The Back Room: Live Tabletop Games

He uses two mauls: one's painted black with skulls, called "the intimidator", the other's decorated with rhinestones and glitter paint, called "the persuader"

Yes, champ, sorry. And intimidation and persuasion are two of his proficient skills.

"Would you like to see this fine maul? [leans in with confidential whisper] you wouldn't want to see my other one...."

daze413

@nitsua60 barfly-who-thinks-hes-so-clever: "I think I already see it, is that the one strapped to your back?"

Shalvenay

Kalrach Rathjar, Half-Elf Valor Bard 6 (criminal background -- he is not a nice guy xD hence the NE alignment)

daze413

too bad he can't dual wield Persuader and Intimidator, because I feel like you could do both when talking

alrighty, descriptors done

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/…

nitsua60

11:36 AM

Any word on miniman?

daze413

nada

we should really start soon

@Shalvenay how quick can you make a 2nd character? :)

Shalvenay

groans if miniman doesn't turn up in the next 5 minutes or so, I'm going to have to go back to bed and take a nap

daze413

I think I have an L6 you can use in myth weavers

Miniman

Sorry!

Daylight saving time caught me out.

Shalvenay

that dang DST

nitsua60

11:39 AM

No worries--we were just gonna start divvying up your loot.

daze413

yeah, they killed the shambler and it was awesome

Miniman

Ah, well.

daze413

Anyway, everyone ready?

Shalvenay

pretty much, brb

nitsua60

Good here.

daze413

11:40 AM

Sorry to rush, but am really worried about nitsua and shalvenay's time

Miniman

Yep, go!

daze413

So can I have a lineup?

Fighter, Bard, Wizard...?

Miniman

Cleric

Rogue

daze413

for common reference: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/…

Shalvenay

Bard here

daze413

11:41 AM

even though its a blank field, such is hte nature of the astral plane?, positioning is vital

nitsua60

Haemir: high elf Wz 6 (enchantment) hermit; perception, arcana, insight, medicine, religion
Holkurg: half-orc Ftr 6 (champion) outlander; intimidation, persuasion, athletics, survival, medicine; GWM, Lucky

@daze413 shit. Good think I have blink prepared =\

daze413

oh noes, two H's haha ah well

Miniman

Kheldor: hill dwarf healing cleric 6; athletics, insight, medicine, perception

daze413

Haemir shall be Ha

and Holurg is Ho

nitsua60

Sorry--used a random generator!

Miniman

11:43 AM

Cade: lightfoot halfling fighter 1/rogue (mastermind) 5

nitsua60

And 2 Ks

Shalvenay

Kalrach Rathjar: valor bard 6 (criminal, NE): acrobatics, sleight of hand, stealth, intimidation, persuasion

daze413

haha its fine its fine

anyway

nitsua60

(and we're all nicely lined up for that first-round lightning bolt!)

Miniman

He could be R?

Shalvenay

11:44 AM

Ka/Kh should be fine

daze413

ok

imma start this in medias res, kinda

Cade, you finish working on the door to the next room and it swings open, at last. It opens into an unnaturally dark room beyond, the light you carry seems to be stifled under an oppressing darkness.

Nevertheless, it is enough to illuminate the small room beyond; a decrepit old room- it seems to have been a lounge of some sort before, now it's glory has been marred by years of neglect. Clustered on the ground, around a strange twisted altar in the corner, are 4 dead bodies. The altar, a single gnarled gray rod that reaches toward the ceiling, broken in the middle by a mass of what looks like a swirling crimson light, and ending in a jagged point.

To the east side of the room, you can make out a door

(btw, my intent in RPing the opening scene is to get feedback on the temptation and curiosity of stirring the altar. In the real game, you can skip it, but I want it to be really tempting to activate. For the purpose of this combat playtest, let's say you do activate hte altar)

(but we'll get there, in time. Continue scene...)

what do you do?

nitsua60

Haemir: study altar intently, throw detect magic

Miniman

Cade will leave creepy altars to the more qualified and go look at the door

nitsua60

Holkurg: check the bodies--alive? Need care? Dead of what cause?

daze413

you're casting as aritual?

nitsua60

11:49 AM

No, I'll spend a slot.

daze413

Cade, the door seems a bit stuck but a good pull and it swings open without much affair

Haemir, the altar exhudes a strong aura of conjuration magic. Everything else in the room aside from you and your gear are mundane

Shalvenay

Kalrach throws Haemir a sneering gaze then heads over to check the bodies for loot, giving Holkurg "Don't know what you're thinkin' but can't you tell these folks are toast?" as he starts to dress them down...

daze413

(also forgot, all martials, get a +1 weapon)

As you approach, your light flickers and you can see it bending toward the altar, almost as if the light itself is sucked into it.

holkurg and Kalrach, The bodies seem fresh- by the smell. Not a week since they perished, they sport well-made armor, very similar to yours. Indeed as you turn one over, one of them bears the crest of the raven with out-stretched wings, clutching a shield etched on his platemail- the crest of your employer.

btw, what's our light source?

good ole torch or a light cantrip?

nitsua60

light, on the end of Haemir's wand?

daze413

lumos!

nitsua60

11:52 AM

crap--no.

I didn't actually take that.

daze413

The dancing light flickers as you approach the altar and the bodies

nitsua60

dancing lights, though.

daze413

some of them seem to dance toward the swirling red

Shalvenay

Kalrach pulls armor off them and sets it aside "Guess we'll grab this on the way back out, should sell for a pretty coin or three" while looking for more...compact valuables on the bodies

daze413

@Shalvenay Their swords and gear, you know your employer well enough to spare no expense, are gone from their person.

nitsua60

11:55 AM

"Cade--what's in the other room?"

Shalvenay

Kalrach growls "...seems like someone beat us to this already." and gives up "Screw this." turning his attention to the other room as well

daze413

You do see some change they carry around, and pocket them. (the amount doesnt matter at this point, so here, have a 10000 gold pieces!)

The doors opens into a corridor with a stair that leads down, it seems to be empty and quiet

nitsua60

(you said you'd like us to disturb the altar, right?)

Shalvenay

Kalrach takes the lead down the corridor after pocketing the valuables he could find off the bodies

daze413

@nitsua60 (yes, it's how you get to fight the Shambler. I'll get feedback on the altar after the game)

nitsua60

11:58 AM

Okay, in investigating the altar Haemir absentmindedly traces his fingers over its surface.

daze413

@Shalvenay (error: you are reaching the end of the game's zone. please go back to the rails. haha sorry :p)

Shalvenay

Kalrach runs into a locked door "Dangit, left my rake at home" and heads back up to see Haemir fingering the altar, and growls "What an absent-minded fool...messing around with weird stuff like that. Makes me think he should get whatever that altar does, alone."

daze413

The altar feels rough, but nothing happens. Meanwhile, the lights you conjured seem to move unbidden toward it. It takes a conscious effort for you to keep them from touching it

nitsua60

I cast a minor illusion of Kalrach's dead body among the corpses. "Watch it." Doing so, lapse a bit in conscious effort, so one of the globes falls to the altar.

daze413

The light connects with the power in the swirling crimson altar, and in an instant, the scarlet aura engulfs everything- the room, the floors, the bodies, and you are devoured by a blood-red energy. For a moment, there is nothing but red, and as swift as that moment came, you are spat out into a silvery sky and you feel yourself floating- the astral plane.

Shalvenay

12:02 PM

Kalrach reaches the altar-room again and mutters in fluent Elvish "Stupid elves with their noses in books"

then yelps "Nine Hells!?"

nitsua60

(In Astral, we have a speed equal to INT score?)

daze413

(please change your speed to Int score x 3, then add the modifiers, if any)

nitsua60

[Haemir whizzes in circles around the lumbering H-O maul-wielder]

Shalvenay

lurches more heavily on the astral plane (that actually made Kalrach's speed go down :P)

daze413

Afloat in this realm, you feel lighter but also sluggish, willing yourself to move, you do.

Miniman

12:04 PM

Both of mine went up! :)

nitsua60

(we're moving in 3d here? or sicking to 2d?)

daze413

3d

Dice Service

•

Shalvenay

"Bloody hells...where did you get us dragged off to, stupid elf?" glaring at the fast-moving Haemir

daze413

lol

Debris of large floating mountains move lazily in the distance

nitsua60

12:05 PM

@Shalvenay "Somewhere your charm will likely only cause... harm" [a la Fezzig]

daze413

Then you hear something shriek, an unholy dark shriek

Whirling around to find its source, you see a creature gliding toward you

The creature is a truly alien being with 5 major limbs- like a starfish, folded in a painful angle behind it. Its maw is a formidable jagged beak, its purple skin is broken in places where a growth of red flesh pervades it, on these patches of flesh, shining black orbs dot the surface, if you stare long enough, you swear it blinks. The creature shrieks and the sound of it fills both your ears and mind, as it rushes toward you in a frenzy.

Shalvenay

covers ears for a moment "Can you get us the...what is that thing?!?!?!" is pretty freaked out, freezing for a moment before almost...reluctantly drawing his blades

daze413

hydra-media.cursecdn.com/darkestdungeon.gamepedia.com/thumb/6/…

(woops! the red flesh with eyes is the 2nd form, but oh well)

roll initiative

Shalvenay

d20 (+3, init)

d20

Dice Service

17

Miniman

12:09 PM

d20 d20

Dice Service

5

12

nitsua60

Ha, Ho:

2d20

Dice Service

6

15

Miniman

9 for Cade, 12 for Kheldor

nitsua60

Ha: 8, Ho: 15

Shalvenay

12:10 PM

Ka: 20

nitsua60

(is the maw central to the five arms, like a starfish would be?)

daze413

d20

Dice Service

5

daze413

@nitsua60 yes, yes it is

@Shalvenay Kalrach is first to react, what does he do?

nitsua60

(encounter distance?)

daze413

12:12 PM

see map

Shalvenay

(sorry, having spell list problems here -- SRD seems not to have the same spells for Bard as PHB did?!)

Miniman

SRD has a limited subset for everyone

Shalvenay

got it

nitsua60

(To be clear @daze413, there're two distinct creatures? Or there's just the one, but you accidentally grabbed a bit of a second monster's description?)

Shalvenay

so...can someone remind me what Phantasmal Force does? :P

Miniman

12:14 PM

@Shalvenay Wis save or take damage each turn

daze413

@nitsua60 (theres just one, I misremembered the description of the 2nd-type of shambler that the PCs can encounter even later in the game)

nitsua60

Int save or believe illusion.

daze413

idk how legal this is but: hardcodex.ru/bard

nitsua60

Believe a bridge is over the chasm and step out (falling to death); believe acid is running over your skin and take d6 acid dmg each round.

Shalvenay

alrighty -- Kalrach finally snaps out of it and begins to hum a tune, trying to bend the Weave to his will in this strange place (casting Phantasmal Force on the shambler)

daze413

12:16 PM

sec, lemme grab my PHB

nitsua60

Believe a 10' manta ray is coming for a starfish-snack.

daze413

d20

Dice Service

10

daze413

15? whats the DC? and what are you tryingto create?

Shalvenay

14

daze413

12:18 PM

ah, so it saves. You wanna move and/or do a bonus action?

Shalvenay

Kalrach steps back a bit, trying to avoid attracting too much attention from the beast...

done

daze413

@nitsua60 (Holkurg is up next, but before that the shambler will do a legendary action)

perfect

Before holkurg, the creature lobs two appendages from one of its tentacles near Holurg and Cade

nitsua60

Ho: "blargh!"

daze413

These small growths sprout out next to the fighter and rogue, into a creature that looks like an anemone, but with a sinister eye in the middle, staring straight at you

done, holkurg goes

(why arent my Hs capitalizing for Holkurg? There we go!)

nitsua60

Sorry--turns and tries to persuade a growth (maul #1) ad t a+7 to hit

d20

Dice Service

12:23 PM

7

nitsua60

14 hit?

daze413

hits. The maul connects with its soft flesh. roll damage

nitsua60

2d6

Dice Service

•

nitsua60

+3 +4 makes 11 12 magical bludgeoning, 'cause you said a +1 weapon for us, right?

daze413

12:24 PM

The maul brutalizes the growth and it floats lifeless

(yep, +1 for all martials)

nitsua60

Okay, with that clear Ho will charge the Shambler for second attack

at a +8 to hit, +4 dmg

d20 2d6

Dice Service

15

•

daze413

it's eye crumpled under the might of the half orc

nitsua60

11 magical bludgeoning to the shambler, if a 23 hits

Ho: "get away from me!" (persuasively)

done

daze413

hits. The shambler takes the damage in full, but it seems to be made of sterner stuff

The shambler then flings another 2 appendages, and lands behind Holkurg and Kaemir

@Miniman Kheldor, your turn

Shalvenay

12:28 PM

@daze413 Holkurg and who...?

Miniman

Kheldor will move up and cast spirtual weapon

daze413

The growths make opportunity attacks onm you if you do

Miniman

d20

Dice Service

4

nitsua60

it looks like the growths landed near Kheldor and Kaemir? (Not Holkurg and Kaemir)

Miniman

12:29 PM

the spiritual weapon misses

following it up with a sacred flame

yes, it misses

Dex check plz

d20

11

Oh, nvm--sorry.

12:29 PM

DC 15

daze413

sec

d20

Dice Service

13

daze413

nope, it fails. roll damage

Miniman

2d8

Dice Service

8

daze413

12:30 PM

odang

Miniman

MAX DAMAGE 16 radiant damage

daze413

anyway, as you move up to it, the growths both make opportunity attacks

2d20

Dice Service

5

3

daze413

and both miss

Miniman

thats kheldor done

daze413

12:31 PM

Cade next

Miniman

Cade will step smartly to the left

Shoot at the shambler

d20

Dice Service

5

Miniman

Sorry, that was right, not left

Does a 15 hit?

daze413

(oh, if you have two weapons, make only one of them +1)

yes, 15 hits. roll damage

Miniman

1d6

Dice Service

12:33 PM

•

Miniman

7 damage

daze413

sneaksies?

Miniman

Oops

3d6

Dice Service

•

daze413

:o

Miniman

12:33 PM

16 damage

so, 23 all up

daze413

ok, cool. done?

Miniman

And he'll use his bonus action Help to say "Sic 'im, Ho!"

Then done

daze413

Haemir, you're next.

nitsua60

=)

daze413

(that's the next attack gets advantage right?)

Miniman

12:34 PM

Yep

nitsua60

yup

daze413

(The Shambler is taking a beating, we'll see as it develops the growths though)

nitsua60

Haemir zooms toward (but not adjacent to) the growth near Ka and suggests that the growth 10 feet away looks really nice, and that now might be the time to set off and start a family.

daze413

@nitsua60 (Anyway, Haemir is up next)

nitsua60

(Suggestion, trying to get one growth to grapple the other)

Wis save DC 15

daze413

12:37 PM

(let me try to wrap my head around the growth's motivations...)

d20

Dice Service

16

daze413

ah, nvm

nitsua60

(just gonna need to remember that that sentence actually happened)

And that's Haemir Boy, that guys fast!

daze413

(woulda been nice to start a family of its own. maybe turn into another shambler one day)

Shalvenay

back to the top?

daze413

12:38 PM

is that your turn?

nitsua60

Yeah, done. Sorry

daze413

ok, at the top, Kalrach goes before a lair action

nitsua60

You don't know the half of it. Starfish reproduce asexually. This would have literally been a sexual revolution.

Shalvenay

Kalrach gets all stabby with the nearby growth "Go away!" (attack at +6, twice due to Extra Attack)

d20 d20

Dice Service

20

2

daze413

12:40 PM

noice

you'd like to forgo the second attack right? lets say you still have it

wait lol

the shambler didnt get a turn

Shalvenay

fail, lol. lets hold this while the shambler goes

daze413

ok, sure

the shambler provokes an opportunity attack from Holkurg

as it moves above both Holkurg and Kheldor, toward Cade, with surprising speed

nitsua60

(advantaged)

2d20 2d6

Dice Service

12

16

•

daze413

sentinel?

nitsua60

12:43 PM

(sorry--Great weaponing from here on out)

advantage from the Help from Cade

daze413

ah, yes. it hits both rolls anyway

how much damage?

nitsua60

so it's +8-5=19 to hit, hits for 22

magical bludgeoning.

daze413

bloodied

The shambler then opens its maw and issues forth a deafening shriek, of both ear and mind.

holkurg, kheldor, cade, please make wis ST

Miniman

d20 d20

Dice Service

16

14

nitsua60

12:46 PM

d20

Dice Service

6

nitsua60

luck

d20

Dice Service

10

Miniman

cade 15, kheldor 21

nitsua60

=\

Ho 10.

daze413

12:47 PM

3d6

Dice Service

•

daze413

So, Cade and Holgur take 8 psychic damage and must use their reaction to move in a random direction

Kheldor only takes 4 psychic damage

cade, holgur

2d8

Dice Service

3

1

nitsua60

call 1 12 o'clock

d8

Dice Service

7

daze413

12:48 PM

oh, ok

nitsua60

I'm off the board, at cell F0 =) OA from the growth?

daze413

Cade must move to the left, and

Miniman

full speed?

daze413

full speed

and costs a reaction

Miniman

Yep, Cade uses his incredible intelligence to fly away

daze413

12:50 PM

@nitsua60 yes, that growth hasnt reacted yet

d20

Dice Service

18

daze413

d4 d6

Dice Service

3

•

nitsua60

hits

daze413

Holgur takes 6 bludgeoning and 6 psychic damage, as the growth lashes out with its tentacles

Cade is safe from OA

nitsua60

12:51 PM

"blargh!"

daze413

ok, now its @Shalvenay Kalrach's turn

nitsua60

Forgot 3rd dimension: it should have been a d24 for direction =)

d26, actually

Shalvenay

haha, we don't have those dice in stock out here :P

daze413

hahaha

Shalvenay

alrighty -- so to adjudicate the crit on the growth...

(at +3)

2d8

Dice Service

12:53 PM

4

Shalvenay

11 damage to the growth

daze413

@Shalvenay we could roll a d100 and reroll all 25+

Shalvenay

@daze413 -- that could work?

daze413

The growth withers under the weapon and floats lifelessly into the silvery wastes beyond

Shalvenay

Kalrach then scoots away from both the growth and the shambler

daze413

12:55 PM

ok, done?

Shalvenay

yes

nitsua60

@Miniman does the Mastermind have a thing to make allies move? Or is it just the Battle Master that can do that?

daze413

ok, so after Kalrach, the shambler shoots another two appendages

Miniman

@nitsua60 Nope, sorry.

nitsua60

no worries

daze413

12:57 PM

near holurg and kheldor

(this is turning out to be really complex)

then, all the growths start clacking their tentacles together wildly, issuing psychic energy around them

nitsua60

(there are lots of things I really like so far, so hopefully the complexity's worth it)

daze413

d6

Dice Service

•

daze413

Holkurg takes 3 damage, while Kheldor takes 6

does the spiritual weapon take psychic damage?

Shalvenay

@daze413 404 brain not found?

daze413

12:59 PM

@Shalvenay hey, i dont judge? haha ok

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