Session 57: Ithu'rath Report

General Summary

Session 57 – Wednesday October 25, 2023 – Ithu’rath

4.5-hour exploration / Boss battle session 5:30 PM to 10:15 PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 6

It is the 15th day of the month of Nightal (The Drawing Down) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Mid December.)

• Abrash – Wood (Desert) Elf, L10 Druid – Jacob Munson (Remote)
• Ajani– High Elf, L10 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L10 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi (School)
• Cassidy – Human, L10 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L10 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Juan Peyote – Gnome L10 Paladin – Will Johnson

Setting an Ambush

The party finished their short rest, Cassidy sneezed, Abrash disappeared and Gazlowe reappeared. Gazlowe introduced himself to Milo. Milo impatiently encouraged the party to move on, hoping to have his soul finally released from this place. Cassidy opened the door and saw a reflection of torch light heading in their direction. She closed the door and the party staged an ambush in the room.
The door opened and the party surprised the slime servant patrol. Isabella screamed, “And this is for my friend Milo!” She attacked a slimy orc with her axe. Gazlowe cast heat metal on another orc’s chainmail badly burning him. Juan pulled out his flail and smacked the Orc holding a shield. He then intimidated him. Cassidy whipped the 2nd orc. Ajani said, “pew” and finished the 2nd orc with a firebolt.
Isabella killed the first Orc with her axe turning it into a puddle of slime. She then struck the goblin with her axe. A lizardfolk in the rear blinded Isabella and then hit her with his bola, restraining her. Gazlowe punched the lizardfolk. Juan finished off the goblin. Cassidy hit the lizardfolk. Ajani distracted the lizardfolk with his mage hand causing him to miss Cassidy on the first attack, but it was able to hit Cassidy on the 2nd attack. Isabella flexed her muscles and broke the bola rope that restrained her and was then able to will the blindness away.
Gazlowe moved through a translucent Cassidy and critically hit the 3rd Orc. The Lizardfolk focused on Gazlowe and forced him to only see the Lizardfolk. Cassidy walked through a wall to a position 10’ from the lizardfolk and then hit him twice with his whip completely decimating him. Ajani peered over Juan and shot a firebolt down the hall that missed the last orc. Abrash suddenly appeared sitting in the corner eating some berries. Isabella swung her axe and finished off the Orc. Juan stuck his finger into the pool of slime, tasted it and said, “Just as I thought, Fishy.”

Tunnels of peril

Milo led the party down the hall, pointing out the dangerous walls and ceiling. Cassidy, still partially ethereal had no issues following Milo. Abrash went 2nd and he too delicately tiptoed through the hall successfully. Gazlowe saw every step Abrash made and did the exact same thing, successfully navigating the hall. Juan however, with Isabella close behind was about to hit an unsafe boulder but Gazlowe was quick to warn him, helping him to navigate successfully. Isabella danced her way through without triggering any falling debris. Ajani, with some help from Abrash made it through just fine.
As they went down the next hall, Abrash spotted the torchlight of another patrol approaching. Cassidy saw that the hall between the Stone bearers and the oncoming party was looking unstable. Cassidy told the party his thought and Gazlowe said, “Want some explosives?” Cassidy had left her whips illuminated and the Patrol of elves called out “Intruders” as they ran to the Stone Bearers. Cassidy saw 2 Knaves in the front and a creepy cultist in the rear. Gazlowe tossed Cassidy a flask of 50/50 explosion saying, “It might work.” Cassidy cursed the Knave in the front causing him to freeze in place and then tossed the possibly explosive flask at the Knave. Fortunately, it exploded, causing the ceiling to rain debris down on the patrol. Gazlowe lightly elbowed Ajani saying, “Wow, it actually worked.”
The dust cleared and the party saw the patrol looking a bit bloodied. Cassidy ran down the hall. Isabella threw a Javelin into the first Knave. Abrash said, “Pew” and hit the elf with a firebolt. Ajani did the same thing and finished him off. Gazlowe said, “Pew” and hit the 2nd Knave with a firebolt. Juan looked menacingly at the cultist and frightened him. The knave hit Cassidy with his mace. The cultist hit Cassidy with a necrotic bolt.
Isabella took out her long bow and fired a couple arrows into the knave leaving him barely alive. Abrash and Ajani both went “pew” and missed the guy who was barely alive. Gazlowe walked up, punched him and killed him. Then he said to the cultist, “I’m going to need whatever you have in your pockets.” Juan continued to menace the cultist. The cultist said, “Rise my friends” and raised up his two buddies but they didn’t look so good. The cultist swung his scythe and cut Gazlowe.
Cassidy hit the cultist with his whip critically hurting him. Isabella killed one of the raised knaves with a single swing of her axe and then killed the 2nd one. Abrash wiffed. Ajani finished off the cultist with a firebolt. Searching the pockets Cassidy and Gazlowe found 660sp and 55gp. Gazlowe took the robe from the cultist.

A room of fish

Milo led the party to a door and told them that there should be a pool in this room that leads to the cavern where Ithu’rath is. Gazlowe and Abrash healed Cassidy a bit and Ajani cast mage armor on himself. Cassidy opened the door and the party was hit with the horrid stench of rotting fish. The floor was covered with a score of large fish, most 5 or 6 feet long, all dead and in varying states of decay. The floor was covered with fish guts and looked very slippery. Cassidy slowly moved into the room and Gazlowe stood at the doorway. Juan ran and jumped into the room and slid across the floor just as abrash noticed the fish were trapped.
The first fish Juan hit exploded sending fish shrapnel into the other fish and leading to a chain reaction exploding all the fish in the room. Juan, Cassidy and Gazlowe each leapt out of the way, but they still took some fish damage. When the guts settled, the party noticed a pool on the eastern side of the room.

Reconnaissance

The party examined the water, it was slimy and unusual. Out of caution Ajani pulled out his wand and cast “Dispel Magic” but nothing seemed to change. Milo told them that he thinks this is the way. “There is an unwater cavern, take the western path and then look for an opening along the south.” Milo wasn’t sure how far it was. Gazlowe offered to go check it out and Cassidy joined him. Gazlowe used his necklace of adaptation and his armor converted to allow him to breath underwater and Cassidy said, “Breathe? I don’t need to breathe.” They both jumped into the pool.
The caverns were dimly illuminated as they slowly swam to the west. They saw movement in the west. They tried to hide in an alcove, but we’re quickly spotted by a slime patrol that could swim very fast. Two Orcs, a goblin and another lizard folk approached with weapons drawn. Cassidy put her whip aside and pulled out her crossbow and Gazlowe, realizing they don’t have a swim speed to escape, prepared his gauntlets.

Two take on a patrol.

The Goblin came in first but couldn’t hit Gazlowe. Cassidy hit the goblin with a bolt. An orc hit Gazlowe and as a reaction a blinding light emitted from Gazlowe’s gauntlets blinding the orc. Gazlowe cast haste on himself and punched the Goblin. The goblin tried to shoot a crossbow at Cassidy, but the bolts struck Gazlowe’s Shield. The lizardfolk bit into Cassidy and then blinded her with his red eyes.
Gazlowe hit the goblin with his gauntlets and killed it and then hit the one of the Orcs. Blind, Cassidy reached out and touched the Lizardfolk and cast Chill touch. It was a critical hit and the lizard folk imploded from necrotic damage! The orcs couldn’t land a hit and Gazlowe started punching into them. Cassidy hit one of the orcs critically wounding it. It started to flee and Gazlowe finished it off. The group exchanged swings, but nobody could land a blow for several rounds. Gazlowe finally landed a punch on the last remaining orc and then Cassidy hit it with her chill touch. Gazlowe finished it off with a punch to the chin.

Get the others.

Gazlowe motioned to return to the party. Cassidy pointed to a ripple in the water to the south where she assumed was the exit pool that should lead to Ithu’rath. Gazlowe nodded. Cassidy stayed near the pool, and floated, pretending to be dead. Gazlowe made a quick calculation and knew the others could hold their breath and make it. He swam back to get the others.
Gazlowe told everyone of what they had done and encouraged them to follow him back to where he believed Ithu’rath to be. Abrash jumped into the water and his hair started to exude a green slime. Ajani jumped in and had scales forming on his chin and cheeks. Isabella’s enlarge potion wore off and she shrank to her normal size. She jumped into the water and her fingers started to twist and curl into a claw-like shape. Milo also joined the party.

Temple of Ithu’rath

The Stone Bearers saw another slime patrol swimming past Cassidy, but they did not attack. The party then swam up to the surfacing pool and Cassidy was the first to exit the pool into the lair of Ithu’rath. The lair was a large, cavernous space with three pillars around a huge still pool of water in the center of the room. There were several alcoves that each had a domed ceiling with weird writing on the ceiling.
Each of the Stone bearers followed Cassidy and started to spread out a bit around the exit pool. Bird was the last to exit the pool. Juan saw that some of bird’s feathers had turned into fish scales. Concerned for his own safety Juan clubbed Bird in the head. The others looked aghast as Juan said, “I couldn’t trust that guy!” Cassidy pointed out that he could simply dismiss Bird, but Juan said, “This is more humane.”

Ithu’rath was waiting for them.

Long slimy tentacles with eyes at their ends erupted from the pool in the center of the room as a hideous creature revealed itself and threatened the party. Cassidy tapped her boots and rose 20 feet into the air and reached the ceiling of the lair. The lair hummed and slime erupted from everywhere. Ajani was poisoned. Isabella sang “voulez-vous coucher avec moi” casting a blinding light at Ithu’rath. The creature’s slime left the tentacles and protected him. Isabella then went into a rage and took cover behind a pillar.
Two of the tentacles smacked Gazlowe. Gazlowe was shocked by how hard it hit him. Juan said, “I bless me, you, you, you, you and not you” pointing to Ajani last and blessing everyone else. Ithu’rath rose out of the water, hovering slightly and backed up enough to see Isabella. Four of its tentacles swung but only 2 made contact, one with Juan and the other with Cassidy. Abrash cast guardian of nature on himself and activated his stary mote form. He shot a starry mote at Ithu’rath and Ithu’rath barely looked hurt.

Legendary action 1

Ithu’rath psionically targeted everyone in the room. Most everyone’s constitution was strong enough to resist with some help, except for Ajani. Ajani took some necrotic damage and then felt all his ligaments melt making him all wobbly and shaky like.
Gazlowe used his final haste for the day and then went to punch Ithu’rath but missed and then hid behind a pillar. Ajani awkwardly moved as far as he could. With all the coordination of a toddler he shot a psychic lance at the creature. Ajani knew it would hit but Ithu’rath again had his slime absorb the hit. Cassidy pushed off the wall and floated right up to Ithu’rath but couldn’t land a blow.
The lair hummed again. Abrash and Ajani noticed the runes above them glow slightly. One of Ajani’s legs shrank by about 6 inches leaving him awkwardly leaning to one side. Abrash too suffered the effects, but Cassidy sneezed, and nobody knew for sure how it affected him. The lair then teleported Ajani directly in front of Ithu’rath! Ajani screamed, “This is not happening!”

Milo’s Arrow

Isabella pulled out her elven longbow and shot the arrow of aberration slaying. The arrow bounced off Ithu’rath and landed right at Ajani’s feet. She pulled out a +2 walloping arrow and hit Ithu’rath. Juan picked up the arrow of aberration slaying and tried to stab it into Ithu’rath but couldn’t hit. He tossed the arrow to Ajani. Ithu’rath backed up a little to see Isabella and Gazlowe better. Juan and Cassidy both took opportunity attacks and hit. Ajani made his opportunity attack with the arrow in his hand and jammed it solidly into Ithu’rath dealing 37 points of damage to it. Milo’s spirit smiled as he faded into eternity.

Ithu’rath’s vengance

Ithu’rath screamed in pain and 6 tentacles reached out to smack the party and hit everyone except for Cassidy. Juan and Gazlowe took the damage and shook off the side effects. Isabella however had her torso turned into that of a fish with gills. She still had her head, arms and legs, but she could only breathe water and began to suffocate. Ajani too couldn’t shake off the side effects and his head was transformed into that of a fish. His mouth moved open and closed but he could no longer speak (or cast spells with verbal components.) Gazlowe looked for Abrash as he was the only one with a restoration spell, but he was gone. Gazlowe said, “I’m sure we can fix this.”
Gazlowe invoked duplicity and cast Mirror image. Ajani poured a potion of healing down his fishy throat. Cassidy hit the creature with her whip and tried to curse it, but Ithu’rath used its last slimy resistance. Ithu’rath looked at the two who had the fish traits and transferred 9 HP each from Isabella and Ajani to himself. Isabella jumped into the water to breathe and then sliced into the aberration with her axe. Juan landed a critical hit with his mace and used his smite feature, badly hurting Ithu’rath.
Ithu’rath screamed in pain and all 6 tentacles swung at Juan. Three missed but the next three hit hard and the last one knocked him unconscious. Gazlowe said, “No! My blessing!” He then cast magic missile hitting Ithu’rath for minimal damage. Gazlowe then punched  Ithu’rath. Ithu’rath used his psionic reaction to retaliate and Gazlowe’s lower body temporarily melted into an immoveable goo.
Ithu’rath then used another legendary action and unleashed a cloud of transformative slime to everyone dealing 41 points of damage to those with a low constitution. Ajani fell unconscious. Juan failed a death saving throw. Isabella was hurt but not too badly. Cassidy was barely standing with 2 HP and Gazlowe had only 11 hp remaining.

Cassidy saves the day!

Cassidy looked and saw her fallen friends. She lifted her whip and with all the strength she had left and struck into Ithu’rath’s skull killing it. Thomas leaned down to Juan and spared the dying. Gazlowe went to Ajani to help him. He went to touch the fish head and said, “uhhhh…” Then looked to touch his shorter leg and said, “ugggg….” Then he touched a finger to his unaltered chest and gave him 6 HP. Then Gazlowe looked around at a room filled with treasure.

Treasure found:

From the Cultists:

• 660sp
• 55gp
• A cultist of Ithu’rath Robe

From the Throne room:

• +1 Studded Leather
• Foresight Dagger (see below)
• Necklace of fireballs with Five beads
• Feather token (bird)
• Potion of invisibility
• Potion of mind reading
• Spell scroll of dream
• Vial of oil of sharpness
• 3 vials of balm of shifting form (see below)
• 75 valuable books (worth 10 gp each)
• 6 gold fountain pens (worth 100 gp each)
• 10 white-gold napkin rings set with topazes (worth 100 gp each)
• Electrum cup scribed with arcane sigils (worth 150 gp)
• Decorative golden dagger (worth 150 gp)
• Fine porcelain dinner service (worth 200 gp)
• Ebony pepper grinder scribed with images of rare plants (worth 250 gp)
• Ivory chalice engraved with the sigil of a long-lost noble house (worth 250 gp)
• Ivory statuette of an octopus with gold filigree (worth 250 gp)
• 1 peridot (worth 250 gp)
• Portrait of a well-known noble in a gilt frame (worth 250 gp)
• Silk dressing gown with cloth-of-gold trim (worth 250 gp)
• 12 platinum cufflinks encrusted with diamonds and emeralds (worth 250 gp each)
• 2 blue spinels (worth 300 gp each)
• 1 alexandrite (worth 350 gp)
• 2 aquamarines (worth 550 gp each)
• 1 black pearl (worth 600 gp)
• Gem-encrusted porcelain bowl (worth 650 gp)
• 5,500 cp
• 8,300 sp
• 2,500 gp
• 1,120 pp

Dagger of Foresight

Weapon (Dagger), Very Rare (Requires Attunement) This weapon’s haft is engraved with sigils of divination. You have a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. In combat, the weapon imparts subtle hints of the future to you, letting you predict a foe’s defensive movements when you initially engage them. The first time you attack each creature during an encounter with this weapon, you have advantage on the attack roll. If that attack hits, maximize your weapon damage dice against the target.
Additionally, when you miss with an attack using this weapon, you can use your reaction to shift the flow of causality and turn the miss into a hit. Once you use this reaction, you can’t do so again until the next dawn.

Balm of Shifting Form

This alchemical concoction was derived from research into the transmutation effects of olothec slime. When a creature uses an action to rub this balm onto their body, they can alter their superficial features, such as changing the color of their skin, hair, and eyes and reshaping their ears and facial features. The balm doesn’t allow a creature to take on another specific creature’s form, but it can be used to alter appearance and apparent ancestry with ease. A creature using the balm adds double their proficiency bonus to any ability checks they make to create a visual disguise, and they have advantage on those checks. The effects of the balm last until the creature finishes a long rest.

Campaign

The Forest

Protagonists

Thomas Elliot

Abrash Asim

Chaotic Good Moon Wood Elf (Folk Hero)
Druid 1

9 / 9 HP

STR
7

DEX
10

CON
13

INT
8

WIS
19

CHA
14

Report Date

01 Nov 2023