Stonehell Session 18

~ Lizard exchange ~

~ Easy dungeon traversal ~

~ Bone things and banshees ~

Writhing Rotten Flesh from Dark Souls III

17 of Storm

Gringle the Tank

Fjord the Changed

Thorn the marcheguard

Ymir the Merc

The Hellseekers have constructed a wall around Stonehome to help against the Goblin scourge. Gringle foraged for a dragon scale to craft a potion to restore Will damage. Fjord practiced his changing abilities to gain another charge. 

Gringle, Fjord, and Thorn set off for Stonehell, with Ymir set to join in later. 

The three of them made it to the foothills, where they encountered a band of lizard folk emerging from a swampy cave. The lizard folk gave chase, but the Hellseekers had an advantageous position as they had made it uphill some ways. Raining down fire oil and boulders, the lizard folk hesitated. Fjord took some chalk and, drawing on the cliff walls, created an image of human and lizard folk friendship. 

The elder of the band of lizard folk had a spat with some of the younger members, and the group split up, with 5 young lizards retreating angrily into the swamp. The elder drew a picture of their worship, and forbid the Seekers from entering the swamp cave. They agreed to the terms, and continued on to the valley. At this point Ymir came wandering out of the mountains and joined the Seekers. 

Ymir got a quick introduction to the dungeon and the Seeker’s accomplishments, and the party ventured down into the Main Foyer. 

They made some detours to stock up on nitre and to ask the Rocky Oracle a few questions, then made their way to the Quiet Halls. 

Once in the catacombs, they needed a rest so they decided to retreat behind the bronze doors decorated with a danse macabre to take 10 minutes. I rolled an exploration die (errant) and got local effect, which happens to be a sensory apparition of the Funeral Barge that patrols the halls. This freaks out the players every time. They had the bravery to venture back in after their rest, to find nothing. They did spot the signs of sharp teeth gnawing at the cave moss, which brought up their spirits, at the hope that some of their enemies may be living. 

Looting the crypts has proved fruitful, and they continued. They heard a new noise in one, like a sloshing garbage bag paired with the crunch of bones. They discovered a Bone Thing. Their plan: dash it with holy water, slam the door on it and try to cut it in half. 

The holy water worked, dealing an enhanced 1d12 damage to it. The door did not. It passed a Str save, and chose to go after Ymir the door slammer, dealing a whopping 8 damage. Ymir’s first hit in the dungeon turned into a scar, and he got infected with some parasitic worms from the Bone Thing. 

The party quickly finished off the Bone Thing, earning themselves a hefty amount of loot, in gold trinkets and jewelry. 

They proceeded to the next crypt, which 3 banshees exploded out of. All the seekers failed Dex saves, which let the banshees act first, and they all let out horrific wails. Gringle, Ymir, and Fjord all succumbed to unconsciousness, but with extreme luck, Thorn passed 3 Wil saves and came out the other side conscious. 

Thorn was able to throw a holy water and wake Gringle, who in turn woke up Fjord and Ymir. 

Here I think I messed up, by letting a character that woke up still take an action. I should've had them make Dex save or something. It kind of trivialized the threat of unconsciousness. Oh well. It was still extremely scary to have ¾ of the party KO’d. And the holy water did enough damage to dispel all 3 banshees in one turn. 

They found a little bit more gold, lured some rats into another room and trapped them, and discovered a stairwell down. They then made their way out. 

Sleeping in their FOB, they felt the footsteps of a troll rattle the cliffs above them, but other than that they made it back to Stonehell safe and sound.