← Previous Session: Session 016: Thundertree (Day 1)
1 - 2 Mirtul, 1471 (Days 37-38)
1 Mirtul, 1471 (Day 37)
Dawn
- The Party awakes from their Long Rest and leaves their fortified location to check in with Reidoth before approaching the dragon’s tower
- Verna finds a building that The Party has not investigated yet
- Mo and Verna hear a loud skittering sound from within the building.
BEGIN COMBAT
Round 1
- 3 Large Spiders / 1 Spider Swarm
- A swarm of spiders about the size of rats emerges from the shadows and attacks Verna, giving her multiple bite wounds.
- Orthanc goes into a Rage and runs at the Giant Spider, swings his Greataxe and lops off one of the Giant Spider’s legs, and screams “Come down here and fight me, you coward!”
- Raemund casts Sacred Flame on the GiantSpider but misses
- Verna Disengages, extricates herself from spider swarm, fires her Light Crossbow at the Giant Spider, but misses.
- Mo casts Shelleligh and swings his staff at the swarm of spiders, smashing a few into good.
- Vala helps Raemund break free of the web and gives Orthanc Bardic Inspiration.
- A second Giant Spider emerges from the shadows inside the building and shoots a web at Mo, missing but creating an area of webbed Difficult Terrain
- Orthanc hears more skittering from a nearby thicket but can’t find the source.
Round 2
- The Giant Spider on the outside of the building jumps down off of the wall, trying to grab Orthanc with its mandibles but misses.
- The swarm of spiders attacks Mo and misses.
-
Orthanc loses himself in his rage and cleaves the Giant Spider in twain,
killing it in an explosion of black ichor.
- Orthanc screams that he is stained in battle. No one seems to know if that is a good or bad thing.
- Raemund casts Sacred Flame on the swarm of spiders attacking Mo, burning a few of them away in a flash of light.
- Verna fires her Light Crossbow at a Giant Spider. Her crossbow bolt pierces the spider but seems to meet some resistance getting through the tough carapace.
- Mo casts Shelleligh and swings his staff at the swarm of spiders in front of him, killing off a few more
- Vala casts True Strike and shoots a Giant Spider with her Light Crossbow. The Radiant damage imbued by True Strike seems to be more effective than regular bolts.
- A Giant Spider rears back to strike Mo, but is blinded by a Warding Flare by Raemund and misses.
- A third Giant Spider skitters over the roof and shoots a web at Raemund, Vala, and Verna.
Round 3
- The swarm of spiders attack Mo, but misses
- Orthanc rushes the latest Giant Spider to enter the fray. Frenzied and raging, Orthanc swings his Greataxe, misses, but makes contact with the stone wall. A portion of the wall crumbles from the massive blow, but a large chip breaks off of the head of the Greataxe, causing 1 notch of damage.
- Raemund tries to free himself of the web, but only manages to entangle himself more, becoming fully Grappled.
- Verna casts True Strike and fires her Light Crossbow at a Giant Spider 2, burning a hole of Radiant light through its abdomen, killing it.
- Mo casts Shelleligh and swings his staff at the swarm of spiders in front of him, whittling down their numbers even further.
- Vala casts True Strike and fires her Light Crossbow at one of the Giant Spiders, but misses.
- A Giant Spider rushes Vala
Round 4
- The swarm of spiders attack Mo, but miss
- Orthanc rushes the near-dead Giant Spider menacing Vala, leaps into the air and lands atop it, extruding its remaining innards from the gaping hole in its back half.
- Mo, inspired by Orthanc’s brutal attack, jumps in the air and stops the last of the spider swarm to death with his large dwarven boots.
END COMBAT
- Orthanc tears the mandibles from one of the Giant Spiders to keep as a trophy
- Vala and Mo dig in the spider guts together
- After a few minutes of mucking about all-up-in-dem-spider-guts, everyone remembers that Raemund is still stuck in the web. They finally free him, and he seems unphased by having been left to languish for the extra time..
- Mo enters the building, which seems to have been some kind of supply store.
- Mo notices a few barrels and a humanoid-sized corpse cocooned, hanging off the ground in the corner. He calls out to notifying The Party of his findings.
- Mo investigates the corpse with Vala’s assistance.
- The body is of a male elf having been completely sucked dry.
-
It is wearing Studded Leather Armor and has a Short Sword in a scabbard on its
hip.
-
Mo carefully cuts the corpse free of the web without damaging the armor
and searches for valuables finding:
- Potion of Lesser Healing
- Shortsword
- 23 Gold
- 35 Silver
- Vala yells out “Verna! Free clothes!” and Verna comes in to investigate.
- Verna immediately removes the Studded Leather Armor from the elf corpse and dons it.
- She exclaims that she’s glad Vala didn’t burn the place down like they had planned initially.
- Vala tells Verna that she’s starting to think before she burns with preserving items for Verna to loot in mind.
- Verna explains that it would have been fun to see it burn, though. And opines that if Vala had burned it down, then Verna might have never known this was even in here. So no harm no foul.
- Vala replies, slightly bewildered, “That is certainly a way to look at it!”
-
Mo carefully cuts the corpse free of the web without damaging the armor
and searches for valuables finding:
- While the rest of The Party investigated the building, Orthanc stayed outside, burning off some of his Rage by angrily demolishing the portion of the wall he partially destroyed during the fight.
- When he calms down and stops there’s a 10 ft tall x 8 ft wide hole in the wall.
-
The Party continues toward Reidoth’s hut, covered in blood, webs, and black
ichor.
- Mo knocks on the door, mimicking a woodpecker.
- Mo receives an answering woodpecker knock, relaying that Reidoth is “off on an investigation but will return forthwith.”
- Verna comments that the situation is “classic druid, there they are and then the moment you need them, they're gone in the woods somewhere, cleaning up a problem.”
Afternoon
- Mo leads The Party back to the fortified cultist building to take a Short Rest.
- While The Party rests, they plan their next move.
- Raemund uses some salves and unguents from his Healer’s Kit to heal Vala.
- The Party rests and recovers.
-
Vala hastily recalls literally everything she’s ever learned about dragons,
relieving herself of a massive lore dump.
-
Young Dragons spend much of their youth scouting for good locations for
a permanent lair as the best ones are already occupied by older dragons.
- Young dragons have absolutely no chance of fighting off a mature or ancient dragon without a lot of help.
-
It’s reasonable to assume that the Young Green Dragon The Party is going to
face has chosen the wizard’s tower in Thundertree for a specific reason.
- It will likely be very difficult to convince the dragon to move on unless The Party can guarantee a better, secure location.
- Chromatic dragons are generally evil-aligned.
- They believe dragons are superior to all other creatures, which only exist to serve them
-
Green Dragons are particularly guileful and interested in intrigue, preferring
to play with and manipulate “lesser beings” rather than immediately killing
and devouring them.
- If the Young Green decides to converse with The Party, the likelihood is that the dragon is trying to size them up, determine their utility, and stall for the best and easiest way to dispatch them, if need be.
- Dragons LOVE pretty loot.
-
Young Dragons spend much of their youth scouting for good locations for
a permanent lair as the best ones are already occupied by older dragons.
- Verna offers to use the Dragon Cultist Headdress as a disguise to get closer.
-
Mo pitches impersonating the Dragon Cultists to gain the dragon’s trust..
- Raemund, Verna, and Vala are immediately game.
- Raemund says they’ll need to have a signal for fighting in case things go poorly.
- Verna states that she would like to “stay far away from it. That would be most ideal. Like really far away.”
- Vala discloses that she can speak Draconic if they choose this tactic.
- Verna pitches a plan in which she gets close enough to jump on top of it, then stab it to death as it flies away and they both fall to their deaths. A classic Verna plan: “Leap, stab. Problem solved.”
- When no one immediately jumps on Verna’s suicide run idea, she supposes that the real question is what are The Parties goals? Get close and talk or fight?
- Raemund reminds The Party that Dragons are famously deadly up close.
-
Verna offers an idea to encircle the dragon, to minimize the opportunity to
kill the entire Party in one breath, increasing the possibility that at least
SOME of them will survive.
- Raemund supports the strategy.
- Verna and Raemund agree to remain on opposite ends of the battlefield, as they both have Healer’s Kits, which will likely be needed should the negotiations fail.
- Mo suggests that Verna fight from a distance as she still does a “mess of ranged damage” and is more likely to stay alive that way.
-
Verna offers an idea to encircle the dragon, to minimize the opportunity to
kill the entire Party in one breath, increasing the possibility that at least
SOME of them will survive.
- The Party makes a loose plan to parlay, using Vala as the face speaking Draconic. If the plan fails, Vala will shout a code word and The Party will attack.
- The Party continues reconnaissance and enter a town square
-
In the center of the square, a large solid wooden statue still stands,
although it is slowly being covered in overgrowth. The 10 foot tall statue
seems to have been hewn from a single, massive log and depicts human man
leaning on a spear with a large shield by his side.
- Vala recalls the statue is of Palien, the Patron of Thundertree
- Soon after Thundertree’s founding, Palien helped the citizens of Thundertree fight off a massive orc hoard, holding ground on his own for some time as reinforcements were summoned.
- Vala recalls the statue is of Palien, the Patron of Thundertree
-
In the center of the square, a large solid wooden statue still stands,
although it is slowly being covered in overgrowth. The 10 foot tall statue
seems to have been hewn from a single, massive log and depicts human man
leaning on a spear with a large shield by his side.
- Verna peers into a nearby building that appears to have belonged to a weaver and notices a number of Twig and Needle Blights waiting in ambush.
BEGIN COMBAT
Surprise Round
- Vala casts a red Chromatic Orb, scorching away 2 of the Twig Blights.
- Mo lights his staff aflame, casts Shelleligh, and smashes a Razorvine Blight, nearly killing it and setting it on fire.
- Orthanc attacks the Needle Blights with his Morning Star but misses
- Verna climbs onto a windowsill, casts True Strike, and shoots the burning Razorvine Blight with her Light Crossbow
- Raemund casts Burning Hands, immolating every remaining enemy except from a single Razorvine Blight
Round 1
- The remaining Razorvine Blight casts Entangle
- Vala casts firebolt, burning the Razorvine Blight slightly.
- Mo casts Starry Wisp but misses
- Orthanc rushes in with his Greataxe and hacks the Razorvine apart with a single swing
END COMBAT
- Mo, Verna, and Orthanc work together, casting Druidcraft simultaneously to extinguish the fire.
-
Verna approaches the next building, an abandoned barracks, and peeks in a
window, spying 3 Ash Zombies slumped inside.
- She alerts The Party, continues sneaking around the building, and looks through another window to find 2 more Ash Zombies.
- Verna is in favor of leaving them.
- Vala, Mo, and Raemund favor stamping out the abominable undead, so they cannot surprise anyone in the future.
- The Party makes a quick plan of attack and positions to engage.
BEGIN COMBAT
Surprise Round
-
Verna casts True Strike and shoots a radiant crossbow bolt through the window.
- The bolt blazes through her target Ash Zombie and strikes the one slumped beside it.
- Both ash zombies explode into dust.
- Verna says to herself “That was art and it was beautiful.”
- Raemund casts Sacred Flame and vaporizes an Ash Zombie in a shroud of radiant flame.
- Mo casts Starry Wisp and scorches an Ash Zombie in powder with moonlight.
- Vala casts True Strike, shooting an Ash Zombie with her Light Crossbow, and it flitters away as had the others.
-
Orthanc barrels through the door with a kick from his massive foot and hurries
into the building, fearing that he will be the only one to not get a kill.
- He notices that the first room is empty so continues his momentum through another door. The door flies across the room, catching an Ash Zombie between it and the far wall.
- The zombie explodes in a puff of ash that coats Orthanc’s sticky, ichor-coated body.
END COMBAT
- The Party investigates the barracks but finds nothing but destroyed crates, tattered uniforms, and dust..
- The Party takes a Short Rest.
- The Party backtracks to the remaining unexplored building other than the tower: an herbalist’s cottage set deep into a thicket, close to the trail leading to the tower.
- The Party enters the herbalist’s cottage
- Raemund and Vala investigate the alchemical setup and bookshelf.
- The books are all rotten and the alchemical jars are broken and empty
- While investigating, they notice an anomaly under one shelf: a small, rectangular area where the plants seem to have grown over an indentation in the floor.
- Raemund and Vala investigate the alchemical setup and bookshelf.
-
Verna stays outside and climbs a tree to get a better vantage point on the
tower entrance
- She sees a pile of dead giant spiders, but has no insight about it
-
Dissatisfied with the intel she gleaned, Verna climbs onto the roof of a
nearby building and sees what she can of the tower
- All of the walls are intact
- The roof on half of the tower has fallen in
- There is a large barred window to the east
- There are arrowslits all around, starting at eye level on the ground floor and moving up the building
- There’s a single door
- Spiderwebs cover the base of half of the tower
- She suspects that the spiders had made a nest in the tower but were all killed when the dragon laid claim.
- Verna returns to The Party and relays what she’s found
Early Evening
- In the herbalist’s cottage, The Party further discusses their strategy
- Orthanc brings up the option of collapsing the entire tower onto the dragon
- Verna states that whatever the plan is, she would very much like to play the role of hiding in a tree.
- Verna also points out that the open top of the tower is the only entrance and exit for the dragon, which could be useful.
-
Vala offers to parlay with the dragon with the intention of luring it into the
open while The Party hides, to remove it from its fortified position.
- Raemund warns The Party that they’ll likely only have one shot before the dragon unleashes its fury
-
Verna also points out that if the dragon is lured into the open, it can fly,
allowing it to potentially pick up and drop party members to their
deaths.
- She stresses that “There are dangers either way, but in a way, attacking it in its lair is safer.”
- The Party decides to enter the lair instead of calling it out.
- Verna is concerned for Vala if she goes in alone, but Raemund volunteers to go with her.
-
The Party returns to their fortified camp to Long Rest in preparation for
their risky plan.
- Mo casts Goodberry and hands out dinner.
- Mo tries to create antitoxin and fails
- Verna tries to improve her weapon and fails
- Vala plays her harp, giving Mo one point of Inspiration
- Orthanc casts Druidcraft, checking the weather for the next day
- Heavy rain in the morning and afternoon
- Lightly cloudy for the rest of the day
- The Party takes a Long Rest
2 Mirtul, 1471 (Day 38)
Dawn
- The Party wakes to heavy rain.
- The Party waits out the rain and eats breakfast
- Verna and Vala work together to improve Raemund's chances of passing for a Thayan..
Afternoon
- The Party heads to the tower and prepares for the assault.
Next Session → Session 018: Bear v Dragon, OR: Hew to Grew, Who Knew?