Shattered Star: Happy Mouthers Day

Game Date: 5/16/2015
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: Shattered Star, Session 26
System: D&D 5e
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Bjertha Brawlbaker (Matt) - Dwarf Fighter
Fellany Mertien (Matt, subbing for Cliff) - Human Fighter
Maruca (Daniel) - Human Ranger /Cleric/Rogue
Slancio Brioso (Thomas) - Human Bard
Tai Lindro (Angela) - Human Monk/Warlock

The Session:

So, we're making our way through the dungeon beneath the library, looking for the last couple of members of the missing expedition group.  In one room there was a sand floor with bits of armor scattered about.  Up on a balcony was a throne overlooking the room.  Two Gibbering Mouthers showed up on the sand, while a brain with tentacles watched from the balcony.

"Sir Slancio ran away..."

This had the potential to be a difficult encounter.  However, Slancio won initiative and started things off by casting Hypnotic Pattern.  Then he ran out of the room, past the rest of the party, and hid from the encounter - Slancio doesn't like to mess with mind-affecting monsters.  All three monsters were stunned by Slancio's spell, and we could have taken them out one at a time, but we didn't focus fire.  Bjertha was blinded at one point by a Mouther's spittle.

Still, it wasn't too hard.  We managed to kill both Mouthers without waking the brain, and Tai managed to kill the brain with one hit before it could take any actions.  There was nothing of value in this room, so we went back to the main hall and tried another door. 

In the next room the ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky (Hogwarts should sue).  The floor was covered with vines, and there was a giant flowering plant in the center.  A nature check later revealed it was a "Moonflower" - a plant from outer space.  Bjertha attacked the Moonflower while Slancio fled down the hall.  Bjertha and Meruca both got swallowed during the fight, but they survived.  Once we'd fully destroyed this mean green mother from outer space, we took a short rest.

The next room was perfectly cylindrical, with a small platform in the middle.  Sitting in the center was a gnome bloatmage, one of the explorers we've been searching for.  He greeted us, showing delusions of grandeur, then pulled a lever.  The room started spinning like one of those centrifuge rides at the fair.  While we were pinned against the walls, the gnome explained that it wasn't just the room, but the entire world that was spinning around the gnome.  He was probably fooling himself.

Using all our strength, we made our way to the center of the room, pulled the lever, and grabbed the gnome.  He kept using fireballs and fire shield spells, damaging us greatly.  His fireballs damaged himself as well as us, but he was too crazy to care.  His final fireball burned himself to a crisp.  On his body we found a jar of magic leeches.  We took a short rest and did a LOT of healing.

At the end of the main hallway there was a small, bright room.  Inside there were three small fey, called "Lurkers in the Light", who were nearly invisible in bright light.  Tai used darkness to fight them, but they just countered with daylight spells.  The rest of the party had difficulty seeing them either way, but we managed to kill them.  We took another short rest.

Another room was partly filled with water.  In the center was a large fish in a cage.  The fish had some sort of metal plate attached to its head, with wires coming out of it.  Slancio tried talking to it with a Speak With Animals spell, but it didn't respond.  Bjertha, Tai, and Fellany entered the room, and steel doors slammed shut, with Slancio and Meruca still in the previous room.  The room started filling with water.

The party wasn't separated long.  Slancio opened the door with a Knock spell, and joined the fray.  The room still kept filling with water despite having more area to flow into.  Every once in a while the fish would electrify the room, hurting all of us.  Bjertha delivered the killing blow on the fish, which exploded.  The room then drained.  It turned out the fish was magical, functioning like a "Create Water" spell.  We spent some time playing with its organs before taking a long rest.

In the next room we found the last explorer, a naga.  She was trying to figure out a puzzle to open the next door.  There were paintings on the walls, one of a dark forest and one of a subterranean city.  There were runes on the door representing the seven deadly sins, and a spot in the middle where you could draw runes.  If you drew the wrong one, you would get shocked for a ton of damage.  The naga had already tried once, and wasn't willing to try again.

All of us but Tai gathered in the previous room, while Tai tried drawing a rune.  She was shocked.  Then Bjertha tried a different rune, and was shocked.  But Bjertha has a Sword of Vengeance, which makes her fly into a rage when attacked, so she attacked the door while taking shock after shock.  She finally destroyed the door with one hit point left.  That's one way to solve a puzzle.

The next room was a natural cavern, with a stone bridge over a river.  The naga tried to talk us into leaving her, but we refused to leave.  Then two Hydrodaemons burst from the river, one of which summoned a Water Elemental.  The naga joined their side, giving us four large enemies to fight.  Slancio used an Entangle spell to control their movement.  Fellany got engulfed by the Elemental, and retreated to the previous room with Slancio and Meruca.  Tai used Darkness spells to solo her targets, which worked well but prevented us from giving her much help. 

After the battle we found a Ring of Mind Shielding on the Naga's tail.  We took the Naga back to the librarians, and went back to the cavern.  Around the corner we met another brain creature, and a pair of monstrosities with two mouths.  They were friendly to us, and offered to teleport us to the Dark Forest so we could find the next shard.  They warned us that the forest is the domain of the "Black Rider". 

We all took a long rest and leveled up.  Next session is on 5/30.