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Story Hour
The Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh #136 Into the Mere of the Dead Men.
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<blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 9089201" data-attributes="member: 16069"><p style="text-align: center"><strong><span style="font-size: 26px">Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">Session #119: The Final Guardian (of this bit).</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).</span></strong></p><p><strong>Daktari/Dak (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 9</strong></p><p><strong>Fellowyn Silverstream (played by George) Male Eladrin Wizard Bladesinger Lvl 9</strong></p><p><strong>New Tricks/Newt (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 9</strong></p><p><strong>Ramshambo/Ram (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue/Fighter Lvl 7/2</strong></p><p><strong>Vincenzo/Vinnie (played by Haggis) Male Shifter (Wildhunt) Druid Lvl 9</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">DEAD PCs</span></strong></p><p><strong><s>Nicholai Barbaros Kostyiev/Nicky (played by George) Male Dhampir Cleric of Twilight Lvl 8 </s>RIP</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">NPCs</span></strong></p><p><strong><s>Inverna Nightbreeze (played by George) Female Wood Elf Fighter Lvl 8 (Sidekick) </s>RETIRED</strong></p><p><strong><s>Garumn Male Mountain Dwarf Paladin of Moradin Lvl 5 </s>RIP*</strong></p><p><strong><s>Tarbin Tul (played by goonalan) Male Human Bard </s>RETIRED</strong></p><p><strong>Ubmo (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 1 (When we remember)</strong></p><p><strong>*Trapped in the Land of the Bad Dead Ancestors.</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Servants/Familiars</span></strong></p><p><strong>Gerald (Bat/Giant Bat) servant/mount of New Tricks</strong></p><p><strong>Owly (Owl) Vinnie’s familiar</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">The Dark Squad’s to-do list-</span></strong></p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">An extraordinary meeting of the Saltmarsh Town Council, the Dark Squad are going to get hired to end the smuggling menace (see below), scheduled for 10th Flamerule.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The smuggler's ship will be turning up sometime between the 14th and 17th of Flamerule, the Dark Squad (and particularly Ram) are keen to meet the vessel, particularly Ram- why, because as the rogue said- “I'm getting a boat.”</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Find the other four Symbols of Ub, one was left in Deepbridge (Duergar fortress in the Underdark). The others need to be found, they belonged to- Rambles 'Shambles' Bowspirit (halfling killer from Lowhill), Antonio De La Crane (posh kid druid alchemist) & Giggles (crazy wood elf). All of these folk lived in the Saltmarsh region, the Dark Squad have found the De La Crane Manse (in the Dreadwood) and the De La Crane Crypt (in Saltmarsh Cemetary).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Nightshade is in the Deep Dreadwood- except she's not there anymore, but a big red dragon is?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Blackedge and the Goblin Stair?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">To join the Pact of the Wild Flame prepare the Witch's Tor for the coming of the starfall, the Witch's Tor is in the Drowned Forest, in the Mere of the Dead Men.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">To join the Pact of the Wild Flame track down the last member of the Pact, a wild elf adventurer called Giggles- and finally put her spirit to rest, and also recover her maze button. Location unknown. SEE 2. ABOVE.</li> </ol><p>This is session 117, and strap in because it’s mainly all fighting…</p><p></p><p>This is session 118, and strap in because it’s mainly all fighting…</p><p></p><p>This is session 119, and strap in because it’s mainly all fighting…</p><p></p><p>Where have I read that before?</p><p></p><p>To begin with… the night in the tomb passes without incident, and the PCs rise and shine and are all Level 9 now, and so an hour or so later and we get around to some actual gaming.</p><p></p><p>For info, Ram has taken another level in Fighter, that’s his second, he’s a Rogue 7/Fighter 2 atm. The others, no cross-dressing, I mean multi-classing, for them- Newt’s a Warlock 9, Vincenzo Druid 9, Daktari Barbarian 9, and Fellowyn Wizard (Bladesinger) 9.</p><p></p><p>All of ‘em are pretty tough cookies these days, or so they tell me.</p><p></p><p>Let’s see who I can make cry/scream first.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291972[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Oh, and when the Squad emerge for Newt’s Tiny Hut™ there’s Maurice there to meet them…</strong></p><p></p><p>Maurice is (one of) Vinnie’s ‘special friends’ (he’s an Earth Elemental, obviously) and voiced by me- he says “Zut Alors!” (Trans: Not Okay) and “Mange Tout!” (Trans: Okay) quite a lot of the time.</p><p></p><p>And then off we go again- the last skeletal Minotaur Guardian thing is just a short way up the track, but it’s a great big statue this one, twice the size of the previous guardians the Dark Squad have fought and destroyed here.</p><p></p><p>Here’s the big guy-</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291973[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>The PCs get set up, buff up and....</strong></p><p></p><p>The very large statue does not animate, just to make clear all of the statues have offerings before them- for the first two statues that the Dark Squad encountered that meant heaps of gold (well, about 30-40gp each) and other coins, and maybe a few other interesting items.</p><p></p><p>This final (it is assumed) statue (and also the one previous) have had maybe two handfuls of copper pieces placed before them.</p><p></p><p>Not much in the way of treasure.</p><p></p><p>To wake the guardian up a fool just needs to steel some of this treasure and… the statue animates.</p><p></p><p>Except, not this one.</p><p></p><p>Even after all of their buffs.</p><p></p><p>The PCs carp on about the situation for a little while longer, however the kindly DM lets them know- ‘did you really think it was going to be that simple?’</p><p></p><p>We go on…</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291974[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Ram, scouting ahead- as always, finds a pair of doors that lead outside of the tomb, back into the swamp.</strong></p><p></p><p>But nothing much else, until he finds-</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291975[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>That there are another pair of double doors heading back into the tomb here too.</strong></p><p></p><p>But it’s all just a maze of corridors and chambers, and here’s the thing- the PCs have not found any enemies, or treasure, or traps, or… well, it’s just a maze of corridors and chambers.</p><p></p><p>To remind you, the PCs have to destroy all four guardians in twenty four hours, from the first to the last.</p><p></p><p>At this point they have two hours remaining to find and destroy the final guardian.</p><p></p><p>Why aren’t they using the Maze Button/Symbol of Ub to find the way?</p><p></p><p>Some of you may be asking yourselves, the more intelligent folk- well, as Vinnie explains to his companions-</p><p></p><p>“Ze mayze butt-on can onlee be used to detect ze udder mayze butt-ons.”</p><p></p><p>Here’s the thing about this statement.</p><p></p><p>I have NEVER EVER confirmed what the maze button is doing at any point, when Vinnie concentrates upon it he feels the right direction to go… but there’s nothing to confirm that his Maze Button is specifically pointing the druid towards the next, or else nearest, other Maze Button.</p><p></p><p>Nothing at all to say that this is true.</p><p></p><p>I’d like the PCs to read this last bit.</p><p></p><p>Which is why I wrote it. Here’s hoping.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291977[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Ram re-enters the tomb and keeps on searching, here he is having dived/tumbled past a trap (he thinks) and into another set of chambers.</strong></p><p></p><p>Just to let you know- there was no trap here.</p><p></p><p>There are however lots of things that look like traps here, which slows the Dark Squad's progress somewhat.</p><p></p><p>Funny that.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, the rogue scrambles ahead and… there’s a Flameskull in a compass rose style housing in the floor of the chamber he dives into.</p><p></p><p>The creature is securely housed in its socket, it swivels to stare at the rogue for a second, and then… BLINK.</p><p></p><p>The grinning Flameskull disappears.</p><p></p><p>“INCOMING FLAMESKULL!”</p><p></p><p>Ram shouts out to his friends.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291978[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>What’s happening here? That’s a second Flameskull that has just appeared next to Daktari, Newt (heading in a different direction to Ram) has just spotted, and thus activated another of the undead terrors.</strong></p><p></p><p>The first of the Flameskulls to be activated shows up and somehow fails to harm Ram (at all) with its Fireball, and so it zooms off quickly to the south.</p><p></p><p>Note, both Flameskulls here have already cast Blur spells upon themselves and are making good use of Shield too.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291979[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Ram is still chasing the Flameskull that he set in motion.</strong></p><p></p><p>The second Flameskull managed to catch a few of the Dark Squad in its Fireball, and has now scarpered to the south of Newt’s position in the above image.</p><p></p><p>This guy doesn’t last long however, Newt delivers the Eldritch Blast killing blow.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291980[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>However, the original Flameskull, with Ram still in pursuit has headed into an area that is, the rogue easily spots, trapped- there are obvious pressure plates all over the corridor.</strong></p><p></p><p>The chase comes to a halt.</p><p></p><p>While all of this is going on Vinnie, who is mostly bringing up the rear with Maurice- the pair can’t keep up with the front line of the fight, discovers a door, and within…</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291981[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Hey! That’s another one of them guardians.</strong></p><p></p><p>The Final Guardian!</p><p></p><p>Of this bit.</p><p></p><p>The above image shows the PCs all lined up, and buffed, ready to start the fracas.</p><p></p><p>The Flameskull beyond the traps (that Ram was chasing) is left to its own devices.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291982[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Here we go again, and that blue circle- that’s the Fireball just about to be unleashed by the Flameskull to the south.</strong></p><p></p><p>That’s a third Flameskull.</p><p></p><p>The PCs (at this point) think it’s the original Flameskull that got away from Ram.</p><p></p><p>It isn’t, it’s yet another new guy.</p><p></p><p>However, Fellowyn Counterspells the Fireball, and… the Flameskull doesn’t survive much longer, with the crazy speed of Ram (double Dash), Newt (Feline Agility), Fellowyn (Misty Step) and Daktari is no slouch (40’ Move), it’s all enough to quickly chase the undead terror down.</p><p></p><p>The minotaur skeleton guardian doesn’t last long either- keep in mind this guy started with maybe 275 hit points, and there was a lot of missing- still, all enemies are dead in maybe half-a-dozen turns.</p><p></p><p>Then… discussion, all of the Guardians have been destroyed, basically the question is- “Where do we go now?”</p><p></p><p>Vinnie consults the button, using it- he says, to concentrate on the location of The Rambles Swarm’s Maze Button.</p><p></p><p>We get to here-</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291983[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>The trapped corridor discovered earlier.</strong></p><p></p><p>And, oh look, there’s another Flameskull (the one that got away from Ram earlier).</p><p></p><p>There are lots of traps- spears firing out from the statues along the corridor shown above.</p><p></p><p>Maurice is being used as a walking shield here- the Earth Elemental takes a lot of hits; he moves slowly and triggers the traps multiple times every turn. He also fails every Dex saving throw I drop on him.</p><p></p><p>I’ve just counted back- Maurice failed eleven saving throws in the following series of events, DC 12, and he’s only -1 on his save. Maurice is a clod-hopper.</p><p></p><p>Daktari jumps leaps and dodges his way to the Flameskull.</p><p></p><p>The barbarian takes no hits at all.</p><p></p><p>The last Flameskull is about to be put down, only…</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291984[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>The chamber just to the south of Newt is the chamber that Vinnie’s Maze Button is pointing the Dark Squad towards. The tabaxi however finds another route to the same location.</strong></p><p></p><p>And within the chamber?</p><p></p><p>There’s a swarm of rats, actually The Swarm.</p><p></p><p>The Swarm is situated in a series of concentric circles on the floor of the chamber, Newt remembers seeing this sort of thing before- in an underwater chamber which a whole bunch of tough Sahuagin were trying to break into.</p><p></p><p>The Dark Squad are fairly certain that these images show either constellations, or else planetary alignments.</p><p></p><p>That’s nice.</p><p></p><p>However, also within the chamber are the housings (inhabited) for three more Flameskulls, which are duly unleashed…</p><p></p><p>BLINK… and all three disappear, or else teleport to somewhere close by.</p><p></p><p>“FLAMESKULLS!”</p><p></p><p>Newt begins screaming, does that count- is he the first to scream?</p><p></p><p>You’ll note in the image above- Vinnie (to the north) has just been hit by another Fireball (the Supreme Being is dead again), and a Flameskull has just appeared to the south of his position.</p><p></p><p>To the east?</p><p></p><p>Same deal, another new Flameskull fails to light up Ramshambo (again), the rogue therefore goes in hot pursuit.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291985[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Vinnie, now the Moonboar, with help from Fellowyn (who is much improved for his level up) have chased down a Flameskull.</strong></p><p></p><p>Daktari (with no help from Maurice, the Earth Elemental misses every attack he makes) has just finished off another Flameskull to the south.</p><p></p><p>Ram is facing off against another.</p><p></p><p>Newt, alas, has taken a bit of kicking, after somehow managing to get hit by one Fireball, he then flees into the circumference of (moments later) a second fiery blast.</p><p></p><p>He is neither healthy, nor happy.</p><p></p><p>There’s a lot of swearing.</p><p></p><p>I’m counting it.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]291986[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Newt, fleeing some more, also manages to find a bunch more traps- that’s a ceiling collapse just behind him, he made his save. That one could have ended him- lots of D10s.</strong></p><p></p><p>The holes in the floor before him, that’s another trap- which he is just about to trigger, alas the trap in question is just a fear-related illusion, with screaming shades emerging from the holes- but again, Newt is not at all spooked by the show.</p><p></p><p>This screaming fear trap is ongoing, it spooks (requires a new save) from anyone that gets close to it.</p><p></p><p>It’s worth noting that the only PC that falls for this (during the rest of the encounter) is… Newt, again.</p><p></p><p>However, he makes his save again.</p><p></p><p>Keep in mind that Newt is Cursed atm, he has disadvantage on all of his saves.</p><p></p><p>Newt is severely harassed, and on the run.</p><p></p><p>And then… eventually, the remaining Flameskulls are located/chased down, and smashed down.</p><p></p><p>And that- that’s all we got up to.</p><p></p><p>A lot of fighting, interspersed with a lot of running around- which left the PCs really strung out at times.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps Newt was right when he said right at the start of this session-</p><p></p><p>“We should split up, we should all head in different directions, we can find things quicker that way- that’s my tactical advice!”</p><p></p><p>At the time the suggestion was met with derision and scorn.</p><p></p><p>It was however what the PCs mostly ended up doing- at times, although I (and my Flameskulls) may have a hand in this.</p><p></p><p>Next session is on the 15th, and it’s time for a chat with The Rambles Swarm, get your questions ready.</p><p></p><p>Also, time for Ram to join the SWARM!</p><p></p><p>Stay safe and well you lovely people.</p><p></p><p>Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goonalan, post: 9089201, member: 16069"] [CENTER][B][SIZE=7]Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh[/SIZE][/B][/CENTER] [B] [SIZE=6]Session #119: The Final Guardian (of this bit).[/SIZE] [SIZE=5]Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).[/SIZE] Daktari/Dak (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 9 Fellowyn Silverstream (played by George) Male Eladrin Wizard Bladesinger Lvl 9 New Tricks/Newt (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 9 Ramshambo/Ram (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue/Fighter Lvl 7/2 Vincenzo/Vinnie (played by Haggis) Male Shifter (Wildhunt) Druid Lvl 9 [SIZE=5]DEAD PCs[/SIZE] [S]Nicholai Barbaros Kostyiev/Nicky (played by George) Male Dhampir Cleric of Twilight Lvl 8 [/S]RIP [SIZE=5]NPCs[/SIZE] [S]Inverna Nightbreeze (played by George) Female Wood Elf Fighter Lvl 8 (Sidekick) [/S]RETIRED [S]Garumn Male Mountain Dwarf Paladin of Moradin Lvl 5 [/S]RIP* [S]Tarbin Tul (played by goonalan) Male Human Bard [/S]RETIRED Ubmo (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 1 (When we remember) *Trapped in the Land of the Bad Dead Ancestors. [SIZE=5]Servants/Familiars[/SIZE] Gerald (Bat/Giant Bat) servant/mount of New Tricks Owly (Owl) Vinnie’s familiar [SIZE=5]The Dark Squad’s to-do list-[/SIZE][/B] [LIST=1] [*]An extraordinary meeting of the Saltmarsh Town Council, the Dark Squad are going to get hired to end the smuggling menace (see below), scheduled for 10th Flamerule. [*]The smuggler's ship will be turning up sometime between the 14th and 17th of Flamerule, the Dark Squad (and particularly Ram) are keen to meet the vessel, particularly Ram- why, because as the rogue said- “I'm getting a boat.” [*]Find the other four Symbols of Ub, one was left in Deepbridge (Duergar fortress in the Underdark). The others need to be found, they belonged to- Rambles 'Shambles' Bowspirit (halfling killer from Lowhill), Antonio De La Crane (posh kid druid alchemist) & Giggles (crazy wood elf). All of these folk lived in the Saltmarsh region, the Dark Squad have found the De La Crane Manse (in the Dreadwood) and the De La Crane Crypt (in Saltmarsh Cemetary). [*]Nightshade is in the Deep Dreadwood- except she's not there anymore, but a big red dragon is? [*]Blackedge and the Goblin Stair? [*]To join the Pact of the Wild Flame prepare the Witch's Tor for the coming of the starfall, the Witch's Tor is in the Drowned Forest, in the Mere of the Dead Men. [*]To join the Pact of the Wild Flame track down the last member of the Pact, a wild elf adventurer called Giggles- and finally put her spirit to rest, and also recover her maze button. Location unknown. SEE 2. ABOVE. [/LIST] This is session 117, and strap in because it’s mainly all fighting… This is session 118, and strap in because it’s mainly all fighting… This is session 119, and strap in because it’s mainly all fighting… Where have I read that before? To begin with… the night in the tomb passes without incident, and the PCs rise and shine and are all Level 9 now, and so an hour or so later and we get around to some actual gaming. For info, Ram has taken another level in Fighter, that’s his second, he’s a Rogue 7/Fighter 2 atm. The others, no cross-dressing, I mean multi-classing, for them- Newt’s a Warlock 9, Vincenzo Druid 9, Daktari Barbarian 9, and Fellowyn Wizard (Bladesinger) 9. All of ‘em are pretty tough cookies these days, or so they tell me. Let’s see who I can make cry/scream first. [ATTACH type="full"]291972[/ATTACH] [B]Oh, and when the Squad emerge for Newt’s Tiny Hut™ there’s Maurice there to meet them…[/B] Maurice is (one of) Vinnie’s ‘special friends’ (he’s an Earth Elemental, obviously) and voiced by me- he says “Zut Alors!” (Trans: Not Okay) and “Mange Tout!” (Trans: Okay) quite a lot of the time. And then off we go again- the last skeletal Minotaur Guardian thing is just a short way up the track, but it’s a great big statue this one, twice the size of the previous guardians the Dark Squad have fought and destroyed here. Here’s the big guy- [ATTACH type="full"]291973[/ATTACH] [B]The PCs get set up, buff up and....[/B] The very large statue does not animate, just to make clear all of the statues have offerings before them- for the first two statues that the Dark Squad encountered that meant heaps of gold (well, about 30-40gp each) and other coins, and maybe a few other interesting items. This final (it is assumed) statue (and also the one previous) have had maybe two handfuls of copper pieces placed before them. Not much in the way of treasure. To wake the guardian up a fool just needs to steel some of this treasure and… the statue animates. Except, not this one. Even after all of their buffs. The PCs carp on about the situation for a little while longer, however the kindly DM lets them know- ‘did you really think it was going to be that simple?’ We go on… [ATTACH type="full"]291974[/ATTACH] [B]Ram, scouting ahead- as always, finds a pair of doors that lead outside of the tomb, back into the swamp.[/B] But nothing much else, until he finds- [ATTACH type="full"]291975[/ATTACH] [B]That there are another pair of double doors heading back into the tomb here too.[/B] But it’s all just a maze of corridors and chambers, and here’s the thing- the PCs have not found any enemies, or treasure, or traps, or… well, it’s just a maze of corridors and chambers. To remind you, the PCs have to destroy all four guardians in twenty four hours, from the first to the last. At this point they have two hours remaining to find and destroy the final guardian. Why aren’t they using the Maze Button/Symbol of Ub to find the way? Some of you may be asking yourselves, the more intelligent folk- well, as Vinnie explains to his companions- “Ze mayze butt-on can onlee be used to detect ze udder mayze butt-ons.” Here’s the thing about this statement. I have NEVER EVER confirmed what the maze button is doing at any point, when Vinnie concentrates upon it he feels the right direction to go… but there’s nothing to confirm that his Maze Button is specifically pointing the druid towards the next, or else nearest, other Maze Button. Nothing at all to say that this is true. I’d like the PCs to read this last bit. Which is why I wrote it. Here’s hoping. [ATTACH type="full"]291977[/ATTACH] [B]Ram re-enters the tomb and keeps on searching, here he is having dived/tumbled past a trap (he thinks) and into another set of chambers.[/B] Just to let you know- there was no trap here. There are however lots of things that look like traps here, which slows the Dark Squad's progress somewhat. Funny that. Anyway, the rogue scrambles ahead and… there’s a Flameskull in a compass rose style housing in the floor of the chamber he dives into. The creature is securely housed in its socket, it swivels to stare at the rogue for a second, and then… BLINK. The grinning Flameskull disappears. “INCOMING FLAMESKULL!” Ram shouts out to his friends. [ATTACH type="full"]291978[/ATTACH] [B]What’s happening here? That’s a second Flameskull that has just appeared next to Daktari, Newt (heading in a different direction to Ram) has just spotted, and thus activated another of the undead terrors.[/B] The first of the Flameskulls to be activated shows up and somehow fails to harm Ram (at all) with its Fireball, and so it zooms off quickly to the south. Note, both Flameskulls here have already cast Blur spells upon themselves and are making good use of Shield too. [ATTACH type="full"]291979[/ATTACH] [B]Ram is still chasing the Flameskull that he set in motion.[/B] The second Flameskull managed to catch a few of the Dark Squad in its Fireball, and has now scarpered to the south of Newt’s position in the above image. This guy doesn’t last long however, Newt delivers the Eldritch Blast killing blow. [ATTACH type="full"]291980[/ATTACH] [B]However, the original Flameskull, with Ram still in pursuit has headed into an area that is, the rogue easily spots, trapped- there are obvious pressure plates all over the corridor.[/B] The chase comes to a halt. While all of this is going on Vinnie, who is mostly bringing up the rear with Maurice- the pair can’t keep up with the front line of the fight, discovers a door, and within… [ATTACH type="full"]291981[/ATTACH] [B]Hey! That’s another one of them guardians.[/B] The Final Guardian! Of this bit. The above image shows the PCs all lined up, and buffed, ready to start the fracas. The Flameskull beyond the traps (that Ram was chasing) is left to its own devices. [ATTACH type="full"]291982[/ATTACH] [B]Here we go again, and that blue circle- that’s the Fireball just about to be unleashed by the Flameskull to the south.[/B] That’s a third Flameskull. The PCs (at this point) think it’s the original Flameskull that got away from Ram. It isn’t, it’s yet another new guy. However, Fellowyn Counterspells the Fireball, and… the Flameskull doesn’t survive much longer, with the crazy speed of Ram (double Dash), Newt (Feline Agility), Fellowyn (Misty Step) and Daktari is no slouch (40’ Move), it’s all enough to quickly chase the undead terror down. The minotaur skeleton guardian doesn’t last long either- keep in mind this guy started with maybe 275 hit points, and there was a lot of missing- still, all enemies are dead in maybe half-a-dozen turns. Then… discussion, all of the Guardians have been destroyed, basically the question is- “Where do we go now?” Vinnie consults the button, using it- he says, to concentrate on the location of The Rambles Swarm’s Maze Button. We get to here- [ATTACH type="full"]291983[/ATTACH] [B]The trapped corridor discovered earlier.[/B] And, oh look, there’s another Flameskull (the one that got away from Ram earlier). There are lots of traps- spears firing out from the statues along the corridor shown above. Maurice is being used as a walking shield here- the Earth Elemental takes a lot of hits; he moves slowly and triggers the traps multiple times every turn. He also fails every Dex saving throw I drop on him. I’ve just counted back- Maurice failed eleven saving throws in the following series of events, DC 12, and he’s only -1 on his save. Maurice is a clod-hopper. Daktari jumps leaps and dodges his way to the Flameskull. The barbarian takes no hits at all. The last Flameskull is about to be put down, only… [ATTACH type="full"]291984[/ATTACH] [B]The chamber just to the south of Newt is the chamber that Vinnie’s Maze Button is pointing the Dark Squad towards. The tabaxi however finds another route to the same location.[/B] And within the chamber? There’s a swarm of rats, actually The Swarm. The Swarm is situated in a series of concentric circles on the floor of the chamber, Newt remembers seeing this sort of thing before- in an underwater chamber which a whole bunch of tough Sahuagin were trying to break into. The Dark Squad are fairly certain that these images show either constellations, or else planetary alignments. That’s nice. However, also within the chamber are the housings (inhabited) for three more Flameskulls, which are duly unleashed… BLINK… and all three disappear, or else teleport to somewhere close by. “FLAMESKULLS!” Newt begins screaming, does that count- is he the first to scream? You’ll note in the image above- Vinnie (to the north) has just been hit by another Fireball (the Supreme Being is dead again), and a Flameskull has just appeared to the south of his position. To the east? Same deal, another new Flameskull fails to light up Ramshambo (again), the rogue therefore goes in hot pursuit. [ATTACH type="full"]291985[/ATTACH] [B]Vinnie, now the Moonboar, with help from Fellowyn (who is much improved for his level up) have chased down a Flameskull.[/B] Daktari (with no help from Maurice, the Earth Elemental misses every attack he makes) has just finished off another Flameskull to the south. Ram is facing off against another. Newt, alas, has taken a bit of kicking, after somehow managing to get hit by one Fireball, he then flees into the circumference of (moments later) a second fiery blast. He is neither healthy, nor happy. There’s a lot of swearing. I’m counting it. [ATTACH type="full"]291986[/ATTACH] [B]Newt, fleeing some more, also manages to find a bunch more traps- that’s a ceiling collapse just behind him, he made his save. That one could have ended him- lots of D10s.[/B] The holes in the floor before him, that’s another trap- which he is just about to trigger, alas the trap in question is just a fear-related illusion, with screaming shades emerging from the holes- but again, Newt is not at all spooked by the show. This screaming fear trap is ongoing, it spooks (requires a new save) from anyone that gets close to it. It’s worth noting that the only PC that falls for this (during the rest of the encounter) is… Newt, again. However, he makes his save again. Keep in mind that Newt is Cursed atm, he has disadvantage on all of his saves. Newt is severely harassed, and on the run. And then… eventually, the remaining Flameskulls are located/chased down, and smashed down. And that- that’s all we got up to. A lot of fighting, interspersed with a lot of running around- which left the PCs really strung out at times. Perhaps Newt was right when he said right at the start of this session- “We should split up, we should all head in different directions, we can find things quicker that way- that’s my tactical advice!” At the time the suggestion was met with derision and scorn. It was however what the PCs mostly ended up doing- at times, although I (and my Flameskulls) may have a hand in this. Next session is on the 15th, and it’s time for a chat with The Rambles Swarm, get your questions ready. Also, time for Ram to join the SWARM! Stay safe and well you lovely people. Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan. [/QUOTE]
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The Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh #136 Into the Mere of the Dead Men.
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