Mattsters of the Mattiverse Session 24

...last episode

• Sanctified the Cathedral of Wydmoor and got their next quest. Yoa summoned a Hell Hound ("Helly").

Hunting for Edrell's Dungeon

• The group makes their way to the Azure Geese's best guess for an underground location of the lair and begins scouting in their usual way. Russ has disguised himself as a wererat for the surprise factor.
• This continues for some time as they right-hand-rule their way more-or-less Eastward
• Stepping out of a cul-de-sac that the group has finished exploring, Russ is attacked!
  • Four bolts come out of the darkness the way they came, fired by wererat skirmishers. One manages to connect with its full sneak attack damage, the rest aren't as lucky
  • Russ (who gets high initiative, surprisingly) steps forward cautiously and engages with bombs, trying not to spread the party too thin
  • Gokar presses in to get into the fray, but doesn't quite get far enough

• • Edi buffs, Yoa casts haste on everyone she can reach, Try tries to get line of sight but cramped quarters make it tough
  • The wererats reload and move back. Only a couple now have LoS, and they take shots
  • Russ steps forward and throws another bomb, still not wanting to lengthen the group out before engaging
  • Gokar also steps in, and is attacked from the north
    • A larger and tougher wererat appears from the shadows, and swings a jank-ass broadsword edged with silver coins. They trade blows.
    • Helly breathes fire at the gathered wererats, killing a skirmisher. He starts eating it, which ends up being a pattern with him.
  • Try is able to fire some arrows. Yoa and Edi have trouble positioning themselves in the tight quarters
  • Skirmishers continue falling back

• • Gokar's tough tries to jump and tumble past Russ, who's in the way of his escape. He fails, and Gokar turns him into paste
  • Russ moves forward to engage the skirmishers, and is ambushed by another tough.
  • Yoa gives guidance, Try fires arrows and Edi flame bolts.
  • Rats move back again, the remaining wererat tough is able to disengage.
  • The bruisers move forward. Yoa does as well, and casts create pit on the massed wererats, which screws them up pretty good. Edi casts fireball and fries up the skirmishers on the North edge.
  • One skirmisher falls in. The rest manage to stay out, but the tough is caught between the pit and two very scary snarling beasts (that is, Gokar and Russ). He tries to escape by skirting the pit, but fails and falls in.
  • The other skirmishers retreat, two to the North and one to the East.
  • Russ tosses bombs into the pit, which the wererats don't like at all. Gokar leaps over the pit with his wings and moves to catch the escaping skirmishers.

• • Try shoots what he can, then acts to ferry Yoa and Edi over.
  • Finished by bombs, the rats in the pit lay still. Russ imbibes an extract of monkey fish to skirt the pit and begin chasing East.
  • Gokar catches up with a skirmisher and pounds him into a goo. The other one dashes off into a corridor.
  • Russ isn't able to catch up with his. He doubles back in Gokar's direction and tracks the wererat for a bit, but it has bolted off into the darkness. T
• The party regroups at the pit, which has just de-asserted itself on reality. They go through the rats' pockets, and find assorted electrum.
• They discover that one of the wererats is still alive, and finish him off so he can't surprise them from behind (Helly tries to eat him alive, but Russ isn't into that).
• With Helly's scent and Russ's tracking, they pursue the wererats, who have run off well to the South and East. The party loses the trail of one at the river, then doubles back into more tunnels.
  • They occasionally pass nests of Otyughs and dire rats, but the nests are either empty or their inhabitants have decided not to pay the party any mind, sensing their threat.
• They eventually each the river again, this time at a crossing. Russ (and Helly, but he keeps it to himself at this point since he's been told to act as rear-guard rather than scout) sees lots of recent tracks, and crosses the river to investigate.
• As he pops out... Another ambush!

• • Four skirmisher bolts fly in from the darkness, doing some damage
  • More skirmisher bolts attack from the other side of the landing (to the West). They miss.
  • Try carries Yoa across the river, dropping her off right next to a skirmisher, who misses its attack in surprise. Yoa hastes everyone but Edi, Helly and Russ.
  • Gokar glides over and starts tearing into skirmishers.
  • Two very large, feral-looking wererats show up and whip themselves into a frenzy, engaging Russ. Gokar gets into a tussle with two toughs. Russ is starting to look pretty beat up, but keeps plugging away.
  • Edi spends a round wondering where his friends are. Helly rolls around in some shit.

• • Russ backs up a bit to not get surrounded, and discovers that the feral-looking wererat also has the Step Up feat. A tough comes in from the darkness, trying to go for the flank. Skirmishers fire another volley, then retreat back into darkness
  • Yoa turns invisible, Try shoots.
  • Gokar lays into wererats. One falls, and the rest start trying to flee, jumping into the water.
  • Edi tosses a light-covered rock over, and finally gets some vision on the battle. It gives him line of sight on the skirmisher between the party members.
  • Invisible Yoa runs past the Russ-wererat to try to keep vision on the skirmishers. The two fighting Russ aren't able to five-foot-step (thanks to Step Up), so they don't move back to wail on the invisible guy they can still pinpoint with scent, and instead keep beating on Russ, who's starting to have trouble standing. He returns blows, but whiffs more often than he'd like.
  • Gokar gets some final blows on escaping rats, but a few get away regardless. He begins rejoining the party.
  • Edi does some fire bolt damage to the remaining skirmisher, who recognizes his position and jumps into the water. He doesn't get there without taking some significant damage, though.
  • Try moves in to support Russ, and unleashes the fury of his eldritch natural attacks. They're able to bring finish off the tough.
  • Yoa stops pursuing the escaping skirmishers into darkness. He steps back and makes use of his guidance cantrip to help Russ.
  • One feral wererat is left. In his rage, he doesn't notice that all his comrades have fallen or run, and he continues the fight, bringing Russ to within an inch of unconsciousness.
  • He's dispatched shortly after. The party once again regroups.
• More electrum, some heals. The party takes a short rest for Gokar to mix another mutagen and Russ to do some amphibious exploration. He fills out the map a bit, but the party decides against pursuing that path since they'd rather have an escape route. They opt to explore an earlier part of the sewer.
• Exploration commences, more paths are followed. They eventually find another landing (further West than Russ explored), and it is occupied--by one of the wererats from before.

• • He's heavily injured, and he immediately waves his hands as well as he can in a surrender posture (bits and pieces are broken, so movement is difficult for him). Russ and Gokar take an aggressive posture and begin talking to him
  • He tells them he doesn't want to die, and would rather offer them some utility. Russ wants him to get to the point, and his impatience frightens the poor wererat even more.
  • He's eventually able to offer to take them directly to the lair. He further tells them he's pretty sure they're going to mop the floor with the wererat guild, and since there are a few friends he'd rather not see die, he wants the chance to warn them so they can escape instead.
  • The wererats have to save face or they'll be hunted down, so he proposes that they wear armbands to identify themselves, and says that they'll agree to run as soon as they can disengage.
  • The party gets some pretty good insight into the rat's cowardice. Russ and Gokar would rather trust in their violence, but Yoa and Edi are able to convince them that this is a worthwhile strategy.
  • The wererat looks a bit relieved at the agreement, and they set off after him.

Lair of the Were

• They finally reach the stronghold. As agreed, the wererat steps off ahead to fulfill what he will of their agreement. Before leaving completely, however, he hands a stake to Edi, saying, "Just in case, you might need this. Some of the wererats have been... off, another reason I'm not too invested in their fates." The party instantly realizes the implications here (40 on a knowledge(religion) check), and add discussing those implications to their preparations.
  • (special trait gained: Any wererat that runs and is allowed to escape the encounter will still be worth 50% xp).
• They stack all the buffs, figuring that they will be simply smashing the door in and plowing through like a hurricane. Russ turns into a gargoyle, but keeps up his wererat disguise.
• The appointed time up, they begin their assuault

]

• • One of them has an armband (the middle). The party pretends not to ignore them.
  • Gokar charges in first, ignoring a bite AoO from a skirmisher to start laying into a tough. Russ follows in suit, letting his disguise drop as he charges to unveil his current form--gargoyle.
  • Edi files in behind with a clutch flaming hands, and gets a critical hit bolt for his troubles (which luckily does minimum damage).
  • The wererat with the armband yells about getting help, and rushes past Russ, who conveniently is "too busy" to get off an AoO. He disappears.
  • Helly comes in on Russ's side, biting at what looks like the softest target.
  • Try fires arrows from the back ranks. Yoa unleashes the might of an aqueous orb, which starts rolling over wererats and generally pretty much being fucking badass.
    • Despite relatively good reflex saves, they roll horribly and two are caught up and bumped around. One will escape temporarily, only to be caught up again--they generally just stop being a factor in the battle.

• • Gokar's tough disengages and flees through the door behind it. A skirmisher on Russ's side does the same. The tough there falls.
  • Edi supports Gokar, making him luckier and deadlier
  • Gokar sets in on the skirmisher that missed its AoO before, and takes care of it without much trouble. The remaining skirmisher on that side gets another critical hit on Edi (this time doing significantly more damage), and starts trying to run.
  • Russ sees it and cuts him off. Gokar joins in for the flank, and Step Up keeps him from getting away. The orb swoops in and sucks him up, and he joins the other two in their fate.
• The guard at the gate eliminated, the party wastes no time continuing their assault. Russ runs up the middle, joined by Try and Helly. Gokar and Edi head left. Yoa and the orb split the difference, more in Russ's direction than not.
• Gokar rushes to open a door, and flings himself into a small, square room. A few sharp *kthunks* later, and he is locked in, cloudkill seeping in from apertures in the wall. He starts beating down the door and manages to open a hole, yelling for assistance.
• Everyone to the right of the orb doesn't hear this going on, and they keep fleshing out those corridors, but don't stray too far down any particular one.
• Edi supports Gokar for his upcoming save, which he makes. He still gets maximum Constitution damage, but it's halved. The curtain falls here, with Gokar to start us off next session.

Awards

• 3050 xp to everyone for various wererat lackeys
• 100 xp for an escaping wererat
• 500 xp to Russ for slitherrr being on top of some bookkeeping shit
• 1000 xp to Apt for Mattie successfully guessing the identity of the vampire leader
• 426 electrum pieces collected from the wererats
• A wooden stake