150530 Glyph Explosion Interrupts Sahuagin Sacrificial Ceremony Igniting Cleric Battle w/ Party In Distress, Pinpointing their Location for Pursuers!

TWITCH STREAM Be sure to participate with the group each week LIVE! at <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire" rel="nofollow">www.twitch.tv/dm4hire</a> every Saturday night at 6 PM until midnight. View this entire session here... <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/664403983" rel="nofollow">http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/664403983</a> Twitch.tv keeps each broadcast for one week only, so be sure to stay up-to-date while it is still available, and be sure to click the heart icon under the twitch screen to 'follow' the group and be alerted of each new session. Brief portions of these weekly sessions can also be found on Youtube with the same date code. QUICK READ RECAP With time running out on their underwater breathing spell, the below water group quickly, but quietly, explore as much of the submerged second level as possible, while dodging the pursuing sahuagin force. Balfon triggers an explosion that interrupts a sacrificial ceremony nearby, drawing sahuagin clerics into a battle where both he and Karmadel are held with dark magic, all the while the rest of the party tries to destroy them before more cast spells seal their doom! With a healthy dose of luck, they manage to destroy them before the entire party is killed in the process! Moving to the south, they are spotted by their pursuers as they find and ascend a flight of stairs going upward to the uppermost dry level, luckily finding the other half of their party there, just as they are preparing to attack sahuagin slave lords wielding whips against captive stone masons! A decisive battle in their favor, along with some quick thinking and a generous dose of lit greek fire, send the surfacing sahuagin pursuers screaming back below water, buying the group some time to exit the fortress and regroup back at the base camp to finalize their mission tasks, all before they are caught and slain in the process! DM SESSION LOG 150530 Spells memorized. Tralann - hypnotism, magic missile, invisibility, wall of fog, web Argo - 4x magic missile, mirror image, blur, water breathing* Karmadel: 5-1st, Cure light**, Endure Cold x2** (7-1/2 hours) /5-2nd /1-3rd Bless, Protection evil / cure serious x2, hear heart x2*, water fist Below Water Group... Karmadel hides body in the seaweed bed, closes door. Karmadel moves to a northern room and opens the door. Similar to the other room. Borga opens the coffer. Kysh opens the canvass bag for 78 pp. Oceanus observes a sacrificial sahuagin baby ceremony in progress and returns to the group to relay the information. Balfon looks under table. (something undisclosed occurs here that is private to Balfon) Explosion draws sahuagin from temple to room. Balfon hits for 7. Sahuagin hits Balfron with Staff for 4 electrical shock damage! Borga is hit with electrical shock staff for 3 Borga is hit again for 1. Oceanus moves silently and hides in shadow back stab attacking a sahuagin by the door for 18 Karmadel makes a critical called shot and kills one for 36. Hold person cast on Karmadel and Balfon. Borga hits the wounded sahuagin for 6 killing it. Sahuagin hits Oceanus with staff for 5 shock damage. Karmadel makes a critical save vs. spell to not be blinded ! Oceanus gets shocked for 5. Oceanus returns the damage for 12. Darkness cast on Oceanus, the room goes dark! Borga makes shot in darkness and hits for 4 on caster. Karmadel receives a cause light wound spell for 1 hp of damage. Borga gets hit with spiritual hammer for 4. Oceanus hits the caster with a critical hit for 10. Kysh kills sahuagin with critical hit for 6 ! Kysh makes a critical attack against caster for 16 killing him! In the temple area, Karmadel picks up 4 sacrificial baby sahuagin. With his Hear Heartbeat spell still active, Karmadel flees temple area when being alerted to an approaching giant shark! Party ascends a set of stairs found in the southern area of level 2 to find the above water group! Karmadel's talking sword makes gasping noises "I can breathe! I can't hold my breath for that long!" Shenjo hits sahuagin task master for 10. Balfon says "Kiss my ax!" Balfon hits for 5 killing him! Water locked, the Triton calls out "We have company!" indicating that the massive force of pursuing sahuagin are coming this way! Oceanus hits sahuagin task master for 14 hp killing him! Karmadel frees prisoners. Karmadel casts cure light wounds for Oceanus for 2. Oceanus uses a cure serious potion from party loot for 16. Balfon uses light wounds potion for 8. Borga uses light wounds potion for 5. Oceanus recommends burning greek fire oils over submerged stairs and then leave. Balfon strikes flint and steel to ignite the oil ! Emerging sahuagin scream in terror as they are burned alive! Argo tells the orcs where the armory is, if they want revenge on the sahuagin. Party returns to camp. Karmadel cures Bjorn for 6 hp, Tralaan cure light for 2, Party surmises the sahuagin may very well be planning to sink the entire fortress. Party surmises fortress layout has been modified. Party lump sum XP with all aspects considered (including but not limited to) skill usage , great ideas, role-playing, alignment checks, session survival, etc: 4000 Karmadel/Bjorn (Christopher S.) human/human: 400/400 Argo Mage (Paul W.) human: 400 Tralann (Shalvenay K) half elf: 400 Kyra Foghard/Oceanus (Charles W.) dwarf/aquatic elf: 400/400 Shenjo/Kysh (Craig F.) gray elf/triton: 400 Balfon/Leaxle (Skyhawk) dwarf/wood elf: 400/400 Aaron/Borga (Rob D.) human/locathah: 400

Here are the lizard man drawn maps of their now occupied sahuagin fortress. Hopefully this will help the group to determine whether a final "quick reconnaissance sweep" might be necessary to answer the Saltmarsh council questions to get fully paid. The questions again are... 1. Determine sahuagin force (barons, lieutenants, warriors), detailing how many are present. 2. Locate important areas (where officers are quartered and warriors are barracked). 3. Identify any significant defensive measures (traps, fortifications, etc) what and where. 4. Discover how advanced the sahuagin are, and when they might mount their first attack. Don't forget, last module the party went too fast, and missed an entire treasure room full of goodies. Good job last session and good luck!

Kysh is still looking for his Horn of the Tritons that was taken from him by the sahuagin.

I will borrow the Ring of Invisibility and go back in a finish scouting the area and see if i can find Kysh Horn of the Tritons cause i promised to help him get it back so i must keep a promise. And it'll be easier for me to go in alone, with well picked spells to find the Horn and get the rest of the info that we will need.

1. Determine sahuagin force (barons, lieutenants, warriors), detailing how many are present. Between those killed and glimpsed in the battle arena, easily 100-150. With areas still unexplored, that number could easily double. We did see the one HUGE dude (4 times 'bigger' than the other sahuagin) and there were those 3 sitting on podium seats watching the death match in the arena. Killed 6 clerics of various ranks (guessing by the gold versus platinum ceremonial collars we found in the room coffers). No telling how many additional clerical types or other 'officer' staff might be around. And other than the clerics we didn't run into wizards/mages. (unless I missed those games) 2. Locate important areas (where officers are quartered and warriors are barracked). The HUGE dude was on the second level as well as the clerics. Have to assume Officer and/or 'NCO' barracks were here or on the lower/lowest level. 3. Identify any significant defensive measures (traps, fortifications, etc) what and where. Nothing like deadfalls or spiked floors... though I suppose rooms full of sharks and an attacking lobster might be considered 'trappy'. The most 'defensive' measure seemed to be the twists, turns, and odd hallways which make seeing any distance tough (more so underwater!) Choke points would be the stairs up/down to the lower levels. 4. Discover how advanced the sahuagin are, and when they might mount their first attack. They were obviously working on the structure and had changed/added rooms and corridors and more was being worked on -- using slave/prisoner labor. I did not see magic users (though I was not there for all levels of play). Suspect since we killed a good dozen or more warriors and a handful of clerics, we might have poked at the hornet's nest -- which might force the sahuagin to proceed sooner than they had planned.

This is most of the above water level. The portion/rooms to the NNW *I* as a player was not there for so am uncertain if they were explored. Same for the area circling the "?".

I rather send the thief than the cleric. as if you get hit by a trap you are pretty much a dead guy. he can at least disarm traps, move silenty and hide in shadows. we established Last night with the ring you are still going to stand out like a sore thumb. so Oceanus will be the best one to send in and have him check from the 3rd level and 2nd level. otherwise i can go back to manta ray form ring of invis and it'll be the exact same deal as before. but either way i'm thinking send him in. and he can retrieve it. Any thoughts?

Fish elf ready to go boss!

Oceanus as an aquatic elf seems the better choice. Full stealth and especially checking the areas less explored. Seems we may have missed some spots on the 'middle level' and even more other than the death match arena on the lowest level.

This 'middle level' is less certain -- The two "DOWN" stairs are from hand waving deduction since they do not appear on the upper 'above water' map / exploration. Any additional noodling or mapping for this level and the one below (arena level?) would be a big help to those having to go back in to stealth the missed spots.

Should also mention He won't need the ring. so he can easily hide in shadows. and move silently much safer bet. also we should probably consider the fact a secret room was probably missed from you guys running..

I'm a little confused where's the arena on the map of the lizard men? Or is that part of the lair that the sahuguin have modified? If so how long have the lizard men been out of this lair?

The sahuagin took over this lizard man fortress months ago. The arena is the central chamber on the lower (3rd level) map above.

Near as I can make out -- this is the lowest level / death match arena... VERY incomplete though on my part... The parts in pale red/pink are the halls I ran through in character. And looking at the 'up stair case' we flew up to run away from the following attackers, IF it is the same one back up to the middle level, that means I MAY be able to locate the secret hall and room we found (and the glimpse at the HUGE DUDE on his throne).

VERY rough sketch from our 'retreat' from the lower arena level while on the run. THINK the stairs align with the stairs as shown on the arena level... As noted, not absolutely certain how this aligns to the middle level map from the Lizard Men - OR - even really remember how the heck we got out of the area to get 'back' to the stairs up to the surface!

Sounds like you guys need a good cartographer or at least someone who actually takes good notes during the campaign. Granted it's a little difficult to keep accurate notes when people keep dropping in and out eh oh great and powerful one. Oh well I hope you guys got Enuf information to satisfy the boneheaded council. And if not it might be time for a change of venue. Just saying its a great wide world out there guys and it's your oyster.

There will be a "vacation" from the "vacation"....if you can call it that. LOL! There is light at the end of the tunnel for this portion of the campaign, and the payment and XP will be all the more sweeter when it arrives! This has been a hard fought win, and the players deserve every part of it! Good Job All!

if i knew what the party had explored and hasn't explore i could have drawn it up. but well. lol i came in during the middle.

Yeah i'll go back in with the Ring of Invisibility, since i can read and write, have the parchments that i used with chalk so i can write / draw underwater. And i'm a better choice than Oceanus since he doesn't have reading and writing skill, to read the map and write down the info. That way i can finish mapping out the areas. I actually hand draw a copy of the maps give and what was added onto it, I can finish up the map as i go through and use my phone to take pic and send through skype so it can be put in here for the council.

That'll work better chris, but i still think oceanus going with you to search for that horn is a better choice than by yourself. my main point is you need someone with thief skills to help you in case you maybe run into traps or locks. Key question tho is will mike allow you to take 20 on this or not? what i probably paint a map. lol. but what we have to be careful of are you going to die or get captured going back in? how much danger will you be in? Sauhgin are intelligent they will see water displacement and that won't work in your favor. We have leaxle who is a thief and has reading/writing. lets take all the factors into consideration before jumping on a course of action here.

and rather than parchment and chalk.... some slates with a thin coating of wax and a stylus to mark the wax.... worked for the Romans -- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_tablet" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_tablet</a>

and even without displacement of water and what not, you forget the NOISE your armor and gear will make. you dont have to be the hero in every instance chris. let someone with skills Karmadel does NOT have shine, and do the things their class is made for. Oceanus may not have reading/writing, but drawing a crude map and telling us what is where is just as good. and we do have another member who has similar skills, and can read/write, if you want that to be a huge issue.

Robert, love the map editing you have done to show changes, thats awesome. keep it up :)

I want to mention one thing....... I heart grey elves....... :p

Robert D. said: and rather than parchment and chalk.... some slates with a thin coating of wax and a stylus to mark the wax.... worked for the Romans -- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_tablet" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_tablet</a> Preview hidden Show Hide preview A wax tablet is a tablet made of wood and covered with a layer of wax , often linked loosely to a cover tablet, as a "double-leaved" diptych . It was used as a reusable and portable writing surface in Antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages . Cicero 's letters make passing reference to the use of cerae , and some examples of wax-tablets have been preserved in waterlogged deposits in the Roman fort at Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall . Medieval wax tablet books are on display in several European museums. Wikipedia <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_tablet" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_tablet</a> hell of an idea, im making sure Argo buys things of this nature or things to make em, thats hella sweet and would work in a ton of situations.

i prefer using the backs of gnomes :p

Wax tablet directions for use: Store in direct sunlight, avoid cool, dry places.....or was it the other way around?. :P

lol

They 'erased' the tablets by exposing the wax to 50C (122F)... so normal Mediterranean 90s would still not make the wax 'run'. Of course, the cooler then better but... it is a bit easier to work with underwater or in the rain and the stylus has a spatula / flat end so one could smooth over and redraw a word or line drawn. And most came in a 'book' like form so you had a couple of pages to work with and could close them up (tie wrapped closed) once done. It's pretty handy and not much weight -- and not as tough as carrying a ream of parchment, ink making materials (or a stopper bottle of ink), quills, etc. Just a 'fun thing' from history really.

Of course, our stealthly single or doublet that goes back to do the cartography has to hope they can move and mark and whatnot without getting too confused along the way.... or mixed up after being chased down some hallways. I know we escaped the 'huge dude' room but I really don't remember how we got from there to the stairs up... amazing how the mind can zero in on some things and totally blank on others.

yea thats the joy of this game, it has intelligence checks for memory :P which is nice cause personally, im smart as hell, but my memory is eh

I must have rolled for 'memory' about like I was rolling for initiative and to hit... I'm lucky I can find the game on Saturdays at this rate!

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha