S1 E12: Polmachis and Pevushal

General Summary

• A ritual room has been taken over, it seems, by a Beholder; the initial shock is tempered by the creature's relatively small size and, on a closer look - strange appearance. Polmachis, once a Yuan-ti Malison, tried to fuse himself with a Beholder, but the end result was something sadder than either one - a Wild Magic Beholder.
• The primary difficulty here is that the room is on multiple levels - several 15x15 pillars in various heights - 25, 30, 35, and 40 feet, separated by 10' gaps - and that the Beholder, aware of his weakness, has some defensive minions; more Gnolls, itching for a fight. among these are the ones that ran away previously, as well as a living Mage Hand, another symptom of long-standing wild magic.
• The rules for long jumping and high jumping are reviewed - with a 10' runup your PC can long jump a distance of their STR score, or elevate 3' plus their Str bonus in a high jump; without the 10' of movement before the jump, the distances are halved. Both the movement and the jump can take place across more than 1 turn. Additionally, your height is added to your reach when you jump, so for instance a 5' tall PC who can run and jump 3' can reach something 5+2.5 (reach, half height) + 3 feet above them - a ledge, for instance. 
• The Beholder's magic and area of wild magic create chaos but the party is eventually victorious, though a few of them take some damage. Poor Polmachis lies deflated like a popped spinach balloon, and most of his hoard is revealed to be worthless junk, but a few serviceable weapons, a chain shirt, a couple of scrolls and a pair of suspiciously boring-looking wooden spoons do catch the party's eye.
• They know more Gnolls may be on the move and the party decides to go somewhere more defensible than this potential deathtrap, so they continue out the door, finding a stone stairway to a higher level that likely routes around the collapsed rooms in the Viper Pit's ritual chamber; since they have the Fangs of Sseth they don't need to continue and can just find their way out, and up seems like a good direction. However at the top of the stairs, at the other side of a bridgeway, they find a recently killed gnome man that Bakunne recognizes as his Outfitter. 
• His clothes have been searched and whatever gold or weapons he had were taken, but Bakunne does find a note. On the surface it's information about a deed to a boat harbored in Kanambou, but it's encoded and Bakunne puts the encrypted message together, wondering if he's done it incorrectly: "Watch out for the fat blue pirate man." Whether this was a message intended for the handler - a guy named Pevushal that Bakunne rather liked - or he was bringing it to Bakunne is unclear. In fact, why the handler was here at all is extremely unclear, he's not normally a person who would go into the field for anything.

Rewards Granted

• 3 x scimitar +1
• 20 x arrows +1
• chain shirt +1
• scroll of heat metal
• 1100 gp
• 40 electrum pieces, late Cumaean empire, stamped with Yuan-ti kings and queen's faces
• scroll of Spider Climb
• Fangs of Sseth (as Wooden Spoons)

Report Date

22 Jun 2023

Primary Location

The Viper Pit/Polmachis' Folly

Secondary Location

The Caetica Region