Deadly Dungeon: Episode 04

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==Recap==
=== Session 4 (The Menagerie (2nd attempt)) ===
=== Characters ===
* Georgie Fruit - Life Domain Cleric 5, Druid 1
* Macbeth - Oath of the Watcher Paladin 6
* Xagyg - Bladesinger Wizard 6
* Malcom Finehand - Battle Smith Artificer 6
=== Episode Synopsis ===
The party spawns into the dungeon with four shelves, sconces on the walls that emit light but no flame, two chairs, and a strange door with three runic circles in the center.  Xagyg has multiple sacks full of chickens. He is an old elf, wearing Uggs, a wrinkled Ziggy Stardust sweatshirt and sweatpants, and an owl that has defocated repeatedly on his shoulder. He licks chicken wing sauce off his lips, straps on his gear, and gets ready. The party redistributes gear, and Malcom activates his mechanical servant JoJo. Georgie starts painting his face while Xagyg puts his spell focus down his pants.  Malcom and Georgie examine the bookcases, finding stories of great heroes and conquests. Xagyg organizes his items and also starts exploring the bookcases. Malcom finds a story about the party and their adventures. Xagyg finds a passage on the second page of a diary. He writes with chalk that the party will be successful in the room beyond the library in the diary. He then proceeds to turn a ladder into two ten foot poles, and puts the rungs in his bucket. Malcom starts tinkering with some crossbow bolts. Georgie looks for information about helping him speak better, and is unsuccessful. He and Jojo have a moment. The color in the room starts to fade as the party discusses strategy. The party gathers in front of the door, concentrates on going through the door, and the party moves through. 
They find themselves in a dark room, with a rounded wall in front of them. There is a small half door in the wall. They listen, hearing some noises around the corner, and whisper quietly to themselves. Macbeth uses Divine Sense, and senses fiends in the room. Xagyg uses an iron spike and a hammer to spike down the small door, and then combat ensues. Numerous Mastiffs and Hellhounds come pouring around the outside walls. Xagyg casts Suggestion on the Hellhound, but it fails. He then tosses the bag of chickens behind the Hellhound. Malcom commands Jojo to attack and disengages. The first Hellhound bites the chickens while the next two unleash their breath weapons. Xagyg casts Suggestion on the Hellhound again, and convinces it to fight for the party. Macbeth kills a Mastiff, as Malcom wounds a Hellhound with his repeating crossbow and commands Jojo to heal himself. Another fire breath comes across the entire party as the suggested Hellhound turns and breaths fire on all the Mastiffs behind it. They go down in a shower of flame. Georgie goes down to a Hellhound bite, but Macbeth kills the Hellhound. Xagyg starts his Bladesong and drinks a Healing Potion. Macbeth uses Lay on Hands to heal Georgie and casts Shield of Faith on himself. Xagyg sends his owl Gary to help the party. Hellhounds and Mastiffs start going down as the party rights itself, and shortly after the fight is over.
The party and their new Hellhound friend Ellen survey the room. Georgie casts Goodberry, and Malcom starts eating them. Georgie then casts Prayer of Healing while the party starts using the 10 foot poles to tap the floor, walls, and ceiling to look for traps. Malcom casts Mending repeatedly on Jojo, healing him. The color of the room begins to fade as the party casts their spells. The party looks in the treasure chest, finding a Potion of Healing. As the spell nears completion, the colors in the room continue to fade. Xagyg puts on a performance to slow the fading of the room, but it isn't successful. Georgie's spell completes, and the room starts to shake apart. The party concentrates on moving through the north door, and goes through. 
The party finds a room with 4 Giant poisonous snakes, 2 crocodiles, and a Hydra. A crocodile grabs Ellen as Georgie hits it with Sacred Flame. The Hydra rushes forward and bites at multiple members of the party, hitting Xagyg. Malcom fires multiple bolts at a crocodile and Jojo crushes it. Jojo moves away from the Hydra and takes multiple attacks from it. Macbeth casts Shield of Faith as Xagyg burns the Hydra. Ellen breathes fire on the Crocodile, destroying it. A few snakes go down as the monsters and party battle back and forth. The Hydra kills Ellen as Jojo escapes and starts running. The Hydra engages Georgie as Jojo heals himself. The Hydra takes a few hits it knocks Macbeth to the ground and starts biting him. The last snake goes down as the party scatters around the room. The Hydra closes on Jojo and Macbeth, and brings Jojo down. Malcom brings a head down, Macbeth hits the Hydra with his Divine Smite, and Xagyg slays the creature. Xagyg stands over the creature and proclaims "That's how we did it in 2nd edition...".
Georgie casts Goodberry as the party looks around the room, seeing a treasure chest and a recycling chest. Macbeth drinks a healing potion as Malcom starts to revive Jojo. Georgie opens the treasure chest and finds a scroll of Magic Weapon. Macbeth puts a Potion of Healing in the recycling chest, which turns into a scroll of Melf's Acid Arrow. The party plays around with one of the scrolls for a while, and then gathers and moves through the door. 
The party finds three dark hallways in front of them. They start moving to explore the southern path, while Xagyg throws an oil flask into an illusionary wall and lights it with a firebolt in midair. Three Displacer Beasts attack the party, while Xagyg begins his bladesong and breaks into Rio. The party deals massive damage to the first creature as a second Displacer Beast moves through the wall and smashes Georgie. The first Displacer Beast goes down. Malcom casts Web and attempts to grab the Displacer Beasts, but it is unsuccessful. The party and monsters trade several blows, but eventually the Displacer Beasts go down. Malcom and Georgie take a few minutes to repair Jojo while the party searches the room, finding several illusionary walls and a treasure chest with two Potions of Healing. They find a second chest, which contains another scroll of Magic Weapon. Georgie casts Goodberry at Level 3, calls them 'Wonderberries', and the party uses them to heal up. Everyone gathers at the door to the east of the room, and concentrates on going through the door as the color in the room starts to fade.
The party finds themselves in a room with a table, several chairs, a brazier, stacks of wood, a poster, and three robotic creatures. The robot in the front informs the party that they must pass six tests - brawn, speed, endurance, intellect, charm, and wit. Macbeth passes a test of brawn, pulling the arm off the robot. The robot reattaches the arm. Xagyg writes in chalk in the diary he found "the robots were so impressed that they accompanied the party into the next room and helped them". Malcom attempts the test of speed, and then attempts to deceive the robot by pulling his hands back quickly. He is unsuccessful the first try and gets slapped, but pulls his hands back on the second attempt. Georgie challenges the robot to a challenge of wits, and makes him choose between two goblets of wine on the table. One of the goblets is poisoned. Georgie picks the right cup on the first try. Xagyg goes into a long discussion on why wings are the perfect dungeon food, and discusses cooking Henrietta in the brazier. Macbeth challenges the robot to a game of dragon chess, winning easily. Xagyg goes through a diatribe about cleaning and falls over, which causes the robots to feel sorry for him and let him go behind the curtain to clean up their mess. He finds two ornate treasure chests, a cabinet, and a steam turbine that the robots use to recharge themselves. Xagyg casts Minor Illusion of the chest in the room as Malcom attempts a joke to charm the robots. He says "How many robots does it take to screw on a light bulb? Three - one to hold the light buld and two to turn the ladder." He passes the charm challenge as Xagyg slips his hand into the chest and pulls out an Amulet of Health. 
The party gathers together and prepares what they call the Grand Finale. Xagyg casts Rope Trick, creating an extra dimensional space. He then hands the Bag of Holding to Gary, and he tells him to fly into the extra dimensional space from the rope trick. The Bag of Holding explodes, and pulls all three Shield Guardians into the Astral Plane. The last robot yells "Cheating is not allowed!" as it disappears. The party goes back behind the curtain and looks in the other chest, finding a Ring of Protection. They give the Amulet of Health and Ring of Protection to Macbeth, who attunes to the items. Xagyg starts to ritually cast Unseen Servant, and before he can finish the room starts to fade to white, and then disappear. Georgie casts Bless at 2nd level as Macbeth casts Shield of Faith. Xagyg uses the scroll of magic weapon on his rapier and casts Mage Hand. Macbeth uses his Channel Divinity: Watcher's Will to give his party advantage on saving throws of the mind. The party gathers by a door leading to the south and heads through as the room disappears behind them.
The party finds a room with four tables with parts of monsters on them, and a chalk outline of runes on the floor. There is a hydra head, dragon wyrmling scales, a spider body, and a displacer beast body on the tables. There are 8 Myconids, 4 Intellect Devourers, and a Mind Flayer behind a dias in the room. As soon as the party enters the room, the Mind Flayer flips a switch and the runes start to glow. The Intellect Devourers and Myconids rush in as Xagyg throws a Fireball, killing a Myconid and all four Intellect Devourers. Malcom kills two Myconids with his crossbow while Macbeth kills another. The Mind Flayer attempts to Mind Blast the party, but the entire party resists the effect. The Myconid tries to stun Georgie, but fails as Xagyg rips into the Mind Flayer. He moonwalks past the Mind Flayer and pulls the lever, but the runes on the floor still pulse. Malcom puts a crossbow bolt right into the Mind Flayers chest as Macbeth brings him down with two swift strikes. The remaining Myconids attempt to stun Georgie, but fail. Xagyg tries to interrupt the ritual, but is not successful. The party finishes off the Myconids just as the Apex Predator is summoned.
The creature has features of all the creatures on the table - it is displaced and has two tails, has a hydra head, spider fangs and eyes, can climb on walls, and has the scales of the dragon wyrmling of a Chimera. The Apex Predator uses a breath weapon, spraying a fiery web in a 15-foot cone, causing fire damage and spraying burning webs on the party. Macbeth and Malcom are caught on fire. Xagyg casts Slow on the Apex Predator, ending the Magic Weapon effect. Malcom, Jojo, and Macbeth start pummelling the creature as Georgie burns it with a Sacred Flame. The Apex Predator bites Macbeth, doing piercing, fire, and poison damage and breaking his concentration on Shield of Faith. Xagyg casts Fireball and burns the Predator, while Jojo and Macbeth hit the creature. Macbeth's smites the creature, and it dies in radiant light.
The party finds a set of double doors, and beyond it a stairwell leading up. The party considers taking a rest, and is disappointed as the colors in the room start to fade. Xagyg finds some notes on different creatures on the dias, and finds nothing else of value. Reluctantly, the party moves up the stairwell. As they get halfway up, they pass through a thick mist that ends all magical effects on them. They find themselves moving into a room with four bookcases, a door with three runic circles on it, and purple sconses that give off a light, but no flame.
=== Death Synopsis ===
9 Chickens died to Hellhound
Ellen dies to a Hydra bite.
Gary was send to the Astral Plane in a extradimensional explosion.''
Georgie Fruit survived and moved to the next floor of the dungeon.
Macbeth survived and moved to the next floor of the dungeon.
Xagyg survived and moved to the next floor of the dungeon.
Malcom Firehand survived and moved to the next floor of the dungeon.
Jojo survived and moved to the next floor of the dungeon.
=== Post Mortem recap ===
* The party wishes all well, good luck, and signed off to a well deserved rest after a 7-hour 45 minutes session.
Category:Deadly Dungeon Episodes