Session 78: The Deck of Many Things Report

General Summary

Session 78 – Wednesday April 17, 2024 – The Deck of many things.

4-hour battle / gambling session 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM.

The Stone Bearers. Party of 6:

It is the 15th day of the month of Hammer (Deepwinter) in the 51st year of the Age of Enialis (Mid Jan.)

• Abrash – Wood (Desert) Elf, L13 Druid – Jacob Munson (Remote)
• Ajani– High Elf, L13 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L14 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi
• Cassidy – Human, L13Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L13 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Juan Peyote – Gnome L13 Paladin – Will Johnson

Don’t get caught snooping!

Cassidy sneezed and Ajani and Abrash appeared. Ryan and Ajani continued to search the office but didn’t find much. Ajani examined the maps of Orilius’s house and tried to commit it to memory. Abrash was in the show room and Isabella in the basement, keeping an eye out for anyone heading into Ryan Philips office. Juan was in the basement talking with the half-orcs.
Ryan was returning with his trusted friend Danny Ocean (Gazlowe.) Ryan told Gazlowe that he only has a handful of truly trusted aids and told Gazlowe to gather his companions as it’s time to close the shop, fire everyone, empty the vault, and move out.
Ryan came in the front door to the shop and announced that the shop is being closed due to an illness that is being spread. Ryan announced, “I need my staff to assemble.” Abrash alerted Cassidy and Ajani as did Gazlowe. Ajani and Cassidy argued for a moment and then Ajani cast Dimension door to get them out of the office and onto the sales floor where Ryan was looking for the staff to assemble. The customers were all escorted out of the building.

Picking teams.

All the employees, 12 Assassins, 5 Veteran fighters and 3 Gladiators, along with the 6 stone bearers stood in the main room. Ryan looked at Gazlowe (Danny) and had him pull his crew to the side. Ryan then took 3 Assassins, 1 Veteran and 2 gladiators and pulled them to the side. To everyone else he told, “You are fired, you can retrieve nothing from your rooms. Take what you have on you now and leave.” The 14 fired employees looked scared, but all turned and left without argument.
Ryan then selected 3 team captains, Danny Ocean (Gazlowe), The Assassin Arthur, and the Assassin Howard Ruiz (the wanted murder.) The remaining 9 were lined up against the far wall. Ryan told the 3 captains, “I need a team of 4 with me in the vault, 4 to relay on the stairs and a group of 4 upstairs to guard the shop. Decide amongst yourselves who goes where and do it quickly.”
After that Ryan went into his office to gather some items. Gazlowe heard Ryan casting foresight on himself. Each captain took turns picking who they wanted on their team just like Jr. High Dodgeball. Arthur chose to be relay in the stairs and picked a gladiator first. Gazlowe picked an assassin (not one of the Stone bearers) and then Howard chose the other Gladiator.
In the end, Arthur had a Gladiator, Isabella, and Juan in the stairs. Gazlowe had an assassin, Ajani, and Cassidy in the vault with Ryan. Howard had a Gladiator, a Veteran, and Abrash watching out on the first floor.

Emptying the vault.

Ryan opened the vault. He then handed heavy duty sacks to Gazlowe the other 3 with him and told them to fill the bags and bring them into the evaluation room just outside the vault. Gazlowe spotted the deck of many things and bagged it along with some treasure. Ajani, Cassidy and the other assassin started filling their sacks. When their bags were holding as much as they could carry, Gazlowe looked over at Ajani. Ajani pulled back his robe revealing his wand in its side holster. Gazlowe winked and nodded to the door. Cassidy followed them out with her bag full and they placed their bags on the table outside the vault, leaving Ryan and the assassin in the vault.
Meanwhile in the showroom, Abrash had stationed himself at the edge of the stairway while the other 3 were spread out at the various windows. In the stairwell, Ajani gave a drug laced cigar to both Arthur and the Gladiator, poisoning them with Dreamlilly.

My how the turntables…

With his friends a safe distance away, Gazlowe pulled off his full necklace of fireballs and tossed it into the vault. The whole building shook and everyone was surprised. The Assassin was badly hurt but Ryan was only slightly hurt. Cassidy hit and branded Ryan with her hips. Ajani hit Ryan with a Mind spike, Cassidy used her ability to remove his immunity to psychic damage and it left Ryan incapacitated.
Anticipating some signal, Isabella heard the explosion and attacked the Gladiator next to her. Abrash, in the upstairs room heard the explosion as did the others in the room. Abrash then polymorphed into a “Savager” a large porcupine type creature. He roared and one of the veterans were frightened. Juan, down in the stairs, whistled for Bird. Bird busted down the door upstairs sending splinters into one of the gladiators upstairs. Juan then hit the gladiator with his sword.
Gazlowe threw a little device at Ryan and dispelled his Foresight spell. He sent scuttle to attack the Assassin. The poisoned Gladiator couldn’t hit Isabella. Cassidy struck Ryan with her whips, and she cursed the Assassin. Gazlowe hit Ryan with a fiery Chromatic Orb. The Assassin shot at Cassidy but missed. Isabella laid into the gladiator with 2 strikes from her sword. An assassin ran up to Abrash the Savager and the two exchanged blows. The assassin took the worst of the exchange.
The Assassin hit Isabella with a sneak attack and then Bird came down and killed the Gladiator. Juan then used the 9 lives stealer sword and landed a critical blow on the Assassin, instantly killing him. The Gladiator upstairs hit the Savager with a couple spear attacks and the Assassin also hit him.

Victory.

Ryan, shook off the mental pain from Ajani’s spell, grabbed a sack of treasure and then stepped out of the vault. He glared at Gazlowe and said, “Danny Ocean, I will remember you.” He then cast teleport and disappeared. Gazlowe screamed “Noooo!” as he shot a firebolt into the Assassin. Cassidy brandished her whip and looked at the Assassin, the Assassin taunted Cassidy and then Cassidy removed the Assassin’s tongue with her whip, causing him to die, choking on his own blood. Ajani sent a message to the others letting them know that Ryan got away, but the vault is available for picking now.
Isabella finished off the assassin and ran upstairs and badly wounded the assassin attacking Abrash. Abrash knocked the assassin unconscious. The sole remaining gladiator laid down his spear and asked to be excused. Isabella yelled at him, and the Gladiator left.

The Vault

The party found 7,500 gp and 1,125 pp along with a potion of the seer and Orilius’s deck of many more things. The party cast identify on the deck to be sure it was legit. The party grabbed everything. They then went into the secret room they had not looked at before and found several ledgers that clearly documented the nefarious deeds of Ryan Phillip. They also found the other half of the cypher they were looking for. They put all the ledgers into the portable hole knowing that it contains incontrovertible evidence of Ryan Phillip’s crimes.
The party set the shop ablaze and walked away in slow motion with the light of the fire and explosions behind them. The party walked into the forest and away from the town as villagers began to form a fire brigade.

The Deck and Juan

The party walked for a couple hours to a secluded small clearing in the woods near a river. They sat down for a short rest and Gazlowe pulled out the deck. He started to ask the party a question when Juan shouted out, “I’ll pull 3 cards!”
The first card pulled was the “Moon” card granting Juan the ability to cast a single wish before he dies. His 2nd card was “Knight.” The fates told him: “Your arch nemesis has obtained a mechanical Retriever from the Drow and has sent it along with a Death knight, to kill you. You immediately know that a Retriever alone is a very powerful construct, and it has the ability to track you down, but it can't teleport directly to you. You have no idea how far away it is.”
Shrugging off the last card as not one to worry about today, he pulled his third card, “Corpse.” He immediately fell to the ground unconscious and no healing of any kind could help him until he first stabilized himself with death saves. Fortunately for Juan, he had recently been given redundant organs and had advantage on death saves, so it didn’t take long for him to roll a nat. 20 and stand back up.

Cassidy

Cassidy, saw what happened to Juan and yelled out “That’s easy.” She called out, “I’ll draw 3.” Her first card was “Throne.” She saw that a piece of her right hand was missing. The fates revealed to her, “You killed the wrong creature. You immediately (but not permanently) loose 2d6 hp. The ancient protector of a creature you have killed knows what you did. The fates have revealed in full detail to him what actually transpired. Now Jon Wick knows exactly who you are, he has been given intimate knowledge of you and knows you well, he also now has a piece of your flesh. He has the ability to scry on you twice a day without the use of a spell slot and is tracking you down.
Her second card was “Elemental.” The fates asked her, “Choose an elemental type of damage.” She chose Fire and the fates made Cassidy vulnerable to fire damage. Her 3rd card was “Book” and she learned 8 new languages.

Isabella

Isabella said, “I’ll draw 3.” She first drew “Star” and the fates whispered to her, “Choose an ability.” She chose Charisma and the fates made her Charisma decrease by 2. Her 2nd card was “Crossroads” and she became 2 years younger. She felt younger but she wasn’t as attractive as she used to be with a real bad case of Acne. She pulled a 3rd card, and it was “Moon.” She too now had the ability to ask for 1 wish.

Gazlowe

There was a glint in Gazlowe’s eyes as he saw unlimited possibilities for wealth. His first card was, “Sun.” The Iron bands of Billarro appeared in his hands and he had gained 1 level. His 2nd card was “Book.” He gained the ability to speak 6 new languages. His 3rd card was “Elemental.” He chose “Thunder” and became resistant to Thunder damage.

Ajani

“All the cool kids are pulling cards, I’ll pull 2,” said Ajani. His first card was “Ring.” A Ring of regeneration appeared on his hand, and he was automatically attuned to it. His 2nd card was “Dragon.” A dragon egg appeared at his feet, it cracked, and a Black Dragon Wyrmling crawled out, looked up at Ajani and said, “Papa.”

Abrash

Abrash held out his hand for the cards and then turned his back to the party. Gazlowe told him, “If you’re going to draw, then do it with everyone here.” Abrash fidgeted with the bag of holding for a moment and then succumbing to peer pressure said, “Seeing that everyone was getting good things I’ll draw 3 cards.”
Abrash’s first card was “Pit” and he suddenly fell 130 feet into a poisoned spike filled pit. He was near death at the bottom of the pit and poisoned. He wild shaped into a bird and flew back up to the top. He then rested for an hour before pulling his 2nd card. When he pulled his 2nd card, “Lance” all his ability scores were reduced by 1. Frustrated, he pulled his 3rd card, “Book” and immediately knew 4 new languages. He again fidgeted with the deck for a while and turned his back to the party to put the deck in the bag of holding. After a moment Gazlowe took it back to bring it to George. He called Orist on the sending stone.

Back to Reitheillaethor (RHY-thigh-WAY-eh-thor)

Orist brought the party back to the Red Lady’s city in the forest at dusk. The Red Lady, Zyark and Vandore Hallwinter were having a pleasant conversation. The stone bearers approached and told the Red Lady what they had. Since George Philip wasn’t there yet, the party gave the Red Lady’s aid the deck to be stored in her vault.
The party discussed the various events of late and brought her up to speed on all their adventures. The Red Lady gave back to them cloaks of the Red Lady. She was a bit concerned with Ashyra not in her tomb and the fact that the passage to Kortar was left open. She was interested in the Vampire alliance and encouraged the party to finish that task. To that end she offered additional training to the party to help them achieve their goals and the party leveled up to level 13 (Gazlowe to level 14.)

Rewards Granted

Treasure

• 7,500 gp
• 1,125 pp
• 1 Potion of the Seer
• Orilius’s deck of many more things
• Detailed maps of Waterdeep and Orillius’s home.

From The deck:

• Gazlowe: The Bands of Billarro
• Ajani: Ring of Regeneration.

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

23 Apr 2024