Session 41: For Whom

General Summary

Summary: 3 points.

Clothday, 29th Leafbreak

The party had cleared the rubble from the Teleportation Circle (DnD Beyond), precipitating something before they could long consider what the middle sigil meant. The party near the circle feels some static electricity and sense of pressure, then...

For whom the bell tolls...

Round 1

• The dwarf-crafted bell rings louder than ever.
  • Sunny immediately determines (both by his Identify knowledge and proximity) that the bell is performing its full function.
  • The bard's closeness to the loud noise renders him deafened.
  • The sigils surge brighter from their dull glow and start flickering; one sigil burns with a steady brightness.

  • Skeletal horses clatter up the cobbled road into view from out of apparently nowhere. They have draw bars still attached to their sides, likely where some sort of vehicle was connected. The sockets of their eyes regard you with inhuman malice. Their bones are etched with complex symbols, inlaid with ebony and flecks of gold.

• The party at large is surprised and take no actions.
• The skeletal horses avoid running over Maya (seeming to disregard him entirely) and head to the building where the bell is.
• Maya notes that they seem to move in coordinated pairs, hooves hitting the ground at the same time and so on.

Round 2

• The bell tolls loudly a second time.
  • Six more skeletal horses appear between the braziers.
  • Sunny remains close enough to be deafened.
  • A second sigil stops flickering and burns solidly.
• Leucis calls forth the Twilight Sanctuary and yells "Whoa!" to the horses, only afterward realizing that they may not be able to hear given how close to the bell they are.
• Saf draws her blades and takes a cautious stance, ready to attack approachers.
• A skeletal horse lands a solid kick on Sunny.
• Maya calls forth Erupting Earth, causing rock to slam into a couple of horses and collapsing the supports beneath the bell (though the bell itself is unharmed).
• Kolvonnin belches acid into a clump of horses, melting two of them into a dust that coalesces around each one's partner. The dragonborn slams the Hamfist into one of the still standing horses and crushes it - this one crumbles and when its dust coats the partnering horse it seems to recover from its acid damage.
• Sunny uses a Defensive Flourish to destroy a skeletal horse, which crumbles and dissipates. He then slides over and destroys a second one.

Round 3

• The bell tolls loudly a third time.
  • Six more skeletal horses appear between the braziers.
  • Sunny remains (plus Maya and Harb have moved) close enough to the bell to be deafened.
  • A third sigil stops flickering and burns solidly.
  • The space over the circle experience a small implosion and explosion - no one is directly affected as they're not standing in the circle.
• Leucis activates his Divine Favor (from the Order of the Rising Twilight - Holy Symbol and takes a swing at a horse with the Skymaul, crushing it utterly.
• Saf slices into a skeletal horse with Excowlibur and finishes it off with her offhand shortsword.
• A new creature lumbers into view from the northwest.

  The rough and knobby green skin of this Large arthropoid is split by bulging muscles in places, and though the creature still moves with the vigor of life it seems partially rotten. Its long arms lead into bony hands that sport long claws, and its mouth is full of pointed yellowish teeth. Tied to its back is a filthy burlap sack.

• Maya casts Call Lighting, striking both horses and the bell. The horses look somewhat the worse for wear and the bell shows some scorching but is less damaged than the druid might have hoped. He shifts to the Relic Sloth shape. (There's some concern about temp hp.)
• Kol bludgeons another skeletal horse to dust.
• Sunny uses a charge from Deep Rumble and kabongs a horse into nothingness.
• One horse aims a kick at Sunny but is thwarted by Silvery Barbs.

Round 4

• The bell rings for the fourth time.
  • Six more skeletal horses appear between the braziers.
  • Sunny, Maya Kolvonnin and Harb are close enough to be deafened.
  • A fourth sigil stops flickering and burns solidly.
• Leucis considers trying to block the teleportation circle, but decides that the explosion occurring over the space would likely make it hard to cover over now that it's active. He elects to cast Moonbeam.
• Saf slays a skeletal horse and damages another one nearby.
• Another skeletal horse crumbles to dust under Harb's flail.
• Maya's lightning bolt destroys the pair of horses damaged by the Moonbeam.
• Kol crushes another horse with the Hamfist.
• Sunny calls forth a Shatter on a pair of horses but doesn't fully destroy them.

Round 5

• The bell rings for the fifth time.
  • Six more skeletal horses appear between the braziers.
  • Sunny, Maya Kolvonnin and Harb remain deafened.
  • The fifth and sixth sigil stop flickering and burn solidly.
  • The space over the circle experience a small implosion and explosion - no one is directly affected as they're not standing in the circle.
  • In the space above the entrance to the ruined building:

    This hovering figure seems to be composed of flapping wisps of robe around skeletal limbs. The pinpoints of light in its bare sockets seem distant and cold.

• Leucis calls upon Selune to turn undead, destroying 6 skeletal horses. He then takes on the Steps of Night and rises into the air.
• The newcomer in the wispy robes points at Harb, who is wracked by visions of death that inflict psychic damage. His vision is transmitted to Maya, Leucis, and Kolvonnin who also take psychic damage.
• Maya targets the wispy figure with a lightning bolt and gets a skeletal horse with the same bolt but destroying neither.
• Kolvonnin Hamfists another pair of skeletal horses.
• Sunny hurls an upcast Shatter on a group of foes and the bell. The bell shakes but seem otherwise unaffected, but the wispy creature and the horses are clearly damaged by it.
• A skeletal horse moves underneath Leucis and he clips it with the Skymaul, destroying it.

Round 6

• The bell rings for the sixth time.
  • Six more skeletal horses appear between the braziers.
  • Sunny(failing the save), Maya, Kolvonnin, and Harb remain deafened.
  • The seventh and eighth sigil stop flickering and burn solidly. Another implosion/explosion occurs over the teleportation circle, and in its wake:

    A wagon (15' long *10' wide *5' high, oriented with its long axis left to right) materializes top two thirds of the circle. It's banded in spots with steel but the wooden body of it has some gray in the grain.
    On it is a rectangular prism (5'*5'*8' high) of what appears to be frosted glass or ice. There's a vaguely humanoid shadow with the prism, but it's impossible to pick out details.

  • The horses perk up at the appearance of the wagon and regard it intently.
• Leucis moves the Moonbeam and casts 2nd level Healing Word on Sunny.
• The wispy figure gets sizzled by the Moonbeam and raked by Maya's claws after leaving the area. He conjures a more vivid and disturbing vision of death, causing more psychic damage the fighter and Leucis, Kol, and Sunny.
• Saf strikes a skeletal horse with Excowlibur, ending it.
• A pair of horses reach the wagon and their traces attach, at which point their inlaid runes and sigils glow.
• Maya determines that the troll-ish creature that ran up to snack on him is visibly rotting but was probably once a troll. It seems to exude some sort of necrotic energy that damages the druid.
• Harb takes a couple of swings at the wagon with his flail - dealing significant damage. He uses his Second Wind and Action Surge, then lands another swing.
• Maya calls down a lightning bolt on a skeletal horse and the wispy figure.
• Horses move towards the wagon with seeming disregard for the danger posed by the party. Maya and Leucis kill one each.
• Kolvonnin bashes a horse to dust with the Hamfist, then moves towards the troll and catches it with a Compelled Duel.

Combat halted for session break

Combat summary:

• Total duration: 6 and a fraction rounds
• PC drops: None
• Rule clarifications:
  1. Wild shape temp hp
  2. Unidentified critical hit. As this causes issues with the proper use of Silvery Barbs, it has been agreed that critical hits in combat within barb-range will be called out as criticals.
• Kill board:
  
  1. Leucis: 9 kills
     • Round 3: 1 skeletal horse (Skymaul)
     • Round 5: 6 skeletal horses (Turn Undead), 1 skeletal horse (Skymaul)
     • Round 6: 1 skeletal horse (Skymaul)
  2. Kolvonnin: 8 kills
     • Round 2: 3 skeletal horses (2 via acid breath, 1 via the Hamfist)
     • Round 3: 1 skeletal horse (Hamfist)
     • Round 4: 1 skeletal horse (Hamfist)
     • Round 5: 2 skeletal horses (Hamfist)
     • Round 6: 1 skeletal horse (Hamfist)
  3. Maya: 3 kills
     • Round 4: 2 skeletal horses (Call Lightning)
     • Round 6: 1 skeletal horse (relic sloth claw)
  4. Saf: 3 kills
     • Round 3: 1 skeletal horse (shortsword)
     • Round 4: 1 skeletal horse (Excowlibur)
     • Round 6: 1 skeletal horse (Excowlibur)
  5. Sunny: 3 kills
     • Round 2: 2 skeletal horses (Deep Rumble)
     • Round 3: 1 skeletal horse (Deep Rumble)
  6. Harb: 1 kill
     • Round 4:1 skeletal horse (flail)

Next steps:

1. Scheduled:
   • Sending(s) to/from Mia
2. Complete the ongoing combat
3. Find out what's in the wagon?
4. Leucis: Discuss lycanthrope reclamation with more party members
5. Between session tasks:
   • DM and interested players: Review/discuss rule clarifications above
   • DM: Sendings to/from Mia
   • DM: Wisdom scene upcoming
6. Out of Character tasks:
   • Gear up for a group discussion on campaign adjustments (review the document, comment in the Discord channel, and so on). Likely to occur after the combat completes and next session wraps.

Session Feedback

Eddy: I actually liked the combat - I got to dance around and be an absolute failure for the first half of the game and light it up after the break. Especially seeing it all come together is interesting. I do think that the troll thing just heard the bell and noise and got attracted. Maybe the same on the wisp but it seems not.I plan on wrecking that wagon once we get back into it.
Heather: Not available.
James: Twilight Sanctuary was clutch, thank you - helped the party a lot. I thought we agreed no more wave battles? The wave part wasn't horrible because they had to go to the bell before they could engage. The horses seemed more intelligent than I would expect for horses and the "AI targeting" was wonky - I couldn't tell how you were picking targets. They seemed to have some predilection for the backfield and I didn't understand why they were doing what they did. The troll and the wisp will likely make more sense later. I couldn't tell what was up with the circle and the sigils lighting up and speeding up. I imagine there will be more answers after combat. Team worked well together in terms of backing each other up and moving around the field. We're getting better about using abilities, but I really wish that horn would get blown.
Jeremy: I'm enjoying the combat, despite the wavey nature of it. Landing the Compelled Duel was good - I finally found somebody dumb enough that it works on and he looks like a big guy so this is gonna be fun. Twilight Sanctuary soaked a ton of damage. Managing damage types is something we need to keep in mind when we go shopping next.
Matt: I as both a player and a character have exactly no idea what's going on. Maybe it will later and that will be cool, but if you wanted us completely baffled, you have achieved your goal. Since Saf is standing where Sunny was, and they didn't need to be there to get to the wagon, it doesn't make sense that the horses were just going for the wagon. There are more horses than are really necessary to haul this wagon, and the troll and wispy figure are a mystery since they didn't appear on the platform. We got to slaughter a lot of things that keep coming back; at least it's fun to get to use the weapon. Saf seems to be more effective against these dudes, and that was neat. I think we're working together better as a team and shoring up each other's weaknesses.
Meg: I really wish Moonbeam was bonus action to move to instead of a full action. I was pulled in many directions at once between healing, attacking, and moving the spell. Combat was definitely difficult. There was a moment where I was going to roleplay/describe an effect and the DM shut me down a bit.
John: I think part of the "better team combat" comes from having had more combat lately. This one was an interesting mix - I feel like parts of it were challenging but parts weren't really super threatening (the horses really only had numbers on their side). I made some poor design decisions that are less obvious to the player side: the horses had a "goal" number based on groups rather than count, and the party was efficient enough at wiping off groups that it never summoned less than the max it could summon at a time. So in some ways the party suffered for that success, which was not the intended effect and a design failure on my part. I was glad folks noted they had to go to the front of the building before deviating, and they did act like they had some basic obstacle detection. The targeting of the backfield was a byproduct of going around most of the rough terrain but towards the circle, so they ended up by folks near the back more often than not. I get that it seemed a bit like Sunny was targeted in places where Kol should have been but that wasn't a conscious decision so much as it working out that way. I was pleased to see some miles put on the Hamfist, since it was sort of a "joke" weapon. I fully expected some bell destruction before this point in the combat.