Interlude XII: Return to the Lotus Casino

🎧 Podcast Link • November 7, 2025

Session Overview

Silas awakens to find a letter from Naomi at the Lotus Casino detailing an emergency: Helisanna and her ravers have taken over the casino, turned it into a 24/7 concert venue, and are holding it hostage. The party must infiltrate the chaos, find a hidden reset key, and activate the casino's magical failsafe to send everyone home before the establishment is permanently destroyed.

The Morning Letter

Naomi's Distress Call

Silas receives an urgent letter from his girlfriend Naomi at the Lotus Casino:

The Situation:

• Helisanna and her ravers have completely taken over the casino
• The ravers are holding daily mandatory concerts and partying 24/7
• The casino lobby is trashed with graffiti, torn furniture, and a halfpipe built in the middle
• Marvin Junior Junior Junior has been kidnapped and incapacitated by Helisanna
• Fufu (the owl bear) is being forced to perform three shows a day with David Blaine
• Naomi's baby Julius can't sleep due to the constant noise

The Invitation:

• A gold card labeled "Guest Transport" dated for 10:00 a.m.
• Fine print (requiring investigation to read) explains holding the card will teleport the party to the Lotus
• Silas immediately rallies the party for a rescue mission

Gathering the Team

The Morning Brief

Silas wakes Bru by pulling the covers off him, revealing Pepsi (the baby dragon) curled up on the bed with Bru squeezed into a tiny corner. The party gathers in Olivia's apartment in High Forge where they've been staying:

Living Arrangements:

• Silas and Bru share George's old bunk beds (with Pepsi claiming the top bunk)
• Kevin (the minion) sneaks into bed with Elspeth and Boxbox
• Olivia returns from her daily bodega run with muffins
• The party discusses the mission over breakfast

The Team:

• Silas: Leading the mission to rescue his "honey lamb" Naomi
• Bru: Bringing his engineering expertise and Pepsi
• Olivia: Initially joining but ultimately staying with baby Julius
• Elspeth: Providing support and sneaking skills
• Leliana: Former connection to Helisanna, now in a complicated situation
• Scarlet: Coming along despite Silas's warnings not to get inspired by interdimensional travel
• Ohma: Joining the infiltration team

Arrival at the Lotus

Chaos in the Lobby

The party teleports to the Lotus Casino lobby at exactly 10:00 a.m., discovering absolute pandemonium:

The Destruction:

• Graffiti covering every surface
• Curtains and furniture torn apart and scattered
• The statue of Marvin's ancestor defaced with painted-on glasses and a dick on his cheek, random clothes on its head
• A halfpipe constructed in the middle of the lobby (which Bru admits is "pretty sick")
• Ravers everywhere drinking, partying, skating, and attempting to start bonfires (constantly extinguished by the magic fire suppression system)

Naomi's Greeting:

• Perfectly dressed and composed despite the chaos around her
• Quickly ushers the party to the back office to avoid drawing attention
• Explains the full extent of the crisis

The Resistance Meeting

Naomi's Plan

In a hidden supply closet in the laundry room (the most boring, back-of-house location possible), Naomi has assembled "The Resistance":

Resistance Members:

• Naomi: Upper management, organizing the operation
• Spike Bison and his bodyguards Click and Clack (notably without Fufu)
• Carl from Maintenance: An elderly crotchety man immune to Helisanna's thrall
• Lily and Lana from the spa
• The unnamed British-voiced bartender
• Various other loyal employees

The Factory Reset Button:

• Built by Marvin's great-grandfather as a failsafe for casino takeovers
• Will reset the casino's magic, sending all unauthorized guests home
• Relocates the casino in space and time to cut off access temporarily
• Normally Marvin could activate it, but he's been kidnapped by Helisanna

The Problem:

• The reset requires a special key
• Marvin gave the key to his "most trusted employee" before being captured
• No one has come forward with the key, and the resistance can't figure out who has it
• Helisanna doesn't know the key or button exists

The Investigation

Deducing the Key's Location

The party analyzes the situation with insight checks:

High Rollers:

• Silas: 20 on insight
• Bru: 21 on insight
• Scarlet: Shocking 28 on insight

The Deduction:

• Marvin, while incompetent with potions, is actually quite knowledgeable about magic
• He would know the key needed to go to someone who:
  • Wouldn't fall under Helisanna's thrall
  • Is well-trained and reliable
  • Is a "good boy"
• Elspeth gets there first: It's Fufu!

The Time Crunch:

• David Blaine's magic show starts in 10 minutes
• Fufu will be performing in the middle of the act
• The party must get the key from Fufu before he goes on stage

Infiltrating the Theater

Disguises and Performance Checks

The party uses Hats of Disguise to appear as ravers and make their way to the theater:

First Attempt (Performance checks):

• Scarlet: 28 (extremely convincing)
• Silas: 26 (very convincing)
• Bru: 18 (solid performance)
• Leliana: Low roll (struggling)
• Ohma: The only tortle in the casino, draws some attention but passes

Scarlet's Faux Pas:

• Scarlet sees Fufu backstage and exclaims "Holy shit, what is that thing?"
• Silas scolds her: "Were you raised in a barn? It's just Fufu, it's not that big a deal"
• The party debates whether to use speak with animals or animal handling

Retrieving the Key

Finding Fufu:

• Fufu is backstage waiting for his cue, wearing an adorable glittery gold vest with a tiny tuxedo and top hat
• Elspeth investigates with advantage from Silas's help: rolls 21
• On Fufu's collar, nestled against his glittery vest, is a golden name tag with a picture of a key on it

The Retrieval:

• Elspeth gives Fufu part of Kevin's treat (saving the other half for Kevin)
• Fufu gives her a big lick and happily lets her take the key card
• Fufu runs off to his performance cue as the party celebrates

Quick Success:

• The party gets the key before Fufu's cue, well inside the 10 minutes before his act
• When they report back, Naomi admits she should have called them weeks ago

The Basement Journey

Psychic Phone Setup

Silas activates his psychic phone ability to connect the party telepathically for six hours:

The Comedy:

• Everyone can hear each other's thoughts
• Elspeth pretends to be Silas: "You're a stupid, stupid, stupid head"
• Silas responds that he comes up with way better insults than that
• Bru just does heavy breathing into the mental link
• Silas eventually cuts Elspeth off: "You abused the phone privileges and they've been revoked"
• Scarlet tries to call people but no one responds

Back to Naomi

The party heads back through the lobby to Naomi with another round of performance checks:

Second Performance Results:

• Silas: Another 26 (consistently convincing)
• Ohma rolls a total of one and burns his inspiration to get a 13
• Scarlet trips, skins her knee and loses her hat, but the party forms a protective circle around her to shield her from the ravers
• Leliana checks the knee (Medicine 16) and offers Cure Wounds, but Scarlet just wants a band-aid and refuses to be touched

Navigation:

• Naomi explains that the key opens the basement elevator, grants security clearance to the restricted basement level, and unlocks the reset button
• She warns that Marvin has tightened security since the last takeover

The Run to the Elevator

Silas goes back for Scarlet's hat, but a raver has already taken it. Without a disguise, she plays blackout drunk while Ohma carries her over his shoulder:

• The group's performance averages a dismal 8, and ravers and employees start eyeing them suspiciously
• Leliana peels away and plays an unplugged, acoustic version of one of Helisanna's most popular songs (Performance 30), drawing the crowd to her
• Once her cover is done, she vanishes in a shower of flowers and turns invisible, and Silas points down the hall: "She went that way!" (Deception 21). The ravers chase the music
• The party swipes the key card and takes the elevator down, to an elevator-music version of one of Helisanna's songs

The Basement Puzzle Chambers

Chamber 1: The Aquan Door

The elevator opens into a dimly lit stone chamber with a single door at the far end. Next to the door sits a basin filled with water. Symbols are carved into the wall above the door.

The Puzzle:

• Ohma rolls exceptional history checks (including one result in the mid-20s)
• He instantly recognizes the symbols as Aquan, his native underwater language
• The text reads: "Ask me to proceed"
• Ohma attempts to speak Aquan but nothing comes out - he realizes he's never been able to speak his native tongue since leaving his underwater home

The Solution:

• Bru climbs onto Ohma's back and pushes his head toward the water
• Ohma realizes the language can only be spoken underwater
• Submerged in the basin, Ohma says "May we proceed?" in Aquan
• The door immediately opens
• The party notes that Ohma can hold his breath for an hour but cannot breathe underwater

Chamber 2: Don't Knock the Door

The party enters a stone room with a door bearing text in Common: "Do not knock the door" (with "knock" capitalized).

Initial Confusion:

• Scarlet tries to simply open the door and takes 3 bludgeoning damage from a golden magical force that punches her back
• Ohma flexes and tries to force the door open, taking 2 bludgeoning damage from another punch
• Elspeth uses mage hand to caress/knock the door - it takes damage and dissipates
• Scarlet casts detect magic and determines it's abjuration (protection) magic
• The party debates getting the water bowl from the previous room, trying knock-knock jokes, and whether "knock" is some kind of magical spell

Scarlet's Book Problem:

• Throughout the puzzle, Scarlet keeps pulling out books: "100 Riddles and Puzzles," a book about water bowls, "Alexandra's Favorite Stone Room Book"
• Bru and Silas keep slapping books out of her hands
• "This is where book burning starts"
• Scarlet reveals she has a bag of holding filled with books (accidentally established as canon by DM Ellis)

The Breakthrough:

• Silas rolls a 29 on insight
• Realizes "knock" in Common has multiple meanings beyond physically knocking
• It can also mean to insult or criticize
• The sign means "Do not knock (insult) the door"

The Solution:

• Silas compliments the door: "Door, you are the finest door I have ever seen in my short time here on this earth. And I got to say, you're my favorite door"
• The door immediately opens
• Ellis (DM) admits they were very close to solving it early on when someone briefly mentioned complimenting but didn't follow through

Chamber 3: The Sign Language Door

This room contains a door with no handle. Pictograms cover the walls showing a figure using hand signs to communicate a message.

Investigation:

• Scarlet rolls 25 on investigation
• Silas rolls 29 on insight (continuing his hot streak)
• The images depict someone using sign language, but most of the party can't read it

The Solution:

• Leliana knows sign language
• She reads the message: "To go forward, you must go back"
• The party tries walking back through the previous door, but it simply closes behind them
• They realize they need to walk backwards through the next door
• Silas walks backward through the door and disappears, teleporting to the next room
• Ohma doesn't walk backward well due to his shell, so he does a backwards jumping "cowabunga" through the door, nearly crashing into Silas (who rolls a 22 on his Dexterity save to dodge)
• Bru climbs onto Elspeth, and when Scarlet walks through backward, Bru "accidentally" puts his hands on her rear, leading to jokes about Scarlet having books on "goblin love"

Chamber 4: The Crushing Ceiling

The final chamber is sunken down (like a conversation pit) with a lever next to a door with no handle on the far side.

The Trap:

• Scarlet (having the lowest HP at 26/29) volunteers to pull the lever
• The ceiling begins slowly descending to crush the party
• Pushing the lever back makes it stop and retract to its original position
• There's no other interactable object in the room

Failed Attempts:

• The party tries opening the handleless door - nothing happens
• They consider lying flat under where the previous door was to avoid being crushed
• Scarlet tests the way out: going back forwards through the door doesn't work, but backwards does, and when she lies down to try it she falls backwards into the "conversation pit"

The Solution:

• Scarlet pulls the lever again, and the whole party hops backwards through the door into the previous room
• They hear rock sliding against rock, then a boom
• When they walk back in (backwards), the room has changed: in its middle stands a pedestal with a slot for the key card

The Reset Button

Silas slots the key card into the pedestal, and a button pops up.

A Parting Gift:

• Before heading down, Silas had given Naomi a necklace and Julius a ring, both taken from the dwarven vaults in High Forge (probably carrying some dwarven family insignia)

The Helisanna Question: The debate over Helisanna had come up back in the laundry-room meeting:

• Leliana pointed out that the reset would just send Helisanna back where they had tried to drive her away from
• Scarlet suggested dropping her in the ocean (or on the moon)
• Leliana allowed that she is "kind of" like a sister, and she did save them
• Elspeth asked whether she is still their friend, and noted she worked really hard on Helisanna's outfits and doesn't want that to go to waste
• Naomi was blunt: the button just sends everyone home, and Helisanna is "y'all's problem"
• She also warned that after the reset the casino is cut off for a long time, with no way to know how long until the magic stabilizes

Activating the Reset

Silas hits the button:

The Reset Effect:

• The world starts vibrating, resonating down to the party's molecules
• Visible strings of light vibrate beside each party member, and their faces repeat over and over across the visible spectrum and beyond
• Then, poof: the party is back in Olivia's apartment in High Forge, and Olivia teleported home with them

The Aftermath:

• Everyone is sent back to where they came from. Helisanna, who seems to have gone alone, is back at the concert venue she originally left from
• Anyone she turned into a raver at the Lotus has been sent home and wiped clean by the casino's magic
• Waiting on the counter for Silas is a special sending stone with a note from Naomi: "Call me maybe." He messages her that they hit the button and asks her to let him know when she's off work
• Soon after, the party hears a dragon roar as Helisanna flies off. Future Silas and future Bru can deal with that

Character Moments

Silas and Naomi's Relationship

The session highlights Silas's softer side through his relationship with Naomi:

• He calls her "honey lamb" while she calls him "sugar bear" and "honey bear"
• He immediately prioritizes rescuing her over everything else
• His concern for baby Julius shows his growing capacity for family connections
• The forced separation clearly troubles him, showing emotional vulnerability

Bru's Love of Chaos

Bru continues his pattern of appreciating destruction and chaos:

• Genuinely impressed by the halfpipe in the lobby
• Refers to problems as "a problem for tomorrow" and "future Bru can deal with that"
• Successfully keeps Pepsi well-fed and happy with a detailed fish-feeding schedule

Scarlet's Gambling Problem

Continuing the trend of Christopher's characters being gamblers:

• Scarlet wants to learn about the casino to place bets on motorsports
• Debates gambling with Bru about Elspeth's racing
• Gets called out for creating characters with gambling addictions

Elspeth's Racing Controversy

The party discusses Elspeth's past "cheating scandal":

• Elspeth vehemently denies ever cheating: "I've never cheated a day in my life"
• Bru notes she's "never once not cheated"
• Scarlet reveals Elspeth is the only high-profile racer she knows of with a cheating scandal
• Elspeth insists she was framed and threatens violence over the accusations, and Olivia backs her up

Leliana's Complicated Relationship with Helisanna

Leliana struggles with her connection to Helisanna:

• Agrees she is "kind of" like a sister
• Notes that Helisanna did save them in the past
• Points out that the reset just sends her back to where they had tried to drive her away from

The Kevin and Elspeth Bond

Elspeth continues caring for Kevin (the minion):

• Shares treats between Kevin and Fufu
• Kevin sneaks into bed with her for cuddles
• She's created a "Baby Bru Bjorn" carrier for Kevin to ride in
• Kevin eats everything offered but doesn't actually digest it (it gets incinerated inside him)

Items and Rewards

The Golden Key Card

• Found as a golden tag with a picture of a key on Fufu's collar
• Opens the basement elevator's security level and unlocks the reset button
• Proof of Marvin's trust in Fufu

Naomi's Sending Stone

• Left for Silas in Olivia's apartment with the note "Call me maybe"
• Keeps him in touch with Naomi while the Lotus is cut off

Pepsi's Development

• Now trained to be friendly and companionable (like a ranging dog that returns when hungry)
• Has a special mount on the Bugatti for high-speed rides
• Growing bond with both Bru and Silas (shares drinks: "Jack and Pepsi")

Boxbox Progress

• Continuing to be a loyal companion to Elspeth
• Powered down next to Elspeth while she sleeps
• Provides both companionship and practical assistance

Ongoing Plot Threads

1. The Lotus Casino Offline: The casino is now inaccessible for an unknown period, cutting off access to Naomi, Marvin, and the resistance
2. Helisanna's Return: She's back in High Forge and has flown off on her dragon, potentially creating new chaos
3. Communication Challenge: Naomi's sending stone keeps Silas in touch with her during the casino's downtime
4. Scarlet's Dimensional Curiosity: Despite warnings, Scarlet remains interested in interdimensional travel. She admits her father wasn't around, which drove her to explore other dimensions to find him
5. Naomi's Career: She mentioned being on an "upper management track" and organizing the resistance - this crisis may accelerate her promotion
6. David Blaine and Fufu: The magic show duo's dynamic and Fufu's treatment as Marvin's most trusted employee
7. Julius's Wellbeing: Naomi's baby son needed the chaos to end to get proper sleep

Session Conclusion

This interlude provided a lighter, more comedic adventure with clever puzzle-solving and character moments. The party moved much faster than the DM anticipated (she had considered cutting a puzzle because she expected them to take longer), demonstrating their growing problem-solving skills. Silas's relationship with Naomi added emotional weight to the otherwise humorous session, while Scarlet's book obsession and the psychic phone antics kept things entertaining.

The session successfully balanced humor with genuine character development and sets up future complications with the Lotus Casino offline and Helisanna returning to High Forge.

Next Session Preview

The party discussed planning for next week's session:

• Silas and Bru's backstory heist where their crew was killed by Helja in Greyport
• Other players will create third-level characters for the crew (suggested names: Peaches, Cream, Rocky Road, Strawberry Shortcake)
• Silas will be known as "Bartleby Thatch" during the heist
• The session will be run as a flashback/memory sequence