Rime of the Frostmaiden - Adventure

After being sure that the adventurers were in a group in the main hall, Drift's Flying Wonder enters the west #1 hallway, its light bouncing around erratically as it excitedly flies forward to show off its discovery. You pass Trovus, standing by the lever and drinking from a flask, who waves at you. And what you see is a crossbow bolt outside of the slightly opened door. This door, unlike the doors you saw in the east #3 hallway, has a large iron bar on its outside. The iron bar is next to the bolt. Ellora determines that the bar must be used to prevent something or someone from leaving that room, but now it appears that someone has entered the room. The Wonder beeps and bops around in its happiness.  

Drift absent-mindedly tickles his wonder’s undergasket. “That’ll do, gadget, that’ll do. We need to cast anything before we enter?”

Zuleikha inclines her head respectfully at Ellora's suggestion. "A wise plan. Perhaps the scholar knows how to purge the crystal of its demonic touch and leave the magic intact? In any case, it seems a good idea to bring the artefact to her. Though the fact that the amulet is here in this place suggests that the duergar may have been partaking of its power themselves."

As the party gather around the door ajar in the westernmost passage, Zuleikha frowns down at the ground. She toys with some of the pearls that hang from her turban, attempting to piece together a story from the sundry cast there in plain sight. "A bolt dropped by a duergar skulking away through some back-door? The iron bar used to contain one of those monstrous undead ogres in this cage?" The paladin speculates, before waving to call Garret and the militiamen over. "Half of you hold this position. The rest of you stay with Trovus. Should this prove to be a trap, ensure these doors stay open."

She draws her weapons once more, invokes the familiar power of a protective cantrip, and heads inside if there are no preparations to be made or objections raised.

Perception: 11
Scheherazade's Perception: 25 (a nat 20!)

“Drift, I hope your contraption leads us to an end to all this skulking about. Zuleikha, good call on having reinforcements watch the door.” Marva readies herself and checks the group. If all look prepared, she will follow the Calimshite knight.

Ophelia's lavender eyes gaze perplexed, almost cross-eyed, at the barred door festooned with the crossbow bolt.  Her voice is a whisper.

"Doors and corners, hide me well
Or else I'm dead and doomed to hell."

Peeking past her companions' shoulders, she waggles her fingers in a way that they all would have seen her (and Ellora) do before, casting Minor Illusion of a large, squat barrel, five feet high, wide and deep, just past the door.  So that whoever from the party enters will have illusory cover.

(Like Zuleikha, Ophelia then continues to renew her Blade Ward.)

After searching around for the elusive duergar in frustration, Dvu stands and listens to the conversation in the other room, smiling and nodding, contributing and lifting spirits whenever possible.  He refuses the amulet as the others do, but is excited to store some of his heavier equipment into the bag of holding.  As they are discussing who should lead next, the next steps to find their elusive prey, he hears the call to rush into the other room.  Dvu jogs along, following.  He makes sure his magical mace is prepared and ready.  Now that they are all gathered, he doesn’t feel that he can see any signs on the floor, determine who may have passed here recently.  He readies himself and squats down, ready to drop prone if bolts fly out as they open the door, or rush in for melee if needed.  “Ready everyone?  Let’s see who’s behind this door…”  When everyone is in place and ready, Dvu throws wide the partially opened door.

The town militia follows Zuleikha's order and congregates around Garret and Trovus to protect the door in the hallway and the lever that controls the bridge. One of the townsfolk near Trovus brings the two goats that had been in the cage, not willing to risk losing his prized possessions again. They all look very nervous about having an invisible duergar running around.

Dvu and Zuliekha burst through the door to come face to face with a number of Spore Servants who immediately wander out of their open cages and show hostile intent against you. The illusion of a box gives you an option to hide behind, but the Servants are on multiple sides of the room. Dvu, although you do not recognize any of the individuals or their clans, you will recognize the Spore Servant hosts as being Reghed nomads. The duergars were apparently using the Lair as a holding spot for their attempts to cultivate myconid hallucinatory products on capture Raghed. You realize that the interconnected nature of the Spore Servant and its host means you must kill the Reghed hosts. The Reghed spore servants have skins that look to be the color and texture of a tree, with the spores forming woody-bubbles on the surface. They do not move rapidly but do move steadily. Your initiative! 

Drift shudders as he sees the parasitic ends that the duergar have carried out upon these people. 

“Is there anyway to save them?” he calls, and in his distraction and fatigue as horror after horror overwhelm his casting fails, like he is a mage’s apprentice in his first week of cantrip practice. 

Fire Bolt Attack: 6.   Damage: 5 fire. 

Dvu reacts reflexively, swinging his wooden, magically-enhanced mace at the spore thing in front of him.  He manages to really connect with its side, doing force damage.  

Shillelagh : (Nat 20!) 25 to hit, for 14 points of force damage to the thing.  

As Marva looks past Dvu into the room, she frowns with concern at the row of Spore Servants. Imagining the possibility of spores flying through the air, she watches closely to see if their guide is affected by hitting one of the creatures up close. 

Perception: 12

She then casts Ray of Frost at the same one if it is still standing. (If it is down, she will cast it at whichever of the others is closest, perhaps #1?) The ice-cold beam of light slices into the Spore Servant.

“Do we really need to fight these guys? Or should we close and bar the door? There seem to be a LOT of them!”

Ray of Frost: also natural 20(!) for 7 cold damage

Ophelia is unsure (as Marva is) whether the right decision is to fight these strange, infested fungal drones or to shut them back in their chamber.  Standing in the back, she is unable to see all corners of the room ahead.  As often, her soft voice is lilting and sing-song, even in prose.

"Is there further egress to the room through which a duergar may have fled?"

Uncertainly, she draws and looses another lavender-tinged arrow at the most injured spore servant she can see, NOT guided by her Innate Sorcery (yet).

Movement:  None
Bonus Action:  None
Action:  Ophelia's True Strike with her longbow targeting most injured spore servant, to hit:  20 (dirty), damage:  9 (radiant)

Ophelia is concentrating on Blade Ward with 1d10 = 6 rounds left at the start of this one (so 5 more).

Zuleikha crinkles her nose at the musty scent of the spore servants creaking towards the group. "We will be overrun like ants upon a dropped fig if we remain here. Let us fall back and fire from a distance!" The paladin shouts, reaching for a sling this time rather than her trusty crescent blades. 

She whirls the sling around her head and releases a stone that sails through the air towards one of the bark-skinned Reghed nomads. At once, she hurries back down the passageway, bundling past her companions and the Caer Konig militia. "Trovus! Garret! Militiamen! Mushroom men incoming! Ready your ranged weapons, fire and then retreat to the east!"

Scheherazade
ACTION: Help to give advantage on attack. 
MOVEMENT: Sweeps in to the nearest Spore Servant who is injured, then retreats to L9 using her 60ft fly speed. 

Zuleikha
ACTION: Attack with Sling. To hit: (12, 12) Bludgeoning: 4
BONUS ACTION: None.
MOVEMENT: To L10. 
OTHER: Blade Ward rounds remaining: 7

Your instincts kick in and you start kicking butt. Drift sends his spell high and wide and Zuleikha does not harm an enemy, but Dvu kills the first Spore he comes across with one mighty hit before Marva and Ophelia team up to kill the second one. Your tactic of retreating to attack the Spore Servants with ranged weapon are wise. Their slow movement, lack of ranged weapons, and narrow #1 western corridor combined with your superiority in numbers quickly dooms them. The townsfolk give a cheer when they realize they helped defeat these monstrosities and will join you in the room unless directed otherwise. You had not noticed earlier but there is another exit from the room and that door appears slightly ajar. 

(With map)

Still looking paranoid even after the tactical retreat and victory over the fungal foes, Ophelia continues to look around nervously for the duergar.

"Shall we leave Trovus and the townsfolk, back guarding the lever at the castle entrance to prevent the duergar from looping around and departing?"

Regardless, she casts Blade Ward on herself once more and stands ready to bring up the rear should the party pursue past the door that is ajar.

She had read about these creatures. It was still unclear why the duergar would keep the creations of myconids. Perhaps some sort of unusual pact. The young white-haired woman would carefully and dispassionately examine a corpse, making notes and tryng to salvage a small sample. Perhaps the effect could somehow be synthesized. "Just a moment and I'll be ready. The invisibility would have worn off by now, the duergar should be visible, let's push on and we will have them cornered soon enough." She says with calm confidence.

Investigation if relevant: 10

Marva feels a mixture of pride at their tactical success and distress at the abuse of these former Reghed nomads. She murmurs a quick prayer that their spirits may rest easy despite the mistreatment. She agrees with Ophelia’s suggestion that the townsfolk guard the main chamber again and Ellora’s call to move on. The dragonborn moves to Q3 and peeks through the door that leads north.

Perception with Guidance: 3 + 20 (dirty) = 23

Zuleikha is buoyant after the swift victory over the spore servants, shaking hands with the militia and their leaders and congratulating them for a job well done. When Ophelia suggests leaving the contingent from Caer Konig behind, she nods and offers no objection. 

"Do we know if the duergar cannot cast it again?" Zuleikha asks Ellora, unsure if their foe was a mage or possessed some natural aptitude as a result of living underground in shadowy spaces. She presses on with the rest of the group, her simurgh resting upon her shoulder and offering an additional set of eyes on their way deeper into the fortress. 

Zuleikha
ACTION: Help.

Scheherazade
ACTION: Search. Perception (w/ advantage): (10, 18).

Trovus and Garret lead the townsfolk back to the main room. They gather close to the lever and prepare to defend that vital gateway to the outside. Ellora investigates a sample to determine that the spores being grown are hallucinogenic (which is normal for myconids) but prone to violence (which is unusual for myconids). She is unable to isolate a sample to take with her. You know that duergars can become invisible or enlarge themselves once per short rest, and recall that you have recently taken a short rest. 

The adventuring party moves through the door and find steps going up the lead to another door. You open that door and come to what was the barracks for the duergar. There are five beds, each with a wooden chest underneath it. There is also a table with one deck of well-worn cards on top and a chest underneath. You guess the chests were used for storage and as seats at the table. You quickly determine there are no life-forms here. 

"Well, not using their innate magic of their race at least, but of course I can't rule out they have actual spell casters among them. Either way, as before, as long as we stay in formation the still hiding duergar won't stand a chance once we corner it or them, and I believe they also realize this, or they would have mounted some kind of counter attack by now, using these mindless minions with that." The young white-haired woman calmly reasons aloud as she follows along at the back of the team.

Perception: 5 (OMG, the rolls)

Drift will look through the chests of the Duergar, and shuffle their cards so that they can’t come back to their game should they elude the party for their entire time here.