Session 35 - Dem Bones, Dem Bones
15th Oct 2021 - 19:45 - 11:00
In-game timeline: Start of session: 1489DR Uktar 03. End of session: 1489DR Uktar 04
Our "Heroes" are desperate to rest a while to recover some health and abilities after a couple of quite tough battles against strange, crystal skeletons. Unfortunately they had forgotten about the three skeletons that were forced to run away by Karoshi's Channel Divinity ability. As the group settle to meditate and recover for a while, they fail to spot the three crystal undead running towards them over a nearby dune and before they can gather their thoughts, the creatures are upon them!
The first skeleton luckily misses Iwee, and Jaxii responds to the creatures' sudden appearance by smashing one with her mace, and then following up by crushing its red crystal heart. Karoshi is not so lucky, having once again been very slow to react. The undead facing him cuts the paladin with its shortsword, but Karoshi responds with his Hellish Rebuke reaction to kill the skeleton before it can do more harm… for now.
Iwee tries to destroy 'her' skeleton before it gets another chance to attack her, but her Vicious Mockery, despite hitting, does minimal damage. Derrick, having no skeleton to hit, can't be bothered to run towards Iwee and help her, and stands watch in case more skeletons emerge (though as he is holding a melee weapon, they'd have to emerge right next to him for his prepared action to be any use!).
Karoshi quickly grabs the heart of the collapsed skeleton in front of him before it can rise again, while the remaining skeleton scores a hit on Iwee. Both Jaxii and Sully, putting Derrick to shame, run over to help Iwee out, but miss on their attacks. Iwee makes up for their misses by managing to take the skeleton down with her rapier, though both Jaxii and Sully suffer from the exploding shards as the skeleton drops. Derrick once again stays exactly where he is, forcing Karoshi to rush over to remove the crystal heart before the skeleton can rise again.
With the three skeletons taken care of, the party decide it is safe enough to rest for an hour, which they manage with no adverse effects.
Our intrepid "Heroes" are stumped as to which way to go, so just head north, hoping to get out of the dangerous dunes before they meet more undead. Unfortunately as they head out into more dunes, they spot three large clouds of dust in the distance, moving rapidly towards them!
The closest two seem to be groups of crystal skeletons all rushing together in two swarms. Quickly, Iwee conjures up an illusion of another group of bones, hoping that it will distract the rapidly advancing bone swarms. Unfortunately it doesn't. Jaxii throws a couple of javelins and manages to pierce one of the swarms. She then goes into a rage to prepare for the onslaught!
With Derrick missing with his handaxe ranged attacks, Karoshi manages to force both skeletal swarms to run away with another use of his Channel Divinity. With both of the swarms now running away, the group focus on the third cloud rushing towards them, which turns out to be a strange conglomeration of bones, clattering together in a skeletal juggernaut.
Karoshi decides to sacrifice Sully in an attempt to give them more time, and the giant lizard runs forward to meet the crowd of bones, which smashes into him, reducing him to 0hp and sending the lizard back into the celestial plane from whence he came. Meanwhile Iwee manages to surround the creature in a glowing light with Faerie Fire, making it an easier target for the others.
With the enemy out of reach, and being out of ranged weapons, Jaxii's rage is about to drop. She has to take drastic action to maintain her raging and decides to make an unarmed strike on Derrick! Luckily for him she misses, but her rage continues.
Our "Heroes" go all in on the skeletal juggernaut. It manages to do more damage to Derrick, but with its glowing form proving easier to hit, and with an on-form Derrick managing to hit four times in a row using his action surge, it didn't stand much of a chance. Once downed, the party try to grab all the crystal hearts contained within it, but three skeletons manage to emerge and get hits on Karoshi before they two are taken down, and the group manage to recover or destroy all the crystal hearts.
Iwee, with 5 red crystal hearts in her hand, spends some time attaching them to her bagpipes to give it some bling.
Remembering that two swarms of skeletons are still at large, the group remain prepared, and Karoshi heals Derrick in advance of their appearance.
And appear they do, rushing towards the party and attacking from two sides. Once again Derrick bears the brunt of the attack, taking significant damage in a couple of strong hits from the creatures, but in return the group pepper the two swarms with blows and significant damage comes from Karoshi with an impressive hammer attack, reinforced with a Divine Smite. In the end both swarms are taken down by Iwee and Jaxii before they can bring down any of the party members.
Once again battered and bruised from a tough battle, the group are getting close to the end of the dunes, and they press on north-west, hoping to escape before meeting any more crystal creatures. Luckily this time they manage it, emerging from the dunes in late evening without encountering any more creatures.
They spot to their right a large, red rock at the edge of the dunes and wonder if this is the rock referred to in the note they obtained from the dead halfling on the beach. They contemplate trying to follow the instructions on the note, hoping that it will lead to some buried treasure or similar, but decide against it when they realise that it will take them back into the dangerous dunes.
Instead, the party head for the wooded area to the west, reaching it just as it gets dark. Iwee climbs a tree and spots a light, possibly a fire, within the middle of the wood. The group decide that in their battered state it would not be a good idea to attempt to reach whatever is around that light, and they choose instead to rest.
Not wanting to light a fire, and with them all needing a long rest, they take the "bold" decision to rest without leaving a watch. They settle down to a cold and uncomfortable night's rest.
They awake the following morning, mildly refreshed, only to find that all their weapons and much of their valuables, including their healing potions, have been taken while they slept. Sitting on a rock at the edge of the camp is a good-looking, if somewhat grubby, human male, sharpening his scimitar and watching them as they awake…