![[Publish/Assets/Session Headers/2026-07-15 — The Devil's Disguise at the Sentry Tower.png]] # 2026-07-15 — The Devil's Disguise at the Sentry Tower > [!quote] Session Hook > Two exhausted devil sentries stand between the party and the War-Slough — and the party talks, disguises, and bluffs its way through without a single sword drawn. --- ## Overview Following Rex's directions from the border bargain, the party moved north through an eerily silent, crystal-strewn valley toward a devil-held sentry tower — the last obstacle between them and the War-Slough itself. What started as a straightforward stealth approach turned into a tense game of near-misses as clumsy footing and heavy armor nearly gave the party away twice. Rather than push their luck further, [[The Party|Lilly Pallywally]] broke cover and improvised, working the two shaken, undermanned sentries with threats and misdirection while [[The Party|Dr. Herbert Who]] polymorphed [[The Party|Celeste Valentin]] into a horned devil. Celeste then walked straight up to the post posing as an advance scout for reinforcements, carrying Lilly as a "prisoner," and talked the sentries into standing down entirely — buying the rest of the party (Tahara, Ara-Ara, Dr. Herbert Who, Unit-NULL, Casanova) the opening they needed to slip past unnoticed. The whole encounter resolved without a single blow struck. Once inside the War-Slough proper, the party's bearer of the Infernal Map felt it stir back to life — not yet fully usable, but close. --- ## Key Events ### 1. The Approach The party moved north through barren, rocky terrain scattered with crystal formations, closing on a devil-held sentry tower. The area was unnervingly quiet — even small sounds carried a long way. [[The Party|Lilly Pallywally]] rode [[The Party|Celeste Valentin]] while the group advanced cautiously, several members invoking protective magic beforehand. Lilly and Celeste scouted ahead from higher ground and confirmed the tower lay just over the ridge, with nothing else visible but rock, crystal, and desolation. Cresting the ridge, the party spotted two horned devils near the tower, facing east and locked in an argument in Infernal — at first too distant to follow clearly. Rex's advice held: rather than approach directly, the party used rock formations and crystal outcroppings for cover, moving from one to the next while the devils stayed distracted by their own bickering. ### 2. Two Near-Misses The stealth approach nearly fell apart twice. [[The Party|Tahara Rahma]] clipped a crystal underfoot, and the crack carried through the valley — both devils spun toward the sound, scanned the area, and found nothing before returning to their argument. Moments later, [[The Party|Ara-Ara Avannatto]] lost her footing trying to duck behind a mound and went down hard with a loud clang in her heavy armor. The devils looked directly at the party's hiding spot this time; [[The Party|Celeste Valentin]] pinned her lower with a hoof while [[The Party|Lilly Pallywally]] hissed "shh." It held — barely. [[The Party|Unit-NULL]]'s own approach fared worse; her weapon clicked faintly with every step, and the devils clearly caught noise from her direction, growing visibly on edge. Between the two scares, the sentries argued over whether "it" — whatever had cost them their comrades — had crossed into their guarded area. One refused to go check, snapping: *"I'm not gonna end up like Jack. You go over there."* The other shot back: *"You didn't kill Jack. I saw what killed Jack."* [[The Party|Casanova Frankenstein]] turned invisible and slipped clear of the water unnoticed, watching the rest unfold with a muttered *"Not my circus, not my monkeys. Wait — those are my fucking monkeys."* ### 3. Lilly's Gambit With a clean stealth approach no longer realistic, [[The Party|Lilly Pallywally]] chose to break cover and confront the sentries directly — disheveled, threatening, and leaning hard into Jack's fate: *"Jack got it easy. You'll be wishing Zariel got you by the time I am done with you."* The devil wasn't rattled: *"You didn't kill Jack. I saw what killed Jack. What are you doing here?"* Lilly shifted tactics, questioning why only two devils were guarding an entire tower and pressing them on what had happened to the rest of their unit. The devils admitted the truth — a larger force had been wiped out, and only the two of them were left, defending the post alone for three days with reinforcements overdue. They ordered Lilly to leave: *"You are not supposed to be here. Turn around and go. We have other things to deal with."* Lilly pushed back, framing the party as problem solvers who could help avenge Jack. The devils argued between themselves over whether to let her through at all, since whatever waited ahead might kill her regardless — one worried openly that Zariel would have their heads either way. While Lilly held their attention, [[The Party|Tahara Rahma]] crept around the tower's far side to a defensive position, and [[The Party|Ara-Ara Avannatto]] stayed hidden behind a crystal, watching the bluff play out. ### 4. The Disguise [[The Party|Dr. Herbert Who]] polymorphed [[The Party|Celeste Valentin]] into a horned devil. A demonic whistle sounded from behind Lilly, and both sentries reacted instantly, demanding to know who else was with her. Lilly — genuinely unaware of Celeste's new form — answered honestly that she had no idea, deepening the devils' unease. One backed against a crystal, visibly rattled. [[The Party|Unit-NULL]], startled by the sudden devilish figure, drew her sword — until Celeste reached her telepathically in Infernal: *"Hey, it's me, Celeste."* Reassured, Unit-NULL stood down. Celeste then contacted Lilly the same way — *"Hey, it's me Celeste — Doctor Who turned me into a horned demon. So don't freak out. I am going to come back. You up? It'll be fun."* — before dropping into character, addressing the sentries as a harsher infernal superior: *"You guys are too soft. If this thing was to go die, let's just let it go die in the war-slough."* Celeste scooped Lilly into a princess carry, presenting her as a captured prisoner, and started walking toward the War-Slough. The senior sentry challenged the new arrival on the spot: *"Hold up right there! Who in the hell are you, to come to our post and tell us how to do our jobs?"* Celeste claimed to be the advance guard for the long-overdue reinforcements. It landed instantly — one devil lit up with relief after three days of holding the line alone, while the other, still raw over Jack, objected to losing his prisoner. Celeste pressed the advantage: *"The rest of them will be here in a couple of hours. Whatever it is that you guys are scared of, you might want to keep an eye out for it to make sure it doesn't kill you before they get here. It's clearly not this way — I just got here from that direction. Now let me go kill this thing."* The angered sentry grumbled but didn't stop him; the other, buoyed by the promise of relief, waved it off entirely: *"Oh, he stole my prisoner. Come on — we're going to have reinforcements here in two hours? This is the best damn news we've had all week."* The offended one relented too, in the end: *"Fine, fine. It will make my day to watch them get eaten."* ### 5. Slipping In With both sentries' attention locked on Celeste and Lilly's exit, the rest of the party — [[The Party|Tahara Rahma]], [[The Party|Ara-Ara Avannatto]], [[The Party|Dr. Herbert Who]], [[The Party|Unit-NULL]], and [[The Party|Casanova Frankenstein]] — slipped past the tower and into the War-Slough completely undetected. [[The Party|Tahara Rahma]] readied a dash the moment the opening came. Inside, the ground was gore-slicked and strewn with the dead — the War-Slough's ruin on full display. The bearer of the Infernal Map felt it stir and reactivate; not quite ready for use yet, but close, with the sense that only a little more distance into the Slough would bring it fully online. --- ## Notable NPCs | NPC | Type | Notes | |-----|------|-------| | Two horned devil sentries | Enemy — evaded, not fought | Sole survivors of a larger unit, holding the sentry tower alone for three days; fooled by Celeste's disguise and left believing reinforcements are two hours out | | Jack | Devil casualty (unseen) | A dead comrade of the two sentries; they insist Lilly didn't kill him and that they saw what did, but never name it | --- ## Locations - **The Crystal-Strewn Valley** — Rocky, crystal-dotted terrain the party used for cover on the approach to the sentry tower - **The Sentry Tower** — Devil-held checkpoint at the War-Slough's edge; bypassed without combat - **The War-Slough (interior)** — The party's first steps inside proper: gore, ruin, and the Infernal Map stirring back to life --- ## Decisions & Consequences | Decision | Consequence | |----------|-------------| | Lilly broke stealth to confront the sentries directly rather than keep pushing a shaky approach | Shifted the encounter from stealth to deception — riskier, but avoided a fight the party wanted to skip | | Lilly invoked Jack's death to intimidate the sentries | Didn't rattle them, but revealed the sentries are down to two survivors and afraid of something else out there | | Dr. Herbert Who polymorphed Celeste into a horned devil | Enabled the disguise gambit that got the whole party through unnoticed | | Celeste posed as an advance scout for reinforcements and claimed Lilly as a prisoner | Sentries stood down and let the party pass; they now expect reinforcements that will never arrive | | Tahara readied a dash rather than an ambush attack | Party slipped past cleanly with no combat triggered | --- ## Open Threads > [!warning] Unresolved > - [ ] **The Horn** — still needs to be retrieved from the Canyon Trove (W4) and delivered to Rex > - [ ] **Jack's true killer** — the sentries saw it happen and insist it wasn't Lilly, but never named what it was > - [ ] **The sentries' missing unit** — wiped out before this session; cause still unknown > - [ ] **The overdue reinforcement unit** — was already three days late before the party's ruse; the sentries will eventually realize no one is coming > - [ ] **W3's phylactery** — believed to be Ara-Ara's brother's, beneath the ichor lake; still unconfirmed and unrecovered > - [ ] **W2's second source of power** — unidentified, possibly another phylactery > - [ ] **Damon Charles** — still missing since being swept down the River Styx > - [ ] **Paladin of Bahamut's undisclosed news** — still never delivered > - [ ] **The Infernal Map** — stirring but not yet fully active; needs more distance into the War-Slough --- ## Combat Summary ``` Encounter: Sentry Tower (2x horned devil sentries), War-Slough border Status: RESOLVED — bypassed entirely via stealth-then-deception; no combat Notable mechanics: - Initial group stealth approach: collective ~12 - Tahara: crystal crack — sentries checked, found nothing - Ara-Ara: fell prone with a loud clang — held cover with help from Celeste and Lilly - Unit-NULL: stealth badly botched (noisy weapon) — sentries went on alert but never located the party - Casanova: cast invisibility on self, slipped clear unnoticed - Lilly: broke cover, cast Cause Fear on the nearer sentry (DC 18) — failed save, sentry rattled but not routed - Lilly: Deception/Performance to sell the "problem solvers" angle — rolled an 18 - Dr. Herbert Who: Polymorph on Celeste, up to 1 hour concentration, transforming her into a horned devil - Celeste: Persuasion as the disguised "advance guard" — sold easily - Tahara: readied a dash to slip in once the opening came End state: Both sentries fooled, no alarm raised, full party inside the War-Slough undetected ``` --- ## Loot & Acquisitions No loot acquired this session — a pure roleplay/stealth encounter. > For a full loot breakdown see [[Session Loot]]. --- ## Party This Session | Character | Highlights | |-----------|-----------| | [[The Party\|Lilly Pallywally]] | Broke cover to bluff the sentries, invoked Jack's death, cast Cause Fear, and got carried as a fake prisoner by a disguised Celeste | | [[The Party\|Celeste Valentin]] | Let Doctor Who turn her into a horned devil and ran the entire "advance guard" con that got the whole party through | | [[The Party\|Doctor Who|Dr. Herbert Who]] | Polymorphed Celeste into a horned devil, making the disguise gambit possible | | [[The Party\|Tahara Rahma]] | Nearly gave the party away with a cracked crystal; readied and executed the dash into the War-Slough once the opening came | | [[The Party\|Ara-Ara Avannatto]] | Stumbled loudly but stayed hidden with an assist from the rest of the party | | [[The Party\|Unit-NULL]] | Nearly blew the approach with a noisy weapon; drew her sword on "unknown devil" Celeste before getting the telepathic all-clear | | [[The Party\|Casanova Frankenstein]] | Turned invisible and slipped past clean, watching the whole con unfold from the sidelines | --- ## Table Notes - Sessions confirmed continuing on **Wednesdays**. - This recording came from a phone-app capture, not the usual Plaud pen — filed and dated after the fact. --- *Session recorded on Plaud · File ID: `7cb80a3e6f9c0f3865962c36ca193ebc` · Duration ~1h 44m*