In stark comparison to last week, we accomplished a whole bunch this session. Before we get into it, however, there’s just a bit of housekeeping to get through. Partly because it was something I was waiting to check out, and mostly because it better captures the nature of the character I wanted to create, I have changed King from a Gunslinger to an Artificer, using the revised version that was just released. My plan was to multiclass into Wizard anyway, to better capture that magic-using tinkerer feel, so I think the new class suits him perfectly. However, I did keep my guns.
In addition to this, I didn’t mention it last week, but I have a mechanical horse, Horsey. She pulls my carriage/mobile workshop. Now, as well as Horsey, on account of my class change, I have a mechanical hummingbird alchemical homunculus, called Hummingbird. King invents incredible objects, not incredible names.
I mention Horsey only so you know she exists, since she played about as important a role this week as she did last week, because our journey to Waterdeep was completely uneventful and incident free. Our DM said it was for the sake of brevity, since we’ve had random encounters in the past that have done nothing but drag the pace of the campaign down, without being all that engaging, but I suspect the real reason is because last week I predicted we’d TPK on the road, before ever making it to our next module (Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, FYI) and he panicked and decided no encounters on the road, no chance of dying.
So we arrived in Waterdeep and immediately made our way to the Yawning Portal, as Sildar had given Mercenary a note for some dude from the Lords’ Alliance and we expected he would be there. While she went off to speak to him about her impending membership, the rest of us ate and drank, and I, as the only party member to have spent time in the city before, told the others of some of the better sights and sounds. With the exception of a brief brawl that happened off to one side, it was a pleasant evening until a troll climbed its way out of the hole in the ground that gives the tavern its name, and we sprang into action.
It was a good fight. We utilised our usual tactics, the others getting in close alongside the famous proprietor of the inn, Durnan, while Airina and I took potshots from afar. Eventually, I got a solid hit between its eyes with a flaming bullet (courtesy of the new Artificer spell, Arcane Weapon) and Durnan shoved it back down the hole. It took a long time to hit the bottom.
Our combat caught the attention of one Volothamp Geddarm, of Volo’s Guide to Monsters fame. He explained that a friend of his, Floon, had been kidnapped and needed rescuing, and that we looked like just the right band of heroes to do it. We accepted and he gave us what information he could.
The next day, we followed Volo’s lead to a tavern near the docks, Floon’s last known location, where we learned that he was last seen leaving with one Renaer Neverember, son of the previous Open Lord of Waterdeep, and that they were followed by a gang of shifty individuals. Our drunk informants also told us of a certain warehouse where we might find those individuals. I thanked them with a gold’s worth of ale, which, in that tavern, probably gave them all alcohol poisoning.
When we arrived at the warehouse, we saw a winged serpent emblem on the door that most of us recognised as belonging to the Zhentarim (basically, the mob). I unlocked the door and we entered cautiously, Mercenary and Parvus going in first (as usual). On the inside, we were ambushed by four kenku. We dispatched three, and the fourth we knocked unconscious. Also inside, we discovered a group of Zhentarim and a group of Xanathar’s Guild members, all dead, evidently having murdered each other. The kenku were Guild members left to dispatch anyone that might enter the warehouse, which we learned from Renaer Neverember, whom I found hiding under the stairs.
Renaer explained that the Zhentarim grabbed him and Floon, but then the guild members came in, killed the Zhentarim, and took Floon, mistaking him for Renaer, their true target. Supposedly, Renaer’s father stashed a horde of treasure somewhere in the city and now everyone wants it. We also learned, upon interrogating the kenku, that the guild went into the sewers. Before we could get anything else, the city watch came barging in. Mercenary took care of the kenku before they pseudo-arrested us, but once they had learned our version of what was going on (we didn’t tell them everything, obviously) they let us go with a warning and a pamphlet on the city’s laws.
Electing to accompany us, Renaer led us to the nearest entrance to the sewers. We took a short rest before taking the plunge inside, following the markings that we learned of from the kenku. We ran into a tiny, Spectator-like creature, but destroyed it before it could do any damage to us, and then reached a crossroads in the sewers decorated with a couple of arrow slits.
Parvus went through first, taking a couple of crossbow bolts before the rest of us started filing through. Mercenary led the charge through the far door, to try to get around to flank our assailants, while a couple of us attacked through the arrow slits. We managed to kill the two goblins attacking us, and shortly after, were attacked by and dispatched a wererat.
The next area we came into, we found a human and a duergar, the latter of which immediately enlarged himself. We fought them, and again, dispatched them without too much trouble. We also dispatched the psychic grey ooze that climbed up out of the toilet they were attempting to barricade.
It was in the next area that things went sideways, real fast. As we entered, we saw Floon on the ground, and standing over him, a half-orc mage (upon later inspection of Floon, we realised there had been a little torture going on). At the far end of the room, an illithid, of all things, sat watching his half-orc underling at work, while stroking an intellect devourer like a damn kitten. If you know what either of those creatures are, you will understand how terrified King, who recognised what they were, was at that moment.
Not without cause. Before Parvus could do anything, the intellect devourer ran forward and mind-blasted him, rendering him brain-dead and totally out of the fight (not dead, just permanently stunned). The rest of us moved forward and managed to destroy the intellect devourer, but not before the illithid hit us with its own mind-blast attack, rendering Mercenary stunned for about five rounds and taking out my poor Hummingbird (who, in the earlier fights, had been putting out nearly as much damage as I had, and had buffed me with about twenty temporary hit points just during our time in the sewers – alchemical homunculi are awesome). And, most tragically, Droop was just within range of the attack, and with a mournful cry to his master, he was killed outright.
Thankfully, on its next turn, the illithid teleported away, leaving the half-orc to deal with us. Not that that was particularly easy. First, he blasted everyone but Floon, whom Renaer had dragged out of the way, and myself, because I had slipped into a side area, with a Cone of Cold, and then he hit us all with a Fireball, which rendered Parvus, Mercenary and myself unconscious. Airina healed us back up with her Channel Divinity, and then we began the weirdest game of cat-and-mouse. The best way I can describe it is cat-and-mouse if the room is full of cats, but the mouse is invisible, and armed with a machine gun.
The half-orc cast Greater Invisibility on himself, and between that and Misty Step was almost impossible for us to pin down. I cast Grease on one exit, and Parvus and Airina were blocking the other, pretty much trapping him in the room with us. Mercenary (once she was no longer stunned) and Renaer ran around the room, occasionally bumping into the half-orc to discover where he was and hitting him when they could, and I was consistently missing any and all attempts to shoot him. Eventually, Airina’s Spiritual Weapon got the lucky blow that dropped his concentration, and he was visible again. He moved to bring us all close together, and with all of us surrounding him, we hit a pivotal moment in the fight.
Our DM actually rolled a d100 to see if the half-orc would flee, or take the risk of fireballing himself in an attempt to wipe us all out. To explain how pivotal that decision was, I believe I had the highest hit points at that moment. I had 10. A fireball would have dropped the entire party, regardless of what we rolled for saves, and then we’d have been facing death saves. Not to mention that the half-orc could have survived it, thanks to half-orc shenanigans, leaving him free to take us out, one at a time, regardless of how our death saves went.
Lucky for us, the d100 fell within the twenty percent chance of him fleeing, so he took off, leaving us in his wake. Except Renaer, Mercenary and I chased after him, and unlike myself, with my slower walking speed, the other two caught him and beat him to unconsciousness. Before anyone else had a chance to decide whether he should be kept alive, I walked up and put two bullets in his skull. King’s a nice guy, but he definitely has a ruthless streak in him.
In the aftermath of the fight, we took stock. Between Mercenary examining Parvus, and my knowledge of intellect devourers, we figured out what was wrong with him and what it would take to fix it. And Renaer offered to take us to someone who could help us out, so it shouldn’t even cost us anything. Unfortunately, nothing could be done for poor Droop.
One quick search of the area to confirm that we had cleared the dungeon, and we ended the session. So, Parvus is brain-dead, Droop is dead dead, and we came a hair’s breadth away from a TPK, but we made it through what was a pretty harrowing session. Unfortunately for me, we earned enough XP for the others to finally reach level 5, but because I died and came in with a new character, I’m too far behind and stuck at level 4 for at least one more session, but probably the next two. Which means I’ll be going into the dreaded fifth session a full level behind. In other words, nothing in the world could convince me that King won’t die in two weeks. Nothing.
RIP Droop.