In which
things go from bad to worse Book Two, Chapter 4.2 (session 82, 2 nd April
2019) The Party: Naergon Harna, elven wizard (Diviner) Mads Rangle, human fighter/warlock (Fiend: Archdevil
Zariel) Jamna Gleamsilver, gnome rogue (Arcane Trickster) Tomaz Stormwind, human ranger (Hunter) Druscilla Oakenrock, dwarven cleric (Trickery: Mask) Talis Wintercrest, half-elven cleric (War: Bane) Tomaz
casts hunters mark on the golem in front of him [pass without trace dissipates]
and stabs with his spear, driving the blade through the golem again and again,
it remains oblivious. Druscilla advances up the corridor past Talis and clubs
one of the golems with her rod (battle-axe) calling to Mask as she does so, the
golem reels back from the strike [critical] but seems unaffected by the divine
strike [poison immunity]. Jamna [invisible] races [boots of speed] back down
the corridor, halting behind the ranks of cultists who have emerged from the
chamber to her right, she huddles against the wall [dodge]. Mads continues to
swing at the southern golem, slashing through its shoulder, although it barely
reacts [critical] “ Tomaz you can circle
round” he shouts [manoeuvring attack] but Tomaz stays where he is as Mads
continues to hew into the golem in front of him. With a final thwack from the
butt of his glaive, the golem crumples soundlessly to the ground in a bloody
pile, bits still twitching feebly. Up the corridor a dragonwing steps into
sight and shoots its crossbow at Talis in her pool of light, the bolt flies
wide as the sound of boots and guttural orders, mixed with the snarl and roar
of drakes echo down the corridor. Jamna sees many cultists forming to block the
party as the drakes close on them and is also aware of the sound of more
enemies advancing rom further north. Talis steps forward and swings Hazirawn at
one of the flesh golems, the sword bites deep into its flesh. In her head Talis
hears the sword’s howl of glee get cut short “that’s not right, what’s the
point of this? Find me something living to drink!” From the darkness ahead
three dragonclaws appear shooting crossbows, the first bolt slams into Naergon,
spinning the elf into the wall of the tunnel. The second pierces Talis in the
back, the third falls from the air, stopped by Druscilla’s shield of faith.
Naergon turns to see a cultist in fancy robes advancing on him, swords in hand
and casts mirror image. The golem to the south slams its fists into Tomaz who
staggers and loses concentration on his hunters mark spell. The second golem
pummels Druscilla, most of its blows sliding off armour or shield, but a
glancing blow rocks the dwarf. The northern golem punches Talis twice,
staggering the priest again and again. Tomaz,
dazed and slack jawed stabs with his spear missing, gathering his wits he tries
again and impales the golem to his front. Druscilla again beats the golem with
her rod [battle-axe] as Jamna [invisible] creeps past the dragonwing [stealth
30] and enters the large chamber to her right. Within she sees gold – mountains
of gold . . . and jewels . . . and peals . . . silver plate and gilded mirrors
. . . jewelled swords and the armour of kings . . . caskets and boxes and
barrels filled to overflowing with the treasure of the Sword Coast. All packed
into a cave the size of a cathedral and stacked to the height of a giant!
Pathways wind through the glittering mass into the dark and shadowy recesses of
the cave. She comes to a halt staring around with feverish eyes. Mads attacks
the remaining southern golem, slashing it into ribbons, ribbons that cling
tenaciously to some form of life. The dragonwing advances and shoots again, the
bolt narrowly missing Talis. The drake growls and snarls attempting to bite
Talis, ignores golem and drake to strike at the dragonsoul, Hazirawn screams “ that’s more like it! Tasty! Tasty!” in
her head as the blade bites deep, sucking streams of black smoke from the wound
as the dragonsoul screams in pain. The dragonclaws move forward again and
shoot, their bolts flying wide of Naergon and Talis, another is intercepted by
Druscilla’s shield of faith. The sound of boots and claws continues to echo
from further north in the deep gloom of the tunnel. The dragonsoul, turning
from Talis stabs at the Naergons, unerringly picking out the real one from the
many images and driving his short sword, spitting lighting into the elf’s gut.
The Naergons cry out “ deal with this
flunky Talis” and points his staff up the corridor, casting fireball in the
midst of the cultists. The dragonwing and dragonclaws scream as their flesh is
burnt away and their blackened husks fall to the floor, smouldering and
smoking. The flesh golem in front of Talis flails and staggers silently as the
flames eat into it. It swings wildly at the cleric but fails to connect
[disadvantage]. The other golems continue to beat Druscilla and Tomaz, both
managing to land weak blows. Tomaz
casts hunters mark on the dragonsoul and the stabs his spear into the golem,
ripping through its guts, without a sound it collapses on to the tunnel floor.
Ignoring the roar of the dragons on the sacrificial plaza, Tomaz drops his
spear and pulls out his crossbow. Druscilla wields her rod [battle axe] again
beating the golem in front of her, raising welts and bruises. Jamna [invisible]
works her way into the chamber, stuffing her pockets and pouches with coins and
gems in feverish haste. Mads pushes in between Talis and the Naergons and
attacks the dragonsoul, slicing and cutting into the cultist. Glaring he snarls “ still alive, huh?” and launches into a second attack routine
[action surge], his glaive glittering in the light of Talis’s spell as he again
chops into the cult leader. From the dark tunnel ahead another dragonwing
glides into view, raising its crossbow it shoots at Talis but the bolt flies
wide. A second drake crawls down the tunnel as the first snarls and snaps
ineffectively at Talis, who ignores it and swings Hazirawn at the dragonsoul,
the blade bites deeply, cleaving him from shoulder to groin. Hazirawn screams
[in Talis’s head] “I drink, I drink,
more, more like this one, this one was spicy. Come on let’s go, move, move.”
Black smoke pours from the dead husk and into the dull black sword as Talis
steps over the corpse. Behind the dragonwing, more dragonclaws emerge from the
gloom, crossbows raised. Bolts fly down the corridor, skimming past Naergon and
narrowly missing Talis, another is intercepted by Druscilla’s shield of faith.
The Naergons cast fire bolt at the golem next to Druscilla, its flesh sears and
smokes as it flails around. The Naergons hitch their skirts and run south
towards Tomaz. The first golem slams its fists into Talis, crunching bone
[critical]. The cleric reels “ not that
one, it has no life force, take me to something I can drink” screams the
sword in her head as she peers around dazed. The other golem, disconcerted by
the smoking hole in its chest [disadvantaged] flails at Druscilla but fails to
connect. Tomaz
moves his hunters mark to the golem in front of Talis, raises his crossbow and
shoots, both bolts driving home into the golem’s chest. Without a sound the
golem collapses, twitching and shuddering. Druscilla continues to beat the
golem with her rod, chopping chunks from it. Jamna [invisible] continues
stuffing her pockets in the treasure vault. Mads steps ahead of Talis and casts
fireball up the corridor, the three dragonclaws shriek and burn, collapsing in
smoking heaps. The dragonwing dives to the aside, avoiding the worst of the
blast. The advancing drake screams and snarls as its skin blisters and cooks
but it continues to advance. The dragonwing pulls swords and charges Mads, who
swings his glaive forward [AOO], the blade ripping through the cultist’s chest
and out its back, shuddering the dragonwing dies [critical]. “Talis move back, I’ll cover you” cries
Mads [manoeuvring attack]. Talis doesn’t seem to hear, instead she grips her
sword and stares at the smoking drake as it snarls and bites at Mads, its tail
slapping the warlock feebly. The other drake turns and leaps at Talis from
behind, jaws closing around her arm [critical] as its tail beats her back
towards the wall. Talis casts cure wounds on herself as the sword screams in
her head “ what are you doing? I can drink
these beasts, fight, woman, fight. I should have chosen that devil fiend at
least he fights. I thirst!” The Naergons cast fire bolt at the last flesh
golem, which collapses, blackened, smoking and twitching in front of Druscilla.
The dwarf glowers as Naergon shouts “ Jamna,
where are you, what are you doing ?” [telepathic link]. Tomaz
moves his hunters mark on to the charred drake facing Mads and then shoots it
with his crossbow, the bolt slamming home in its left eye [critical], and the
drake slumps to the ground. Shifting to the other drake, his bolt flies wide.
In his peripheral vision Tomaz becomes aware of something large moving outside
the tunnel as the pale morning light is blocked out behind him, “ this doesn’t look good” he says
[telepathic link]. Druscilla slams her rod into the remaining drake, nearly
splitting it to the spine [critical] but it remains on its feet snarling and
screeching. Jamna [invisible] mutters “ sorry,
what, can’t hear you Naergon, must be interference, I’m fine though!” [telepathic
link] and then dashes [boots of speed] back to the junction, looks down the tunnel,
sees the huge form blotting out the light of the caldera and turns and runs
back into the treasure vault. Mads casts eldritch blast at the last drake,
blasting it back and crushing it into the floor, then spinning around “what’s the matter Tomaz? Yikes!” [telepathic
link] and hurls his last blast at the ancient blue dragon pushing its head into
the tunnel entrance but the bolt misses, mads retires to the junction corner.
Talis. Dives across the tunnel and round the corner of the junction. At the
entrance the last of the morning light is blotted out as the ancient blue
dragon shoves itself into the tunnel. There’s a deep roaring intake of breath
and then a blast of lightning breath erupts down the tunnel, filling it,
burning and scorching the dead bodies and rolling them around like leaves in a
fire. The blast scours Tomaz, who screams as he jerks and fries before
collapsing in a heap [hunters mark ends]. The many images of Naergon flicker
out as the lightning burns through the elf’s defences, leaving him smoking and
twitching on the floor [rary’s telepathic bond ends]. Druscilla’s armour
coruscates in blue flickering light but she staggers forward to lean against
the wall, screaming inside her smoking metal shell, as her shield of faith
flickers out. Mads is caught full on by the blast, his armour flickers blue and
shimmers around him as it grounds much of the lightning but still he shrieks as
the residual scours him. The dragon pulls its head back and roars as Naergon’s
body jumps and twitches [death save success]. Tomaz
lies unmoving on the blackened floor [death save fail]. Druscilla crawls around
the corner of the junction to join Talis, collapsing against the wall with a
groan as her armour sparks, her hair standing on end. Jamna [invisible] screams
“what’s happened? Is anyone there?” into
the silence of a telepathic void, with no response she runs helter-skelter [boots
of speed] into the treasure vault. Mads grunts in pain, plants his feet “damn you wyrm!” and casts eldritch
blast at the blue colossus blocking the tunnel entrance, one of the bolts slams
home. Around the corner Talis stares at the smoking ruin of Druscilla “sorry, gotta look after number one first”
she whispers, and casts cure wounds on herself. Out in the tunnel the dragon
steps back from the tunnel as Naergon stops twitching [death save fail]. Tomaz
spasms and jerks [death save success], Druscilla looks across at Talis “couldn’t agree more” she growls and
casts heal on herself. Jamna [invisible] moves deeper into the labyrinthine
treasure cave. Mads stares down the tunnel as the dragon recedes and the
morning light seeps back in. Staggering forward to the junction he looks over
at Druscilla and Talis and catches his breath [second wind]. Talis stares back,
turns and heads into the cavern where her light spell glitters and reflects off
mountains of gold . . . and jewels . . . and peals . . . silver plate and
gilded mirrors . . . jewelled swords and the armour of kings . . . caskets and
boxes and barrels filled to overflowing with the treasure of the Sword Coast.
All packed into a cave the size of a cathedral and stacked to the height of a
giant! Pathways wind through the glittering mass into the dark and shadowy
recesses of the cave. From the tunnel entrance the screams and terror of the
dragon sacrifice can be heard but the blue dragon seems to have lost interest
in the tunnel itself in favour of the easier prey of near naked prisoners.
Naergon’s body twitches and jerks on the floor [death save success]. Tomaz
groans and coughs [death save failure] as Druscilla looks around the corner and
seeing no dragon runs towards the bodies of Naergon and Tomaz. Jamna [invisible]
makes her way deeper into the treasure vault until she spies an exit, and
beyond it something moving in the shadows [stealth 33]. Mads dashes past
Druscilla to Naergon and grabbing the wizard by his robes starts dragging him
back towards the inner tunnel. Talis cautiously moves in amongst the piles of
chests and barrels as the sounds of the sacrifice continues. Naergon spasms as
he is dragged down the tunnel, jerks and dies [death save failure “1”]. Tomaz
also spasms and dies [death save failure] before Druscilla can reach him,
nevertheless the dwarf grabs his cloak and starts dragging him back to the tunnel
behind Mads and Naergon. Looking over her shoulder she stutters “I can bring one of them back Mads. Which
one do you think?” Jamna [invisible] carefully moves back away from the tunnel
exit and races back along the winding paths between stacks of crates and
barrels, towards the light she hopes is Talis. She calls out “ there’s more cultists back here. Hello, anyone
there. What’s happened? Answer me., Answer me!” but the telepathic link
remains silent and dead. Mads drags Naergon’s body back up the tunnel and drops
it against the wall as Talis moves back towards him and Druscilla. A crossbow
bolt suddenly slams into the wall above his head. Druscilla
continues to drag Tomaz back up the tunnel “ what
was that?” she shouts at Mads. Jamna [invisible] runs quietly up to Talis
and shouts “there’s more flesh golems
down there!” Talis starts and turns, sword in hand staring wildly around but
can’t see anything. Jamna continues “ what’s
happened, I can’t hear anyone in my head anymore?”. Talis calms down “ Jamna is that you? They’re dead, there’s no
more telepathy.” “that’s not true grumbles the sword, find me something rink
quickly and no more golems!” Talis shakes her head and grunts as Jamna says
“Oh, no! What we going to do then?”
Talis growls “ I guess you’ll have to make
your own decisions now.” Mads shouts across “ for now we fight, there’s more coming down the tunnel” and moves to
the corner of the junction casting eldritch blast at the dragonfang, slamming
it twice. The sound of more boots and claws echoes down the tunnel as the sound
of the sacrifice continues on the plaza. Talis moves to the wall and takes
cover [dodge]. The dragonfang shouts commands up the tunnel and shoots at Mads
with his crossbow, the bolt flying past him into the wall. Druscilla,
ignores the bolts and continues to drag Tomaz’s corpse into the cover of the tunnel.
Jamna [invisible] looks towards the end of the tunnel where Mads stands over
the body of Naergon and Talis cowers against the wall and raises her bow,
waiting for enemy to appear [ready action]. Mads again eldritch blasts the
dragonfang, slamming it twice and hurling it back against the far wall. Talis
moves up to the corner of the tunnel, casting stoneskin on herself as the sound
of many running boots echoes down the tunnel. “ How many are there Mads?” she calls “ Three, so far!” he replies as the roars and screams of the sacrifice
continue unabated. A dragonwing comes into sight and Jamna shoots [sneak attack,
readied action], her arrow spinning the dragonwing around as it crumples
against the far wall. The dragonfang shoots at Mads but once again the bolt
flies wide. Druscilla
continues to drag Tomaz down the tunnel. Jamna shoots the dragonfang before
moving back into the tunnel as Mads casts fireball up the tunnel. As the
inferno roars down the tunnel, two of the Dragonclaws shrivel and collapse but the
drake, another Dragonclaw and both the dragonfangs emerge, scorched but very
much alive. Talis moves around the corner and hews into the surviving dragonclaw
with Hazirawn “feed me!” cries the sword
as the dragonclaw is split almost in twain, black smoke being sucked out of the
bleeding body into the greatsword. Talis advances on the closest dragonfang and
cuts it deeply across the shoulders, the dragonfang screams as black smoke is
sucked out of the wound. Hazirawn cries “ this
is more like it!” as Talis glowers at the cultist. A drake comes charging
down the tunnel and leaps at Talis, its jaws snapping but failing to penetrate the
stoneskin. The dragonfang pulls its swords and stabs Talis, lightning arcing
through the wound as the blade slides in through her armour. Another dragonfang
steps forward and stabs Talis repeatedly, lightning again arcing through her
body. Druscilla
leaves Tomaz and steps up next to Talis drawing her rod and swings at the
closest dragonfang, axe and divine energy mingling to cut and infect the wound.
Jamna steps forward and shoots the dragonfang, the arrow piercing its neck
[sneak attack]. With a gurgle the cultist falls to the floor “ that was mine you thieving gnome”
screams Hazirawn in Talis’s head. Mads steps sideways and casts eldritch blast
at the drake, slamming it twice and shoving it back twenty feet. Talis ignores
the screams of Hazirawn and casts cure wounds on herself as the drake charges
back into the fray, its jaws snapping through her stoneskin as its tail slaps the
cleric back against the wall [critical]. The dragonfang stabs again, sliding
its sword into her gut, lightning arcing again and again as Talis cries and
collapses onto the floor. Druscilla
wades into the dragonfang screaming for vengeance, the blade cutting deep and
poison seeps into the wound as the cultist cries and falls. Jamna steps around the
corner and shoots the drake, the arrow slamming through its eye socket [sneak
attack], with a snarl and a scream the drake spasms and dies. Talis whimpers on
the floor [death save success] as the sound of sacrifice continues behind them. Druscilla
steps aside and gestures to Jamna “use your wand Jamna”. Jamna steps over to
Talis and touches her with the wand of curing, with a gasp Talis regains
consciousness and feebly reaches out to grab Hazirawn, pulling the sword
towards her and hugging it close. “Jamna”
asks Mads “what is up this passage, why
so many cultists?” The gnome looks round “ there’s another junction up there, the passage splits. I kept going and
encountered one of these patrols, so I retreated only to find more had emerged
from the side tunnel. I had to detour into that cave, the one with the gold in
it. I explored in there a bit and found there’s another exit at the far end and
more of those flesh golems. I was just relaying that to Naergon when the link
went dead. So, I came back to see what had happened.” Explains Jamna. Druscilla
says “come close to me, we’re out of here!”
As the sound of the sacrifice outside continues Talis suggests “hang on let’s move into the treasure
chamber and teleport from there. It’s a better place to teleport back to if we
have to. It should be easy to memorise and better than arriving back here. or
out there ” she points. So, the party gathers itself in one of the dark
corners of the treasure vault, Druscilla activates her helmet and teleports
them out to Waterdeep. Next
time: who’s left alive? Levels
were gained this session:
Naergon
17 th
level
Mads
16 th
level
Jamna
16 th
level
Tomaz
16 th
level
Druscilla
16 th
level
Talis
13 th
level
XP
earnt is now irrelevant as the rest of TOD is based on milestone XP In-Game
the session ended at 05:30 on 13 th Eleint 1485 DR [The last LONG REST was completed
at 03:30 on 13 th Eleint] Next
session Tuesday 9 th April at 19:15
This
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