How the ass did you detect me through all that stone? #Confusion - July 7, 2023

 LAST TIME IN MISTVERGE:

- En route to the entrance to the catacombs, Rusty asks why they don't Send to Thessalie to see if she is still alive, and Theophania immediately pulls out her stick, "Auntie! I invented a Sending Device, and we stopped a necromancer causing a zombie invasion, but now people are poisoned and there's magic river fog!"

 BACK TO THE PRESENT

- Tiff's eyes light up a little bit (unusual) and she feels a calming energy that comes over her and there's a warm tingly sensation, but no words.

- Tiff is a bit infuriated once the calming effect wears off.

- Osiris says she'll give it a go later. (She and Theophania discuss the possibility that Thessalie has ascended to a higher level of being)

- Osiris continues leading the way down to the catacombs, and then she takes what she believes is the tunnel that goes the deepest into the earth, though she's never been to the end, so it must be pretty deep

- Tiff is still very distracted percolating on what the Sending response could mean, but Rusty and Lyrielle hear a scratching noise. Rats?

- They pinpoint the noise coming from a particular niche, and then investigate further and get taps in response to taps and there's a warm spot one side of the back wall.

- Tiff casts (R) Detect Magic, but she can't see anything. It's probably because there's more than 12" of stone between her and the magic

- Tiff then uses the Alter Self spell to give herself some kind of fantasy badger hands that can dig through stone and she starts going at the warm spot.

- She digs and digs and digs until she has a hole just wide enough for her little self through about 36" of stone and through a hole just big enough for her face she's sees a mechanical spider-like creature that jumps back and regards her suspiciously 

- She wiggles backwards enough to turn her head to talk to her friends and report that there's a metal digging critter that can't understand her.

- Raiàn casts Tongues on Tiff's foot, and she talks to it again, and it's just continuing to repeat "Danger, danger, must report."

- Tiff makes her little hole large enough to pop her head through to see how many of these there are, but there's only the one.

- Tiff backs out of the hole, and then the creature follows her, scans the group, then approaches Rusty and beep chirps at him and he instinctively turns his ankle and a port opens up on his ankle that the critter integrates with and begins the upload of information. During this process Rusty is sort of catatonic

- Tiff goes back to widening her part of the hole for her friends to maybe squeeze through before Alter Self wears off because the critter's tunnel leads south towards the river.

- The critter communicates to Rusty through images:

    - There's a store room that the surveillance drone was watching

    - The wall in the store room collapse and a foul ooze and black tendrils start creeping into the room they're not quite vines, but more like a slime mold sort of netting in appearance. There's something growing out of the nodes of the "net" or "webbing" that looks shiny. They resemble the tendrils that were on the alter that the group destroyed that created the portal to the nether-realm.

    - The final image that it communicates to Rusty looks like the head of a large black dragon.

- Tiff has the hole she made more or less matched up to the tunnel the surveillance drone made, and Osiris shoots a flaming arrow down the tunnel and it goes about 500' then curves to the left away from the river. She calculates that the end of the tunnels would be around the edge of the temple grounds.

- Rusty gives a recap of what he just learned, and the drone powers down folding its little legs underneath it.

- After much freaking out about the tendrils (familiar) and the dragon (also familiar, but bigger), Tiff examines the dormant drone, and finds the activation switch, which she pushes with Rusty's permission

- It beeps at Rusty in a "Input Command" sort of way, so he asks it if it can lead them over a different, larger route where they'll fit, but it just cocks his head curiously having not enough intelligence to answer the hypothetical question, so Rusty just commands it to follow

- Tiff pats it and tells it's much less scary than a dog, and it seems to like the attention.

- Tiff casts (R) Alarm on the opening to the tunnel.

- They take it back up to the temple and report in to Rowan and Birel about the robot dog (Rusty took it to Osiris's room to scare as few people as possible) 

- Tiff also very excitedly reports to them about her Sending to Thessalie as well.

- The unnamed (at this time) mechanical critter and Rusty have an Q&A

    - Can you count? Can you give numerical answers? (Affirmative)

    - How long did it take you to make the tunnel? (Another connection through the ankle, and it probably took like months (at least two months) to dig it's little tunnel after it had been trapped for probably a few weeks.)

    - Can you take us to the main entrance to that place? (Another picture of an underground place with an overlaying sort of feeling of being lost.)

    - Were you specifically searching for me? (Negative)

    - Were you looking for a Steel Guard? (Affirmative)

    - How the ass did you detect me through all the stone? (Confusion)

    - Are there other Steel Guard within your detection range? (Negative)

    - Are you capable of following your tunnel, but on the surface? (Confusion)

    - No more digging unless I specifically tell you. (Affirmative)

    - Are you able to power down but still respond to my voice. (Affirmative)

    - Power down mode.

LONG REST

- 3,000 XP ea. for 79,000 XP total ea.

Are you there, Thessalie?! - June 30, 2023

 - Much discussion about how the team can help Theophania with her presentation, and she's polished up her armor to a good shine

- The meeting goes well, and Theophania leaves her drawings and prettified notes for his perusal before he just gives her 1500 GP to build the first three prototypes to refine her triangulation method

- Osiris is a bit suspicious, but Lord McNabb doesn't give any hints that he is on the side of the The Voice, his neutrality is based more on a "devil you know" and cost compared to reward (If each device costs 500GP, then 36 for the whole city-wide network is about 18,000GP)

- They then spend the rest of the evening measuring the fog over the river so that Theophania can figure out a good entry point to the swiss cheese of sewers, caves, and catacombs and the shortest path to get there

- The next morning at the boarding house, Andak Fastcaller (chef's knife in his belt like a short sword) who shows up asking where he can find his cousin Theophania.

- Raiàn uses her earring to message Theophania to ask her to come to the boarding house, so she does

- Osiris and Tiff fly across the river on her Broom of Flying

- The Beard and Barrel has closed down because some people have died and their beer may be poisonous and those people think Calvin might have sabotaged them

-The story about Wally Walltrop is told, but it isn't Calvin's beer causing problems.

- Osiris tried to Send to Jimmy, but the Sending doesn't go through. Jimmy is either on another plane which can give the spell a chance to fail, or he's dead.

- Tiff Sends to Marta in the Hospital Wing, "Tiff here. Has there been a spate of patient with severe food poisoning due to Beard and Barrel beer? Do you know the toxin? Thanks!"

- Marta responds, "Oh yes! There's a whole troop of sick sailors. Don't know what they got into other than drink, but that's enough sometimes." 

- Tiff Sends to her again, "Has anyone Detected Poison on the beer to identify toxin? If patients are all sailors, new fog on the river may be the cause."

- Marta returns, "The fog probably isn't helping, but something from the pub got them sick. It's not just sailors. There are other rough characters keeling over too." 

- Osiris tried to Send to Lady Blackmore, but that spell also fails.

-  From this disturbing brunch, the group heads into the sewers and after about 1.5 hours of searching Tiff finds a section of illusory wall and Tiff walks through it.

- The room is full of things that might have been stolen from the Temple, but it looks like no one has been here in quite awhile due to the level of dust. (Several months at least)

- The source of the magic is not in the hidden room.

- Another few hours of searching are also fruitless.

- Back at the Temple, they stop in to talk to Marta and ask about missing supplies, but she directs them to Norman, the quartermaster.

- Norman knew about the missing things from the latest inventory, and they give him the map to the cache.

- From there Osiris talks to Rowan to get permission to search the catacombs, so they head down there.

- En route to the entrance to the catacombs, Rusty asks why they don't Send to Thessalie to see if she is still alive, and Theophania immediately pulls out her stick, "Auntie! I invented a Sending Device, and we stopped a necromancer causing a zombie invasion, but now people are poisoned and there's magic river fog!"

- 3,000 XP ea for 76,000 total XP each.

Open Mouth, Insert Friends - May 12, 2023

- Tina has gone home. [Tiff: :-(  Osiris:  :-)] 

- It has been raining more than the usual amount for this time of year. Everything is always a little bit damp and very muddy and soggy.

- Theophania uses her new Sending device to Send to Lord McNabb, "Made device to communicate telepathically. Next step device to detect TeleComs. Might be able to track The Voice. Can we meet to discuss? Thank you!"

- He responds, "How intriguing. You may come over tomorrow evening an tell me about your idea. Looking forward to seeing you."

- While Osiris is working one day, Birel comes to her and says there's one of the city guard there to talk to her, so she goes to talk to him

- The Captain sent him and there are report of some kind of creature near the river near the south of the city that they are hoping her troupe will investigate, it ate someone, they think. Maybe.

- Osiris has lots of questions, but the nameless guard does not have all the answers

- He gives Osiris an "address" for the witness who saw the creature south of the city outside the River Gate

- Osiris sends a Message to Lyrielle about the new "job"

- Lyrielle gets the Boarding House part of the crew together and brings them to the Temple to convene

- The "address" is near the Proudmead Apiary which is owned by one of Theophania's many cousins, so she insists that they go check it out so that the Proudmeads will be safe

- Osiris knocks on the door and a halfing woman answers the door, but it was her brother Caleb Fishertail was the witness

- Caleb says that he and his nephew (Timothy) were by the river fishing and skipping rocks when a "crazy" beast big, long, scaly, long mouth, lots of teeth (Crocodile, but 45' long!?)

- Theophania thinks about if all the rain could be caused by weather magic?

- They walk to the river and Tiff takes Osiris on her broom and they look for tracks on the river banks and Osiris finds some, so they fly the broom over to about the center of the river (nearly 1/2 mile wide) and Osiris casts Locate Creature, which she finds (maybe multiples?)

- They send a Message to the rest of the gang to direct them where to come (give a landmark and a direction) and then when they see their friends Osiris drops a pebble into the water from a pretty good height, but there's no movement, so she looks around and sees some lumps on the river bank and she casts Sacred Flame at that for 16 radiant dmg and it roars in pain, which causes another Giant Crocodile to move and reveal itself

CROCODILE CLASH

- Raiàn casts Fireball on GC1 for 34 fire dmg then she moves back away from the river 30'

- GC1 charges after Raiàn (Dash)

- Tiff flies her broom (and Osiris) and casts Haste on Rusty

- Rusty steps up to GC2 to prevent it from also going after Raiàn, Rages, and smacks it for 22 slashing, again for 25 slashing dmg, and again for 25 slashing dmg

- GC2 is very upset and misses Rusty but then bites him for 19 piercing dmg and Rusty is grappled and pulled backwards into the river 

- Osiris casts Moonbeam on GC2's butt 

- Lyrielle moves to flank GC1 with Raiàn and misses then really WHACKS (crit) it for 33 bludgeoning dmg and then kicks it for 7 bludgeoning dmg

- Raiàn casts Fireball into GC1's mouth (Careful Spell so as not to hurt herself) 

- GC1 bites Raiàn for 17 piercing dmg and they are Grappled and Restrained, but it takes 5 force dmg from her Telekinetic Reaction and then it tailwhips Lyrielle for 17 bludgeoning dmg and she is knocked prone

- Tiff flies over to Lyrielle and drops her an Elixir of Boldness and then casts Catapult on GC1 for 25 bludgeoning dmg

- Rusty breaks out of GC2's mouth and then smacks his axe into it for 18 slashing dmg

- GC2 takes 7 radiant dmg from Moonbeam and then misses biting Rusty twice then also misses with its tail

- Osiris casts Toll the Dead on GC2, but it misses so she jumps off the Broom (taking 6 bludgeoning from falling) and casts Spiritual Weapon (comical child's hammer) for 11 force dmg

- Lyrielle stands up and steps up to GC1 then she misses with her staff by slipping in the mud and then smacks it for 13 bludgeoning dmg and then she kicks it for 6 bludgeoning dmg and then finish the circle kick for 11 bludgeoning dmg and the CROC IS DEAD

- Raiàn tumbles out of GC1's mouth as it flops down dead and then she casts Fireball (level 5) for 45 fire dmg and GC2 practically explodes and Rusty is coated in croc bits

- Theophania flies over to the Proudmead Apiary to see if Cormo has a cart of wagon that could move the croc's but he does not. She tells Cormo to gather the local village for a crocodile-BBQ

- Osiris sends a small halfling kiddo for Caleb who is grateful.

- It is discussed that goats could be used to check for crocodiles before people approach the river just in case.

- 3,000 XP ea. for 73,000 XP total ea

A Grand Return - March 17, 2023

 - Rusty and Renalla go to investigate the office of the person who would have run the teleportation machine looking for maps and / or operation manuals, but they find nothing survived the ravages of time

- The new friends (Striker and Breaker) say they are members of the Steel Guard, which no one else besides Rusty has never heard of

- Striker and Breaker are considering allying themselves with the dragonkin since Sunny can vouch for them to her dad.

- Osiris Sends to Rusty, "Hey, Rusty, haven't heard from you in a while. You still doing okay? Tiff's working in her lab a lot. Do you have a way to get back yet?"

- He returns, "Defeated Hell-Bugs. They were using old Dwarven teleporter. Need help configuring. Can't understand it. Found more robots. They are friendly. Machine uses Dwarven code names."

- Rusty waits one minute and then almost dies of shock when he doesn't get an immediate Sending from Theophania

- Osiris cannot find anything in the library of the Temple of Mishakal.

- Lephith goes to see if they can clear the tunnel collapse at the main entry to this waystation

- Rusty spends time reading the control panels and is pretty sure he knows how to operate the teleporter, but he doesn't know how to point it to anywhere in particular.

- Renalla summons her dragon spirit and they start sending it through the pre-set locations, and they only find two that function

- The first one the draconic spirit says there are stone ruins and a pretty sunset, and since its after sunset here that means that gate must be several hundred miles west of here

- There were no panels and buttons and stuff on that side in the ruins

- They send the draconic spirit through to the second pre-set

- The second is another room like this one, but less wrecked. 

- Sine several hours have passed and Osiris Sends again, "Went to the library and I didn't see anything on any Dwarven technology. I don't know how to help you and Tiff's a bit preoccupied. Everytime I go in there I get a tool chucked at my head. Call you tomorrow."

- He responds, "Machine works. Have found other dwarven transport stations. One ruined, one pristine. Ask Birel - need runic address for Temple's Teleportation Circle. Works like wizard spell?"

- Osiris spends some time studying the Teleporation Circle in the Temple to try to figure out how to communicate that information to Rusty.

- Next she Sends the name of the six runes in the correct sequence for Mistverge and then asks that he bring the runes for where he is for future reference when he comes home.

- Kip knows all the symbols.

- Renalla writes down the runes for the pristine location for Rusty as well.

- Osiris hears Rusty talking to the others and it cuts off about when he says something to Kip about knowing the runes.

- Renalla gives Rusty her Luck Stone and a revivify diamond to remember her by

- Striker and Breaker decide to stay here, but they all make note of the three good Teleportation Circles.

- Rusty steps through the portal and Osiris is there.

- Once everyone is together again and Theophania has given everyone their Earrings of Message so they can all talk together no matter where they are in the city and then Rusty tells in great detail the story of where he's been.

- Osiris tells the story of how she's been trying to get rid of the fog that's still lingering over the river over the week and how the fog is a magical effect with no school and she couldn't find anything in the library

TWO MONTHS DOWN TIME

- Osiris builds a butterfly garden near the river on the Temple grounds, spends some time out in the forest practicing her survival and archery skills since she is now on the Temple / city Problem Solvers Squad

- She also tries a Divine Intervention on the fog, and that doesn't work either

- She also collects information from Rusty about the dwarves and the other automatons and starts putting notes together in a neat and orderly way

- Theophania builds things with Tina

- Raiàn spends some time cultivating her relationship with the aristocratic ladies of the Winfair Hillock and she also invents a spell to summon a dragonic spirits like the one Rusty told her the dead lady in the desert could summon

- Lyrielle leave the city and explores around the region the city is in

- Rusty practices his Spiritual Communion and asks about the river fog, but he has to travel out into the woods to do it (with Lyrielle and Osiris)

- He learns that the fog is an unnatural taint that comes from beneath the ground and it can be dealt with by removing or destroy the cause 

- Rusty also manages to get Tiff's attention and they start carefully documenting and gently disassembling his parts to check for the damage that Striker and Breaker mentioned.

- MAGIC ITEMS!!

Dragonscale Belt (Lyrielle)
(Wondrous Item, Uncommon, requires Attunement by a Monk)

Matte black dragon scales carved into circles and connected by thin, dark metal links and a simple chain on the end for sizing with the simple clasp on the other end.

While wearing it, you gain a +1 bonus to the saving throw DCs of your ki features. In addition, you can use an action to regain ki points equal to a roll of your Martial Arts die. You can’t use this action again until the next dawn.

Scaled Necklace (Raiàn)
(Wondrous Item, Uncommon)

Five dragon scales carved into circles, polished bright and set with flecks of obsidian that form arcane runes. Three large scales form a chain with two smaller ones suspended from the center, largest scale.

You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid being charmed or frightened or to end those conditions on you.

Dragon’s Wrath Axe (Rusty)
(Weapon, Uncommon)

The axe is made from a Damascus steel made of a very silvery alloy and a very dark alloy (ground black dragon scales IN the steel). The wooden haft is also covered with softened and re-hardened black dragon scales.  Where the head and the haft join is also covered with black dragon scales that are inset flush with the metal and part of the pattern of scales covering the haft on the other side.

Whenever you roll a 20 on your attack roll with this weapon, each creature of your choice within 5 feet of the target takes 5 damage of the type dealt by the dragon’s breath weapon. (Black Dragon = Acid)

Dragonscale Holy Symbol (Osiris)

(Wondrous Item, Uncommon, requires attunement by a cleric)

Layers of black dragon scales laminated together with the symbol of Mishakal (infinity symbol) inlaid in lapis lazuli and hung from a silver chain.

You have advantage on initiative rolls. While you are holding the focus, it can function as a spellcasting focus for all your spells.

Broom of Flying (Theophania)

(Wondrous Item, Uncommon)

This wooden broom, which weighs 3 pounds, functions like a mundane broom until you stand astride it and speak its command word. It then hovers beneath you and can be ridden in the air. 

The broom has a flying speed of 50 feet. It can carry up to 400 pounds, but its flying speed becomes 30 feet while carrying over 200 pounds. The broom stops hovering when you land.

You can send the broom to travel alone to a destination within 1 mile of you if you speak the command word, name the location, and are familiar with that place. The broom comes back to you when you speak another command word, provided that the broom is still within 1 mile of you.

Earring of Message (1 each)

(Wondrous Item, Common, CotN)

The blue crystal of this earring is wrapped with delicate copper wire.

The earring has 5 charges. While wearing it, you can use an action to expend 1 charge and cast the Message spell with a 1 mile distance only to other earrings attuned to this one. The earring regains 1d4 + 1 expended charges daily at dawn.

Rock 'Em, Slice 'Em Robots - February 24, 2023

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!

BATTLE IN THE CONTROL ROOM

- Sunny runs in, breaths cold at the Big Red Guy for 1 cold dmg and then runs back out of the room

- Big Green Guy steps up to Renalla and slices her with an axe for 15 slashing dmg then again for 16 slashing dmg

- Rusty flies into a Rage seeing Renalla get sliced up and runs up to BGG and misses then hits with his greataxe for 17 (8) slashing dmg

- BRG moves up to Rusty uses his giant muscular arm and swings it missing Rusty then punches him with the little arm and he gets zapped with electricity for 28 (14) lightning dmg

- Lephith runs up to BRG, summons her Shadow, and then hits BRG four times for 48 total points of slashing / radiant dmg (Action Surge)

- Bug1 moves a bit to the left and misses Rusty with a thrown trident and then summons another trident from ?? and hits Rusty for 9 (4) piercing dmg

- Kip casts Healing Word on Renalla for 12 HP then she casts Bless 

- B2 starts pushing things on the control panel

- Renalla summons a crystalline dragon 

- Crystal Dragon claws BGG for 10 piercing dmg then claws again for 15 piercing dmg

- B3 moves to flank the dragon with BGG and stabs with a trident CD for 5 piercing dmg then misses with its claws

- There is a clattering sound from behind them in the hallway and the statues from the hallways come running in and Statue1 gets punched by Sunny for 6 bludgeoning dmg

- B4 moves adjacent to the dragon and stabs it with a trident for 11 piercing dmg and misses with its claws

- Sunny moves up to S1 and punches it three times

- BGG teleports adjacent to Lephith and slices into her for 16 slashing dmg

- Rusty slashes BRG for 12 (6) slashing them misses

- BRG punches Rusty with his giant arm for 19 (9) bludgeoning dmg and Rusty is Stunned then electroshocks Rusty for 26 (13) lightning dmg

- Lephith strikes BRG three times for a total of 39 dmg (Unleash Incarnation)

- B1 throws a trident for 6 (3) piercing dmg and then summons another new trident and hits again for 7 (3) piercing dmg

- Kip moves into a good line of sight, shoots a Chaos Bolt (level 1) at BRG for 41 psychic dmg then she ducks back behind the door

- B2 moves to the "left" and then misses the CD with thrown tridents twice 

- Renalla Readies Dispel Magic grabs the dragon who carries her next to the portal and she releases her spell and the Portal goes DOWN, no immediate reaction from the bugs

- CD breaths radiance (B1 fails, B2 passes, B3 fails, B4 fails) for 5 (or 2) radiant dmg 

- B3 throws a trident at Rusty for 8 (4) piercing dmg then again for 9 (4) piercing dmg

- S1 runs up to B3 and then swings his big sword hitting B1, B3, and B4 for 20 dmg

- B4 throws a trident at Rusty for 8 (4) piercing dmg and misses with the second 

- S2 runs up to B4 and misses and then slices into B4 for 12 slashing dmg

- Sunny runs up to BRG and punches it for 9 bludgeoning dmg and it DIES then she moves to flank BGG with Lephith and then punches it twice times for a total of 16 bludgeoning dmg

- BGG teleports behind Sunny and 

- Lephith moves to BGG hits it twice for a total of 30 slashing dmg then sends the Shadow to flank with the CD

- B1 slashes the dragon for 9 slashing dmg

- Kip casts Healing Word on Rusty for 7 HP and then casts Chaos Bolt on B4 for 13 psychic dmg

- B2 moves between the Statues

- Renalla casts Wither and Bloom so that BGG takes 5 necrotic dmg and Sunny gains the use of 4 Hit Dice

- CD slashes B1 then moves to protect Renalla

- S1 attacks B1 for some stuff

- B-something-or-other hits S1

- S2 does the 10' swirl attack and slices B4 in half

- Sunny punches BGG three times

- BGG slices Sunny for 9 slashing dmg and 

- Rusty moves to BGG and and slices into it for 26 slashing dmg and BGG DIES! Then he moves to flank B1 with the Shadow and slices into it for 27 slashing

- Lephith teleport trades places with the Shadow kills B3 and then moves to flank B3 with S1 and slices into it for 13 dmg total

- Kip casts Chaos Bolt on B2 for 19 psychic dmg 

- B2 misses

- Renalla does not recognize the symbols on the control panel in front of her so she moves to the other one

- CD misses

- B3 misses

- S1 misses

- S2 misses

- Sunny moves to flank B2 with S1 and she kills it then she then she moves over and punches B3 to death as well. 

END OF BATTLE

- Rusty confers with the Statues in Dwarven and they call him Captain, and tell him this is Transport Station Muhlehorn

- Kip joins Renalla at the Control Panels and Lephith picks her up so she can see the the panels. No one recognizes the language or symbols.

- Rusty continues talking with the "Statues" about the distance past

No Subtlety Whatsoever - February 10, 2023

 - Renalla transforms back into herself from the Giant Elk form

- Lephith with her sword glowing starts tromping down the spiraling ramp into the tunnel with everyone else following

- The tunnel only goes for a couple of hundred feet before there is an open doorway where the door itself is mostly missing and was probably once concealed or secreted.

- Past the door looks like a derelict tavern. It is covered in refuse, cobwebs, broken furniture, etc. It has probably not been in use in decades minimum, possibly centuries.

- This looks like one of the areas where the creatures traffic through to come out 

- Directly across the room is another doorway.

- Through the next doorway is a hallway that curves around to both the right and left. Circle?

- The hallways is also full of refuse and dust and cobwebs

- To the right there are two doors on the right and one door on the left.

- Renalla knocks on the door to the left. (DM confounded by this idea. What would the things inside do if something knocked?!)

- The door opens and there is a bug creature there. Renalla asks, "How's it goin'?" in Infernal.

- After it responds by asking who she is, she responds with "You're worse nightmare" and immediately casts Frostbite on it for 5 cold dmg

CORRIDOR BATTLE

- Kip casts Bless on everyone

- Green Bug misses clawing Renalla then hits for 10 slashing dmg

- Sunny moves past Renalla and flank Green with her then punches it three times (10 bludgeoning dmg, 9 bludgeoning dmg, 5 bludgeoning dmg)

- Blue Bug runs up to Sunny misses and then claws her them for 12 slashing dmg

- Renalla casts Thorn Whip on Green for 5 piercing dmg

- Red Bug runs up to Sunny to flank with Green and then stabs them with a trident for 6 piercing dmg and then claws them for 11 slashing dmg

- Lephith moves into the doorway next to Renalla and slices into Green twice (8 slashing and 3 radiant, then 10 slashing and 8 radiant dmg)

- Rusty also moves into the room and then misses and then chops down Green Bug

- Kip moves forward a little bit to see the melee and then casts Sacred Flame on Blue Bug but it dodges

- Sunny punches Blue Bug three times (14 bludgeoning dmg, 5 bludgeoning dmg, 5 bludgeoning dmg)

- Blue Bug stabs Sunny for 9 piercing dmg and then claws them for 9 slashing dmg

- Renalla moves around Lephith deeper into the room and casts Tidal Wave on the two bugs (Blue takes 27 bludgeoning and is knocked Prine but Red only takes half)

- Red Bug stabs Sunny for 12 piercing and then claws them for 7 slashing dmg

- Lephith moves to flank Blue with Rusty and the Shadow moves to flank with Sunny creating a bug sandwich 12 slashing and 7 radiant dmg killing it! They then move the Shadow back 10' and move to flank with Sunny themselves and slices Red for 10 slashing and four radiant dmg.

- Rusty moves to flank with the Shadow and then misses Red then chops into it for 34 (17) slashing dmg and then chops into it again for 25 (12) slashing dmg and it's dead too.

END OF BATTLE

- This room looks like an armory with several hundred weapons. There are axes and tridents and swords. The weapons don't look special, but they do look ready to go.

- Renalla finds herself a nice quarterstaff.

- The walls above the stacks of weapons have some animal head trophies and the trophy heads look buggy.

- Rusty asks if this is a lost stronghold of Sunny's people, but none of the "locals" know anything about this place

- Lephith notes that the weapons do not look like dragonborn craft and Renalla notes that there are two styles of weaponsmithing, one that's newer and one that's older and those look more decrepit. The new ones definitely look like the ones the bugs have been using. She then finds another axe in the older style and it looks similar to the one that Rusty has that is suspected of being Dwarven.

- The go back into the hallway and they open one of the two doors that were on the right. Inside this room there is an altar that looks as aged as the old things across the hall and no living things. The altar has the symbol of a hammer (Reorx) on it. 

- Rusty kind of remembers that Reorx was important to the Dwarves, but that's about it.

- Lephith goes back into the hallway and opens the other door on the right.

- The last room in this part of the hall looks like a barracks. The bugs have also not bothered with this room. The remains of the beds don't look like they've been used in centuries.

- Renalla goes back to the armory and uses Create Bonfire for about 10 minutes on some of the weapons to try to destroy or damage them.

- Lephith then goes back to the left curve of the hallways and the roof slopes up and this area looks like an entry hall.

- There are two decorative(?) suits of armor on either side of the corridor where there used to be doors.

- Rusty pauses long enough to look at the suits of armor and they look a lot like him and have swords like he used to have.

- He puts a hand on one of their shoulders and says, "Status report." Nothing happens

- There is another door across from the collapsed main entry way, so Lephith opens that.

- Behind this door is a very large room. The ceiling is tall and then slopes up and is open at the top like a chimney of sorts. There is a spinning contraption under the hole. It looks like one of the gates from Stargate. There are some kind of control panels(?) around the outside of the room.

- This room has a bunch of the creatures and the big guy from before too. He yells out in Infernal, "Ah! I knew they'd come!" Lephith roars back since she has no idea what was said.

- There another buggy guy who looks in charge and quite a few of the trident guys as well.

- Renalla dashes into the room trying to get within 30' of the portal, but the sentry jumps in front of her.

Everybody Touched the Butts - February 3, 2023

 BATTLE BY THE HOLE

- Kip moves to the middle of her friends and casts Bless on everyone

- Butt-Faced Bear2 (BFB2) opens up its faces and shoots out a long tongue covered in barbs and wraps around Kip and pulls it to its face (19 piercing dmg) then it chews on her (22 piercing dmg) then drags her off to the east

- Lephith Dashes up to the BFB2 and smashes it three times once with her Shadow

- BFB1 grapples Lephith with its tongue (12 piercing dmg) and then pulls her to its face and bites her (30 piercing dmg)

- Rusty runs up to BFB2

- BFB3 moves west and then attempts to tongue Sunny, but they do some DMS and do not get hit

- Sunny moves around to the back of BFB3 and punches it three times (15 bludgeoning dmg, 6 bludgeoning dmg, 5 bludgeoning)

- Out of the hole comes a Large, green, bipedal, wingèd creature who says in Infernal, "We will exterminate this refuse." It then teleports over to the giant vulture who is Renalla and swipes her with its claws for 11 slashing dmg

-  Renalla takes 7 additional slashing dmg from the wound from the Large Aberration (LA) then she talons LA for 8 slashing dmg and then bites it for 7 slashing dmg

 

- Kip struggles but cannot free themself from the tongue then they Quicken Spell cast Cure Wounds on themself for 29 HP

- BFB2 bites Kip for 22 piercing dmg then misses with its claws then pulls her south taking hits from the Lephith's Shadow (9 slashing and 6 radiant dmg) and from Rusty (11 slashing dmg) as it does

- Lephith hits the BFB1 holding her for some slashing and radiant dmg then misses then moves her Shadow next to BFB2 and hits it for some slashing and radiant dmg and her sword flashes and gives her 7 HP back

- BFB1 bites Lephith for 29 piercing dmg then misses with its claw attack

- Rusty Rages moves to flank BFB2 with Kip then misses his first attack then slashes into it with his battleaxe for (26 (13) slashing dmg)

- BFB3 misses biting Sunny then misses with its claws

- Sunny punches BFB3 four times (8 bludgeoning, 7 bludgeoning, 9 bludgeoning and 6 bludgeoning dmg)

- LA hit the Renalla-vulture and she is no longer a vulture then claws her again 

- Renalla takes 14 slashing dmg from bleeding and then she casts Wither and Bloom and the LA does NOT LIKE the necrotic dmg and then she heals 11 HP and the bleeding stops then she moves to flank BFB3 with Sunny but she gets claws again for 16 slashing dmg and she becomes a giant Elk as a reaction

 

- Kip struggles some more and still can't get out so she Quicken Spells a Catapult on a nearby rock and obliterates its head and she is now standing freely in a coiled up tongue

- Lephith smacks BFB1 twice for some slashing and radiant dmg after moving her Shadow to flank and then attempts to teleport and trade places with the Shadow but the creature somehow prevents it

- BFB1 attempts to bite Lephith, but the Shadow throws itself in front of them (somehow) and then poofs out of existence then it claws Lephith 

- Rusty moves to flank BFB1 with Lephith (magically not dead!) then it chops it for 25 (12) slashing dmg then again for 39 (19) slashing dmg then again for 28 (14) slashing dmg

- BFB3 bites Sunny for 31 piercing dmg then claws them for 15 slashing dmg

- Sunny punches BFB3 four times (8 bludgeoning, 5 bludgeoning, 5 bludgeoning, 6 bludgeoning)

- LA stretches his wings out and he phases and becomes blurry (Mirror Image)

- Renalla stomps BFB3 for 7 bludgeoning dmg 

- Kip moves 25' towards BFB1 then Distance Spell casts Cure Wounds on Lephith and then she screams the cutest little dragonic cry 

- Lephith slashes BFB1 to death then moves towards BFB3

- Rusty moves towards BFB1 and then throws a javelin and pierces it for 10 dmg

- BFB1 misses biting Sunny then misses clawing Sunny

- Sunny punches BFB1 four time (10 bludgeoning, 9 bludgeoning, 5 bludgeoning, 6 bludgeoning) and it is dead!

- LA walks a bit then teleports next to KIP (NOT AGAIN!) then battleaxes her for 22 slashing dmg then turns and runs and jumps into the hole 

END OF BATTLE

 

- Renalla the elk, Rusty, and Lephith move to the edge of the hole and look down into a tunnel that leads down and away

- They all decide to take a short rest before jumping into the tunnel.