Defecto Lunia

Defecto Lunia — Ch 3.7

The party won the big game — so why does the trophy taste like a trap? A victory kegger, a chugged relic, and a naked sprint across a moonlit campus were supposed to be the fun part. But the founders’ monument shows a murder that never made the history books, a locked tower hides a man rewriting the past one library page at a time, and behind a bookcase that only opens in shadow waits a plan to un-write a hero, crack open a buried gate, and blot out the moon-goddess herself. Say the password out loud and the light goes out: Defecto Lunia.

Chapter / Episode	3.7 — Defecto Lunia
Arc	Trinity (School of ITYS)
GM	Jesse
Date / Duration	2025-10-09 · ~3h02m (gameplay from ~00:02:40)
Party	Xeros (Dave), Nortle (Steve), TBD (Chris), Basil (Brin)
Prize	the [[aether-glass-chalice
Ends on	a secret bookcase swinging open on Mutatio’s true plan — the map, the buried gate, and a room full of things they were never meant to see

Synopsis

Fresh off crushing School of Magus to claim the Aether Glass Chalice, the party wakes up heroes of the School of ITYS — and immediately squanders it. Team captain Grunsh throws a rule-shattering victory kegger, plies everyone with Purple Filth and Forbidden Fruits Orchard booze, and offers to forge TBD’s moon blade and guitar into one weapon. Xeros chugs the enhancement Chalice at exactly the wrong moment; rule-obsessed RA Morty tries to shut the party down and gets a charmed co-ed sicced on him instead. When TBD decides finals be damned, let’s go look at that statue, the whole crew strips down and goes streaking — which turns the trip to the Ringer Monument into a moonlit stealth run past campus guards, since Selûne’s light itself sees all wrongdoers.

At the monument, TBD touches the statue of the two founders and drops into a vision. Two revelations land at once: only one body lies in the Terry Ringer catacomb though both brothers should be buried there — and a second glimpse shows Mutatio, head of the School of Alchemy, turning to a man he names Thalen (“I know who you are, Thalen”) and casting a spell of consuming shadow: defectio luniae. Thalen is one of the two agents Lashara sent them to find. The vision blows Xeros’s cover; a chase erupts, and to spring the shrunk-down bard from the guards, TBD Shatters a corner off a School of Artifice building. In the chaos they find a torn page — Jenkins’ captured runes — slip inside, and rocket up a five-story tower on ground veil powder (the “Rockacopter”) to a mechanical door marked Master Mutatio.

The office cracks open on blood and worship, and inside they corner a shadow that resolves into the halfling prefect Brendel — caught mid-heist, “correcting” history for Mutatio. Boxed in Basil’s Wall of Force, he confesses: he and Mutatio are scrubbing every page where Old Man Jenkins accused the brother of Terry of being a wendigo — the accusation itself, extracted from the record. Speaking “lunar eclipse” in Oldish (Defectio Luniae) swings a hidden bookcase aside, unveiling a map of Kouréas titled with that same password: three cities circled — Pearl (“Sa-Muhell”), Oovuãn (Damanos, scrawled “Dominos”), and Trinity (“the changing one… must access Stargate”) — the twin of the old Imp Ending Doom map. A scripture called The Doom of the Arcanists tells of the Arcanist Conclave of Alerian, who built a gate to storm heaven and sacrificed Kairith the Shard of Mercy — until Selûne reversed it and buried it beneath the Temple. And Thalen’s letters to Nereza confirm the nightmare: the brother of Terry is a living shapeshifter who slipped past the shield, all of Trinity is in peril, and three crossed-out Owling names on the missing-persons list spell out Foulclaw. They box Brendel behind the eclipse-sealed wall and slip out into the night, sitting on the biggest secret in the campaign.

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

Scheme: AABB verses + chorus. Suggested vibe: gospel-organ folk-rock, moonlit and menacing, with a party-kegger swagger.

(Verse 1) Won the big game, got the glass in our hands, Grunsh cracks the Purple Filth, the whole dorm stands; Chug from the Chalice at the worst time of night — Then strip to your socks and go streak through the light.

(Chorus) Defecto Lunia — say it and the moon goes black, One body in the tomb and a knife in the back; They’re scrubbing the pages so the truth can’t be found — But the eclipse cracks the bookcase and it all comes ‘round.

(Verse 2) Touch the old statue and the vision runs cold: Mutatio’s a killer and the history’s sold; A rocket up the tower, a shadow in the room — A halfling in a Wall spilling somebody’s doom.

(Verse 3) Pearl, Oovuãn, Trinity ringed on a chart, A gate under the temple and a hero to un-start; Frostclaw, Foulwing — say the names as one, The moon-maiden’s watching, and the plot’s just begun.

(Outro) Defecto Lunia… the wall shudders and seals — They know how it ends now; the question is who kneels.

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

1. 00:02:40 · 📖 Recap — Jesse rewinds the Sky Rush win over School of Magus (poisoned, “moshing for days”); the party walks away with the Aether Glass Chalice, a “commercial break” gag deciding it treats erectile dysfunction.
2. 00:05:25 · 🎭 RP — Heroes of the School of ITYS mobbed at the dorms; Nortle (16 vs Xeros’s 17) fails by one to keep the co-eds off the newly-holy bard, who takes 7% “wall of female force” damage.
3. 00:11:37 · 🎲 Mechanic — Team captain Grunsh throws the victory party, chugs mixed Forbidden Fruits + Purple Filth, nat-1s his save and starts eating glass, laundry pods, and armor.
4. 00:16:08 · 📖 Lore — Grunsh recognizes TBD’s moon blade, reveals they both attend the School of Sorcery, and takes the blade + guitar to forge them into one weapon.
5. 00:17:34 · 🎭 RP — TBD leaps a bunk bed to play a set; a nat-1 on Xeros’s backup performance means “significant shrinkage” (he’s at 92%), only the aging vinyl-owners recognize the deep cuts.
6. 00:23:30 · 🎭 RP — Rule-obsessed tiefling RA Morty arrives to shut it down; Xeros fails a Suggestion (21 save) but then Charm-Persons a co-ed to make Morty “study all night,” and he’s dragged screaming into the crowd.
7. 00:30:37 · 🎲 Mechanic — Xeros chugs Grunsh’s Forbidden Fruits amber ale + Purple Filth straight from the Chalice — before the enhancement can be pointed at anything useful, wasting the day’s charge.
8. 00:34:49 · 🎭 RP — TBD wants to revisit the founders’ statue; the whole party agrees to go streaking across campus, Xeros insisting he’s “only at 92%.”
9. 00:40:47 · 🎲 Mechanic — The party eats the Dark mantle dish (two-day-old pocket-fish) for chameleon camouflage (double stealth advantage) — Basil turns black-furred; Xeros botches his Constitution save and vomits up the Chalice.
10. 00:45:17 · 🧭 Travel — A moonlit stealth run to the Ringer Monument begins: Selûne’s light detects movement, so failures alert the guards; Basil bunny-hops shadow-to-shadow, Nortle moonwalks, and her clumsy quiet slaps accidentally master her healing balance.
11. 01:12:44 · ⚔️ Combat — Xeros (disguised as Morty) is caught and a chase breaks out; he leads the guards on a merry sprint to keep them off TBD at the monument.
12. 01:16:59 · 📖 Lore — TBD touches the Terry Ringer statue and drops into a vision: the funeral shows only one body in the twin brothers’ catacomb, and Xeros recalls Terry died by the buried Stargate under the Temple after The Forgotten Hour.
13. 01:20:24 · 📖 Lore — The vision’s second half: Mutatio faces a man, says “I know who you are, Thalen”, and casts Defectio Luniae — a spell of consuming darkness that drops one of Lashara’s two missing agents.
14. 01:26:33 · 🎲 Mechanic — TBD Shatters a sacred relic (environment nat-4 → it explodes) blowing a corner off a School of Artifice building; the blast frees Xeros from the guards and trips citywide moon-spotlights.
15. 01:35:19 · 🎭 RP — Ducking the alarm, the party finds a door ajar and a dropped page: Jenkins’ captured runes over an illustration that only resembles the Dreamweaver they once fought (unrelated).
16. 01:47:48 · 🎲 Mechanic — At a five-story tower stairwell, TBD and Xeros pack veil powder under a shield and spin to ignite it — the Rockacopter — launching up the spiral while Basil and Nortle race the stairs.
17. 01:53:35 · 🎲 Mechanic — The mechanical door of Master Mutatio demands an offering; Detect Magic reveals it wants blood and worship — Xeros cuts himself and Nortle accidentally leans on it, and it grinds open.
18. 02:06:15 · ⚔️ Combat — A shadow flits behind the desk; Basil slams a Wall of Force dome around it and squeezes until it resolves into the halfling prefect Brendel, dropping stolen pages.
19. 02:14:16 · 📖 Lore — Boxed and stalling, Brendel confesses he “corrects history” for Mutatio — the pages all scrub Jenkins’ the wendigo accusation that the brother of Terry was ever suspected. They gag him with a sock and lock him in the “boo box.”
20. 02:30:06 · 📖 Lore — A wall riddle (“I am the night devouring night… when silver’s glow is veiled”) answers to a lunar eclipse; saying Defectio Luniae in Oldish — with the real moonlight blocked by Nortle’s belly (a “Nortal Eclipse”) — swings a bookcase aside.
21. 02:36:47 · 📖 Lore — The secret room’s map of Kouréas circles three cities — Pearl (“Sa-Muhell”), Oovuãn (Damanos of El Cinede, scrawled “Dominos”), and Trinity (“the changing one… must access Stargate”) — twinning the old Imp Ending Doom map.
22. 02:46:22 · 📖 Lore — Nortle finds The Doom of the Arcanists: the Arcanist Conclave of Alerian built a stargate to invade heaven, sacrificed Kairith the Shard of Mercy — and Selûne reversed the gate, casting them into the abyss and burying it for millennia.
23. 02:52:07 · 📖 Lore — Thalen’s letters to [[nereza|Nereza] ] warn that the brother of Terry is a shapeshifter, still alive and past the city shield; “all of Trinity is in great peril — you must reach Lashara and warn her.”
24. 02:55:01 · 📖 Lore — A second missing-persons list arrows names toward Oovuãn/Damanos; two crossed-out Owlings — “Willowwatch Foulwing” and “Echo Frostclaw” — combine into Foulclaw’s full name.
25. 02:58:42 · ⏸️ Pause — They kick Brendel’s chest into the secret room, re-seal the bookcase with Defectio Luniae, and slip out — finals still untaken, the whole conspiracy in their heads.

Player Characters

Character	Player	Race	Class	Note
Xeros	Dave	Tiefling	Bard	Wastes the Chalice, streaks the campus as a “solid snake,” disguises as [[morty
Nortle	Steve	Tortle	Monk	Moonwalks past guards, opens the blood-door by leaning on it, and offers his belly as a “Nortal Eclipse”
TBD	Chris	Goliath	Wizard	Takes his first [[purple-filth
Basil	Brin	Harengon	Fighter	Black-furred bunny-ninja; masters her heal by accident; cages [[brendel

NPCs

NPC	Role	Note
[[grunsh	Grunsh]]	Orc [[sky-rush-showdown
[[morty	Morty]]	Rule-obsessed tiefling RA
[[mutatio	Mutatio]]	Head of the [[school-of-alchemy
[[brendel	Brendel]]	Halfling prefect
[[thalen	Thalen]]	The Lashïngs agent (missing)
[[nereza	Nereza]]	The Lashïngs agent (missing)
[[the-brother-of-terry	the brother of Terry]]	Founder, secret shapeshifter
[[kairith	Kairith]]	Shard of Mercy
Lashara	Gnome patron, The Lashïngs leader	Not present — but [[thalen

Factions

Faction	Note
[[the-church-of-itys	The Church of ITYS]]
[[the-seven-shards	The Seven Shards]]
[[arcanist-conclave	Arcanist Conclave]]
[[school-of-alchemy	School of Alchemy]]
[[school-of-artifice	School of Artifice]]
[[school-of-sorcery	School of Sorcery]]
[[school-of-magus	School of Magus]]
The Lashïngs	Lashara’s spy network; [[thalen

👹 Monsters

Creature	Encounter	Note
Campus guards	Chase / evaded	A stealth-and-chase episode, not a bloodletting — the moonlit “mall cops” and Selûne’s spotlights are dodged, deceived, and Shattered away, never truly fought
[[the-brother-of-terry	the brother of Terry]]	Unfought (revealed)

🎙️ Notable Moments

00:20:44 — The morning after the win, TBD jumps on a bunk bed to play his oldest songs — and learns exactly which fans still know them.

TBD: I know, but it’s more fun to play — I mean, we never get to play those songs. GM: They’re trying to get through the crowd to see you— TBD (as a fan): Oh my gosh, I know this song! Once in a lifetime! Dad! Dad! You’ll never get to see it! GM (Grunsh): (sympathetic grunt) Yeah, brother, nice job.

00:24:54 — Rule-obsessed RA Morty won't break curfew, so Xeros charms a co-ed to make sure he "studies all night and gets to bed on time."

Xeros: I really just want to help out the religion. I want everyone to be converted. GM: He sees this beautiful tiefling girl approach him, because she’s willing to do anything— Xeros: I need you to go get him, tackle him, and make sure he gets everything done. GM: He’s screaming bloody murder — they fade into the crowd, and you just hear his screams out into the night. Xeros: He’s gonna have the best night ever.

00:44:34 — Xeros chugs the enhancement Chalice right before eating fish for stealth, throws both back up, and decides the universe has a message.

GM: Do you lose a conversion point? Are you learning a lesson right now about diligence and faithfulness? Xeros: I start to think I’ve actually been cursed. I fell into my old ways… Selûne is now punishing me. Xeros: It’s kind of like — you know — it’s how God really is. GM: We’re not going to promote that. That’s not our ad placement or anything.

00:48:33 — Xeros peeks into Morty's dorm window and tries to cast Persuasion through the glass. The DM has a wall ready.

Xeros: Now that I’m looking in the window, I’m going to cast Persuasion again. GM: Right, you can’t speak to him. It’s soundproof, bulletproof glass — it’s Chastity Glass. He can’t hear you. Xeros: …That was the best DM shutdown I have ever heard. Thank you for that.

01:22:30 — TBD keeps triggering monument visions by touching the founders' statue — in a spot Nortle would rather he didn't.

Nortle: I bet this statue would prefer that you not touch them there again. TBD: I guess I didn’t pay attention to where I touched. Xeros: Welcome back to Touched by an Angel. Where did the angel touch you? TBD: Show me on the doll.

01:29:15 — To free the shrunk-down Xeros from the guards, TBD casts Shatter — and the shockwave sets off his newly forged guitar clear across the water.

Nortle: At the same time, I can imagine that back in the dorms you hear this killer riff— GM (Grunsh): Grunsh goes, “check this out, man — he left it here.” Nortle (Grunsh): It starts playing… I am so high right now. GM: The corner of the building just explodes. It’s the School of Artifice — common occurrence. Just not after hours.

01:52:23 — Facing a five-story spiral staircase, the rock stars pack veil powder under a shield and spin like a concert pyro move.

GM: You do one of your concert dance moves where you spin, it grinds the powder underneath and ignites, and you spiral up the staircase together. GM: I feel like you went from rocket to helicopter — so it could be like a rocket-copter— Xeros: The Rockacopter! Nortle: Rockacopter!

02:03:28 — The office door needs blood and worship; Xeros mutilates himself while Nortle just… leans on it.

GM: When both of you touch the door and your blood is offered, all the latches and gears start twisting — and the door opens. Xeros: Nortle, how did you do that? Nortle: Well… when a man loves a woman a lot— …What? Basil: Why do we ever ask him to explain anything?

02:18:36 — Trapped in a shrinking Wall of Force, Brendel scoffs that the Church would never understand Mutatio — and takes a shot at Xeros's brand-new faith.

Nortle: I think he just insulted your religion now. GM (Brendel): His religion? His two-day religion? …Forty-eight-hour deep. TBD: Finding my religion. Xeros: As a man of deep faith, I have a moral duty to turn you in to the proper authorities.

02:32:10 — The secret bookcase only opens under a lunar eclipse; with real moonlight pouring in, Nortle volunteers his midsection.

Nortle: I jump up on the windowsill and use my tummy — now you’re a circle, more or less, right? Basil: A Nortal Eclipse! Xeros: A nortal eclipse of my heart — right there. GM: Nortoclipse of my heart.

02:57:20 — At the bottom of Mutatio's missing-persons list are three crossed-out Owling names — and Xeros does the math out loud.

Basil (reading): Willowwatch Foulwing… Echo Frostclaw. Nortle: Wait — if you take their last names and put them together, you get Frostwing. Xeros: You get Foulclaw. You moron. Nortle: With our powers combined, we figured this out.

🗺️ Locations

Location	Mentioned / Traveled	Note
[[itys-the-city	ITYS]]	Traveled
[[ringer-monument	Ringer Monument]]	Traveled
[[school-of-artifice	School of Artifice]]	Traveled
[[the-trinity-cities	The Trinity Cities]]	Mentioned
[[koureas	Kouréas]]	Mentioned
[[pearl	Pearl]]	Mentioned
[[oovuan	Oovuãn]]	Mentioned
[[alerian	Alerian]]	Lore
El Cinede	Mentioned	Where the party first met [[damanos
[[new-old-trinity-city	New Old]]	Mentioned

🎒 Items

Item	Used / Introduced	Note
[[aether-glass-chalice	Aether Glass Chalice]]	Used
[[purple-filth	Purple Filth]]	Used
[[the-forbidden-fruits-orchard	Forbidden Fruits Orchard]]	Used
[[dark-mantle-dish	Dark mantle dish]]	Used
Veil powder	Used	Flammable ground [[veil-stone
[[the-doom-of-the-arcanists	The Doom of the Arcanists]]	Introduced
[[the-book-of-jenkins	The Book of Jenkins]]	Introduced
[[special-edition-tortle-tarot-card	Tortle Tarot Card]]	Recovered
[[span-quills	Span Quills]]	Recovered
Silver sash	Introduced	Soul-magic church robes ([[thalen

⛩️ Pantheon & Religion

Power	Mentioned / Seen	Note
Selûne	Seen	Moon-maiden the Church truly venerates; her light polices the campus, reverses the [[the-stargate
Father ITYS	Mentioned	Namesake of the church, school, and city; “praise ITYS” is the party’s constant refrain
[[kairith	Kairith]]	Lore

Cliffhanger

The bookcase seals shut with Brendel boxed inside — and the party is now the only ones who know the whole shape of it: Mutatio is scrubbing history to un-write Jenkins’ warning that the brother of Terry is a living wendigo, loose past the shield, chasing a buried Stargate beneath the Temple. Thalen’s last letter is a plea — warn Lashara, all of Trinity is in peril — and among the crossed-out names on the killer’s list are the parents of their own missing friend, Foulclaw. Finals are tomorrow. Nobody’s studied.

Transcript

Full cleaned transcript: 251009-ch3.7-defecto-lunia-transcript · bundle 251009-ch3.7 on the tedit scratch SSD.

Related

Echoes of ITYS · 250911-ch3.6-meganacle-pride · 251023-ch3.8-the-final-final · Mutatio · the brother of Terry · Ringer Monument · Defectio Luniae · The Stargate · The Doom of the Arcanists · Foulclaw · Lashara · The Forgotten Hour