To the Library

To the Library — Ch 3.3

To prove they’re faithful enough to enter the Church of ITYS, the party has to con their way in — but what happens when the con starts working on them? And when every Forgotten Hour hero turns up dead or missing except the gnome who hired them, are they infiltrating a militarizing church… or doing the dirty work of the one who buried the truth?

Chapter / Episode	3.3 — To the Library
Arc	Trinity (New Old)
GM	Jesse
Date / Duration	2025-06-26 · ~3h28m (gameplay from 00:03:34)
Party	Xeros (Dave), Nortle (Steve), TBD (Chris), Basil (Brin)
Patron	Lashara — the frightened gnome who gives the mission
Ends on	the heist tome still unstolen, and Xeros maybe genuinely converting to ITYS

Synopsis

Glamorous and over-treated from the salon, the party finally sits with Lashara in her hidden shop — and the usually-unflappable gnome is scared. The Church of ITYS is quietly militarizing, and her two deep-cover informants, Nereza and Thalen, have both vanished — Nereza on her way to deliver “something critical,” leaving only a high-cleric’s blue sash and traces of purple soul-magic at the port. The job: infiltrate the church and find out what happened. It’s pure exposition, lit by candles and undercut entirely by Nortle’s sudden claim that he and the missing Nereza “have a thing” (“Biblically?”).

Getting into the church means proving devotion, which the party interprets in the most on-brand way possible: buy converts “just like social media,” and crash the morning service to give testimonies. What follows is a comedy of blasphemy — Nortle in a backwards-snapback “pope hat,” Basil storming the pulpit to declare the sacred tortoise-and-hare parable “written wrong,” and Xeros delivering a con-artist conversion so moving the congregation weeps (a 27). The catch the GM springs is the heart of the episode: while you’re converting others, you’re vulnerable to conversion yourself. A nat-1 save later, Xeros shrinks mid-hug and his gold tattoos turn silver — he starts actually believing. TBD fares worse, rolling a nat-1 on his own testimony and shrinking to seven inches tall. Drugs did nothing; church is doing the work.

Between the laughs, the chapter’s spine clicks into place. Reading scripture in the pews, Nortle uncovers the Selûne–Shar cosmogony — the fractured song that birthed Mystryl and shattered Selûne — and the table immediately ties its “severing” language to Zen and the Forgotten Hour. Then, at the Forgotten Hour monument in the city center, a nat-20 History check reveals the gut-punch: every founding hero — ITYS, Old Man Jenkins, TBD’s own great-grandfather Jacques Bjørn, Levitas — is dead or missing. The only one still breathing is Lashara — which makes Xeros wonder aloud whether the gnome who hired them is also the one who made the history disappear. The party closes out by striking a barter deal with the alchemist Mutatio (steal a forbidden archive tome) and stepping into the magical New Old Library where the shelves answer your true desires — Xeros nat-20s straight into the lore of his own Ghost Step Tattoo. The library challenge pauses there, mid-heist, for next time.

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

Scheme: AABB verses + chorus. Suggested vibe: gospel-tinged folk-rock with a sly wink.

(Verse 1) Down in the shop where the gnome holds court, The church is arming and the time runs short; Two spies vanished and the trail’s gone cold — A blue sash, purple magic, and a story untold.

(Chorus) Praise ITYS! (Praise ITYS!) — fake it ‘til you feel it true, Throw your tithe and your testimony too; But the con’s a curse and it’s working on you — To the Library, there’s a book to pursue!

(Verse 2) A backwards pope hat and a blasphemed hare, Xeros weeps the crowd from his ascot and his stare; A nat-1 hug and he’s seven sizes small — The faith they were faking is taking them all.

(Verse 3) At the monument the heroes stand in stone, Every founder’s gone, Lashara’s left alone; So who wrote the history, and who paid the price? — Better rob a library to roll the dice.

(Outro) To the Library… where the shelves know your heart — They came for a secret; it’s tearing them apart.

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

1. 00:00:00 · 📖 Recap — Jesse rewinds ch3.2: Trinity, wrecking the Commons, the 40 Lashes code word, the makeovers, and the elevator down to Lashara’s shop.
2. 00:03:34 · 🎭 RP — In Lashara’s underground shop each player describes the PC to their left after the salon treatment — Xeros’s “Live Laugh Love” vinyl-letter tattoos, TBD as a “Mozart-on-acid” Beast, Basil a groomed poodle, Nortle’s waxed six-pack shell.
3. 00:13:01 · 🎭 RP — The party greets a frightened Lashara, slams down the Swollen Wastes scrolls + the Book of Chronomancy, and asks after Herold and the will; she defers it all and reunites them with the broken Manni Dugal.
4. 00:19:01 · 📖 Lore — Lashara’s inciting exposition: the Church of ITYS is secretly militarizing, and her informants Nereza (vanished en route with “something critical”) and Thalen (vanished investigating her) are gone — a Blue Sash + purple soul-magic found at the port.
5. 00:28:00 · 🎭 RP — Lashara commissions the party to infiltrate the Church; they haggle over pay and the plan crystallizes — prove devotion by attending the church’s services.
6. 00:36:41 · 📖 Lore — Under Lashara’s Silence Machine, she lays out the requirements: attend a service, enroll in the university’s church-history class, pass the exam — while Xeros negotiates pre-absolution.
7. 00:46:15 · 🎭 RP — Collecting their advance from the maimed Manni Dugal, Xeros sleight-of-hands the entire 400-gold purse — a theft immediately earmarked for confession.
8. 00:49:24 · 🎭 RP — Basil detours to Nadei’s salon for mood-ink eyeshadow painted to look like open eyes, so the albino harengon can secretly sleep through the service; the smitten Nadei refuses payment.
9. 00:52:44 · 🧭 Travel — Jesse shares a map of Trinity, orienting the party around New Old’s port, library, market, and the great shrine.
10. 00:59:09 · 🎭 RP — Learning the church values converts over tithing, the party plans to “buy converts like social media,” settling on Basil converting the others on the spot.
11. 01:02:38 · 🎭 RP — Their staggered “I object” entrance flubs into the door as a halfling greeter welcomes them mid-service on the Day of Sacrifice and Declaration — an open-mic of beliefs.
12. 01:10:49 · 🎭 RP — The party settles in; Nortle fails to steal a baby’s Cheerios while a tearful youth preaches the tortoise-and-hare parable to chants of “praise ITYS.”
13. 01:15:43 · 🎲 Mechanic — Basil Silvery Barbs Xeros to win the race to the podium, then botches a deception roll by declaring the Parable of the Hare and the Tortoise “written wrong” (blasphemy → disadvantage).
14. 01:25:11 · 🎭 RP — Xeros delivers a fraudulent conversion testimony winning a 27-deception crowd (some weeping) — but a nat-1 Con save backfires: he shrinks mid-hug, his gold tattoos turning silver as he starts falling under Selûne’s spell himself.
15. 01:42:00 · 📖 Lore — Reading scripture, Nortle teaches the Selûne–Shar cosmogony (the fractured song birthing Mystryl); Xeros ties its “severing” to Zen and the Forgotten Hour — maybe Zen wasn’t the first to try splitting the world.
16. 01:51:48 · 🎲 Mechanic — TBD’s heartfelt testimony flops (mic feedback), then a nat-1 on his own conversion shrinks him to seven inches — establishing the death-save-style conversion mechanic (4 successes = converted).
17. 02:00:44 · 🎭 RP — Xeros reconverts the distrustful ex-member Grunsch, collects a witness-card endorsement from Father Moffat + four priests, and tithes 1,039 gp — while Smaugina, a toothless dragonborn elder, gives a single copper (“she gave more than that man did all session”).
18. 02:13:34 · 🎭 RP — The party argues port vs. archive for the missing-Lashïngs lead; the now-devout, drug-high Xeros wins a contested persuasion and drags everyone toward the library.
19. 02:20:34 · 📖 Lore — At the Forgotten Hour monument, TBD recognizes his great-grandfather Bjørn; Nortle’s nat-20 History reveals every founder is dead or missing except Lashara — prompting Xeros’s theory that she controls the narrative.
20. 02:32:48 · 🎭 RP — Basil is drawn to alchemist-trader Mutatio’s booth; a religion roll leaves Basil partially converted (1 of 4) and he renames his gauntlets the Knuckles of Change.
21. 02:38:25 · 📖 Lore — At The Transformation Shop, TBD’s fused guitar/axe is identified as a moon-touched Piece of Axe (only ITYS sorcerers can forge it to a hilt), and Nortle’s tarot card is revealed as a dormant map to the Order of Tortles.
22. 02:47:44 · 🎭 RP — Barter-only Mutatio (“a trader with a D… a Trader Joe kind of trader”) agrees to craft Span Quills + supply emeralds and healing — only if the party steals Alchemy for Dummies from the New Old library archive.
23. 02:56:36 · 🎭 RP — Entering the grand New Old Library of intent-driven floating shelves guarded by a curt Kenku Librarian, Basil bungles a quill-theft then honestly confesses; TBD opens a library card; Xeros truesight-scouts the gated Archive.
24. 03:06:55 · 🎲 Mechanic — “Seek and the library shall provide”: each PC declares a desire and rolls — TBD draws a Kouréas Enquirer tabloid, Nortle the Book of ITYS (the Davina/Galgarath myth) then a coloring book, Basil a Sky Rush Showdown notice, and Xeros nat-20s into the lore of his Ghost Step Tattoo (incorporeality).
25. 03:25:55 · ⏸️ Pause — With the heist tome still unstolen, the GM pauses the library challenge for next session; the table praises Jesse and floats Xeros genuinely converting to ITYS as a character-arc shift.

Player Characters

Character	Player	Race	Class	Note
Xeros	Dave	Tiefling	Bard	Cons a fake conversion so well it converts him — gold tattoos turning silver under Selûne
Nortle	Steve	Tortle	Monk	Backwards pope hat; reads the cosmogony; claims to know the missing Nereza “biblically”
TBD	Chris	Goliath	Wizard	Nat-1s his own testimony and shrinks to seven inches; recognizes his great-grandfather on the monument
Basil	Brin	Harengon	Fighter	Fake-eyes makeup to sleep through church; declares the sacred parable “written wrong”

NPCs

NPC	Role	Note
Lashara	Gnome patron, Lashïngs leader	Uncharacteristically frightened; gives the church-infiltration mission; the last living Forgotten Hour founder
[[manny	Manni Dugal]]	Lashïngs bookkeeper
Nereza	Lashïngs informant (missing)	Vanished en route to Lashara with “something critical”; Nortle claims a past romance
Thalen	Lashïngs agent (missing)	Investigated Nereza’s disappearance — then vanished himself in ITYS
Father Moffat	Church bishop	Signs Xeros’s witness card after the fake conversion
Smaugina	Toothless dragonborn elder	Refuses Xeros’s offer to heal her teeth (“Selûne took these teeth”); out-tithes him with one copper
Grunsch	Ex-church member	Distrustful; Xeros re-converts him
Mutatio	Alchemist-trader	Barter-only (“Trader Joe kind of trader”); hires the party to steal a library tome
Kenku Librarian	Library guardian	Curt raven-folk; despises lying and thieves; aided by a green-troll assistant

Factions

Faction	Note
Church of ITYS	Militarizing in secret; the party infiltrates via its services + a conversion mechanic; led by the Seven Shards
The Lashïngs	Lashara’s spy network; the party’s employer; two informants gone
The Seven Shards	The seven prophetess/apostle figures who lead the matriarchal Church of ITYS
Order of Tortles	Legendary order of four tortles; Nortle’s tarot card is a dormant map to the others
Magus Academy	Rival collegiate team in the upcoming Sky Rush Showdown — ITYS/Bridgeman vs Magus Academy (prize: the Aether Glass Chalice)

👹 Monsters

Creature	Encounter	Note
—	No combat	A talk-and-con infiltration — the party drew no blood this session. The only creature of muscle on hand was the Kenku Librarian’s hulking green-skinned assistant, standing guard over the New Old Library Archive but never engaged.

🎙️ Notable Moments

00:15:36 — The party arrives at Lashara's fully made-over from head to toe. She is unimpressed.

GM (Lashara): What the hell happened to you? TBD: Isn’t this what we do to get down here? GM (Lashara): You let Nade give you the works? You really didn’t need it — you just had to give him the code word. Nortle: Why would we have done that when we could have done this?

00:30:50 — Lashara reveals her informant Nereza is missing, and Nortle drops a bomb.

Nortle: I don’t think you know this, Lashara, but Nereza and I — we kind of have a thing. TBD: What — what! What, WHAT, WHAT?! GM: Do you claim to know Nereza? Nortle: Biblically?

00:46:42 — Collecting their advance from the one-armed, one-legged Manni Dugal.

Xeros: Oh, I’m grabbing the whole purse. Thanks, man, this is perfect. GM (Manni Dugal): I don’t understand why you’re being so demanding — I was just going to give it to you anyway. Xeros: Well, you were fumbling around for a while. I was just trying to make this easy.

00:57:23 — Jesse says the church services are "morning only." Xeros mishears the spelling.

GM: The church services are morning only — it’s 11 o’clock. Xeros: M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G. I thought they were just sad because people died. Basil: Because we destroyed their houses.

01:07:58 — Nortle tries to wear his stolen "pope hat" respectfully in church. It is a backwards snapback.

Nortle: I’ve been adjusting my pope hat to the least offensive angle I can. TBD: It’s backwards and it still has the strap on it. Basil: That is the most offensive way you could possibly ever. Nortle: I’m wearing a holy thing — and it gives proficiency in religious rolls, so I’m keeping this sucker on.

01:22:15 — Basil bullies her way to the pulpit and decides to correct church scripture.

Basil: That parable was written wrong, and I need everyone to know — the hare let the tortoise win. Nortle: That’s not how I remember it, TBD. Basil: Shut up, Nortle. GM: You’re rolling at disadvantage — you just challenged very clear doctrine of the church scripture.

01:39:06 — Xeros's fake conversion testimony was a 27 — the crowd is weeping. Then the GM springs the hidden rule.

GM: We need you to make a Constitution saving throw. Xeros: That’s a nat one. GM: While you testify to convert others, you’re prone to the spirit of Selûne… with a nat one, you shrink mid-hug. Xeros: I’ve spiritually turned white. I begin to believe. Hardcore. I’m leaning in.

01:43:27 — Nortle, reading scripture in the pews, explains the church's creation myth — and the GM ties it to the campaign's spine.

Nortle: Selûne and Shar are sisters who view the cosmos differently… the conflict makes Selûne shatter, and one part of her soul becomes the moon. GM: You can’t help but think about the Forgotten Hour and Zen and his severing — maybe Zen wasn’t the only or the first creature to try and sever the world.

01:54:30 — TBD's pulpit confession flopped (nobody could hear it). Xeros suggests he try to convert himself.

Xeros: Nat won. TBD: One. Xeros: TBD’s heart grew three sizes that day. GM: Or it shrunk three sizes. TBD: I’m the size of the microphone — I’m seven inches tall. Nortle: He’s like an action figure.

02:22:26 — At the Forgotten Hour monument, TBD recognizes the founding heroes.

TBD: It’s Grandpa Bjørn. And I think that’s Lashara… man, she’s old. Xeros: Yeah, she really is. You’d think she’d be dead by now — and we’d be able to collect on that will.

02:31:07 — Nortle's nat-20 History reveals every founder is dead or missing — except one — and Xeros draws the conclusion.

GM: All of the founding figures have gone missing except for Lashara. She’s the last one. Xeros: History is written by the victors… which makes me think maybe she was the impetus of making a lot of history disappear.

03:19:51 — Xeros asks the magic library to reveal the secret of his Ghost Step tattoo, and rolls.

Xeros: Nat 20. GM: The books just part — and one comes right up to you, stopping just before it slams into you. Open right to the page. Xeros: Praise be to ITYS. It works.

🗺️ Locations

Location	Mentioned / Traveled	Note
New Old	Traveled	The craft-and-government capital; the whole episode plays out here (shrine, monument, market, library)
New Old Library	Traveled	Intent-driven floating shelves + a magically-gated public Archive; the heist target
The Transformation Shop	Traveled	Mutatio’s market booth (“The One Who Changes Things”)
Lashara City	Mentioned	Steampunk city of industry & science; the ideological counter to ITYS
El Cinede	Mentioned	Floating island above the Veil Tear (ch1); source of zenzu fruit; where Herold filed the will
Swollen Wastes	Mentioned	Region around the city of Oovuan; TBD’s past adventures, home to skinwalkers
Temple of Selûne	Mentioned	Pilgrimage site the priest points Xeros toward

🎒 Items

Item	Used / Introduced	Note
Book of Chronomancy	Used	Time-magic tome the party kept; presented to Lashara
Silence Machine	Used	Lashara’s record-player that holds a Silence spell for the secret briefing
Blue Sash	Introduced	High Church-of-ITYS leadership garment; found at the port — evidence of Nereza’s abduction
Lustful Sangria Rosé / Gluttonous Hard Apple Cider	Used	The Seven Deadly Sips Xeros drank — tie to The Forbidden Fruits Orchard / Zen
Knuckles of Change	Renamed	Basil’s sky-city brass-knuckle gauntlets (emeralds = poison punch)
Piece of Axe	Introduced	TBD’s fused guitar/axe — a moon-touched blade; only ITYS sorcerers can forge it to a hilt
Tortle Tarot Card	Used	Revealed as a dormant map to the Order of Tortles
Span Quills	Introduced	Paired magical quills (magical “texting”) Mutatio will craft
Alchemy for Dummies	Introduced	The forbidden archive tome Mutatio wants stolen — the chapter’s heist
Ghost Step Tattoo	Lore revealed	Xeros’s tattoo: 3 charges, bonus action to go incorporeal until end of next turn
Aether Glass Chalice	Mentioned	Prize of the Sky Rush Showdown

⛩️ Pantheon & Religion

Power	Mentioned / Seen	Note
ITYS	Seen (church)	The militarizing faith; the party infiltrates it and (accidentally) starts converting
Selûne	Seen	Moon goddess; the church’s services convert under “the spirit of Selûne”; shattered in the cosmogony
Shar	Mentioned	Mistress of night; Selûne’s sister/rival in the War of Song and Night
Mystryl	Mentioned	First goddess of magic, born of both light and dark from the fractured song
Gog	Mentioned	Named as the adversary in Xeros’s (fraudulent) testimony

Cliffhanger

The party stands in a magic library mid-heist, the forbidden tome Alchemy for Dummies still unstolen — and Xeros, who came to fake a conversion, may be genuinely falling to the Church of ITYS. Every Forgotten Hour founder is dead or missing except the gnome who sent them here. To the library… and then?

Transcript

Full cleaned transcript: 250626-ch3.3-to-the-library-transcript · bundle on the tedit scratch SSD (250626-ch3.3).

Related

Echoes of ITYS · 250604-ch3.2-in-da-beninging · New Old · Lashara · Church of ITYS · Nereza · The Forgotten Hour · Mystryl · Zen · Order of Tortles · Sky Rush Showdown