Session Notes January 27th, 2019

Continuing Developments

After the fight in the Troglodyte cavern and Ashen's brief halucination of a horrible death—necrotitis by Violet Fungi—down the fenced-off tunnel, the group agrees that while they will go and explore the cavern at the other end of the trail, it won't be until after heading back to Maroux's for a rest. Your resident spell-slinger exhausted more than half his arsenal in emptying the cavern of the followers of the demon lord Zevgavizeb. By now, the trogs that were allowed to leave have been gone for more than ten minutes and the cavern of death remains full of trogs barely hanging-on to life. So you left with an over-the-shoulder quip of “Good Riddance!”

A Reunion and a New Meeting

As you headed out of the Troglodyte cavern, you saw three people walking up the trail toward you. Two of whom you recognized immediately—Jasper Kandamerus and Tirana, the third was a tall male mostly-elf bedecked as an adventurer wearing a surcoat—the image of a spiral comet clearly stitched into the coat's material—and bearing a gold-edged large steel shield—bearing the same motif. Jasper looked to his companions and said “See? Didn't I tell you I would get you here in time? And look, here are the Soldiers of the Void as promised!”

I WOULD LIKE THE PLAYERS TO RECOUNT THEIR MEMORY OF THE MEETING AND LEAVE IT IN THE COMMENTS BELOW---I'LL USE THAT AS A BASIS TO FILL THIS SECTION IN.

Tirana has been messed up since the events of 6 months ago. She re-appeared in Kaer-Maga 2 months ago seeking asylum/aid with the Church of Abadar (of all places). After paying off a hefty fine for stealing the Sword of Lust in the first place, she was turned away. That is when she approached the Church of Pharasma. Here she has helped out as best she could while the church investigated the cause of her "illness". There they ascertained that she was suffering from a 'magical withdrawal'—akin to a curse—whose cure was beyond their ability. Tirana then recounted her "plan" to consolidate the Seven Swords of Sin—you know, for the whole 'ultimate power' thing—and the resulting battle with the 'Company of The Gold Goblin' that dispersed the artifact level magic and exposed all present to that energy. After more divining, High Priest Karaheis was able to glean that Tirana was now somehow tied to the energies from artifacts of ancient Thassilon. Further, it was determined that without being in proximity—no specific range found—to a Thassilonian artifact—again no specifics given as to which ones may help—she would slowly wither away and die.

This results in a cumulative -1 to all abilities for each week not in the presence of such an artifact. If later brought within range of a suitable artifact, the debilitating effects begin to wear off after 24 hours. Once Constitution reaches 0 the character dies.

Without further information available, the High Priest suggested that her best course lay in trying to find this 'Company of The Gold Goblin'. Arthas—who was already working with the Church of Pharasma here in Kaer-Maga—was tasked with helping Tirana find her missing 'people' and keeping an eye on her and her progress toward redemption at the same time.

As The Gold Goblin Gambling Hall in Riddleport is known even here, it seemed the best place to start looking. Arthas headed out with Tirana to Riddleport and met with one of the owners, Samaritha Beldusk—upon hearing who Tirana was, almost put a lightning bolt through her. After calming everyone down Arthas got the story that the last meeting Samaritha's husband Rupert had with Tirana had not gone well. In fact she subjugated them and used them to take another sword before trying to kill them in an epic magical battle. But that was before Rupert and the 'Companions of the Gold Goblin'—as Samaritha corrected, they haven't actually formed an official adventuring company yet—met Tirana on a 'fugue plane' talking to a disembodied spirit. Anyway, Samaritha told the two that the 'Companions' weren't there, that they were away on business with the Pathfinder Society in Magnimar. Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch would know more.

The two headed to Magnimar and after once again Tirana having paid recompense at the First Bank of Abadar in Magnimar—now topping 50,000 gp paid—they made their way to Sheila Heidmarch. There after having listened to both Arthas and Tirana's stories she was impressed enough with your tales that she agreed to have you 'sent over' to join the rest of the party—but not before Tirana accepted a Geas to assist the party in all capacity in recovering and returning the Shard of Lust. Sheila paired the two up with the only guide she knew of, one Jasper Kandamerus, a slightly mad cleric of Groetus. With Jasper help describing the location to arrive, you three were teleported to Maroux's Isle where Jasper was reunited with Maroux. After a brief discussion of where you last said you were going, Jasper leads you off to the troglodyte caverns, arriving just in time to see the trogs leaving the caverns with a tale of a great battle between a group of adventurers and the fanatical followers—“Not us mind you, we've had enough and are heading out of this area.”—of Uggilio, cleric of the Demon Lord Zevgavizeb. You walk in just as they are waking out.

Cavern of Many Mouths

“A wide cave entrance yawns at the base of a stony outcropping overlooking a wide bog. The cave is nearly forty feet wide and twenty feet high, and slopes up into darkness. A wide assortment of bones lies scattered about in front of the cave itself, and here-and-there something shiny glitters among the bones. Five shallow-looking brackish pools about 10' in diameter are dotted amoung the bones and shiny bits.”

A quick peek in the cave showed no imminent sign of attack so you got to examining the spoils at the entrance. Seems that the bones and shiny bits were found near three of the pools right at the opening to the cave, while the other two pools were further out. Paranoia ran rampant with thoughts of traps and ways of collecting some of the spoils. Ashen, Rupert and Tirana all cast 'detect magic' and determined that there was magic in the area. More thoughts of "It's A Trap!" The spell-users took the time to all-but-identify the magic items. Each of the pools closest to the cave had an item of magic within, 'faint conjuration' from the southern-most of the three, 'moderate abjuration' from the western-most and 'faint abjuration' from the northern-most!

Having waited long enough listening to the intelligentsia go on-and-on, Arthas was first to move and poked a pool with his sword. Taarn grunted his approval. As no effect was observed, the rest of the group chimed in on what to do next, until Arthas finally reached into the water to come out with coins of platinum, gold and silver. That was enough to get the "loot patrol" into gear and—as a group—methodically collect everything.

Rupert had another look at the scene as a whole. He and the other scholars conjectured that the bones suffered death by fire or acid and after an examination of some of the larger bones—another manticore—they concluded that the black residue was from fire, hot fire, hot enough to melt some bone. Of course that led to a round of monster speculation—Taarn, Mersit and Arthas looked at each other and rolled eyes. They threw out anything that could be smart—after-all nothing intelligent would ever leave treasure at their front door! Guesses ranged from dragons—eliminated due to intelligence and greed—fire elementals, and even hydra. That last one had Rupert on about a pyrohydra while Ashen leaned more toward a chimera-hydra—heads that breathe different lethalities.

After that, Mersit ventured further up into the cave, to a point where a bend made sure that a direct line-of-sight from the entrance wasn't possible and deep enough where he saw a huge serpentine-like creature with many more snakes curled in on each other laying in the dirt. The sides of the cavern, the floor, some rocks covered with a blackish residue. Coming back he described what he saw and they looked over the bones and spoils once again. They agreed on hydra. Mersit used a magic ability 'shard of greed—haste', Tirana cast 'resist energy—fire' on her and Arthas, Ashen cast 'shield' and used his 'arcane pool' to add "bonuses"—'+1 keen shocking'—to his sword. Tirana only had the two spells but if things got nasty she informed them that she had a 'hold monster' spell available. So "the plan" was for Mersit to move in quietly while the others followed behind in a wing formation—a diagonal line. Once close enough, Mersit would 'fleet charge' in with a sneak attack and use his remaining full-action to run back, drawing the creature with him. Tirana was to cast her spell and the remaining party to reign death and destruction—we're looking at you Taarn—on the creature!

Moving in to where he last saw the sleeping creature, he was shocked to find it gone, likely further back in the cave. Well Damn! Instead of "the plan" , Mersit moved further in to catch a glimpse of the serpentine beast just out of his range. After he strategically retreated for a quick conferral, he returned again only to find it waiting.

Inish

• ROUND 1— The serpent-beast retreated further into the cave and waited; Mersit moved up and told everyone where it was; Taarn moved first then used 'fleet charge' and ran for the attack. He drew multiple AoO's from different heads and took a fire-breath as well—Taarn took 64 hp—before he unloaded on the pyrohydra; The others were only able to move forward.


• ROUND 2— The ten-headed pyrohydra then unloaded on Taarn with seeming machine precision in its strikes as one-after-another head bit into the same relative area causing increasing amounts of damage—Taarn took another 91 hp—before it had begun to heal; Mersit also used 'fleet charge'—drawing one AoO that missed—and unloaded on the beast, dropping its massive torso to the cave floor but not its heads, they remained alert and ever-hungry which drew Rupert to comment “That's not right! It should have died!”; Taarn, in a state of shock at having been ravaged, withdrew to heal and took two more AoO's on the way out, and was struck with enough damage to knock him unconscious 15' from the beast—he took 32 hp knocking him unconscious, but on the way to meet the cavern floor, Taarn used incredible force-of-will and triggered his 'renewed vigor' and was healed for 10 hp; Ashen ran to Taarn and readied his 'philter of life—30'; Arthas moved in closer and used 'word of healing' and healed Taarn another 12 hp bringing him back to consciousness; Tirana cast her spell and it worked; Rupert cast 'lightning bolt', then used 'arcane surge'to cast it a second time.


• ROUND 3— The pyrohydra failed its save so remained 'held', though it did heal—“Damn! This must be one of those immortal Lernaean Hydra's! It can only be killed once all of its heads are chopped off and acid is used to stop the healing!”; Fair enough!; Mersit set about removing two of its heads; Taarn, now "fatigued" , got up, drank the potion from Ashen—was healed 30 hp—then used 'fleet charge' to sever another head; Ashen used 'pool strike—acid' to remove a fourth head and sealed off the neck at the same time; Arthas moved in and removed a fifth head; Tirana moved up and took the 'wand of acid arrow' from Rupert; Rupert cast 'acid orb' and sealed the neck of head one.


• ROUND 4— The pyrohydra failed its save so remained 'held', though it continued to heal; Mersit removed a sixth head and noticed the body mostly healed; Taarn was not able to take a head this round; Ashen did a rinse-and-repeat of last round, took the seventh head and sealed the neck with 'acid'; Arthas pounded the body more to ensure it remained immobile; Tirana used the 'wand' and sealed neck two that had already split in two readied for a double head growth next round; Rupert also did a rinse-and-repeat and sealed another neck.


• ROUND 5— The pyrohydra failed its save so remained 'held', though it continued to heal; Mersit removed the eighth head and poured more damage to the body; Again Taarn was unable to remove any heads; Ashen did a rinse-and-repeat of last round, took the ninth head and sealed the neck with 'acid'; Arthas used 'lay on hands' and healed Taarn—for 23 hp; Tirana sealed another neck; Rupert did likewise.


• ROUND 6— The pyrohydra made its 'save' and became mobile at the end of its round, though it continued to heal; Mersit removed head ten and noticed it split immediately in two—warned everyone of two heads due next round; Taarn hammered the body; Ashen repeated his actions of his last round action and sealed the neck of the one Mersit had just chopped; Arthas hammered the body; Tirana sealed another neck; Rupert sealed the final neck killing it.

From my records Taarn is presently at 63 hp.

Treasure: Several bits of treasure lie amid the remains of the hydra's past meals, strewn about the cave mouth haphazardly. Most of the treasure is hidden in the shallow mud or water—finding it all requires 2d4 minutes of searching—per pool, three in all—and a successful DC 20 Perception check. (Remember to let the sleeping pyrohydra make Perception checks, modified by a -10 penalty for distance, if the PCs are particularly noisy while searching for treasure here!)
In all, the hydra's treasure consists of 2,400 sp, 1,230 gp, 391 pp, a gold ring worth 250 gp, a silver necklace worth 100 gp, a crystal wand of acid arrow (25 charges), a +1 brawling amulet of mighty fists, and a ring of swimming.

Session Notes (by Aaron)

Players

• Mersit Of The Raging Tree, catfolk swashbuckler/rogue ..... Aaron Collins
• Taarn, kellid barbarian ..... Mick Hodorek
• Ashen, elf bladebound magus ..... Mike Horrigan
• Rupert Silvermoon, elf wizard ..... Jonathan Hood
• Esdar (Dar) Aerril, half-elf cleric ..... Alex Nutall

Continuing The Saga

Recap: end of Trog battle; we don't want to go through the fungus tunnel; Rupert and Esdar want to recharge their spells

We decide to return to Maroux's to rest up. On our way we encounter three people: Jasper; an elf Paladin (of Pharasma?); and Tarana Tirana.
Jasper greets us, then says to Tirana “I told you I'd find them.”
Rupert then asks "Tirana, you here to help?"
Tirana replies "I'm under a Geas to help you in recovering the 'Shard of Lust'."
Rupert: "Who dis?" pointing to the white-haired elfy guy.
Arthas: "I'm Arthas and was guided to come find and help the Company of the Gold Goblin." "Tirana and I went to Venture-Captian Heidmarch and she assigned Jasper to guide us."
Esdar: "I'll take Jasper away to keep his chaos away from us."
Rupert: "I'm borrowing the lesser spell-adder!"
Mersit: "Who gaius'd you? (talking to Tirana)
Tirana: "A Huer something or other."
Mersit: "Ah master Huer Thowatt!" (who merged our weapons)
Esdar: teases Arthus into admitting he's a follower of Pharasma.

We head back to Maroux with new people in tow. Rupert and Ashen use Prestidigitation to help clean us up. Mersit resists Tirana come-ons.

We convo: We discuss the Shard of Lust and who else is interested.

• Grey Maidens (working with the frogs)
• Hired Trolls & Gnolls
• Pathfinders (Sheila et al.)

One of them (Grey Maiden Captain Oriana) found the Runelord of Lust… Sorshen. Grey Maidens are rebel guards from Korvosa. Tirana mentions what she knows about the Lady's Light - created by Sorshen (vanity). The Grand Whore. We spend the night to restore our powers and spells, etc…

Next morning: Ashen states he must be able to imprint on Tamara—to allow us to know where she is. Tamara and Ashen shake on it—with all the weirdness associated with that.

----------------------------

We head to a different entrance to the caverns (from the Trogs to the other one further south). We pepper Arthas with questions but he's reticent. "DeadUndead need to staybe dead." seems to be his moto.

We come to the opening of the cavern. A boneyard surrounded by bogs sit in front of the entrance. Mersit goes around the bogs to check the cavern—he sees rubble and what looks to be charred rocks. Ashen uses detect magic on the bog and detects something. Mersit returns and reports on what he saw. Magic: moderate in three of the pools; 'conjugation', 'conjugation' and 'abjuration'

Arthus goes to poke the northern pool; he pulls up some coins; we find a ring (identified as 'ring of swimming'); Mersit uses shovel to clear the bog to up the coins; 2nd pool: amulet (identified as 'amulet of mighty fists +1'); 3rd pool: crystal wand (identified as 'wand of acid arrow' 25 charges), Silver necklace (100 GP), Gold Ring (250 GP), 391 PP, 1200 GP, 2400 SP

Rupert identifies some of the bones as Manticore; humanoid; trogs & frogs; Also, that the scorching is from fire (as opposed to acid) hot enough to melt bone; (fire elemental?; hydra?)

As we discuss things, Arthas moves ahead to scout the cavern again. Mersit sneaks ahead and sees a sleeping Hydra! He sneaks back and tells the others. We have a plan to have Mersit be bait with a hit and run tactic. When Mersit goes to enact the plan though, the hydra is gone!

Inish

• ROUND 1— Hydra: moves away; Mersit: chugs 'heroism potion' then moves ahead 30 feet. He sees that the monster has 10 heads; Taarn: Rages, moves next to Mersit then does a fleet charge to the Hydra who hits him with AoO as he comes in, including breathing fire, then Taarn finally gets to hit a couple of times; Ashen: Double moves to within sight of the hydra; Arthas: Moves closer; Tirana: Double moves closer; Rupert: Follows Tirana.


• ROUND 2— Hydra: wails on Taarn, LOTS of damage to Taarn; Mersit: 'Hasted'; Fleet Charges in—hitting every time with 2 Nat 20's!; Taarn: Retreats and gets hit, dropping him to the ground! He needs help!; Ashen: moves to Taarn and preps an 'Phylterphilter of life'; Arthas: Moves ahead and uses Lay On Hands bringing the barbarian back to consciousness (One to many heads); Tirana: casts Hold Monster and it fucking works! The Hydra is frozen in place; Rupert: casts lightning bolt! Into the monster.


• ROUND 3— Hydra: tries to save (a neck begins to bubble as it threatens to grow); Mersit: Cuts off two heads (we need to be quick); Taarn: Drinks the 'phylter' to restore HP, fleet charges in cuts off a head; Ashen: Moves up, charges sword with 'acid' and cuts off a head (and seals the neck) with acid (1 down); Arthas: Moves and cleaves off one head; Tirana: takes the 'wand of acid arrow' from Rupert to get ready next round; Rupert: Cast acid splash to perma death another head (2 down).


• ROUND 4— Hydra: Tries to save, fails; Mersit: Cuts off another head (6) and moves to flank; Taarn: Comes in and tries to hack off heads but misses; Ashen: Charges with 'acid' and seals another neck (3); Arthas: Attacks the body for some damage to keep it from being mobile again; Tirana: Uses 'wand of acid arrow' to seal another neck (4); Rupert: aims for the bubbling neck to seal another head (5).


• ROUND 5— Hydra: Misses save again but two heads start bubbling; Mersit: cuts off another head and attacks the body; Taarn: hacks at the body; Ashen: pool charge acid again and attacks one of the split heads and hits (6); Arthas: heals Taarn and then starts rummaging for a potion for Taarn; Tirana: Repeats 'wand acid' to kill another head (7); Rupert: Targets head with acid to kill a head (8).


• ROUND 6— Hydra: Makes a save!; Mersit: cuts off the last two heads (immediately a head starts to split); Ashen: holds off to save pool points; Arthas: gets out his potion for Taarn; Tirana: Kills a head (9); Rupert: Kills last head (10)—Dead!

Finish

Ashen performs his anti-undead ritual.

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