Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh
Session #153: Arcadia.
Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).
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
DEAD PCs
NPCs
Ub-Pam (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 3
*Trapped in the Land of the Bad Dead Ancestors.
Servants/Familiars
Gerald (Bat/Giant Bat) servant/mount of New Tricks
Owly (Owl) Vinnie’s familiar
Archimedes (very scruffy & old, Owl) Fellowyn’s familiar.
The Dark Squad’s to-do list-
- 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 Cemetery).
- 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.
And if that makes no sense to you, well- excellent, I’ve been doing my job.
The Dark Squad spent the second half of the last session having a chinwag with Sehanine Moonbow, the goddess filling in a little of the backstory, and letting the Squad know that they’re getting close to the point of no return, from this time on (after the point of no return, obviously) the fate of Faerun rests upon their shoulders.
No pressure then, although Newt is baring up well, he spent a good chunk of the last session (the earlier part) screaming and praying for the world to end, so- he’s taking things in his stride.
Good man.
I mean, good tabaxi.
Anyway…
Here we all are (except for Vinnie/the Moonboar) who is obviously out of shot.
Sehanine said-
“When you are ready to leave here climb the stairs.”
“When you get back to the Witch's Tor the Beacon will have already been lit, the call will have gone out- the countdown to the starfall will have begun, and... the Night Serpent will begin to stir.”
“Remember, when the pale dwarf returns the Time of Ash will have begun. that is the point of no return... do you understand what I have said?”
Adding, just before her departure-
“Then, again, I wish you good luck and a goddess' speed.”
“Oh, but before I forget, this place is named after the Pact of the Flame wizard that created it. Remember that- it is most important. It is key.”
Final words tend to have a bit more meaning, don’t you think.
The well-oiled machine that is the Dark Squad re-read the above statement (from the write up) about an hour or so into this session, even though I e-mailed them before the session to remind them to do so.
That’s an hour we are never getting back, but let’s get to there.
So, first off, the Dark Squad do their own mini summary of the last session and what they have learned from the goddess, although there’s still no chatter with regard to Newt’s shenanigans- calling for the end of the world etc.
It seems the consensus is- he’s a free spirit, no-one can tame the seven-foot tall puma-like tabaxi that is Newt.
Eventually the Dark Squad climb the stair in the centre of the ancient Pact of the Flame redoubt.
To here-
It’s dawn, the sun is just rising, much to Fellowyn’s discomfort- he’s a drow now, remember, sunlight isn’t his favourite lighting.
Atop the stairs is a circle of standing stones- just like they saw back at the tor, or at least similar, there are four more concentric circles of standing stones surrounding the spot. The tor at this point is just a gentle hill, in a clearing, in the midst of an enormous forest.
It is a serenely beautiful place, with bird song, flower-scented air, and dappled sunlight, a world awakening to possibility.
It’s also, according to Fellowyn- who is rolling high for his checks again, at least a couple of thousand years prior to the time that the Dark Squad stepped in to the Witch’s Tor, this after Newt climbed on his broom and did a little aerial reconnoitre. This place is Illefarn, the ancient elven kingdom, Fellowyn suspects.
So, then… nothing much happens for a good long while, certainly another thirty minutes in real world time before anyone thinks to make another check, which is a long time- from this DMs POV.
The Dark Squad happily fill the void by making up their own story about what should be happening now.
But what comes next is limited because about five minutes after the Squad climbed up and out of the tor this happens.
The entrance to the tor shuts up shop.
And so, the debate rages- but- I did this, on purpose, and with that in mind they eventually figure it out.
Lots more checks finally follow, although Newt instead of helping chooses this moment to burn his new emblem into the inner ring of the stone circle here.
Newt’s new symbol/branding is like the Jaguar car badge- a black stencil puma/jaguar face, coming right at you.
Newt figures this is the first step towards his rise to the godhead. He’s adding some years, and thereby a past, to his story/mythology.
In his new history, he explains to his companions, the elves will of course find this graven (actually burned-in) image and take to worshipping him, job done, and according to the smooth-talking warlock- his rise is inevitable.
The rest of the team are a little more pressed for time, and entirely ignoring the warlock- it’s safest, is the consensus.
They are also more concerned with the fact that Castle Argentriver is failing to answer their call.
They’re stuck here.
Newt ignores this negativity.
Eventually they get to the next bit, which is this-
They figure out how to open the tor again.
The password needed to make the stairs reappear is- Silverstream.
The answer supplied by the wizard of the same name- he built this place after all.
When the Squad descend the spiral staircase they arrive- after a short black-out/blackscreen, followed by a series of gentle thuds, at a very strange new place indeed.
This new place is an uncomfortable place- the Squad are squashed into small cells- two members in each stall/cell, it’s also a very very dark place.
Even with their darkvision they cannot see much (I’ve turned their darkvision right down- for all PCs and Ub-Pam).
Then Fellowyn, who seems to be standing on something slippery, and precarious, gets bitten- or else something with a foul breath and an iron mouth and/or throat, and as wet as heck, tries to swallow his foot.
Vinnie wrestles the wizard free of the terrible beast.
Which is difficult to do in such a small space.
“Yew ar safe mon amis, what man-ur of foul de-mon iz zat?” Note Vinnie's token is beneath Fellowyn's.
The Dark Squad arrive in pairs- two to each cubicle, the heroes manage to (eventually) fight their way out of these strange demonic cells.
To here-
White and black tiled walls, floor and ceiling. A series of mirrors and two magical springs that pour forth brackish water when arcane magical gestures are made before their spouts.
There’s also a strange discordant sound coming from beyond the door to the east.
The Dark Squad have a brief conflab-
“We are again in ze future… I wud stake my rep-yew-tay-shun on zis!” Vinnie whispers.
While Fellowyn hops around on one foot, the foot and ankle of his other gangling leg swathed in a wodge of darkly stained, very thin and sodden paper.
Newt grins and then yawns.
Vinnie is about to deliver some critical instruction to the Squad regarding their mission et al, but…
Ram just opens the door.
It’s a lot to take in.
And the noise… squirrelling bleeps and beeps that tussle with the brain, a rolling rising crescendo- followed by descend-o of boops and whees. Somewhere a giant stalks this land- thud-thud, thud-thud, then getting faster- the titan is racing- thud-thud-thud-thud-thud, till- eventually, thududududududududududud.
And the lights- all the colours, all of the time, and then off again- and on again, and… both terrifying and entrancing.
Then the smell, rancid sweat, stale and fresh tobacco, here and there trails of perfumed cologne, and beneath all other smells, and yet all encompassing- the sharp chemical tang of some over-smell, a sterile freshness, with a hint of minty forest and pine.
It’s a lot to take in.
As I said.
Then one of the goblins wearing some sort of silver pants, and with goggles like Daktari’s darkvision pair, starts shouting at the Squad.
But none of them can understand a single word the obviously irate little feller is saying.
More remarkably nobody (Newt) blasts the goblin dead for its temerity.
The Dark Squad eventually figure out that they need to shut the door to the bathroom, then looking like the members of a very hokey religion, they huddle up in the corner, or else go for a stroll (Newt) and make their plan.
Probably they should have stayed in the bathroom.
But the strangely dressed goblins don’t seem to care either way. They’re mostly engrossed in what they are doing- which seems to be leaning into upright coffin-sized wooden boxes with small glass screens, the goblins are intent, manipulating and manoeuvring buttons and levers frantically, while they stare into the little squares of noisy rainbow oblivion.
A chat and a ritual later (about 10-12 minutes) and Fellowyn (but only he) can understand what the goblins are saying (Comprehend Language). He thinks their language is actually some off-shoot of Undercommon.
The Dark Squad investigates.
And then Fellowyn, after a chat with a friendlier goblin, and some good checks- although his half of the chat is more mime than words, anyway- he gets it.
He thinks.
So, “Dinkle Dude, get Frowzi, Man 'o' Chubb!”, shouted at Vincenzo is the goblin expressing impatience and insult, the druid was getting in the fellow’s way.
Similarly, “Koff, ya snaggletoothed whim-wham!”, aimed at Newt for a similar social faux pas.
Meanwhile, “Stick it tiddlypuds!”, directed this time at Ram, is yet another insult- for the same social incursion, it seems getting too close to one of the goblins while they are enthralled by one of the burbling cabinets is not the done thing.
‘Tiddlypuds’, Fellowyn surmises is something to do with the tightness of Ramshambow’s leather pants. He couldn’t have put it better himself- they must be stifling in there, the rogue's puds must indeed be tiny.
Fellowyn eventually cracks the code, or else he makes a goblin friend who leads him to the nub of it.
In precis, translation not needed-
“High Score Dude. High Score.”
“Chit-chat wid da Big Dude!”
“High Score ta see da Ashbringer.”
“Get dem High Scores.”
“Rack 'em up!”
“Ya gunna need dem.”
This new information is disseminated, the Rary’s is still working, and the rules are-
There are eighteen cabinets here- arcade games, the PCs can play all eighteen, it costs nothing to play. Each of the eighteen cabinets is tied to one skill check, a PC can play each game only once- they can do what the heck they like to try and enhance their roll but it’s always just one roll (unless you have a skill or power that let’s you re-roll a check).
The check result is turned into that many exploding D10s which the PC then rolls, more than 100 in total and that’s a high score.
So, if and when- which is soon, Daktari plays Run-Jump-Oof! (athletics check required) he rolls a ‘28’ for his skill check, and so therefore then rolls 28 exploding D10s (exploding means if it rolls the highest number, a ‘10’ in this case, another d10 is rolled and added to the final total) for his final result.
146 in this case, which the DM turns into 146,000- and that’s a high score.
Daktari, as it turns out, has a +1 to all of his arcade-based checks here, this because he spent a good long time in Castle Argentriver (downtime) playing imaginary arcade games- he didn’t know why he was doing this, or indeed what he was doing, but he was (and he did).
The Dark Squad have to get high scores, a high score is 100 (= 100,000) or more.
Every member of the Dark Squad needs to accumulate at least one high score.
Although, it seems, from what Fellowyn is saying that the PCs need to get as many high scores as they can- individually.
So, Daktari just scored 146,000 on Run-Jump-Oof! (athletics check). If someone was to come along and beat his score, well- they would have the high score for this cabinet, and Dak would obviously lose his crown. Remember they can play each game only once (each), no repeats.
Then, when they are done with the cabinets, we’ll be moving on to play- “Dance! Dance! You Bastard! Dance!”, followed by, “Motor Goat!”, as happens most Christmases.
Got it, great.
There’s Daktari’s 28d10 exploding. He’s on the board.
But here’s the thing- some of the PCs have got access to buffs, Vincenzo takes to casting Guidance all the while, Daktari’s new magical shaman-like abilities, remember he got all Fellowyn/zen back in the castle, also give him a bonus 1d3 on all (I think) of his checks.
But Fellowyn has no ready/easy buffs to give himself.
He does however understand what the goblins are saying, and he’s able to mime back non-complex replies, and so after some more great checks he is able to make himself a small coterie of goblin-friends, who help him to play a variety of games.
The wizard clocks up a 190,000 high score playing Magic Pants (arcana check) with a little help from his new buddies.
Oh, and here’s a Gif of this place- it’s called Arcadia.
Also, George (playing Fellowyn) our soundman is streaming all the hoots, whirrs and coin-spewing noises of an amusement arcade in full swing, while this is going on.
Nice.
Vincenzo button-bashes his way to 191,000 on Wild Thang! (survival check) and another high score.
Newt is slow to get into the cabinets, he can’t understand what the goblins are saying- he can’t speak to them, and so… how does he make a friend?
One hundred and fifty-three turns in and now he asks.
Eventually he figures it.
It involves a pocket full of gold, a mini-lute performance- with a little illusory magic, good rolls, and quite a show. The goblins are coming around to the tabaxi, he too gathers a gang, although in truth he’s paying through the nose for his new friends.
Nevertheless…
That’s 182,000 playing Oi, YOU! (intimidate check) and he too is up and running.
Vinnie hits LOOK OUT! (perception check) hard, and the numbers don’t lie- 223,000 that’s the highest high score of the evening.
Even Newt now is getting busy with it- 164,000 playing Acting Up! (performance check) and another high score.
And so, by now you must be thinking- where the flipping heck is Ramshambow in all of this?
Well, Ram doesn’t have any buffs- he does have some monster skill bonuses, however. He’s also the most solo member of the Dark Squad, he doesn’t work with (or pander to) others, he’s also not the silver-tongued guy. Not that talking would help at this juncture.
He therefore sets about developing a technique which involves a combination of tipping the cabinets, employing some of his thieves’ tools in various places, and on the odd occasion fiddling with the strange buttons located on the rear of the devices. Each cabinet has some sort of futuristic rope tether, most odd.
He has mixed results (all low) but he’s in the process of perfecting his technique, and he’s therefore at present playing on cabinets for which he has no skill bonuses (+0, or worse).
It doesn’t always go to plan.
After almost tipping Run-Jump-Oof! (athletics) on to himself the stern looking female goblin behind the counter leaps the intervening obstacle and screams blue murder at the rogue for a while.
Ram has no idea what she is saying, he does however have a handful of gold coins to give to the goblin, and as if by magic she goes away, but with a jaundiced countenance, and a gimlet eye on the rogue.
Ram therefore avoids the crowds, only playing on the cabinets that are away from the gaggles of PCs and goblins, and for the most part the machines also out-of-sight of the counter goblin. Who is, now and then, still watching him.
Vincenzo finds the sweet spot again- 212,000 playing Operation (medicine check), he’s starting to draw a crowd, and hasn’t had to pay a penny for the privilege. A point he shares with Newt, once or twice, perhaps- even, a little more often than that.
Newt sticks to his own, more expensive, method- it seems to be working, 190,000 scored on Liar, Liar Pants on Fire! (deception check) another high score.
Ram is up and running, clocking up a whopping 216,00 on Stalker! (stealth check).
A brief interlude- a shot of what’s to come. Oh, and the PCs have sent me pictures of their ‘rides’ for when we get to play Motor Goat!, so it’s not a row of motorbikes, or motorized goats, here- you’ll see what they came up with when we get there.
Vinnie makes 123,000 on What’s that Tree? (nature check), while Newt clocks up 130,000 playing I’m Not Convinced (persuasion check).
But it’s not all success, Ram- after resetting the machine somehow, still manages not to beat Vinnie’s titanic high score (223,000) on LOOK OUT! (perception check).
But there’s plenty more still to go.
But that’s the end of the session, and it was short one because we started late, and I had two other tasks for the Squad to complete- finding pictures for their ‘rides’ in Motor Goat! And coming up with a random table for what happens to a PC if they roll badly when they get back on board Castle Argentriver.
When the PCs get out of the arcade here they will have been four hours out of Castle Argentriver, that’s a 4% (so far) for a first roll on the above table.
So, more of this kind of thing next time.
Oh, and in summary- so far-
Daktari has two high scores, he had three, but Fellowyn took one off him.
Fellowyn, Newt & Vinnie have four high scores each, it’s worth mentioning that all PCs except for Newt have played five arcade games each, so far. Newt has only played four- he spent a while at the start coming up with his strategy.
Ram has only got one high score so far, but he’s pretty much cracked his method, so this is going to change- I figure.
The Dark Squad, so far, have not been overlapping each other- by which I mean there are eighteen cabinets/games to be played. All of them have been played by one PC at least once. Only five of them have been played by two PCs- not much competition so far, everyone is trying to get a score on the table.
We’re going to be doing more of this next time- I suspect things may get a little more cut-throat at that point, and the PCs have been made aware that their time in Arcadia will always equate to just one hour spent away from Castle Argentriver, and so they can do as much as they like while they are here. Subject to the DMs whims, natch.
Stay safe and well you lovely people.
Happy Christmas.
Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.
