Session 62: Falak's Lair Report

General Summary

19th of Anarire 1524 continued At 4:30pm Erin, Enna, Nura, Steve, Simone, Karl, Lily, Xeldarix, Master Barnes and Fargrim meet at the manor. Steve brings 10 potions of Acid Resistance for the group and tells the group that the other Master’s are reserving their magic in case the group fails and the city needs defences from an angry black dragon. Karl gets out a chalkboard and goes over what the group knows about the situation. Once everyone is aware of the situation and they have somewhat of a plan, Karl, Steve and Fargrim leave to go see Galloway to hopefully get into the sewers via the Grilled Forge Inn. Lily, Nura, Master Barnes, Xeldarix, Uqaviel, Simone, Erin and Enna all head to the Broken Wand Inn.

Karl, Fargrim and Fargrim meet with Lord Galloway. He reveals while the place is locked that he does not have guards on the property. The group tells him about the dragon and Lord Galloway tells them about the dragon sighting over the city in the last few weeks with brass and topaz dragons. They promise to return the key the next morning. They head for the abandoned inn and meet the rest of the group there after Fargrim communicates with Erin about the fact they have a key. There everyone meets up. At 6pm the group heads down to the lair. Once they have checked to see that the sewer area where the door to the lair is is empty, preparations take place. Master Barnes casts Mind Blank twice, mage armours are casts and Lily ritually casts Water Walk. At this stage the group remembers that they were meant to see High Paladin Salma before coming down here but it is too late now. The group makes its way down with Lily leading the way. They start with checking the areas where the saughain were hiding. The group fires at the ones they find from a distance and easily take care of them before they can react. Afterwards the group checks over the hallway and the two rooms they find there. One of the rooms is mostly collapsed and there have clearly been works to try and fix this. The other had many manacles and skulls of various creatures. Karl uses the driftglobe to help others to see. During this time Karl looks through the rod and Lily through the mask and sees many, many ghosts down here.

Karl uses his blood ability to place a sensor to try and see if Falak is where he last saw her. He sees the two crocodiles and Pemri but not her. The crocodiles slip into the water after a few moments. They seem to have been facing the door outside of Karl’s vision. Afterwards the group tries to make their way to the Aboleth and the Kuo-toa to take care of them. However the creatures are waiting. Karl calls out for Lily to wait before she charges in so he can throw a fireball. This gets them all chanting as he hurts three of them. The water starts to cling to some of the group and it seems to cause them nothing but bad luck. It mainly seems to affect Nura, Xeldarix, Lily, Simone and Steve. Master Barnes throws a fireball down to where the creatures are hiding. Lily kills off the closest Kuo-toa and Nura runs in to support. One of the Kuo-toa tries to attack Lily but misses. Simone sends a wave of chill down towards the creatures. Karl encourages Simone to put her hood up and he makes his driftglobe flare with a greater light. A Kuo-toa tries to get Lily with some sacred flames but misses while Xeldarix uses her wings to fly after Lily. Enna provides support with her longbow and hits one of the advancing creatures. Fargrim kills off one of the creatures with a bit of his own sacred flame. Lily is hit by a Kuo-toa’s sacred flame and another gets Xeldarix with the same thing. Meanwhile another uses Bane to curse Lily. Erin runs past Lily and Xeldarix, kicks off the wall and lands in front of the ugly fish creatures. With two solid blows Erin injuries one of the creatures. Steve holds back and waits to see where help is needed. One gets Xeldarix with it’s strange staff while another Banes Nura. Erin avoids a sacred flame and Master Barnes lets loose a fireball from her staff which kills one, injuring five others. The one focusing on baning Lily looses it’s focus which Lily uses an opportunity to attack another. Nura fires her sacred flame at one of the Kuo-toa and summons a spectral spear to attack the same creature. The Aboleth that has yet to be seen, hiding behind the statue, enslaves Xeldarix. Simone grabs at Karl’s robes and casts more chill spells down to the Kuo-toa while Karl does the same thing with Fire. Xochitl flies in behind the creature that Lily, Karl and Simone have all been attacked to let out a bright flash of light that kills the creature before flying back behind Lily. A new Kuo-toa banes Lily and Xeldarix begins to attack Lily with mumbles of “protect it”. This attack from Xeldarix cuts through her stone defences and draws blood from her dear friend. Enna runs past this strange behaviour to get to her Captain. Fargrim sees this and casts Spiritual weapon at the Aboleth. Erin is grappled by one of the Kuo-toa while another one banes Enna and Erin, but Erin steels herself against the effects. Another Kuo-toa takes the opportunity to hurt Erin and get an extra grapple in. Erin looks down at the spears around her, then looks up at the fish people and grins, showing them her shark teeth. She kills one with her first punch and critically wounds the others. Steve tries to dispel the effect on Xeldarix but the only effect it has is to remove the waterwalk spell. A Kuo-toa uses it’s sacred flame on Enna and Master Barnes kills one with her Fire Bolt. Meanwhile Lily gives Xeldarix a very whisper which has the effect of forcing her to seize. Lily was going to attack the Aboleth as she warns the others about what has happened, but she notices that Xeldarix is no longer staying on the water and needs to stay to keep her head above the water. Nura casts Crusader’s Mantle and has her Spiritual Weapon try to attack the Aboleth but missing. The Aboleth doesn’t like this and enslaves Nura as well. Karl can feel Simone, still holding onto his robes move in front of him before another chill spell is cast and she moves back behind him. Karl encourages Simone to stay close to him as they move forward to go help Xeldarix and he fires another fireball at the enemies. The blast is sculpted around Enna, Nura and Erin while killing one enemy and injuring four others. The Aboleth pulls life out of Xeldarix to heal itself from the blast. A Kuo-toa casts Sacred Flame at Enna but misses while Xeldarix continues to fit in the water. Enna swings her greatsword at the Kuo-toa and slices it in two before running up to the next one. Fargrim kneels down next to Xeldarix and with a sprinkle of diamond dust her seizing ends while his spiritual weapon deals some critical damage on the Aboleth. Kuo-toa bites and grapples Enna while boost by Nura’s Crusader’s Mantle. Erin runs around to get to the Aboleth, mocking Enna when a Kuo-toa uses her hubris to grab her with his staff which directs her anger at him. She kills him and goes on to attack the Aboleth and stun him. Steve isn’t sure what to do and hangs back to watch. Master Barnes uses a Fire Bolt to kill the last one of the Kuo-toa and starts moving up to look for the Aboleth. Lily whispers to Xeldarix as she is released from the Aboleth before she charges at the stunned creature. Nura sends her Spiritual Weapon at Erin before making her way over there herself to attack with her Maul. Simone tries to send her Chill Touch towards the creature but misses while Karl uses his Magic Missile spell. Xochitl comforts Xeldarix as she attacks the monster that charmed her with arrows but can’t land a single arrow. Enna finishes the Aboleth off. The group can now look around this area. On the Southern wall there is a tapestry of a crocodile. In the centre of the room there is a statue of a large man in armour (x3 human size) with an altar in front of him. The man is wearing some very spiky armour. Scattered in and around the statue and altar are lots of coins. Platinum, gold, silver and copper. Way more copper than anything else. There are words across the altar in draconic with runes around them. "Only the good die young, which is a blessing for the rest of us. Those who sit on the fence should join them."

Karl closes his eyes to look through his sensor. Pemri is no longer on the island area Karl can see. He lets the group know about this development. Karl takes a potion of enhanced ability to improve his ability to be intellectual when it comes to challenging the effect on Pemri’s mind. The group reasons that it is likely that the brass dragon is coming for them. They consider a few things to try and deal with Pemri without hurting him or being killed by him. Xeldarix and Lily meanwhile have a moment where Lily is concerned and Xeldarix is anxious. Lily heals her a little as she apologises. It has to be explained to Xeldarix that her walk on water is gone when she continues to try and stay on top of the water but just sinks. The group continues to move deeper into the alir. Karl briefly checks his sensor but now there is nothing he can see on the island in his range of vision. As the group moves into the larger cavern area with the pillars Steve, Simone and Lily can hear something moving in the deeper water. Lily tells everyone and Karl gets Simone to put her hood up. Lily uses her pyrotechnics wand to make a sudden explosion behind the crocodile she can see. The croc lets out a loud road as it turns towards the burst of pyrotechnics and all around the group a female laugh echoes. It's coming from everywhere and nowhere. Everyone drinks their potions of acid resistance. Erin is the first to run up and lay into the only creature she can see. The crocodile. Master Barnes backs her up but casting Magic Missile at the creature. Fargrim casts Spiritual Weapon to attack the Crocodile and readies himself to attack anything that attacks him. Steve takes cover behind a pillar after casting Flame Wheel at the Crocodile. Lily runs towards the Crocodile, conjuring fire at it which seems to hit it well but doesn’t seem to hurt it as much as it should have. Nura moves forward and summons a spear to attack the crocodile, then calls down a bit of radiant flame after gilding her own strike, but to no effect unlike her strike. The crocodile opens its mouth and shoots steam out at Erin as another swims into view. Simone sends out a chill spell to kill the crocodile. As it stops moving, Pemri flies into view. Xeldarix flies up near Fargrim and shoots at the new crocodile. Karl pleads with Pemri as he dispels the spell on the dragon. Enna is running at full speed at the croc she can attack, great sword held high ready to strike when she gets there. A hag appears in the light of the driftglobe and casts a spell at Fargrim but he resists it. There is a loud growl, warning Karl not to touch what doesn’t belong to him. The voice echoes around with its source unknown as the runes that were not visible suddenly glow green. Pemri who had been looking around confused suddenly grips his head in agony. Karl tries to encourage him to fight it as the dragon is struggling to stay in the air. Erin moves on to start attacking the new crocodile, but only hits once. Another hag appears in the light to cast a spell on Steve but he resists it. Some Sea Spawn was swimming towards Lily and Erin. Seeing Pemri sinking towards the water, Master Barnes catches him in a bubble made by a wall of force. As this happens a Huge black dragon flies towards the group, its scales look scarred and melted to reveal bone-like scales beneath. Her horns curl and twist and she looks skeletal. Erin and Xeldarix feel fear creeping into them at the presence of this creature before them. She hides herself behind a pillar for cover. Fargrim moves his spiritual weapon to attack one of the sea spawn and heals Erin a little. Steve moves his flame wheel onto the same spawn as Fargrim to damage it more. Lily summons a small horde of celestial spirits to fly around her as she moves closer to the action and a Hollyphant spirit. A hag runs into the light, making three of them now, but it focuses on moving instead of spellcasting. Nura closes in a bit, while trying to maintain a position to avoid leaving good lines for dragon breath, and casts a spell again to help the group’s attacks. The remaining crocodile breathes steam on Fargrim and Erin. Simone blesses as many people as she can. Pemri sinks down and is now only stopped from slipping into the water by the wall of force bubble. He is still not moving or reacting to anything. Xeldarix whimpers as Falak makes her appearance, and shoots a volley of arrows at the crocodile, but her fear gets the better of her. Karl raises his hands toward Falak and brings them together slowly as orange glowing bars collapse around her to form a cage. Enna hits the remaining crocodile with one hit, boosted by the Hollyphant and Nura’s prayers while Fargrim boosts her second attack to ensure it hits. One hag moves more while another moves a little before shooting lighting through Nura and Xeldarix. A cloud of swarming insects fills a 20-foot-radius sphere near Nura that gets Xeldarix, Nura, Fargrim, Simone, Steve and Erin. The cloud is lightly obscured. This causes Simone to lose focus on her blessing. The crocodile that was first killed has an explosion of black lightning from it which gets Lily, Fargrim, Enna and Erin. Lily looked to be struggling with the blood as Karl offered Sunnis’ support to her and she seemed to overcome it. Enna looks annoyed, Fargrim seems a bit more affected by it but Erin doesn’t seem to even look affected in any way. Instead Erin steels herself and overcomes her fear. A hag continues running towards the fight. Two of the sea spawn fight through the spirit guardians to get to Lily, hitting her hard enough to make her lose her focus. Another two swim up to attack her as well. Erin is only attacked by one of the sea spawn. They don’t land many of their blows on Lily and Erin, but enough to make a slight impact. Seeing the sea spawn, crocodile and Falak now moving towards the group, Master Barnes steps out to fire a tiny blue sphere to the edge of the drift globe’s light where it explodes in an icy burst, but doesn’t touch Lily, Erin or Enna. Then she retreats behind the pillar again, the sea spawn now all dead. Falak banishes Lily and tells the group to stop this foolishness now while they can. Fargrim clutches his head and staggers away from the group to the other side of the pillar and swings his spiritual weapon at the Crocodile remains, but misses while demanding Falak bring Lily back. He calls down a flame strike on Falak, but her concentration is infallible. Xochitl is confused that Lily has disappeared. Steve sends his flame sphere at the crocodile while healing Erin with a powerful spell before hiding behind a pillar. One of the hags comes up behind Steve and tries to put him to sleep with the eyebite spell but he resists it. Nura nopes out of the cloud of insects, comes to hit the crocodile with her maul and gets one hit. Then calls over his spiritual weapon to back her up. Enna gets bitten by the crocodile while Nura gets swiped by its claws. Simone moves out of the bugs and sees many hags moving up, so she uses her dissonant whispers to push one back to try and give the group more time to deal with the others. Xeldarix whimpers, scared and now very anxious that Lily has disappeared. She gets out of the bugs and fires her arrows at the crocodile but her fear of the dragon continues to make her hands unsteady. However, she steels herself since she must find where Lily went. Karl sees the hags and throws a fireball at him, declaring there shall be no more hags. This hurts many of them but doesn’t kill them. Enna kills the remaining crocodile at last. In response to a fireball being thrown in her face, a hag tries to polymorph Karl but Aeryn wraps her wings around Karl's head and shields him from the spell. Another hag lines up Fargrim, Nura, Steve and Enna and lets out a lightning bolt but Karl counterspells this. Tendrils of roiling muck extend from the water and grap at Nura, Steve and Fargrim. Nura manages to get free but Steve and Fargrim do not. Erin turns, sees Karl yelling at the hags and hits the nearest hag after running over which kills it. Erin gives it an extra punch to make sure it stays down. Another hag tries to polymorph Karl again, Aeryn protects him. Master Barnes asks Karl to look after Pemri while she instead makes a wall of fire inside Falak’s cage. Falak screams and hisses at the group before she lets loose a breath of acid across Steve, Fargrim and Enna. Fargrim heals himself and Falak tries to counterspell but she’s unable to stop the healing. Steve heals Enna, but he has lost concentration on his sphere so it disappears. Nura tells the group to use the pillars to get some cover from the dragon as she moves to do so herself. Simone heals Steve a little. Pemri has now sunk into the deep water. Xeldarix looks over at the hags and flies over to help get rid of them. She gets one hit in, but it’s enough to kill the hag. Karl uses a magic missile to hurt one of the remaining hags. Unable to move, Enna takes out her bow and fires it at the last remaining hag and kills it. The muck tendrils disappear and release people as a 20-foot-radius, 20-foot-high cylinder of watery filth centred just over Steve's shoulder point erupts from water. The cylinder is difficult terrain and Fargrim, Enna, Steve and Simone are caught in it. Erin ensures one of the hags is dead before getting halfway through that process on another one. Falak casts Blight on Fargrim with a laugh. Fargrim runs on top of the water away from the dragon, taunting her about pining after Hassan who is long dead which just seems to make the dragon laugh. He heals himself a little after that. Steve concentrates and forms a sunbeam as he runs out of the water area. Nura tries to find Pemri in the water but the water is too murky and gross to see through. She casts light on a pebble and drops it into the water to try and find him. Simone moves out of the water area to find some cover. Xeldarix flies over to Karl and asks where Lily went. Xeldarix learns her new favourite word. Karl tells everyone to get away from the cage before sending a firebolt to finish off the hag Erin half ensured was killed. Enna goes over to help Nura look for Pemri but no luck. Muck tendrils grab Steve, Simone and Enna as the water cylinder fades. Erin ensures another hag is definitely dead. Master Barnes is ready for attacks if they come. Falak lets out an acid breath at Erin, Enna, Simone and Steve. Everyone is badly hurt, but Simone is only just standing. Falak laughs at Fargrim, mocking the fact all guys seem to think women will just pine after them. The mote of sunlight in Steve's hand flickers and fades. Fargrim is taken aback by the acid shooting from the force cage, but continues to antagonise the dragon, this time mocking her lair that she apparently just waits in. Fargrim tries to silence her but it counterspelled. Steve uses Mass Cure Wounds to heal several people which Nura also does. Simone heals herself just a little bit. Karl puts up a wall of force to give the group extra cover from Falak and her acid breath. The water around the restrained people bursts into a cylinder of filth and water once again, hitting Enna, Nura, Steve and Simone. Erin ensures the final hag is definitely dead and not getting back up while telling Enna to get out of there. Suddenly water elementals rise out of the water and try to whelm Erin, Simone, Enna, Steve, Nura and Fargrim. Steve, Nura and Simone are caught by the creatures. Master Barnes lowers her hands as water starts to swirl under her before lifting her hands to direct a freezing blast at the water elementals. Falak asks Fargrim if he lives in a home simply to wait for something. She expresses annoyance in how narrow Fargrim’s understanding is. Fargrim ignores her in favour of attacking the water elemental that is attacking him. Steve turns into an air elemental. Nura, noticing her predicament, casts freedom of movement on herself to escape from the water elemental. Two of the water elementals take attacks of opportunity as she runs and hits her. Simone, realising she won’t have much luck running, pulls down her hood so others can see she needs help. Xeldarix uses Healing Word to help Simone hang in there while she fires her arrows at many of the creatures. Karl sets off a freezing sphere, hoping to kill off as many enemies as he can, but only one falls while the rest are hurt. Suddenly behind Karl and Master Barnes a fish like djinni appears. It shoots a jet of water out, hitting Master Barnes, Erin, Karl and a water elemental. Everyone but Erin and the water elemental is knocked prone and back from the creature. Enna is able to pull Simone out of the water elemental but can’t withstand the poison of the water around her. The water fades and a bug swarm instead takes its place and continues to chip at the characters. Erin focuses on the creature that attacked her and kills it. One of the water elementals continues to trap Enna and Simone as it chances them while another two gang up to attack Steve in wind form. Master Barnes lets loose a Magic Missile at the fish creature. Fargrim takes two swings at a water elemental. Steve uses his whirlwind ability in windform to damage the creatures. Nura swings at the water elementals with her maul, hitting them both times. Simone gets free and runs to try and get away from all the danger. Xeldarixi switches to her shortsword and gets a good hit in while healing Simone a little more with Healing word. Karl follows Master Barnes' lead by hitting the fish djinni with Magic Missile. The water djinn react by shooting another water jet at Maaster Barnes, Erin and Karl. This time only Karl was knocked down and away but due to being up against a wall so he didn’t go far. Enna continues to attack the water elemental that had Simone before as the bugs around her continue to attack her. Suddenly, the water grasps Simone and with a small squeal she is dragged under the water. She is dragged under the wall of force. Where she stops she pops up above the water thanks to the water walk spell. It seems Falak was waiting on this. As Simone turns to reach for the group Falak lets lose an acid breath which takes Simone out, causing her to fall unconscious. Erin runs after and attacks the fish Djinn. Enna gets whelmed while taking slam attacks, while Steve and Fargrim also take slam attacks. Master Barnes has had enough of the water elementals and drops a fireball on them around her allies. Falak sees everyone is outside of her range except for an unconscious girl on the water that the others seem to go above and beyond for. As a result she dispels the spell and Simone sinks into the water. Fargrim runs over to attack the fish djinn. He misses with the first swing but gets them with the second swing. Steve tries to get in on the fact but misses. Nura casts freedom of movement on Xeldarix as she checks to see if she will go after Simone to save her. Simone continues to sink in the water. Xeldarix is able to find Simone and get to her. Karl throws another Magic Missile at the fish Djinn. The fish Djinn fires another jet shot hitting Nura and Fargrim this time and they both get knocked over and shot back. Enna gets the last shot in and kills the fish Djinn. However, before Xeldarix can bring Simone up the water becomes a force barrier. Erin goes under the water to try and help Xeldarix. Falak taunts the group, telling them she will not let up until they surrender. If they surrender she will save the girl and allow her, and all of them to live still. Fargrim however has had enough of this and tries to counterspell Falak again but she counterspells again. Everyone above the water is getting cover and hiding from Falak the best they can. The tendrils of muck grab at the people under the water, getting Erin and Simone meaning that they can’t get her above the water to try and revive her yet. Steve slowly moves closer, realising he could get through the cage to attack Falak, but he was too far away. Simone tries to breath under water as she starts to convulse as she continues to drown. Karl sends a Magic Missile at Falak but she shields herself from it. Enna tries to hit Falak with arrows, but can’t manage it. The water becomes an impassable force again as the tendrils fade, releasing Simone and Erin. Master Barnes drops wall of fire to be able to see Falak to fire a fireball at them. Falak reacts by using her acid breath on Fargrim who has been needling her most of the battle. Fargrim heals himself a little as he goes for cover. Nura casts silence on Falak and that puts an end to her taunting. Karl fires magic missile at Falak, while Enna still can’t land a shot. Falak drops banishment to use the muck tendrils on Lily, Erin and Simone, but Erin escapes it. Trinity fires another round of magic missiles at Falak. Lily notices as Falak is looking very rough that Falak is laughing in her silence. Fargrim heals himself while Steve rushes the cage to attack Falak. He gets one hit in but so does Falak with her bite attack. Lily from the point in which she is stuck casts a cone of cold on Falak. Nura casts water walk on Simone, causing her to finally pop above the water. Meanwhile Karl kills Falak with Magic Missile. This causes her and the crocodile to burst in black lightning. It hits Lily, Xeldarix, Erin and Enna. Lily and Fargrim start to feel drained and unwell. Lily tries to cast bless to help herself overcome it but casting a spell hurts and she only just maintains her focus on it. Nura heals Simone and the girl gasps for breath as she coughs up water. Meanwhile Nura is also hurt by casting a spell. Fargrim sees Lily struggling and casts Greater Restoration on her, the spell hurting him greatly as it helps her. Steve quickly searches for a place for them to rest. He finds a strange nursery area with two beds. He takes everyone there. Simone and Lily curl up shivering in one bed, while Fargrim takes the other bed. Everyone else rests in the playroom. As they rest and recover some… Erin and Aeyrn hear something moving under Fargrim’s bed.