Episode 394 - Demon Ball

When you enter the dang Abyss you gotta have a plan and you gotta have an ally. Well, we don’t really have either so we try to fix that.

## **Story**

### Long Story

Having just compelled 12 Githyanki Pirates to surrender, Toby heads off to their destroyed ships in search for some Planar Crystals. Meanwhile, Rowan is attempting to Persuade the Githyanki to answer her questions, namely, how/why did they find the *BTS*? She focuses one one of them, the most scared-looking one, but accidentally makes him fall madly in love with her. He introduces himself as Nerz'ac, and swears his allegiance to her beyond all obstacle. First order of business, he informs them that their ship is being tracked. Turns out, it's a known stolen ship, and it's being hunted by all kinds of Gith pirates. Uh oh. They are being tracked through the Planar Crystals, and the only way to cloak themselves is if the Crystals were hidden in another dimension. Fortunately, Toby has a Bag of Holding, which acts as another dimension. Handy! Rowan leaves Nerz'ac in the brig, commanding him to spread the good word of The Tower of Grey.

Toby resists the calling of his book, Tsugrix Zelentiri to kill the prisoners, and instead feeds it some of his blood, mixed with mayonnaise. I feel sick, so I'm gonna go take a break real quick.

Alright, I'm back. Anyway, the ship and it's crew are able to find a portal to The Abyss, and they head over to it. Floating above it, they make a plan to leave the boat and several crewmates here in The Astral Plane, and take Eckhart Dayhammer, Bucky, Hoby, and Daisy down into the Abyss with them. Toby flies on his broom, while Bucky rides Daisy. Between this, they are able to descend into the portal to The Slime Pits of the Abyss... (also, they retcon that they took a long rest before jumping in)

It's a good thing they are flying, because as soon as they enter the portal, they find they are hundreds of feet in the air! The Slime Pits are a horrific, disgusting place. It's full of, well, slime, but also mushrooms, and sludge, and rot. Some of the mushrooms, many in fact, are huge, big enough to be houses. And they're emitting clouds of spores. It can't be safe to be in here, right? They know that there's a giant mushroom mountain castle that Zuggtmoy lives at, which they need to get to. This is where Ray was brought when she died, and likely where Aludra, Jaela, and Adira live at. But how to find it. Rowan can speak Abyssal, so she has Toby fly down so they can eavesdrop on the horrific creatures down there. While invisible, Rowan attempts to question one of them, but just manages to distract it long enough for it to get eaten by a nightmare frog monster. Oh well.

Rowan finds them a nice, soft mushroom to land upon, while Toby reminisces about Kate Aurochs. Once they land, Skud casts *Summon Lesser Demons* to create 24 demons! To keep them all contained, Toby casts *Silent Image* to create a dome surrounding them all. On top of this, Skud creates a circle of blood inside the dome that the demons can't enter. So, I guess, they are all running around this ring, outside Skud's barrier circle, but inside Toby's dome? It's pure pandemonium.

### Short

Rowan inadvertantly causes one of the Gith captives to become head over heels in love with her. They use this to learn that their Crystals are being tracked! Anyway, they leap into the Slime Pits of the Abyss, and begin searching for Zuggtmoy's castle. Toby creates a dome to trap all the demons that Skud summons.

## **Trivia**

* Bachmann used to listen to exclusively country music when he was young because he "didn't know any better"
* Jennifer Cheek rolls the highest roll in Greetings Adventurers history! This took me a while to do the math on, but I figured it out. She has Bardic Inspiration from Duclaw Honeypaw. This gives her an extra d12. Also, Skud casts *Skill Empowerment*, so she she can double her proficiency bonus. She rolls a Natural 20, and then an 11 on her d12 from Honeypaw. She then adds her Persuasion modifier to get to 39. Then, Tim reminds her to add her proficiency bonus twice, because of Skud, which gives her a 45. At level 20, her proficiency bonus is +6, which must mean that her Charisma modifier is +2!
	+ For anyone curious, here is the math on that: 20(roll) + 11(Bardic Inspiration d12) + 6(prof bonus) + 6(Skill Empowerment) + 2(Charisma) = 45!
* Toby burns his hands looking for Crystals, so he uses his Alchemy Jug to pour various salves onto them
* Nika says that she made her characters' names awful for naming. As someone who has to write this shit down, and have links to pages with names, yes. It is. It's a nightmare.
* They talk about who is going to stay behind on the ship: Bercy Hamhands, Angel la Pamela Sanjerita and Oliver Hairmouth (obviously), and the three new friends, Pandora Thorne, Duclaw Honeypaw, and Wordsworth Zics (not Sharpe Lestat)
* There is no gravity in the Astral Plane
* Toby's Broom of Flying can carry 400 lbs
* Lahni's invisibility only lasts 1 minute. Although, seeing as how she can circle the globe 5 times in that minute, this ain't nothin to sneeze at
* The creatures down here look like a cross between a Bullywug and a Slaad, but slimier. Ew...
* The "John" everyone is referring to, is John the demon, who was summoned back in Episode 377

## **In This Episode...**

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - Toby Treacletart
* Jennifer Cheek - Rowan Grey
* Mike Bachmann - Skud Derringer
* Nika Howard - Lahnik "Lahni" Caplain

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Eckhart Dayhammer
* Bucky
* Duclaw Honeypaw
* Nerz'ac

### **Pets/Familiars**

* Hoby
* Tsugrix Zelentiri
* Daisy

### **Locations**

* The Astral Plane
	+ The *BTS*
* The Abyss
	+ The Slime Pits

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [On-Hold] - Stop Tiamat!
* [Active] - Destroy The Orb!
	+ [Active] - Find the final missing piece
		- [Active] - Investigate The Slime Pits of The Abyss
		- [Active] - Find/Rescue Adira Harper, Aludra Wyrmsbane, and Jaela
	+ [Back-burner][Toby] - Deal (or no deal) with Vecna
* [Side-line][Boris] - Restore the used Planar Crystals that power The *BTS*
* [On-Hold] - Return to Catherine Beanlord's graveyard in The Elemental Plane of Earth get the body of Tuck Frump
* [Active][Jaeludra] - Investigate the Great Colosseum in Caer

### **Quotes**

* **"Michael, this is a good reminder that small does not equal cowardly. That is my bad. As a small coward, I was making assumptions."** ~ *Jennifer Cheek, small coward*

* **"I feel like his energy is doing Psychic damage to Rowan now..."** ~ *Jennifer Cheek*

* **"Good thing I only brought Pokémon: Yellow, and I didn't bring Pokémon Crystal..."** ~ *Mike Bachmann,* I *appreciate it, even if no one else did*

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ **Tim - 13**
	+ Nika - 11
	+ Jennifer - 5
	+ Bachmann - 12

* **Toby** rolls *Investigation* to try to find any Planar Crystals aboard the Gith ships - *Makes a noise like a dinosaur* - 14
	+ He can't find anything

* **Lahni** rolls *Insight* to see which Gith is the most weenie-looking - 26
	+ She does find the most frightened looking one

* **Rowan** rolls *Persuasion* to get some info from the Gith (with advantage) - Nat20 + 25
	+ Holy shit, success - the Gith becomes enamored with her

* **Toby** rolls *Arcana* or *Nature* to see if he can identify the mushrooms - 15
	+ BAD MUSHROOM

* Everyone rolls *Perception*
	+ **Toby** - 10
	+ **Lahni** - 21
	+ **Rowan** - 23
	+ **Skud** - 16
		- They can see the landscape ahead, some mushroom-covered hills, and beyond that, a mushroom-y forest

* **Rowan** rolls *Intimidation* to interrogate one of the mushroom creatures - 15
	+ She only manages to distract one of them long enough for it to get eaten

* Everyone rolls *Nature* or *Survival* in the Slime Pits
	+ **Toby** rolls *Nature* - 18
	+ **Lahni** rolls *Survival* - 14
	+ **Rowan** rolls *Nature* - 24
		- She is able to find a soft looking mushroom to land on
	+ **Skud** rolls *Nature* - 10