Deadly Dungeon: Episode 09

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==Session 9: The Spooky Estate (The Dark Shard Party - 6th Floor)==
=== Characters ===
*Leon the Lifestealer - Cleric of Life 6
*Edward the Edgeborn - Soulknife Rogue 5, Bard 1
*Yoalli the Drow - Oath of Glory Paladin 6
*Fire Dan the Burning Man - Red Draconic Sorcerer 6
===Episode Synopsis===
The party spawns in the dungeon in a room with two bookcases and a door leading north. Yoalli looks on the bookcases for the book he found on the last floor, but can't find it. He just finds stories of great heroes. Leon casts Prayer of Healing to help the party recover. Edward thoroughly searches the bookcases, finding a blank journal with a note in the front page. The note says:
"I have arrived, fleeing a broken and oppressive homeland, with the dream of peace, and the promise of a fresh start. I find myself on new soil, a beautiful new land, but one shouldn't admire a book by it's cover. I fear I've given up one dystopia for another. This land is ruled by a great dragon, who controls a nation, commands it's armies for conquest and enslaves it's people with fear, demanding what little they have or forfeit their lives. What is a world to do against a threat that holds domain over the skies and the land? Not even a great nation that they march upon can stand against this beast. When all the steel and magic in the world won't slay the dragon that rules a continent, what weapon can we use to fight?" 
The party speculates that there may be a dragon at the end of the dungeon. Edward pockets the book as the color starts fading from the room. The party cowers as the lines of the room blur and turn to squiggles, and the lines of the room start disappearing as the spell goes off, and the party leaves the room. The party finds themselves in a room with four pathways, separated by grates. The far left has fog and smoke, the left center has a pool of water, the right center has small spots of liquid on the ground, and the far right has rugs on the ground. Each path has a lever at the end of it, and there are three doors at the end of the room. The party prepares to travel in separate pathways, but decides against it. As Leon and Edward move forward, a gate appears at each end of the pathway out of thin air and blocks passage. Spikes on the side of the wall start moving forward. Leon dashes across the rugs to the lever as a Rug of Smothering springs up and smothers Edward. A second rug pops up and smothers Leon. Yoalli tries to attack the gate, but can do nothing to it. Dan throws a Firebolt at a rug and does massive damage to it. The wall of spikes continues to move forward as Edward escapes one rug, but gets smothered by a second. The rug restraining Leon drags him into the path of the spikes. Yoalli casts Faerie Fire on the rugs to illuminate them, catching one of them. Dan cast Scorching Ray, but only hits once and doesn't deal enough damage to kill a rug. Leon escapes his rug as the wall advances, skewering one of the rugs. Edward escapes the rug and barely gets out of the way of the wall, only to be grappled and pulled back by one of the rugs. Yoalli casts Guiding Bolt and demolishes the rug, pushing Edward to safety. Dan Firebolts and destroys a rug as the wall slams into the grate. Leon and Edward pull the lever, and the wall starts to recede while the gates disappear. The last remaining rug slips in the center right area between the bars, but Dan and Leon finish it off. Leon drinks two Healing Potions and casts Cure Wounds on Edward. Dan casts Twinned Spell and puts an aura of Darkness on Dan and Leon, while Leon casts Spirit Guardians. The party gathers in front of the right door, and move through.
The party finds themselves in a skeleton bar, with a band of skeletons on a stage. There are many tables with cups, pitchers, ale, and wine. There is even a skeleton dog. There are several banners around the room. All of the skeletons stop and look at the party. The skeletons, almost as one, shout out "Buy me an ale!". Dan throws gold out of the darkness, and hits the dog. The skeletons turn hostile, and Leon charges forward. Dan hits the bartender with a Firebolt as Leon's Spirit Guardians start ripping into Skeletons. The Skeletons start flinging objects and attacking Leon, and break his concentration on Spirit Guardians. Leon casts Spirit Guardians again as a Giant Skeleton breaks through the wall to the southeast. There is a treasure chest in the Giant Skeletons room. It stumbles into the Spirit Guardians, takes damage, and picks up a table. Edward and Yoalli start damaging Skeletons. Numerous Skeletons swing wildly and miss as the Spirit Guardians continue dealing damage. The Giant Skeleton slams Yoalli with a fist, and throws a table into the wall by the fireplace. The party deals decent damage to the Giant Skeleton as Leon clears out a dozen Skeletons. The Giant Skeleton misses it's attacks and goes down to the Spirit Guardians. The party makes quick work of the rest of Skeletons, except for the Guitarest who opens the chest and slips the object inside on its finger. Leon's Guardians kill the Guitarest, and he finds it carries a Ring of Swimming. He hands it to Yoalli, as the party bickers. The banners around the room indicate it is the Devil's Inn, and that 10 GP gets you a free growler with purchase. The party gathers by the door to the northwest, and goes through.
The party finds itself in a room with many doors. Edward goes to a door, and gets pulled (Scooby Doo Style) to a door across the room. The party gathers by the eastern door, and goes through. They find themselves in a room with 8 Giant Poisonous Snakes and a Medusa. The snakes start moving towards the party as Yoalli assures everyone that it is just snakes, and everything is fine. Leon moves forward and two snakes bite at him, bringing him down and dropping Spirit Guardians. Edward casts Healing Word on Leon, bringin him back. The Medusa fires many arrows into the darkness, but is unable to hit anything. Dan moves Leon back to safety, but gets bit by a snake. Yoalli takes a bite as he drops a snake. The party is quickly surrounded as Leon uses his Preserve Life Channel Divinity to heal Yoalli and himself. Leon casts Spiritual Weapon to summon a kris. Edward drops a snake, but takes another bite and goes low on health. Dan kills a snake as Yoalli drops his guard and gets bit. Leon drops a snake with Sacred Flame as Edward kills one with his rapier. Dan and Leon kill the last snakes. The Medusa continues to fire arrows, missing the party. The party chips away at the Medusa as she flails in the darkness. Dan brings the Medusa down with a Firebolt, and the party relaxes momentarily. Yoalli puts the Ring of Swimming into the recycling chest and finds a Scroll of Magic Weapon. Leon opens the treasure chest and finds 5 +1 Sling Bullets. The party gathers by the door to the north and moves through. 
The party finds a room with a large Grim Reaper statue, four levers, and seven Will-O-Wisps. There is a treasure chest in front of the statue. A booming voice yells out "Five!". The first several Will-O-Wisps move about the room, flitting about and trying to find the party. They miss all their shock attacks as Yoalli pulls the first lever as Leon moves to pull a second lever and opens the treasure chest, finding a lvl 1 Pearl of Power. A Will-O-Wisp shocks Edward and he goes down. Fire Dan casts Burning Hands at lvl 2 and burns the Wisps for minimal damage. A booming voice from the statue yells out "Four!". The Will-O-Wisps keep flitting around the room and finding the party, but missing their attacks. Yoalli uses Lay on Hands to bring Edward back up. Leon pulls the last two levers and casts Spiritual Weapon to kill a Will-O-Wisp. Dan casts Scorching Ray and burns two of the Will-O-Wisps while Edward crawls to the corner and kills one with a Psychic Blade. A booming voice from the statue yells out "Three!". Several Will-O-Wisps turn Invisible. Yoalli uses the Magic Weapon scroll to turn his weapon magical, and he starts hitting the invisible Wisps. Dan tries to Shocking Grasp the Wisp, but they are immune. Edward kills one as the statue booms out "Two!". Yoalli hits one as Dan Firebolts another, and Wisps continue to fly around. The statue booms out "One!". A Wisp shocks Dan as Yoalli steps up and hits it, while Leon's Spiritual Weapon drops a Wisp. Leon points at the statue with one hand and says "Don't you dare!" as the other hand casts Sacred Flame to hit the last Will-O-Wisp. Dan kills it with a Firebolt. A singularity occurs on the dias that Dan is standing on, and he disappears. The party follows through the portal. 
The party feels themselves moving through a dark blue tunnel of spiraling liquid. The party feels like they did moving between floors, and start to feel like they are suffocating. They get close to a light at the end of the tunnel, and feel like they are pass out from lack of oxygen. The party pushes forward to the light with reckless abandon and reach out for the light. The party finds themselves outside of the tunnel....and back in the opening room. The party moves to the next room and finds the rug area permanently blocked, and a wall in place of the door they have taken. Dan kills Edward with a Firebolt. Leon casts Command on Yoalli and has him drink a Potion of Poison. 
Leon steps into the right center passage and the gates block his passage. Oozing out of the holes in the ceiling are 2 Black Puddings, which feast on Leon. Dan dies in despair...... 
===Death Synopsis===
Yoalli dies drinking a Potion of Poison 
Edward dies to a Firebolt from Edward 
Leon is feasted upon by Black Puddings 
Dan dies in despair as his party perishes 
Spirit Guardians did 612 Damage this episode and 1,465 damage over the course of the two floors 
=== Post Mortem Recap ===
* The party has completed the floor (now on floor 6.1) and the rest of the floor is open to the next group.
* Darkness mechanics will be punished harder if used in future runs; players be wary
Category:Deadly Dungeon Episodes