Session 30: Against the Rain

"Happy International Women's Weekend!"

Summary

Diedric's critical blow

The Moss Hag's Lair

The hag surfaced to find her Dire Troll banished and caught an electric burning hands for her trouble before diving back under. Glenn followed her down, discovering an underwater lair ringed with cages--giant skulls stuffed with soul coin disks, an ordinary troll already swimming free, and a catoblepas the hag was frantically trying to unlock. He snatched the keys from her hands and swam back up. The party dispatched the ordinary troll, then prepped spike growth and dismissed the banishment. The Dire Troll returned swinging tree-trunk limbs, nearly killing Lilia before she wild-shaped into an ankylosaurus for survival. A portent-fueled Guiding Bolt crit from Diedric shattered the thing, and Glenn fire-ringed the remains to end its regeneration for good.

Glenn and Octavius dove into the hag's lair--a rotten-vegetable bed, 33 soul coins from her scheme with the cambion Luciel, a mysterious smoky vial, and a bronze rib that blocked teleportation in the area. Too large for a bag of holding and immune to mundane destruction, they chose to distance themselves, using a drow-themed Tenser's Floating Disk as an acid-rain umbrella until Octavius felt the rib's influence fade and planeswalked the party back through the Blind Eternities to Ribcage.

They landed beside Kraxx'Tor's workshop--Lilia still in ankylosaurus form, barely fitting the alcove. After Octavius magically scrubbed off the mire, Glenn and Octavius marched back to the hag's glyph shop with murder in their eyes. The illusion dropped: the "beautiful glyphs" were pickled eyes, fingers, and rot in vials. They torched every one, rallied nearby shopkeepers as witnesses, and when a black abishai guard demanded an explanation, Diedric talked him down. The abishai inscribed the portal's activation key in Infernal, circled the spot, and stood guard over it.

XP Award

• 3125 XP for surviving entrapment in the third layer of the Nine Hells
• Total: 3125 XP
• Current XP: 58506 XP -> 61631 XP (Level 9)
• (Required for next level: 64000 XP)

Things That Happened

Encounter: The Moss Hag - Continued

• Date: Greengrass, afternoon, 1372 DR
• Highlights:
  • The party resisting the acid rain.
  • Five consecutive d20 rolls resulting in a 1.
  • The hag popping out of the water to find her Dire Troll had disappeared.
  • The hag diving into the water to hide, only to be assailed with an electric burning hands.
  • Diedric summoning a Celestial Smokescale.
  • The hag not resurfacing, and the sound of grinding metal being heard from beneath the waters.
  • Glenn dove inward seeing a series of cages surrounding the hag's lair, which was also filled with giant skulls being used as storage containers for circular disks. One was open and had an ordinary troll swimming to the surface. The other held a catoblepas as the hag struggled with keys.
  • Glenn charged the hag and snatched the keys from her hands, swimming back to the surface.
    • The hag brute-forced the cage open, but the catoblepas was not goaded into joining her.
  • The ordinary troll was dispatched quickly after a failed attempt to talk it into fleeing.
  • The hag did not surface. The party peeked underwater to see the catoblepas had swam away.
  • The party prepped the area with a spike growth and dismissed the Banishment spell.
  • The towering Dire Troll slammed into Glenn with tree trunk like limbs, covering him in bruises despite his armor.
    • He also caught Lilia in a whirlwind of limbs, slicing her to ribbons and near death. She turned into a Ankylosaurus for safety.
  • The Dire Troll suffered repeated longsword attacks, fireballs, and arrows from the Celestial Smokescale.
  • A portent saw to a Guiding Bolt critical strike from Diedric, shattering the Dire Troll.
  • Glenn power-washed the Dire Troll with his fire ring, ensuring its regeneration stopped forever.

The Hag's Lair

• Diedric saw to healing the party, with the aid of the Celestial Smokescale.
• Sheltering from the acid rain by mostly surmerging under the waters, Lilia and Diedric waited as Glenn and Octavius swam down into the hag's lair.
• She had a bed made of rotten vegetables, and giant skulls holding 33 Soul Coins, likely her haul from running her scheme with the cambion Luciel.
• With detect magic, Octavius spotted a vial containing a smoky substance -- and identified a bronze rib from a creature known to protect areas from teleportation magic.
  • Too large to fit into a bag of holding, it was also resilient to assaults from a dwarven shovel and sword of air.

Wading in Rain

• Using a drow-themed Tenser's Floating Disk as cover, the party trudged through the mire until Octavius could feel the influence of the bronze rib diminish.
• He reached out to the lands of Rashemen for power, and careened the party through the Blind Eternities.

Disciples of Hoar

• The party thundered into Ribcage, appearing next to Kraxx'Tor's workshop. Lilia was still in Ankylosaurus form, barely fitting in the alcove.
• They could hear tinkering coming from the rear.
• Octavius magically cleaned the mire's acid and muck off the party.
• Murder in their eyes, Glenn and Octavius returned to the hag's shop. The illusion dispelled, what appeared to be beautiful glyphs for sale were instead eyes, fingers, and other rotten body parts in vials.
• They began striking each vial with firebolts and rays of flame from Glenn's ring.
• To justify their actions, they called out to witnesses, asking if they saw what she did to them.
  • One quietly said "No" in the background, but many of the shopkeeps nodded.
• A black abishai guard charged in, asking what the meaning of this was.
• Diedric persuaded him. The abishai marked a circle where the portal was, inscribing its key in infernal and stood guard over it.
• The session came to an end.

NPCs Encountered (or mentioned)

• The Moss Hag, the Hag in Hiding

DM Thoughts

• Combat ran long but I believe it was engaging. I was expecting to get through a lot more content.