Session 29: Rolling in the dirt

General Summary

Summary: 3 points, because the DM thinks the party may need them...

Between Session - Sunny Sends to Sohmweyr

Sunny sent this to a relative in Sohmweyr:

Me and bros found guys with bad juju few days downriver. We're on the way, but you should be ready or send to meet us

And they responded:

Sunny! It’s been ages. Will alert the elders, not sure who they can send, though; if we can spare anyone they’ll follow the river down

The party interprets that to mean that help, if it arrives, will be long in coming and unlikely to be very strong. They decide that heading towards the apparent source of the trouble (the diamond on the dirty map) is the correct course.

Heading upriver

For the first hour away from the dam, the group moves with some speed to put some distance between the known dangerous area and themselves. After an hour of relatively rapid pace, they take a short rest to recenter. Maya is on the lookout for a landmark to figure out distance, but the party is in less of a hurry now that they're further away from the dam.
A little after midday, they reach the nearest landmark that shows on the map (a bend in the river). Maya determines that if the scale is consistent (something of a gamble since the map is such poor quality) that the diamond is about a half day's journey south of the group's current position. That would put the party arriving at the diamond near nightfall.
They also spot some muddy footprints. Maya can tell they were left earlier this day, and the consensus is that the foe who escaped the last combat crossed here, headed the same direction the party is going.
The group discusses whether it's wise to get into a fight at night, since not everyone has night vision. Leucis explains that he can share his ability to see in the dark for some time when it becomes necessary. Saf muses that the potential reinforcements from Sohmweyr may take some time to arrive, so perhaps waiting would be wise. Eventually, they decide to continue their approach on the unknown destination, somewhat cautiously.
As the sun sets and twilight approaches, the group gets close to where Maya thinks the distance would indicate they're close. The group looks around for changes in the landscape and notes that most of the sounds of nature are gone. Maya also catches a faint scent of turned earth. A closer inspectioin of the local natural surroundings but really only spots a couple of game trails that have been repurposed for use by humanoids. One looks to have been used recently, and both wind a bit toward the south. Harb lifts Maya over his head for a better vantage point, and while the druid can't see anything else, he can hear faint noise in the distance, like chanting.
Leucis uses the Eyes of Night on Kolvonnin, Harb, and Maya to grant them darkvision. They experience this minor blessing of Selune as a twinkling effect, not making the world brighter but somehow still making it less dark. The dark itself takes on a more comforting and less forboding aspect.
There's a quick discussion around how to do the approach; stealth seems like it will be tough with the heavy armor on some of the group. They remove Cinnamon's pack and place it in the portable hole, then tie a stake for the donkey.
Having secured the pack animal, the party decides to charge in, hoping to interrupt whatever nefarious activities go with the chanting. As the close in, they note some torches and tents surrounding the chanters, as well as some lightly armored people toting crossbows. There's a wide section of bare earth with some rough terrain spots, the center of which has a strange slightly raised stone and three apparent prisoners. They identify a few of the guard-types they fought before as well as the escaped caster and a bulky stone figure.

Chanting in the torchlight

Round 1

There's some confusion and discussion about how Stealth is intended to work (rule clarification #1).

• Sunny uses his Feline Agility to cover some extra distance and hide behind a bush.
• Kolvonnin boldly moves at speed towards the trouble, apparently undetected.
• Leucis, Saf, and Sunny notes that the chanters in the middle seem to exude some sort of mist of energy that drifts towards the trio near the middle. It's clear to Saf and Sunny that they burned a spell slot. The energy coalesces around one of the tied figures, which flames brightly for a moment.
• Leucis uses Thaumaturgy to create some tremors in the ground, raising a bit of noisy confusion from the torchlit folk.
• Harb runs headlong towards the camp.
• Saf calls out in an attempt to Intimidate something akin to "We're the first wave of a vast army." Some concerned murmurs are heard, and an authoritative voice yells to "Stand your ground!"

Round 2

• Maya closes the distance some and casts Shillelagh.
• Some of the crossbow-wielding guards call out that they've spotted interlopers and take shots, but none hit the target.
• The chanters take on a somewhat more fevered tone, as though they realize the situation has gotten more dire. Another cloud of misty energy emerges from them, resulting in another flash of flame over one of the center figures.
• Leucis approaches further and calls forth his Spiritual Weapon, clouting a crossbowman across the midsection. He drops both his crossbow and something else from his other hand. The cleric then uses Thaumaturgy to make himself louder "In the name of Selune, stop this unholy madness!" There's no apparent response to this Intimidating utterance. (rule clarification #2).
• Harb rushes into the ring of tents, noting there's a glowing raised stone near the middle.
• Saf closes in on one of the crossbowmen, and notes (based on her knowledge of Arcana) as she approaches that there seems to be some sort of magical warping in the immediate area. She deals him a stinging blow but spares his life (rule clarification #3) - he collapes in a heap.

Round 3

• Maya casts Call Lightning in a wide area covering most of the bare earth area. The first bolt strikes the escaped caster who doesn't react quickly enough to move out of the way. The druid then wild shapes into a boar.
• Sunny approaches the ruckus near the middle and casts Sleep (30) targeting two of the chanters. They appear unfazed by the spell, however.
• The stone figure lumbers up to Saf, swinging a massive hammer-shaped lump of rock that appears to be attached to it. The impact does both force and (on the ground impact) thunder damage; Saf uses her Uncanny Dodge to sidestep some of it.
• Kolvonnin approaches the ritual, noting as he approaches the faint sense of something unholy at play. He brandishes his morningstar at the two closest ritual participants, intoning "As a true servant of the dawn, I Command you to halt!" But the chanting humanoids pay him no heed (since they made their saves).
• Several crossbowmen respond to the paladin by firing at him; one hits (2 damage) but can't penetrate Kol's Heavy Armor Mastery (reduced by 3).
• The chanters produce mist again, and it flares, snuffing out the last of the tied up figures in the middle.
• The caster, despite his significant wounds, casts Slow, targeting Saf, Kolvonnin, Harb, and Sunny (who all fail their saves).
• Leucis's Spiritual Weapon clobbers the stone figure and knock off some chips but doesn't have a notable effect. Leucis casts Sacred Flame but isn't able to get it to stick.
• Harb attempts to knock whatever the crossbowman has in his hand but slays him instead, and is too distracted to note what he was holding when he dropped. He then runs to the nearest torch and knocks it over. Harb fails the save to throw off the Slow effect.
• Saf Disengages from the stone figure and stands near the paladin.

Round 4

• Maya calls down a fresh bolt of lightning upon the caster, leaving him a smoking corpse (and removing the Slow effect from the party). One of the chanters is close enough to get hit by the bolt as well, though he stumbles he manages to maintain his concentration.
• Sunny casts Shatter targeting a knot of enemies, killing two crossbowmen outright and damaging a chanter (who maintains his concentration). (rule clarification #4)
• The large stone figure strikes at Kolvonnin with his maul, but doesn't seem to have the strange thunder damage added effect it did on the last strike. Saf puts together that this ability is magical and likely has to recharge between uses.
• Kolvonnin rolls two strikes against the stone figure, both empowered with smite (1st level slots) and one is a critical. He lands a whopping 47 damage, knocking away a chunk of the creature's rocky body, but there's a significant amount of him left.
• A crossbowman takes a shot at Kolvonnin, but can only get 1 damage to penetrate (4 reduces by HAM). Another crossbowman drops his crossbow and take a scimitar swing at Harb but can't land the strike.
• The chanters bring their ritual to a head. Cloud of misty energy emerge from the chanters and combine over the stone in the middle. There's a small explosion and each chanter falls prone. Atop the stone in the middle appears a vaguely humanoid creature with a distinctly insectoid appearance.
• Leucis enters the bare earth area and notes that there's a warped sense of the magic in the area, as though the world is closer to another place from here or the borders to other places are thinner here. The cleric moves his Spiritual Weapon to whack a crossbowmen, then calls up a Sacred Flame on one of the prone chanters. (rule clarification #5)
• Harb lashes out with his rapier on the nearby crossbowman, perforating him twice but not noticing what he drops. Harb Action Surges to attack the nearest guard, who gurgles some tarry fluid from his mouth but still stands. Harb dodges a swing as he moves away from the guard.
• Saf distracts the stone figure (providing advantage to the next ally to attack it) and takes a pair of swings at the guard, landing one.
• The summoned creature gathers itself up and rumbles (in Abyssal, which only Leucis understands) "Leave this place, if you value your lives." (rule clarification #6)

Session called for time at the end of round 4 (top of round 5).

Combat summary:

• Total duration: 4 rounds (so far)
• PC drops: None.
• Rule clarifications:
  1. On the use of Stealth...
     RAW: "When you take the Hide action, you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check in an attempt to hide, following the rules for hiding."
     Ruling: As RAW. Hiding generally requires an action to do (certain class/creature abilities allowing it as a bonus action being exceptions). If you want to move while hidden, roll the Hide first, move at half speed, and end your movement somewhere you could reasonably take the Hide action (behind cover or other obscuring conditions). Circumstances (darkness, cover, relative alertness of the potential detecting parties, etc.) will be taken into account, but this is a squishy area in the ruleset; it may be of benefit to describe the things you think might count in your favor or inquire about the details of the conditions you're thinking about hiding in.
  2. Thaumaturgy in combat
     RAW: "You manifest a minor wonder, a sign of supernatural power, within range."
     Ruling: This is, by its very nature, going to be pretty subjective and require a lot of spot-ruling on the part of the DM. Clever use of it will generally aid in other efforts (lower DC to Intimidate, for example) but because it doesn't have "hard and fast" rules its usefulness in a given situation will be hard to properly gauge.
  3. Subduing an enemy via non-lethal damage
     RAW: "When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker can make this choice the instant the damage is dealt. The creature falls unconscious and is stable."
     Ruling: As RAW, with the caveat that it's DM discretion on whether your character can determine what would be non-lethal (IE, humanoids and animals you probably have a pretty good sense of it, but for oozes, golems, undead, and other creatures with unusual systems of "life"...) However, when possible, I would prefer to know ahead in clear terms that you're intending not to kill someone (if only so I don't start narrating a death blow and have to backtrack).
  4. Silvery Barbs to force a reroll on a successful Concentration check
     Concentration RAW: "Whenever you take damage while you are concentrating on a spell, you must make a Constitution saving throw to maintain your concentration. The DC equals 10 or half the damage you take, whichever number is higher. If you take damage from multiple sources, such as an arrow and a dragon's breath, you make a separate saving throw for each source of damage."
     Silvery Barbs RAW: "[triggering action for the spell] ...which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw"
     Ruling: Silvery Barbs indicates it can affect saving throws per RAW, so forcing a reroll on a concentration check (a Constituation saving throw) seems valid. In this instance, the target was slightly out of range, so the outcome would be unaffected; for future reference, however, this is an allowed use of the spell.
  5. Dex saves while prone
     RAW:
     • A prone creature's only movement option is to crawl, unless it stands up and thereby ends the condition.
     • The creature has disadvantage on attack rolls.
     • An attack roll against the creature has advantage if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature. Otherwise, the attack roll has disadvantage.
     Ruling: As RAW.
  6. Summoned creatures acting after they are summoned
     RAW: "There are no general summoning rules. Regarding summoned creatures and initiative, it's actually redundant for a spell to tell you to roll initiative for a summoned creature, since the game's combat rules have you roll initiative for creatures in a combat."
     Ruling: Assuming a creature joining a combat rolls initiative and acts on its initiative count, there's no reason a creature summoned couldn't act later in the round it was summoned (if its initiative was further down the order). It would not act immediately on the initiative it was summoned, only on its own initiative.
• Kill board:
  1. Saf (nonlethal longsword) on a crossbowman (2)
  2. Harb (rapier) on a crossbowman (3,4)
  3. Maya (lightning bolt) caster (4)
  4. Sunny (Shatter) two crossbowmen (4)

Next steps:

1. Finish up the fight.
2. Add some context for the dirty map (DM)

Session Feedback

Eddy: We went into the situation knowing that we didn't know much. Every Perception check failed on the clenched hand. I didn't feel like the deck was heavily stacked against us or we were set up to lose but it's a difficult scenario considering how quickly we picked up on it. We decided to just take care of this now instead of planning it out or trying to gather information about it. I'm sure people are going to want to know about people summoning shit in their back yard. It's a fun combat scenario, for me at least.
Heather: Not a lot to add. Pity the Sleep didn't work.
James: Feels like set up to fail the ritual without really focusing on it; given the size of the map and the distance involved, we only caused two of them to do concentration checks. Failing to save people kinda sucks and leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth. The combat is manageable, we're doing fine there. I had fun, I got to call down lightning, I just felt like we had the deck stacked against on that specific objective. I'm enjoying the challenge of the combat. I'm a little disappointed about not planning more at the beginning but the charge seems to be working so far. The thing that stood out to me was that a lot more people were engaged this go-round. People taking agency over their character, doing things... the people who are usually leading things around weren't necessarily leading things around, it was a nice change-up.
Jeremy: Agree with a lot of Matt's points. The planning was a little loose but I like the idea of not having a step by step plan, just a general goal. It felt like everyone knew what part to play - when Slow hit, it getting taken out before it really hit everyone was nice. People were trying out new abilities and stretching what they could do. The group get didn't spread in a way that endangered or isolated people. The big stone guy took the 47 damage without a flinch, kinda hurt the pride. Soaking weak damage makes me happy. Interrupting the ritual would have been good, but we maintained group safety while doing what we could.
Matt: I was trying to close with the casters, and I don't have ranged options, so... get in front was what I could do. If we need to talk changing the character, we can totally do that. Slow really bogged Saf down for the round it affected her. I don't feel like we were set up to fail, but the things that would have had to go right were a lot more than what we had. I don't know tha Defintely more of an 80/20 situation than a 50/50 situation. We were totally unprepared; if this was calculated to deal with us if we had been prepared, it would have been closer to 50/50. No issue with how the combat went given the way we approached it - if you charge in like that, then there will be consequences. The sacrifice timing was a little wonky - super specific that it happened that quickly. The sacrifices felt a little overly cinematic in approach but feel odd from a practical perspective. It feels like we're in over our heads a little bit. That looks like a demon, that's gonna be interesting. Other people taking charge was neat, glad to see it. We got to do some charge in stuff, which is fun (even when it goes a little sideways). Everyone was trying to use their abilities to good effect. Lack of cohesion in planning but otherwise good. If folks have issues with combat performance, tweaks are possible.
Meg: Why does the map have to be so large? Really annoyed I couldn't reach the casters in time, really wanted to break their concentration. Maybe should have run really hard and started throwing things at them. Saf shouldn't charge in so quickly and got out into a group that could surround her. But it would have been nice if she had gotten up there and shanked.
John: I don't feel like the ritual was a foregone conclusion, but I will own up to the odds being against that outcome. I probably could have handled that better. I really didn't like no-selling the Sleep, but it was a risk. Had the dice been just a hair kinder it would have worked. I definitely expected some scouting and maybe a more deliberate approach, but there's not a "right or wrong" answer in these situations. That being said, you guys wrecked shop so far. I wasn't expecting Call Lightning but it was a great idea. I was amused that the caster lived long enough to get off the Slow (with 4 HP).