In which
our heroes meet an old friend Book Two, Chapter 3.1 (session 63, 23 rd October
2018) The Party: Naergon Harna, elven wizard (diviner); Mads
Rangle, human fighter/warlock; Jamna Gleamsilver, gnome rogue (arcane
trickster); Tomaz Stormwind, human ranger (hunter); Druscilla Oakenrock,
dwarven cleric (trickster) Having
rested for an hour or so the heroes emerge from Leomund’s Tiny Hut and examine the
door. Mads asks “Naergon did you work out
how to open this door?” “Yes, well maybe. It’s something to do with turning
this circular band around the portrait” replies Naergon. “ Do you want me to take a look?” asks
Jamna “So, do I turn it to the right
or the left?” asks
Mads. “I don’t know, I didn’t get that
far ” says Naergon. Mads looks at him warily, steps up and grips the circle
and rotates it, click, click, click it turns around all the way back to the top
with no apparent other effect. “ Naergon,
it’s not working!” he calls out, noticing that Naergon has slyly stepped
several feet away down the stairs. “It
does work ” is the reply “ it’s
rotating, are you sure you haven’t broken it ?” Everyone
steps up and examines the door, Druscilla says “ dammit it’s mirrored one ach side, I was hoping there would be differences.
Because I think you have to rotate that circle so many clicks one way and then
back the other.” “Yes, it’s definitely symmetrical” agrees Tomaz. “ No wait ” cries Druscilla, it isn’t. “ Look the chevrons, there’s two on one side
but only three on the left.” “ I think you should rotate it five clicks one
way and then three back the other. Or back to the top and then three left, or something
like that ” says Druscilla eagerly. “ Ok,
let’s try that then ” says Naergon from the bottom of the stairs. “ Yes, why don’t we try that Naergon ” says Mads, gripping the ring and starting
to rotate it. Despite trying all permutations of five, two and three nothing
happens. “ I really don’t know what I’m
doing here ” mutters Mads in frustration. “ Should we have Jamna take a look?” says Druscilla. “ Yeah let me, I’ve been standing at the back
offering to do so for the last ten minutes, let the professional at it ”
grumbles Jamna. Jamna
takes a long look at the door “ well I’m
not certain about those chevrons but see those rosettes in the corners? They definitely
depress like buttons, they’re some sort of switch for sure.” “That’s great”
says Druscilla “ so can you work it out?
Do you push all of them in, or out, or in a certain order? Can you open it or
not?” Jamna turns and sneers at the dwarf “ yes it probably does have something to do with the order, you know like
a code! Give me a minute or two to try some options ” so saying Jamna takes
some time, pressing buttons and turning the circle and then steps back “ Naergon could I borrow you for a moment, can
you remind me what the first four prime numbers are?” Naergon steps forward
and has a brief discussion with Jamna who then grins and starts pressing buttons
in a complex pattern “there you go that’s
the trick, everyone ready for this to open?” Jamna
hands over to Mads “ just press that last
button and the door will open” she instructs as she steps behind the mighty
warrior. Mads leans forward and presses the rosette, the door shudders and then
gracefully slides down into the floor. Beyond lies a vast chasm with a floating
stepping stone path connecting a plinth adjacent to the door with a plinth on the
other side. Far, far below lava boils and roils and the hot steam rises to vent
from the ceiling several hundred feet above. On the
plinth by the door stand two cultists, swords drawn and watching the door,
behind them floating in mid air is the vast spectral image of a warrior
wielding sword and shield. Further back along the path another pair of cultists
stand with crossbows at the ready behind them, close to the far plinth is a cultist
in fine robes but unknown to the party. At the far end, on the second plinth is
a large statue and sarcophagus, several cultists surround the sarcophagus and
what looks to be a collapsed A-frame lifting apparatus. One of the figures turns
as the door opens, the familiar figure of Talis clad in sparkling scale mail –
familiar to Naergon, Mads and Jamna at least. Jamna
reacts first and raise her bow and shoots the finely robed cultist, causing him
to lose his footing on the platform and fall; cloak fluttering in the steam he slowly
rises back up to the next platform. Talis moves forward, mutters something to the
cultists around the collapsed beams and then stares across the chasm at Jamna.
Naergon, triggers his staff of defence and steps up to look over Jamna’s
shoulder. “Oh my!” he says before
stepping back out of line of sight again. The cultists with crossbows both
shoot, one bolt missing Druscilla, the other careening off the wall next to
Mads, who ignores it shouting “Talis, we’re
here to rescue you!” Then he casts eldritch blast, slamming the cultist to
his front, pushing him ten feet back and off the platform but he manages to scrabble
onto the floating stone behind him. Mads then steps back. Druscilla shoots the
same cultist but the bolt flies wide. The cultists with swords both pull out
orbs and hurl them. The first misses Mads, crashing in icy fury across the
stairs. The second slams into the wall behind Tomaz, ice blooming. Tomaz casts
hunters mark on the spectral figure but without effect, he then volleys against
the two cultists and the spectral guardian, wounding the cultist Mads had
already hurt – the other arrows fall harmlessly into the lava below, one
passing straight through the guardian. Tomaz then steps back onto the stairs. Jamna
steps forward, shoots at the robed cultist but misses, she then steps back
under cover. The robed cultist moves along the floating path, pulls and orb
from inside his robe and hurls it at Druscilla, missing her but ice blooms
across the platform at her feet. Talis, shouts something at the cultists on her
platform then calls across to the robed cultist “Kushphia, do not listen to them, they are oath breakers and agents of
the Lords Alliance sent to destroy the Masks of Tiamat. Kill them!” Naergon
moves forward and casts sleet storm across the chasm. “ Fighters to the front” he calls as he steps back. One of the dragonwings
with crossbows slips and falls from his stone, cloak fluttering as it desperately
tries to fly through the sleet to land on another platform. The other shoots at
Druscilla, the bolt ricocheting off the door frame above her head. Mads moves
forward and eldritch blasts the dragonfang in front, shoving him ten feet back off
the edge of the platform, to plummet through the sleet, cloak flapping.
Druscilla shoots blindly into the swirling sleet, then moves down the stairs. The
dragonfang on the platform pulls out an orb and throw it blindly at Mads,
missing. The other flies through the sleet to land back on the plinth and
throws an orb at Naergon, hitting him squarely. Ice blooms across Naergon’s
robes who grimaces but maintains concentration. Tomaz holds his ground but
chooses not to shoot into the sleet, being very low on arrows. Jamna
shoots blindly into the sleet towards Kusphia, her arrow slamming home despite
the poor visibility. Kusphia, slips in the sleet and falls but manages to flap
desperately onto a stone further back, regaining his footing. On the far plinth
Talis, looking at the swirling storm of sleet, mutters an incantation and
thrusts her shield forward. The sleet disappears instantly, Naergon’s spell
dispelled. “ Normally I’d welcome the snow
but not today dear” she calls across the void as she advances onto the stepping
stones. Naergon steps forward and casts cone of cold from the doorway encasing
Kusphia, one of the dragonfangs and both dragonwings as well as the spectral
figure in an icy fury. Kusphia and the dragonfang shrug it off but the two
dragonwings take damage. The dragonwings shoots at Naergon but miss. Mads
shouts “ Ishtik” and slaps his armour,
the scales flickering and fluttering as they all turn white [empowered to cold
immunity]. Druscilla shoots one of the dragonfangs before stepping back. The
dragonfang moves across the stones and shoots Naergon the bolt slamming home
[critical]. The other dragonfang also moves and shoots Naergon but misses.
Tomaz casts lightning arrow and shoots at Kusphia missing but the arcing
lightning still crackles and burns Kusphia and the two dragonfangs. Jamna
shoots one of the dragonwings, hitting him and causing him to slip off the
platform and fall, cloak flapping. Kusphia pulls out a crossbow and shoots
Naergon, hitting him. Talis then advances and again chants a spell. A cloud of
dense green fog erupts into being at the top of the stairs covering the entire
party. Naergon takes damage from the poisonous vapours and then attempts to
dispel the cloudkill but fails before moving down the stairs. Mads also takes
damage from the fog and retreats down the stairs, readying an eldritch blast.
Druscilla takes damage and also runs downstairs. The dragonfangs both shoot at
Jamna, hitting her twice. Tomaz takes poison damage and then casts lightning
arrow and shoots Kusphia again, this time hitting and causing lightning damage,
the adjacent dragonfangs also take damage as the lightning arcs across them.
Tomaz then also retires down the stairwell. Jamna
takes damage from the poison cloud, shoots at the leading dragonfang but misses
and then follows the others down the stairs. The fog starts to flow down the
stairs as from the chasm comes the sound of Talis casting another spell [mass
healing word]. Naergon takes more damage from the poison [inspiration save]
casts expeditious retreat and races down the stairs and into the ziggurat
chamber. Mads races down the stairs following Naergon into the ziggurat
chamber. Druscilla activates her helmet and teleports herself, Jamna and Tomaz
direct to her temple chambers in Waterdeep. Mads
and Naergon, wait to see the fog emerge from the stairs and then turn and run
from the complex with no idea what happened to the others but fearing the worst.
They head out and down the escarpment to the camp, once there at about midnight
they decide there’s nothing they can do other than rest, recuperate and see
what the morning brings. Mads asks Naergon “ this
is getting more and more difficult; do you have a plan?” “ Why does everyone think I have a plan all
the time?” replies Naergon “ no, not
really. I need to think” “In
that case, can I offer something. I have a friend;
a powerful friend and I think she’d like to help. I also think she’d like to
meet you.” Naergon stares at him hard “do you mean who I think you mean?” “Well yes, probably. Look, I
know things went a bit strange but she’s a powerful ally. And yes, I know that
comes at a price but I know what she likes and I know she’d love you” answers Mads. “ Yes, well she probably would but I have to
say I’m not very keen on this plan” stutters Naergon. “Well if you have a better plan,
I’m all ears ”
says Mads, poking at the campfire. “ I don’t
have a better plan but I think we can get ourselves out of here.” says
Naergon. “ Oh, I agree, we can get
ourselves out of here but what then, what’s next?” asks Mads. “ I don’t know Mads, I just don’t know”
sighs Naergon staring into the night sky. “We keep leaving these enemies
behind, alive. It seems to me all we’re doing is making our end game more
difficult”
says Mads. Naergon turns and looks him in the eye “ I agree but the thing is I don’t know what’s happened to the others, they
may be dead or captured but, in any event, I can’t see them making it back here
any time soon. I don’t know what to do next, but I do think we need to rest. Things
will be clearer in the morning I hope. We may need to strike out on our own, I
just don’t know. Even with the best will in the world, the two of us can’t go
back in there.” Meanwhile
Druscilla, Jamna and Tomaz arrive in Waterdeep, quickly update their contacts.
Druscilla asks if it’s possible for someone to get a message to Naergon but
doesn’t get very far. Tomaz grabs some supplies and then they take a long rest
before Druscilla teleports them back to the camp, arriving at about 05:00.
Finding Naergon and Mads still resting. Over breakfast at about 08:00 they
discuss what to do next. Next
time, what’s Talis actually doing here? No
levels were gained this session:
Naergon
13 th
level
Mads
12 th
level
Jamna
12 th
level
Tomaz
12 th
level
Druscilla
12 th
level
XP
earnt is now irrelevant as the rest of TOD is based on milestone XP In-Game
the session ended at 08:00 on 23 rd Tarsakh 1485 DR (The
last Long Rest was completed at 05:00 by DO, JG, TS and 08:00 by NH, MR. No
short rest has been taken since) Next
session Tuesday 30 th October at 07:15