Session 39: A Dark and Boney Night

General Summary

Summary: 3 points

Just after nightfall, Starday, 28th Leafbreak

The party is taking a short rest (some a little further along in it than others) after the recent fighting.

Poking around and settling in for the night

Looking over the giant bones

It's immediately obvious that the giant bones are significantly larger than its comrades, and it shows the same signs of having been departed for some time (rotted tatters of clothing and armor). Its scimitar is pitted with rust and has a few notches in the blade, and it seems to carry no other gear of note. Looking a little more closely, it looks like this skeleton had several fights both before and after being raised from the dead (based on healed breaks in bones and unhealed chipped bones). It also appears that this set of bones and the nearby skeletons of other kinds (humanoid and minotaur) are similarly deteriorated, as though they were raised at nearly the same time, died at nearly the same, or both.
The group starts piling the bones near one of the braziers for a thorough burning after an inspection for magical properties. Maya ritual casts Detect Magic, and notes that the aura of necromantic energy that animated these skeletons is weaker than he expected, as though it's fading quickly.
Maya surmises that maybe they're a long way from home or the power that raised them, and voices his concern to the party. The group muses that the mortispire might be involved in this unusual magical behavior, potentially as a planar keystone connected to a plane of death.
Kolvonnin brings up that it may be possible to talk to the dead, but Leucis (who has the spell Speak with Dead (DnD Beyond)) indicates that these are likely too far decayed for the spell to be effective.

Cleanup and disposal

The subject turns towards last rites and disposing of the remnants; the group works from the logic that if the bones are burnt to fragments and ash that they shouldn't be able to rise again. Maya volunteers to use Create Bonfire to destroy the remainders with the least difficulty.
The group heaps the bones in a broken brazier and puts the giant skull aside to potentially scare off other visitors.

Passing the night

The group sets themselves around the campfire from before to get in a long rest. Leucis ritual casts Leomund’s Tiny Hut (DnD Beyond) and folks settle in for the evening.
There's a bit of discussion around the recent encounter with the undead:

• Maya asks if Leucis has always been able to turn undead.
• Harb got a hearty chuckle out of seeing the dead flee the field.
• The cleric admits he's never done that before as he's never encountered them previously.
• Kol recalls that his mentor made mention of it as a thing that can be done, but the paladin had never seen it in person. He considers it quite impressive that a practitioner of the faith could compel the undead to retreat from the field.
• Maya is pretty sure none of the moon priests back home can do that.
• The cleric and druid muse about how it might be a good thing to look into a similar effect on lycanthropes.

Sunny, Harb

The watch passes quietly. There's a little quiet conversation but nothing of note.

Harb

A little more alert while he's solo, Harb doesn't note anything unusual happening. He considers recent events a bit, and the hours pass without incident.

Maya, Saf

While Saf and Maya are on watch, they discuss Saf's recovery after the recent run-ins with the skeleton archers' arrows and the mysterious dwarf-crafted bell. After a while, the druid notes some unusual noises among the sound of nature - a rumbling, clattering noise.

Noises in the dark

The ruckus is similar to the sound of rocks moving past each other - harsh noises of things impacting each other as they move. Maya points to the northwest as the direction that it's coming from, and Saf can't place it either but verifies that she can hear it. Over the course of a minute or so, the druid is able to determine that it seems to be moving closer, so the pair wakes the rest of the group.
As the group is awakening, Maya realizes there's additional details that he can pick out. The sound of the party moving the various bones around made a noise that was similar to this - bones moving against other bones, only much more of them. Behind that noise, as though slightly further away, there's the sound of laughter.
Based on the relative slowness of the approach, the group thinks they may have enough time to get their armor on.

Arming up

Sunny dons his medium armor. Maya assists Leucis into his heavy armor. Harb spends a minute donning his armor then takes over for Saf. Saf helps Kolonnin with his heavy armor until Harb becomes available.
Saf then heads out to look around while the others get their gear situated (since the rogue is already wearing her armor from being on watch).

A first look at the foe

Keeping to the shadows and moving stealthily, Saf moves towards the oncoming noise. She doesn't get close enough to get a good look (the noise is coming from far enough away that it's beyond the range of her darkvision), but she's able to see some glowing green light sources and discern several large hulking shapes, sometimes stepping but more often surging and flowing forward. She can clearly pick out the sounds of bone on bone and mad laughter, and gets a sense of where they are headed.
The rogue spends a minute trying to gather more information, and is able to determine that there are at least two sets of green light and mad laughter. The large hulking shapes seem to move through one another, so she's not able to pin down a count on them.
Apparently unnoticed, Saf returns to the group and reports her findings.

Hiding and waiting

To the Maya's relief, Saf reports back unharmed while the party finishes up donning their armor. A short conference on tactics ensues, and the general sense is that the group should wait while the creatures approach by in the relative safety of the hut.
They do, however, feel like more information would be good if it can be had, so Leucis passes the Eyes of Night along to Saf, Harb, and Maya. The druid shapeshifts to a lizard (using his Amulet of the Beastmaster) and perches on the rogue's shoulder as she goes out for a closer look.
With some better perceptive abilities, the pair head towards the noise and are able to pick out a few more useful details. The large shapes are four or five animate masses of bones, and one in particular seems somewhat more densely packed and occasionally forms a shape that can walk before collapsing back into a roiling mass. The light sources seem to be floating skulls, laughing madly.
When the pair returns and the rest of the group is made aware, the general decision is that discretion is the better part of valor in this instance, and that they may be allowed to pass unmolested if they do so. From the relative safety and unobstrusive hut, they party watches the strange procession move through the ruin. The impression is that the floating skulls are following the swarms of bones.
Approaching the brazier where the remains of the former combat were burned, the swarms of bone seem uninterested but the floating skulls investigate further. Some dust and soot from the recent fire are raised, as though the remnants are being sifted through (despite the skulls apparent lack of limbs).
Saf theorizes that the skulls are in charge, and gathering bones to make more of the swarms. On that basis, she suggests that it's likely the group will face more of these later if they are left unmolested. Roaring out of the hut, using turn undead, and a few other ideas are tossed around. There's a roll for more information among the party:

• Leucis uses both inspiration and luck to go from disadvantage to advantage - turning up the knowledge of Arcana that these swarming bone things are larger than standard created-by-a-spell creatures, and seem to be less organized than that kind of intentional creation. The floating skulls, on the other hand, are smarter than most undead and actively malicious.
• Harb's knowledge of Religion reminds him that creatures similar to the bone piles have arised from a battlefield before, but that there's usually some sort of triggering event (such as a slaughter) that brings that sort of thing about. He further recalls that the main danger of the bone creatures is their relative density - they're effectively lots of skeletons in a small space.
• Further, the fact that one of the bone-masses is forming into something like a body is deeply troubling.

While the group talks tactics for a fight, the skulls lose interest in the brazier and move along, but they float closer to the hut. Speaking Common, one inquires of the other if this building looked like this when they were here last.
Coming to the conclusion that mayhem is imminent, there's some discussion on attacks from the hut. Initiative is rolled and the combat ensues.

Bones, more bones, flying bones....

Round 1

• Saf gets a crossbow bolt in, and notes that while it does damage the flaming skull it seems less effective than it should be.
• The skull lets out a blood-curdling scream, but is otherwise too shocked to react.
• Sunny strums a little bardic inspiration for Kolvonnin.
• Kol lobs his javelin into the creature's eye socket.

Round 2

• Saf lands another crossbow bolt, which encounters a shield of energy on impact but pierces through it anyway.
• Leucis lands a critical hit with his crossbow.
• Sunny snorts a pinch of Kana Dust to empower a casting of Shatter (when he steps out of the hut). The wild magic of the kana dust causes the tabaxi to shrink slightly but has no other discernible effect.

Round 3

• The bone creatures approach, slowly moving through the ruins.
• Sunny steps out again, and as he clears the corner to get view on the other flaming skull, it fires three bolts of force at the bard. A little stung, Sunny sniffs some more dust and casts another Shatter at his assailant before heading back into the hut.

Combat summary:

• Total duration: 3 rounds played (thus far)
• PC drops: None
• Rule clarifications:
  1. Speak with Dead Limits
  2. Chronicler’s Luck and Inspiration
  3. Tiny Hut Clarifications
• Kill board:
  Character: creature (round), creature (round)...
  1. Sunny, flameskull(2)

Next steps:

1. Finish the ongoing combat
2. Complete the long rest?
3. Continue exploring the ruined trading post
   • Place the giant skull to warn other visitors
   • Look more into the Teleportation Circle (DnD Beyond); potentially clear the rubble and record the sigils for later use.
   • Investigate the blood stains further - track the scent of blood where it goes.
4. Between session tasks:
   • Players: Discuss post-long-rest activities
   • Discuss the details on the gorget
   • DM and interested players: Review/discuss rule clarifications above
   • DM: Clarify Specialist Arcana in a new article
   • DM: Clarify undead in a new article
5. Out of Character tasks:
   • Consider adjusting campaign flavor and discuss player expectations from the game at large and combat in particular; discussions in progress on the posted document
   • Make some organizational agreements (around in-session suggestions on character actions, where the line between "start a combat" and "see what these arriving creatures have to say" lies, etc.)

Session Feedback

Eddy: Even though we did half investigation and half combat, I like that we used our resources instead of charging in. Even if I just wanna hit the red button so bad. I think it was interesting to see what we came up with.
Heather: Tiny Hut is pretty bamf, it's coming in handy a lot. I enjoyed getting to use the magic cocaine, and depending on how the rest of the combat goes I may use other items.
James: Yay, I didn't have to deal with the bell. The tactics are pretty solid on this fight what with the firing from the bunker. I didn't realize how broken the Tiny Hut spell is. I need to pick up a sling.
Jeremy: I like that we didn't just run off to go fight, I'm really glad we didn't. When we saw what they turned out it be, it made sense to be more cautious. Mixed feelings about the hut (especially if we were slinging full damage instead of being reduced due to the damage type it's definitely OP if not broken. It's working well so far, but it really just buys time, especially against what we're fighting.
Matt: Everyone has already said everything about the Hut, so I will abstain. I didn't wanna be a stealth archer, and now everyone is a stealth archer. Damn. I liked the possible lore and whatnot behind how these critters came to be here (logistics, possible motivations, etc.), it felt like it explained some things. Getting to Stealth was cool, but I don't want to overplay that. It was nice being able to deal some damage, even if it's the way I didn't want to do it. The necromancy stuff was confusing but maybe it'll make sense later. I can't wait til we have time to open the TP circle and get O'brien out of the pattern buffer.
Meg: The rules discussion slowed things down again, which threw me off. Interesting mechanics fighting from within the hut.
John: This is the first combat during a long rest where the Tiny Hut was a factor, and it is powerful but not busted to my eyes. It wasn't a given that the group/hut would be noticed in a way that resulted in a combat, so it wasn't necessarily just a time-buying thing, it could potentially have avoided the combat altogether. Group tactics seemed like it was on point this time around. I was glad to finally see the kana dust get used, given that it's been in the party since it was just a trio.