We started in the cold basement. We searched the Druid but he had nothing of note. Lady Petrina started a Detect Magic ritual and eventually found nothing. We assumed the ramp on the far side went back up to the vat room however there was a door down here. It was examined but it was not the source of the cold. Ambrus did manage to find the source, a crack in the wall between to two rooms. An investigation discovered a secret door. When opened, it was a short hallway that ended in some sort of room. It was very cold in there and there was brown mold on the walls. The last mold we encountered was vulnerable to fire so Lady Petrina fired a Fire Bolt down there. The mold grew. We debated and concluded that cold would be the best bet. Kaladin was talked into using his cold breath weapon and that killed off some. Unfortunately, he took cold damage when he moved into the room. More debate. Lady Petrina had a Dragon’s Breath spell that could last for 10 rounds. More debate and eventually cold resistant Kaladin volunteered to go back in and clear out the mold. He took damage once more but saved this time for minimal. (Dan: After using an inspiration) Unfortunately, the hall was a dead end and had nothing of worth. It was simply a means to keep the wine cold down here. So all and all, a waste of time but we didn’t know that going in. (Dan: Our epic fight against the fridge monster.) About this time, we started to hear load noises from somewhere in the building.
We opened the door which had stairs going up into a glass bottle workshop. There were a couple of windows to the outside and another door. Ezera opened it and saw a Druid and an army of the small Twig Blights. Rather than charge them all, he closed the door. Unfortunately, she spotted him. We barred the door and went back down. There was much debate and indecision at this point. Eventually, we headed up the ramp but ran into a Twig. Ezera managed to kill it and close the door. There was a hallway beyond it that seemed to go outside. Ambrus was eager to flee but was reminded that the outside was full of the big Needle Blights. Our plan was to find who was controlling them in here. We started up the ramp, hoping to avoid the army, and get to the controlling Druid without having to fight them. That lead to a hallway which ended in a room where wine barrels were loaded into a wagon below through a hole in the floor. In there was the head Druid, Needle and Twig Blights as well as some new Vine Blights.
The Druid recognized Loki and demanded the return of his heritage Bag of Bones. Evidently, these Druids had lost their connection with the animal kingdom and could no longer turn into animals. They had been harvesting the bones of animals to allow them to do so however for some reason, they had to be sentient animals. So, this guy claims the only reason Loki and the rest had been given the gift of intelligence is to fill the bag he stole. That bag, which had finally allowed him to escape successfully, represents years of their evil efforts. And they wanted it back. (That’s not quite the backstory DG wrote but compelling. Assuming this guy isn’t lying like these Druids have been doing to Loki since day one.) So, after some clever banter between them, it was back to kill or be killed.
We had all kinds of technical difficulties at this point. The Twig army was not visible to the players on the combat tracker. The more advanced head Druid Brian had created seemed to have been lost. Eventually we rebooted. Brian declared that the door Ezera was holding, in fact had a bar on it, which would hold them at bay long enough such that he did not reload that room and lessen the burden on Fantasy Grounds and his PC. Loki was attack by a Vine Blight that had reach, grab, squeeze and could move people towards them. It held him over the hole. Lady Patrina could get them all in a Fireball, including Loki unfortunately. He had a +8 save but could not and took 24 ish however it did a ton of total damage to the 7 villains in the room. That really softened them up but Loki then fell through the hole. As usual, the spell caster was the real threat, even if he was a Druid, although those Vine Blights were a pain. Despite several others being dropped into the hole and much damage dished include a heat metal on Ezera, we took them out. Towards the end, the Druid from the other room showed up, damaged, but quickly fled. Evidently the friendly Ravens had taken out the Twigs. When she was run down, it was over.
We haven’t searched the rest of the house but it was quiet. The Druid indeed have that magic staff. Lady Petrina did an Identify on it. It could do a Vampiric Strike and Summon these various Blights. Perhaps it could control them with more research. However, it looked and felt evil. It attuned itself to her by growing tendrils into her flesh, for example. When the Paladin said it was indeed emitting a big evil aura, we agreed to destroy it. People started to log off but Brian cut some debate short and said we threw it in to the glass blower’s furnace and after a brief show, turned to ash. And all the Blights disappeared. He revealed that the longer we waited, the more dire the consequences for those that handled it. Not that we needed more convincing. He also gave us a short rest and an Identify on the cloak. It granted, to a Druid or Ranger, the ability to do a Hide action as a bonus action while in light cover. Unfortunately, Loki already got this from his Goblin race although this allowed him to do so while being observed so maybe it’ll be of use. Until we get a Druid, he’ll take it. We stopped there. We’ll need to do a quick search of the house and then bring the wine makers back in. So far, we haven’t seen a link to Loki’s “save the Druids 3 times” destiny but we think we’ve moved Ezera’s and Patrina’s a bit. Next week will be Jon’s first edition AD&D and then back to this in two weeks.
