This blog post serves as a campaign log for my Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition character, Pyria Almareth.
Session #14 (10/10/2019)
Pyria rested on the 4th floor of the southernmost tower. The stone ground was cold, but she welcomed its cool touch. The last fight had been brutal. Not the worst fight she’s been in, no the sewer fight took award for that. But she was still exhausted nonetheless, and somewhat lonely from Pip’s absence. She would re-summon the pseudo-dragon after a good night’s rest.
Pyria took a deep breath and stood. She joined the others returning to the room where they had fought the Kua-toas. Four Kua-toas stood out among the pile of the dead. They were ancient and emaciated. Pyria approached the body of one and searched it for anything of interest. She was disappointed to find nothing at all. The strange staffs the Kua-toas wielded in battle were now fizzling away. Pyria glanced around the room and noticed Ohana inspecting a pile of clothing in one of the corners. The goblin cautiously poked at the clothing with the end of his quarterstaff. These garments belonged to servants of the castle, some of the most highly regarded of the staff.
The party made their way back to the third level where Sehl and Rufus remained.
Ohana summoned every able-bodied person to gather wood. Together they built a pyre for Rufus on the wall walk. Ohana started his prayers. With a solemn expression, Rosalie instructed a guard to remove her golden plate armor from Rufus’ body. Without words, she reclaimed her armor before handing to another guard to wear.
Pyria was feeling a lot better after a short rest. She glanced at Sehl, and her brows furrowed in confusion. He was still unconscious. As she approached the elf, she noticed he was shivering. Ohana noticed Sehl’s odd state as well. A crowd formed around them as the goblin inspected Sehl. Everyone was worried about his current state. Ohana observed Sehl’s heart rate was extremely fast and assumed he had fallen ill from one of the diseased rat bites. “There’s got to be some medicine here,” Pyria said with worry lining her voice.
Rosalie and Bastilion announced they would stay with Sehl so the others could search the nearby area for antidote or a potion. As Pyria started to exit the room, Jessicat stepped forward revealing a potion of healing. The tabaxi knelt beside Sehl, and carefully poured the red liquid down his throat. Sehl’s eyes opened, but he still look unwell.
“Damn lad,” Bastilion said, “I thought we lost you.”
“Yeah, I was lost,” Sehl replied weakly.
Ohana took a moment to return to the armory. He restocked on daggers before he rejoined the party to search through rooms they had passed earlier. In the first room, a large ornate, silver mirror hung on the wall. Sehl gazed at his reflection in the mirror. He ran his finger across the patterns of the frame and remarked, “it’s beautiful.”
Rosalie walked up next to Sehl shaking her head. “I don’t know how we’ll get it out of here.”
Pyria approached a different door. It was a normal wooden door. Inside revealed another bedroom. There was a writing desk with pens and ink wells cluttering up the place. Paper was scattered across the room. This looked like where the castle records were written. Probably a room for scribes, she thought. There were books full of accounting data. Pyria flipped through some of the books. Things weren’t going very well for Demok financially she learned. She studied some of the other papers hoping to find something more. On the surface, there was nothing noticeable. Pyria continued her search. She wanted to find hidden secrets. She shuffled through the pages a little more and noticed the word “Bnps” in some of the ledgers and documents. This was the same phrase she noticed on the bookmark in Corath’s diary. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. It looked like it was written in some kind of shorthand. Convinced she found all she would within the room, she left to join the others.
Ohana swung open the door to another room. It was a lavish room. In it stood a massive sofa paired with a huge ottoman. An oak coffee table sat next to the ottoman. Against the wall stood large wardrobe. It was large enough to hold clothing for five people. Next to it was a large, but finely made, wooden chest. Glass bottles lined a dresser in the room. Sehl quickly approached the bottles. He was disappointed to learn none contained a health potion. Rosalie joined him at the dresser. She sniffed the bottles. The contents smelled sweet. They were perfumes. Rosalie placed several bottles in her bag.
Sehl turned his attention to the fine wooden chest. The chest had a large lock holding a latch down. He reach for the lock, but Ohana shoved him out of the way. The goblin would not risk Sehl setting off a trap. Bastilion grabbed his thieves tools and tried to pick the lock open. He failed and said, “Guys, I don’t know about this one. I think we should just bust it open.”
“Allow me to try,” replied Ohana. Bastilion handed the goblin his tools. Ohana worked on it and the latch opened. He pulled the lock aside. Impressed, Sehl exclaimed, “Daaaaang, this Goblin showed you up man. You gonna take it?” Sehl pointed to Ohana and said, “This dude is a monk!”
Ohana started to flip the latch up but suddenly stopped. A very small needle poked out from the backside of the latch. Ohana used his dagger instead to flip the latch open and raised the lid to the chest. Inside the chest was a potion of greater healing and two pieces of fine jewelry. Ohana walked away towards the wardrobe. Bastilion filled his sack with a nice pearl necklace. Sehl downed the potion. However, he still looked ill and had a cold sweat.
Ohana opened the wardrobe. Inside contained many silk garments. Rosalie and Bastilion stuffed their bags full of the fine clothing. These garments could be sold for a good bit of coin.
The party made their way across the walk wall to search more of the castle’s third level. The found a locked door with a keyhole. Ohana knelt to peek inside. He could see a hall with no furniture. He held out his hand and said, “hand me those tool again.”
“I think I should do it,” spoke up Sehl.
Ohana grabbed the door. His touch triggered a reaction from the black substance that lined the fifth tower of the castle. The strange substance quickly spread across the surface covering the walls. It looked a like a fluid similar to oil, but it glistened when light hit it. Ohana used his dagger to collect a sample of the black substance. He tried to ignite it, but it wasn’t flammable.
Meanwhile, Sehl worked on lock picking the door. His efforts were not successful. The door would not unlock. The party decided to find another way it. They returned to the fourth level of the castle. The walked through the banquet hall where Sehl was ambushed. There were several doors off the main room. The first room they explored smelled awful. Pyria suppressed a gag. It reeked of rotten food. There were barrels opened containing spoiled foods like ham and cheese. Wine bottles lined the walls. Behind the clutter laid the body of creature bound with iron manacles. The woman’s body was slumped over. She was a humanoid with leaves as part of her flesh. At first glance, Pyria would have mistaken her as a gnome. She didn’t recognize this race.
Ohana approached the body and to say a prayer. Once he was close, he noticed this dead creature wasn’t dead at all. She was breathing. Everyone was surprised, but also weary. Could she be trusted?
Sehl tried to lock pick the manacles, but he failed. “What to do with these manacles,” he asked. He turned his attention to Bastilion, “you want to try? I am not feeling too good.” Bastilion freed the woman from her iron manacles, but she remained unconscious. He lifted her up and carried her out of the stinky room, back into the main banquet hall. When he laid her down, one of her sleeves pulled up revealing a ring burn around her wrist. It looked like the burn was spreading veins around her arm.
“Iron in generally used to ward off evil,” warned Sehl.
“Should we rebound her,” asked Pyria.
“No! She did not burn when I said my prayers,” objected Ohana.
Rosalie shrugged, “She does not look evil to me.”
Ohana tapped on her cheeks, “Hey, wake up.” The woman stirred but it was not enough to wake her up.
Sehl grabbed some of the rotten ham from the room and placed it in her face. The rotten smell was enough to trigger a reaction. The woman started to cough and slowly opened her eyes.
“Where am I,” she asked weakly. She looked at her freed hands and said, “you come to save me?”
“Who and what are you?”
“They call me Tree Gazer. Oh yes, I am so tired and weak. What did you ask? My name, they call me Tree Gazer.”
“Okay, that’s weird,” said Sehl.
Pyria scoffed, “that’s not much different than Sewer Knife.”
“But that wasn’t my real name,” countered Sehl.
“Sewer Knife?” Tree Gazer pulled up her sleeve. They learned she was allergic to iron.
“Why are you here in this castle,” asked Ohana.
“I don’t remember. I’m tired. I remember the fish creatures were there. They, they drugged me in front of somebody. He was tall…they put me in the darkness and the iron. I need to rest. Wait! There are others, where are the others?!”
“There are more,” asked Sehl.
“I am not alone. We are Lar-na.” Tree Gazer wore a frustrated expression. “I cannot even remember their names. Ugh, this places makes me so tired. I don’t remember. I don’t remember why I’m here.”
“Stay with us and stay hidden,” Ohana suggested. “We’ll try to lead you out of here and find your friends.” Tree Gazer looked so tired and weak. She wouldn’t be able to walk without more resting. The party decided to search the nearby rooms as she recovered.
Ohana opened a new door. The room was old and dusty. Ohana and Jessicat were drawn to a cabinet. It contained tobacco and brandy that, oddly enough, still seemed like it was fresh. Not dry or moldy like one would expect inside a decades old abandoned castle. An idea popped into Ohana’s mind. He grabbed some rotten food from the smelly room and stuffed it into the cabinet. The food aged in reverse!
“Everyone, gather more food,” announced Ohana. “We can make it edible again.” At the rate the food was reversing, it would take about an hour before it would become edible again. “We’ll come back later.”
Ohana swung open another door. It was a staff room with four beds. There were a few chests that contained old clothing and belongings. There was nothing interesting here. Just worthless servant attire.
The room had another door that led to a new room with brightly colored carpet. Inside the room stood a large canopy bed, a wardrobe, and a large comfy chair. It was a more elaborate room than the last. Sehl crouched down to check underneath the bed. In that moment, the bed lunged towards him.
Session #15 (10/24/2019)
A Kua-to, with its arms stretched out, stood on the other side of the crashed bed. Startled, Sehl drew his sword and slashed the creature. The elf swung again gravely wounding the Kua-toa. The creature’s legs were gouged out and blood was everywhere. Sehl took a step back, retreating from the Kua-toa. The Kua-toa seized the opportunity to strike at Sehl, but it was clumsy in its execution and missed. Rosalie entered the room to see what was causing the commotion. Upon sight of the Kua-toa, she tossed a dagger. It clanged against the bed.
Jessicat fired an arrow. It arched perfectly above the bed and into the Kua-toa. The creature let out a cry and before everyone heard the sound of its body collapsing to the ground. Jessicat stepped forward with Shigga’s spear in hand. The Kua-toa should have died from the arrow, but its fingers twitched. The tabaxi plunged the weapon into the Kua-toa’s body. A satisfying sizzling was heard. The Kua-toa was dead.
Ohana explored another room. He slowly turned the knob before kicking the door open. Inside the room stood a vanity table covered with jars of oils. A floor to ceiling mirror rested on one of the walls. There was a large sunken tile tub in one of the corners. Ohana entered the room inspecting every nook and cranny. He noticed an unopened box. He found a bar of soap and vial of oil inside. The oil smelled phenomenal. He had not smelled anything this good in his life. The scent was almost addictive. The vial could probably sell for a good amount of coin. Ohana exited the room and handed the oil to Rosalie. “You covet such things.” With a wide grin, Rosalie eagerly placed the item into her sack.
Ohana approached another door. This time he charged into the room. In the middle of the bedroom he saw an orc. The orc held a crossbow aimed directly at him. However, there was something off about the orc. The orc appeared to have materialize from thin air. Was it some kind of illusion?
“Come out,” shouted Ohana. There was no response. He spoke the command again, first in Elven then in goblin. Bastilion joined Ohana. He was ready to strike. Pyria entered the room and examined the orc. Pyria was convinced the orc was an illusion, but she was did not know the nature of it. Sehl inspected the orc as well. There was something not right about it, something surreal. He raised the blade of his sword to the orc’s throat. At the sign of any movement, Sehl would be ready to slit its throat.
Rosalie tossed a dagger at it. She missed, but the orc reacted to her attack. Sehl was able to cut the orc before it darted towards the door. It’s target was Jessicat. Orc struck Jessicat, wounding her. Ohana briefly shifted his focus from the orc to the sounds of something moving. Another creature lurked in this room. He was convinced he heard what sounded like the footsteps of a small animal scampering.
Pyria watched the skirmish at the door. She was ready to join the fray, until she sensed something behind her. A ghostly arm erupted from the wall. A face came out and reached for Pyria’s throat. It clawed her neck leaving behind a nasty slash.
Ohana lit a torch. He spotted a shadow of a creature moving towards the door along the wall. Ohana pointed at the shadow and shouted, “There!”
Pyria fired Eldritch Blast. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she hit the creature, but something odd happened. The room door slammed shut. It was like her spell had backfired. She shrugged it off and fired another Eldritch Blast. This time a pixie popped into existence in front of her. The pixie simply stared at Pyria. The princess was confused and a bit unnerved with her spell’s behavior. She awkwardly said, “I come in peace.”
Sehl moved and attacked the shadow injuring it. The shadow was on the move again. It passed through Pyria. She punched at it. Then Sehl ended the creature with one final swing from his sword. The shadow fell over and faded away. The orc, ghost and the pixie faded away as well.
The guards entered the room cautiously.
Ohana opened a chest. It was decked in coins. The chest was so full you could not see the bottom of it. Bastilion and Rosalie hovered over Ohana with greed filling their eyes. Ohana announced, “if this is too be looted, we should split it evenly.”
Ohana opened a window in the room. There was a balcony with a ballista. He aimed the ballista towards the black wall from earlier and fired a shot. Nothing happened to the blackness.
Done with the fourth floor, the party moved to explore the fifth and final floor. They walked upstairs into an open area that fed into a long hallway. There was a door to the north and a hallway that went past it. The hallway was lined with empty torch holders. Sehl examined the door next to them. He noticed nothing out of the ordinary and slowly opened it. It was a large room with 10 bunk beds lining the walls. These quarters were nicer than the barracks on the second floor. Pyria stepped into the room. She detected no enemies.
To be continued…
