The Copper Piece Gang

D&D Session Summary

The session opened with the party still dealing with the fallout of the escape from the Ashen Ledger in the City of Brass. The group had already fought through the upper areas of the tower, survived the fire vents, the wind-and-poison chamber, and the brutal baptism chamber, and escaped Choroziel’s attempt to reclaim his authority over the Ledger. The party had the altered document they needed to get back to Vladyn, but the situation in the City of Brass had become more dangerous by the moment.

The group reviewed the immediate aftermath of the Ashen Ledger fight. Choroziel had returned after being banished to the Feywild, declared the Ashen Ledger his domain, and tried to stop the party from leaving. The battle involved drake riders, an efreet, fire-resistance stations, and a lot of fire-based punishment. The party used the cleansing stations to build up resistance, fought through the efreet’s fiery retaliation, and eventually brought him down. Once the efreet died in a burst of smoke, the hired drake riders decided the job was no longer worth dying for and abandoned the fight.

The victory came with loot and consequences. Rae gained a +4 flaming sword, and Krovuur received a +4 neck item. More importantly, the party still had the book-scroll thing intended for Vladyn, and the group understood the task was not finished. Either the document needed to be delivered to Vladyn so he could act on it, or the party would eventually have to get it back into the vault after the alteration.

Nucky’s absence was also settled in a very Nucky way. Rather than simply disappearing from the story, Nucky became locked in a nearly endless bureaucratic war inside the City of Brass. He had apparently thrown himself into a regulation argument with someone tied to Ashen Ledger security, leaning into inspections, bad caulking, structural problems, and the lack of a proper fire escape in a city where everyone is surrounded by fire. The joke evolved into the idea that, in the City of Brass, this could take years. Nucky was effectively sacrificing himself to keep that administrative mess alive long enough for the others to get away.

With Nucky occupied, the remaining party members turned to the problem of getting out of the City of Brass and back toward Vladyn. An airship plan fell apart when the group remembered the City of Brass sits beneath a massive brass dome. Leaving required a crossing, gateway, portal, or some other planar route.

The group decided the best path was to find someone who knew the city’s less official routes. A Streetwise check pointed them toward a nearby mercantile district where black marketeers likely operated. After observing a suspicious warehouse, they noticed signs of black market trade: wagons carrying loads heavier than their labels suggested, barrels stacked in odd ways, guards watching the wrong things, and a general sense that normal trade was only the cover story.

The party split their approach to get inside without drawing too much attention. One angle involved posing as a wealthy investor looking for routes to other planes. Another involved a prisoner-delivery ploy, with one party member being presented as dangerous merchandise or a bounty. A staged blow to the back of the head sold the intimidation, knocking a tooth loose and convincing the warehouse guards the prisoner was worth taking seriously.

Inside, the group created separate but overlapping reasons to be in the building. One party member was routed toward a financial advisor, while the prisoner-delivery cover brought another character into contact with Bertil Gorko, a lower contract-devil type. When Bertil did not recognize the bounty, intimidation and bureaucratic pressure made him nervous enough to avoid becoming the person caught between a clerical error and a dangerous client.

Eventually the party was brought to Kif the Lean, a gaunt, sunken-eyed figure who looked like he wasted nothing, not even a breath. Kif was not easily fooled, but he agreed to guide them part of the way. He explained that the crossing available to them was ugly even by planar-travel standards, not a clean portal or official route, but a gutter crossing through back alleys, hidden connections, private passages, shop interiors, kitchens, rooftops, and underground paths most outsiders would never notice.

Kif eventually brought the party to the edge of his territory and gave them instructions. They needed to reach a bridge about a mile and a half away, descend beneath it through a metal grate, follow the route below, perform the correct sigils, and trigger the crossing at the right moment. Once Kif handed over the map and instructions, the party stepped out and immediately realized something had changed.

A powerful infernal writ of seizure had been placed on all four of them. The writ meant devils could legally attack them without consequence, bounty hunters in the area automatically knew where they were, and the Efreet authorities had rescinded the protections normally granted to foreigners. They were no longer guests, clients, or protected outsiders. They were property waiting to be claimed.

The party ran. Bounty hunters closed in quickly. The fight that followed was less about winning and more about surviving long enough to escape. The attackers included a chained angel, an ionic drifter, a cambion, a lunar devil, and other dangerous hunters. The enemies used flight, concealment, teleportation, sniping attacks, moonlike radiance, and strange movement to pin the party down.

The party focused on escape rather than victory, using marks, dazes, forced movement, and defensive boosts to break away. The hunters continued to fire and reposition, but the group reached the bridge, dropped beneath the grate, followed Kif’s instructions, and activated the crossing.

The transit was horrific. The party felt as though they were being ripped through space and time, turned inside out, and dragged through sensations no living body was meant to process. The party survived because they were heroes, but none of them wanted to travel that way again.

The session ended with the party spat out somewhere else, alive but disoriented, with no clear idea where they had landed. They had escaped the City of Brass, survived the writ of seizure, kept hold of the altered document meant for Vladyn, and leveled up.

Quick Recap

• The party began in the aftermath of the Ashen Ledger escape in the City of Brass.
• Rae received a +4 flaming sword, and Krovuur received a +4 neck item.
• The group still carried the altered book-scroll document intended for Vladyn.
• Nucky stayed behind in the City of Brass, locked in a long-running bureaucratic fight over Ashen Ledger safety violations.
• The party ruled out escaping by airship once they remembered the City of Brass sits under a massive brass dome.
• A Streetwise check led the group to a black market warehouse in a mercantile district.
• The party infiltrated the warehouse using investor, contraband, and prisoner-delivery covers.
• A staged blow helped sell the fake prisoner routine, at the cost of a tooth.
• The black market operators connected the party with Kif the Lean, a dangerous guide to planar crossings.
• Kif led them through hidden routes and gave them instructions to reach a gutter crossing beneath a bridge.
• As soon as they left Kif’s protection, an infernal writ of seizure marked all four party members as legal targets.
• Bounty hunters attacked, including a chained angel, an ionic drifter, a cambion, and a lunar devil.
• The party focused on escape rather than victory, using marks, dazes, forced movement, and defensive boosts to break away.
• The group reached the crossing, endured a horrific planar transit, and ended the session alive but lost somewhere beyond the City of Brass.