Session 17: The Claw Is True

Session date: September 15, 2026
Campaign: Tip of the Diceberg
Status: Canon summary with review flags

Previously on…

The party cleared the last firenewt warlocks from the forge beneath Wyrmheart Mine, and Isilrod opened the treasury with the Song of the Albino Dwarf. Everyone took 1,000 gp in gold ingots; Isilrod received the Gauntlet of Moradin, while Bodius took the Gloves of Thievery. Faf had embraced devotion to Vergadain and forged his coin holy symbol. The next destination was the Aldani village, where Bonzo would have to prove his right to the ancient claw.

The Gorge That Wasn’t a Market

Rather than retrace the railway, the party climbed a new stairwell out of the forge and emerged into the morning jungle. Confusion over two dragon marks on their maps did not establish another dragon. They chose a southeastern detour toward a marked place, hoping to find merchants and unload the heavy gold statue.

First came a long rest and an unwelcome reminder: skeletal dreams, whispered curses, and one maximum hit point lost by every character. This was an explicitly applied death-curse loss, not a new daily damage rate or a reconciled campaign total.

Their destination turned out to be the Gorge of Blades, not a settlement. Black volcanic blades rose roughly twenty to seventy feet from the canyon floor. Bonzo’s aerial scouting showed the barren expanse leading toward the Valley of Lost Honor. A history check recalled Dr. Aubrey’s studies: Ras Nsi’s undead had destroyed a Chultan tribe there, and lava had swallowed its remains.

With no shops to browse, the party made its own entertainment. An impromptu jam on the stone blades earned Isilrod one additional use of Bardic Inspiration for the day. Bodius then broke out his rainbow pigments and painted a vulgar Throbbin’s Goblins mark on the most prominent stone. The group developed a matching crossed-hand sign and decided the jungle needed more of their branding.

A Trail of Bad Decisions and Excellent Tattoos

The journey northeast included a wrong turn, recovered bearings, and a second party mark burned into a tree with Debt Collector and alchemist’s fire. During a rotating-watch long rest, the party tattooed its new emblem while unseen skeletons rattled in the surrounding jungle.

Faf’s finished design covered his chest and belly: two angry, striped, Sailor Jerry-style tigers forming the letters. Moghammer received an ornate design around the eyes and up the forehead, like spectacles. Bodius took a small mark beside his left eye, like a teardrop tattoo. A neck-to-chin design was also described; its owner remains flagged for confirmation rather than assigned from unreliable speaker labels.

The Dinosaur Had Chosen the Wrong Mouthful

As the ground grew marshier, the party heard something approaching through enormous leaves. Faf and Isilrod hurriedly dug and disguised a pit. Three skeletons and two zombies burst out of the foliage, ran straight past them, and revealed what they were fleeing: an enormous zombie tyrannosaurus.

The dinosaur swallowed one fleeing undead. An appeal to the party’s record against dinosaur racing did not buy peace. Isilrod proposed using the Aldani grappling gun, then withdrew it after discussion of its only charge; he took the opening tail strike instead. Because the DM had already narrated expenditure before the retraction, the cartridge outcome is unresolved.

Bonzo bounded through the canopy, struck with his claw, and returned with acid-coated Primal Savagery. Bodius attacked with Hexblade’s Curse, Hex, and Eldritch Blast. Faf announced healing, counsel, and competitive repayment terms, blessed his companions, and surged into the fight. Isilrod added Shatter and crossbow fire.

The tyrannosaurus bit Faf and held him in its jaws. That put Debt Collector exactly where Faf wanted it. He battered the mouth from within and finally mined upward through the skull, emerging with the killing blow as the giant corpse collapsed.

The stomach search revealed the swallowed skeleton and prompted mentions of an owlbear cub and a beehive. Their condition and later disposition are unclear; neither is an established new companion. The party harvested a tooth and, in an especially questionable piece of millinery, a nipple-shaped trophy offered to Moghammer as a hat. The harvest was played out, but no lasting equipment bonus was established. Bodius acknowledged that his original specter had expired during a long rest; the table then discussed raising another from the swallowed skeleton. That exchange does not establish a permanent companion or a general rule permitting Accursed Specter on undead.

Crawfish Are Legal Tender

A nearby creek gave the party a route toward the Aldani Basin. A leaf race escalated when one contestant secretly hitched a quipper to a leaf. Faf answered with Sacred Flame, and the fish floated up; its survival or recapture was not established. Fishing along the route produced 25 crawfish, which would prove more immediately useful than gold.

At sunrise, marshland opened into a broad basin. Far to the east-southeast, an unidentified landmass floated roughly three hundred feet above the ground. The party speculated about Shadowfang Keep, but did not identify it. They found the steamboat and slept nearby.

Summer Mooneyham woke Isilrod with a kick and wondered why they were sleeping outside instead of using the village huts. She had been waiting three nights. Jacques LaFleur was increasingly frantic about his captive companion, and persuading the Aldani to support the rescue was proving difficult. A council meeting with the elders was planned for that evening. Summer also mentioned a blight and a missing chef, later confirmed by the DM as Van Cleavee.

The village stood behind a timber palisade, with lobster-folk guards above the gate and stilted huts over wet ground. Broken gauges, brasswork, and cogs hung as reminders of the engineering the Aldani had renounced.

At the apothecary of Mettle Brinewell, Bodius discovered that the accepted currency was crawfish. He bought four healing potions, four sets of thieves’ tools, and two jugs, then added a potion of water breathing. The spoken bundle price was five crawfish, despite earlier individual prices that did not quite add up; the water-breathing potion cost another five. The statue drew a fifty-crawfish offer, but was not sold.

Armor Must Be Earned, Except the Armor You Can Buy

The village blacksmith, Grum Anvilclaw, recognized the recovered armor recipe as sacred heavy shell plate once worn by Aldani seahorse cavalry. He would make one set, but only after someone proved worthy by challenging Korb Wavecrusher, the leading jouster at the Sunken Lists. The underwater arena lies about a hundred meters down in the pool beneath a waterfall. No joust occurred and no sacred armor was forged; the party retained its parchment.

Ordinary equipment was easier. Ten crawfish bought chain-mail barding for Moghammer, and the DM explicitly set his AC to 16. Bodius bought seahorse-skin leather armor for five crawfish: a close-fitting tunic with small pauldrons and a glistening iridescent finish, described mechanically as studded leather +1.

When Bonzo revealed his claw, the smith recognized it as one of six ancient claws, correcting the earlier count of five. Two remained among the local Aldani. He urged Bonzo to display it openly and seek its trial.

One Hundred and Nine Monkfish

Two excited claw-bearers, Moolak and Blugalug, spotted Bonzo and escorted him to a sweat lodge. After an hour of heat and silent preparation, the test was revealed: eat one hundred aged monkfish in one hour, or lose the claw forever. The usual ritual administrator, Van Cleavee, had disappeared roughly three weeks earlier; his son brought the preparations. Van Cleavee is also the village’s missing chef.

Bonzo’s six dice totaled seventy-nine monkfish. At the table, each real hard-boiled egg supplied ten more. Three eggs brought the declared result to 109 monkfish.

“The claw is true.” The ritual words became a verdict. Bonzo’s claw seemed to communicate with him, became his arm, and grew a second set of pincers. Its attack now deals 2d10. Whether and how it can still be removed remains unclear, but the trial and upgrade are complete.

While the trial unfolded, the others began approaching the village shaman, Shoob, to discuss The History of Shadowfang Keep. They saw an elderly, blanket-draped Aldani with a bright pink face and scarred claws, but the recording contains no completed translation or substantive consultation.

Bonzo emerged stuffed, delirious, and accepted by the claw. That is where the session ended.

Outcomes and Next Session

• Party level remains 6. One explicit maximum-HP loss applied to everyone; travel and multiple rests advanced time, but exact remaining deadlines were not reconciled.
• The party has reached the Aldani village and reunited with Summer. A direct conversation with Jacques and the elders’ council are still ahead.
• Bonzo passed the claw trial; Moghammer has AC 16 barding; Bodius acquired new armor and supplies.
• The Sunken Lists armor challenge, untranslated keep history, village blight, Van Cleavee’s disappearance, and unidentified floating landmass supply immediate leads.
• The Shadowfang rescue has not launched. Watto’s raid, Balm Bitdoom’s debt, the search for Artus, Mina’s cure, and the news owed to Flea remain unresolved.

Transcript: Full session transcript
Review flags: Remaining names, one tattoo owner, and unresolved mechanics

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