Thug Muggers in the Sewers 7/28/24
Table Talk:
That last encounter was an Easy rating with 1950 XP.
Yeah… you’re all definitely Level 7… in fact, because i haven’t been keeping an eye on it, we’re getting kinda close to Level 8 already. So how do we want to do this? — After a bit of discussion we decided to leave this for now. The next time we can all get together, then we'll go ahead and level up. If we’re past the halfway point to Level 8, then we’ll just jump up two levels a little early (keeping the XP number a little behind).
We also discussed the possibility of making and running a Tubmlr for these summaries, as a way of getting them put out there a bit more. Obviously since some of the discussion was on accounts and who would run it and such i won’t put the full info here, but if something comes of this i will add it and keep the reader posted.
So we had another lull week off. And what did i do with all that extra time? Well i pushed and pushed, strained and strained, and i finished a great big steamy LORE dump that i’ve been working on for months. Despite the poo joke i’m actually very pleased with this and hopeful that it gets some brains turning. It’s a big post i’ve been writing in the background on the Religions of Nibiru which includes some humorous references as well as my own spiritual thoughts and some connections to established D&D canon. Please do go check it out. I also got about four pages of prewriting done. And this time, i focused less on room descriptions and more on Intros/Outros as well as some Devin appearances. There might be a VERY SUBTLE pattern forming, so keep your eyes peeled.
A knight is sworn to valor,
His heart knows only virtue,
His blade defends the helpless,
His might upholds the weak,
His word speaks only truth,
His wrath undoes the wicked.
- King Arthur (the Old Code) —Patrick Read Johnson & Charles Edward Pogue “Dragonheart (1996)”
🛡️🎲📿✨🌿Chapter 21: Separated (cont.)🗡️
🛡️🎲📿✨🌿Chapter 21: Separated (cont.)🗡️
Tyko laughs as she slams the face of the lead caravan guard into the iron band of the wagon wheel. Some ‘head guard’, pfft, falling asleep on watch. Gods – no, God – it was too easy! As her victim’s body slumps limply to the ground, she stretches and yawns. Nothing has ever felt so good as the spray of blood in her mouth that soon after waking, like the perfect cup of bloody coffee.
Zaanth’s open eyes go from foggy white to a hard focus. The vision in her head was as clear as if she’d been standing there watching the wood cutter girl.
Good.
It was out of the city now.
It could spread.
Time to finish praying.
She stands up from where she knelt at the wall of the cave with the markings drawn out in red blood on the wall, and she walks over to the Wererat. Hissing through a broken muzzle the thing squirms away, “please, mistress, please I… the way of the rat? The teaching of ToTKoA? Why do the-'' The blabbering ends with a thud. Zaanth’s face is calm and placid with a faint smile revealing an overly long canine – the face of a priest at prayer communing with a loving god.
Some minutes later, after throwing the body on the heap of other broken werepeople she scoffs out a derisive laugh, “The way of the rat, indeed.”
Ari, you’re standing at the edg– oops sorry you guys can’t hear that. Cypress, Rae and Sorin… the fight’s over. Now what?
Sorin immediately turns to the monk and half bends, putting his hands on his knees, “Alright, Rae, which way’d she go? Come on girl, lead us to her. Where’d she go now, come on?”
Cypress, Bostra, tZulèe, Akris and the DM have a five way side eye stare. Wow… just wow. Really starting out strong today, huh, Sorin?
After a moment where Akris laughs, Cypress covers tZulèe’s eyes, and Bostra graciously covers the camera lens… we come back to see Sorin panting and Rae wiping her hands.
Once he can breathe again, Sorin pants out, “Okay, but really, you should try talking to her.”
“You already tried that.” She says flatly, “She didn’t answer.”
“Exactly,” Sorin tries again, “IIIII already tried that. But she actually likes you.”
While they bicker, Akris thinks he sees something. But even with a high (17) perception check, he can’t find it again and shrugs it off.
“Why would she answer?” Rae spits, “She doesn’t want to talk to us or be found.”
Okay tell you what, you guys figure out what you want to do and i’ll go over to the adult's table and chat with Ari for a bit.
So, Ari. You were just tak██ ███ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███… that means you need to roll for th████████████ ███.
Okay, i’m back, at the kids table, what did you guys decide to do?
Ashley: “I thought we were the grown up table?!”
… You just talked to Rae like a dog. Meanwhile Ari has been ███ ███ ██ing so i think that settles that.
Cypress and Sorin take out their sending stones and nod to Rae.
She sighs and looks uncomfortable.
Sorin flaps his hands in a showing ‘go on’ gesture and everyone rolls their eyes.
“Ari… I um…”
“Don’t forget to ask abou-hmmphrmph.” Sorin flails wildly as Bostra covers his mouth, then he and Cypress pull the boy bodily to the other end of the hallway.
Rae sighs again and starts over “Hey Ari… It’s just me. No one else can hear us.” She pauses, waiting. “Sorin and Cypress took their Sending Stones off… I made sure of it. I even double checked Sorin’s ear and the hand stone he was holding to be sure.” Still nothing, “Bostra and Cypress even pulled the kid away. It’s just me.”
Another long silence.
“Ari.. just… you don’t even have to talk…” She sighs and slumps her head against the wall. “Just give me a direction.”
There is no reply in the stones.
Rae thinks for several minutes about giving up. She mumbles to herself about ‘this is stupid’ and ‘told them it wouldn’t’ then she looks up and the ceiling and over to the others. With a nod, Cypress grabs Sorin and turns him away so he can’t even look at Rae. To the background sound of his protest, “oh come on!” Rae sits on the floor with her back to the wall and tries again.
“Ari…”
Silence.
“Okay. No talking… I guess that’s okay.”
Silence.
“Will you please at least just…”
Silence.
“They’re going down Ari, to the underdark! Continuing the journey to Eka…” Rae’s fist tightens on her raised knee. “We’re not going to survive without you down there.”
Silence.
“Where… where can you meet us at least, where can we meet up down there?”
Okay Rae, let's codify this a bit. Make a Persuasion Check.
11.
Ooof really? Um… okay well you did try twice so i guess that’s two Checks, roll again.
3.
Wow, i really tried. Both are under 15 so that -2. Make a luck roll -2
Rae can hear something this time. Some soft noise that she can’t quite place… maybe Ari breathing?
She jerks her head up and tries again.
“Ari. I know you’re there. I… At first I thought it was nothing, I thought you’d taken your Sending Stone out, but…”
The same soft noise.
“Okay Ari… just listen to me okay?”
Gimme another Persuasion Roll.
Sarah: “That’s a nat’ 20.”
Rae listens to the sound for a moment. She recognizes it. It took her a minute because it’d been so long.
Cypress sees Rae stand up and punch the wall.
So, Ari. Now we need a ██ ███ ██ roll to determine █████ ███ ██ ████████ █████ ███████████ ██ ███.
Rae walks up to the others and ignores the healer’s pointed staring at her red knuckles. “Water.”
“What?” Sorin asks and Cypress starts pulling out a canteen.
“I heard.. Water.”
Cypress puts the canteen back.
“There’s-”
Rae puts up a hand, “I heard the muffled sounds you get from UNDER the water.”
“Oh.”
“Exactly. So even if she could hear me, she can’t respond.”
Sorin perks up, “There were those pools of water in the cave where she dis-”
Bostra holds up his hands and then flips through the last few pages of the summaries, putting a finger on a paragraph, “-pool of water too small for a person to fit through-” he licks his thumb and moves down the page, “-pushed the Stirge into the water just big enough for it to-” he looks up at Sorin and ctrl+w’s the tab with the old summary. He looks up at Sorin. “Don’t try to metagame, Ashley, it's a bad habit and it makes things too confusing,” Bostra says, looking over the folding card table in the Sewers. “Though we did rush past the other pool and stalagmite without looking. And it was a bit bigger…”
“See we could-”
Bostra coughs, “Can I just point something out?”
“Please do.”
He nods back at Cypress. “We’re standing here discussing which way to go, looking at these five doors, and we haven’t looked at any of them. They could open up to a brick wall for all we know, making only one way to go but we don’t know it yet.”
There’s an embarrassed silence followed by Rae raising a hand. “Why would a door open to just a brick wall?”
Bostra sighs, “It’s an analogy, Rae. Please don’t act like you’re stupider than Sorin, you’re really not.”
“Hey!” The young wizard stands up in a huff and moves over to the door that we’re guessing leads to the oracle. He makes a rude face and goes to turn the handle.
The Will-o’-Wisp appears again and zaps him for 8 points of lightning damage before disappearing.
Where were we, Ari? Ah yes. The ███████ in front of you ████████ ██ ████ █, ██████ – ██ █ ██ – ██████████ ███?
The Initiative is Rolled, and everyone stands ready!
Cypress is first, summoning his Spiritual Weapon and readying his Thorn Whip.
Sorin is next, holding out his Focus and readying Magic Missile, then setting Akris on patrol (stealth vs perception contest) around them.
Then Rae. Standing there with her staff in the middle-up-guard, ready to attack the moment she sees anything.
Everyone is ready!
Muscles tensed!
Spells prepped!
Ready!
…
For anything…
At a moment’s glance!
…
As soon as we see it!
…
After five minutes, Bostra lights a cigar.
…
After ten, he sits down to wait.
Everyone sighs and loosens their muscles.
And then it strikes! Ha ha, just kidding.
We walk over to the door Sorin was just at and he tentatively goes to open it again. He closes his eyes, but when he doesn’t get another 2d8 lightning damage, he shrugs and opens the door.
Dense smoking fog, and heavy mist flows out of the door as we enter.
Sorin gets excited by the sound of nearby water.
The fog at our feet is so thick we can barely see the ground.
We hear the sound of breaking glass!
Sorin looks up to see the sparking of a familiar spell bottle. A transmutation spell!
Suddenly, all around us, the dense mist turns to hard iron, locking out feet in place!
At the end of the short tunnel, a shape detaches from the door. The tower shield turns and we see Zaanth step onto the smooth iron holding us in place. “Hello again.”
Well, you all sit with that for a bit, i’m gonna go chat with Ari.
██████████ ████ █ ██████ ██ █ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █ ██ ██████████ ███ ████████…. ███ █████ ██ ████ █ ███ ███ ██ █ ██ ███████ ███ ███!
Zaanth is standing there smiling and gloating down at us. She opens her mouth to begin mock us and-
Cypress’s hand flies out, and before she can move, their Sickle, the holy weapon of the Goddess Sheela is there, sticking into Zaanth for 10 damage!
Zaanth turns and blinks at the Spiritual Weapon, before letting out a long disappointed sigh… “Cypress… you’re not the only one with Holy abilities you know.” She reaches out to the Sickle wedged in her arm. When her hand passes through it, the rough brown wood and the greenish blade with its small sprouting flowers on top changes. It seems to melt and bleed shifting to an angry red. The flowers on top turn to wicked menacing spikes like a weapon of war. Suddenly, when Zaanth moves her hand, the Sickle moves. And when they point, it flies out at her command. “Do you all really want this fight? I doubt it. I promise you, you’re not ready for it. Not yet.”
With the spell still prepped, Sorin lets out the Magic Missles! They fly from the skull in his hands and hit … the air? They faintly illuminate a glowing body for just an instant before blinking out. Sorin grits his teeth, the Unseen Servant spell…
The half goblin chuckles and walks towards Sorin. “Hush now, kiddo, your time is coming soon enough. But you must have patience. I have such high hopes for you, Sorin. I see you found the Witch’s skull. Good, I was hoping you would. Though I'm sad she didn’t kill at least one of you first,” they say, staring directly at Bostra.
“Wha- what do you mean?”
She smiles, “Just… let go.” Her hands make a puffing pantomime in the air. “Stop holding back. Soon you’ll be able to take me on,” She risks and raises a finger, “but not yet. You need to wait just a little longer, then you’ll be ready.” She says with the last phrase feeling more like a cook talking about a roast in the oven than someone discussing her own potential murder.
As Zaanth starts to wade through the Thug Muggers, carefully staying just out of reach, Sorin thinks quickly, “Why are you doing this!?”
Ashley, to the table: “I’m trying to get her monologuing!”
You sly dog.
Zaanth lets out another condescending laugh. “Oh, Sorin, you of all people should know that.” She eyes his hands frantically chalking runes on the fog-turned-steel around his legs. “Don’t bother, Sorin. In about eight minutes it will wear off… for both you lot and my friend over there.” She gestures to the creatures stuck at the end of the hallway.
“Hush now, boys and girls. I have a less-than-royal audience to make before I go.” She looks down and makes a perfectly sarcastic courtesy at Bostra. For the first time we can remember, we see him fuming with an angry hateful rage. “Bostra. I’m sure that you’ll tell them everything you know. But let me assure you, your blossomship, you don’t know half as much as you think you do. Not by a long shot, Cherry Stem, or whatever your title was.” (I’ll admit it’s a pretty tropey line, but hey i’ve got some plot to move here.)
We can actually hear Bostra’s teeth in the silence before Zaanth's next fake bow and her laugh.
They pause at the door with her hand curled around it, about to leave. She looks back and leaves us with one parting barb. “Bye now, I have to go have a little chat with Princess Zevari.” She slams the door and we hear a click.
Wait a second. Did she say, friends?
Sure enough at the other end of the hallway, right in front of the door, and also trapped in place by the fog-turned-iron, is a small collection of monsters. Oh boy!
Somewhere in the palace grounds, in the cold dark, a rune etched into the smooth finish of the golden berry - the castle of the crown - is pressed to its breaking point. One of the hidden wards, a symbol carved into the buried surface of the metal. The glyph flares, burning against the dirt, and then the ward cracks – broken in the darkness unseen by those in the palace above.
The philosophers looked at one another.
“Gods?” said Xeno. “We don’t bother with gods. Huh. Relics of an outmoded belief system, gods.”
There was a rumble of thunder from the clear evening sky.
“Except for Blind Io the Thunder God,” Xeno went on, his tone hardly changing.
Lightning flashed across the sky.
“And Cubal the Fire God,” said Xeno.
A gust of wind rattled the windows.
“Flatulus the God of the Winds, he’s all right too,” said Xeno.
An arrow materialized out of the air and hit the table by Xeno’s hand.
“Fedecks the Messenger of the Gods, one of the all time greats,” said Xeno.
-Xeno The Philosipher –Terry Pratchett, “Small Gods”
Table talk:
Before that ending, i actually did move over to Brooke's table. I also left her frustrated with a cliffhanger, cursing my name. So that was fun.
So this week's quote is about something i’ve had on the back burner. You guessed it! The RELIGIONS LORE POST! Please check it out. I think i’ll be making that (fantasy religions, spiritual ideas, etc.) the next theme for these quotes for a while.
We had one mechanical discussion that i’ll have to do some internet soul searching on. Does Blindsight see something that is Invisible? During the bit earlier with the Will-o’Wisp, it can become invisible, but Akris has Blindsight within 10 feet. For this fight i decided to have Akris able to see it, reasoning that it is a spirit being and Akris – at least partially – has a connection to the spiritual plane. So i figure that the Will-o’Wisp turning invisible is it moving to that plane and Akris’s blind sight is him looking on that plane. I left it as a contested Stealth vs precaution because i figured that the Will-o’-wisp was actively trying to hide and dodge that 10 foot line as Akris was sweeping around (if it wasn;t trying to hide it wouldn’t have gone invisible, right?)
