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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 9448915" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dark Squad in the Secrets of SaltmarshSession #145: Horsey vs Spidery.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 145, 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.Scratch that, by the end of this one Krell has stopped trying to be nice.This session was a corker.The holding back is over.Settle in, this one is very mostly just pictures- there were nearly a 100 of them taken in the session.Busy.[ATTACH=full]378511[/ATTACH]Here we all are again, or at least most of the Dark Squad- Ram and Vinnie are down below atm, but heading back to the upper deck, because… not shown on the image above is Krell, the half-orc druid (the PCs have worked this out) devotee of Lolth is stood on the foredeck (on the next map over from this one).The Dark Squad are therefore scrambling to get at the teleporting half-orc bastard.[ATTACH=full]378512[/ATTACH]And again- here we all are. Daktari manages to swipe a little at Krell, but… then the half-orc disappears only to reappear…[ATTACH=full]378513[/ATTACH]Over on the aft deck.And just to say- a massive thanks to George, I’d be screwed without you. George takes an awful lot of great pictures.Note that’s Sydalg (Gladys backwards) Fellowyn’s aberrant friend (summoned) a sort of very low-powered beholderkin.At present a couple of ettercaps are after Sydlag, this after she was sent reconnoitering the fore cabin.[ATTACH=full]378514[/ATTACH]Here’s a better picture of the situation, and Ram is back on deck too.We take a brief break in proceedings at this point, or else we forget about the fighting for ten to fifteen minutes, time enough for Krell and the Dark Squad, mostly Daktari, to have a conversation.I say conversation, it’s mostly schoolyard insults that are on offer here.“Horsey better than spidery! Horsey will tramble on spidery to paste! Hoof-paste!”“Spidery much much better than horsey- Lolth knows best. Spidery eat horsey eyes!”Keep in mind that Krell has exactly the same voice (I’m trying) as Daktari, so that’s nice.This descends to…“Horsey! Horsey! Horsey!”Versus.“Spidery! Spidery! Spidery!”Which goes on for quite a while.A lot longer than you would think.Inflection is everything for a while in this conversation.Also, Daktari is not blinking, and neither am I- and one of us must have the last word.And that last word will either be ‘Horsey!’, or else, ‘Spidery!’There’s a bit more to this conversation, as I say- it was ten minutes at least, but… a lot less than you’d think- it was 90% dumb insults, and the rest piss and vinegar.[ATTACH=full]378515[/ATTACH]But then… the Moonboar sneaks (sorta- he rushes) up on Krell and hits the evil druid with a Confusion spell, save- duly failed.The Dark Squad take to cheering- too soon.[ATTACH=full]378516[/ATTACH]But then the phase spider (it actually has a name- it’s a tough S.O.B. believe me) turns up and guts Newt, for the first time.[ATTACH=full]378517[/ATTACH]And then Daktari hits Krell with a Fireball (he has a necklace of these, although I don’t think there are many left).Not a lot of damage though.Krell is also very tough.[ATTACH=full]378518[/ATTACH]The loose rule in the game is- if you forget to use a power, you have until the start of your next turn to inform the DM and attempt to rectify whatever mistake you have made. Obviously, the DM has the last say.Anyway, the image above is a future reminder to Newt, he’s got his Fire Shield (Belphegor’s Fiery Hide) going- things keep hitting him, and hurting him, and he keeps forgetting to inferno them in reply.Newt is out of sorts this session, not because Bear is having a bad day you understand, it’s because Newt has no spells, no powers, no hit points, no action/inspiration points, no… well, you get the idea, and the above list is pretty much true at the start of the session.By the end…Anyway, back to the action- it’s Krell’s turn- roll on the Confusion table and… he acts normally. BLINK and Krell is gone again.But before he goes- Krell gets the last word.The last word is ‘Spidery!’He does his Spider-Dance.It’s not as elaborate as you’d think- start with punk and pogoing, add the random and fervent waving of limbs- shout “SPIDER!” a lot and your there. Keep it up for a good 10 or 20 seconds though.Then… BLINK, and he’s gone.Note, Fellowyn at this point screams the following at Krell, or something very similar-“He’s a bloody idiot! You’re a bloody idiot, d’ya hear me boy? I bet he keeps teleporting back to his bloody bedroom!”Two-and-a-bit hours later the Dark Squad discover that Fellowyn is 100% correct.[ATTACH=full]378520[/ATTACH]Here we all are again.[ATTACH=full]378522[/ATTACH]But what’s this- a pair of giant wolf spiders climb up over the side of the ship and attempt to poison the Moonboar.[ATTACH=full]378523[/ATTACH]And then some more spiders, including a much bigger variant, join the party.[ATTACH=full]378525[/ATTACH]And more spider swarms, boiling up through the boards of the deck.So, score one for the Spider-Dance.The Dark Squad, some of them, become churlish at this point.There’s a fair amount of swearing, and every now and then- in the background (he’s never been there before, in the background) you can hear Bear playing Newt saying, repeatedly and often-“Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! NAUGHTYWORD!”Newt is doing his very best to stay alive.Meanwhile…[ATTACH=full]378526[/ATTACH]The Moonboar has had enough- Vinnie is of the opinion that whatever needs to be done to end Krell and his spider pals is not likely to be found up on deck.The Moonboar spends this turn disrupting the summoning circle in the chamber.Which has an instant effect.Screams echo through the ship, it sounds like some folks are losing their lives.The noise is coming from the prow/north end of the ship, and the unexplored cabins there…Which leads us nicely to a question I posed in the last write up.The question being- why did the Moonboar, on his previous circuit of the Empress of the Sea, follow the exact same route as previous, why did he not explore the cabins to the north.Jim playing Vinnie/the Moonboar has an answer for us this week, it’s this-“I went the wrong way. I went south instead of north, and then there were spiders, and then… it all started to go south.”So, the noises are coming from the northern/prow end of the ship.But let’s just take a moment, things are not going so well up on deck.[ATTACH=full]378527[/ATTACH]Let’s see- Fellowyn has just been critted by an ettercap (for maximum damage) and so has Misty Step fled; he’s not got many hit points left- less than ten. Ram has just got badly hurt by the phase spider, and then also fled the terror. Daktari is taking hits like crazy. Newt has also fled; he’s hiding in the cabin to the south.Newt has got nothing left but Belphegor blasts.Everyone is still attacking, don’t read the above the wrong way, but a lot of the Squad need to get away a bit to avoid more hits/enemies/etc.Then…Horsey Rampage![ATTACH=full]378529[/ATTACH]Daktari is raging- ettercap begone, and a Crit for 46 damage.[ATTACH=full]378530[/ATTACH]The big spider goes next- and another Crit, 55 damage this time.Daktari takes out a clutch more spiders in his Horsey Rampage.But, oh look.[ATTACH=full]378531[/ATTACH]Fire (from the Fireball, keep in mind the ship is swathed in vegetation), but it’s just smoldering at this point.But none of the Dark Squad have the time or the inclination (staying alive seems to have precedence) to do something about the conflagration.Then Ubdug starts screeching, the Supreme Being (under Ram’s tutelage) is developing a mean streak.[ATTACH=full]378532[/ATTACH]“I am the ZERO-bringer!” Ubdug casts a Thunderwave on his own square (or very close by)- Ubdug destroys himself but also achieves optimal damage upon his enemies.Spiders die.But not many.But Ubdug is changing.Back down below.[ATTACH=full]378533[/ATTACH]Ram descends to see what’s going on down here- he too is in search of Krell, or else his bedroom. Note the spider swarm in the image above is on Ram, he’s working on getting rid of these.Ram is just in time to hear the screams end, they’re replaced by visceral tearing sounds- followed by a series of dull thuds, then scrabbling noises growing into growls, and snarls…Back on the deck above, well- all of the spiders (save various swarms) are dead, and so- everyone up there is now heading down below.George also supplies the sound effects for the session- perhaps next week we could try a little of the Benny Hill theme tune. The Dark Squad are just running helter-skelter.[ATTACH=full]378534[/ATTACH]Daktari uses his greatsword to cut a hole in the deck.[ATTACH=full]378535[/ATTACH]And then drops in on his colleagues below. Also- do you see the little pixie in the picture, this summoning is a product of Daktari’s new (second) Rage- his Wild Magic is in play.The pixie pops into existence.“Oh! Where am I? What’s this place? Who are these lovely people? Will they be my friends? I am Princess…”FLRRRRRRPOW![ATTACH=full]378536[/ATTACH]The just summoned pixie explodes in a burst of flesh and flame. Splattering, but not harming, the Moonboar.“Wild Magic.” Daktari offers with a sheepish grin.[ATTACH=full]378537[/ATTACH]And then the Maw Demons smash through the door of a chamber to the north and come rushing down the walkway, directly towards those gathered in the summoning chamber, ignoring Ram hidden in the shadows.[ATTACH=full]378538[/ATTACH]Maw Demons, there are four of them, and they’re chunky.[ATTACH=full]378539[/ATTACH]Here they come! Newt starts blasting.[ATTACH=full]378540[/ATTACH]And then Daktari flings a Fireball down the corridor.[ATTACH=full]378541[/ATTACH]The aftermath of the Fireball.More fire.Nice one.[ATTACH=full]378542[/ATTACH]I like fire.Oh look, there’s Fellowyn.[ATTACH=full]378543[/ATTACH]Daktari gets into the maw demons. Note the two spider swarms in the image are still swarming over the barbarian.But then… stepping out of a chamber ahead (his bedroom), up the northern corridor, comes Krell.Krell is pissed.“You kill my spider slaves! You set fire to my housey-home! Burny-hot! You muck up my spider-friend circle! You! You! YOU!”[ATTACH=full]378544[/ATTACH]See the blue circle, that’s Krell’s Spike Growth spell.Then, Krell disappears- again.Note Krell has obviously thrown off the Moonboar’s Confusion spell.The PCs were delighted when Krell zooped off again.Absolutely delighted.A lot of swearing.And so…[ATTACH=full]378545[/ATTACH]The Dark Squad are now in a rush to get back on deck, because… here’s Krell again.That fire looks nice.Back down below?[ATTACH=full]378546[/ATTACH]The ship is on fire- some more. Ram has briefly investigated a chamber to the north of here- it contains the remains of four semi-cocooned (by webs- anchored to the ceiling) tabaxi. It seems the maw demons burst from the chest cavities/bodies of the four cat-like humanoids. Who obviously died in agony during the process.Then Ram finds Krell’s bedroom- shown in the image above, it’s full of plant life- incredibly humid and more than a little stinky.The rogue is pissed.Everyone is.Except me, of course.I’m having a right laugh.And so, Ram tells Ubdug to clear off, and then hides himself in a shadowy corner of the chamber- with a few large fronds for cover (Stealth 30+) and there draws his blades and waits.The corridor outside is filling with smoke, but the rogue is going nowhere. Krell is going to die.Note, this bit for the players.The four tabaxi found in the chamber here were alive, possibly they had been rendered catatonic by the constant injection of spider venom.And so, to remind you, there are two more similar (smaller but bulkier) cocoons still intact in the chamber you first encountered Krell.Just saying.[ATTACH=full]378547[/ATTACH]And then back up on the deck the phase spider turns up again and almost murders Newt (again). This is the third time tonight that the spider has got its jaws/pincers into Newt and every time- low damage, 1d10+2 = 4 piercing damage, plus 4d8 poison damage = 9. Thirteen damage in total, enough to leave the warlock on five hit points, or thereabouts.And that’s where we leave things folks.That was another four or so hours of screaming, shouting, laughing (and moping- Newt).The Dark Squad are to the death with this, and they’ve already had an OOC break to discuss amongst themselves whether it’s time to cut and run. It’s close, and things have not gone exactly to plan since this meeting took place.Fellowyn and Newt have approx. ten hit points between them; Daktari is still bloodied- and he’s been at the greater healing potions, and Vinnie has been healing him too. The Moonboar is a bit broken but even when he goes away, we get Vinnie back. Ram has also been at the greater healing potions in the last few turns- he’s one hit point away from being bloodied.The phase spider is bloodied, but only just- Krell isn’t, at all.There are no more/other enemies around atm.Atm.Here’s a few other things to consider, for the players-Point one- the way down to the bilges, as discovered by Fellowyn, is locked and chained shut. The chest containing the maze button, according to Rambles/The Swarm is located in there.Point two- when you arrived at/on the ‘Empress of the Sea’ I made sure I said this, and you asked anyway-“Castle Argentriver parks itself next to the (aft/rear) upper deck of the ship (actually right next to the ship’s wheel). To get back on the Castle you need to do the same, as in occupy the same spot (or very close by)- and then employ your maze buttons to get back on-board the castle.”So, the aft/rear deck atm is on fire.I’ll let you make your minds up as to whether that’s a good or bad thing.More fun next time.Stay safe and well you lovely people.Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</blockquote>

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