C2 E70

Let’s get this horseshoe maker out of this maze so that he can start his life over in our underground village. This happens in every D&D campaign!!!

## **Story**

### Long Story

The party stands inside the entrance of a large hedge maze. It's 30 ft tall, and scarily close to liquid hot magma. Their current mission, should they chose to accept it, is to find the Minotaur Grimshaw Shadowhoof, and convince him to come out of retirement. But how to get through this maze. The party is bound and determined not to follow the maze itself, so they try all sorts of things to avoid that. R'Oarc attempts to climb to the top, but is shaken off. They suggest burning the maze down, but maybe that could be dangerous while they're inside it. At Selene's suggestion, they do decide to actually try to solve the maze. Off they go, making little chalk marks on the ground as they travel.

As soon as they do, however, they begin to hear a whispering sound coming from the hedge walls. And I mean coming right from the bushes themselves, not from something living in the bushes. In fact, these hedges appear to be alive! Well, in more of a way than hedges and plants are already alive. You know what I mean. So, naturally, R'Oarc tickles them. For some reason, this causes a small section of the hedges to "giggle"? and move out of the way. So now there's a hole in the wall!

With this strategy proven to be effective, the group find that they have managed to come up with a way to not solve the maze! They make their way inwards, tickling the walls out of the way as they go, and soon, they can hear the sounds of a blacksmith's hammer. This has to be Shadowhoof, the party reasons, and their reasoning is right.

After a while, they come to a clearing, where a huge minotaur is hammering away at an anvil. On his feet are the most impressive, "sickest" shoes on that they've ever seen. They're metal (in more ways than one), with little wavy bits coming off of them. Shit's dope. Anyway, after exactly no discussion as to how best to approach this situation, R'Oarc steps out and announces their presence. This startles the Minotaur, who introduces himself as Grimshaw Shadowhoof. They did it, they found him!

Now, to business. R'Oarc asks if Shadowhoof wants to come back with them, but Shadowhoof seems to have a bit of a dark past. According to him, he loved making shoes for all sorts of creatures: horses, goats, Minotaurs, and even devils! That eventually got him ostracized (did he also make shoes for ostriches?) from his community, because he was only supposed to be making Minotaur shoes. R'Oarc, however, is able to convince him. She says that, back in Rimeford, he'll be able to make any kind of shoe his giant Minotaur heart desires. In fact, he could even make shoes for R'Oarc and her friends!

Shadowhoof is hesitant. He doesn't believe he can make shoes for non-hooved individuals, since his method of shoe attachment is to hammer nails into them. That's when R'Oarc decides to hand over her friend Stephanie to the shoemaker. She says that Shadowhoof can use her skeleton feet for research and development. R'Oarc even promises to stop by each day and animate the corpse for him. Although, I'm not 100% sure why that would be necessary? Stephanie could just be a skeleton? Oh well. Eventually, Shadowhoof agrees to come back with them.

There's just one problem: They can't just leave. The labyrinth is impossible to solve, and Shadowhoof, having been sent here as punishment, could never escape. He's too noble/cowardly to do that. The party comes up with a compromise: They will "kidnap" Shadowhoof, and blindfold him. That way, he's not escaping, and can't be held accountable! It's genius. He agrees to this, so they do the damn thing.

Out they go, tickling their way through the maze, and then tickling the walls back into place. And eventually, they make it back to the entrance. Their, on the other side of the closed portcullis, they see the three magma salamanders they had ran away from last time. They're still waiting around. In an effort to seem like they are officials who are meant to be here, R'Oarc Prestidigitizes a clipboard into her hands, and strolls out to cross the 15 ft bridge. Screech puts on his Beholder-doodle mask.

But the salamanders are having none of it. As R'Oarc tries to scoot past them (Likely, with a Midwestern "Ope!"), the lizards attack! There's a brief tussle on the bridge. One of the salamanders is killed by Beholder-doodle, but with each slash, the hero gets blasted with fire. Ouch. The other two salamanders get pushed into the lava by T'Chuck and Selene, which doesn't kill them, but they do swim away, fleeing the fight.

And with that, the party, now with Grimshaw Shadowhoof in tow, make it across the bridge.

### Short

The party cheats their way through the maze, and meets Grimshaw Shadowhoof. He agrees to return to Mineford with them, so they smuggle him out of the maze. Outside, they are met by those three salamanders from before. The party is able to make short work of them.

## **Trivia**

* Day ?? of the campaign.
* Grimshaw Shadowhoof was born on "8/14". Not sure what that means in the Minefordian calendar.

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

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - T'Chuck
* Jennifer Cheek - Selene von Esper
* Nika Howard - R'Oarc
* Mike Bachmann - Screech Echo / Beholder-doodle (Screech)

### **Locations**

* The Underground
	+ Grimshaw Shadowhoof's labyrinth

### **Quest Board**

* [Active] - Restore Mineford to it's true potential
	+ [Active] - Rescue Grimshaw Shadowhoof
	+ [Optional] - Mushroom Gathering
	+ [Optional] - Reforge the Path to Morendarith
	+ [Optional] - Bring a load of ale to the newly opened Goblin city of Thornhaven
* [On-hold] - Investigate "Bill, the Necromancer", in the far off city by the coast
* [On-hold] - Take the disembodied lips to the oceanfront, for a burial at sea

### **Quotes**

* **"No, he's a Minotaur, not a Sent-here!"** ~ *R'Oarc*

* **"You into shoe play?"** ~ *Screech Echo*

* **"I'm glad my dad died, and now you're my dad!"** ~ *R'Oarc*

## **Rolls**

* **R'Oarc** rolls *Athletics* to climb the hedge walls - 19
	+ She gets halfway up, and then the hedge starts to shake and sway.

* **R'Oarc** rolls *Athletics* again to climb the shaking hedge walls (with Disadvantage) - 12
	+ She falls.

* **T'Chuck** rolls *Athletics* to catch the falling R'Oarc - 11
	+ He just barely catches her.

* **R'Oarc** rolls *Persuasion* to call out to Shadowhoof, and convince him to come out to them - 18
	+ She then has to roll *Perception* - 7
		- She doesn't hear a response.

* **T'Chuck** rolls *Perception* to see if he can hear what's causing the whispers - 14
	+ It's coming from the bushes.

* **R'Oarc** rolls *Nature* to tickle the bush - 14
	+ A 5 ft section of the bush scurries off.

* Everyone rolls *Perception* upon hearing a steady clanging sound
	+ **T'Chuck** - 22
	+ **R'Oarc** - 16
	+ **Selene** - 12
		- T'Chuck ("and whoever else rolls high") thinks it sounds like a blacksmith's hammer.

* They all roll *Stealth* (after much hesitation) while moving closer to Shadowhoof
	+ **R'Oarc** - 15
	+ **T'Chuck** - 22
	+ **Screech** - 13
	+ **Selene** - 9

* **R'Oarc** rolls *Persuasion* to get Shadowhoof to come back with them (with Advantage) - 25
	+ He seems to be listening to her.

*Combat Begins vs 3 Salamanders*

* *Initiative*
	+ **Beholder-doodle** - 28
	+ **T'Chuck** - 22
	+ Salamander 1
	+ **R'Oarc** - 18
	+ **Selene** - 18
	+ Salamander 2
	+ Salamander 3

*Round One*

* **Beholder-doodle**
	+ Melee Attack vs Salamander 2 {x3} - 20, 12, 23
		- Hit, Miss, Hit - 11 + 7 damage

* **T'Chuck**
	+ Casts *Spirit Guardians* around himself, then moves close to the 3 Salamanders, requiring DC 16 *Wisdom saving throws*
		- Salamander 1 - 16
			* Success - ~~14~~ 7 Radiant damage
		- Salamander 2 - 4
			* Fail - 14 Radiant damage
		- Salamander 3 - 3
			* Fail - 14 Radiant damage

* **Salamander 1**
	+ Melee Attack (Spear) vs T'Chuck - 24
		- Hit - 13 Piercing damage + 3 Fire damage
	+ Melee Attack (Tail) vs T'Chuck - 10
		- Miss

* **R'Oarc**
	+ Melee Attack (Rapier) vs Salamander 1 - 10
		- Miss

* **Selene**
	+ Casts *Lightning Bolt* on all 3 Salamanders, requiring *Dexterity saving throws*
		- Salamander 1 - 6
			* Fail - 26 Lightning damage
		- Salamander 2 - 4
			* Fail - 26 Lightning damage
		- Salamander 3 - 8
			* Fail - 26 Lightning damage
	+ Uses a Bonus Action to *Telekinetic Shove* Salamander 2, requiring a *Strength saving throw* - 11
		- Fail - It is shoved into the lava, which doesn't kill it, but it does swim into the lava and flees

* **Salamander 3**
	+ Melee Attack (Spear) vs Beholder-doodle - Nat 1
		- Miss
	+ Melee Attack (Tail) vs Beholder-doodle - 19
		- Hit - 11 Bludgeoning damage + 7 Fire damage, and also Grapples Beholder-doodle

*Round Two*

* **Beholder-doodle**
	+ Melee Attack (Bear Claws) vs Salamander 3 {x2} - 23, 24
		- Hit, Hit - 14 + 10 damage - *Kills It*
			* Beholder-doodle takes 7 + 7 Fire damage

* **T'Chuck**
	+ The Spirit Guardians require the last Salamander to make another DC 16 *Wisdom saving throw* - 12
		- Fail - 12 Radiant damage
	+ Rolls *Athletics* to shove the Salamander over the edge - 17
		- The Salamander rolls "like dogshit", so he fails, and is shoved over the edge. It flees as well.

*Combat Ends*