Session 26: A Journey into a Wyrm Report

General Summary

Session 26 – Wednesday January 18, 2023 – The Wyrm Witch

  4 Hour Role Play/battle session 5:30 PM to 10:00PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 5:

It is the 16th day of the month of Uktar (The Rotting) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Mid November.)

• Abrash – Wood (Dessert) Elf, L5 Druid – Jacob Munson
• Ajani– High Elf, L5 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda (Remote)
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L5 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi (Absent)
• Thomas – Human, L5 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L5 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Cedrik – Human, L5 Bard – Dan King

An old friend.

Thomas gave Ajani the Necklace of Proof against poison and Abrash the Onyx Dog. Abrash recognized the Onyx Dog as a magical item, but they didn’t know the command word to activate the dog. The party rested and Isabella had 1 level of exhaustion (residual from the intelligence potion she consumed.) She woke up very cranky and Abrash offered to find her some breakfast. Abrash went outside and saw about 1” of snow on the ground. He spotted animal tracks very easily and pointed them out to Isabella who went hunting rabbits.

Isabella went out following the tracks and ran into a small, elderly, rather pale looking gnome, searching for his lost rabbit. He introduced himself as Digby and he was looking for his lost rabbit Mr. Floppers. He mentioned Snuffelsnort and Isabella said she had herd of Snuffelsnort from Gazlowe. Digby said, I know Gazlowe! He approached Isabella to give her a hug, but she was just too crabby. Isabella pointed Digby towards the tent where Gazlowe was.

Return of the Bugbears

Isabella continued to follow the rabbit tracks. A bugbear with a familiar slash in his chest walked into Isabella’s path and when he saw her realized that she looked familiar. He pointed and said “You!” Isabella walked past him, saying, “Get out of my way, I’m hungry!” The bugbear swung his mace and missed and Isabella continued to walk away following the tracks in the snow. The bugbear pursued Isabella and slammed his mace into her back. Isabella loudly screamed in rage “That Hurt!” The others in the tent all heard.

The bugbear yelled out “I’ve found one” and two more bugbears came into view as Isabella sliced back into the bugbear in the exact same spot she had hit him the night before. She killed the first bugbear easily and ran towards the 2nd, throwing her hand axe at it. Abrash came out, passed Digby, and cast a firebolt at one of the bugbears. Seeing Isabella getting attacked, Digby called down a sacred flame on the bugbear. The others came out of the tent to join the battle. Isabella however killed another bugbear and then sliced the last bugbear in half and said, “Alright! I guess I have breakfast!” and she grabbed the bottom ½ of one the bugbears back to camp. Digby covered his mouth as a little vomit creeped up his throat.

Abrash gave Isabella some berries and some tea and she calmed down a bit. Abrash made a BLT (Bugbear, lettuce, and tomato) sandwich for Isabella, Thomas found a healing potion on one of the bugbears and then saw Digby standing amongst the carnage. Digby said, “I bring you peace.” The party sat down together and became acquainted with Digby and how his god Snuffelsnort brought him back from the grave. They explained that Gazlowe has apparently stepped away for a bit. As they became acquainted, Digby spotted the skin of his pet rabbit discarded in a nearby bush. Abrash told him that it was killed by the bugbear and Digby gathered it and put it in his jacket pocket. The Stone Bearers invited Digby along on their journey to the Wyrm Witch to recover a potion she had brewed but failed to deliver to a man named Marace who needs to heal his daughter Fenara.

Shhh!!!

The party gathered themselves and went into the woods towards the Wyrm Witch’s lair. They saw tracks and realized that the bugbears had come from the lair. They continued through the dark foliage and came to the dead dragon. Naught but the head of this once legendary beast was visible above the surface, but just the head alone was a marvel to behold. A lone lizard scurried through the mud before making its way towards the mouth of the dragon. Ajani cast mindspike on the lizard in order to follow it, but the spell totally destroyed the lizard and a blue gem fell to the grown. Thomas went to get the gem and Isabella yelled, “Mine!” as she jumped for it. Abrash cast mage hand and grabbed the gem and told Isabella to be quiet. Digby cast calm emotions and told everyone to calm down. Abrash identified the gem as a blue aventurine stone worth about 50gp. They figured the lizard probably just ate it.

The commotion however had already stirred up a small flock of creatures. They were attacked by Stirges and Vargouilles. Abrash cast Faerie Fire on the creatures making them easier to hit and used his Dragon stary form ability to help him concentrate. The creatures started attacking and sucking the blood from the party’s necks. Ajani cast dragon’s breath and killed 3 of the creatures. Thomas killed couple with his whip. Digby called down a sacred flame and killed one. Isabella took out a couple more with her fist. Ajani took out another with his ray of frost. Thomas took out the last one with his whip.

Gnomes

The party moved down the throat of the dead Black dragon, their feet leaving temporary footprints in the spongy flesh. Isabella ate 10 berries and Thomas reminded her to be quiet. Abrash cast pass without a trace to keep the party quiet. They passed by the Acidic breath gland of the dragon and continued walking. After a few minutes of examining the throat and walking quietly, Abrash heard the conversations of Gnomes approaching. Abrash alerted Digby who could make out bits of the conversation in Gnomish. The Gnomes were talking cheerily about the latest batch of creatures from which they were harvesting parts. The party prepared to ambush.

They spotted Five Gnomes walking down the hall and Abrash hit them with Entangle and restrained two of them. Cedrik cast Sacred Flame on the first Gnome he saw and incinerated him. Thomas took one out with his whip. Isabella ran and jumped into the Gnomes, landing on one and destroying it with her axe then took out another. Ajani coolly outstretched his arm holding a diamond and shot a radiant chromatic orb into the last Gnome. It killed the Gnome instantly, leaving only a shadow imprinted on the wall of the dragon’s throat.

More Gnomes

The party moved deeper down the throat of the dragon into a larger chamber where they saw long, tough, muscular fibers lining the walls of the chamber. Several portions appeared to have been cut away, making room for bunk beds that stacked several high. Sharp knives rested on a table in the center of the chamber. Small footlockers sat at the base of each rack, held closed by simple padlocks. Abrash walked up to one of the chests to cast poison spray on the lock. He heard a creaking behind him, turned a bit and saw 8 more Gnomes and 2 Gnome Shaman staring at him all holding weapons.

One of the Gnomes stepped forward asking, “What is your name.” Thomas said, “We’re the Stone Bearers.” The Gnome turned to the Gnomes in the party and asked their names and Cedrik and Isabella gave their own names. The Gnome then told the party. “One and only one will be escorted to the Auntie Avalon, the others will wait.”

Abrash meets the Wyrm Witch.

Cedrik said, “It would be a shame to kill our Gnome brethren, we should send Abrash.” Abrash followed one of the Gnomes and walked along a winding passageway through the Dragon until they came to a room with several more Bugbears. The Gnome told the Bugbears that he was taking “this one” to see Auntie Avalon. The bugbears let them pass and they walked through a fabric curtain separating the Bugbears area from The Wyrm Witch’s private quarters.

The Walls of the chamber were comprised of a thick, heavy sinew. A large bed, flanked by a chest and desk on opposite sides, sat against the rear wall. In the center of the room was an oversized, cushioned chair. Immediately behind the chair was a tall bookcase with a gnome-sized ladder filled with books, papers, and writing materials. A lone female gnome was reading over one of the books, quietly muttering to herself. As soon as Abrash walked in, Auntie Avalon walked up to him and started sniffing him and poking at him as if inspecting him. Abrash told her his name and that he was there for the potion created for Marace’s daughter.

Negotiating

Auntie Avalon explained that there is an additional payment of four big toes of a frost giant, a vial of young blue dragon blood, and the fresh scales of a young red dragon. Abrash explained that he understood the potion was paid for, but Auntie Avalon explained that’s not the case. She said that there was a cash component that has been paid but Marace has failed to provide her the remainder of the items in their agreement. She told Abrash that if he could provide it, she would provide the potion. She also said, that or they could provide a Goblin if they happen to have one in their party.

Abrash asked if she would show him the potion as a sign of good faith. Auntie Annie said she would if he showed her any of the remaining items she requested. But she did wave at a shelf that held 4 potions (red, green, blue and yellow) on it. Abrash cast detect thoughts but all she thought of was “I’m not going to show him the specific potion as I don’t trust him.”

Back at the Lab

Thomas looked around the room where they were. The floor was spongey, and the party could almost bounce as they moved across it. Shelves lined the walls of the room, and long tables, a cauldron, and a desk filled the center of it. The shelves were stuffed full of books and jars filled with strange creature parts. On the desk sat an elaborate set up of gas burners, metal stands, and tubing that connected beakers filled with various colorful liquids. Across the tables laid various creatures, cut open with their internal organs organized into neat piles outside of them. He saw several creatures they were dissecting including a young aboleth, a Medusa with her head severed, and a barely formed red dragon wyrmling half forced out of its shell. Thomas tried to stir up conversation with the Gnomes offering them reagents and components like a red dragon horn. However, just as the conversation started to get interesting and they met one of the potion maker’s (Tim), Abrash returned.

Steal or fight?

Abrash explained that the witch has several potions and he’s not sure which is which. He told them that they either need to give her what she wants or figure out some way to find out which potion is the cure. Thomas said they may have other options. He tried to ask the other Gnomes if she was a hag but didn’t get any definitive answer, but the Gnomes seemed to say no. Abrash suggested we either fight or try to go in and steal it. Ajani said, we should go in swinging.

Digby asked to be escorted to the witch and a Gnome began to do so. Abrash spoke up and said, “The Witch actually wants us all to go see her.” But the Gnomes, having enough of the lies turned to attack Abrash. Several of the Gnomes started throwing acid at the party and two of the 3 Gnome shaman tried to cast hold person on Abrash but Abrash resisted. Digby clapped his hands as radiant energy burst from him killing 3 of the Gnomes.

Thomas killed 1 of the Gnomes and wounded one of the Shamans. Isabella killed one of the Gnomes with her axe and wounded one of the Shamans. Ajani finished the shaman off with a chromatic orb. Abrash hurt one of the Shamans with poison spray and the remaining Gnomes continued to hit the party with their acid. Digby used his word of radiance again and then finished off a Shaman with his bone shaped spiritual weapon. Thomas finished off the last Shaman with two hits from his whip and Isabella sliced the last Gnome in half. Thomas wanted to search the room, but the others convinced him to run towards the witch first. Abrash gave Thomas and Isabella 20 Goodberrys each.

Stuck in the Peritoneal Cavity

The party ran through Gizzard and were covered by several white worms. They brushed them off and moved along. Thomas downed a healing potion as they entered the Peritoneal cavity. They were then attacked by two acid snakes and an Otyugh. Isabella and Thomas were surprised by the creatures. Ajani shot a chromatic orb at the Otyugh. Cedric smacked the Otyugh with his spiritual weapon and then hit him with a guiding bolt. Abrash hit him also with another guiding bolt. The Otyugh bit Cedric forcing him to lose concentration on his spiritual weapon and poisoned him. One of the snakes bit Thomas. Isabella took a couple good strikes at the acid snake and nearly killed it.

Thomas critically hit the Otyugh with his Whip, severely bloodying it. Ajani cast a level 2 Chromatic Orb at the Otyugh leaving it near death. Cedric used his word of radiance and took out one of the snakes. Abrash used his guiding bolt and finished off the Otyugh. The last snake bit Abrash and Isabella laid into it with her axe. Thomas finished it off with his whip. The party continued quickly down the hall towards the Bugbears and Auntie Avalon, the Wyrm Witch.