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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 9443940" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dark Squad in the Secrets of SaltmarshSession #144: Along Came A Spider (or two).Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).Daktari/Dak (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 9Fellowyn Silverstream (played by George) Male Eladrin Wizard Bladesinger Lvl 9New Tricks/Newt (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 9Ramshambo/Ram (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue/Fighter Lvl 7/2Vincenzo/Vinnie (played by Haggis) Male Shifter (Wildhunt) Druid Lvl 9DEAD PCs<s>Nicholai Barbaros Kostyiev/Nicky (played by George) Male Dhampir Cleric of Twilight Lvl 8 </s>RIPNPCs<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<s>Ubmo (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 1</s> EXPLODEDUbdug (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 2 (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 familiarArchimedes (very scruffy & old, Owl) Fellowyn’s familiar.The Dark Squad’s to-do list-<ol> <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 Cemetery).</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 144, and the Dark Squad are aboard the Empress of the Sea, which as it turns out is in a swamp, or else a particularly marshy jungle… in Chult.That’s nice.What isn’t nice is Krell.Although he tries.Krell is beloved of Lolth, he says as much- repeatedly. Krell has come to bargain with the PCs for a maze button- Lolth wants one, it seems.Initial negotiations are fraught-“Give now, or I kill you… I kill you real bad!”Was, I think, how Krell put it- this after the Dark Squad said no to riches and/or power in exchange for one of their maze buttons, then… well, there was a mishap with an Insect Plague spell (swiftly followed by Fellowyn’s readied Counterspell) and, well… it gets fractious.[ATTACH=full]377677[/ATTACH]Here we all are again. Krell’s Insect Plague spell has just failed and fizzled out.Then…[ATTACH=full]377678[/ATTACH]Krell unleashes an Entangle spell and then disappears, oh and giant trapdoor spider scurries out of hiding and sinks its jaws into Newt’s backside.Newt is one or two down from ‘happy’.[ATTACH=full]377679[/ATTACH]The new improved Daktari (now with added greatsword, wild magic and some sort of power attack thingy- he does a shed load of damage when he hits) and Ram take out the first giant spider, only for a second to show up.Fellowyn gets knocked prone, and then bitten by the aforementioned additional spider- he therefore grabs ahold of Newt’s ankle and Misty Steps up and onto the ship’s deck.[ATTACH=full]377680[/ATTACH]And there’s Krell to greet them. “Krello!”Newt and Fellowyn go commando- they both find cover and start blasting.At which point…[ATTACH=full]377681[/ATTACH]Krell’s special friend turns up, and bites Newt who is now not very happy at all.To note, a little later the PCs figure that the newly revealed spider is of the Phase variety, they only get a brief glimpse of the arachnid, however, keep reading.Also note, Newt is now so infuriated that from this point on we (me and the other players) can no longer tell what Bear playing Newt is yelling pretty much most of the time. There’s a lot of energy and invective (I think) so… he’s not happy.And then this happens.[ATTACH=full]377682[/ATTACH]Newt manages to cast Blindness on both Krell and his special spider-friend. The pair, naturally, fail their saves.A little later the pair duly disappear.And thereafter continue to make saving throws in order for the Blindness to go away.Krell makes his save and is back in the action in the last 45 or so minutes of the session.At the end of the session Krell’s special spider-friend is still not back in the fight- he/she/it is still making, and failing, saves.Bugger.But what follows is a delight.To make clear, a delight- for me.Let me enlighten.Newt and Fellowyn’s screams (of delight?) bring the rest of the gang running, or else the Moonboar Misty Steps up onto the deck and…[ATTACH=full]377683[/ATTACH]Swarms of spiders are boiling out of the woodwork and are nibbling on the druid’s companions.On the lower deck of the ship Ram, Daktari (New Improved) and Ubdug are making their way up to their colleagues, only…[ATTACH=full]377684[/ATTACH]Spiders! Actually, ettercaps- a pair of them either bungee- web- jumping into attack, or else they’re filling the stairs up with webs.Daktari gets webbed, and bitten, and clawed- he too is furious.Raging.[ATTACH=full]377685[/ATTACH]And here we all are again. The Moonboar has just bust into the forward cabin- he’s chasing after the disappeared Krell, who may have gone down the stairs in here, or else- he’s disappeared again and is now somewhere else on the ship.Newt and Fellowyn, in the image above, are still blasting spider swarms. While right at the bottom of the picture you can see the rest of the gang coming up the stairs into the aft cabin, in which the ettercaps lair.Bear playing Newt update- we can no longer make out anything that he is saying at all.In the above sentence scratch the word ‘saying’ out and replace it with ‘screaming’.Why?[ATTACH=full]377686[/ATTACH]Newt is being eaten by spiders. Very lots of them, as you can see he’s bloodied already.And while that’s all happening at the back of the boat…[ATTACH=full]377687[/ATTACH]Another very pleasantly appointed cabin, and within it yet another giant spider- -which is very quickly destroyed by Ram and a very irate Ubdug.And yes, that’s an altar/shrine dedicated to Lolth, and scattered around the chamber are the viscera and remains of… well, it seems Krell has not been idle.But where’s the Moonboar I bet you are asking yourselves.[ATTACH=full]377688[/ATTACH]Vinnie/the Moonboar (still in pursuit of Krell) descends again into the hold/lower decks of the ship, and... yet more spiders, and an ettercap, pay the druid a visit.And now Vinnie, it seems, is a little less than pleased.[ATTACH=full]377689[/ATTACH]Here he is making his way back through the boat again- now why he went in this direction is absolutely beyond me. He is basically running through the same section of the boat as he was in previously. By which I mean to say- he has not ventured into the forward/northern lower deck of the ship.Point of fact none of the PCs have ventured into this half of the lower deck.Everyone has run past it at least once- Vinnie here is on his second circuit.It’s an oddity to me.Anyway, see the image above- the Moonboar is charging through the webs and vines, being pursued by various spider-related bad guys.Then, Krell makes his save, and…[ATTACH=full]377690[/ATTACH]Here we go again.Newt only just (Dark Ones Own Luck) avoids being Feebleminded.It’s at this point that the Dark Squad decide that Krell deserves a little more respect.Although Newt is still just crazy sweary apoplectic.Oh, and back in the cabin at the rear of the ship-[ATTACH=full]377691[/ATTACH]Everyone is having fun.Even Fellowyn, who is still up on the deck.[ATTACH=full]377692[/ATTACH]He’s made lots of new friends.Just to make clear if the creature appears on the map- as above- not in a square but on an intercise then that means they are in the same square as the creature they’re overlapping.Fellowyn is basically a moving pillar of spiders.Here’s the thing though- Fellowyn is an extremely agile (for his age) bladesinger, with a great AC. Fellowyn seems to barely notice his newfound spidery friends. I think I managed to hit him only once.Newt on the other hand…[ATTACH=full]377693[/ATTACH]Newt attempts to blast some of the swarms on Fellowyn using his Belphegor’s Fiery Hide (a version of Fire Shield- he was granted this after delivering 100 fresh souls to Belphegor), this by running through the bladesinger’s square and generating opportunity attacks.Semi-successful.Semi-successful because a) Newt had forgotten at this point that he was low on hit points (and had no temporary hit points either)- he hasn’t killed anything yet; and b) he had also forgotten that the spider swarms are dishing out 2d6 damage/hit.The DM rolls high for damage, and Newt gets bitten a lot, he’s soon down to just about 10 hit points.Swarms burn.Oh, but why is Newt attacking swarms of spiders? Where’s Krell?Exactly, the half-orc just disappeared again.Meanwhile…[ATTACH=full]377694[/ATTACH]The Moonboar hits the spider things chasing him with a Cone of Cold, they die in their droves, and yet…Back on the main deck of the Empress of the Sea and there are still more swarms of spiders turning up…Daktari has been swarmed too, although Fellowyn and Newt are now blasting swarms off themselves.And that my friends was about three-and-a-half hours of running around with added interludes of craziness, and sprinkled with moments of sweary madness (thanks Bear/Newt).Krell has taken a couple of hits- nothing major. He’s failed a variety of concentration saves however and has been stripped of his various power-ups.The phase spider hasn’t been back, it still hasn’t passed its save, it is therefore still in the ethereal plane.And… more of the same next time, probably.Note, when Krell appeared again (no longer Blind), then he was much chattier.“We should talk about dis, let us cease our struggle!”Krell sounds a lot like Daktari, just so you know.But the Dark Squad are having none of it- they chat back but, well… it’s not so much chatter as insults (from Newt) and threats from some of the others- or else calls for Krell (and his minions) to cease their struggle first.But there’s not much sign of that happening, and keep in mind there’s a section of the ship that the Dark Squad has not explored, and… I’ve been holding back a bit on the spiders, so…Very probably some more of this next session, which is this Tuesday coming (27th).Stay safe and well you lovely people.Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</blockquote>

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