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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 8662066" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dark Squad in the Secrets of SaltmarshSession #091: The Great Big Soggy Fight.Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).Daktari (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 8New Tricks (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 8Nicholai Barbaros Kostyiev (played by George) Male Dhampir Cleric of Twilight Lvl 8Ramshambo (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue/Fighter Lvl 7/1Vincenzo (played by Haggis) Male Shifter (Wildhunt) Druid Lvl 8NPCs<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>RETIREDUbmo (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 1 *Trapped in the Land of the Bad Dead Ancestors.Servants/FamiliarsGerald (Bat/Giant Bat) servant/mount of New TricksOwly (Owl) Vinnie’s familiarThe Dark Squad’s to-do list-<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Warn Ashby & investigate Salt Cave, the Soggy's are coming!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Vinnie needs to be back for the next Saltmarsh Council meeting on the 1st Kythorn (June).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Awaiting new answers to new questions from the priests at Fallowstone Holy, info will be sent to Saltmarsh for around the 10th of Kythorn (June).</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?</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 you need to find the hidden weapons left to fight Ashardalon, these are in a dragon-in-flight shaped barrow in Farrow Woods.</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>This is session 91, and again- it was glorious... for all concerned this time, let's get right to it, but just to say in advance- there's no chatter here. The fight got going real world 7.50 PM time (the session started at 7.30 PM) and... we went slightly over time for the session (end 11.15 PM) when the last Soggy died. Although, the players were all still on Discord another fifteen or twenty minutes later with their braying voices oft repeating, “Do you remember that bit when...”.Yes, they won, but we went close to the wire again, so the secret's out, but here's how it happened.[ATTACH=full]250812[/ATTACH]The Dark Squad retreat into the previous cavern to lick their wounds (Newt?) and for Nicky to spread some healing around.Then, after the briefest of chats, we press on... and keep in mind the Dark Squad, or at least some of them, are on the timer here. A water breathing potion lasts an hour, although the PCs have only been sub-aqua for less than twenty minutes so far.Oh, but just to say, more pictures than words- again.[ATTACH=full]250813[/ATTACH]And soon after (actually, soon after Ram rolled a '1' & '2' on his with advantage Stealth check) the Dark Squad have spotted, and been spotted by, a lone sahuagin guard.Note this place is a massive multi-level cavern, the ceiling nearly sixty feet above. Ram has swum his way over to the northern area, scouting ahead- and from a natural cavern opening in the north west a soggy with a spear comes.Remember Nicky is a bottom walker, he's given himself a chance however- he's spider climbing places, gripped tight to the walls, although with no fear of falling.Ram duck's back into cover- passes the message on, an enemy approaches.[ATTACH=full]250814[/ATTACH]Alas, the soggy sentry doesn't last long, beating Ram to initiative is like, well... it pretty much never happens.The rogues waves/pull faces at the inbound soggy and then ducks behind a pillar (with a readied action) and when it arrives- he guts it.There is cheering, I know it's early but the Dark Squad are developing a healthy disrespect for soggys, at least the fellers in the last fight were very tough, so- they're on their guard.[ATTACH=full]250815[/ATTACH]But the soggy sentry has friends, however Dak and Ram are straight into action, while Newt is blasting and the druid- Vinnie, well, let's just say that Produce Flame is a lot less useful underwater, and yet... he keeps on hitting, for maybe 1-4 points of fire damage. He really does need another ranged attack cantrip.[ATTACH=full]250816[/ATTACH]The soggy's keep on coming.Why's that you ask? Because the soggy blademaster boss of this group (with AC 21 and Max HP, that's approx. 150 hit points) has sent the soggy guards in to distract from the fact that he has gone to get the soggy priestesses. That's right- priestesses, multiple.Six of them. Count 'em.[ATTACH=full]250817[/ATTACH]Daktari is the front line, and the barbarian (now raging) is also taking the time to Intimidate and generally put on a show for the swarming soggys, trying to keep them away from his friends, he goes as far as cutting himself to keep any newcomers pointed at him.He's my hero!Just to say, Daktari got MVP this evening, at the end of the session me and my bro checked out the stats generator thing on Fantasy Grounds Unity, and keep in mind the crazy barbarian was raging, with reckless attack (the soggys get advantage on their attacks against enemies not on full hit points anyway, so what the heck) and in a frenzy (three attacks/turn). So, the bastard did over 400 HP damage in the session, the next highest was Ram with just over 200 damage. Here's the clincher, the barbarian rolled eleven crits.Let's just take a moment and think about that.He made 34 attack rolls, 31 of them hits (again, 27 of his to hit rolls were with advantage). But, eleven crits![ATTACH=full]250818[/ATTACH]But, I designed the soggy guards to stick around- I gave them each 30+ HP, but that didn't help, they barely did their job.Keep in mind the rest of the Squad (save for the less than fiery druid) were also doing their thing. Ram, you'll note, hasn't lost a hit point- The rogue swims in, guts a soggy- stabs another close by, and then swims away again.Rinse and repeat for the rest of the fight.[ATTACH=full]250819[/ATTACH]It's not going well. Perfect world I should have had the soggy's arrive at the fight slower, because...[ATTACH=full]250820[/ATTACH]I could have got my hit point sponge/tank in earlier, a thirty foot long skeletal shark is spotted silently finning it's way towards the action.This thing has just short of 300 HP and a great big bite that is difficult to miss with.[ATTACH=full]250821[/ATTACH]The Dark Squad re-orient south- towards the new enemy, Daktari crits the skeleton shark twice in a turn- the bastard. Note the big orange (maybe, I'm colour blind) circle is the limit of Nicky's healing-doo-dad. Which, the Dark Squad are discovering, is worth it's weight in gold, or else Nicky's weight in gold.Note, the very tough soggy blademaster boss has been creeping towards the fight, Vinnie's hunter shark spots the foe.[ATTACH=full]250822[/ATTACH]Daktari gets bitten by the skeletal shark, while the soggy blademaster boss kills Vinnie's conjured shark and then swims directly into action with Nicky and the newly revealed Moonboar (Vinnie).But there are also a bunch of soggy priestesses that keep popping up, firing Hold Person spells (the PCs keep on saving) and/or Guiding Bolts (several hits).The priestesses have also got bless spells running, and one on the soggy blademaster too.The soggy priestesses emerge from hiding for just a moment, fire off whatever they've got, and then as swiftly retreat again, it's getting busy in the combat and the Dark Squad are fretting.A lot of inspiration points get spent, mostly re-rolling failed saving throws.[ATTACH=full]250823[/ATTACH]Lovely image of the cavern, the skeletal shark is almost done for- Daktari, remember, was pretty much landing a crit every turn, and Ram's been helping out with Deadend, his undead bane sword (and sneak attack).And now Newt & Daktari take the fight to the soggy priestesses, the pair go hunting the sahuagin spell-throwing bastards.Note, this new tactic came about because- a) that's what Daktari does, and b) Newt got so mad at the priestesses swimming out of hiding, blasting something at him (almost always a miss) and then swimming off to hide again. He's jittery under fire the tabaxi, he doesn't like it and he's not used to it. There's usually a meat wall between him and the enemy.[ATTACH=full]250824[/ATTACH]See Ram there, top left, that's his home for the entire fight- scoot out, kill stuff- scoot back in again.[ATTACH=full]250825[/ATTACH]Note, can you see all of the various coloured (small) circles? They are a variety of spiritual weapons, wielded from a distance by the various soggy priestesses.All thumping at various members of the Dark Squad.They were not enjoying the sensation, and keep in mind I did a lot of missing with the priestesses spells, and yet... they were rattled.[ATTACH=full]250826[/ATTACH]But the max hit point soggy blademaster is still going strong, and Nicky's very suddenly down- unconscious, and the healing stops.There is swearing, the Dark Squad have got very used to Nicky, very quickly- they like him a lot, and keep in mind he delivers 1d4+8 Temp HP every turn to the PCs who end their turn within his aura.That's why the bastards look like they've not taken many hits.I, of course, figured some of this out before hand, which is why I went big with the enemies here. There's the best part of 8,500 XP in this encounter, and all of the enemies had pretty much maximum hit points.[ATTACH=full]250827[/ATTACH]There's a lot more fretting going on now from the Dark Squad, particularly as the blademaster has started to cut into the Moonboar, who for two turns in a row fails to reply in kind, and then he spends a third turn getting a Cure Wounds into Nicky.The dhampir cleric struggles to his feet, and then conjures his spirit guardians in an attempt to keep him safe from harm.[ATTACH=full]250828[/ATTACH]It doesn't work, the soggy blademaster cuts Nicky down again, but the Moonboar is now hitting hard, as are Ram and Newt, who has returned to the fold.The blademaster falls, at last- I even had one of the soggy priestesses park herself in hiding behind the blademaster, pumping healing into him, but... not enough.At this point Daktari is still out hunting soggy priestesses, it's worth noting that during this 'hunt' the barbarian manages to make three Hold Person saves in a row, and Wisdom is his dump stat.[ATTACH=full]250829[/ATTACH]There's Daktari, bottom left- another soggy priestess is about to meet her end. While Newt and the Moonboar are dashing west after the only other soggy left standing.[ATTACH=full]250830[/ATTACH]The finale, the last picture, and the final soggy priestess has been chased down, another one of Newt's many victims, he started slow but found his aim in the end.The soul of the last departing soggy is dedicated to Humphrey Far-Fer-Nar by the exalting puddy-tat, I mean tabaxi warlock. It was Humphrey's turn, that's the third soul that he's had dedicated to him, Newt keeps a list. Some how that fact seems to make the whole enterprise feel, if anything, a little worse.I get the feeling that Newt is going to be reading this list sometime in the future, while petitioning one of his devilish patrons to come to his aid.“Hear ME, Lord Belphegor, for it is I- Newt, your most dedicated of servants, for I have sent thee- the two orcs in the frosty forest, the goblin that looked at me funny, the dead hooker, the ogre with the daft hat... and on the list goes, for quite some time. What can he have written in the list? He doesn't know their names?I worry about Newt.He's such a wretched soul, bags of fun to have around, but... just incredibly broken inside.Back to the last picture- it's a wonderful map, and the day after at work Jim (who plays Vinnie) was purring about the fight, apologies for the lack of detail but it really was just all fighting, and not a grind- although we skirted it, it helped that the soggy priestesses didn't get too close to the action.Remarkably the Dark Squad were incredibly good, tactically, in the fight- concentrating fire on the big bad enemies, and then- when the time was right- sending Daktari and Newt out to hunt the soggy priestesses.If I could have got a priestess (or two, or three) to the sahuagin guards before the Dark Squad cut them all down, well... the priestesses all had Mass Cure Wounds spells. Different fight, maybe.But that's all we did, but I promise we'll do some more of it next time.Stay safe and well you lovely people.Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</blockquote>

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