The Saturday Game 4/20/19 – Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?

Note: The Warlock and Warrior Princess were unable to attend. The Monk has bid adieu to the party to pursue other interests.

Upstairs at the Spicy Unicorn Inn, the party gathers in a room to inspect the loot. The stone statues of the Cleric and Paper Merchant overlook our activities. We will be selling unneeded items to raise funds to employ a cleric to restore our friends. The Luchador identified the objects which are then distributed to those who can use them best. Everyone also gets a 2d4 lesser healing potion.

We visit with Essarch, the information broker, our chief contact here in Pearl. We trade him some items for funds. He also helpfully refers us to a cleric for a reasonable rate on greater restorations. The cleric discreetly makes a house call to the Spicy Unicorn and frees our friends from their stone prisons.

One of the items identified from Fadheela, the Medusa, is a rod in the shape of a serpent with a globe that looks like the world in its fangs. The Luchador waves the rod and a portal opens.  With a shrug, he jumps through followed by the Bard. The rest of the party quickly follows before the portal closes. The Luchador finds himself is a warm room in front of an enormous dragon. After a panicky moment, he realizes the dragon is a statue. As we take in the rest of the room, we see other statues of a variety of petrified creatures lining the walls as if in a museum.

At the far end of the room are stairs going down and several cages against the wall. As we approach, we see skeletons on the floor of some of the cages, but one contains a very much alive gnome. He tells us that he was captured by members of the Vanguard of Sertous when they raided his town. Then a reptilian woman with a linen covering her head used magic to bring him here. We free the gnome wizard who joins us as a new party member.

Down the stairs, we find a hall running in an east-west direction with doors at either end. Heading to the left door, the party enters an opulent room. A large cabinet with gilded hardware stands against a wall. The Paper Merchant checks for traps and secrets. Finding none, he opens the cabinet which is filled with a variety of magical items. We take the items for later identification, exit the room and move down the hall. This door opens to a room containing a large pool of water. A water filled passage runs on the far side, but a northward passage is above the water level. Heading north is a storage room filled with food and wine. A small globe that matches the one in the portal rod appears embedded in one of the walls. The Paper Merchant searches the area for traps and secrets. When he touches the globe, a portal opens, and we all jump through.

The party appears in an open field. A half mile away is a cliff face topped with a large fortress. A road leads to a village of about ten buildings. The Druid transforms into a squirrel, runs down the road and begins jumping from roof to roof to explore. The citizens appear to be a variety of races. Unusually, a well centered in the village has a massive snake wrapped around it. The Luchador fearlessly walks into town and hails a halfling farmer named Bobus. Bobus recounts recent events to the Luchador. The snake is the pet of Lyith, the Naga Overseer, who is terrorizing the town. A half dozen villagers have been kidnapped by her and are locked in a building to the south. The Luchador gives the halfling fifty gold for distribution of aid to the villagers and reassures the farmer we will free the captured. We skirt the village heading east and then south to avoid rousing suspicion. We find an unguarded, but locked barn. The Paper Merchant readily picks the lock and the Luchador explains to the captives that they are free to go. Surprisingly, the villagers do not return to their homes and families, but head directly into the countryside clearly terrified of being recaptured.

At this point, our new wizard friend casts identify on the items from the Medusa’s cabinet. Once identified, the items are distributed to party members who can best use them. Then it is time to deal with the snake and its owner. We circle around again with the casters taking a ranged position to attack the snake. The others take cover next to the house Lyith is in. The casters unleash by calling down lightning, magic missiles and a thunder wave towards the snake. The snake begins to slither towards the party. Suddenly, the Naga Lyith bursts through the door of the house and casts fireball towards the casters. The Cleric falls! The Luchador attacks the Naga. The Druid sends his wolves into melee with the snake. The Sorcerer heals the Cleric back to life. The Wizard casts fireball on the snake and it falls dead. With a word and a wave of the hand from the Bard, the Naga suddenly falls incapacitated by laughing. The Luchador, using his new boots, takes advantage by grabbing the Naga, jumping high in the air and slamming the Naga down into the ground. After a few more hits and spells, the Bard lands a lucky critical hit and the Naga is silenced forever.

We search the house to find nothing. The Druid drains the snake of some venom into a vial for a future use. We pause to decide what to do before heading towards the fortress.