DND Blog

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

The Hundred and Thirty-Eighth Session

April 11, 2026, Campaign: As the ground quakes, evil wakes

We explore the tunnels underneath the audtionhouse, and find many treasures and expensive things, including Llewell, the son of Thallia, heir presumptive of the Burning Blood. Several people almost die, including Llewell, but we find the painting of A.R.N. and kill it before teleporting back to Quadroads. We've made a new enemy: Xanathar the Beholder, who owned the horde we raided.

Table of Contents

  1. Last session
  2. Room 3C
  3. Room 4D
  4. Room 5E
  5. Quadroads
  6. Next session

Last session

We went to the auction. In the intermission, we decided to "go big" and start attacking the auctionhouse. It's all connected by programmable portals, and in the very first room, the "backstage" area, we spend an hour figuring out the tricks of the room.

Room 3C

  1. Surprise round! Jerry has walked into a room full of prepared Thieves.
    1. 18
    2. 14
    3. 7
    4. 6
    5. 16
    6. Whiff.
    7. Jerry looses her Lightning Arrow, for 26, then 8 (halved) to four other Thieves, then follows it up with a Moon Scythe to two of the Thieves.
    8. Ryltar walks through the portal. Cone of Cold for 5/6 Thieves.
  2. Round 1
    1. Seamus enters, and stabs with his rapier.
    2. Thieves! Lots of stabulation. 3 attacks against Seamus, 9 attacks against Ryltar. They're using poisoned crossbows. Fortunately, Seamus' magical armor bursts out in waves of water and festering ooze.
    3. Embersia enters and emits Radiance of the Dawn
    4. Jerry does some Moon Scything, for a little damage against 3.
  3. Round 2
    1. Ryltar pops Slow, slowing all the Thieves.
    2. Seamus makes his 3 attacks on slowed Thieves, dealing 26
    3. Percival starts swinging with Mythcarver, inspiring Jerry,
    4. Another Radiance of the Dawn from Embersia, for more blinding of the Thieves. For 30 damage. Killing 4 of the remaining 5.
    5. Jerry kills the remaining thief.

So now we're in a maze of twisty passages, and pretty well hurt. But at least we're immune to Poison damage!

Embersia casts Mass Cure Wounds for 18, and then hits Jerry with Cure Wounds for another 10, bringing her back to 70/139.

The hallways are full of crates. We explore the next room, and find a portal: 4D and 5E.

We find a galley, and the shitter. Jerry puts all the plates and utensils in the shitter. There's a locked door, which Jerry punches open: it was a wooden door on one side, but a metal door on the other side. The room is lined with metal, with scorched and pitted walls. It's some sort of testing room, for testing attacks and items.

Another door reveals a bedroom, with a chest, some clothes, and 500 gold.

We decide to go through the portal.

Room 4D

  1. Surprise Round!
    1. Jerry gets hist with 8 points of arrows.
    2. Jerry looses her Lightning Arrow for 17 at one of the shooters, who are down a long corridor.
  2. Round 1
    1. Ryltar enters, sees Jerry pointing down the hallway, and pops his prepared Slow at the folks at the end of the hallway.
    2. Jerry pops Ashardalon's Stride to bring her move to 60. She Dashes down the hallway, but before she gets more than 20 feet in, the statue at the far end of the hallway — a coiled snake — releases a lightning bolt that fills the hallway. She sets fire to two Thieves at the end of the hallway, hiding behind one. She avoids an attack from the one she hides behind, but receives two arrows, losing Ashardalon's Stride.
    3. Seamus enters, and is warned of the traps. He attacks one of the Thieves.
    4. Percival enters.
  3. Round 3.
    1. Jerry shoves one Thief flat, then stabulates, then Hunter's Mark.
    2. Thief stands up. Second Thief shoots Jerry for 10.

When Embersia enters, she walks straight down the hallway, and gets singed by the lightning statue.

Percival runs down the hallway, jumping over the floor at each narrowing in the hallway.

We work our way down the hallway. There are 5 alcoves on each side, 4 of which have something in them: two have chests, one has a person with a gag and a black-bagged head. All four items are chained to the wall.

Jerry defeats the second thief, and runs down the hall: she gets downed by something that deals Force damage. Orcish Fury: she remains up with 1 HP. She reaction-attacks with a 19, dealing 10.

The figure then attacks once, but Percival Cutting Words it to defeat the attack. Jerry pulls a Boon of the Defiant to block the second attack. The third attack downs her. Another Brain Burn takes one death save, and hits Percival for 28 Psychic and can't take reactions until the start of his next turn.

Seamus appears in front of Percival. He reaches out a hand, and a slimy black tentacle rises from the ground to slap the High Curator, dealing 11 Cold and incapacitation.

Percival revives Jerry; Jerry stabs the High Curator with a Wyvern Poison knife for 10 plus 28 Poison, then stabs him with the Moon Scythe for 12. He's looking rough.

Seamus does some blasting, and then the tentacle fails an attack. But the High Curator looks rough, so Ryltar does Ray of Frost, and the pillar of ice shatters the High Curator's head.

Ryltar rifles the High Curator's self, with a 4 finding nothing. Jerry finds 200 gold on him, and a ring of 20 keys.

The person in the chair is investigated further. They're chanting "Get me out of here." Ryltar calms them down: they're a redheaded elf. Their name is Llewel, from the Woven Council. He's the heir of his mother, who is … Thallia. He's the presumptive heir of the Burning Blood, who had gone missing before his mother's death. Jerry is slowly working through the keys.

The chair is wrapped in chains, and the padlock behind him goes into a metal plate in the wall. Jerry decides to disassemble the chair in order to remove the chains. With a 20 + 12 (inspiration) + 9 (Medicine) = 41 removes the chair and the chains.

We give him a shortsword from the dead Thief, and tell him to follow us safely. He moves slowly: 15 feet per round.

There are four chests:

  1. Pouch of blood-red coins. 28 Perception. These have faces: each one is different. Transmutation magic: Soul Coins, from the Nine Hells. Each is a person's soul, condensed and solidified. About 20 of them, each five inches across and an inch thick. Carrying this bag deals disadvantage to all d20 checks.
  2. A silver bell: Conjuration magic, like Figure of Wonderous Might.
  3. A leather necklace with a silver pendant of a horned man with an open mouth. Transmutation magic of some sort.
  4. A platinum key.

Ryltar takes the soul coins; he doesn't roll many d20s.

Then we find the next hallway. Seamus spots for traps.

New chests:

  1. 7 unicorn horns: useful for healing spells.
  2. 350 gold worth of residuum: the universal spellcasting component.
  3. A red dragon's egg: about 10' in diameter.
  4. A potion of age reduction, and a potion of one-minute invulnerability.

The third hallway immediately deals 11 to Seamus. Items:

  1. A tall, long box with chains. Thinner than a coffin. Contains a valuable tapestry, but no magic. Into the Bag of Holding.
  2. Three tuning forks: Coral, brassy metal, and obsidian. To Ryltar.
  3. A book, maybe, but with uneven, roughly-stitched leather.

Then we queue up for the next room.

Room 5E

This room is heavily-illuminated. There's a 40' ceiling, with a recess in the center that is on fire, illuminating everything. There are pillars spaced 10' apart, supporting the ceiling, each from chest to head height as a glass cylinder. Some have things in them. 36 pillars.

A chain rattles further into the room, and there's a growling noise. Jerry recognizes it as a vampire. An undead creature, weak to sunlight and stakes to the heart.

One pillar's glass tube contains a goldfish in water.

Ryltar advances slowly into the room, and everyone makes a Dexterity save save Jerry. Everyone falls to the ceiling, taking 20 points of Bludgeoning Percival casts Feather Fall — except Jerry, who sticks to the wall. The fish in the cylinder inverts.

A screeching voice comes from the central firey ring. It's a Beholder. "Thieves? Burglars?" Anti-magic field eyeball rays. It's Xanathar. Xanathar.

Our battle against the Beholder is made difficult by the room's ambient countergravity spell, which is dispelled by the Beholder's anti-magic cone view. You take fall damage when he looks at you and when he stops looking at you. And he's got tentacles.

Notable events:

  1. Seamus gets Charmed by an Eye Ray.
  2. Ryltar uses Fly to stay near the true-floor.
  3. Percival distracts the Beholder for a turn by giving him the Rhythm-Maker Drum.

Ryltar tells the Beholder that we're here to trade for his painting: "We can't give you all of our things; otherwise, we would not be able to go find more unique things for you." Ryltar offers the Deck of Many Things. Percival sweetens the deal with a Ring of Fire Resistance.

"I see that you could be beneficial. Gather items across the world, in my employ. You can take one item of my collection. Return all other items." He's talking to Ryltar, and Ryltar is holding the Soul Coins, with disadvantage on rolls.

Ryltar says, "Sounds good to me."

Percival offers returning all the pilfered items, those three, and then we get the painting.

"Fine," says the Beholder.

"Would you like us to put them back for you? We know where they go," says Ryltar.

"No," says the Beholder. The antigravity field dissipates.

The Beholder opens up a column, and asks Ryltar to put stuff in it.

Jerry stabs the painting with a poisoned dagger, and then shanks it with the Moon Scythe. It makes a small dying noise.

Percival goes puts some stuff in the open cylinder, and then Revivifys Llewell. Ryltar goes over and tells him, quietly, "Slow down."

"Why slow," asks the Beholder.

"He's repairing your merchandise. We want to make sure that the does it right," deceives Ryltar. But 24 on that Deception.

"Slow down," muses the Beholder.

Ryltar wants to gather everyone in a circle around the Revivify ritual. The Revivify is successful. He asks Embersia for a Prayer of Healing.

Jerry stabs twice more, and then puts A.R.N.'s patch on. It animates and weaves within the painting's fibers, stitching it back up where Jerry had carved through it. Then she moves back towards the group.

Seamus is still trying to figure out what's going on.

Embersia doesn't have Prayer of Healing prepared, but bluffs.

Jerry sprints back.

Seamus takes a deep breath, and does some Thaumaturgy.

The Beholder is very skeptical. Ryltar talks back, and Embersia does some Cure Wounds. But with a 9 Deception, the Beholder decides to take legendary actions. On a success, Embersia takes 27 Necrotic damage, and Llewell panics. Ryltar is clipped by a pink ray, slowing him, on a success.

Ryltar subtly casts Teleport. The last thing he hears as he's surrounded by ice is a roar of rage.

We're going straight to the Temple of Ioun.

Quadroads

We're in the Temple of Ioun

Next session

Net loot:

Lost:

Stuff we're working on: