DND Blog

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

The Eighty-Second Session

April 1, 2023, Campaign: As the ground quakes, evil wakes

We run around the city, do some combat, and try to figure out what we'll do when Kerjes shows up. A long rest occurs, so we are finally feeling a little healthier.

Table of Contents

  1. Last session
  2. Rescuing Majorie
    1. Some rest time
  3. The second waking
  4. Going about our day
  5. Next Session

Last session

##

Ren said that the high priestess of Melora is a high-ranking spellcaster. We think she might be our best way to get healing, and to summon aid from around the area.

Jerry is still a Giant Ape, atop the roof. A warm feeling brushes across her mind, and introduces itself as that selfsame priestess. Majorie has gone missing.

Jerry replies to ask if Majorie was seen leaving. They need to contact the Woven Council to kill Kerjes, and also Jerry is a giant ape. Ook ook ook.

Reply: Majorie is gone off to gather more people, according to Umara. "Come back quickly."

Ryltar and Jerry agree that it's time to make her small, so that the Party can sneak around. She chugs the last Potion of Heroism, gaining 10 temporary HP and the effects of the spell Bless (+1d4 to attack and saves)

We proceed quickly and sneakily down the main road, heading along fences and such. We end up in Jerry's house again. She doesn't remember anything of use. We proceed down the alley, and end up in the market courtyard again. Jerry cautiously climbs up onto the roof of the market and looks around. There are still a few Vrocks around.

No demons to the eastern gate. A small demonic squabble to the west at an intersection. The warehouse seems untouched.

We decide to enter the warehouse, quietly and cautiously. We get inside unnoticed.

There are now even more people hiding in here. And our folks are now undisguised.

Jerry plants her glaive, leans against it, dripping with fluids, and says, "Look, it's been a long day. If you have healing, put it on me. If you want to attack us, or betray us to the demons, get in a line off to the left, and we'll deal with you when we have time." 22 Intimidation.

Ryltar says, "The portal is closed."

The room's energy warms up. There are whispers "they could do it!"

There are a lot of guards in the room. Ryltar ask him if he's going to betray us, just for informational purposes, because of the guards that were carousing with the Vrock. Jerry adds that the last guard to betray us ended up as an icicle, shattered. Salris adds some notes about the giblets. Jerry says it tinkled nicely. "I'm not trying to intimidate you," says Ryltar. "I am," says Jerry.

"I will not destroy the only hope that this city has," says the guard captain, of an older, higher rank.

Umara says that Jerry has been gathering these people. She isn't going out with a buddy, but Ren did give her a Scroll of Invisibility, and it looks like she's using it, because she turned invisible before she left, about 45 minutes ago. 15 minutes left on the spell scroll. She left to the armory district.

Umara heals up Jerry for 8.

Salris takes a bottle of wine from the wall.

Discussing how to call for help, Merrill says that she knows a wizard. Ryltar breaks it to her that he's dead. She remains unshaken in her faith that he was doing the right thing. She believes that he had good reason to sacrifice himself, despite Ryltar's recitation of Ren's uncertainties. Ryltar wonders whether this was for us to evacuate the city, or to kill Kerjes. He knows that Ren has faith in us, but faith for what?

"He had faith in you."

The amphitheatre has some neat acoustics that could be used to talk to the surrounding areas, and the governor's square has good acoustics too.

A Mass Cure Wounds occurs, for 14 health. There's also a emerald green Guardian of Faith in this room.

We decide to wait 15 minutes until Majorie comes back. But she doesn't.

Merrill tries to contact her, and learns that Majorie is pinned down, but not found by the demons. Pinned down at the stables.

Rescuing Majorie

We sneak out the back door. Jerry knows that there's a small alley that lets us cut through a block of town-houses. We pop around a back alley to find two Bolguras snuffling at a craftwork shop. We decide to take 'em out.

With our surprise round, we do some damage to the nearest Bolgura. Salris' Dancing Khopesh does a lot. We kill it within the first round. The second round begins with Ryltar ninja-rolling across the street and doing 19 frost damage. Vurguron follows up with a Firebolt. Jerry does 18 with a longbow. Salris kills the Bolgura with the flying sword.

We peek into the shop, and see a ransacked, smashed shop. Ryltar announces our presence and their safety.

Majorie emerges from within the kiln, with a family of four. Jerry crushes Majorie in a hug; Ryltar says she's "dangerous, irresponsible, and I like it." Jerry ruffles her hair. Majorie has sustained some damage, but complains that "Mom, you're getting ooze on me."

The family is a mother, an aunt, and two kids. This isn't their shop; they ducked in to hide. There's some half-made weapons and other implements hanging around. We scrounge up 8 weapons: some hammers, a sickle, cleavers, hoes. They can be used as weapons.

We pick up the kids, ensconce the commoners in our tactical column, and move out.

A Vrock drops in from overhead, and there's two Maws, and two Bolguras. Salris kills one Maw and grievously wounds the second. Percival does the Viscious Mockery upon a Vrock, which stuns Majorie and the commoners with a screech. Jerry, carrying a child, dodges, and Salris continues to attack the Bolguras. We're concerned about the safety of the children, but their presence encumbers some of our greatest fighters. Jerry drops her kid and attacks the Bolguras. Salris does max damage with the Dancing Khopesh and adds some Burning Blood pizzazz to explode the last two Bolguras. With just the Vrock left, Percival Viciously Mocks it, and inspires Majorie, who crits and cuts a bitch. It dies. She has 3 HP.

Ryltar grabs a kid and Dimension Doors into the warehouse. The rest of the Party catches up, and we duck into the warehouse. There's a horde of demons charging up the street behind us; we pray they didn't see us. Jerry and Vurguron reinforce the door. As the villagers see Majorie, there's a small round of happy noises, but they're shushed. A great demon sniffs at the door, and snuffles, and sniffs, and then moves away.

Some rest time

Merrill has managed to contact the West Haven, to send for help.

We have a small gathering of people.

We decide to take a long rest.

As the dying light of day fades through the walls, the Guardian of Faith is renewed by Merrill for the night. There are some screams in the night, but nothing comes our way on the first watch.

Merrill asks whether we saw Ren. Salris asks, "when we found his body?"

She asks to see him, so Salris snags Jerry's Bag of Holding, and pulls out the remains of Ren. Merrill lays him out neatly, and says prayers over him, and says that he probably wouldn't want to be revived. Salris asks if we can take his remains to his homestead to bury him there. She agrees, and carefully balls him up. Salris puts the Bag of Holding back.

It's been a while since she last saw him, but they've talked.

Jerry's watch coincides with the wakefulness of Umara and Majorie and the two other daughters, and they fall asleep in a pile on Jerry.

The second waking

Our rest is done around by midnight. Jerry wakes up Umara and asks about potion sellers. There was one in the bazaar, across the street.

What will we do today? Jerry argues for evacuating the city. Ryltar says that no help is coming from the other Havens, and that Ren set us up to do something big. Salris agrees.

Salris scouts around invisibly. There are no crickets outside, but only a couple of Vrocks and a couple of Maws. He wanders for about 40 minutes, and then scurries back. He doesn't see much, and returns with fuckall knowledge.

Salris says that this is as good a chance as any to kill the Dragon. She's out of her lair, and we have more people to attack. We have maybe 10 people who can use a heavy crossbow.

We wake everyone up, and explain what we're gonna do: we're gonna arm everyone up and attack the green dragon when she appears.

Our plan:

  1. Steal some weapons for people from the guard towers.
  2. Do something about some of the demons
  3. Check out that the Temple of Pelor is intact, and a good shelter
  4. Aggro some demons along the way.

Going about our day

We walk off, not stealthily, straight down the street, to the nearest armory. Ryltar calls out to the demons, telling them that they're not welcome here, and they should leave. He critically fails the intimidation check.

It's just before dawn.

We come across 4 Maws, one of the Armanites, and a Vrock. Percival opens with a Fireball against all of them. They take 31 halved to 16. He hides in a bar doorway. Salris lets off a Cone of Cold against all of them, and Ryltar follows up with the same. The Maws all disappear. Ryltar tries to hide in a doorway, and fails. Jerry runs up onto the roof and attacks the Vrock, halving it. The Armanite takes a step to the right, and blasts Ryltar and Vurguron for a significant amount of damage, and then it moves up to Ryltar. Vurguron advances to shoot at the Vrock with a Firebolt, and does a little damage.

The Vrock shrieks, stunning Ryltar for a round. The Armanite attacks Ryltar three times from close range, doing quite a bit of damage. Jerry takes 13 damage from the Vrock. Percival misses the Armanite twice, but Vurguron kills the Armanite. Ryltar rolls yet another 1 on his attack against the Vrock. His Ray of Frost shoots off into the sky.

Jerry looks at the Vrock, and asks, "Can you believe this?" The Vrock shakes its head. She kills it.

We continue down the main road towards the main gate. We encounter another hurrah of demons, and come to the corner as the sun crests the horizon. It is dawn, and all our dawn stuff resets.

A sun shaft casts light down on to the center of the city.

Next Session

Light at the center of the city? It must be a sign.