This blog post serves as a campaign log for my Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition character, Pyria Almareth.
Session #16 (11/13/2019)
There was a large chest in the hallway. It was full of torches. The guards grabbed some of the torches and began placing them into the sconces lighting them.
Sehl scouted ahead. He reached a corner in the hallway and peered around it. Sehl noticed a large pile of junk towards the end of hall. He couldn’t make out what was in the pile.
Meanwhile, Jessicat found a pair of googles inside the chest of torches. The googles were big with little feathers adorning the top. The nose guard looked like a beak. Jessicat put them on. She could already see well enough in darkness, but with the googles her night vision was further enhanced.
Pyria grew bored from the idle waiting. She noticed a simple door in the hallway. Probably a closet she assumed. Pyria approached the door and rested her ear against it to listen. Confident it was harmless, she cracked opened the door and peaked inside. As light from the hallway spilled into the room a giant serpent lunged forward. Pyria yelped as she nearly missed a bite from the creature. There were three serpents in the room. Two more snapped their fangs at Pyria. One slithered out of the room into the hallway. As it passed Pyria she stomped at it, but it was too fast. One of the guards ran up and sliced the snake in half.
Down the hall, Sehl noticed the big pile of junk moving closer and closer. As it slid down the the hall he realized pile was more cubed shaped and quite gelatinous. Slowly, it inched forward.
Pyria fired her Eldritch Blast at the remaining giant constrictors. One of her attacks injured a serpent. As she slammed the door to the room shut, she heard Sehl yell, “Gelatinous cube!”
Sehl tossed a molotov cocktail at the gelatinous cube. It engulfed in flames. Ohana met up with Sehl and tossed a dagger at the cube. The dagger sank into the cube’s flesh. Ooze spilled out from the wound.
The guards made their way down the hall with their crossbows drawn. They fired their bolts. The arrows penetrated the cube’s flesh. More ooze leaked from the creature. Jessica made her way down the hall to intersect the cube too.
Pyria was excited to see a live gelatinous cube. She read about them in books. She started to make her way down the hall, but she didn’t get far before she heard the sound of wood splintering and crashing. She turned to see a giant snake in the hall with their fangs bare. Ohana shifted his focus from the gelatinous cube to the snakes. One snake slithered up to the princess coiling itself around her. Pyria narrowly escaped its grasp tumbling away from the creature. As she stood, Pyria fired a pair of Eldritch Blasts towards the creature shredding the snake into pieces. Rosalie and Bastilion were covered with the snake’s remains.
Back down the hall, Sehl dragged his long sword through the flesh of the gelatinous cube. The creature was gravely injured. Sehl retreated a few steps away from the cube. Despite his prowess in battle, he was still seriously ill and could not risk a hit.
Ohana ran towards room where the remaining snake lingered. He smacked giant beast with his quarterstaff. Bastilion tried to sneak into the room, but the thief wasn’t able to get past the snake. The large creature coiled around him and constricted. Bastilion frantically jabbed the snake with his sword, killing it. Bastilion let out a deep breath and he slumped to the ground. The snake probably broke a few ribs.
Pyria moved down the hall. She had to get a view of the gelatinous cube. It was a peculiar, but amazing creature. A shame, it would have to die. Pyria fired her spell at the cube. One blast hit, another missed. The creature moved forward. In an instant, it absorbed Jessicat and the guards! Fortunately, the tabaxi was nimble enough to quickly free herself from the prison of the ooze.
Sehl attacked the cube, this time careful to avoid portions of its flesh that contained the guards. Ohana moved in with a few punches and swing with his staff. Two of the three guards were able to break from cube. They were in a horrible condition suffering from what looked like an acid burn.
Jessicat puntured the cube with Shigga’s spear. She pulled the spear out and stabbed it again. As she removed the spear, the gelatinous cube collapsed into a puddle releasing the final guard.
The guards were rolling on the ground screaming in great pain. Pyria’s stomach dropped. There was nothing she could do to relieve their pain. The group took a moment to recoup. Jessicat and Ohana used the downtime as an opportunity to explore. Sehl examined the remains of the cube. The puddle burned to touch and there was nothing of value within it.
A door caught Jessicat’s interest. She opened it and peered inside. Sehl and Pyria joined her. It was a fascinating room. There was a drafting table covered with maps and an unfinished drawing of the sky. A filling cabinet rested against a wall filled with scrolls and books spilling out of it. Ooooh there’s got to be something interesting in there, thought Pyria. Pyria searched the cabinet. She found more star charts, some calculations but nothing interesting or important. She sighed and glanced around the room. There was a turret on the floor. A quadrant was painted onto the ground with numbers going around the circle like a compass with runes. Ohana and Rosalie joined the trio.
Sehl stepped into the circle and the rune lit up. Panels began to move sliding into new positions. Pyria shot her attention to the ceiling and squinted. Several of the stars in the ceiling plummeted towards Sehl. Pyria gasped as she recognized these beings as willow wisps. These were very evil and very dangerous creatures that fed off energy and life force.
Ohana tossed a well aimed dagger toward one of the willow wisps and missed. Sehl shouted, “Run!”
Ohana made a few steps towards the room’s exit and said, “Sehl, leave!” Ohana hid among the mess in the room.
“You don’t have to tell me,” the elf replied. Sehl booked it out of the room.
Jessicat fired a pair of arrows but missed. Pyria fired an Eldritch Blast hitting a willow wisp. She used that as her cue to exit the room. One wisp hoovered over Rosalie. The scoffer stepped back and she tried to attack the creature. She missed. Another moved in and attacked Rosalie. She started convulsing as she collapsed to the floor. The wisp started to sink into her body. Ohana popped out of hiding and swung his quarterstaff like a bat slinging a willow wisp across the room. The creature died. Ohana ran towards the exit. His face was grim as he realized Rosalie was dead. The moment the willow wisp buried itself into Rosalie she died. He said a quick prayer and exited the room.
The guards, still recouping from their injuries from the gelatinous cube, stood once they noticed all the commotion down the hall. “Lady, Almareth is in danger!” They met Pyria with questioning looks. Pyria explained, “This room is dangerous. We must move.”
Jessicat closed the door to the room and opened an adjacent door. Pyria was confused. Rosalie was still in that room.
“Jessicat, but … what about Rosalie?”
Ohana looked over his shoulder and shook his head. Pyria’s brows furrowed, and her eyes began to well up with tears. Sehl returned to the door confused. “Rosalie?” Ohana did not make eye contact with Sehl. The elf reached for the door handle, but Ohana stopped him. Confused, Sehl responded, “We got to get Rosalie. She’s still in there!”
“Everyone stay back and ready your projectiles!” shouted Ohana. He looked at Sehl with solemn eyes, “You need to be far away from here.” Sehl backed up towards the guards and drew his long bow with an arrow knocked and aimed at the door. Pyria held her hands up and aimed at the door as well. They were glowing with arcane energy.
At the door, a glowing shape started to form as it pushed its way through the door. The guards fired a series of bolts, but they landed into the door missing the willow wisp. Sehl’s arrow pierced the creature and Pyria’s Eldritch Blast collided against the willow wisp.
Ohana was struck with lightening as another shaped emerged from the door. Another lightening blast hit Ohana. Jessica stabbed the willow wisp with Shigga’s spear obliterating the creature. Sehl fired another arrow killing the other willow wisp.
The final willow wisp retreated to its original hiding spot on the ceiling. Ohana dragged Rosalie’s body out of the room.
The woman would not get a chance to cash in her spoils from this castle. Pyria had grown to like her in their short time together. The group returned to the fourth level and placed Rosalie’s body in the cabinet that preserved food. Her body would not decay in there.
Session #17 (12/5/2019)
Pyria heard footsteps heading up the stairs. She alerted the others and everyone got into defensive positions. A metal figure emerged. He held up a holy symbol of Orathus, and announced, “I am here for a sacred artifact. If you can help me, I can help you.”
Pyria raised an eyebrow. A warforge? She thought. She had never encountered one before. “What is your name,” she asked.
“You can call me Valor.”
“I’m in bad shape,” said Sehl. “I’m seeing a talking suit of armor!”
“We’re all in a bad way,” replied Ohana.
“You don’t have a lot of time here. Let’s make this quick.” Valor took out a book, “Everyone needs to gather around me.” Valor was a cleric. He uttered a spell and the group engulfed in a wave of healing energy.
“Magic suit of armor, you are amazing!” Exclaimed Sehl.
“I am a war priest from Moraldrum,” Valor explained. “It’s okay if you have not heard of us. My full name is Valor of Smiting the Unrighteous.” Valor held up his arms showing is knuckles showing his name burning into them. Valor approached Ohana and offered to enchant the goblin’s armor.
“I will accept your boon.”
“Close your eyes, this is a little weird.” Valor walked behind Ohana and rubbed the goblin’s shoulders. Ohana received the Blessing of the Forge.
Bastilion approached the war priest with a solemn request. “Mister Valor, we just had a very … very, very injured. Can you help? She’s not with us anymore.”
“How long did it happen?”
“Oh, like 10 or 15 minutes ago.”
“I can’t today. I can only help if they died within 60 seconds.”
Bastilion turned to Sehl and said, “Let’s not get our hopes up Sehl, but at least he’ll try. We got to get out of here guys.”
Ohana said, “we must find the antidote for Locklier.”
“It it a diease,” asked Valor.
“He has fallen ill,” replied Ohana. “How long have you been here?”
“A couple of days.”
“What do you know of the blackness of the tower?” The northern tower was solid black. The party currently stood in the southern tower.
Pyria said, “Looks like Smiting to me.”
“We should take him to Tree Gazer,” replied Ohana.
The group returned to Tree Gazer’s location. Valor offered to aid her with his magic. His hands glowed. He rubbed them together and his healing magic flowed into the woman revitalizing her.
Tree Gazer opened her eyes and sat up. “Yes, what just happened. …I …I feel better, but I still don’t remember. Yes, it’s starting to come back to me. The fish people. There were fish people. Where are we exactly and why are we here?”
“We are here to find the wizard, Zorasis, and a cure to his spell,” shared Pyria.
“Yes, I feel like I should know that name. I think I was dreaming. …I’m not sure.”
“Tell us you dream.”
“They were faces… no, it wasn’t a dream. They were talking about him.”
“The Kua-toa,” asked Ohana.
“Yes. If you are searching for an antidote, perhaps I can help. I can come with you until I can remember what this all about.”
“Yes, it’s probably safer to come with us,” agreed Ohana.
“The substance of these creatures…it makes us sick. I shouldn’t be here. Why am I in a place like this…”
“We’ll take you home,” said Sehl.
“After we smite,” added Valor.
“Where is your home,” asked Sehl.
“I don’t know how to get there. I don’t know how I got here.” A tear fell down Tree Gazer’s cheek.
Sehl tried to comfort here. “It’s okay, it’s okay. We’ll get you home.”
The group returned to the fifth floor of the tower. Ohana took the lead. He cautiously listened to the door.
