Griffin O'Callahan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
icastsword) wrote2025-04-04 06:30 pm
icastsword) wrote2025-04-04 06:30 pm
Entry tags:
Session 188: Escort Mission
Griffin has prepped all of his weapons so that he doesn't have to de-glamor tot use them. He just looks like ordinary human boy Griffin O'Callahan today.
Bulk and Skull have found our sewer entry point. It was in an alley. They’ve lifted up an old grate. Bulk has his Doomerang in one hand and a microphone in the other. Skully has his camera. Scott asks if that’s his spell focus. Ant thinks that’s a great idea, so that’s Skully’s spell focus now.
Bulk says we’re allowed to sit in on the editing after we’re finished here to make sure we’re not in any of the final footage.
Serra lays down some ground rules for the lads. She rolls a 15 Persuasion. Bulk rolls a 10 Survival. Skully rolls a 5. They look at each other. Bulk says, "Yeah, sure, whatever you say!"
Mmm.
The door in front of us is not locked. There is a long hallway that branches to the left, to the right a little further on, and continues on into blackness straight ahead. Crimeny hangs a left at the first doorway. Jericho goes with them. Griffin is going to be focusing mostly on keeping track of the baby bard and baby wizard we are escorting.
The sound of running water gets a little louder. Crimeny doesn’t have to worry about smells, but everyone else does. Griffin rolls a 25 con save. Everyone does well. That makes sense, because this is like the 10th sewer we’ve gone through. Everyone has smelled these smells before.
Across the way is a plank that has been positioned to cross the stank water gap. Time for Insight rolls. Shane and Griffin are distracted by Bulk whispering into his mic. Even if they can’t use the footage they can use the audio.
The rest of the party insight that the sanitation department probably doesn’t just slap down loose planks to cross the stink water. Crimeny rolls Survival to inspect the age of the plank: 6. It’s made of wood. They think. Someone tried to flush a plank! It’s weird!
ANT: Crimeny, what’s your passive perception?
SCOTT: 20.
ANT: Fuck.
Crimeny sees something stumble around a corner to their right. They warn the team. Jericho asks Crimeny if they think they can follow without being noticed. Crimeny gives him a look. Jericho realizes he just asked a stupid question. Crimeny rolls a 30 Stealth. They follow. They roll a 20 Perception, and spot something moving. It’s definitely humanoid. It may have been a man at one point. But there is a lot of sludge and detritus clinging to him. Crimeny rolls a 16 Nature. Sludge doesn’t normally writhe. It’s a bit wiggly. It hasn’t noticed Crimeny. It is ambulating.
Crimeny Facetimes the rest of the group, and saves a copy of the video they’re taking for Bulk and Skull. Then they tail the writhing critter to see if it’s going somewhere, or if it’s just wandering. They roll another 30 Stealth. The sludge boy heads north. There’s an old grate where water is flowing. Sludge Boy tries to push his way through, but can’t. He gets frustrated and hits the water, and the water starts to take him. He’s river rafting now. He’s struggling a bit - he disappears across the way from the rest of the team.
We decide to follow Crimeny and attempt to check out what the goo critter was looking at.
Ant makes a roll. Bulk and Skull are filming around.
Crimeny and Jericho approach the grate. Crimeny rolls a 20 Perception, Jericho rolls a 21. Beyond, they see a pool of sewage. There is something rooting around in the filth in the pool. It has chitinous plating on its body, and more limbs than normal. It has two feet, two hands, and two enormous pincers. It looks like a mutant crawdad. Its mouth is just tendrils and tentacles. It’s a Chuul. Jericho rolls Nature on the intelligence of a Chuul: They’re not very bright. Jericho suggests he and Crimeny take care of it from a distance - kill it dead before it can leave the sewers and potentially hurt civilians.
Crimeny hops to the other side of the grate so they and Jericho can double-team the Chuul.
Jericho’s only really good ranged spell is Fireball, which he doesn’t want to cast in the sewer filled with poo gas, so Jericho swaps out with Shane, who has Eldritch Blast. Crimeny rolls a 23 to hit with their dragon bow. All three of Shane’s blasts hit. Crimeny does 33 damage, and Shane does 29 Force damage for a total of 62. The Chuul screeches in pain. It turns and charges through the sewage to get at Shane and Crimeny, but there is a grate in the way. It attacks them both with disadvantage because of the grate.
It misses Crimeny through the grate with a 7, and misses Shane with a 12.
Crimeny hits the Chuul again, and all three of Shane’s Eldritch Blasts connect again, and he gets a crit - for a total of 41 damage. Crimeny does 37 damage.
The Chuul writhes and howls, and slumps against the bars, quite dead.
Ant is thoughtful. Griffin picks up Nellie (with her permission) and puts her on his shoulders. It turns out this doesn’t matter as something attacks anyway. A 28 hits Nellie.
From the west, two things appear. First is another slimy dude, but beyond that is what hit Nellie. It’s a giant floating mass of eyes. It’s an Oculorb. She takes 19 Psychic damage as she is struck by a psychic eye beam.
Nellie rolls a Dex save to stay up on Griffin: 11. Griffin rolls a disadvantaged dex save to keep her from tumbling down: 19. He does manage to keep Nellie from falling and hitting the ground. He catches her.
Crimeny sees something out of the corner of their eye. It’s a Gingwatzim. An Oculorb is a castoff of a Beholder’s dreams. The Gingwatzim is a weird form of life created as a cast-off from spells and rituals. It’s time to roll Initiative.
We are out of combat.
Crimeny investigates a door: 31. This door does not look like it belongs in a sewer. This door is made of heavy stone and appears to have some sort of gargoyle etching on it. It looks like it was superimposed over a wall that was here before. They roll 23 Insight. There were a lot of time-displaced objects and people in London, and Crimeny is getting that vibe again here. The barrier between realms is breaking down, and they’re starting to Bethesda no-clilp into each other.
CRIMENY: I have a feeling Reality is out to lunch down here.
Crimeny is going to open the door. It’s not trapped or locked. They peek. The room is pitch black. Crimeny asks for someone with a built-in flashlight to come look inside.
Griffin joins them. He peeks with his magic, darkness piercing eyeballs. He rolls a dirty 20 Perception. Inside appears to be a crypt. He can’t tell without examining the caskets where this could’ve come from.
Something peeks at him from behind the largest casket. It looks at Griffin. It doesn’t have any eyes. It has a face, but its eye sockets are empty. The rest of its upper body unravels into two large tendrils. It opens its mouth, full of very pointy teeth, and screams at him.
Griffin gently shuts the door. He tells the crew what’s back there.
Time to Perceive sounds: 15. Griffin, Crimeny, and Nellie hear - from further in - the sound of another door slamming open. And several screeching voices, matching the screech of the creature trying to open the door Griffin is holding shut. It’s over by the fap zone.
Welp, guess we’re gonna deal with that next time.
Bulk and Skull have found our sewer entry point. It was in an alley. They’ve lifted up an old grate. Bulk has his Doomerang in one hand and a microphone in the other. Skully has his camera. Scott asks if that’s his spell focus. Ant thinks that’s a great idea, so that’s Skully’s spell focus now.
Bulk says we’re allowed to sit in on the editing after we’re finished here to make sure we’re not in any of the final footage.
Serra lays down some ground rules for the lads. She rolls a 15 Persuasion. Bulk rolls a 10 Survival. Skully rolls a 5. They look at each other. Bulk says, "Yeah, sure, whatever you say!"
Mmm.
The door in front of us is not locked. There is a long hallway that branches to the left, to the right a little further on, and continues on into blackness straight ahead. Crimeny hangs a left at the first doorway. Jericho goes with them. Griffin is going to be focusing mostly on keeping track of the baby bard and baby wizard we are escorting.
The sound of running water gets a little louder. Crimeny doesn’t have to worry about smells, but everyone else does. Griffin rolls a 25 con save. Everyone does well. That makes sense, because this is like the 10th sewer we’ve gone through. Everyone has smelled these smells before.
Across the way is a plank that has been positioned to cross the stank water gap. Time for Insight rolls. Shane and Griffin are distracted by Bulk whispering into his mic. Even if they can’t use the footage they can use the audio.
The rest of the party insight that the sanitation department probably doesn’t just slap down loose planks to cross the stink water. Crimeny rolls Survival to inspect the age of the plank: 6. It’s made of wood. They think. Someone tried to flush a plank! It’s weird!
ANT: Crimeny, what’s your passive perception?
SCOTT: 20.
ANT: Fuck.
Crimeny sees something stumble around a corner to their right. They warn the team. Jericho asks Crimeny if they think they can follow without being noticed. Crimeny gives him a look. Jericho realizes he just asked a stupid question. Crimeny rolls a 30 Stealth. They follow. They roll a 20 Perception, and spot something moving. It’s definitely humanoid. It may have been a man at one point. But there is a lot of sludge and detritus clinging to him. Crimeny rolls a 16 Nature. Sludge doesn’t normally writhe. It’s a bit wiggly. It hasn’t noticed Crimeny. It is ambulating.
Crimeny Facetimes the rest of the group, and saves a copy of the video they’re taking for Bulk and Skull. Then they tail the writhing critter to see if it’s going somewhere, or if it’s just wandering. They roll another 30 Stealth. The sludge boy heads north. There’s an old grate where water is flowing. Sludge Boy tries to push his way through, but can’t. He gets frustrated and hits the water, and the water starts to take him. He’s river rafting now. He’s struggling a bit - he disappears across the way from the rest of the team.
We decide to follow Crimeny and attempt to check out what the goo critter was looking at.
Ant makes a roll. Bulk and Skull are filming around.
Crimeny and Jericho approach the grate. Crimeny rolls a 20 Perception, Jericho rolls a 21. Beyond, they see a pool of sewage. There is something rooting around in the filth in the pool. It has chitinous plating on its body, and more limbs than normal. It has two feet, two hands, and two enormous pincers. It looks like a mutant crawdad. Its mouth is just tendrils and tentacles. It’s a Chuul. Jericho rolls Nature on the intelligence of a Chuul: They’re not very bright. Jericho suggests he and Crimeny take care of it from a distance - kill it dead before it can leave the sewers and potentially hurt civilians.
Crimeny hops to the other side of the grate so they and Jericho can double-team the Chuul.
Jericho’s only really good ranged spell is Fireball, which he doesn’t want to cast in the sewer filled with poo gas, so Jericho swaps out with Shane, who has Eldritch Blast. Crimeny rolls a 23 to hit with their dragon bow. All three of Shane’s blasts hit. Crimeny does 33 damage, and Shane does 29 Force damage for a total of 62. The Chuul screeches in pain. It turns and charges through the sewage to get at Shane and Crimeny, but there is a grate in the way. It attacks them both with disadvantage because of the grate.
It misses Crimeny through the grate with a 7, and misses Shane with a 12.
Crimeny hits the Chuul again, and all three of Shane’s Eldritch Blasts connect again, and he gets a crit - for a total of 41 damage. Crimeny does 37 damage.
The Chuul writhes and howls, and slumps against the bars, quite dead.
Ant is thoughtful. Griffin picks up Nellie (with her permission) and puts her on his shoulders. It turns out this doesn’t matter as something attacks anyway. A 28 hits Nellie.
From the west, two things appear. First is another slimy dude, but beyond that is what hit Nellie. It’s a giant floating mass of eyes. It’s an Oculorb. She takes 19 Psychic damage as she is struck by a psychic eye beam.
Nellie rolls a Dex save to stay up on Griffin: 11. Griffin rolls a disadvantaged dex save to keep her from tumbling down: 19. He does manage to keep Nellie from falling and hitting the ground. He catches her.
Crimeny sees something out of the corner of their eye. It’s a Gingwatzim. An Oculorb is a castoff of a Beholder’s dreams. The Gingwatzim is a weird form of life created as a cast-off from spells and rituals. It’s time to roll Initiative.
ROUND 1
Crimeny rolls Arcana - 12. He probably doesn’t want to let the Gingwatzim physically close. They study the Gingwatzim with a 24 Insight, looking for its telephone number. It can’t beat a 24 with its Deception. They have its number. They roll to attack. A 23 hits. Time for damage: 40. The Gingwatzim crackles and shudders, but continues to float ominously. Crimeny is pretty sure they don’t want to let Shane, our warlock, near a cast-off of spells and rituals. Crimeny rolls an unnatural 20 to leap across the water. They leap and round the corner, leaving Shane behind.
Griffin rolls a 26 Athletics to leap across the water, and closes the distance between himself and the Aberrant Zealot. He hits with a 20 and a 26.
Hit 1 = 14 slashing, 3 cold
Hit 2 = 10 slashing, 2 cold
29 total damage.
He uses his bonus action to attempt to shove the Aberrant Zealot. He hits with a 17 to try to shove him into the water, but I guess Ant was prepared for this and gave us creatures that are un-shovable. Griffin hits the Zealot in the chest. He folds backwards at the waist, almost like he was broken in half. Griffy has to make a dex save: 17. He narrowly catches his balance - he was about to tumble right over the Zealot into the poo water himself, but he manages to catch his balance. The Zealot snaps back, not pushed. :(
Hit 1 = 14 slashing, 3 cold
Hit 2 = 10 slashing, 2 cold
29 total damage.
He uses his bonus action to attempt to shove the Aberrant Zealot. He hits with a 17 to try to shove him into the water, but I guess Ant was prepared for this and gave us creatures that are un-shovable. Griffin hits the Zealot in the chest. He folds backwards at the waist, almost like he was broken in half. Griffy has to make a dex save: 17. He narrowly catches his balance - he was about to tumble right over the Zealot into the poo water himself, but he manages to catch his balance. The Zealot snaps back, not pushed. :(
Bulk just watched Griffin almost topple over. He tells Griffin, "Don’t worry! I’ve got your back!" He lifts the Doomerang and whispers to it: "Fly true, my friend!" And he hurls the warhammer. He doesn’t do anything. He rolls a 7. Doomerang flies wide. It hits the water. The Warhammer returns to Bulk’s hand, covered in sewage.
Nellie reminds Bulk she taught him Prestidigitation.
Nellie reminds Bulk she taught him Prestidigitation.
Oculorb has a 60 foot cone attack. Well, I guess that’s it for our NPCs. Actually, no, Ant will do something else. The Oculorb moves and hits Griffin with a 26. He does 9 Psychic damage. It hits him again with a 22 for 15 Psychic damage. A 21 hits Pip, and she takes another 15 Psychic damage. It hits her with a crit. Nellie substitutes her 16 portent to negate the crit damage. It does 12 Psychic damage.
Skully kneels next to her. IS SHE OKAY? She didn’t teach him any healing magic, can he heal? She tells him no, Wizards generally don’t do healing magic. He’s going to have to dip a toe into Artificer if he wants Cure Wounds.
Oculorb floats around a corner, out of sight of everyone except Griffin.
Skully kneels next to her. IS SHE OKAY? She didn’t teach him any healing magic, can he heal? She tells him no, Wizards generally don’t do healing magic. He’s going to have to dip a toe into Artificer if he wants Cure Wounds.
Oculorb floats around a corner, out of sight of everyone except Griffin.
Aberrant Zealot forces a Wisdom Save on Griffin. He fails with a 6. The things form is Wrong. It is permanently in Uncanny Valley. Griffin takes 6 Psychic damage from this Uncanny Valley man.
Then it hits Griffin with a 22, misses with a 9, and hits with a dirty 20. Griffin takes 22 Psychic damage. He has to make another Wisdom Save: 12. He is stunned until the start of the Zealot’s next turn. WAIT: Griffin has Indomitable. He rerolls: dirty 20! He saves! He is NOT stunned!
ACTUALLY I forgot we’re level 11 not level 12 - Griffin only has 8 levels in Fighter so he doesn’t have Indomitable. BUT that is okay, he has this cool pocket watch that allows him to re-roll a failed save once per day, so I’ve marked off a use of that on my sheet.
Then the Zealot teleports next to Crimeny. immediately after it teleports, each creature within 10 feet of the Zealot has to make a Strength Save. Griffin rolls a 17 and is not yanked into the void, but he still takes half damage: I forgot to write this number down.
Then it hits Griffin with a 22, misses with a 9, and hits with a dirty 20. Griffin takes 22 Psychic damage. He has to make another Wisdom Save: 12. He is stunned until the start of the Zealot’s next turn. WAIT: Griffin has Indomitable. He rerolls: dirty 20! He saves! He is NOT stunned!
ACTUALLY I forgot we’re level 11 not level 12 - Griffin only has 8 levels in Fighter so he doesn’t have Indomitable. BUT that is okay, he has this cool pocket watch that allows him to re-roll a failed save once per day, so I’ve marked off a use of that on my sheet.
Then the Zealot teleports next to Crimeny. immediately after it teleports, each creature within 10 feet of the Zealot has to make a Strength Save. Griffin rolls a 17 and is not yanked into the void, but he still takes half damage: I forgot to write this number down.
Jericho doesn’t like that the Zealot is next to Crimeny. He flies across the water. He rolls three attacks: 18, 21, and 25. Those all hit. He does 57 damage. This writhing mass of chaos person isn’t looking too hot. Jericho gives the shitty wizard Inspiration to try to keep him alive a little longer.
Gingwatzim floats up to Jericho and makes an attack on Jericho from behind. It crit fails to hit Jericho. It misses. That’s its turn.
Serra casts Spirit Guardians, which catches the Aberrant Zealot. It fails its wisdom save with a 7 and takes 9 Radiant damage. He bursts into Radiant flame - he’s dead.
She rolls a 14 Acrobatics to leap across the water. Her foot hits the edge of the slick concrete, and she stumbles, but she manages to catch herself. One of her feet gets in the stank water. Her left foot from the shin down is covered in shit water. Now the Gingwatzim rolls a Wisdom save - 7. It fails and takes 14 Radiant damage.
Crimeny, Serra, and Jericho have to roll Con saves. Serra rolls a 13, Crimeny an 18, and Jericho an unnatural 20. Serra fails. They don’t take damage, and she feels her energy being sapped - she takes a point of Exhaustion. But the Gingwatzim is dead!
She rolls a 14 Acrobatics to leap across the water. Her foot hits the edge of the slick concrete, and she stumbles, but she manages to catch herself. One of her feet gets in the stank water. Her left foot from the shin down is covered in shit water. Now the Gingwatzim rolls a Wisdom save - 7. It fails and takes 14 Radiant damage.
Crimeny, Serra, and Jericho have to roll Con saves. Serra rolls a 13, Crimeny an 18, and Jericho an unnatural 20. Serra fails. They don’t take damage, and she feels her energy being sapped - she takes a point of Exhaustion. But the Gingwatzim is dead!
Nellie pops her healing taser. She uses a 3rd level spell slot to recover 16HP. Nellie tosses Seikilos to Griffin. Now he has a frog for his upcoming adventure, wherever that takes him.
Skully looks to Nellie. He calls her Master Daphwort. It’s kind of nerdy and kind of adorable. She tells him to keep his crossbow handy. He ducks behind Bulk. He’s smart. He tells her she should come with him. She didn’t move during her turn, but she moves in front of Bulk now. She tells him to keep his weapon up and be ready.
Shane puts his phone away. Griffin asks him if he can cast his death stranding. Shane does that. Griffin forgot that it was a 30 foot radius. Hm, that could be a problem. Well, whatever.
Shane moves 30 feet north to get next to a plank that will allow him to cross the stank river to rejoin his friends. Ant asks his passive perception. It’s 14. Shane hears something! From around the corner, it sounds like something rummaging through the water. He rolls an unnatural 20 Perception. He has to roll Nature to identify the sound: 23. He hears clicking and slithering, and it sounds a lot like the Chuul from before.
Now Shane rolls Stealth: 4. He gets his phone out, he fumbles it, he drops it on the concrete, he swears, and he picks it up. He looks up, and the chuul is looking right at him.
SHANE: FRIENDS! ASSIST ME!
Shane moves 30 feet north to get next to a plank that will allow him to cross the stank river to rejoin his friends. Ant asks his passive perception. It’s 14. Shane hears something! From around the corner, it sounds like something rummaging through the water. He rolls an unnatural 20 Perception. He has to roll Nature to identify the sound: 23. He hears clicking and slithering, and it sounds a lot like the Chuul from before.
Now Shane rolls Stealth: 4. He gets his phone out, he fumbles it, he drops it on the concrete, he swears, and he picks it up. He looks up, and the chuul is looking right at him.
SHANE: FRIENDS! ASSIST ME!
ROUND 2
Crimeny rounds the corner and shoots the Chuul. They hit with a Nat 20 and do 75 damage. It’s still alive, but it’s screaming. It’s shrieking. Crimeny does something very tactical: They go back around the corner and use a bonus action to hide.
Griffin uses his Acrobat Feat and rolls a bonus action Acrobatics (26!) to counteract the difficult terrain of the Fap Zone. He dips in 15 feet, and gets the Oculorb back in line of sight. He can see perfectly fine in magical darkness.
He raises his Beacon Bow and makes two attacks. He misses with a 10 and hits with a 23. He does 12 Piercing damage to the Oculorb. He uses his remaining 15 feet of movement to dip back out.
He raises his Beacon Bow and makes two attacks. He misses with a 10 and hits with a 23. He does 12 Piercing damage to the Oculorb. He uses his remaining 15 feet of movement to dip back out.
Bulk tells Shane not to worry! He’s gonna help! He uses his action to dash up to Shane. He runs up, warhammer raised, but he can’t do anything else because he’s winded. He and Shane have a beautiful scene. Bulk gives Shane a hug. For moral support.
Oculorb begins its turn in the fap zone. It fails its dex save with a 5. It takes 15 cold damage. It leaves the fap zone and disappears. Griffin can’t see it anymore. It’s probably going to come around the back and get Shane that way. Fuck.
Jericho flies across the water to land on the plank bridge next to Shane and Bulk. He makes his three attacks. One of them is a crit. His other two attacks hit, too. He does 73 damage. The Chuul is obliterated. It had 1HP left.
We are out of combat.
Crimeny investigates a door: 31. This door does not look like it belongs in a sewer. This door is made of heavy stone and appears to have some sort of gargoyle etching on it. It looks like it was superimposed over a wall that was here before. They roll 23 Insight. There were a lot of time-displaced objects and people in London, and Crimeny is getting that vibe again here. The barrier between realms is breaking down, and they’re starting to Bethesda no-clilp into each other.
CRIMENY: I have a feeling Reality is out to lunch down here.
Crimeny is going to open the door. It’s not trapped or locked. They peek. The room is pitch black. Crimeny asks for someone with a built-in flashlight to come look inside.
Griffin joins them. He peeks with his magic, darkness piercing eyeballs. He rolls a dirty 20 Perception. Inside appears to be a crypt. He can’t tell without examining the caskets where this could’ve come from.
Something peeks at him from behind the largest casket. It looks at Griffin. It doesn’t have any eyes. It has a face, but its eye sockets are empty. The rest of its upper body unravels into two large tendrils. It opens its mouth, full of very pointy teeth, and screams at him.
Griffin gently shuts the door. He tells the crew what’s back there.
Time to Perceive sounds: 15. Griffin, Crimeny, and Nellie hear - from further in - the sound of another door slamming open. And several screeching voices, matching the screech of the creature trying to open the door Griffin is holding shut. It’s over by the fap zone.
Welp, guess we’re gonna deal with that next time.