Fauna's Garden — Ch 1.7
Three missions, three victories — Lashara’s errand above the clouds is all but finished, and the crew could be home by morning. But a city still has to vote, a silver-tongued politician still has the floor, and the most dangerous room in El Cinede turns out to be a pretty little glass garden with the door locked behind you. Can charm, rock and roll, and one borrowed sword hold the line when the smiling turns sharp — and when a thin cord of purple light hints that nobody in this room is pulling their own strings? Some gardens are grown to be graves.
| Chapter / Episode | 1.7 — Fauna’s Garden (the Ch 1 finale) |
| Arc | Above the Clouds |
| GM | Steve |
| Date / Duration | 2024-09-25 · ~2h54m (gameplay from 00:11:17) |
| Party | Xeros (Dave), TBD (Chris), Basil (Brin), Foulclaw (Jesse), Nortle (Steve) |
| Absent | Gypsy Jenkins (Haley) — walking Manni Dugal the long way home |
| Ends on | a teleport back to Lashara’s labs, a level-up, and a scroll summoning TBD to the Battle of the Bands |
Synopsis
With all three of Lashara’s missions complete — infiltrate the sky-city of El Cinede, recover her informant Manni Dugal, and gather high-grade veil-tear samples — the party could simply go home. Instead, pressured by the Host politician Mars von Eck to be his “photo op,” they agree to stay one more day and throw their weight behind the vote that will decide whether El Cinede reaches out a hand to Kouréas below… or wipes it out. After a night’s rest at Blackguard’s Inn, they take the floor of the parliamentary coliseum inside the Ascendant’s Library and deliver four gloriously off-message speeches: TBD belts a rock-anthem about being “proud to be a Kouréasian,” Basil punches a marble column clean in half, Foulclaw preaches unity, and Xeros openly flirts with the enemy leader from the podium. Three successes to two, plus a Charm Person and a well-timed fake “boo,” and the vote swings to the Host. First contact is coming to the clouds.
Victory lasts exactly as long as it takes for the Crew’s guards — one of them a hulking bruiser named Brayden — to herd the celebrating party into a small glass greenhouse off the library, where Fauna Sneeler is waiting. The doors seal; the “glass” shimmers with the tell-tale sheen of indestructible adamantine; it is a trap. Still riding an ecstasy-drink truesight, Xeros spots a thin cord of magic streaming off Fauna and out of the room — a magic Umbilical Cord, as if the regal aasimar is a puppet on someone else’s line. Fauna monologues her genocidal “final solution,” cracks a crystal that splits the fountain open, and the fight is on: three Crew enforcers — crossbowman Chester, the charging Bull, and the great-bladed Butcher — against a party who quickly learn that Fauna herself is immune to magic while the cord holds. Foulclaw, borrowing Xeros’s family Moon-touched rapier, takes the Bull’s head off in a critical aerial dive; Xeros routes a Witch Bolt through TBD’s guitar Bophades and blasts Chester to ash; Basil splits the Butcher in half with a falling Veil Stone Knuckle strike.
The kill they can’t make is Fauna — until Xeros, reading the cord with his truesight, hurls a silver dagger and shatters the line. The enforcers drop, Fauna collapses clutching her head, and a bat-winged demon is revealed floating outside the dome, reeling its severed tendrils back in before it flees. A borrowed rapier finishes the job: Fauna lunges onto Foulclaw’s blade with “I hate you so much,” and dies. A retcon-token interrogation buys one last answer — she was a puppet of a master named Damanos — and the corpse bears a Nine-Pointed Sigil that hints at a cult none of them know yet. Meanwhile Xeros is rattled by flashes of a buried past connection to the aasimar he was flirting with. Mars von Eck rushes in, agrees to bury the massacre and unveil Fauna’s crimes to the public later, and hustles the party through a newly-working teleport portal — repaired, it turns out, the moment the cord snapped and the demon’s magical interference left the island. They land back at Lashara’s labs: veil stones delivered, Manni Dugal confirmed alive, a level-up earned, and — for Foulclaw — word that a first tiny twig of the Church of ITYS has taken root up in the clouds. As the crew settles in for a couple of quiet weeks, a magic scroll left by TBD flashes to life: Killasaurus has been invited to the Battle of the Bands, and he’s already gone.
🎵 Song Recap (rhyming — drop into an AI song generator)
Scheme: AABB verses + chorus. Suggested vibe: triumphant, fist-in-the-air butt-rock finale.
(Verse 1) Three little missions and they’re all but done, They could sail for home by the morning sun; But a vote’s on the floor and a city’s at stake, So they grab the podium for everyone’s sake.
(Chorus) Rock the clouds, rock the vote, cut the strings if you can! There’s a garden of glass with a genocide plan; Sever the cord, watch the puppet come down — Fauna’s Garden is the last stand in town!
(Verse 2) A goliath sings free and a bunny breaks stone, An owl preaches love and a bard flirts alone; The tally comes back and the Host takes the day — Then they’re herded through glass where a smiling snake lay.
(Verse 3) The dome locks them in and the fountain cracks wide, But a thin purple cord means she’s magic-denied; A head rolls, a guitar spits lightning like sin, And a dagger of silver cuts the master’s line thin.
(Chorus)
(Verse 4) A demon takes flight and the puppet lies slain, Nine points in a circle and a name whispered plain; Home through the portal, they level and rest — ‘Til a summons to the Bands puts them right back to the test.
(Outro) Fauna’s Garden… where the sky learned to bleed — They came for a mission, they left with a seed.
📋 Point-by-point breakdown (player catch-up — everything that happened)
00:01:08· 🎭 RP — Steve re-opens the show; the table does another round of character intros (Nortle the tortle monk, TBD the goliath frontman of Killasaurus, Xeros the tiefling bard of Year Xeros, Foulclaw the owlin ITYS student, and Basil the harengon fighter — Nortle’s sister).00:09:13· 📖 Recap — Steve rewinds: last session’s heist into the Ascendant’s Library, the gargoyles, the rescue of Manni Dugal (partly veil-tear-experimented), and completion of all three of Lashara’s missions.00:11:31· 🎭 RP — Mars von Eck lays out the stakes: the Host want peace with Kouréas; the Crew, led by Fauna Sneeler, want to invade and exterminate the “groundlings.” He pressures the party to stay for tomorrow’s vote as living proof that Kouréasians are worth allying with.00:14:51· 🎭 RP — The party huddles (making Mars leave the room) and votes to stay and stop Fauna; a long ethical debate about murder, “involuntary manslaughter,” and what the Book of ITYS says about the promised land.00:24:09· 🎲 Mechanic — On the way out, Basil purloins 5 gold (a d6) from Xeros’s thousand-coin stash while Foulclaw borrows his Moon-touched rapier “for safekeeping.”00:31:27· 🧭 Travel — A long rest at Blackguard’s Inn (Xeros walks into Nortle’s shell, imagining a palatial interior), then an escort back to the Ascendant’s Library the next morning.00:35:41· 🎲 Mechanic — Foulclaw investigates the crowd and picks Fauna Sneeler out of the parliament portraits; Foulclaw’s arcana glimpses faint purple veins in her arms.00:41:40· 🎭 RP — Inside the coliseum, Mars von Eck gives the podium to the party for a persuasion contest to sway undecided voters.00:44:37· 🎲 Mechanic — Four speeches: TBD (“proud to be a Kouréasian where at least I know I’m free”), Basil (mostly threats + a punched marble column), Xeros (openly flirting with Fauna → nat-20-adjacent persuasion), and Foulclaw (unity). Three successes to two.00:56:28· 🎲 Mechanic — As Fauna rebuts, Xeros lands Charm Person on her (fluster + advantage) and TBD’s Minor Illusion fakes a crowd “boo”; her speech disintegrates and the vote goes to the Host.01:03:04· 🎭 RP — In the celebration, Crew guards — including Brayden — herd the party into a small greenhouse garden; “she wants to talk to you.”01:06:31· 🎭 RP — Fauna Sneeler reveals herself (a regal aasimar), furious the party ruined her plans; Xeros cheerfully chants “Speech! Speech!”01:09:33· 📖 Lore — Still on truesight, Xeros spots a magic Umbilical Cord streaming off Fauna out of the room, and clocks the dome as indestructible adamantine glass. It’s a trap.01:12:54· 🎭 RP — Charmed and intimidated, Fauna monologues her endgame: “to destroy vermin like you from the face of this planet,” then cracks a crystal and calls initiative.01:17:14· ⚔️ Combat — Enemies: Chester (crossbow), The Bull (charger), The Butcher (great blade), and Fauna Sneeler. Basil jump-slashes the Umbilical Cord (damaged, not severed); Xeros falls prone from the magical feedback.01:30:33· 🎲 Mechanic — TBD sculpts a veil-stone-boosted 3d8 Thunder Wave into the minions, sparing Nortle; Foulclaw harvests hallucinogenic Spore Pods and casts True Strike on the Bull.01:44:22· ⚔️ Combat — Foulclaw crits with the borrowed Moon-touched rapier in an aerial dive and decapitates The Bull (22 dmg); Basil yells “I’m so proud” from the bushes.01:52:35· ⚔️ Combat — Xeros puts on Bophades, shouts “Are you ready to rock, El Cinede?” and routes a nat-20 Witch Bolt through TBD’s guitar, blasting Chester to ash.02:03:06· 🎲 Mechanic — Discovery: while the cord holds, Fauna is immune to magic — Foulclaw’s 5d8 Chromatic Orb and TBD’s Magic Missile both fizzle against a purple aura. “We can’t attack her; we have to cut the cord first.”02:13:55· ⚔️ Combat — Xeros throws a silver dagger at the cord and shatters it, knocking everyone flat; a bat-winged demon is revealed outside the dome, reeling in its severed tendrils before fleeing. Basil then splits The Butcher in half (piercing knuckle + fall damage).02:23:33· ⚔️ Combat — Foulclaw points the Moon-touched rapier at the fallen Fauna; she lunges onto the blade with “I hate you so much” and bleeds out.02:28:35· 📖 Lore — Investigating the corpse: a Nine-Pointed Sigil (triangles bounded in a circle) on her inner arm. Xeros gets flashes of a buried past connection to the aasimar — “she was an angel person.”02:32:52· 🎲 Mechanic — Foulclaw and TBD burn retcon tokens: TBD retroactively wallpapered the city with copies of Fauna’s incriminating journal (plus a Church-of-ITYS pamphlet), and Foulclaw rewinds to interrogate the dying Fauna — she names her master: Damanos.02:38:19· 🎭 RP — Mars von Eck rushes in, agrees to hush the massacre and unveil the evidence publicly later, and sends the party through a now-working teleport portal (repaired once the cord snapped).02:44:08· 📖 Lore — Back at Lashara’s labs: veil stones delivered, Manni Dugal confirmed alive (still sick), level-up to 3, roadies + royalties for TBD (via Turgra Strongsmith), sparring partners for Basil, and a scroll from Amla — a first twig of the Church of ITYS has sprouted in El Cinede.02:51:55· 🎭 RP — TBD (next arc’s DM) teases the hook: a scroll summons Killasaurus to the Battle of the Bands, and TBD vanishes in the night → into Ch 2.1.
Player Characters
| Character | Player | Race | Class | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xeros | Dave | Tiefling | Bard | Flirts with the villain, routes Witch Bolt through TBD’s guitar, severs the cord — and gets buried-past flashes tying him to an aasimar |
| TBD | Chris | Goliath | Wizard | Frontman of Killasaurus; sculpts a veil-stone Thunder Wave, lends his guitar Bophades as a magic conduit; becomes next arc’s DM |
| Basil | Brin | Harengon | Fighter | She/her. Punches a marble column in half, cuts the cord, and splits the Butcher — Nortle’s sister and the “Hare” of the fable |
| Foulclaw | Jesse | Owlin | Sorcerer | Devout [[The Church of ITYS |
| Nortle | Steve (NPC) | Tortle | Monk | Always “a round behind”; the party’s “very deliberate ambulance,” handing out healing potions and wearing his Pope hat |
NPCs
| NPC | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Fauna Sneeler | Crew leader / boss | Regal aasimar architect of the genocide plan; revealed as a magic-immune puppet, killed on Foulclaw’s blade |
| Mars von Eck | Host politician | The party’s ally; wins the vote, then buries the massacre and teleports them home |
| Damanos | Demon master | Bat-winged puppeteer controlling Fauna via the Umbilical Cord; flees when it’s severed, named by the dying Fauna |
| Brayden | Crew guard | Bruiser who herds the party into the greenhouse (the Ascendant’s-Library guard — not the later Ferryman) |
| Manni Dugal | Lashara’s informant | Rescued last session, veil-tear-sick; walked home the long way by Jenkins, confirmed alive |
| Gypsy Jenkins | Party rogue (absent) | Escorting Manni + carrying Fauna’s incriminating journal; not present this session |
| Lashara | Quest-giver, gnome artificer | Rewards the party with a level-up and gifts on their teleported return |
| Turgra Strongsmith | Host patron | Publishes TBD’s performance as a play and sends along royalties in the epilogue |
| Amla | ITYS figure | Her scratched note tells Foulclaw a twig of the Church has taken root in El Cinede |
Factions
| Faction | Note |
|---|---|
| The Crew | Xenophobic sky-city party led by Fauna; loses the vote and springs the greenhouse ambush |
| The Host | Mars von Eck’s pro-connection party; wins the vote, agreeing to open relations with Kouréas |
| Killasaurus | TBD’s 70s/80s butt-rock band; his fame earns roadies and a Battle-of-the-Bands invite |
| The Church of ITYS | Foulclaw’s faith; its first twig sprouts up in El Cinede by the epilogue |
👹 Monsters
| Monster | Threat / Role | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Fauna Sneeler | Boss (puppet) | Magic-immune while the cord holds; wields a conjured shadow blade; dies once the line is cut |
| Damanos | Hidden master (fled) | Bat-winged demon puppeteering Fauna; flees when the cord is severed — the arc’s lingering threat |
| The Bull | Crew enforcer | Charging bruiser who repeatedly knocks TBD prone; decapitated by Foulclaw’s crit |
| The Butcher | Crew enforcer | Great-bladed barbarian woman; split in half by Basil’s falling knuckle strike |
| Chester | Crew enforcer | Crossbowman; blasted to ash by the guitar-channeled Witch Bolt |
🎙️ Notable Moments
00:08:44— Asked about her origins, Basil reveals the fable she and her brother are cursed to headline.Basil: We are the ones that are the source of the legendary story of The Tortoise and the Hare. That’s where it stems from. Incredibly embarrassed about it — don’t ever bring it up. Xeros: There’s a lot of animosity there.
00:46:18— TBD, seven feet tall at the podium, closes his campaign speech the only way he knows how.TBD: …and I say this with pride in my heart, ‘cause I’m proud to be a Kouréasian where at least I know I’m free. Basil: That was the most TBD thing I’ve ever heard in my life.
00:51:12— Given the floor to plead for peace, Xeros instead hits on the genocidal enemy leader from the podium.Xeros: Fauna, you’re so hot. Um, if you want to co-mingle with the Kouréasians at some point — Foulclaw: Stop! Stop, stop, stop! Xeros: And if you kill them all, the commingling is never gonna happen.
01:06:31— The doors seal, the "glass" shimmers adamantine, and Fauna makes her villain entrance — met with total disrespect.Fauna: No! Stop it, all of you! You’ve ruined everything! I had plans, I had ideas, and you ruined it all! Xeros: Speech! Speech!
01:12:54— Charmed and intimidated into spilling, Fauna lays her cards on the table.Fauna: My end game is to destroy vermin like you from the face of this planet. You are scum, for the most part.
01:44:43— Foulclaw, on his first-ever swing with the borrowed Moon-touched rapier, rolls a 19 and a 20 mid-dive.GM: That’s 22 damage to the Bull. You want to explain how it dies? Foulclaw: It takes his head, like, clean off. This is gone. Basil: (from the bushes) I’m so proud!
01:52:35— Xeros dons TBD's guitar and turns a spell into a stadium encore.Xeros: Are you ready to rock, El Cinede?! And I hit it and I trigger Witch Bolt from TBD. TBD: It’s coming out of the guitar. My eyes light up glowing bright white — and Chester crackles and explodes into ash.
02:09:33— After a Chromatic Orb and a Magic Missile both die against her purple aura, the party finally understands the puzzle.Xeros: She’s untouched from that attack completely. We can’t attack her — we have to cut the cord first.
02:16:27— Xeros's thrown silver dagger finds the Umbilical Cord, and the true enemy is finally seen.GM: You struck the Umbilical Cord, shattering it. It knocked over your enemies… and you see, through the glass, a demonic form with big old bat wings, floating up there — the final tendrils of the Umbilical Cord sliding back into him.
02:25:40— With the cord cut and Fauna helpless, Foulclaw levels the rapier — and she chooses her own ending.GM (Fauna): One single tear rolls down her cheek and she looks deep into your soul and says: I hate you so much! — and then she lunges onto your blade… and bleeds out right in front of you.
02:34:34— A retcon-token rewind lets Foulclaw wring one last answer out of the dying puppet.Foulclaw: Who are you working for? Who was that in the sky? Fauna: That was my master. My master, Damanos. And he will make sure that you suffer for this.
02:47:32— In the epilogue, a page of unreadable scratches carries the best news Foulclaw could hope for.
🗺️ Locations
| Place | Note |
|---|---|
| El Cinede | The floating sky-city (the “Above the Clouds” setting); site of the vote and the finale |
| Ascendant’s Library | The great library housing the parliamentary coliseum, the greenhouse garden, and the escape portal |
| Blackguard’s Inn | Upper-ward inn where the party takes their long rest before the vote |
| Kouréas | The homeland below, whom Fauna would exterminate and the party champions for first contact |
| Fauna’s Garden (the greenhouse) | Adamantine-domed glass garden off the library — the trap and the climactic battlefield |
| Lashara’s labs | The party’s teleport destination home; veil stones delivered, rewards handed out |
🎒 Items
| Item | Note |
|---|---|
| Moon-touched rapier | Xeros’s family heirloom, lent to Foulclaw; kills both the Bull and Fauna |
| Veil Stone Knuckles | Basil’s magic knuckles (blunt/piercing modes, needs attunement she forgot); split the Butcher |
| Veil Stone | Crushable spell-amplifiers; the high-grade samples are Lashara’s objective, lesser ones fuel the fight |
| Bophades | TBD’s named guitar, spell set-list on the back; conduit Xeros routes Witch Bolt through |
| The Seven Deadly Sips | Xeros’s magical drinks (rolled on a die) — an ecstasy sip grants truesight now, blindness later |
| Orb of Aether | Source of the party’s retcon/“chronomancy” tokens; TBD and Foulclaw each spend one this session |
| Zenzu Fruit | Consumable that adds a die to a roll; boosts speeches and Basil’s finishing strike |
| The Lying Lyre | Charge-based item that forces Xeros to speak only lies; complicates his banter |
| the Umbilical Cord | Glowing magic line linking Fauna to Damanos, granting magic immunity; cutting it wins the fight |
| Nine-Pointed Sigil | Triangles bounded in a circle, tattooed on Fauna’s inner arm — a clue to Damanos’s cult |
| Spore Pods | Hallucinogenic greenhouse spores Foulclaw harvests to impose disadvantage |
| Fauna’s Journal | Her incriminating diary of genocidal plans; copied into pamphlets and spread citywide |
⛩️ Pantheon & Lore
| Entry | Note |
|---|---|
| Father ITYS | Foulclaw’s deity; his faith, its Book, and its doctrine on justified violence are debated all session |
| The Church of ITYS | The faith / School of ITYS; a first twig of it sprouts up in El Cinede by the epilogue |
| Damanos | The bat-winged demon master behind Fauna; his nine-pointed cult is introduced here |
| The Tortoise and the Hare | The fable said to originate from Nortle and Basil; explains Nortle’s “round behind” pacing |
| Year Xeros | Xeros’s old boy band; his buried past connection to the aasimar Fauna surfaces as flashes |
Related: Echoes of ITYS · prev: 240912-ch1.6-rock-the-vote · next: 241113-ch2.1-wristband-race-war · El Cinede · Fauna Sneeler · Damanos · Mars von Eck · The Crew · The Host · Lashara