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| deep within the City of Caves with Glass Walls |
Timekeeping
This session began on July 31st, 2025, with the player characters adventuring until August 2nd. Downtime for these characters begins on the 3rd.
Player Characters Present
Sever the Wrathful (Level 9 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane and wearer of the Girdle of Cloud Giant Strength, rider of Mustang) with henchman Thomas (C6)Giuseppe (Level 8 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of the Dragonslayer and the Shield of Protection from Missiles, rider of Bonecrusher)with henchmen Bishoy (F6) Tawadros (F6)Fluid the Druid (Level 7 Druid, former wearer of the Ring of Kings)Marty O'Tool (Level 5 Cleric, wielder of the Mace of Saint Patrick)Gorfag (Level 4 Half-orc fighter, formerly known as Fagor)
Downtime
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| It matched the description and had traces of Fire Giants |
Session Report
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| The Horn of Bjorn |
The party gathered themselves in the slush of the ramparts of the Ice Castle. Fluid had determined that it was going to rain, and this started at dawn. Giuseppe hauled out a horn that the Were-bear Bjorn had give him, and after some hours of sounding it the Gimmelwaldian lycanthrope appeared, with 9 black bears in tow.
Encounter #1: Werewolves?
Rounds: N/A
Result: Monsters withdrawHighlights: Bjorn returned to bear form and, with his fellow bears, drowned out the wolf howls with their own calls. The monsters lost interest and moved on.
Combat #1: 4 Cave Fishers
Rounds: 3
Result: Party Victory
Highlights: Bishoy and Tawadros were both snatched by thin and sticky tendrils shot out from high above them by crab-like cave monsters. They were being reeled up into the darkness! Bishoy had a magic sword and was able to chop through the tendril; a mixed blessing as he then took 3d6 falling damage, while Tawadros hacked away without effect. Fluid, still in humming bird form, flew up, turned into an ape, and attacked one of the monsters, while the others pepper them with missile weapons and spells. Tawadros was reeled up into claw range and tried to give as good as he was getting. When the creature died (non of them had a lot of hit points), it let go of him, and the henchman plummeted 60 to a nasty end below, or he would have if Sever had not readied himself to cast Feather Fall at just the right moment. The ranger has become the nerd.
Fluid poked around up on the ledge for treasure, but there was nothing of value there. The party rested and recovered some hit points before continuing. They passed a vast underground natural stone bridge without incident, then found several partial cave-ins along the route; these, they surmised, corresponded to the steam shafts that had been partially collapsed. They climbed over the rubble and continued.
During their journey the steam in the passage had been increasing in volume, and now they saw an exit up ahead from which it was pouring in; they had reached their destination. The crept forward and had a look; the huge room was dominated by a gigantic furnace on the western wall, radiant heat and steam both illuminated and obscured details. Above in the high ceiling were vents through which the steam ascended; and before all this was the huge metallic construct they had scouted last time. They decided to Leeroy Jenkins it!
Combat #2: Iron Golem (and his controller)
Rounds: 7
Result: Party Flees!
Highlights: Prayers were said, and the eyes of the construct swivelled toward the attackers as Sever, Giuseppe, Tawadros and Gorfag closed in, and it breathed out a horrible cloud of poison gas. Only the half-orc failed and found himself Slowed. Everyone else wailed on their metal opponent, and found their weapons had no effect! What's more, Bishoy called out that he had seen some sort of magical spell being cast through a small hatch which had opened, and just as quickly closed, in the main door to the furnace.
The golem started moving more quickly than before, it was now Hasted.
It was time for plan B: Fluid took to the air and tried to find something he could do on the top of the furnace. Sever switched to shield and dagger, his dagger being a special +3 vs Large Creatures one, in the hope that this would be strong enough magic to effect the golem. Giuseppe tried to draw the enemy's attention to help spread the damage around. There was a sudden clamour: who had the Rod of Cancellation they had found in the halfling steading last week? This item was in no way guaranteed to work against the golem, but it was worth a try! Tawadros started scrambling through Sever's backpack in the hope of finding it.
Next round the golem pounded Sever twice, but the Ranger found his dagger worked and he inflicted damage of his own backed with the power of this girdle. Tawadros worked his way around behind the enemy while trying to find the Rod, Giuseppe got the golem's attention, Gorfag (slowly) tried to get over to the furnace and help Bishoy spot whatever was going on there. Then the little hatch in the furnace door opened again, this time a small streak of flame flashed out--targeting the golem--and blossomed into a fireball. Giuseppe and Sever made their saves, but Tawadros failed; and you know what that means:
"Items exposed to the spell’s effects must be rolled for to determine if they are affected. Items with a creature which makes its saving throw are considered as unaffected." PHB p73
Was the Rod going to be melted before anyone had a chance to use it? In a story-time-theatre-kid game, I as the DM may have planned this encounter to rely on the Rod of Cancellation, and so now faced the conundrum of what to do if it failed its save. PSHAW! Let's turn to the item saving throw table.
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| DMG p80 |
Fortunately for the party though, I had already established (i.e. mentioned off hand for flavour and was now stuck with it) that the rod was made from metal, and so--being a magic item--it saved on a 4+. So they had that going for them, but the bad news was this: the Fireball spell had healed the golem of the damage inflicted by Sever, the heat fusing the cuts his dagger had made in its leg and repairing the damage. What a dirty trick.
Tawadros shrugged off the burning pain of the Fireball and had a swing with the Rod next round, but missed. Giuseppe then dodged under the swinging fist of the golem and around to take over from his henchman, relying on his better combat ability to increase their chances of hitting. Sever got the golem with a double dagger stab. The golem itself missed for a change, which I didn't think was possible until then. Things were balanced on a knife's edge.
Now, the huge door to the furnace opened, and a gigantic fire elemental walked out, brushed by Bishoy and Gorfag (who dived out of the way in slow motion) as though they were nothing, walked right up and stood in the same space as the golem, healing it with its fire damage. What a dirty trick!
In the depths of the open furnace Bishoy thought he saw a man shaped figure moving amid the flames, then it was gone...
The next round Giuseppe took over on the Rod of Cancellation, and got a hit! But nothing happened. The description for this item does not cover golems, and I had not told the players my ruling since they had no way to know: they just had to find out by trying. The item description does include artefacts and relics, as well as very powerful armour, so I had decided that it required a number between these two to take effect on the golem. The item description also does not say explicitly what happens after a failed attempt to use it, I ruled that they could keep trying.
Two more rounds passed, I think between Giuseppe and Sever they hit 3 times with the Rod; but none took effect, and that was pretty bad luck. Things got worse when another fireball flashed out, healed the golem, and hurt them; Giuseppe was reduced to 0 hit points and went down.
They were so close to victory, but another bad round could mean death for them all. Yet, how could they flee when Sever was engaged with the golem?
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| Fortunately he was wearing these babies |
TBH I'd forgotten Sever had these. With the boots power they could withdraw relatively safely; if they won initiative, if someone could grab Giuseppe, and if everyone else was out of the way by the end of the round. Fluid helped by casting Obscurement.
They won initiative.
The party fled for their lives out and back down the passage. Although the golem was tall enough that the Obscurement spell only came up to its chin, the construct could not see them in the mists, and so they had time to escape. Even with the Haste spell still in effect it couldn't catch them as they retraced their steps and hauled themselves up and out of the mountainside. They returned to the slushy Ice Castle with a dejected Bjorn and a walking wounded Giuseppe; they had learned much, but at great effort and with no tangible rewards.
Session Statistics:
Downtime begins on: 03/Aug
Combats: 2
Rooms mapped: 1
Combat rounds: 10
Losses: Giuseppe (unconscious)
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