Ghosts of Saltmarsh (cbaer8) - Campaign Thread

Dwal proceeds through the ancient door into the dark hallway on the north side of the room.

Once again he meets the old woman and her knife, who has found a hiding place just inside the hallway. Stealth: 19 vs Dwal PP: 12

Old woman vs. Dwal: Blade attack #1: 24 Hit: 5 piercing damage, and Dwal must make a DC 15 CON save, taking 24 poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success.

Old woman vs. Dwal: Blade attack #2: 19 Hit: 8 piercing damage, and Dwal must make a DC 15 CON save, taking 23 poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success.

Sneak attack damage if either blade hits: 16 piercing damage.

Gerrard, Kei, and Boko are up next.

Kei 

"A mage you say" Kei snorts at Dwal's suggestion. "Not much of one if he let me put a hold on him." He makes his way towards his captive. Standing next to Boko he pulls a face at the obese man. "What can you see down..." His voice trails off as Gerrard mentions Peri's name. "That two-bit, little pain in the neck. Have you finally graced us with your presence?" His eyes dart back to the door, a note of relief can be heard in his voice.

Dwal reacts.
He cast Shield to protect himself. 

Poison Save: 18

Gerrard:

"Now that's just downright rude!" says Gerrard as the woman shoves her knife all the way through Dwal.  The young noble steps up and starts weaving his blades in a deadly dance towards the attacker -- cultist assassin or just very competent homeowner, who knows -- with the intent of disabling her and/or disarming her of the nasty-looking knife.

Moon-Touched Rapier Attack #1:  Attack: 9 Damage: 10

Moon-Touched Rapier Attack #2:  Attack: 27 Damage: 11

Main Gauche Attack:  Attack: 22 Damage: 7

Disarm if any of the attacks land:  6 damage and DC16 strength check or be disarmed.

Peri swings down through the doorway, glad the weirdness is over and he's back with his crew. "Aye, I'm back, no thanks to you lot! I been stuck in a hole with a crazy, no-eyed, cannibal gnome and you're out here..." The bizarre scene finally hits him. "Who's the fat guy? Is the girl with us? What's goin' on?" He scrambles up to the ceiling to try to make sense of the chaos.

(If he can see the woman Gerrard is fighting he'll fire an eldritch blast at her; otherwise he'll ready it to blast anyone who attacks his friends.  9 for 4)

Seeing the large man straining in anger is enough for Boko to unleash her readied Attack: 26 Damage: 12

On her next turn she sees the scrum with the rogue, and the whole of the party moving to do something about her, but she keeps her attention on the man, and tries to knock him out before he recovers. 

Quarterstaff Attack: 21 Damage: 8
Bonus Action Unarmed Strike: 19 Damage: 5

(Apologies for the slight vagueness, but I'm not entirely sure whose pocket I've been hanging out in this entire time. Hopefully we can get some DM clarification in here soon enough.)

From the ring that has been resting safely in someone's pocket emerges a trail of smoke that quickly solidifies into the form of a woman. She's tall and slender, with unnaturally pale skin covered in swirling pale blue tattoos that seem to shift when you aren't looking at them. Her white hair sways in a nonexistent breeze. She's dressed in simple but finely-made clothing, with a rapier at her side and crossbow on her back.

Her piercing eyes lock onto the person whose pocket she materialized out of. "Hello. Would you kindly tell me where I am and why you went to such lengths to steal my ring? I'm quite confident I hid it well." She pauses for a moment, then reaches into the pocket to snatch the ring out and place it onto her finger. "And I'll be taking that back now, thank you."

@Gerrard, not sure if you're in the same room as me, but if you are:

Gerrard steps past Dwal and delivers a pair of deft strikes to the tough old woman. She scrambles to keep ahold of her poisoned blade. Strength check: 6
...and easily succeeds. She bleeds from her wounds, but still has a lot of fight left in her.

Peri strides across the low ceiling, upside-down. Confused, he cannot see the old woman in the hallway; he can only hear the commotion.

Boko clobbers the big man with her staff - once, twice, three times. But like the old woman, this guy is tough. He groans and sneers with rage through his paralysis at his attacker.

The strange newcomer appears from Peri's upside-down pocket. (Dwal, an open doorway, and a pile of junk separate Rue from Gerrard, so he may not hear her.)

Kei is up next!

Gerrard:

With no time to go into detail with Peri, Gerrard quickly tries to convey just the urgent information, "Master Fenwader, Boko is with us and the bound man is not, nor is this....{grunt, clang, swoosh}...assassin."

Perception:  6

With all the ruckus, the young noble doesn't even register the new arrival of the ring-borne mist-woman.

Kei 

"You keep an eye on this one. Whack him if he moves, or even if he doesn't" he says to Boko with a smile. Keeping part of his mind on holding the male motionless he makes his way to just behind Dwal. Whilst walking he reaches into a pouch and withdraws a card from his deck. A vision briefly washes through his mind. 3

As soon as the woman comes into view he unleashes his magic, hoping to keep her from attacking either Dwal or the brave noble.

M: Shift position to be able to see the woman attacker.

A: Cast Dissonant Whispers 12 damage. Wis 15 save or move away. ¹/² damage on a save and no movement.

BA: Tales from Beyond recollection

Kei whispers inaudible somethings into the head of the old woman from his position behind Dwal. Wis Save: 1

Her face racked with sudden pain, she spins and races down the darkened hall.

Gerrard and Dwal may have an Opportunity Attack if they have a reaction available.

The big man strains against Kei's arcane paralysis, which he continues to concentrate upon. Wis Save: 3

 The man sweats and shakes and strains, but the bard's magic holds.

Top of the round: Dwal is up next!

Gerrard:

Seeing how badly the woman hurt Dwal, Gerrard again tries to knock the deadly dagger out of her hand as she turns to run away.

Opportunity Attack:  Elegant Noble’s Rapier:  Attack: 24 Damage: 8

Disarm attempt on a hit:  DC 16 strength save, added damage:  4

Dwal will not take an attack of opportunity.
He will however launch a [Tooltip Not Found] at her.
Hit: 16
Damage (if hits): 14

The woman flees west, down the dark hallway, but not before Gerrard gives her another strike of his rapier. She again tries to keep hold of her deadly blade. DC 16 Strength save: 6

 She drops her deadly blade in the hallway, next to Dwal, and disappears in the gloom.

Dwal can still see her racing down the hallway in the dark, however, and hurls a blob of arcane flame at her fleeing form. It sears her body and she shrieks with pain and anger and fear.

Pulling out a small crossbow from the robes on her back, she fires a bolt at the disarming noble (who is unable to see it coming):
Light Crossbow attack versus Gerrard: 10  Hit: 11 piercing damage, and Gerrard must make a DC 15 CON saving throw, taking 27 poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success.

Then Dwal sees her flee through a door on the north.

Everyone except Dwal may act next.

Round 4 initiative:
Dwal √
Old Woman √
Peri
Gerrard
Kei
Boko
Rue
Big Man

(Dwal sees a door on the north side of the corridor to the west, about 50' from Gerrard and Dwal, where the old woman exited the corridor.)

Gerrard:

Gerrard sees the old woman disappear into the darkened hallway, then she is momentarily lit up by Dwal's arcane fire.  Unfortunately, the flame does not remain to illuminate her form, and the next evidence the young noble has of her actions is a crossbow bolt zipping into the torchlight and soft moonlight shed by his rapier--too quickly to dodge.  He feels the burning sensation of poison spreading from the wound and grits his teeth, attempting to fight off its effects!

Constitution Save:  19

Gerrard:

Sheathing his Main Gauche, Gerrard picks up the assassin's deadly blade in his off hand and backs off from the darkened hallway into the previous room, unwilling to expose himself to another poisonous shot from the darkness.  He then takes a deep breath and looks around, remarking, "The cultist welcoming committee has sharp teeth," to Peri, suddenly looking at their other new arrival in shock and saying, "Rue, is that you?  What are you doing here?"

Bonus Action Second Wind:  14

In the moments since entering the smoky room, Peri has seen a blue woman -- Boko, I presume? -- beating a paralyzed fat man within an inch of his life, another woman materialize from the bag Hong had dropped -- And she very rudely snatched away! -- and Gerrard hit by a bolt from seemingly nowhere. He still has no idea what it happening here and hanging upside down doesn't help. He scoots across the roof and down the wall beside the door (West side) and asks, "What in the name o' Yondalla's knickers are you lot doin' in here?" Addressed mostly toward Kei, he's baffled enough to take explanation from anyone who'll give it. Battered and drained, he's in no shape to go charging headlong into a situation he doesn't understand -- I've learned that much, at least! -- so he clings to the wall and again readies an eldritch blast at anyone appearing hostile. Well, hostile to the ones I know. That Boko seems pretty hostile. (If a target presents itself: 23 for 1)

Rue's eyes widen marginally at the sight of Gerrard, but she's quick to compose herself. "Maybe? It's a long story." Giving up on getting information from the halfling thief - who was apparently an ally? - she steps up next to Gerrard and tries to piece together what snippets of conversation she's heard. "We're fighting him? And another assassin?" Without waiting for an answer, she pulls the longbow from her back, lines up a shot, and looses it at the fat man.

Attack: 23 Damage: 10 + 4 sneak attack

Gerrard:

”I don’t completely understand it myself, Lady Alderman, but in theory we are dealing with evil and possibly aquatic cultists,” says Gerrard quickly as he glances down at the new dagger in his off hand.