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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 9476375" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dark Squad in the Secrets of SaltmarshSession #148: Button Up.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 148, and the Dark Squad are blah-blah the Empress of the Sea, blah-blah fighting for their lives.More of the same then…It’s a short one but not without its moments of panic.[ATTACH=full]381910[/ATTACH]Here’s the Tentacled Horror in all of its glory.Newt (on his flying broom) has at last managed to get far enough away to be able to blast the beast from a distance and not get grabbed by its 100-foot long reaching tentacles. Newt is very low on hit points, but that’s been the case for maybe 3-4 sessions now.Ram is on the deck of the ship, using his bow to great effect, he too is really not very well.The Moonboar is completely out of it- he did nothing at all last session except worship the Tentacled Horror. He is, to all intents and purposes, Stunned and temporarily insane. So, not great.Fellowyn and Daktari are doing the Shadow of the Colossus thing, clambering over/around the great plant beast and stabbing/blasting it. They too are both low on hit points.Oh…[ATTACH=full]381911[/ATTACH]That’s Mega-Ubdug. He’s screaming “I am the Zeromaker” in his dalek-like voice and windmilling (10d4+4 bludgeoning damage, two attacks/turn) the Horror.Here’s a better picture of the set up.[ATTACH=full]381912[/ATTACH]The Dark Squad are doing it, but keep in mind that the Tentacled Horror has been ‘growing’ (adding 100 more hit points to its maximum) for the last four turns- but now this power is all used up. It’s pretty much spent- although it’s also just made twelve attacks on its last turn.Note the Dark Squad have noticed that the jungle around the Tentacled Horror is dying, the creature is some sort of despoiler, it’s sucking the life out of the nearby vegetation.But we’re close to the end now, although…[ATTACH=full]381913[/ATTACH]Then Daktari gets grabbed, crushed a bit, and then licked- and now the Sky Pony barbarian is also subject to the same temporary insanity as Vinnie/Moonboar.The barbarian is also now critically wounded.[ATTACH=full]381914[/ATTACH]Ram, on the cantered deck (it’s now at 45 degrees) of the Empress of Sea, is making his bow attacks count.[ATTACH=full]381915[/ATTACH]Here’s both of Jim’s PCs, the poison affecting the Moonboar has just caused him to go blind, a side effect of the toxin- just to make clear if he makes his save next turn then the blindness is gone but he’s still insane. If he fails his save next turn then… he gets another deleterious effect, things get worse for him.The Moonboar and Daktari pay no further part in what follows- they are insane (and worse) throughout.So, we’re down to just three PCs in the fight.Keep in mind that the Tentacled Horror is still trying to share out its dozen or so attacks but now it has only four targets, although it continues to lick and slaver over the Moonboar and Daktari every turn. The three remaining PCs and Mega-Ubdug therefore take the majority of the beating that follows.[ATTACH=full]381916[/ATTACH]Ram is not doing well, if it wasn’t for his- a) Uncanny Dodge, and b) the fact that he keeps making the Dex save to avoid being grabbed up and licked by the Tentacle Horror, well… he’d be insane or dead by now.Ram has never failed this save, and he was the first into the fight, he’s been making DC 18 Dex saves, sometimes two or three/turn, for the past fifteen or so turns.[ATTACH=full]381917[/ATTACH]Fellowyn is less fortunate. He’s dying. Crushed by a tentacle.Just to say around the table at this point there’s still a degree of confidence, this because the DM has been telling the PCs each turn how much damage, so far, they have done to the Tentacled Horror.“786 hit points damage done.”“812”“981”And its at this point that the Dark Squad are certain- not far to go, they figure the DM has given the creature exactly 1,000 hit points.It’s the kind of thing he/I would do.Apparently.So, there’s a point when Fellowyn has a choice, attack- or else get away, and he’s on six hit points again, so getting away is a definite option, but the creature- the collective wisdom is, has only 19 hit points left-1000 – 981 = 19.So, Fellowyn sticks around and keeps fighting, he delivers maybe 22 hit points damage this turn, and… the Tentacled Horror still lives.The black mood hits hard.Newt keeps up a steady chant throughout-“Oh no. Oh no. Oh no…”I gave the Tentacled Horror 1,014 hit points, just because of the above.[ATTACH=full]381918[/ATTACH]So, just after crushing Fellowyn (see above) the Horror finally succumbs to damage inflicted by Newt’s ongoing Wall of Fire.The tabaxi warlock spends the next thirty or so seconds screaming obscenities and uttering foul oaths- while constantly bigging himself up. Alas he is approx. 150 feet away from the fight during his tirade time (and when Bear shouts his microphone cuts out), and so all the other PCs can see is Newt crazily flapping his arms, gesticulating wildly while just managing to hang onto his flying broom.But then Fellowyn (although he’s unconscious of course) works out what comes next.[ATTACH=full]381919[/ATTACH]What goes up must come down.Note the further up the Tentacled Horror’s token the PC is, the further they are away from the ground.The Tentacled Horror, in its dying moment, seems to implode- it’s outer skin/bark instantly hardens, atrophies, and the strain of keeping itself up- the sudden weight on its brittle exoskeleton is too much.It shatters and collapses.Sending Mega-Ubdug, the Moonboar, Daktari and the Fellowyn tumbling.Although to a soft-ish landing in the swamp.Note the insanity affecting the Moonboar and Daktari is instantly gone. Although Vinnie is still blind.Then its falling damage.[ATTACH=full]381920[/ATTACH]It’s a hard landing.Daktari survives by the skin of his teeth, he’s down to two hit points. Fellowyn on the other hand is dying some more, but- thanks to Ram screaming and letting folk know that the wizard is down and dying, the blinded (still) Moonboar manages to get to the eladrin and heal him a little, enough to curtail the death saves.That got close.It required a very good roll from the blind Moonboar to find the body of the broken wizard, he rolls a ‘20’.We got very close to another new PC for George.Then…[ATTACH=full]381921[/ATTACH]The massive chest that crushed the front of the ship, and from which Mega-Ubdug emerged, well… it shrinks back to its former size.Then Mega-Ubdug disappears.We’ll get back to the chest in a minute or two.Then… at long last, rest.Although it’s only a brief rest because the PCs have remembered that they are up against the clock here, the longer they spend outside of Castle Argentriver the greater the chance that they are somehow ‘changed’ on their return to reality, see previous for a fuller explanation.So, after just enough healing to keep on going we get to here.Although, the Moonboar takes a while to have a look at the remains of the Tentacled Horror, the creature is some sort of alien aberration, and by alien the druid means not of/from Faerun.“It iz a cree-chure from beyond ze starz!”He grunts at his colleagues, although nobody else is much bothered about this fact.Perhaps they should be.We get on.[ATTACH=full]381922[/ATTACH]The chest, within which is the object of this adventure- another maze button.Keep in mind in the image above the reality is the chest is in the swamp/jungle, the ship’s prow has been crushed (when the mega-chest landed on it).So, first thing of note the chest now has a base and a lid- it can now be opened.Next thing to note, after scrabbling around in the swamp close to where it landed the Dark Squad recover their two maze buttons, and the fake maze button given to Vinnie by the albino dwarves. They used these three items to open the chest remember.Next thing to note- and this is an odd one.The chest was incredibly heavy, 400lbs- Daktari was struggling to shift it, and he’s by far the strongest member of the group.Well, the chest is no longer heavy, I mean it weighs about thirty or forty pounds- it’s a sturdy, solid metal object, so… the weight is about right now.The Squad figure this out when they shift the object onto higher and drier ground.Then, very gingerly, and after more checks they open it.Inside is another chest.I small-ish sea chest, as used by a sailor.The smaller chest is removed from the larger, which takes some doing- the smaller chest weighs, well- 400lbs. It’s heavy.Odd that.Fellowyn, smart lad, figures it out- the big chest is a Chest of Holding, of some sort. He’s right, he often is.So, the sea chest has some markings on it, and its locked, and according to Ram quite definitely trapped- some sort of mechanism protecting the lock.The markings are quickly identified by Ram.In translation-Propery of Rambles Shambles Bowspirit. Stay Out!This is Rambles'/the Swarm’s chest.The one they have been looking for.Ram spends some time, and then rolls something like- 17, 19 & 20 in sequence.The trap is found, identified and disarmed, then- click- the sea chest is open.The chest is full of gold coins.Full to the brim.It’s a lot of gold.Later the Dark Squad will count the haul, just short of 10,000gp.Keep in mind I am very sparing with the treasure; this represents my typical reward for two to three medium sized adventures- about 15-20 or so sessions of play.It’s a lot, a lot.But here’s the thing- the PCs are looking for a Maze Button, and so they dive in- but then something moves in the chest.There’s something in there- stirring the gold, and…[ATTACH=full]381923[/ATTACH]Daktari grabs into the golden hoard and drags out… Ubdug.Ubdug has the third Maze Button in his other hand, he/it hands it over to Daktari.Success.The PCs however are keen to get away, as is the DM- keep in mind they have to roll lots of Wisdom saving throws, and all succeed in the same turn, in order to summon and re-enter Castle Argentriver.It took them two hours to exit the Castle last time.It takes ten minutes to achieve this time around, it’s much easier with three Maze Buttons.We get to here.[ATTACH=full]381924[/ATTACH]Which is where we need to be.Because that’s the end of the session.Oh, but just to say on re-entering Castle Argentriver all of the PCs have to roll a percentile dice, there is a 4% chance that something about them has changed- 4% because the PCs sojourn in the jungle/swamp of Chult lasted for four hours.And…No takers, Daktari comes close- he rolled a 06. Close, but I promise you I’m going to get one of them before the end… just you wait and see.More fun next time, including a new incarnation of Ubmo/Ubdug to look forward to.Although next week (8th) it’s the Alt Game (no George), the week after (15th) is a week off, and then on the 22nd we’re back to the Dark Squad.See my e-mail for what comes next and the Xmas Warhammer RPG game.Stay safe and well you lovely people.Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</blockquote>

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