
Andy's Game (25)
Characters
Paul - Luther Cheung – Cleric/Monk
Dan - Cedric– Divine Sorcerer
Jon – Cash – Holy Paladin
Dave – Silent Rekh – Fighter Champion
Wade – Lilith – Rogue with arcane trickster
Brian – Jerimiah – Paladin with Druidy subclass
Me – Theren – Wizard conjurer
Game 1 11/22/19
We all tied into Paul’s father’s monastery in some way and find ourselves in the modest coastal town of Jailynn. The sheriff recently left town suddenly and left the job to a young Halfling girl. She approached the group and asked if we’d be interested in looking into a matter for her. She offered to pay our room and board for a week plus 100 gp for our troubles. Since 100 didn’t go into 7 evenly, the Wizard, using his advanced math skills, negotiated her up to 140. It seems there has been an increase of petty thefts in the town. Nothing big, just small coins and such.
There has also been an increase in the rat population and reports of very large, dog-sized rats making off with household pets. And there’s a circus in town that was slated to leave in the next day or two. The increase in crime occurred prior to their arrival so that may just be a coincidence. We agreed to look into it. She wanted to meet in her office the next morning but the players were eager to get started. We split up to do some looking into things. Some went to the bar, some went back to her office, and some went to the wizard school to ply their various skills. Some additional clues were found.
She had hired some purported rat-catchers who took her half upfront money and then were never seen again. Skipped town, in on it or dead? The rats are in the poorer south side of town and have been seen coming out of the sewers. Evidently for such a small town, it has quite the sewer system under it. The sheriff is trying to keep this all quiet, so not to panic people. She also probably trying to keep her job. The wizard recalled reading about were-rats that supposedly have the ability to control rats. He thought that magic or silvered weapons would be needed.
We got a bunch of names of townspeople but I can’t recall any of them. But it all boiled down to rats in the sewers on the south side. We fanned out and walked through the streets of the south side. BTO’s Rogue wanted to be in the back and then Lillith wanted to be behind him so we were pretty spread out. Several spotted several swarms of rats. Their swarm nature gave them resistance to normal weapons but their AC was low and their hit points modest. One complication was that they could occupy the same square as their victim but Andy still allowed it to be attacked without harming the friendly unless you were using an AOE.
The Monk got swarmed but with his Shield of Faith going, he had the highest AC and wasn’t hit. The Fighter did get hit a couple of times. But the fight only lasted a couple of rounds. It was noted that the rats had some weird green slime on them that the arcane knowers thought was unnatural and perhaps the key to controlling them. After a bit of discussion, an entrance into the sewers that we could fit down was sought. The Paladin thought we should look into getting silvered weapons before going down but that opinion didn’t get much traction. So he ran off to pursue it alone.
So the Paladin went back to the sheriff who didn’t have such weapons. She thought the local merchant might have the heavy silver candlesticks he asked about as a backup but he was shut down for the night. He’d have to wait until morning. Rather than rejoining, he went back to the tavern. Some of the players wanted to get more flasks of oil after seeing how effective Brian’s Rogue was with his. Several characters went back to the sheriff to see if the town had some supplies that they used to light the street lamps. The lamplighter was found and provided a keg of oil. That was combined with empty bottles from the tavern and we had as much oil as anyone could carry. Not all did. Meanwhile Lillith and Silent Rekh worked on the sewer grate we found.
After a couple tries, the half-orc muscled it open. Lillith went down to look around but then waited for the rest to show up. The fighter did a short rest to heal up a bit while they waited. Into the sewers. The water was slimy and disgusting. There were walkways besides the streams but walking them required rolls to jump from one to another. We made a lot of athletics and acrobatics rolls with the skilled helping the unskilled. No one fell in but it took a lot of time and certainly wasn’t quiet. We saw a lot of nothing. Andy said that we happened to use one of the least interesting entrances. We did get to what we figure was the basement of the tavern or mercantile but no rats or other bad guys. Just lots of water moving downhill and lots of skill rolls. Eventually we started to get into an area that was going to be more interesting but since it was late we stopped there rather than start a fight.
Game 2 12/6/19
We got a late start because Andy had plans. We came upon a large raised platform area that was above the streams of sewage but still below ground. The body of a young hobbit was found. The body had been decomposing for a couple of weeks which matched the timeline of the disappeared rat catcher. She had a couple of personal effects but no other clues. Someone noticed that beyond the light spell, there was an area of dim light in the upper right. We doused our light and headed that way. Brian’s rogue snuck ahead and tried to use investigation to look for tracks. He rolled badly but it was pretty obvious that there were tracks of many rats going from the water to here. About the time he noted that there were some giant rat tracks as well, 3-4 giant rats emerged from the darkness.
Brian’s rogue was apart but most everyone else were together. After a round or two, 3-4 rat swarms also emerged and joined in the attack. Neither had much of an attack bonus nor AC but the swarms did 2d6 which was significant. Just how the positioning worked out, the sorcerer and his 11 AC got attacked several times. Someone got crit in here somewhere and maybe it was him. He got knocked out and his Bane spell ended. The Monk stood over his body and managed to get the swarm to swarm him rather than kill the sorcerer. Luckily the Monk has a much higher AC.
The sorcerer got healed after a couple of rounds. About then an Eladran rogue attacked Brian’s rogue from the darkness but thankfully missed with his advantaged sneak attack. The other rogue moved over to help. The next round, another Eladran appeared. They hit Wade a couple of times with 2d6 of sneak damage and she went out. It was a tough fight and most everyone got hit for significant damage. The swarms were the tough nuts but once they went below half hit points they did half damage, seeing as there were fewer rats in the swarm.
The tide had turned and when the first Eladrian went down, the second put up a fog cloud and fled. No one had even hit that one, concentrating fire on the first. There was much discussion about what that cloud meant to visibility, whether a bat could still see through it, etc but the final word from Andy was that he simply got away. We searched the Eladran. He had some significant wealth on him (for 2nd level anyway) and a worn token. The sailors reckoned it was an entry token for some secret pirate society. When the names of the 3 ships on it were read, the Monk recognized them as belonging to the pirate that took over his father’s monastery.
We took a short rest to heal up, figuring the fog cloud would end when we were done which it did. We searched for the fleer but all we found was a secret door to the surface via another grate. This one was easier to open. There was more searching of that area that came to nothing. At this point it was late. Andy asked if we were going up or staying down. When he mentioned that if we went up, we’d level up, everyone went for that. We took the body back to the sheriff and reported our progress. She, of course, was shocked by the complexity of the activities. This was much more than a rat problem. We cleaned up, took a long rest and leveled up. Next time we’ll be going back into the sewers. There’s another rat catcher to find. Hopefully, we can kill some more rats. We figure the Eladrian is long gone but maybe we can find some clues as to what’s going on.
Game 3 12/13/19
As usual, we struggled to get that long rest we agreed to take last time. People wanted to search and question and purchase and discuss and carouse but it was like 3 in the morning so eventually, we just had to stop and just let time pass. The next day, after we dealt with some miscellaneous leveling up stuff, we went back into the sewers, starting where we left off last time. We found what appeared to be a guard station with cots for about 6 medium-sized people. They had oil lamps for light but not much in the way of supplies. Or clues. We’re not sure as to what they were guarding exactly. No people, of course. What is going on down here? We pressed on, mapping the sewers (i.e. removing the fog of war) and finding more access points to the surface. We came upon another set of stairs up which lead to a small platform which we figured was under the seedy town bar.
Again we found stuff that you’d normally find in a bar’s basement. (We need to question these townsfolk since obviously some of them access this underground area that it is fast becoming much more than a sewer.) Someone heard the approaching of more rats. Initiative. It was another battle with giant rats and swarms. Of note: The Monk could not seem to be hit however the Paladin was critted on the first swing. The Paladin threw oil on a swarm which the Wizard ignited with a Fire Bolt. Thankfully it was taken out before it could engulf the Barbarian. The Rogue stayed on the platform with the Wizard and used her new cantrip. Some damage was taken and a few spells and powers used but it wasn’t too tough. After the fight, someone called out in the darkness. “Get out of here or face the consequences.” Or some such. The Paladin raced into the darkness, hoping to draw them out but no luck. We had no choice but to keep mapping. The Rogue hung back as rearguard as we searched and mapped. Eventually she spotted some more rats passing her by but luckily they didn’t notice her. However, before she could warn the rest, she was attacked by another Eladrain Rogue which she did not spot. (She’s trained in stealth but not perception.) There was some argument about whether she should have been surprised and whether he should have gotten his sneak attack dice but in the end, Andy ripped her a new bunghole. The Monk used his Ki power to slip past the rats to get over to help her. The Paladin simply took the opportunity attack to do so and used ranged powers since he wasn’t as fast as the Monk. The other 3 were left to deal with the rats.
So it became mostly two separate fights. The exciting one and the boring one. The Rogue cast her Tashia’s Hideous Laughter on the Eladrain who missed his save and fell prone, unable to act. However, a Dwarf Rogue/caster? came out of the darkness and hit her and dropping her concentration that same round. The Paladin used his channel divinity to entangle the Eladrian who was still prone. The Rogue retreated, down more than half. The Eladiran Misty Stepped away and then saved against the entangle at the end of his turn. He was still prone but since most of us were at range, it was about a wash as to whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. Their Dwarf tried to protect him but the Monk overcame the +2 AC for cover and finished him off. But then another Eladrian Rogue appeared. With a hit and a crit, the Monk was dropped. The Paladin did a lay on hands and the Monk rose again. This time he crit the Dwarf and dropped him and with his bonus action, used his war priest attack and crit the other guy too. So consecutive crits in the same round. It was Paul’s night. That triggered the chase portion. The Eladrian Rogue had cunning action to escape and run fast but our Rogue had the same plus Mobility for an extra 10 feet so he wasn’t going to get away. Someone dropped him.
Meanwhile, the other 3 players took out the rats eventually. They had more wealth and a potion but no clues. We did some more searching but didn’t find anything. The last unknown was a chute down which the water was flowing however it went down quite a ways. Deeper than the sea level this stuff should have been draining? The Sorcerer sent his bat down but at 100 feet, he could no longer remain in contact. He sent it on, telling it to go as far as it could. After 5 minutes he dismissed it and then recalled it. The bat said eventually it ended in some sort of chamber. I believe the plan next time is to go down the chute since that’s the only loose end we seem to have. Plenty to discuss and plan for. I believe we agreed to a long rest back at the inn, figuring we’re not hot on the trail of anything. As usual, some needed to heal and to recharge powers and some were ready to go.
Game 4 12/20/19
So at the end of last time, after mapping out the whole sewer system, the only lead we seemed to have left was this chute into which everything in the sewers seemed to be draining. Andy cut short the taking a long rest wrangling by starting at the end of a long rest. So once again we met for breakfast to discuss our options.
By the way, the half-orc was ill and a medicine roll determined he was diseased. (Evidently, the tough half orc was the only one who missed his CON save.) Unfortunately, neither Paladin was in attendance but luckily the Sorcerer could cast lessor restoration and cure him. There were several lines of inquiry to pursue and then all of the logistics on how to get down this chute with some hope of getting back up. One clarifying point was that while the chute dropped quickly at first, it became more gradual. We also learned that this town was built on some cliffs. So put those two together and it seemed likely that this drain fell to sea level and would likely empty out on the shore. The previous description led us to think that it was falling below sea level which would be a whole other thing. We still had a bunch of questions to ask and we decided to start with the Sheriff. At which point Andy circumvented our investigation activities and pointed us to the adventure. Yeah.
The Sheriff had gotten word that the missing rat-catcher had turned up at his hovel outside of town. Evidently he’d been held captive by some dudes with descriptions matching the guys we fought last time. We went over to question him. The rat catcher had found the sewer exit down on the beach and figured that’s how the rats were getting in. However, when he investigated he was attacked by rats who were much more intelligent than normal rats. They were also covered in this green slime. He managed to get away but they pursued him all the way back home.
Once safely home, 2 Eladrin and a Dwarf busted in and held him captive. They promised not to kill him and would only be staying (and eating his food) as long as it took to take care of some troublemakers in town (us). But they left and never came back (because we killed them). They had some others with them but he never got a good look at them. I.e. no useful big-picture information from him. The upshot was that he could show us the cave but he was unwilling to go back in. Evidently he could hear the rat voices in his head and was a bit shaken.
So we headed down, figuring time was of the essence. Our sailors said that this cave would be underwater at high tide but it was accessible now. It was guarded by 2 giant rats. The Rogue cast Friends and tried to bluff her way past these intelligent rats. That did not work and a fight commenced. It was more giant rats and more rat swarms. Other than Andy’s occasional crits, it wasn’t too tough. One rat or swarm ran back into the cave so we gave chase. At some point, the Monk started hearing the rats talking in his head. Maybe it was the slime although cleaning it off later didn’t seem to help.
The drain headed in and up but there were stairs on both sides once you got into the dark. The half-orc went up one of them but when he encountered greenish mist clinging to the floor, he turned around. The Monk was not afraid, figuring we wouldn’t be facing a Cloudkill at 3rd level, and pressed into it. He came to a room with 2 acolytes brewing a big vat of green slime, several guards and more rats. He attempted to fall back a bit but ran out of movement and didn’t get back as far as he would have liked. So it was a big bottleneck with people trying to attack and attack around the Monk. The Wizard managed to get a Shatter shot past and dropped 3 of them. But more came up. The acolytes were back there casting (sanctuary as it turns out) but it was mostly a grind.
Andy managed to crit the Monk and drop him. The late-arriving Paladin moved up to cover him and get the swarm off him. Someone pulled the Monk back and the Sorcerer healed him. Eventually, we managed to get into the room. Despite the sanctuary spells which made targeting complicated, the lack of light which went out when the Monk went out and their numbers, we managed to win without anyone else going out. We took a short rest to heal up. We searched and found some loot. The Monk cast Detect Magic and we found some magic gloves. (We haven’t had time to identify them yet.) We said someone should be watching the other stairs but I don’t think anyone did.
After our rest, we headed that way. A voice called out telling us to leave or face the consequences. They also threatened to start killing people in town. But we LG folks couldn’t stand for that so we pressed ahead. With the Monk in the lead and the half-orc behind him, we head up the stairs. Then a flaming barrel of oil came barreling down. The Monk missed his DEX save and took 2d6 for which Andy rolled 12. The half-orc did not like his chances on a DEX save and chose to use a STR roll to just catch it. He also took 2D6 but Andy rolled less but more importantly, it didn’t continue through the rest of the party. Yeah. The Monk sped forward and managed to keep the next barrel from launching. The half-orc leapt over that grapple to get into the small room as well. The Paladin managed to acrobatically get over the flaming oil and tried to join the fight but ended up on top of a barrel. There just wasn’t enough room.
The casters used Presdigitation to quell the flames on the stairs so that the rest could follow next round. There were two grappler thugs in there. They had advantage when near each other. They had some grappling powers and feats which were complicated but didn’t do much more than tie up someone. But there were more of us than of them so it was a net loss for them. Mainly it was just a lack of room and Andy crits to worry about. When finished them off. There was another stairway up from here. I can’t remember if anyone else threatened us but we assume the guy in charge was that way. Despite 3 fights and only 1 short rest, we’ve got to press on from here. If we go back to town to rest up now, they’ll get away and/or start killing people. So it’ll be a boss battle with a depleted group next time. Should be fun. Next game should be on the 10th.
We started with all kinds of map problems in Fantasy Grounds. The only one besides Andy that could see it was Jon on his Mac. It was weird since no one had a problem with the same map last time. Bad update? We rebooted and restarted to no avail. Eventually, we gave up and Jon shared his screen via Skype however for those of us doing Skype on a phone, that view was marginal. I think some us got to the point where we could see the tokens with no map and could target enemies but couldn’t move the tokens. So the wayward Holy Paladin (Jon) rejoined with a full load of hit points and powers. The Rogue (Wade) went on an independent recon mission and never made it back. We suspected we’d find her hanging out at the bar while we were fighting for our lives. We started up the stairs with the Swashbuckler Paladin in the lead. We were hailed for a parley. The man in charge wanted to negotiate and avoid any more unpleasant bloodshed.
We were lead into a room where the boss was busy burning papers. Also in there was his second in command, 4 of those wrestling dwarf tanks, a couple giant rats, several miscellaneous guards and 4 more of them out in the hall. We talked. Basically he said that we didn’t understand the magnitude of the operation going on. He was in charge of the organized crime in this city but he also had a boss who would not be as “understanding” as he was prepared to be. He would not reveal that name. We refuted his claims of benevolence and when we accused him of killing people with the rats, he admitted that had gotten out of hand and they were only there to keep people out of the sewers and keep them from disturbing their operations. But it boiled down to what it would take for us to leave and/or mind our own business. He was not leaving which was sort of reasonable from his perspective since they were here first.
The Swashbuckler Paladin did most of the talking, mainly to try to get information out of him, as the Holy Paladin become more and more indignant over the whole conversation. Eventually, the Holy Paladin cast Shield of Faith and the combat we knew had to come, started. The Swashbuckler Paladin acted first, missing the boss with a 1 but then knocking him over with a shield bash. The Fighter went next. The Swashbuckler Paladin advised him to lock the doors so that the 4 guards outside could not join the fight but he had bigger plans in mind. He ran into the room and leapt over the desk, taking two opportunity attacks along the way. (Dave said that the poor map visibility kept him from realizing how risky this plan was.) He then pounded the boss (with advantage since he was knocked down) and critted him for a glorious mighty blow. And did no damage because the boss was a wererat that needed magic weapons to be harmed. Parley?
So the puds (guards and rats) were not much of a threat and were taken out pretty fast. The boss and his cleric pulled away from most of us. The cleric cast some spells, including a command on our Sorcerer, but didn’t do too much. The boss was a rogue who mostly fired a crossbow from relative safety. It was his invulnerability that was his big power. But it was the tanks that were the real problem. They got two attacks a round. They had pact tactics which gave them advantage a lot. They were resistant to bludgeoning damage, like our Fighter’s maul and couldn’t be knocked down by the shield bashings. They also had around 40-50 hit points. Plus, the grappling stuff. And probably more I’m not remembering. A tough package for a group of 3rd levelers. Their damage wasn’t so bad though. They grappled or used a mace for 1d6 or their hands for 1d4. But they just couldn’t be dropped or there were just too many of them to concentrate on taking one out. But more importantly, we started this fight already down. Half of us were below half in hit points. Many had used up most of their daily powers and most of their encounter powers. Parley?
I can’t recall the blow for blow of the middle of the fight so I’ll try to recall some highlights of each character. When the Fighter charged off it fell to the Sorcerer to close and lock the doors with his first action. Next, he got commanded by their cleric. He then got to cast his Dragon’s Breath and did decent damage to two of the tanks. He did that again the next round but then was dropped. He started the fight wounded. He managed to stabilize himself but no one managed to heal him until it was all over. The Monk was in the middle of the action however he started with just a handful of hit points, one Ki point and no cleric powers. He did what he could but fell after a few rounds as well. The Swashbuckler Paladin did manage to get over to him and bring him up but he was dropped again the next round. That Paladin also started down hit points and without many powers so he was just swinging and bashing as he could. He was also dropped.
The Wizard was stuck in a corner with a tank. He hit him with a shocking grasp which stunned him long enough to slip away but there were so many bad guys, there was nowhere to go that wasn’t threatened. He did manage to finish off a guard who moved beside him but he just couldn’t make a dent into the tank with 1d8 attacks. This limited his spell options, reluctant to do a ranged attack with disadvantage (like Fire Bolts on the wererat) or risk a concentration spell while being beaten on. Luckily the tank didn’t do too much damage so somehow the Wizard was still standing at the end but no one could come help him disengage. The Fighter finished off some puds but had to avoid the tanks because of their resistance to bludgeoning and the boss since he couldn’t affect him. He did manage to get over and do some damage on the cleric.
That leaves the Holy Paladin who started the fight fully loaded. It took a couple of rounds to get over to the boss at which point he fired up his Sacred Weapon ability. Not only did it give him +CHR to hit but turned his weapon to the equivalent of magic. He then critted the wererat, poured in the extra damage by burning a spell and did a total of 41 points in a single blow. The wererat went from untouchable to heavily damaged. His cleric healed him for a few points but we had them on the ropes. The Holy Paladin, the Fighter and a Magic Missile from the Wizard still stuck in the corner finished off the two of them. However, all 4 tanks were still up and only one of them had taken any real damage. And the barred door was finally giving way. The Fighter ran over to hold the door however he was cut down soon after. The Wizard finally had a shot that would Shatter 3 of the tanks. (And the unconscious Monk unfortunately which caused him to automatically miss a death save.) But that last spell slot only dropped one of them as the door burst open.
However, when the guards realized that both bosses were dead along with all their fellow pud guards, they decided to flee rather than finish off the two standing players. I suspect the Holy Paladin with the glowing sword, standing amongst the fallen, cut quite the intimidating pose. The remaining tanks followed suit. About then the Fighter realized he was a half orc and should have popped back to 1 hit point when he went down for the first time. But the standing players spent their actions trying to save and/or revive the down players and let the bad guys leave. Thankfully no one died on the death saves but several were rolled. The revived Monk took a parting shot on the last fleeing bad guy who took it, turned and knock him out for the 3rd time. The Swashbuckler Paladin also took a parting shot at one of the guards to “speed them on their way”. The Holy Paladin was eager to leave before they came back but there was treasure to gather, clues to find and detect magic to cast. We took a short rest, gathered up stuff including scraps of unburned papers linking these guys to the villain who took over the Monk’s monastery. And then made it back to town.
So we made 4th. We got a bunch of treasure which got distributed. We also got some magic items which the Wizard identified. A +1 short sword which was of interest to all the melee guys who couldn’t hit the wererat but will probably be best with the Rogue or the Swashbuckler Paladin who use finesse weapons on every attack. Bracers of Archery which gives short and longbow proficiency as well as +2 damage. Not sure who that would be of use to. Someone without cantrips, I figure so the Fighter or a Paladin. Gloves of Climbing and Swimming. A scroll of Alarm which the Sorcerer was eager to put into his ritual book and of Alter Self which the Wizard will put into his spellbook, being one of those useful spells that aren’t useful often enough to take as one of his 2 free spells per level but always nice to have. And 2 potions of Mind Reading. By the way, we didn’t use our one healing potion since it was in the pack of the missing Rogue. I’m not sure where we go from here. A couple of long rests, that’s for sure. Happy to be alive.
We started with the distribution of the magical treasure from last time. After much discussion, it fell out as such. The Swashbuckler Paladin got the magic short sword with the stipulation that if we again faced a magic only foe, he’d pass it on to the Fighter so that he could have a chance to effect it. The Rogue got the bracers of archery. The Holy Paladin got the gloves of climbing and swimming, with the hopes that it might keep him alive a bit longer if he and his heavy armor fell into the sea. The scroll of Alarm went to the Sorcerer since it was a ritual that he could cast. The scroll of Alter Self went to the Wizard who successfully transcribed it into his spellbook. One potion of Mind Reading went to the Rogue and one to the Swashbuckler since they seemed most likely to be doing the talking.
The next morning, still nursing our wounds from the last fight, we met with the sheriff. We gave her a recap. Again she was stunned at the notion of organized crime in the town. But I suppose she is new on the job. She wondered if the former sheriff’s sudden departure had something to do with it. After a hardy thanks she asked if we’d be willing to do her a favor. A friend of hers was having troubles with orc raiders. Evidently she and her family owe/run a town in the foothills of the Fire Mountain. We agreed to travel north and look into it. At least it will be nice to be above ground for a change. We asked for and she gave us a letter of introduction. Several had inquired about upgrading their armor now that we had some funds but when we realized that our journey would take us through the major city of Long Bridge, most canceled their orders, figuring they could get better armor faster there.
Without horses, the best way to get there was to book passage on a boat going up the river to Long Bridge. Once there, some armor was bought or ordered. The Fighter visited his mother. Not much else happened. From there it was a walk east along the foothills the next morning. We arrived without issue. We noted that the villagers avoided us, locking their doors as we passed. We could see the evidence of burned fields and structures. We found the local tavern easy enough. The Swashbuckler bought a round of drinks and started asking questions. We noted a couple of guards checking us out so he bought them drinks and asked one of them to tell the lady that we had arrived from Jaylynn.
She soon arrived with a few men and told us their tale. The Holy Paladin was milling about outside, trying to sense any big evil in the area, and gave them the once over as they came in. Not evil. Orcs have been raiding, burning fields and spreading fear. What we noted in her story was that they didn’t seem to be taking anything. That seemed odd. What’s the point of the raid? Other to spread fear. The Swashbuckler agreed to help and negotiated room and board as payment to the grumbles of some of the rest. It was the standard lawful good deal. We get whatever we find on them which was likely (hopefully) more than this town could pay anyway. Just after she left, another villager arrived. He was the head of the local stonemasons and put forth his opinion that the only viable long term solution was to build a stone wall around the whole town. The self-interest of this suggestion touched off everyone’s suspicions. There was some banter but eventually, the Wizard said that once we got an idea of what was going on and if a wall seemed like a good solution, we’d recommend it. This made him happy. The Holy Paladin asked him to work out a cost estimate in the meantime, just in case. As he left, the Rogue, eager to use her new Mage Hand, successfully plucked a coin from his purse without anyone (friend or foe) noticing. With it, he bought a round of drinks for the house on his behalf.
We got a couple of rooms at the inn. We sent out patrols that night but nothing happened. The Rogue woke up the Monk and showed him his reflection in a mirror. It showed rat-like features. The full moon was approaching and he was hearing those rats so maybe he should be worried. Or the Rogue could simply be messing with him. He went back to sleep and showed no ill signs in the morning. We headed out with Bryn, a local ranger. We stopped at what seemed to be the last farm to the north. He claimed that the Orcs had been swinging around and he hadn’t had any trouble. I believe the Holy Paladin slipped him a gold piece to help the people in need in the area. We next came upon a watering hole that has seen a lot of traffic. It seemed obvious that some group had spent some time here. From this point, it was going to take some tracking rolls as the ground was becoming rockier. But we managed and could see the ruins of a fortress up on a point overlooking the area. Bryn said she’d heard of it but that it’s been empty for years.
We started sneaking as best we could. We could hear loud cheering and there didn’t seem to be any guards on what remains of the walls. As we got closer we could see a big Orc wrestling a black bear in a courtyard and 6 others on stairs cheering him on. The sneakers were keen to sneak in from the side while the non-sneakers were stuck with a frontal assault. For some reason, we decided to try both. So the Rogue, Monk and Swashbuckler started sneaking, giving the rest a 100 count. (It occurs to me now that the Wizard has the Message cantrip for just such a situation.) At the count of 100, the Wizard popped out and cast a Shatter on the 6 to get things started. That didn’t go so great. All 6 saved and the damage rolled was only 10. So overall it was 30 points of damage but no one was dropped. We then rolled initiative.
So the Holy Paladin rolled highest. He charged in and attacked the bear wrestler. Unfortunately, the Fighter rolled worst so the Paladin had to face almost all the on the attacks on this front. The Wizard went and cast an Ice Knife which did some decent damage to a few of them and then moved back into cover. The Sorcerer did a twined Chaos Bolt but missed with both of them. Some more came out of the building and one went back in to warn the leaders, we assumed. Meanwhile, on the other front, they found 2 archer guards which they engaged. It wasn’t too tough but a couple more showed up and so those 3 were tied up a couple rounds. Finally, the Fighter came charging in to help the Sorcerer and at least give them another target.
On the frontal assault front, the Paladin and the Fighter took damage but managed to keep the casters free to cast their spells. They whittled down their numbers. On the side front, once those guards were mostly gone, the Rogue zoomed over to help out on the front. The Swashbuckler and Monk choose to peek into the building and discovered an orc leader and his pet worg. That opened another front since they were spotted. The Swashbuckler got battered pretty good but the Monk wasn’t touched. When the front guys finished, they charged ahead and joined in. The enraged leader was the last to fall. None of us were dropped.
We searched and found miscellaneous wealth plus 4 healing potions. And a locked chest. When opened, it contained 500 gp and had the symbol of the mason’s guild on its lid. Damning evidence, to be sure. We found their horses and decided to stay the night to rest up. And ended there. Assuming we survive the night, we’ll head back to town the next day. With Bryn as a witness and the chest as evidence, the stonemason guy has some explaining to do. But that’s not really our problem. The orc trouble has been solved so we should be done. We’ve got to go back to Long Bridge to pick up some custom armor that the Swashbuckler ordered. Maybe we can sell some used orc gear.
During the short rest after last time’s battle, pieces of 2 chests similar to the one we found the 400 gp in were found. They also had the crest of the stone mason’s guild. The thought of two more piles of 400 gp spurred further searching and discussion but none was found. Meanwhile, the Fighter went out to tend to the orcs’ horses and he spotted a large orc further up the mountain, watching the ruined estate. He started whistling a tune that only the Holy Paladin noticed. When he went out, the Fighter told him about the orc although he did not spot him himself. He returned, told the rest and advised preparing for another battle. The Rogue and the Monk started sneaking up the mountain. The Rogue did not spot the orc and took the opportunity to use her invisible mage hand to loosen the Fighter’s sword belt. However, he noticed, re-secured it and gave a growl. The Sorcerer and Paladin decided to hang back to allow the sneakers to sneak. The Wizard casually walked to the horses. About the time he got there, the orc had spotted the Monk and had pulled back. Since the sneaking part seemed over, the Wizard mounted and started up, asking the Fighter to join him. It was a bunch of chaos with people starting at different places but ultimately everyone ended up a couple of hours up the mountain looking at a miner’s camp.
There were several small buildings of a quality higher than one would expect from orcs and evidence of mining activities. From the cave/mine emerged a big orc chieftain with a huge maul and his pet Worg. We could also see two of those advanced orcs which seemed to be on par with a 5-6 level fighter. The chief spoke to our Fighter who became our spokesman. There were a lot of back and forth and threats and misunderstanding, etc but I’ll try to summarize. He wanted to know why we had broken the deal and attacked his men. And he wanted the final payment (the chest we found) or the deal was off. The Monk declared the deal invalid because the stonemason who forged it did not speak for the town. The Fighter offered the hand of peace, stating that if they stayed up here and stopped attacking the town, they could keep this land the stonemasons had evidently given them. We had no such authority to do so and we very much doubted this was the stonemason’s land to give either. But we didn’t really know and the town’s ranger had stayed behind at the estate.
Meanwhile, it was discovered that there were humans in the huts. The Wizard questioned them. They were hired by the stonemasons and the orcs were there to protect them. From what, we’re not sure. Unfortunately, they were not under duress so we couldn’t attack on those grounds. They claimed to be unaware that the orcs had been terrorizing the town. The only person they saw was the stonemason guy who came up with supplies and took away the ore. Even though the Holy Paladin could sense great evil coming from him, we really didn’t have any proof of wrongdoing. No one could pull the trigger and start the fight so we went back to the ruined estate to talk to Bryn. It was just as well because, without a long rest, we would have likely been killed although we still had the Fighter at this point which would have helped.
The Rogue elected to stay and watch them from the trees. The rest went down. Bryn told us about what we expected. The stonemason did not own this land. It was owned by the lady that hired us. Although out in this wilderness, ownership is more likely a matter of control than legal right. Armed with that, we decided to return and attack them however the Wizard suggested a long rest which was agreed upon. The Monk went back up to tell the Rogue however that got complicated by the orc they sent down to watch us. Neither side ran into each other and other than the fact that the Rogue left her tree to follow the orc, thus beating the Monk back to the estate, nothing came of it. There were some discussions about how to best get that long rest but eventually, Andy just declared morning to get this moving again. After another nonproductive argument, this time about whether we should take the horses up or not, the Fighter logged off.
So we had no choice but to pressed ahead. We decided to try to sneak into camp along the east side and got as far as a couple of buildings before we ran into one of the orcs. Again we started to debate amongst ourselves if we should talk and assert our authority but thankfully he started to attack. He got hit a couple of times but not dropped. He was quickly joined by the other orc and the Worg. The chief also advanced but used the cover of the buildings to kept him out of spell fire. That also slowed him down a couple rounds, thankfully. Andy was rolling great, especially for damage. The Monk got critted and hit a couple of times and was down in a couple rounds, leaving Holy Paladin as the only hit point buffer. The Rogue got munched by the Worg. The Sorcerer’s first twinned chaos bolt missed twice. The Wizard’s first Shatter did 11 points and 2 of the 3 targets saved for half. All and all, it was going poorly.
When the chief joined, he said something in orcish and his maul started to glow silver. Unfortunately, the only the Monk spoke orc and he didn’t catch the command word. He was formidable but it wasn’t clear which of his powers were from the maul and from himself. The Holy Paladin did crit him on his first swing, adding in some radiant damage to boot, but he had plenty of hit points left. They all were doing 1d12 or more of damage and with Andy rolling 12s, it added up fast. I think the Monk and Paladin went out 3-4 times each. The Rogue and the Sorcerer went down a couple times each. The Wizard didn’t go out but couldn’t hit all night so he didn’t have much of an impact. He tried to cast Hold Person on the chief, figuring automatic crits for the Paladin and the Rogue would be devastating but the chief rolled 17 on the die and despite the Bane cast by the Sorcerer, he saved. It was the Prayers of Healing from the Sorcerer that saved us. He brought several characters back to life with those but they used up all his 2nd level slots which normally would have been doing damage. We also had to use 2 healing potions.
After some rounds, despite the fact that most of us were on minimal hit points, we had taken out the Worg, one orc and the chief was heavily damaged. So we thought they were on the ropes. But then he raged and soon after unleashed a 30’ radius Fear attack at DC 15. Everyone failed their save except the Wizard who was out of the area. All the rest could do was to flee at top speed which was significant for some. Someone even took an opportunity attack as they fled. They got a new save each round and returned as best they could but our effectiveness plummeted. He did that Fear thing twice more. He was also getting a third attack from the small end of the maul (butt attack?) for 2d6. The Holy Paladin rolled a 20 on a death save, popped up with 1 hit point, laid hands for 19 and then got a prayer of healing so he was almost back to full at the end. Eventually, we managed to take him out but there were a couple of times where only one character was up and not running in fear. Without the long rest, being down two players, we would have been orc meat. At that point it was 2 AM (4 Am central) and we quit. Plenty to do next time. Search for loot, give the maul to the Fighter, look for miners, take a short rest, investigate the cave, etc.
After we caught our breath with a short rest, we started searching around. First, we talked to the human miners who were still hiding in their hut. They didn’t know what to think. Assuming we believe them, and we have no evidence to the contrary, they were hired by the stonemason to mine this gold vein and the orcs were here to guard them. They were unaware of the orc attacks on the village nor that the stonemason did not have ownership of the mine and was not likely paying taxes on it. We decided to take them back to town rather than leave them unguarded up here. We also looked for loot. We found, in the assayer’s office, a couple more boxes of raw gold ore but no written records that could be used as evidence. The orcs had miscellaneous coins and we also found a potion of speed which the Monk won on a dice off amongst the melee guys.
Lastly was the magic maul. We used several methods to gain insight into it. INT rolls to remember the command word, Lore and History rolls, Identify spell, research in Long Bridge and talking to the Fighter’s mother also in Long Bridge. It all totaled as follows. This is a near artifact level item that would require attunement to unlock. It was once possessed by a great Orc who united the tribes of Fire Peak in ancient times. His name and its name escapes me. The command word was not learned and it was clear its full powers will be revealed during gameplay. The Monk suggested as an Orc artifact, it probably needs to be bathed in the blood of your enemies or some such. Needless to say, the Fighter took possession of it to start the attunement process.
We made it back to town and reported to the Lady first thing. With our evidence and the Ranger’s support, she believed us and thanked us for our services. Since it was late, we spent one last night before heading out in the morning. At the bar, the stonemason came by to re-plea his case but the Lady had already decided on exile for him and he was dismissed. She gave us a pile of gold in the morning for our troubles. We made it back to Long Bridge and took care of a few things. The Swashbuckler Paladin picked up his custom armor. The Paladin looked to resize the Orc chieftain’s half plate but we realized that would be medium armor and wouldn’t work with his heavy armor feat. So he traded it in and borrowed a bunch of money from the other players to buy platemail. Research was made on the maul as stated above. The Wizard, Rogue and Monk went to the mage school to inquire about buying spells. Basically only if you spent a bunch of time doing apprentice work but we’d earn more experience just adventuring. We also put our name out there as “men that can get things”. There was a Wizard that might be interested in such men but he was currently out of town.
Lastly was the magic shops. On the street, the best you could do was herbs and potions that, if you had enough money, could be an actual low-level magic potion. Anything beyond that was not available, on the open market anyway. We did find a shop that had a strong bow for the Fighter. That shop owner offered to “ask around” for anyone that was willing to sell magic or knew of where it could be found. (I.e. via ruins, not robbery.) We had offered the archery bracers as an enticement but now that the Fighter had a bow, we held onto them. So we established some contacts but it looks as though magic items will have to be earned. We decided to keep the horses and ride back to Jailynn. A couple of days down the well-traveled road we came upon a familiar looking pond with hexes drawn of the ground.
We started talking to two women who seemed to be traveling alone without horses. They were asking more and more invasive questions and soon enough the Paladins’ evil alarms started going off. Initiative was rolled and they revealed themselves as Sea Hags. (Pond Hags?) They had a fear attack when first seen that got the Paladins and the Rogue. They had an evil eye that instantly dropped the Swashbuckling Paladin who missed his save down to 0 hp. But it was 7 against 2 and the fight didn’t last very long. The evil eye was more like a Command and the Paladin recovered with all his hit points intact. They had no treasure, being a random encounter, and we made it to Jailynn without any other trouble. Next time, we’ll probably look further into this organized crime ring unless something more pressing presents itself. In theory, that would be on March 6th however Andy’s got a lot going on at the moment so we’ll see.
We made it back to Jailynn and everybody had a chance to do some stuff. The Rogue continued to explore the sewers with an eye towards making it a base for her thieves’ guild. The Fighter picked up his splint mail. The Holy Paladin set out to start a temple to his god but was reminded there was already a temple in town. It was suggested he could start a fighting school within the temple which he decided to pursue. Being a god of war, it probably already had some fighting aspects but under his leadership; it’ll be better. The Wizard checked in with the head of the mage school. It turns out (i.e. Andy added it to the world history) that the school was originally founded by an Eladrin 100’s of years ago. Anyway, they had tea. The adventuring mage in Long Bridge was known to visit here so perhaps we can get work from him from here. The last he heard, he was researching/searching for a powerful wizard staff, lost to the centuries. The Wizard put our name into the local mages as well as men that can get things.
The Swashbuckler Paladin went to the docks to check on rumors. He observed a ship come in that obviously had taken some battle damage. After asking some of the crew, he found that they had been attacked by pirates. This particular pirate had been known as a “gentleman” pirate in that he didn’t damage ships or kill crew when possible however this time he took many crew and the remainder barely got away. The damaged ship’s captain was posting a job on the board and the Paladin and whomever he was able to round up along the way took the job before the ink was dry. The captain thought she knew what island they had been taken to. She had enough crew to sail but needed fighting sorts to attack the island and rescue her men including her fiancé. The usual, we get what we find, fee was agreed upon. We sailed on the morning tide.
There were concerns about the sailing by the heavily plated teammates but the seamanship skilled teammates were happy to be at sea again. The crew knew what they were doing but our folks helped out and despite some poor weather, we reached the island without issue. Except that right after we dropped anchor and started discussing a plan, we were attacked by Sahuagin. There was a 4-armed large baron leader, a spell caster plus a bunch more. The Swashbuckler told the sailors to get below and we took them on. It wasn’t too tough. Only the Holy Paladin got racked up. Once the leader went out, the caster sank back down and the few still alive, fled. A short rest later, we worked out a plan.
The captain felt the pirates were on the north side of the island. To cross, we could go straight through the jungle, to the right past the volcano or to the left along the shore. We chose to the left, staying just in the jungle to sacrifice a bit of speed for cover. Unfortunately, we still had to go into jungle at the end to get where were needed to go. Our sneakers spotted some lookouts on the high ground who seemed to be watching both the sea and a path between a cave and what turned out to be the watering hole. They then saw a party with barrels for freshwater heading that way. The barrel carriers were pirates, not prisoners, by the way. About this time, we noticed something big in the jungle stalking us. We investigated but didn’t find it/them. But then we were called to by a jungle girl. Turns out her shipwrecked on the island years ago and she was the only one left. She told of many dangers on the island including the pirates and some large lion-like beasts. She also said that there was a tentacle demon in the sea that the pirates had recently started worshipping. She agreed to help us if we promised to take her off the island. We agreed but because she had vaguely reptilian eyes and the Paladin’s detect evil power couldn’t quite get a read on her, some continued to view her with suspicion. We decided we couldn’t assault the pirates without a long rest to reset some powers so we went back to her cave to rest. On the way, we stopped at some temple ruins. It seemed like it was a sacrifice spot but based on the age of the bloodstains, it hadn’t been used in years. We all blew our skill rolls but the Wizard got a second roll on a second skill and manage to determine it was some sort of reptilian god which cast more suspicion on the girl. But we lived through our long rest.
We debated a plan. We seemed to have two choices. (An assault from the sea was quickly rejected.) We could try to ambush some of them outside the cave to whittle down their numbers but risk raising the alarm or attack the cave directly. When the girl told us they went for water every day, we decided on the ambush. We got to the edge of the jungle closest to the lookout spot. Once the water team was at the pond, we snuck and attacked the lookouts. Unfortunately, the alarm was raised but the water crew was many rounds away. So we faced 2 pirates and a leader. One pirate ran for the cave with our Rogue in pursuit. The Swashbuckler followed in case he managed to warn the cave. He did manage to call out just as the Rogue took him out. But then the Rogue cast her disguise self and managed to convince the cave guard all was well. Eventually, she came back to the fight however the Swashbuckler stayed by the cave, just in case.
Meanwhile, the pirate leader was pretty tough. He got advantage when next to an ally, 3 attacks with a great sword and had a power with which he got to put an ally in the way of a successful hit, thus damaging him instead. However, when we realized he was much more dangerous with an ally, we were targeting his allies anyway. Some of the party were back in the trees so they were slow to get into it or using less effective range weapons. The other pirates trickled in as they cross the distance but all in all it wasn’t too tough. Andy managed to roll great against the high AC Monk and drop him a couple of times but there wasn’t much more. The leader’s last act was to take several opportunity attacks to get to the Wizard. He swung 3 times but only hit twice and didn’t drop him. His plan was to threaten him with death but he withstood his flurry. He was then dropped and the rest mopped up. We took a short rest, try to disguise ourselves as the water crew and headed to the cave. By the way, his great sword turned out to be +1 magic which the Holy Paladin took.
In the first room, we saw several pirates that were dancing to a fiddle. The disguised Rogue managed to cross the room and position herself near the warning bell. When the rest of the party entered with the water barrels, it was obvious they were suspicious. The Holy Paladin crack one with a barrel and combat was started. Most of these turned out to be spell casting acolytes but about all they had was sanctuary and cure wounds which were annoying but not that threatening. The big challenge was to keep them from warning the rest of the cave. When one managed the get into the next room and awaken those dozen pirates, the jig was up. The Wizard took an opportunity attack to get a Shatter on 3 of them followed by another that got 4. That took a big chunk out of them which was good because things were going to get more complicated.
Near the entrance was a berserker who raged, getting and granting advantage. He didn’t last too long. The Swashbuckler went to the north corridor mainly to keep them from running that way but he took a peek in and saw a water wraith? Demon? Undead? He tried to step back out but now she was moving our way. The Rogue went to another room and found 5-6 bugbears. She tried to bluff them to ignore the combat noise but only half were fooled. Lastly, there was a named pirate in the sleeping room who didn’t act. After a couple of rounds, she said that we were going to need her help and started attacking the pirates. Perhaps she’s a pirate that hadn’t been enthralled by the demon? The sea wraith cast silence in the middle of the main room which messed up the casters but also eliminated some of our conversations.
But then the Holy Paladin logged off from the late hour. The berserker came back to life as a Gibbering Mouther. Two spies popped out of the shadows and attacked the jungle girl and the “friendly” pirate. And the Bugbears started to attack. So it became 4 fights. Let’s start with the bugbears. The Monk joined the Rogue in hold that line since he assumed the sea demon needed magical weapons to effect. (I think she turned out to be resistant.) The bugbears weren’t too tough, having a low AC, low to hit and modest damage. What they did have was lots of hit points. Unfortunately, their room had the sailors in cages that we were looking for so we couldn’t ignore them. The Swashbuckler soon joined them and the Rogue fell back to help with the spies. The spies were giving each other sneak attacks but since they were mostly fighting the NPCs, it was about a wash. When our Rogue joined, the “friendly” pirate moved over to the sea demon. Eventually one of the spies went down, making the remaining one less dangerous.
The Mouther was bad news. Because of the silence, most of the heroes on the other side were unaware of it. It continuously gibbered so anyone that heard it had to save at the start of their turn (DC 10 WIS) or be confused. The terrain around it was difficult and you had to make a save at the start of your turn or have your speed reduced to zero. And it got a bite attack the did multiple dice of damage. And an extra attack that blinded that foe with puss. The Fighter engaged it and managed to make all 3 saves the first round and hit it pretty good. The Sorcerer initial thought he’d be better off in the silence with the sea wraith except that she had a reach attack with her hair, which then automatically grappled and pulled you into her and which point she did a kiss which turned out to drain strength. So another multiple effect monster.
The Sorcerer saved against the Mouther the first round, miss the second but used a blessed power to make it and then missed the third round and used a luck point to save. With his dragon breath spell, he managed to do damage to both the Mouther and the sea wraith. The Wizard missed 3 saves in a row and did nothing. (Sad since he’s proficient in WIS saves and couldn’t make a freaking DC10.) The Fighter missed the next two saves but one round he attacked a random foe in his confusion which had to be the Mouther and did some damage. The last round, he saved but then was blinded. But even blinded, he managed to hit. At the end of the last round, the Wizard finally managed to save and finished off the Mouther with a Chromatic Orb.
At that point, it was 2AM and Brian’s laptop had died and Jon had long left so we called it. The Mouther was thankfully out. The sea wraith was mostly untouched and the Rogue was down a chunk of strength. One spy was out and the other of the ropes? A couple of bugbears were out but there were still plenty of hit points over there to grind through. But none of us are out so the trend is good. The big issue will be that we’ve still got to kill the pirate captain and whomever he’s got with him plus the tentacle demon. At least. And we’ve used up a lot of spells and powers. If we live, we’ll certainly make 5th.
More...
We picked up right in the middle of the action. The Mouther was dead but the Fighter was still blinded. He managed to find a skin of water to wash off some of the goo which reduced his duration by half. The Holy Paladin rejoined the fight and chargers into the Drowned Maiden. The Rogue was desperate to get away from her before she lost any more STR. That fight was basically a mad scramble with 4-5-6 of us beating on her, trying to get away from her hair. She did significant damage, drained the Swashbuckler Paladin, and hung around for several rounds. Ironically it was the newly sighted Fighter who stuck the final blow.
Meanwhile, despite the low hit probability of the bugbears on the Monk, Andy managed to roll 2-3 19s and drop him again. The Monk came in already hurt and those bugbears did 2d8+ per blow. The last assassin was dispatched soon enough and the jungle girl got over to help the Monk. (Most of us were unaware of his peril since we were still on the other side of the silence.) Once the Maiden was killed, everyone started heading over to the bugbears. It was a bit of a bottle neck and they still had a lot of hit points but they were taken down. The Rogue started opening the cages. The captives were pirates, sailors and nobles. All starved and unable to help in the fight. Unfortunately, and to no one’s surprise, Red was not among them. We were told he had just been taken to be sacrificed. Time was of the essence, no time for a rest. To the boss battle.
So the corridor led to the sea and the pirate ship docked in the cove. There were several pirates and acolytes along the way but the only real threat was the pirate captain, working on the ceremony to gate in the Kraken spawn. The acolytes were pretty useless but what they did do is cast Sanctuary on the captain, making it risky to target him with anything significant (like a spell). People piled in as they could, killing the puds along the way. The captain did manage to cast a Hold Person on the Rouge and the Swashbuckler but one saved and one was freed when the captain lost concentration so neither had to face an automatic crit. Basically it was a race against time as we charged, he fell back and the puds threw themselves in the way.
Then the Holy Paladin finally managed to get into the room. He decided to go “outside the box” and attack the seal rather than the summoner. He invoked his lay on hands for positive energy, his magic sword, his inspiration, burn a spell for extra holy damage, a role played god call and maybe a few more things and struck the seal. He rolled poorly but since he had invoked his inspiration, he got another roll and did better. His magic sword saved. Andy was so impressed, he said that the seal did indeed break, hurling the Kraken Spawn back to the depths. As a last act, it grabbed the despondent captain and drug him down too. And so, in a flash, it was all over. Andy later revealed that the monster was very powerful and about the only chance we had, particularly in our depleted state, was to prevent it from appearing. A very Cthulhu-esque ending.
So we gathered the prisoners and got on the ship. The ship had some cash and a +1 cloak of protection which was given to the Wizard. Unfortunately, we missed out on whatever the captain had on him. There was nothing in the cave worth much. The captain’s log told of how he heard a voice, bringing him to this island. He then started taking steps to gate this thing in, guided by the voice. The pirate that helped us claimed to have joined in order to bring down the pirates but when they turned out to be cultists, she was pretty much trapped. She and jungle girl returned with us. We figured to keep the ship. I think the plan was to have her serve as first mate and “acting” captain when the Swashbuckler Paladin is off adventuring with us. Some of those details are to be worked out. Hopefully we can figure out how to make it self-sustaining and battle ready so that we can use it to take on the pirate most of us are after.
We made 5th. Dan is going to add 3 levels of Warlock on the front end and then continue on as a Sorcerer to give him a broader power base at the cost of delayed access to high level spells. I think everyone else continued on as expected. We’ll probably play next week since we’re all trapped at home.
Prelude.
We did a side bookkeeping run for a couple of hours. Andy expressed his dislike of familiars so Dan will go with the ritual book feat plan (allowing this feat in lieu of Book of Ancient Secrets) for his character modification. We met with Captain Harken and got paid for our efforts to rescue her crew. The Monk overheard Marisha talking to Captain Harken about passage back to Long Bridge where she was hoping to re-engage with her life. A fee of 25 gp was requested but she didn’t have it so the Monk paid on her behalf. We later agreed to give Marisha and Commander Price an equal share of that reward (not the treasure) so we had to juggle our money sheets a bit. We debated what to do with the ship. The upshot was that we hired Price to find a place to store it for now.
The Rogue and Swashbuckler went with the Monk to his temple to see about the Greater Restoration. That was no problem but he wouldn’t state a price. Just “whatever you feel is appropriate”. Andy would not help either and it wasn’t defined in the books. Player opinions varied greatly but all agreed it should come out of party funds since it could have been any of us. Eventually, the two of them paid out of their own pockets, what they thought was appropriate and put the discussion out of our misery. The generous-minded Fighter donated some of his money on his own. The Rogue attempted to impress Price by giving her a tour of the undercity only to discover that all of the entrances had but spiked shut. We assumed that was the city’s doing. We also noticed an increase in the guards and soldiers in town. I guess that happens in up and coming towns.
Actual game
The Swashbuckler Paladin rode his newly summoned horse to the temple and got his strength restored. He and the Rogue continued to vie for Commander Price’s attention. At the mage school, that adventuring Wizard, Row showed up and wanted to talk to our Wizard. He had heard of our exploits, recovering the pirate ship and defeating a demon wanted to make us an offer. He then told him and the Rogue, and eventually the rest of the party, a bit of history. In the north there was a Sultan and the Scorpion Prince who allied their kingdoms by marriage and then invaded the humans and elves to the south. It was a long war, hundreds of years ago. A group of heroes snuck north and managed to kill the Sultan. His death caused darkness across the land for a week, the whole region to shake with earthquakes and sink and turned the once-powerful kingdom into the desert it is today. The Wizard’s history and lore skills confirmed these legends.
But there was a prophecy. One day he would return. There would be more earthquakes and the ancient land would reemerge from the desert. Evidently that has started to happen. Row has been doing research on the matter and knows that adventurers have started heading into the land, looking for treasures in the purportedly newly uncovered ruins. His concern is that they (or someone else) may unwittingly (or on purpose) unleash (restore) the evils of the past to wreak vengeance on the present. He had pieced together a map which showed the location of an important ruin and needs heroic adventurers to help him get there and … do good, I suppose. There was some lengthy confusion about the map and how it relates to the world map but basically the path would be up the river to Long Bridge, then due north into the mountains to the Deep Valley Inn. From there, a couple days northwest and into the desert. With any luck, and assuming his map was accurate, several weeks across the desert to the ruins.
Some of us expressed concerns over such a dangerous endeavor but heroic evil smiters won out (plus that was the adventure presented). The standard “treasure found” fee was agreed upon or at least accepted. Row would be coming and paying for provisioning. We took the ship to Long Bridge, leaving Price in charge of crewing it, guarding it, storing it. There, Row purchased camels for all, a wagon and a yak to haul it, supplies for a couple of months including water caskets and some hire hands to help. While in Long Bridge, the Holy Paladin and the Monk spotted Marisha eyeing them in the market. She had had no luck finding her former friends. The Monk extended an offered for her to come with us, pending approval, much to the chagrin of the Paladin who’s detect evil still could not get a reading on her, but she turned him down. She had feelers out for her former crew and couldn’t be gone that long. The trip to the Deep Valley Inn was uneventful, traveling through civilized lands. Along the way, Row gave our Wizard the Tiny Hut ritual so that we could have 2 huts and accommodate everyone in the desert.
The inn, keep and village were very nice, up in a valley in the mountains. The Rogue claimed it for her own thieves’ guild and the Swashbuckler mused about how hard it would be to take over completely. Some suits of studded leather armor were purchased so that the heavy armor wearers wouldn’t bake in the heat. That night, we heard an explosion and felt some extreme heat from the north wing of the inn. (Row’s fireball.) As we scrambled, we saw Row running off into the forest, after some bandit types. (So much for being his guards.) We later learned they had broken in and were rifling through his possessions. We gave chase and ended up on a battle map next to a pond. So it was 3-4 thugs who turned out to be very tough, 3-4 guards, 2 bandit thieves and one priest. The priest cast Hold Person on Row and then the thieves grabbed stuff off him (map and notes and such). However, armed with our 5th level firepower, they didn’t last long. Some 3d6 sneak attacks, a couple of Fighter crits, extra attacks from the fighter types, double eldritch blasts for the Sorlock and a Slow from our Wizard and they were vanquished. The last, poisoned himself rather than be captured and to save us an hour of fruitless questioning.
About the only thing of interest on them was some scorpion bracelets on the priest that seem to function as his holy symbol. Row said that there were legends about a Scorpion Prince cult but he assumed it had died out over the centuries. Evidently not. We decided to stay an extra day so we could get a long rest in and proceed fully loaded in case there were more of them. The Swashbuckler and Fighter searched the area and found what they thought was their camp but no useful information was found. The Holy Paladin and the Wizard talked to the keep lord and asked about the cult. He didn’t know anything about that but he did say there had been an increase in traffic of late. Mostly treasure hunting adventurer types. He also confirmed the recent earthquakes and gave us a heads up that the desert floor was indeed a 15-foot drop. But the trail was being cut by the traffic and we could get down if skillful and careful.
We headed out, paranoid as ever, but spotted no one. We passed by the massive twin dead oaks on the map and entered the desert. We decided to travel in the morning and the evening and rest and sleep in the night and mid-day. The Tiny Huts made the first stop quite pleasant. When Andy tried to bring up a battle map, he closed the whole thing by mistake. But it was after 1AM his time, Jon was signing off anyway and we decided to call it an early night. We’ll go again on Saturday since we’re all stuck at home.
We came upon some ruins in the sand. There was a tower and some pieces of walls visible. We could also see a cave in the side of the hill. The pseudo ranger (Swashbuckler) called a halt to the column as his spider-sense was tingling but it was pretty evident to all of us when grids formed under our feet, we could expect trouble. We decided to roll initiative to avoid talking over each other but that’s a bit problematic when there were no foes on the map. The bat was sent aloft to look for ambushers on the dunes. The Wizards armored up. The Swashbuckler moved forward towards the cave and could see boot-clad footprints going in and out of it but in this desert, it was hard to determine how old they were. Suddenly an ankheg burst forth from the ground and attacked. Ultimately there were 6, I think. The Swashbuckler and Monk got grabbed and several took an acid stream. The Sherpas also took some acid but thankfully the damage roll was low and they survived.
We unleashed some firepower. The Fighter critted 3 times in a row. The Swashbuckler critted also and added smite damage. Our Wizard did a Fireball and a Shatter and the NPC Wizard did a weak Fireball and then a Cone of Cold near the end which about finished them off. (5th level so he’s at least 9th.) No one went out and we used up some daily powers. We searched the cave but found that it was really not much more than a dugout to get out of the heat. There was some confusion when some of us thought this was the final stop and started doing extensive excavations, looking for the dungeon entrance. Andy was perplexed/annoyed as to why so much time was being spent on a random encounter in the middle of nowhere. Eventually, we sorted that out, stopped searching (found nothing) and bedded down for the night.
The next stop on the map was an oasis which thankfully was still there. There were two groups already encamped. Since the heat of the day was approaching, everyone minded their own business and made camp. They eyed us and we eyed them. At sunset, as we prepared to leave, the captain of one group approached and talked to the pseudo bard (Swashbuckler). Both sides tried to get information but neither side revealed much of anything. We did get the impression that they had more experience in the desert so perhaps they were traders and not treasure seekers (or cultist) but we couldn’t be sure. When we realized the other tent didn’t seem to be with them, he and Sorlock went to talk to them. Again, not much was learned. That guy claimed his lady patron was tired and they’d be staying a bit longer. The Paladin can cure disease and maybe poison but it was just exhaustion so no help was wanted.
We left but the keen-sighted spotted that last guy paralleling us from a distance. The Paladin sent his warhorse over to learn what it could. It got beyond his range to communicate with it and did not return. He re-summoned it the next day. Zephyr said that the guy met up with others at the ruined towers at the end of the canyon, about a half a day from our destination. Plans were discussed but ultimately we decided we’d rather face an ambush we knew about than face them in the ruins at the end. However, when we got there, no one was there. More discussions. Row gave us a bit more information. He thought that in the sarcophagi of the Scorpion Prince, was a powerful magic staff that could be used to bring back the evil sultan. So our main goal was to stop that. He felt that only he and his research knew how to open it and had the right gems to do so. So despite their lead, they wouldn’t be able to finish without us. Plus, maybe they could clear out the traps and undead for us. (yeah right) It was mentioned that perhaps bringing the ability to open it to them was a bad idea but it was full speed ahead. Action over inaction.
So we took our rest. We moved up to the last ruins before the last one and left our noncombatants there. We proceeded on foot, with heavy armor on and came upon the ruins. The module Andy was using describe it but didn’t provide a picture. He tried to create one but it was incomplete and he was dissatisfied. Perhaps he’ll have a better one next time. Basically it was your standard ruins but with an enormous stone scorpion built upon the mountains behind it. Just under its mouth was an entrance going down. We could see that gems had been removed from it. We could also see lots of bad guys hiding in the rocks awaiting us. (We assume cultists but they could be treasure hunters or bandits, I suppose.) We stopped there, prior to starting a big fight after 11. This time we’ll have to be economical with our powers as I suspect we’ll have several fights without a long rest in order to save the world this time. Next game would be Friday.
Andy started us on a huge battle map with the ruins in the distance. We could see them, hiding behind pillars and statues but they could also see us, standing in the desert. We had no cover and since they could already see us, any plans of sneaking seemed unrealistic. We threw out some ideas but then Andy rolled initiative and set forth the large lion headed beast things at us. Despite their 40’ move it would take a while for the two of them to get to us. Those with ranged weapons (including the Fighter with his strong bow) moved forward in hopes of getting a shot or two at them before they were upon us. The fast moving meleers moved up and prepared to meet them. That left the Holy Paladin sort of in the back. He’s not built for speed. That all worked well. One of the lion giants was killed before reaching any of us and the second only got one claw on the Swashbuckler Paladin before falling. Meanwhile, the rest of the cultists charged from their positions and approach in a continuous wave. And there were a lot of them. The good news is that by charging us, they gave up their cover whereas we had none anyway.
At first, we were keeping up. The first ones were relatively weak and Row hit them with some AOEs to soften them up. We killed a bunch without taking any real damage however they started to get tougher. The last to arrive was a mage and a high cleric who started casting spells. In addition, there were 3-4 acolytes who also had spell slots up to 3rd level (although limited choices) and 3 guys with stunning staffs that cause paralysis on a failed CON save. Things started to turn when we couldn’t keep up. Then the Swashbuckler Paladin was hit was a Command and fell prone. As people moved to help him, the high priest hit him and the Rogue with a Hold Person. That causes paralysis which means advantage to be hit and an automatic crit if hit. Anybody that could, tried to break the concentration of the caster from range but he made 50/50 roll after 50/50 roll. Somehow the Swashbuckler managed to avoid getting hit too much despite his state but the Rogue was not so lucky. She fell as the Monk tried to charge the caster only to be stopped by a foe with the Sentinel feat. Meanwhile the Holy Paladin finally got into the action and quickly found himself surrounded by 4 foes and no allies. Luckily their damage was low and with his 3 points of damage reduction, he managed to take blow after blow. The Fighter finally switched to his maul and started to clear away the wounded but with two of us down and many more foes still closing, it was looking dicey.
The Fighter was hit by one of those stunning staves but saved on the next round so he only lost one action. The Monk managed to finish off the high priest with a handful of hit points to spare. Our Wizard hit theirs with a Hold Person but unfortunately we had no one who could get to him to get that guaranteed crit. But it did stop him from shooting at us for a couple rounds. Then the Sorlock healed the downed Rogue and Swashbuckler. The former finally got to act after spending most of the night prone, paralyzed and/or unconscious. And the later managed to get to their wizard and crit him with a sneak attack since he was still paralyzed. When he was dropped, the tide had turned. The acolytes were still casting and there were still guys left but it started to head towards clean up. A couple fled and were run down. An acolyte hit the Fighter with an Inflict Wounds as a last act and drop him but the Rogue finished him off with some supporting spell fire. The Holy Paladin was still swinging but with allies helping, his foes were cleared out as well. And we were done. Most were down to a handful of hit points. So much for the prelude to the “actual” dungeon.
We search them and found various bit and pieces plus some magic items. We did a detect magic and identifies. A potion of healing which the Rogue took to replace the one he used 2 games ago. A scroll of Unseen Servant which we already knew. Maybe we can sell it or trade it. 2.5 of those Scorpion staves. They’re a +1 quarterstaff. They do that paralysis on charges which recharge at dawn. One of them is out of charges so it could turn to dust on a 1. The Monk took one as he can use it as a Monk weapon. One went to the Sorlock since he can declare any weapon to be his Hex blade and use his CHR to attack with it. Lastly was the wand which Andy created. It has 3 spells in it that are powered by common charges that recover at the dawn. Don’t know how many it has. It can cast Dust Devil (2nd), Thunderwave (1st) and the Burn Flesh that we saw used (probably 3rd). Despite the fact that the Wizard just got a magic cloak, it was a better fit for him over the Sorlock. Another spell pool will be welcomed since long rests are becoming harder to get.
We debated the long vs short rest as always. Eventually we realized that with a short rest, we’d actually be in pretty good shape. Most characters mostly reset with a short rest. Of the part time casters, neither Paladin seemed to have used many spells. The Rogue didn’t use any. The cleric less Monk version no longer has any long rest powers at all and the Sorlock is mostly getting his powers from the Warlock class which doesn’t need long rest either. The only ones really affected are the Wizards however our Wizard cast mostly long ranged cantrips due to the size of the map. With the arcane recovery, he’s almost full up. Row used more spells but he recovers more from the same arcane recovery and has more to start with so while depleted, he should be okay. So we took a short rest and burned through most our healing dice. (The next rest will likely have to be a long one as a result.) Only the Monk rolled poorly on that and will be going in hurt with the Holy Paladin yet to roll.