A new player joined us: Kiana. She made a Wood elf finesse/duel weapon fighter named Rat-eyes. This is the third time someone has made a character using the Urchin background: Temerity from Kyla, Remy from Shannon, and now Rat-eyes from Kiana.
In any case, the party opted to take another long rest. This seems to be to restore Phox's rage and Bruenor's spell slots. Or something. I could advise Kyla and Calvin to just conserve these resources better, but 30 minute workdays have always been a thing in D&D.
The new character joined us during the long rest. Alec also summarized more of what we had learned from Erky. When we were ready to continue: we found the goblins' larder, filled with all kinds of disgusting things like something called "wine" that smelled like vinegar and something called "elf pudding." Erky tried a bit of that and found it tasty. Gnomes.
Past the larder were more goblins! Phox raged and used her reckless attack to crit one to death. This happened a lot, actually. Hiro also managed to get a killing blow with one of his psychic powers. Yes, that happened. Once the goblins were dead, further exploration revealed the barracks they had come out of. I also managed to find a pit trap with my face, but it was only 10 feet deep. The only thing injured was my pride.
We came to a locked door. Rat-eyes just walked right up to the thing and unlocked it. Rolling natural 20s is great for that! Behind that was room lined with mounted heads and antler trophies, including a few kobold heads. We spotted a white dragon taking cover behind a busted table. I walked in and, speaking Draconic, said, "Calcryx, we're here to take you home." It hissed at me and attacked. For some reason my dice do not like rolling high on initiative with Lydia, so Phox and Rat-eyes were first through the door.
Jokes on them, though. white dragons breath cones of cold! And they got struck by it while I was out of reach. Rat-eyes tried a neat trick, using a length of chain in the room to try and hold the dragon's mouth closed. She failed. At this point we had it surrounded, then it used it's special skill: burrowing. It came up next to Meepo and tried to kill the poor kobold, knocking it to 0 hp. Then Vrinn knocked it out. Erky provided healing to Meepo and Phox.
In the meantime, we found some valuables in a nest the dragon had made for itself: a figurine, some silverware, and a scroll case marked "Khundrukar," and containing a cryptic message on a water-damaged parchment. This, incidentally, is the breadcrumb to Forge of Fury, the next adventure in the book. Originally they were the first 2 in a linked path published for 3rd edition. The path of adventures was meant to bring a party to 20th level. They were not very well linked.
There was another locked door in the dragon's room. Again, Rat-eyes opened it, proving to be a better rogue than Vrinn. At this part of the job, anyway. There was a corridor lined with columns carved in the images of dragons. Torches set in sconces lit the place. We decided now would be a good time to return Meepo and the dragon.
Yusdrayl was true to her word and gave us the key. We examined more of the treasure she had. I offered the jade figurine we had found in exchange for an intriguing looking feather. It turned out to be a Quall's feather token (tree). Now I can grow an insta-oak tree, while out doors. Like most greedy murder hobos, we started bargaining for the rest. Ultimately, she would give us some scrolls and a potion for handling her goblin problem in the form of returning with the goblin chieftain's head.
But first we back-tracked with Erky, showing him the way back to the surface. He thanked us and went on his way. Then we opened that locked door. We thus began a classic: the gauntlet of trapped rooms.
The first one seemed innocuous enough. The north wall held alcoves containing cracked glass orbs. The south wall had a similar alcove containing an intact orb glowing with a pale blue light. Hiro decided this obviously dangerous thing would be good to touch. It started playing brooding music, probably along the lines of this. It constantly cast a charm person effect, and Squiz and Phox were the first hit by it. While charmed, they decided that leaving the citadel would be a good idea. Eventually, Bruenor threw the damn thing on the floor, breaking it.
Next we found a corridor, containing a trap we quickly spotted. Throwing a rock down the hall we found it was a pressure plate attached to an arrow trap. We had pitons! We wedged that pressure plate open and continued onward.
We found a dust covered room with a dragon statue at one end. As we moved in, the dragon statue spoke a short riddle:
We come at night without being fetched;
we disappear by day without being stolen.
What are we?
After answering this painfully obvious riddle, we found another long corridor, lined with alcoves filled with statues of robed elves, members of the dragon cult. There was a spike filled pit at one end. Auryx made an ice bridge (hopefully with guard rails) crossing the pit. Before we reached the door on the other side of a pit, an invisible quasit, a tiny minor demon, appeared, attacked, then fled, laughing. It apparently discharged it's duty.
We now found ourselves in a mostly purple room with a sarcophagus in the middle. The sarcophagus was clamped shut. We're adventurers. Schmuck bait is what we live for! We unclamped it and slid it open. There was a troll inside dressed in the robes of a dragon priest. It didn't like being in there, so it thanked us by trying to kill us, as is their way.
Trolls in D&D aren't cute little naked people with colorful hair. Their mean giant-like monsters that regenerate. It takes fire or acid to shut down that regeneration. For whatever reason, everybody forgot to bring a fire or acid spell. So Squiz and Hiro poured lantern oil on it and set it on fire. That works, too. We looted it's stuff, then found a secret door with a crawlspace, letting us know that this was where a disgraced dragonpriest had been interred.
Great! We went in through the back door. Dungeon design doesn't always have to make sense.
We decided to get back on task with goblin killing. We passed through the columned hall and found a room full of goblins. They were mostly noncombatants. I decided to play Drow matron mother and stepped into the room, acting like I was in charge, and demanded the goblin slaves show us where their chieftain was. It worked. Sort of. The goblins did show point us toward their chief. But as we started toward it, the noncombatants backed off and the warriors came forward. They started attacking us, because, yeah.
So, in an MMO, when doing a dungeon, while you're clearing one room, whatever you do, you don't pull another. Jeff must not have played MMOs. Hiro opened the door to the next room as we were clearing the first.
It was okay. Squiz and Hiro took on that room. Squiz, proving that Will is playing a WWE character and not a straight-up fighter, tried to grapple the chieftain and throw him down a deep well in his room. Unfortunately, he failed. But he sure did pull all the aggro in that room!
Jeff did whip out one of Hiro's big guns: a psionic blast attack that does 2d8 damage. There's no attack roll. No saving throw. Apparently, the designers did this on purpose. It is a single-target, and limited use. Still felt a tad over-powered.
We managed to clear both rooms. A party of 8 characters can do that, even at low level.
What happens next? What's at the bottom of the well? We'll find out next time.
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