Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's potatoes
Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 5:57 pm
That's a shame. I'll hang around on the forum this evening anyway, in case Mantis gets home at a decent hour and feels up for some D&D
Stay a while..
https://www.gamersarms.com/forum/
Back in Neverwinter in the dead of night, the Unmentionables found the city under martial law and bolstered by the forces from Waterdeep who had been arriving over the past few days. With the city largely evacuated in preparation for the battle ahead, the party decided to do what any heroic, noble defenders would not: some good old fashioned looting. Their target was Cases and Curiosities, the shop of invaluable magic relics belonging to Tombstone, the private detective who had entrusted to them the calamitous runestone responsible for these troubled times. What better way to repay his misplaced faith in the Unmentionables than to ransack his livelihood while he was out of town attempting to shed light on the conspirators threatening the land?
After checking that no innocent bystanders could inconvenience their pilfering, the party positioned themselves outside the shop. Slythe deftly bypassed the door alarm and unlocked it without alerting anyone. Peering inside, he spied what appeared to be a secondary trap or alarm on the ceiling of the entrance, which he cunningly circumvented by misty stepping directly to the shop's shelves. He then began swiping everything of value into the bag of holding, while ducking and diving the swarm of poison darts triggered by his light-fingered thievery. As he attempted to misty step back outside, though, he discovered he could not do so - foiled perhaps by an anti-spellcasting security field or similar. Out of good options, Slythe resorted to bad ones. He hurried upstairs and attempted to charge through the windows at the front of the building, only to cause a racket and hurt his elbow. Sage, seeing the commotion from the street, took it upon himself to abandon subtlety and obliterate the windows with blasts of eldritch power, shattering them with a deafening uproar which alerted some troops at the end of the street. As Slythe dived out of the gaping hole in the building, Charr ensured that no trace of their illicit escapade would lead back to them by torching the building in a fan of flames. As the fire spread through the terraces, rendering many evacuees homeless upon their return, the Unmentionables fled into the night with a sense of self-congratulatory satisfaction at their profitable haul.
The following morning, the party awoke from sound sleep in the Hall of Justice to find Hamfist had gone, along with the belt of storm giant strength. Even worse, he had apparently stolen 200 gold pieces from Slythe. Keen to lecture the tiny alcoholic sociopath on the evils of theft, the party gathered their stolen goods and set about hunting him down. They tracked him to the Dolphin, where they found him drunker than ever, slumped against the trashed ruins of the bar with an empty keg at his side. After some admonishment, Hamfist explained that he had gone to his wife and daughter to give them gold to buy passage out of the city to safety, but after taking the gold they declared that they hated him and never wanted to see him again. Thus Hamfist embarked upon the bender to end all benders. Sage made the executive decision to strip Hamfist of the belt in exchange for Gloves of Zero Hangover, which were less effective at sobering the wretched barbarian than the eight gallons of water which Sage then emptied over his face from the alchemy jug. With their employee retrieved and duly waterboarded, the Unmentionables returned to the Hall of Justice to convene with the Council.
Lord Neverember greeted the party as they entered the Council chamber and updated everyone on the situation. As well as the 10,000 dwarves secured from Gauntlgrym and 6000 troops from Waterdeep, General Sabine had 4000 of her Mintarn Mercenaries at her disposal along with 500 paladins and clerics from the Order of Tyr. Neverember had also drafted peasant army 10,000 strong, though various Council members protested their use in battle. The alternative was to hide in the relative safety of the catacombs under the city, though the spymaster Xalvador Montagu expressed concern that the catacombs were ancient, vast and barely explored, and he could not guarantee they were safe. After some debate, it was decided that the peasant army would be of best use supporting troops in the city, rather than on the front lines. As there was at least a day before the attack on Helm's Hold was expected, the Unmentionables agreed to scout out the catacombs to ensure they were safe in the event that the peasants needed to retreat there.
Xalvador led the party to a large mausoleum in the city's graveyard, where they descended into the cold darkness of endless winding tunnels, an unsettling home to spiders, bones and secrets meant never to be found...