Adventure Notes – The Adventurers 57

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  • Korra returns to the party, having heard the commotion since she’d been scouting ahead (Note – Korra had missed the previous session so to explain her absence I had her “scout ahead” and messaged her with information she could RP with for this session as to what she saw/found while scouting ahead)
  • Korra sighs and says that she’s not surprised if the entire pyramid knows that they’re in there; they’d made enough noise
  • She goes on to explain, just ahead is a room full of statues; and they’re human like, for the most part – but there’s no order to the statues – they seem to be positioned in random places, random positions; in corners, in the middle of the room; all facing random directions; and there’s a number of them climbing walls, mounted on the wall; it’s very, very strange, and she couldn’t help but shake the feeling that no matter where she went in the room, she was constantly being watched – there was always a statue within 10 feet of her, and at least five of them were facing her
  • Sephrenia points out that they’d encountered a Basilisk (Session 56)
  • They look back at Adrian who still seems to be moving sluggishly (DM Note – Adrian was running late so I explained it away that he was still recovering from almost being turned to stone; in the event combat started, he would still be recovering until he showed up)
  • As Korra goes on to explain the odd feeling she got in the room, and how she suspects something magical in nature, Ragnaroc says, “Wait a minute! I’ve heard of this! It could very well be…” (and he pauses, his eyes roll to the back of his head as he enters a trance and whispers), “… Belaros.” The party quickly recognizes this means he’s gone into one of his demonic trances again. (DM Note – I always have Ragnaroc mention the demon-lord Belaros and put him in a trance where the demon-lord is essentially communicating with him, but when he comes to, he doesn’t recall any of the subliminal messages he got, to explain when the player isn’t present for the session)
  • Buppido mutters, “Useless murderer” He then peers into the room ahead, “So it’s just… a bunch of statues, right? They’re probably victims of the Basilisk.”
  • And Sephrenia adds, “There may be a second Basilisk.”
  • “I didn’t see a second basilisk,” Korra begins, then adds, “obviously.”
  • Korra explains that she couldn’t even feel like she could stealth through the room, because of all the “eyes” that felt like were on her
  • Korra looks at the party, “By the way, what happened to all of you?”
  • “Bugbears,” Sephrenia explains, “Big ones. Four of them. And the Basilisk. And the fungus. But mostly Bugbears.”
  • “Should we rest?” Korra asks. “I can take watch.”
  • “I could go for that,” Sephrenia mentions.
  • “But we have a hostage we need to rescue,” Adrian points out
  • The party uses potions to recover some health, but the concern is many of the casters are low on spell slots – but know, if they rest – that may jeopardize the hostage (DM Note – I am of the mind, that villains won’t wait for heroes to rest and get healthy before enacting their plans, as the player for Korra knows, as she plays Phalen in my other campaign where the party decided to go after brigands, looking for gold, rather than heed the angel’s plea to save the dryad of the Jade Forest – the result ended with the murder of the dryad, a unicorn, and the release of a fallen angel – originally the party would have ideally gone to save the dryad, fight some cultists, make a connection with the dryad and unicorn that would have fed them some adventure hooks about the cultists)
  • After several rounds of potions, Buppido says, “Listen. Just tie a rope to me and I will walk into the creepy statue room with my eyes closed. And if you hear me scream and feel my body stiffen – quickly pull me back – and we will know if there’s a Basilisk in there.”
  • “I could go in and keep my shield raised, and keep my eyes on the ground,” Adrian offers, “rather than Buppido potentially meeting a Basilisk.” Adrian adds, “Let me try something,” and casts Divine Sense – and senses the foul presence of a fiend near by (DM Note – the creature is technically behind full cover, being on the other side of the room, and probably more than 60′ away, but for flavor and suspense I revealed a fiend was definitely present nearby… I’ve never understood the “unless behind total cover” – because typically if you can see it you can confirm it’s a fiend, unless its using an illusion/polymorph to hide itself)
  • Adrian lets the party know that there’s a definitely a fiend near by, and switches his weapons from sword and board (sword and shield) to Demonbane, his two handed sword
  • The party cautiously enters the statue room; and it’s as Korra had described – there are statues everywhere, facing in random directions
  • Sephrenia, Don and Korra can feel this sensation of being watched – and as they look and move slowly – the statues that are facing them – it almost appears to be like an illusion where the eyes do seem to follow them – and that, perhaps – every statue in the room is either alive – or that perhaps the statues are still living people who’d been turned to stone
  • The party decides to proceed forward and ignore the statues, until they reached an archway that led into the next hall
  • Before stepping through the archway, which had unusual writing and runes, a mouth appeared at the very top, and asked, “What is the name of the Third Ruler?”
“Who Is The Third Ruler?”
  • Buppido looks at the marching order and sees Korra is the third person, and turns and faces the magic mouth and says, “Korra.”
  • “Incorrect,” the magic mouth replies, and the sound of gears grinding and stone crumbling is heard behind them – as two statues reveal that beneath the stone exterior is something that is actually a construct
New Monster to use!
  • DM Note – I alluded to the statues being unusual, but no one wanted to investigate them or investigate / look around the room – as the party will soon discover, had they done so – the battle with these guardians could have been avoided… more on that later! For now, Initiative!
  • Don immediately casts Spike Growth in front of the animated constructs, so that they will need to make their way through difficult terrain and will inflict damage as they pass through the spike growth; Don then moves back slightly – up against the archway, but not passing through it
  • Buppido casts Fire Bolt, but misses it
  • The Stone Guardian moves forward, and takes damage as it proceeds to move forward
  • Korra then fires a crossbow, and hits – but can tell she’s not been able to do as much damage as the strike should have done
  • Sephrenia tries Acid Splash but both of them manage to avoid the acidic splash
  • In the heat of combat, Don and Korra – both standing the furthest back – take notice as one of the statues mounted on the wall glides down, despite being made of stone, and attempts to attack Don – getting in his face, but missing with its attacks
  • Adrian rushes up to the edge of the Spike Growth awaiting the two guardians to come through it
  • As the first one comes through, Adrian swings Demonbane, however – in his haste, nearly releases his sword – but manages to grip it – at the small cost of cutting his hand, drawing blood (Critical Fail) – however, his follow up swing does manage to hit
  • The stone guardian, in response, does manage to hit Adrian by slamming him in the face with its massive shield, doing significant damage
  • But the party is able to quickly take down one of the stone guardians, and the second followed shortly after, and the gargoyle is destroyed as well
  • As the party now looks around the room – they discover in crude writing on the wall, a single word near the archway –
  • The party approaches the archway and Adrian says the name, “Kryton” when asked “Who is the Third Ruler?” and the Magic Mouth responds, “Correct. You may pass.” And as they do – they can tell the first tile just beyond the archway was triggered to release if it needed to – leading into a – undoubtedly – deadly pit, the party realizes that the “answer” had undoubtedly been scribbled on the wall by the Ettin, so they’d know the answer (DM Note – This would have been discovered if the party investigated the room and/or statues)
  • The party moves forward, and once again, hears a language being spoken – this time, it’s a language Sephrenia and Buppido both recognize as Draconic
  • They listen – and Sephrenia and Buppido hear a deep voice growling, “Do not toy with me. Lord Mordak needs the sphere. So if you have it, or know where it is – it would be in your best interest to reveal its location to me.” (DM Note – This creature speaking and the mention of Mordak were thrown in like 10 minutes before the game started, because I thought it would be fun to tie NPCs from my Servants of the Wizard game, which technically takes place sometime – undisclosed – in the future of the current setting – to show this NPC Mordak has been in action for awhile)
  • The creature – as they listen – speaking back is female and is speaking in “broken” Draconian, clearly not their native tongue explaining, “Tell, your ‘Lord’ Mordak that I have agents looking for the sphere, and when I find it, he will be the first I tell.”
  • The creature speaking in clear Draconic replies, “If we discover you’ve been toying with us, Lord Mordak will come here himself and obliterate you and the generations of your family from existence.”
  • Buppido looks around, “Does anyone know who Lord Mordak is?” (DM Note – This was funny because the player also happens to play in the Servants of the Wizard game and definitely knows who Mordak is. I had the party roll an Arcana check to see if they might have heard of Mordak, rather than history – since he’s far more involved in the Arcana community than actually a historical figure – and ironically Buppido rolled the highest, so…) Glancing around and seeing that no one else is familiar with Mordak – the only other person was tied to a rope and constantly muttering “Belaros” in hushed whispers, Buppido sighs and explains, that Mordak is a powerful wizard, who many aspiring wizards go to learn from; he has Wizard Towers all over the main continent (Tawaim) that he travels around, using teleportation discs. He’s well known for collecting magical weapons and artifacts of all kinds, no matter how power or trivial – to siphon the magic from them into himself. So it’s not shocking to learn from whomever – or whatever – is in the room just ahead – that Mordak might also be after this magical sphere that everyone suddenly seems to be in a race to find. The Fallen Angel, to stop people from unlocking the magic that can potentially defeat him with ancient magic, long forgotten; the lady on the blue dragon, her purpose for wanting the sphere, unknown; the party wanting to get it to potentially release the magic to help defeat the fallen angel; and Mordak? Probably to siphon the magic into himself, like he’s done with other magic items…
  • Buppido lights up, “So – what if we say we’re agents of Mordak and we’re here to check up on the progress?” (DM Note – This was hilarious because, as I said, the player who plays Buppido also plays Baldur in the Servants of the Wizard game – and he was clearly making a nod to his character in Session 13 of Servants of the Wizard, where his character there had come up with the same idea to check on Mordak)
  • The party concludes that it’s an ill advised idea
  • “We should see who these people are,” Korra whispers and slips into the shadows, just as Don says, “Want me to use my Pass Without… welp, she’s gone.” (Korra rolled Stealth before Don finished his sentence so I ruled that she’d already taken off into the shadows before waiting to hear what Don was saying. She did however, roll a 21 so she was doing fine).
  • As Korra creeps forward and peers over the ledge, where a series of broken pillars and collapsed walls, like most of the inside of this ancient pyramid – she saw something that looked to be a larger Dragonborn creature speaking to… a woman – female by appearance from the torso up – but from the torso down was that of a massive lion body, that was the size of a large bear lying on a massive pile of gold – and off to the side, next to the female humanoid – the Ettin was standing, heads going back and forth between the Dragonborn looking creature and the female humanoid – gripping tightly to a rope that held a female prisoner
The “Dragonborn Like Creature” (Shhh! Don’t tell them what it really is!)
The Female Humanoid-Like Thing
The Ettin
The Hostage – “The Priestess” Lilli Sandmeadow
  • Korra stealths back and reports what she saw
  • Buppido decides he’s going to cast Faerie Fire – and whoever is glowing is who they should attack first
  • Unfortunately, the sluggish Ettin dodges (DC 13, it rolled a 15), the Lamia dodges (Rolled 18), and the “Dragonborn” dodges (Rolled 16) – leaving only Lilli to glow, since she’s restrained by the rope and unable to dodge
  • Initiative starts, and Buppido rolls the highest – so he launches a Fire Bolt at the Ettin (knowing that he’s the enemy and has the hostage) – and hits, catching the Ettin’s underpants on fire
  • Korra moves forward, onto the fallen beams (DC 12 Dex Check, she rolled 19) and uses Mage Hand to untie the the hostage from the rope – and because the Ettin had been hit, and was flailing – the rope was a moving target – so for flavor asked Korra to roll a Performance for how well the Mage Hand is able to untie the rope – and she rolled… Natural 20!… which, I rule easily unties the knot, freeing Lilli)
  • The Lamia seeing Korra moving forward, rushes up the broken pillars easily, having gone back and forth numerous times; and strikes Korra with a touch (Intoxicating Touch)
  • Adrian leaps onto the broken pillars, to make his way toward to Lamia – and slips, and tumbles down the broken pillars (falling 21 feet down and hitting the floor hard, taking minor damage)
  • The “Dragonborn” creature turns and casts Darkness into the room, plunging it into magical darkness
    • Don decides to hold his action until he can see an enemy
  • Sephrenia decides to cast Dispel Magic and removes the magical darkness
  • This allows Don to see – and he looks for the “Dragonborn” creature – but it appears to be gone, so he changes his target to the Lamia and hits
  • Buppido fires a Fire Bolt and hits the Ettin again, who now tears off his pants and throws them into the pillars
  • Korra tries to retreat away from the Lamia, but slips (Dex 11) down seven feet into the pillars
  • The Lamia reaches down and hits Korra, despite her Cloak of Displacement with her Intoxicating Touch and follows up with claws raking across Korra’s skin, drawing plenty of blood
  • Adrian, down below – casts Shield of Faith on himself, sheaths his sword and begins trying to climb up the pillars, but can’t get a good hold (failed Strength check)
  • In the dark, the “Dragonborn” is in the pillars with Adrian, having seen him fall – but is unable to hit him
  • Korra casts Mirror Image on herself, while down seven feet in the pillars
  • But the Lamia doesn’t attack this time – and uses a spell – Suggestion – which requires a Wisdom save – but due to the Lamia’s intoxicating touch – the save for Korra is done at Disadvantage – and she succumbs (Critical Fail) to the Lamia’s Suggestion which is Kill your Paladin Companion
  • Adrian climbs up, and gets next to Korra finally – ignoring the “Dragonborn” creature swinging at him down below
  • Don hits the Lamia with another arrow, and breaks her concentration on the Suggestion spell
  • The Ettin in the meantime, continues to shove his morningstar into the pillars (at Disadvantage, due to blindly trying to hit Adrian who he knows is somewhere in the fallen pillars) – it misses once, and the second time, in frustration, slams the morningstar against the pillar which bounces off and hits itself on the shoulder (Critical Fail)
  • Korra uses her Levitate ability, forgetting to levitate Adrian with her – but shouts, “Grab my ankle!” Adrian attempts to do so (Unarmed Strike – Korra rolled – and he grabbed a Mirror Image’s ankle)
  • The Lamia, realizing she lost control of Korra retreats back down the pillars, and slams something against the wall – which reveals a secret door, which she quickly goes into – and once it slams shut – the entire chamber begins to rumble and fall apart
  • Don shouts, “We need to get out of this room!” He sees that the entrance they’d climbed in, a stone door is slowly coming down
  • Holes open, and sand begins to pour into the room
  • Sephrenia quickly moves to the doorway, yelling for her companions to hurry
  • Buppido fires one last fire bolt that kills the Ettin, and Korra uses Mage Hand to get the Bag of Holding from the Ettin’s waist
  • Don quickly tries to run down to Lilli – but falls down the pillars like the others
  • Adrian quickly ties a rope around one of the pillars and shouts to Don to use the rope
  • Don and Lilli quickly make their way up the rope and slide out of the room, with Adrian as the last one sliding out of the room
  • The stone door slams shut, entombing the “Dragonborn” within the room, it would seem
  • The party makes their way back to the Cyclops, Tor’Kon Kin’stic, who is ecstatic to see Lilli Sandmeadow
  • Nikalos sees the party and says, “Good to see all of you! Do you have my magic bag?”
  • Korra nods and gives the magical bag to Nikalos. The pyramid rumbles and the party quickly make their way out of the pyramid which proceeds to sink back into the sand. Nikalos thanks the party (granting Inspiration to the party) and with a wave of his hand, heals the party. The magical sleigh – lands and Nikalos departs
    • (DM Note – Ragnaroc had discussed with Buppido about trying to steal Nikalos’ Gem of Levitation when they came out of the pyramid – but since he wasn’t present and in his Belars stance, this never got to be explored this session)
  • The party make their way back to the town, they ask Tor’Kon, “Do you know why Shen Fahr was adamant that it was a Cyclops who attacked the town and abducted Lilli?” (See Session 55 for more)
  • The Cyclops shrugs, uncertain – he does say that Lilli does come out of town and speak with him frequently – but not sure why Shen Fahr would cause confusion and say that it’d been Tor’Kon rather than the Ettin who attacked.”
  • The party decides, they will confront Shen Fahr…

TO BE CONTINUED?