Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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There was vorpal blades? I thought we already looted his body. At least I’m sure Omiy did...
I based the decision on revealing this on a perception check Omiy made, per the stat block. As written it's a DC12, so in point of fact, I should have actually told you; you rolled a 13. I don't recall now if it was a conscious decision (12 seems a little low to me, like you've seen so many shattered vorpal swords used as press on nails to recognize that, really?) Or if it was just an error. The DMG describes a DC15 as 'moderate' which feels about right for this. Still, I think I just made a mistake. In any event, I definitely thought you failed the roll all this time
TL/DR. If you want, based on review, we can say you removed the shards. Per the module, they lose their special Ness once removed, though so it just nerfs the Grand Master.
Leann shrugs. "It would be good to finish looking around here, then get that brain to the guardian, before we head on to find the inventor."
"Alright," Omiy says, "Sounds like a plan. At least we got out of there alive, and we got the journal open. Shall we carry on?"
She suggests they start with the closest area 5.
If no one objects, Omiy and company follow the path to the large building near the entrance to the abbey.
This massive chamber is filled with the deafening hum and roar of machinery. Piles of rough rock ore are spread throughout the area, around which a prisoner work gang toils in the sweltering heat. Smooth metallic columns rise to the ceiling, with open hatches set into their sides at ground level. Haggard prisoners frantically shovel ore into these hatches, which pulse with a deep-red glow. As you watch, a prisoner collapses from exhaustion. Under orders from the overseeing monks, other workers toss his body out of the way into a corner for a quick and callous disposal.
Quietly, Huarache mutters to the others, "I keep thinking about the monk whose face returned to him, and how he was just scared of the Grand Master. How many of those monks followed out of fear? This leads to my next question: do you think declaring that the Grand Master is gone is a good idea with this lot?"
Shonisaurus, Artificer Enthusiast
"Do we have an objective in this place other than to free the poor souls who work here?" muses Shutorn, tugging on is beard as he thinks. "If not, I think that might be an excellent idea. My assumption would be that all the monks we've encountered have followed out of fear of that evil one."
"Do we dare free them?" Leann puts in. "Best first understand the why of what they are doing, before we rush in and free them just because." She glances to the furnaces they are shoveling the ore into. "What purpose does all of this serve?" She asks out loud, hoping one of the more intelectual of their group is able to figure it out. "I would hate to rescue all of these prisoners only to have them die due to their work not keeping something going that is needed."
sam raises his voice “if we free them they might kill us yess, but we let someone out who we trust they might give us more info”
Huarache would like to make an Investigation check to determine the purpose of all this. (27 if that's okay, ignore if not; I just wanted to speed things up if your answer is yes.)
Shonisaurus, Artificer Enthusiast
TO really speed things up just do stuff instead of debating it. If your first post in this room said Huarache talks to one of them, says something to one of them or does interacts with anything or anyone in the place, things would very quickly progress. If I thought it necessary, I could force it with a hide check, since this all presumes you see them without being seen first, but if you succeed we're not getting anywhere any faster. Having them spot you without one removes agency from the players, so .. I encourage players to interact with NPCs objects and environments. There is not need to be overly cautious, negative consequences are selfdom disastrous and whereas they are, they are more random than anything. example: vorpal blade crits decapitate targets, but not much you could do about that except run away, which I was not rooting for.
Huarache realizes the connection between the engine that kept the treasury aloft shutting dustbin when the brain was disconnected and the engines that are fueled by the crude ore being diverged by the prisoners. Others might realize this as well.
#Goals:
The players that started at the beginning of the campaign are looking for Kwalish, but for at least some of the others, he's just one possible avenue to planar travel to the world they knew (there is definitely a portal throne in the abbey, but last time it opened up to an eerie swamp with glowing green mist,) or whatever really motivates them - demonic secrets, untold power, recherché knowledge. There are specific paths to each accessible from this nexus.
Note: you don't have to mess with anything in area 5 if you don't want. honestly, a handful of monks is not a battle for you guys at this point, and I would not roll initiative for it - so you can roleplay it or leave it be. "combat" can be roleplayed here as well - if that's the course you want to take.
Further clarification: The (5) monks are keeping the (~20) prisoners working because if they stop shoveling ore, the whole monastery falls out of the sky.
"The ore seems to be keeping the monastery aloft with a massive engine. I think we can leave them be for now, but I'd like to come back and get them all out later." Let's go to area 6.
Shonisaurus, Artificer Enthusiast
Note: Omiy* and Leann both saw this one in an alternate timeline, but, since we retconned that, this is all new for all the PCs.
Choosing to leave well enough alone in the engine room, our heroes journey onward. After ascending from the depression cradling the engine room, you come to another sturdy building atop a bluff. Through the vaulted portcullis you creep cautiously, peering within you find...
This area is lined with boxlike metal cells, all built of the same strange materials seen elsewhere in the monastery. Most of the cells are empty, but shouts and a sound of creatures hammering on locked doors are heard from a few.
This is clearly a prison where people are being held against their will, presumably when not mining or shoveling ore to feed the engines. They face an uncertain fate, but whether its death or a life of forced manual labor and imprisonment, without your intervention, their future looks bleak.
"How bad," mutters Huarache, "do you think things could be if we set these prisoners free? I mean, figure out why they're in the cells and not mining ore first, but if their crime is 'disobeying the Grand Master,' I think we can save some lives here."
Shonisaurus, Artificer Enthusiast
Here now Leann sees a clear path. She moves to a cell where sounds are coming from and looks inside. She will not simply let anything, and anyone, out, but will want to see who is inside first, then decide to let them out or not. There might be something locked up here that is not exactly going to be nice to her and her companions, or to those others they set free.
(OOC: I don't see us trying to figure out what is going on, and make informed decisions, as hesitating. I see it as good tactical play. Leann has to take her oaths into account. Setting something evil free, or doing evil, through lack of knowledge, are both somethign she would work hard to keep from happening.)
#By all means, investigate. It's just more interactive if I hear a specific thing, like the action above. I know what the character is ACTIVELY doing and I can resolve it with role-playing, die rolls, or possibly just consulting passive stats.
Within the prison, you find 5 humanoids, each in their own cell, all in desperate condition. Most lay about in filth, some eschewing their straw mats and merely laying on the bare metal floor, babbling. One, a halfling, is pacing from one end of his cage to the other, muttering what sounds like gibberish. A half orc sits in the corner of his cell, staring at the space before him, unblinking.
A dwarf, a drow, and a teifling woman all lay on the floors of their cells. They seem to stir at the recognition of the fact that those who have arrived are not the cruel monks who locked them here. The teifling and the drow look to you, warily but with a curiosity suggesting the possibility of a spark of hope.
The teifling seems to have a crude splint on her leg. The drow has his arm in a sling. The dwarf moves about, seemingly aware of the presence of newcomers, but he does not turn to look at you.
Omiy agrees with Huarache to release the prisons. They caused enough uprising since they got here, what's some more? As for prisoners who are mining coals in area 5, she would agree to double back at the end and release them as well. After all, she couldn't care less about the monastery island crashing, as long as they are not on it anymore.
"Hey," Omiy lowers her voice as she approaches the bars and waves at the tiefling woman, trying to get her attention without alerting the guards. "What happened to you?" She asks.