Session 84 - Plans A-E Failed. Plan F, Which Was Unplanned, Worked!

8th December 2023

In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 17. End of session: 1490DR Ches 17

Our "Heroes" consider their options. They don't have many. At least on dragon stands (or swims) between them and their goal - Kardreth, the Intricate Web. They are all already damaged from the dragon's acidic breath weapon and would struggle to survive another such attack. The dragon seems uncaring of their plight, and seems happy to wipe them out without even a discussion.

And so Derrick walks up to the edge of the lake and tries to talk to the creature.

The black dragon offers a choice - the party could either offer all their items, weapons and armour, and then leave, or they can die. Their choice.

Derrick decides it would be a good idea to ask about some treasure they are looking for. The dragon seems unimpressed, and even jumps to the natural conclusion that the group have come to rob him of his treasure. Derrick does not take the hint and doubles down on his talking of treasure.

The dragon decides to end the conversation with a jet of acid. Derrick manages to dodge the worst of it but still takes significant damage. This annoys, rather than scares, the "brave" fighter and he switches tack of his conversation to instead insult the dragon - calling him a "newt".

All avenues of diplomacy now ruled out by this approach, the group spread out and prepare to attack the dragon when he next emerges from the lake. Iwee meanwhile, unbeknownst to the rest of the group, goes invisible and takes the last pinch of pixie dust to fly over the lake.

It takes a little while for the party to realise Iwee is no longer with them. Derrick continues to goad the dragon, perhaps making matters worse by throwing javelins at it and dealing the creature some damage. The dragon submerges out of sight.

With more sarcasm from Derrick, the dragon decides not to wait for its breath weapon to recharge, but instead to leap out of the water and attack Derrick. This allows Derrick and Jaxii to unleash their prepared actions, Jaxii doing more damage to the dragon, but Derrick receiving some vicious bite and claw attacks that take the fighter down and Derrick falls unconscious as the dragon once again slinks back into the lake.

Karoshi needs to run over to Derrick to try to revive him, which he does with a potion. Derrick, now conscious again, decides to stick with the "slag off the dragon" approach, as it has worked so well for him so far. The dragon rises from the waters once more, his breath weapon recharged, and once again shoots acid towards Derrick. The fighter falls to the floor, unconscious once more.

Karoshi, sighing, has to run back to Derrick and revive him once more, using his ever-diminishing healing pool to do so.

The party decide to make a run for it and dash for the broken bridge, though not before the dragon hits Karoshi with its acid breath. As they each leap over the missing middle part of the bridge, Jaxii - at the rear - bears the brunt of the dragon's wrath as it once again leaps from the water next to Jaxii and strikes her with its bite and claws. The barbarian survives, though only just. The dragon once again retreats to the safety of the water and Jaxii jumps over the bridge to rejoin her friends on the far side.

Karoshi spots a strange shadow, seemingly hiding high up against a far wall. He points it out to Derrick who throws a javelin at it, striking the creature.

Iwee, meanwhile, has managed to find the Intricate Web and recover it and return to the group. However, she has let slip to Karoshi that she intends to give the Web to Castellan - she has been charmed by him! The little bard remains invisible, however, so the party is unable to see where she is, but as she slaps Derrick on the back of the head as she passes, they know she is nearby, so decide to just run away from the dragon as fast as they can.

When the group look back towards the strange shadow, it is gone, but Karoshi uses his Divine Sense to detect a shadowy fiend a little further towards the ladder.

Concerned more with the dragon, the group continue to run back towards the ladder, deciding to worry about the fiend later. The dragon gives them a parting shot of more acid towards Karoshi, but the paladin manages to completely dodge the breath weapon this time, luckily. At this point, sensing that the party are fleeing and not wanting to risk further damage from thrown javelins, the dragon retreats back into the lack and does not seem to pursue the group any further… for now.

Worried that the fiend they saw could be Castellan, and knowing that Iwee is charmed by Castellan, the group are keen to find out where their gnomish friend is, and to stop her from giving away their hard-earned relic. Crossing the second bridge, Derrick throws ball-bearings ahead of him and they are able to detect some movement within the ball-bearings which they assume is an invisible Iwee.

First Karoshi, and then Derrick, use their long javelins to try to stab the gnome, hoping to snap her out of her charmed state. They do manage this, though only by causing a decent amount of damage to the little bard. Once she is snapped out of her charm, she dispels the invisibility and berates them for hurting her, but proudly showing them Kardreth, the Intricate Web, that she managed to find on top of a pile of gold on an island in the lake.

Keen to escape the range of the dragon, the group start to climb the ladder, taking care so they do not fall. When they reach about 30 feet up or so, the shadow demon flies in to attack and tries to push Iwee off the ladder! She manages to hold on and retaliates with Slow, and follows up with Dissonant Whispers, forcing the demon away from her. The rest of the group are limited in what they can do, since they are trying to hold on to the ladder.

The demon attacks again, this time managing to push Iwee off the ladder, who falls to the ground 30 feet below, taking significant bludgeoning damage. Jaxii uses her breath weapon on the demon and Derrick, who is at the bottom of the ladder, quickly descends to help Iwee. Nope, strike that, Derrick descends and then casts Protection from Evil on HIMSELF.

Karoshi, above the others, and the demon, pulls off a masterful move. He jumps from the ladder, dropping to the ground below. He manages to grapple the demon on the way down and pulls the fiend to the ground with him. Unfortunately he also catches Jaxii on the way down too, and all three of them land heavily on the floor. Jaxii almost dies, but is still breathing. The demon and Karoshi both take damage - enough to make the demon consider his options, and fly upwards to escape. The party are able to get some hits on it as it flees upwards, but it does escape out of sight before they are able to destroy it.

And so we leave our "Heroes" at the base of a slippery ladder, in a cave containing an angry dragon, with a demon somewhere above, and Castellan potentially waiting for them on the next level…