The Seventeenth Session

December 1, 2018, Campaign: Wildfire

We take a short rest. The sun reaches its climax about 3 p.m. We notice dark rainclouds begin to move in.

We leave the clock tower. The corpses outside have begun to fester.We head to the keep, to confront his father.

The Keep

It's about 390 feet tall, and it's a huge stone building. Marnoc knocks on the ironbound, oak doors. They swing open easily, revealing a large entry hall with dim lighting.

Theren didn't spend much time in this building; he had pent more time in the council chambers, under his father's reign.

Movement choices as we enter the main hall: upwards, downwards, the room to the right of the grand entrance, the grand hall.

Marnoc walks forward to open the doors to the great hall. There's torches that cast odd shadows of stone gargoyles, and it's generally open. There are bronze doors, closed, which lead to the chapel, and a wide staircase leading up to the left.

We talk for a while about where we're going to go from the main hall. There's organ music coming from behind a set of doors; Marnoc kicks them open to reveal a dining hall with three crystal chandeliers. On the table is a feast, which the bear moves towards. And at the far end of the table is the organ, and Theren's dad is playing.

Theren's dad introduces himself.

Theren's dad stands up from the organ, to greet his returning son.

Theren casts Hexblade's Curse and Elemental Bane on his dad.

"Theren, Theren, so good to see you again. And you cast spells on me!" says the father, in a jokingly offended tone.

"You killed this town; I am its rebirth. It's time for its rebirth."

The bear sniffs at the food on the table; with at natural 21 the food doesn't smell off at all. It smells really good. The bear eats some.

Belmac asks Theren's Dad whether he'd like to buy some wheat; Theren's Dad says he doesn't eat normal food anymore. "I set this feast for you and your friends; it looks like this will be your last meal."

Theren tries to use charges from the Mask of Shadows to read his father's surface thoughts; it's revealed that his form is an illusion. The image of his father dissolves, saying "We shall meet in the flesh soon." Marnoc throws a roll at him; it passes through the fading illusion.

The feast is lavish; Belmac compliments the quality of the wine and turkey. He steals four bottles of wine from the table.

We head out the doors into the great hall. From there, we open the bronze doors into the chapel. There's a 0-foot hallway, adorned on each side with 14 statues total. Each has a visage of a different knight, and there are webs that hang from the ceiling, and the eyes from the knights follow us.

Marnoc shatters one knight with his hammer; Ship says that that was rude. Belmac shatters one on the other side to match. Zoltar punches one but fails out of weakness. Ship dusts one off, and discovers that the face has a look of horror or fear on its eyes. It's not the effect of a medusa; it's just carved to appear like that. Theren tells us that the status are new. The Dwarf Belmac examines them. The stone is local limestone, he knows by taste. Theren recognizes no faces.

Belmac tries to pick up one statue, and he can lift it. He tilts it forward to use it as a ram, and rams another statue. The two statues fall apart. There are 10 statues remaining. We walk down the hallway, leaving them behind.

The chapel

We open the door into the chapel; the chapel is dimly lit by the stained glass window. We see the pews, a few bats, and a figure collapsed, reaching out towards a symbol on the altar. Marnoc doens't recognize the symbol. Therenn recognizes it as a historical relic, of a god long forgotten: Lythander, bringer of light.

Ship sets the everburning candelabra on the altar. Ship sees that the collapsed, cloaked figure had touched the symbol. Above the door to the chapel is a balcony with two chairs. The collapsed figure has dropped a mace made of black-as-night metal; Belmac picks it up. Marnoc exchanges his silvered warhammer for the black mace.

Ship sees rubies inset in the points of the cross. Marnoc suggests that Ship steal it; Ship says they don't loot churches. Belmac, a chaotic neutral, grabs it. With a 29 on percentile dice he picks it up and nothing happens. It's probably worth more than a thousand gold.

Ship retrieves the candelabra.

There are two alcoves in the chapel; one has stairs going up and one has stairs going down. Theren goes up, we follow.

The stairs going up bring us past the chapel's balcony. In the chairs on the balcony are two dead bodies. Marnoc goes to investigate the neck of one corpse; it jumps up and grabs him by the neck.

1. Round 1
   1. Belmac drops his hammer, claws at the one holding Marnoc, doing no damage initially, but then Rage and Action Surge kick in for damage. He mostly kills it. With his bonus action he damages it enough.
   2. Ship, 10 feet back, throws a lit torch into the lap of the still-sitting figure.
   3. Theren attacks twice, dealing 15 slashing and 2 cold and 9 slashing and 1 cold. The burning zombie is mostly dead at this point.
   4. The bear claws at the seated zombie, but hits the chair.
   5. Zoltar uses her Firebolt cantrip to do 8 fire damage to the zombie; it burns and dies.

On the other side of these chairs are a pair of double doors, leading back inwards, into the keep.

There's a 20-foot high hallway with a vaulted ciling, draped in cobwebs. A low moan of sadness and despair comes from the hallway. Halfway down the hallway, a figure drops from the ceiling and flies at us, with clawed hands it looks like Theren's father.

1. Round 1
   1. Ship shoots at the figure; it takes 6 damage but continues to move forwards.
   2. Zoltar uses the Wand of Wonder upon the figure; its skin turns blue. (The table laughs.)
   3. Belmac uses Lunging Attack to attack it at a distance with his claws; he tears down this puppet that was attached to the ceiling. A mismash of mannequin and wires and pulleys falls down.

So now we know to look for traps. Marnoc makes a perception check; he sees a marking on one wall which differentiates it from the other walls. It's a secret door. He pushes it open. It smells like grease and well-oiled wood. It's full of intricate machinery.

In this closet is a rectangular shaft that rises from the floor below, and there's a lever that's pointed down. Belmac pushes the lever upwards. Shuddering noises come from the shaft, and a stone platform ries up the shaft. We flip the elevator up and down for a while. While it's down, Belmac throws a torch down. There's smooth, unclimbable shaft all the way down.

Marnoc decides to find a lower entrance to the shaft. He goes down to the chapel, heading downwards. There's a spiral staircase headed down and up! Theren knows that the spiral staircase leads up the main spire of the tower. Ship reasons that the elevator will be adjacent enough to the spiral staircase to go up to the top of the tower as well.

We go down the staircase, 90 feet, into the dark. There's cobwebs, and a rushing wind that stirs the cobwebs. There's an open area at the bottom of the stairs. The spiderwebs get thicker.

The catacombs

At the bottom of the stairs is a catacomb, with a ceiling supported by hollow columns. A thick fog clings to the floor, and cobwebs cling to the floor. There is no sign of the elevator. The bits of the ceiling we can see are black like night, almost starry in appearance. Without the columns, this room is about 90x200 feet. Each column is 10 feet by 10 feet.

As Marnoc steps down into the fog at the bottom of the stairs, he steps into a muck that covers the floor. There's a stairwell leading down at the far end of the room. There's no obvious markings on the pillars; Theren knows that many of the pillars were empty catacombs.

Marnoc examines the floor with his mace and lantern: the coating is bat shit. He walks onwards. The bear smells nought but bat shit.

As we head across the room, we see a couple doors on the wall with the stair, and on the far right and far-left walls there are elaborate crypt doors visible between the catacomb columns. Marnoc continues to the far stairs.

At the top of the far stairs, Marnoc sees a shift in the masonry from grey rock to marble, with a very lavish tomb below. Halfway down the stair are two Large marble statues. He walks down these wide steps to the landing, where there's a 30-foot-high ceiling. A soft blue curtain of light becomes visible between the statues.

Belmac walks up to the statues and examines them. The rock is marble, shipped in from somewhere, but not normally prepared. Theren has no knowedge of the statues. The statues are equally ornate, at an equal level of detail. No one in the party can squeeze behind the statues. We all back up.

Belmac lights a torch and throws it through; nothing happens.

Ship climbs one statue and pulls on its sleeve, asking "Hey, hi, I have a question." Nothing happens.

Belmac walks through the curtain and in a blinding flash of light is teleported to the top of the stair.

The bear walks through the curtain at Ship's command, and isn't teleported.

Theren and Marnoc walk through and are teleported to the top of the stairs. Ship, too.

The bear is slightly confused as to why Ship isn't crossing the barrier. After a while the bear looks around, bored, and smells nothign interesting. It sits down.

Zoltar walks through the veil backwards and is teleported to the top of the stairs. She falls down the stairs.

From the landing with the barrier, we can see coffins on either side of the bottom of the stairs. The bear goes down and tries to remove the lid from of one of the coffins. It can't. There's a symbol in light on the floor, looking like the rising/setting sun from the chapel, but the bear doesn't recognize that. The bear wanders back up the stairs.

Zoltar casts Firebolt on the curtain, to no effect.

We head back up to the main floor of the catacomb.

Crypt 20

Marnoc leads the group to the first crypt on the right, in one of the pillars. This door is labeled Crypt 20; behind it is a pale female corpse on a dias. Marnoc walks in, gently peels up her lip to check her upper teeth.

She wakes slightly, and says, "Hello my love. Have you come to save me?"

Marnoc replies, "Nope, bitch."

1. Round 1.
   1. Ship walks in, moves Maroc out of the way, curves their hand around behind the woman's neck, and replies, "Yes." That's a 4 on the persuasion check.
   2. Theren starts walking up with his sword drawn. Zoltar screams, "Don't do it!". Theren casts Suggestion and says, "I suggest you talk before we burn this place to the ground."A
   3. The Bear rubs its head on the vampire, like a cat begging for pets.
   4. "Then kiss me," says the figure to Ship.
   5. Zoltar, knowing that she can't use a disguise kit on Ship so immediately, casts Friends as a cantrip on the waking figure.
   6. Marnoc hits the figure in the face with the black mace, for 5 damage. He's surprised, because it does more damage than normally hitting things.
   7. Belmac attacks with his claws, totalling in 28 points of damage.
2. Round 2.
   1. Ship slides their hand down her shoulder, arm, and wrist, picks up her hand, and kisses it.
   2. Theren misses his first attach and succeeds on the second, for 8 slashing, 1 cold damage.
   3. The bear flops on top of this figure, continuing for rubbing. It does not succeed in restraining her.
   4. She uses half her movement to stand. She disengages from Ship and then jumps to the ceiling. She says "Well, we could've been together, but your friends don't seem to think so." Her body faces the ceiling, but her head has rotated right around to face the party.
   5. Zoltar casts Minor Illusion in the entrance of the tomb, with the form of Theren's dad. It stands there, silently.
   6. Marnoc casts Guiding Bolt for 13 radiant damage, and everyone has advantage on the next attack.
   7. Belmac does his Lunging Attack for total 33 damage.
3. Round 3.
   1. Ship shoots and misses, saying "I don't take no for an answer."
   2. Theren kills her, and she falls on top of Ship.

Marnoc says, "I didn't know you were into," and points to the dead vampire.

Ship says "look, you got in all those attacks."

Belmac picks up the corpse and flops it towards Ship, cooing, "Oh, Ship!" The bear smashes Belmac into a wall.

The black tomb

We go over to one of the crypts in the wall. After 10 minutes, Marnoc finishes casting Detect Magic as a ritual. He sees three Conjuration magic things guarding the door to the crypt. Theren has cast Disguise Self to appear as his father. The crypt door opens onto black marble steps, leading down into a dark tomb. There's freshly-turned earth, and a black coffin of finely-waxed wood with brass fittings. There are alcoves on the far side of the room. Marnoc tells Zoltar to Fireball it; her bolt doesn't ignite it but its side does explode, loosing a bit of grave dirt.

"I think this is one of our friend Lestrade's — Theren's dad's coffins," says Marnoc. "My knowledge of vampires isn't that good, though."

Zoltar cantrips more Fireballss and explodes the coffin.

Belmac throws some bat guano through one of the conjuration fields; nothing happens. Zoltar suggests throwing the body of the vampire spawn through it. She flops through. Marnoc readies himself to run. But nothing happens.

We go over to the other fancy catacomb. There's no magic but there is a closed portcullis blocking entrance to this tomb. The bear and Belmac try to lift the portcullis, but can't lift it.

We head back up the main stairwell to the chapel.

Out of the catacombs, up the spire

We continue up the spiral staircase to the top of the spire. They go up for 50, 40, 40, 40, 40, all the way up to 380 feet up. We've been climbing for a while. There's a 5-foot-wide walkway circling the shaft, and there's a 15-foot wide shaft leading straight down the tower. Belmac drops a lit torch down the shaft; it disappears down. A draft of cold air pushes up the shaft.

Marnoc readies an attack at the first thing that appears to come up the shaft.

The ceiling of this tower is partially broken; there's a broken rafter. And there's a little jester-like child up in the rafters.

Marnoc calls to him, "Hey, kid!" the kid crambles up behind a rafter.

Belmac shoots at the kid, Marnoc tries to interfere but the arrow hits the kid for 8.

The kid climbs down and hides behind Marnoc, giving the finger to Marnoc. It's a construct; we can hear its gears whirring. He has a striped tube, like a straw.

Belmac gives the kid a warhammer; the kid can't really lift it. (It weighs two pounds.)

Marnoc asks if the kid can operate the elevator. It nods yes. "Did this dude's (Theren's) dad create you?" No. "Do you like you master?" An ambivalent head woggle. "Would you be able to bring the elevator from down there up to here?" No. "Is this the elevator shaft?" No. "Do you know where this leads?" Yes. "How far is it?" About 500 feet. "Do the vampires come up here?" 5 days ago.

There's a slightly shorter tower, below this spire, which is where Theren's dad perches when Theren sees him in dreamss.

We take a short rest. Belmac pulls the arrow out of the kid; we can see gears turning under its skin. He gives the arrow to the kid. The kid jabs him in the leg with the arrow.

"Do you know where the elevator's bottom is?" Yes. "Can you lead us to it?" Yes. "Is it a safe journey?" No. "Do you have a name?" Yes. "Can you write it?" No. "We're going to call you Spot." Yes. "Lead the way to the elevator, Spot."

To the elevator

We go back down the hundreds of feet of stairs to the chapel.

Spot leads us down the hallway of the statues, into the great hall, down a set of stairs, and points to a spot on the floor. The floor is the elevator; Spot conveys through getsture that if we use it we will be smushed against the ceiling.

Ship asks Spot if there's another way to get to the top of the elevator shaft.

Spot eventually nods yes. "Do you know where Theren's dad is?" No. He gently walks across the elevator pad. Belmac softly follows. The kid indicates that we should tiptoe across one at a time. Theren does that. Zoltar, Ship, Bear, and then Marnoc tiptoe across. Spot shrugs. We decide that the elevator is weight-activated. We're standing on a ten-foot square on the far side of the elevator pad.

There's a door. We open it.

The servants' quarters

The hall behind the door is large, and fog obscures the floor. A giant shadow leaps across the ceiling as a small, fog-height creature lurches down the corridor towards us; Marnoc says for it to freeze. "Do you speak Common?" he asks.

"Yes," it squeeks. It's a patchwork creature of different types of skin. Spot doesn't know the patchwork creature. The creature tells us that his name is Cyrus, keeper of the servants' quarters, and after Theren Disguise Selfs himself into his Father. "Oh, the master. No, I don't know where he is."

Cyrus is willing to lead us to the guest quarters: back over the elevator pad, up the stairs.

THe guest quarters.

250 feet up a tower stair, we come to a room qith a square rug, a portrait of Theren, a trapdoor in front of a wooden door, and a wooden door that Cyrus says leads to the guest quarter.

Marnoc steps onto the rug.

1. Surprise Round
   1. The rug fails to grapple Marnoc. Cyrus exclaims in despair.
2. Round 1
   1. Theren slashes at the rug, for a lot of damage.
   2. The bear tackles the rug and grapples it.
   3. Marnoc casts Sacred Flame on the rug, searing it with radiant damage. It is burnt to ash. "Such bad hospitality," says Marnoc to Cyrus. "But the painting!" says Cyrus.
   4. Ship shoots the painting with a fire arrow, doing 9 damage to it and then some.
   5. Zoltar Firebolts the painting, burning it away.

Cyrus is ashamed at his forgetfulness. "That painting knows Crown of Madness; it would've set you against each other."

The trapdoor is beside the door into the guest room.

Marnoc walks into the guest room. Thunder shakes the ceiling; there are beams in the ceiling from which hang lanterns. One wall is the curved outside wall of the tower, with three windows. There's another door on one wall, which Cyrus says leads into the bedroom. And there's a bookcase.

"Send the master to see us as soon as he's ready," Marnoc says to Cyrus.

Cyrus doesn't know where the Master sleeps. Belmac asks him to bring us food.

There's nothing really interesting in the sitting room or the guest bedroom; the books are boring and the four-poster bed has a black velvet ceiling cloth with gold tassels. The closet has a mildewy cloak that Marnoc puts on.

Belmac flops on the bed, in his armor, and sees a trapdoor in the ceiling.

Marnoc pulls on the hook in the closet that the cape was hanging on, and the trapdoor opens. There's a ladder. We go up.

The witches

The room is pungent; there's four tables full of labeled glass jars, and a door from behind which comes arcane chanting in seven feminine voices. A thin fog billows out from under the door.

Marnoc kicks open the door, revealing seven witches throwing ingredients in the cauldron. "Evening, ladies, what's cooing?"

"Some kind of concoction for the Master. Who are you?"

"We're his honored guests," says Marnoc.

"One of us is related to him!" says Zoltar.

The witches point to Theren. "You!" they hiss.

Cyrus has left us, but Spot the Construct is still with us. (The DM decides that the seven witches will all use the same initiative, to make things simpler.)

1. Round 1.
   1. Ship shoots Witches 1, 2, and 3 with Hail of Thorns for 14, 7, and 3, respectively.
   2. Theren kills Witch 1 and resusciates her with Spectre. He then attacks Witch 2 for 14 slashing, 1 cold, and she dies.
   3. Bear deals 10 slashing to Witch 3.
   4. Marnoc kills Witch 3.
   5. The construct child peeks around Marnoc's legs, and it blow-darts Witch 4, which was about to cast a spell on Marnoc, dealing 9 damage to the witch. Marnoc says to Spot, "You'll go far, kid." Spot gives him the thumb up.
   6. Belmac goes to Witch 6 and attacks for 11 and 8, killing her.
   7. Witch 4 casts on Theren, who suddenly finds it really funny that we walked into this room and began fighting. He rolls on the floor, laughing.
   8. Witch 5 casts a ray of sickening gray energy at Belmac, but misses.
   9. Witch 7 turns invisible.
   10. Theren's Spectre moves over to Witch 4 and casts Life Drain, causing her to lose her concentration check on the spell that made Theren laugh, and also killing the witch.
   11. Zoltar kills Witch 5 with Firebolt.
2. Round 2.
   1. Ship whips a piece of rops across the room, trying to detect the invisible witch. The witch is on the other side of the cauldron, but we're not really sure where she stands.
   2. Theren stands up, knowing vaguely where the witch is, and Eldritch Blasts the witch with his first attack, rendering her visible. "Will you comply?" he asks. "Yes."

We ask what she was brewing. She passes a potion to Marnoc, and Belmac tastes it. He doesn't know what it is. She says that they were brewing healing potions in the cauldron, for her and her sisters when they go out on raids.

Spot flips this Witch the bird.

Marnoc makes her drink from the cauldron. She drinks it and takes no effects from it. Marnoc casts Sacred Flame on her; she casts Invisibility on herself. Ship shoots her with an arrow and she dies. Spot misses her with a dart.

There are seven dead witches, their stools, and the cauldron. Marnoc takes the Witch's healing potion.

There are seven potions for seven witches. The jars in the other room are very generic witches' ingredients. He opens the one labeled "Frogs' Breath" and the jar croaks. There are 5 empty jars in the room; we fill those with more potion from the jar.

Net gain: 12 potions.

We go through the other door in the ingredients room, into a very dark room. There's a couple sets of green eyes staring back at us. There are seven black cats in there; Ship offers a hand to the cats.

The cats do nothing.

Marnoc casts Sacred Flame into the room; the cats scatter. In that room we find another door. It leads to a landing, which has a stairwell going up and down.

Atop the towers

We follow Theren and his Spectre up the stair. We come to the top of one of the castle's lower towers.

There's a small bridge leading to the tower that Theren's dad has appeared in the visions.

Ship advocates for retreating and taking a long rest, and we decide to do that in the witches' brewing room.

But first, we investigate the stair leading down from the witches' room. It leads back to the guest suite's lobby. We don't yet explore the trapdoor leading down.

Theren asks the Spectre if there's any danger down there. It agrees, yes. Spot indicates that the elevator leads up to here, topping out at the trapdoor.

We decide that the better thing to do would be to just go ahead and take out Theren's Dad.

After some experimentation with the Witches' potions, Marnoc heals for 4 and Ship loses 7, gains 7, loses 10, gains 7 health. The potions appear to have equal chances of healing or not.

We cross the bridge to the tower that Theren's Dad habits. The rainclouds are below us; a strong wind blows across the slender bridge. Its old iron railings have long since rusted away. We begin climbing to the peak of the north tower.

The North Tower

The stairs climbing the tower end in a room with iron shackles on one wall. There's a bed with leather restraints. There's a locked iron chest with an emblem in the shape of a bat. A door in the ceiling drips water; it puddles on the floor.

Marnoc bashes the chest to open a hole. Inside, we can see an ornate crown. Eventually Belmac is able to pry open a hole in the chest, and puts the crown in the Bag of Holding. Theren recognizes it as the former crown of this realm. We discuss the crown for a bit, and then leave it in the Bag of Holding.

Marnoc remarks that this room reminds him of his ex-wife's bedroom.

And then we climb up the ladder to the final confrontation. Out of dramatic tension, we don't start casting stuff immediately, but there's Theren's dad, waiting by the edge. We attack.

1. Round 1
   1. Ship casts Spike Growth on Theren's Dad, who turns and says, "Theren, it's been such a long time. I hope you enjoyed your food." Belmac calls out a thanks. "It's unfortunate you came back at this time."
   2. Zoltar casts Fireball, spends a sorcery point to reroll half the 8d6 for 26 fire damage.
   3. Theren's Dad walks to the edge of the tower, taking 2d4 = 5 spike damage, and transforms into a bat. He jumps off the edge of the tower, flying off into the dark.
   4. The bear can do nothing.
   5. Belmac can't really do anything either.
   6. Theren's Spectre floats over the spikes to near where Theren's Dad disappeared, and sees him climbing along the edge of the tower. The Spectre points towards him.
   7. Theren moves over to the wall, and sees his father scaling the wall, no longer in bat form, unnaturally climbing. He casts Hexblade's Curse and Elemental Bane, but the elemental damage fails.
   8. Theren's dad takes a legendary action to move up in front of Theren.
   9. Spot runs over near to Zoltar, and blowdarts the father for 6 damage.
   10. Marnoc casts Sleet Storm just off the edge of the tower. When the dad takes his next turn, he needs to save or fall prone.
   11. Theren's dad takes a legendary action to punch Theren, and grapple him.
2. Round 2.
   1. Ship dismisses the Spike Growth before shooting the father with Ensnaring Strike for 5 damage, but fails to ensnare him with the vines.
   2. Zoltar moves up to Theren, and tries to break the grapple. Her 7 isn't even close to the father's 20 strength check.
   3. Theren's dad kicks off of the building, pulling Theren with him. (We pause to discuss falling damage rules.) Theren falls onto the lower roof of the castle, 120 feet. His father turns into a bat and moves away, triggering a reaction attack from Theren. Theren casts Suggestion on his father, saying "I suggest you kill me before you kill the lineage." His father fails the wisdom check, but uses a Legendary action to reject the suggestion. Theren collides with the roof, taking 12d6 = 49 fall damage, which he survives with 9 health remaining. His father had descended 10 feet from the top of the tower before he dropped Theren; he now flies back up to the roof. Below, Theren has landed on slick roof tiles.
   4. The bear wanders around the tower top.
   5. Belmac prepares an action to attack if the father comes within range.
   6. The father uses a legendary action to fly around the sleet storm, coming around to the 10 o'clock side of the tower (where Therne fell at 12 o'clock) .
   7. The Spectre moves around to where it can see the father, who is now 10 feet off the edge of the tower, and 10 feet above the tower. The Spectre readies Drain.
   8. Theren is on slippery roof, and he crawls to the side of the tower. He then Eldritch Blasts his father, but misses as his father dodges. Then he hits for 11 force damage, and chugs a Potion of Greater Healing for 4d4+4 for 13+4=17 health.
   9. Spot the construct blowdarts the father for 3.
   10. Marnoc moves closer to the edge, pulls out his holy symbol, and Calls the Lightning. The father takes half damage with a passed dex check, but takes an extra d10 of damage for 4d10=22 lightning damage. The sleetstorm ends.
3. Round 3
   1. Ship shoots the father with Ensnaring Strike for 1d8+4 = 13 magical piercing, and the father uses his legendary resistance to not be affected by the vines.
   2. Zoltar casts Blight for 8d8 = 48 with a spent sorcery point, halved to 24 by a passed save.
   3. The father uses his action to transform to his human form, and spiderclimbs around to near to Ship.
   4. The bear moves over to between Ship and the father, and deals 9 slashing damage to the father.
   5. Belmac, having been reminded of his bow, shoots the father twice for 15 piercing, nonmagical.
   6. The Spectre phases through the stonework to attack the father, missing, and then moving out of distance.
   7. Theren is near an archery tower outside. He could climbe up to that, inside, then down to a common floor, then up to the top of the tower. He could also slide off the roof, onto a nearby walkway. He climbs to the archery tower, 10 feet, and climbs the 10 feet to the top of the archery tower. Then he slides down the ladder. It 100 feet to the stairs, then 150 feet back up to the roof. 225 feet to go.
   8. The construct Spot shoots a blowdart, for 4 piercing, reduced to 2.
   9. Marnoc casts Call Lightning on the father, dealing 13 to both the father and Ship.
   10. The father uses a legendary action to move over to Spot.
4. Round 4
   1. Ship shoots the father with ensnaring Strike at the second level, which hits, but the father's legendary resistance kicks in and he is not restrained by the spell.
   2. Zoltar is reminded that she can have wings. She tries to grapple the father, but narrowly fails.
   3. The father moves 30 feet away to 1 o'clock on the tower, provoking 4 damage in attacks from Zoltar and Spot. He then Fireballs the entire party for 8d6 = 32, which many characters pass the dex save for. Ship doesn't, the bear does. Piddlewick, also known as Spot the construct, is incinerated.
   4. The bear does nothing.
   5. Belmac shoots the father twice with his longbow, both times missing.
   6. The Spectre moves to the father, and does some damage.
   7. Theren moves 60 feet, to 165 feet away from the tower top.
   8. Marnoc casts Call Lightning again, dealing 14 to everyone in range as they pass the dex checks.
   9. The father flies 30 feet down the tower, using a legendary action.
5. Round 5
   1. Ship shoots the father for 6 magical piercing.
   2. Zoltar triggers Radiant Soul to gain wings and 30 flight speed for a minute, moving off the edge of the tower.
   3. The father moves around to below Ship with a legendary action, then moves up 10 feet so he's within 30 feet of Zoltar, and Zoltar fails her spell save DC against his retaliatory Blight. She takes 8d8 = 23 damage. She's at 1 HP. Then he moves down 20 feet.
   4. The bear roots around in Ship's bag, looking for a health potion, and drinks the potion of invisibility instead.
   5. The Spectre phases through the rock, to move down through the rock wall of the tower, to next to Theren's dad. It holds an action until it's in range of the father.
   6. The father uses a legendary action to move down another 30 feet. He's now 70 feet down from the top of the tower.
   7. Theren moves 60 feet closer to the top of the tower, to 105 feet away, and he drinks a drink of Goofy Goblin beer. He feels like there's an effect, but he doesn't know what it is.
   8. Marnoc moves to the wall, and Calls Lightning again, with Channeled Divinity for 4d10 max damage to the father.
   9. The father uses his last legendary action to move further down, 100 feet down from the top.
6. Round 6
   1. Ship shoots the father again for 9 magical piercing.
   2. Zoltar flies back up to the tower and lands on its roof, and drinks a potion of standard healing for 2d4+2 = 6 to bring her to 7 health. She ducks inside the trap door and hides.
   3. Theren's dad puts a fireball at the top of the tower, in an attempt to knock out Zoltar. Since she's under the trapdoor, she's in full cover. 10d6 is the die roll; Marnoc and Ship fail, the bear takes half damage. Marnoc's starting from full health; the damage means he loses his Call Lightning concentration check. The father moves down another 20 feet onto the archer's landing, and ducks into the trap door. Ship and the Bear are down for the count.
   4. The bear passes its death save.
   5. Belmac passes his turn doing nothing.
   6. The Spectre is 10 feet behind the father, and sees him heal slightly.
   7. Theren is one landing away from the top of the tower, level with the bridge. He sees his father duck into the trapdoor where he was, just seconds ago. Theren is winded, and he's annoyed. He runs back into the taller tower, and runs up to within 45 feet from the top of the tower.
   8. Marnoc casts Healing Word on Ship, stabilizees the bear, and gives Ship the 7 witches' potions. Neither Ship nor the bear have enough HP to use the potions safely at the moment. Ship feeds the bear their second-to-last normal healing potion for 5 health.

We elect to take at least a short rest. Theren's dad will likely be back at full health by the time we see him. We go back down to the witches' chamber, casting Guardian of Faith to guard the whole room we're in, and that's where we leave the session.

Loot

• (Belmac) Four bottles of wine from the castle table.
• (Marnoc) the black metal mace
• (Belmac) A religious icon with more than 1000 gold, for Lythander, bringer of light
• (Ship) 12 Witch's Healing Potions, 5 consumed
• (Belmac) A crown of Ofinor worth at least 2000 gold.