1 hour).
3. 00:12:23 · 🎲 Mechanic — Xeros strums the Lying Lyre so Gypsy Jenkins’s whole homecoming tale comes out “laced with lies”; the party fails their saves.
4. 00:19:24 · 🧭 Travel — Morning march through the Lower Gates and up toward the High Spire; Steve runs the suspicion-dice menagerie check on the party’s very odd little group.
5. 00:24:42 · 🎒 Loot — At Stabby McStabber’s Stabbing Emporium, Lyle McStabby delivers Basil’s attuned Veilstone Knuckles (blunt/piercing modes, knockback, prone, fall damage) and sharpens Foulclaw’s talons for 26 gold.
6. 00:31:52 · 🎭 RP — The Winery & Finery (map location J): a phrase-repeating Kenku sells them wine; spiced wine tasting turns Foulclaw hilariously drunk and Xeros pleasantly buzzed.
7. 00:40:21 · 🎭 RP — Drunk, emotional Foulclaw and Xeros have a genuine heart-to-heart; Xeros confesses Foulclaw is “the only person I would call brother,” banking on him not remembering.
8. 00:45:00 · 🎒 Loot — They buy a keg of spiced wine number three (85g + 50g samples) and detour to Gimp the Imp’s for red cups, tubing and a ping-pong ball.
9. 00:49:57 · 📖 Lore — The crowd reveals Fauna Sneeler (The Crew) is forcing a vote tomorrow on the fate of Kouréas; Mars Von Eck (The Host) leads the opposition. Rumors swirl of shady dealings in the parliamentary offices.
10. 01:01:40 · 🎭 RP — Gypsy Jenkins chats up door-guard Jaden for a “library card”; he clocks her as an outsider “not from below ground” but lets slip the place is a fortress of political power.
11. 01:08:37 · 🎲 Mechanic — TBD investigates the façade and reads anti-flight / anti-magic runes doming the upper windows; the front door is the only way in.
12. 01:13:03 · 🎭 RP — The “Rock the Vote” concert: Xeros rides Nortle in on a keg-stack under Minor Illusion spotlights and a disco-glowing Pope hat singing “Like a Prayer”; TBD nat-1s his opening chord (amp off), recovers with a Zenzu Fruit; Foulclaw runs a silent-image jumbotron of anime politicians.
13. 01:19:08 · 🎭 RP — Gypsy Jenkins hand-delivers a cup to Jaden and gets the guard plastered and singing along; the doorway clears.
14. 01:21:47 · 🎲 Mechanic — Inside, TBD casts Detect Magic: two levitating pressure-plate platforms (40 ft up, veil-stone powered) must be depressed together to drop the vestibule shield.
15. 01:23:23 · 🎭 RP — Foulclaw dons Basil’s donated tear-away cargo pants for extra weight, flies Basil up, and they sync-jump the plates (“tighty-whities on full display”) to drop the shield; Xeros has Nortle hold coins on the plates.
16. 01:35:06 · 🧭 Explore — A bureaucratic visitor office (a dot burns off the Tallow Lanyard); everyone grabs visitor lanyards, then enters a greenhouse guarded by riddle-gargoyles Barry & Jill (one lies, one tells the truth).
17. 01:42:06 · 🎲 Mechanic — Xeros plays the Lying Lyre on the gargoyles (and the whole party), collapsing the classic riddle into glorious confusion before they find the way onward.
18. 01:51:31 · 🎲 Mechanic — At a sealed archive door, TBD casts Reduce to shrink to 7 inches, rides Veil Stones down the archive shaft Mission: Impossible-style, and (with Xeros Scrying to relay and Gypsy Jenkins’s “pick the odd one” hint) disarms the rune lock.
19. 02:09:44 · 🧭 Explore — The inner chamber holds offices labeled Mars Von Eck and Fauna Sneeler; Fauna’s is sealed by an animals-only teleport ward that boots out anyone who isn’t an animal or who touches the desk (Xeros loops out repeatedly — “a little deja vu”).
20. 02:22:50 · 🎲 Mechanic — Gypsy Jenkins shifts into a wolf, crosses the ward, and retrieves Fauna’s notes and a Magic Missile spell scroll in her teeth.
21. 02:28:36 · 📖 Lore — Foulclaw speed-reads Fauna’s “diary”: her plan to exterminate and/or mutate all of Kouréas, funneling taxpayer funds into imprisoning and experimenting on creatures beneath the city — and to win the vote by coup if not by ballot. They mass-produce pamphlets.
22. 02:36:14 · 🎭 RP — Xeros casts Disguise Self to pose as a janitor (Nortle as the cleaning cart) and nat-20 deceives Mars Von Eck, then shows him Fauna’s incriminating diary; Mars goes pale and vows to stop her.
23. 02:44:04 · 📖 Lore — Inside Mars’s office they find Manni Dugal — Lashara’s missing agent, sick and coughing purple, mutating; Xeros slips him a note: “Lashara says hi.”
24. 02:56:31 · 🧭 Travel — The party splits: Mars leads them out via politician tunnels; Gypsy Jenkins takes the solo mission to smuggle Manni home past Crew port-boss Tobiah.
25. 03:02:22 · 🎲 Mechanic — Gypsy Jenkins stows away on a departing airship; a barely-clutch die keeps the failing Manni alive and delivers him to Lashara’s lab. Session ends before the vote.

Player Characters

Character	Player	Race	Class	Note
Xeros	Dave	Tiefling	Bard	The perfect specimen of a Tiefling Bard, kicked out of the boy band that carried his namesake, Year Xeros; his mindless self-indulgence, dark skin, and golden tattoos are the makings of true emo inspiration. Wields the Lying Lyre; nat-20 janitor con on Mars.
Basil	Brin	Harengon	Fighter	The magical katana-wielding Harengon Fighter, who could avoid many a brawl if she could just control her anger… and her mouth. Collects her Veilstone Knuckles; ballast on the pressure plates.
TBD	Chris	Goliath	Wizard	A guitar-wielding Goliath Wizard and frontman of Killasaurus who knows that rock will never die. Shrinks to 7 inches and veil-stone-dives to crack the archive lock.
Foulclaw	Jesse	Owlin	Sorcerer	The saintly Owlin Sorcerer, on sabbatical from the School of ITYS to spread the good word of Father ITYS — or maybe his religious roaming becomes a true rumspringa. A featherweight lightweight; speed-reads Fauna’s plot.
Gypsy Jenkins	Haley	Fey-blooded Shifter	Rogue	Rejoins the crew, works the door guard, wolf-shifts through the teleport ward, and rides off alone to bring Manni home.
Nortle	Steve (GM)	Tortle	Monk	A Tortle Monk who hit his pinnacle when he beat his own sister, the Harengon Fighter Basil, in a race in high school — I bet he could throw a ball over those mountains! Run as a companion this session: keg-mule, disco Pope hat, and cleaning cart.

NPCs

NPC	Role	Note
Turgra Strongsmith	Theater patron (The Host)	Rewards Xeros with the Lying Lyre for the previous session’s show.
Lyle McStabby	Weaponsmith	Runs Stabby McStabber’s Stabbing Emporium; delivers the Veilstone Knuckles and sharpens Foulclaw’s talons.
Jaden	Library door-guard	Aasimar guard the party gets drunk to clear the doorway; wary of “groundlings.”
Fauna Sneeler	Crew orator / villain	Forcing tomorrow’s vote; her notes reveal a “final solution” to exterminate or mutate all of Kouréas.
Mars Von Eck	Host orator	Conned by Xeros’s janitor act; horrified by Fauna’s diary, he helps the party escape via tunnels.
Manni Dugal	Lashara’s agent	The sick, mutating gnome hidden in Mars’s office; smuggled out by Gypsy Jenkins, barely alive.
Lashara	Patron below	Sent the party for Manni and for magical samples; receives Manni into her lab at session’s end.
Tobiah	Crew port-security boss	Grumpy owlin at The Port, furious he missed the party; Gypsy Jenkins slips past him.

Factions

Faction	Note
The Crew	Fauna’s isolationist/extremist bloc; per her notes, secretly pursuing extermination and mutation of Kouréas.
The Host	Mars Von Eck’s moderate bloc, open to trade and communication with the land below; a potential ally.

👹 Monsters

Monster	Threat / Role	Note
Barry & Jill (gargoyle guardians)	Security constructs	Animate riddle-guardians of the archive greenhouse (one lies, one truths); talked/Lying-Liar’d past rather than fought.
Fauna Sneeler	Looming villain	Not fought this session, but her extermination/mutation plot is the arc’s true antagonist; an NPC and the Crew’s monster-in-waiting.
Mutated experiment-creatures (beneath El Cinede)	Nascent army	Imprisoned “unsavory” creatures Fauna is warping with veil-tear magic into a mutated force; seen only in her notes.

🎙️ Notable Moments

00:10:01 — Turgra hands Xeros a new instrument, and the bard instantly grasps its glorious potential.

Steve (GM): The procreator Turgra Strongsmith awarded Xeros a new item called The Lying Lyre. Xeros: Reverse zone of truth… Zone of lies.

00:14:48 — Rather than let a returning friend simply tell her story, Xeros aims the Lying Lyre at her first.

Gypsy Jenkins: I got a tweet and I went and saved my dying great-grandmother, Madame Cecilia. That’s where it was. Xeros: So — yep, telling the truth, one hundred percent. …She’s lying.

00:26:33 — Basil collects her commissioned brass knuckles and reacts exactly as you'd expect.

Lyle McStabby: It was a great job — I really was excited for it. So here you go, my friend: your Veilstone Knuckles. Xeros: For you to put them away? Basil: No. Absolutely not. TBD: What she’s saying is they’re never going to be put away.

00:41:45 — A blind-drunk Foulclaw complains he feels used "like a puppet"; Xeros, just as drunk, answers him with the most sincere thing he's said all campaign — betting the owl won't remember it.

Foulclaw: I want to be your real friend — not like this puppet that sometimes feels like he’s being used for stuff. Xeros: You’re the only real friend I’ve got, so I’m just letting you know — I actually really love you. I have like four brothers, and you’re the only person I would call brother.

00:52:23 — Casting around for a way into a locked-down capitol, Foulclaw lands on the plan that names the episode.

Foulclaw: What do they do every year with Rock the Vote? …This is Rock the Vote. We take the side of the crew, play along a little.

01:03:14 — Gypsy Jenkins tries to talk her way inside by asking for a library card.

Jaden: This is not about books — this is a place of power. Political power. …You’re not from below ground, are you? Gypsy Jenkins: I was just about to say — are they hiring?

01:14:44 — The big grand entrance, undercut immediately.

Xeros: …Life is a mystery — (rides in on the kegs, Pope hat glowing like a disco ball) Steve (GM): You start by doing the biggest power chord — and you realize your amp isn’t turned on yet.

01:23:23 — The pressure-plate puzzle needs weight, so Foulclaw ends up wearing Basil's tear-away cargo pants.

Steve (GM): Your cargo pants billowing like you’re in an MC Hammer music video. He stands with hands on hips — his tighty-whities just fully on display.

01:56:37 — Shrunk to seven inches with no other way down, TBD rappels the archive shaft on a pair of Veil Stones — and Xeros calls the movie reference before he even jumps.

Xeros: Cruise in Mission: Impossible one. TBD: I’m just going to say “cowabunga” and jump right off with the veil stones in my hand — right before I hit the ground I drop one and pull the other out below me, so it just stops me midair. Steve (GM): With a quick twist of your torso you move out of the channel of energy so it doesn’t shoot you right back up — and you land perfectly on your feet.

01:59:26 — The veil-stone descent sticks the landing worthy of Ethan Hunt himself — to a crowd of exactly nobody.

Steve (GM): You land perfectly on your feet and you pose for everyone. You realize that one of the coolest things you’ve ever done in your life has happened with no audience whatsoever. TBD: I’m used to it.

02:28:36 — Foulclaw's speed-reading finally exposes exactly what the Crew is planning.

Steve (GM): Fauna has been working really hard to push the city toward not just war, but extermination. She wants to wipe out all of the people of Kouréas… imprisoned beneath the city and experimented on.

02:39:00 — Disguised as the new janitor, Xeros rolls a natural 20 to sell the con to a Host orator.

Xeros: I’m the new hire — just here to empty your trash and tidy up. They didn’t tell you about this? They gave me a tallow lanyard and everything. Steve (GM, Mars): (later, seeing the diary) You might have just saved our country from a horrible, horrible mistake.

02:48:20 — The GM sums up the entire villain plot in one weary aside.

Steve (GM): He’s absorbed by this incredibly incriminating document you found — which, kids, don’t write down your crimes. That’s the moral of the story.

🗺️ Locations

Place	Note
El Cinede	The floating sky-city “above the clouds” where the whole session takes place; parliament, guards, and creatures imprisoned beneath it.
Ascendant’s Library	The parliamentary capitol the party infiltrates — archives, wards, lanyard-locked offices, and the debate chamber upstairs.
High Spire	Upper district holding the library and winery; the party crosses its open central square.
Lower Gates	Southern lower district near the port; where the day starts.
Stabby McStabber’s Stabbing Emporium	Lyle McStabby’s weapon shop; the Veilstone Knuckles and talon-sharpening.
The Winery & Finery	Wine-and-spice shop (map location J) with a Kenku clerk; the spiced-wine tasting and keg.
Gimp the Imp	Off the eastern Lower Gates; source of red cups, tubing and the ping-pong ball.
Blackguard’s Inn	The party’s lodging; where they rest before the day’s errands.
The Port	The precipice sky-port at the city’s edge; run by Tobiah; Gypsy Jenkins stows away here to leave with Manni.
Kouréas	The continent/land below — the party’s home, and the target of Fauna’s extermination plan.

🎒 Items

Item	Note
The Lying Lyre	Turgra’s reward to Xeros; sonorous instrument, 1d4 charges/day, forces creatures within 30 ft (DC 16 Wisdom) to lie for one hour.
Veilstone Knuckles	Basil’s attuned brass knuckles; blunt/piercing modes with knockback, prone, and fall damage.
Veil Stone	Anti-gravity veil stones that repel each other; TBD uses a pair for his Mission: Impossible descent inside the archive (consumed only if spent on spells).
Tallow Lanyard	Foulclaw’s yellow access lanyard; opens secured library doors, losing one dot per use.
Spiced wine (keg)	Bought at The Winery & Finery to get the guards and crowd drunk; a Constitution save or drunkenness.
Pope hat	Nortle’s magical hat with an unidentified power; glows like a disco ball during the concert.
Fauna’s notes / diary	The incriminating ledger detailing her “final solution”; the party’s key evidence against the Crew.
Magic Missile spell scroll	One-use consumable Gypsy Jenkins snags from Fauna’s desk — three auto-hit darts.
Zenzu Fruit	Consumable that grants a re-roll; passed around to rescue failed checks.

⛩️ Pantheon & Lore

Entry	Note
Father ITYS	The faith Foulclaw carries out of the School of ITYS; his conviction wavers all session (a “two percent” crisis of faith).
School of ITYS	The religious institution Foulclaw is on sabbatical from; source of his missionary streak.
Veil-Tear	The rift magic Fauna is weaponizing beneath the city to mutate captive creatures — the same planar energy Lashara wants sampled.

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Related: Echoes of ITYS · El Cinede · Fauna Sneeler · Mars Von Eck · The Crew · The Host · Manni Dugal · Lashara · The Lying Lyre · prev: 240905-ch1.5-romance-in-three-acts · next: 240925-ch1.7-faunas-garden