I've completely failed to update about #dmcdnd (threading from here https://twitter.com/chowlett09/status/1664288751365894145?s=20) for a while - again. Let's try to catch you up.

Last we met the party, they'd been dungeon-crawling through the Frozen Sick adventure (EGtW), and specifically the frozen ruins of the Aeorian city of Salsvault.

They'd found the quest goal, fought on for a couple of days, nearly died, had enough, and decided to go home.

The journey back across the ice is uneventful, and they find the camp of Syrinlya without issue. Camp's pretty empty, the rescue party they'd been told about having headed out. Captain Gerrer is around the fire with a couple of the outpost left behind to keep it all intact.

Gerrer is busy telling stories of the party's exploits on the way over; and he claims a small wager from one of the "locals" as the party all returned safely. Rory takes an immediate dislike to the one who bet against them.

Quick as the tides allow, they're sailing back to Iriand. On the way, the ship is harried by a hungry pair of griffins. Rory conjures some fog. Giddy deploys the beef-jerky Mage Hand. Soon enough, distraction and damage combine to chase the griffins off, and the ship reaches dock

The party hastens to Magistrate Hornraven with the good news and the cure. He's moved the merchant Irven, his partner and their two little teifling girls into government quarters, and the party is able to administer the potion there and then.

Giving one dose to each of the four family members, they almost immediately lose their cold blue hue, and return to health! The cute little tieflingettes are saved!

The party leaves them to share some time together; and Hornraven gives them a reward of gold. He also says he'll put out some feelers as to whether anyone can analyse and potentially reproduce the Aurith.

For now the party should get some rest, and maybe check back tomorrow, as Hornraven suspects Irven and his family will want to reward them also. Newly wealthy, the party picks a much nicer tavern than usual.

The next day, there's a little light commerce to be done. At the Tented Market, Rory offloads his damaged and lightly-zombie-stained Aeorian robes onto a tailor and asks for them to be repaired.

Rrekk decides he's carrying too much, and dumps much of his inventory on the ground in an impromptu car-boot sale.  He succeeds in palming a surprising amount off on other people, including selling a pair of old iron manacles to a shifty looking young female who moves at a sidle.

Having introduced Iriand to the concept of Ann Summers, they take (figurative) stock. Next agenda item would be checking in with Thokk's contact, Bremat, about the job he wants them to do. But where will he be at this time of day?

Thokk sends her Silver Raven off to arrange a meeting that evening. Rrekk tries to figure out why Thokk is obligated to this man. They explain it's about the boxes.

Rrekk tries to figure out what was in the boxes, and logically concludes it must be severed feet.

With the rest of the day in hand, they head back to see the previously-sick merchants. They're packing to leave the Seafoam Bastion.

While Rrekk plays tag with the tiefling girls (a flying opponent is _lots_ of fun), Irven and Fenton give the party a little something - a small business card which will let them summon an adventuring shop wherever they are - once only.

Magic pauses in her game for a moment and presents Giddy - they're much the same height - with a couple of "special" wooden building blocks. Irven is amused and tries to dissuade her, but she's having none of it. They're _special_. She found them, one town over.

Irven doesn't remember this. Turns out they fell out of some old man's bag as he unlocked his shop. He lets it slide - they're only toy blocks - and Giddy pops them in her bag.

As evening falls, Thokk leads the group over to the Hooded Witch, where Bremat is waiting as requested. He hands back the messenger raven, and is all mock-annoyed with Thokk for taking so long. But it seems he knows what's been going on; and his own plans were delayed by weather.

Rrekk asks why Bremat wants feet.

And with Bremat momentarily bluescreening, we leave the session, still waiting to find out what his plans actually are! And whether they involve feet. Spoiler: they probably don't.

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/chowlett09/wjT0dqh

DMC DnD: Adventure transition!

Shall we have some more #dmcdnd? Sure, why not? We're still in the official #dnd adventure Frozen Sick from EGtW; and last time was here. https://twitter.com/chowlett09/status/1626579018484174848?t=ODq2FjR297JxzbFd6WJm7w&s=19

Last time, they found presumably the goal of the quest: some shining gold liquid in glass vials.

With night coming in, they decide to stay one more night and quickly check out the rest of Salsvault tomorrow. But they'll camp on the ice rather than in the undead-infested ruin.

Next morning, they head back in and take the other door from the lobby, unlocking it with Ferol's purloined keys.

There's a pair of locked chests set into the floor, and doors West and East. The west is labelled in the same draconic script as before; and a lever beside it.

Thokk gets the translating monocle out and reads "Disease Storage: Authorised Personnel Only". In a truly uncharacteristic display of common sense, they neither open the door nor pull the lever.

Next, Thokk checks the chests. Both have runes which the monocle translate as "Ice".

Again, they choose to leave them be, and head through the east door instead, into a corridor. Giddy sends her spider under a door opposite, and finds an old dormitory room. It looks uninteresting; Giddy moves off to explore further while the other three enter to check the drawers

They find another set of robes; but suddenly the rug on the floor rises up and engulfs Rory! As he struggles for breath, Rrekk fails to pull it off him, and Thokk tries carefully to slit the rug without effect. Giddy charges back in and Eldritch Blasts it - but hurts Rory too!

Finally, with the last of his breath, Rory creates a strong gust of wind and blows the rug off himself, pinning it to the far wall.

He's hurt, it's still up, and we're out of time. Until next session!

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/chowlett09/3dCWPxK

It was half-term last week, and we managed *two* good-length sessions of #family #dnd, so I've got a bunch to write up!

In the Faewild, a (beefed up) Displacer Beast lies dead at the feet of Kithri, Igensi and Nemeia.
https://twitter.com/chowlett09/status/1613213722818007040

The fae erupt in cheers. The beast is gathered up to be Brought Back to court, and Queen Zepha invites the party to travel back with her. She is now haughtily (and a bit eccentrically) friendly, and amenable to hearing their complaint.

(For those who have forgotten, that's that a group of centaurs and satyrs attacked Nemeia and Igensi's circus, way back in Session 1, for no obvious reason.)

The Queen asks if they can see any of the raiders around them. Kithri's sharp eyes pick out a centaur with familiar chestnut markings and a distinctive long, braided mane.

"Ah. Baeringolt," says the Queen. Seems he's known for being a bit hot-headed.

She'll hold court properly tomorrow; but for now, feasting! An enormous bonfire is lit, and before long exotic fruits and roasted vegetables are brought to the hungry adventurers.

None of these are familiar, and the tastes are hard to describe. The simplest has the texture of an apple, but tastes reminiscent of vanilla and spices.

Soon roasted meats are ready. A centaur pompously presents the party with some of the Displacer Beast they killed.

All three try it, and initially it tastes of ... nothing; but about five seconds after the swallow, a rich venison-like taste manifests in the mouth.

A satyr next gambols by, offering two of the displacer's tentacles to try. Nemeia eagerly bites in, but the tentacle is *disgusting*. The satyr bursts into laughter and scampers away - but far from being annoyed, Nemeia is delighted at the joke.

She is in her element here, but Kithri rather disapproves of all the frivolity and pranking. Igensi, meanwhile, is enthralling a group of youngsters with his water magic.

Throughout the feast, the party is kept on their toes by a seemingly never-ending stream of odd beasts. A brightly-coloured bird alights in the blue-and-pink tree canopy above them, cocks its head to one side,

then swells to three times its size and squawks loudly before shrinking back down. It repeats this a few times before flying off. A squirrel-like creature noses down the tree to investigate Fez and Wiffle -

it has two tails; and when Kithri startles it both start spinning and it flies off.

Soon, the party notice the number of pet dogs around; and soon after that, they notice them blink from place to place, begging scraps from the sentients.

At one point, a drunken group on a hillock loudly hurry down off it, as the hillock transpires to be a slumbering giant. The giant wanders off a few paces and settles down again - and the carousers re-mount it to carry on.

At length, the three adventurers settle down to rest a little away from the most raucous satyrs, and dryads arrange plants for them to rest on.

Nemeia declares that she'd like to retire here.

They awaken in the morning to find rivers of flowers flowing past them - blooms erupt from the earth in canon, flowering briefly before being pulled back under. They marvel at this for a while, then seek out breakfast.

Soon enough, Zepha summons them - and Baeringolt - to discuss the party's message from Rikiskala. Nemeia retells the story with most of the court listening; then the queen asks Baeringolt for his side of the story.

Baeringolt, it seems, was leading his band of scouts near Rikiskala when he learned from the small beasts of the area that the city had been disturbing their burrows with mining, far beyond the limits agreed with the fae in a long-standing treaty.

So far from the court, Baeringolt claims, he took it upon himself to lead his band on an attack to convey their displeasure.

Kithri is incensed - the travelling circus a) had nothing to do with the city itself; and b) contained innocents.

Plus, the attackers did not in any way make it clear why they were attacking!

The queen intervenes and, after thinking for a while, pronounces her judgement.

It seems Rikiskala has overstepped its bounds, and questions must be asked.

But Baeringolt acted hastily, and has created something of a diplomatic incident. As punishment - she clicks her fingers - the queen causes Baeringolt's fine mane to fall out, and he stands there bald, ashamed, and the butt of the entire court's laughter.

So Queen Zepha asks if the party will go and see what's going on. And of course; what else can they do? Their contact here is Lady Emir Condorcet, though - not Mosswearer. The Merchants' Fool handles trade treaties, logically enough.

Before they go, the Queen bestows two items. First, a small metallic beetle. If the holder speaks a message to it and wills it to Take Flight, it will return to Zepha and deliver the message.

Second, a short cloak made from the Displacer's leather. It looks Kithri-sized, and appears to carry some of the creature's evasive magic - exactly how is not yet clear. They thank her, and take their leave.

A detachment of centaurs - not including Baeringolt - is provided to escort the party back to the planar crossing. Some light banter is engaged in. Wiffle rides on the lead centaur's head.

They take their leave of their escort at the tree-trunk planar crossing, and start to head back. Nemeia's goat statue is out of charges, so they must walk; it therefore takes them a little longer.

En route, Igensi writes up the battle with the displacer and the fae feast in his magic journalist's book.

Nemeia continues to study her new Spellbook. With a few nights to really concentrate, she figures out that she has five 1st level spells, and three each 2nd and 3rd.

Rather than spend time working out what school each is, or what components each takes, she dives straight in to researching one of the second-levels at random. Another two nights, and she figures it's an Enchantment spell - her school! - and feels that she's nearly cracked it.

Late on the 4th day, they reenter Rikiskala. Somethings seems a little off; the streets of the Undercroft seem a little empty. They catch a late-runner and ask what's going on. It seems there's a mob forming, and he doesn't want to be late!

A mob? That's concerning. The party hurry after the man, and find a group of more than 50 people - perhaps as many as 100 - armed and moving along the river. Where are they going, they ask a passing angry mobster?

To Lord Koldrin! To avenge Evelyn's death! The lord killed her, after all, and the mob knew Evelyn! Or at least, she lived 3 doors down; or she was a good customer at their cousin's shop.

That's... not quite how the party remembers it. They push their way to the front.

There, the front members of the mob are drawn up in sight of Koldrin's manor, steeling themselves. They shout about how Koldrin stabbed Evelyn! Or strangled her, I heard! Igensi hoists Nemeia up on his shield, and she proceeds to relate the tale truthfully (if embellished)

while Kithri adds well-reasoned appeals from the ground. Between the three of them intimidating, performing and persuading, the crowd starts to disperse until maybe 20 are left, most of whom are primarily listening to the story.

So the party invites them down the pub!

It's off to the Dandy Lion - which one of the mob knows - run by friendly halfling Felda Jebbo. Kithri stands all 23 of them a round, plus bar snacks.

(The pub's just invented a new thing - potatoes, sliced very thin, fried in a little oil and then sprinkled with salt)

So Nemeia completes her tale, but with all the truth and only embellished where it makes it more exciting, and the mob heads off, drunk and satisfied. The party rents rooms for the night, and Nemeia completes research on her first spell - Tasha's Mind Whip.

Maybe next time they'll get to see Lady Condorcet!

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/chowlett09/coyO3eu

Hey, let's have some more #dmcdnd! You can tell it's a good old-fashioned #dnd dungeon crawl, because there's combat for the third session in a row!

This combat is brought to you be Frozen Sick from EGtW. We thread from here: https://twitter.com/chowlett09/status/1621214759310987265?s=20&t=-hjS0MLBCtnCGCQ4b7Iqfw

The party is fighting Ferol Sal, a researcher at Salsvault researching god-killing pathogens. He is by now long undead and a little bit crazed; but still a potent threat. The party have already learned that he's accurate with a bow, and that normal attacks aren't fully effective.

Now engaged close up with Rrekk, Ferol switches to his sword and cuts Rrekk badly. He tries to follow up with some kind of necrotic grasp, but fails to grab hold.

Giddy pops up from behind a bench, Eldritch Blasts him in the face, and pops back down.

With Ferol's attention taken by Rrekk, Thokk plants an arrow in a weak spot from a distance. Even with his unnatural resistance, it plainly hurts him significantly.

Rrekk, lacking any magical armaments, tries to shatter a Holy Water flask over Ferol, but misses.

Rory casts Guiding Bolt, but hits the wall on the other side of Ferol; then suddenly Rory's sword flies from its magical scabbard and catches Ferol off-guard - sadly, it only scratches him.

Ferol carves into Rrekk and he collapses to the ground. He tries to grasp Rory, but finds only armour plating. Thokk lands another accurate arrow, and Giddy plants an Eldritch Blast squarely on Ferol's head.

Rory heals Rrekk back to consciousness, while Ferol's sword also glances off his armour. Moving around to be in position to attack Giddy, Ferol is swung at by Rrekk prone on the floor, but Rrekk misses.

Giddy and Thokk finally miss with their Eldritch Blast and arrow; but Rrekk scrambles to his feet, hops onto a hand shelf, and carves a neat line down through Ferol's skull - and the wight falls down more-dead.

The party quickly takes the keys from Ferol's belt, and the chest in the submerged room is opened to reveal 20 vials of a shining golden liquid - surmised to be the Frigid Woe cure - and a curious glass eyeball. Giddy can't tell much about it, except that it's beyond her skills.

Searching Ferol, they turn up nothing of use in his dusty robes; searching the room, they cobble together enough ingredients and glassware to make a functional Alchemist's Kit.

But now it is late (in real time and in game), and we will continue next session.

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/chowlett09/02CfALX

We're into the swing of #dnd this new year, with more #dmcdnd. Having fought off four snakes with accuracy, tenacity and not a little bloodshed, our party is about to see What's In The Box!

Again, this is Frozen Sick from EGtW. Threading from here: https://twitter.com/chowlett09/status/1615752030563467264

Rory walks out across the water to the submerged and floor-inbuilt chest, reaches down to the lid... and it's locked. Back to shore, and the Ring of Waterwalking is handed off to Thokk for a go.

But, still shivering from their immersion in the cold water, they can't manipulate the lockpicks dextrously enough, and the chest stays locked. Giddy looks around for a key, but there isn't one in this room.

The party takes stock, and also a Short Rest, recovering some much-needed health; then decides to check out some of the other rooms.

The one full of broken weapons isn't very interesting, and the one with the flesh golem inside is pretty terrifying

but the one directly opposite, which Spin couldn't find a crack to get into, that has possibility of the unknown about it. Rrekk goes to check at the door. It's not locked. Listening before barging in, he hears a voice from inside.

It's speaking as if to itself in a dry tone, but Rrekk doesn't understand the few words he can make out. He tries to replicate the sounds to the rest of the party - they are also none the wiser.

So, taking up position around the door, Rrekk pushes it open. It reveals a lab of some sort, around which a clearly long-dead humanoid moves, working continuously at the substances on the workbenches.

He speaks to them in a guttural, rasping language which none of them - not even Rory - understands. Seeing their lack of comprehension, he tries again, and this time Rrekk can just about follow along.

He's now speaking, basically, Chaucerian Elvish - it's archaic, but Rrekk can converse. The humanoid totally forgets to introduce himself as Ferol Sal, but does demand to know Who ye all be-eth, and whatte ye art all doing here? Why doth ye disturbeth his labours?

The party plays it straight down the line, and explains that the Frigid Woe is killing people and they are looking for an antidote. Ferol is puzzled - whatte is this Frigidde Woe ye speaketh of?

The symptoms are described, and Ferol understands.

He's still not exactly helpful though. Thatte contagion is en dead ende; it killeth mortals, but toucheth not the gods. This is why his work carrieth on! Antidotes are not his area; that would be the people in <waves arm towards the room with the locked chest>.

Rrekk and Giddy think to see if there is a key in the room with Ferol. Giddy can't see on one the walls, but Rrekk see's that Ferol has a key ring looped onto his belt! Maybe, suggests Rrekk, he would give it over and they could leave him to his work?

Well. Ferol is having none of that. Neither would you, on a Persuasion roll of 2. He accuseth them of being spyes from one of the rival laboratories, and draws his bow.

He's surprisingly quick, and gets two arrows into Rrekk straight off. Giddy goes for her crossbow, but the shot's wide. Thokk has better luck with their arrow, and Rrekk charges up and hits with both swords.

Rory dallies with the idea of overturning a table and using that as a threat against Ferol, but seeing the bubbly substances that would spill he thinks better of it. Instead, he launches a spear at Ferol, grazing his side.

But all the party's attacks seem to be sliding off Ferol somehow. They have cut him, sure, but not as deep as they first thought. It seems this foe might be hard to cut down. They gird their loins and prepare for a second round of combat - next time!

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/chowlett09/b6AwU4C

We're back with a new year and some more #dmcdnd #dnd fun!

Dungeon-crawling as part of Frozen Sick from EGtW, the heroes are about to be attacked by giant snakes!

https://twitter.com/chowlett09/status/1611000012150034432

Rory kicks off with a little Sacred Flame action for absolutely as little damage as possible. Rrekk lands an arrow in one snake, and Giddy makes use of the environment to cast Armo(u)r of Agathys, since it needs a cup of water.

An aside: DMs, check your assumptions about what players know! Giddy has a component pouch, therefore AoA is castable from the pouch - the component is just for flavour! But Giddy's player didn't realise that, so hasn't cast it before for lack of water!

(I'll also defend her on this; my component pouch contains, IDK, bat guano, soot, salt, coal... and *a cup of water*? Is that *really* plausible?)

Now it's Thokk's turn. Taking careful aim, they land an arrow right in the middle of a snake's head, killing it outright. Rogues, eh?

The remaining snakes bite down on Thokk, and two on Giddy. All three hit, and these things may be relatively fragile but they hit like a house. Giddy's Armour of Agathys retaliates both times, (taking out one snake and badly wounding the other) and is gone; Thokk looks bloodied.

Our heroes spend a full round missing their slippery opponents, before the last two snakes attack Thokk and Giddy again, bringing both to 0. Thokk's orcish blood lets them shake it off, but Giddy is down.

Figuring it's important to get the enemies out the way, Rory bonks Thokk's snake on the head, and Rrekk decapitates Giddy's nemesis.

Fortuitously, Giddy rolls a nat-20 on her death save and is back in the room. She backs up to the wall and tries to look unappetizing.

Thokk ducks and weaves to get a little space, then repeats their earlier trick, shooting an arrow straight down the throat of the last snake. All enemies dead, and no party members!

So, now, what's in that chest? Thokk wades into the water - and it's cold! They quickly jump back out, shivering uncontrollably. It'll be some time before they're properly warm again, and it looks like it'll affect their competence.

So Rory steps up for a go. He's wearing the Ring of Waterwalking, so the cold doesn't bother him.

But we're out of time! What's in the chest will have to wait for next time.

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/chowlett09/0tOL4G6

And I've got #family #dnd to write up too! Let's see... we had two sessions way back before Christmas, which I shall fold together.

https://twitter.com/chowlett09/status/1585759135781466112

We rejoin the crew traipsing through Rikislea in search of a crossing point to the Faewild,

so they can go and find the Fae queen Zepha and ask her what prompted the attack on Nemeia and Igensi's circus.

They are currently following the river, but the path soon takes them a little away from it and past a slightly lighter-wooded area.

Here, Kithri's sharp senses hear sounds of large mammals - two bears, recently awoken from overwintering*, are nearby and looking for food. The group's route will take them right by the bears and their cave.

(Note to self - the time is now canonically spring)

Not seeking a fight, the party attempts to distract the bears with some thrown rations and hurry past; but Nemeia's riding goat, Stetson, presents too tempting a morsel for the larger one. It swipes at Stetson once, twice - and the goat reverts to its statuette form.

Focus now is on getting away with minimal damage and resources spent. I... forget the details of this fight (I think Kithri probably used Spiritual Weapon; and Igensi his twin blades), up until Nemeia cast Fireball behind the bears, critically injuring and badly singeing both.

The bears retreat into their cave to literally lick their wounds, but not the forest is on fire!

Not that that's a problem when you have a Water Genasi in the party. It is but the work of a few seconds before the forest is merely very wet, and travel can resume.

Soon, they are back with the river, and find the lake Councillor Mosswearer promised. It's round, and they wonder if it could be their crossing, but it's not really round _enough_.

It does have a man in a boat in the middle, though, calling for help. It seems he dropped his oar.

Igensi, at home in his native habitat, swims out to push the man to shore while Kithri and Nemeia rest on the bank. He's just a local fisherman, and he's fished her many times, so he's a little embarrassed.

Today it seems his anchor caught some weeds and reveaeled something like buildings down below; and he was so startled his oars went overboard.

Interesting. Igensi swims back for a look. There is indeed an underwater town there, although it's long abandoned and in ruins.

He does find a locked chest, which they "persuade" into opening, revealing a small quantity of gold and a pearl. Fine recompense!

And then on into the mostly-trackless forest west of the lake.

After a few hours, Igensi spots something - a tree, bifurcating a few feet above the ground, only to come back together 8 or so feet further up. Truly unnatural, and most importantly - circular.

Nemeia looks through, then steps through. Nothing _obviously_ changes,

but as she steps to the side she disappears from view, as if the real world were a wall and the tree a window. And looking closer, the colours are more vibrant. This is definitely it. But now where to go? Despite Kithri's best efforts, Igensi and Nemeia start calling out.

Very soon, they are surrounded by a variety of fae creatures - centaurs and satyrs again, as well a few others they are hard-pressed to name immediately - bristling with weapons. Asked what they're doing, they give a rambling spiel about the circus attack.

It is quickly agreed that the party need to be taken to see the queen. They are led some distance through the Faewild - and despite not being blindfolded, they soon realise they couldn't find their way back.

The colours get steadily more vibrant, and weirder, changing to blues and pinks. Soon enough, they reach the court of Queen Zepha. She is an elven-looking woman, but more so. There is an air of forest about her; she has a set of magnificent horns - antlers, almost - on her head.

Zepha knows nothing about the attack the party alleges to have happened; but they mention Mosswearer's name and that buys them some goodwill. Zepha proposes a trial of their good intention.

She explains a little about the Seelie and Unseelie courts, and how her hunters have captured a beast of the Unseelie - a challenging foe. If the party are true and honest, then they will surely be willing to face it and rid her realm of it, no?

So proof by combat it is. The group is led to another region of the forest, and the fae form a ring around it to spectate and intervene if necessary. Then the beast is released! Snarling and running with an easy grace, a large black cat charges at the party.

(It's a Displacer Beast, but uprated to CR 6 because it deserves to be scarier! https://www.reddit.com/r/monsteraday/comments/m684t3/displacer_beast_revised_because_our_favorite/)

Leaping easily into a tree, the beast proves extremely hard to hit. None of the party are quite sure where it is! Then, leaping a wide chasm it knocks Kithri to the ground and nearly finishes her with vicious swipes!

And so combat progresses - a good long one, too, as kitty is really very hard to significantly damage! They soon learn that if they can land just one blow, then subsequent ones are a bit easier for a while; but the first blow is not easy to land!

And on top of that, spells that should damage it without needing to hit it exactly _also_ seem to slide off more than you would expect!

However, the party is not without defences of their own: none of the Beast's grapples stick, and Nemeia is getting quite familiar with Shield.

Eventually, with everyone battered and bruised but still standing, Igensi lands the killing blow, slicing its head clean off. The watching fae, who have been following along enthusiastically, cheer. Zepha calls that they have proven themselves, and she will hear them...

...tomorrow. For now night is falling, and there should be a feast to celebrate such a battle.

And there we stop too, and I... need to work out exactly what happens next!

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/chowlett09/MNOLFsM

Ok! Session writeups #dnd. Let's see what I can remember.

#dmcdnd first - a little bit more Frozen Sick from EGtW.
https://twitter.com/chowlett09/status/1596924116707069952

The party presses onwards, through the door into the chamber from whence the animated suits of armour came. It looks like a forge of some kind, long-cold. A stone worktable has collapsed, and a pair of boots protrudes from underneath.

Giddy's familiar reports that the feet are _twitching_.

The party starts clearing rubble off the trapped owner of the feet, despite Rory wondering whether it might be a zombie.

As soon as it's cleared off, the centuries-old form of the old blacksmith shambles to its feet! Surprise! It _was_ a zombie!

Fortunately, the group is pretty hardy by now, and the blacksmith goes down easily. Thokk finds a set of mithril tools in its apron - now twisted beyond usefulness, but still valuable for the material.

Pressing on, they enter a corridor which slopes down away from them. A door on their right is locked; Giddy's familiar crawls through a crack and reports a room full of shattered weaponry. The party moves on.

On the left, another door with a large red X painted across it. Sounds of banging and crashing emanate from within. Once again, Spin pops in for a closer look - a humanoid golem, wounded and with bones protruding all over, is thrashing around.

They skip that room, too.

At the end of the corridor, on the right, another door; but Spin can't find a crack to creep through. On the left, Spin reports a room with shards of glass on the floor, which slopes under the water level.

The party enter, hopeful that the glass may be from vials of cure.

The glass on the ground does indeed look like shattered vials, but nothing remains inside them. However, they can spot a chest set into the floor, submerged in the water.

Thokk tosses a stone into the water, and thence issue four snakes!

Fighting them, and anything that comes after, will be a job for next time.

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/chowlett09/KNDPb7t

Wow, it's taking me longer to get around to writing these. It's #dmcdnd time! Or it was, _last_ Friday. The party's dungeon-crawling in Frozen Sick from EGtW. Let's #dnd!

Mind you, this can be a pretty short summary, because there was combat! And a round-by-round is probably not massively necessary.

So - three animated suits of armour (one looking a little worse for the passing aeons) have arrived and look menacing. The two ice mephits the party had talked to on the way in quickly slip back out the main entrance.

Lacking in intelligence, the armours just attack whoever is closest. This is usually Rory - who tanks effectively - and Rrekk, who can absorb a fair amount of damage.

In return, Rory whacks them with his big hammer, and electrocutes two of them in retaliation when they manage to beat his chain mail.

Rrekk cuts at them with double shortswords, hitting with reasonable regularity. Giddy, vision aided by her spider familiar, pops around an obscuring door and lands a few crossbow bolts. Thokk stands back and places accurate arrows into critical joints.

It doesn't take long before the three suits have crumpled onto the floor. Only slightly winded, the party examines the second room of the complex. It contains a few already-looted chests, and a few sets of boot prints.

Despite the confusion, Rory is able to discern that a dwarf and a human came, stood by the chests, then left again when three sets of heavy boots arrived from the south. Looks like Urgon and Orvo, fleeing when the armours arrived to chase them off.

Session end! Scheduling is a little trickier in the festive season, so look out for the next thrilling instalment in a couple of weeks.

Oh! #dmcdnd! I totally forgot to write up last Friday's #dnd session. Which, of course, follows on from here, and is still running Frozen Sick from EGtW.

https://twitter.com/chowlett09/status/1580192486768619520?s=20&t=68TCXXgCUPbnAZ8j_KHLXg

Morning dawns of the party's third day on the ice. Jotan, the lost mage who camped with them overnight having been separated from his group, expresses his thanks once again.

In gratitude, he offers them a small artifact from his dig - a monocle-like object with a blue glass lens. He had discovered it was magical, but had not been able to discern its purpose yet.

The party immediately start looking through it, and a series of *terrible* Perception rolls follows. They all sweep the horizon with it, and see nothing but the flat ice tinged blue, and the sun dazzling them.

Rory and Thokk study the item, but learn nothing much from its construction - which is intricate and defies logic in how the brass ring holds the glass in place with wires passing through the glass.

Finally, Thokk takes their turn to look at the snow - but as they lower the lens, they catch a glimpse of Jotan's cloak, which has writing around the hem that Thokk hadn't noticed before.

It appears to be a prayer to Mystra - and removing the lens, Thokk realises it was there all along, but in *Elvish*, which they can't read. A little more experimentation, and they conclude that the item interprets written language for the viewer.

So on to Salsvault! Finding it proves tricky, as the frozen wastes are slowly swallowing it, and it takes most of the day before Thokk spots the Ice Mephit tracks Orvo spoke of. Following them, they finally reach the door of Salsvault.

The door - with SALSVAULT written above the top in Draconic - is firmly closed and frozen shut; and Thokk also notices two mephits sitting motionless and well-hidden above the door. Some banter is indulged in: the party concludes the Mephits are unhelpful at best, evil at worst.

Rrekk fails to force the door open. Giddy sends her familiar spider Spin through a tiny crack to check out inside. In what turned out to be a surprisingly adorable voice, Spin reports a dark square room, with something written on the far wall, but no lock evident on the door.

After using a torch to melt some of the ice off, Rory attempts to yank the door open, and succeeds. The party enters - magical torches immediately light and the mephits follow them in.

Using the lens, Thokk reports that the inscription on the far wall reads "Welcome to Salsvault! Visitors, please wait here for an escort, and DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING WITHOUT PERMISSION."

As they dutifully stand and wait (!) and discuss the sign, noises approach from behind one of the closed doors to the south. The door swings open, revealing two...

...three! walking suits of armour, not looking very welcoming!

Just before initiative is rolled, we end the session. They made it to Salsvault, people!

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