The Unexpected In The Borderlands.
Session #004: Expect the Unexpected.
PCs (in alphabetical order)
Afton Barr (played Dave) Male Half-Elf Bard (Entertainer) Level 1.
Lappoy the Unexpected (played by Rob) Male High Elf Wizard (Sage) Level 2.
Tassit (played by Dave) Female Human Monk (Hermit) Level 1.
The Mystical One (played by Pete) Female Human Warlock (Outlander) Level 1.
Trebbelos (played by Pete) Male Tiefling Sorcerer (Charlatan) Level 1.
Note, you can click on the pictures here to make them bigger (if you didn't know this already).
Day 5: Being the 5th Day of Mirtul, in the year 1493 by Dale Reckoning, known as the Year of the Purple Dragons, about midday-ish.
The Traveller's Inn, the meal nearly finished- soup again, and the first full meeting of the, sorry... The Unexpected, Master of Magic Lappoy THE Unexpected, presiding.
High Master Lappoy sits at the head of the table, as is his right, note Afton Barr (the Bard) is on hand to provide much needed quips & jingles during the following chatter, and to deal with the media.
“So, that's clear- I will lead you to the lair of these damned kobolds tomorrow morning. The tribe were all but decimated in my previous attack. We will enter their cavern, remembering- as I said, to look out for the pit trap. Then, we kill the guards- they will be no match for our combined magics. Although, keep in mind- I will be preserving my more powerful spells for the confrontation with the chief, his lair is a little further into the tunnels.”
Three of the four new members of the The Unexpected nod and continue to spoon their soup.
The other...
“You attacked the lair previously? On your own?”
The questions are delivered in a reedy quavering voice whispered directly into Lappoy's mind, damn that woman the high elf wizard thinks, and then instantly regrets doing so. The Mystical One, as she styles herself, a female Shou warlock, can communicate via telepathy. But, can she also read minds?
Lappoy simply nods to the woman by way of reply, while mumbling the incantation for his Burning Hands spell, I must remember to keep her in front of me- and in range, the wizard thinks.
The four new members of the The Unexpected (motto: Expect the Unexpected) are-
Afton Barr (played by Dave) is a (pre-gen) male half-elf bard, all the way from the rough streets of Baldur's Gate. An accomplished juggler of very little regard, the obsequious fellow will do anything and everything to gain the fame and fortune he truly deserves. At present he's counting on the brilliance of High Master Lappoy the Unexpected to give him the leg-up he needs.
Tassit (played by Dave) is a (pre-gen) female human monk, and she's feisty with it. She has but recently emerged from the wilds, seemingly- she says little about her past. Her self-imposed task is to attempt to achieve spiritual, mystical and magical enlightenment by destroying every gods-damned filthy greenskin, and the like, that crosses her path. Tassit is a force to be reckoned with (she thinks).
The Mystical One (aka Meg) (played by Pete) is a (pre-gen) female human warlock of indiscriminate age, having dedicated her life and soul to the Council (and counsel) of the Great Old Ones. She's from the far off land of Shou, and can communicate with those around her via telepathy, which can be most unnerving. The Mystical One is on a quest for world domination, but... y'know, in a good way. She will be the next leader of this adventuring band, this she swears to her cold not-yet-dead dread Masters.
Trebbelos (played by Pete) is a (pre-gen) male tiefling sorcerer, and more remarkably a fairly wholesome individual. Keen to battle tyranny in all its forms, rather poetic when faced with beauty, and a smooth talking charmer- with a devilish manner, of course. Trebbelos, for want of something better to do, is keen to play the part of the hero.
But that's enough of that for now.
Day 6: Being the 6th Day of Mirtul, in the year 1493 by Dale Reckoning, known as the Year of the Purple Dragons, 7.30 AM- an early start.
Just over two hours later and The Unexpected are parked in Lappoy's favourite bit of shrubbery, the High Master is dispensing wisdom in his condescending way- pointing out the goblin and ogre caves to the left, and the kobold cavern to the right.
Watching the Caves of Chaos.
There's nothing coming- the adventurers watch and wait for a further twenty or so minutes, and then using what little cover there is make their way swiftly to the kobold cavern.
After a brief argument/discussion Tassit, the semi-stealthy monk, is sent forward to spy within- there are, as Lappoy predicted, a bunch of kobolds present, including one hefty specimen wearing armour (the wizard even got that right). That said the monk has no idea where the pit Lappoy was speaking about is situated- she can't see it.
Is this a test?
She therefore sneaks back to tell her friends, and then after another brief discussion- actually not much in the way of a discussion, the High Master is mostly giving orders. The Unexpected get in position to spring their surprise, more remarkably all five PCs manage to do this quietly.
Note Trebbelos and Lappoy have already got their Mage Armour on.
Soon to be dead kobolds, maybe.
The artillery (80% of the PCs) take it in turns to shuffle into the cavern entrance- blast (of some variety) a kobold, and then shuffle back out of sight again. Two kobold guards (actually very newly promoted kobold guards) are either burnt or otherwise butchered.
Then the front line arrives- Tassit the monk tumbles in, and then leaps a pit she cannot even see, landing in the crowd of kobolds- and more specifically directly before the armoured guard, the soon to be target of her fury.
“Die you filthy little scumbag!” She adds for the camera.
The monk then fails to hit (with advantage on all of her attacks) with her quarterstaff, then with her kicking foot, and then after spending her one and only inspiration point- with her staff again.
“Oh naughty word!”, the young monk adds.
And she'd be right to.
Tassit in action.
Afton Barr, the bard, dodges in and helps Tassit out (a bit) by casting a Light spell (so the monk can at least see who is hitting her) on the heavily armoured kobold.
Then moments later Trebbelos hits the now glowing kobold tough with a Fire Bolt- it feels the burn but works through it.
But the rest of the kobolds are now into the fight.
Tassit gets stabbed.
And then stabbed again.
But Lappoy as Unexpected is here to save the day, the High Master wizard steps in to play and with a Fire Bolt (Crit) blasts the armoured kobold to smithereens.
That's why he's the High Master.
Tassit meantime gets stabbed again, the kobold guards (most of 'em) as it turns out- they're desperate here, are only armed with knives.
The quick-thinking monk therefore swiftly disengages, and then leaps back over the pit, only... well, she doesn't. Tassit stumbles, flails (briefly), and then somehow star jumps to land hard directly onto the pit trap, which duly springs open.
Note, Dave playing Tassit just forget that the pit trap was there. I asked, “Where are you leaping too?” He moved Tassit a couple of squares and declared “Here!”
And the pit trap opens.
The vexed monk runs on air for a second, like they do in the cartoons, and then plummets.
The kobolds, it now appears, have improved upon their earlier pit trap design, they've added sharpened stakes smeared with rat (and other) faeces.
Tassit is impaled and dying down there.
She's also diseased.
But first things first- let's do something about the unconscious and dying thing, then get to work on the disease.
“Well, get her out! We can't all stand at the back.” Lappoy is miffed, the attack isn't going to plan.
Afton Barr, the bard, moves forward and flings a dagger at a kobold- he misses, and then fires a Healing Word down into Tassit in the pit, she stirs.
A kobold guard makes it past the pit and stabs Trebbelos.
This really isn't going well.
Also, the Unexpected have seen, and can now hear, that at least one kobold has already departed the scene, gone rushing- screaming and shouting all the way, deeper into the dank tunnelled lair.
The alarm is ringing.
The Mystical One therefore Eldritch Blasts another kobold dead, and then orders (using her telepathy) all of the members of the Unexpected (except Lappoy, of course) to leap the pit and engage with the enemy.
It's at this point however that the giant rats start arriving, the first of the nasty vermin swiftly cuts off the artillery, the second scrambles down into the pit, and to the prostrate and bloodied monk.
Everything is under control...
Trebbelos tags the giant rat threatening the adventurers with a Shocking Grasp, which only serves to rile it.
Another giant rat gets into the pit with Tassit.
…of the giants rats and kobolds.
Another kobold (easily) leaps the pit and stabs Afton.
A different kobold slithers safely down into the pit and stabs Tassit (yet again).
The monk is still prone, and now back down to one hit point.
Please stop reading, or at the very least look away. There are experienced D&D players trying to work here...
Tassit, miraculously, manages to get to her feet and smash the kobold that just stabbed her dead, with her quarterstaff.
“Get me outta here!” she yells, but time moves on very quickly.
Afton cuts a giant rat down with his rapier.
Yet another giant rat gets into the pit with Tassit.
It bites her.
The monk falls unconscious (again).
Trebbelos is quick to the scene, the tiefling sorcerer dodges past the giant rat in the cavern entrance and scurries to the very edge of the pit, he unleashes a somewhat feeble Burning Hands into the void- incinerating only one of the vermin, but thankfully entirely avoiding incinerating Tassit.
That's how it's done.
The heroic sorcerer is then swept into the air by a swirling magical vortex, he's deposited safely on the far side of the pit, but he's still not done. An inspiration point later and the last but one kobold standing is Shocking Grasped to death.
Trebbelos for MVP.
Too soon- keep reading.
Trebbelos, showing folk how it should be done.
But, we're still fighting...
Lappoy gets bitten by a giant rat.
The High Master is not best pleased.
Note, at this point Lappoy the Unexpected and The Mystical One have both backed out of the cavern, the pair are looking to stay alive here.
Another giant rat tries to get into the pit to feed on the bleeding out Tassit, alas it falls in and impales itself on a spike- dead.
However yet another pair of giant rats make it to the fracas.
I rolled 2d4 earlier to see how many giant rats were attracted to the fight, I rolled a '4' and a... what was it now? Oh yeah, another '4'.
Where's your money at? Unexpected FTW? Or the Giant Rats & Kobold (singular)?
And we get all the way around to Tassit's first Death Save.
It's a '1'.
Oh how we laughed.
At least I remember laughing.
Afton Barr, the bard, attempts to back away from the giant rat trying to savage him (without disengaging), he's prepared to take the risk- but of course he gets bitten, and now he's down to two hit points.
Although he's also now in position to press the red button, he Thunderwaves the three enemies before him- a kobold guard and two giant rats are ripped apart in the percussive shock and awe.
A (minor) victory of sorts.
Meanwhile, back in the pit the giant rats tuck in to Tassit.
The monk is dead.
She didn't last very long.
I ask Dave, playing Tassit, if she has any last words.
“Stupid!”
It was all he could think of.
Can they... I mean, could they. Don't worry about the two giant rats in the pit, they're plenty busy eating Tassit.
But then Trebbelos, the tiefling sorcerer, shouts out- there are more kobolds coming down the eastern passage.
This looks very familiar.
The tiefling is urgent- “Come across the pit, let's fight them!”, then however he Fire Bolts a giant rat (not quite dead) and ducks into hiding, in the kobold guard's former watch room.
Lappoy is quickly across the pit and to Trebbelos' side, the High Master stops briefly en route to Fire Bolt one of the approaching kobolds dead.
Moments later Afton Barr, the bard, also scrambles around the pit and into cover- the Unexpected are going for it.
Brace for impact! Here they come.
The Mystical One however telepathically explains (states) to Lappoy that she's staying on the 'run away' side of the pit. The warlock shuffles forward and Eldritch Blasts one of the giant rats in the pit eating Tassit dead, she then shuffles back into the shadows.
Trebbelos, the sorcerer, Fire Bolts another rushing kobold dead, and then he too dives back into cover.
Then...
High Master Lappoy (the Unexpected) steps out and unleashes his Burning Hands.
Come on! Come on!
And incinerates three more kobolds, following up the procedure with a series of taunts and threats, all delivered in guttural draconic.
The High Master rolls a '20' for his Intimidate check.
There is whooping.
Lappoy, unexpected? I doubt it.
That's how it is done.
The formerly swiftly approaching kobolds turn tail and run, back the way they came.
Afton, with a hearty cheer, steps out of hiding and sinks an arrow into the back of a fleeing kobold- dead. While The Mystical One, with a nod- and a little smile for Lappoy, shuffles around the pit and Eldritch Blasts another fleeing kobold, also dead.
The last giant rat in the pit grabs one of Tassit's hands and flees back to its stinky chamber to the west, to consume the bloody morsel in peace.
We're out of combat.
[Lots of kobolds and giant rats 525 XP]
Briefly.
There's a lot of shouting coming from down the eastern passage.
More kobolds are definitely coming.
Just to recap- The Mystical One is uninjured, Trebbelos is on 6 HP, Lappoy is on 5 HP and Afton Barr has just 2 HP left.
There's no healing left, save for those PCs with inspiration points and healing Hit Dice to spend (and are first level). A house rule.
Do we flee or do we make a stand?
But again, there's no discussion- Lappoy orders his followers to make a stand- and to shoot anything that comes down either passage.
“We're staying right here!” The High Master makes clear.
The adventurers have a few moments to sift through the belongings of the dead (kobolds) and then kick the bodies into the pit.
Afton Barr, the bard, uses his inspiration point to trigger his Hit Dice Healing (surge), he recovers one hit point- totally worth it.
It's a waiting game, all the PCs have readied actions...
While, not far away...
Kobold Chief Tonka rallies his troops and then gives the order...
Here they come- and all at once.
Afton shoots a kobold dead, Lappoy likewise blasts another with a Fire Bolt, while The Mystical One wounds yet another with her Eldritch Blast.
Here goes nothing...
Afton holds the line and stabs a kobold dead, Trebbelos's Fire Bolt accounts for another one.
Then Lappoy elbows himself into the fracas and unleashes his Thunderwave.
Oh Lappoy!
Followed by...
He's magnificent. Just the wounded kobold chief and one other left standing.
The other surviving kobold tries to rush his way out of the lair, en route The Mystical One stabs the unfortunate in the back, while Afton Barr impales the little bastard with his rapier.
Dead!
Then The Mystical One steps out into the cavern passage and blows the kobold chief's tiny mind- with her Dissonant Whispers, the former big boss of the tribe flees screaming.
But the kobold chief doesn't get far, it soon staggers to a halt, shakes its head clear and hefts its battleaxe, and then comes running (and screeching threats) straight back at the Unexpected.
Straight for The Mystical One.
The Shou warlock doesn't flinch, only telepathically orders her companions to swiftly end the threat.
Afton Barr fails to do so with his rapier, while Trebbelos' Fire Bolt is way off-target, which just leaves...
Lappoy the Unexpected.
“Please High Master”, The Mystical One telepathically begs.
Lappoy, of course, blasts away the kobold chief's head, with a Fire Bolt, and another Crit.
Oh Lappoy!
[Kobolds & the chief 400 XP]
So, a couple of things to report-
Lappoy takes possession of the black opal on a thick gold chain that the kobold chief was formerly sporting- it looks particularly valuable.
The three other members of the Unexpected have enough XP for level two.
That's nice.
But first a short rest to reflect, also an opportunity for Lappoy's followers (all of them, even the telepathic ones) to repeatedly tell the High Master of Magics how great he is.
More of the same sort of thing next time.
The pot is up to £23.
Stay safe and well you lovely people.
Cheers
The High Master of Magics Lappoy the Unexpected, and his followers. Oh, and goonalan.
Although it's probably a little less certain with 5e than it would have been back in the AD&D/BECMI days.
