The Story so far…
In the last session the party had just started to try and make a difference in the chaotic happenings around them by searching for missing children. Their investigation has led them to a cave in the woods that was thought to be a displacer beast lair in ancient times. No displacer beasts, but the cave was guarded by devotees of Hades.
Journal
Reverie was restful last night. I had some concerns sleeping in an enemy encampment, but the simple fact that we couldn’t open the door gave me some peace. Add to that our watch and how noisy the door would be and it wasn’t too bad.
Once morning came we were able to at last open the large slab of rock blocking our way. Getting the mirrors positioned just right took longer than I would have imagined. I think it was the twitchy nature of the drow, she seems constantly excited and bemused by the world. How could an elf, even a dark elf, have led such a cloistered life into adulthood.
Beyond the slab the cave was pitch black, only my elven senses allowed me to see the slope just feet from the door. In the distance I could see some sort of swarm, probably rats. If this is someone’s lair they certainly don’t do a great job of maintaining it. Looking over at Kado and realizing he was again blind, I decided I would lead the way. The slope proved to be a trap, slick and full of jagged stones. I was able to navigate it with little trouble. Even with the light provided by Cerebus, Kado didn’t do as well. I could see some blood dripping from his hands and one leg from his fall. This was off to a great start.
Taking a few steps down the tunnel I was suddenly enveloped in a cloud of bats. Their small fangs tearing into me as I tried to fight them off. I could hear my comrades trying to be of assistance, but it wasn’t until Thalous unleashed the power of his patron that the bats dissipated. Moving on we approached the rat swarms, they appeared to be chewing on two small bodies. The warlock called once more on his magic to create an illusion hoping to frighten the rats, it caused them to frenzy destroying the illusion and then attacking me. When I left home I didn’t think my greatest enemy would be swarms of vermin, but here we were bloodied after facing off against just two groups.
After scattering the rats we attempted to identify the bodies, they seemed to be the missing children. Kado took a finger and hair from them in hopes that when we got back to town it would help identify them. It seemed needless desecration to me, but what do I know of human burial practices. As we continue to go deeper into the complex it becomes obvious that the traps were in place to stop daytime incursions, which begs the question what defended the lair at night.
We found a room full of locked doors, and we had used our last key to get into it. After Kado trying to force one of the doors, Cerebus found that one of the others was unlocked. It seemed to have been some manner of kennel, the cages of which were all covered. When Kado lifted the blanket we found out why, blink dogs. I tried to call out to them. Blink dogs are allies of my people, but these hounds had been branded with fel runes of some nature. The dog attacked us in a frenzy and I was forced to call upon my magic to kill it. No sooner had the first dog died than a second lept into the room. Kado was able to stop it, but not before it did serious damage to Cerebus. A search of the rest of the cages turned up more dead blink dogs, and a key to the last door. What kind of fiend uses his prisoners to guard his treasure.
Opening the second to last door proved to be a mistake that nearly cost us our lives. At last the purpose of the blink dogs was revealed, whatever was in charge of this complex was creating death dogs. As soon as the door opened the dog bit into Kado and we could see the disease tracking through his body, Thalous’s otherworldly powers once more stopped what would have been a disaster. During the fight I could hear screams coming from the last door, and as the fight drew to a close smoke was curling out from under the door. Smashing open the door I was confronted with a room engulfed in flames. In the back corner a dwarven child was screaming in fear. Leaping over the flames I went to her side and carried her out of the room. Thalous was able to find some sort of journal half consumed by the fire, it confirmed my suspicions that this was all done by Dohl’Shelt.
We carried all three children back to town. Hoping to find the family’s of the dead as well as the living. Kado and Cerebus left to find him healing, while Thalous and I searched for Althol and the families. We were unable to identify the human girls, but we did manage to find an uncle to place the dwarf girl with. At least some good was done.
We questioned Althol further about Dohl’shelt, but he had very little access to him after he was assigned to transmutation. Tomorrow we will have to find the transmutation teacher Professor Dreer. For now though it has been a long and trying day. As we prepare to depart Althol tells us that the problem has become more severe, the Mayor’s daughter is now among the missing. The clock is ticking to save the girl’s life.
Once morning came we were able to at last open the large slab of rock blocking our way. Getting the mirrors positioned just right took longer than I would have imagined. I think it was the twitchy nature of the drow, she seems constantly excited and bemused by the world. How could an elf, even a dark elf, have led such a cloistered life into adulthood.
Beyond the slab the cave was pitch black, only my elven senses allowed me to see the slope just feet from the door. In the distance I could see some sort of swarm, probably rats. If this is someone’s lair they certainly don’t do a great job of maintaining it. Looking over at Kado and realizing he was again blind, I decided I would lead the way. The slope proved to be a trap, slick and full of jagged stones. I was able to navigate it with little trouble. Even with the light provided by Cerebus, Kado didn’t do as well. I could see some blood dripping from his hands and one leg from his fall. This was off to a great start.
Taking a few steps down the tunnel I was suddenly enveloped in a cloud of bats. Their small fangs tearing into me as I tried to fight them off. I could hear my comrades trying to be of assistance, but it wasn’t until Thalous unleashed the power of his patron that the bats dissipated. Moving on we approached the rat swarms, they appeared to be chewing on two small bodies. The warlock called once more on his magic to create an illusion hoping to frighten the rats, it caused them to frenzy destroying the illusion and then attacking me. When I left home I didn’t think my greatest enemy would be swarms of vermin, but here we were bloodied after facing off against just two groups.
After scattering the rats we attempted to identify the bodies, they seemed to be the missing children. Kado took a finger and hair from them in hopes that when we got back to town it would help identify them. It seemed needless desecration to me, but what do I know of human burial practices. As we continue to go deeper into the complex it becomes obvious that the traps were in place to stop daytime incursions, which begs the question what defended the lair at night.
We found a room full of locked doors, and we had used our last key to get into it. After Kado trying to force one of the doors, Cerebus found that one of the others was unlocked. It seemed to have been some manner of kennel, the cages of which were all covered. When Kado lifted the blanket we found out why, blink dogs. I tried to call out to them. Blink dogs are allies of my people, but these hounds had been branded with fel runes of some nature. The dog attacked us in a frenzy and I was forced to call upon my magic to kill it. No sooner had the first dog died than a second lept into the room. Kado was able to stop it, but not before it did serious damage to Cerebus. A search of the rest of the cages turned up more dead blink dogs, and a key to the last door. What kind of fiend uses his prisoners to guard his treasure.
Opening the second to last door proved to be a mistake that nearly cost us our lives. At last the purpose of the blink dogs was revealed, whatever was in charge of this complex was creating death dogs. As soon as the door opened the dog bit into Kado and we could see the disease tracking through his body, Thalous’s otherworldly powers once more stopped what would have been a disaster. During the fight I could hear screams coming from the last door, and as the fight drew to a close smoke was curling out from under the door. Smashing open the door I was confronted with a room engulfed in flames. In the back corner a dwarven child was screaming in fear. Leaping over the flames I went to her side and carried her out of the room. Thalous was able to find some sort of journal half consumed by the fire, it confirmed my suspicions that this was all done by Dohl’Shelt.
We carried all three children back to town. Hoping to find the family’s of the dead as well as the living. Kado and Cerebus left to find him healing, while Thalous and I searched for Althol and the families. We were unable to identify the human girls, but we did manage to find an uncle to place the dwarf girl with. At least some good was done.
We questioned Althol further about Dohl’shelt, but he had very little access to him after he was assigned to transmutation. Tomorrow we will have to find the transmutation teacher Professor Dreer. For now though it has been a long and trying day. As we prepare to depart Althol tells us that the problem has become more severe, the Mayor’s daughter is now among the missing. The clock is ticking to save the girl’s life.
Behind the Screen
This session was full new things. We dealt with traps, swarms, large monsters, fire, and all in the span of a few hours of in game time. It would have been much less if we hadn’t stopped to take a short rest twice.
The mechanic of short rests and long rests are great for keeping the game going. You no longer have this situation where your party has run out of options and the only thing you can do is sleep, even if its only noon. It keeps the pacing of the game up and makes things run much more smoothly.
The mechanic of short rests and long rests are great for keeping the game going. You no longer have this situation where your party has run out of options and the only thing you can do is sleep, even if its only noon. It keeps the pacing of the game up and makes things run much more smoothly.
We faced a couple of different kinds of monsters here, blink dogs, death dogs, and two different kinds of swarms. What struck me as it always does is how deadly swarms are in these games. It feels even more so in this new edition where damages seem to have been upped a little bit. I was nearly killed twice by the rat swarm, but the mini boss of the dungeon, the death dog? His greatest danger was actually the disease he inflicted on the paladin. If anyone has any tips for dealing with swarms in 5e I’d love to hear them. I figured some AOE damage would do it, but apparently they lost the rule of double damage from AOEs between editions.
Overall the game was a blast, even these mostly minor monsters felt like epic challenges to our low level selves. Defeating them was a real sense of accomplishment. The DM has also said that our actions are going to be judge using the renown system and I am dying to see how that works out.
Overall the game was a blast, even these mostly minor monsters felt like epic challenges to our low level selves. Defeating them was a real sense of accomplishment. The DM has also said that our actions are going to be judge using the renown system and I am dying to see how that works out.
No comments:
Post a Comment