Deadly Dungeon: Episode 05

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==Recap==
=== Session 5 (Journey to the Center of the Plane) ===
=== 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 in the dungeon in a room with four bookcases, a door with three runic circles on it, and purple sconses that give off a light, but no flame. The party starts to examine the room while Macbeth starts trying to sleep. Malcom and Xagyg spend a minute casting Mending to repair Jojo, the Steel Defender. Georgie investigates the bookcases, finding a book titled "Journey to the Center of the Plane". This book is about a group of adventurers trying to find the center of the Material Plane. The group is waylayed by numerous subterranean creatures who set many traps for the adventurers. The party battles things that move through subterranean caves and that wield strange primal energies. At the end of the caves is a great beast. Xagyg pulls out his chalk and starts changing details, steering the story towards a primal feast, and writing about many desserts. Xagyg checks his bag, and the diary he found on the last floor is still here. He adds an entry about the success of the party. Georgie casts Goodberry at 3rd level, and both Malcom and Macbeth eat them to heal up. He then casts another Goodberry at 1st level to get more Goodberies, and eats a few himself. Xagyg creates a book fort in the corner. The whole party lays down and tries to rest, but notices the color in the room starts to slowly fade. After a few minutes, two of the Shield Guardians from the previous floor pop into existence with a puff. They accuse Xagyg of cheating, and asks for their items back. Xagyg leans against the door, causing a circle to light up. A Shield Guardian punchs the door behind him, breaking the circle. The party tries to talk their way out of the situation, but the Shield Guardians won't have it, and eventually Macbeth gives the Amulet of Health back. Xagyg tells him to give the Ring of Protection back as well, and then winks. Macbeth hands back the Ring as well. The Shield Guardians inspect the items, and satisfied they warn the Shield Guardians of their temperamental sister later in the dungeon. The Shield Guardian punches the door frame one last time, and rocks fall, crushing the door. The room starts cracking and rumbling, and the east wall cracks apart, revealing a passage. 
The party starts moving through the passage. The way splits, with one passage leading north and the other leading south. The party finds a lever to both the north and south passages, and there is a metal grate blocking each passage. There are two sconces in each passage that do not emit light. Xagyg casts Mage Armor. Malcom notices a large amount of cracks in the ceiling above the entrance to the passage. Malcom attempts to fill the sconces with oil, but they do not have a depression for fuel. Xagyg casts a Minor Illusion of a goat through the bars of the grates, but nothing goes after it. Xagyg begins trying to cast Unseen Servant as a ritual. As they sit and try to rest, there is a slow gradient of shadow that starts moving towards them. Malcom goes to observe, and finds that the room they started in has disappeared. 
The party hears a female voice call out to them "The pace of your story needs to move faster - pitter patter." Xagyg completes his spell, and the party pulls the lever, which switches to the other side. The party hears the sounds of a chain running, and one of the sconces flips on next to them. The voice returns, saying "Snap, snap, the other lever, down the chamber, quickly." Malcom starts moving down, and the lever snaps back to its original place. He has Jojo help him hold it in place. Xagyg hands his Unseen Servant Jeeves a steel mirror, and has him walk through the bars to give them a view of what's going on ahead. Macbeth runs to the south passage as Xagyg starts singing to entertain the disembodied voice. Georgie moves after Macbeth, and they both pull the lever on the south side of the passage. The sound of a chain moving sounds again, and the second sconce lights up on both sides of the passage. The party hears the sound of rock breaking and collapsing as a cave in blocks the middle passage, splitting the party apart. As the dust settles, the gates swing open and the lever locks in place.
Each group starts moving forward into the passage, until two Xorn meld out of the wall and attack the party, one for each group. Both groups start battling the Xorns and moving forward in the passage, eventually finding that it winds back to the same point with a treasure chest and a door leading east. The northern Xorn goes down after dealing some damage to Malcom. The southern Xorn starts beating on Macbeth as Georgie runs to the north. The northern group races around the passage to meet up with the southern group, and bring the last Xorn down. The party relaxes for a moment as Macbeth drinks a Healing Potion and more Goodberries are consumed. Xagyg opens the treasure chest and finds a Potion of Heroism. He gives it to Malcom, who drinks it. Georgie casts Goodberyy at Level 2, and the party finishes healing up.
Everyone gathers by the door and moves through. On the other side, they find a dark room with four pillars and a door leading east. There is a Mysterious Orb moving about the room, which crackles with magical energy. Moving out of the shadows are 6 Lizardmen and 2 Shadow Demons. The party enters battle as the monsters surround them. Xagyg casts Magical Weapon from his scroll on his rapier and flits away from the party. Malcom casts Grease behind a Lizardfolk and a Shadow Demon, causing the Lizardfolk to slip and fall to the ground. The Mysterious Orb moves around the room, and as it comes close to any creature it discharges random magical energy, dealing damage. Macbeth destroys one Shadow Demon as Xagyg starts taking multiple hits. Malcom skirts away to fire at the creatures and Shields away damage. The party starts dropping multiple Lizardfolk, and a short time later the Shadow Demon goes down as well. As soon as the last demon dies, the Mysterious Orb disappears. The party looks around the room and finds nothing of value. Georgie casts his last spell, creating more Goodberries. They gather around the door and heal up with some Goodberries. Xagyag and Malcom prepare Jojo to woo the female robot later in the dungeon, and then they move through. 
In the next room, the party finds two Mysterious Orbs, 4 Dire Wolves, 4 Lizardfolk, and 2 Lizardfolk Shamans in a similar room with four pillars. The battle starts as Xagyg sneaks to the top side while damaging a Direwolf. Malcom casts Web on the southern group of monsters, catching no one. Two Direwolves charge up to Macbeth and bite him, knocking him off his feet. The Lizardfolk Shaman to the south casts Heat Metal on Macbeth, while the one to the north casts Heat Metal on Malcom. One of the Mysterious Orbs moves onto a Direwolf and stuns it. Malcom kills one of the Shaman, and Macbeth's armor cools down. Malcom armor continues to burn as Xagyg gets surrounded. The Lizardfolk throw Javelins at the party as the Shaman inexplicably takes damage and lose concentration on its spell, causing Malcom's armor to cool. Xagyg kills the second Shaman and dances his way to freedom while the Mysterious Orbs move around the party. The Direwolves close around Georgie and land multiple bites, knocking him down. Georgie uses his Channel Divinity to recover a spell slot as a Lizardfolk drops Xagyg. Another Lizardfolk brings down Malcom with a javelin. Macbeth drops the last Direwolf as Georgie casts Sanctuary on himself and eats a Goodberry. One of the Mysterious Orbs moves onto Macbeth and stuns him. The Lizardfolk continue to hamper to the party while Xagyg bleeds out. Malcom stabilizes as Georgie breaks his Sanctuary and misses with a Sacred Flame. Jojo gets dropped by a Lizardfolk's shield bash. The party finishes off the Lizardfolk after a long protracted battle, and then the Mysterious Orbs disappear. One of them drops a Potion of Healing on the ground, which Macbeth immediately consumes. Georgie force feeds Malcom a Goodberry and brings him up. The party lament over their fallen comrades while consuming more Goodberries to heal up. Macbeth carries Xagyg with him as the three remaining party members gather by the door to the east and move through. 
The party finds an open room with 5 Half Ogres, a Bone Naga, and 3 more Mysterious Orbs. The Bone Naga casts Hold Person on two party members, but fails. The Half Ogres fling Javelins at the party, landing several shots against Georgie and bringing him down. Malcom lands two hits on the Bone Naga and deals half it's health in damage. The Mysterious Orbs spread out and move towards the Half Ogres, stunning one of them. The Bone Naga casts Hold Person again, and holds Malcom in place. A paralyzed Malcom soon falls from multiple attacks. Macbeth fends off several attacks and another Hold Person spell, until a Half Ogre critically strikes him with a Battleaxe and brings him down. The remaining Half Ogres hack the party to bits. 
=== Death Synopsis ===
Xagyg bleeds out after being clubbed by a Lizardfolk. 
Jojo is bashed by a Lizardfolk shield and ceases to function
Georgie is killed by a javelin from a Half Ogre
Malcom is killed by a Sacred Flame spell from a Bone Naga
Macbeth is killed by a battleaxe from a Half Ogre
=== Post Mortem recap ===
* No good way has been found to rest
* The randomness of the orbs causes different mechanics for the fights
* They can be a boon or a detriment depending on how they move
* Goodberry healing on Light clerics is broken, allowing for 540 points of healing from Goodberries alone
* Bag of Holding shenanigans will potentially have consequences
Category:Deadly Dungeon Episodes