Figured somebody would enjoy reading this here. Names have been changed enough to protect the innocent.
Dylan- Vactor, a drow rogue/magus
Nathan- Peregrine, an Asimaar paladin/oracle
Oshalor- Gregg and Mr. Scoots, A paraplegic dwarf ranger/barbarian, that rides a diabetic bear.
Nicola- Lilith, A human ranger/cleric
Jon- Nibo, A goblin gunslinger/sniper rogue
Locke- Oathis, a half-elf monk/aberration bloodline sorcerer
Wayne- the all powerful and knowing Dungeon Master
Tossing the Dice
It was a strange symbol etched into the ground. Partially obscured in mud, Vactor had nearly missed it. Why would the entrance to the sewers be warded? Was it to keep people out, or to trap something within? He hoped it wasn’t the latter because that would mean his scouting of the area was probably going to get him in trouble. Just like the evening he checked out the Rat Catcher’s guild only to find everyone in it murdered...
“Well, what are you going to do?” The Dungeon Master lazily inquired behind his screen of secrecy. His laptop lighting up his face making the plastered grin almost sinister.
“Can I use spellcraft to figure out what the ward does?” Dylan asks. A twenty sided die pinched between his forefinger and thumb.
“Are you just going to look at it or are you going to try to remove the mud?” The DM asks in an amused tone.
“I’ll just look for now.” After rolling his die and doing some calculations,”that would be a twenty-four.”
Wayne casually looks at his laptop screen,” You know that the ward is very complex but what you see of it only tells you it is a warning system for whomever created it.”
Dylan pauses to think for a few seconds,” then I’m going to clean the mud and hopefully not trigger it.”
Leaning forward the DM says in a low, rasping voice, “Then roll.”
Using his masterwork Thief kit, Vactor slowly clears the sewer entrance of mud and refuse. He uncovers more wards on the sides of the wall and two on the ceiling. Careful not to touch them, Vactor looks deep into the essence of the web of wards...
Dylan makes eye contact with the Dungeon Master, “I’m going to make a knowledge: arcana and disable device roll.”
“Go for it,” Wayne smirks.
The wards are more complex than Vactor could have imagined on a simple world like this. They did not originate here and were a telling sign that him and his team were close to their quarry. He could see that these wards not only created a web amongst themselves but were tied to others, creating a circuit of magic. With no discernable way to disable the wards, Vactor gathers a few stones the size of his fist and decides he wants to throw it across the entryway.
Moving to the mouth of the alley, Vactor makes sure no one is around to investigate just incase the wards ignite. He now notices that the area is devoid of any life. Red flags go off in his head but he feels the need to finish his current objective and get back to the team with his findings.
Finding a good angle, Vactor throws one of the stones. A piercing scream knocks him to his back as a dark figure steps out of the entrance of the sewer.
“And?!?” Dylan shouts with indignation.
“You’re going to have to wait your turn,” Wayne laughs. “I need to catch the rest of the team up to you.”
The Dungeon Master looks around to the others,” Tell me what you are doing while Dylan’s character scouts out the possible sewer entry point.”
Nathan glances at Wayne, “Okay, my character is in our makeshift stable...”
Peregrine checks his warhorse over again to make sure everything is in order. He is being watched by the little girl that they rescued from the dark ritual that had been held in this very house not two days ago. Realizing that he is retightening a strap that doesn’t need to, Peregrine turns to the girl with a questioning look.
She sat on the kitchen counter kicking her little feet, eating an apple, and humming a small tune. But while her mannerisms portrayed that of a little girl no older than eight, her eyes burned with knowledge and wisdom far beyond her years. Peregrine realizes that he is staring when she clears her throat and cocks her head to the side in an inquisitive manner.
“I just realized that no one has asked you your name or where you are from.” The Paladin says light heartedly.
“So?” The little girl shrugs her shoulders. “Ain’t no one cared before. I don't see why anyone would now.”
“We’re taking care of you now. We’ll find those people responsible for doing that to you.” Peregrine says, leaning forward to look into her eyes at level.
“I don’t remember much anything except being scared of the men like the guy that was found downstairs.” Her eyes tear up, “Then being nailed to the wall while they used magic on me.”
“Shhhh. Shhhhh. We won’t let that happen again...” Peregrine hugs her as his voice trails off.
“Morghan. Call me Morghan.”
Nathan’s face takes on a look of confusion, “That’s a pretty mundane name. I was going to name her Falcon, you know, since she didn’t remember anything.”
“Okay then, we’ll just go with that. I kinda pulled that one out of my ass anyways. Didn’t expect you to keep her with you. But I’ll improvise. That’s what I do.” Wayne scratches his head in thought, “Now what about the rest of you.”
The Harwuda siblings and Jon look at eachother before all talking at once.
“I’m just sitting on Scoots waiting to go.” shrugs Oshalor.
“And I’m ready for the signal!” exclaims Nicola.
“I guess I’m trying to figure out if this robot is friendly or not,” Jon grumbles.
The Dungeon Master holds his hands up, “Woah! One at a time. Jon, you first. Wait, all of you, roll perception checks.”
The dice all roll in the middle of the table map. Wayne does a few calculations in his head then looks at Oshalor. “Roll for Scoots too. You can roll both perception and survival since he is a bear and all.” The final die rolls across the table and stops behind the Dungeon Master Screen.
Wayne leans over the table to see what was on the face of the die, then looks up at the group. In his best Dungeon Master’s voice he rasps, “Prepare yourselves for battle!”
The only warning anybody got was Scoot the Bear’s growling towards the front door before two writhing masses of flesh burst through the front wall. The undulating flesh not holding one solid form like they could not make up their minds. Mouths, eyes, teeth, claws, appendages, and other orifices appear and disappear at random intervals throughout the creature’s bodies. The team moves in and attacks before the creatures of nightmare could react.
The little green goblin, Nibo, takes aim at the one on the left with his rifle and expels all six shots in the blink of an eye. The fiery beams burn a hole clean through the monster and dismember a tentacle that was readying to swipe at Scoots the Bear. As he reloads the reprogrammed robot stands in front of Nibo to give him some protection.
Gregg, the incredibly ugly and smelly dwarf, charges the creature on the right while riding his bear Scoots. Roaring with mindless fury, he almost seems to lose himself as he uses his rage to pummel into the monster. His magical axe, Furyborn, cleaving it in two. In response, both halves attack and grab him, attempting to pull him apart.
“I’m going to make a knowledge check to figure out what these things are.” Nicola states as she surveys the battle.
“Go for it,” Wayne says as he is writing something down behind his Dungeon Master’s screen of secrecy. He folds the note up and hands it to Dylan. “Don’t let anyone else see that yet.”
Opening up the letter Dylan raises an eyebrow at the DM. “Are you sure you want me to do this?”
“Yes. Complete it however you want I just want that as the end result. Now Nicola, what did you roll.”
“A sixteen.”
“Well, good enough for the basics. This is a Shulgolth. It is a creature of evil and chaos. They scour the dimensional planes destroying life when they find it. It is also a shapeshifter, to the point that its mass will always stay the same if not its shape. Unless the thing consumes a sentient being and adds it to... itself.”
“Do I know how to harm it?” Nicola asks.
“Fire and Light do permanent damage to it. Everything else is just superficial. Anyone else going to do anything?”
Nathan perks up, “Yes and here is what I’m going to do...”
Light bursts from the makeshift stable that was once a kitchen. Peregrine throws open the doorway and charges the nearest creature as Lilith shoots an arrow at one of the Shulgoth’s holding Gregg. When his divine light touches the creatures they start burning, but they don’t shy away. Instead they turn their focus upon the Paladin.
Yelling a command in an unknown language, Peregrine’s shield and sword light up in flame. Stepping up with to the largest of the Shulgoth’s, he bashes it with his shield blackening its flesh and causing the thing’s many mouths to scream in pain. Before it can react, Peregrine stabs his flaming sun sword into the fleshy mass’s center and the Shulgoth explodes, sending flaming pieces of goo all around the room.
“AWWW, YEAH! Critical hit!” Nathan excitedly jumps out of his seat, throwing his fists up in the air in victory. “I used all my most powerful spells right there!”
Wayne frowns at the computer screen in front of him. “Damn...” He purses his lips in thought, tapping his right forefinger on them. “Well, you left your ally alone. Oshalor, roll a strength check for me. Actually, roll four of them.”
Grimacing, Oshalor tosses his dice on the table. “Umm... Let’s see... That would be a twenty-three, a fourteen, an eighteen, and a twenty-seven.” He looks at Wayne expectantly.
“Ouch, I’m sorry man.” The Dungeon Master holds up his four-side die. “One for the right leg, two for the left leg, three for the right arm, and four for the left arm. That fourteen didn’t pass the difficulty check.” He casually tosses the die on the table.
“That’s when my rogue leaps through one of the openings in the front wall of the house.” Dylan interrupts. “I’m going to use one arcane point and put flaming on my short sword. I attack the one on Gregg’s right.”
“Let us continue the fight, shall we?” Wayne says with a smile, looking at where the four sided die stopped.
As the large Shulgoth crumbles into ash, Peregrine turns around to see Gregg’s right arm get ripped off and consumed while a shadowy figure leaps from the darkness to skewer the offending beast. The shadow then dashes to the other half of the monster to prevent any further damage. As he gets there two arrows streak from across the room and bury themselves into the Shulgoth, causing its many mouths to echo its pain. Before Peregrine or the shadow, revealing itself to be Vactor, can do anything, a beam of fire burns the creature to cinders but also causing Gregg to catch on fire.
With no more enemies to be killed, Lilith runs to Gregg and casts a healing spell. She stops the blood loss but his arm is permanently gone unless they can find a priest of sufficient power. Which will not be on this world. She sighs as she wonders aloud if they’ll be able to complete the task set before them.
Vactor’s magical mask dissolves as he starts speaking, “I’ve got some good news and some bad news everyone. I have confirmed that our target, Leviathan, has an agent or even himself hidden in the sewers. The bad news is that whatever is down there, has Oathis under mind control guarding it.”
“What the FUCK Wayne?!” Nicola gasps, planting her hands on the table and leaning towards the Dungeon Master. “Does Locke know that you’re using her character like that while she is away for work?”
“Yeah she was in on it the whole time. Don’t worry I have this all figured out. It’s my duty to improvise and she still wants to play when she gets back. Locke also really likes this character so I figured I would keep her in the story till then.” Wayne shrugs as he closes his laptop. “Besides, did you think I wouldn’t throw in a few twists for you guys?”
“I’m going to kill her,” Jon states matter-of-factly. “Nibo doesn’t like her.”
“You’re going to have to do it next time then,” Wayne looks at his watch. “I need to get up early if nobody minds us calling it for the night.”
“But... But... My arm!” Oshalor cries.
“You’ll think of something,” Nicola says as she goes to sit next to her brother.
“Crap like this always happens to me.” He interjects.
“Aww, poor baby. Stop charging into combat then.” Nicola ruffles his hair.
Picking his backpack and maps up, Wayne heads for the door. “Good night everyone, I’ll see you all next week.”
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