Session 19

Fact Sheet : too many motherfucking snakes in this motherfucking desert

Date: 29-03-23

Date in-universe: the sun is setting on an unspecified Wednesday night

Players present: Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart, Tuur and Vinnie. Dins was our GM.

Major developments:

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Notes

On the cliffs in the dusk, we hear someone yell out "Reva changed the plan, she's walking away, what now"? We hear Lapis pained whinny from where she slammed into the ground with 2 crossbow bolts into her chest.

Ezra climbs on top of the cart to aim at Reva, the bandit leader. They offer to negotiate: “let's talk about this or we'll hurt her”! Ezra is ready to shoot her (non-lethally)
From behind us at the edge of the valley we're in, we hear another cart clattering closer. With horror, we remember that two patrols were absent from Na’Dir’s lair, each with a captain!
Storm jumps off Gladiola's cart with one of the lanterns & keeps pace with Reva, so we don't lose Ezra's bargaining chip. He's quite horrified to see the blood pooling under Lapis
The bandits aren't amused by our antics, so two on the right attack Storm as he's closing in on their boss. Both miss & Ezra retaliates, hitting Reva in the leg! Fyllion's spell is broken, so Reva levels a hate-filled glare at him. Two bandits on the left hit Ezra. More bandits are on the cart behind us, but they're still assessing the fight
Fyllion meets Reva's glare without fear and strums his lute to ensorcell her again... but she spits out a curse and resists his song! Fyllion knocks on the door of Gladiola's cart, begging to be let in. She grumbles he's supposed to be protecting her, but she does open the door. Fyllion sees that Aqueel is struggling in her arms, trying to run outside and join the fight! Before he slams the door, Fyllion sings a song of encouragement for Eldrin: he's a swordlock, he's a swordlock and he doesn't give a fuck
Reva grabs her weapons and lungs 3 times at Storm. He evades 2 of her scimitar slashes, but still takes damage from the third jab
As they slide down from Madonna, Eldrin shouts a warning about the approaching cart full of bandits. They cast their sleep spell onto the war horse pulling the cart. The cart slams into the horse, it's badly wounded! Eldrin slaps Madonna's flank to send her off to a safer place & they choose a new position
Hali calls out reassurances to Aqueel who keeps squealing he wants to fight! Hali picks up her shield and activates a new spell! She summons a companion to help the fight. A shimmering ghostly shark blocks the approach: it’s the wettest monster this desert has ever seen, the bandits are freaked out by this beast. Hali also summons her starry form, casting light on the battlefield

Lapis groans in pain and struggles to regain her footing in the bloody mud.

Ezra dashes over to a new position and attacks one of the bandits & then takes partial cover behind a tree
The bandits' cart slams into the sleeping horse and keels over. Two bandits roll out of the cart, but quickly regain their footing, with a lot of cursing. As the first tries to approach, he has to tussle with the shark. The shark's attack misses, and the bandit manages to hit it once. From the cart behind us, we hear a strong man ordering his bandits to find the dagger, even if they have to let us escape in order to secure it
Storm guiltily shifts his backpack with the dagger they're looking for but doesn't let on. He kicks out at Reva, but misses. He uses dancers' influence on Reva, lowering her ire a little
one bandit misses Ezra, another misses Storm, one hits Hali's shark & another hits Hali (with a NATURAL TWENTY). The bandits from the cart move closer. Ezra repositions as most of them miss their long-range attack. The shark gets hit
Gladiola tries to push Fyllion back out of the cart, but he reassures her he can help from inside. He casts healing word on Lapis, who stands up with heaving withers. Fyllion launches vicious mockery on Reva, with a very sarcastic compliment. Reva is taken aback for a second, her defences seem to waver for a moment
Reva slashes at Storm: tell us where the dagger is, that's all he wants! Storm asks who she’s talking about, but she promises we'll find out. Storm takes a hit from her scimitar and her dagger. This close, Storm notices how much she resembles Saatia & he screams out that we're in trouble with Saatia's daughter
Eldrin casts an eldritch blast and a lance of lethargy on Danzig the bandit leader approaching us from behind. They run up towards Storm and Reva, trying to stop Storm
Hali has her shark attack Danzig, which chomps a substantial bite out of his arm. She looses her starry arrow at him, but misses. With a flick of her hand, she creates a handful of starry sparks. She throws them at Danzig but Danzig slams those aside with his sword as he grins cockily. Hali respects a skilled enemy: "apparently you don't need that dagger"

Lapis regains her footing and steps nervously in the slick of her own blood.

Ezra shoots a bandit beneath them, he's dead! Ezra chooses a new position, but they still haven’t got a good overview of the battle
Danzig focuses on Hali, slamming the shark aside: “give me the dagger and I'll let you live, I'll even reel in the girl if you cooperate”! Hali shrugs she doesn't have it
Worried about the alchemists’ fire in Gladiola’s secret storage room, Storm tries to get Lapis moving off the battlefield, causing Gladiola to shriek from inside. Then he renews dancers' influence on Reva
One bandit hears Ezra sneaking closer to him, so chooses a new position. The others try to fight the shark, but they all miss. They've never seen a shark before, so their attacks are a little hesitant. The last bandit joins Reva after she curses him out. The bandit lunges at Eldrin. Eldrin admonishes she shouldn't curse & hellish rebukes the bandit Reva set on him. Reva accuses us of killing her mother, causing devastation to flit over Eldrin's face
Fyllion joins Hali on the back deck, beguiling Reva "let's just discuss your mother's life choices". Combined with dancers' influence, he manages to calm her down. Casting his metaphorical mantle of inspiration, he gives us all 5 extra hit points and an extra movement. Hali, Storm, and Ezra choose new positions. Fyllion begs Gladiola to let him back in & though she grumbles, she complies
Reva is under Fyllion's suggestion and doesn't do anything. The bandit next to her is freaking out
Eldrin feels their blood boil when they hear Fyllion being glib about Reva's loss. Still, they attack the bandit, but misses. They go stand between the bandit and a strangely placid Reva
Hali orders her shark to reposition. Three bandits use the occasion to swipe at the beast. The shark still manages to bite Danzig. Hali takes a step back to keep pace with the cart Lapis is pulling out of the gorge. She looses another starry arrow at Danzig & sends another flame after it. Both hit Danzig

At Storm's urging, Lapis leans into her harness. Grunting and straining, she manages to creak the cart forward. Her movement is a little slower, but at least we've started leaving the gorge where bandits might trap us, in the darkness and from the cliffs surrounding us.

Ezra unrolls the magic carpet & addresses it very politely: they zip over to Gladiola's cart! Ezra shoots at Danzig and hurts him once more
Danzig's panting and looks very angry. With his sword he draws blood from his arm & using deep speech, he causes the earth to rumble. 30 feet from him, a puddle of putrid reddish black goo bubbles up, echoing the desecrated moonpool Na'Dir used. A giant desiccated snake skeleton dripping with old blood rises. With a shiver, we notice it looks eerily like Na'Dir did, with their horns and spikes and now a spooky, lipless, rigid facsimile of a grin displaying their fangs. Danzig follows Gladiola's cart, parrying the shark as he passes it!
The revenant serpentine creature throws their head back and roars out a spell, summoning a blood snake from one of the corpses! Even as the corpse twitches while the blood snake rises, the blood snake tries to entangle Hali, but she manages to evade it.
Storm tries to charm the skeletal snake with courtiers' action, but bones cannot be charmed! Hurriedly, he uses dancers' influence, which does work. He also shrugs off his backpack, should he need to pull out Na'Dir's dagger
The bandits charge forward, as ordered by Danzig. One attacks Hali but misses, the second also misses Hali, one bandit attacks the shark & causes it to disappear & the next two miss Eldrin. The one next to Reva also misses Eldrin
Before Fyllion sneaks out of the cart again, he casts a minor illusion on his dagger, causing it to look like the bloodletting dagger. A grumpy Gladiola bars it behind him as he offers it up to Danzig. In the dark he seems satisfied we capitulated. He grins he'll take his leave, but he chortles he can't promise the same of Reva and the returned Na'Dir.
Reva docilely climbs onto the cart. Fyllion explains she just wants to travel with us now, to the consternation of the bandits seeing her all sweet like this
Eldrin twirls their hands in the air creating 2 arrows out of darkness, they miss the closest bandit & then get ready to flee, grabbing the cart. They get hit by attack of opportunity & use hellish rebuke, which the bandit can mostly shrug off
Hali casts moonbeam on the blood snake. Her starry arrow misses Danzig

Lapis pulls the cart, we're almost out of the gorge.

Ezra casts fairy fire on Danzig, Na'Dir and the bandit between them. They all manage to resist it, unfortunately. It does keep illuminating the area, very convenient as the sun has sunk beyond the horizon now
Danzig realizes Fyllion's dagger isn't the dagger he's looking for. Furiously he threatens Hali, who is lagging behind: he promises to take bloody vengeance on her for our underhanded trickery!
Three NATURAL ONES
The bone Naga sends bloody veins to Danzig to heal him... it's THREE NATURAL ONES so its effect is minimal! The skeletal snake slithers after the cart & hits Fyllion on the back deck. Disgusting ichor drips from their fangs, but Fyllion manages to evade some of the damage. The blood snake in Hali's moonbeam takes damage from the moonbeam & slithers to a new position. It lunges at Hali again, but she shakes it off with her shield
Storm kicks out at the bone snake, but misses. His last dancer's influence is only a NATURAL ONE
One bandit hits Ezra, one bandit misses Hali, one bandit hits Fyllion with a NATURAL TWENTY, Fyllion is on the edge of fainting but still manages to keep his concentration on bespelling Reva. One hits Storm, one misses Eldrin, the last hits Fyllion, who goes unconscious... Eldrin grabs Fyllion to make sure he doesn't fall off the cart, but the spell on Reva wears off
Fyllion manages a death save
Reva wakes up in a fury and threatens to gut us. Eldrin shows Saatia's earring in their ear, we were friends! Reva hesitates in her attack; Eldrin promises to explain their friendship with Saatia... her scimitars tremble in her hands as Eldrin puts their weapon away
With their left hand, Eldrin heals Fyllion a little (with a NATURAL SIX), while with their right hand, they hand over the earring to Reva. She's very conflicted, but she doesn't interfere with Eldrin's healing Fyllion. From above, Ezra adds Eldrin has a letter explaining more
Hali disengages & hurries after the cart

Lapis pulls the cart out of the gorge, Madonna skirts the edge of the gorge to avoid the fight but she keeps up with us.

Ezra pulls up Hali and then hides behind the highest part of the roof
Danzig dashes after the cart, ordering his men to kill everyone and find the dagger
the bone Naga slithers after Danzig, allowing Storm to kick out one of their ribs. Wordlessly it cajoles Reva: do not listen to their lies, child. Eldrin and Ezra howl out in outrage that we didn't. It tries to hurt Eldrin, but it misses, causing Eldrin to thank Soliman and Lunaire. Its acid splashes onto Fyllion who's still slumped over. The pain causes Fyllion to faint again. The blood snake dashes after the cart and manages to slip through the moonbeam unharmed. It tries to catch up with Lapis
Storm leaps after the bone snake & kicks it again, cracking more bones. He also activates expeditious retreat
2 bandits flank Storm, the others give chase. 2 bandits shoot at Hali: with a NATURAL SIX they hurt her quite badly. 2 bandits shoot at Eldrin: luckily one misses, so Eldrin is buckling at the knees but doesn't fall unconscious. 2 bandits slash at Storm but both miss
Fyllion succeeds another death save
Reva feels the conflicting influences of Na'Dir and Eldrin on her emotions... but her curiosity about the letter wins out. She holds on tightly onto the earring, and demands we tell her everything. She doesn't attack, glaring at Na'Dir in defiance.
Eldrin starts to explain what happened and how Simeon got involved. When Reva hears about Simeon Ibn Seif's involvement, we see undeniable doubt cloud over her face: she's certainly aware Na'Dir would be involved in ordering an assassination by Simeon, the Slasher of Sashari. Again, Eldrin casts healing light on Fyllion (for a NATURAL SIX) without any interference from Reva. Fyllion hears Simeon's name & sighs happily. They cast an eldritch blast on the bone Naga: with Lunaire's favour they manage to hit the beast full on! Two horns get blown off its face! Since they used magic to cause damage, Eldrin reaches out to Lunaire in thanks, and the cold void stirs in the back of their mind...
Hali moves her moonbeam onto the skeletal snake & shoots a starry arrow at the blood snake threatening Lapis, managing to explode it & cause blood to splatter everywhere

Lapis pulls the cart forwards. Gladiola demands to know if we're killing them. As Ezra snaps back we're trying, Gladiola wonders if she should help. Ezra confirms we could use the help, so Gladiola sends Chalcedony out. We're all a little baffled to see the prize-winning showdog with its golden collar leap onto the roof of the cart, with a viscious snarl. Madonna starts running when she notices the cart is moving away for real.

Ezra casts hunter's mark on Danzig & shoots him with a lot of damage: “Just let us leave”! They manage to kill him with an arrow in the throat! Blood wells over his lips as he slumps into the sand, dying with an incomprehensible gurgle on his lips. The bandits are intimidated but they do realise their boss Na'Dir is still there. Ezra politely asks the flying carpet to take to the air again, hovering over the battlefield to make sure Storm doesn't get left behind
Hali's moonbeam slams into Na'Dir's animated skeleton but he shrugs most of it off. Surrounding Storm with the bandits, it bites at Storm, mocking him his friends left him behind. Storm falls unconscious. Na'Dir threatens to bite his head off unless the others give back Sangrün's dagger. 2 bandits hold their action should someone come help Storm. The others hurry after the cart: one hits Eldrin, one misses Chalcedony, one misses Ezra on the carpet
Fyllion wakes up to a furious Reva and a weakened Eldrin hovering over them. He throws out another mantle of inspiration. Feeling that magic wash over them, Eldrin jumps off the cart, trying to draw some of the bandits away from Storm. They notice the bandits are more motivated by fear of the resurrected corpse of Na'Dir than anything else... inspired by that same observation, Fyllion throws dissonant whispers at Na'Dir, causing several of his bones to crumble into sand. Keeping up the pressure, Ezra mocks him "Why did you even drop your dagger if you want it so badly"
Reva turns to Eldrin in the distance "We'll have a talk". Grabbing her dagger, she jumps off the cart and plunges her weapon into Na'Dir! He manages to dodge her twice, but her last attack slams into him & she manages to kill him!

As the bone Naga fades into sand, we hear his growling whisper echo in our mind: “It seems you have beaten me again, you have Sangrün's respect, warmbloods. Take heed, this isn't the last you've seen of me”! As their boss disappears, the bandits look willing to surrender.

Reva and Eldrin start their conversation. Eldrin pleads she listen with an open mind: "I'd rather plunge a dagger into their heart rather than lie to you"!

Hali dispels her moonbeam & Fyllion heals Storm. As Fyllion is climbing to his feet, a note slips from one of his pockets: it's a letter Simeon left for him before his departure. With a sappy grin, Fyllion clutches it close to his heart, shielding it from view from the others, who're preoccupied with the aftermath of the battle anyway.

Episode Line-up

Previously: session 18 Leaving Koh'Shar

Up Next: session 20 Arrival in Damanhour