Act I · Sessions 1–12
The City
Pocket dimensions, hag hunts, fight pits, stolen orbs, and the slow uncovering of a Flesh Golem ring run by the Meat Weaver. The Ashmoon Banner is named, the gemstone adornments are bestowed, and the first hint of a deeper conspiracy emerges when Blackthorn the thief escapes with an elemental orb.
Act II · Sessions 13–29
The Voyage & the Conspiracy
From a sunken church (where the first gem is earned) to a flying lighthouse, a young red dragon wreck, the clockwork ruins of Himell, and the mechanical city of Gorenobyl — where the cult's full plot is exposed. They drain captive elementals to weaponize their essence. Ronald is one of them. Clank gains a soul. Magma sharks tear up the streets. The party levels to 7.
Records Gap
The transition from Gorenobyl to Gnoble — Sky Cycle race, travel to the Underdark, descent into the Inner Sanctum — is not yet captured in NotebookLM. Filling this in is a future task.
Act III · The Gnoble Session →
The Underdark
Gnoble is a barrier-walled Underdark city built atop a slumbering Elder Brain, powered by trapped souls. Reginald is dead and one of those souls. The brain has fled wounded after Fenwick's Counterspell missed by exactly one. Squidward has climbed willingly into the empty pool. Ronald is rescued, restored to dwarf form, and at 1 HP. The fire gem is the second of eight.
— Threads —
Narrative Arcs in Motion
Plotlines currently in motion. Hot threads need immediate attention; ongoing threads simmer; dormant threads have gone quiet but remain unresolved; resolved threads are fully closed.
The Eight Elemental Gems
Hot · 6 remain
The gemstone adornments bestowed by Prince O Nisia in Session 2 are designed to hold eight elemental gems — one per element. Two are now socketed: Water (recovered from the sunken church after closing the rift) and Fire (recovered from Gnoble's inner sanctum after wounding the elder brain). Six remain. Each appears to be tied to an elemental rift the cult is attempting to widen.
Open questions: What are the other six elements? Does the cult possess any of them already? Is Blackthorn's stolen orb one of them?
Reginald's Soul
Hot · Decision pending
Reginald is dead. His body was recovered by Varric. His brain was extracted by a mind flayer. His soul is one of the wards powering Gnoble's gemstone barrier. The party needs to decide: leave him as a city-defending soul, attempt soul-transfer into a warforged shell (Stakars established the verifiable-soul mechanic for Clank), use Vettis's Soul Coin from Session 15, or wait for Zesium's expertise.
Lever: Vettis still has the Soul Coin he found under the Knowing Mistress statue in Session 15. It contained an aristocratic male soul. Whether it can be repurposed is an open question.
Squidward in the Pool
Hot · Strike or wait
Squidward is voluntarily mutating into the new elder brain. He proposed reinstating the original Gnoble pact (knowledge-sharing for non-aggression). Mind-read showed non-violent surface thoughts but he caught the read attempt. The DM has explicitly hinted: easier kill now than ever.
The trap: Wait, and he becomes a fully-grown elder brain bound by an unverified pact. Strike, and the party breaks faith with someone who was an ally hours ago.
The Elemental Cult
Ongoing · Multi-region
First brush:
S4 (foreshadowing) ·
S23 (Magma Axolotl) ·
S24–
S29 (Gorenobyl arc) ·
GnobleThe cult is performing summoning rituals across multiple regions, draining captive elementals to produce mutagenic serums (S24's syringe). The Gorenobyl mind flayer was running a Wi-Fi gem repeater connected to an elder brain — almost certainly the same elder brain the party just wounded in Gnoble. The cult appears to be a worldwide operation with the elder brain at its centre.
Foreshadowing payoff: The blue-light cultists in Session 4's crypt — 19 sessions before the cult became central — were the first appearance of this aesthetic.
Vettis's Awakening Heritage
Ongoing
Vettis is the last of the Ashmoons. He spent 8,000 years in the Shadowfell — did not age, sleep, eat, or drink. His former companions (Stakars, Alandra, Dragar) are immortal and active in the world again. In the Gnoble session, his artifact axe woke up on its own and broke a stun. The axe is now active.
Open thread: Where is Dragar? What does the axe want? Why is the Ashmoon name forgotten when its members are still alive?
Himell's Teleportation Hubs
Ongoing · Unfulfilled
The Clockwork Behir (Himell) revealed the locations of several other dormant teleportation hubs across the continent. He asked the party to reactivate them. The request remains unfulfilled. With the rifts opening, fast-travel between cities may matter more than the party realized at the time.
Fara's Frost Goddess
Dormant since S6
Vision:
S6 ·
S16 (sister flashback)
In Session 6, Fara experienced a vision of a massive icy deity demanding she "gain power," causing her hammer to freeze over. The deity has not spoken since. Fara's Trial of Fears flashback in S16 — losing her sister to a blizzard — likely connects.
NotebookLM check: Worth asking whether the deity has appeared since S6 in any session not yet captured.
The Soul Coin
Dormant · Now relevant
In Session 15, Vettis found a Soul Coin under a statue of the Knowing Mistress in the sunken city ruins. Mental contact revealed an aristocratic male soul trapped within. Has not been mentioned in 14 sessions. With Reginald's soul currently in flux, this object is suddenly pressing.
Yan Maya's Patron
Dormant
Yan Maya described his lighthouse-tower as "a little part of my patron's dimension." The patron has never been named. The tower teleported away after the Trial of Fears.
Vettis's Play
Cooled · Successful
Vettis wrote, produced, and starred in a Greatest Showman adaptation in the city theater. The opening-night premiere was a hit; the Prince attended and invited the party to a royal banquet. Largely closed but the theater connection and royal interest may resurface.
— Mysteries —
Open Questions
Questions raised that have not yet received answers. Hot mysteries are immediately actionable; dormant ones simmer; cold ones haven't been touched in many sessions.
The Counterspell That Missed by One HOT
Fenwick's Counterspell scroll rolled 16 against the elder brain's Plane Shift. The DC was 17. Off by exactly one. The brain escaped. It is now wounded, somewhere on another plane, and it will be back. When and where is the live question.
Zesium's Misunderstanding HOT
Zesium (half-robot necromancer) is en route to the airship believing there's an elder brain on board. There isn't. He'll find out soon. How that conversation goes — and whether his soul-transfer expertise is offered freely or requires concessions — affects Reginald's fate.
Six Gems, Six Locations HOT
Two of eight elemental gems are claimed (Water, Fire). The other six elements and their corresponding rifts are unknown. Lightning struck the Lion's Pride in S17 and may have been a third missed opportunity. Earth, Air, and exotic elements remain entirely unaccounted for.
Blackthorn's Stolen Orb DORMANT
Blackthorn escaped Session 6 with an elemental orb. The party traded for an orb in Session 10 — the one she stole, or a different one? She has not appeared since. The orb has not been mentioned. Both are loose.
The Knowing Mistress DORMANT
Vettis found the Soul Coin under a statue of the Knowing Mistress in the sunken city. Who is the Knowing Mistress? A goddess? A historical figure? The campaign has not yet defined her, despite her statue holding a soul-bearing artifact.
Spell's True Loyalty DORMANT
A 2,000-year-old Warforged serves a modern Prince as court wizard. The Warforged predates the dynasty. Why does Spell serve? Was it programmed to? Does it have its own agenda?
Lady Nina, the Dawnfather Cleric DORMANT
Met at the royal banquet in S20. Seemingly rejected the Prince's advances. Has not appeared since the party was kicked out of the palace. The detail of "rejecting royalty" is the kind of thing campaigns return to.
Why Fara Was Followed COLD
Session 1 opened with Fara magically altering her cloak's color to evade city guards. Why she was being followed has never been answered. She later became a wanted fugitive in Gorenobyl (S24) — possibly the same thread, possibly not.
Cassian on the Road COLD
In S21, the party encountered a heavily guarded blond noble named Cassian travelling the open road. His identity was unclear. He has not reappeared.