Session 2 - 2023-02-10
General Summary
Vilnius steps through the door into the larger chamber beyond, triggering a glyph of alarm - whatever is in here is now aware that someone has entered. With excellent perception, Vilnius notices that the glow of the glyph under his feet is matched by two other glows off in the dim light of the cavern.
Vas the Undying monologues but seems confused - both as to where the group is and also who they are. It seems that he had been expecting Scritches and his group as he asks where the Tabaxi is. He works out that the group has come from one of the secret passages and declares that they "will have to do" and combat begins.
Out of the gate Zylfinah casts Entangle on Vas, holding him in place. Vilnius gets up close, but is unable to climb the rocky outcropping up to the platform Vas is standing on, instead taking position about 10' away and attempting to intimidate Vas. Several other party members attempt to speak with Vas, Phlox Carroway specifically invokes parley and the time honored move of "do you know who my family is?". Eudaimonia Waring tries to befriend Vas, who is trying his best to use his abilities to little effect as the party members evade the majority of his actions.
Vas breaks free of the entanglement, and crosses the room after Vilnius. In an attempt to draw him back, Phlox sets fire to one of the small altars of items near his throne after pocketing a small silver mirror. Rather than be drawn back to protect his trinkets however, he strikes out at Phlox, knocking her unconscious. Eudaimonia rushes to help, and since doing so takes her through the gold piles, she takes a moment to pocket a few coins (17gp). Hip Gonzales casts Healing Word to bring Phlox back up, but Vas quickly dispatches both Hip and Eudaimonia.
As the party begins one by one to fall, Vas stands over the fallen bodies and says in an exasperated tone "I had hoped you would prove worthy...". Suddenly, another secret door opens to the South of the main chamber and Scritches, together with the rest of The Wildfire Crew burst into the chamber. Scritches looks to Geltharn and says "Protect the noobs!" as they charge into the fray, and the group sees the dwarven cleric begin to cast a spell that somehow moves them out of their normal plane of existence and into some sort of pocket dimension, outside of Vas's reach. They watch as The Wildfire Crew set about Vas and the combat takes on an intensity and ferocity that it had lacked before. The group begins to understand that Vas had for some reason been playing with them and not using his full power, and Zylfina and Vilnius begin to suspect that even in this phase of the battle, Vas may be holding back a little. However, the Wildfire Crew are able to best Vas as Raythar uses his full might to deliver a heft blow, fully decapitating Vas. He holds the severed head aloft as the air of menace lifts slightly from this place, as if the cavern knows it no longer has a master.
The Wildfire Crew go into cleanup mode and begin searching the room for loot as the magic holding the players out of this plane fades. Hip and Eudaimonia receive some perfunctory healing, but it is made clear that your presence here is not especially welcome. They offer to teleport the whole group back to town with empty platitudes about seeing them at the celebration that evening, but the party knows that the celebration will be held at The Glimmering Seam and since that is in the inner city, they won't be able to attend. The party suspects that The Wildfire Crew is aware of this as well. Disgruntled, the group elects to walk back to town.
Returning to The Drowned Crow, the group reunites with Neil Okri, the fixer who sent them out on this job who is eager to hear about their success. What follows is a spirited "debate" as to who exactly failed to live up to their end of the bargain - the party who were unable to execute, or the fixer who provided bad information. Phlox steps in and informs Neil that he needs to come up with another job for them - and one that won't go quite so off the rails. As it happens there is a job - and one likely to take the group out of town for a week or two, which will hopefully be long enough for the embarassment of being saved by The Wildfire Crew to blow over...
DM Note - The party facing off against Vas were able to survive through Round 5 before enough of them had fallen to trigger the next part of the encounter. I expected they would last maybe through Round 2 - a combination of some quick thinking and ludicrous saving throws decided to keep them up and rolling for a lot longer!
Report Date
11 Feb 2023
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