Session 30 - Burn, baby, burn!

The party decides to pass through the “vile elemental liquid doorway”.

• Olivine does his best to wrap up in his cloak, cast protection from good and evil and don his helmet of languages - he suffers 1 level of exhaustion
• Lane gets inside a barrel from the giant’s room - there is a catastrophic moment where the barrel upends and the top caves in flooding the barrel - he suffers from 2 levels of exhaustion
• Knack dons his alchemical gear to protect himself and suffers no ill effects
• Taraxacam knocks both ends out of a barrel creating a “tunnel” and passes through with no effect
• Thanatos tries to use the barrel but gets snagged up on it and touches the liquid - he suffers 1 level of exhaustion.

Lane vomits and needs a few moments to recover.

Beyond the door the group finds a statue of a tentacled creature with one big (glass) eye. Taraxacam finds no levers, switches or mechanisms and is unable to otherwise move the statue. He looks into the glass eye and sees nothing unexpected.

Olivine and Knack hear voices down the SW passage.

Taraxacam (stealth 24) and Knack (stealth 10) advance ahead of the group to see who is down the SW passage. They see two Razorblasts standing guard over Cole. (The bad-kneed, crutch-using, on-the-fence cultist) and a commoner who are bound and gagged on the floor before a large ziggurat inside a large cave with pools of oil with dancing flames. They speak briefly with someone they can’t see (female, Tiefling). As Knack creeps closer, his low stealth score is not better than the Razorblasts passive perceptions and he is spotted. The cultist does not seem alarmed but alerts his allies.

The female Tiefling comes into view and says “Oh… just one of you? Perhaps we can make a deal”.

Knack tries to slip away, but the Tiefling says, “come into the cave or I will have you retrieved.” Knack, trying to keep the focus on Taraxacam slowly enters the cave. The Tiefling stands atop the Ziggurat next to an altar.

The rest of the party hears what is happening and moves forward so as not to leave Knack standing alone. Thanatos, the brave and mighty Dragonborn, strides in and stands next to Knack. Olivine sneaks up unseen, Lane gags one last time, giving away his presence. A pair of Flameskulls are spotted hovering around the Ziggurat.

At the sight of Thanatos, the female Tiefling (who is referred to as Vanifer by a Razorblast) says… “Ah… this must be the Dragonborn that escaped the destruction of Greenfields that Thermander reported on.” At that, Thanatos realizes these are cultists in direct association and possibly directly responsible for the razing of Greenfields. There will be no “parlay” today!

As if sensing a fight is imminent, Vanifer and Lane each begin casting spells. Thanatos shrugs off Vanifer’s Dominate Person spell and at the end of round Lane casts aid on Knack, Thanatos and Taraxacam.

Vanifer manages to cast a wall of flame behind the party, driving most of them from cover. Lane is able to dispel the wall. Near the end of the fight Vanifer is knocked down. Her allies race to her aid, one managing to pour a healing potion down her throat. She nearly escapes the room but is knocked unconscious at the exit. Her Razorblast ally tries to pick her up and carry her out, but his exploding death knell kills her.

The Razorblasts engaged. Largely fighting with Thanatos, but getting shots in on other PCs as well.

The Flamskulls cast Magic Missile and Fireballs from vantaged positions. They are the last creatures to go down in the fight.

Lane’s contributions included taking down the wall of flame, bolstering and healing allies, and causing problems with his moonbeam spell.

Knack’s contributions include strategic shots from his cannon and doing his best too knock foes back from combat. Having no (effective) range weapon kept him from his full potential). (I believe it was his shot that took Vanifer down the first time).

Olive’s contributions included supporting Thanatos and working to get sneak attacks off as he could. At one point he crouched down hunkered up tight to the altar and suffered 22 points of psychic damage - knocking him out. He was revived by Thanatos

Thanatos was at first toe-to-toe with the Razorblasts. But then cast Misty step to get adjacent to Vanifer battling her atop the Ziggurat. His laying on of hands brought Olivine back to the fight. Twice the brave and mighty Dragonborn went down, and twice he rose to fight on. Some higher power seemed to ensure he could fail no deathsaves this day!

Taraxacam danced about the battlefield landing strategic blows, but also getting knocked unconscious twice. When alone and cornered his only option was to leave the room though another vile liques doorway, only to return straight into Lane’s Moonbeam. He did manage to scoop up Vanifers dropped Dagger (Tinderstrike).

Cole and the commoner were caught up in the Flameskulls dual Fireball attack and died.

During the battle Lane receives a Sending from Haeleeya Hanadroum (she is a fellow Emerald Enclave faction member of Lane’s who runs the bathhouse in Red Larch):

“box/orb unleashed on Goldenfields*, crushing heat, many dead (including Darovick**), Womford rife with thugs, Refuges in Red Larch, help! Sophie Hamaday here seeking Olivine”

*Goldenfields is SSE of Red Larch and a stronghold for the Emerald Enclave faction. It was one of the destinations for the Delegation - and Lane was told some sessions ago she was trying to deliver seeds there to start a magical grove.

**Darovick is not anyone the PCs have meet, but was the abbot at Goldenfields.

Loot (details on magic items will be player-knowledge after identify/spending an hour with them):

Vanifer:

• (Former) Fine robe - bloody and tattered from the Razorblasts death
• Potion: Elixir of health
• Assorted Jewelry : 600gp value (assorted rings/gems, gold earings, gold plated ponytail cuff)
• Magic Dagger (“Tinderstrike”, see below)

Razorblasts:

40gp, 160sp, 20ep, 2 spears

Flameskulls:

10gp (gold plated dental work from one of the skulls)

Tinderstrike

A flint dagger, Tinderstrike is uncommonly sharp, and sparks cascade off its edge whenever it strikes something solid. Its handle is always warm to the touch, and the blade smolders for 1d4 minutes after it is used to deal damage. It contains a spark of Imix, Prince of Evil Fire.

You gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls you make with this magic weapon. When you hit with it, the target takes an extra 2d6 fire damage.

Fire Mastery. You gain the following benefits while you hold Tinderstrike:

• You can speak Ignan fluently.
• You have resistance to fire damage.
• You can cast dominate monster (save DC 17) on a fire elemental. Once you have done so, Tinderstrike can’t be used this way again until the next dawn.

Dance of the All-Consuming Fire. While inside a fire node, you can perform a ritual called the Dance of the All-Consuming Fire, using Tinderstrike to create a devastation orb of fire (see the devastation orb description for the time and cost of the ritual). Once you perform the ritual, Tinderstrike can’t be used to perform the ritual again until the next dawn.

Flaw. Tinderstrike makes its wielder impatient and rash. While attuned to the weapon, you gain the following flaw: “I act without thinking and take risks without weighing the consequences.” Proficiency with a Dagger allows you to add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll for any attack you make with it.

This bit is from the new D&D 2024 rules:

This weapon has the following mastery property. To use this property, you must have a feature that lets you use it.

Nick. When you make the extra attack of the Light property, you can make it as part of the Attack action instead of as a Bonus Action. You can make this extra attack only once per turn.