[Spoilers] Return to Greyhawk

[Koram]

Session 20 - 11/25/2022 - "Persimmon and the Dread Lever"


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Session starts with the group having moved back to the keg storage room resupply and then to the forge room so Dour can repair his chainmail.

The party stacks kegs of water (2), ale, raisins, seasonings, hard candy, honey, barley (3) and sunflower seeds. Koram casts purify food and drink on the pile and then loads all the listed kegs into the Bag of Holding.

The group returns to the forge so Dour can patch up the damage to his armor with Koram assisting.

The party heads back north near the blue crystal room and Koram spots a secret door. Eilo summons a fuzzball ape from the Bag of Tricks and names it Persimmon. The room behind the secret door is about 20' X 20' and the NW corner of the room has collapsed. The room contains an empty cage and a 50lb ball and chain, which the group puts in the Bag of Holding. Nothing else if interest is in this chamber, so everyone heads back out and follows the hallway to the east, which dead ends and a door to the south.

While investigating the hallway and door, Eilo notices there is a slot in the ceiling directly above where Easeis is standing in the hallway. She looks closer and warns everyone that there is a portcullis retracted into the ceiling, so Easeis steps back to the west away from the opening. The group also notices a receiving slot in the floor for the portcullis. Magar casts his detect magic ritual, but there appears to be nothing in range, so the group thinks it may be a mechanical trap of some kind. Dour and Koram agree that there is no practical way to stop the portcullis from falling if it is released. Magar uses his mage hand to open the door to the south and the group sees what appears to be another storeroom filled with lots of tools and building materials. There is also a lever on the north wall near where the portcullis is located in the hallway outside to the north. Eilo sends Persimmon towards the east dead end hallway to investigate and the portcullis comes crashing down, making a huge racket, as the ape gets a short distance from the slots in the ceiling and floor. Dour and Koram cannot move the lever and eventually the group gives up on trying to lift it.

Defeated by the stubborn lever, the party heads back out into the hallway to the west and circling back south and east, before being attacked by the giant spiders that must have been attracted by the noise of the portcullis. Koram casts toll the dead and one of the spiders barely flinches. A spider sprays a web at Easeis, trapping him in place. Kismet throws a ball of produce flame, scorching a spider, but is then also hit by a spun web and trapped. Magar moves forward and cuts Easeis free with his dagger. Dour throws a hand axe, burying it into the body of one of the spiders. Easeis kicks the last of the webbing off him and aims a ray of frost at the spider that webbed him, but misses. Another spider sprays a web at Koram, but the webbing clips his shield and piles up on the floor. Eilo focuses her hex and and an eldritch blast on the northern-most spider, hitting it with both force and necrotic energy, killing the arachnid. Koram tolls the dead again, but it seems to not affect the spider near Dour, and the spider responds by biting at Dour, but misses. Kismet, struggling against the webbing entrapping her, tries to throw a ball of produced flame, but is too off balance to hit. The spider furthest to the east scuttles forward across the ceiling and bites Kismet deeply on the shoulder injecting her with poison. Magar begins to cut Kismet free from her web, as he did for Easeis, and then steps back around the corner. Dour moves west and smashes his maul into the spider that attacked Kismet. Easeis mind slivers the same spider spiking psychic damage into its mind. Eilo shifts her hex and eldritch blasts the spider on the floor near Koram just noticeably damaging it, and flits back around the corner to the west. Koram turns and tolls the dead on the spider in front of Kismet and Easeis, the necrotic sound rolling over and killing the creature. Kismet throws another ball of produced flame on the southern spider, but it splashes harmlessly against the wall, and she steps back around the corner with Magar and Eilo. The spider next to Koram lunges to bite at him, but its fangs cannot get through the dwarf's chainmail. Magar steps from behind the corner and severely burns a spider with fire bolt. Dour steps up, winds up a haymaker swing with his maul, but misses. Easeis points a ray of frost at the remaining spider, but just misses, hitting the floor under the spider. Eilo flies out from the corner and eldritch blasts at the last spider but it skitters to the side and she misses. As the spider skitters away from Eilo's eldritch blast, it also avoids a strike from Koram's war hammer. Kismet steps out, throwing a ball of produced flame, but unable to line up correctly with all the combatants in the way. The spider recovers from its jerky maneuvers and clamps its fangs into Koram's leg above his boot, but below his chainmail, drawing blood, but not able to poison the resistant dwarf. Magar steps out and singes the spider with a fire bolt, causing it to shift sideways right into a massive overhand from Dour's maul, smashing its exoskeleton. The party checks themselves over, and no one seems to be too badly injured.

Eilo convinces everyone to go back once again to try and rescue Persimmon. Koram and Dour manage to fix the lever, even adding an extra long handle, from all the tools in the storeroom. Everyone tries to move the lever, but it wont budge. Eilo summons another fuzzball from the Bag of Tricks and gets Artichoke the II axebeak, and Eilo's first command is for Artichoke II to try and lift the lever, but it fails as well. Eilo eventually eldritch blasts the lever from above and using Grasp of Hadar, tries to magically pull the level upwards. All that happens is the lever snaps. Koram repairs the lever with some tools from the room for the distraught fairy, but even with a longer handle now attached, no one can budge the lever.

The group moves on following a zig zagging hallway to the north and then east. The hallway turns south and there is a series of doors on the eastern wall. The first door leads to a bedroom containing typical furnishings like a desk, table and bed. Eilo is sure there is a secret door, but after a half hour of searching, cannot find anything. The middle door on the eastern wall of the south hallway is also a similarly furnished bedroom to the first, but there is a door in the eastern wall of the bedroom opposite the door the party entered on the west wall. The group checks the door and finds it locked. Easeis is unable to pick the look, but Dour is able to force it open. The opening revealed appears to lead into a dark room, but then there is a flickering and the room is replaced by a solid stone wall. Magar detects magic and it seems that the level of magic is fluctuating in time with the appearance and disappearance of the room beyond and the solid wall. It seems the magic may be failing and the opening is flickering in and out of existence. Eilo tries to enter push against the wall, hoping to fall through when the opening appears, but then the magic seems to fail altogether leaving nothing but a solid wall.

The group then settles in, talking for a while before taking a long rest. (PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DISCORD IN CHANNEL ROLEPLAY IS OUT OF SEQUENCE A BIT. SOME OF THE DISCUSSIONS TOOK PLACE AS IF THE PARTY HAD ALREADY COMPLETED THIS SESSION, WHEN IN GAME TIME, THE LONG REST AND DISCUSSION OCCUR BEFORE THE SESSION TAKES PLACE.)

Eilo asks, "Did anyone else have strange dreams last night? I fear some evil in this place is trying to worm its way into our minds.", She then exclaims, "Let's go try and free Persimmon again! That will make things better."

Koram replies, "Nope. Slept like a baby. Nothing like a well made stone floor when ya need a good night's sleep."

Easeis interjects with, "Eilo, why do you get so upset when something happens to your pets after you intentionally put them in dangerous stations? I'm pretty sure they aren't real creatures anyway. They are manifestations of magic. Hrm, that would be an interesting experiment. Kismet, you appear to be attuned to nature. Can you speak with animals?"

"I’m not worried about Persimmon being in a dangerous situation, I’m worried about her being LONELY. We’re in peril all the time, but we’re together.", the distraught fairy replies.

Koram states, "If you want to look on the positive side, Persimmon will just go poof at dawn, and then no more worries."

Eilo sniffles, "But what if she’s like a mayfly, and these short hours are all she has?"

Koram replies, "I will say a prayer for Persimmon to Moradin when we rest, since He is the All-Father and Creator of life. Easeis is probably right in this case though little one. Your bag simply creates a manifestation of magic in the form of an animal." Turning to Easeis, he simply states, "It would be interesting to see if Kismet can speak to them Easeis." Turning back to Eilo, Koram says in a tone usually reserved for talking to upset children during temple services, "Think of this though, Eilo, whether they are with us or not, they disappear at dawn, but you are able to call them back. We saw Artichoke the axebeak "die", but you called it back again."

Eilo throws her little arms partway around Koram’s neck. "Thank you for your kindness. You’re right, Artichoke did come back to us."

Padding along the pitch black corridor, Kismet wearily rubbed her eyes. It hadn’t been easy but she had finally convinced Persimmon to fall asleep. If it hadn’t been for her affection for the tiny fairy, she wouldn’t have bothered with trying to comfort the giant gorilla. Catching sight of the party, she gently tapped the tiny fairy on her shoulder. "Fret not, Eilo. I’ve just come from visiting Persimmon and he is fast asleep. And…it wasn’t easy getting a 500 pound gorilla to fall asleep! I had to tell him stories but he calmed down quick enough. I suspect he will be just fine until he disappears."

"Thank you Kismet, you are a true friend.", responds Eilo, "I may need you to tell me one of those calming stories the next time we rest. I fear my dreams of late."

Seeing Eilo and Kismet together, Koram quietly steps over to them. Sensing his presence, Kismet looks over at Koram.

Koram asks, "Eilo, have you spoken to the Rainbow Unicorn lately? Just wondering if it has said anything to you about some greater evil in our world, not in the Fey, but here. Kismet, anything from the Old Gods?"

A troubled look passes over Kismet's face. "It is hard to say, ever since we came to this wretched place my dreams have been troubled. I suspect this plague, this red death, is only just beginning. I have not felt or heard of anything like this before."

Koram declares, "Lately Moradin's will has been clearer to me than ever during my prayers. There is a clarity to His responses that has never happened before. I feel that we are all somehow tied together, and as a group, have some part to play in facing this evil. I thought perhaps that the two of you might have received some form of message or guidance from your Patrons."

Easeis leans in, "Going from being hired by a headhunter in Greyhawk to being bound by fate is a bit extreme, don't you think?"

"I agree Easeis, but in all the decades I have served Moradin, I have never felt a more direct message from Him. Maybe Fate or some other power had something to do with bringing us all to Helden looking for work at the same time. I can only say that I am absolutely sure there is something more at play here."

"I have not had another message from the Rainbow Unicorn, but I did receive a message from another being, one who hoped to supplant my Patron in my loyalty and affection. I may have enjoyed the test to my fealty a bit too much, and I fear a subtler challenge. I know that something dark and full of guile is trying to make me stray from my path. You do not see the markings of Fate at play here Easeis? I do not know where our journey will lead, but I believe we are all bound together by stronger ties than chance.", and then Eilo adds, "Here, have a pickle."

"Well, slag me!", Koram grumbles, "Some dark critter is playing mind games with ya little one? Stay true to your rainbow horse."

Easeis replies easily, "Moradin doesn't speak to me, and I've never met a Rainbow Unicorn, so no, I can't say I feel drawn to you by fate."

Koram, true to his nature replies, "Totally respect your thoughts and beliefs, Easeis. Not saying you have to feel it, but asking that you simply acknowledge that there may be something more than the simple day to day trials we face."

Rubbing at her eyes, weary to the bone, Kismet eyes her companions. "I shall need to rest soon, I have wounds that need to be healed. Not that I could get any real rest, not with the dreams I’ve been having lately." Her voice trails off as she listens to her companions discuss their predicament and what may be really going on.

Eilo pats Easeis on the shoulder. "It is not always a blessing to be sworn to such. Some days, I imagine the freedom of a quieter life, without the reins of obligation guiding me."

Easeis states plainly, "You have all talked about dreams and tests and not elaborated on them. Are you keeping them secret for a reason?"

Eilo stammers, "I… I am a little embarrassed to say that I enjoyed my time with the “dark critter”, as Koram called it. It appeared in the form of a beautiful unicorn, and I… I asked to ride it. It was a joyful thing, but there was much danger in the enjoyment of it."

"Well, in my case, the differences in Moradin's Word, noted as happening lately, are literally in the last day or two since we came to Roghan and Zelligar's hideout. Since Eilo mentioned foul dreams, thought it might be a good time to discuss."

"You see, I would never ask Rainbow Unicorn for such a thing.", Eilo continues.

Easeis, frustrated, "Would it kill you to speak plainly? Every story has a beginning a middle and an end, and I feel like you left out two of the three."

Koram agrees with Easeis, "I would definitely like to hear more of the story about this Dark Entity that appeared to you as a unicorn, Eilo. All I can tell you, Easeis, is that my loyalty has always been to Moradin, and that he is trying to tell me something that is related to all of us."

Easeis asks, "How is Moradin doing this though? Pretend I've never talked to a God and explain it like I'm a goblin."

Eilo explains, "I will not name the dark critter, but it came to me, disparaging my Rainbow Unicorn and questioning my punishment by her. I knew then that she was evil, because I knew in my heart that I had done wrong by killing a fleeing foe. I deserved to smell foully and cover myself in ashes. But nevertheless, the dark critter was tempting and beautiful, and was the perfect size for me to ride. I told her to never come to me again, and she flung me from her back."

"And was this a dream?", Easeis questioned.

Eilo grimly replies, "A dream, a vision… yes. She gave the true name of my Rainbow Unicorn. It sounded crooked in her mouth."

Easeis wonders, "What if it was really just a dream?"

Eilo, seeming unsure, "Perchance it was, and I have not been tempted by a malign being. I would be happy if it were true."

Koram says to Easeis, "Just as you know that your sorcerous powers come from your force of will, from within you, I know that my power comes from Moradin. During my prayers, or simply my musings throughout the day, I can hear Him whispering his thoughts to me, but as of late His Word has become louder and clearer to me. There is some great evil coming to our world. Even Moradin cannot yet name it, but he is warning us that it approaches and we have some role to play in facing it."

Easeis admits, "I believe you. But you have to admit that you talk about these things rather cryptically unless pressed. Also, the nature of my magic is something of an open question."

"I feel no need to try and press my beliefs on to you or any other, my friend. I simply tell you what I know to be true once I am sure of the message. That is why I brought this up now. As to your magic, I know it is real and unless you tell me it comes from somewhere else, I believe it comes from your inner strength.", Koram states directly.

Eilo, in an uncharacteristic moment of seriousness, "I owe my life to a Rainbow Unicorn. I know I am sometimes a silly fairy, but that is a deep truth that I do not often discuss, openly or not."

"No need to discuss something you do not want to talk about, but you should never waver in your loyalty to your Patron, especially if you truly owe them your life.", Koram replies flatly. "One additional thought, Eilo, if ever a dark evil critter comes knockin', please let us know."

Eilo, curiously asks, "What do you know about the nature of your magic, Easeis?"

"I know that I have it. I can do things that other people can't, and I have never studied to do it, nor pledged myself to a God or other power. It is just there. I have done some reading on basic arcana as a result, but it wasn't terribly helpful.", Easeis states matter-of-factly.

"Well, not that the magic I do is similar to your magic, but if ever ye feel the need to look into it more, just let me know and I'll do what I can to help ye out. Maybe when we aren't in a ridiculously designed stronghold made by a couple of twinkle-toed crazies.", Koram chuckles.

"Right after I get a series of frescos painted telling my life story.", Easeis jokes.

Kismet chimes back in, "I would like to see that one day, Easeis." The tall Druid smiles at the thought of learning his life story. Then hesitantly, "Or we’re you not serious? Sometimes I have difficulty discerning humor from fact."

"It would be a rather short story, and not one I can tell in the present company. He looks over at Dour. Some of our number like to clap people in irons.", Easeis states.

Kismet responds, "Glancing at the sour faced dwarf Perhaps one day you will be free to tell it, I like short stories as well as long."

Koram answers, "Dwarves tend to be practical and pragmatic beings at heart. Believe that no matter your past, I think Dour will look more to your current deeds than your past. That is not what defines you."

"I'd rather keep my feet attached if you don't mind.", comes the straight faced reply from Easeis.

Koram laughs again, "Understood."

Eilo, seemingly a bit back to her old self, "I like stories about the ocean. I would like to see the ocean one day. Oh, and bears. Bear stories are good, too. Maybe Easeis’ story has a bear in it? I bet Dour would like a story about a bear."

Koram smiles, "Dour would definitely like a story about eating a bear.", as he steps away heading for his bedroll.


End Session 20

100 XP for cobat with giant spiders. (Everyone)
100 XP for roleplay in Discord in character channel (Easeis, Eilo, Kismet, Koram)
135 XP for Journal keeping (Koram)

[Koram]

Session 21 - 12/02/2022 - "Zelligar Lost his Marbles... We Found Them"


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Session starts with the group in the middle eastern bedroom that contains the flickering magical door, which appears to have completely failed and is now a blank wall.

Kismet re-summons her owl CoCo, but for some reason is now calling it Pickles.

Easeis opens the door on the west wall so the party can exit the bedroom, but is surprised as a giant centipede immediately lunges at him, narrowly missing. Magar sees the attack, and retaliates with a fire bolt torching the creature to a blackened husk. Two more centipedes attack Easeis in the doorway, and he manages to sidestep one, putting himself closer to the second, which sinks its mandibles into his calf injecting him with poison. Eilo tries to hex and eldritch blast the second centipede, but misses. Easeis twinspells witch bolt and tries to hit both opponents that attacked him, but only succeeds in hitting the one that latched onto his leg. He then closes the door and limps back behind the dwarves closer to the center of the room. Koram nods at Dour, steps up pulling the door open again and casts toll the dead on the arthropod that hit Easeis. Dour moves up alongside Koram at the door and smashes his maul into the same enemy, smashing it with a loud crunch. Kismet casts produce flame, and throws it over the heads of the two dwarves and hits the other centipede that missed Easeis, burning it to a crisp. Artichoke the axebeak charges past the dwarves, trying to get to the creatures that look like food, and manages to bite one with its huge beak, killing it. Two more centipedes scuttle up from the south and attack Artichoke, one biting into the bird's leg and injects the bird with a bit of poison as well. CoCo-Pickles the owl does a flyby on one of the enemies that attacked Artichoke. Eilo flies out into the hallway hitting the centipede that bit Artichoke with hex and eldritch blast, splattering the critter. Easeis heads out into the hallway as well and casts a ray of frost on the remaining centipede, damaging, but not killing it. Koram steps out alongside Easeis, raising his shield to present the holy symbol affixed to it to cast toll the dead, which kills the final opponent.

50 XP per character for combat with giant centipedes

The party moves to the final southernmost door on the eastern wall and Koram inspects it, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. The door opens into a third bedroom, which is unremarkable and contains nothing of interest. Moving back into the hallway heading south and following the hallway as it turns west, the party sees a door on the south wall of the hall. The door is locked, but Easeis makes short work of it with his thieves' tools. As the party opens the door, Koram holds everyone up, noticing something off about the appearance of the floor. After a closer inspection, he clearly makes out a trapdoor the full width of the 10' corridor, running south for about 20', which takes up the entire visible hall before it appears to turn and continue west. Eilo volunteers to check things out and flies down peeking around the corner seeing that the hallway heads west to another door. She checks the door and it appears normal, so she heads back and lets the group know what she saw. The party continues west in the main hall, skipping the trapdoor hallway for now. After heading west, the hall turns north and then splits into two hallways, one turning back east and the other continuing north. The party takes the east hall and come upon a door in the north wall. This door is large and heavily made with an "R" marked into it.

The door opens into what appears to have been a martial training room with targets, climbing ropes, mats, weights, benches and overly heavy weapons in racks on the walls. In addition to the training weapons, there are a few heavy training shields. On an armor stand hangs a suit of well made and unblemished chainmail. Detect magic and identify from Magar reveal the armor to be a suit of +1 chainmail, which the group decides to give to Dour. Magar tests out his fire bolt by flinging one into a target at the far end of the room, blackening a spot it. Feeling confident that a large portion of the hallways and rooms have been explored, the party splits up and begins wandering hallways, eventually ending up back at the bloody footprints in the central main entrance corridor. The party heads back east and circles back around to the hallway with the trapdoor in the floor, this time from the western door at the end of the hallway. Koram ties Dour's old chainmail to a length of rope an tosses it on the trapdoor causing it to fall open. Eilo flies down into the space below and finds a cavern with a passageway and water, and after a brief look, she heads back up to report what she saw to her companions. The group heads back east to check out one unexplored short hall to the north which ends at a locked door.

Easeis deftly pick the lock and the group enters a lavishly appointed bedroom which appear to have been Zelligar's. This is made evident by the 70' long north wall which has a carved mural covering its entirety which shows Zelligar casting a spell over a fleeing army. Magar casts a detect magic ritual and picks up an aura glowing from within a nightstand drawer. Easeis tries to pick the locked drawer and is successful, but gets stung on the finger by a small poison needle in the process. There are four marbles in the drawer, red, blue, black and white which are similar in size to the green marble found in the remains of the gelatinous snot cube. The drawer also contains a spell scroll and Magar sits down to cast his identify ritual on the items. The scroll is contains the phantom steed spell, and Magar takes the scroll to later scribe it into his spell book. Koram puts the marbles with the green marble in the bag of holding. There is a door in the western part of the room on the south wall which opens into a short hallway heading south at the end of which is a large pile of glittering treasure. Magar's detect magic indicates that this is an illusion and that there is also some magic on the floor about 20' into the hall just short of the illusionary treasure pile. Koram spots a small depression in the south wall just to the east of the southern hall which looks like a small soap dish. It contains a yellow marble in a single slot with five additional empty slots set off from the one occupied by the yellow marble. The group discusses it and decides to test the other marbles in the slots. When the yellow marble is pulled out, the illusionary treasure disappears. The red marble creates a fire elemental image at the end of the hall in the same spot as the treasure pile. The blue creates an image of a merman. The black creates an image of an attractive woman in dark robes and tattoos. Eilo flies down the hall to try and talk to the woman, but as she gets close, she is polymorphed into a giant skunk. The white marble creates an image of an angry, red-faced, snarling man, possibly Roghan. The green marble creates the image of a tree. The remaining door to the south is a bathroom/closet. The party finds several books, History of Ferrond Vol. 3, Local Herbalism (in Elvish), Weather of the Wild Coast, and Zelligar's Diary (written in cipher), along with a scroll of the cantrip, Malfon's Distant Whisper, which goes to Magar. Kismet takes the Local Herbalism book, and the remaining are put into the bag of holding. The party leaves Zeilligar's room and heads east down the hallway to an unlocked door which opens into what appears to have been an armory. Several racks remain and non-ferrous metals and leather straps seem to indicate that rust monsters have been here feeding. In frustration for being turned into a skunk, Eilo tries to get the party to attack her, focusing on Easeis, hoping he might knock her unconscious and end the polymorph. Easeis casts ray of frost and mind sliver on Eilo, and eventually she pops back as a giant fairy before returning to her normal form. Another door to the east leads into a large chamber that was obviously once a barracks. The party searches and finds a few relatively intact items including a shield, rusty sword, bear skin, set of leather armor and some coin. Detect magic and identify reveal that the leather armor is magical +1 leather. Easeis and Kismet roll using the dice from Easeis's dice set, with Kismet winning the roll for the armor. The party then moves to explore another room behind a door just east of the central hallway across from the gally/kitchen that appears to have been a large dining hall. There is a pair of large wooden chairs, apparently carved from a single block of wood with an "R" carved into one and a "Z" into the other. A door to the south of the main dining hall leads into a ballroom with a large well-made marble statue in the center. The statue does not radiate any magic and is anchored to the floor. Dour and Koram confer and agree that it was not made by dwarves, but definitely a master craftsman, probably human, and that it is probably worth 5,000gp. Eilo decides she wats to try an remove it from the floor using eldritch blast with grasp of Hadar, but only succeeds in blackening a mark onto the statue.

End Session 21

[Koram]

Session 22 - 12/09/2022 - "The Room of Pools, a Curious Fairy, and the Shadow"


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit - (Portrayed this session by Stel)
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

We pick up this session in the antechamber/ballroom with the marble statue just off the dining hall.

The party finds nothing else of interest and heads back out into the main hallway, and then follow some unexplored halls to the south and east, eventually coming up on doors set in the north wall of the passageway. The party checks the door to the west and enters hallway to the west around the corner with a door on the west wall. This door opens into a carpentry workshop, containing workbenches and woodworking tools.

Leaving the room and following the hallway north, then east, leads the party into a large ballroom/audience chamber with two carved marble thrones with the typical "R" and "Z" carved into them. The room has several stone pillars supporting its high ceiling and tapestries along the walls. There are additional halls to the north, west and south in addition to the hallway where the party entered.

A door between the western hallways leads into a small chamber that appears to have been a small and very basic temple with a small statue and fire pit. The chamber almost seems like an afterthought or token gesture to the god, Therion. There is a thin layer of ash in the fire pit, but the room contains nothing of value.

The SW hallway loops around to a small room with a desk, keg (containing ale), and a bed. There is also a stretched leather tapestry and a plaque which is some honorary award to "Erig - Guard Captain". The party also finds a small amount of coin in the chamber, and a set of half-plate armor in excellent condition. Magar ritually casts detect magic, showing that the medium weight armor is magical, and then ritually identifies it as half-plate +1. The party agrees to give this armor set to Koram.

The party exits this room and heads to the NW of the throne room finding a door on the north wall of the northernmost west passage. This door opens into a room full of various oddities. There is a stone carving of a basilisk, a dwarf skeleton chained to the wall, the flank skin of a young brass dragon. Koram says a quick prayer over the dwarven skeleton, then the remains and brass dragon skin are placed in the bag of holding.

Further down the hallway to the west is a door on the south wall which leads into a room that is empty except for a set of stairs in the NW corner heading down.

The party returns again to the throne room and then heads up the hallway to the north which turns east, and comes to a dead end with a tapestry covering a small alcove behind it to the east. The dwarves investigate and find a hidden door in the alcove which opens into a large oddly curve-shaped room that looks to have been Roghan's bedchamber. There is a large bed with the now familiar "R" carved into its oaken headboard. There are tapestries in each of the four curved corners of the chamber which all show Roghan and Zelligar in various scenes. There are two hidden doors, one on the south wall leading back into the north wall of the throne room, and one in the SE rounded corner leading into a small north-south hallway that runs behind the eastern wall of the throne room. Ritual detect magic by Magar reveals nothing in Roghan's bedroom.

The hallway leads to another bedroom to the SE of the throne room. There is a mirror in the corner of the room with a decorative frame that has the words "Safe Haven" carved into it in Elvish. Magar's detect magic is still in effect and detects a magical aura emanating from a small wooden box in a bedside vanity. The box contains a wooden block and a baby rattle, both glowing with magic. Magar casts the identify ritual twice, revealing the block to be Talith's Toy Block, an item that allows it's user to cast several spells including, comprehend languages, tongues, speak with animals/dead/plants, and silence using its three charges per day. The block goes to Easeis. The rattle is identified as Talitha's Baby Rattle which allows its wielder to cast detect thoughts at will, suggestion once per day on a creature affected by the rattle's detect thoughts, and the Make Noms! cantrip three times a day, basically creating a small amount of food and drink for a snack. The rattle goes to Eilo.

The party heads back to the north and follows the hallway to a large chamber with ceramic tile floors containing 14 pools in bowl shaped basins about 10' across and 5' deep at the center. Many of the pools are glowing in various colors and some radiate magic when Magar casts the detect magic ritual. There is one pool near the center of the chamber shrouded in shadow. Eilo immediately wants to go begin investigating and drinking from the various pools. The green pool immediately SW of the door emanates enchantment magic. Eilo drops a pickle into the pool, but nothing happens, so she takes the pickle back out. A red pool also to the SW does not emanate magic and has a few cups on the edge of the pool. Eilo takes a cup, dipping it into the pool, and then taking a drink. This non-magical pool appears to contain red wine. The blue pool immediately NW of the entrance door appears to be filled with water, emanates a faint magic, and is full of koi fish swimming around in it. There is a swirling white pool further SW in the room that appears to contain some kind of syrup. Eilo takes her cup from the wine pool and dips it into the syrup. She is about to taste the syrup, but then decides at the last minute she isn't comfortable with the idea, and dumps the syrup out. The blue pool along the south wall contains an clear fizzing liquid with an unpleasant odor. Even though Eilo didn't taste the syrup, she decides to taste the unpleasant smelling fizzy water and is immediately poisoned, but she does manage to see the outline of a small key in the bottom of the pool. By now, everyone has moved into the chamber and are at least looking into the pools and checking out the chamber.

As Dour is moving towards the furthest west pool in the room, which contains a slimy looking green fluid, a green proboscis like appendage shoots from the pool narrowly missing Dour as he sidesteps. Koram steps up and tolls the dead, but it seems to have no effect. Eilo casts hex and eldritch blast, obviously hitting the slime as it ripples from the impact. Magar's mind sliver also seems to have no impact on the creature. Kismet throws a ball of produced flame hitting the slime in a flash of flames. Easeis follows up Kismet's fire with a ray of frost, icing over a small section of the enemy. Artichoke charges in and slams its beak into the slime tearing a hunk out of it. Dour slams his maul into the slime with a splatter, but it reforms as his weapon begins to smoke from the acidic body of the opponent. The slime lashes out hitting Artichoke, dropping the axebeak which disappears in a puff of magic. The slime also lashes out at Dour, missing, but splashing a bit of acid on him. Koram again rings out a toll the dead, but again, it seems to have no impact on the creature. CoCo the owl does a flyby distracting the slime as Eilo unleashes her eldritch blast, the force and necrotic damage tearing into the creature. Magar drops his dagger into the green enchantment pool, and then launches a fire bolt at the slime, which shudders and then dissolves back into the pool. Eilo definitely thinks Magar is the best wizard ever. Magar then uses his mage hand to remove the key from the southern blue pool, handing it to Eilo, as she winces in pain from the caustic fluid on it. She shakes the key off and hands it to Koram, asking him to keep it in the bag of holding. The party then investigates the blue pool furthest to the west which does not radiate magic and looks like plain water. Eilo takes a sip and verifies that it seems to just be water. Eilo then heads over and takes a sip from the purple pool, instantly feeling a bit of relief from the burning poison, but still feels its effects. Koram casts lesser restoration removing the lingering poison affecting Eilo. Easeis, meanwhile, approaches the pool in the center of the room that is enveloped in shadow, and using the Torch of M, begins to investigate it. Suddenly, a shadowy blur streaks away from the pool directly at Magar, enveloping him in a circle of darkness and something tears at him from the blackness. Dour eyes up the darkness and throws a handaxe at where he remembers seeing the shadow that flew towards Magar, hearing a screech as the axe hits something. Magar casts mage armor trying to defend himself since he cannot see an enemy. Koram moves up to the edge of the darkness and swings his war hammer in the direction of where he thinks the shadow creature went, but hits nothing. Kismet fares no better, throwing a ball of produced flame, which passes through the darkness and splashes against the wall behind the darkness. CoCo-Pickles flies into the darkness trying for a flyby, but cannot see any target. Easeis says the smarty pants command, causing the Torch of M to blaze with light, dispelling the darkness, revealing a vaguely humanoid shadowy figure surrounding Magar. Eilo casts hex and eldritch blast on the shadow, and it flinches from the impact before being pulled by the grasp of Hadar into the silvery syrup pool. Koram moves in and lands a wicked slam with his war hammer. The shadow attacks Magar again, but at the last second, a shield of magic springs from Magar's hand deflecting the attack. Dour draws and throws his second handaxe sinking it into the shadow creature's body. Koram readies his guiding bolt spell, but holds off on releasing it until after CoCo-Pickles flies in to distract the shadow. Kismet throws a ball of produced flame clipping the edge of the shadow monster's form, and then CoCo-Pickles dives in causing the creature to momentarily look up at the owl. Koram takes advantage of this, releasing his guiding bolt of radiant energy which flares as it hits the creature causing it to scream in pain. Easeis, using the fading glow of the guiding bolt, easily targets the creature with a witch bolt and electricity surges into the shadow. Seeing the creature's adverse reaction to the radiant damage from the guiding bolt, Eilo casts sacred flame hoping the damage will be very effective against the shadow. The shadow has slightly recovered from the onslaught however, and manages to dodge into the west wall of the room, vanishing from sight.


End Session 22

[Koram]

Session 23 - 12/16/2022 - "Further Pool Investigation and Return of the Shadow"


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools - (Portrayed this session by Stel)
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Pick up this session immediately after the Shadow vanishes through the west wall of the pool chamber.

Everyone drinks from the purple healing pool to recover some health from the battle. Dour climbs down in to the now vacant dark pool, but finds nothing in the murky swirling shadows. Easeis says that he is going over to check out the syrup pool, but just inspects it and doesn't taste it. Dour checks the white glowing pool that radiates evocation magic and it turns out that it is just a mineral water hot tub. Eilo investigates the NE clear pool giving off evocation, takes a small sip of the clear liquid, and is chilled almost to the point of being injured. Magar, Kismet, Easeis and Koram keep and eye out around the room in case the Shadow returns. Eilo and Dour move to the light blue pool in the NW corner of the room which gives off abjuration magic. Dour dips one of his handaxes into the pool, but nothing happens, so he drinks a cupful of the fizzing water, and begins to glow with a white light. It appears that, when consumed, the water causes the drinker to give off an aura based on their alignment. Eilo, Magar and Kismet all try the fizzy water from the pool and glow green. Easeis and Koram are still busy keeping watch and don't drink from the pool. The northern pool glowing with a golden light gives off both conjuration and illusion magic, appears to be regular water, and has a pile of gold and gems in the bottom. The far NE blue pool is very low on water and radiates illusion magic. Dour takes a sip and is silenced. The gold glowing northern pool also has a plain earthenware cup sitting on its rim. Magar casts identify on the cup and the spell reveals that the cup appears to have an link to the magic of the golden pool. Kismet has CoCo-BoomBoom the owl take a drink from the gold pool, and Magar also takes a drink, but nothing happens to either of them. Dumping the water from the cup out of the earthenware cup outside the pool also does nothing. Dour places 5 GP into the cup and submerges it in the pool, there is a small flash of magic and he finds that there is now 10 GP in the cup. Dour tries again with 10 PP, but nothing happens. Koram places an azurite gem in the cup and it also duplicates. Magar manages to fit 50 GP in the cup and gets 100 GP back. Kismet duplicates 15 PP into 26 PP, and then Eilo duplicates the 26 PP into 52 PP. Easeis puts 49 PP and a pearl worth 100 GP into the pool and duplicates those. The party splits up the platinum after Kismet takes back her initial 13 PP and the 2 leftover after the even split. The party gives Easeis the extra pearl, but he declines stating he won't need it as a material component. Koram and Dour search the room, and locate a secret door in the SE wall that leads into a small bedroom. It appears to have been the room of an advisor to Zelligar and Roghan. There is a small chest full of burned paperwork, 3 scroll tubes with only one intact and a large amethyst worth 100 GP. There is a painting of Wooley Bay on the wall worth 50 GP to 100 GP. There are some small legible sections of paperwork. "She has gone and taken it with her...", "Subject appears to have been poisoned...", and "...has agreed to pay restitution of...". The unburned scroll case contains a spell scroll of Blur. The party heads back to Roghan's oddly shaped bedroom and take a long rest to recover spells and heal.

After an uneventful night's sleep, the party heads back to the pool chamber and find that the Shadow has returned to its pool. Easeis immediately uses the "Smartypants" command on the Torch of M dispelling the Shadow's ring of darkness. Koram moves to get perfect line of sight and hold his guiding bolt spell, waiting for CoCo-BoomBoom the owl to distract the Shadow. Magar points at the shadow hitting it with mind sliver. Dour charges in and hammers the shadow with his maul. CoCo-BoomBoom does a fly-by distracting the Shadow momentarily, and Koram releases his guiding bolt, and the radiant bolt solidly strikes the Shadow. The creature rakes its dark claws through Dour, tearing at his mind. Knowing the creature has reacted noticeably to radiant spells, Kismet raises her hand and calls down a moonbeam from above, enveloping the Shadow in ghostly flame. Eilo takes advantage of the flickering outline left by Koram's guiding bolt and fires sacred flame, also striking the shadow with radiant damage.


End Session 23 (top of initiative)

[Koram]

Session 24 - 12/16/2022 - "End of the Shadow and the Spiders"


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit - (Portrayed this session by Stel)
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

This session begins at the top of initiative against the shadow.

There is a momentary break in combat as Easeis recognizes that the shadow creatures whisperings are actually it speaking in Abyssal. It tells Easeis that it just wants to be freed from its slavery here on this plane so it can return to the Abyss. Easeis relays this to the everyone and the group holds their attacks, but remains ready. Eilo casts detect thoughts and reads the shadow revealing that on the surface its thoughts match what Easeis revealed to the party. Easeis then uses Talitha's Toy Block to cast tongues and comprehend languages allowing him to fully communicate and understand the shadow. It tells Easeis that Zelligar compelled it to attack anyone that did not speak a password or that was escorted to the chamber of pools. Koram moves up and speaks to Easeis, looking for an honest opinion of the shadow. Magar further investigates the green pool near the door and CoCo-BoomBoom the owl lands on the green pool's rim. Dour readies an attack in case the shadow is bluffing, but the shadow sinks lower into its swirling inky pool. The shadow relates that something in the room is holding it here, but it is unsure of exactly what. The group spreads out and investigates the room, trying the various pools and the key that was found in the southern blue pool in several combinations of actions. Easeis moves the shadow to the northeast pool of light, but it has no effect. Eventually Koram spots a single black koi fish among all the regular orange and white specimens in the fish pool, so he makes a grab for it but misses. The shadow is relaying to Easeis that its compulsion to attack is growing and that it cannot hold itself back much longer. Eilo casts suggestion telling the shadow to return to its pool hoping that it will help it to control itself a bit longer. Magar uses his mage hand to grab the black koi and move it to the black pool, but nothing happens. Dour moves back to cover the door in case of any wandering creatures. Koram casts toll the dead on the floating black koi fish and the shadow howls in pain. Magar has his mage hand send the koi across the room towards the shadow, but as it passes by Dour, he smashes the fish with his maul. This frees the shadow creature and it swirls into the floor, returning to the Abyss. Eilo finally can't deal with not knowing what the syrup pool is for and jumps in to search it, finding...syrup. She exits the syrup and heads to the hot tub pool to clean up. The party decides there is nothing further to be gained here and decides to head to the room that had the descending stairs. Eilo summons a fuzzy from the bag of tricks, and ends up with Artichoke III, the axebeak.

The chamber at the bottom of the stairs is only partially finished and contains some old mining tools. A door to the east leads to a hallway heading north into a suspiciously empty unfinished chamber. From the main chamber there are also tunnels heading SW and SE, and the party decides to head SW, leading them into another small unfinished chamber opening to the east with a tunnel heading off to the west. there are some empty crates and barrels, but nothing else of interest. The group heads down the west tunnel which loops back to the NE and then splits into two tunnels, one NE and one NW. There are webs covering the floor to ceiling in the NE tunnel. As the group cautiously approaches the intersection, swarms of spiders flood from the NE tunnel along the floor, walls an ceiling attempting to engulf Dour and Koram with another heading for Easeis. The spiders have no luck getting through the heavier layered armor of the dwarves. Kismet casts produce flame turning some of the swarm into blackened husks, but there are still many spiders left. Koram holds out his shield and toll the dead emanates from the holy symbol emblem causing many spiders on his shield arm to blacken and die from the necrotic sound. Magar follows up with a fire bolt, scorching more of the arachnids. Easeis twin spells witch bolt sending electricity at both the swarm above his head and the swarm around Dour, exploding a major part of the spiders on Dour and many from the ceiling swarm as well. Easeis then moves back as Eilo has Artichoke the axebeak charge past trying to eat the spiders off Dour's chainmail. Kismet has CoCo-BoomBoom the owl flyby the ceiling swarm distracting them just in time for Eilo to fly up and eldritch blast the spiders on the ceiling. The beam of crackling energy hits the swarm dead center, blasting that group of spiders into pieces. The spiders on Dour and Koram still can't seem to find any gaps in the dwarves' armor. A giant spider, mother of the swarms, charges out of the webs in the NE tunnel and sinks its dripping fangs into Artichoke. Dour tries to carefully smash the last spiders off Koram's back, but can't find an angle for a hit. Kismet throws a ball of flame at the swarm on Dour but misses. Koram again tolls the dead and more spiders curl up and drop from his armor. Easeis focuses and his witch bolt surges with electricity frying more spiders off Dour. Artichoke tries to hit the giant spider, but being afflicted with poison, stumbles and misses. Kismet sends CoCo-BoomBoom to flyby and distract the mother spider, but while flying into the tunnel, the owl gets trapped in a web. Eilo tries to hex and eldritch blast the giant spider, but in trying to not hit anyone else in the narrow tunnel, misses, so she flies up near the ceiling for a better line of sight. Some of the remaining spiders on the ceiling drop onto Eilo and she gets a few nasty bites. The few remaining spiders on Koram still find no gaps in his armor. The giant spider shoots a web at Dour but it flies wide and hits the tunnel wall. The spider brood mother also bites Artichoke again, killing the axebeak. Dour moves up into the NE tunnel at the edge of the webs and swipes at the spiders on Koram, but misses the few spiders left on Koram's armor. Kismet throws a ball of flame at the spiders on Koram, but the fire skims past not hitting any of the remaining creatures. Koram again tolls the dead, but it the few remaining spiders remain after the cantrip. Magar lines up a fire bolt and the flames hit the spiders left on Koram, burning them off. Easeis again sends power into his witch bolt and the electricity kills off the last of the small spiders in the tunnel leaving only the giant spider mother. Eilo eldritch blasts at the giant spider but misses. Dour swings his maul and Kismet throws a ball of fire, but both miss. Koram swings his warhammer and lands a crushing hit on the giant spider. Another group of small spiders emerges from the webs attracted by the struggling CoCo-BoomBoom, swarming over the owl and killing the familiar. Magar fire bolts the giant spider scorching it a bit. Easeis casts a mind sliver, but it flies wide. Eilo land a hex and eldritch blast on the large arachnid. Koram and Dour both swing at the giant spider and Kismet throws a ball of fire, but all three miss. Koram calls a spiritual hammer into existence behind the giant spider and the weapon lands a solid hit. The new swarm that killed Kismet's owl swarm over Dour and find some gaps in his armor biting him multiple times. A fifth spider horde rushes from the webs and swarms over Koram, but cannot find any exposed flesh to bite. Magar conjures an ice knife and hurls it at the mother spider, but it strikes the tunnel wall exploding into icy shrapnel that cuts into both Dour and the swarm covering him along with Koram. Easeis threads a ray of frost through the melee and strikes the giant spider. Eilo fires an eldritch blast but it doesn't land a hit. The spiders swarming over Dour find seem to have no further luck biting him, but the giant spider manages to land a bite that just penetrates his chainmail and leaves two small wounds dripping poison. Taking advantage of the spider brood mother being so close after her bite, Dour winds up a massive overhand swing with his maul, crushing through the huge arachnid's carapace, killing it instantly. After the killing blow, Dour takes a deep breath and his wounds seem less severe. Kismet throws a ball of fire and burns a few of the small spiders swarming Dour. Koram rakes the handle of his warhammer down his chest, crushing and brushing off many of the spiders on him. He then mentally commands his spiritual hammer to spin around and strike the remaining spiders from his back, leaving him clear. More spiders pour from the webs, making this the sixth swarm of small spiders the group has faced, rushing at Kismet, but she manages to dodge out of the way. Magar launches a fire bolt at the swarm covering dour and burns many of the spiders off him. Easeis almost simultaneously points and a ray of frost freezes more of the spiders from Dour. Eilo fires an eldritch blast at the remaining spiders on Dour, but the beam of magic hit the ground at Dour's feet.


End Session 24 (Top of initiative) - Session 25 will be an extended holiday special on Monday 12/16 at noon to ????

216 XP for sessions 12/9 - 12/23 (not including the current spider battle)

XP totals --- Eilo, Easeis and Kismet 3,011 - Dour and Magar 2,861 - Koram 3,146

[Koram]

Session 25 (Part 1) - 12/26/2022 - Special Monday Extended Holiday Session - two part


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Begin session at the top of initiative against the remaining couple of spider swarms with several swarms and the giant mother spider already dispatched.

The spiders swarming on Dour again fail to find any meaningful openings in his armor to land any bites. Koram tries to crush some of the spiders on Kismet with his warhammer, missing, but manages to smash several off her with his spirit weapon. The swarm on Kismet finds her to be easier prey than the heavily armored dwarves, and manages a large amount of bites around and through her leather armor. Kismet reeling from all the bites is forced to cast cure wounds on herself. Dour manages to sweep his maul down his body crushing most of the spiders on the front of his body. Magar fire bolts the spiders on Dour's back, burning the remaining spiders away. Easeis casts a ray of frost on the swarm covering Kismet freezing a good number of spiders off of her. Eilo transfers her hex to the last of the swarm on Kismet, landing a solid eldritch blast and killing off the last of the spiders with the necrotic damage from her hex.

66 XP for the spider battle.

The party searches the webs in the immediate area and following the tunnel NE finds that it wraps back to the SW and a dead end with nothing of interest. Everyone backtracks to the split in the tunnel where the group killed the spiders and takes the passage to the west. The west tunnel turns north after a short way and ends in a chamber with some blood stains on the floor. There is an opening to the north into another chamber which contains a partially eaten corpse of an unrecognizable humanoid. There is a set of bloody footprints heading north away from the corpse. The tunnel north splits to the NE and E.

The party heads back east in the general direction of the initial room where they came down the stairs to the lower level. Arriving at a "T" intersection, they see a hallway to the south and a heavy barred gate to the north with a large glowing rock in the center of the room behind the gate. Easeis tries to unlock the gate with his thieves' tools, but finds that the lock is extremely complex and fails to figure out how to unlock it. Eilo offers to squeeze through the bars, but does not have to as Koram pulls out the key that the group found in the pool chamber on the first floor, which unlocks the gate. It turns out that the rock is a large solid deposit of mica with a black stone at its base carved with the words "Weal and Woe". As the party begins to investigate the chamber, a magic mouth appears near the mica deposit and proclaims, "Behold! This is the Stone of Weal and Woe. The masters tried to figure out its benefits and curses. Leave the stone be, FOOLS!". Eilo approaches the stone with a glimmering in her eye saying that she really wants to touch the stone and see what it does, but restrains herself.

The party heads back to the split to the NE, which again splits, now N and E. The party heads north and finds a room with ash and debris from a hole in the ceiling, and determines that it is the opening from the well in the forge/smithy, which is confirmed by Eilo who had flown down from above previously.

The group follows a passageway north out of the chamber below the forge well which leads to a 4-way intersection with new tunnels to the N, E and W. The party heads west and comes upon a chamber with an unfinished statue to the south. The statue appears to have been partially completed long ago, but more recently has been defaced and damaged with paint, defecation, and weapon strikes.

Eilo leads the party back to the north to an open door and surprises a large goblinoid creature. It yells something along the lines of "holy crap!", and flees to the north. Eilo summons a baboon from her bag of tricks, and allows the party to catch up. Advancing to the north, Easeis says, "Hello friends.", in goblin, as the party comes upon a group of bugbears in a medium sized cavern with what appears to be a camp set up in the northern end. There also appears to be a small humanoid prisoner bound and sitting along the western wall in the camp. One of the bugbears responds to Easeis by telling the group to drop their weapons and surrender or they will crush our skulls and break our bones. Five bugbears advance to attack. One holds back, throwing a javelin at Kismet, but missing. Dour responds by throwing a handaxe back striking his target squarely. Another enemy advances on Dour, swinging its morningstar twice, but missing both times. Plants and vines erupt from the floor as Kismet casts entangle, capturing two of the four advancing bugbears including the apparent leader. Magar, who was bringing up the rear of the party, advances into the chamber and shuts the door behind him so nothing can sneak up behind the group. He launches a fire bolt at one of the unrestrained enemies on the left side of the entanglement area, but misses. Easeis uses his sorcery powers to subtle cast charm person on the lead bugbear. Eilo's baboon attacks the lead bugbear, but misses. Eilo casts bless on Dour, Kismet and Koram, increasing their strengthening their attacks and resolve. Koram casts spiritual weapon, summoning a ghostly hammer behind the lead bugbear, landing a crushing hit, advances and also tries to hit the leader with his warhammer, but misses. One of the bugbears on the left that was not entangled by Kismet's vines runs over and tries to cut his leader free. The fifth bugbear that hung back also advances to assist and the lead bugbear is cut from the entanglement. The other enemy unaffected by the entangling vines runs up and swings his morningstar at Koram, but misses. CoCo the owl does a flyby on the newly freed bugbear leader. The entangling vines manage to snare the left front and rear right bugbears in the covered area. Dour launches a sweeping haymaker with his maul, hammering the opposing leader, but the tough enemy responds with two swings of his morningstar, landing one crushing hit on Dour. Kismet casts produce flame and throws it at the leader, but the small ball of fire flies wide. Magar moves to get a good line of sight and casts fire bolt, scorching the leader who grunts in pain. Easeis twin spells a witch bolt, hitting both the leader and one of the free enemies to the left in the entanglement. Eilo's baboon tries to pummel the leader, but misses. Eilo eldritch blasts the leader, but he still holds his ground. Koram swings his warhammer at one of the bugbears on the right side of the entanglement, hitting the enemy with a glancing blow, and then commands his spiritual hammer to pummel the leader, staggering him. The bugbear to the left of the leader crushes his morningstar into the summoned baboon, killing it instantly. The bugbear in the rear right of the entangled area throws a javelin that flies over everyone. One of the bugbears in the center of the melee, lands a wicked strike with his morningstar on Koram. Simultaneously, the front right enemy in the vine covered area tries to hit Koram, but only manages to hit the dwarf's shield. Dour swings a massive uppercut with his maul, snapping the leader's head back, and crumpling him to the floor, dead. Kismet throws another ball of produced flame, burning the opponent in front of Koram. Magar follows this up with a fire bolt which also strikes the bugbear in front of Koram. Easeis focuses a surge of electricity through the witch bolt still affecting the bugbear on the left, and it grunts in pain as the shock runs through its body. Eilo casts eldritch blast on the bugbear the killed her baboon, striking it with the beam of force. Koram swings his warhammer at the burned opponent in front of him, but misses, following the swing by mentally shifting his spiritual hammer behind the same opponent. The glowing weapon hammers the bugbear from behind crushing it to the floor. The far left enemy swings his morningstar at Dour, who easily sidesteps the strike. The bugbear entangled in the rear throws another javelin, but once again fails to hit anyone. The bugbear to the far right maneuvers around behind Koram, hoping to land a hit from the flanking position, the blow glancing harmlessly off the dwarf's armor. The far rear right enemy steps up in front of Koram hoping to hit the distracted dwarf, but the swing falls short. CoCo does a flyby distracting the bugbear behind Koram. Dour swings at the distracted enemy, hitting it solidly, and then with a surge of energy, rebounds the swing and spins 180 degrees to land a smashing blow to the bugbear on his opposite side. Kismet again produces flame lightly burning the bugbear behind Koram, and Magar lands a fire bolt on the same enemy burning it further. Easeis twinspells another witch bolt trying to target two of the enemies in melee with the dwarves, but unfortunately misses with both. Eilo eldritch blasts the bugbear to the east hitting it solidly, and then, using Grasp of Hadar, wraps the energy around the surprised bugbear and yanks it back into Kismet's entangling vines. Koram spins and hits the enemy that moved behind him with his warhammer and commands his spiritual hammer to hit the enemy he had originally been facing, both solid hits. One of the bugbears moves back north away from the melee and throws a javelin at Eilo, tearing a gash in the faerie's side. Kismet sends CoCo to distract the enemy that just hit Eilo. Dour moves up and hammers his maul into the trapped bugbear in the rear right of the druid's entanglement. Kismet again casts produce flame and throws the ball of fire at the enemy Dour just attacked and hits the creature squarely in the chest. It screams in pain for a brief moment before its battered and burned body drops to the floor. Magar lands a fire bolt on the last remaining bugbear to the north by Eilo. Easeis moves forward and says, "Told you not to do this, gonna have to kill you now.", launching an eldritch blast he copied earlier with his peer into the weave ability, the beam of force hammering into the bugbear who collapses to the floor. 283 XP for the combat.

The party regroups to make sure that all the opponents are dead, and catches their breath. Eilo flies up to the prisoner and removes her gag. The female halfling introduces herself as Periwinkle Lightfoot. Eilo releases Periwinkle and gives her a ration. Periwinkle tells the group that she was captured outside while searching for the caverns after being hired by Lord Weyland. After finishing the ration and her story, the halfling shows the party the exit in another chamber just NE of the chamber where the bugbears made camp. The opening, which is well hidden with hanging vines and overgrowth, leads out onto a ledge partway up a forested rocky slope. The group estimates the roundabout path back to the Keep would be an additional couple of hours from this exit. Periwinkle relates that the bugbears were trying to explore passages to the south where the party came from, but were essentially cowards and never made it far. They were using captives to walk point, set off traps and be the first attacked by any creatures in the caves. The party decides to use the camp to take a short rest, which is uneventful.

Group break and reconvene in a bit.

End Session 25 (Part 1)

[Koram]

Session 25 (Part 2) - 12/26/2022 - Special Monday Extended Holiday Session - two part


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Reconvene after a short break, just as the group finishes a short rest in what was the bugbear's camp.

Eilo casts Make Noms with Talisha's Rattle for some snacks while talking to Periwinkle and also uses it to covertly cast detect thoughts on the halfling at the same time. Periwinkle's story seems to match up with her surface thoughts. She mainly wants to get her gear and then get out of the caverns, but also wants to remain with the party for safety's sake.

The party finds some coin and primitive gear on the bugbears, but nothing else of interest. while searching the room, Dour and Koram find a secret door in the east wall of the cavern. The party heads east through the secret door and immediately find another secret door on the south wall of the tunnel running east. The door resists Easeis' attempt to pick the lock and the dwarves trying to force it open. The key from the pool room also does not fit the lock. Deciding to come back and investigate more later, the group heads east and then turn slightly NE to what appears to be a dead end. A quick search reveals another secret door that opens into a vast cavern. The group begins to move east through the cavern searching, but as soon as they reach a point where there is an opening in the south wall, swarms of bats erupt and attack.

Magar had lagged a bit behind and moves to catch up to the group. In addition to the bat swarms, a giant bat swoops out of the darkness at Dour, but doesn't land a hit. Koram moves up alongside Easeis and casts toll the dead on the closest swarm, dropping several of the bats from the swarm to the floor, dead. Easeis steps back behind Koram and casts ray of frost into the swarm, but the bats dodge around the icy bolt. Bats swarm around Dour, but none of the small creatures can find any gaps in his armor. Another swarm drops down on Koram with a few bats landing some minor bites around his armor, but his opportunity strike misses all the quick bats as they fly away. Periwinkle moves up closer to try and assist. Dour sweeps his maul up overhead at the giant bat and lands a solid hit on the creature. Kismet advances to get a better angle on the bats and throws a ball of produced flame into the swarm over Koram, dropping a couple of bats, burning, to the floor. Another swarm of bats encircles Koram, but can't get through his armor. A giant bat flies in and manages bite Koram in passing. Eilo casts hex and eldritch blast on the swarm between Easeis and Koram, several bats raining to the floor from the beam of force and necrotic damage. Magar places a fire bolt into the same swarm several more smoking bats falling from the air. The first giant bat again swoops at Dour, but he dodges aside. Koram whips his warhammer through the swarm to the east and knocks a few bats to the ground, then summons a spiritual hammer behind the giant bat attacking him, clipping it with the glowing hammer. Easeis uses peer into the weave, learns spiritual weapon from Koram's casting, and then casts the spell, bringing his own glowing weapon into being, also striking the giant bat. Easeis is also able to quickly unleash a frost bolt, but the giant bat dodges. The swarm of bats on dour manages to find some gaps in his chainmail and he receives several annoying bites. One swarm surrounding Koram again can't find an gaps in his armor. Periwinkle moves up and throws her dagger, missing a giant bat. Dour moves closer to Koram and swings his maul at the giant bat near Koram, but distracted by all the swarming bats, misses. Even though Dour ignored the swarm on him to attack the giant bat, the multiple bats still can't find any chinks in his chainmail. Kismet throws a ball of produced flame, dropping a few more scorched bats to the floor. One of the giant bats flies down and lands a minor bite on Dour. Eilo transfers her hex to the giant bat and hits it with an eldritch blast, the combined force and necrotic damage dropping the monster to the floor. Magar puts another fire bolt through the swarm above Koram and many bats fall to the floor ablaze. The remaining giant bat dives at Dour, and tries to bite him, but glances off his armor. Koram swings his hammer through the swarm around him knocking several bats to the cavern floor, and then shifts his spiritual hammer over and swipes the remaining swarm from around himself. Easeis shifts his spiritual weapon and strikes the giant bat on dour, killing it, then casts a ray of frost on the swarm on Dour, but none of the bats are hit. The swarm on dour manages to get a sew minor bites through his armor. Periwinkle moves forward and recovers her thrown dagger. Dour whirls his maul over his head, crushing many of the bats swarming him. Kismet manages to burn a few more bats on Dour with her ball of produced flame. Eilo transfers her hex and casts eldritch blast on the last swarm, but the beam fails to hit any of the few remaining bats in the swarm. Magar moves up for better line of sight and his fire bolt catches the last few bats on fire dropping them from the air. 158 XP for combat.

Easeis enters the cave to the SW where al the bats came from, but finds nothing but a massive pile of bat waste. Koram drinks a potion of healing to close up some of his open wounds. While the group is checking the bat cave and catching their breath, Magar heads further east into the large cavern to look around. As he is peering into the darkness, a tentacle snaps down from the ceiling and grabs him, yanking him up into the air about 40' near the roof of the cavern. As Magar nears the roof, one of the stalactites shifts and reveals a huge maw filled with teeth that clamp down on the elf, nearly causing him to fall unconscious. As the group runs forward towards Magar's scream of pain, another tendril drops from the ceiling and slaps the ground right next to Dour, just missing him. The end of the tendril is about 60' from where Magar now hangs from the ceiling. The giant stalactite-like creature again opens and closes its maw, trying to bite into Magar, but a magical shield flares from the elf and the bite is deflected. Easeis moves forward to try and get an angle to see and hit the attacking creature. Eilo flies up and casts eldritch blast, but not being able to see the target clearly, misses. Dour dashes east trying to get below the grappled Magar. Magar twists his body and manages to cast poison spray into the stalactite creatures maw and single large eye, obviously irritating the monster. Two tendril swing down at Dour, the first missing completely, the second striking and grappling him. The monster clamps down again on Magar, biting deeply into the elf, and he falls unconscious from his wounds, by some miracle not dying instantly. A stalactite like grub creature falls from the ceiling and pierces Dour's shoulder clamping itself onto the dwarf. Kismet sends CoCo the owl to fly by the stalactite grub on Dour, distracting it. Easeis casts vortex warp on Magar and his unconscious form reappears behind Kismet. Eilo flies down and casts spare the dying on Magar, stabilizing him. Kismet casts produce flame and throws it at the grub on Dour, but trying not to hit him, misses the grub as well. Dour takes a deep breath, cracks his neck and suddenly his wounds seem a bit less severe. He then tries to swipe the grub off with his maul, but can't find a good angle to hit the creature. Easeis steps forward and casts ray of frost at the tentacled monster on the ceiling striking the rocky looking creature. Periwinkle runs up and finds a healing potion on Magar, pouring it into his mouth, waking the elf. Eilo flies up and back from the monster on the ceiling, which the group can now make out as a roper, and tries to hit it with hex and eldritch blast, but the beam strikes a stalactite and deflects away. Easeis peers into the weave and learns eldritch blast. Kismet calls on her druidic magic dropping a column of cold moonlight directly on the roper from ceiling to floor, and the creature roars from the hit and light. Dour tries to hit the grub attached to him since he cannot reach the roper, but hanging half upside down, misses. Magar backs up, hopefully out of tentacle range, and casts fire bolt, but still unsteady from his recent brush with death, misses. Koram casts toll the dead and the roper is hit by the necrotic sound. Tentacles whip down, grappling both Easeis and Koram. Dour is reeled closer to the roper, and the monster chomps into the dwarf crushing through his chainmail. Dour has also been reeled into Kismet's moonbeam, and the cold light knocks the dwarf unconscious. Koram and Easeis are both reeled in closer to the monster. Easeis tries to line up an eldritch blast on the roper, but is unable to hit because of his awkward position held by the tentacle. Eilo also tries to eldritch blast the roper, but also misses. Kismet casts ice knife striking the roper, and then the shrapnel spray hits the roper, Koram and the unconscious Dour, who then fails a death save, and is hit by the moonbeam again, but by some miracle of the Gods is not killed. The slug attached to Dour is killed by the moonbeam and falls away. Magar backs up a bit further and casts another fire bolt, but still shaken from his brush with death, misses. Koram channels the power of Moradin through his holy symbol and heals Dour for half his health.

End Session 25 (Part 2) - Top of initiative

[Koram]

Session 26 - 12/30/2022 - The Roper Cavern


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Start session at top of initiative against the roper and piercer slugs.

The roper clamps its jaws down on Dour crushing him back into unconsciousness. Kismet, Koram, Dour and the roper are all seared by the radiant light of Kismet's moonbeam, and she quickly drops her concentration on the spell and the silvery light vanishes. Easeis focuses a mind sliver on the roper, but it seems unaffected. Eilo applies her healing light to Dour, waking him once again, and then outlines the roper in faerie fire. Even suspended in the roper's tentacle, Kismet manages to land a scorching hit with a ball of produced flame, and then casts shillelagh on her club. Dour tries to smash the roper with his maul, but still disoriented from being knocked out, misses. He surges with adrenaline, knowing the party is in dire straits, and swings a second time, but this attack also misses. He then manages to grab and quickly down a healing potion from his belt pouch, slightly taking the pain away from his crushed ribs. Magar lines up a perfect fire bolt lashing fire across the roper's face burning it severely. Koram tries to line up a guiding bolt, but misses as the roper drops him 40' to the floor, knocking him unconscious. The roper also drops Dour, who falls unconscious again as he hits the floor. The roper also bites Kismet, and reels Easeis in to bite range. As he is brought close, Easeis again mind slivers the roper and it shudders from the psychic hit. Periwinkle hacks at the tentacle holding her, and manages to cut it enough to break free, falling to the ground. Eilo concentrates a portion of her celestial healing light on Koram, and he props himself up on one elbow as he wakes. Eilo also tries to eldritch blast the roper, but too focused on healing Koram, misses. Kismet releases poison spray from her hand, but it seems to do nothing to the roper. Dour lies on the floor battered and bloody, but still breathing. Magar throws another bolt of fire at the roper again scorching the rock-like creature. Koram looks over at Dour's unconscious form and utters a word of healing, closing some of his fellow dwarf's wounds and waking him from his stupor. He also raises his shield from his prone position and the ringing of toll the dead rolls over the roper damaging it with necrotic energy. Another piercer slug drop from the ceiling and smacks into the floor right next to Koram. The roper grinds its toothy maw into Kismet once again and she falls unconscious. The roper lashes tendrils out at Periwinkle, Dour and Koram, both dwarves managing to roll out of the way, but Periwinkle is hit again. CoCo lands in sadness and confusion, no longer sensing Kismet's mental instructions. Easeis again pierces the roper's psyche with mind sliver. The piercer slugs on the floor move towards the Koram, who is the closest target. Eilo fires an eldritch blast, striking the roper in its eye, and it growls one final time as it falls from the ceiling, dead. Both Easeis and Kismet fall with the roper, Easeis managing to stay conscious, rolling awkwardly as he hits the floor. Kismet hits the floor with a dull thud and blood sprays from her wounds. Dour staggers to his feel dragging his maul up and trying to strike one of the slugs, but in his battered state, hits the floor next to the piercer. Magar fire bolts one of the slugs, burning it severely, but not quite killing it. Koram pushes himself to his feet, speaks a word of healing, bringing Kismet back to consciousness as a few of her wounds close. He also sets his shield facing one of the piercers and tolls the dead, but it has no effect. The slug lunges at Koram, but runs into the dwarf's shield. The piercer that was also caught in the faerie fire with the roper, drops from the ceiling and impales Kismet to the floor before she even has the chance to stand up. CoCo, sensing Kismet again for a brief moment, takes off and does a flyby distraction on the slug south of Koram. Easeis drinks a healing potion and then mind slivers the slug distracted by CoCo causing it to squirm in pain. The slug west of Koram attacks him, but can't get through his armor. Periwinkle attacks the south slug, nicking it with her dagger. Eilo launches an eldritch blast at the slug that is feeding on Kismet, hammering it with the magical beam of force, but it is still moving. Blood runs from Kismet's wounds as the slug bites into the druid. Dour steps up and slams the slug feeding on Kismet with his maul, killing it as he smashes it off the druid. Magar casts fire bolt on the west piercer slug setting it ablaze and killing it. Koram limps over and taps Kismet on the head casting spare the dying. Another slug drops, just missing Koram as he is tending to the druid, while a second falls towards Dour, also missing. CoCo does a flyby to distract the new slug south of the dwarves. A third slug drops and slams into Easeis, impaling his shoulder just as Easeis releases an eldritch blast, causing him to miss the slug to the south. Periwinkle sneaks in and stabs the southern slug with her dagger, killing it. Eilo flies to a better location to get a clear line of sight on the slug imbedded in Easeis, launching an eldritch blast, missing the slug and almost hitting Easeis. Dour attaks the slug that dropped at him and crushes it into a bloody smear on the floor. Magar casts fire bolt burning the slug on Easeis. Koram tolls the dead on the smae slug, but it appears to have no effect. CoCo does a fly by trying to distract the slug on Easeis. The slug still tries to feed, biting deeply, and knocking Easeis unconscious. Periwinkle runs up and stabs the slug feeding on Easeis with her dagger. Eilo casts eldritch blast at the slug feeding on Easeis, but the beam of force misses the squirming slug and hits the floor. Dour runs over and swings his maul in a wide haymaker, knocking the now crushed piercer off Easeis. Magar casts fire bolt at the southernmost slug but the fire sears across the cavern floor, missing. Koram moves over, taps Easeis on the shoulder while whispering a spare the dying prayer, and then moves towards the southernmost slug. The piercer lunges out at Koram as he approaches, but rebounds off the dwarf's armored leg. CoCo does a flyby to distract the last slug, and Periwinkle slides over to strike it with her dagger. Eilo his the last slug with a beam of force from her eldritch blast, and then flies a bit to the east. Dour steps over and lands an overhand swing with his maul crushing the last slug into paste. Dour, Eilo, Magar and Koram all look around to make sure all the enemies have been dispatched and catch their breath.

Eilo and Dour agree to stay and begin carefully searching the cavern and remains, while Koram drags his unconscious friends back west to the bugbear camp with Magar and Periwinkle keeping watch. Easeis and Kismet are moved safely back to the bugbear campfire. Dour and Eilo find a large amount of coin, as well as several gemstones and a potion of water breathing scattered in the area below where the roper was attached to the ceiling, the belongings of its former victims. Dour and Eilo return to the campsite with all the spoils located in the roper cavern. Eilo plays the flute as the group settles in to rest up and heal. Some organization of the group inventory takes place during the rest.

Long rest successful. Dour and Magar to level 4.

After the long rest, the party takes stock and decides to continue investigating the remaining areas off the roper cavern. Moving back east, the group turns down a tunnel located south of where the roper was on the ceiling. The group is fairly spread out, and while the main group is in the tunnel to the south, another piercer drops from the ceiling, striking Kismet. Eilo flies up close to the ceiling looking for other targets and eldrith blasts the slug on Kismet. Koram presets the holy symbol on his shield and tolls the dead on the slug. Kismet holds her palm out right at the slug and releases a poison spray on the slug. Periwinkle moves up and carefully slides her dagger into the piercer, killing it and prying its body off Kismet. Magar, bringing up the rear guard, moves into the tunnel from back in the roper cavern just as the slug drops dead to the floor. Koram mutters a prayer and casts cure wounds on Kismet, healing the worst of the damage from the piercer.


End Session 26 - Party in tunnel south of roper cavern

Some XP discrepancies in the auto XP from Forge. All corrected. Baseline XP for party as follows:
Magar 3,901 - Dour 3,921 - Eilo, Easeis and Kismet 3,971 - Koram 4,106

[Koram]

Session 27 - 1/6/2023 - Slime Time and the Gladiator Pit of Kill Your Friends


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Start session in the tunnel south of the roper cavern having just dispatched the last piercer slug.

Magar summons his familiar and we now have an owl name Papi to go with Kismet's owl, CoCo. Easeis asks Eilo to fly along the ceiling to check for any additional piercers, and shortly after she begins her search, she locates another of the stone slugs. The group has moved south into a natural chamber with more dilapidated supply boxes resting on a puddle covered floor. Eilo sets her hex and casts eldritch blast on the piercer she located, and the stalactite looking creature drops from the ceiling, but does not hit any of the party below. Dour tries to swat the monster with his maul as it falls past, but misses. It thuds to the floor where it is immediately hit by a barrage of cantrips from Easeis, Kismet, Magar and Koram, killing the hapless creature. As the group looks for more threats from above, a pseudopod of slime rises from one of the puddles, lashes out at Dour, but misses and retreats back into the puddle. Magar holds a fire bolt, waiting until he can see the creature clearly when it again rises from the puddle to swat at Dour. Magar scorches the slime, causing it to miss Dour again. Papi does a flyby to annoy the slime, and CoCo circles, waiting for a chance to do the same. Kismet throws a ball of flame at the slime but it hisses into the puddle doing no damage. Easeis mind slivers the slime and it shudders from the psychic hit. Koram moves up by Easeis and Dour casting toll the dead causing the slime to flinch from the necrotic energy. Periwinkle moves up and strikes the slime, causing the blade of her dagger to bubble and smoke. Eilo shifts her hex to the slime and hits it with eldritch blast. The ray of force slams through the ooze and stretches it 10' up off the floor before it slops back down, dead. A second slime rears up from another puddle, missing Easeis. Dour hammers the slime with his maul, which begins smoking like Periwinkle's dagger. Magar casts chill touch, striking the new threat with necrotic damage from the ghostly skeletal hand. Papi the owl flies around the party letting CoCo the owl distract the ooze with a flyby. Kismet tosses a ball of produced flame, lightly scorching the second slime. Easeis deftly disengages from melee range and puts some distance between him and the ooze. Koram presents the holy symbol on his shield and the necrotic ring of toll the dead kills the second ooze. Periwinkle cleans her now slightly pitted and smoking dagger in the nearest puddle of water as a third slime rises from a puddle to the south of the group and sloshes its way forward. Eilo moves her hex and eldritch blasts the new threat hitting it with the beam of force and additional necrotic pulse from hex, then pulls the slime closer with Grasp of Hadar. Dour steps up and slams his maul into the slime, killing and splattering it everywhere. His maul is pitted and smoking even worse after this second hit. A piercer grub falls towards Dour as he is looking at his maul, but misses him and slams into the floor. A fourth ooze slops from another puddle and strikes Dour with a pseudopod, burning him and his armor with its acidic touch in addition to the bludgeoning impact. Magar readies a fire bolt, waiting for Papi to complete a distracting flyby, and then unleashing the cantrip, noticaably burning the new slime. CoCo follows this up with another distracting flyby on the same slime. Easeis moves up a bit, chilling the piercer with a ray of frost. Koram steps forward as well and toll the dead rings from the holy symbol on his shield striking the ooze. Periwinkle circles in and tries to stab the piercer with her dagger, but misses. Eilo moves her hex to the grub and casts eldritch blast, but the beam just misses. Dour hits the slug with his pitted and damaged maul, but still easily crushes the creature. The slime takes the opportunity to strike at Dour, but misses. Magar again holds a fire bolt until Papi flies by, torching the last slime. The group checks out the room, finding nothing of interest, while Koram casts the mending cantrip on Dour's maul and Periwinkles dagger, repairing them.

The group moves into a tunnel to the west, further exploring the caves. Some other unfinished rooms containing nothing of any real interest lie down the western tunnel. The party circles back into the southern end of the slime chamber when the western tunnel curls back east and then north. The remaining tunnel to the east is the only other way out of the room, and the groups heads that way next. Down the eastern tunnel, the party finds a door on the north wall of the tunnel which continues east. Passing through the door, the party finds themselves in a curious tiered chamber, with a few wide steps leading down into a pit, almost like an arena or theatre. As soon as the entire party is in the chamber and a few members have started stepping down into the pit, the room goes pitch dark for a second and when the light returns, each member of the party finds themselves alone in the chamber, except Magar, who is still back near the door. Slowly, ghostly figures appear on the tiered steps like an audience, and a shadowy form appears opposite each member of the group. Dour sees brigands and thieves in the audience; Koram, orcs; Eilo, a single back unicorn; Easeis humans and elves; Kismet, ogres and kobolds. Magar moves forward and suddenly also finds himself alone, seeing drow in his audience. The shadowy form opposite each party member steps forward to attack as the ghostly crowd screams for blood.

Kismet tries talking to her shadow, but it doesn't respond, so she casts entangle to no effect. Eilo looks around and sees nothing but the shadow and the black unicorn, so she casts eldritch blast at the shadow opponent and hexes it. Easeis quickly scnas the crown looking for familiar faces, but does not recognize anyone. He readies himself for the fight by casting mage armor. Koram steps up and swings his warhammer at the shadow, but misses. Dour steps up and swings his maul in a wide arc, slamming the shadow creature. Magar does not attack and begins to cast his detect magic ritual hoping he is not attacked and has time to figure out what all this is about.

Kismet's shadow casts some spell at her and she is hit by magical force and necrotic damage. Eilo's shadow casts at her, but misses. The shadow facing Easeis swings at him, but misses. The shadow opposite Koram also casts a spell, but nothing happens. Dour's shadow opponent cast something to no effect. Magar's shadow steps up and staggers the elf with a wicked melee attack.

Kismet casts produce flame and hits the shadow across from her. Eilo casts eldritch blast, but misses. Easeis casts detect thoughts, but gets no feedback from the spell at all. Koram swings his warhammer, missing and also calls up a spiritual hammer, slamming his shadow enemy from behind. Dour again lands a crushing hit with his maul. Magar holds out his hand and a spray of poison strikes the shadow he faces.

Kismet's shadow casts a spell which misses. Eilo's shadow casts a spell striking her with a burning magic. Easeis shadow swings at him, missing, but then he is suddenly hit from behind with a magical force. Koram's shadow opponent casts a spell, but again, there is no effect. Dour is hit by a close range magical spell from his shadow, but his dwarven resistance blunts the effect to almost nothing. Magar's shadow lands another crushing hit, but Magar reacts with a magical shield, deflecting the strike.

Kismet casts produce flame and lands a perfect hit with the fire on her opponent. Eilo uses her druidcraft to produce a skunk like smell around her shadow and then backs away to go sit next to the dark unicorn. Easeis casts witch bolt, electricity arcing between him and his shadow. Koram, unsure of why, but possibly due to some inspiration from Moradin, steps away from his opponent and casts healing word on the shadow facing him. Dour again lands a solid hit with his maul. Magar casts a flaming sphere placing it right behind the shadow.

Kismet's enemy casts again, but misses. Eilo's shadow casts and again hits her with a burning magic. Easeis's opponent steps back from him, casts a spell, and suddenly Easeis is healed. Koram's enemy casts a spell, Koram is hit with electrical jolt, and he sees a tendril of shadow linking his shadow to him. The shadow facing Dour casts a spell and he feels the burn of magical fire erupt from behind him. The shadow facing Magar swings at him again forcing the wizard to react with a magical shield to deflect the attack.

Kismet throws a ball of produced fire, but misses. Eilo takes out her flute and plays it while sitting by the dark unicorn. Easeis quickly thinking through the situation and the heal from the shadow, drops the concentration on his witch bolt. Koram attempts to focus on the room, trying to see through magic causing this and prays to Moradin. Dour tries to grapple his shadow. Magar disengages from his opponent and moves across the room.

The crowds in the stands have slowly started booing, as the party began slowing combat and realizing something was not right. Suddenly the crowds, and shadows all disappear simultaneously, leaving the party staring at the other group members that they had been fighting all along.

End Session 27 - We iz dumb...

XP for battle with oozes not awarded to balance previous XP overage.

Total XP for each member stands at : Magar 3,901 - Dour 3,921 - Eilo, Easeis and Kismet 3,971 - Koram 4,106

[Koram]

Session 28 - 1/13/2023 -


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit - Piloted by Stel
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Start session back in the shadow gladiator pit room.

Thinking back on the end of the fight, Kismet stopped fighting because she heard a flute and thought of Eilo. As the party all noticed the strangeness of the shadow fights, everyone eventually came to the realization that there was something familiar about the shadow opponents. Once the party all mostly stopped fighting and the ghostly audiences grumbled in frustration, everything just popped back to normal.

66 XP for the shadow encounter

Easeis casts detect thoughts on Periwinkle, but she just seems to be dealing with some worry and PTSD, but seems relieved that everyone is ok. Kismet casts cure wounds on herself, and then on Magar, clearing up the worst of their wounds. Koram casts cure wounds on Eilo and then searches the SE wall with Dour assisting. Magar casts detect magic ritual and checks the room, and reports that the whole room appears to be emanating conjuration magic.

After finding nothing else of interest, the party leaves the room and heads SE to a 4-way intersection. Eilo checks down the narrow natural tunnel to the west which dead ends in a small natural alcove with a small empty puddle.

The group then checks a small passage to the south which also ends in and empty small naturally formed cave.

Magar sends Papi the owl to scout the east tunnel that the party can see leads into a cavern glowing with a purple light. As Papi enters the cave, he is attacked by a tentacled violet colored mushroom, and killed. The group has moved just into the room at this point and another fungus whips out a tentacle at Kismet, striking her and causing a blackened necrotic wound. Koram snaps off a shot with his heavy crossbow sticking a bolt into the fungus. Easeis directs a ray of frost, hitting the same fungus. Periwinkle moves up behind the dwarves. Dour also fires his heavy crossbow sticking another bolt into the purple mushroom. Magar steps up at the back of the group and threads a fire bolt between his friends clipping the fungus. CoCo the owl does a flyby on the mushroom creature. The violet fungus on Kismet lashes out with four tentacles and hits her two more times, leaving two additional blackened wounds. Eilo hexes the fungus the group has been hammering away at and then hits it with an eldritch blast ray, the force and necrotic damage causing the mushroom being to slump over to the floor. A slime appears from the slimy fungus covered floor and Kismet moves back closer to the rest of the party, throwing ball of produced flame that hisses as it burns into the slime. Koram presents his shield and toll the dead rings from his holy symbol at the fungus, but it doesn't seem to affect it. Easeis hits the ooze with a ray of frost momentarily icing a part of the creature over. Periwinkle throws her dagger at the ooze, the dagger plunking into the slimy mass. Dour sticks another heavy crossbow bolt into the second violet mushroom, then swaps weapons as he steps forward. Magar points his finger at the ooze and a fire bolt sizzles dead center into the creature. CoCo the owl does a flyby on the remaining mushroom, and Eilo uses the distraction to shift her hex and hit the purple fungus with an eldritch blast. Kismet moves up a few steps to get line of sight and throws another ball of produced flame, igniting the fungus and killing it, before stepping back with the group. Koram fires another heavy crossbow bolt into the remaining fungus. Easeis hits the fungus with a ray of frost, chilling it. Dour buries a heavy crossbow bolt right into the center of the purple mushroom. Magar steps forward for a better angle and another fire bolt hisses into the ooze. CoCo then does a flyby on the ooze distracting it momentarily. Eilo shifts her hex to the ooze and eldritch blasts, the beam of force and necrotic damage from hex tearing through the ooze. Grasp of Hadar rips the ooze from the floor and then drops it back down with a splatter. Eilo then surveys the room from the air and sees another large slime hanging from the ceiling, so she flies a bit lower and moves back towards the party. Kismet casts cure wounds on herself clearing away some the blackened wounds from the violet fungus. Koram moves forward a few steps and fires a heavy crossbow bolt into the slime on the ceiling, but isn't sure the bolt did much damage seeing it just floating in the slime's body. Easeis hits the remaining purple fungus with a ray of frost, slowing it as it is chilled. Periwinkle moves forward and then dashes to the NE. Dour also fires a heavy crossbow bolt into the big slime on the ceiling. Magar skims a fire bolt along the edge of the slime on the roof, just barely scorching it. CoCo does a flyby to annoy the big pudding slime. Eilo moves her hex to the pudding and hits it with an eldritch blast, using Grasp of Hadar to stretch the pudding away from the ceiling until it eventually pops loose and falls to the floor, just missing the faerie on the way down. Kismet hops up onto a large toadstool mushroom to get a better view and then throws a ball of produced flame into the pudding that is pulling itself back together on the floor. The pudding swings a pseudopod up and slams it into Eilo, who also feels an acidic burning from the strike. Koram steps up and toll the dead rings from the holy symbol on his shield into the pudding, and it slumps into a puddle on the floor, dead. Easeis lands another ray of frost on the the remaining violet fungus freezing it before it cracks into pieces. The room appears clear of any additional threats, so the party moves towards a tunnel to the north. The group spots another violet fungus and Eilo, Easeis, Kismet and Magar all hit it with cantrips as the dwarves hammer it with heavy crossbow fire. It shudders and is knocked over backwards, dead before it can even move. A more thorough search of the fungus room allows Kismet and Magar to find several mushrooms useful in crafting healing potions.

142 XP for Violet fungus and pudding fight

The party then heads north through the tunnel which turns east and ends in another north-south hallway. Koram spots a section of the east wall that looks suspect and the group investigates, finding a secret door. The party finds a small natural cavern with blue-green veins of some gemstone in the wall. Dour looks closer and recognizes that it is a fairly large moonstone deposit, and he hammers out a small sample to have appraised. There is some rubble on the floor and remnants of some crates and possible mining supplies. Eilo searches the rubble and finds a very ornate key, which is placed in the bag of holding. The party heads back into the hallway and turns north. The tunnel ends in a chamber maybe 30' across taken up almost completely by a pool of water. As the group moves to the edge of the pool, the water swirls up in a column, forming an almost humanoid shaped water elemental. Eilo focuses her hex on the creature and eldritch blasts it, the beam of force splashing through the creature. Easeis points and a ray of frost shoots from his finger, narrowly missing the elemental's wavering form. Kismet also misses when she tries to throw a ball of produced flame at the creature. Koram tolls the dead, but the elemental appears unaffected. Easeis casts mind sliver and the elemental ripples as it takes the psychic hit. CoCo does a flyby to distract the elemental and Eilo hammers it with an eldritch blast and some additional necrotic damage from hex. The elemental slams its two watery arms down at Koram, who manages to block one with his shield but gets staggered by the other. Dour advances and slams his maul into the elemental's form with a giant splash. He uses the momentum to surge through another attack slamming his maul back into the creature a second time. Koram swings his warhammer making a much small splash than dour made with his maul. Magar also mind slivers the elemental and it's "head" again ripples from this psychic hit. Kismet throws a ball of produced flame which erupts with a cloud of steam as it hits the opponent. Easeis lands another mind sliver and the elemental's form ripples a third time. CoCo does another distracting flyby for Eilo, who lands another eldritch blast ray of force along with the necrotic hex damage causing the creature to waver in anger. The elemental suddenly recoils its form, surges upward like a small tidal wave and crashes over Dour and Koram, trying to drag them back into the pool, but both dwarves stubbornly hold their balance. The elemental then reforms and swings both its limbs into Koram, who, still unbalanced from the wave, doesn't manage to defend or dodge the strikes and is slammed to the floor, unconscious by the first blow. The second hit lands an instant behind the first partial filling the dwarf's lungs with water, putting him that much closer to death. Dour swings his maul at the monster, but also unbalanced by the sloshing water, misses. Magar grabs a rock from the tunnel floor and catapults it into the center of the elemental, and with a giant splash, the creature dissolves and sinks back into the pool. Kismet and Eilo both cast cure wounds on Koram, who wakes up, and coughs out a bunch of water, thanking his friends. Easeis simply walks down into the depths of the pool and finds some gold and silver coin along with a potion of healing. The party decides to head back to the cave with the moonstone deposit behind the secret door to take a short rest and heal up a bit.

200 XP for the elemental fight.

End Session 28 - Right after short rest in the moonstone deposit cave

Total XP for each member stands at : Magar 4.209 - Dour 4,229 - Eilo, Easeis and Kismet 4,379 - Koram 4,514