Chapter 3.2 (Session 69, 11th December 2018)

In which our heroes play with a teleporter   Book Two, Chapter 3.2 (session 69, 11 th December 2018)   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)   “What should we try next?” asks Naergon “ How about the flame?” “Yes Ok ” agrees Mads. With that Naergon presses the flame symbol and in a blue haze the party is transported to another chamber. A chamber dominated by a large fireplace in the centre making, for a warm and cosy atmosphere, its smoke magically vented outside. About two-thirds of the skeleton of an adult dragon is laid out on the floor, curled around the fireplace.   As they look across the floor, fully half a dozen, black clad cultists move to the attack. Talis reacts quickly and casts Insect Plague across the chamber, catching a number of the black-robed cultists within a cloud of buzzing, biting insects [concentration]. The cultists scatter to get out of the insect cloud casting spells as they emerge, one casts Hold Person at Tomaz who evades the effect, two cast Spiritual Weapons which attack but fail to hit Naergon. The fourth cultist casts Hold Person at Naergon who evades the effect. The final two cast Spiritual Weapons, one of which attacks and hits Tomaz, the other misses Druscilla. Jamna dodges, moves and readies an action to shoot at the cultist Mads attacks. Mads moves forward and attacks the lead cultist, Jamna shoots [sneak attack] and kills the cultist. Mads steps over the corpse and swings at the next, killing it in a flurry of cuts – one of the spiritual weapons disappears. Tomaz moves and casts Hunters Mark on one of the cultists and shoots it dead, he then shoots a different cultist. Naergon dodges but takes no further action. Druscilla casts Silence across the remaining cultists.   Talis drops her Insect Plague and moves and attacks one of the cultists, as she slams Winters Strike home she screams a war cry that is lost to the Silence spell. One of the cultists runs to the side of the chamber and casts Shield of Faith whilst a Spiritual Weapon moves and attacks Talis, missing. The next cultist moves away from Talis whilst a Spiritual Weapon attacks and misses Naergon. Talis attacks [AOO] and kills it – the Spiritual Weapon dissipates. The third cultist advances and casts Inflict Wounds on Jamna who dodges the attack, a Spiritual Weapon moves and also attacks Jamna and misses. Jamna continues to dodge, moving away from the cultist who attempts to stab her [AOO] but misses. Jamna then shoots [sneak attack] the cultist near Druscilla and kills it – a Spiritual Weapon disappears. Mads moves and casts Eldritch Blast slamming the final cultist across the room. Tomaz moves his Hunters Mark onto the last cultists and then shoots it dead – the last remaining Spiritual Weapon dissipates.   Tomaz class over his shoulder “ do you think we should disrupt this dragon skeleton, to make sure it doesn’t animate or anything?” “I think you should take a closer look ” replies Naergon “ see if it looks like it will animate”. “OK” says Tomaz “ I’m not happy being in a confined space with a skeletal dragon though” “To be fair ” injects Mads “it’s only two-thirds of a skeleton” “Yeah, that’s two-thirds too many ” mutters Tomaz.   A quick search of the area reveals nothing else of interest – the cultists appear to have been using this chamber principally as a kitchen and dining area. The shelves contain rudimentary crockery and basic food stuffs, nothing else.   “ Does anyone have a preference for where next, or should I press a button at random?” asks Mads “ Before we go anywhere, we should do something about this dragon skeleton ” says Tomaz “ maybe take some bones so it can’t re-animate” “Well it’s already missing its skull and forelimbs ” points out Mads “ but if you’re concerned why not just take a few vertebrae, that way if it animates it’ll fall over ”. “ Good idea, I’ll do that” says Tomaz “ but they’re a bit big and heavy to carry” “So why not just smash them up and chuck them on the fire?” says Mads. “ Even better” says Tomaz, who proceeds to spend some minutes doing precisely that.   Mads turns to Naergon “ look at that, when he’s not writing your report card, he’s vandalising dead creatures ” Naergon chuckles “well he has to do something to prove his worth I guess”. “His worth to you?” asks Mads, “ no, not to me as such. I can’t put a value on that” “Ah” replies Mads, “priceless you mean ” Naergon nods “ absolutely priceless, indeed ”. Tomaz looks up “ you’ll appreciate this when we don’t end up fighting a skeletal dragon later ” grumbles Tomaz. “ But, how would I know it was this skeleton?” smirks Naergon.   “Anyway” says Mads “ I select the red triangle next, are we ready to go?” And so saying he presses the symbol, moments later the party materialises outside the tower on the entrance platform, the body of the dead cultists still lies pulped to one side and the entrance to the village is visible down the long hedge-lined path, beyond the sundial. There is no control panel here, so everyone steps off and then back on the pad. Just as it activates Tomaz and Druscilla notice what looks to be the shadow of a large winged creature pass across the village in the distance. The party find themselves back in the balcony area.   “Ok, let’s try this blue hook then” says Mads and with that the party is teleported to a small round metal lined chamber with a single door. Mads opens the door into a short corridor with a door to his left, as he does so a black robed cultist turns to stare at him and shouts “intruders!” before advancing, drawing a short sword. Mads swings his glaive [AOO] killing it instantly whilst urging Tomaz to move ahead [superiority dice]. Tomaz cautiously advances to his right and calls out “ I can see at least three more cultists” as he ducks two crossbow bolts that come flying out at him from doorways. Druscilla creeps forward and spots a cultist hiding around the corner, she shoots and hits. The cultist responds by shooting back [readied action] but misses the heavily armoured dwarf. Tomaz shoots at a cultist, killing it instantly, turning he shoots at another cultist, the arrow slamming home as the robed figure continues to shakily loading its crossbow. Jamna dodges and moves out into the corridor and shoots at the wounded cultist, killing it. Talis moves out and dodges under cover. Naergon follows her, also dodging. Mads advances through the door and slashes at the cultist hiding within, killing it instantly “ there’s more open doors this way ” he shouts. Another robed figure emerges from within and casts Inflict Wounds on Tomaz.   Druscilla hunkers down and readies her crossbow on the far doorway. Tomaz drops his bow and pulls out his spear attacking the robed cultist, plunging the spear into its chest as the cultist screams at him. Tomaz stabs again but the cultist twists aside. Jamna dodges and advances alongside Tomaz and stabs at the cultist with her short sword but misses. Talis creeps along the wall and peers around the corner and then stands alongside mads. Naergon follows her at a distance, Mads steps forward into the room confirming it is unoccupied. The room appears empty except for the half dozen sleeping rolls and packs spread on the stone floor. The robed cultist again casts Inflict Wounds on Tomaz, again draining life energy from the ranger.   Druscilla follows around and stands with Talis and Naergon. Tomaz stabs again and again further wounding the robed figure. Jamna stabs with her short sword and kills it. Tomaz searches the corpse but finds nothing of interest. Mads, Jamna and Talis search the rest of the rooms but find nothing of interest beyond a number of bedrolls – it appears the cultists have been using these empty chambers as a barracks of sorts.

Returning to the teleport Mads selects the green square symbol and teleports the party to a single largely empty chamber that might once have been luxurious but for the ravages of time. A table assembled from planks laid across barrels is covered in notes and scrolls and a pair of sleeping rolls are laid out on opposite sides of an ancient, dilapidated bed. Naergon checks out the scrolls and notes – they all pertain to the making of dracoliches. Mads and Talis are quick to point out that the making of dracoliches was the primary goal of the original cult before Severin subverted it to furthering the return of Tiamat. And that Iskander, their cult contact, claimed that the cult here was part of the old cult and only loosely connected with Severin’s plans.   Once again Mads leads the party back to the teleport and selects the yellow rectangle. As they emerge they see a large circular chamber, the walls covered in painted renditions of dracoliches. In the centre sits a stone altar, to either side of which are propped the skeletal forelimbs of a dragon. Against the walls are three old, stained fonts and the floor is engraved with some kind of arcane symbol. Half a dozen or more black clad cultists look up in surprise, two of them wearing formal robes.   Talis casts Silence across the central altar. One of the robed cultists moves out of the silence and shouts “ Drakko Animus” and cackles. The other robed figure steps to the side and casts Greater Invisibility. Naergon casts Firebolt at the robed cultist. Druscilla moves towards the invisible cultist, converting her rod into a battle-axe and readies an action to attack the cultist when it re-appears. Tomaz stabs the cultists next to him twice, wounding it both times, the cultist responds by casting Inflict Wounds and leaching the life force from Tomaz. The other cultists all cast Spiritual Weapon and attack Naergon and Jamna to no effect. Jamna dodges and moves towards Druscilla, as she passes the altar one of the dragon claws reaches out and attacks her (AOO) but misses. Jamna shoots one of the cultists [sneak attack] killing it before moving again, this time the other dragon claw attacks (AOO) and misses. Mads casts Fireball across the centre of the chamber killing the visible robed cultist and burning several of the others and the dragon claws.   Talis casts Sacred Flame at one of the cultists, killing it – one of the Spiritual Weapons dissipates. From the far side of the chamber the sound of spellcasting can be heard as the invisible robed cultist casts Cone of Cold across the party. Naergon’s ring protects him from the blast of cold, Druscilla, Jamna and Mads evade the worst of it but Tomaz takes the full brunt of the spell and is frozen in place whilst Talis staggers under the blast and loses her concentration on the Silence which dissipates. Naergon casts Firebolt and burns one of the cultists badly. Druscilla moves towards the sound of casting and readies an action to attack the caster. Tomaz continues to freeze in place [failed death save] as one of the cultists casts Sacred Flame at Mads, who dodges the effect whilst the Spiritual Weapon moves and attacks Naergon but misses. Another cultist advances on Naergon and casts Inflict Wounds but Naergon avoids it the Spiritual Weapon also attacks Naergon, this time hitting the wizard. The last cultist casts Sacred Flame at Druscilla who dodges the effect, the Spiritual Weapon attacks Mads, wounding him. Jamna dodges and moves forward and stabs the cultist near Naergon [sneak attack] killing it – one of the Spiritual Weapons disappears. Mads moves and casts Eldritch Blast, wounding a cultist and slamming it back 10 feet.   Talis casts Cure Wounds on herself and then moves across behind Druscilla. From the far side of the chamber the invisible cultists casts Fireball, engulfing Naergon, Jamna, Druscilla and Mads in the flames. Jamna avoids any damage [evasion], Naergon [save] and Mads [legendary resistance] manage to avoid the worst of it but Druscilla and the frozen Tomaz [failed death save] take the full force of the blast. Naergon moves forward and casts Firebolt at one of the cultists, burning it badly. Druscilla casts Cure Wounds on Tomaz, reviving him. Tomaz also casts Cure Wounds on himself and moves back. One of the cultists moves forward and casts Inflict Wounds on Naergon but fails to connect whilst the Spiritual Weapon attacks Jamna and misses. The other cultists steps up to Talis and casts Inflict Wounds but misses, the Spiritual Weapon attacks Jamna and also misses. Jamna dodges and moves sideways to shoot the cultist attacking Talis [sneak] killing it. Mads advances on the remaining cultist and cuts it down in a flurry of blows.   Talis casts Cure Wounds on herself. The invisible cultist casts Ice Storm from the rear of the chamber, Naergon attempts to counterspell but fails. Naergon evades and resists some of the damage, Jamna dodges the damage entirely [evasion], Mads and Tomaz dodge the worst of it but Druscilla takes the full brunt. The cultists then steps through Naergon’s zone of see invisibility before disappearing again. Naergon casts Expeditious retreat on himself and then moves after the cultist, shouting out its location to the others. Druscilla moves forward out of the ice storm and casts Flame Strike on the area Naergon indicated, the cultist dodges the worst of it but loses his concentration and the invisibility is dropped. Tomaz pulls his bow and shoots the cultist, wounding it. Jamna dodges, moves and shoots the cultist, wounding it. Mads advances through the ice and attacks, cutting the cultist down in a welter of blood. Druscilla casts Mass Cure Wounds on the party.   Naergon says “ we need to rest ”, Druscilla scoffs “ we haven’t got time to rest elf, we need to push on and rescue this Iskander and grab the mask. Mads where haven’t we jumped to yet on this panel?” “Just the hourglass in the centre, it didn’t work when we tried it” replies Mads. “Stuff and nonsense ” grumbles Druscilla “ we were told to grab that hourglass because it was a key – have you tried using it as a key?” “How?” asks Mads. “ I don’t know, touch it to the pad, wear it as a hat, try something” says Druscilla.   “Yeah, well before we do that” says Mads “ does anyone remember in any of these chambers we’ve been to, did any have doors we haven’t explored?” “Only the observatory ” says Talis. “Interesting ” says Mads “ Druscilla, when we fought up on the external balcony there was a door leading from it wasn’t there?” “Yes I believe so, why?” “Well we could go back to the observatory and see if it’s the same door ” explains Mads. Naergon interrupts “ can’t we just try the hourglass theory. I like the sound of that” “OK, if you insist” agrees Mads and he walks up to the control pad “everyone ready?” and presses the hourglass to the panel. With a resounding click the panel depresses and the teleport activates.   Druscilla says “ this must be the basement” “Why’s that then?” asks Mads “ Because it’s bigger than the rest of the chambers, so must be at the bottom.”  “It’s strange though ” says Talis “ the tower looked square from the outside but all the rooms we’ve been in have been circular”. “That’s true ” says Naergon “ but it’s all just dimensional trickery, the maze was dimensional weirdness, I reckon this whole place is just one shifting set of interdimensional locations. It’s all very weird.”   Looking around the find themselves in a rectangular room with a 10 foot high ceiling, as the party arrived ceiling panels flickered into life and started to emit light. There is a control pad on the wall but it lacks the red triangle symbol. There is an exit in the far wall in front of which lie the dead bodies of three cultists. A trail of blood leads into the chamber beyond, from which a strong flickering light can be detected. Upon inspection, the trail of blood leads into the room and ends under the bloody remains of one of the corpses, as if the cultist crawled back in here and died. The other two corpses look like they were stabbed to death in situ.   Peering down the passage Talis can just see what looks to be a fire elemental. “ Oh great” mutters Naergon. Mads summons Ringo into existence and asks him to explore down the corridor whilst invisible. As Ringo creeps forward he reveals that alongside the fire elemental there appears to be two earth elementals in the chamber. Blood streaks the floor, including back to the dead cultists. A second trail of bloody boot prints lead up the corridor past one of the earth elementals. Behind the fire elemental stands a large round table which is covered in scattered papers and books as well as a sturdy chest.   Tomaz shouts down the passage “Iskander, we’re here to rescue you, can you disable these elementals” Talis turns on him “ fool what do you think you’re doing? Shouting warnings to your accomplices are you, you scheming Harper bustard” from beyond the chamber the sound of Tomaz’s voice can be heard echoing endlessly.   Next time: It’s all elemental from here on in   No Levels were gained this session:   Naergon 14 th level Mads 13 th level Jamna 13 th level Tomaz 13 th level Druscilla 13 th level Talis 10 th level     XP earnt is now irrelevant as the rest of TOD is based on milestone XP   In-Game the session ended at 13:00 on 20 th Mirtul 1485 DR   (The last Long Rest was completed at 06:00 by all. The last short rest was completed at 12:00 by all)   Next session Tuesday 18 th December at 19:15