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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 8441830" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dark Squad in the Secrets of SaltmarshSession #068: The Greater Evil.Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).Daktari (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 7New Tricks (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 7Ramshambo (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue Lvl 7Vincenzo (played by Haggis) Male Shifter (Wildhunt) Druid Lvl 7NPCsInverna Nightbreeze (played by Goonalan) Female Wood Elf Fighter Lvl 7 (Sidekick)<s>Garumn Male Mountain Dwarf Paladin of Moradin Lvl 5 </s>RIP*<s>Tarbin Tul (played by goonalan) Male Human Bard </s>RETIRED*Trapped in the Land of the Bad Dead Ancestors.Servants/FamiliarsGerald (Bat/Giant Bat) servant/mount of New TricksOwly (Owl) Vinnie’s familiarThis is session 68, and let's just dive into it.And so...Blah, blah, blah save Arty, about thirteen hours to go, or rather thirteen or so hours to get the job done in time to claim the big reward, because this is what's going on here people. I know this because it got discussed quite a lot this session. But, it's not even about the money- it's...Oh, but yes- for Newt it is about the money (a share of 5,000gps worth of alchemical stuff).But for Ram it's about the fact that they said they would do save Arty in 24 hours and so... they have to do it, there's not another option- if you say you are going to do a thing, you do it.Vinnie (in Moon Boar form atm), and Daktari, and Inverna are obviously less... rigid.This fact means the debate- should we stop now and take a long rest, gets repeated quite a lot this session.But, the action...[ATTACH=full]145901[/ATTACH]Spectral Dwarves!So, a dwarven crypt- spectres, three of them, but they don't last long- although they do make their mark on the PCs.But here's the oddity, the three spectral dwarves, their names are known to the Dark Squad (they're etched on their tombs) they are- Master Smith Stiggy Poprock, Forge Master Smurg Picklittle & Ragvik 'The Firestarter' Firestone. Anyway, these three, when they expire they deliver a final word or two, a warning- maybe, to the adventurers.It's only Vinnie and Daktari that can speak the dwarven tongue however, these then are the dwarven spectres final words-“We must build it, he said so...”“Tao! Tao! We have built the future!”“Waiting for the Moon Man!”And this stuff causes a lot more chatter- after the fight, particularly as Vinnie believes that he may be the Moon Man...Is he right?He's a Moon Druid, and a part-time Moon Boar.Could be.[Zombies and spectral dwarves in the crypt, and a bit of chat 1000 XP]However, the chatter diverts into  a debate- do they open the tombs. Daktari (oddly, the barbarian doesn't often have an opinion) makes the point that dwarves don't like their tombs being robbed, it's just wrong to contemplate doing so. Obviously, the barbarian isn't quite as elegant.“Mm... Dwarf tombs, bad ju-ju!”That kind of thing. As it turns out Vinnie is against it too, and Ram's not sure, nor Inverna... So, when Newt blasts the first one open...The chatter gets a little more intense, and more so when the tabaxi then climbs into the first tomb (they're situated in the floor) and grabs out the skull of Stiggy Poprock, hides himself within, and then with his hands manipulates the skull's jaw as he ventriloquisms-“Alas, goor Poprawk! I new 'im, Vinnie, a fart dwarve off ginfinit vest, ov moist exgellent van-cee.”Then...“Gert da bag ov holgin opun ders lotz of shy-knee stuff gin ear!”He's a hoot the warlock.[Tomb robbing and ventriloquism 300 XP]So, that was fun.Ram is sent through the door ahead, and guess what... there's another set of stairs spiralling down, and nearly another hundred feet.The Dark Squad must be getting deep now.The rogue eventually emerges via an ajar secret door, in through the back wall (behind an altar) and into a very large partially collapsed tomb like chamber (with a sixty foot ceiling) exit over the far side. The place looks to be deserted.[ATTACH=full]145902[/ATTACH]Deeper and down to the secret beneath the mountain.A statue on the altar depicts the dwarven deity Dumathoin, also bearing the legend “the secret under the mountain.”The Dark Squad take a moment to have a look around, although at some point the two spinagon devils that are hidden up high in the recesses of the chamber, well... they start swooping down to fire off their tail spikes.Remarkably the DMs dice, like the spinagons' tail spikes, are on fire.[ATTACH=full]145903[/ATTACH]Spined Devils.Ram gets hit repeatedly, Vinnie and Daktari also soak up a few hits, but eventually... the first devil is blasted from its perch, but the second... well, here's a turn up.Newt rants at the little devil.“I am Newt the Magnificent, cease this tomfoolery, we are here to see your Master- Ian with one I”, and then he rolls a '20' on his Persuasion check.So, Newt and the spinagon- Arfur, chat for a while.Here's Arfur's first line-“Ian wiv wun I is no-one's master, all-vo an' oddly, my Master sum-times calls 'imself Randall ver Magnificent, all-vo 'is real nayme iz Randall ver Black!”So, Ian may be the fellow the Dark Squad are chasing but... it looks like Randall the Black is still alive and well (maybe) and in charge down here. Or else some version of this.#Do you remember Randall the Black, we met his wife earlier all the way back in Squabblepot.So, the chatter continues between Newt and Arfur, but finally the tabaxi orders the spinagon devil to head on in advance of the Dark Squad, to alert his Master of their imminent arrival...[Newt and the spinagons 1200 XP]So, that's nice, although a little later Newt translates the conversation to his comrades, after the little devil has departed. The rest of the Dark Squad are, of course, a little less appreciative of the warlock's efforts.Vinnie asks the tabaxi to confirm-“Zo, zer leetul de-ville zat yew ave allowed to depart, who werks vor an ancienne e-ville gnom ov sum zort, an yew tol dim to zay zat we wur come-ing?”Newt nods.“But yew did not ask any per-tin-nent questions abowt wat lies a-head?”Newt shakes his head, but he's still grinning like, well... the proverbial Cheshire Cat.“Sacre-bleu! Yew are un idiot! Merde! Merde! MERDE!”But Newt, of course, has a beautiful reply-And try to do it in a harsh but whispered voice, full of threat.“Vinnie! You are not seeing the bigger picture, there is a greater evil down here, I can sense it- and that excites me. It excites me a lot!”And at this point if you're still doing Newt's voice you should have strayed into creepy territory for the end of the above sentence.But Ram has the best line.“Oh, there's a greater evil down here, we're all very aware of that.”The rogue, and his companions, are all pointedly staring at the warlock, of course.Who doesn't get it, or else just chooses to ignore the complement.[The Greater Evil 300 XP]But then the conversation gets forgotten, because Ram is absolutely certain that he's spotted that there's a secret entrance over on the eastern wall, hidden (badly) behind one of the sarcophagi. Note the outline of the opening is illuminated, clearly there's a light on beyond the secret portal, a bit of a give away.And so...Ram checks it out, no traps but the ancient stone portal is stuck- it seems to have been broken/disturbed, maybe back whenever the rest of this chamber suffered its partial collapse.Daktari, with a lot of help from his friends manages to wrench the great stone slab open a littler further- beyond a set of steep and low-ceilinged (dwarf size) stairs lead down into an torch illuminated chamber. The rogue can see two large chests down there and a number of once sturdy sacks that have spewed their contents- coins, lots of them... thousands of them.Newt has this to say.“Too easy. We should go on.”Later this statement will be thought remarkably prescient, and keep in mind the members of the Dark Squad keep on saying its not about the money (the reason for their rush) and that they should stick to following Ian and ignore everything else.Well, that doesn't happen.Ram descends the stairs, only...[ATTACH=full]145904[/ATTACH]The Dark Squad are nobodies fools.Its one of the very few times that he hasn't checked for traps before making his move, and he pays for it- a quartet of poisoned darts fire up into the stairwell, the rogue is hit twice- but manages to make his saves (after spending an inspiration point). He is however now very badly wounded, and out of there.But now the challenge has been set.Five minutes later and a spider climbing Vinnie has entered the chamber, avoiding the stairs altogether by creeping along one of the walls of the stairwell.The chamber below is empty save for the treasure- a slew of coins (over 20,000 of them)* and two large and hefty looking chests- both seem to be locked, although the druid's not the expert.The coin pile is examined, it's safe- the druid therefore starts scooping the loot up before he realises that this procedure could take him hours, keep in mind Vinnie is still walking on the walls of the chamber, avoiding the traps (he suspects) on the floor.*The coin haul, when it is finally calculated/examined consists of 23,000 and change copper pieces, and about another 300gp in other currencies. So, not much of a haul, although keep in mind the Dark Squad have two bags of holding atm, so it all gets taken.Then, the druid goes over and grabs up one of the chests- he's still not touching the floor, remarkably he manages to lift the thing, but that's when it all goes pear-shaped.The chest is a mimic.The druid, less than a second later, is glued to the aforementioned shapechanger and also being snapped at by the mimics fanged maw.It all gets very silly.Inverna braces herself feet on one wall, hands on the opposite wall- she attempts to descends the stairs without touching any of the steps, and... gets stuck about halfway down. A little later Ram finally manages to rescue the elf- to grab and drag her back to safety without triggering the trap again.When the way is clear again Daktari leaps down into the chamber with much greater style, the barbarian rages and starts slashing with his magical longsword- Shatterspike. Meantime the Moon Boar has contrived to get his head stuck to the chest also, this after he successfully tusked the mimic.A little later Daktari also loses Shatterspike when it gets stuck to the second mimic chest down here.[ATTACH=full]145905[/ATTACH]That's right, both chests are mimics.That went down well with the Dark Squad.While all of this is going on Inverna, Newt and Ram are taking it in turns to dodge into the opening at the top of the stairwell and snipe at the mimics, which is very hard to do because of the angles, and because one of the beasts is stuck to the Moon Boar's head.It's a struggle let me tell you.But eventually, and I do mean... eventually, both of the mimics are slain.The Moon Boar and Vinnie bag the coin (Daktari carries one of the Bags of Holding) and then exit the chamber safely.[Treasure and mimics 1000 XP]But here's the thing- the Moon Boar has taken a beating, Daktari is back down to less than twenty hit points, Ram- after the trap went off and he took multiple hits, well... he's down to about ten hit points.So, we cannot go on, or at least-“Zis is madness, I am sorely beat-un. I 'ave only a petite few spells left- and my spell selection du jour wuz aimed at solving a mystery.”The druid is a bit bent out of shape, and almost defeated. But here's the thing- Newt is all for going on (after a short rest) as is Ram, it's a matter of principal for the rogue (see above).But the argument goes on for quite a while, so long in fact that Newt erects his Tiny Hut and the Dark Squad take an hour to chat about the situation, and to do the calculations. It is however getting very late, and so an eight hour long rest taken now would leave the Dark Squad pretty much out of time. They would have about an hour to locate Ian, grab the bastard, and then get back to Squabblepot.The discussion/argument goes on and on- its mostly Vinnie and Newt going back and forth (in character) with the druid trying to persuade Ram to take the sensible option.Round and round they go, but... Ram's not for stopping.At the end of the short rest all of the PCs are still hurt, although Vinnie wildshapes back into his druid shifter form, and then after the rest is done, he changes back again to the Moon Boar. None of the PCs have any healing HD left to spend, three of them (the DM can confirm) still have one healing potion each.Other than that... not a lot.Vinnie has maybe three spells left.Daktari has one rage left.Note, also during the above frank exchange Inverna has questions- particularly with regard to Newt, simply put- is the tabaxi in league with devils and demons?Vinnie (and Newt) delight in explaining, the druid however best sums it up- the warlock has a promiscuous soul, he's a veritable devil/demon groupie.[Lots more discussion 200 XP]Then, after the above discussion finally plays out, we move on.[ATTACH=full]145906[/ATTACH]Tracking Ian continues... down again.The door north out of the high-ceilinged crypt, and there are three possible ways to go- door east, smashed and partially collapsed doorway west, or more spiral stairs heading down.Ian, Daktari is convinced, went down again- of course he did, and so once again Ram is sent ahead.Spiral down another fifty or more feet and into, an ancient ruined chamber- the walls are all partially broken and collapsed, the ceiling here and there likewise.[ATTACH=full]145907[/ATTACH]More ruin...The tracks head through a broken door south, into... well, it's the largest constructed chamber yet, although it too is smashed and broken, clearly the place was once an immense dwarven temple. At the far end on a raised dais stands a thirty foot tall statue of the All Father- Moradin, clad in armour (but mostly destroyed). Also the water has come in here, the south western side of the pillared chamber is waterlogged- the wet seeping in through a collapsed wall.The rest of the chamber is a wreck, with broken bones and rusted fragments of armour here and there.However, there doesn't seem anywhere else to go here, and so... Vinnie tries a little chatter, calling out to Ian, and more remarkably the telepathic Ian (a nothic, probably) is keen to chat, but less keen to surrender.The chat goes back and forth for a while, and keep in mid that Ian is in hiding for this- that is until Vinnie spots the creepy bastard up on the ceiling.The Dark Squad quickly learn that Ian also serves Randall the Black, Ian however is less convinced (than Arfur the spinagon) that Randall would like to meet with the Dark Squad. Although he's happy to let the adventurers know that Randall used to be an adventurer too. He and his companions called themselves The Eyes in the Night.So, we go back and forth, but Ian just wants the Dark Squad to push off.However, it is about this point that the Moon Boar spots where Ian is hiding (after a '20', all of the PCs were making Perception checks and looking for the nothic).Vinnie climbs the nearest wall, and remarkably does so without alerting Ian.But the spiralling telepathic conversation is starting to grate on the nothic, and seconds later a dozen or more dwarven skeletons rise up from the rubble- they don't initially attack, but... that doesn't last long.Why?Because the Moon Boar, having spotted the nothic- but not been seen by Ian, decides to charge the creepy creature, and with a fantastic hit with his tusks further manages to butt the beast of its ceiling perch.Ian very suddenly feels the effect of gravity (Ian's Strength save to avoid being knocked prone was a '1') and falls a hundred feet to the floor. Ian survives, but he's pretty beat up.At which point the dwarven skeletons get into action, and then seconds later a large skeleton snake reveals itself and fires a lightning bolt into Newt and Ram (for very little damage to the latter).It all gets very fighty.A little while later the skeleton snake creature fires a second lightning bolt into the Moon Boar, and that hurts a lot.[ATTACH=full]145908[/ATTACH]Fireball!Meantime the Dark Squad have started to work their way through the undead courtesy of a Newt Fireball, and a Vinnie Moon Beam.[ATTACH=full]145909[/ATTACH]Moonbeam! But... that's all we have time for this session.The Dark Squad have now spent just over sixteen hours at the mystery, and they reckon (after a chat with the very helpful DM) that it is definitely going to take an hour-and-a-half, at best, to get back to the surface from where they stand.So, in reality the Dark Squad have only got approx. six hours hours left to go, although Ian's right here...Oh, and as soon as this fight is done they'll need to make a Constitution save or they're Exhausted.The Dark Squad’s to-do list reads a little like this- <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">    Grab Ian with one 'I'.     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">    Save (the bastard) Arty Swell (maybe).     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">    To the Moon Pool.     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">    Goblins in the Dreadwood.     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">    Nightshade in the Dreadwood.     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">    To Blackedge, find the Goblin Stair.     </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">    Return to Fallowstone Holy for answers- the Witch’s Tor & the Pact of the Flame. </li> </ol>Stay safe and well you lovely people.Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</blockquote>

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