The Humps, The Humps, The Mutant-Zombie Humps - May 27, 2022

 - Raiàn has a meeting with some of her old ladies and finds out from Janice that Juliana Blackmore might have been sick because their monthly parties have been so much smaller lately and that Tabitha who is the Blackmore son's maid but they're supposed to have another party either next week or the week after next

- Osiris has a quick chat with Birel, and then she and Tiff stop at a jeweler's and buy a diamond worth 300 GP for emergencies on their way to the Curlywit Boarding house 

- They all agree to hunt sewer zombies before attempting to maybe talk to the Town Council 

- They make their way back to the sewer entrance they came out of the previous night and let themselves back in and head up the path where the spidery footprints continued past the exit based on Tiff's direction

- They come to a fork and while there's been some water or something that's obscured the tracks they have been following Osiris notices there's different tracks coming (or going?) from the left side of the fork

- They chat and decide to follow the big tracks even if they are different from what they saw before

- After a few minutes of walking, they hear a low groaning sound that echoes off the walls and then they hear one from behind them as well

- The things look mostly humanoid, but they are hunched over with lumps on their back, and their fingers are weirdly extended into claws. They are naked.

ANOTHER SEWER BATTLE

- Lyrielle drinks the potion of Resilience that she got from Tiff (+1 AC), then she moves to the Zombie coming up from behind such that Rusty can easily flank, and the then she readies a defensive stance (Dodge)

- Rusty rages and runs up to flank Z2 with Lyrielle and slices into it for 19 slashing dmg and then slices it again for 14 slashing dmg

- Z2 claws Rusty for 7 slashing dmg and 8 necrotic dmg and then slices into him again 21 slashing and necrotic damage 

- Osiris casts Sacred Flame on Z1 for 4 radiant dmg 

- Z1 moves up to Osiris and claws her for 10 slashing and 6 necrotic dmg then misses with the second hand (Beacon of Hope drops)

- Theophania casts Cure Wounds on Osiris then falls back 10'

- Raiàn casts Misty Step to get past Osiris and Z1 and then she breaths on it for 11 lightning dmg then she falls 10' farther up the tunnel

- Lyrielle bashes Z2 with her enchanted staff for 7 bludgeoning dmg then she punches it in the hump for 9 bludgeoning dmg and then kicks it for 6 bludgeoning dmg and Z2 is slightly stunned (no Reaction until the end of her next turn)

- Rusty swipes Z2 again for 22 slashing dmg and then slices into for 9 slashing dmg (Yay flanking!)

- Z2 slices into Rusty for 11 combined slashing and necrotic dmg and then misses him

- Osiris casts Sacred Flame for 6 radiant dmg then she casts Misty Step and appears beside Raiàn

- Z1 moves forward and attacks Theophania for 17 combined slashing and then misses her

- Theophania casts Melf's Acid Arrow on Z1 since its in her face for 15 acid dmg

- Raiàn moves forward to within 15' of Z1 and casts Burning Hands for 11 fire dmg then she falls back 10' again

- Lyrielle smashes Z2 with her staff for 9 bludgeoning dmg then she kicks it for 8 bludgeoning dmg and it shudders but doesn't fall

- Rusty misses with his first swing then slices into it for 22 slashing dmg and its hump explodes and Rusty and Lyrielle both take 15 necrotic dmg then he moves to flank Z1 with Tiff

- Osiris steps forward 5', casts Healing Word on Tiff for 9 HP, and then casts Sacred Flame on it for 9 radiant dmg

- Z1 slices Theophania for 9 combined slashing and necrotic dmg then slices into her again for 13 combined slashing necrotic and then the acid remaining on his skin for 8 acid dmg

- Tiff Disengages and runs away

- Raiàn moves forward within 15' of the Z and casts Burning Hands again for 8 fire dmg

- Lyrielle moves to flank with Rusty and smashes it with her staff for 11 bludgeoning dmg and he is Stunned until the end of her next turn then she punches it for 13 bludgeoning dmg 

- Rusty swing into it for 21 slashing dmg and it explodes giving Rusty and Lyrielle 13 necrotic dmg 

- Osiris casts Prayer of Healing and everyone is doing much better

- Theophania pulls an entire bolt of oil cloth out of her bag and they wrap one of the arms off one of the exploded corpses with the extended claws and then it all goes into the Bag of Holding

- Osiris is examining the ground for footprints 

- Raiàn wonders allowed if there are any Black Blood hiding bricks 

- Rusty looks around briefly and sees a brick covered in muck that still manages to have a different texture than the rest of the bricks, and he pushes it and a secret door opens

- It seems like a similar mechanism to the hide outs used by the Black Bloods 

- Osiris sees that footprints like the zombies came out of this secret door

- Rusty pushes open the secret door and the group steps into a small entry room and there are two corpses on the floor that look like they have been ripped apart, DEEP gashes 

- Rusty finds 5 GP total on both bodies, they are holding weapons (They tried.) 

- Theophania calls Osiris to have her look down the dark passageway that extends into darkness.

- Osiris sees a door on the left, which she opens to find a small bunk room and then the door on the right, and it's a storage room with food and wine (Tiff puts some in her Bag)

- At the end of the hallway is a ladder that leads up to the surface, so she climbs it and pokes her head out and can smell the river

- With this information, Theophania figures out they are in the same general neighborhood of the city as Groundswallow Carpentry (it's East of the Curlywit boarding house and north of the Black Dog - the rectangular neighborhood on the map adjacent to the boarding house)

- Osiris tidies the bodies and asks Theophania to mark the secret entrance in the alleyway, so she climbs the ladder and casts Magic Mouth (as a ritual with her device shaped like a tiny megaphone trigger is when someone walks past in Temple Blues "Look for the chalk circle. It's an entrance to a secret space off the sewers with two dead bodies). Then she climbs back down the ladder so they can continue exploring in the sewers

- They come to another fork with heavy zombie footprints from both sides of the fork

- Both sides smell equally bad.

- As they are trying to decide which direction to head, they hear something coming from the left fork

- Rusty takes point at this time

- Eventually they all hear fairly clearly a human-like screaming sound that sounds like the spider-zombie monstrosity 

- Osiris can see off in the distance, she's starting to see movement, but she realizes there's a whole column of zombies heading for them.

- 1,800 XP ea. for 28,290 XP total ea.

Spider-Zombie Does Whatever a Zombie-Does, Will He Eat Your Face? Yes! If You're Prone! - May 20, 2022

 - Retroactively Theophania, during their short rest in the underground safe house, remembers something she threw into her Bag, and attaches what looks like a small tube to the side of her left bracer.

- Before they head out to follow the zombie footprints, Osiris asks Jimmy about Idris and there is a bit of a tangent from Rusty

- Jimmy says a guy came to him and wanted to purchase body parts, so he got Wenton to steal things from the temple

- Idris is tall, broad shouldered, longish dark hair and a lieutenant for Jimmy and the zombies got him in the basement

- Theophania starts thinking about Lord Blackmore and his family, and she remembers that her cousin has a friend who works for the neighboring state said that Lord Blackmore is an attractive man who seems like a good person to work for 

- His wife seems nice and is into painting and gardening and likes animals 

- There is one son of the Blackmore estate who is about 12 years old and the word on the street is that he is a holy terror, you know, the kind who would cause thousand of gold worth of property damage and daddy waves his hands to make the problems go away

- Theophania then casts Detect Magic as a ritual and confirms there's no magic or portals or other effects in the safe house

- She then starts to explain how her goggles work to Jimmy, and Osiris saves him by pointing out that they need to follow the zombie footprints, so T says she'll lead the way with her night vision / magic detection goggles

- Osiris follows directly behind with her 300' of dark vision

- Lyrielle hears a faint animal scream in the distance after they've walked for a few hundred feet

- It happens again and this time everyone hears it, but it is beyond the 300' of dark vision

- Theophania is convinced that is sounds like a bear, Lyrielle disagrees

- Osiris finally starts to see some movement in the distance, and it's vaguely humanoid, but it's walking around on all fours more like a wolf, then it starts moving towards the group quickly

- As it gets close they can all see it is trailed by two of it's friends and they are have the head of a human, but the teeth have been implanted from some kind of predatory animal and the torso is human , but limbs from the elbows and knees are the legs from that of a giant spider

SEWER BATTLE

- Rusty Rages and rushes for the lead Monstrosity (1) and slices into it with his greatsword for 7 slashing dmg 

- Lyrielle rushes forward next to Rusty whacks M1 with her staff for 12 bludgeoning dmg and then she punches it for 5 bludgeoning dmg and then her kick misses

- M3 runs forward and stabs her with its spider claw for 13 piercing dmg and she is knocked prone

- M2 climbs the wall and ceiling and then drops behind Rusty and stabs him with a spider claw for 14 piercing dmg but Rusty manages to stay on his feet

- Raiàn casts Fireball over all the Monstrosities and Lyrielle and Rusty for 27 fire dmg to M3, 12 for M2 and M1, 6 fire dmg to Rusty and Lyrielle on the ground managed not to get singed

- Osiris casts Spiritual Weapon (scissors) over Lyrielle but misses M1, then she casts Turn Undead and M2 and M3 are Turned

- M1 bites Lyrielle for 22 necrotic dmg

- Theophania runs around Osiris's legs so that she can see Lyrielle and casts Healing Word on her for 7 HP, then she shoots M1 for 7 piercing dmg with her crossbow

- Rusty slices M1 for 11 slashing dmg and then again for 12 slashing dmg

- Lyrielle stands up then whacks M1 with her staff for 8 bludgeoning dmg then she gets that kick in for 6 bludgeoning dmg right into his guts and the guts burst and it crumbles in place

- M3 runs away down the tunnel because it is Turned

- M2 starts to run away but gets three opportunity attacks for 6 slashing, 6 bludgeoning, and 5 slashing dmg it moves up the tunnel until it is adjacent to Lyrielle then it tries to stab her, but it misses

- Raiàn casts Magic Missile for 11 force on M2

- Osiris casts Sacred Flame on M2 for 11 radiant dmg then the scissors (SW) miss then she runs up the tunnel in the same direction M3 ran, M2 misses on its opportunity attack pinging off her shield

- Tiff shoots M2 with her crossbow for 8 piercing dmg

- Rusty moves up the tunnel towards Osiris just past M2 and slices into it for 13 slashing dmg and then again for 9 slashing dmg which slices off the head and one shoulder / arm killing it!

END OF COMBAT

- There's another scream from down the tunnel

- They haven't seen any grates in a while, so they must be pretty deep

- They come to where the tunnel forks with most of the footprints going to the left fork with only the pointy weird tracks of what is probably the fleeing monstrosity ran and there's a distinct smell of rot and decay coming from the left-hand tunnel.

- They try to go quietly, and they walk another probably 1/4 mile, and they come to a location where there's been a cave-in where and there are damaged, empty coffins. There's even one still lodged in the dirt with the bottom broken out like the dead thing broke out from the inside 

- Theophania realizes they are now outside the city walls under the settlement just beyond the Hauflin Gate where there's a good-sized graveyard

- They make it to the nearest exit just inside the city walls and only a few blocks away from the Black Dog and there's still smoke from where it's burning and the bucket brigade is working to prevent the spread of the inferno judging by the commotion and cacophony

- They trudge back to the Temple to wash and sleep and recharge since it's like midnight

- Osiris and Tiff head to the Temple and everyone else goes to the Curlywit Boarding house since it's closer

- Theophania drinks her Elixir of Flight so Osiris can pull her along like a balloon which helps the trip go faster

- Osiris slides a report summarizing what they found under Birel's door then heads to the baths

- 1,800 XP ea for 26,490 XP total ea.

I'm a Sleazebag, Not a Fighter! - May 6, 2022

 - On their way down the stairs into the basement, Theophania hands Lyrielle an alchemical potion of Boldness

BASEMENT BATTLE

- Flesh Monster 1 moves up to Osiris and hits her with a boneless fleshy arm for 19 bludgeoning dmg

- Osiris activates her Channel Divinity - Twilight Sanctuary then casts Spiritual Weapon (a rusty, dirty, jagged pair of old scissors) adjacent to the FM1 and hits it for 11 force dmg

- Lyrielle moves up to FM1 and smacks it with her quarterstaff for 10 bludgeoning an then punches it for 8 bludgeoning dmg

- Theophania casts Enlarge on Lyrielle

- Rusty jumps over the banister about 15' to a table and them moves to Skeleton2 and slices it for 11 slashing dmg then slices it again for 12 slashing dmg

- FM2 moves up to Bystander2 and whacks him with a boneless arm for 6 bludgeoning dmg and then hits him again for 10 bludgeoning dmg

- Raiàn casts Hypnotic Pattern on all the monsters except FM1, and everyone fails except SK1

- SK1 moves to Rusty and bites hit for 12 piercing dmg

- FM1 hits Theophania for 10 bludgeoning dmg and then hits her again for 11 bludgeoning dmg and then hit envelops her and crushes her for 15 bludgeoning dmg

- Osiris hits FM1 with her SW then casts Sacred Flame on it for 9 radiant dmg then she switches places with her SW to flank with Lyrielle

- Lyrielle hit FM1 with her quarterstaff for 5 bludgeoning dmg then she kicks it for 9 bludgeoning dmg killing it! (She sticks the quarterstaff in between it and T and then rips T out of its grasp and it explodes.)

- Theophania moves 25' towards the incapacitated bystander and then shoots SK1 with her crossbow for 10 piercing dmg. She yells to the bartender (Rosella), "Get out!" and points back at the stairs

- Rusty slices his greatsword into SK1 for 11 piercing dmg and then slices into it again for 19 slashing dmg

- FM2 is incapacitated 

- Raiàn casts Firebolt on SK1 for 10 fire dmg

- SK1 claws Lyrielle for 16 slashing dmg and knocks her prone

- Osiris moves her SW to SK1 and smacks it for 15 force dmg lopping off it's head (Theophania requests that someone grabs her crossbow bolt) and then she casts Toll the Dead on SK2, but it doesn't find purchase in its brain or whatever, then she yells at Jimmy "You gonna help or what?"

- Jimmy picks up a random bottle moves forward a few steps then throws the bottle at FM2 at hits it for 1 bludgeoning dmg

- Lyrielle stands up then moves to FM2 and smacks it with her quarterstaff for 16 bludgeoning dmg and then she she punches it for 6 bludgeoning dmg and then kicks it for 5 bludgeoning dmg

- Theophania moves 25' deeper into the bar away from the hole in the wall where the undead presumably broke through into the bar then she misses FM2 with her crossbow 

- Rusty slices SK2 for 14 slashing dmg and then misses with his second swing then moves to put himself between the skeleton and Theophania

- FM2 misses Lyrielle then hits her for 9 bludgeoning dmg

- Raiàn hits FM2 with Magic Missiles (level 3) and it explodes all over the bystander

- SK2 claws Rusty for 15 slashing dmg

- Osiris moves her SW to flank with Rusty and chops into SK2 for 10 force dmg then it moves 5' further with its swing and then she runs along the bar in Jimmy's direction and casts Sacred Flame on SK2 and it misses

- Lyrielle runs back over to SK2 and whacks SK2 with her staff for 10 bludgeoning dmg and then she kicks it for 8 bludgeoning dmg which gets him right in the spine crush it so he falls into two halves

END BATTLE

- Osiris is salty that Jimmy didn't warn them about the undead in the bar, but they appeared just a minute or so ago

- Raiàn opens the door and looks out and the entire bar is now "fully engulfed" in fire. Blazing inferno.

- Jimmy knows that the tunnel where the undead enters the underground bar leads to the sewers and then to a safe house, so they gather the bartender, the bystander and Jimmy with Rusty taking point and Lyrielle covering the rear

- Osiris grants her 300' of dark vision to Rusty and Raiàn and Theophania dons her goggles

- The tunnel comes to what used to be a doorway but that has clearly been destroyed and it opens onto a sewer tunnel and Jimmy directs Rusty to go to the right

- As they are passing through from the back of the line, Lyrielle and Osiris see that all the footprints and tracks are coming from the left

- Jimmy says that you go to the right until you find the rough brick

- Once they find it, a short rest is had

 

- 2,000 XP ea for 24,690 XP total ea. - LEVEL 7!!!