DND Blog

A place to keep DND session recaps, from various campaigns.

The Eightieth Session

February 18, 2023, Campaign: As the ground quakes, evil wakes

Lanthet is beseiged. We set out to lift the siege by closing the demon portal, which might be in the governor's mansion. After a quick treck through the sewers, and encounters with The Lost Boys and a Sewer Sarlaac, we enter the governor's mansion and kill the Marilith, since she happens to be there. And then we scamper off into the sewers again.

Table of Contents

  1. Last session
  2. Objectives
  3. Kerjes
  4. In the sewers
  5. Against the Marilith
  6. Next session

Last session

We showed up to Lanthet just after Kerjes unleashed a horde of demons on the city. There are more demons than Ren foresaw; there is a portal to The Abyss. The Marilith is present, in the mayor's house. We fight through the city to rescue Jerry's family, and some other people. Kerjes returns, demanding our heads by tomorrow. Ren says, "This is not how it was supposed to be," and sacrifices himself to wound a returning Kerjes before being obliterated by her poisonous breath. Jerry alone sees this sacrifice.

Objectives

Kerjes

The dragon announces to the city, "Any resistance will be met with your instant demise. Rebellion is your death." And then she flies off northwards.

Ryltar and Salris spend some time intimidating the locals, to get them to avoid triggering Kerjes' retribution or their betrayal. We learn that the demons came from the north gate, but nothing more.

We take a short rest, and do some healing.

After discussion, we determine to use the sewers to get closer to the Mayor's house. Ryltar promises to eat his hat if the sewers are magical.

We spend some time locating the entrances to the sewers, and find one in the bazaar across the street from the warehouse. There don't appear to be any demons in the bazaar, but up the street there are a large horde of demons, with an Armanite serving as traffic cop.

Jerry casts Pass Without Trace, and we team up to move out. So off we go. Salris successfully deceives the overseer, and we enter the bazaar. Salris takes a trinket from a gypsy's cart, and leaves two gold behind.

In the sewers

We follow the streams to a bigger tunnel, heading vaguely westward. Jerry and Ryltar guide the group towards the mansion.

In time, an acrid scent comes to the tunnels, not putrid, but the lingering remnants of Kerjes' breath.

We come to a five-way union of pipes, and hear a soft "ssh!" from about 60 feet down and to the right on an alcove. There's a small alcove, a tunnel collapse that has been mined out, full of filth-covered youth. It's a Lost Boys hideout: 20ish youths and a couple adults.

Ryltar steps out into the room and says, "It's OK, we're friends." Jerry pulls him back and says, "He really is." Two arrows bounce off her armor.

Jerry vaguely recognizes one, but generally knows they're the miscreant teens. "You can stay here if you like, but if you'd like to stay someplace that isn't a sewer slowly filling with acrid fumes from the dragon's breath, we're offering that." Fail. Salris tries to buy information from them; that fails. We leave; Jerry leaves behind a dagger for them.

There are still branching tunnels. We see a grate overhead; Jerry climbs up to look out. There's a clopping of hooves on the street above. We think we're about halfway to the center of town.

Further down the tunnel, we come to a big cavern, where all the tunnels pour into a giant mound of refuse. There's a light above; Jerry climbs the walls to look out. No buildings are visible; we conclude that we're under the square at the center of town.

A rumble comes from below. Salris recognizes it's the sort of beast that eats stuff in sewers. A giant tentacle wraps around the mass. Jerry points the Party towards the western tunnels, but there's no ledge for them to walk across. The entrance tunnels are 10' wide, and there's a 20' drop to the floor. Jerry unspools a rope to swing the Party across. Percival casts Polymporph on the tentacled being, turning it into a toad.

Jerry swings the Party across the room. Salris falls, splatting into the pile. The frog jumps out of the way. The Party finishes crossing, and Jerry climbs down.

We have bypassed the Otyugh.

At the next grate, Jerry smells the last blast of Kerjes' breath drifting down through the grate: the same blast that killed Ren. We're under an alleyway, a couple houses down from the Mayor's. The grate is extremely difficult for Jerry to move; she fails the first time and with Enhanced Ability, she still can't budge it (with an 18!) Ryltar does some Prestidigitation to clean it up, and Percival does Bardic Inspiration to give her an extra 1d10: at 27 it comes out smoothly.

Pass Without Trace passes, and we climb out of the sewer. Percival casts Silence and we move very carefully out. Jerry drops the sewer grate down, and thea big demon sees us. He turns to say something, and we skedaddle. He turns back to see us vanished, leaving behind dust clouds in our shapes. Cue sound effects.

It has 90 feet of move. It misses Jerry with an attack, and she casts Web behind her, trying to pin it on a crossroads of alleys. It succeeds in the saves to avoid being restrained, but now it's in doubly-difficult terrain, and Ryltar's Ray of Frost drops its speed to 5 feet per round. In two rounds, it'll be out, since it can dash and bonus action move.

The servant's entrance to the governor's mansion is guarded by two Maw demons, who Salris hits with Synaptic Static. Their brains jellify and melt. Salris overshoots and comes back. Percival opens the door.

There are three doors leading out from the kitchen; Jerry barricades the outside door and we continue into the house into the dining room. The dining room has been tossed; there's still food on the plates and there are plates on the floor. Jerry knows that the biggest rooms are the foyer and ballroom. The ballroom is next to the dining room; Jerry peeps through the keyhole.

The ballroom has been ransacked, but it doesn't look or smell like a tear in reality.

We decide to check the cellar. The kitchen has a pantry door, and a staircase down. The cellar is small: some dry storage, but no demonic presences.

There is a crashing of doors above: a big demon has arrived. We elect to stay in the basement for a bit to let him resolve his anger management problems. Salris takes the opportunity to stock up on some fine wines. More crunches upstairs. Jerry Passes Without Trace at third level, and we hide under some boxes. The kitchen door bursts open, and then there's a sound of coiling limbs. It's the Marilith! She passes out of the kitchen.

Out of the dining room.

Into the ballroom, and then into the foyer.

We decide to attack her, to destroy the demonic army's command-and-control infrastructure.

Against the Marilith

Jerry shoots the Marilith with an opening Lightning Arrow for 12 piercing and 21 lightning. The Marilith draws six swords, including one silver khopesh.

We drink all the potions that Ren had provided, and go in.

The Marilith tosses that silver khopesh at Jerry; it flies and homes: a Dancing Sword. Then the demon general draws its seventh sword. It calls to those outside, "Get in here!" Six attacks against Percival: he does survive. Salris casts Guardian of the Faith to ward off things coming in; Ryltar casts Mental Prison on the Marilith. Vurguron loses half his health to a single combo attack from the Marilith. It shrugs off Slow. An Armanite enters, and it Lightning Lances the room, hitting Vurguron, Salris, Percival, and Ryltar. It does 12 to everyone except Percival, who takes 6. Percival uses Forceful Hand to free himself of the Marilith's coils.

The Marilith teleports out. Salris runs after it, with Misty Step. He chases it, and burns his last spell slot as he attacks. The ruby sets his sword on fire as it cleaves the Marilith in twain. In the room, the sword clatters to the ground. Salris heals for 18.

The Marilith is dead!

Salris peeps his head around the ballroom door and Ray of Frosts the Armanite. Vurguron engages the Armanite and a Maw; Jerry is attacked by a Maw. She kills the Maw, steals the silvery flying khopesh (which the Mummy Lord had) from the ground, and goes to attack the Armanite.

Another Armanite appears and Lightning Lances Salris, Vurguron, Percival and Ryltar. The remaining Maw also dies. Jerry's Armanite attacks her thrice with one crit; the Heartkeeper Breastplate comes in handy once again.

Ryltar Slows both Armanites. Vurguron blows the first one away with some radiant slashing; he moves onto the second one and does a little more damage with his second and third attacks.

Beyond the Armanite blocking the door, there are simply more demons.

Vurguron and Salris both pass an Intelligence save; two Balguras had tried to cast something on them.

Jerry decides that we're leaving; she leaves the foyer and goes through the ballroom into the dining room, and prepares to barricade the door with the throne-like chairs. Salris gets hit by a slowed serrated tail from the Armanite, and then runs.

We barricade the doors to the ballroom and the dining room. We smash through the kitchen window and go into the back side of the mansion alley. We run down the alley, looking for the next sewer grate.

Next session