October 14, 2024
Beggar 22, 5043 (cont)
(12:00 noon)
Ben casts Restoration on Arden, Cure
Light on
himself.
Follow FtP – see map -- come to water
across stairs.
Arden tests the liquid:
it is water.
Ben goes down with his
Helmet of Underwater Movement activated,
sees hatch with lever.
Ben lets Arden use
Helmet, Arden goes down with a rope tied
around him. FtP
goes through the door. 41=no traps,
pulls lever, grinding gear and swooshing liquid noises for a round, and
then
the door opens. Inside is a room barely
large enough for one person, with another hatch door on the opposite
wall. FtP goes
through
that door as well. There is a lever
inside the room for each of the doors.
Arden returns to the group to discuss what we can do –
conclude different
spells are needed and return up the flights of stairs to a place to
spend the
night.
Discussion concludes
that it is good Artes
is no longer with the group, as he could never have tolerated the hours
of
discussion and planning.
Beggar
23, 5043
(8:00am)
Ben casts Water
Breathing on
Beari,
Zora, and himself – will last 13
hours. Arden will continue using
Ben’s Helmet;
and Valanthe will share his
“bubble” of
air.
Ben casts Circle
of Eyes on
Arden; Ben casts Find
the Path on
Arden. Beari
casts Scry
on Familiar
on Valanthe. Arden
goes down to hatch, goes in, and pulls
the lever on the other door. Levers on
both doors move; the first door closes; there are grinding gear and
swooshing
liquid noises, and the clear water which had been in this chamber is
replaced
with murky, silt-filled water. Then the
second door opens. Arden pulls out his lightstone, but even with it he is unable to see
further
than 5’ through the water. Arden
pulls the outside lever, closing this door (and presumably opening the
one
towards the rest of the group). He
proceeds along FtP slowly, with his
quarterstaff out
as a probing pole. The others wait for
some reason to do something.
Initiative: Beari, Arden, Zora,
Ben.
Arden attacked by a
tribe of Locathah.
Round 1:
Beari scrys;
Arden moving forward; L7 stabs Arden (all others miss) for 5; Zora nothing; Ben
moves to lock.
Round 2:
Beari waits for Ben to cycle
through
lock; Arden moves, finds L7 & L8, kills both;
Locathah all miss Arden; Zora
waits; Ben into lock
Round 3:
Beari moves to outside lock;
Arden kills
L9, L10, L2; Lochathah
all miss Arden; Zora waits; Ben in lock,
cycling.
Round 4:
Beari waits; Arden kills L11,
L12, L13; Lochathah
all miss
Arden; Zora waits; Ben exits lock.
Round 5:
Beari into lock; Arden kills L1,
L4, L5; Lochathah
both miss
Arden; Zora moves to outside lock; Ben
moves towards
noise of fight.
Round 6:
Beari in lock, cycling; Arden
kills L3,
L6; Ben casts Light,
advances; Zora waits.
XP:
0
Back to FtP. Two rooms
later.
Initiative: Ben, Beari, Zora, Arden.
Ben attacked by an Orca.
Round 1:
Orca misses Ben;
Round 2:
Ben hits Orca with
Morningstar for 13, 12, 12, 15; Beari
casts Magic
Missile for
21; Zora
hits for 55, kills; Arden: “Are you done?”
XP:
0
(9:00am)
Continue with FtP. Some rooms
later.
Initiative: Beari, Zora, Arden,
Ben.
Group attacked by a
school of Shocker Lizards.
Round 1:
Beari walks, Zora
walks, Arden walks, SLs group strike with
electricity, Reflex save DC::36 for half damage from 68 – Arden
saves
& evades, Beari, Ben, and Zora
take full damage; Ben moves forward, tells Beari
to
go forward.
Round 2:
Beari goes forward; Zora
moves right and discovers SLs, hits SL4
for 38, 48, kills, cleaves SL3 for 78, kills; Arden pokes SL2,
kills; Shocker Lizards build up electrical charge; Ben reserves for
target.
Round 3:
Beari casts Protection
from Elements::Electricity on herself, moves up to
Arden; Zora moves along wall, calls out;
Arden steps to side, attacks
SL1, kills, hits SL13 for 49 + 14 cold; SLs group strike, Reflex Save DC::28 for half
damage from
45 – Arden and Beari save and evade,
Zora and Ben take half damage; Ben casts Find
the Path on
himself.
Round 4:
Beari returns Zora’s
call, moves forward; Zora moves to where
she heard Beari, finds rope, sees Arden,
5’ step, hits SL13,
kills; Arden moves to Beari; Shocker
Lizards build up
electrical charge; Ben moves forward.
Round 5:
Beari sees walls narrowing to
5’
wide passageway to next chamber, moves into it; Zora
moves up; SLs group strike, Reflex Save
DC::26 for
half damage from 44 – Arden and Beari
save and
evade, Zora and Ben save and take half
damage; Ben
casts Flame
Strike,
kills remaining SLs.
XP:
60
Ben casts Mass
Heal.
(10:00am)
Back to FtP. A couple of
rooms later the next room somehow
feels much larger. Walk through it for
several
hundred feet.
Initiative: Beari, Arden, Zora,
Ben.
Group attacked by a
Kraken, then by a Dragon Turtle, then
by a Tojanida.
Round 1:
Kraken Tentacle (KT1)
hits Arden for 25,
grapples, pulls Arden to mouth, bites for 24; KT2 hits Zora for 25, grapple invokes AoO
from Zora for 28, grapple fails, Kraken
Arm (KA1)
on Beari misses, KA2 on Ben
bloopers
(cramps, out of action), KA3 on Beari
hits
for 12, grapples, will constrict next round, KA4 on Ben criticals for 37, grapples, will constrict next
round, KA5
has no target, KA6 has no target; Zora
hits for 119, 32, 30, 22, 26; Ben hits with dagger for 14.
Round 2:
Beari casts Time
Stop for 4
actions:
[1] escapes from KA3 grapple and moves at an angle, [2]
casts Mordenkainen’s
Sword (MS),
[3] Sculpts spell Chain
Lightning
[maximized]
into a cone in the general direction of the Kraken (plus Arden), [4]
???, MS
hits for 23, CL hits for 120; Arden stabs with dagger for 60 (including
lightning), tries escape artist but fails; K bites Arden for 23, KA4
constricts Ben for 12, KT2 hits Beari
for 21,
grapples, pulls Beari to mouth, bites for
18, KA5
hits Zora for 9, grapple invoked AoO from Zora for
50, grapple
fails, KA6 hits Zora for 8,
grapples, will
constrict next round; Zora tries to break
grapple,
fails, stabs for 11, 10, 32, 19; Ben stabs for 6, 0, 7; Dragon Turtle
(DT)
bites Ben for 24, grapple fails, claws for 22.
Round 3:
Beari stabs with dagger on
Kraken, hits
for 6, kills it, names her blade “Kraken Poker”; Arden
moves back
towards Ben; Zora hits DT for 134, 30,
125, 120; Ben
casts Implosion on DT but it saves,
casts Destruction on DT but it saves and
only takes
21; DT bites Ben for 25 but fails grapple, claws Zora
for 41; Tojanida [Snapping Turtle (ST)]
bites Beari for 21, grappled –
automatic bite next round,
claws for 23, 9.
Round 4:
Beari hits ST for 6, 5, MS
hits for16;
Arden, on ST’s back, hits for 15 + 5
cold; Zora hits DT for 40, kills, moves to
ST; Ben moves closer
to ST; ST bites Beari for 22, claws Zora for 14.
Round 5:
Beari, MS on ST for 19,
dagger misses; Arden
hits ST for 24 + 10 cold, 26 + 16 cold, 25 + 11 cold, 14 + 1 cold; Zora hits ST for 38 + 5 elec,
139
+ 9 elec, 28 + 12 elec,
kills.
XP:
1,125
Ben casts Mass
Heal.
Searching the bodies
turns up 2,155 gp
+ 7,923gpv in gems.
(11:00am)
Several hundred feet
later the huge cavern reverts to the
series of 100’ long, 50’ wide & high chambers.
(12:00 noon)
A large number of
chambers later we come to another waterlock. Ben’s
Chain of Eyes is still active on Arden. Beari casts Scry on
Familiar on Valenthe.
Arden goes
through first, still with Valanthe. Finds
nothing
alarming on the other side of the double locks, but does see stairs
going up,
and out of the water. Zora
goes through next, then Beari,
then Ben. Shortly, everyone is out of
the water.
There are illusions,
secret doors, and traps, but no more
encounters with monsters, and the group reaches the Lever Room.
(1:00pm)
Pull the lever and move
to level 6. Decide that, if the pattern
holds true, there
will be exactly one monster between here and the Level 6 Lobby with the
next
puzzle – and therefore there is no need to rest up and restore
spell
slots. See actual passageway.
One thousand or so feet
later, we see an ooze with
tentacles about 100’ away. Zora’s memory cards tell them that this is
a Life
Absorber. After we hear the description,
Zora wants to change her vote for
continuing; Beari votes for setting up Mordenkainen’s
Magnificent Mansion and homesteading here.
Group planning is more positive. We
calculate how many rounds each person can last, once inside the LA. Beefing up ACs
with
Protection from Evil will give some people an extra round.
Arden loans Zora
his Hat of Charisma, dropping him down from 27 to 23 rounds, while
raising her
from 18 to 24. The plan is to all go in
and fight it together, but stagger their entrances such that all of
them will
have the same “expiration date” round.
And, also, that going back to the
without-a-lever room and spending the night, to reassign spell slots to
maximize destruction spells, is a good idea.
As a sad side effect, we discover that the extra-planar Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion cannot
be cast
inside these catacombs.
Beggar
24, 5043
(8:00am)
Ben casts Protection
from Evil on
everyone. Zora
to go first: rounds
1 through 24; Arden second: rounds 2 through 24; Ben third for rounds 6
through
24; and Beari fourth for rounds 7 through
24.
Round 1:
Zora hits: {1} dead; cleave
{2} dead;
{3} 47, 45, 48.
Round 2:
Zora hits: {3}; cleave {4}
76, dead;
cleave {5} 71, 64, dead; cleave {6} 66;
Arden hits: {6} 61, 52,
63.
Round 3:
Zora hits: {6} 70, dead;
cleave {7}
dead; {8} 66, 72, 67;
Arden hits: {8} 59,
dead; {9} 52, dead.
Round 4:
Zora hits: {10} 67, 72, 63,
64, dead;
cleave {11} 71;
Arden hits: {11} 52, 60,
41, 67.
Round 5:
Zora hits: {11} dead; cleave
{12} 70,
66, 63, 71, dead; cleave {13} 71;
Arden hits: {13} 43, 47,
50, dead.
Round 6:
Zora hits: {14} 70, 71,
dead; cleave
{15} 69, 72, 70;
Arden hits: {15} dead;
{16} 54, 53, 50;
Ben casts Implosion: {16} dead.
Round 7:
Zora hits: {17} 72, 64, 73,
74, dead;
cleave {18} dead;
Arden hits: {19} 72, 61,
42, 62;
Ben continues Implosion:
{19} dead;
Beari casts Disintegrate {20} dead.
Round 8:
Zora at zero AC, hits: {21}
66, 68,
dead; cleave {22} 76, dead; cleave {23} 68;
Arden hits: {23} 54,
dead; {24} 53, 26;
Ben continues Implosion:
{24} dead;
Beari casts Disintegrate: {25} dead; casts Disintegrate: {26} dead.
Round 9:
Zora at -1 STATS, hits {27}
275, dead;
cleave {28} 66, dead; cleave {29} 66, dead; cleave {30} 276;
Arden at zero AC, hits:
{30} 47, 54, dead; {31} 41;
Ben concludes Implosion: {31} dead; recasts Implosion: {32} dead;
Beari casts Disintegrate: {33} dead; casts Disintegrate: {34} dead.
Round 10:
Zora at -2 STATS, hits {35}
68, 69, 63,
dead; cleave {36} miss, 67;
Arden at -1 STATS, hits
{36} 63, 51, dead; {37} 57;
Ben continues Implosion:
{37} dead;
Beari uses pearls to regain
spells,
casts Disintegrate: {38} dead; casts Disintegrate: {39} dead.
Round 11:
Zora at -3 STATS, hits {40}
dead;
cleave {41} dead; {42} 67, 66, 61, 65;
Arden at -2 STATS, hits
{42} 58, dead; {43} 76, 55;
Ben continues Implosion:
{43} dead;
Beari casts Maximized Fireball: {44} 60; casts
Maximized Fireball: {44} 60.
Round 12:
Zora at -4 STATS, hits {44}
dead;
cleave {45} dead; hits {46} dead; cleave {47} dead – and Life
Absorber
dies and dissolves.
HP:
7,200
Ben casts Mass
Heal.
We proceed 200’ to
the next lobby and find the next
puzzle.
END OF RUN
