Thug Muggers in the Sewer 1/1/23
Table Talk:
Ashley/Sorin has a decision to make, with Akris scouting down below;
A) Akris gives a verbal description of the area, similar to how i describe areas in these summaries
B) Sorin gets some kind of advantage navigating in that area
C) During the next rest, Sorin and Akris sit down and make a map together, with two rolls determining how good the map is and how much it helps their bond.
Ashley chose “C”, so we’ll have that scene in the next rest.
Mechanic Talk:
A quick recap of all the options available in combat:
Attack - attack
Cast a spell - cast a spell
Dash - expend a turn for double movement
Disengage - (tricky and kinda up to the DM)
Dodge - focus on defense, giving disadvantage on the enemies attack against you
Help - use you turn to assist a character and add a buff to them
Hide - hide (if successful, can be used to set a sneak attack for the next round)
Ready - prepare an action to that goes off when triggered by an event
Search - use a non-combat skill check
Use an Object - use a potion, or lever or something
Also, when casting an attack spell, the spell casting modifier DOES get added to the attack roll, but does NOT get added to the damage roll. I noticed some odd damages when typing up the last summary, so i wanted to make sure everyone is on the same page.
“Okay, okay Mike, theirs two problems with your plan. It won't work, and you'll die."
-Red Green —Steve Smith, “The Red Green Show: Season 11 Episode 17 ‘Red Green Does New Year's’”
🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿
Chapter 11: Find the Cube, find the cube, step right up and find the cube
🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿 Chapter 11: Find the Cube, find the cube, step right up and find the cube
We are standing in the corner of two hallways. The path back where we came from is mostly dark as Cypress lifts his moss lantern up to light the way south. Directly in front of him is a bunch of charred spiderwebs next to a split in the tunnel. Further down, there is a side tunnel with a large iron grate before the hallway disappears in darkness with the sound of small flapping wings.
Rae walks over the body of the rust monster, in the tunnel next to Cypress. In a few feet she is standing in a four way intersection, to the right she can see the same burned cobwebs, and the light from Cypress’s lantern. In each tunnel ahead and to the left are messes of cobwebs. Beyond the cobwebs, both of these hallways go for a short way and stop. Rae thinks she might be able to see some large cranks at their terminus (that means the wall at the end Rae).
Sorin steps up by Rae and his foot bumps into a red brick, half covering a large metal grate on the floor. He notices a faint lantern glow from the cobwebs where they intersect with new tunnels. Clearly we are standing in a collection of long halls that form squares.
The two go back to report to Ari and Cypress. Ari points out that this all feels somehow very familiar. Like a place we’ve been before. Everyone, give me a knowledge roll.
With a nat’ 20, Ari remembers it perfectly. These tunnels are exactly like the ones we were in 6 days ago on the 27th of Mirtul. It was the end of our first full day in the sewers and we found tunnels like this. At the end, in the corner, they found the first Thug tunnel and the abandoned cave with the Giant Spider. Sorin and Cypress take this in and remember that these are overflow blocks in case of flooding. Last time each of the end walls had the large chain-cranks in them, and Cypress thinks he remembers seeing them noted on Pulgrok’s map in this area too.
Alright gang, let's split up and look for clues.
“I’ll go with Ari!”
Of course you will Sorin, of course you will.
Ari and Sorin head south, as Rae and Cypress head west. Within a few paces, Ari and Rae are surrounded by spiders and scurrying feet. ROLL INITIATIVE!
Sorin starts things off, casting Firebolt. Nat’ 20. He lays his wrist on Ari’s shoulder, “hold still,” he takes careful aim, points, and snaps his fingers. The Firebolt splashes against the wall, spreading out like a wave, and frying all the spiders along one wall. With 18 damage, Sorin has halved the swarm.
In the other tunnel, Cypress flicks his wrist, his Thorn Whip slashes across 5 spiders on the wall.
Back with Sorin, Ari draws her rapier and slashes, cutting a couple bigger spiders in half.
Back with Cypress, Rae readies her staff.
Ashley: “You’ve been practicing with the new staff right, so you won’t miss?”
Sarah: “What?”
Me: “Actually, ‘in the world’, we picked up right after the fight where you gave it to her.”
Rae misses. Her arm and staff are caught up in a sticky mess of cobwebs, like trying to give a high-five through 6 layers of Cling Wrap™.
We pan back over to Ari, where 5 spiders have landed on her head, and are biting the ring where horn-forming tissue meets the keratin of her horns (i think, that the anatomy of tiefling horns makes more sense as a goat-like continuously built horn; rather than the deer-like antler with a burr and pedicle, since i don’t see any reference to them falling off at a regular life-cycle-stage). It hurts. It feels like a ripping hang-nail all the way around your ear. She lets out a curse of pain.
In the other hall, 4 spiders crawl down the sticky ropes Rae’s staff is caught in, biting at her hands.
Sorin wraps a bit of his coat around his forearm and attempts to brush off the spiders that are biting at Ari’s face (are horns part of the face?) With an 8, he manages to brush them off, but it hurts the sensitive skin around the horns. Ari takes some non-lethal damage with a feeling like a fingernail getting stubbed and bent back, only on her forehead and connected to her skull.
Cypress also attempts to help his companion, drawing his short sword and slicing at the cobwebs. Give me a flat attack roll. 4. There aren’t many cobwebs down that close to the ground, but he does cut a few by her legs.
Ari lets out an angry growl and slices away at the 5 spiders scurrying to climb back onto her.
Rae-The-Unpredictable runs away. In a Dash she propels herself out of the dry-sticky mess and into a dead-run. There is a moment of board game fun as Sarah has to pick out a path to use all 20 squares on the gaming grid. Rae runs back to the corner where the session started, and makes a loop over the Rust monster corpse, back around the little square, over the Rust Monster Corpse again, and back to the far corner. Everyone (including the spiders) just stares at this absurdity. But, Rae does manage to brush all the cobwebs off her, so who’s the smart one now, huh?
In the south hallway, there is only one spider left. A sneaky spider named Riccardo creeps along the ceiling. When Ari slashes out, Ricardo sees his chance and drops. He lands on her neck, and sinks his fangs in deep. With a nat’ 20 he pumps his venom sacks rhythmically, driving as much of his hazy green slime into her blood as he can.
The Spiders by Cypress’s feet miss him completely, as they attempt to string up a new webby net.
Sorin sees the fist sized furry monster attached to Ari’s neck, doing exactly what he wishes she’d let him do. He shoots off another FireBolt, but her angry eyes make him nervous. Afraid of hitting her, at the last second, he lifts his hand and the spell hits the brick wall behind her.
Cypress uses Thorn Whip again, destroying the spiders that were attempting to patch the elf-shaped hole in their web.
Ari grabs the spider off her neck, and brings it around in front of her. She swings her arms out and claps to smush the nasty thing between her hands. But, at the last second, Riccardo shimmies his furry little abdomen between her claws and drops to the ground, running into the darkness.
Rae is back. She waves ‘hi’, and then swings her staff through the nest, scraping it along the walls to crush 3 more spiders.
Riccardo scuttles down the hallway and up a wall, hiding in the gap between a couple pipe fittings a few feet off the ground. He readies an action.
Thinking to try and find the runaway spider, Sorin unleashes another FireBolt Scouring the walls with a cleansing tongue of fire. After the ash settles, all that is left is the bricks and pipe of the sewers. It seems the spider got away.
Cypress casts another Thorn Whip, taking out all but the last little patch of baby spiders.
Looking at Sorin, Ari sighs, “Ok, I’m going around the other side to see how Rae and Cypress are doing.” She takes some poison damage and turns down the hallway.
At about waist height, a furry spider leaps from between two pipes and bites her leg for 4 more damage.
“That damn spider!” Brooke says in our world, and slams her hands down on the table. Scaring the child who was building a fort underneath it.
Ari grabs her dagger and stabs into the spider, ending the Hp of the Spider Swarm. (is this the last of our dear Riccardo?)
Rae palm strikes the last remaining baby spiders against the wall, and the fight is over.
As Ari takes another bit of poison damage, she slumps against the wall, “Uh, Cypress, how good are you with poisons?”
Chapter 11: A true Thug Mugging
🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿🐭
Chapter 11: A true Thug Mugging 🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿🐭
Cypress walks over to Ari as she sits slumped against the wall of the next intersection. His hand is already digging in his bag as he approaches, asking, “So, how’d your fight go?”
“Good except for the last spider.” Ari says as Cypress places a small wax cone to the holes on her neck.
He casts Cure Wounds, striking a match and lights the end of the little tube. Tilting Ari’s head and holding her hair out of the way he says, “I see. Well, this will do some good until we can rest again.” After a moment of sputtering yellow flames, the cone is extinguished and a puddle of hazy brown slime is left. “I don’t have a bottle and I wouldn’t pick this gunk up even if I did, it’s worthless after it’s touched blood. So let’s just not tell Rae, okay?” Cypress whispers to Ari as he wipes up the poisonous goo with a bloody cotton cloth.
Ari nods and Cypress gives her his best bedside manner ‘atta boy champ’ smile.
Back in the west hall, Rae goes up the chain crank buried in a wall. She gives it a good tug and starts winding.
Ari stands up and looks around. Down the south hall is another Chain crank, but to the west is a sleeping bag with a lantern lit beside it.
Behind her, Rae hears Sorin’s voice echoing, “Um, Rae, can you help me?” as he fails to budge the crank he’s at. With a sigh she heads across the tunnels to him.
The sleeping bag is a normal, run of the mill, sleeping bag. There is an empty bottle of wine and some bread crumbs, but something tells Ari this is another little den for a Thug. It’s probably the fact that this is exactly where the Thug’s sleeping bag was in the last overflow block we were in.
Cypress goes up to the crank buried in the south tunnel and stares at it. He tries his best, but without some higher leverage, he isn’t going to budge it. He calls for Ari.
Rae walks over to see Sorin hanging off a spoke at the top of the wheel, his legs dangling in the air. With a sigh, she grabs the back of his coat and yanks. The crank spins free, winding up its chain. Sorin makes a successful save to not land on his ass, it’s not a graceful landing, but it doesn’t hurt.
Ari grips the top spokes and pulls, straining as hard as she can while Cypress pulls as the bottom spokes with her. The large gear-shaped wheel won't budge an inch.
Out of the corner of his eye, Cypress notices something, and kicks out. He knocks the half-brick stuck between the gears out of the way, and the wheel whirs away, winding up the chain.
After a high five, Ari and Cypress go out to see what's left in the tunnels.
When Ari pokes her head around the next corner, she looks wide eyed and quickly pills back behind the corner, concealing herself. A sly grin rises onto her face.
Cypress heads south, since Ari went west. After a few steps retreats, seeing the same thing as Ari. A sly grin rises onto his face.
Both Thug Muggers use their new Sending Stones to send out a psychic message to the others without making a sound. They both send at once, and the message gets garbled. “I found a Thug. -ad-t- the far south west corner. .. ^%)sss stacking bricks back up, and facing away-ff ^6$@”
Rae and Sorin look at each other, nod, and quietly make their way towards the corner.
Ari carefully draws an arrow back to her cheek, straining the bow. The Thug’s lantern light ‘tings’ off her grinning fang as she aims for the back of his kneecap. Rolling the 2 extra dice for her Sneak Attack, Ari does 10 damage, and pins the Thug's knee to the cobbles of the floor.
Before the Thug can even scream out in pain, Cypress is there knocking him down with another Sneak Attack. Since Clerics don’t get a damage bonus for a sneak attack, this knocks them Prone.
The Thug attempts to stand up (the only action available), but only manages to break Ari’s arrow, getting to a kneeling stance and un-pinning himself from the ground.
As the Thug tries to get up and figure out what’s going on, Rae comes barreling around the corner, lifts her staff in the air, and strikes the butt against the forehead of the Thug, leaving them stunned.
For the Thug, everything goes fuzzy and numb, the world is a blur of three out-of-focus shapes cheering. A forth shape arrives and the Thug feels a fluffy puff of feathers push them on their back.
Sorin kicks them hard in the chest, and the Thug falls back to the ground. Suddenly the brick-pattern hood falls away from the Thug’s face revealing a furry snout and glazed red eyes.
“A Wererat!” Ari shouts, “Hold ‘em down and I’ll search them!”
Cypress steps over the Thug, and roughly plops down onto them with an “Ooof” Sound.
Ari uses her readied action to loot, as soon as Cypress holds them down. She rolls a nat’ 20. Throwing back the brick-pattern cloak reveals a now-familiar black and white tabard. She glances at Cypress and they nod to each other. Ari starts rummaging in pockets and pouches. She finds a Scroll with a wax seal in the shape of a rat, and a strange key. The bow of the key is in the shape of a rat, and no warding cut into the bit. She pockets them fast as Rae stands ready with a fist in case the Wererat tries to get up.
Now it’s Sorin’s turn in the combat order, and he has an idea. “I’ll cast Disguise Self to look like the Wererat, and go back wherever they came from to find out more.”
Rae stares at him, “Oh yeah, a Wererat that looks right, but goes around acting and talking like Sorin.”
Cypress chuckles, “One hot lady with biceps, and the whole plan is ruined.”
“Fine then I see how it is!” Sorin says. Then he turns around and kicks the Wererat in the crotch before going off to pout in the corner.
With this, the Wererat Thug passes into blissful unconsciousness.
Ari gets ANOTHER Nat’ 20 tieing them up, and everyone leaves.
It truly was a Thug mugging. We jumped out, beat them bloody, stole their stuff, and ran away.
As we walk back to the corner of the overflow block, everyone is deciding what to do next.
“Should we explore these new Thug tunnels and try to take out more of them?”
“Well last time we were in an overflow thing like this, we found that Thug storage room with the giant spider. It was in the same place that that Wererat was putting Bricks back.” Ari says with a high knowledge roll.
“No, we need to finish with the other Cube first.”
“First we should see if those cranks opened up the right doors,” Cypress points out.
And so, here we are, standing in the hallway, looking at an open tunnel which used to be blocked off by an iron grate. Someone lets out a sigh that echoes in the brick hallway.
“Well that’s not good.”
“It’s frustrating. I can see the breadcrumbs laid out ahead of me, but for all I know, they’re leading me toward a cliff edge.”
—Stuart Turton, “The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: Chapter 44”
Table talk:
During the last fight scene, the actual reason why Sorin did not use Disguise Self, was due to a look over the spell’s description.
“…You can seem 1 foot shorter or taller and can appear thin, fat, or in between. You can’t change your body type, so you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs…”
I decided that a Wererat would constitute changing body type, since it would mean changing the structure of the face (adding the bones for a snout), and another appendage (tail).
This time, we decided that Cypress’s successful sneak attack just granted a benefit to the attack (knocking the Thug prone), but i need to look up and get a clearer understanding of non-rogues sneak attacking.
I asked people if these descriptions (like the poison gland convulsing, the dripping venom, etc.) are getting too gross and if i need to tone it down. All the players said they actually enjoy it, and that their reactions are all in good fun. So, if you get grossed out, blame them, they encouraged me!
With the Spider Swarms this time, i decided to try a new idea of representing the Swarm’s Hp, and damage dealt in terms of the number of spiders. (eg: do 4 damage; squish 4 spiders, get bit for 5 damage; 5 spiders bite you). I’m curious what others think about this, so please let me know if you have any thoughts.
In case anyone is curious about the background process, this is what my notes typically look like when i take my in-session written notes and write a brief outline for these summaries.
Describe flood - ari nat 20: old spider room from day 1, Sor and cyp:flooding overflow. Split up and look for clues. Each hallway spiders
Spider FIGHT: (Cyp & Rae w/ sw1, Sor & Ari w/ sw2)
Sor FB 20’ (use ari shoulder to stable fire) take out ½: 18 dam, Cyp TW: 5 dam, Ari rap: 5, Rae staf (sor ‘been practicing yeah, but no time since RM fight) miss caughtish in web, sw2 5 spid around horns biting (look up what that flesh is called), sw1 4 spid on rae, sor brush horns 8: spid off-like bent finger nails, Cyp cut rae out of we 4: not much that low, Ari rap 5 dam, rae dash loops count on board nock everything off, sw2 last spid bite ari neck 20’ poison 5dam, sw1 miss (rebuilding), sor fb miss to nervous at hitting ari again, cyp tw, Ari pull off clap to squish 1’ spid run away hide, Rae back staff 3 dam, sw2 hide, sw1 miss, FB to uncover in webs-so good no more webs, cyp tw 5dam, Ari go around to help-spid jump out-4dam bite ari leg-ari dag stab dead, rae palm strike against wall dead
Eplore
Uh, cyp help, cur wounds focus and push out posion, rae no bottle, cyp worthless contaminated, Aro fnd thg bed, rae crank good, Sor no crank ‘rae help’, Ari xamin bed, cyp find crank, Rae walk over pull sor collarcrank, sor no fall on ass, Cyp crank, with ari help, explore see thug
THG Fight thg to bricks
Ari pos, Cyp pos send message hear half not attack, sor and rae get close, ari snk att sh bow 10 dam kneecap, Cyp snk att 3 dam prone, thg prone-up to kneel, rae staff to head 4 dam stunned, Sor push down 3dam hood back WR, ari start to search ‘wait i’ll help, ready to search, cyp sit on, ari search 20’ scroll with wax seal rat-B&W tabard-rat ke no teeth, WR fail to dislodge, Rae ready action to knock out if gets up, sor disguise self (discus: rae ‘oh yeah WR aCT like sor’ cyp: “1 lady w/ biceps and falls apart”) sor fine, kicks nuts, shock, Ari tie up 20’ passed out.
What next, thg cave or g3? Ari hg cave abandon last time, look at gate and see, go look, baby cube out, bit cub in room. END
