Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 9648024" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dark Squad in the Secrets of SaltmarshSession #159: Goblins! Goblins! Sponsored by Enya & in COLOUR.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> EXPLODED<s>Ubdug (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 2</s> EXPLODEDUb-Pam (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 3*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 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 recover her maze button. Location unknown. SEE 2. ABOVE.</li> </ol>This is session 159 and it was stupid and fantastic at the same time.At one point, about halfway through the second fight, Jim (playing Vinnie and Dak) stopped the game to just applaud, well… me, for being stupid enough to even try it.It was a glorious mess. Still is- at the end.The Dark Squad are fighting goblins, you may remember, lots of them. They’re descending a tower structure which seems to be, very oddly, embedded in a great rock tor called Blacktop. On the fifth level of the tower is an exit to the lair of the cave goblin king- Garblegut, who lives in a palace, apparently.Garblegut and his cave goblins guard the way down to the Goblin Stair- that’s right, the PCs have not yet taken a single step on/down the Goblin Stair, and we’ve been at the goblins for three sessions now. That’s over twelve hours. Dedicated like coconut these chaps.Or else the DM is an idiot.Anyway.Last time I said-Undoubtedly the PCs will have a smart way to stop the mud, some magic spell or other- let’s wait and see next time.Well…[ATTACH=full]404009[/ATTACH]Here’s the mud, starting to seep down the stairs, a very dirty, fairly slow-moving, tide.Oh, and there are goblins aplenty.So, lots of pictures to follow- not many words, I promise- it’s just fighting.May I therefore suggest that you put Enya’s- “Orinoco Flow” (the one about the Womble), or something equally undemonstrative, on the tape-deck/headphones, preferably while still at work, and… just scroll through the rest of this idiocy.Tutting every now and then.[ATTACH=full]404010[/ATTACH]Fellowyn, at the very last moment possible makes it down the stairs and to the right side of the mud-tide.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”[ATTACH=full]404011[/ATTACH]The Moonboar (Vinnie in a Bungle suit) conjures a quintuple thick wall of stone. The mud tide abates.“From Bissau to Palau, in the shade of Avalon”[ATTACH=full]404012[/ATTACH]Daktari is staking his claim for the most damage ever inflicted to a monster with less than ten hit points.“Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, up, adieu, ooh, ooh”[ATTACH=full]404013[/ATTACH]Some goblins take against Newt. Maybe it was something he said. Newt is still at volume eleven- screaming at the goblins various that he is their god, or else that they are worthless, or something very similar only with a lot more swearing.As throughout this entire escapade (so far) when Bear (playing Newt) gets like this his microphone (very helpfully) cuts out when the screaming reaches its top end, so we just get the odd screamed word- then silence- then another odd (out of place) phrase- then silence- etc.It’s a marvelous symmetry he’s enacting here, or else his microphone is- Newt is screaming his threats et al in the common tongue, the goblins only understand about every tenth word of the language. The microphone is doing the work for us.Anyway…Where were we. Oh, yes.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”[ATTACH=full]404014[/ATTACH]The Moonboar/Vinnie/Bungle is hiding away, and on perma-Dodge, this because he doesn’t want to take any damage and then have to make a concentration check for his Wall of Stone to fail. Keep in mind he’s got to keep concentrating for the full ten minutes of the spell to make the wall a permanent feature here.So, maybe it’s the Moonboar/Vinnie/Bungle that’s got the headphones on down here.“From the North to the South, Ebudæ unto Khartoum”And perhaps that gentle swaying that he’s doing isn’t taking the Dodge action, perhaps that’s the power of the music, the power of Enya.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”[ATTACH=full]404015[/ATTACH]Oh, look- all of the goblins are dead- except for the one on the right that Ram has just chased down. Don’t fret though- in the next frame on from this the rogue gently (maybe even tenderly) decapitates this screaming, fleeing fellow.All gone.“We can steer, we can near”The PCs take a well-earned breather; genocide can be hard work.Vinnie, of course, needs to keep concentrating for a while yet.“We can reach, we can beachOn the shores of TripoliWe can sail, we can sail(Sail away, sail away, sail away)”Everybody takes a moment to just… relax.The PCs are situated in a low-ceilinged stone and mud sculpted passage.“From Bali to Cali, far beneath the Coral SeaWe can sail, we can sail(Sail away, sail away, sail away)”The thoroughfare is, at present, dripping with goblin blood and viscera, here and there stray amputated limbs jiggle and wave their last farewells.“From Bissau to Palau, in the shade of AvalonWe can sail, we can sail(Sail away, sail away, sail away)”The Dark Squad chat amongst themselves for a short while.“We can reach, we can beachFar beyond the Yellow SeaWe can sail, we can sail(Sail away, sail away, sail away)”Then, Vinnie gives a thumbs up and… we move on.Fight #2.Gripping isn’t it.[ATTACH=full]404016[/ATTACH]Ram is sent for a sneak forward- the rest of the PCs are just on the screen because this is all the map there is.Oh, look- goblins.But what’s that?A dragon in a cage.“From Peru to Cebu, hear the power of Babylon”[ATTACH=full]404017[/ATTACH]Yep, it’s a dragon.“We can sail, we can sail”[ATTACH=full]404018[/ATTACH]Newt makes some new friends. We don’t get to hear anything of what he’s screaming right now- he’s gone off the scale. His microphone just cuts out. Invective is at volume twelve.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”[ATTACH=full]404019[/ATTACH]Synaptic Static does good work.“We can sail, we can sail”[ATTACH=full]404020[/ATTACH]More goblins, this is Garblegut’s palace by the way. That’s the surprise round over.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”[ATTACH=full]404022[/ATTACH]The goblins come pouring back into the gap.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”[ATTACH=full]404023[/ATTACH]Newt goes early- that’s his second Synaptic Static, he couldn’t resist.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”[ATTACH=full]404024[/ATTACH]Daktari discovers a new form of goblin, these things are climbing up from below to assault the PCs. Nice.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”[ATTACH=full]404025[/ATTACH]This is about two turns into the fight. Daktari is attempting a one barbarian assault on the goblin empire.The goblins have formed a queue.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”[ATTACH=full]404026[/ATTACH]The zombie dragon gets out of its cage, this after Vinnie casts Confusion on the two big Brute Cave Goblins that guard (open &/or close) the cage. On the Confusion table, for both Brutes, Vinnie rolls- “act normally” twice in a row.The dragon bathes Daktari (and a few goblins) in its necrotic rot breath.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”More goblins die.[ATTACH=full]404027[/ATTACH]That’s a lovely view.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”[ATTACH=full]404028[/ATTACH]The dragon recharges its rot breath and does it again. More goblins die. I like these Gifs- keep them coming George.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”[ATTACH=full]404029[/ATTACH]Whenever Vinnie casts Produce Flame he says the following, every (every) time-“It iz time for ze most powerful spell in Donjons et Dragons!”Every time.It wasn’t funny the first time.The dragon dies.“We can sail, we can sail with the Orinoco Flow”[ATTACH=full]404030[/ATTACH]Here’s the combat tracker atm, and keep in mind that Newt killed about thirty goblins in his two Synaptic Static attacks, the rest of the PCs have maybe accounted for another 20-something goblins so far.Imagine what it would be like if they had a proper spell caster.“We can sail, we can sail”[ATTACH=full]404031[/ATTACH]And here we are- maybe three-and-a-half hours later, longer in fact- we kept playing until nearly 11.30 PM.“Sail away, sail away, sail away”It was stupid and great at the same time.A couple of things to note-We’re in colour, after four million years (or thereabouts) of using Fantasy Grounds I had the genius idea of replacing the PCs Darkvision (on their tokens) with… drum roll, lights. So, everything is in colour and not shades of grey.Keep in mind I don’t even have a mobile phone- never have, they’re far too complicated for me.And the other thing-We’re all a little higgledy-piggledy at the moment, some folk are going on holiday, others are heading off to festivals, and so this write up is going to be even more hit and miss for a while.That said, I’ve got another write up on the go, it can be found here-<a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-d-5e-not-kots-5a-dragon-castle-enc-6.712348/" target="_blank">[D&D 5e] Not KotS 5a Dragon Castle. (Enc#6) | EN World D&D & Tabletop RPG News & Reviews</a>It’s a 5e version (sorta) of Keep on the Shadowfell, and lots of fun.Stay safe and well.Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</blockquote>

Verification