Thug Muggers in the Sewers 4/14/24
Table Talk:
Huh, Ari decided not to ask Devin for anything to cure her disease, interesting. Anyways…
The mechanics for Krubos are p- — five days to die, right Ari? Just five? Huh, well good luck…
The mechanics for Krubos are pretty straight forward, e- — Okay, so Brooke, you’re reeeaaally sure that one of the beads on Cypress’s necklace will be Lesser Restoration, i guess? I mean he does have four chances to roll… It needs to be a 7-12 on a d20 though… I mean that is a 30% chance… of course that’s just to have a Curing bead… then it’s 50/50 if it has the spell you need (that bead has two possible spells), so really it’s a 15% chance… Yeah, yeah you’re right, he has four chances to roll. …i mean that doesn’t mathematically improve the odds for you, but it feels better right? Just that i personally wouldn’t gamble my existence on a bet with 20 to 3 odds against… But no, didn’t wanna ask Devin huh? You’re right, you can just summon him again. I mean it’s not like you guys just set a path of at least three major rooms and possible plot points that might have big outcomes… Oh wait, you did… huh… five days… i wonder if one of Devin’s marks will be over there. …and if so, i sure hope the rat cult members aren’t doing anything weird like smudging out his signs… …five days huh? And 20 to 3 odds against… but you didn’t want to even, like, just ask… that’s cool… good luck… five days, huh…
The mechanics for Krubos are pretty straight forward – if a little difficult to type out.
Inventory: Everyone will roll two dice, and that roll will reveal what we see in Krubos’s lake. I have made a table and the dice rolls will be coordinated to that table, with each roll set revealing an item to that player/character. On top of that, Krubos will always have a special item that will be there until bought, and then a new special item will replace it. So, there will always be four randomly chosen items available, as well as a constant fifth special item. Some of the items are very useful obviously, while others will be random unusable like magic saddles. There are also other less-defined items like Inspiration tokens or ‘Random Potion’.
Price: We already established that the cost to summon Krubos is to sacrifice a magic item. The price of the items we find will be based on the value of the item sacrifice. The cost is the difference in rarity between the two items. Common Items are worth 50 Gold, Uncommon are worth 100, Rare items are 200-300 Gold, Very Rare: 500, Legendary items are worth 1,000 Gold, and so on. For example, if we use an Uncommon item to summon Krubos , and buy a Very Rare item, then that would cost around 400 Gold (500-100) – then i add on a dice roll based on that difference (so two d6 in this case) for 432 Gold as the final price. I promise it’s not difficult or complicated in practice, it just sounds like a lot all typed out.
Nothing to Buy: If we do not buy anything, then the summoner gets to ask Krubos a DM Question. I don’t want the sacrifice item to become valueless, and i want to give a mechanical way for the party to get hints, while still paying for them, so this will always remain an option (a sixth constant item if it’s easier to think of it that way). We've actually had this before, way back in Summary 6/11/22. Because Krubos’s very nature is as a hole in reality, we can ask a meta-game question about what’s going on in the universe. “Where is Zaanth?”, “How do we open the gate?”, “Is Pulgrok alive?”, etc. There is a small chance i will veto a question if it’s too gamebreaking, but so far i haven’t thought of any questions that i would have to veto.
Deciding: And lastly, the summoner has the final say on any decision of action here. I expect the team to talk and discuss options when buying items, or asking questions. I encourage that whole heartedly. But the person who sacrifices the item to bring forth Krubos will always have the deciding vote. If everyone is pushing to buy a pair of Wonderous Pants, but Cypress wants to ask how to find a cure for the King’s warts or whatever, then Cypress has the option to pose that question and leave the others gasping.
I know this is a lot, but hopefully it’ll make more sense as we play.
… 20 to 3 odds phew… yikes. Anyways…
“This one’s a new ghost. Probably far from its cemetery. It flickers like an old light bulb, trying to hold itself in this realm. Each micro-moment it gets sucked back to the land of the dead and comes back, it reappears in a slightly different position. Can’t be long dead if it hasn’t mastered how to anchor in this plane.”
—T. L. Huchu, “The Library of the Dead: III”
👻🛡️🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿Chapter 13: Creative Chapter Title (cont.)
👻🛡️🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿Chapter 13: Creative Chapter Title (cont.)
The actual name for this green room is the ‘Overflow Lake’. This was a natural space where water collected below ground and pooled before sieving through the rocks below, and when the Nibiru sewers were being constructed, they used it as a natural reservoir. When the rains are too heavy – or the snowmelt too high, the streets of the city used to run with water. Now with the drains, the streets stay safe and the water floods the halls of the sewers. We’ve seen some of the methods for this like the Overflow Blocks we saw on our first day in the sewers (Summary 5/7/22). But, just like the builders harnessed the natural magics found underground to power the sewers, they also used this natural reservoir for runoff.
In this way, ages and ages of detritus have been swept through this chamber, with only the most magical of them left untouched – creating a kind of half-filter-half-incinerator for the runoff water. In the clear acidic green waters beneath us we can see swords and daggers, helms and shields, robes and boots, potions, wands, rings, and more. All glittering in among vast mounds of coins.
When Ari summoned Krubos, and the void coalesced to form him, it also filled the bottom and sides of the pool. From his pillar perch, the empty black spreads down like thick roots, blanketing and blacking out everything save a few loan items.
Sorin can see the left heel and right toe of a pair of Boots of Speed with their elven glyphs carved in the leather. Ari and see a Necklace of Fireballs floating in the water, its buoyant nature carrying it to rest in the middle of the waters. In a gap of the dark roots, Cypress can see a Talisman of Pure Good cough on an iron brick anchor in the wall. Rae can see a book, whatever it’s bound in makes it look almost tan in the green water, but she recognizes the stylized round seal on the front of the Manual of Bodily Health, and she points it out to Ari. And there at the crumbling base of the pillar, is a Scepter of Home (a teleportation scepter that can be used with a Home Totem to teleport to a set location [since this is based on Stardew Valley, i had to give him a Return Scepter]).
The Thug Muggers have a brief discussion where Ari wants the Necklace, Cypress wants the Talisman (but is too expensive), and Sorin wants to see how fast Rae can go with the boots on. Eventually, Ari decides to sacrifice 327 of Rae’s coins for the Manual of Bodily Health. Krubos nods and we think that just maybe we can see a slight flicker like a smile on the ends of his jagged mouth, then he descends from the pillar. As he does, one of the empty black roots lifts the book from the water, depositing it on the ground in front of Ari, where she can see it seems to be bound in cured vegetable skins.
Rae hands a Potion of Growth to Sorin, and he drops it in the water.
Krobus’s silhouette in reality appears again, but the spikey lines of his mouth seem tighter.
Cypress, since you knew about Void Ghosts i’ll let you roll and Insight Check with advantage.
Nymbus: “That’s a 17, and a 22.
Krubos can be summoned multiple times, but each summoning is a new dice roll. Meaning, there's a chance of being able to buy something we spotted last time, but it is slim. Because he’s based off of Stardew Valley, he does have a like and dislike system. When summoning him a second time; if the item used to summon him is of the same rarity as the first time (Uncommon, then Uncommon again), he will mildly dislike that. If the item is of a lower rarity (Rare then Common), he will greatly dislike that. He will like it if the items increase in rarity (Common, Uncommon, Rare) and will be happier and happier, the more you can keep summoning him along that formula.
Also, Potions and Spell Scrolls will work to summon Krubos, but then round down. So an Uncommon potion counts as a Common magical item, and a Very Rare spell scroll (level 6 spell or higher), becomes a Rare Magic item.
When the darkness forms again, the roots have rearranged. Right where the bottle fell, Sorin can see it landed on a pile of other bottles. He recognizes them from Bostra’s healing in the last fight as Potions of Greater Healing. Now Cypress can see a Belt of Dwarvenkind leaning against the pillar in the shape of an L. Ari is looking for the Necklace of Fireballs but can’t see it, instead, she sees an Arrow of Slaying with its arrowhead halfway into the motor along the far wall. And Rae sees the massive bloody head of the Giant Slayer battle axe!
While the party decides what to do, Bostra leans against the wall and pulls out a twisted and knotted hank of rope. He bites down on one of the knots and yanks with his teeth. The greenish oil dips down his chin as he tears the pale jerky apart and chews.
Sorin drops in 237 Gold, and Krubos’s Void tentacle lifts the Dwarven Belt to him. As it passes through the barrier of the warding spell, we can see the water squeegeed back in a harsh implacable line.
With a few bows and uncertain thanks, we back out of the room.
👻🐗🐀🦹♂️🦹♂️🗡️🗡️🛡️🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿Chapter 14: Un-making Camp
👻🐗🐀🦹♂️🦹♂️🗡️🗡️🛡️🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿Chapter 14: Un-making Camp
We walk down the wall away from the green light, glancing at the map and discussing strategy until we come to a small open room with one of the up-and-down ladder pipes.
Bostra volunteers to wait here. “That way if something goes wrong, I can just go down and get away.”
“Hmm, good plan.” Cypress nods and turns to the wooden gargoyle. “tZulèe will you stay with him, and tell us if anything happens?”
The gargoyle plants its feet and hands and stares, unblinking, at Bostra.
…
“Well, that’s one way to answer.”
From the map, we know that this is a Thug/Cult room with two small tunnels to it, so everyone is expecting a fight. Rae and Ari decide to take one entrance, and let Sorin and Cypress come in from the other. “A pinchie movement,” Ari calls it, opening and closing her fingers like a lobster pinching a toddler’s cheeks.
The others agree, even though Cypress hesitates, thinking about the last time they split up the group like this. “Rae just… Don’t let Ari rush in first, okay?”
Sorin and Cypress get ready by the door, and then hear Ari in their ears like a CIA agent, “Hold, we got one over here.”
“One what?”
“A Wererat. Rae is hitting– okay yeah, never mind, we’re good. You all ready?”
“What happened?!”
“I hit him.” One-Punch-Rae responds while taking a second to loot a Health potion and an Inspiration Token off of the corpse.
Reader here are my notes for this, right after they rolled initiative and found this guy: “Rae staf ⑫ ⑧ flur ‘20x (22) - loot”.
Cypress and Ari both roll Stealth for the doors. Cypress opens their door silently, but Ari can hear her door creaking. She shrugs and decides to make a ton of noise as a distraction for the other two. She lets out a hellian barbaric battle scream and rushes in, ahead of Rae.
This is the Thug’s encampment on the second level here. It’s a small, crowded room with a stove on one side, a square table with some gear against one wall, a couch against the other wall, a round table in the middle, and some bed rolls laid out on the other side. There is a Wereboar in human shape (next to the stove and the supply table), a Wererat in human shape (across the room from Ari’s entrance), a Cult Fanatic (next to the couch), another Cult Fanatic (in the middle of the bedrolls), a Thug (right next to Ari’s entrance), and another Thug (right in front of Cypress and Sorin’s entrance).
Ari runs in screaming, looks around, and runs directly at the biggest threat: the Wereboar. She slashes at the big woman with an unnatural 20 for 10 damage, and 10 extra Hp for her.
Cypress draws and swings their Mushroom Mace at the Thug in front of them for 5 damage, and then summons Sheela’s Sickle as a Spiritual Weapon to attack the Wererat for 9.
“Two can play at the game!” The Cult Fanatic by the couch shouts, and summons their own Spiritual Weapon. A large bloody axe falls from the ceiling, sliding down Ari’s back in a critical hit for 22 damage! But, Ari saves against the thrawl of the cursed blade and stays focused on the Wereboar.
The Wererat runs and lunges at Rae. She ducks, but he spins and his cleaver tears into her.
Next to Cypress, the Thug he just hits turns and swings her own club, hitting the cleric for 5 points of bludgeoning damage.
The Wereboar grunts and rubs her hairy chin, then swings her heavy crossbow like a sledgehammer. With a nat’ 1, she mis-calculates and slams it into the wall. The shock snaps the limbs from the stock and sends a cartoon shiver down her hairy bare arms and wiggling her huge pecs, each one the size of a salad bowl jiggling like jello – just for you Sorin.
Tearing his hungry eyes away, Sorin cast Chill Touch on the Fanatic that just summoned the Spiritual axe. The phantom hands rips away some of their life force and Akris darts across the room. The snake tries to bite at the Thug nearest Rae, but misses. The Thug tries to grab him for an opportunity attack, but Akris has Flyby, and ducks back around their reaching fingers to hover on top of the middle of the room.
That same Thug then runs past Akriss, pulling something off their belt. They dump the health potion on the Cultist that summoned the axe… but it does nothing thanks to Sorin’s impressive spell casting.
“Three can play at that game!” The Cult Fanatic by the bed rolls summons another bloody axe that lands on Cypress for 8 damage.
Rae looks at the Wererat in front of her, then turns and looks at the dead Wererat behind her.
She swings.
Rae jumps over the dead Wererat and runs at the Cultist by the bed rolls. She pummels them with a flurry of blows for 9 damage and knocks them to the ground.
Ari goes to swing at the Wereboar, provoking an Attack of Opportunity from the Spiritual axe. She takes 7 slashing damage and then fails her Wisdom Save. Enraged, she turns to attack the axe… rolling a nat’ 1 and provoking an Opportunity Attack for the Wereboar who picks up a shield from the table, but misses Ari with it.
Cypress misses the second swing at the Thug with his Mushroom Mace, but their spirit sickle slices into the other caster again, bloodying them.
Outraged at this defiance from a believer in a false god, the Cult Fanatic casts Inflict Wounds on Cypress.
He can feel red hatred tearing at their muscles and takes 12 damage, only to see the Thug they’ve been fighting swing at them again.
OooOoOooOOo goody! They Crit’ so let’s total the damage! … that's a 1. Plus 1… times 2 is 4. 4 damage on a crit.
The Wereboar successfully shield bashes Ari, hitting her for 2 damage. She fails her wisdom save, excited to be able to attack the Wereboar again. But the shield bash has pushed her into the axe for 5 damage, and she fails that Wisdom Save, so she’ll be back to attacking the axe.
Sorin casts Chill Touch again, but the Cultist is ready for it this time, and dodges the ghostly hand. Akris flies at the other spellcaster, trying to grapple them around the neck, but he rolls a critical fail and is thrown into the wall for 1 point of damage.
The Thug not swinging at Cypress rushes towards the hallway to go after Sorin. But Cypress sees them coming and takes the Opportunity to swing as they pass by. The hit lands for 6 damage, and they stagger, but keep going, making a half staggered punch at Sorin’s chest.
Over by the bedrolls, the second Cult Fanatic (ironically CF1 in my notes) casts Sacred Flame on Akris. The little familiar yelps and jumps to the side just in time!
Rae swings her staff at the Cult Fanatic that just tried to kill Arkis for 10 damage. Then she punches out, but just misses.
Sarah: “Wouldn’t I have advantage, since they’re prone?
Good point, roll again.
Then she punches out, hitting them for another 11 damage. Angry at this idiot for trying to hurt everyone’s favorite snake, she punches again, and again, and just keeps punching until they stop breathing, and their Spiritual Weapon dissolves by Cypress.
“Okay, I think you can stop punching now!”
Ari swings at the spirit axe – provoking an Attack of Opportunity from the Wereboar who bashes her, but fails to push her into the axe again. Gritting her teeth, but unable to do anything else, Ari attacks the phantasmal axe. Her blade cuts right through it… and does no damage.
Making sure to specify, they are being non-lethal, Cypress swings their Mushroom Mace again, and bloodies the Thug they’ve been fighting. Then they send their spirit sickle in the tunnel after the Thug that’s punching Sorin.
The remaining Cultist fires off another Inflict Wounds, this time hitting Rae for 19 damage. Then their ghost axe swings at Ari, but Rae blocks it with her staff in one hand and her Sentel feat in the other.
Sorin’s Thug is locked in the same Opportunity Attack hell Ari has been in this whole fight. They reach out to hit Sorin, and feel Cypress’s ghost sickle pass through their neck. They fail a Con Save, and just stand there stunned, envisioning their own head falling on the floor.
Finally fed up with trapping Ari, the Wereboar throws the shield at Rae, misses, and transforms into her half-boar shape.
Looking around to make sure no one can see, Sorin casts his new Vampiric Touch. His fingernails grow like claws, and he digs them deep into the Thug's neck (with a critical hit). He leeches 30 points of life from the dying Thug, feeling half of it flow up his arm and into his heart, revitalizing him.
In front of him, Akris grapples the neck of the other spell caster, choking her for 5 damage, and Silencing her so she can’t cast anything else.
Dodging both the Opportunity Attack from the Thug, and from the Spirit Weapon, Rae spins into position and uses her staff, to hit the Wereboar and attach her new Hunter’s Mark to her. Rae’s Ki flows through the staff and into the massive woman, where she can feel it flowing around and inside her enemy, clustering in spots – ready to explode inside the woman with her attacks.
Rae punches out in classic boxer form – a right jab to the gutt. And when her fist connects, she feels the concussive force of the Ki inside the Wereboar expanding like the shockwave behind a Pistol Shrimp’s claw.
Dripping frustrated tears, Ari swings again at the ethereal and undamageable Spiritual Weapon, unable to do anything else.
Brooke: “Come on, that’s a Nat’ 20, give me something, please!”
Okay, fine, with a crit’ you see the caster wince, and they take 1 psychic damage.
Cypress swings his Mushroom mace at the Thug’s kneecaps again, and then their Spirit Sickle Bloodies the Wereboar!
The Cult Fanatic that’s still standing, turns their head to try and bite Akris to make him let go. But Akris only twists hard to the other side (neck based Opportunity Attack).
Sheela’s holy sickle bites into the Thug as she swings her club into Rae for a light 2 damage bonk.
The Wereboar grunts, and slashes their tusks at Ari – who then Critically fails her Wisdom Save, literally failing so bad it’s around to the other side and keeping her focused on the axe, just as if she’s succeeded. Then Ari fails her Strength Save and is tossed into the axe for 4 damage. This time she finally succeeds!
Now, four rounds into the fight, and half a round before it’s over, Ari can finally attack whatever she wants – i think it might be me…
Glancing around, Sorin sees Ari and Rae both focused on the Wereboar. He approaches the remaining Cultist. Not realizing that Cypress can still see him, the wizard uses his Vampiric Touch to kill off the Fanatic and refreshes himself with their lifeforce! (actually only gaining 1 HP because the Cult Fanatic only had 3 left). Akris grins up at his master and slowly unwinds from the neck of the shriveling corpse.
With only the giant Wereboar woman and the single Thug left, Rae focuses on the bigger target. She swings her staff in a large overhead spin, then faints, back dodges, spins again, and thrusts, bringing the end with the mimic spikes up to her enemies throat. Rae shifts position and punches.
Hmm… With a nat’ 1 i’ll give you the choice, Either your Hunter’s Mark ends, but you can still use your Bonus Action, or you keep the Hunter’s Mark, but your feet slip and you lose the Bonus Action.
As Wereboar coughs and staggers away, Rae can feel her Ki fade. She leaps forward with a Flurry of Blows, palm striking several points and then shoving the hairy boar faced woman back! Cypress’s sickle takes an Attack of Opportunity, and suddenly Rae can see it protruding from the center of her chest.
Before Cypress can stop her, and just excited to finally do anything this fight, Ari slashes at the last standing Thug.
Her neck sprays a stream of blood.
Her eyes go wide.
Her knees buckle.
Her face looks up into Ari’s.
Her blood drips from her mouth as she speaks.
Her body falls forward.
Her face cracks on the floor.
Her breath stops.
Her last words ring in our ears.
“Totkao will save us.
Totkao will kill you all.”
He felt the sensation of the dragon rummaging around in his mind, trying to find a clue to understanding. The half saw, half-sensed the flicker of random images, of dragons, of the mythical age of reptiles and-and here he felt the dragon's genuine astonishment-of some of the less commendable areas of human history, which were most of it. And after the astonishment came the baffled anger. There was practically nothing the dragon could do to people that they had not, sooner or later, tried on one another, often with enthusiasm. You have the effrontery to be squeamish, it thought at him. But we were dragons. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless and terrible. But this much I can tell you, you ape-the great face pressed even closer, so that Wonse was staring into the pitiless depths of its eyes-we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality.
-The Dragon —Terry Pratchett, “Guards! Guards!”
Table talk:
Brooke had a question during the fight about the Savage Attacker feat. Does it give advantage, or does she have to take the second roll. Thank you Sarah for being quick to find the answer for us. “Once per turn when you roll damage for a melee weapon attack, you can reroll the weapon’s damage dice and use either total.” Player's Handbook, pg. 169.
This encounter was Hard rank at 5,300 XP (roughly one third of our daily budget at level 6). The highest enemy was the Wereboar which is a CR 4, everything else was a CR 2 or lower, but the amount of enemies in here is what made it a difficult encounter.
I recently ordered a second Dewalt DWST14121 Flip-Bin Organizer. My plan is to set up a load-out system with the individual bins so that i can have each area/room be in one bin that i take out and set up instead of what i currently do with is dig through one bin for camp stuff, one bin for doors, one bin for Thugs, one bin for Cult stuff, etc. I’m hoping that this will be another step towards cutting down the time it takes to switch maps on the table.
