Shattered Star: Daefu! Gesundheit.

Game Date: 3/14/2015
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: Shattered Star, Session 19
System: D&D 5e
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Bjertha (Matt) - Dwarf Fighter
Carlie Nackle (Cliff/Thomas subbing for Chere) - Gnome Wizard
Fellany Mertien (Cliff) - Human Fighter
Maruca (Daniel) - Human Ranger /Cleric/Rogue
Slancio Brioso (Thomas) - Human Bard
Tai (Angela) - Human Monk/Warlock

The Session:
Last week we lost Shemus, and left off on an underground beach with two tunnels and a secret door.  We could smell death down one tunnel, and heard screaming down another.  While we wanted to take a rest, the screaming was too urgent to ignore.  Tai scouted ahead.  The tunnel ended at more water, and on a small island she saw a Sea Hag torturing a bound woman.  Tai taunted the hag into following her into the tunnels.  The Sea Hag, who called herself Daefu, dove into the water, along with her minions, a bunch of dog-faced Gremlins with lobster claws.

We tried to bottleneck them in the tunnel, but they came down both tunnels so it didn't work like we'd hoped.  The gremlins were easy to kill, but they could throw water balls that restrained their targets.  Daefu managed to cast "Death Glare" on Bjertha, instantly dropping the Dwarf to 0 hit points.  Then one of the gremlins cast sleep on Tai (also hitting another gremlin), leaving the party tankless.  But Carlie, Maruca, and Slancio still managed to finish off the hag.

After waking Tai and healing Bjertha, we rescued the tied-up woman.  Her name was Fellany Mertien, one of the Gray Maidens - a rival group we've been tracking since we got here.  Fellany had betrayed the Gray Maidens, so she was happy to join our party and help us form a strategy to take them down.  She told us that behind the secret door we'd find some rooms the Maidens had been using as a base. 

Before going on the attack, we looted the area and rested.  In the Daefu's nest we found a bag of gems, and a couple of magic stones containing trapped elementals.  We also found a talisman that helps protect the bearer from disease and poison.  When we were ready to move on, we went through the secret room and opened the next door.  We disturbed a group of six Gray Maidens sitting at a table playing cards.  Tai tried to bluff them, but failed.  The fight was on!

At first the fight was contained to the doorway.  The Maidens had special pack advantages when they were near each other, so Carlie cast a Web spell to help control their movements.  The Maidens had unusually high AC, so we missed a lot.  As their numbers dwindled, they moved across the room and we followed.  Carlie cast an Illusion spell depicting another Web spell, but it didn't fool them long.  One of the Maidens knocked on the door on the other end of the room.

We tried pushing the room's large table forward to block the back door, but it was so heavy we couldn't push it fast enough.  The door opened, and four more Maidens joined the fight.  However, these women had apparently been bathing, and hadn't had time to put on their armor.  After a couple of rounds they closed the door again and fled.  Once we finished off the last of the armored Maidens, we went through the door and pursued the bathers.  We passed through a bathing room, and went down a grand hallway.  They tried to ambush us from behind some statues, but they kept missing.  It didn't take long to finish them off.

We looked around.  In the room where they'd been playing cards, there were several crates full of supplies.  There was one sturdy locked chest we couldn't get open, but Fellany informed us that Orianna, the leader of the Gray Maidens, held the key.  In the hallway there were several statues, and some gold plates on the floor.  Down one secret passage there was a room full of traps.  There was a vial of something hanging from the ceiling, but we set off a trap while trying to investigate.  The trap cast a confusion spell on Slancio and Meruca, so we held them until it wore off.  At the end of the statue-lined hallway was a trash room.  Bjertha burst through the door so hard she nearly fell into the trash pit.

We studied the statues more.  There was a message: "By my touch you may enter the glory of my inner sanctum."  Sorshen's double entendres are not particularly subtle, but then we are looking for the Lust shard after all.  We experimented with standing on different plates while people touched different statues.  After touching a combination of statues, we all teleported... but not all to the same place.  Bjertha, Carlie, and Slancio wound up in the trap room, setting off more confusion traps.  In her addled state, Bjertha went on a short rampage which destroyed a lot of perfume vials.

We realized that we must touch the four statues in a specific order, then stand on a specific plate.  Once we finally got everything right, we teleported again, this time to the same place as the rest of the party... hopefully.  We'll find out next session.