Terror in the Streets

"**Terror in the Streets**" (1x21) is the 21st episode of Dun-Johns and Dragons.

## **Synopsis**

### **Previously on *Dun-Johns and Dragons***

Traveling northward, after a brief detour to help some ghosts, the party reached the village of Whithall as it prepared for an influx of refugees from the now partially destroyed city of Westerhaven. The mayor was distraught that the Braven Fist battalion which guarded the town had been ordered away, especially with a dragon now on the loose, so the party agreed to stick around for a few days to help keep an eye on things. They took rooms at the inn, but Yoolna was awakened the first night by something large moving through the town, and found evidence of a giant bipedal creature made of clay, possibly some kind of golem. Investigations the next day failed to turn up any helpful information, but the next night, the party was all awakened by a piercing scream.

### **Part I**

Father Buckitt goes crashing out of his room and rushes toward the exit, followed slightly less dramatically by Dugluss. Yoolna peers out the window; she sees no movement nor anything unusual. She and Magpie hear Buckitt go crashing out and decide to follow, Magpie still burritoed in her blanket. Zander and Stone follow yet more cautiously.

Father Buckitt, reaching the outside first, listens intently, but can’t make out anything unusual. Magpie casts Detect Magic but doesn’t detect anything. Dugluss uses the crystal to cast Divination and asks where he can find the being who made the scream. He has a vision of a winding path through town; he says, “I know where to go! Follow me!” He takes off, and the others follow. They find themselves in an alley; at the far end, they see a humanoid figure lying motionless on the ground. Standing over them is an immense, hulking figure, which turns out to be a Clay Golem. The party rolls initiative.

Early in the battle, the first Golem is joined by a second. They mainly use a multi-attack of slamming opponents with their two giant fists, and also sometimes seem to draw up extra material from the ground to increase their defense.

During the first part of the Battle, Stone casts Beacon of Hope, intending to maximize healing when party members get hit, but this turns out to be less effective as the Golem’s attacks can also potentially reduce the victim’s ability to heal (temporarily reduce max HP). Zander casts Hexblade’s Curse, and also has a moderate amount of success with Eldritch Blast; Dugluss, after casting Mirror Image to create three doppelgangers, uses his All-Purpose Tool to temporarily learn Eldritch Blast as well.

Magpie spends the first half of the combat being let down by the Wand of Wonder. On her initial cast, it seems to her to do a really cool spell with miniature dragons, but the rest can see that it does nothing but leave her stunned, causing her to miss the next turn. Undeterred, she tries it again, this time only succeeding in making leaves grow on one of the Golems.

Yoolna, finding her Circlet of Blasting ineffective against the creatures, switches to rapier attacks, carefully darting out of range after attacks with her Fancy Footwork. Father Buckitt telepathically messages Sax Panther, telling him to alert the mayor, in hopes to bring witnesses to the scene before the Golems are defeated so the party won’t be once again framed for murder. He also lands a hit with a Guiding Bolt and casts Magic Weapon on his hammer, though he doesn’t have a chance to use it in the first half of the battle. Comically, he also tries his luck with a card from the Deck of Illusions; it summons an illusory Succubus, who does succeed in distracting one of the Golems for a turn, but mainly stands in the background flexing.

Just after this, a third Golem appears from the other end of the alley.

### **Part II**

As the battle continues, things seem to start going better for most of the party members. Stone drops Beacon of Hope and casts Aura of Life instead, which explicitly prevents beneficiaries from having their max HP reduced. They also land some hits on the Golems with Spiritual Weapon and Sacred Flame. Zander makes some significant hits with Carrot, and even lands the fatal blow on one of the Golems despite being held in its fist at the time. Dugluss lands several Eldritch Blasts and also absorbs several attacks harmlessly with another round of his Mirror Image spell. Yoolna has several misses, but does manage to land some rapier hits and keep herself mostly out of danger, and Father Buckitt downs the first Golem after a couple massive hits, enhanced with Divine Smite; even after his spell slots run out, he continues dealing significant damage with the hammer, and also twice knocks the last Golem prone with his Holy Bucket headbutt.

Magpie’s luck, however, goes from bad to worse. She lights a Bonfire under one of the Golems, which doesn’t seem to have any effect, then makes one more try with the Wand of Wonder, but it merely casts Darkness around the Golem. She misses two consecutive attacks with her short sword, and then on a critical failure, breaks the string on her crossbow.

Once the group has downed the first two Golems, as they turn their attention to the third, Sax Panther comes galloping up, as called, leading the mayor and another gentleman who turns out to be the mayor’s partner. Out from behind them, a little girl darts toward the fight, shouting, “Stop!” The Golem does seem to stop, but Buckitt, unaware of this development, makes his hammer attacks anyway and deals the final blow, and the last Golem crumbles. Magpie, meanwhile, has picked up the child to try and move her out of harm’s way; the little girl screams and before the final blow lands, the Golem reaches toward her, and Magpie, startled, asks, “Are you *controlling* these things?” She drops the girl slightly harder than she meant to, and the child falls unconscious.

The mayor and his partner rush up and force their way between Magpie and the little girl. The mayor yells at her, “What in the name of the gods are you doing?” The other one picks up the girl and cradles her in his arms. Father Buckitt, emerging from the cloud of Darkness after finishing off the Golem, sees the injured child and springs into action, running over to cast Lay on Hands. The girl comes round, looks up at the man holding her, and says, “Daddy, I did it! I prayed to the gods for a friend to help scare the grumkins away, and he came!” She snuggles up and falls asleep in his arms. The mayor looks around at the chunks of clay littering the alley and demands an explanation. As the others tell him what happened, Magpie quietly slips away and walks dejectedly back to the inn.

Father Buckitt explains that they heard a scream and found the Golems attacking the man at the far end of the alley. The mayor says the man is known in town as a suspected predator, but they’ve never been able to prove anything against him. The party collectively realize that yes, it did actually sound like a woman’s scream they’d heard.

Zander asks why there are Golems there; the mayor’s partner, Simon, says there are stories among the old families in town about the founders of the town putting some kind of protection on the land itself; he’d thought it was only a story, but it seems there may have been some truth to it after all. It seems likely that the man they found had been attacking a woman and the Golems came to protect her, but of course, the party had no way of knowing that at the time.

The mayor says he thanks them for their efforts, but perhaps it is better if they are gone when morning comes. The party understands, and agree to leave. They go back to the inn and collect their belongings and the already very drunk Magpie and head out of the town, stopping to make camp just as the sun begins to rise.

## **Featured Characters**

### **Player Characters**

* Dugluss Deep-Forge
* Father Buckitt
* Magpie
* Stone
* Yoolna
* Zander Brushspark