Adventure Brunch #48 - 10/3/20 - LIVING THE MEPHIT LIFE!!!!

General Summary

Zura convinced everyone to stay and take a crack at clearing out the two remaining rooms with the metal spiders in them. They likely had lots of loot which they wouldn't see if left for the Warbringers to claim.
So the group came up with a strategy and went to open the door of Building #5, the gem workshop filled with 27 clockwork spiders (and many gems). There was an epic battle which started off with Shakkax running in and grabbing a bowl of jewels; he was resistant to the electric shock the spiders immediately gave him and ran back out. Zura poured the gems into her Bag of Colding for safekeeping and turned with everyone to fight the clockwork spiders.
Though the spiders could climb on walls and were pretty nasty, the group was victorious through the strategic use of traps, a magical cloud of daggers, and a radiant light elemental summoned in the doorway to do tons of damage as they came out after the runaway jewels. The real question was, could Cyrus have summoned this light elemental the whole time?!
The group successfully grappled the last spider and plucked the jewel out of its "head", deactivating it. Before heading back to clear out the last building, the group successfully maneuvered a 1500 lb mining cart out of the stables with a impressive strategy; using via Zura's stream (Decanter of Endless Water), Cyrus' icy cunning (use of Shape Water to freeze the water for less friction when turning), and Shakkax's athleticism, to steer the cart out of the stable. They then dump the deactivated spider in for transport. They also checked out the broken standing stone and found a 2 x 2 foot shard covered in runes, which they decided to load into the mining cart... and which was way heavier than it should be!
Feeling extremely good about their hard work and big haul during this adventure, the heroes headed back to Building #6. Since they had spied alchemy tools in there, they wanted to lure the spiders outside to fight. They came up with an excellent strategic plan. They were going to set up traps, cast area effects, & fight behind the elemental making the clockwork spiders go through a gauntlet of pain before they could get to any member of the party. With their great plan in place, they immediately abandoned it the second the clockworks did not act as aggressively as they wanted it to.. . They also forgot that last time they got Shakkax to run in and take something which activated their more aggressive behavior.
Thinking this could actually be a sweet opportunity to defeat unresisting clockwork spiders one by one, Cyrus' radiant elemental, Shakkax, and Zura started attacking. When one of the spiders exploded in their faces, they had the sinking feeling this was not going to be so easy... The situation quickly got OUT OF CONTROL! Zura and Shakkax got out of the building, with the elemental following. Shakkax was able to barricade 4 spiders inside, but outside was chaos as many of them had gotten out after them! Jingles was strategically positioned on the roof of another building, with only a handful of arrows which quickly ran out. Zura was backing up to try and hit ranged attacks while avoiding exploding spider shrapnel. Shakkax quickly wasn't doing well health-wise but still valiantly holding the door. While Croxia took this moment to miss a Toll the Dead (and not heal Shakkax instead).
Cyrus had turned into a mephit while mentioning something about the mephit life. He dove into the clockwork spiders around Shakkax and Croxia for his heroic moment. Three of the spiders took the opportunity to attack their new glowing foe. This was exactly what Cyrus was had planned for, you see as Mephits explode upon death. What Cyrus had not planned for was that losing his mephit form would cause a cascading effect killing not one, two but three of the spiders. The chain reaction of an exploding mephit, and three clockwork spiders immediately knocked him, Croxia unconscious, and further wounding Shakkax!
Zura ran over to baby-bird feed Croxia her two goodberries. Croxia groggily got up and helped Cyrus come to, however both were left with bad concussions and fractured skulls. They were left unable to clear thier heads and help the fight but were not indanger of losing thier lives. Zura then grappled the remaining spider to try and deactivate it (so it wouldn't explode and kill everyone again), but no one could successfully grab the jewel. The clockwork spider electrocuted Zura almost to death rather then trying to break free. Finally, Jingles shot it with one of his last arrows so it exploded in Zura's arms and face. Extremely low on health and sanity, Zura got up just as the remaining spiders pushed open the door finally overpowering Shakkax...
These spiders were dispatched by Zura's ranged attacks, Jingles stunning the clockwork spiders with his hookshot, while cyrus and croxia led them on a merry ring-around-the-rosey chase. The team stomped around the now cleared alchemy lab investigating it a bit, before everyone loaded into the mining cart and headed the fuck out of there and back to town. Some severly wounded but richer then when they had first come here.

Report Date

06 Oct 2020