Rabbitbait
Grog-nerd
Yep. Loving it. I'm finding all of the recaps from different people interesting and it's fascinating to see them all play out quite differently.
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D&D 5E Fralex's Campaign Journal: Princes of the Apocalypse - Session 5 added
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Fralex
Explorer
Fralex's Campaign Journal: Princes of the Apocalypse - Session 3 added
Session 3
Sorry this one is late, I had a busy week. It was really good, though! I hope you enjoy it.
Interim: In Which I Get a Solid Handle on the Other Characters
[sblock=Finally]So I have a much better idea of who's who now. Here's what I know:
The Sorcerer. This wild sorcerer is actually two 12-year-old half-elf sisters (not a brother and sister, as I had originally thought), standing on each other's shoulders. They have individual names that I can't recall, but together they are "Mephistophlovitch." "She" speaks with an accent about as ridiculous as her name, and has so far been a reliable source of chaos that miraculously has NOT killed us yet. A very entertaining player who enjoys speaking in character.
The Goliath. A massive fighter named Gwapo with a splash of warlock (Great Old One pact, I think). Tries to wrestle with every enemy he can get his hands on.
The Goliath's Brother. Gwapo's older brother, and a single-classed fighter. Was absent for the second session, so I don't know too much more, but it was he, not his brother, who was so taken with the rowboat. As of the third session, he is still carrying it around. Goes by the name Vopath (I don't know how any of these names are spelled).
The Pig. Vopath has a pet pig that follows him around, apparently. Its name is Hamcules.
The Fighter. I thought she was a rogue for the first two sessions because she had a magic dagger (I also thought she had a robe of useful items, but apparently she was talking about a different game), but she is actually another fighter. She's named Nalla, and specializes in two-weapon-fighting. She is also a goliath.
The Bard. ANOTHER goliath named Zug-Zug whose instrument of choice is the bagpipes. Really wanted a hippogriff mount. Was not present for this session.
The Wizard. A gnome wizard named Damakos. I don't know much else about him, but I think he has a wand of magic missiles.
Me. Human avenger named Risa whose only weapon is a cast-iron skillet. I've compiled a short list of frying pan-related one-liners for when I kill an enemy, but anyone who thinks of a good one is welcome to add to my list.
As of session 4 (last Wednesday), we now have The Paladin. Yet another goliath, named Ilikan. More on him in the forth session.[/sblock]
Day 3-
Part 1: In Which We Try to Get a Second Gig
[sblock=Annoyance will get you everywhere in life]It was the beginning of a new day. Savra, the person we'd first met when we came to the spire, thanked us and hinted that if we wanted to get in good with the... organization she belonged to, we were quite welcome. The skies, the wind... it's a pretty big deal to be able to control it like the people here strive to do. We can teach all of you! Feathergale Spire's esteemed leader Thurl Merosska also trusted us, and requested we investigate the Sacred Stone Monastery. He had seen some suspicious monks headed towards it recently, and we seemed like fairly capable people for a band of traveling performers. We even managed to convince him to give us a hippogriff ride most of the way there for a little extra coin, so in a matter of hours we were coming up the steps of the Monastery.
Mephistophlovitch, the sorcerer, made first contact. She came to a door which had "two enormous knockers," which she "firmly grasped in each hand" and swung (the two twelve-year-olds making up her body giggled quietly to each other). A small window slid open, and a leering gargoyle peered out. Whoever was on the other side was wearing some sort of golden mask over his face.
Part 2: In Which Things Go Less Smoothly
[sblock=And other things go VERY smooth]We were introduced to the head of the monastery, whose name I kept getting wrong no matter how many times he exasperatedly repeated it. Something like Baggard, or Blogoth, or Blarblar? I dunno. He lead us down a a hallway while Nalla the fighter talked to him about how in this OTHER group she went to, they had, like, a whole religion based around water. Do you guys have any holy books she could borrow, only about rocks or dirt or whatever it is you people worship? She was interested in learning more! Blabby replied that the people who worship water spirits are crazy and no one should take any stock in what they say. He did, however, have a few religious texts he might lend her after the wonderful performance she and her companions promised him. The room he had in mind is right down these stairs...
There was a click, and the stairs were suddenly a smooth stone ramp. We tumbled down them and landed in a dark cell. Apparently Blargle was less interested in our amazing show than we thought. We could't climb back up the steps. The right third of the room was divided by thick iron bars, a door on which was presently opening. Opening to let out a massive, grotesque amalgam of a huge ape and a beetle. The creature had four eyes, though two of them were missing, and blades at the ends of its forelegs. And it was headed right for us.
The first thing we tried to do was shut the gate again, but Beetle Bladely won initiative and had already entered our side of the cell by the time we reached him. Gwapo the goliath lunged forward in an attempt to grapple the creature. He and it rolled a Strength (Atheletics) contest... and they both critted. Only in Gwapo's case, it was a critical failure. The hulking beast effortlessly swatted him out of the air and sent him careening across the room, narrowly missing a stone pillar and landing on his back.
Next, I stepped up to it and tried to do that thing I'd done to the manticore the other day. I looked it straight in the eyes and shouted, "FLEE!" It gave me a nervous, quizzical look, then continued pounding us. It dawned on me that this thing probably didn't understand Common. Welp. I'll remember that for next time.[/sblock]
Part 3: In Which A Party Member Leaves Us
[sblock=After starting a new fashion trend]The goliath's brother Vopath was a bit more successful grappling the bugmonster. He even managed to drag it back into the enclosure from whence it came. Unfortunately, getting the door to close was no easy task. I mean, this thing was designed to stand up to a huge monster. A bunch of us took turns making Strength checks while the goliath's older brother and the monster wrestled in the cage. Finally the younger brother Gwapo managed to slam it shut, trapping his older brother inside. Oddly, both neither brother minded. Vopath continued to pummel the beast, but he was taking serious damage, too. After landing one big final blow, he was dropped to 0 HP, pinned beneath the creature. The wizard Damakos finished it off with a thunderwave, positioning the blast so as to knock the monster's body off Vopath's body.
I reached through the bars and grabbed the unconscious goliath, slapping him back and forth in a desperate attempt to wake him up. Mysteriously, it worked. As my hand made contact with his face, there was a flash of radiance and most of his wounds closed. So I guess I can heal people by slapping them or something? Kinda weird, but whatever works.
We could not, however, get the door in the barred dividing wall open again. Not that Vopath was much bothered by this. He examined the dead monster, determining that it was, as we'd suspected, an Umber Hulk. Normally those things are even more deadly because simply meeting eyes with one can scramble your mind, but as was mentioned earlier this one was missing two eyes. Guess those were the ones with the gaze attack. Anyway, Vopath, noting a door on his side of the cell, kicked it down, gutted the hulk, and put on its carapace like a suit. He then whistled for his pig, Hamcules, and the two of them left the dungeon through the door.
He was always a pretty weird guy.[/sblock]
Part 4: In Which Wild Magic Gets Even Wilder
[sblock=I can't believe Vopath didn't get to see any of this]So, we'd defeated the umber hulk. Which was now being used as a (really bad) disguise by the goliath's older brother. Nalla the fighter walked over to the stair-chute and called up it that she could not find any religious reading material like she'd been promised. Also the umber hulk was loose. Blobin responded with a boiling ball of acid, shot from the top of the stairs.
Gripping my skillet and charging ahead at full speed from the other end of the cell, I ran up the stair-chute screaming "BLARRRBLAAAAAAARRR!" It turned out he was flanked by two guards, though, and once I reached the top one of them just whacked me with his spear and sent my sliding back down. The fighter tried the same thing. The other guard knocked her back down.
Then Blarblar began intoning another spell, and man, he had the dullest voice. Especially this time, when he just droned on and on, talking slower and slower until I realized time around me had turned to syrup. I could hardly move. Gwapo, too, was magically slowed by his boring spell. I tried to run up the ramp again, but my legs wouldn't move fast enough to overcome the incline anymore. The sorcerer was unaffected, and responded with a shatter that triggered a wild surge. Her player rolled on the table, and do you know what he got? 01. "Roll on this table at the start of each of your turns for the next minute." Yeah. We were in for a wild ride.
Nalla the fighter tried to run up the ramp, and actually managed to dodge the guard's swipe. She did not, however, dodge Blogarth's rumbling blast of seismic energy, and once again fell down the stairs. She smashed into Gwapo at the bottom and the two of them landed in a pile. Then the sorcerer took her turn. And summoned a unicorn. It telepathically asked her what was going on, and after being explained the situation replied, I can teleport three of you to the top of the stairs, and I'll do what I can to help you from there.[/sblock]
Part 5: In Which Stairs Are Climbed, Tunnels Are Explored, and Puberty Occurs
[sblock=You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all different, with a pig]Meanwhile, as the rest of us were dodging acid balls and getting unicorn rides, Vopath and his pig Hamcules were wandering aimlessly underground. It was too dark to see anything, so he lit a candle and carefully balanced it on his pig's head. This didn't help a lot, and the umber hulksuit restricted his view. But hey, he'd committed to this idea, and he was going to see it through to the end, wherever that end may be. He pressed onward.
Back to us, the unicorn had just finished warping me, the sorcerer, and Gwapo past those infernal stairs. We appeared a little ways behind our three foes. I can only do that once per day, so DON'T fall down there again, OK!? Unicornelius (as we had decided to name it) mentally told us. I pulled out my frying pan, ran up to the nearest guard, and with a loud WANG! knocked him down the stairs he'd kept pushing us down. Mephistophlovitch the sorcerer took her turn next, giving everyone on the upper level vulnerability to piercing damage. Then, with a mighty blast of thunder, the other guard and the priest with the name I couldn't get right were both knocked down to the bottom as well.
Gwapo seized the opportunity and charged back down the stairs at the fallen foes. But he tripped and just tumbled down to them, adding another person to the heap. The unicorn let out the telepathic equivalent of an exasperated sigh, and with a look that seemed to say, "THIS is how it's done!" charged down the ramp right after him. And tripped and fell, just like him. The celestial horse rolled down the stairs, legs flailing comically, and it, too landed in the pile at the bottom.
The sorcerer's wild surge activated again, this time giving her the chance to reincarnate if killed within a minute. She decided not to follow the others back down the ramp and opted, like me, for a ranged attack; I with my gnoll longbow and she with a volley of magic missiles. On the unicorn's turn, it got back up and bludgeoned the priest to death with its hooves. The fighter, the wizard, and Gwapo made short work of the other guard. But things weren't over yet.
The sorcerer still hadn't finished her wild surge seizure. Over the next 36 seconds or so, several things happened in quick succession. A shield appeared around her. Magic missiles shot from her ears. The top girl vanished into the astral plane, and returned just in time for the bottom one to do the same. The bottom girl also aged four years. Mephistophlovitch is now composed of a twelve-year-old girl standing on a sixteen-year-old girl's shoulders. This character must look really strange by this point...[/sblock]
And that was the end of session number three. It was pretty crazy! I got over 300 XP this session, which means all that stands between me and third level is a long rest. I can't wait to be an avenger proper. I've never been a paladin before, but they're pretty fun. As mentioned at the beginning, I have one more session to write about after this one, which I will put up later. See you next time!
Session 3
Sorry this one is late, I had a busy week. It was really good, though! I hope you enjoy it.
Interim: In Which I Get a Solid Handle on the Other Characters
[sblock=Finally]So I have a much better idea of who's who now. Here's what I know:
The Sorcerer. This wild sorcerer is actually two 12-year-old half-elf sisters (not a brother and sister, as I had originally thought), standing on each other's shoulders. They have individual names that I can't recall, but together they are "Mephistophlovitch." "She" speaks with an accent about as ridiculous as her name, and has so far been a reliable source of chaos that miraculously has NOT killed us yet. A very entertaining player who enjoys speaking in character.
The Goliath. A massive fighter named Gwapo with a splash of warlock (Great Old One pact, I think). Tries to wrestle with every enemy he can get his hands on.
The Goliath's Brother. Gwapo's older brother, and a single-classed fighter. Was absent for the second session, so I don't know too much more, but it was he, not his brother, who was so taken with the rowboat. As of the third session, he is still carrying it around. Goes by the name Vopath (I don't know how any of these names are spelled).
The Pig. Vopath has a pet pig that follows him around, apparently. Its name is Hamcules.
The Fighter. I thought she was a rogue for the first two sessions because she had a magic dagger (I also thought she had a robe of useful items, but apparently she was talking about a different game), but she is actually another fighter. She's named Nalla, and specializes in two-weapon-fighting. She is also a goliath.
The Bard. ANOTHER goliath named Zug-Zug whose instrument of choice is the bagpipes. Really wanted a hippogriff mount. Was not present for this session.
The Wizard. A gnome wizard named Damakos. I don't know much else about him, but I think he has a wand of magic missiles.
Me. Human avenger named Risa whose only weapon is a cast-iron skillet. I've compiled a short list of frying pan-related one-liners for when I kill an enemy, but anyone who thinks of a good one is welcome to add to my list.
As of session 4 (last Wednesday), we now have The Paladin. Yet another goliath, named Ilikan. More on him in the forth session.[/sblock]
Day 3-
Part 1: In Which We Try to Get a Second Gig
[sblock=Annoyance will get you everywhere in life]It was the beginning of a new day. Savra, the person we'd first met when we came to the spire, thanked us and hinted that if we wanted to get in good with the... organization she belonged to, we were quite welcome. The skies, the wind... it's a pretty big deal to be able to control it like the people here strive to do. We can teach all of you! Feathergale Spire's esteemed leader Thurl Merosska also trusted us, and requested we investigate the Sacred Stone Monastery. He had seen some suspicious monks headed towards it recently, and we seemed like fairly capable people for a band of traveling performers. We even managed to convince him to give us a hippogriff ride most of the way there for a little extra coin, so in a matter of hours we were coming up the steps of the Monastery.
Mephistophlovitch, the sorcerer, made first contact. She came to a door which had "two enormous knockers," which she "firmly grasped in each hand" and swung (the two twelve-year-olds making up her body giggled quietly to each other). A small window slid open, and a leering gargoyle peered out. Whoever was on the other side was wearing some sort of golden mask over his face.
Sorcerer said:
Doorman said:
Sorcerer said:
Vopath, the goliath's brother, then went up to the door and knocked. When the window slid open, he held up a golden gargoyle mask identical to the doorman's.Doorman said:
Vopath said:
Doorman said:
Vopath said:
Doorman said:
Vopath said:
Doorman said:
Vopath said:
Doorman said:
Sorcerer said:
Vopath said:
The window shut, then the doors slid open. We were in.[/sblock]Doorman said:
Part 2: In Which Things Go Less Smoothly
[sblock=And other things go VERY smooth]We were introduced to the head of the monastery, whose name I kept getting wrong no matter how many times he exasperatedly repeated it. Something like Baggard, or Blogoth, or Blarblar? I dunno. He lead us down a a hallway while Nalla the fighter talked to him about how in this OTHER group she went to, they had, like, a whole religion based around water. Do you guys have any holy books she could borrow, only about rocks or dirt or whatever it is you people worship? She was interested in learning more! Blabby replied that the people who worship water spirits are crazy and no one should take any stock in what they say. He did, however, have a few religious texts he might lend her after the wonderful performance she and her companions promised him. The room he had in mind is right down these stairs...
There was a click, and the stairs were suddenly a smooth stone ramp. We tumbled down them and landed in a dark cell. Apparently Blargle was less interested in our amazing show than we thought. We could't climb back up the steps. The right third of the room was divided by thick iron bars, a door on which was presently opening. Opening to let out a massive, grotesque amalgam of a huge ape and a beetle. The creature had four eyes, though two of them were missing, and blades at the ends of its forelegs. And it was headed right for us.
The first thing we tried to do was shut the gate again, but Beetle Bladely won initiative and had already entered our side of the cell by the time we reached him. Gwapo the goliath lunged forward in an attempt to grapple the creature. He and it rolled a Strength (Atheletics) contest... and they both critted. Only in Gwapo's case, it was a critical failure. The hulking beast effortlessly swatted him out of the air and sent him careening across the room, narrowly missing a stone pillar and landing on his back.
Next, I stepped up to it and tried to do that thing I'd done to the manticore the other day. I looked it straight in the eyes and shouted, "FLEE!" It gave me a nervous, quizzical look, then continued pounding us. It dawned on me that this thing probably didn't understand Common. Welp. I'll remember that for next time.[/sblock]
Part 3: In Which A Party Member Leaves Us
[sblock=After starting a new fashion trend]The goliath's brother Vopath was a bit more successful grappling the bugmonster. He even managed to drag it back into the enclosure from whence it came. Unfortunately, getting the door to close was no easy task. I mean, this thing was designed to stand up to a huge monster. A bunch of us took turns making Strength checks while the goliath's older brother and the monster wrestled in the cage. Finally the younger brother Gwapo managed to slam it shut, trapping his older brother inside. Oddly, both neither brother minded. Vopath continued to pummel the beast, but he was taking serious damage, too. After landing one big final blow, he was dropped to 0 HP, pinned beneath the creature. The wizard Damakos finished it off with a thunderwave, positioning the blast so as to knock the monster's body off Vopath's body.
I reached through the bars and grabbed the unconscious goliath, slapping him back and forth in a desperate attempt to wake him up. Mysteriously, it worked. As my hand made contact with his face, there was a flash of radiance and most of his wounds closed. So I guess I can heal people by slapping them or something? Kinda weird, but whatever works.
We could not, however, get the door in the barred dividing wall open again. Not that Vopath was much bothered by this. He examined the dead monster, determining that it was, as we'd suspected, an Umber Hulk. Normally those things are even more deadly because simply meeting eyes with one can scramble your mind, but as was mentioned earlier this one was missing two eyes. Guess those were the ones with the gaze attack. Anyway, Vopath, noting a door on his side of the cell, kicked it down, gutted the hulk, and put on its carapace like a suit. He then whistled for his pig, Hamcules, and the two of them left the dungeon through the door.
He was always a pretty weird guy.[/sblock]
Part 4: In Which Wild Magic Gets Even Wilder
[sblock=I can't believe Vopath didn't get to see any of this]So, we'd defeated the umber hulk. Which was now being used as a (really bad) disguise by the goliath's older brother. Nalla the fighter walked over to the stair-chute and called up it that she could not find any religious reading material like she'd been promised. Also the umber hulk was loose. Blobin responded with a boiling ball of acid, shot from the top of the stairs.
Gripping my skillet and charging ahead at full speed from the other end of the cell, I ran up the stair-chute screaming "BLARRRBLAAAAAAARRR!" It turned out he was flanked by two guards, though, and once I reached the top one of them just whacked me with his spear and sent my sliding back down. The fighter tried the same thing. The other guard knocked her back down.
Then Blarblar began intoning another spell, and man, he had the dullest voice. Especially this time, when he just droned on and on, talking slower and slower until I realized time around me had turned to syrup. I could hardly move. Gwapo, too, was magically slowed by his boring spell. I tried to run up the ramp again, but my legs wouldn't move fast enough to overcome the incline anymore. The sorcerer was unaffected, and responded with a shatter that triggered a wild surge. Her player rolled on the table, and do you know what he got? 01. "Roll on this table at the start of each of your turns for the next minute." Yeah. We were in for a wild ride.
Nalla the fighter tried to run up the ramp, and actually managed to dodge the guard's swipe. She did not, however, dodge Blogarth's rumbling blast of seismic energy, and once again fell down the stairs. She smashed into Gwapo at the bottom and the two of them landed in a pile. Then the sorcerer took her turn. And summoned a unicorn. It telepathically asked her what was going on, and after being explained the situation replied, I can teleport three of you to the top of the stairs, and I'll do what I can to help you from there.[/sblock]
Part 5: In Which Stairs Are Climbed, Tunnels Are Explored, and Puberty Occurs
[sblock=You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all different, with a pig]Meanwhile, as the rest of us were dodging acid balls and getting unicorn rides, Vopath and his pig Hamcules were wandering aimlessly underground. It was too dark to see anything, so he lit a candle and carefully balanced it on his pig's head. This didn't help a lot, and the umber hulksuit restricted his view. But hey, he'd committed to this idea, and he was going to see it through to the end, wherever that end may be. He pressed onward.
Back to us, the unicorn had just finished warping me, the sorcerer, and Gwapo past those infernal stairs. We appeared a little ways behind our three foes. I can only do that once per day, so DON'T fall down there again, OK!? Unicornelius (as we had decided to name it) mentally told us. I pulled out my frying pan, ran up to the nearest guard, and with a loud WANG! knocked him down the stairs he'd kept pushing us down. Mephistophlovitch the sorcerer took her turn next, giving everyone on the upper level vulnerability to piercing damage. Then, with a mighty blast of thunder, the other guard and the priest with the name I couldn't get right were both knocked down to the bottom as well.
Gwapo seized the opportunity and charged back down the stairs at the fallen foes. But he tripped and just tumbled down to them, adding another person to the heap. The unicorn let out the telepathic equivalent of an exasperated sigh, and with a look that seemed to say, "THIS is how it's done!" charged down the ramp right after him. And tripped and fell, just like him. The celestial horse rolled down the stairs, legs flailing comically, and it, too landed in the pile at the bottom.
The sorcerer's wild surge activated again, this time giving her the chance to reincarnate if killed within a minute. She decided not to follow the others back down the ramp and opted, like me, for a ranged attack; I with my gnoll longbow and she with a volley of magic missiles. On the unicorn's turn, it got back up and bludgeoned the priest to death with its hooves. The fighter, the wizard, and Gwapo made short work of the other guard. But things weren't over yet.
The sorcerer still hadn't finished her wild surge seizure. Over the next 36 seconds or so, several things happened in quick succession. A shield appeared around her. Magic missiles shot from her ears. The top girl vanished into the astral plane, and returned just in time for the bottom one to do the same. The bottom girl also aged four years. Mephistophlovitch is now composed of a twelve-year-old girl standing on a sixteen-year-old girl's shoulders. This character must look really strange by this point...[/sblock]
And that was the end of session number three. It was pretty crazy! I got over 300 XP this session, which means all that stands between me and third level is a long rest. I can't wait to be an avenger proper. I've never been a paladin before, but they're pretty fun. As mentioned at the beginning, I have one more session to write about after this one, which I will put up later. See you next time!
Last edited:
Fralex
Explorer
Thank you! I've noticed a lot of recaps seem to be told from the perspective of the DM, which is still enjoyable, but I personally find it more engaging to hear it from a player's perspective. The first campaign journal I read, by SilverClawShift, was done in that format. It made it feel more like I was really joining her on her adventures. This may just be because they are really interesting, but I think the PC narration helped a lot.
Fralex
Explorer
Fralex's Campaign Journal: Princes of the Apocalypse - Session 4 added
Session 4
A new player, Ilikan the goliath paladin, joined us this session. He wasn't there the following session, so I don't know if he'll be a regular addition or not.
Part 1: In Which I Swear an Oath
[sblock=To find some better dice]Before Unicornelius was unsummoned, we asked them to heal us. Then we broke down the door we'd previously jammed and set out looking for Vopath and Hamcules. Zug-Zug the bard played his bagpipes, which helped him find us. Unfortunately, it also did the same for a pair of duergar.
We wandered around the tunnels a bit more (Vopath carried the dead dwarf with him for part of the way before setting him down), replacing the pig-candle with Nalla the fighter's magic dagger, which glowed in the dark. We ran into a bunch of dead ends but followed a small breeze to an exit from the Monastery. After Vopath took off the umber hulk armor (which was falling apart by this point), we stopped for a long rest in the Sumber Hills. During this long rest, I thought about what had happened in the past couple of days. The command, the healing, the way my frying pan lit up... did I have some sort of magical ability? I took this as a sign that what I was doing was vitally important. Thus, I made a solemn vow to eliminate the elemental threat from the world, using this very skillet as my only weapon. As I thought this, the frying pan began glowing white hot again. When I finished making my oath for vengeance, the glow faded, except for one area in the center of the pan. A strange sigil made of light burned on the metal surface. I didn't recognize it, but seeing it filled me with resolve and determination.
I reached level 3, and my frying pan became my holy symbol (or more specifically, the sigil on the pan became an emblem). Now I was officially an avenger![/sblock]
Day 4-
Part 2: In Which the Enemies Get Bigger
[sblock=Not literally this time, actually]So we returned to the entrance to Sacred Stone Monastery. Going back in seemed like a bad idea, but Thurl wanted us to investigate this place, and we still had no idea what they were trying to do here. So Mephistophlovitch the sorcerer walked back up to the front door and knocked again.
The melee combatants rushed in. The monk from the door was not there. We began fighting the remaining minotaur when an entire SQUAD of monks came in at superhuman speed. Several surrounded me, but I dodged their blows and countered... with yet ANOTHER missed swing. It's like a frying pan isn't technically a weapon! Jeez! The others were doing fine. Vopath grabbed the bull by the horns, so to speak, and the sorcerer slung spell after spell until she was (permanently) blue in the face. Me? I was getting nowhere. I had not landed a single hit this whole session, and it was driving me crazy. But on my next turn I raised my skillet high above my head, eyes filled with rage, frying pan glowing with celestial fire, and with a shout of "I'LL NON-STICK IT TO YOU!" bashed the minotaur's skull with a mighty clang. And got a critical hit. 2d6 + 4d8 + 5 damage, right in the face. I beamed with pride as it crumpled to the ground.
Then every monk I had just turned my back on pummeled me half to death. The bard responded by turning their masks red-hot, which dropped all but two, and then the sorcerer unleashed a blast of metamagic. She held up a tiny hand, which crackled with lightning, and thrust it forward at one monk. It seemed to create a glowing afterimage that shot forth and electrocuted him. At the same time, the bottom sister had separated from the top and disintegrated the remaining monk with an eldritch blast. The two girls looked around awkwardly. The 12-year-old then said, "You saw nothing!" and the two of them climbed back into Mephistophlovitch's cloak. Yeah, the sorcerer's player got inspiration for this.[/sblock]
And that was the end of that session. I know I said we got another paladin and then never I mentioned him again, but he was there, fighting enemies and such. I just didn't recall anything interesting he did that session. Maybe he'll return sometime.
There's another session I just got back from that I need to post. I'll see if I can write it before I go to the next game so I won't be behind.
Session 4
A new player, Ilikan the goliath paladin, joined us this session. He wasn't there the following session, so I don't know if he'll be a regular addition or not.
Part 1: In Which I Swear an Oath
[sblock=To find some better dice]Before Unicornelius was unsummoned, we asked them to heal us. Then we broke down the door we'd previously jammed and set out looking for Vopath and Hamcules. Zug-Zug the bard played his bagpipes, which helped him find us. Unfortunately, it also did the same for a pair of duergar.
Duergar said:
Vopath said:
And so battle began. I ran up to the one trying to get away, swung my frying pan, and missed. Then he turned invisible. Vopath grappled the other gray dwarf, who responded by growing twice his original size. Damakos the wizard hit him with an enfeebling ray, I swung at him and missed again, then he retaliated. He got a few good hits on us, but so did all the members of my party (besides me). A few rounds later he groaned, fell, and shrunk back to normal size, still grappled by Vopath the umber hulk, who cradled him in his arms saying "Shhhh..."Duergar said:
We wandered around the tunnels a bit more (Vopath carried the dead dwarf with him for part of the way before setting him down), replacing the pig-candle with Nalla the fighter's magic dagger, which glowed in the dark. We ran into a bunch of dead ends but followed a small breeze to an exit from the Monastery. After Vopath took off the umber hulk armor (which was falling apart by this point), we stopped for a long rest in the Sumber Hills. During this long rest, I thought about what had happened in the past couple of days. The command, the healing, the way my frying pan lit up... did I have some sort of magical ability? I took this as a sign that what I was doing was vitally important. Thus, I made a solemn vow to eliminate the elemental threat from the world, using this very skillet as my only weapon. As I thought this, the frying pan began glowing white hot again. When I finished making my oath for vengeance, the glow faded, except for one area in the center of the pan. A strange sigil made of light burned on the metal surface. I didn't recognize it, but seeing it filled me with resolve and determination.
I reached level 3, and my frying pan became my holy symbol (or more specifically, the sigil on the pan became an emblem). Now I was officially an avenger![/sblock]
Day 4-
Part 2: In Which the Enemies Get Bigger
[sblock=Not literally this time, actually]So we returned to the entrance to Sacred Stone Monastery. Going back in seemed like a bad idea, but Thurl wanted us to investigate this place, and we still had no idea what they were trying to do here. So Mephistophlovitch the sorcerer walked back up to the front door and knocked again.
Sorcerer said:
Doorman said:
Sorcerer said:
The door opened, and on the other side was the doorman (a monk) and two minotaurs. Me and Gwapo weakened it right off the bat with a bane and an eldritch blast through the nostrils. Vopath and the other fighter Nalla dealt solid blows, Zug-Zug the bard burned the doorman's face by casting heat metal on his golden mask, and I swung my skillet at the minotaur and missed AGAIN. After suffering a big hit from a spell of the sorcerer's, it actually tried to retreat. We, of course, all made opportunity attacks and hit it a bunch more (except for me), and then the other minotaur, which had been hanging back, charged into the fighter and knocked her back. It withdrew a few turns later, and the first minotaur charged us. However, it was hurt pretty badly still, AND it had been jinxed by my bane spell, and the minotaur missed completely. Vopath ran it through with his sword.Doorman said:
The melee combatants rushed in. The monk from the door was not there. We began fighting the remaining minotaur when an entire SQUAD of monks came in at superhuman speed. Several surrounded me, but I dodged their blows and countered... with yet ANOTHER missed swing. It's like a frying pan isn't technically a weapon! Jeez! The others were doing fine. Vopath grabbed the bull by the horns, so to speak, and the sorcerer slung spell after spell until she was (permanently) blue in the face. Me? I was getting nowhere. I had not landed a single hit this whole session, and it was driving me crazy. But on my next turn I raised my skillet high above my head, eyes filled with rage, frying pan glowing with celestial fire, and with a shout of "I'LL NON-STICK IT TO YOU!" bashed the minotaur's skull with a mighty clang. And got a critical hit. 2d6 + 4d8 + 5 damage, right in the face. I beamed with pride as it crumpled to the ground.
Then every monk I had just turned my back on pummeled me half to death. The bard responded by turning their masks red-hot, which dropped all but two, and then the sorcerer unleashed a blast of metamagic. She held up a tiny hand, which crackled with lightning, and thrust it forward at one monk. It seemed to create a glowing afterimage that shot forth and electrocuted him. At the same time, the bottom sister had separated from the top and disintegrated the remaining monk with an eldritch blast. The two girls looked around awkwardly. The 12-year-old then said, "You saw nothing!" and the two of them climbed back into Mephistophlovitch's cloak. Yeah, the sorcerer's player got inspiration for this.[/sblock]
And that was the end of that session. I know I said we got another paladin and then never I mentioned him again, but he was there, fighting enemies and such. I just didn't recall anything interesting he did that session. Maybe he'll return sometime.
There's another session I just got back from that I need to post. I'll see if I can write it before I go to the next game so I won't be behind.
Fralex
Explorer
Session 5
Only three other players were here this time: Gwapo, the bard, and the wizard. That said, a lot happened.
Part 1: In Which Discoveries Open New Doors
[sblock=Also, we discover new doors to open]We looted the bodies of the monks and looked around the room. Ahead of us was a pair of windows through which we could make out a pair of doors we had been lead down when we were sent to that dungeon earlier. To the left and right were doors. We went down the right path first. There were a few small rooms branching out of the hallway, and we explored each of them. To the wizard's delight we found a scroll of dust devil and a scroll of erupting earth. Erupting earth is a 3rd-level spell, above his normal casting ability, but he'd still be able to cast it with a successful Arcana check.
As for me, I found an unusual journal titled Personal Testament of Marios Urnrayle. I only skimmed it, but it talked about something called the Fane of the Eye. It also mentioned an object imbued with the magic of elemental earth, the Black Geode, being buried beneath this very monastery. I've taken the book with me to read more about it later.
The hallway went on further, but we decided to head back to the main room and explore the other hallway. The left hall had three doors. We couldn't decide which one to open first, so three of us picked a door and we all opened them at once. Gwapo opened his door. Inside were around 4 monks. Some were sleeping, and had hung their gargoyle masks on hooks. Gwapo tried to play it off like he was looking for the bathroom, but the monks were skeptical and, after awakening their sleeping comrades, ran towards him to attack. The bard opened his door. It was locked. I opened my door. The room was without any light except that of a furnace off to the side, and had a bunch of duergar in it. They charged towards me to attack, some of them doubling in size.[/sblock]
Part 2: In Which I Hold Back an Army
[sblock=Well, a large group, anyway] Both Gwapo and I panicked and immediately shut the doors we'd just opened. This was a lot of things to fight simultaneously. I called for the bard to throw me his crowbar, which I braced between the door and the connecting wall (the door I opened was in a corner, and I tried to wedge the crowbar diagonally to the other wall the door's corner connected to). This wasn't enough to keep it shut on its own, but as long as I held the metal bar in place it would give me advantage on my Strength checks to hold the door shut. While I held back the duergar, the other three party members gathered at the monk door.
Gwapo opened it up again and got the group of monks with arms of Hadar. They all closed in on him and got in a ton of hits with their Flurries of Blows, but then the bard jumped in with his hammer and together they downed all but two. Gwapo killed one on his following turn then, with an Action Surge, swung it into the other one and killed it, too. It's around this time that I finally lost a Strength contest and a giant dwarf knocked the door off its hinges, pushing me with it.
Before they could do much more, the wizard pulled out a scroll and managed to cast erupting earth on the area behind the door. The duergar about to charge out of the room were engulfed in flying bricks and the spell left them with severe injuries and a 20-foot square of difficult terrain. Before the one in front could recover his bearings, I pulled out my frying pan, told him to "griddle me THIS!", and with a resounding clang he fell to the ground.[/sblock]
Part 3: In Which the Power of Earth Works Strongly in Our Favor
[sblock=W̶e̶ ̶r̶o̶c̶k̶e̶d̶]More enlarged dwarfs were coming, albeit at half-speed. I picked up the fallen door and held it in front of me as a shield, but it did nothing to stop the momentum of the huge hammer he swung at me. It splintered the door and hit me square in the chest, dropping me to 2 HP. The duergar moved to finish me off, but was shot down with a well-aimed searing ray from the wizard. There were a lot of duergar coming at us, most of them gigantic, but the difficult terrain slowing them down combined with the doorway being a natural chokepoint meant we could keep killing them one at a time. When just two were left, I held out my frying pan and with a paralyzing glare Abjured the one in front, blocking the doorway for the one behind.
I ran back down the hall to get a heal from the bard while the others finished off the dwarf in the back. The one in front broke free of my avenger magic and charged down the hall at us, but we defeated him right before he got into melee range. Whew.
With all our foes defeated, we turned our attention back to the third door, the one we couldn't get open. We pried the lock off with the crowbar and stepped inside. There were eight trunks, which we promptly looted. Along with assorted gold and gems, we found a nice cloak and three more scrolls: a scroll of Maximilian's Earthen Grasp, one of earthbind, and one of transmute rock. The wizard said he'd try to add them to his spellbook when he had some time.[/sblock]
And that was where the fifth session ended. Once again, since then another session has happened, but this week a bunch of people won't be here so we'll be taking a break and running a different adventure (Fey Sister's Fate, I think) with different characters. So hopefully I'll be able to catch up now in these retellings.
Only three other players were here this time: Gwapo, the bard, and the wizard. That said, a lot happened.
Part 1: In Which Discoveries Open New Doors
[sblock=Also, we discover new doors to open]We looted the bodies of the monks and looked around the room. Ahead of us was a pair of windows through which we could make out a pair of doors we had been lead down when we were sent to that dungeon earlier. To the left and right were doors. We went down the right path first. There were a few small rooms branching out of the hallway, and we explored each of them. To the wizard's delight we found a scroll of dust devil and a scroll of erupting earth. Erupting earth is a 3rd-level spell, above his normal casting ability, but he'd still be able to cast it with a successful Arcana check.
As for me, I found an unusual journal titled Personal Testament of Marios Urnrayle. I only skimmed it, but it talked about something called the Fane of the Eye. It also mentioned an object imbued with the magic of elemental earth, the Black Geode, being buried beneath this very monastery. I've taken the book with me to read more about it later.
The hallway went on further, but we decided to head back to the main room and explore the other hallway. The left hall had three doors. We couldn't decide which one to open first, so three of us picked a door and we all opened them at once. Gwapo opened his door. Inside were around 4 monks. Some were sleeping, and had hung their gargoyle masks on hooks. Gwapo tried to play it off like he was looking for the bathroom, but the monks were skeptical and, after awakening their sleeping comrades, ran towards him to attack. The bard opened his door. It was locked. I opened my door. The room was without any light except that of a furnace off to the side, and had a bunch of duergar in it. They charged towards me to attack, some of them doubling in size.[/sblock]
Part 2: In Which I Hold Back an Army
[sblock=Well, a large group, anyway] Both Gwapo and I panicked and immediately shut the doors we'd just opened. This was a lot of things to fight simultaneously. I called for the bard to throw me his crowbar, which I braced between the door and the connecting wall (the door I opened was in a corner, and I tried to wedge the crowbar diagonally to the other wall the door's corner connected to). This wasn't enough to keep it shut on its own, but as long as I held the metal bar in place it would give me advantage on my Strength checks to hold the door shut. While I held back the duergar, the other three party members gathered at the monk door.
Gwapo opened it up again and got the group of monks with arms of Hadar. They all closed in on him and got in a ton of hits with their Flurries of Blows, but then the bard jumped in with his hammer and together they downed all but two. Gwapo killed one on his following turn then, with an Action Surge, swung it into the other one and killed it, too. It's around this time that I finally lost a Strength contest and a giant dwarf knocked the door off its hinges, pushing me with it.
Before they could do much more, the wizard pulled out a scroll and managed to cast erupting earth on the area behind the door. The duergar about to charge out of the room were engulfed in flying bricks and the spell left them with severe injuries and a 20-foot square of difficult terrain. Before the one in front could recover his bearings, I pulled out my frying pan, told him to "griddle me THIS!", and with a resounding clang he fell to the ground.[/sblock]
Part 3: In Which the Power of Earth Works Strongly in Our Favor
[sblock=W̶e̶ ̶r̶o̶c̶k̶e̶d̶]More enlarged dwarfs were coming, albeit at half-speed. I picked up the fallen door and held it in front of me as a shield, but it did nothing to stop the momentum of the huge hammer he swung at me. It splintered the door and hit me square in the chest, dropping me to 2 HP. The duergar moved to finish me off, but was shot down with a well-aimed searing ray from the wizard. There were a lot of duergar coming at us, most of them gigantic, but the difficult terrain slowing them down combined with the doorway being a natural chokepoint meant we could keep killing them one at a time. When just two were left, I held out my frying pan and with a paralyzing glare Abjured the one in front, blocking the doorway for the one behind.
I ran back down the hall to get a heal from the bard while the others finished off the dwarf in the back. The one in front broke free of my avenger magic and charged down the hall at us, but we defeated him right before he got into melee range. Whew.
With all our foes defeated, we turned our attention back to the third door, the one we couldn't get open. We pried the lock off with the crowbar and stepped inside. There were eight trunks, which we promptly looted. Along with assorted gold and gems, we found a nice cloak and three more scrolls: a scroll of Maximilian's Earthen Grasp, one of earthbind, and one of transmute rock. The wizard said he'd try to add them to his spellbook when he had some time.[/sblock]
And that was where the fifth session ended. Once again, since then another session has happened, but this week a bunch of people won't be here so we'll be taking a break and running a different adventure (Fey Sister's Fate, I think) with different characters. So hopefully I'll be able to catch up now in these retellings.
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