Session 30: Demon of Barerun Report

General Summary

We begin our session continuing with the combat we ended in, the party fighting the minions of Gula, The Demon of Barerun that guard the entrance to the cave he calls his lair.

• As Asog was able to attend this weeks session, an addition Carrion Ogre and Flameskull sentry were added to the fight for balance purposes.

Fight Highlights

• Icarus and Asog quickly dispatched the remaining Carrion Ogres, but Icarus struggled to deal with the firepower of multiple flameskulls targeting over several rounds of combat.
  • It turns out that Icarus (Ryan) was struggling because he was using his under-levelled, low-hp (Turns out he was doing his HP wrong for a while before we realised when we switched to the 5.5e/2024 version of the classes) 5e version character sheet of his character instead of the updated one. This caused a bit of humour, disbelief and mild stress at the party when it came to light.

• Asog defeated some Ghouls before running over to aid icarus finish off the Carrion Ogres. However, during that he took significant damage from the flaming spheres summoned by all three Flameskulls. After he got low in HP, he ran away from the spheres, and helped Darnalore deal with the last of the Ghouls.

• Zolv misty stepped out of the entanglement magic that was summoned last session due to the wild magic surge by casting a spell through his companion Pipps. From his new position he engaged in a magic duel with one of the flameskulls.

• With Ophellia still restrained by the entanglement magic from the wild magic surge last session, Ophellia didn't move at all during this fight. Instead, supporting any allies within range. Eventually most of the party left that range, so she instead helped Zolv fight one of the Flameskulls that were targeting him.
  • Things looked a little sketchy as the three Flaming Sphere's that the Flameskulls summoned began to trundle their way over to Ophellia while she was restrained. However, only one ever dealt damage to her before the flameskulls were either defeated or forced to lose their concentration on the spheres.
  • Ophellia managed to spell duel the 3rd Flameskull to prevent its fireball spell from causing any damage to the party.

• Darnalore's fight took a nasty turn after a Ghoul shoved her off a cliff, allowing the three that were failing to scale the cliff to attack her. She was paralyzed and prone for a while, but thanks to Ophellia's sanctuary spell, Darnalore was relative unharmed in comparsion to what would have happened without it.

The fight ended with the victory for the party, however they were all fairly hurt by the powerful magic of the Flameskulls more than anything else. However, they weren't willing to risk a short rest before charging into the Demons Lair, instead using magic and items to heal up as best they could before hand.  

Gula, the Demon of Barerun Encounter

Decided to charge right in, combat began immediately. Gula immediately summoned two undead monstrosities, made entirely of fused flesh and weapons. That along with his two remaining Carrion Ogre minions created a meat shield the party would have to get through to engage Gula in combat.

Fight Highlights

• Darnalore opened the fight by making the 1st Living Weapn Vulnerable to damage (only the next instance of damage), which resulted in Asog utilising it to deal 80 points of damage in a single blow.
  • After that, shewas almost immediately dropped to 0 HP after one of Gula's living weapons struck her with a series of nasty blows. However, she immediately rallied and fully healed herself.

• Icarus cast haste on himself and then went to town pulverising Gula's minions.

• Zolv struck Gula, a carrion Ogre, a living weapon and Ophellia with a Lightning Bolt Spell (He used careful spell meta magic to ensure that Ophellia took 0 damage)

• After being struck by Zolv's lightning bolt, Gula decided to get involved in the fight. Orginially he was just going to let his minions deal with the intruders.
  • He immediately cast Dominate Person on Icarus, and force him to turn on his allies. Icarus attack Asog, however was unable to land a single blow due to Asog's impentrable defence.
  • Later, he used his powerful enchantment magic to charm most of the party (only Ophellia was able to resist the effect). This prevent Icarus, who had finally made his way up to him, from attacking Gula. Zolv solved this problem for most of the party by casting Calm Emotions to remove the Charm effect.

• Asog dealt massive amounts of damage to the carrion ogres and Living Weapons of Gula.
  • Asog was seriously injured during the combat, as he was reduced to 0 HP and then suffered 4 levels of exhaustion before being healed.

• Ophellia stayed strong during the entire fight. Casting Spirit Guardians to deal significant damage to Gula's minions, and then using her channel divinity to not only read Gula's mind, but to also cast a suggestion to him, forcing him to run laps around the cave for a bit while they rallied and healed up a bit before resuming the fight. (He ran around the room for a full minute before the suggestion wore off)

Eventually, with his minions dead and having to deal with the now healed party, Gula was eventually defeated. He attempted to negotiate with them near the end, but the request fell on mostly deaf ears, with Darnalore finishing him off with a well place Guiding Bolt.  

The Aftermath of the Fight

With Gula dead, his corpse having collapsed after black ichor flowed from every orifice of his body, the party take a breath to revel in the victory.

• Ophellia found a book made of flesh, that belonged to Gula. Inside the book are powerful dark magics, but the party are unable to read the Abysaal writing within to determine their purpose.

Messing with Demonic Ichor

After the fight, through accidents, intentional poisonings (Ophellia told Icarus to drink the stuff without telling him what it was - that caused an allignment change) and intentional corruptions, a number of the party, and their familars have been corrupted by the demonic blood of Gula's corpse.

Asog

Asog was attempting to cut off Gula's head as a trophy, but due to a terrible skill check ended up getting some of the demons blood in his mouth. (He got a -1 on a survival check)

• His skin/scaled have become scabby and disgusting. He has gained +1 to his AC, but a -2 to his Charisma Score.

After seeing what happend to Icarus and Kitty, Asog decided to take his chances and see what would happen to him if he touched the blood again.

• His eyes have become pitch black orbs of darkness. He has Darkvision out to 120 feet.

Icarus

After Ophellia told him to drink some ichor, and him deciding not to ask why or what it was. (Ophellia's allignment went from Lawful Good to Lawful Neutral for this act)

• Icarus suddenly sprouted a pair of leathery bat wings. He now has a flying speed of 30 feet.

Kitty - Ophellia's Familiar

• After touching the demon blood, Kitty's ears ripped themselves off her head and then ran out of the cave. Kitty is permanately Deafened

Pipps - Zolv's Best Buddy

Pipps was talked into touching the demon blood after all the other transformation had occured, mostly because Zolv thought it would be cool.

• Pipps had his legs and arms swap places. Kinda gross.