Five Wands - Turn 1.1

Spelljammer	The Dark Tower
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Current Turn?	No	Subject:	Monsters in the Basement
Campaign:	Greyhawk	Turn Start Date:	4/3/597
Adventure:	The Dark Tower	Turn End Date:	5/13/597
Adventure Number:	AAg	Characters:	Darkthorn, Dyson Teague, Kalin, Lorcan Smythe, Wiley Finch
Turn Number:	1.1	Send To:	fivewands@championsoftheempire.com
Greyhawk Campaign?	Yes	Combat Turn?	No

Name

Lethal

Current

END

PROT

LOW

DEF

ROF

Flash

Heal

Luck Pts

Fate Pts

Darkthorn

52/88

0/0

3/day

1/2

1/1

Dyson Teague

45/80

2/2

0/0

1/day

1/3

1/1

Kalin

38/74

0/0

1/day

2/2

1/1

Lorcan Smythe

32/59

4/4

1/1

1/day

2/2

1/1

Wiley Finch

47/75

0/0

1/day

1/2

1/1

Barthon Brightwave

42/69

10/10

0/0

1/day

1/4

2/3

Mage/Psioncist Name	Psionic Pts	Spell Pts	Spell Pool	Miscellaneous Information
Lorcan Smythe	/	0/15	8/15
Wiley Finch	/	0/15	1/10

Name	Notes
Darkthorn	Ranger Pool (21/21), Possible disease
Dyson Teague	Mind Link with Barthon
Kalin	Cleric Pool (9/21)
Lorcan Smythe
Wiley Finch
Barthon	Magic Points (13/17)

01/23/2020 (GM-Steve)

The group departs the tower and heads to the town to let Lady Pendor know that we need to head back to Deep Port to get the key to the keep. She mentions that she recalls her husband mentioning a tower key.

It takes 2 days to get back to Deep Port. The group heads to the Tales of Adventure tavern. Dyson makes some inquiries about anyone named Pots but comes up empty. Kalin tries and is pointed to a bulletin board with "adventurers wanted" notices. He looks it over and finds one signed by a Mr. Potts. The note seeks adventurers to clear monsters out of a dungeon in a large house that he recently purchased here in Deep Port (same general neightborhood as Maylor Grinforth). The note directs readers to inquire with the barman. Kalin does so. The man laughs and says that we will not be the first and that the house has already killed a number of adventurers. Nevertheless, at Kalin's insistence, he sends a runner to find Mr. Potts and, about 30 minutes later, the group is talking to him at the inn.

Mr. Gradymyr Potts tells the group that the dungeon has already been investigated by two other groups. The first, consisting of four relatively inexperienced adventurers went down, spent 30 minutes walking around and then ran into something. Mr. Potts had been waiting at the top of the stairs leading down to the dungeon and briefly heard sounds of combat. Then the group's mage came running up the stairs, past Mr. Potts and out into the street. When Mr. Potts was able to track him down the next day, he gave a confused and contradictory account about an encounter with one or more demonic looking monsters. The other three adventurers were never heard from again.

A couple weeks ago, Mr. Potts found a more experienced group consisting of six adventurers to go down and destroy the monster. They were slightly more successfully only in that they only lost two people. The other four fled and when Mr. Potts spoke with them later, they gave contradictory accounts of the monster or monsters they encountered. One reported fighting three demons while another said, it was a massive sword spider with a human head and extra legs, while the third thought it was a black wyrm with tentacles in place of a face.

Nevertheless, the group agrees to take on the job for 2,000 silver. No mention was made of any treasure that might be found. They agree to meet with Mr. Potts the following afternoon.

In the morning, the group visits the Alchemy shop. Thinking that the previous adventurers might have been affected by a Fear effect, they buy a Potion of Courage and agree that Kalin will drink it. Dyson purchases a dose of Icecap Ale, the barrel of which the Alchemist purchased from Maylor Grinforth.

Then the group returns to the ship to discuss tactics. The group agrees that this will probably be a tough battle and decide to prepare well for it. They plan to stop before reaching the cell area where the previous two groups encountered the monster or monsters so as to cast preparatory spells and drink potions.

Potions Consumed
Barthon - Waters of Strength (+4 STR)
Darkthorn - Potion of Super Heroism
Dyson - Icecap Ale (+7 STR, +5 CON)
Kalin - Potion of Courage

Spells Cast
Barthon - Remove Fear
Darkthorn - Remove Fear, Protection from Charm, Protection from Evil
Dyson - Remove Fear, Protection from Evil, Protection from Charm
Kalin - Protection from Evil
Lorcan - Remove Fear
Wiley - Levitation, Remove Fear, Battle Blessing

The group enters the mansion with Mr. Potts who shows them to the stairs leading down to the dungeon. He has previously provided an old map of the dungeon and showed them on the map where the previous groups ran into the monster. The group enters and makes their way towards the cell area. Wiley stops to cast a Wizard Eye but it is dark beyond the doors and it does not help much. After drinking the potions and casting the spells, the group moves forward and Darkthorn opens the door to the cell area and enters.

Two demons step out of alcoves on the other side of the room. One is a type I demon and the other a type II demon. Darkthorn, Barthon and Dyson move forward to enter battle. Lorcan uses a Torrential Geyser from his spell wand. Wiley sends his Wizard Eye in to look around and Kalin begins a Prayer spell.

During the round, the type I demon is replaced by a chimera as far as Wiley can see. Everyone else still sees a type I demon.

Towards the end of the round, a new demon comes out of an alcove near Lorcan. It is a type V demon who had been invisible.

GM: This is where we stopped for the night.

02/13/2020 (GM-Steve)

The battle continues. Barthon, Darkthorn, Dyson and Lorcan are in hand to hand combat with the demons with Dyson on the Type II demon, Barthon on the Type I demon and Darkthorn shifting to the Type V demon to assist Lorcan. Wiley stands back and casts spells, including some Magic Missiles to good effect, some of which actually cause damage to the Type V demon (with an 80% MR). However, as the battle progresses, most of the characters start seeing different monsters. For example, Wiley no longer sees the Type V Demon but sees an owlbear instead. He also sees a pair of chimeras instead of the other demons. Dyson finds himself fighting a Sinister Bat instead of a Type II Demon while Barthon is engaged with a Sword Spider. Eventually everyone in the group sees different monsters with the exception of Darkthorn (who rolled a grievous success on his first save) and Kalin. And while Barthon sees a Sword Spider and a Sinister Bat instead of the Type I and II Demons, he still sees the Type V demon.

Barthon eventually kills the Sword Spider. It vanishes when killed and those who saw the monster as anything else also see it disappear. The group is assuming that regardless of what is seen, they are still fighting demons.

GM: We fought through rounds 3 through 9 last night. The Prayer spell ended but Kalin, while defending against the Type V Demon, has been using his defensive ability to give everyone a +5 DEF and +1 PROT. When we start next week, we will be starting on round 11. Kalin's defensive ability started on initiative 1 of round 10 so will last until initiative 1 of round 11.

GM: I added Crystal to the mailing list so she should see this turn as well. Keith, do you still have the spreadsheet for designing a starting character? If not, I can send it along in a separate email.

GM: This is where we stopped for the night.

02/20/2020 (GM-Steve)

The battle continues. Dyson quickly kills the already badly wounded type II demon and then moves over to assist against the Type V demon, which he perceives as a Flesh Golem. The battle is difficult. Dyson uses a healing potion on himself and, at one point, Darkthorn backs away and Lorcan takes his place so that Kalin can cast a CSW spell on Darkthorn. Wiley gets very luck with a Magic Missile spell that damages the demon despite her 80% magic resistance. Then Darkthorn re-enters the fray and, with the help of the Potion of Super Heroism that he took before the battle, he gets in two quick blows that take her from badly wounded, to very badly wounded to dead. Like the other demons, when she dies, she vanishes.

The group retreats out of the area infected with what Lorcan believes is some sort of hallucinatory poison, likely magical in nature. Darkthorn does first aid on every one, with limited success. Then he and Kalin use their remaining healing spells to get most of the group up to wounded, but not bloodied. Everyone except Kalin and Darkthorn are feeling woozy from the poison and Dyson keels over from the after effects of the Icecap Ale. Kalin casts a Neutralize Poison on him and that clears up the effects of both the Icecap Ale and the hallucinatory poison. Lorcan, Wiley and Barthon however, are still feeling woozy (-20 activity penalty, -10 to DEF).

The group returns to the scene of the battle and begins searching. Darkthorn and Barthon both find a secret door that leads into a small secret area of the dungeon. While exploring it, they find two other secret doors that also lead into the secret area. Darkthorn heads upstairs to tell Mr. Potts that they defeated the monsters and are looking to see if there are more.

The group reaches the final room and finds lots of mundane equipment but nothing magical and no coins, gems or jewelry. Most of the equipment is years, if not decades old but some is relatively recent. They begin searching all of the backpacks and pouches for the key that Kalin's Augury indicated would be here somewhere. When everything is laid out, Lorcan burns a point but nothing is magical. Then the group begins a very thorough search of the chamber and it is then that Lorcan sees something radiating magic in a crack in a stone block set into the wall. Darkthorn brings over a light but sees nothing. Dyson activates his Power Perception and is also able to see the magic, which appears to be a 3 inch long shaft but nothing is visible. He uses a lock pick to pull the item out and determines that it is an invisible key. He wraps it in a cloth and puts it in his pouch.

The group, then escorts Mr. Potts around the dungeon and shows that there are no more monsters. Lorcan tells him that he will return when he is less woozy and uses his magic (Mage Wind) to clear out the lingering hallucinatory poison from the dungeon.

The group returns to the Sea Ghost and finds that they have a visitor. A tall young woman wearing monk's robes came aboard seeking the group (the group is now fairly famous in Deep Port, especially after their adventures against the giants/slavers). She wants to join a group of adventurers. Captain Merrick talked to her while waiting for the group to return. Kalin, Darkthorn and Dyson speak with her and she introduces herself as Orielne but goes by Ori. She is a martial artist. They invite her to remain aboard for the evening and talk to the whole group in the morning (Lorcan, Barthon and Wiley had immediately gone to their beds to sleep off the effects of the wooziness).

In the morning, the entire group speaks to Ori and agrees to let her become part of the group. They tell her about their current adventure.

Kalin takes all of the mundane gear that the group found near the demons and manages to get 1020 silver for the lot. When he returns, the group decides that, since Ori is a skilled woodcrafter, they will purchase wood, nails and tools so that she can build a couple more cabins in the hold of the ship. Once that is done, the group gets underway for the village of Carnelloe to continue their adventures there.