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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 8773562" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dark Squad in the Secrets of SaltmarshSession #100: F**k Yew Gray-Hum!Sorry about the naughty word in the title but when it happened in-game, when we had stopped laughing- everyone said, that's the title for this episode.Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).Daktari/Dak (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 8New Tricks/Newt (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 8Nicholai Barbaros Kostyiev/Nicky (played by George) Male Dhampir Cleric of Twilight Lvl 8Ramshambo/Ram (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue/Fighter Lvl 7/1Vincenzo/Vinnie (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 (When we remember) *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">The De La Crane Manse is on The Leap, and Anders Solmor would like the Squad to check it out, it's also the ancestral home of the De La Crane family, and the Squad are looking for Antonio De La Crane- see below.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Bonnie Bowspirit, grand-daughter of Rambles, will show the Squad to the missing halfling killer's tomb, on the 6th of Flamerule- see below.</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>This is session 100, although at the time no-one realized this- woo-hoo, we're 100 sessions old! Now, back to the game. Last we met them the Dark Squad they were getting eaten alive by snakes, swarms of 'em! In fact the name of the last sessions was- Snakes Alive! Which is a very odd thing because there aren't any.Aren't any what? You ask.Snakes alive, the DM answers.[ATTACH=full]261674[/ATTACH]The image shows the scene as it actually is, a secret door to the south has just slid open- and in the newly revealed opening is stood a rough looking cloaked young man in salt-sprayed leathers, and with a loaded hand crossbow at the ready.Although, only Nicky spots the intruder, the rest of the Dark Squad are still fighting illusionary snake swarms, which are still spewing from the chimney here.To make clear, at the start of this session the Players arrived at the VTT to discover the snake swarms had all gone, and for the next ten minutes I went through all of the action here (as played out at the end of the last session). The illusion that conjured the snake swarms required a player/PC to voice their concern- “I don't believe this!”, that kind of thing, and the PCs (last session) were doing a lot of chatting, but all of it in an attempt to gee themselves up, to somehow win the fight.They bought it.And so, every time a PC got bitten (last session) they took 1d8 psychic damage, the rest of the hurt they did to themselves- Newt walking through two Walls of Fire (his and Vinnie's), the druid's Erupting Earth followed by a Fireball from the warlock, the Dark Squad got fooled.Good and proper.Note, Daktari took 13d8 psychic damage, the snake swarms were all over the barbarian.Last bit of the intro- this was a short session, I've been having some issues with Fantasy Grounds Unity, and so the IT Crowd (mostly Bear & George) were helping me to get my head around some of the ongoing issues. Also, we've just (last week) rolled up some Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition characters, and we're looking to try them out, possibly using the Foundry VTT. We spent over an hour talking through this kind of stuff.So, back to the action, and believe me- it's all action.Nicky starts screaming, although very politely, at his colleagues- “it's not weal! The snakes are ill-ooo-juns!”But for now the rest of the Dark Squad are not listening.[ATTACH=full]261675[/ATTACH]Daktari gets shot repeatedly, there are two leather armour, hand crossbow wielding folk- and the pair take it in turns to pepper the barbarian. Then a hulking brute steps into the formerly secret doorway and fires a heavy crossbow bolt into Daktari's gut.He's really not well.But also check out Vinnie on the stairs- spot the difference from the previous image, that's right- the druid has just been shot twice in the back. There are more of the thugs up the stairs.[ATTACH=full]261676[/ATTACH]Vinnie becomes the Moonboar, and then charges up the stairs, back into the first floor pantry, alas the druid then flails and fails to land a hit. Meanwhile chaos below...The Dark Squad in the cellar, at last, become aware of reality- the snake swarms are gone, there are enemies new in sight.[ATTACH=full]261677[/ATTACH]Ram dodges into the chamber beyond the secret door, there are lots of bunks in here- naughty word! This could get busy.The rogue, to make matters worse, is also rolling low.[ATTACH=full]261678[/ATTACH]Newt, still on not very many hit points you'll observe, uses his Rod of the Pact Keeper to get one of his warlock powers back, and then with an inspiration point he launches a Fireball into the mix. You'll also note that Daktari is dirt-napping here, the armoured thug cut the barbarian down moments earlier.It's getting nasty.[ATTACH=full]261679[/ATTACH]Back upstairs and the Moonboar is also taking a beating, in three turns of scrapping he's landed only one hit. The druid tries to slow his attackers down with an enhanced Hold Person spell, alas only the one of his enemies succumbs, but then the attacker makes his save second time around only moments later.The druid is not making any real headway, and he keeps getting hit... but he's a clever fellow, seconds later and the Moonboar is swathed in flame- his Fire Shield, any enemies hitting him in melee are getting burnt.However...[ATTACH=full]261680[/ATTACH]Back down below and the rest of the Dark Squad have, at last, got the rough (and tough) looking humans on the run, the trio are retreating. Note, Nicky gets Daktari back awake with a Healing Word, while Ram grabs out a potion of greater healing and shoves it down the exhausted barbarian's throat.Oh yeah, Daktari also has Exhaustion 2, he's not in his happy place, and grumbling like an old man as he totters around- half move as well as disadvantage on all of his skills.Newt is sniping with his Belphegor Fiery Repelling Blasts, and then scampering back to hide behind his colleagues.That's better.The old Newt is back.[ATTACH=full]261681[/ATTACH]Belphegor's Fiery Repelling Blasts- the armoured thug is lifted up a slammed into the far wall, it's the death of him.The Dark Squad press the attack- note Nicky is flying as he goes, and he's very pale-faced, with his vampire fangs revealed. The Twilight priest grabs and bites the nearest retreating human, which leaves the fellow at death's door, and screaming “Vampire!” in terror.The enemies here are in full retreat.Back upstairs, the Moonboar is still keeping the pair of attackers here at bay, but not for much longer, the druid flees down the stairs (weathering blows), and all the way back to his comrades.[ATTACH=full]261682[/ATTACH]The tough from above follows the fleeing druid down the stairs, and is then instantly targeted by Ram, and shot with a Crit-Sneak-Attack-ton-of-damage-HIT! The now screaming rough fellow flees the scene, back up the stairs.Meantime, the rest of the Squad are now hot-footing it after the fleeing humans.[ATTACH=full]261683[/ATTACH]The chase is on, note Ram has left a bag of marbles just the other side of the secret door (the blue circle-ish shape on the map), just in case the rough fellows that were battling the Moonboar are coming back.Daktari and Ram discover a set of very steep stairs leading down in to a dripping wet torch lit cavern passage.The Dark Squad, and remember Nicky is still flying, descend into the sodden stone passages, they creep forward a short way but are swiftly met by a wall of steel- as three more of the hefty armoured thugs rush out of an unseen passage and straight into the fight.Then, at last, we get to meet Graham![ATTACH=full]261684[/ATTACH]So, the Dark Squad are fighting humans, and that's a first- at least for a while, and so the bad guys here have hardly been silent. Throughout the fight they've been shouting a variety of things, not just insults, but also encouragement, and instruction to each other.“That's it Terry, stab the bastard!”“Fall back Trevor, get the door!”“Hold 'em!”And latterly-“Get around 'im, Graham!”“Do 'im, Graham! Do 'im wid yer blade!”That kind of thing.Well, it seems that Graham is not a classic fantasy fiction style-name for a homicidal maniac thug, or at least Daktari doesn't think so.And keep in mind that the following line comes apropos absolutely nothing, save the above.Daktari (played by Jim) just starts shouting it- in his cod Russian accent, and he's very annoyed.“naughty word yew Gray-Hum! naughty word yew very much, Gray-Hum!”We laugh.Daktari shouts it some more, or else versions of it- “I come for yew Gray-Hum! I hurt yew real bad Gray-Hum!”We laugh a lot more.Daktari flips, as stated earlier- he's not having a good day- he's been fighting illusionary snakes (and was subject to Newt's Fireball, and Vinnie's Erupting Earth spell, plus 13d8 of psychic damage), he's double-exhausted, and this is really not going that well.Note the orange (maybe) circle in the image above is the limit of Nicky's Spirit Guardians- the spectral vampires are back.Further note, Newt is out of spells (save Cantrips), Jim and Nicky- they're down to first level only, or just about.[ATTACH=full]261685[/ATTACH]But the Dark Squad effect their patented pile on.Gray-Hum is cut down.[ATTACH=full]261686[/ATTACH]But then seconds later Newt gets shot some more, remember the two bad guys that Vinnie left behind, well... they've made it back to the party.The fighting front has to quickly re-orient.[ATTACH=full]261687[/ATTACH]Foolishly the hand crossbow guy retreats to stand beside Nicky's flying mace-style Spectral Weapon, he gets hit in the face (a Crit) seconds later, after first getting blasted with a Guiding Bolt.[ATTACH=full]261688[/ATTACH]And mere seconds later and the enemies are retreating again, but the Dark Squad are certain- even more terror (the boss of these guys) lies ahead.They are not out of this yet, and they are blowing- blowing hard, out of hit points, spells, rages and... all that stuff.This is as low as I have seen them (the Dark Squad), in like- ever.But that was the end of the session.Just to say, there were seven turns of combat at the end of the previous session (against the snake swarms) followed by another 17 turns of combat (and running about) here.Who knows what next week will bring?Also, I've just remembered- we forgot all about the Supreme Being again, Ubmo to save the day?Stay safe and well you lovely people.Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</blockquote>

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