Adventure Notes – The Discovery 25

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  • Avacyn searches her pouches and notices that a few of her items must have fallen out when she tumbled down the stairs. She tells the party not to do anything and she will be right back, and quietly – as much as one in metal armor can – makes her way back to the stairs. (DM Note – Avacyn missed this session, so explaining that she’d dropped things when she’d taken the fall down the flight of stairs was an easy way to excuse her from this session – side note, the demon in this session was purposely placed her originally for her to be able to go toe to toe with!)
  • The party watches as what appears to be a mummified figure emerges from a flaming portal – and then turns and continues the arcane casting – summoning forth what appears to be a large demon standing just on the other side of the portal
  • Sindri begins to sweat
  • Twilight looks at him and asks if he’s all right
  • Sindri asks, “You feel it right? Do you realize what today is? We should have considered this before we came down into a Mage’s Tower… it’s… The Hollowing.” (DM Note – Last session even though Magic was used and there was no Hollowing effects – because it was the previous month, so canon wise; it’s now struck past Midnight – when the Hollowing kicks in for this game. The Hollowing is an event I do for my games in October usually whatever game lands closest to December – but the Discovery game is a monthly game. This year I came up with a new chart of 100 different potential effects – each time magic is rolled a d100 is rolled first, to see if the spell goes off – and if it does, does it have any side effects! If you want to see the effects I came up with – click this link. This list was not made available to the players until the session was over, so it was always a surprise! I made the effects far more humorous than I did last year’s – which has several, potentially lethal effects)
  • Sindri whispers, “We need to figure out what that thing is that just came through the portal.” Gazing at the massive beast, the hulking orangutan with a gruesome, drooping visage and tusks jutting from its jaw. Standing just under 8 feet tall, it has broad shoulders and weighs 650 pounds. It moves apishly along the ground, but it climbs with great speed and agility. Sindri peeks around the corner (and after a very high Arcana roll), Sindri leans back and whispers, “Guys, this isn’t good. That thing is a barlgura which represents the savagery and brutality of the Abyss. Barlguras gather in packs to take down tougher foes, keep gruesome trophies from their victories, and decorate their territory with such objects.
  • The party listens as the undead mage commands the beast, “I need you to break down the wall – there are arcane runes that prevent me from magically opening the door from the inside – but your brute strength can break the doors down and set me free. Once I am free, you can do as you please.”
  • The hulking beast begins making its way towards the party, unaware of their presence so far
  • As the party tries to discuss what to do, Twilight shakes her head and says, “We’re taking too long,” and knocks a crossbow bolt and fires at the undead mage. “We can’t wait for Avacyn to make her way back here.”
  • The crossbow bolt finds its mark, hitting the undead mage who howls in fury; surprised to know that anyone else was down below the Mage’s Tower; however, Twilight notices though her bolt struck true, it did not do as much damage to the undead mages as she would have thought (DM Note – This is due to the monster’s damage resistance)
  • Furious to find himself under attack, the undead mage readies to retaliate (Natural 20 on Initiative! Love when the dice help tell a story!)
Natural 20!
  • The undead mage casts Mage Armor on himself then proceeds to cast Invisibility, which Sindri is able to Counterspell the second spell – however, effects begin to trigger…
  • The Mage Armor magically heals the undamaged demon (heal companion for 10 hp) while the Invisibility triggers so that the undead mage smells like sewage (being undead, he already had a rancid odor to him)
  • The Counterspell that Sindri casts actually has no magical side effects (DM Note – He rolled a 15 which is one of the few “Spell goes off as normal, nothing else happens” effects! Much better than the last Hollowing event where one of the first spells Sindri cast immediately knocked him down to 0 hit points as a side effect!) which successfully counterspells the Invisibility
  • The barlgura seeing enemies makes a leap landing in the midst of the party and immediately goes wreckless
  • The creature bites into Sindri’s arm – and attempts to also punch Sindri – who quickly, reactively casts Shield saving himself from being crushed beneath the demon’s hulking fists as they slam against the invisible shield – however, this time – a magically side effect is triggered – everyone around Sindri discovers all of their hair – in every region of their body – suddenly grows three feet in length!
  • Sindri realizes his body hair is now longer in length than his own height
  • Hartmut, trying not to trip over his body hair, rushes up to the demon and manages to land two hits with his Cestus of Kyoaku-sei, after expending a Ki point to extend the claws, and do further damage
  • Rettniss casts Entangle – and however, immediately feels her stomach churn – as she suddenly finds she can’t hold anything in – releasing all the food she’d eaten uncontrollably, screaming, “What is happening?”
  • The Barlgura demons roars as it breaks free of the Entanglement spell
  • Despite knowing that her crossbow won’t do as much damage, despite it being magical, Twilight fires another shot at the undead mage – and hits, as she begins to put the crossbow away
  • Arhian channels her Ki into her Cestus weapons and strikes at the demon in front of them – Natural 20!
  • Arhian follows up with another hit to the demon
  • Sindri, despite seeing the effect on Rettniss, decides to use the Wand of Magic Missiles to target the undead mage – and as the magic fires off – Sindri feels drastically changed
  • “You’re a woman!” Twilight shouts in shock, as Sindri looks at himself – and sees that his gender has been swapped to a female!
  • As the undead mage continues casting – maintaining their concentration despite being hit by the magic missiles – everyone (except Rettniss who is struggling with her stomach) hears a loud buzzing sound emanating from the portal behind the undead wizard
  • The demon slams Sindri (Sindra?) – and lands a Natural 20 taking Sindri (Sindra?) down for the count
  • After seeing the wizard go down, the beast turns its attention on Arhian (who had hit it with a Natural 20) and attempts to use its fist – but misses the dexterous monk
  • Hartmut sees Sindri (Sindra?) bleeding on the floor; but concerned about the sound of the buzzing from the portal, Hartmut uses Shadow Step to teleport next to the undead wizard, bt as he swings; he misses the undead wizard and sets his gaze into the portal, where he realizes it’s a portal to the abyss; and he can see something coming
  • Rettniss kneels down and uses her Medicine check to stabilize Sindri (Sindra) and does successfully
  • Twilight rushes up to the undead wizard and strikes with a dagger that she acquired while chasing down Avacyn’s family named Grumthak’s Fang – but as she finishes her attack, her gaze falls towards the portal – and she too glimpses into the abyss – and feels a terrible sense of fear
  • Arhian gives Sindri (Sindra?) a potion and brings Sindri (Sindra?) back into the fight
  • The next two hits from Arhian hit the large demon twice and the demon begins to bleed out now
  • Sindri disengages away from the creature, and moves away and quaffs another potion, moving further away from the wizard and the fight
  • The portal slowly begins to close
  • At that moment, the sound of the buzzing makes itself known, as a new demon, resembling a twisted version of a giant fly, crawls its way out
A Chasme has joined the fight
  • The undead mage begins to scale the wall, and Hartmut and Twilight miss as he begins to use his Spider Climbing – and as a magical side effect from the Hollowing, his undead flesh now looks like silver dragon scales
  • The Barlgura continues trying to attack Arhian, but both of its attack misses
  • With the undead mage having magically climbed, Hartmut hits the fly demon and and then flurry of blows – and gets a Natural 20!
  • Rettniss casts Healing Word towards Sindri (Sindra) that heals some more
  • Rettniss’ stomach lurches as she doubles over in pain, certain that there’s nothing left in her, when suddenly a third leg emerges from her body (benefit is her speed is increased by 20!) She screams again, “What is happening?”
  • With the undead mage having climbed the wall – Twilight stabs at the demonic fly
Natural 20!
  • The demonic fly is wondering why it came through the portal since both people hit it with Natural 20s
  • The creature does the droning ability and knocks out Hartmut; but Twilight is immune to it (DM Note – The chasme produces a horrid droning sound to which demons are immune. Any other creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of the chasme must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or fall unconscious for 10 minutes. A creature that can’t hear the drone automatically succeeds on the save. The effect on the creature ends if it takes damage or if another creature takes an action to splash it with holy water. If a creature’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, it is immune to the drone for the next 24 hours.)
  • The fly demon begins ripping apart the unconscious Hartmut (reducing him below 0 hit points)
  • Arhian manages to deliver the killing blow on the Barlgura
  • Arhian expends a Ki point – and finishes off the beast that Twilight had critically wounded
  • Sindri (Sindra) casts Magic Missile at the Undead Mage – and the spell goes off – but Sindri (Sindra) suddenly smells of sewage as a side effect; but the plus side, Sindri (Sindra) reverts back to his normal male form
  • The undead mage uses one of its abilities – grave bolt – but it misses – and the magical side effect triggers, but has no impact (Betrayal! You decide to target any harmful spell towards a companion (randomly selected) and any useful spell towards an enemy (randomly selected) for 1 round.)
  • Hartmut, still bleeding out on the floor… critical fails his first death save… giving him an automatic two fails…
  • Hartmut’s body begins to violently convulse
  • Rettniss slides over to Hartmut’s side (using her third leg for the extra movement) and does a Medicine check and manages to stabilize him
  • Twilight slides down next to him as well, and begins using a Healing Potion to sit Hartmut up and he takes a deep breath and sees Rettniss with a third leg and wonders what’s going on
  • Arhian fires a shot with her longbow towards the undead mage; but misses
  • Sindri casts Fire Bolt and hits the undead wizard – and suddenly all of Sindri’s companions feel a yanking action – and they’re all pulled to Sindri’s site – all of them startled to be teleported to his side
  • The undead mage casts Grave Bolt at Twilight, which he can reach her – and hits her for heavy damage (and now makes her officially bloody); as a result of the Hollowing the undead mage grows a very large beard
  • Hartmut quaffs another potion then fires off his long bow and hits the undead mage
  • Rettniss casts Entangle which the creature can not break from; and the spell effect courses through Rettniss where she feels a change of luck coming her way should she need it (Turn of luck! Any critical fail (Natural 1) becomes a Natural 20! This lasts for 2d4 rounds)
  • Twilight fires her arrow and hits
  • The undead mage casts Death Bolt again and both of its arms turn invisible as a result
  • Rettniss casts Frostbite and the spell hits for full damage and suddenly Rettniss is polymorphed into a sheep
  • Twilight quaffs more healing potions to try and stop the bleeding
  • Sindri casts Fire Bolt and is suddenly overcome by the notion that he is a wolf and needs to dominate his territory – selecting Arhian to urinate on and begin humping her leg to establish domination, spending his entire next round urinating on Arhian’s leg
  • The undead mage casts Hunger of Hadar – the spell effect has no effect (because the spell effect was gender swap a companion) – A gateway to the dark between the stars, a region infested with unknown horrors. A 20-foot-radius sphere of blackness and bitter cold appears, centered on a point with range and lasting for the duration. This void is filled with a cacophony of soft whispers and slurping noises that can be heard up to 30 feet away. No light, magical or otherwise, can illuminate the area, and creatures fully within the area are blinded.
  • As the battle progresses, the party eventually manages to beat the undead mage (which is actually a Deathlock) – and upon his death, a small circulet worn on his head falls to the ground

To Be Continued…

Dice RollAll Spells Go Off When Cast, Unless Otherwise Noted Below
#1You grow an extra leg! Your movement is increased by 20′
#2One person in your party grows an extra leg! (Randomly select) Their movement speed is increased 20′
#3Fairie Fire for all (within 60′ range of you)! No Save! Lasts for 1d4 rounds, then wears off of everyone.
#4Both of your arms turn invisible for 2d4 rounds!
#5One of your party members turns invisible (Randomly select) for 2d4 rounds!
#6Silence! You are silenced for 1d4 rounds!
#7Nothing happens. Spell goes off normally. No side effect.
#8Panic! You run in a random direction at full speed! (d4 = 1 North, 2 South, 3 West, 4 East)
#9A Faerie Dragon appears and breathes upon the enemy! (See Faerie Dragon) It disappears after breathing.
#10For 3d4 rounds, any melee attack you make deals an extra 2d4 damage!
#11For 1d4 rounds, a random person in your party has fists of fire (randomly select) dealing an extra 2d4 fire damage!
#12Stirges! Stirges appear and magically drawn to attack (only) you for 2d4 rounds! Each time one is destroyed another magically takes it’s place!
#13You are teleported d100 feet away from your current location (d4 = 1 North, 2 South, 3 West, 4 East)
#14You become lucky for 2d4 rounds! You can reroll any 1’s (hits, damage, saves, etc)
#15Nothing happens. Spell goes off normally. No side effect.
#16You make someone lucky (randomly selected from part) for 1d4 rounds (they can reroll any 1’s – hits, damage, saves)
#17Everyone’s hair around you grows magically 1d4 feet in length!
#18The fates smile! Any hit against you – melee or magical – is forced to be rerolled for 2d4 rounds!
#19You suddenly begin to levitate 2d4 feet in the air! You movement reduced to half speed. This lasts 2d4 rounds.
#20One of your party members begins to levitate (randomly selected)! Their movement is reduced to half speed! This lasts 1d4 rounds.
#21Your Mind is protected! You’re immune to all pshyic damage for 1d4 rounds!
#22Your gender is swapped for 1d4 days!
#23The gender of a party member (randomly selected) is swapped for 2d8 hours.
#24You cast the spell – but the spell never happens – the spell slot however is used.
#25Any melee attack by you heals for 1d10 damage. This lasts 2d4 rounds.
#26Any melee attack by someone in your party heals for 1d10 damage. This lasts for 2d4 rounds.
#27Your spell – if it does any form of damage – is a critical hit – doing maximum damage in addition to the rolled damage.
#28Your body hair grows 2d20 inches!
#29The body hair of everyone who is friendly to you grows 3d10 inches!
#30Turn of luck! Any critical fail (Natural 1) becomes a Natural 20! This lasts for 2d4 rounds.
#31Friendly Mental Enslavement! One of the party members of the party is forced to listen to your every command (except self harm) for 1d4 rounds! Randomly selected!
#32A pair of shoes materialize around your feet – binding you there for 2d4 Rounds!
#33All forms of metal around you (weapons and armor) gain a +1 ability for 2d4 rounds.
#34All forms of metal around you (weapons and armor) disappear for 2d4 rounds!
#35You grow an extra arm! You gain one additional melee/ranged attack! This lasts for 2d4 rounds!
#36One of your party members (random selected) grows an extra arm! They gain an extra melee/ranged attack! This lasts for 1d4 rounds!
#37You cast the spell – but the spell never happens – and somehow two spell slots were used!
#38With a quickness! Your mind flows! You can cast two spells as single action! This lasts 1d4 rounds. (It uses a spell slot for each spell)
#39Roll a D20 each round! Any time you roll less than a 8, you take 1d8 psychic damage! This lasts for 2d4 rounds.
#40Your skin grows copper scales! This lasts for 4d10 days!
#41Your skin grows silver scales! This lasts for 4d10 days!
#42Your skin grows brass scales! This lasts for 4d10 days!
#43Your skin grows platinum scales! This lasts for 4d10 days!
#44Your skin grows bronze scales! This lasts 4d10 days!
#45You realize if you spend an action vomtting you can cast Magic Missile as projectile vomit at Level 1. This lasts 1d4 rounds.
#46Nothing Happens
#47You magically grow 1d4 feet! This last for 4d10 days! All melee damage does an additional d4.
#48One of your companions, randomly selected, grows 1d4 feet, for 1d10 days! All melee damage does an additiona d4 damage.
#49You shrink down 1d4 feet! All melee damage is reduced by d4. This lasts 2d4 rounds.
#50You shrink down one of your companions 1d4 feet! All melee damage from them is reduced by d4. This lasts 2d4 rounds.
#51Your words breathe fire! You can cast cone of fire once, in a 15′ cone, doing 2d4 fire damage!
#52You smell like a blooming flower patch for 4d10 days.
#53You smell like rotten sewage for 4d10 days. All social checks are at disadvantage.
#54You grow 1d4 eyes on your face. You can not be surprised. This lasts 4d10 days. Any social checks are at disadvantage.
#55You spell goes off normal – but flowers fall from some portal above you, raining down in a 60′ radius centered on you.
#56Betrayal! You decide to target any harmful spell towards a companion (randomly selected) and any useful spell towards an enemy (randomly selected) for 1 round.
#57You grow a beard! If you already have one, it grows an additional 2d4 feet!
#58Your ears turn into elf-like ears! If you are already an elf-kin, your ears grow 3d4 inches in size for 4 days.
#59You magically heal to full!
#60You magically heal 10 points!
#61You magically heal one of your companions (randomly selected) for 10 points!
#62Your left foot grows to be the size of an ogre’s foot. Your movement is reduced to half speed. This lasts 2 rounds.
#63Bodily gas! You can’t control your gas! Stinking Cloud centers on you, but you are immune to its damage – anyone within 20′ of you takes 3d6 psychic damage. This lasts 3 roun
#64You polymorph into a sheep for 1 round.
#65Species shift! Your body changes! 1 = Elf, 2 = Human, 3 = Gnome, 4 = Goblin, 5 = Dwarf, 6 = Halfling, 7 = Aasimar, 8 = Tiefling. This lasts for 2d4 days.
#66You magically recover all spell slots!
#67Magic trick! A hat appears at your feet – and a glowing blue rabbit leaps out from it!
#68Fireball centered on you – everyone within 60′ of you must make a DC 13 Dexterity Check or take 3d10 fire damage. Successful save with half the damage.
#69You froth at the mouth for no good reason. This lasts 4d10 days.
#70Fey Dance! Fairies appear around you, or one of your companions (randomly selected) and dance. You are forced to stop doing what you’re doing and dance for 1d4 rounds.
#71You drop to your knees and howl like a wolf – selecting one companion to mark as your territory by urinating on them. This lasts 1 round.
#72You turn into a magestic peacock. This lasts 1 round.
#73Ghostly figure! You become completely corporeal for 1d4 rounds! Physical attacks against you do no harm.
#74A large squid appears on your head. It disappears after 2 rounds.
#75The spell wears you out. You gain one level of exhaustion. This stacks with any other exhaustion you’ve earned.
#76Your eyes merge into one – and you have a cyclops like eye for 4d10 days!
#77You’re fighter, not a caster! For 1d4 rounds you can only make melee attacks!
#78You grow a piglet’s tail on your rear end! This lasts for 4d10 days!
#79Double Vision! A doppleganger of you appears and fights you – trying to take your place (it has no magical abilities however – see Doppleganger)
#80The sound of a Pixie’s voice is centered inside your ear, distracting you. All Saves and Ability Checks are at Disadvantage.
#81Your nose sparks randomly – creating tiny fireworks that are loud and noticable. This lasts 1d4 days.
#82Death has come for you. Make a DC 13 Constituion check. Failure reduces you to 0 Hit Points.
#83Uncontrollable sweat. You begin to sweat wildly and the odor is attracious. This lasts for 2d10 days.
#84Every word you say sounds like you’re a frog. Spells that deal damage are reduced to half damage. This lasts for 2d4 rounds.
#85You legs turn into frog legs! You can leap 30′ as an action. This lasts 1d4 rounds.
#86Backed up! You’re constipated for 2d10 days. You suffer the Poisoned effect during this time.
#87Can’t hold it in! You’re unable to control your bowel movements, releasing everything inside of you as soon as you eat. This lasts 2d10 days.
#88You grow animal fur over 100% of your body. This lasts for 4d10 days.
#89Nothing happens. Spell goes off normally. No side effect.
#90You draw magic from one of your companions! If there is another spell cast (randomly selected) – they lose a spell slot, but your spell did not cost one.
#91A Succubus/Incubus appears – seeking to please you. It will constantly plead to please you for 1d4 rounds, before departing. 
#92You hate clothing. You strip down. This lasts for 1d4 rounds.
#93All your companions are teleported to be standing right next to you.
#94Fleas! You’ve got fleas! You’re bit and scratch yourself for 2d4 points of damage! The fleas leave after 1 round.
#95Your body turns to liquid for 2 rounds. During this time you can move half speed, but can not talk, attack, etc.
#96Misty Step! For 4 rounds, you can Misty Step 20′ as a bonus action.
#97A large nude painting of you, suddenly appears and floats in the air following you around for 4d10 days. Any damage is instantly restored to the painting.
#98You suddenly find yourself bound in a rope! It would take an action to get out of it. You are considered grappled.
#99Roll again, twice – taking both effects.
#100Roll again, three times – taking all three effects.