Session Overview#
The party continues their surreal dream sequence as food ingredients in Crowley’s twisted cooking show competition. After surviving previous arena battles, they face their final challenge: infiltrating a dessert castle and completing individual tasks assigned by the Devil’s Food Duke. What begins as a structured challenge quickly devolves into magical chaos when the party’s chaotic tendencies override the carefully planned scenario.
Round Three: The Dessert Castle#
Arrival at the Castle#
The party finds themselves outside an elaborate gingerbread castle with several defensive features:
- Jawbreaker walls at the base level providing high armor class against attacks
- Pretzel gates reinforced with magical almond bark
- A molasses moat that would trap anyone who falls in
- Guard towers with red velvet cake guards patrolling
Jasper ’s Impulsive Assault: True to his barbarian nature, Jasper immediately attempts to bite through the castle wall. His attack on the jawbreaker exterior results in catastrophic failure - he takes 10 damage and loses the ability to speak for 30 minutes due to his broken jaw.
Creative Infiltration#
With the direct approach proving disastrous, the party opts for stealth:
Silas ’s Reconnaissance: Rolling an exceptional perception check (26), Silas spots accessible windows about 30 feet up that could provide alternative entry.
Helisanna ’s Ascent: Helisanna uses Misty Step to reach the upper level, discovering an archer’s walkway that circles the castle’s exterior. She successfully retrieves rope from a storage closet despite approaching guards.
Master of Disguise: Helisanna uses Minor Illusion twice to create convincing crates, hiding from guards with stealth rolls of 22 and 24. Her illusions are so perfect that guards actually stop to admire the “craftsmanship” of her fake crates.
Group Ascent: The party successfully climbs the rope to join Helisanna , with Jasper making an impressive athletics roll (22) despite his injured jaw.
Meeting the Devil’s Food Duke#
The Duke’s Challenges#
The Devil’s Food Duke appears as multiple illusions and assigns each party member a specific task designed to either play to their strengths or exploit their weaknesses:
Individual Assignments:
- Bru : Return books to their proper places in the wizard’s library using the “Chewy Decimal System”
- Helisanna : Perform waltz music (three-quarter time) in the ballroom for dancing guests
- Silas : Steal a single mint leaf from the center of the royal gardens undetected
- Jasper : Move jawbreakers down a hallway while maintaining his patience despite crowds
The Duke claims to have foreseen all their actions, even producing a sketch of Jasper giving him the finger before Jasper actually does it.
Task Executions and Chaos#
Silas’s Stealth Mission#
Silas demonstrates his mastery of stealth and infiltration:
- Perfect Reconnaissance: Rolling a natural 20 perception (26 total), he spots all guard movements
- Flawless Execution: Multiple stealth rolls of 21+ allow him to navigate the gardens undetected
- Quick Completion: He successfully retrieves the mint leaf and heads to investigate the growing magical disturbance
Helisanna’s Musical Mastery#
Helisanna ’s ballroom performance becomes a triumph of creative adaptation:
Instrumental Challenges: The ballroom contains no guitar, forcing her to adapt to unfamiliar instruments including a horn, kick drum, and cymbal.
Musical Evolution:
- Performance roll of 27: Her initial trumpet performance captivates the waltz dancers
- Magical Enhancement: Enchanted dancers bring her a candy guitar that projects sound without amplification
- Performance roll of 28: Her final metal performance with full band setup entrances the entire audience
Unexpected Power: Helisanna ’s performance proves so magically potent that the dancers’ eyes glow purple, and she gains control over them, overriding even the Duke’s magical influence.
The Library Catastrophe#
Bru and Jasper turn a simple book-sorting task into magical disaster:
The “Respining” Incident: Instead of properly organizing books by the Chewy Decimal System, Bru has Jasper cut the spines off books with his greatsword, then surgically reattaches them to wrong books using glue.
Magical Backlash: The library’s organization system, maintained by arcane magic, reacts violently to the improper modifications:
- Books begin falling from shelves and swirling through the air
- Magical sparks and dust clouds fill the chamber
- The building itself starts shaking and cracking
- A mana storm develops, creating chaos throughout the structure
Unintended Success: While completely ignoring their assigned task, Bru and Jasper accidentally achieve their actual goal of destroying the castle.
The Final Confrontation#
Convergence of Chaos#
As the library destruction spreads throughout the castle, the party reconvenes:
- Silas arrives to find his companions casually walking away from magical destruction
- Book sampling: They discover the flying books are actually various cake flavors (Black Forest, tiramisu)
- Helisanna ’s concert continues with her now commanding 18 entranced dancers plus stage musicians
Loss of Control#
The Devil’s Food Duke arrives to find his carefully planned scenario completely derailed:
- Helisanna ’s magical influence has corrupted even the judges (The Blob and Miss Universe)
- His illusion powers prove ineffective against her musical enchantment
- Crowley begins to realize he’s losing control of the entire dream scenario
Silas’s Fire Solution#
Silas ends the confrontation decisively by using his fire breath ability (from being an Ashen Hell Pepper) to dispel all the Duke’s illusions at once, revealing the real Duke standing alone and slightly singed.
The Duke’s Surrender: Recognizing defeat, the Duke admits “I really don’t want to do this” and surrenders rather than fight a battle he cannot win.
Crowley’s Disappointment: Crowley calls the Duke a coward for giving up, but the challenge is officially complete.
Dream Conclusion and Rewards#
Waking Up#
The party successfully completes the dream sequence and awakens feeling refreshed and accomplished. In contrast, the party members who weren’t part of this dream (Red , Elspeth , Olivia , and Kevin) wake up sick with food-related nightmares.
Dream Rewards#
Zack awards the successful participants a magical picnic basket containing special food items that provide beneficial effects:
- Cheese (from Helisanna ’s transformation)
- Jerky (from Jasper ’s transformation)
- Garlic (from Bru ’s transformation)
- Chili (from Silas ’s transformation)
Each item provides magical benefits for 24 hours when consumed.
Character Development and Themes#
Subverting Expectations#
This session showcases how the party’s chaotic tendencies can turn even carefully planned scenarios into unpredictable adventures. Bru and Jasper ’s complete disregard for instructions creates more interesting results than following the prescribed challenges.
Individual Strengths#
Helisanna demonstrates her true power as both musician and magical performer, showing that her abilities extend far beyond simple entertainment into genuine enchantment and crowd control.
Silas proves his competence at stealth and problem-solving, easily completing his assigned task while remaining adaptable to changing circumstances.
Creative Problem-Solving#
The session rewards creative thinking and character consistency over conventional approaches:
- Helisanna ’s illusion crates becoming legendary in their perfection
- Bru ’s “respining” technique causing magical chaos
- Silas ’s straightforward competence cutting through complexity
Dream Logic and Meta-Commentary#
The food-themed dream allows for absurd situations while maintaining internal consistency. The session also includes meta-commentary about D&D tropes, cooking shows, and video game references (particularly Portal’s “the cake is a lie”).
Session Impact#
Crowley’s Ongoing Influence#
This dream sequence demonstrates Crowley’s continued psychological warfare against the party, though it also shows his schemes can backfire when faced with the party’s unpredictable nature.
Party Dynamics#
The session reinforces each character’s core traits:
- Jasper ’s impulsiveness and love of combat (and eating)
- Bru ’s chaotic creativity and problem-solving through destruction
- Silas ’s competence and pragmatism
- Helisanna ’s growing magical power and performance abilities
Future Implications#
Helisanna ’s display of crowd control magic and the party’s ability to completely derail supernatural scenarios suggests they’re becoming more formidable opponents for cosmic-level threats like Crowley.
Notable Quotes and Moments#
The Duke’s Prophecy Failure: Despite claiming to foresee everything, the Duke admits that once the party arrived, “none of it can be planned.”
Bru ’s Innovation: The invention of “respining” books as a method of magical sabotage.
Helisanna ’s Confidence: Her casual acceptance of stage musicians and magical instruments as “just another night for Helisanna .”
The Chewy Decimal System: Zack’s missed opportunity to call it the “Chewy Decimal System” instead of “Desi-Duimal System,” leading to player commentary about perfect pun timing.
This interlude successfully balances absurd comedy with character development while advancing the ongoing conflict with Crowley through unconventional means. The session demonstrates that sometimes the best way to handle elaborate villain schemes is to completely ignore them in favor of creative chaos.