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Story Hour
Erkonin (Campaign #1) [Session 46: Making Deals with Devils is Stupid as well as Bad]
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<blockquote data-quote="prabe" data-source="post: 8113483" data-attributes="member: 7016699"><p>Session 16: Land Shark</p><p></p><p></p><p>Dramatis Personae:</p><p></p><p>Mo - Goliath Bard (College of Lore)</p><p>Orryk - Forest Gnome Monk (Way of the Four Elements, variant)</p><p>Fiona - Half-Elf Wizard (Evoker)</p><p>Taman - Human (variant) Rogue (Inquisitive)/Ranger</p><p>Joybell - Forest Gnome Paladin (Oath of the Ancients)</p><p>Imaktis - Tortle Cleric (Nature)/Shadow Sorcerer</p><p></p><p>GM - Everyone Else</p><p></p><p></p><p>28 Sunnin 748 (Campaign day 29)</p><p></p><p>The next morning we headed out on the road toward Rodzun -- all of us feeling stronger and more capable.</p><p></p><p>As we were proceeding we discussed important issues such as whether there is a market for gorgon parts. Joybell would like to try harvesting some of the armor -- it might be possible to make into armor for her.</p><p></p><p>Around lunchtime we passed through the town of Lunn. Joybell asked about the homesteads and settlements we’ve heard about being torn apart by something large and voracious. That was confirmed, though we got no further details beyond “It’s big” about what was doing it. We did learn that ogres and other creatures like that have been more active -- or at least there have been more incidents of attacks on the road than usual.</p><p></p><p>Joybell, to bartender: Do you have any idea why?</p><p>Orryk: Because we’re out here.</p><p></p><p>Mo asked of they’d heard of any people or animals being turned to stone, but they had not.</p><p></p><p>Mo: We need to keep going until we find gorgons.</p><p></p><p>And on that thought we continued on our way to Rodzun. As the afternoon wore on, Taman noticed that there weren’t any birds around. None. Not even vultures or the usual sorts of things one would expect to see circling high in the sky. He pointed this out to the others.</p><p></p><p>Joybell found a little chipmunk and asked if he’d noticed the birds being missing. He said no. She asked if there were anything new and scary around and he hadn’t noticed that either. Apparently chipmunks aren’t as bright as rats.</p><p></p><p>The road was travelling through woods and still skirting the coast, though at this point there was a lot of relief. The coast was down a sheer-ish cliff to our right and the forest and increasingly rugged mountains were to our left and in front of us.</p><p></p><p>About an hour after Taman noticed the lack of birds, he saw some things flying in our direction -- they had wings but also arms and legs and horns. They started coming from the left (the forest and mountains) and circled around us so their final approach was over the cliff and the bit of scrub between road and cliff.</p><p></p><p>Taman noticed that their bat wings didn’t appear to be really catching the air -- the membranes weren’t flexing -- though the creatures were flying. We finally recognized them as 6 Gargoyles.</p><p></p><p>They flew in low -- about 10’ off the ground -- and weren’t at all subtle about their intentions. This was an attack.</p><p></p><p>Taman, on the cart, took a shot at one -- hitting but not doing as much damage as he expected. Mo cast faerie fire, catching four of them in the sparkly cloud of dust he blew out of his pipe. All 4 of them failed their saves, so we had four sparkling gargoyles to fight (with advantage). Then he gave inspiration to Orryk.</p><p></p><p>Orryk took two shots at one with his magical bow -- getting two hits and doing the expected damage this time. Joybell noticed the difference between the damage level of their hits and had an idea, saved for the future, that magical weapons hit them better. Orryk moved around to the side of the cart where the gargoyles were approaching from.</p><p></p><p>The gargoyles flew, really fast, and got right up to the party, skimming over the ground, in no time. Two of them attacked Taman -- one hit him twice, but Mo used cutting words to reduce the damage down to nothing. The other one on Taman missed. One landed on the back of one of the horses and attacked Imaktis, missing him. One attacked Mo and missed. Two of them didn’t make it into combat this round.</p><p></p><p>(This is a preview of how the GM’s evening went -- failed saves and missed attacks.)</p><p></p><p>Fiona cast slow on all six of the gargoyles -- and all of them failed their saves and could only move or attack (not both) and had other nasty impediments.</p><p></p><p>Joybell stayed on Scooby to attack the one on the horse (otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to reach it) and swung with her flail, hitting twice. Imaktis cast Toll the Dead on that one, but it saved.</p><p></p><p>Taman dropped his bow and attacked one of the faerie fired ones attacking him with his rapier, getting a good hit (18 points of damage, which all got through because the rapier is magical). Then he rolled off the side of the cart near Joybell.</p><p></p><p>Mo got three of them in a big shatter spell -- one of them saved -- then he inspired Joybell and retreated back to where Fiona had positioned herself -- way back out of the front line.</p><p></p><p>Orryk moved up and started punching one -- he got a hit and a critical hit with his first attack and could see some cracks in its stony form. Then he did a flurry of blows and, inspired by Mo, hit with both of those punches as well. He punched it into absolute rubble. With his hands.</p><p></p><p>One of the gargoyles moved to Orryk, but couldn’t attack because of the slow, though it snapped out of that at the end of the turn. Another one of the two that had been unengaged moved up to Joybell, but couldn’t attack. (So there were two on Orryk, two on Joybell and one on Imaktis. Four of the five were still slowed and a different four faerie fired.) None hit with their attacks.</p><p></p><p>Fiona cast Melf’s Acid Arrow on the one on Orryk that didn’t shake off the slow, critically hitting it in a vulnerable spot and leaving it smeared with acid that would do more damage in the future.</p><p></p><p>Joybell attacked the one on the horse again - she’d promised the horses she’d protect them - getting two hits.</p><p></p><p>Imaktis tried to inflict wounds on his but missed, just barely.</p><p></p><p>Taman moved up and stabbed the one on Imaktis and got in a good sneak attack on it, because its attention was focused on Imaktis. Then he jumped back off the side of the cart.</p><p></p><p>Mo used his wand to cast magic missile on the one on Orryk that had shaken off the slow - the three darts did a total of 8 damage. Not the wand’s best moment.</p><p></p><p>Orryk punched the slowed one (that was Melfed by Fiona) and got a crit. Then he followed up with a flurry of blows. Unfortunately that didn’t drop it, but it looked like the acid damage from Fiona’s spell would.</p><p></p><p>Indeed, when the gargoyles attacked Orryk the one that had shaken off the slow got both of its attacks and missed with both. The slowed one missed with its attack, then it shook off the slow spell, moving normally for just a moment before the acid damage dropped it. The ones on Imaktis and Joybell all missed. Then all of them that were still under the slow effect failed their saves to break out of it.</p><p></p><p>Fiona firebolted the one on Orryk -- that was the only one not under the slow, but it did have the faerie fire on it. The thermal shock left it looking really rough.</p><p></p><p>Joybell hit the one on the horse twice, again, and again it failed to drop. She regretted not having used a divine smite. Imaktis (having as rough an evening as the GM) cast shillelagh on his staff and then missed with his attack.</p><p></p><p>Taman again jumped on the cart and stabbed the one on Imaktis with his rapier, doing a lot of sneak attack damage and dropping that one. Then he moved around beside Joybell and Scooby.</p><p></p><p>Mo used the wand to magic missile the one on Orryk, blowing huge chunks of stone away with the first two missiles and crumbling it to rubble with the third.</p><p></p><p>Orryk climbed back onto the cart and used his fists of unbroken air to get a crit on the one on the horse, and another hit, dropping it! Yay!</p><p></p><p>The last remaining gargoyle got a hit on Joybell, but Mo used his cutting words to reduce the attack damage to nothing. It was still slowed, so it could do nothing other than the one attack.</p><p></p><p>Fiona moved up next to Mo and cast Magic missile on the one remaining, slowed and faerie fired gargoyle. Joybell hit it for 11 points and once again regretted not smiting it. Imaktis cast toll the dead but it saved.</p><p></p><p>Then finally, Taman got in a sneak attack in it and dropped it!</p><p></p><p>After the combat, while we were regrouping and Imaktis was checking on Horse 1 (the one that had been landed on), Orryk was stretching his hands and checking his knuckles.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Are your hands okay?</p><p>Orryk, with a slow smile: Yeah. I’m good.</p><p></p><p>Then he bent down and gathered up some of the rubble from the gargoyles he had punched to death with his bare hands.</p><p></p><p>Other than some sentimental rubble, the gargoyles had nothing of value. Imaktis wondered if they had been looking for us specifically, but Taman, remembering how they’d approached us, didn’t think so. It looked more to him like they’d been out flying around and seen us and came in for the attack.</p><p></p><p>We continued on our way, with Mo taking a short rest in the back of the wagon. As we proceeded we talked through what we know about gargoyles -- they’re not really part of any ecosystem. They don’t happen naturally and to see them out in the woods or in the mountains is really unusual. Usually they are either summoned or created by someone and they’re almost always chaotic evil.</p><p></p><p>Mo: They’re a sign that someone is up to some hijinks.</p><p></p><p>We continue on our way. Mo’s short rest finishes about when we get to Rodzun. Rodzun is definitely the Big City in this part of the world -- It has three inns, Gorni’s, the Melodic Mushroom and the Brass Boulder. It also has three tracks, or one lane roads, out of town -- one to the east, one to the north and one to the north-east.</p><p></p><p>As we walked through the town we tried to get a sense of whether the people in town were stressed or panicking or anything like that. We didn’t see any signs of panic, but we overheard people talking about folks having been attacked by moving statues.</p><p></p><p>Joybell was about to make a pitch for the Melodic Mushroom, because that sounded pretty, when Mo noticed a sign in the window at Gorni’s that said, in Dwarvish, “real beer served here”. So we chose Gorni’s.</p><p></p><p>We parked the cart and horses at a livery and went into the Inn.</p><p></p><p>Mo, in Dwarvish: Hi! If you want someone to play, I have some songs you might like.</p><p></p><p>Gorni gave Mo the same deal he’d gotten elsewhere -- half price lodgings for us and free food for Mo. Mo also ordered around of real dwarvish beer for all of us.</p><p></p><p>Joybell found some people who looked like they were from the mountains and more distant villages and settlements to talk to. She found one who was talking to a local and asked if any of them had heard anything about a Gorgon. Neither of them had, but they had heard about whole villages being torn up to the north and east of Rodzun.</p><p></p><p>Mo: How long have these attacks been going on?</p><p>Dude: The last few days.</p><p>Orryk: A few days. That’s surprising.</p><p>Mo: Are people in the town tense?</p><p>Dude: We’re nervous. Rodzun isn’t a big town and we don’t have a lot of defenses.</p><p></p><p>They started talking about people being attacked by moving statues and Joybell told them about being attacked by the gargoyles on the road. They said that the moving statues are different -- they don’t have wings. The gargoyles can sometimes be evaded if you’re on a track going through the woods, because you can get under the trees out of sight and away from them.</p><p></p><p>After this conversation, Mo played some dwarvish songs he knew. He played with conviction, but the Dwarven beer had clearly gotten to him, because he was not having a great night. The response was more polite than enthusiastic. He was convinced that he was great, however!</p><p></p><p>Joybell, with Taman to keep an eye on her, slipped out of the bar to pay a visit to the temple of the Hearthkeepers to talk to a Nature cleric about Gorgons. Joybell figured that if there were Gorgons in the area someone in tune with the natural order in the are might have a sense of where. The cleric told us that there have historically been gorgons in the area to the north and east, however that doesn’t mean it will be easy to find them. They are large and voracious predators that have a tendency to depopulate a region of suitable prey, then move on to another territory. The cleric had heard of settlements and villages up in the mountains being attacked by something large and voracious, which at least sounds similar. We asked which of the roads out of town we should take and the cleric recommended the north road.</p><p></p><p>Taman asked if there was anyone in town who might have a map we could purchase, but the cleric couldn’t think of anyone.</p><p></p><p>We went back to the inn and told the others about the conversation.</p><p></p><p>Orryk: Maybe the first thing that attacks us in the morning will have more information.</p><p></p><p>We spent the rest of the evening in the inn listening to Mo play (though not to his usual standards) and drinking the real beer. Because we were on the road in a new city, Taman got buzzed but not really drunk.</p><p></p><p>We retired to our rooms and with our usual precautions we slept. The night passed without incident.</p><p></p><p></p><p>29 Sunnin 748 (Campaign day 30)</p><p></p><p>While everyone was getting breakfast, Joybell spoke privately with Gorni and got a small keg of the good Dwarven beer and some extra-nice food to take with us. She stashed all of that in the cart.</p><p></p><p>As we were finishing our breakfast and Joybell was making her purchases, we heard a bustle and movement outside in the street. The door to the inn opened and two young halflings, a boy and a girl, who looked like teens (or at least about at the developmental stage of human teens) came inside. They looked as though they’d been running all night.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: What’s the problem?</p><p>Kids: We’ve been running all night to get here. Our settlement was attacked just about dusk last night. Something dug into the cellar of the house and came up through the floor and started attacking people.</p><p></p><p>Joybell was ready to immediately go to check this out and asked Gorni if the kids could stay there while we investigated. The kids weren’t interested in that -- they wanted to go back with us to see how their village had fared.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Okay. You can ride with us and tell us how to get there…</p><p></p><p>The kids were cousins -- Tilia Boughweave and Allard Softfoot. They had run all the way from their village Tall Orchard by themselves through the night. When they left, about eight hours ago, there were still people alive in the village and it was not totally destroyed. But that was eight hours ago.</p><p></p><p>We decided to move quickly, making it harder for us to see possible dangers along the way, but also allowing us to get there in six hours. We hoped. Imaktis rocked his animal handling, so Horse 1 and Horse 2 were very willing to go as fast as they could through the more mountainous terrain on a track not much wider than the wagon itself.</p><p></p><p>As we proceeded, Taman started walking along through the woods near the cart, keeping as much of an eye out as our speed would allow. Orryk was jogging along behind the wagon, keeping up with no problems (getting his miles in).</p><p></p><p>About four hours after we left Rodzun, still two hours or so away from Tall Orchard, Taman sensed something...a vibration under the ground heading toward the cart.</p><p></p><p>Taman: Alarm! Burrowers.</p><p></p><p>After giving the alarm, he moved toward the cart. Mo hopped off the cart, which Imaktis brought to a halt, and moved backwards so that he was behind Orryk, then held a vicious mockery spell in case a target presented itself. The children followed Mo, as much as their movement would allow, anyway. Fiona cast fly on herself then flew up 25’ and ended up just behind where mo was, but up in the air. Joybell kept her position next to the cart on Scooby and cast bless on herself, Taman and Imaktis.</p><p></p><p>Orryk used a new ability he’d developed, Patient Badger Listens, and moved up from behind the cart until he could sense the tremors of the beast. He told all of us that it was moving toward the cart and about to come out of the ground.</p><p></p><p>About when he said that a Bulette leapt up out of the ground and landed on the horses and Taman. (Like those breaching Great White Sharks only on land.) The creature was very large (size large, in fact) with hard scaly plates across its back and large beaky jaws kind of like a snapping turtle. When it landed, it pushed Taman several feet and did him a considerable amount of damage. The horses were dropped unconscious and pushed out of their traces and to the side of the road. (And that’s after they all saved.)</p><p></p><p>Mo’s vicious mockery went off and it did not make its save, so it had disadvantage on its next attack.</p><p></p><p>Imaktis cast spiritual weapon and attacked with it, but missed, then he cast sacred flame and that did some damage. Taman attacked and got a hit, but not for a lot of damage.</p><p></p><p>Mo moved to a position where he could see the beast without the cart in the way, then he used the wand to cast magic missile on it. Then he inspired Orryk. Tilia and Allard ran to hide behind Mo. Fiona cast a firebolt, but missed.</p><p></p><p>Joybell got off Scooby, sending him into the woods, and attacked twice. Orryk attacked twice, missing with both attacks, then he used some of his ki for patient defense.</p><p></p><p>The bulette then turned around and bit at Joybell, missing entirely. (Note: My notes here are cryptic. It says “The crit misses and it misses entirely.” I have no idea what would have made the crit miss, though. So it’s a mystery.) (Turns out it was attacking with disadvantage because of Mo's Vicious Mockery. Nat 20 and a 7.)</p><p></p><p>It then jumped away and as it moved to do so Orryk, Joybell and Taman all got attacks of opportunity on it. And all of those attacks hit. Then it leapt 30 feet away and burrowed into the ground and disappeared.</p><p></p><p>Mo, to Orryk: You should burrow after it and punch it. That would be amazing.</p><p></p><p>Imaktis cast healing word on one of the horses and stabilized the other one. Joybell laid hands on the stabilized one, healing it and helping it to its feet. Taman moved up into the forest and climbed up a tree. Mo moved forward to Imaktis, telling the kids to stay there. Which they did. Fiona, still flying, moved up to a position sort of over the cart and held a cantrip in case a target appeared.</p><p></p><p>Orryk moved around a bit to feel out with his patient badger tremorsense, but he didn’t pick it up. He told us the last he sensed it, it was moving away. He pointed out that we’d done it a lot of damage.</p><p></p><p>We pooled our memory and research about bulettes and remembered that they like especially to eat halflings. Joybell went to the kids to help them get back onto the cart and off the ground. Joybell stayed on Scooby, walking beside the cart near where the children were. The kids confirmed that this looked like the same sort of thing that had attacked their village the night before.</p><p></p><p>Imaktis cast guidance on himself, then went to handle the horses, which were thoroughly freaked out by the whole experience. Fortunately he was able to get them calmed down and back in harness so we could resume proceeding after a short rest.</p><p></p><p>We got to Tall Orchard in the mid-afternoon. The town had once had 50-60 residents, in eight extended families. There were only 20 survivors of the attack the night before, so the people were all pretty traumatized and freaked out by it. They were still trying to collect themselves and figure out what to do.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, Tilia and Allard were able to find surviving family members to take care of them.</p><p></p><p>Asked, gently, about the attack, the villagers said that this was the first time that a monster like that had attacked Tall Orchard. They, like us, didn’t really have any way to track it, though we could see the “mole holes” where it burst through the ground.</p><p></p><p>We also didn’t know if it would come back to this village again. Orryk didn’t think it would, but Joybell was a little hopeful that after being pretty badly damaged, it would come back to a village of its favorite prey to build its strength back up. It was certainly worth trying.</p><p></p><p>We decided to set up the Leomund’s Tiny Hut in the center courtyard of the town. There were three intact buildings on one side and three that had been reduced to rubble on the other. On the far side of the rubble was a long barn. We put Horse 2 in there. One of the intact buildings had a small outbuilding, and we were allowed to put Horse 1 in there. (So they wouldn’t both get eaten by the bulette.)</p><p></p><p>(Note: The GM ruled that Leomund’s Tiny Hut has an impervious bottom as well as the domed top, which made it a really safe place to stay for the night.)</p><p></p><p>Joybell recommended to the halflings of the village that they stay the night up on the second floor of a building -- off the ground -- if they have any. There was an intact large warehouse with a second floor that was big enough for all of the villagers to stay there, so that’s where they slept. It was a bit away from the central square in the village, not easily visible from the hut, but not so far that we wouldn’t know if the beast emerged at the warehouse.</p><p></p><p>We spent the night in the hut, with watches as follows: Joybell and Fiona, Mo and Scooby, Taman and Orryk, and finally Imaktis on his own.</p><p></p><p>During the third watch, Taman felt the ground vibrating and started waking people up. Imaktis blessed Joybell, Taman and himself as soon as he woke up. Fiona cast Mage Armor. Mo cast haste on Imaktis. Joybell cast Shield of Faith on Taman.</p><p></p><p>As all of this was going on, Taman figured out that it was moving toward the small barn with Horse 1 in it, so he stepped out of the tiny hut and did a tap dance to attract its attention.</p><p></p><p>Which totally worked -- it changed course and burst out of the ground right next to him. At which point Taman realized that there might have been a problem with his plan. Fortunately, it all worked out because the bulette missed with its attack.</p><p></p><p>Fiona stepped out of the hut, causing it to disappear, and cast slow on the bulette -- we watched as the spell took hold on it and cheered. Then Mo cast faerie fire on it and it was too slow to dodge out of the sparkling cloud.</p><p></p><p>Joybell moved over to attack, riding Scooby so she could get there.</p><p></p><p>Orryk ran over and proceeded to pummel it with his regular attack and a flurry of blows. With each hit he attempted a stunning strike. It saved against all of the stunning strikes but there were at least two critical hits in the battering and despite it shaking off the stun every time he did masses of damage to it.</p><p></p><p>Taman hit it with his rapier, then backed away out of melee with it. Imaktis cast inflict wounds -- hitting it because of his blessing. Then he bonus action cast shillelagh and hit it again because of the haste Mo put on him.</p><p></p><p>The bulette attacked Imaktis and would have hit but he cast shield and the massive bony beak skittered across his arcane shield.</p><p></p><p>Fiona cast Chromatic Orb, choosing acid damage -- which dropped it, the acid eating through one of the wounds on its head and into its brain.</p><p></p><p>Imaktis and Taman looked to see if that bulette was the same one we’d fought earlier. As they looked it over together they found scars and evidence of the wounds we’d inflicted on it in the afternoon. We also remembered that bulettes are very solitary, so it’s unlikely that there’s another one in the area.</p><p></p><p>Within a minute or so after the battle was over the residents of Tall Orchard emerged from the warehouse where they’d been trying to sleep.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Is this the same one that attacked you?</p><p></p><p>The idea that there might be more than one clearly shook some of the halflings, but one of them recognized a very long scar on the side of the bulette.</p><p></p><p>As we took a look at that, we realized that it looked like the bulette had been gored -- the wound had healed, but not long before, maybe a week or two ago. An encouraging sign that there might be a Gorgon in the area.</p><p></p><p>Mo: Does anyone have speak with dead...animals?</p><p></p><p>Mo, randomly, to the halflings: This is not the monster we’re here to kill. This will not get us into any library.</p><p></p><p>They looked appropriately baffled at that.</p><p></p><p>Orryk, with Joybell’s help, worked on getting some of the heavy plates and claws off of the corpse.</p><p></p><p>Joybell also went to check on the horses, which were fine.</p><p></p><p>We finished our long rest, sleeping well into the morning.</p><p></p><p>Imaktis plans to spend 8 hours casting Plant Growth to enrich the land and help the halflings who remain grow enough food. It will boost crop yields for one year. But that will happen next time.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="prabe, post: 8113483, member: 7016699"] Session 16: Land Shark Dramatis Personae: Mo - Goliath Bard (College of Lore) Orryk - Forest Gnome Monk (Way of the Four Elements, variant) Fiona - Half-Elf Wizard (Evoker) Taman - Human (variant) Rogue (Inquisitive)/Ranger Joybell - Forest Gnome Paladin (Oath of the Ancients) Imaktis - Tortle Cleric (Nature)/Shadow Sorcerer GM - Everyone Else 28 Sunnin 748 (Campaign day 29) The next morning we headed out on the road toward Rodzun -- all of us feeling stronger and more capable. As we were proceeding we discussed important issues such as whether there is a market for gorgon parts. Joybell would like to try harvesting some of the armor -- it might be possible to make into armor for her. Around lunchtime we passed through the town of Lunn. Joybell asked about the homesteads and settlements we’ve heard about being torn apart by something large and voracious. That was confirmed, though we got no further details beyond “It’s big” about what was doing it. We did learn that ogres and other creatures like that have been more active -- or at least there have been more incidents of attacks on the road than usual. Joybell, to bartender: Do you have any idea why? Orryk: Because we’re out here. Mo asked of they’d heard of any people or animals being turned to stone, but they had not. Mo: We need to keep going until we find gorgons. And on that thought we continued on our way to Rodzun. As the afternoon wore on, Taman noticed that there weren’t any birds around. None. Not even vultures or the usual sorts of things one would expect to see circling high in the sky. He pointed this out to the others. Joybell found a little chipmunk and asked if he’d noticed the birds being missing. He said no. She asked if there were anything new and scary around and he hadn’t noticed that either. Apparently chipmunks aren’t as bright as rats. The road was travelling through woods and still skirting the coast, though at this point there was a lot of relief. The coast was down a sheer-ish cliff to our right and the forest and increasingly rugged mountains were to our left and in front of us. About an hour after Taman noticed the lack of birds, he saw some things flying in our direction -- they had wings but also arms and legs and horns. They started coming from the left (the forest and mountains) and circled around us so their final approach was over the cliff and the bit of scrub between road and cliff. Taman noticed that their bat wings didn’t appear to be really catching the air -- the membranes weren’t flexing -- though the creatures were flying. We finally recognized them as 6 Gargoyles. They flew in low -- about 10’ off the ground -- and weren’t at all subtle about their intentions. This was an attack. Taman, on the cart, took a shot at one -- hitting but not doing as much damage as he expected. Mo cast faerie fire, catching four of them in the sparkly cloud of dust he blew out of his pipe. All 4 of them failed their saves, so we had four sparkling gargoyles to fight (with advantage). Then he gave inspiration to Orryk. Orryk took two shots at one with his magical bow -- getting two hits and doing the expected damage this time. Joybell noticed the difference between the damage level of their hits and had an idea, saved for the future, that magical weapons hit them better. Orryk moved around to the side of the cart where the gargoyles were approaching from. The gargoyles flew, really fast, and got right up to the party, skimming over the ground, in no time. Two of them attacked Taman -- one hit him twice, but Mo used cutting words to reduce the damage down to nothing. The other one on Taman missed. One landed on the back of one of the horses and attacked Imaktis, missing him. One attacked Mo and missed. Two of them didn’t make it into combat this round. (This is a preview of how the GM’s evening went -- failed saves and missed attacks.) Fiona cast slow on all six of the gargoyles -- and all of them failed their saves and could only move or attack (not both) and had other nasty impediments. Joybell stayed on Scooby to attack the one on the horse (otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to reach it) and swung with her flail, hitting twice. Imaktis cast Toll the Dead on that one, but it saved. Taman dropped his bow and attacked one of the faerie fired ones attacking him with his rapier, getting a good hit (18 points of damage, which all got through because the rapier is magical). Then he rolled off the side of the cart near Joybell. Mo got three of them in a big shatter spell -- one of them saved -- then he inspired Joybell and retreated back to where Fiona had positioned herself -- way back out of the front line. Orryk moved up and started punching one -- he got a hit and a critical hit with his first attack and could see some cracks in its stony form. Then he did a flurry of blows and, inspired by Mo, hit with both of those punches as well. He punched it into absolute rubble. With his hands. One of the gargoyles moved to Orryk, but couldn’t attack because of the slow, though it snapped out of that at the end of the turn. Another one of the two that had been unengaged moved up to Joybell, but couldn’t attack. (So there were two on Orryk, two on Joybell and one on Imaktis. Four of the five were still slowed and a different four faerie fired.) None hit with their attacks. Fiona cast Melf’s Acid Arrow on the one on Orryk that didn’t shake off the slow, critically hitting it in a vulnerable spot and leaving it smeared with acid that would do more damage in the future. Joybell attacked the one on the horse again - she’d promised the horses she’d protect them - getting two hits. Imaktis tried to inflict wounds on his but missed, just barely. Taman moved up and stabbed the one on Imaktis and got in a good sneak attack on it, because its attention was focused on Imaktis. Then he jumped back off the side of the cart. Mo used his wand to cast magic missile on the one on Orryk that had shaken off the slow - the three darts did a total of 8 damage. Not the wand’s best moment. Orryk punched the slowed one (that was Melfed by Fiona) and got a crit. Then he followed up with a flurry of blows. Unfortunately that didn’t drop it, but it looked like the acid damage from Fiona’s spell would. Indeed, when the gargoyles attacked Orryk the one that had shaken off the slow got both of its attacks and missed with both. The slowed one missed with its attack, then it shook off the slow spell, moving normally for just a moment before the acid damage dropped it. The ones on Imaktis and Joybell all missed. Then all of them that were still under the slow effect failed their saves to break out of it. Fiona firebolted the one on Orryk -- that was the only one not under the slow, but it did have the faerie fire on it. The thermal shock left it looking really rough. Joybell hit the one on the horse twice, again, and again it failed to drop. She regretted not having used a divine smite. Imaktis (having as rough an evening as the GM) cast shillelagh on his staff and then missed with his attack. Taman again jumped on the cart and stabbed the one on Imaktis with his rapier, doing a lot of sneak attack damage and dropping that one. Then he moved around beside Joybell and Scooby. Mo used the wand to magic missile the one on Orryk, blowing huge chunks of stone away with the first two missiles and crumbling it to rubble with the third. Orryk climbed back onto the cart and used his fists of unbroken air to get a crit on the one on the horse, and another hit, dropping it! Yay! The last remaining gargoyle got a hit on Joybell, but Mo used his cutting words to reduce the attack damage to nothing. It was still slowed, so it could do nothing other than the one attack. Fiona moved up next to Mo and cast Magic missile on the one remaining, slowed and faerie fired gargoyle. Joybell hit it for 11 points and once again regretted not smiting it. Imaktis cast toll the dead but it saved. Then finally, Taman got in a sneak attack in it and dropped it! After the combat, while we were regrouping and Imaktis was checking on Horse 1 (the one that had been landed on), Orryk was stretching his hands and checking his knuckles. Joybell: Are your hands okay? Orryk, with a slow smile: Yeah. I’m good. Then he bent down and gathered up some of the rubble from the gargoyles he had punched to death with his bare hands. Other than some sentimental rubble, the gargoyles had nothing of value. Imaktis wondered if they had been looking for us specifically, but Taman, remembering how they’d approached us, didn’t think so. It looked more to him like they’d been out flying around and seen us and came in for the attack. We continued on our way, with Mo taking a short rest in the back of the wagon. As we proceeded we talked through what we know about gargoyles -- they’re not really part of any ecosystem. They don’t happen naturally and to see them out in the woods or in the mountains is really unusual. Usually they are either summoned or created by someone and they’re almost always chaotic evil. Mo: They’re a sign that someone is up to some hijinks. We continue on our way. Mo’s short rest finishes about when we get to Rodzun. Rodzun is definitely the Big City in this part of the world -- It has three inns, Gorni’s, the Melodic Mushroom and the Brass Boulder. It also has three tracks, or one lane roads, out of town -- one to the east, one to the north and one to the north-east. As we walked through the town we tried to get a sense of whether the people in town were stressed or panicking or anything like that. We didn’t see any signs of panic, but we overheard people talking about folks having been attacked by moving statues. Joybell was about to make a pitch for the Melodic Mushroom, because that sounded pretty, when Mo noticed a sign in the window at Gorni’s that said, in Dwarvish, “real beer served here”. So we chose Gorni’s. We parked the cart and horses at a livery and went into the Inn. Mo, in Dwarvish: Hi! If you want someone to play, I have some songs you might like. Gorni gave Mo the same deal he’d gotten elsewhere -- half price lodgings for us and free food for Mo. Mo also ordered around of real dwarvish beer for all of us. Joybell found some people who looked like they were from the mountains and more distant villages and settlements to talk to. She found one who was talking to a local and asked if any of them had heard anything about a Gorgon. Neither of them had, but they had heard about whole villages being torn up to the north and east of Rodzun. Mo: How long have these attacks been going on? Dude: The last few days. Orryk: A few days. That’s surprising. Mo: Are people in the town tense? Dude: We’re nervous. Rodzun isn’t a big town and we don’t have a lot of defenses. They started talking about people being attacked by moving statues and Joybell told them about being attacked by the gargoyles on the road. They said that the moving statues are different -- they don’t have wings. The gargoyles can sometimes be evaded if you’re on a track going through the woods, because you can get under the trees out of sight and away from them. After this conversation, Mo played some dwarvish songs he knew. He played with conviction, but the Dwarven beer had clearly gotten to him, because he was not having a great night. The response was more polite than enthusiastic. He was convinced that he was great, however! Joybell, with Taman to keep an eye on her, slipped out of the bar to pay a visit to the temple of the Hearthkeepers to talk to a Nature cleric about Gorgons. Joybell figured that if there were Gorgons in the area someone in tune with the natural order in the are might have a sense of where. The cleric told us that there have historically been gorgons in the area to the north and east, however that doesn’t mean it will be easy to find them. They are large and voracious predators that have a tendency to depopulate a region of suitable prey, then move on to another territory. The cleric had heard of settlements and villages up in the mountains being attacked by something large and voracious, which at least sounds similar. We asked which of the roads out of town we should take and the cleric recommended the north road. Taman asked if there was anyone in town who might have a map we could purchase, but the cleric couldn’t think of anyone. We went back to the inn and told the others about the conversation. Orryk: Maybe the first thing that attacks us in the morning will have more information. We spent the rest of the evening in the inn listening to Mo play (though not to his usual standards) and drinking the real beer. Because we were on the road in a new city, Taman got buzzed but not really drunk. We retired to our rooms and with our usual precautions we slept. The night passed without incident. 29 Sunnin 748 (Campaign day 30) While everyone was getting breakfast, Joybell spoke privately with Gorni and got a small keg of the good Dwarven beer and some extra-nice food to take with us. She stashed all of that in the cart. As we were finishing our breakfast and Joybell was making her purchases, we heard a bustle and movement outside in the street. The door to the inn opened and two young halflings, a boy and a girl, who looked like teens (or at least about at the developmental stage of human teens) came inside. They looked as though they’d been running all night. Joybell: What’s the problem? Kids: We’ve been running all night to get here. Our settlement was attacked just about dusk last night. Something dug into the cellar of the house and came up through the floor and started attacking people. Joybell was ready to immediately go to check this out and asked Gorni if the kids could stay there while we investigated. The kids weren’t interested in that -- they wanted to go back with us to see how their village had fared. Joybell: Okay. You can ride with us and tell us how to get there… The kids were cousins -- Tilia Boughweave and Allard Softfoot. They had run all the way from their village Tall Orchard by themselves through the night. When they left, about eight hours ago, there were still people alive in the village and it was not totally destroyed. But that was eight hours ago. We decided to move quickly, making it harder for us to see possible dangers along the way, but also allowing us to get there in six hours. We hoped. Imaktis rocked his animal handling, so Horse 1 and Horse 2 were very willing to go as fast as they could through the more mountainous terrain on a track not much wider than the wagon itself. As we proceeded, Taman started walking along through the woods near the cart, keeping as much of an eye out as our speed would allow. Orryk was jogging along behind the wagon, keeping up with no problems (getting his miles in). About four hours after we left Rodzun, still two hours or so away from Tall Orchard, Taman sensed something...a vibration under the ground heading toward the cart. Taman: Alarm! Burrowers. After giving the alarm, he moved toward the cart. Mo hopped off the cart, which Imaktis brought to a halt, and moved backwards so that he was behind Orryk, then held a vicious mockery spell in case a target presented itself. The children followed Mo, as much as their movement would allow, anyway. Fiona cast fly on herself then flew up 25’ and ended up just behind where mo was, but up in the air. Joybell kept her position next to the cart on Scooby and cast bless on herself, Taman and Imaktis. Orryk used a new ability he’d developed, Patient Badger Listens, and moved up from behind the cart until he could sense the tremors of the beast. He told all of us that it was moving toward the cart and about to come out of the ground. About when he said that a Bulette leapt up out of the ground and landed on the horses and Taman. (Like those breaching Great White Sharks only on land.) The creature was very large (size large, in fact) with hard scaly plates across its back and large beaky jaws kind of like a snapping turtle. When it landed, it pushed Taman several feet and did him a considerable amount of damage. The horses were dropped unconscious and pushed out of their traces and to the side of the road. (And that’s after they all saved.) Mo’s vicious mockery went off and it did not make its save, so it had disadvantage on its next attack. Imaktis cast spiritual weapon and attacked with it, but missed, then he cast sacred flame and that did some damage. Taman attacked and got a hit, but not for a lot of damage. Mo moved to a position where he could see the beast without the cart in the way, then he used the wand to cast magic missile on it. Then he inspired Orryk. Tilia and Allard ran to hide behind Mo. Fiona cast a firebolt, but missed. Joybell got off Scooby, sending him into the woods, and attacked twice. Orryk attacked twice, missing with both attacks, then he used some of his ki for patient defense. The bulette then turned around and bit at Joybell, missing entirely. (Note: My notes here are cryptic. It says “The crit misses and it misses entirely.” I have no idea what would have made the crit miss, though. So it’s a mystery.) (Turns out it was attacking with disadvantage because of Mo's Vicious Mockery. Nat 20 and a 7.) It then jumped away and as it moved to do so Orryk, Joybell and Taman all got attacks of opportunity on it. And all of those attacks hit. Then it leapt 30 feet away and burrowed into the ground and disappeared. Mo, to Orryk: You should burrow after it and punch it. That would be amazing. Imaktis cast healing word on one of the horses and stabilized the other one. Joybell laid hands on the stabilized one, healing it and helping it to its feet. Taman moved up into the forest and climbed up a tree. Mo moved forward to Imaktis, telling the kids to stay there. Which they did. Fiona, still flying, moved up to a position sort of over the cart and held a cantrip in case a target appeared. Orryk moved around a bit to feel out with his patient badger tremorsense, but he didn’t pick it up. He told us the last he sensed it, it was moving away. He pointed out that we’d done it a lot of damage. We pooled our memory and research about bulettes and remembered that they like especially to eat halflings. Joybell went to the kids to help them get back onto the cart and off the ground. Joybell stayed on Scooby, walking beside the cart near where the children were. The kids confirmed that this looked like the same sort of thing that had attacked their village the night before. Imaktis cast guidance on himself, then went to handle the horses, which were thoroughly freaked out by the whole experience. Fortunately he was able to get them calmed down and back in harness so we could resume proceeding after a short rest. We got to Tall Orchard in the mid-afternoon. The town had once had 50-60 residents, in eight extended families. There were only 20 survivors of the attack the night before, so the people were all pretty traumatized and freaked out by it. They were still trying to collect themselves and figure out what to do. Fortunately, Tilia and Allard were able to find surviving family members to take care of them. Asked, gently, about the attack, the villagers said that this was the first time that a monster like that had attacked Tall Orchard. They, like us, didn’t really have any way to track it, though we could see the “mole holes” where it burst through the ground. We also didn’t know if it would come back to this village again. Orryk didn’t think it would, but Joybell was a little hopeful that after being pretty badly damaged, it would come back to a village of its favorite prey to build its strength back up. It was certainly worth trying. We decided to set up the Leomund’s Tiny Hut in the center courtyard of the town. There were three intact buildings on one side and three that had been reduced to rubble on the other. On the far side of the rubble was a long barn. We put Horse 2 in there. One of the intact buildings had a small outbuilding, and we were allowed to put Horse 1 in there. (So they wouldn’t both get eaten by the bulette.) (Note: The GM ruled that Leomund’s Tiny Hut has an impervious bottom as well as the domed top, which made it a really safe place to stay for the night.) Joybell recommended to the halflings of the village that they stay the night up on the second floor of a building -- off the ground -- if they have any. There was an intact large warehouse with a second floor that was big enough for all of the villagers to stay there, so that’s where they slept. It was a bit away from the central square in the village, not easily visible from the hut, but not so far that we wouldn’t know if the beast emerged at the warehouse. We spent the night in the hut, with watches as follows: Joybell and Fiona, Mo and Scooby, Taman and Orryk, and finally Imaktis on his own. During the third watch, Taman felt the ground vibrating and started waking people up. Imaktis blessed Joybell, Taman and himself as soon as he woke up. Fiona cast Mage Armor. Mo cast haste on Imaktis. Joybell cast Shield of Faith on Taman. As all of this was going on, Taman figured out that it was moving toward the small barn with Horse 1 in it, so he stepped out of the tiny hut and did a tap dance to attract its attention. Which totally worked -- it changed course and burst out of the ground right next to him. At which point Taman realized that there might have been a problem with his plan. Fortunately, it all worked out because the bulette missed with its attack. Fiona stepped out of the hut, causing it to disappear, and cast slow on the bulette -- we watched as the spell took hold on it and cheered. Then Mo cast faerie fire on it and it was too slow to dodge out of the sparkling cloud. Joybell moved over to attack, riding Scooby so she could get there. Orryk ran over and proceeded to pummel it with his regular attack and a flurry of blows. With each hit he attempted a stunning strike. It saved against all of the stunning strikes but there were at least two critical hits in the battering and despite it shaking off the stun every time he did masses of damage to it. Taman hit it with his rapier, then backed away out of melee with it. Imaktis cast inflict wounds -- hitting it because of his blessing. Then he bonus action cast shillelagh and hit it again because of the haste Mo put on him. The bulette attacked Imaktis and would have hit but he cast shield and the massive bony beak skittered across his arcane shield. Fiona cast Chromatic Orb, choosing acid damage -- which dropped it, the acid eating through one of the wounds on its head and into its brain. Imaktis and Taman looked to see if that bulette was the same one we’d fought earlier. As they looked it over together they found scars and evidence of the wounds we’d inflicted on it in the afternoon. We also remembered that bulettes are very solitary, so it’s unlikely that there’s another one in the area. Within a minute or so after the battle was over the residents of Tall Orchard emerged from the warehouse where they’d been trying to sleep. Joybell: Is this the same one that attacked you? The idea that there might be more than one clearly shook some of the halflings, but one of them recognized a very long scar on the side of the bulette. As we took a look at that, we realized that it looked like the bulette had been gored -- the wound had healed, but not long before, maybe a week or two ago. An encouraging sign that there might be a Gorgon in the area. Mo: Does anyone have speak with dead...animals? Mo, randomly, to the halflings: This is not the monster we’re here to kill. This will not get us into any library. They looked appropriately baffled at that. Orryk, with Joybell’s help, worked on getting some of the heavy plates and claws off of the corpse. Joybell also went to check on the horses, which were fine. We finished our long rest, sleeping well into the morning. Imaktis plans to spend 8 hours casting Plant Growth to enrich the land and help the halflings who remain grow enough food. It will boost crop yields for one year. But that will happen next time. [/QUOTE]
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Erkonin (Campaign #1) [Session 46: Making Deals with Devils is Stupid as well as Bad]
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