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Cast
Nathan Sharp as Pluck the Kenku Swamp Druid
Cristina Vee as Anya the Yuan-Ti Pureblood Warlock
Anna Brisbin as Trixa Teardu the Lightfoot Halfling Barbarian
Hunter Hughes as Kovacs the Half-Elf Oathbreaker Paladin
Zach Callison as Werblund the Deep Gnome Ranger
Kaiji Tang as the Dungeon Master
Where we left off:
Kovacs and Trixa are outside, having caused enough of a distraction to grant the other three entrance to Lord Fizzlepot’s home. Trixa went around back to see if there was another way in.
Werblund, Anya, and Pluck are rummaging through the house. They found a great amount of treasure, but not the Guard Captain Bracelet they are trying to find. Werblund is invisible, the other two are not. On their way back downstairs, Pluck was discovered as he knocked over a precious vase.
This is where the session begins.
Fizzlepot is on his way home. He, however, is not so much riding the horse as he is passed out drunk on the horse. As such, he doesn’t notice when Kovacs marches up to the horse to throw him to the ground. The horse, however, does notice him, and takes off running towards the house.
Anya, Pluck, Werblund, and Trixa all hear the galloping horse come near the home and come to a screeching halt. The halt itself throws the rider. A flying Fizzlepot then crashed through the door, landing between the two guards.
Anya jumps from the stairwell to try to assassinate the drunken lord.
Trixa successfully opens up the cellar door with her crowbar. Kovacs goes to tie off the horse. It took two animal handling rolls, the second of which was a natural 20. He starts guiding the horse to the back and ties him off there after a quick conversation with Trixa.
Pluck attempts to dissuade Anya, but she wants to claim the house for her own and continues her attack. Werblund ignores them and continues searching for the bracelet. Roll for initiative! The guards went first, setting up a quick barricade. Pluck went second, bailing through the window.
Despite knowing the danger, Anya jumps through the doorway getting within range of the guards. They immediately attack her one misses and the other hits, where she takes 7 points of damage. She leaps over the table and hits Fizzlepot, dealing 7 damage. He is now screaming in agony.
Werblund attempts to investigate but too much is happening for him to concentrate on what he was doing.
Assuming Fizzlepot is wearing the bracelet, Kovacs and Trixa go inside. Trixa goes through a window landing near Werblund, who is still invisible.
Werblund tells her to not be an idiot, and Trixa takes a moment to confirm that it was Werblund, not the voice in her head. Since she wasn’t seen, she decides to take a look around for the bracelet. Unfortunately, she rolls a natural 1 on her investigation check. She steps on a nail. She then had to make an ominous Wisdom saving throw, which she rolled a 4 for.
The guards hit Anya for 5 damage. She tries to persuade the guards to not kill her and nearly succeeds, but that’s when Fizzlepot decides to speak up and yells at them to kill her because she stabbed him. They continue to be hostile to her, as Fizzlepot is their employer.
Pluck casts Healing Word, healing Anya for 5 hit points. The guards notice the healing and realize there’s a caster somewhere. Werblund ends up jumping into the combat, but hasn’t attacked yet. Kovacs enters the house, and notices that Fizzlepot does have a Guard Captain’s Bracelet on. He jumps into combat in an attempt to get into Fizzlepot.
Both Werblund and Kovacs are now in the initiative.
One guard notices Kovacs coming, tries to stab him, and fails. The other guard attempts to stab Anya and also fails.
Werblund attempts to take the bracelet away from Fizzlepot. He barely misses and accidentally brushes the captain’s hand. Werblund’s invisibility breaks and they share an awkward stare.
Kovacs attacks the nearest guard for 5 points of damage. Anya tries to attack Fizzlepot again, but misses. Fizzlepot then tries to cast some sort of spell on Anya, but a ring on his hand glows and a bunch of paperwork and a quill appear instead. Then, annoyed, he begins to fill out paperwork in the middle of combat. The arcana checks weren’t great, but were just enough to know that this Ring of Bureaucratic Wizardry would make Fizzlepot have to fill out what spell he is casting, for what purpose, and what he hopes to achieve with it.
It starts to get strangely cold. Lights in the chandelier start to snuff out. The only thing everyone sees is a small figure in the doorway holding a meat cleaver, it’s eyes milky white, the veins around which are turning black. The mouth begins to widen unnaturally, the teeth inside thousands of barblike needles.
Fizzlepot wants to surrender.
The guards are scared and wildly swinging their weapons, only one hits Kovacs, dealing 10 points of damage. Werblund successfully takes the bracelet from Fizzlepot and puts it on. Kovacs tries to push the small figure - Trixa - out of the room, but is instead lifted to a shadowy face which shakes its head and licks Kovacs’s face.
Anya attacks Fizzlepot again, dealing 7 damage. At this point, Fizzlepot is done with the paperwork which he throws into the air where it disappears. His rapier then starts to glow, as he had cast Magic Weapon on it.
Pluck uses Magic Stone on a nearby rock and throws it at the shadowy demon. He misses. Trixa is in a haze, dreaming. Everyone is now in initiative.
Kovacs is able to get out of the grasp of the demonic shadow just before being impaled by a shadowy blade.
The guards attempt to attack Werblund but miss completely. Werblund attacks one of the guards, dealing 7 points of damage. Kovacs tries to grapple the possessed Trixa once again. Possessed Trixa shoots a shadowy dart at Kovacs, dealing him 7 points of damage through the leg and embedding in the floor, negating his movement with Trixa’s enraged Sentinel feat. Anya casts Charm Person on Trixa, but nothing seems to happen.
Fizzlepot attempts to attack Werblund but misses. Pluck heals Kovacs for 7 points with Healing Word.
Trixa wakes up. She is back in control but doesn’t remember anything. She attempts to jump over the barricade but only succeeds in knocking it over. A guard hits Werblund for 10 points of damage. The other guard rolled a natural 20 to hit Anya.
Luckily for her, the guard rolled ones for damage, so she was only damaged by 2 points. Werblund kills one of the guards. Kovacs has a hole in his leg but no longer has a shadow through it. He goes to attack the other guard and deals 4 damage. Anya casts Eldritch Blast at the last guard, killing him as well.
Fizzlepot tries to surrender again.
The furniture and chandelier starts to shake. Pluck bolts.
Topbutton, Shady Jeff, and Walter on a carriage race towards the house. Topbutton, panicked, says that he smelled magic, and now the group had best begin running. Trixa tries to attack Fizzlepot, but Walter parries it, saying in his chipper way, that they should bring him back alive.
An adamantite golem is racing towards the house. Everyone is jumping onto the wagon. Before leaving, Kovacs borrows the bracelet from Werblund to cast Command on Fizzlepot. The word used is “Comply.” He does. Kovacs then gives the bracelet back to Werblund.
The golem tears through the house. Werblund’s natural 20 intelligence check tells us that the golems go to the location where magic happened, not the user of the magic.
They now interrogate Fizzlepot. Anya takes the Ring of Bureaucratic Wizardry from Fizzlepot, and Pluck is chewing on a gold piece. At Werblund’s non magical command, he empties his pockets.
Their contents were contain candy wrappers, an ounce of drugs, and a single gold piece. Pluck tried to take it all but was only able to take the candy wrappers. Anya took some of his blood and stored it in a vial (ew).
Fizzlepot is both very intimidated and very drunk. Outbursts occur, most of which are directed at Trixa, calling her a literal monster, and worries that she’ll freak out again. Her response is “Don’t make me freak out. My friends don’t freak me out.”
They do get information out of him. He doesn’t know where another bracelet is, but he does know that other guard captains would have them. The king is still alive, but no one has seen him recently. He lives in the spire that is the center of the city. The only ones who visit him include diplomats and guard captains of high repute.
Back in Fairheim, Kaytri is waiting for them. They intimidate Fizzlepot to 90% fear.
Walter takes Fizzlepot to Kaytri. Werblund and Kovacs also go to Kaytri. Shady Jeff wants to go to the Pretty Cook for drinks, and takes Trixa, Anya and Pluck with him.
At the Pretty Cook, they talk investment. The cook offers to fix up his tavern and give a cut to proceeds to the group for 150 gold. He also offers to help improve Ironhoof’s smithy for another 500 gold. Shady Jeff offers to get some talent for circus acts, offering for 250 gold.
Trixa talks him down to 100, but the persuasion check was 9 and the subsequential insight checks were also not high, so while the players themselves don’t trust him, the characters definitely do. When one of the kids that was a part of Anya’s cult asks for money to fix their house - the orphanage - Pluck gives them 200 gold from his personal stash to give to Kaytri to get it up and running again.
Werblund and Kovacs attempt to sneak behind Kaytri and Fizzlepot. Fizzlepot is tied up with a long rope, the end of which Kaytri holds. Werblund succeeded on his stealth check, while Kovacs didn’t. Kaytri notices him and calls for him to join her. Werblund is keeping pace behind them, hidden. Kovacs shares his distrust of unseen powers and her being a cleric.
She calls attention to the paladin’s emblem of faith and claims to share faith with the same power, and proceeds to tells the tale of the Eagle and the Fox to Kovacs. After telling the story, she asks him what his definition of justice is, just as they come to a cliffside. At the bottom of the cliff looks to be soft sand.As she puts a wooden stake into the ground near the cliff, Kaytri says that she believes that justice is about balance. She ties her end of the rope to the stake and pushes Fizzlepot off the cliff. The soft sand is actually quicksand.
As Fizzlepot struggles and screams as he tries to climb out of the quicksand by the rope tied to him, Kaytri tells the things Fizzlepot has done in the past, and leaves Kovacs to decide whether to save the man or let him die in the quicksand.
Werblund, having seen and heard the whole exchange, goes to Kovacs. Werblund wants to off Fizzlepot. After a short discussion, Kovacs agrees. They slash the rope together.
They then make their way back to Fairheim.
The next Dark and Dicey game will be played at the Stream of Many Eyes!
#LeaveNoStoneUnturned.