[DnD] The Haunting of Hargast (GFF D&D Adventure 3)

1 Die Roll save against poison

Between Brigid's death and Motsognir's acceptance of the contract, Argumentus's feeble mind cracks. He dashes into the room where the spiders originated, rushes to the corner and curls up into the fetal position.

How ya doing, buddy?

7 Dice Rolls *yellow aura dmg

Argumentus cracks under the pressure, smashing through the fire-weakened portcullis bars and tumbling into a corner. Maybe he can just hide here until bad things stop happening. He notices that the webbed-up bundles have stopped wriggling. Uh-oh.

So Arg flees into the next room, gets in the corner, goes prone, and successfully fights off the poison. I'm sure there is a cunning plan underneath this somewhere.

With everything behind them quite comfortably unconscious the last they checked, the spiders continue their pursuit of Gabe. Buttressed on his left by a row of sarcophagi, Gabe is able to avoid getting hit by multiple swarms at once.

Green Spider Swarm: 3 damage to Reaper
Orange Spider Swarm: 7 damage to Reaper

Start of Gabe's turn
Yellow Swarm Aura hits for 6 damage, ongoing 5 poison

Gabriel, Bob, Motsognir, Reaper, Argumentus, Bloodweb Spider Swarms

FELIPE NO

I awoke in a daze, still reeling from the effects of the spider's poison. Looking around, I saw a pile of what looked like the small child's equipment next to me. Quite why she had decided to drop all her gear and run around naked I couldn't say but amongst her effects, I saw what I was looking for, the anti-venom potion she had bought on the way to the village. I grabbed it and downed it in one, feeling better almost immediately.

I could hear the sounds of continued battle from the south and knew that the danger had not yet passed but I was going nowhere before I got my breath back.

Retrieve and drink Brigid's anti-venom potion, experience a second wind

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

lay hands: self
Drink healing potion.
Bolstering strike on nearest spiders

I will eventually get narrativey again, just getting killed by work right now

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Argumentus rises from the corner. The halls of the dead fill him with a new resolve, and he runs at full speed towards the elf. He seems almost unstoppable.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Motsognir didn't suffer from the moral qualms that seemed to be plaguing his companions. Of course the pious one would shy away from the Reaper, but why the slope? At least his woman hadn't seemed to turn from him yet. He walked closer to her, his legs not fast enough to let him reach the spiders without a pause.

Stand from prone
move to T30

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I laid a gentle hand on the clever dwarf's shoulder as he rushed past (An easy feat, even from a sitting position), hoping that this simple gesture would indicate to him that as much as I wanted to save our companions, rushing headlong into danger would help nobody and that our best chance of defeating these bugs lay in letting them come to us, cleansing them with fire as they came.

Anyway I told myself, the ugly dwarf was a tough customer all right, it would take more than a few insects to kill that one.

Not for the first time since starting my adventures, I wished I could better believe my inner monologue.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

16 Dice Rolls *swarm aura v gabe dmg

Gabriel decided to stop running and stand his ground. He wasn't making any distance on the damnable little monsters anyway. If he had to go down, it wouldn't be because some pitiful little animal bit the backs of his ankles off.

Lay on Hands: Gabe's HP +12
Healing Potion: Gabe's HP +10
Bolstering Strike: miss

Bob sifts through the odd little heap that had replaced Brigid during the brief nap he had quite accidentally taken. Like most heaps one found in this sort of work, there were magical potions to be had. Funny, that.

5 ongoing poison damage
antivenom consumed
Second Wind: +9 HP, plus defenses

"This is taking forever", mutters the reaper.

"Goodness!" chirps Jane, pulling her head out of the ceiling. "I see you met my new friends! Did you find that thing you were looking for?"

Orange swarm aura: 8 damage to reaper
Reaper's Scythe: 5 damage to yellow swarm

Argumentus suddenly barrels back into the room, red-faced and grimacing. Why was he hiding? Maybe he has some alchemy habits he doesn't want the group to know about, Motsognir muses. Those Potions of Bull's Strength definitely provide results but once you learn the ingredients you'd have to be crazy to keep using them.

Unstoppable: Brady gains 13 temp HP

The spiders continue to throw wave after wave at the paladin, who inexplicably refuses to go down.

Yellow swarm: 5 damage to Gabe + ongoing 5 poison
Beginning of Gabe's turn: 12 damage from aura; slowed

Gabriel, Bob, Motsognir, Reaper, Argumentus, Bloodweb Spider Swarms

I was speaking idiomatically.

4 Dice Rolls Damage orange

Feeling much better, I sprung to my feet, my new boots practically launching me upright. Peering down the corridor towards the action, I blasted the spiders with yet another fireball, hoping to end the threat once and for all.

Not wishing to become their next target however, I jogged back up towards the webs a little way.

Stand up as a minor, Flame burst at W28, move to Q30 (Shouldn't that be 30Q technically? In the door then up the stairs)

A miss and a miss
Elven accuracy to re-roll attack on orange unit
Hit, (5+5)*weakness multiplier damage (20?)

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

take potion
radiant delerium on yellow
shift south

FELIPE NO

move to V30
Bloody Ending on oranges

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

14 Dice Rolls eye of impending doom v.green

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Gabe unleashes the shiniest of all his shiny talents. The spiders before him stagger away in a seeming daze, meandering in little circles and biting each other.

potion of healing: gabe's HP +10
radiant delirium: miss. After half-damage from miss and spider resistance: 4 damage to yellow swarm (dazed)
savestravaganza! incredible savings on all effects!

Bob just couldn't seem to shake off this poison. You go to all this trouble to keep yourself in good trim and your high metabolism just stabs you in the back. If he was going to get out of this without descending into the nude sprinting phase of the infection he'd have to take these spiders down in a hurry. He didn't want anybody to see the questionable tattoos on his rear. College is always a time for ill-advised experimentation and the Arcane University had been no exception.

ongoing 5 poison damage
scorching burst: 20 damage to orange swarm
Bob misses out on incredible savings

Motsognir strolls into the room, axe hefted onto his shoulder. Roaring with anguish, he gouges the hell out of a historical engraving on the wall. Now the events of Lord Hargastus' life between his third and fourth marriages are lost to history.

Bloody Ending: miss (ouch)

The reaper continues hacking away, and pulls his little teleportation trick again.

"This is absurd. Our blades will go dull before we can cut all of them down."

He snaps his bony fingers, and his robes are suffused with a strange blue radiance.

"I have other weapons, of course."

Yellow Swarm Aura: 6 damage to Reaper
Reap and Fade: 4 damage to green swarm
Eye of Impending Doom: Green swarm damaged if it attacks the reaper

Argumentus, Bloodweb Spider Swarms, Gabriel, Bob, Motsognir, Reaper

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Argumentus moves behind Soggy at U30 and readies a sure strike should the tiny fiends attempt to flank his stout lil buddy.

If hit activate Pick of Frost

There's nowhere I can't reach.

6 Dice Rolls green save vs eye of doom

Argumentus moves into place, protecting Motsognir from a flanking situation that could never possibly occur. But what if a giant were to suddenly pick up and move one of those massive sarcophagi in the corner? You'd not be laughing at Argumentus then, oh no. You'd be saying "damn it all, a giant" and running away. But Argumentus would not laugh at you, for giants are big and scary. The big man stares dreamily at the ceiling as he imagines it.

The yellow swarm is still a little too disoriented to bite anyone, but it pursues Gabe in the hope of bitings to come. The orange swarm flings itself at the infuriatingly-revived warlord, and Soggy makes an abrupt return to lightheadedness. Unmindful of his arcane defenses, the green swarm lurches at the reaper — and is flung back in a crackling flash of light. The spiders skitter about in a panic as dozens of them suddenly explode as though from some great internal pressure.

orange swarm: 8 damage to Motsognir, 5 ongoing poison damage
green swarm vs. reaper: miss; 20 psychic damage to swarm

Beginning of Gabe's turn: 9 damage from swarm aura. Poisoned/slowed.

Soggy will most likely pass out at the start of his turn, also

Gabriel, Bob, Motsognir, Reaper, Argumentus, Bloodweb Spider Swarms

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

4 Dice Rolls Damage orange

The Horde seemed unconvinced of my retreat and cover tactics and rushed like so many enthusiastic puppies back into the fray. I followed at a distance, not wishing to get too close to the spiders and their debilitating aura again. Peering round the corner into the melee, I saw that the demon appeared to have joined forces with us, certainly an encouraging sign. There was no sign of the naked child though which was particularly curious. I could only imagine that the clever dwarf had sold her to the demon in exchange for his assistance, a not altogether unreasonable trade I thought.

The spider swarms were all bunched up so I took the opportunity to once again blast them with fire, it seeming to be the most effective weapon at our disposal on the odd occasion I managed to hit anything.

Move to 30U, Flame burst at 30X

18 Damage to orange swarm

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

2 Dice Rolls i don't know if that hit

pass out

Thanks Gabe!

Motsognir had lodged his axe in the wall. A pull finally removes it, and carries the dwarf with it toward a swarm.

move to W30
Viper's Strike to greens

I was speaking idiomatically.

righteous smite on yellow
shift south
try not to die

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

9 Dice Rolls *r&f dmg

As Soggy wobbles on his feet, the paladin lunges forth with a mighty blow — or as least as mighty as any of their weapons could be against these swarming nuisances. It might be worthwhile, Soggy decides, to stay upright for another minute or two. Then he can nap properly instead of taking another faceplant.

Righteous Smite: CRITICAL HIT! 13 damage to Yellow Swarm. Gabe and Motsognir gain 7 temporary HP.
Save on everything! Today only!

Through the magic of quantum physics, Argumentus and Bob occupy the same space for a long strange moment. At length, Bob's metaphysical power wins out and Argumentus finds himself abruptly shifted a few feet to his left. Why didn't Bob see that this space was taken? Argumentus ponders the possibilities. Maybe... maybe he had become invisible?

Also there is some burninating going on but it has fewer consequences to science.

5 ongoing poison damage
Bob moved to um uh fuck it it's just mopup. Arg shoved aside.
19 damage to orange swarm; destroyed
save vs poison succeeds

Punch-drunk and feverish, Soggy continues mauling the hell out of the engravings. Hope nobody needed to know how many castles this dude had, because it's long gone now, baby!

5 ongoing poison damage
no, it wasn't a hit =(
Soggy rejects our bargain savings

The reaper continues to busily clean up the mess Motsognir had made. Gotta get paid, though.

Eye of Impending Doom: 20 psychic damage to green swarm, destroyed
Reap and Fade: 6 damage to yellow swarm

Argumentus, Bloodweb Spider Swarms, Gabriel, Bob, Motsognir, Reaper

FELIPE NO

1 Die Roll Sure Strike

Argumentus rushes the last of the little buggers, bringing his pick down with pointy side up.

Sure Strike

... only to miss by a hair

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Actuallly let's call it good, it's a foregone conclusion at this point

Argumentus charges forward, smashing the last of the spiders under the hammer end of his pick.

VICTORY! 900 XP (225 each)

"Good doing business with you", says the Reaper. Strolling into the north chamber, he heaves the webbed bundles onto his shoulders.

"As for you, clever dwarf, I expect I'll be in touch. We always have a place in our organization for those who know when the end justifies the means."

He gives a curt nod, and vanishes.

"Well, that was peculiar", Jane remarks. "All that fuss over a couple of laundry sacks?"

Most amazing jew boots

Motsognir smiled. He didn't mind that fellow one bit. Nice chap, if a bit over-the-top.

Healing Surge To Full Health

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Argumentus didn't understand what the reaper could have wanted with a bunch of webbing, but all the same it was time to take a good break.

Rest to full health

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

With the last of the spiders dead, I took five minutes to catch my breath before having a nose around for the missing child. There was no sign of her in the immediate vicinity and I surmised that the clever dwarf must indeed have sold her soul to that demon. He was clearly a man after my own heart and I found my admiration and dare I say it, fondness for him growing each moment I spent in his company. I started to tag the wall of the crypt in the customary fashion but found myself looking over at the dwarf, rather than concentrating on what I was doing. The way my magelight reflected off his nose, his rugged jawline and the cute puffs of confetti issuing from his armour sporadically were all quite captivating.

I raised myself from my daydream and finished the tag properly. With the child dammed to eternity in the underworld, she would likely not be needing her gear any more so I gathered it up and carried it back into the room where the others were resting, laying out the items on the floor so as to suggest a bit of helping-ones-self was the order of the day.

None of her weapons or armour were of much interest to me but I helped myself to her ritual reagents and a rather lovely brooch she had been wearing, the colour of which matched my eyes. I also scooped 100gp out of her purse, thinking to buy a nice card or something to send to her family, should we ever bump into that other child she seemed to know again.

I realised then just how tired I was and despite a crypt infested with undead being probably the stupidest place imaginable for a nap, I couldn't help but rest my eyes for a few moments, hoping to regain some of my strength.

As I sat with my back against the wall and with my eyes shut, I reflected on our adventures so far. I had still come no closer to unlocking the secrets of my own necromantic powers and although I was getting better at fire and ice spells, without a suitably adorned face to match my firey robes and icy blue hat, I could not really consider myself a true elementalist. Still, since waking up on the floor of that dungeon I had got to know my undead minions much better and had some solid underworld contacts of both kinds, a crime lord and a demon. All the fighting we seemed to be doing was honing my reflexes and making me stronger and it could only be a matter of time before I realised my full potential.

With a contented sigh, I drifted off into a gentle sleep.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Motsognir looked through the little woman's former possessions, and takes the Climber's Kit, the last healing potion, and all her rope. He could never have enough rope.

He walked over to sit beside his woman. Suavely yawning, he tries to maneuver his arm over her shoulder, but sitting down, can't even manage to reach her tantalizing neck. He frowns and crosses his arms, sighing heavily. He would make his move sooner or later. He fell asleep discontent.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Yeah let's just call an extended rest since I don't think Bob will be going anywhere with 0 surges and I think we've all learned the importance of a good fireball

With Jane's assurance that she'll yell real loud if a zombie tries to eat any of them, the survivors each find a corner to huddle in until they're done feeling half-dead.

Hours later, the horde groggily staggers to its feet. With the uniform lighting of the tomb, it's impossible to know what time it is or how long they've been underground.

A well-built human man is engaged in idle conversation with the ghost, discussing small matters of trifling import with her as he waits for the party to get to its feet. His face is covered with dozens of little scars and at least half a week's worth of stubble. He looks on the heavily-bruised forms of the horde, looks at the heaps of dead spiders on the floor, and cocks an eyebrow.

"Miss Requiescat In Pace here tells me you're down a sword arm. The young barkeep didn't tell me he'd already sent anyone down here. Still, the land splits five ways whether it's me or the halfling. Water under the bridge, I reckon."

He pulls a cigar from his belt pouch, lights it with a chunk of flint, and puffs away while he waits for the horde's response.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?