Session 3

Fact sheet: from the beartrap into the death pit

Date: wed 20-07-22

Date in game: unspecified

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

Major developments:

we found evidence corroborating Frei's claims she's innocent and her exile was unjust
Simeon escaped us with a horse and 2HP: have we condemned him to a painful death in the desert, or have we gained a mortal enemy?
we reached a stalemate in our fight with Saatia : TBD
we learnt Saatia hired Simeon for an assassination in Kohshar, a contract which he hasn't fulfilled yet
we realized Hali is the MVP of any battle, healing friends, taking names and kicking ass, we saw once again that while Eldrin is horny for beautiful words and charming accents, Fyllion is just horny. We noticed Ezra is quite protective of Enza & Storm's best moves remain dance moves, not fighting moves.

Notes

Having freed Eldrin's hand from the beartrap, we see through the illusion (Storm with a NATURAL TWENTY). This is a smugglers' hideout: a pit with beartraps around the edge and a trapdoor in the middle. Given the sand swept over the trapdoor and the mummified lizards and snakes in the beartraps, we don't figure it's been used recently.

Ezra decides to take the 2 freshest animals (little lizards) for provisions. Storm tries to set the beartraps anew, in the hope his carnivorous friends might catch a fresh kill, but to no avail.

We check out the wooden hatch. Its hinges are hidden in the sand & it doesn't appear to be locked. Frei, Ezra & Storm open it while Fyllion keeps an eye on Simeon.

there's a ladder leading down into the room below, the light filtering down
the hatch was installed in a thick layer of stone, possibly by magic or by tools.

Fyllion and Hali join Eldrin, Ezra and Storm in the hideout, while Simeon, Frei and Enza stay above ground in the pit. Fyllion glares at Simeon to not try anything!

Eldrin realises this room used to be a temple of Lunaire, due to several carvings and a painting representing Lunaire (an icon of an angel of the void, since Lunaire doesn't have a physical form) and their disciples (with moth-like wings) and followers.

A lot of decoration has crumbled, but we see the room has been repurposed:

various crates are stored here with high-value and shelf-stable goods: tobacco, silks, lamp oil, pots and earthenware, ...
there are cages and manacles with bits of fur and feathers from dead animals
a padlocked cage with a gilded chest
back-up supplies for a caravan like ropes, axles, a spare wheel, canvas for the covering, ...
a door leading to somewhere else

We decide to look into the chest in the cage.

With Fyllion's inspiration, Storm kicks the cage and bends one of the bars with a bone shuddering kick. Eldrin thinks this is a great trick, perhaps the circus could be a career option if Storm wants to give up ballet.

Ezra wriggles into the cage. Based on their experiences as a pirate, they check the chest for traps or spells or arcane locks. Just when they try to flip open the lid, the mimic activates and snaps its teeth at Ezra! Ezra manages to yank back their hands (with a DIRTY TWENTY) but still takes damage.

Round 1

Hali uses healing word on Ezra & uses an acid spell but the mimic just absorbs the acid
Simeon (upstairs) doesn't do anything
Fyllion creates the illusion of a juicy rat, hoping to distract the mimic and then takes cover
Frei comes down to help us & hits the mimic
Eldrin
- touches Ezra on the shoulder, asks Ezra's consent and casts mage armour on them!
- readies his dagger
the mimic ignores the rat & creates a pseudopod to try and grab Ezra, but misses
Ezra hits the chest with short-sword, cutting off a tentacle & wriggles out of the cage
- The mimic gets an attack of opportunity & grabs Ezra around the ankle, but Ezra manages to kick free & runs away from the cage
Storm wonders if enchanting the chest would be possible, causing a panic in the tiny luggage who doesn't want to get replaced & outrage among the party who don't want to adopt any random monstrous chest we find
- Storm hits it with his whip, but misses

Round 2

Hali wonders about the shape-shifting abilities of the mimic, wondering if it'll manage to follow Ezra through the bars of the cage...?
- Hali wild-shapes into her starry form & attacks with an arrow, hitting with NATURAL EIGHT radiant damage
Fyllion climbs on top of the cage with the exclamation "well I can be a hero" & stabs down with his rapier
- Fyllion can't get down anymore, so Ezra warns him about the tentacles
Frei disengages & backs off
Eldrin moves closer to stab it with their dagger for NATURAL SIX damage
the mimic appears to be melting from the shape of the chest into an amorphous blob, causing Fyllion to call out "come on team, we're doing great", while it fully moves back into its goop form & joins Fyllion on top of the cage
Ezra gets out their longbow and hits the mimic with a NATURAL TWENTY. The mimic looks distressed about this attack & quivers a little
uncertain how the mimic is holding up & how Fyllion will escape, Storm lashes his whip around Fyllion and yanks him down
- Fyllion grumbles about the hard landing

Round 3

Hali rips the mimic apart with a radiant arrow & globs of goop fly everywhere

For next time, we agree we'll prod any other chests with an arrow or something before trying to open it. Frei quips we should add to our code that we first look for a key before we start hurting ourselves trying to bend cage bars or trying to wriggle through them.

Fyllion demands a massage to make up for being yanked off the cage... so Storm agrees to take the lamp oil and make it up to him.

We move on to the second room, just pushing open the door without any checks & without any problems. We find a sort of shabby magic shop:

several cases filled with low-cost common materials for magic casting, like minerals, twigs, insects, fluids, ...
2 desks with correspondence
- between Ghorann and a certain Marduk looking to buy 2 hell hounds (as well as a draft letter in which Ghorann flat-out refuses the sale)
- Marduk included a PS mentioning a peculiar circle... would that be the teleportation circle where Ghorann found us? Does that mean Marduk is also aware of Eluviel's plan for us??
- from a certain Roman reporting on the rewards on Simeon's head

The correspondence confirms this was Ghorann's hideout.

Frei recognises the name Marduk as an important man from her hometown Kohshar. She figures he's involved in her exile and wants the letters as vindication. Frei gives the relevant letters to Fyllion to store in the tiny luggage!

While Ezra, Hali, Frei and Storm look for food in the hideout, Fyllion and Eldrin go check on Simeon and Enza, as well as on the tiny luggage.

As soon as his head clears the hatch, Fyllion sees a pair of manacles and a sewing needle... and behind him, he hears "say one word and she dies". Eldrin is still on the ladder. Fyllion turns around & sees Simeon threatening Enza with a stolen dagger, as well as a cloud of dust coming nearer, like someone is whipping up sand.

Simeon wants Fyllion to close the hatch and behave. Eldrin doesn't notice what's going on due to NATURAL ONE. Fyllion tries the spell "command" & forces Simeon to his knees, letting Enza go.

Fyllion shouts "Simeon is trying to escape" down the hatch while Simeon retorts he's already escaped. Given the company coming our way, Simeon warns Fyllion it'll all go better if Simeon is still alive when the sand skiff gets here. Fyllion notices it's more of a warning, maybe even Simeon is a little wary of the people drawing nearer.

Simeon tries to grapple Fyllion but fails due to NATURAL ONE. While on the ladder, Eldrin makes a noose out of the rope, tying up Simeon's legs (thanks to NATURAL EIGHT from inspiration) & jumps back down! They fall 30 ft down, knocking Frei off the ladder. From the impact 30 ft lower, Eldrin is now at one HP.

We prepare for the arrival of the new people:

Fyllion shifts into Simeon's form. He orders us to hide & keep Simeon quiet as he closes the hatch
Enza hides at the edge of the pit
Storm beguiles Simeon with the courtier move: during ten minutes he's friendly and obedient. He even leans close to Storm to warn us that the people upstairs are slavers and killers so we should hide
Ezra can easily tie up & gag Simeon without problems
Eldrin sent Fyllion a message to confirm we're hidden
Hali remains in her starry form, as that is the only source of light we have at the moment.

Fyllion braces for the bluff of his life as an older woman approaches him on horseback, while 4 mooks guard the sand skiff drawn by another horse. His original performance with Simeon's face and Simeon's voice fools her, and when he casts "charm person" behind his back, it looks like he might make it through this conversation!

she's found Ghorann's dead body (see session one), so she figured she could come loot all his hidey-holes
she's surprised to find Fyllion-as-Simeon here, with an unknown woman (she'd spotted Enza) instead of in Kohshar, where she'd contracted him for an assassination, with a prize bigger than the reward Kohshar is willing to pay for him (500 gold according to the letters we found in Ghorann's desk)
several comments indicate this is a dangerous and cruel woman, in the business of slavery, assassination and any crime that will earn her riches. If she were Dutch, she'd call Simeon a concullega (a LinkedIn blend of competitor and colleague), so for the moment she's willing to overlook how odd Fyllion-as-Simeon behaving right now
she wants to go loot the hideout now & is willing to share with Fyllion-as-Simeon. Then they can travel on to Kohshar together, right?

In a secret panic, Fyllion-as-Simeon mentions he's travelling with a new crew, who're in the hole. She offers to buy them, but Fyllion convinces her he wants to travel with them because they have a treasure Simeon wants. After he's acquired that, he'll fulfill Satia's contract and of course give her some of the treasure for her patience.

Fyllion-as-Simeon offers to go fetch his crew so the woman (whose name we still don't know) can gather what loot she wants.

As soon as he's down, we're all in a panic!

Frei mentions any bandits in this area will probably recognise her as a guard from Kohshar. Also, she's orange, so they're bound to notice her
should we knock Simeon out and hide him under the illusion of rubble? What if they touch the rubble & discover it's not real? should we wrap a bunch of silk around his head, making out he's an injured crewmember and just take him with us? Won't the manacles look weird?

Storm decides to use the last 90 seconds of "courtier" to order Simeon to tell us her name (Saatia the bandit queen) and to attack Saatia as soon as she touches the floor with one foot (still slightly unbalanced from climbing down). Saatia drives up the tension by insisting one of her mooks descends ahead of her, with a torch.

Luckily the timing works out and the courtier-order holds, so Simeon attacks with his dagger but misses Saatia. Hali also misses her. Ezra and Storm hit her with arrows and Fyllion (back in his own shape) hurts her with dissonant whispers, making her stumble, so Eldrin can grapple her (NATURAL ONE for Dins).

Time to fight for our lives! Round 1

Eldrin cures their own wounds
Ezra picks up Simeon's manacles and runs over to tie up Saatia, but fails
Saatia misses Eldrin twice, but hits him with her dagger
- She promises she'll keep Eldrin alive for his sweet talking
upstairs 3 mooks come closer to the hatch
- the mook next to Saatia attacks Eldrin, Eldrin is doing really badly
Fyllion gives Frei inspiration & calls out "Simeon, you told us this would work" but no one buys the deception
- Saatia mocks him "are you stupid, boy, the jig clearly up" Fyllion slashes at her mook
Simeon scolds us for such a stupid plan & advises Saatia on how to fight Ezra, giving advantage for attacks against Ezra
- Simeon sneak-attacks Eldrin & Eldrin is unconscious!
- Simeon flanks Ezra with Saatia
Frei attacks the mook but her inspiration is only a NATURAL ONE, so she misses, even her bonus action misses
Storm kills the mook with the crossbow and moves to spread out our team around the ladder
Hali uses guiding bolt on Simeon
- Hali also fans out

Round 2

Eldrin wins a death save
Ezra shifts into a tiger, roars into Saatia's face to intimidate her but she just explains she'd sell Ezra as a trophy rather than a slave
- Ezra disengages to join Hali
Saatia attacks Storm, one of three attacks hits for a NATURAL SIX of damage
the 3 mooks slide down the ladder, at the foot of the ladder they hear Eldrin mutter "don't leave me, sweet lady": 1 attacks Frei but misses, 1 attacks Fyllion but misses & 1 attacks Storm and hits
- the original mook moves closer to Saatia
Fyllion stabs one mook
- then he misty-steps onto the ladder & steps out, where he reassures Enza "we've got everything under control, sweet friend"
- together they plan to throw a beartrap down
Simeon sneak-attacks at Storm & knocks Storm out
- He advises his allies that Hali is the most dangerous one
Frei misses all her attacks on Saatia
Storm gets an NATURAL TWENTY for a death save, so he wakes up!
- Storm uses dancer's influence on Saatia & Simeon (with alas only a NATURAL ONE) and disengages to join Ezra
Hali heals Eldrin & throws poison on a mook, melting part of his face
Enza manages to rush over to Eldrin & with her healing kit she can help them out

Round 3

Eldrin casts sleep and manages to ensorcell Simeon and the nearest mook Eldrin tries to reason with Saatia: "I'm a good person, we can cooperate"
- She rebuffs them: "I'm sure you're a sweetheart but no way"
Ezra misses the furthest mook & rushes to the foot of the ladder
Saatia pokes Simeon awake
- offended by their flirting, she attacks Eldrin twice, missing once with NATURAL ONE
the last mook shoots at Ezra because they are getting away... with a NATURAL EIGHT. alas, the mage armour Eldrin cast on them has disappeared, so Ezra is hurt
- the mook persues them, coming to a stop at the foot of the ladder
Fyllion and Enza ready the beartrap but they see Ezra so they don't throw it
- Fyllion uses dissonant whispers on Saatia, causing her damage & making her cower in a corner Eldrin refuses his attack of opportunity but Frei claws at her
- Fyllion gives Storm bardic inspiration
Simeon, newly awake, disengages and follows Ezra on the ladder, slashing them in their ass with a NATURAL TWENTY
- Ezra is unconscious
- seeing the ladder is now empty, Enza throws the beartrap down on top of Simeon, causing two times NATURAL ONE damage
- Looking very wounded and weak, Simeon makes it up the ladder
Frei attacks the last bandit but hits only once with a NATURAL FOUR for damage
Storm doesn't manage to beguile Saatia with courtier, but does add dancer's influence for 2 points
Hali positions herself in the room & uses her second guiding bolt... but misses!
- She uses a starry arrow, but Saatia hits it away with her scimitar and gains 2 AC for 1 attack

Enza risks coming over to heal Ezra

Round 4

Eldrin uses a qi point to make another spell slot & cures their wounds
- They walk to Saatia and try to reason again: "let's come to an arrangement"... She's willing to stop the fight if we surrender, but she won't revive anyone, and most of us understand she'll still sell us as slaves or trophies
Ezra recovered thanks to Enza's help & shifts for the last time today
- Ezra hits the last mook and kills him
Saatia attacks Eldrin with her scimitar for NATURAL SIX damage
- She wakes her last lackey from Eldrin's sleep spell & runs towards the ladder, attacking Ezra but doing only a NATURAL ONE damage
the mook follows Saatia & attacks Hali, whom he misses. He plans to block her next move though
upstairs, Fyllion sizes Simeon up, who threatens him.
- Fyllion lets Simeon go & prepares his attack as soon as Saatia comes up
Simeon disengages, but while running away shoots his crossbow at Fyllion who calls him a motherfucker for going back on their gentlemen's agreement
- with a mockingly elegant courtesy, Simeon moves towards Satia's horse
Frei evades the mook's attack of opportunity & tries to grapple Saatia, but Saatia evades it with NATURAL TWENTY
- Frei hits her with NATURAL FOUR damage
Storm uses courtier on Saatia & succeeds. With some stage direction from Dins, Storm uses dancers' influence for 2 points and manages to order Saatia to drop her weapons and kneel down.
- Saatia prepares to obey
Hali hits the last mook with her scimitar
Enza rushes over to Eldrin, taking one attack of opportunity from the bandit, she's hurt pretty bad but heals Eldrin for 4 points

Round 5

having missed Storm's courtier-enchantment due to unconsciousness, Eldrin tries to cast charm person on Saatia but fails. She mentions they're a little too young for her and they should just stop
- Eldrin readies their weapons
Ezra kills the last bandit & goes to pick up the manacles
- they warn Eldrin: "don't hit Saatia or you'll break Storm's enchantment"! Eldrin answers "I'm hitting ON her"
Saatia drops her weapons & we manage to get her in manacles
- Eldrin sees the manacles and figures that's what Saatia prefers instead of whispered words of flirty appreciation but beguiled as she is, she doesn't really respond to Eldrin's remarks... Eldrin shrugs they weren't flirting anyway, it's just that Saatia has such a charming accent!

In the fifth quarter of the fight, we join Fyllion (as Fyllion) and Simeon (as Simeon) upstairs:

angry over the trecherous arrow, Fyllion stabs Simeon with his rapier but misses
unwilling to let that go, Simeon also attacks, but his dagger misses. Then Simeon disengages and flees his full movement, ready to mount a horse and escape. When Fyllion taunts him for leaving a fight unfinished, he responds: "I promise I'll come slit your throat... next time I see you"!
Fyllion hits Simeon with his rapier but doesn't manage to weaken him enough
with 2 hitpoints left, Simeon escapes atop the horse

Episode line-up

Previously: session 2 Devil-guy, desperately seeking Eluviel

Next up: session 4 On the road with Saatia and Santiago