The Copper Piece Gang

D&D Session Summary

This session picked up with the party deep in infernal politics and trying to turn a terrible situation into a survivable one. They still technically had an agreement with Mutasafen to steal Vladyn’s gift and hand it over, but their real plan was to play multiple sides against each other. The party hoped to make Mutasafen believe that rival archdevils had Vladyn’s gift, trigger paranoia and conflict between infernal factions, and use that chaos to their advantage.

The group first met with Vladyn to explain what had happened and to refine the plan. They told him about the lightning-sword devil, now identified as Vassago, whose markings suggested some connection to Vladyn’s network. Vladyn’s reaction implied he was not especially surprised, which made the party suspect that Vassago might still be tied to him in some way. More importantly, Vladyn told them their original counterfeit idea might not be enough. If they wanted this scheme to work, they might need the real gift.

That revelation shifted the session into heist mode. The gift turned out to be the sigil of ownership over the Seventh Layer of Hell. Vladyn could not simply hand it to the party, so they would have to retrieve it themselves from the City of Brass. It was stored in a heavily important infernal archive-tower known as the Ashen Ledger, a basalt spire at the heart of the city where contracts, legal records, and devilish documents were kept. The group also learned that a powerful contract devil, Choroziel the Red Quill, was central to the place and likely central to getting what they needed.

The City of Brass itself got a strong introduction in this session. It was described as a massive, oppressive, intensely hot place between planes, full of legal corruption, infernal commerce, spies, danger, and constant betrayal. The city was huge enough to make the party feel tiny, and every street seemed designed to remind them that they did not belong there. Once they arrived through Vladyn’s portal, they immediately stood out as obvious outsiders, which made simple movement through the city a challenge before they even got near the objective.

To get closer to the Ashen Ledger, the party had to bluff their way past attention rather than just fight through the whole city. They used a mix of confidence, magic, religion, speed, and general nonsense to move with less suspicion. Zarnak carried much of the social confidence, Rae helped smooth over their presence, Krovuur leaned on divine guidance tied to civilization and order, and the group more or less forced the city to accept them as people who had somewhere to be.

That confidence failed the moment they reached the tower entrance. The Ashen Ledger was heavily guarded by devils, including barbed devils and bearded devils, and one of them was apparently doing administrative work with a clipboard, because even hell has bureaucracy. The party tried a ridiculous inspection routine to get inside, with Nucky improvising a fake official role and a clipboard-based lie about inspections and fines. The paperwork literally blew away into lava, Rae got restrained, and the attempt spiraled into a fast, messy fight.

The battle at the entrance was less about winning and more about escaping before the whole city came down on them. The group rushed in to free Rae, used powers to grab, slow, punish, and disrupt the guards, and then bailed out once reinforcements arrived. There were grabs, whips, invisibility, sliding down rails in heavy armor, healing in the middle of chaos, and a general we need to leave now energy. They escaped, but the cost was severe: the entire party now had a warrant out for them in the City of Brass.

That meant the second half of the session became a disguise-and-infiltration comedy heist. After a short rest and some disguise work, the group abandoned subtle dignity and embraced a truly deranged cover story. Krovuur used a disguise ritual to appear as a devil. Others used soot, color changes, servant disguises, armor staining, face coverings, and one especially cursed idea: a fake baby carried in a front sling as part of a baptismal registration story. This became the central bit for the infiltration plan. They were no longer random wanted outsiders. They were now a bizarre infernal family and support staff trying to access baptismal records and ritual preparation areas.

Shockingly, this worked.

The party managed to get into the Ashen Ledger by leaning fully into the bit. They improvised reasons to move between floors, used baby-related chaos as a distraction, and talked their way closer and closer to the restricted levels where the real documents were kept. Once inside the correct section, they found the actual vault area. The vault was protected by a magical dual-lock system that required two arcane users acting in the proper order, plus two unique magical stones that functioned as the true keys. The party could understand the lock, but they could not simply brute-force it open.

As they investigated, a pair of devil functionaries entered the room and began casually questioning people. Because the group had already committed to the absurd baptism cover story, they were able to stay in character and avoid immediate disaster. Through this interaction, the party learned the most important fact of the session: Charles Elred, associated with the vault’s administration, had both stones needed for the lock, but still required assistance to open it. In other words, the group did not just need the vault. They needed the right devil and the right setup.

By the end of the session, the heist had shifted from how do we get in to how do we manipulate the lock and its keeper. The party had survived a failed frontal bluff, escaped with warrants on their heads, re-entered in one of the dumbest and most effective disguises imaginable, reached the vault level, decoded the basic lock mechanism, and learned who held the stones.

Quick Recap

• The party told Vladyn their plan to play Mutasafen and his rivals against each other.
• Vladyn said the fake gift plan might not be enough and pointed them toward the real sigil.
• The real gift was the sigil of ownership over the Seventh Layer of Hell, stored in the Ashen Ledger in the City of Brass.
• The group entered the City of Brass and immediately stood out as outsiders in a hostile infernal metropolis.
• Their first attempt to bluff into the tower failed and turned into a fight with the guards.
• They escaped that fight, but the whole party ended up wanted in the city.
• After regrouping, they built a disguise plan centered on an absurd baptism and baby cover story.
• The disguises got them into the Ashen Ledger and let them move upward through restricted floors.
• Inside the vault level, they discovered the vault used a magical dual-lock system with two unique stones.
• Devil staff questioning them accidentally helped confirm that Charles Elred held both stones.
• By session end, the party had not opened the vault yet, but they had a clearer plan and were in the right place to try.