Weekly Game Summary #31 (10/03/20)

A Thank You For Playing today's Dungeons & Dragons 5 th Edition game of 10/03/2020 - From 10:00 am EDT, until 1:00 pm EDT, and our 39 th Gaming Session, goes out to:   Monk – Elf – Farren Nidanas - Bahrrenn Drakke Ranger – High Elf – Willie Belson –  Buddy-D Rogue – High Elf - Roqar -  Roxxifarius   Whom Could Not Make It Today!   Cleric – Hill Dwarf - Galdor Brawnanvil - KreizacsRolwiert Druid (Circle of the Land) – Wood Elf – Yuuki Amakiir - Alejan Fighter (Echo Knight) – Xar’Tharkas – Half Orc – Christian W. Wizard – Human - Dolores - Klona     Game Summary for Saturday (10/03/2020):   Opening Scene: Day 13: May 26th; 2:30 pm   Today’s session starts when the Adventurers  are in the middle of a fight with giant acid spitting insects known as Ankhegs, at Tibor Wester’s Logging Camp site in the Neverwinter woods!   Round #02 of Combat begins:   Farren, is down, unconscious from his wounds. We’ll give him a free successful Death Save here, due to DM forgetting about it!   Galdor, casts the Word of Radiance at an Ankheg but makes it’s Constitution save for  no damage thus fully dodging the burning radiance!   Xar’Tharkas, swings his great sword at Ankheg #01 but missed!   Xar’Tharkas’s Time Echo, scores a solid hit on Ankheg #01 for 13 slashing damage, defeating the creature!   Willie, casts his Hunter’s Mark spell, mystically marking his prey, and giving him an extra 1d6 on hits.  He scores a solid hit with an arrow from his long bow for  12 + 5 piercing damage!   Yuuki, casts a Cure Wounds spell upon Roqar, whom is also down from her wounds, healing back  8+11 hit points!   Ankheg #02, bites  Roqar with its Mandibles for 9 slashing + 5 acid damage! Roqar drops to 9 hit points!   Sildar Hallwinter the fighter, swings his long sword  (two-handed) at  Ankheg #02 but missed!   Roqar, strikes Ankheg #02 with the dagger for 2 + 7 sneak attack bonus piercing damage!   Dolores, casts the Fire Bolt spell at Ankheg #02, dealing 4 fire damage!     Round #03 of Combat!   Farren, rolls for a death save, rolling a 10, a success! Galdor, Praying to Tharmekhûl , casts the Cure Wounds spell upon Roqar, healing back 10 hit points!   Xar’Tharkas, Scores a solid hit for 7 slashing damage with his great sword, on Ankheg #02!   Xar’Tharkas’s Time Echo, hits Ankheg #02 with the great sword for 11 slashing damage!   Willie, fires an arrow, at Ankheg #02, for 9 piercing damage, defeathing the creature!   End of Combat!   Galdor, rushes over  to the fallen Farren to cast a Healing Word spell upon him, healing back 8 hit points!   Willie, cast Cure Wounds upon  Roqar, healing back 9 hit points!   Willie, cast two Cure Wounds spells upon Ferren, healing back 3 and 6  hit points!   Ferren, goes looking for medical  herbs and finds some.   Dolores, continues to move the unseen servant about the south end of the camp when a single Ankheg erupts from the ground to see the log the unseen servant is using nearby, but lunges for one of the nearby adventurers, this being Willie, however it missed him!   Round #01 of Combat!   Dolores, casts the Fire Bolt spell at the Ankheg, hitting for 7 fire damage!   Farren, hit s the Ankheg with the short sword for 8 piercing damage!   Farren uses his last Ki point to do 2 unarmed (fists) strikes at the Ankheg, hitting for 12 & 9 bludgeoning damage!   Xar’Tharkas, using his great sword, hits the Ankheg for 13 slashing damge!   Xar’Tharkas’s Time Echo, strikes the Ankheg for 14 damage with the great sword, defeating the creature!   End of Combat!   The rest of the Logging Camp is given a go over with the unseen servant and no ankheg erupts from the grounds around the camp. Some searching is done here and there around the camp now but nothing is to be found where the party had searched.   They make their way to Tibor’s log cabin, to have him sign the paper from his half-brother Harbin, indicating he received the supplies and tell him they believe they found all of the Ankhegs.   Tibor moves his desk away from the door and signs the paper and asks the party to unload the supply cart into the supply room south of the office space, which they proceed to do. Tibor also reminds the party to have Harbin send up more help to repair the camp and start logging again.   As Farren carries a crate into the supply room an Ankheg erupts from the floor sending splinters of wooden planks and dirt flying and trying to bite Farren but it missed!   Combat Round #01 Begins! Xar’Tharkas hits with the great sword for 14 slashing damage to the Ankheg!   Xar’tharkas’s Time Echo, hits for 11 slashing damage with the great sword on the Ankheg!   Galdor, casts the Guiding Bolt at the Ankheg, hitting for 9 radiant damage!   Dolores, casts a Fire Bolt spell at the Ankheg but it dodges it!   Farren, strikes with the short sword, hitting the Ankheg for  10 piercing damage and defeating the creature!   End of Combat!   Tibor is shocked that there was an Ankheg under the floor and believes religious recluses known as the Anchorites of Talos, a tribe of orcs dedicated to Talos, are behind the infestation at the camp. The orcs live an an abandoned old manse in the woods. The party realizes it’s the same place Falcon at the hunter’s lodge wanted the party to go have a look into.   The party finishes unloading the supplies, squeezing them in around the new hole in the floor where the Ankheg popped out.   The adventurers stay overnight at the logger’s camp then head out for falcon’s hunter’s lodge in the Neverwinter woods. Just 3 miles from the lodge they encounter a lone Owlbear!   Yuuki, cast her Speak with Animals spell to try and talk to the creature, telling the creature not to eat anything that travels on the trail or at the hunter’s lodge. The conversation is just gibberish to the rest of the party.   The Owlbear is convinced to turn away and not attack the party and they continue the rest of the way to the hunter’s lodge.   Approaching the west side of the lodge this is what the adventurers see:   A thin fog surrounds a fortified compound standing in a clearing on the east side of a narrow river. A ten-foot-high log palisade surrounds the compound, whose main building is a two-story stone-and-wood affair with a high-pitched roof, gables, window shutters, and a stone chimney. Attached to the main building is a blocky tower of gray stone, its high roof lined with battlements. Other structures include a two-story stable house and a gatehouse whose flat roof is enclosed by iron railings. A stone bridge spans the river, ending before an oaken door set into the gatehouse’s outer wall. Mounted next to the door is a bell with a short rope hanging from its clapper. Crossing over the bridge, looking for a trap, Roqar did not find one. Once on the other side the bell is rung and a fellow peers over a battlement to answer the party.  It is Corwin that greets the party and recognizes Roqar & Willie and sees the rest are new faces, so he is a bit alarmed, though Roqar re-assures him. Corwin, comes down from the battlement to open the door and welcomes them inside and leads them to the guest house, then goes and fetches Falcon to see them. Falcon arrives at the guest house a few minutes later, happy to see Roqar has returned with some new friends, whom Roqar introduces to him.

The group stays overnight at the lodge, with Roqar and Falcon spending some quiet time together and in the morning they head off to the old manse to look for the Anchorites of Talos. Once they arrive at the spot about 10 miles from the lodge this is what is seen: Following a trail through the woods, you come to a foggy clearing, in the midst of which stands a crumbling two-story manse all but hidden beneath thorny ivy. The large house is set atop a six-foot-high stone foundation, and the main entrance has a balcony above it. Pumpkins grow wild in patches around the manse, with several wild boars feeding among them. The boars snort with contempt as you draw near. Stone steps climb to a portico with a stone balcony overhanging it at a height of ten feet. Vines wrap around the balcony’s support pillars and its crumbling stone railing. The ground-floor entrance features a double door with a giant boar’s head crudely carved into it. An unmarred double door stands closed on the balcony. Roqar checks for traps, while going up the stairs but none is found. The door is opened easily, since it was wasn’t locked or blocked and the party proceed inside. From the entry hall they see an opening to the north into a parlor, an old fireplace on the south wall, a busted door at the top of stairs going down into a courtyard. And stairs going up to the second floor are here. The party goes into the parlor first,  it’s door smashed to pieces. The room is s strewn with broken furniture, the remains of chairs, side tables and a wine cabinet. There is a moldy circular rug covering most of the stone floor. Roqar does not perceive anything else out of the ordinary in the parlor. The party then enters a room to the east. The walls are covered with crude drawings in blood that depict boars chasing stick-figure humanoids. A fireplace dominates the south side of the room, and a smashed wooden dining table lies in a heap in the eastern half of the room, surrounded by six broken chairs. Roqar spots several small twig figures resting on the mantelpiece, eight in all, and a tarnished silver candelabrum in the wreckage of the table. The candelabrum looks to be worth something so it is taken and a closer look is had of the twig figures. Roqar, realizes one twig figure looks like her then sees the other resemble the rest of the party members! Roqar pokes the one that looks like her to see if she physically feels the poke herself but does not, instead the figure comes to life and attacks her!   It is now May 27 th at 2:30 pm.   And this ends the gaming session for the day, until next time!   The Adventurers’ Experience Points Earned This Session: Ankheg (4): 450 each * 4 = 1,800 XP Owlbear: 700 XP   2,500 / 7 = 357.14 XP each ----------   Grand Total Experience Points:   Everyone is at 3,695.68 XP  Level 5 reached at 6,500 XP!   Loot Found: Tarnished Silver Candelabrum: 25 gp     Number of Sessions for current Adventure Module: 40th Session for “Lost Mines of Phandelver / Dragon of Icespire Peak” 10/03/2020 [1st Session start was 08/15/2019]