Death of a Storm Herald

"**Death of a Storm Herald**" is a *Dungeons & Dragons* adventure played by Lilu, Anna, and Hunter on 20 January 2023, and the fifth episode of the *Ventures Unlimited* campaign.

The game was DMed by Capwithoutacountry, and hosted in person.

## Party

* **Gray** (Lilu) – Changeling Rogue
* **Shadowtail** (Anna) – Tabaxi Ranger
* **Wintersky** (Anna) – Tabaxi Artificer
* **Cole Ashe** (Hunter) – Human Fighter

### NPCs

* Sarsen Tessera III – Dwarf Peace Domain Cleric
* Yaslin Hylinath – Drow Bladesinging Wizard
* Desmund Flemming – Half-Orc Path of the Storm Herald Barbarian

## Summary

*...continued from session four*
After defeating the Cult of the Cackler, the party scavenges what equipment they can while Tessera tears the holy symbol from the cult leader; he also finds Bracers of Defense on the man, and gives them to Gray as the party jokes about becoming a cult themselves. Gray declares themself the centerpoint of this new religious sect and climbs onto the dais to sit on the altar, at which point the chamber begins to rumble. Desmund hurries back through the basement to find the stairway collapsed and entirely blocked off; he attempts to clear some of the rocks, but exacerbates the cave-in as debris tumbles into the hallway instead.

The group realizes that the tunnel in the pantry is their only means of escape, and so they carefully file into the darkness with Gray leading the way due to their ability to see through the darkness. They continue through the passageway for nearly an hour before reaching a point where the tunnel splits into three branches, and they decide to continue along the central branch; after another hour of travel, they find themselves in a larger cavern where Gray notices a distinct and unfamiliar breathing pattern. Scanning the space, they realize that one small section of the wall is moving, and convince Desmund to investigate it.

The Barbarian does, crossing the cavern and poking at the shifting section of wall, at which point it reveals itself to be a feral grick in disguise. The creature attacks Desmund, who goes into a rage as he fights against it to prevent it from attacking the rest of the party; Sarsen casts healing spells to help him while Yaslin casts *Fire Bolt*s at the creature, Shadowtail strikes it with arrows, and Wintersky attacks with her crossbow, but Gray and Cole refrain from intervening and the Half-Orc is killed by the grick as it lands devastating strikes with its tail and its beak. The party eventually defeats the creature as it strikes Cole, and Shadowtail delivers the killing blow, discovering as she does that her longbow has additional healing properties.

Yaslin casts *Prestidigitation* on the grick and Wintersky stores its body in the group's bag of holding as the they settle in to rest for the evening. During his turn on watch, Cole spends an hour casting *Find Familiar*, summoning a fey spirit in the form of a hawk, while Gray, Shadowtail, and Wintersky experience a shared dream in which they battle a Night Hag, and the rest of the night passes uneventfully.

Eight hours later, the party wakes again, noting that Desmund was the first person to sacrifice himself for their new cult. They discover two tunnels leading out of the cavern, and Cole uses his telepathic communication with his hawk to investigate the two options, discovering that both lead to a wide chasm where rope bridges once provided passage but have since been cut. Gray chooses at random to take the rightward passage, and the party continues on, reaching the chasm where they tie their ropes to the wooden posts on their side of the gap before tying loops on the other ends and having Cole's hawk fly the ropes across the chasm, attaching them to the wooden posts on the far side of the gap.

Tying reinforcing ropes around their waists and looping them around the lines between the posts, the party carefully makes their way across the chasm, reaching the far tunnel and continuing onward for another hour. Eventually, the tunnel opens out to reveal a dropoff into a chasm to the left and a rockwall to the right, and the group rounds a corner not far ahead to discover the front gates of an underground stronghold. Two orcs stand guard at the doors, and Cole approaches them along with Gray and Shadowtail, while Wintersky, Yaslin, and Sarsen wait further back on the trail.

Cole asks the guards if they can help the group get back to the surface, and the guards suggest going back the way they came. Cole explains that the way is impassable, and asks if the orcs know of another way, at which point the guards sneeringly invite the party into the stronghold; Cole and Gray immediately understand that the guards have no intention of helping them, but Cole decides to accompany them inside on his own anyway. The guards open the gates, and as the three of them pass into the entry room, they close and bar the gates behind them despite Gray and Shadowtail's best efforts to stop them.

Once alone inside, Cole asks the guards if they're going to fight him, to which one guard answers: "Do you want to fight?"

*continued in session six...*
## Total Damage

Overall, damage was inflicted and suffered thusly: