Session 16: Stony Mansion Blues
"Welcome to my humble abode. Oh, beware the guard dog."The heavy footsteps get closer and closer, and a massive pachyderm with a large horn steps into the clearing.
DM: There's a giant rhino trying to kill you, Sartorii you're up first.
Sartorii jumps into a tree!
She fires at the rhino from her perch.
One arrow bounces off its thick hide, and the other sails wide.
Egoron approaches the rhino, swings his axe, and misses magnificently!
Sartorii remarks, "What kind of rhino is this?!"
"Just a little number I stole from the Sha down south," responds the voice from the sky. "They breed them as guards down there."
Xalvador joins Sartorii in the bushes, fires his crossbow, and misses marginally!
Susanna sidle forth, casts Harm, and nets first rhino blood!
Rutana whips out the esoteric knowledge and informs the party that yeah you can just kill it, no real weaknesses or resistances.
And then it's Arwel's turn to step up, cast Harm, and the rhino crit resists! Nice try, Arwel.
Susanna gives Arwel the good ol' Nelson Simpsons bully laugh.
The Sprite pops Mage Armor, gaining +1 AC until the next morning. Rhinos scary!
Alin follows Xalvador's lead by firing her crossbow and missing.
The rhino strikes back and sends Egoron ragdolling several tiles back.
Clarence steps up beside Arwel and raises his shield, protecting her as a Devoted Guardian.
Sartorii stealthily fires a couple more arrows at the rhino, nailing it for three damage.
Xalvador continues peppering the ground around the rhino with arrows, practicing his exterior decorating skills.
Susanna adds four more damage to the Harm pile!
Rutana joins Clarence and Arwel at the rhino's side, but trips over her sword and pulls the rhino's full attention.
Arwel very helpfully also trips over his sword and takes the rhino's full attention off of Rutana.
(DM: "Why is this CR 4 WHY IS THIS CR 4")
The Sprite scooches a bit closer and produces a lovely gout of flame, barely singing the hairs of its horn.
Alin fires a volley of Magic Missiles at the rhino, dealing more damage in one roll than everyone else's put together.
The rhino tramples over most of the party, including the guy dying on the ground.
Clarence lays hands on Arwel, who goes from Pancake to Oh I'm Fine. Arwel gazes at Clarence in awe and jealousy; here he is in the stereotypical paladin fit but the cat's out here doing better than he is!
Clarence then steps back in front of the rhino and raises his shield to guard the Sprite.
Some magical Dimensional Man shakes the box from the outside, shifting everyone to the right one square in case they want to flank the rhino.
Sartorii flaps over to the other side of the rhino and stabs at it, dealing as much damage as Alin had with her Magic Missile.
Scared Xalvador steps out of the bushes and sticks the rhino with 9 more damage.
Susana joins the party with another 6 damage.
Rutana circles around to the other side of the rhino and skewers it on her short sword, bringing the fight to an end with a crit.
As soon as it hits the ground, a despaired warbling resounds from the distance, "Puppy nooo!"
Egoron is still dying on the ground. Sartorii and the Sprite gather round; the Sprite stabilizes him, so he's no longer bleeding out. Rutana then treats his wounds.
After a minute, Egoron sits up with a gasp, and an "Egoron Will Remember This" pops up in the corner of the party's vision. He nods stoically, then rejoins his own group.
Xalvador looks over his group, then addresses the party. "It is becoming increasingly obvious, I believe, that your reputation is not unearned. We will defer to you."
Rutana takes charge of issuing their commands.
Clarence lays hands on the sprite before the party continues.
Sartorii inspects the mansion door.
The door is large, covered in swirling designs that look like one could fall into them. But, she sees no traps. it is only an art piece.
She tries the door handle, and it jingles but does not budge. She sighs, trudges over to the rhino, and yanks a key off its neck.
DM: You are positive there is nothing inside.
DM: There is nothing inside.
As the party enters, the door slams shut behind them.
Laughter echoes within the foyer.
"Please, explore at your leisure. For all you know we have all of eternity to get to each other."
There is a steady banging coming from behind a door to the right of the entry, next to a stairwell.
The Sprite knocks on the door. The banging gets more fervent.
Sartorii opens the door about six inches. Fingers curl around the side of the door; it then slams shut violently, severing four of the fingers. The fingers fall to the floor.
Human, could be elven, nicely-manicured nails.
The knocking stops.
Sartorii tries the door again, but it's being held shut.
Everyone steps back, and Clarence tries pulling the door while the clerics chant "Pull! Pull! Pull! Pull!"
He succeeds in bending the handle.
The Sprite tries calling through the door to ask who's there.
No one answers.
Egoron hands Sartorii a crowbar.
("What's the worst that can happen?")
Sartorii pops the door open to find an empty storage room.
"You lost your fingies! I think you dropped these!"
The fingies desolve into dust.
Within the storage room, Sartorii finds a skull with a funny symbol on the forehead.
Clarence identifies it as the crescent of the waxing moon. This symbol is used in rituals!
Arwel in the background comments how the party is all so worldly.
The party stacks up around the next door, left of the entrance. Sartorii opens the next door.
It's a little 15x20 foot sitting room with comfortable chairs, quality material, engraved wood, a shy coffee table that's not displaying on the map. A glass decanter with a glowing violet liquid rests upon the table.
It does not seem like a potion, but it's more akin to holy water. It has been blessed, somehow. And there's 20 ounces of it!
Sartorii sniffs the glowing purple juice, then dabs a bit on her skin.
As it touches her skin, she is limned in a glowing purple flame; it does not hurt, but it does make her significantly less sneaky. The single drop fades quickly.
(20 doses of a fairy fire potion. The effect lasts for one minute.)
Sartorii stashes the decanter in the bag of holding, which is in Rutana's care. Rutana has the bag of holding. It is definitely in Rutana's inventory.
Sartorii moves on to the next door, which opens into a dining room.
A long finely crafted dining table dominates the centre of the room. Sitting in each of the eight chairs around the table are skeletal remains dressed in fine attire. Shockingly the head of each dinner guest is missing. Set out in front of each skeleton is a large plate with a dome cover. The table is also adorned with fine cutlery and two silver candelabras. On the south wall is a large painting of the full moon.
Sartorii lifts the dome of one of the plates.
It is......empty!
She and the Sprite take turns opening the rest. All empty except for the very last one....
The arcane symbol for the third-quarter moon.
Long table benches run the length
Laid out with metal platters
Long-since spoiled
Blanket of mold and dust
A dozen large statues of rats are around the room.
This 20’ x 20’ area has two long tables with benches that run the length of the room. At one point the tables were laid out with platters of meat, vegetables, cheese, fruit and bread but it has long since spoiled. Now a blanket of mold and dust covers the former feast. Someone appears to have gone through the trouble of setting up a dozen larger than life stone statures of rats throughout the room. Three are set up amidst the moldy food on the tabletops, one is on the bench perched on his hind legs and the final two are set up on the floor under the tables.
As the party walks into the room, they are asked to each roll 1d20.
The DM laughs.
There is a flash of light so quick that it could have been missed had anyone blinked.
Nothing happens otherwise.
Sartorii perceives the room. The statues appear to be true-to-life statues of scavenging rats. They are very intricate, very accurate, save for the slightly larger-than-life size.
There is one incredibly lifelike statue of a tiny mosquito.
With another flash, Sartorii is turned to stone and all but one of the rats un-petrify.
One rat approaches Clarence and snaps angrily at his ankles, dealing seven damage and a fortitude save that Clarence passes with ease.
Rutana steps past Clarence, yanking some of his fur on the way to stick to her sword. She impales the rat that had bitten Clarence.
A secret rat in the corner takes a chunk out of Rutana's ankle as revenge for its fallen comrat. It crits for less than Clarence took from normal-ass bite. Rutana passes her fortitude save with flying colors.
Clarence then climbs on the bench and claws at a rat; he crit-misses, and realizes the wobbly bench is now difficult terrain.
The rats surround Clarence and pile a total of 18 Rat Damage on him, plus three more fortitude saves. He saves two, and one crit fails.
(DM: Why are these god rats they're just -1s why are they hitting like gods)
The rats take a second pass, and Clarence takes another 13 damage. He falls unconscious amidst the swarm.
The Sprite fires an Electric Arc at the two topmost rats, singing them a bit.
Another flash. Rutana turns to stone, as does one rat.
One of the remaining rats bites at the Sprite for 1 damage.
The other rats gather around the door, one more squeezing 9 more damage in.
The Sprite fires a Magic Missile at each of the living rats, splatting them all.
Another flash. Clarence petrifies.
The Sprite backs away. The flashing stops.
The Sprite then calls in their allies; he instructs Xalvador to step into the room, grab the petrified rat, and escape.
Xalvador made it out with rat statue.
The light flashes again; Sartorii and Rutana unpetrify to see three rats splattered across the ground, with the Sprite yelling at them to run out.
Eventually they drag Clarence out after he unpetrifies, and Xalvador drags him out too.
Sartorii applies first aid and heals Clarence by 4.
The party waits around for 10 minutes so Clarence could heal himself.
The session ends here, everyone resting around the spooky table.
(Clarence: Clarence just keeps going down, couldn't pee in the fountain, taken down by rats...)