I Like Big Buttes #WhyDoesThatAnusHaveSoManyTeeth - January 27, 2023

 - As they are camping again for the evening, Rusty receives from Theophania, "Sorry, had to tweak Sender Stick. Tina closed portal. Lady Blackmore gone, hopefully. Should be able to keep in touch now. Any news? Miss you!"

 - He turns to Sunny and says thereby Sending back, "Sunny, you're Raiàn's cousin? Yes, I thought we had talked about this. Killing bugs with Raiàn's cousin. Glad to hear things are okay for now..." Will be making my way back soon <-- Doesn't get Sent.

- Osiris Sends, "Rusty, when someone Sends to you, the first 25 words you say after it gets returned, so maybe be concise and don't talk to others." 

- He returns to Osiris, "Well, how am I supposed to ask them if they're their cousin without Sending that back? Anyway, killing bugs. Will head back soon."

- Theophania Sends, "Raiàn says her granddad rules the place, so he can pay someone to send you back. Seems unlikely to me, but that's what they said."

- Rusty responds, "Well, I'm sure convincing them to be grateful for getting rid of the bugs will be easier than hiking back. Wait, Sunny your granddad's the..."

- Discussion is had about Sunny being the "spare" to the crown and whether or not the family could get Rusty back to Mistverge faster than the six months it would take him to walk back.

- A long rest is had, but during second watch, Lephith sees a bluish beam of light come down from the sky off over there and then after a minute it disappears. Then another one appears as well.

- It's mostly the direction they've been heading, but it's slightly farther north than they've been walking.

- Lephith pokes Renalla who pokes Rusty

- Rusty casts Commune with Nature (ritual!) and he sees a spirit of a minotaur approaches him, so he asks

       - When I was returned to this plane I was sent to this desert specifically. Is this where I am from?

              - Many of your kind once roamed these lands.

       - What where those beams of light that we just saw (pointing in that direction)?

              - Creatures arrive from the Infernal plane.

       - How do we stop that?

              - Shrug

       - How far away are they?

              - Four hours walk will take you near

- Rusty comes to to see Lephith about to bonk him in the head with a shovel.

- The next morning, information is shared and they head towards the origin of the big flashy lights.

-  After four hours of walking, they see rising in front of them a mesa (bigger than a butte but smaller than a plateau) that's maybe 50-60' tall. No visible cave entrances or burned ground from the light.

- Rusty thinks he sees some movement on the top

- They continue to the base of the mesa, they hear chittering and when they look up they see a group of the bug things fly away from the tops of the mesa.

- Renalla shouts at them in Infernal, but they don't notice her.

- Renalla then turns into a Giant Vulture (skeleton) and does a quick fly over and sees some kind of hole or pit or sinkhole thing in the center of the mesa and around the perimeter of the hole are quadrupedal bug(?) creatures around the perimeter roaming around.

- She scouts a place to land people where they can hide while she is one-by-one transporting people up the side of the mesa, and then she does this thing.

- There's a quick game of giant skele-vulture charades to explain what she saw.

- They start heading towards the big hole, and while they are deciding whether or not to bother being stealthy, they see one of the four-legged things, about the size of a black bear with reddish skin covered in armor plates and where its face would be looks like a lamprey's mouth (like an anus but with teeth all the way around). It's not-face seems to be looking directly at the group.

- Renalla lands and then walks behind some scrubby bushes then gestures to all the others to do the same. Sunny does so.

- Lephith slides Kip off their shoulder and puts them behind them where they immediately peek around their massive trunk of a thigh.

- Rusty starts walking towards it, and it lets out a sort of hoot or howl thing and other creatures start heading this direction.

Infernal Ambush - January 20, 2023

 - Near the end of first watch (Renalla staring at Rusty and asking him random questions here and there and Rusty staring at Renalla with Sunny actually doing a good job keeping watch), Sunny hears a soft bang like something fell over near the edge of camp where most people had stacked their gear.

- Sunny quietly tiptoes over to where she heard the noise and one of the bags in the stack has an animal's back half sticking out of it as the animal is scrounging around in their supplies

- They dart in grab the creature and the bag goes flying and it's a scrawny-looking cat thing (dwarf tabaxi, Kip-sized) which then says "Hey, lemmee go! Lemmee go! Reowr!" Sunny starts petting it, but it doesn't stop trying to scrabble its way out of their arms 

- Renalla comes over and starts trying to talk to the cat and turns into a cat type skeleton and they have a conversation about how this creature is a scavenger who sells stuff with Sunny scritching it the entire time

- He shows the party his bag full of trash and then says the bug things took his friend Rico.

- He tells them Rico was taken slightly north of west.

- His name is Maxidor.

- Renalla buys a feather (hawk?) off of him which she sticks in her floaty hair.

- Renalla points him in the direction of the caravan they didn't manage to save so he can get some food from it

- Rusty hears in his head in Theophania's voice, "Testing? Rusty can you hear me? You’re possibly in the desert west of the Hopeless Highlands. Raiàn’s people are there. Long journey home on foot."

- He responds, "Am in desert. May recognize mountains. Weird spooky bugs. Have found trustyworthy-ish companions. Some dragonborns. Will ask about Raiàn. Still good so far?"

- First thing in the morning, Rusty answers Renalla's questions rapid fire with no regard to the questions, "Define awake? Sure, if it makes you happy. Yeah. In the morning. I get that a lot."

- Renalla is somewhat confused by this. "What do you mean, if it makes me happy?" Explanations are provided.

- Rusty then immediately asks Renalla about the "whole skeleton thing" and the answer is that she died. She does not know anything about the undead invasion in Mistverge.

- Rusty brings up Raiàn over breakfast. Sunny explains about her cousin.

- They head off into the desert and find a rocky curvy path to follow.

- After about a half a day of walking they find the remains of another caravan. It looks like the stuff was just ripped apart and spread around on the ground. There are cracked open barrels and smashed crates all around.

- Renalla sniffs one of the barrels and determines that it used to hold a really nice wine.

- The remains of the cargo seems like it was maybe slightly nicer than the things the caravan whose attack they witnessed.

- As they are investigating a chittering sound starts in the rocks around them and everyone pulls weapons and then half the people realize that it's words in Infernal, "Yesss, new meat." Then four bug creatures descend upon the group.

RUINED CARAVAN BATTLE

- Sunny speaks to the bugs in Infernal saying that they don't want to have to kill them, but the bug things ignore her. She then moves a little to the west and then breaths lightning on one Trident Bug (TB1) and one Claw Bug (CB1) for 11 (5) lightning dmg and then she throws a dagger at TB1 for 10 (5) piercing dmg. Then she moves forward to TB1 and punches it for 8 bludgeoning dmg then again for 5 bludgeoning dmg.

- TB1 pokes Sunny with its trident for 7 piercing dmg then misses with its claws

- Renalla Druidshapes into a skeletal scorpion (yesm we know they have exoskeletons instead of bones, but deal with it), skitters over to TB2 and CB2, her claws miss TB2 and then she claws and grapples CB2 and stabs it with her stinger

- CB1 skitters on its tripod legs starts running towards the southeast a bit then runs through the middle of Rusty, Lephith, and Kip, but Lephith and Kip dodge the whirling dervish arms. Rusty takes all 15 dmg

- Lephith runs over to help Kip flanking the CB1 with them then summons her corporeal shadow next to Kip then slices into CB1 for 8 slashing and 1 radiant dmg then again for another 8 and 6 radiant slashing dmg

- TB2 misses Renalla scorpion with the trident and then claws her for 14 slashing dmg

- Rusty Rages, runs over to flank TB1 with Sunny and then he misses twice

- CB2 claws Renalla scorpion for 16 slashing dmg and then again for 14 slashing dmg

- Kip casts Sacred Flame on CB1 for 13 radiant dmg

- Sunny punches TB1 four times for a total of XX bludgeoning dmg and then it is Stunned

- TB1 is Stunned and tells Sunny, "F-F-Fuck yyyou."

- Renalla rotates around CB2 moving away from TB2 who tridents her for 7 piercing dmg then she claws CB2 for 10 slashing and 1 cold dmg and its movement is 0 and has DisAdv on Str and Dex checks then misses with her stinger

- CB1 teleports away to the northeast

- Lephith sends her Shadows after TB2 runs towards it herself then Dashes to it and slices into it for 10 slashing and 4 radiant dmg then again for 11 slashing and 4 radiant dmg

- TB2 tridents Lephith for 12 piercing then claws them for 9 slashing dmg

- Rusty slices into TB1 for 32 (16) slashing dmg then again for so much TB1 is cleaved in half then he runs over to CB1 and misses it

- CB2 misses scorpion-Renalla then claws her for 13 slashing dmg and she is just Renalla again. 

- Kip casts Catapult (2nd level) hitting TB2 for 27 bludgeoning dmg

- Sunny runs over to flank CB1 and then punches it 

- Renalla casts Tidal Wave on CB2 and TB2 for some damage and TB2 is knocked prone

- CB1 misses Rusty then claws him for 8 (4) slashing dmg

- Lephith slices the head off of TB2 and then moves to flank CB2 with Renalla and slices into it for 7 radiant dmg and her sword heals her for 9 dmg

- Rusty slices into CB1 for 10 (5) slashing dmg and then again for 23 (12) slashing dmg and then again for 15 (7) slashing dmg

- CB2 teleports out of flanking to the southwest

- Kip casts Chaos bolt CB1 for 8 psychic dmg then they move a little closer to Renalla and Lephith

- Sunny punches CB1 for 6 bludgeoning dmg and again for 6 bludgeoning dmg and then again for 6 bludgeoning dmg and then again for DEATH!

- Renalla runs towards CB2 and then uses Frostbite on it which misses then she casts Grasping Vine and it is pulled 20' towards Lephith

- Lephith and her shadow runs over to CB2 and tackles it then asks Renalla if she wants Lephith to "make it talk"

- Rusty runs and Dashes towards CB2 and his Rage fades

- CB2 teleports to the northwest (Lephith, "Tiamat's Rainbow Tits!")

- Kip Catapults again for 20 bludgeoning dmg 

- Sunny punches CB2 twice and then says she will kill it if he doesn't answer their questions and it just says "We will kill all of you" so she punches it twice more and says something about how it has to die then and it just responds "We are strong and all will fall."

- Renalla asks it, "Why do you want to kill us all?" Then she moves towards CB2 and then casts Thorn Whip for 10 piercing dmg and is pulled 10' towards her.

- Lephith moves herself and her shadow towards CB2 then Dashes around to its back and they shout to Rusty, "Metal Man, kill it!"

- Rusty moves in to flank with Lephith then misses ("I'm disappointed in you, Metal Man.) and then he slices into it for 6 (3) slashing dmg

- CB2 screams "Your flesh will build out empire!" then it whirling dervish attacks Lephith, Rusty, and Renalla and they all take 25 slashing dmg but Lephith manages to swing at it for 11 slashing and 5 radiant dmg and she kills it!

END OF BATTLE

- While poking around in the cart remains, Renalla finds a pouch containing 50 GP which proves the bug things didn't give a shit about money, but it does seem like most of the other raw materials have been taken.

- Sunny figures that this ambush was opportunist and not about them specifically.

- Renalla figures that the wreckage happened about a week ago while she's passing 10 GP to each of her companions.

- The group has a brief rest before following the trail farther for a few more hours

Why is that Metal Talking #KipUp - January 6, 2023

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

- The Trevek mission party has been traveling north for about three days from Runespoke in the direction of Pradak

- Rusty finds himself in a deep valley between a bunch of sand dunes. It is midafternoon and it's very warm out. He is not grappled and no in the Shadow Realm.

- Rusty climbs to the top of the nearest sand dune and he sees off to the east there may be something moving

- To the south he can see the barest glimpse of some mountains, but they are hazy and indistinct

- Rusty begin moving towards the east and the movement that he can see

- He walks for several hours

- The Trevek mission party can also see something moving to the north of them traveling towards them. It seems to be large enough to be a group traveling either by foot or with wagons

- Rusty comes up over a rise and he can see a caravan but also another group of travelers moving towards the caravan. He also hears a loud buzzing sound coming from behind him.

- Rusty turns around and sees large insect looking creatures. They are black, have two legs, four arms, and are universally carrying trident spears

- The insects basically buzz him and fly straight towards the caravan.

- Rusty runs after the bugs.

- The insect creatures land around the caravan and immediately begin attacking and grabbing valuables

- A noxious green cloud immediately envelops the area around the caravan

 

BATTLE TO PROTECT THE CARAVAN

- Renalla lowers her hood and you see a blue tiefling with horns that curl backwards. She shouts "Hey, cut it out!" The bugs pay no heed, so she whistles and over the sand dune the spirit of a red dragon flies in out of nowhere over to her side and then she moves off to the left

- The Red Spirit Dragon (RSD) he does a fly-over breathing fire on two of the Insect Creatures (IC5 and IC2) 11 fire dmg to IC5 and 5 to IC2

- IC1 flies over to Renalla and pokes her with the trident but misses then claws her for 8 slashing dmg'

- Lephith runs straight up to the closest bug (IC5) straight into the noxious cloud taking 11 poison dmg then her Shadow keeps going and coalesces into another being behind it flanking it with her and she attacks it for 6 slashing and 5 radiant dmg and then slices it again for 6 slashing and 1 radiant dmg then the Shadow attacks for 12 slashing and 6 radiant dmg and then she slices it again for 10 slashing and 5 radiant dmg and then one last time for 7 slashing and 3 radiant dmg (61 dmg!)

- IC2 moves to flank Renalla and stabs her for 5 piercing dmg with its trident and then claws her for 10 slashing dmg

- Kip casts Chaos Bolt (Level 3) at IC5, but it misses 

- IC3 moves up to Sunny stabs Sunny with a trident for 12 piercing dmg then claws her for 9 slashing dmg

- Sunny runs over to flank IC2 with Renalla, but IC3 stabs her for 13 piercing dmg as she leaves, then she breathes a line of lightning through IC2, Renalla, IC1, and IC5 for 3 lightning dmg then she stabs IC2 for 5 piercing dmg then she punches it for 6 bludgeoning dmg then she punches it again for 8 bludgeoning dmg (ICs resist lightning)

- IC4 flies up 20' and misses the RSD with the trident then misses with its claws also

- Rusty moves up to IC2, Rages, and misses with his first attack then slices into IC2 with his great axe for 11 slashing dmg

- IC5 teleports 40' SW out of being flanked and chitters angrily

 

- Renalla casts Frostbite on IC1 for 7 cold dmg (resisted) and it has DisAdv on the next weapon Attack roll it makes

- RSD misses IC4 with its claws twice

- IC1 misses Renalla with its trident then claws her for 9 slashing dmg

- Lephith moves to protect Kip and moves her Shadows with her then she slices into IC3 for 20 total dmg then gets a really good hit for 31 total dmg then she slices into it with her non-magical off-hand longsword for 3 slashing dmg

- IC2 teleports 40' to the NW out of flank and chitters angrily

- Kip casts Chaos Bolt (2nd level) on IC3 for 5 cold dmg

- IC3 teleports 40' to the SW out of being flanked and chitters angrily

- Sunny moves and Step of the Wind bonus actions over to IC5 breaths acid on it and IC3 for nothing (immune) and then she misses punching it just barely

- IC4 moves away from RSD taking 14 piercing dmg from a bite attack as it does so then casts Darkness in a 15' radius from it's new location near Rusty and Renalla

- Rusty runs out of the Darkness and then uses the rest of his movement to move to IC2 and swings his axe into it for 35 (17) slashing dmg then misses on his second attack then swings again hitting it for 30 (15) slashing dmg

- IC5 stabs Sunny for 5 piercing dmg and then misses with its claws

- Renalla casts Dispel Magic on the Darkness and it dissipates the Darkness and then whistles for her RSD

- RSD moves to flank IC1 with Renalla and then claws it for 14 slashing dmg two times! then is shouts at the bugs in Draconic "Get out!"

- IC1 teleports 40' SW away from being flanked and chitters angrily

- Lephith moves to flank IC3 with her Shadow who moves with her then attacks it for 14 total dmg then she misses but it dodges straight into the sword of her shadow who lops off the two left arms and black ichor squirts out for a second before it all poofs into non-existence like it never happened

- IC2 stabs Rusty for 7 piercing dmg and then claws him for 7 slashing dmg

- Kip moves slightly west and then casts Chaos Bolt at IC4 for 30 thunder dmg

- Sunny misses a punch, misses a second punch, then she gets it for 7 bludgeoning and it dissipates into nothing

- IC4 moves closer to Renalla and misses with the trident then claws her for 7 slashing dmg

- Rusty slices into IC2 for 12 slashing dmg and then again for 10 slashing dmg and it dissipates into nothing

- Renalla side steps along IC4 and casts Tidal Wave at it, but it withstands the force of it, but takes 8 bludgeoning dmg

- RSD runs around IC4 feinting and then striking well for 15 piercing dmg and then clawing again for 11 piercing dmg throwing it into the air where it dissipates into non-existent smoke

- IC1 moves up to Kip and stabs them for 12 piercing then misses her with its claws

- Lephith moves towards IC1 then Dashes up to IC1 and then re-summons her Shadow also next to IC1 flanking with Kip

- Kip casts Chaos Bolt at IC1 for 14 psychic dmg

- Sunny moves to flank IC1 with Lephith punches IC1 for 9 bludgeoning dmg, then punches it but good for 9 bludgeoning, then punches it again for 6 bludgeoning, and then punches it one last time for 5 bludgeoning and it splats into nothingness 

END OF BATTLE

- The poisonous cloud around the caravan dissipates, but everyone in it and all the pack animals are dead 

- The RSD fucks off

- Lephith picks Kip up and put them on their shoulder saying "Kip up" as they do so. 

- Rusty comes over and much conversation is had 

- The caravan is hauling mostly food and other trade goods like textiles

- Lephith puts Kip on the driver seat of the first caravan, takes away the dead people, and unhooks the horses and tries to pull the cart, which she can but it's hard and slow

- Kip takes the reins (still attached to the horses) and goes a little crazy, it does nothing.

- Rusty tells his story

- They gather some supplies from the caravan then head west (where the bugs came from) for a little while then make camp for the night

Divine Lojack #MoreTentacles - December 23, 2022

 - Osiris surfaces in the Material Plane, Rusty is no where to be seen

- There is a kerfuffle about the missing Rusty

- Osiris Sends to Rusty, "Where are you? Are you alive? I thought you would be back with our friends. Please don't tell me you're dead."

- Meanwhile, Rusty wakes up under a cloudless blue sky surrounded by sand being nearly blinded by the sun, "Not dead. I think I'm on the  right plane. I think I'm in a desert. Lots of sand. No clouds. Bright sun. Let you know."

- "How is he gonna let me know?" LOL.

- Raiàn says that he might be in the desert where she's from, which a long way away, but there are other deserts in the world

- Theophania takes charge and assigns Lyrielle the job of parkouring back to the city guard (Dunkin McCloud) who showed up to check on them because they've been gone for THREE DAYS, tells Osiris to commune with Mishakal and see if she can get some information about Rusty's location, and then Raiàn, Tina, and she will work on closing the portal

- Osiris gets an answer! She sees the entirety of the Material Plane like a globe spinning in space and she starts zooming in on the northern continent and it moves further and further west past the mountains into the desert (west of Rhoanor and north of old Laufburg in the middle of the desert)

- Raiàn, Lyrielle, and Dunkin see a tentacle pierce the surface of the "liquid"

- Lyrielle dashes across the surface of the "lake" and jumps onto the rope Dunkin has lowered from the level above

NOT MORE TENTACLES!! (BATTLE)

- Theophania casts Flaming Sphere next to the Tentacle monster and deals 17 fire dmg to it

- The Tentacle Monster moves away from the ball of fire and then grabs Lyrielle in a tentacle and yanks her towards it

- Raiàn throws a fireball and deals 26 fire dmg to the TM

- The Beholder Guy surfaces and moves closer to the group protecting Tina and shoots Tiff and her boots magic is suppressed

- Lyrielle breaks free of the tentacle holding her, then takes Patient Defense, and moves back towards the entry to prevent the monsters from getting up into the city

- A dog-looking creature that has pointy spider feet instead of paw surfaces (Spider Dog) runs up to Tiff and stabs her twice for a total of 18 piercing dmg

- Dunkin McCloud slides down the rope and ends up waist deep in the "lake" has a moment of shock and then shoots his shortbow at the TM, but he misses twice

- A SECOND SPIDER-DOG APPEARS and then runs over and stabs Tiff twice for a total of 13 piercing dmg

- Osiris pulls out her shield interposing herself between Tina and SD2 and she casts Greater Invisibility on Tina

- End of round: The lake of inky darkness shrinks by about 5' from the far edge

- Tiff graze the BG with her FS for 6 fire dmg then she takes the Dodge action

- TM tentacle grabs Lyrielle and Dunkin and pulls them both 25' towards him then moves to them 10' and bites Dunkin for 20 piercing dmg

- Raiàn takes a step to the side and then casts another Fireball on the BG and both SDs (12 fire dmg to the BG and 25 fire to the SDs)

- BG moves closer to the group around Tina by 15' then shoots an unaffected Osiris with something

- Lyrielle whacks the TM biting Dunkin for 13 bludgeoning dmg and then misses punching it then kicks it for 9 bludgeoning dmg, but it manages not to be Stunned

- SD3 appears and runs over to Lyrielle stabs her for a total of 13 piercing dmg

- SD1 stabs Tiff once for 7 piercing dmg

- Dunkin takes a deep breath (bonus Fighting Spirit) and swings four times for a total of 68 slashing dmg (2 crits, 1 miss, 1 hit) and he cleaves it in half! then he moves around Lyrielle to be adjacent to SD3

- SD4 (Ack! FOUR!) appears and moves over to Lyrielle and Dunkin and stabs Dunkin for 4 piercing dmg

- SD3 crits on Dunkin for 12 piercing dmg

- Osiris averts her gaze from the Beholder and she casts Spiritual Weapon and hits SD2 for 8 force dmg then she casts Word of Radiance on the same critter for 9 radiant dmg

- End of the round: Half the large chambers is no longer portal

- Theophania pulls her Flaming Sphere 30' straight towards her and grazes SD1 for 6 fire dmg then she casts Cure Wounds on herself for 17 HP healed

- Raiàn casts Fireball in the same place as her last one getting BG and SD1 for 30 fire dmg

- An enraged BG shoots Tiff and she falls over, then he shoots Osiris and she is Paralyzed for 1 min, then it shoots Raiàn for 10 necrotic dmg then it moves back away from the FS

- Lyrielle whacks SD3 for 7 bludgeoning dmg then punches it for 7 bludgeoning dmg then misses with her kick

- Dunkin moves to flank SD3 with Lyrielle (SD4 misses the OA) and then misses his first attack then slashes into it for 12 slashing dmg

- SD3 misses Lyrielle twice

- SD4 stabs Lyrielle for 6 piercing dmg and then again for 6 piercing dmg

- Osiris is Paralyzed 

- SD5 and SD6 appear

- End of Round: The entire large chamber is no longer in the portal lake.

- Tiff moves her FS and grazes SD6 for 7 fire dmg then she stands up and casts Lesser Restoration on Osiris who is no longer Paralyzed!

- Raiàn casts (you guessed it) Fireball 10' to the left of BG and deals 33 fire dmg to BG and SD5 and 16 on SD6

- BG shoots Tiff for 8 necrotic dmg, then miss her on its second shot, then misses her again

- Lyrielle whacks SD3 for 11 bludgeoning dmg then punches it for 7 bludgeoning dmg and it is dead!

- SD5 and SD6 runs up to Tiff and she is stabbed for 16 total dmg by the two of them

- Dunkin confirms with Lyrielle if she's got SD4 and when she agrees, he turns, pulling out his shortbow and shoots BG for 5 piercing dmg then misses his second shot

- SD4 stabs Lyrielle for 5 piercing then crits for 14 piercing dmg 

- Osiris casts Cure Wounds on Tiff for 20 HP healed then she Spiritual Weapons SD6 for 8 force dmg

- End of the Round: The portal shrinks to only be about 5' in diameter in the center of the small chamber.

- Tiff moves her FS and rams SD6 solidly for 18 fire dmg and he is incinerated! She pulls a little handaxe off her belt and swings it into SD5 for 6 slashing dmg

- Raiàn moves forward and slightly to the right and then casts Cone of Cold across the whole of the small chamber getting BG and SD5 for 20 cold dmg and there are two frozen statues!

- Lyrielle uses her self-heal for 30 HP then Disengages and runs towards her friends

- Dunkin moves over to SD4 an crits for 26 slashing dmg then he misses 

- SD4 misses Dunkin twice

- Osiris Misty Steps 30' next to the Beholder ice sculptor then she she casts Toll the Dead on SD4 for 13 necrotic dmg and she kills it! She then drops Greater Invisibility and we can all see Tina!

END OF BATTLE

Beholder and SD5 ice sculptures 

- Now that we can see Tina, she is obviously concentrating very hard on something, and that goes on for another 12-18 seconds, and then the portal swirls out of existence.

- There's a quick but fairly thorough description of the events that lead up to them being in this underground chamber fighting TMs and BGs (Tiff gets inspiration.)

- Osiris explains about how Rusty ended up on the other side of the continent

- Dunkin is flabbergasted.

-3,000 XP ea for 67,000 XP total ea.

Oops, All Tentacles - December 16, 2022

 - Theophania gives a healing potion to Tina and casts Spider Climb on her as well, and she and Lyrielle (who can also walk on walls because D.M.S.) head down to check out the source of the necrotic energy

- Lyrielle gets to a point where the tunnel is too smooth for her to continue on with Tina, so Tina goes on by herself down the tunnel

- Lyrielle yells to check on her, and after only 10-15 minutes so comes back and says mostly this tunnel is full of the necrotic ooze, and it doesn't seem to continue past the room where the altar was (described to her by Tiff and Osiris)

- Lyrielle and Tina come back and a discussion is had

- Osiris tries shooting the viscous necrotic liquid with Sacred Flame and a tiny little bit of it is destroyed, but then it flowed right back into the hole left by the cantrip

- Tiff then casts Spider Climb on Rusty and he ferries everyone through the tunnel, with Tina and Tiff together as the first trip

- Tina's hand accidentally touches the goo, and it tingles unpleasantly.

- There's a tunnel directly across that has bare stone only 15' or so from the edge of the necrotic liquid

- Rusty jogs back and gets Osiris and makes that trip no problem

- Rusty drops Raiàn into the good halfway through, and it tingles, but doesn't necessarily hurt, and she floats right on the surface

- Raiàn uses Misty Step to get out of the goo, and Rusty drops into the liquid after yelling for her, and because of his density, he sinks until submerged, but when he comes up the environment is changed (looks decayed) and his friends are gone when he swims over to the area he was dropping off his friends

- Osiris and Tiff and Tina call and call for Rusty, and he's not there

- Osiris sends a "Where are you?" message and he says that he thinks the goo is a portal and he fell through because he thought Raiàn fell in

- Rusty sees some kind of movement as he's going to dive back into to see if he can get back to his friends

- Rusty sees a creature that seems to be made entire of tentacles and a creepy mouth that seems to be watching the vibrations of the liquid, probably caused by him falling in and then swimming out?

- The troop who made it across yell to Lyrielle and she manages to D.M.S. her way across the wall / surface of the water

- Rusty can see the ripples of Lyrielle running across the surface, but he doesn't know that's what it is because he's never seen her run across liquids. The tentacle monster seems like it's trying to grab the thing causing the ripples, but there's nothing there yet.

- Tina does some more examination and says she thinks this goo has dissolved the barrier between the planes

- Osiris jumps into the liquid, and surfaces in the decayed mirror world and immediately starts calling for Rusty and he can see the monster can hear her too

- On the ceiling, still spider climbing, Rusty starts heading for Osiris to try to head off the monster, which is easy to do because it's moving slowly and quietly to stalk the new prey in its lake

- Osiris climbs out of the liquid and then jumps back in again and she's back with Tiff, Tina, and Lyrielle

- Tina walks into the liquid does a little somersault, and she's gone and then she almost immediately comes back, so Tiff says they should go look for Rusty since Osiris couldn't find him and she jumps in

- Osiris jumps back in too

- They look around and see nothing. No Rusty and definitely not a tentacle monster

- Tina is popping back and forth erratically showing Raiàn and Lyrielle how to flip back and forth

- Lyrielle goes in

- Raiàn also finally joins the troop

- Lyrielle sees a floating head with tentacle stalks coming off it talking towards them

- She calls the women's attention to it, and so they finally see it

- Osiris finally looks around and sees Rusty clinging to the wall and a giant tentacle monster behind him

BATTLE IN THE UPSIDEDOWN

- Osiris casts Aura of Vitality

- Beholder Guy shoots an eye laser at Lyrielle and she dodges, then it shoots at Osiris and she dodges, and then it shoots a ray at Raiàn which hits for 26 fire dmg

- Raiàn casts Cone of Cold behind her and the BG takes 20 cold dmg

- Tentacle Monster1 flings out a tentacle and Grapples Raiàn then it does the some thing to Lyrielle then it does the same thing to Tina and then it pulls all three to its main body and bites Lyrielle for 23 piercing dmg

- Lyrielle wriggles but does not break free

- TM2 tentacle grabs Rusty, yanks him to it, and then bites him for 20 piercing dmg

- Rusty Rages, then misses hitting the tentacle holding him twice

- Tina panics and casts Magic Missile at TM1 that's holding her for 9 force dmg

- Tiff casts Melf's Acid Arrow on TM1 for 27 acid dmg

- Osiris uses her AoV to heal Raiàn for 11 HP, then she casts Sacred Flame on TM1 

- BG shoots Osiris for 8 necrotic dmg, then misses Tiff with a ray, then hits Lyrielle and her speed is halved

- Raiàn Misty Steps out of the tentacles then casts Firebolt on TM1 but misses

- TM1 misses Osiris and Raiàn with tentacles then bites Tina for 25 piercing dmg, then it takes 8 acid dmg from the melting Arrow

- Lyrielle wriggles out of the tentacle then she Disengages and dives into the good

- TM2 misses Tiff then bites Rusty for 10 piercing dmg

- Rusty cannot wriggle out of the tentacle grappling him

- Tina uses Benign Transposition to teleport out of the grapple and the nopes out through the good

- Tiff casts Melf's Acid Arrow on TM2 for 20 acid dmg then at Osiris's insistence she dives into the goo

- Osiris delays her turn for now

- BG shoots a beam at Raiàn but she dodges then shoots Osiris and pushes her back 10' and her feet is halved then it shoots Raiàn for 17 fire dmg

- Raiàn dives at Osiris's insistence into the goo

- Osiris takes a big calming breath, wishes Rusty luck, casts Banishment on him so that he poofs, then she dives into the goo

- 2,210 XP ea for 64,000 XP total ea.

How to Catch a Necromancer* (*Maybe) - December 2, 2022

Skill Challenge to catch Lady Blackmore the Necromancer

- Lyrielle starts running after her parkouring expertly around obstacles (Acrobatics - Success)

- Rusty also gives chase (Athletics - Success) "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Rusty!"

- Osiris casts Sending trying to imitate Henry to trick her into slowing (Deception - Failure) 

- Raiàn casts Hypnotic Pattern at LB (Arcana - Success!)

- Theophania makes a disorienting smoke bomb with apothecary herbs and her alchemy kit (Nature - Success!)

- Lyrielle is blinded by Tiff's smoke bomb (Perception - Failure)

- Rusty uses the smoke to sneak around her to cut her off (Stealth - Failure)

FAILED

- The smoke clears and LB is gone.

- Tiff finally catches up to the gang, and she casts Haste on Osiris so she spends the next minute zipping around looking up side streets but doesn't find her.

- Osiris then casts Locate Object on LB's wand again and it seems to be pinging from her house on Winfair Hillock 

- She's nearly halfway there when the ping suddenly starts happening from behind her

- She runs back to the bridge and just as she crosses it again it seems like it's behind her again

- She circles around to the base of the bridge and looks under the bridge and just sees someone hiding in the shadows

- She casts Hold Person on LB who succumbs to the spell and then shouts to everyone

- Theophania whips up an Elixir of Flight and then hands it to Rusty (10' flying speed for 10 minutes)

- Rusty pockets the Elixir and dives into the river grabbing LB and dragging her to the bottom of the river

- Osiris in the flailing and grabbing and fight manages to knock the wand out of LB's hand and it floats down river in the current

- Rusty drags her through the river and then just walks up the bank with her, LB is quite defeated at this point

- They tie her up and gag her and the city guard convene to help keep look out

- Tiff ritually casts Detect Magic to check her over and then she also goes through all her pockets and pouches and confiscates all her material components and anything else that could be used to do magic, though she has no active magical items on her at the present

- Tiff lays all the components out and labels them for the guards 

- LB's sister and BIL have also been detained, but they seem very confused and can't believe that she would do such a thing

- Tiff has Rusty lift her up and she ungags LB long enough to get a confession that she was trying to take out the Black Bloods, which Captain Swinson witnesses

- Raiàn uses Prestidigitation to dry off Osiris so she doesn't get hypothermia 

- Tina is very impressed

- LB is escorted to the Hall of Justice and locked in a holding cell

- Osiris goes to visit Birel in the Rites wing to report

- After all that, Tiff and Tina go to her little workshop area so Tiff can show her her designs

- Raiàn and Lyrielle head back to the Curlywit Boarding House

- Osiris spends some time in the Temple gardens

- Rusty stays at the Hall of Justice to guard LB

- Everyone eventually meets at the boarding house for tea and petit fours

- A pleasant afternoon is had by all

- Later that evening, Lord Blackmore comes to visit his wife in lockup and Rusty is asked to step outside

- Rusty refuses and says that LB's gag is not to be removed unless a magic user who can supervise her is present

- Lord Blackmore is pretty understanding, but Rusty still thinks he's in shock and the gravity of his wife's actions hasn't sunk in yet

- The next morning Osiris checks in with Rusty who spent overnight doing guard duty then she heads over to see Rowan, who says he was going to head over to question LB, and Osiris thinks she and Tiff and maybe Tina to supervise

- Osiris Sends to Lord B to let him know when the interrogation will be happening so that he can hear it himself

- Rusty is given permission to ungag LB and he gives her some water before she is expected to do a lot of talk

- Q&A

- Why did you decide to unleash undead on the city? - Unleashing the undead on the city was an accident. She was only attempting to rout out the Black Bloods and she lost control.

- Why did she want to take out the Black Bloods? - Steal from the Blackmores and have killed their associates at the docks. The Black Bloods were a worse plague than the zombies to her

- She turned the servants because the Black Bloods attacked the Blackmore Estates.

- She had been studying magic for years after she discovered she had some minor natural talent, and she just did what she was good at.

- She bought the grimoires from a trader from the north. He might not have known what he had since they were written in Dwarven and most people can't read it any more 

- She discovered the Shadowfell portal thing in the old crypt while looking for sources of body parts

- The current body count from the night of the zombie attacks is around 50, maybe 53, but Birel would know the exact answer - LB looks perhaps a bit contrite at that

- She serves herself. She has no other master.

- She apologizes to her husband as Osiris is about to gag her again and then speaks a magic word and her body seems to catch fire then a blue light seems to stream from her chest and into the ground

- Theophania read the magic and the fire on her body just seemed to have been her self-immolating

- Rowan hasn't ever seen anything like that before either. He takes Lord B back to the Temple for like therapy.

- The group + Tina head down into the sewers and where they get to the hole where they had to repel down to get from the sewers to the ancient catacombs, the floor looks like a black pool of energy like what was leaking out of the portal(?) last time they were here

- Tina asks what it is and is told it's pure necrotic energy, and she has no idea what to do about that

- 2,200 XP ea for 61,790 XP total ea.

Now Gentle Repose That Bitch - November 18, 2022

 - Tiff spends a bit of time assuaging Tina to make sure she doesn't go into shock after having her ass handed to her in her first ever battle - That hot tea is coming in handy now.

- Osiris picks up Henry's body and sits him up against a headstone and consults her friends about what she might need to ask him

- Tiff then spends a moment to mix up a Transformation Elixir for Osiris who makes herself look like Lord Blackmore and everybody else backs off

- Osiris then casts Speak with dead on Henry

     - "Where have you and Juliana been hiding?" - We have been here.

    - "Has it only been you with Juliana or have there been other that I should be looking for?" - They were expecting Nathan.

     - "Who is Nathan?" - You know her brother-in-law.

     - "Was she casting something in the mausoleum?" - Yes.

     - "Where do your family in the city live?" - My sister lives outside the farmer's gate

- Lyrielle watches all this stuff happen from the roof of the mausoleum (DMS - Wall Walk)

- A short rest is had 

- Tina does some calisthenics as her version of a rest, which somehow annoys Osiris (again)

- Rusty carries Henry and they troupe back to the Temple

- A city guard stops them to ask them why they are carrying a body through town, they're explanation is above his pay grade / he doesn't have time for this

- Raiàn and Lyrielle head back to the Curlywit Boarding House

- They drop Henry off at the Rite wing, but there's nobody working because it's stupid o'clock in the morning and leave HP Birel a note

- A LONG REST IS HAD (First one in like four sessions)

- Mid-way through the next morning

- Osiris who wakes up first as always, so she hunts around the Temple and finds a font of holy water in the worship area that she can use to Scry, so she goes to try to wake up Tiff, who resists the waking up hard, so Tina and Osiris go instead

- "You might want to be less... you, for a little bit." - Osiris to Tina

- Osiris and Birel chat about Henry and have a general check-in about Lady Blackmore, the frost bull, etc.

- Tiff eventually shows up with a giant mug of tea (looks almost like a bucket in her hands)

- They head to Rowan's office to get permission to use the font, which she gives readily

- They head to the nave where the font is Osiris casts Scry on Lady Blackmore using the map / bird illusion canvas, but LB blocks the spell

- Tiff, Rusty, Osiris, and Rusty head to the Curlywit Boarding House where Lyrielle drops directly in front of them from from an awning

- Tina is introduced to Magnus, which might be a bad idea, but only time will tell

- Osiris Sends to Lord Blackmore, "Osiris here. Henry has fallen. Juliana escaped and we are looking for her. We need to know where Nathan lives. Or need to meet."

- He responds, "Sad to hear about Henry. Nathan lives near the halfling market. You must think Juliana is with her sister. Please be kind to her."

- Much discussion is had about what steps to take next and in what order

- They decide to go to the Groundswallow General Store to ask Tiff's parents if they know Nathan, and then maybe use Locate Object on LB's spell focus (wand)

- Vera G doesn't know Nathan, so they head back to the foot of the bridge, she takes Tiff's Elixir of Swiftness, and runs around with her Locate Object spell until she gets a ping in a blue house on the river NW of the Butterbeer Brewery.

- Osiris returns to the group and points out the building in question from the far side of the river

- Osiris Sends to Capt Swinson, "Osiris here. We have located the necromancer and need you to come with arresting backup to the west side of the halfling market near the river."

- The only response is, "On the way."

- They post up in the halfling market to watch the house, Tiff shows Tina around the market, Osiris lurks in the shadows, Lyrielle climbs something, Raiàn sits at a café on the river, Rusty becomes a bridge troll while they wait

- No one comes or goes in the meantime

- 30-45 minutes later a contingent of 10 guards shows up with the Captain

- They go up to the house, and Captain Swinson knocks and a woman who is not Juliana answers

- Juliana is in, and they are invited in

- Rusty waits at the back door. He tests the back door, and it doesn't seem to be locked.

- When JB sees the group enter the house, she immediately teleports (Dimension Door?) and materializes near the bridge which Rusty observes, so he whistles and gives chase

 

- 2,200 XP total ea. for 59,590 XP total ea.