Check-In Question: What is something you do when you care for someone?
- Shannon: Be honest, don’t bull-poo. K’un-Lun if he likes you he will flex for you or do something acrobatic.
- Miranda: Listen. Be there for them to listen, you don’t always need to try to fix things for them. Lysithea, if she really cares for you, she feels you are worthy of her knowledge, so she will share commonly unknown facts with you.
- Liz: At my own expense I will make you happy. Octavia shows she cares for someone by being intuitive, feeling when they need attention and when they don’t.
- Kevin: I don’t intrude but I’m always here if you need me. Gobbles gives people snakes and bats and stuff. Not like cats bringing dead animals as gifts, they are alive.
- Ian: I go out of my way to help someone in need. Professor will craft something for you. Perhaps something personal.
- Justice: Talk to them about something they’ll be interested in. Find something they like and discuss with them those things. Rouge Hareng will take people and show them the sea, take them to where he feels open.
- Cordelia: I give them hugs. Surina does the exact same thing.
The party is still on the ship, having defeated the sea spawn and sirens that attacked them. The crew is dead but Rouge is still alive. They are currently sailing to return the statuette to the queen (Octavia shared Lysithea’s anger on learning the small size of the “statue”). To pass the time the party share stories and rumors they have heard about the mysterious Jorra’be Jungle.
K’un-Lun: Before I was frozen in time I had heard that my master was taken there after a great fight with some bad guy. His remains could be there, or maybe he was frozen in time there.
Lysithea: Some say there is a magical flower in the jungle that grants magical powers. Could be eternal youth, could be bigger Fireball, no one knows for sure.
Octavia: I’ve heard that there’s a cave that you can spalunk down, and it is so pure it will grant you everlasting life.
Gobbles: I heard that a couple years ago some loggers started chopping down trees and some of the trees came to life and started protecting the jungle.
Professor: My people are from the mountain range in front of the jungle. There’s a long wall along the jungle. People do venture in but never come out. No one stops them from going in. There is a rumor that one person has made it out alive.
Rouge Herang: I’ve heard the waterway’s currents keep pushing boats out so that they either get pushed out or crash.
The boat sails without any further interruption and eventually pulls up to the walled city of the Queen.
Rouge: I can take you on rowboats there. There’s no dock. It’s just me. Anyone else know how to row a boat?
Octavia: I can.
Lysithea: We know Surina can. (see Session 17)
They row ashore. Lysithea is carrying the statue and the party follows her into the city. As they enter they notice there’s a lot more cracks in the city walls. Arcana check (Octavia 13, Surina 13, Lysithea 14, Professor 24, Gobbles 9, K’un-Lun adjusted 1). They all notice that the town doesn’t feel exactly as it was. When Professor looks at the walls they look a lot more like how the ruins should look – the true age of the ruins is showing. The magic is still there, but it is waning. There are less people than before, too. The few people there seem alright, though. Investigation check (K’un-Lun 11, Gobbles 16, Octavia 12, Professor 12, Surina 8, Lysithea 14). Just looking around one would assume that the city was originally growing, but is now on the decline.
Lysithea: I guess we should head to the queen.
K’un-Lun: Yeah. We got what we left for.
The guards stop the party.
Guard: What business do you have?
K’un-Lun: We’re the queen’s errand boys.
Octavia: We seek an audience with the queen.
Lysithea: We have retrieved her statue.
Guard: That is wonderful! You may head up. But remember, do not touch anything. (see Session 10)
The guards point towards a staircase leading up. Octavia leads the way on high alert. As they head up they notice the once pristine artwork is slowly fading. It’s not as vibrant as before. The motif of jackals, specifically Inubus, becomes more and more prevalent as they climb the winding stairs. Upstairs there are guards, but their appearance is different. Investigation (Professor 21, Lysithea 15, Surina 18, Gobbles 3, Octavia 11). Professor notices they are not wearing the same ceremonial robes as the guards below. They look more thuggish, more ruffian. Professor slowly attaches his hammer to his arm and winks at the party. He also feels something magical, but he can’t quite figure it out.
Professor: Something’s fishy here.
The jackal motif continues as they come to a long hallway. The area looks more decrepit, and at the end of the hall are two giant doors with two guards standing in front. Octavia approaches the guards, who snarl a bit. They are almost animal-like in their snarl, not even trying to hide the animalistic baseness on them. Octavia’s hair stands on the back of her neck a bit, but she is not scared at all. They are really bad at intimidation.
K’un-Lun: Woah, down boy! Let us through. We have business with the queen.
They see the statue in Lysithea’s arms and open the door. It’s a huge, multi-columned bedroom made for a queen. Queen Themaphila is drumming her fingers impatiently. Her lower half is covered. (“Gee, I wonder why” Lysithea thinks to herself.)
Queen: Did you bring it?
Lysithea: It is right here.
Queen: Give it to the guards.
K’un-Lun: Before we give it to the guards, why do you need this again? We went through a lot to get this.
Queen: Just bring it back, put it back. It is mine! *hisses*
K’un-Lun: Down boy!
Lysithea steps back, keeping eyes on the queen the whole time and hands the statue to the guard. The guard takes it and carries it away.
Queen: Thank you. Maybe things can go back.
Octavia: Go back to what?
Queen: To how they should be!
Octavia is thinking she’s just going to reflect any questions, so does not ask anything else. The queen continues to drum her fingers.
Queen: The comet is in one of the side rooms of the temple. You can go get it. It is yours. You can also go to the dungeon and get that thing.
Octavia: Oh, we can get Slogoth?
Lysithea: Oh, joy. Thank you. *gritting her teeth*
Everyone suddenly feels a magical wave wash over them. Nothing happens to the girls, but the men make a wisdom saving throw (K’un-Lun 17, Professor 12, Gobbles 21). Professor feels more devotion to the queen, but is not charmed.
Professor: That felt good.
K’un-Lun: That was your pleasure.
Professor: *tries to impress the queen* We spent the night in a haunted house. We got a house.
Before their eyes the pristine nature of the temple returns.
Lysithea: That statue was keeping this place intact. Or part of what’s keeping this place intact.
Surina leads the party out. Guards are coming towards the queen, even though she gave no orders. The doors slam on the party as they exit the room.
Professor: How rude.
Lysithea: Can we go quickly, please?
K’un-Lun: Can we touch something now? There’s no one around.
Lysithea: No!
Next to the room with the comet is a door with a jackal doorknob. It’s an ominous door capturing their attention. Lysithea pulls out the jackal key (see Session 8) and shows it to the party. Gobbles (perception 18) notices that the door is heavier than the others.
Gobbles: This door seems dangerous. That means there must be something good behind it.
Octavia: That sounds good but I think we should grab the comet before we get caught in a trap. It took so long we should get the comet first.
Lysithea: I agree. Let’s grab the comet first.
Professor and K’un-Lun stay in the hall, just in case. There are some people in the room, similar to the people on the lower floor. Professor notices they are using artificer tools, breaking off pieces on the comet. The party gasps in horror. They realize, upon looking at the size of the comet that they will need assistance to get it out. Lysithea and Surina run to get Slogoth and his portable hole. The rest of the party tries to distract the artificers.
K’un-Lun: Woah, woah, woah, put that back! That’s ours. I’m a hero. Listen to me instead (persuasion 6).
Professor: Don’t you know who you’re messing with?
The artificers all turn to them, distracted. They weren’t persuaded, but stopped in surprise.
K’un-Lun: Maybe if I do a series of backflips. You guys are probably really bored all the time. Want to see something really cool? *starts backflipping* (acrobatics 12)
Octavia and Professor start sneaking towards the comet in an attempt to push it to the door (stealth Octavia 19, Professor 16).
K’un-Lun: Anyone want to help me?
Thistle Winkle Frost: You have some interesting friends.
Gobbles starts taking the already broken off comet chunks and pockets them (sleight of hand 17). The artificers are completely distracted watching K’un-Lun continuously backflip and do not notice anything else.
Artificer: What is this?
K’un-Lun: Quite athletic don’t you think?
Artificer: Not really.
Gobbles’s pockets get even heavier as Thistle Winkle Frost helps stuff his pockets.
Lysithea and Surina get to the jail and find Slogoth in his cell. Some other cells are now occupied. One of them contains Mateen and Sable, and another one contains Marcus Beauregard.
Lysithea: Didn’t we tell you to stay out?
Sable: Yeah, people tell us lots of things. But we gotta get the boss.
Lysithea: I told you we got it. *unlocks Slogoth’s cell*
Slogoth: Ah, glad to be free. Took your time, but I’m glad you did it.
He adjusts his poorly tailored suit, puts his hands in his pockets, and saunters out.
Lysithea: Hold on a second, bub.
Slogoth: Well I’m free right?
Lysithea: Not yet.
Slogoth: What do you mean?
Surina: We need your help (persuasion 10).
Slogoth: I get you, you need my help. You help me and you expect me to help you. Well, that’s not the way business works sometimes. I need you to help me, too, some more. You see my friends here? They’re still in jail. You freed me, not them. Think you can break them out for me?
Surina: Sure.
Surina rolls strength (10). When she hits the door it doesn’t open right away, but when she touches it the bars turn brown and rust.
Lysithea: You see the rust? Hit it again.
She hits it again (strength 19). The lock gives and the door swings open.
Slogoth: Thanks. You see, they didn’t do anything bad. They were trying to get me out.
Lysithea: Even though we told them we were handling it.
Slogoth: They aren’t the smartest.
Lysithea: I’ve noticed.
Marcus: Hey hey, can you do that to my cell, too? I have a lot of money.
Lysithea: No you don’t.
Marcus: Yeah yeah, you see like I tried to tell you before my dad died-
Lysithea: No he didn’t.
Marcus: What do you mean?
Lysithea: We spent the night in your house. He’s not dead, he’s going to jail.
Marcus: You see I’m in charge of-
Lysithea: No you’re not. We warned you, you didn’t listen.
Marcus: Yes, yes, but you know. She wasn’t enthralled by my charms. But as you said my dad was arrested. Not dead, but arrested. So I’m now in charge of the juicing company-
Lysithea: You mean the one that’s failing and he has no money in?
Marcus: Wait, what?
Lysithea: You’re special, aren’t you.
Marcus: That’s what my dad always said.
Lysithea: You’re going to have a hard life. You better stay here where it’s safe.
Slogoth: If you ever get out, here’s my card *hands card to Marcus*. We can help you better steal your family’s fortune next time.
Lysithea: He’s broke, they have nothing.
Slogoth: They have stuff.
Lysithea and Surina run back upstairs with Slogoth, Mateen, and Sable following behind.
Slogoth: Okay, so what can I do to help? Looks like you have your own illegal operation going on here.
Lysithea: Believe it or not this is legal. That’s ours.
Octavia: Oh thank god you’re finally here!
Professor: Help me!
Surina: Can we please borrow your portable hole? (persuasion 16)
Slogoth: I don’t see why not. You all have been good help for now.
Octavia: Great, great, great, do it now cause it’s heavy!
Slogoth unfolds the hole and drops it on the ground.
Slogoth: Okay, push it in.
K’un-Lun: *still backflipping* Hurry up! I’m so tired!
Artificer: What are you doing?
Professor doesn’t stop pushing.
Octavia: Oh no, no, no, look at him! It’s so fun!
K’un-Lun: Look at my Cloak of Billowing. It’s billowing!
Lysithea: *rolls eyes at her party* This comet now belongs to us so says your queen!
Gobbles: Yeah!
Artificers: Okay.
They leave.
Octavia: Whelp, that was fun.
K’un-Lun: *panting for breath* Oh my god, I’m gonna barf.
The doors to the queen’s room swing open and a small army of ruffians begin marching out. They look renewed with energy and are heading downstairs. It’s like they have a purpose again. They vacate the area, leaving in packs.
Lysithea shows the jackal key to her comrades again.
Octavia: Alright, you swindler, you have to stick with us for a bit.
Slogoth: There’s worse things.
Gobbles: Hi, I’m Gobbles the Goblin. Nice to meet you.
Lysithea: Oh my god, no.
Slogoth: I’m Slogoth the Goblin, no relation. You look reputable.
Gobbles: Yes.
Slogoth: There’s always a few bad apples in the bunch.
Gobbles: Yes..
Lysithea: Quiet you!
Lysithea tries the key, which fits and unlocks the ominous door. The door bursts open and a wave of negative energy washes over the entire area. Inside the room is a huge shrine to a jackal that is not Inubus – a werejackal shrine. All the artwork in the temple was about fair judgement, but in this shrine room it’s all about death. There are paintings and statues of a giant snake – Lamia.
Lysithea points to a picture: That is the queen’s true form.
Octavia: That would make sense why her feet were covered. She doesn’t have any.
Lysithea: What is this?
Religion (Professor 22, K’un-Lun 15) K’un-Lun remembers from long ago people worshipping a snake goddess, who would enthrall people and is extremely dangerous.
K’un-Lun: I’ve dealt with her ruffians.
Professor has heard about an ancient religion made up of enthralled, brainwashed people worshipping this Lamia queen who thought she acted for noble reasons and judging fairly, but in reality judges however she wants (usually cruelly for her amusement).
Professor: This is not good.
Octavia: I don’t think so, either. I agree with Professor.
Lamias desire to restore ancient kingdoms. This shrine is the fountain for the magic. The statue the party retrieved is placed here, and there’s another one just like it.
Professor touches the snake statue. He feels a force knock him back (reflex saving throw, 11). He takes 3 damage and gets pushed back 10 ft.
Lysithea: Gobbles, Mage hand?
Gobbles: Yarb.
They try duel Mage Hands to pick up one of the smaller statues. As they bring the statue down they hear a loud scream from another room saying “Not again!” The magic begins to dissipate once again.
Gobbles: Hot potato!
They throw the statue to Mateen.
Mateen: What?
Gobbles: GO! GO! GO!
Mateen, Sable, and Slogoth run off with the statue.
Lysithea: We still need that comet and will come get it when this is over!
Slogoth: If you survive!
Lysithea: *threateningly* I will.
Lysithea and Gobbles, using Mage Hand, take the other small statue and throw it at the bigger statue. The smaller statue breaks and the entire vicinity turns into crumbling ruins of old. The ruins have been turned to their normal state.
K’un-Lun: I knew it smelled musty in here.
Octavia: Now I don’t feel like such a failure! (see Session 9)
Queen Themaphila is Coming
The party could hear her coming and had just enough time to exit the small shrine and strategically place themselves. Queen Themaphila bursts through the doors, ready to attack. She is in full snake form: 9ft tall snake goddess, 4 arms with a sword in each hand. Her magical charm powers have failed her, she can no longer disguise herself. Initiative (Gobbles 4, K’un-Lun 6, Octavia 19, Lysithea 18, Surina 10, Professor 11). The party will need to go all out for this.
Octavia immediately casts Hunter’s Mark on the queen. She shoots her longbow at one of her shoulders, hits with a 22 and does 13 damage. Lysithea shoots Scorching Ray at the queen. The first ray misses with a 10, but the other two hit with a 24 and a 23, doing 9 fire damage total.
Professor: *singing* I’m gonna reach into my bag and pull out a ball and push a button and here comes my Eldritch Cannon with its ballista!
Professor attacks with his cannon, but the attack is deflected with a roll of 9. Surina casts Hunter’s Mark on the queen as well. She moves in and attacks with her longsword, hitting with a 25 and doing 6 damage. Queen Themaphila slashes one of her swords at Surina, but misses twice with a 15 and a 16. She swings her tail at Surina and hits with a Nat 20, doing 9 damage. Surina then makes an escape check (strength 6) to escape, but the tail has her tight in its grasp. K’un-Lun moves in and uses Flurry of Blows to hit the queen. He misses with a 15, hits with a 22, and misses with a 16. His landing attack does 9 damage. Gobbles moves forward and casts Hex as a bonus action on approach. She will now have disadvantage on Constitution checks and saving throws. He then chucks a javelin at her and hits with a 19, doing 5 necrotic damage and 6 piercing damage. Octavia calls for Onza to bite the queen, but the panther cannot hit.
Octavia: Onza run!
Lysithea casts Ray of Sickness, hitting with a Nat 20 and doing 9 poison damage. The queen then fails her constitution saving throw and is now poisoned till next turn.
Professor: MOVE MAN!
Professor shoots his crossbow at the snakely queen and misses with a 6. His Eldritch cannon misses with a 15. Surina makes a strength check to free the grasp of the snake’s tail (strength 18) and breaks out. She casts Searing Smite and attacks, hitting with an 18, doing 14 physical damage and 1 fire damage. The queen is actively on fire. She makes a constitution saving throw, fails, and takes 4 more fire damage. The queen attacks K’un-Lun and misses, then tries attacking Onza but misses. She makes a final attack against Surina and misses. K’un-Lun does a pressure point attack against one of her arms and hits with a 22. She makes a reflex check and fails, dropping one of her swords. K’un-Lun then does Flurry of Blows. He hits with a 26 and a Nat 20, doing 28 points of damage total. Gobbles walks up to the queen and uses Hex Blade’s Curse as a bonus action, then screams…
Gobbles: EAT ME!
…and pops a confettied Eldritch Blast at her, but rolls low. The confetti hits her on the chest and does nothing but annoy her. She gets an attack of opportunity, but thankfully misses. Octavia shoots her longbow and misses with a 16. Lysithea uses Magic Missile as a Level 2 spell and does 14 damage to the queen. It seems like that went through better than other attacks. Professor casts Fire Bolt and hits with a 21, doing 4 fire damage. His Eldritch Cannon comes in for a shot and hits with 25, doing 9 force damage. She is already backed against the wall and cannot be pushed back any farther. The queen looks very angry right now. Surina swings her longsword at the queen and hits with an adjusted 20. She then casts Divine Smite, doing a total of 23 damage. The queen is screaming in pain! She fails her saving throw and is still on fire, taking 6 more fire damage. She slams her tail at everyone within 10ft of her. She hits K’un-Lun with a 28, Onza with a 27, misses Surina with a 12, misses Gobbles with a 17, and misses Professor with a 17 who casts shield as a reaction. Onza takes 9 damage and K’un-Lun takes 10 damage. Everyone in range then makes a reflex save (Gobbles 4, Octavia 5, K’un-Lun 21, Professor 13, Surina 5). Everyone except for K’un-Lun is knocked prone. As a bonus she teleports next to Lysithea, giving K’un-Lun an attack of opportunity. He hits with a 21 and does 6 damage. She attacks Lysithea and hits with a 18, doing 10 damage. Lysithea reacts with Hellish Rebuke. The queen succeeds on her saving throw so she only takes 9 damage. The queen hits Octavia with a 17 and does 10 damage. She is below half health and gets a 4th attack, but critically fails. She swings at Octavia but the sword slips from her hands from the fire and the sword goes flying across the room. The party has crippled her magic spells. K’un-Lun moves, picks Surina up along the way, and stands heroically because he cannot reach the queen this turn. Gobbles stands up and uses a bonus action to cast Hex, giving the queen disadvantage on dexterity checks. He tries to throw a javelin but misses. Octavia attacks with her rapier but misses. Lysithea steps back from the queen and uses Magic Missile, doing 9 damage. Professor stands up and casts Fire Bolt but misses. His cannon moves forward and attacks, but also misses. Surina moves but cannot reach, so she throws a javelin. She hits with a Nat 20. She forcefully throws the javelin across the room with incredible strength, doing a total of 22 damage. Best javelin throw ever. The queen sweeps her tail again, hitting Octavia with a 26 and Lysithea with a 16. Octavia takes 9 damage, Lysithea takes 6. They make a reflex save but fail and get knocked prone. She then teleports and appears behind Professor and Gobbles. She attacks Gobbles with a sword but misses, but hits Professor with a 25 doing 12 damage. Her tail attempts to grab Gobbles and hits him with a 27 for 14 damage. Gobbles maintains his Hex concentration and reacts with Hellish Rebuke upcast at 2nd level. He also activates Fury of the Small for a total of 27 damage. The queen fails her saving dexterity and takes full damage, then fails her constitution saving throws and takes 5 more fire damage. Gobbles makes an escape saving throw to escape her tail’s grasp, but fails with an 11. Gobbles is restrained from the grapple. K’un-Lun hits the queen with a 24, then uses his last Ki point for a final Flurry of Blows. He hits again with 26. K’un-Lun’s attacks do 16 damage total. Gobbles attempts to escape but fails, so he attacks with disadvantage. He attempts Eldritch Blast but misses. She attacks back and hits Gobbles with a 19 for 10 damage. Gobbles reacts once again with Hellish Rebuke…
Gobbles: Leggo my Eggo!
… for 15 damage. He then uses a bonus action to cast Healing Word on himself to heal 4 health points. Draggy runs in to save the day! He attacks the queen with his battle ax and hits with a 17, doing 11 damage. He takes his second action to attack again but misses with a 16. Octavia stands up and shoots, hitting with a 26 doing 12 damage. Lysithea stands and uses Magic Missile again doing 12 damage. The queen is down!
Lysithea: SLOGOTH GET BACK HERE!
The queen is defeated! The party levels up to level 5! End Session
Check Out
Spotlight On Another Player:
- Miranda: Surina’s amazing javelin throw!
- Shannon: Gobbles and Lysithea throwing the statue at Mateen.
- Liz: Finding out Slogoth had a portable hole like Roger Rabbit.
- Ian: All the backflips to distract the artificers, and just all the roleplaying in that moment.
- Cordelia: When K’un-Lun did a bunch of backflips.
- Kevin: Lysithea leaving Marcus in his cell.
- Justice: Kevin wanting to get hit constantly to use Hellish Rebuke.
Challenge/Something Learned:
- Miranda: Low damage rolls. Getting to roll a lot of dice but rolling low numbers.
- Kevin: Trying to goad the queen into hitting me because I have no guaranteed damage otherwise.
- Justice: Not murdering everyone instantly. Making it fun and challenging enough.
- Liz: I learned that I wasn’t crazy. I actually knew the desert like the back of my hand.
- Ian: Teleportation of the snake demon. I could have sent my gun where I thought it was gonna go instead of, “It’s there, go get it!”
- Cordelia: I didn’t want to fight the queen at first because I thought she would be too powerful.
Hope/Prediction for Next Session:
- Miranda: I’m so happy I got to see my previous hope come to fruition! I hope we catch up to Slogoth to get our meteor back.
- Kevin: I want to see what the fallout from us slaying the queen winds up being.
- Justice: That everyone keeps having fun because I’m having a lot.
- Liz: I think we will have to chase Slogoth and his magical hole in the pocket.
- Ian: That I get to use my second level spells cause I finally have them.
- Cordelia: I think we are going to have to fight jackalweres.
Analysis: We finally (almost) completed our mission! Cordelia was very reluctant to fight the queen at first. She was afraid and thought it was going to be too hard. We all explained to her that the queen is evil and that her minions are on their way to do more evil things. We then discussed how Surina would act in this situation. Her character is lawful good and wants to destroy all evil, and the queen was definitely evil. When she thought from Surina’s point of view she gained her courage and helped us defeat Queen Themaphila. We also may have found a way to get her to “roleplay”. When she had her few lines with Slogoth instead of having her act them out we just asked her what her character would say. She seemed to have an easier time with that, so maybe this could be a good small step towards more character involvement for her.