The Back Room: Live Tabletop Games

spells: Command, Prot from Evil&Good, Searing Smite, Detect Poison&Disease, Ensnaring Strike, Speak with Animals (3 slots)

Jherala hasn't been doing much adventuring recently. Mostly living off her riches and doing some meager work day-to-day to support a comfortable, if modest, lifestyle. Today, she wandered down to the local market to get some groceries, and noticed an interesting job posting.

She looks over the posting closely...

"Help wanted! Strange Happenings in abandoned shack on outside of forest! Search party sent three days ago; has not returned! 15gp offered for information on going-ons, more negotiable if difficulties arise." The ink is still wet; this was posted sometime today. The contact written at the bottom, a portly dwarf woman, is nearby, in fact."

She looks around for the dwarf woman who wrote this up, a scaly eyebrow raised slightly at the scenario posed

2:12 AM

It's a portly dwarven woman, just as the post said. A scholar, it seems, if a bit clumsy. Ah, she just dropped a full mug of ale. She looks up at you, taken by your stature, and utters with a hint of awe, "Are... you here about that job posting?"

*Jherala nods "Indeed I am ma'am. Princess Jherala Rakursha, at your service. Is there anything else I should know before setting off to investigate what is going on in that abandoned shack? Perhaps you can tell me something about the previous search party?"

"Ah, yes." She looks down with a hint of sorrow. "Two men with a few scruples. Half-elves, I believe. Good with daggers. They seemed like the sort who would sell their mothers for a silver; so I figured they'd be more likely than anyone to return with their findings for a decent purse. Well, they never did, so I'm worried."

"I know little else, just that there have been a lot of dead livestock found near the shack."

*She nods "Sounds like it could be anything...what signs of death were present on the livestock?"

"Stab wounds, people said. Mostly goats. A couple sheep, too, and a poor little Scottish Terrier. But mostly goats. Odd, really."

*Jherala muses "Like consistent, as if they were restrained then stabbed? Or more indicative of an attack?"

2:21 AM

"I don't know. All I've heard is second-hand."

"Are there any other rumors regarding this shack I should know about?"

"No, I've told you everything I know. Just that nobody's gone near it since those street thugs went out three days ago."

*She nods "Guess I'll have to be careful then." and heads out, then prepares for the trip (p.s. she also has a hunting knife on her person, and the obligatory holy symbol)

You know the shack, it's pretty close by. Maybe a mile or so. After maybe ten minutes of walking, you find two rogues laying in an unused path, with blood everywhere. It seems there's a few fellows in robes, too -- all of them are dead of stab wounds. The robed men must be cultists; there's a bounty for them. Two silvers for a robe with those markings. Three of them are in the road. There might be other things to find, too.

She examines the bodies to see how they died -- were they sacrifice victims, or was this a battle? She is keeping one wary eye out for trouble while she's doing this, though...

2:29 AM

Roll wisdom DC13\

(at a +2)

d20

5

Well, there's remarkably little of note. They're all pretty cut up; probably a battle. If you took all their things, you could probably walk away with five gold crowns easy. But hey, do you really want to disturb the bodies?

*She makes a mental note of the bodies "Seems like they went down fighting" and looks around warily for more before approaching the shack further, sword out

Nothing else is of note in this area. About fifteen minutes more, and you find the shack. Yeah, there are indeed a lot of goat corpses here. Probably twenty. But remarkably little blood on the ground. The smell of all these rotting animals is overpowering, th-- hold on. There was a muffled voice coming from that shack just now. Somebody sounds pretty frustrated.

2:36 AM

*She listens closely to the voice, trying to listen in on whoever's talking and probably not paying that much attention to their surroundings out of frustration

Hmm. It's hard to make out, but you just barely can, leaning against the door. "Mmm tlln eu, ee sbbd oo mnny oas oo ai nw! ee a ii, oy!" Just barely.

*Jherala circles the perimeter of the shack, looking for any other doors, or a window with a decent view she can peer in for that matter

No windows, oddly. Or doors. The walls are warped with age, so there are plenty of little slits to look through, but that's probably not a good idea.

*She returns to the only door, listening some more, trying to figure out if whoever's in there is alone

On occasion, there's a second, more timid voice. Nearly impossible to hear. Is this just some hermit gone stark raving mad and talking to himself? Or is there a second person? Both seem pretty likely at this point.

2:49 AM

*She thinks to herself "Hrm...at least one, good chance of two being in there. Only one way in or out though, unless someone were to make a door that is." and switches to her maul, trying the door, and readying a Command spell to Grovel at whoever has the more confident of the two voices if she gets in...

So wait are you using the actual door or going Kool-aid Man

(She's trying the door-handle -- she has the maul out in case it doesn't work)

_You open the door with a loud creak. Two robed men are standing around a rusty-red circle on the floor -- and staring at you. Looks like one's been yelling at the other. He looks a good deal bigger. He begins to walk towards you, face concealed by the hood of the robe, while the other focuses on the circle, frantically. Roll initiative.

2d20

2

14

d20

2:53 AM

2

(as to the readied spell though?)

Init: Timid Cultist > Jhelara > Bold Cultist

[Sure it's readied]

The timid cultist keeps moving his arms frantically, throwing things into the middle of the circle.

Your move.

(readied action on trigger means it goes off as soon as the trigger happens when outside of init order AIUI)

@Shalvenay Sorry. Sure, use it. We'll count it as a free action for these purposes.

@Papayaman1000 alrighty

*Jherala, as soon as she enters, lets her eyes lock with the bigger and bolder of the two cultists, raising her holy symbol and speaking several words in her native Draconic followed by a simple "Grovel!" in the common tongue.

3:00 AM

The cultist laughs. Laughs! "Please, I've done enough groveling at the feet of our demon lords. You don't deserve it!" [The spell fails.]

[I take it you rolled the WIS save behind-the-screen?]

@Shalvenay [Yeah. 17.]

Jherala laughs with mirth at his attempt at contempt "And you think all that groveling is going to get you anything besides a collar around your neck with a chain leading to the hand of some fiendish master, walking you around like their pet dog, why?"

"Please, I'm a hell of a lot smarter than that! I know how to deal with them. I've dealt with a hell of a lot more than what this runt could." He's really mad now. "Boy! Hurry it up!"

(OOC sidenote -- this sort of thing would be far more...interesting with a higher-level Jherala as she'd be able to pull out her own Feylock stuff at about this point ;)

3:06 AM

[So do say when you pass initiative since I'm not good with that stuff]

(sorry, SRD doesn't have all the stuff on her list)

*She then decides to go for broke here, chanting in Draconic again as her hammer writhes itself in vines (Ensnaring STrike) while she steps in, then goes for a swing at the bigger cultist

(at a +6)

d20

18

(at a +4)

2d6

•

The cultist is hit. Hard. He staggers back a bit, and only barely keeps his balance.

3:11 AM

(as to the Ensnaring Strike effects, or did he make his save?)

The cultist's legs are wrapped in thorny vines. Blood is spurting everywhere.

Jherala steps back and looks to the other cultist, then back to the first one "Pray tell just what are you trying to accomplish with your little summoning rite here?"

"Hehe. You'll just have to see for yourself."

(turn over)

ensnaring

1d6

3:15 AM

•

The cultist collapses to the ground. "HURRY UP, DAMMIT!" A curse under his breath, and he falls to the ground. The timid cultist collapses to his knees and slams his fists to the ground. The circle flashes and glows. Two demons rise! They stagger a bit from the strain of being summoned. Dretches!

New init: Timid Cultist > Jhelara > Dretch A > Dretch B

[Your turn]

*Jherala falls back to the entrance, chanting in Draconic again as a faint aura radiates out over her from her holy symbol (Protection from Evil and Good)

(your turn)

The slightly tougher-looking dretch barks something at the other. They rush towards you and emit a fetid cloud. The larger one lunges at you, teeth gnashing and claws swinging!

[+2 to hit]

2d20

17

For the bite:

1d6

3:23 AM

•

[RP on the dice]

*Jherala tries to block the bite with the haft of her hammer but is bit on the hand instead, letting out a low, draconic growl from the back of her throat (29/31 HP)

DC10 CON save to maintain concentration on Protection

(at +3)

d20

9

3:26 AM

[Sustained]

For the claws:

1d4

4

wait

you need to toss 2 more d20s as the dretch is rolling with disadvantage (Prot from Evil&Good)

2d20

18

9

well

nevermind

The other dretch seems to follow the first one's example. It viciously gnashes at you!

4d20

3:28 AM

8

2

16

1

so yeah they both miss hard

The dretch misses by a mile and falls at your boots. The cloud it let off is drifting into you...

She is able to elude the first dretch's claws, and the second one winds up bouncing off a wall and lands at her feet

(key question here -- are summons dependent on their summoner to be present, or do they exist independent of their summoner?)

The timid cultist runs at you, scimitar swinging. Where is he getting this valor?

@Shalvenay These are independent. More a portal than a true summoning.

@Papayaman1000 gotcha

To hit with the scimitar:

d20

3:31 AM

15

[+3]

oops

+1

d6

•

Hits for 6. RP however.

[Alignment is CN on the cultists, btw]

The cultist's scimitar crashes into Jherala's leg, not drawing blood but leaving behind a nasty bone bruise and a slight wince from Jherala (23/31).

Your turn. DC11 to avoid poison from the fetid gas.

CON save

3:34 AM

(at +3)

d20

4

RP that however. You're poisoned.

Effects: Action OR Bonus Action, but never both; no reactions.

*Jherala hacks as the fetid air fills her lungs, gasping for breath as she is forced to poke her head outside mid-fight. She gets a lungful of fresh air though and steels herself, holding her holy symbol high as she chants in Draconic, symbol glowing brightly (Channel Divinity: Turn the Faithless)

[Plus the standard disadvantage on attack and checks[

Saving throws for bigger and smaller:

[+0]

2d20

17

15

3:37 AM

(her spell save DC is 13 btw)

The demons are unfazed. The larger once again dives at you!

4d20

8

12

7

15

*The bites and claws of the larger demon skate off her splintmail this time around

The larger falls past your shoulder, landing with a thud behind. The smaller goes for your legs!

[That was just the larger]

4d20

14

1

8

3:39 AM

*The smaller demon again misses completely and crashes into the wall

The timid cultist coughs as he inhales the gas...

d20

9

He has trouble holding his balance. This does not help his growing concern. Still, he slashes at you!

2d20

20

18

[+1 to damage]

d6

3:40 AM

•

[2 damage]

*This swipe glances off JHerala's armored shoulder, leaving another bruise behind (21/31)

[CON 10 save for concentration on Protection]

[at +3]

d20

15

3:42 AM

[Your turn. The larger demon is prone behind you and the cultist is shaking and poisoned.]

*Jherala spins and takes advantage of the demon's prone-ness, going for a smack at it with her hammer (advantage?)

[ye]

[at +6]

2d20

14

[at +4]

3:45 AM

[hit]

2d6

•

*Her hammer smashes into the prone demon full-force-and-fury, easily breaking bones

The demon lets out a yelp as its foot is crushed. It stumbles forward, spins around, and strikes once more!

4d20

6

3

19

11

3:47 AM

[Not terrible miss on the claws]

[Pretty bad on the bite tho]

She parries the demon's claw with the back-end of her hammer's haft, twirling it in her hands as the bite misses her completely

The smaller demon rises and turns towards you. It holds a defensive position, anticipating another blow, as the larger limps back towards the circle. The cultist takes a quick but anxious swing.

[+3]

d20

15

[+1]

d6

•

3:49 AM

[2]

*Jherala takes a glancing blow to her other leg as she pivots back to face the battle [19/31]

[DC10 CON]

[at +3]

d20

3

[Concentration dropped]

3:51 AM

*The aura begins to fade away as she loses her focus on the spell, growling from the bottom of her throat as she sidesteps, trying to line up as many foes as she can...(she wants at least 1 demon in line with the cultist if not both)

The cultist nervously backsteps to keep near the summon.

[Your turn]

"This is your only chance to surrender and walk away from this learning the error of your ways, sir."

(no response from the cultist?)

The cultist continues to nervously edge backwards, scimitar aimed at you. He remains silent, as far as you can tell, but his face momentarily catches the light and is revealed to be wincing in fear.

At this lack of reply, Jherala rears her head back in much the way you'd expect a dragon to, and then opens that big, toothy mouth wide, aiming straight for the cultist and the summoned dretch behind him. Several thousand volts crackle through ionized air as her body lets fly kiloamps of current into that channel with an accompanying BOOM!

Ooph. Roll, baby, roll!

3:57 AM

2d6

•

(...disappointing)

[Isn't it 6d8?]

(your DEX saves -- DC 13)

(no -- D'born is 2d6 adding a d6 at L6 and every 5 levels after that)

The cultist, sword still pointed at you, takes the bolt like a lightning rod, leaving the demon behind him unaffected. He drops to his knees, arm outstretched and sword clattering on the floorboards, and falls forward. He is dead.

4:02 AM

(your turn)

The larger dretch hurries its limpings to the circle. It grapples for the scattered herbs on the ground in a hurry. The smaller wretch, seeing your distraction, begins to charge!

[Attack of opportunity]

4d20

6

8

9

19

[Miss bite, hit claws]

2d4

2

4

Jherala feels the claws tear into her between the links of the armor on her leg, causing blood to dribble down from the wounds. [13/31]

4:04 AM

What's this? It seems to be swinging extra hard now... was it not using its full force? Were the dretches not taking you seriously until now?

[Your turn]

*Jherala snarls, stepping in and bringing her hammer down on the larger dretch in an attempt to take advantage of its own distraction...

(advantage, or?)

[Yes]

[at +6]

2d20

20

9

oh

4:06 AM

[at +4]

Ohh snap

4d6

•

@Shalvenay HOLD IT

Stop right there

yeah -- my bad (used to using average HP for monsters not rolling HP for each one)

4:08 AM

I wanted to mention it earlier but there's a reason I kind of want you to stop RPing what happens when you hit others

The dretch takes a direct blow to the head. Its skull nearly caves in. It's knocked prone to the floor.

@Papayaman1000 (I'm used to doing it in a rolled-tabletop context because a) most of the tables I'm at are fairly open about HP inference anyway, and b) most folks I play with don't RP out combat effects either)

@Shalvenay Well, that big a blow kind of messes with HP inference

@Papayaman1000 that is true

[And I did roll randomly for HP -- that cultist wouldn't of died from 4 damage otherwise]

[That was his exact HP]

(yeah, I kind of noticed that re: the cultist)

4:11 AM

[I'm impressed]

Anyways continue

Jherala takes the opportunity to block the door again, having severely interrupted the larger dretch's apparent attempt to reuse the summoning circle

The larger dretch barely stands. It stumbles. Grunts out something in Infernal. The two dretches charge you for a final attack!

[Larger dretch first a disadvantage]

4d20

17

3

6

18

RP that moderate miss

*The dretch misses completely yet again

4:14 AM

Smaller dretch at no advantage

2d20

14

16

[+2]

The claws hit

2d4

3

2

*Jherala takes yet another clawing, this one to her unclawed leg, drawing more blood [8/31]

[Your turn]

4:16 AM

*Jherala, still snarling, tries to finish off the larger dretch with a blow from her hammer

d20

11

[at +6]

[DISADV.]

[Poisoned]

[or until next turn]

[wait huh]

4:17 AM

["must succeed on a DC11 saving throw or be poisoned until the start of its next turn"]

[Well it's a hit then]

[Pretty square-on, too]

[at +4]

2d6

•

The smaller dretch finally takes a hit! It's not bright, but it sees you're quite strong, even if a bit weakened. It starts to run towards the circle in apparent surrender.

[Go again]

*Jherala tries to take advantage of this opportunity to finish off the smaller dretch with a hammer blow to the back [OA]

[at a +6]

d20

4:20 AM

5

[Glancing hit, just barely succeeds]

[at +4]

2d6

•

[...or not so much a glancing blow after all]

The smaller dretch never saw it coming. You bash its skull in.

[+150 XP! Loot the bodies if you wish. Remember the 2 SP bounty for those robes ;)]

4:22 AM

[end of turn+reaction...wither the larger dretch? does it still have HP?]

[Everything is dead.]

[OK, end of init]

[Did you have the Dretch page open the whole time, BTW?]

*Jherala looks around at the bloody scene for a bit, trying to process things [and I checked it a few times -- an Oath of the Ancients Paladin would know a thing or two about demons, after all]

[*tsk tsk*, but fair enough]

[So are you searching the room or just in shock]

4:26 AM

*Jherala then proceeds to erase the summoning circle carefully, scattering the herbs to the four winds before hanging her hammer back at her hip and taking the cultists' robes and valuables "To the victor go the spoils..."

Loot in tow, you head back to the town. You take the dretch's hands, too. You find the dwarf woman in the tavern, and slam them down.

She looks at you in shock. "Wh-what happened?!"

"Caught them trying to summon demons. They actually succeeded, but I sent their summons pining for the Abyss."

"Did you find out about those two rogues I sent out?"

"Both dead, felled in battle against the cultists. Took three of the cultists with them though. I can go back and fetch their bodies if you wish them a proper burial, at least."

*She puts all five robes on the table

"Oh, that'll be unnecessary. Here, I'll give you 30 gold crowns for your troubles -- er, could you accept some of that in Electrum? -- and send you on your way. You did a great service for this town. In fact... BARKEEP! Give this fine woman a room for the night and a warm meal on me! She took care of that shack on the edge of the woods!"

The barkeep swivels towards the woman, and looks at you. He nods gladly. "I'll see to it she's treated tonight. Go sell those robes and I'll have something waiting for you on your return."

4:35 AM

*She takes the coins with a smile "Why, thank you." (was the request to sell the robes aimed at Jherala or the dwarfess?)

@Shalvenay [You.]

*Jherala then trundles off to turn the robes in to the local guard for the bounty

[You end the day 50gp richer and with a room for the night. That'll be just about it for this session.]

So, how'd I do? Opinions? Improvements? Pointers?

[alright -- feedback? thoughts? concerns? I can definitely tell that your playstyle as a DM is a bit more entropic and opaque than mine -- I'm probably one of the most transparent DMs most folks will meet, as I go as far as forgoing the DM screen when in-person even. I want the table on the same page regarding game-state.

The scenario was fairly well thought out for a basic minor-demon-cult-knockdown. The NPC reactions were fairly well played, too

@Shalvenay Honestly part of that was due to a combination of minor mistakes and slight railroading [also characters]

4:40 AM

@Papayaman1000 ah

@Shalvenay Well, I had a week to make the scenario, so I decided "yeah, sure, cultists" and fetched some demons too

nods

the bar scenes were pretty solid, too :)

The summoning was originally supposed to take three rounds -- but after clocking the big guy down in one shot I sped it up :P

hahaha

yeah, I don't think it'd have happened had you stuck to the three-round plan

Honestly the town scenes were sort of improvised on the spot [I hadn't thought to make a hook beyond "hey she prolly needs cash"]

4:41 AM

@Papayaman1000 You could have avoided that if you played the cultists to delay Jherala until the demons were summoned. Dodge, Disarm, Shove, just delaying tactics

hehe :)

oh hi

was lurking, hope you dont mind

1. "My guy" syndrome sorta
2. I doubt it would've ended up differently

yeah -- Jherala could counter that with another COmmand cast + her Magic Missile wand

Another thing about not rolling for Command:
1. There's this big buff --- cheeto puff --- self-confident pissy cultist who don't take no orders
2. In that situation the command would probably be pretty directly harmful

4:44 AM

@Papayaman1000 (2) yeah hehe cultists had no chance, but at least Jherala would see a timer to prompt her to stop the ritual. (1) I don't follow.

1. I kinda get for a mundane command but doesn't make sense vs. a spell

2. OTOH kinda makes sense in pure hindsight

@Shalvenay It's the point of the spell, yes, but cultists do get Advantage versus that with their ability right? so it would be likely that he saes

@daze413 Well, again, headstrong aggressive cultist caught by surprise prolly wouldn't think "oh yeah I'll just shove the guy"

@daze413 methinks?

Anyways it was a fun session but I gotta run now

@daze413 "charmed or frightened" and I don't believe Command is quite either?

cya

4:47 AM

@daze413 yeah...Command doesn't impose either condition

so Dark Devotion wouldn't apply

@Papayaman1000 -- I take it you're generally used to the imported-from-freeform-type-play convention that the victim narrates reactions, always?

@Shalvenay ...Not... quite?

@Papayaman1000 idk? See, I'm summoning some demons, took hours to summon before those meddling rogues came in and disrupted us, took down half our group. Now this happens... I don't want the summoning to be interrupted again. Upon trying to simply murder the guy, it turns out he's not a wuss, he's actually really strong, if I'm stubborn and don't change tactics I'll die.

@Papayaman1000 I'm just trying to get at your remark earlier re: narrating attacks

I just wanted to shy away from you declaring what happens since you don't have solid numbers for HP

@daze413 yeah -- thing is, said cultist didn't have much time to comprehend a tactics change

@Papayaman1000 ah.

4:51 AM

@daze413 "Oh no! I got killed just now! Maybe time to be a bit more pacifist with this guy."

@Shalvenay fair enough. He was doomed

@Papayaman1000 understandable given you using rolled HP

I will say that encounter pushed Jherala to her limits though

@Shalvenay I like that bit, but that's just me. Personally like it when in my games, I describe how the creature makes the attack, and the player narrates how it hits/misses.

@Shalvenay Yeah, the entire reason I had one headstrong cultist is so the weakling didn't run at you and get instant oneshot

@daze413 I'm a bit partial to that myself.

@Shalvenay I really liked the rolling HP too, @Papayaman1000, its cool how a small change in one stat gives more personality to an NPC

4:52 AM

@daze413 yeah -- I can get a little triggerhappy with stuff like that, thanks for catching me out on that one

@daze413 come to think of it, you have a point with that

(there are cases in the past with more detailed dungeon setups where I've rolled HP)

@daze413 Yeah, I kinda like how the Timid one turned out. I was trying to hint that he didn't want this fight but was to scared to say anything, but hey whatevs [if I really wanted that to be uber-apparent I'd have just said it]

@Shalvenay 3 bug bears in room 3: bugbear 1: 40 HP, B2:38 HP, B3 51 HP... that sorta thing?

@Papayaman1000 yeah -- he seemed to be too scared to surrender even when Jherala put that out on the table for him

@daze413 yeah

@Papayaman1000 I feel like in a real game, players would be trying to talk out of this fight. Or at least intimidate the timid one after the bold one dies.

@Shalvenay but eh, LIGHTNING MOFO

4:55 AM

@Papayaman1000 heheh

@daze413 Probably wouldn't have been too hard after smashing the big demon's foot.

A: Metal Armour vs lightning strikes?

at least the cultist wasn't wearing metal armor

11

Faraday cages are all fun and games, until you get arc flashed! There are two problems here — one is that you need to divert the arc current back to its intended return path (not necessarily to ground), and metal or chainmail armors will do that relatively effectively. This is why coilers and H...

@Shalvenay I didn't even think about you having thunderbreath, so that was a surprise to the cultist and me alike

A: Lighting striking full plate — what’s the damage to the wearer?

10

Lightning strike surges average about 30 kA (yes, kiloamperes), peak at roughly 100 kA, and follow a roughly triangular-exponential waveform with a 10 µs rise and a 1000 µs fall time. However, the peak voltage is only around 1.5 kV due to the low dynamic impedance offered by the ionized arc core...

@Shalvenay That was a good read and an even better reminder you frequent EE.SE

4:58 AM

@Papayaman1000 yeah, if he didn't just run away without any further prodding. (live to summon another dretch another day!)

@daze413 I didn't give these chars backstories but this cultist is now my new pet and I don't think he was even a cultist willingly