Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

"Thanks," Laniel says after three spells. "That took a lot of the sting out of it. I shouldn't have let him land such a solid hit."

Rethan waves off the offer of healing.  "None of them managed to get past my armor.  I'm fine to continue, though if we do decide to take a break I could use the time to resummon Midnight as a bat instead of a cat."

"Ok, so are we pressing on or letting Rethan change Midnight?"

"If we are going to take the break, I can still use my healing spells and get them back."

"And uh...well in my experience, while i only have 2 full strength spells, before i need to rest to get them back, they pack a punch." (spell level 3 Cure Wounds, so 3d8+3 hp each)

"So waiting or moving on?"

"I could do with a rest," Laniel says.

"Right, well I could use a bit of healing and you two don't look fully back to 100%, and Rethan needs the time for his ritual, so lets take that break and get ourselves in better shape to travel deeper."

Morph looks Atuan and Laniel over, and decides to try to top off Laniel and himself.

Placing his hand on Laniels shoulder, Morph utters and arcane word and makes a flourish with the rod in his other hand.

A faint golden light suffuses Laniels body as the magic takes hold, healing more of his remaining wounds.

Morph then does the same to himself.

Feeling more healthy, Morph sits down to take a break, and recover his spell reserves.

Looking over at Rethan, Morph asks,

"Do you need anything for the ritual? I have a small brazier and some portions of the needed materials, if you're missing anything."

"Just let me know if you need anything."

Morph leans back on the wall to relax.

The bear walks over and plonks himself down next to Morph, letting out a huff.

Cast Cure Wounds (Level 3) on Laniel: 21 hp restored.

Cast Cure Wounds (Level 3) on Morph: 15 hp restored.

Bear spends 1 of his 4 Hit Dice to heal: 4 hp restored.

Bear spends another of his Hit Dice to heal some more: 6 hp restored.

Sitting against a wall and shutting his eyes, Atuan nearly enters into a trance himself while waiting. Jerking awake, he sees to his wounds, binding them shut and speaking a few ritual words of encouragement to aid in the healing process. He hopes to not take such a beating in the future, but time will tell.

Hit die used: 11

Laniel rubs his ribs as the bones and skin mend further. He takes a deep, pain-free breath. "Thanks, friend."

Rethan shakes his head in response to Morph's question.  "I brought everything I would need to resummon him in case something happened while we were here.  Though I only brought one set of materials, so if I have to cast it again..."

While the others rest and recover, Rethan dismisses Midnight, then lays out the ingredients and begins the ritual.  Just as the rest of the group is starting to move again and get ready to continue on, the ritual finishes and midnight appears once again, but instead of a black cat, a bat hangs hovering in the air in the middle of the circle.  Rethan briefly bows his head to the bat.  "Thank you for your willingness to...adapt...to help us."

He packs away the brazier and cleans up as needed from the ritual, then turns back to the others and says, "I'm ready.  Midnight here should make an even better scout now with the ability to see (or sense) in the dark."

 Morph nods and smiles at Rethan,

"Understood."

Morph watches Rethan perform the ritual, while letting his arcane energies recharge.

Morph stands as Rethan finishes cleaning, stretching before patting the bear on the head.

"Ok Bear, its time to get moving."

The bear lets out another huff as he gets to his feet.

Morph turns to his friends,

"Well shell we get moving?"

Morph indicates to Rethan,

"Do you want to send Midnight ahead of us now?"

Atuan gazes fondly at the bat. "That is such a wonderful trick! If only ever spell could be so... fantastic. Perhaps, one day, I might learn to do such a thing as well."

Rethan sends the newly flight-capable Midnight off to scout once again, telling the familiar to stick to the shadows as much as possible.

(Presumably to the south where we haven't explored yet from the hallway to the west of us, unless the door in the southern hallway there happens to be open already, I'm pretty sure the bat won't be so good at opening doors :P)

The doorway down the hall is closed, so Midnight ventures south down the corridor, coming to a door there as well.

(Will update with a map tomorrow. For now, door number 1 or door number 2?)

 (I'd say closest one, so the door in the southern wall of the east-to-west hallway)

Morph moves up to the first door from the groups resting place.

"Right who wants to enter first? I can send in Bear, if no one else wants to go first."

Morph waits to see what his friends will decide, the bear at his side.

“I’ll do it.” States Titus flatly as he holds his shield at the ready and opens the door.

Titus leads the way, following the corridor beyond the door south and around the corner into a room. He relaxes as he finds it empty, save for a dozen or so tattered blankets. Some piles of trash and the smell of piss mark this room as one the goblins were using to live in. 

The party backtracks, heading south down the remaining passage. At the door, Titus again leads the way, which opens into another corridor that turns south, ending at a third door. Opening this one reveals a room with two pillars standing in it with a 10-foot-wide arch between them supporting the 20-foot-high ceiling. Near the base of each pillar are the skeletal remains of two orcs.

(oops. I didn't move everyone on the map. Ignore that part for now!) Fixed!

Morph and the bear enter behind Titus, and Morph activates his magical senses as they do.

Morph then walks around the room to check for any signs of magic, before having a look at the arch and its two pillars.

Cast Detect Magic and walk around the room to check for magic

Perception check to notice anything interesting while walking: 15

Investigation check on the two pillars, the arch and the dead orcs: 5

Rethan follows Morph into the room, warning his friend to avoid walking between the pillars through the arch yes while they're investigating, just in case it does something.  While Morph inspects the room and seeks out any magical effects that might be present, Rethan kneels over the orcs, inspecting their equipment and wounds.  "What do you think killed them?" he asks Morph (unless it's obvious from what I can see)

Investigation (helping morph? 24.  Subtract one if it's just for myself instead of helping (+3 instead of morph's +4).  And possibly help on a medicine check if needed to determine what killed the orcs)

Morph nods agreement with Rethan's warning, keeping out from between the pillars.

As Morph is investigating the pillars, at Rethans question, Morph leans down to examine the bodies with his medically trained eye.

Medicine check to determine cause of death for the orcs: 17 (advantage from help)