The Broken Mirror - Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Chapter 28

Baylore the human pirate had become trapped within a magic mirror.

His companions in the B-Team stared on in disbelief. Once the initial panic died down they began to weigh their options.

A magical password was required to free Baylore from the mirror. The only person who knew the password was the Abbot of the monastery. He had died in the pirate raid two weeks ago. Ozymandias, the highest ranking survivor of the pirate raid, may have known but he was killed the previous day when the B-Team stormed the monastery. The two surviving monks - who were actually members of an evil cult - had no knowledge about the mirror. The current duke of Seaton, the pretender, might know. They could take the mirror to the wizard Keledek in Saltmarsh. Maybe he could help them.

Aella said, "Enough talk!" She picked up a rock and threw it at the mirror.

Everyone froze in horror!

The rock hit the mirror, creating a deep spider-web like impact crater, and bounced off.

"What are you doing?" demanded Brenna, breathlessly.

"If we destroy the mirror, everyone trapped within it gets released." replied Aella.

"Then why are you using a bloody rock?" said Brenna, "Hit it with some zap-zap!"

Aella nodded, "Good idea!" She pointed at the mirror and released an icy bolt of magical energy.

The mirror shattered into a thousand tiny shards.

The room filled with its formerly trapped inhabitants.

Chaos ensued.

CHAPTER 28

"THE BROKEN MIRROR"

The B-Team:

• Baylore - Neutral Human Pirate and Pugilist (Monk). 
• Brenna Whalersdottir - Chaotic Good Human Sailor and Divine Soul Sorceress, long-lost daughter of Whaler. 
• Bordar Graniteshaper - Lawful Good Dwarven Bearer of Grudges (Barbarian), on a quest to rescue the son of the leader of his clan.
• Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf  Outlander and Storm Sorceress from Ket. 

Brain Jellies:

• Alot Aname - Neutral Good Warforged Fighter, ancient sentinel of a wizard's fortress, spent several decades deactivated underwater.

Prisoners of the Magic Mirror

A silver mist expanded from the mirror, filling the room. The mist coalesced into nine swirling shapes. Each shape took form and resolved into a humanoid once held prisoner within the mirror.

1. A middle-aged man wearing the colors of the Duke of Seaton over his plate armor. 
2. A young dwarf with a badly-shaved beard.
3. A pirate with a crazed demeanor.
4. An elderly man wearing the robes of the abbot of the monastery of Procan.
5. A hulking blue frog-thing with long bony spikes protruding from its forearms.
6. A massive animated snake skeleton with a fanged human skull. It had glowing green eyes and slithered quickly through the throng before coiling up by the stairs.
7. A massive reptilian lizard-man with blue scales. He bore a long club tipped with obsidian blades.
8. Something else, an unseen malevolent presence.
9. Baylore.

DM Note-
I gave each of the players an NPC to run for this combat. There's no way I was running NPC-on-NPC fighting all by myself!

Aella's player ran the lizard-king.
Bordar's player ran the duke.
Baylore's player ran the crazy pirate.
Brenna's player ran the dwarf prince.
I ran the abbot. 
The players chose to keep Lemundo out of the fight. She stood away with Alot. 

Aella felt an invisible presence near her by the stairs. The presence slammed into her, hitting her on her head. She swung her staff in a counter-attack but the presence was already gone.

The massive blue frog-thing bellowed a throaty laugh. It croaked, "Wow! It's so great to be free! I'm so hungry! And I'm surrounded by such juicy morsels! Hey you! Little dude!" He was standing next to and addressed Bordar, "You look like a tasty snack! Climb in my mouth! I want to eat you!"

The blue frog-thing stabbed its bone spikes at Bordar. One bone spike stuck into Bordar's shoulder and injected him with some kind of red liquid. The liquid spread quickly under Bordar's skin, radiating outward from the wound like tiny wriggling subcutaneous worms. Bordar screamed in pain.

DM Note-
Bordar was hit by the Blue Slaad's claw attack. He had to make a DC 15 Constitution Saving Throw or be infected by the Chaos Phage. Bordar failed and was infected. This meant that Bordar could not regain lost hit points - ie, healing. More to come.

Bordar escaped the blue frog-thing and made his way to the young dwarf. It was Dorgan Forgetender, the son of the clan leader. "Dorgan! Your beard! What have they done to you?"

Dorgan's hair and beard had been poorly shorn. Dorgan stood proudly and defiantly and declared, "You may call me PRINCE Dorgan!"

Borday blinked and said, "What?" The nearby lizard-man brought him back to the situation at hand. Bordar picked up the young "prince" and carried him to the edge of the room and away from the fight. The red tendrils in the wound in his shoulder pulsed with agony.

Aella addressed the lizard-man in low-Draconic, the language of the lizard-folk, "Great Lizard-King! My name is Aella. We are allied with the Marsh Water Clan and I am a friend of Princess Orthokent. We seek your aid in defeating the monsters!"

The lizard-man stood proud, "Anyone who fights with my daughter, Orthokent, is a friend of King Kosj! I will aid you!" King Kosj turned his club towards the skeletal snake-creature.

DM Note-
Aella's player could not have chosen a better thing to say on her turn. King Kosj was going to be a wild card. He could be ally or enemy depending on how the PCs treated him.

Lemundo called out to the middle aged man, "Father! Father! It's me, Lemundo!"

The man looked around, confused, "Daughter? What is happening?"

"Father! You've been freed! But we are in danger! You must help the humans and dwarves defeat the bone thing and the frog thing!"

The man looked at the lizard king, "King Kosj! Are you responsible for this?"

The lizard king hissed at the middle aged man, "Duke Feldren! No, I was as much a prisoner as you!"

Duke Feldren nodded and aided the lizard-king in attacking the bone-snake.

Baylore maneuvered to begin punching the bone-snake. He called to the human pirate captain, "And who are you?"

The crazed pirate captain wobbled as he stood and stared around with mad eyes. He shouted, "THE GOVERNMENT!" into the air and ran to attack a nearby wall.

DM Note-
I had a player roll randomly on the Confusion spell effect table to determine what the crazy pirate would do that round.

The elderly man dodged through the battle and sought cover near the outside of the stairs.

The bone-snake unhinged its lower jaw and hissed at Baylore . Baylore could feel the effects of the bone-snake's mind-altering magic creeping over him. Baylore gritted his teeth and pushed through. He shrugged off the effects of the magic and smashed his fist into the humanoid skull of the skeletal monstrosity. The punch so rattled the undead creature that it began swaying and staring around uselessly.

Once Bordar was satisfied that "Prince" Dorgan was out of the way, he joined Baylore , Aella, Brenna, King Kosj, and Duke Feldren in battle against the snake-thing while it was momentarily stunned. The combined efforts of the mighty group defeated the skeletal snake before it could mount a substantive defense.

The abbot of Procan said a short prayer of healing for Bordar but to no avail. The red tendrils on Bordar's shoulder grew longer and fatter.

An Invisible Foe
Meanwhile the two surviving cultists of Olhydra - Odium and the brush-wielding acolyte - were tied to chairs in the corner of the room. The acolyte shouted that he could feel an invisible presence near him and begged for help. The others were too busy with the skeletal snake-thing to pay any attention. The acolyte screamed as the invisible force snapped his neck. The acolyte slumped dead in his chair.

Odium screamed and called for help. The same invisible force struck Odium, knocking his chair over onto the floor.

Brenna was standing at the base of the stairs. She clapped her hands together and called forth a swirling tempest of tiny celestial swallows. The birds swarmed the room, tearing into the blue frog-beast while leaving all of Brenna's allies, including for the moment Odium the auditor, unaffected.

The Blue Monster
Whatever it was that menaced the cultists had retreated away from the swirling mass of glowing birds and refused to come nearer. The blue frog-beast, however, laughed and claimed that it tickled.

The giant blue frog beast continued to taunt the rag-tag assembly, "You! Yes, you! You look like a tasty morsel! Get in my mouth!"

With the destruction of the skeletal snake-thing, the assembled heroes turned their attention to the blue frog creature.

The hulking blue creature lashed out with its forearm bone spikes, striking Baylore and King Kosj. Baylore felt a small red pellet that had been implanted into his chest by the spike. He quickly pulled it out and threw it away.

Aella stood on the stairs and unleashed a continuous stream of arcing lightning at the blue monster. Between Aella witch bolt, Brenna's celestial swallows, Baylore's devastating punches, Bordar's axes, Duke Feldren's great sword, and King Kosj's skewering trident, the blue monster was soon defeated.

The blue frog-thing exploded into glowing blue tatters as it died, showering the gathered assembly in tatters of blue flesh.

The Typhoon
Odium was still tied to the overturned chair next to the dead acolyte. He cried out, "Help! Help! Untie me! I'm still in danger!"

Brenna maintained her swirling cyclone of glowing sparrows. She moved away from Odium so that he was no longer protected within its sphere, "Lets see if it comes back."

Odium, left defenseless, began thrashing about. A minute passed and nothing attacked him. Brenna's birds disappeared, "It must be gone now. I think we're safe."

Baylore said, "Good. Lets all take the boat back to Saltmarsh."

Bordar and Baylore ascended the stairs and opened the cellar door. A strong wind blew the door all the way open. Hard driving rain sprayed inside. A gust of warm moist air filled the cellar. A storm was raging above.

DM Note-
Rolled a d12 plus a high/low to determine time of day. It was 1pm.
Rolled on the weather tables in the DMG. Forty degrees above normal, high winds, heavy rains. 

Baylore and Bordar managed to pull the doors back shut against the wind. Baylore turned and said, "Well, I guess we're staying here tonight, or at least until the storm dies down."

The B-Team and the freed prisoners settled in to rest. The abbot of Procan prayed and food and water was miraculously provided. The B-Team spent time getting to know the freed prisoners.

DM Note-
We spent the next hour or so working out the back stories of each player character and non-player character. Since Prince Dorgan was created by Bordar's player as a part of his back story and motivation for adventuring, I enlisted his aid, as well as the other players, in fleshing out some more of Dorgan's history, starting with the question, "So why did the pretender Duke Feldren imprison Dorgan?" 

We also went through each of the freed NPCs, working out the details of their backstories and how they fit into the current plot.

Dorgan's Story
Dorgan was the son of the leader of Clan Granite Shaper. Dorgan had been sent to Seaton to complete a commission for the new duke. Duke Feldren, having recently succeeded his "dead" brother, wished to decorate the citadel at Seaton with fine statues of himself. During his time among the humans, Dorgan was treated as a noble guest of the court. Dorgan was showered with gifts and fetes by his human patrons. Over time, Dorgan became accustomed to these human ways and succumbed to human decadence and immorality. Dorgan had become haughty and proud, taking seriously the title "Prince" when it was bestowed upon him by the Duke.

Dorgan became the duke's favorite courtier. The two spent a lot of time together and Dorgan became somewhat of a confidant. It was during a drunken confession that Dorgan learned that Duke Feldren's brother had not died as the world believed. The duke's brother was still alive and kept prisoner on Leper Island. Dorgan, taking seriously his role as Duke Feldren's friend and confidant, told no one and kept the secret safe.

One day, after an especially decadent celebration, Dorgan awoke to learn that he had shaved off his hair and beard the night before in a degrading attempt to become more "human" like his new friends in court. At first Dorgan was embarrassed but the adulation of the human courtiers soon eased his guilt.

Things changed when the duke began requesting statues that were more and more lewd and profane. The duke wished to possess statues of an illicit nature for his private collection. Dorgan became uncomfortable with the requests. The duke became enraged. Dorgan quickly learned that he was never the duke's friend. The duke ordered Dorgan's imprisonment for his insolence at refusing his orders. However, the duke was aware that Dorgan knew his innermost secrets. Additionally, he could not execute Dorgan for doing so would risk war with the dwarves of the Granite Shaper clan, and he needed their metal and weapons to arm and equip his growing army.

He had Dorgan taken to Leper Island where he could be imprisoned within the magical mirror of the Cult of Olhydra. There he could keep Dorgan alive as a hostage without risking his precious secrets.

The Story of Duke Oberus Feldren
Duke Oberus Feldren of Seaton was born just a few minutes before his twin brother Marik. Thus it was that Marik was raised in the shadow of his older twin. Upon the death of their father, it was Oberus who inherited the title of duke. It was Oberus who commanded troops in battle against the Sea Princes. It was Oberus who was made the governor of the southern province. Oberus who married well and fathered the lovely and spirited Lemundo. Oberus who was loved by his people and adored at the royal court.

Marik, ever jealous of his older brother, schemed for ways to usurp him. He sought the services of assassins from the Sea Princes. He was approached by the cult of Olhydra. They provided him with a slow poison that would make it appear that the duke had become ill and eventually appear to die. The price for their assistance was that the duke be kept alive and turned over to them for safe keeping. Marik, desperate to become duke, agreed to the terms.

So it was that Marik had Duke Oberus Feldren slowly poisoned. To the world it appeared that the duke had become ill. Two years ago Marik announced that his older brother had died from his illness. Marik then assumed the title and responsibilities of duke of Seaton and governor of the southern provinces.

In reality, Marik had his brother Oberus imprisoned within the magic mirror that belonged to the corrupt monks of Leper Island. Every few months Marik would charter a ship owned by Captain Horatio Vile to take him to Leper Island where he could gloat over his imprisoned brother.

Duke Marik's subsequent actions were openly hostile to the illegal activities of the Sea Princes along the coast of the Azure Sea. Marik had become a liability. A little over a month ago, Captain Vile betrayed Duke Marik. Instead of taking him to Leper Island, he was taken prisoner and brought to Gellan Primewater in Saltmarsh.

Primewater knew a wizard in Saltmarsh named Keledek who possessed a magical ring of mind control. They managed to place the ring on Duke Marik's finger and were thus able to control the duke's thoughts and actions. Unbeknownst to Captain Vile, Oberus' daughter Lemundo had stowed away on the vessel, hoping to learn where Marik had hidden her father. She was captured and prepared for transport to the Sea Princes. However, an unknown force of masked raiders had infiltrated the secret hideout of Keledek, rescued Duke Marik and Lemundo, captured Captain Vile, and stole something very valuable to Keledek - a black dragon egg.

The wizard Keledek believed Gellan Primewater was responsible for this raid so he firebombed Primewater's estate in Saltmarsh. Primewater escaped and has been in hiding since.

Vile's crew, now without a captain, decided to mount a raid against the Abbey on Leper Island. They knew that pirates stored their treasures within the abbey. Two weeks ago, they attacked the abbey. Finding no treasure, they killed most of its inhabitants and burned the abbey to the ground.

The Others
The stories told by the others represented somewhat simpler premises.

King Kosj was the leader of the Marsh Water tribe. When his tribe was attacked by the sahuagin and displaced from their home, he was captured. The sahuagin are in league with the cult of Olhydra so King Kosj was imprisoned within the mirror.

King Kosj was happy to hear of the work his daughter Princess Orthokent was doing. He had no ambition of removing her from power. He was, however, troubled to learn of the return of Sakatha in the Drowned Forest.

The abbot was the original abbot of the monastery of Procan. He oversaw a group of monks who ran a hospital for lepers on the island. He was betrayed by his own monks who had become cultists to Olhydra.

The Crazy Pirate gave no name and interacted little with the others. He stared wild-eyed at the ceiling and walls and occasionally blurted strange sounds. It was clear that he had spent many decades trapped within the mirror and had gone insane.

The Storm Passes
By dawn the next day the storm had passed. The assembly prepared to leave the island. Aella went to retrieve Ozymandias from the locked cell in which he was held. She found him dead - his neck snapped - a victim of the invisible killer. Since the invisible force had made no attempt to the kill anyone else, the rest of the team paid it little thought. As for Ozymandias, the invisible killer had perhaps saved them the eventual trouble.

DM Note
Bordar was still infected by the Chaos Phage and did not heal any hit points from the long rest. Bordar currently has 9 hit points. As written, Bordar would automatically lost another 3d6 hit points from his maximum after a long rest. This would have killed Bordar. This seemed unduly harsh so I gave Bordar another DC 15 Constitution Saving Throw, which he passed. So he didn't lose any more hit points for the night. But he'll have to keep making the save until cured of the disease. 

Baylore's player had the bright idea to let the disease run its course. His thinking was that once Bordar hit zero hit points, he could be healed. There are two things wrong with that - 

1. Even at zero hit points he'd still have the disease and couldn't receive any healing.
2. Baylore's player didn't know what happened to victims of the Chaos Phage when they reach zero hit points. 

It was a pleasant day. The sun was warm and the wind was calm. The group departed the ruins of the abbey and made their way back towards the dunes. The storm the previous day had created new dunes and had wiped away any sign of their previous tracks. The dunes towards the west side of the island, they way they had come before, appeared steep and difficult to navigate. The dunes on the east side of the island were flatter and packed hard from the heavy rains. They would be easier to traverse.

DM Note-
I numbered the columns across the top of the map 3-18 and had Baylore's player roll 3d6 to determine starting square. I had expected the bell curve to give me a number from 8-12. He rolled 16, way over on the side. We had to come up with a reason for taking such a path.

As they moved across the hard-packed sand, skeleton guardians erupted out of the sand and attacked.

The team pressed on, battling wave after wave of skeletons as they crossed the wet sand.

Once they reached the cliff there emerged a great mass of bones like a skeletal juggernaut! The lumbering mass of bones rolled like a great wave towards them.

Aella called forth a thundering tidal wave of water from the sand which crashed down upon the skeletal juggernaut. The juggernaut began sloughing skeletal parts as it continued its approach. She called forth another crashing wave of water. The juggernaut was defeated before it could reach the party.

The assembled group of temporary allies was still surrounded by a horde of skeletons but the undead guardians were eventually defeated.

They returned to the point on the beach where they had left their boat. It was half-buried in sand. The human boat that had delivered Bordar had left two days previous with the approach of the storm. The halfling druid Bobert was nowhere to be seen. He had probably left with the humans.

The group excavated their boat and prepared it to sail back to Saltmarsh.

Bordar looked warily at the pulsating red wound on his shoulder. A glowing red mass had formed at its center.

DM Note-
Bordar has 7 hit points remaining. 

To be Continued...

The Winding Way - Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Chapter 27

Aella shook the brain jellies from her head and looked around, "What's going on? Where are we?"

Baylore filled her in, "We're in the cellar beneath the ruins of the abbey. All those dead guys over there were monks and acolytes."

Brenna interjected, "Turned out they were not only corrupt, they were worshiping some elder elemental being called 'Olhydra'. Torture and human sacrifice and other nasty stuff. We captured these two."

Aella nodded, "Got it. What's next?"

Brenna pointed to the meditation room. The tapestries on the wall had been drawn aside to reveal a concealed door. "We think that's the entrance to the secret dungeon. We're going in there next."

Baylore addressed Lemundo the Lovely, "Lemundo, stay out here with 'Beep Boop' and guard these two prisoners.

Lemundo nodded her assent.

The team readied their weapons and opened the door.

A short tunnel widened into an unfurnished and undecorated thirty-foot-square chamber. Standing next to one another in the center of the room were two enormous skeletal guardians with massive bull skulls atop decaying shoulders. Each guardian bore a massive, rusted axe. Despite their age, the skeletons were dripping wet and covered in a glowing green slime or mold.

Five corpse-like figures were arranged shoulder to shoulder along the eastern wall. Each of the corpses appeared to have drowned in agony.

The massive skeletal minotaurs shambled to a defensive position and hefted their axes to attack the intruders.

CHAPTER 27

"THE WINDING WAY"

The B-Team:

• Baylore - Neutral Human Pirate and Pugilist (Monk). 
• Brenna Whalersdottir - Chaotic Good Human Sailor and Divine Soul Sorceress, long-lost daughter of Whaler. 
• Bordar Graniteshaper - Lawful Good Dwarven Bearer of Grudges (Barbarian), on a quest to rescue the son of the leader of his clan.
• Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf  Outlander and Storm Sorceress from Ket. 

Brain Jellies:

• Alot Aname - Neutral Good Warforged Fighter, ancient sentinel of a wizard's fortress, spent several decades deactivated underwater.

Guardians of the Winding Way

The two skeletal minotaurs took position to either side of the entrance. Baylore and Bordar charged forward and engaged in combat while Brenna and Aella targeted the skeletons from the hallway with their spells.

A dark spectral form emerged from one of the bodies on the wall. It was black and humanoid but with an indistinct face and glowing eyes. It strode forth and glared at Bordar. Bordar shrunk under the withering stare of the creature. Brenna shouted, "Be careful! It's a bodak! They can stare you to death!"

The bodak directed its gaze towards Brenna. This allowed Baylore and Bordar to concentrate attacks on the dark creature. Though the bodak was a formidable opponent, it eventually fell to their attacks.

Upon the defeat of the bodak, Brenna got the attention of Aella. Brenna held up the medallion she had taken from the body of Ozymandias. Brenna asked Aella if the medallion looked familiar and what it might mean.

Suddenly the skeletal minotaurs stood at attention and held their weapons at rest.

Brenna noticed this but was confused by the strange behavior.

Bordar rushed into the room and engaged the minotaurs. The skeletal guardians resumed their threatening posture and re-engaged in battle.

As soon as the minotaur skeletons were reduced to piles of inanimate bone there arose another threat. Spectral ghosts emerged from the bodies along the wall and flew around the room. One reached its ghostly hand into Bordar's body and he felt the life force within him begin to drain. He retreated quickly and avoided the worst of the effects.

Brenna stood forward, "Hold on! I have an idea!" She brandished the medallion engraved with geometric symbols, "Back! Return to your posts!"

The ghosts stopped their attack and dutifully returned to their positions within the human remains embedded in the east wall.

"Hey! It worked!"

The party opened the door on the east wall and exited the room.

DM Note-
The medallion is not a holy symbol and it doesn't control the undead guardians of the Winding Way. It only "deactivates" them to allow safe passage. It wasn't even Brenna's turn but I heard Brenna's player ask Aella's player about the medallion. It was Bordar's turn so I interrupted and said, "They stand at attention and hold their weapons at rest. What do you do?" Brenna's player barely noticed and Bordar's player just kept attacking without caring - which reset the minotaur.

I didn't want to give away the secret. I couldn't ask, "[Brenna's player], are you still holding the medallion?" because that would have been too obvious. So I asked, "[Brenna's player], what are you doing with your hands right now?" and Brenna's player answered, "I dunno. Casting a spell?" while waving his hands around. So I took that to mean Brenna put the medallion away in a pocket. So the specters attacked. Only later did Brenna's player catch on to what was happening.

The Winding Way
The corridor beyond presented a pair of intersections- a four-way junction followed by a T-junction.

Bordar confidently led the way. At the first four-way intersection he chose left and strode headlong towards a left turn.

Baylore became worried that the dwarf was perhaps a little too incautious. "Bordar, you should slow down and watch where you're going?"

Bordar looked over his shoulder, "What?"

At that the floor beneath his feet disappeared and revealed a dark pit. Bordar plunged into the pit and landed ten feet below with a wet smack. The smell of burning acid and wafts of smoke began to rise from the pit. Bordar was out cold and lying in about two feet of caustic acid!

The B-Team sprang into action! Baylore cursed and removed his pack. He took out a length of rope. Brenna grabbed the rope and tied it around her waist. Aella ran forth and kicked Brenna hard, sending Brenna into the pit! Baylore held the rope fast to stop her fall.

Brenna lurched to a stop just above the unconscious Bordar. She reached out a touched Bordar. A spell of healing brought Bordar back to consciousness. His eyes became wide and he screamed in pain and terror - he was still half-submerged in acid! He grabbed Brenna and, with a  stomp to activate his magical boots of striding and springing, he leaped out of the pit, Brenna in hand!

He landed beside the pit and did his best to wipe the acid off his body using whatever shirts and bits of cloth were handy. Bordar's eyes were wild. He was shaken to his core.  "That was horrible! I am in a great deal of pain!"

Baylore said, "You nearly died. Lets retreat so you can rest and clean yourself off."

The team retreated back to the cellar, holding the medallion aloft to keep the specters at bay. They rested for an hour and caught their breath.

DM Note-
Well THAT was exciting! 

Bordar has a passive Perception of nine. NINE! He walked right into the pit. The fall was 1d10 damage. Bordar took it in stride. The acid however was 4d10 damage. I rolled 10, 10, 10, and 1. I gulped. Brenna's player saw the roll and winced. I told Bordar's player 31 damage.

He said "I'm out!"

Baylore's player said "That is very very bad!"

Bordar's player asked why.

Baylore explained, "Whenever you take damage when you are dying, you automatically fail two death saving throws."

Close. The rule is on page 197 of the PHB and says the following: 

Damage at 0 Hit Points. If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death.

He was thinking of the times he got hit by an attack while at 0 hit points, which is an automatic critical and thus does two death saves in damage. Damage from an acid is not a critical hit. Its just damage.

In any case, the players worked out a plan. Baylore used his action to retrieve rope from his pack. I allowed Brenna to take the rope and tie it around herself in place of her movement. She prepared a healing spell action in case she became adjacent to Bordar. Finally, Aella kicked Brenna, shoving her into the pit. I had Baylore make a Strength saving throw vs 10 to hold onto the rope and Brenna made a Dexterity saving throw vs 10 to execute the maneuver. She healed Bordar for 8 hit points. Bordar stood up, grabbed Brenna, and used his magic boots to jump out. 

Great teamwork all around!

However, everyone was low on HP so they decided to take a short rest, spend some Hit Dice, and recharge some Sorcerer spell slots.

Return to the Corridors

After an hour or two of rest the B-Team returned to the secret passages. Brenna held the medallion aloft as they easily bypassed the spectral guardians. This time Baylore took the advance position. Baylore moved slowly, cautiously, checking the floor and walls inch by inch. He found a two-foot wide path around the sides of the acid pit. At the end of the corridor was a door.

Aella said, "Wait, that can't be right! We just looped around. That door should open onto the corridor leading to the minotaur room!"

Baylore shrugged. He checked the door. It opened outward. He found a wire on the door that connected to the ceiling.

"Its trapped." he announced.

"Can you disarm it?" inquired Brenna.

"Nope! Not in my skillset."

He tied some string around the door handle and the team backed away. He pulled the door open and a massive stone pillar in the ceiling slammed down right where one would stand if they were opening the door. Beyond the door was a blank wall.

"Okay, that makes sense." said Aella.

DM Note-
Aella's player is an architect in real life so she's usually the group mapper. Plus she's good at it. She was very confused that the door didn't line up. At first I thought she had misunderstood my descriptions and mapped it incorrectly. I looked at her map and assured her, "Nope. You are one hundred percent accurate so far."

The corridor was a dead end.

They retreated to the four-way intersection. Before they could advance, Baylore spotted a thin metal wire strung tightly between the walls at just about thigh height for an adult human. Low enough to make it awkward to crawl under and high enough to make stepping over it difficult. Just ten feet beyond the tripwire was another four-way intersection.

Baylore said, "Lets go around."

"Why? Why don't we cut it?" demanded Bordar.

Baylore stood back, "Cutting it will activate whatever its supposed to trigger. So go ahead, be my guest. Just let us back away."

Bordar considered this, "Good point. Lets go around."

They continued down the main corridor and took a left at the T-junction. That corridor connected with another T-junction but another tripwire brought them to a stop. They backed up and took the other corridor. It turned right with two doors located in the corner.

Baylore could find no tripwires or traps so he opened the door.

A  ballista located just behind the door shot a heavy black iron bolt the size of a small spear. It struck the wall behind Baylore with a loud "Cthunk!" and wobbled.

"Okay then," said Baylore , impressed. He opened the second door.

It, too, shot a heavy black bolt from an automated ballista. It struck Baylore in the shoulder. He staggered back from the impact.

"Ugh! Didn't expect there to be two!"

Brenna helped remove the bolt and applied dressing and a medicinal patch to the wound.

The corridor to the right connected to the second four-way intersection they saw beyond the tripwire. They advanced and took the corridor to the left.

The Curse of the Jade Vampire

The short corridor opened into the corner of a room forty feet square. Another exit lie in the near corner to the left. In the center of the room was a large jade statue of a beautiful elven woman. The statue was exquisite.

All around the room were open chests overflowing with gold coins and various gemstones. A large metal strongbox was locked closed on the far side of the room.

Baylore and Brenna looked at one another and simultaneously said the word, "Mimic."

Brenna took out her crossbow and loosed a bolt into one of the open chests. Nothing happened.

The party loitered in the entry while Brenna and Baylore considered the next move. Bordar strode right up to the nearest open chest, "Fine, I'LL trigger the mimic!" He began hacking away at the chest and the gold with his axes. Gold coins went flying and the chest was reduced to splinters. To everyone's surprise, the axes sundered several gold coins.

Bordar picked up a broken coin, "Hey! These aren't gold! These are WOOD!"

At that moment the statue transformed from a beautiful elven maiden into a horrible fanged nightmare. The jade statue stepped off its pedestal and crept near Bordar with its hands raised like rending claws.

Brenna shouted, "Stand back!" and held aloft the medallion. The jade statue was undeterred. "Wait, what?"

Baylore ran to Bordar's aid. The monstrous jade statue slashed at the pirate pugilist with its claws and bit him on the shoulder with its long snake-like fangs.  Baylore gritted his teeth at the pain and felt his muscles begin to tighten. He had been cursed!

Bordar was next to be bitten by the jade vampire. The dwarf stiffened and found it difficult to fight.

The jade vampire took advantage of its opponent's lethargy and continued to slash and bite them. Throughout the onslaught both Bordar and Baylore continued to hack and punch the statue while Brenna and Aella lobbed magical attacks.

Eventually the statue was shattered and the curse was broken - the pair were returned to normal.

The party split up and examined different parts of the room. The chests were indeed all filled with fake wooden slugs painted gold.

Baylore spotted tiny holes placed all around the strongbox, "Its trapped. I'm guessing needles."

"I'll smash it open!" declared Bordar.

"No!" said Baylore , "You'll just set off the traps and fill the room with needles."

Aella said, "I've got an idea." She made everyone stand back twenty feet from the strong box and cast a spell to freeze the lock, hoping the ice would expand and it would break open. The lock froze but it triggered the trap, filling the area with tiny poisoned needles.

"Told you!" said Baylore .

Bordar looked in the strongbox and found nothing but a note that said, "Congratulations, Thief! I hope the effort was worth it!"

Bordar rolled his dwarven eyes.

Meanwhile Baylore found a hidden door behind a tapestry.

The Iron Guardians

The party explored the concealed corridor. It opened into another room forty foot square. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the room were covered in plates of metal. Two iron pillars held up the ceiling in the center of the room. The pillars resembled glowing red coils. The air shimmered from the heat radiated from the metal plates. The room was, for all intents and purposes, the inside of an oven.

Baylore said, "I don't buy it." He moved into the room. The heat and metal plates disappeared and were replaced with to large iron-clad automatons shaped like minotaurs. Each minotaur had an arm that ended in an axe blade and an arm that ended in a heavy hammer head. The iron guardians charged the human pirate.

Brenna rushed into the room to help Baylore . In so doing she became trapped in the corner.

The second guardian moved to block the entrance, trapping Bordar and Aella in the corridor.

Brenna cast an Acid Spash spell. The acid struck the nearer guardian and splashed onto the second. The guardians iron covering began to corrode.

The torso of the nearer guardian began spinning while its legs remained still. The whirling axe-arm and hammer-arm repeatedly slammed into Baylore and Brenna.

Bordar attacked the guardian blocking the corridor while Aella hurled chaos magic at the automaton.

Eventually they were able to destroy the automaton blocking the corridor and Bordar rushed to join the fight in the room. The second iron guardian was soon likewise destroyed.

Upon the defeat of the automatons, the party surveyed the room.

Bordar pointed out, "Where are the prisoners? I thought this was a prison."

The room was filled with chests of gold, stolen bolts of fine cloth, and other treasures. A narrow flat object in the corner was covered by a sheet. Brenna peeked under the sheet and saw a mirror with a decorated border of intricately carved gold.

Brenna said, "I think they're in the mirror."

Bordar incredulously replied, "What?"

"I think this is a magic mirror. It traps souls. There's a password to activate it and another password to release a prisoner."

"What's the password?" demanded Bordar.

Brenna shrugged. She held up the medallion but nothing happened. She started guessing myriad passwords.

"What was the name of the sea god? Hydrox? Hydron? Hail Hydros! Open Hydrox!"

None worked.

DM Note-
The password was "Hail Olhydra" and when Brenna's player got close I was like "C'mon. C'mon. SO CLOSE!" Eventually Brenna's player got frustrated and just started shouting random words. I had to step in and say, "Okay, you're done. Leave it alone."

"We should rest on this." suggested Baylore . "Let's hole up in this room."

Aella beetled her brow, "I know we're low on spells and healing, but we literally just woke up and started our day like three hours ago."

"Have you got some place to go?"

"What about food?"

"We've all got dry tasteless rations."

"And water? We're each brought a gallon of water onto this island and we drank that yesterday."

"Deal with it."

With that, they spent the entire day in the vault studying all the items for magical properties, counting the gold, and resting. They slept on the floor, ate only dry tasteless rations, and went without water.

Eventually they decided to leave the vault.

Baylore said, "We'll interrogate the prisoners in the cellar. They'll know the passwords."

Brenna said, "We should take the mirror with us. Its portable."

Aella suggested, "We should put it in the magical bag of holding!"

Baylore , Brenna, and Bordar looked at Aella in shock and simultaneously cried, "NO! LET'S NOT DO THAT!"

"Why not?"

Brenna explained, "The mirror is an extradimensional prison. The Bag of Holding is an extradimensional space. If you put extradimensional stuff within an extradimensional bag, bad things happen."

"Oh."

The mirror was easily portable and they carried it out of the Winding Way.

Mirror Mirror
When asked about the mirror, Odium said he had no idea it was in the vault. He was sent to audit the ledgers and was only visiting. He knew nothing about the mirror or any passwords. He spitefully pointed out that the only person who MIGHT know the password was Ozymandias and that they killed him.

The young acolyte who had been caught cleaning the meditation room shouted his angry defiance at the infidels. The elemental princess of the oceans will rise up and swallow them. Hail Olhydra!"

Brenna nodded and turned to the mirror, holding up the medallion, which she thought was a holy symbol, and said "Hail Olhydra!"

The mirror flashed, filling the room with light. Brenna, Bordar, Aella, and the others shielded their eyes from the glare.

When the light died down, Baylore was gone!

Baylore was trapped within the mirror!

To Be Continued...

The Isle of the Abbey - Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Chapter 26

Bordar stood at the prow of the small boat. He was a dwarf on a quest. The son of the leader of his clan had never returned from his trade mission to Keoland. Bordar had been sent to find the wayward son and bring him home. Since then, Bordar learned that the son had somehow offended the Duke of Seaton and had been imprisoned.

During his investigation, he learned from his sources that the duke sometimes keeps special prisoners in a secret dungeon beneath the abbey on Leper Island. Ostensibly, the abbey was occupied by an order of monks who tended to the health and well-being of lepers. In reality, the priests were corrupt and served as kind of treasury for pirates and raiders - as well as wardens of a secret prison, apparently.

So Bordar hired a small boat and a crew of rowers to take him to Leper Island. It was a clear night and the moon shone brightly overhead. Bordar winced as the boat heaved in the surf and the salty wind lashed his long hair.

The crew refused to come ashore for obvious reasons. They let Bordar off on the southern tip of the island where the sea washed against vast sand dunes.

Bordar noticed another boat drawn  up onto the beach as well as the remains of a wrecked pinnace buried in the sand.

Bordar went ashore and climbed the steep undulating dunes. He could see that a handful of people had climbed these dunes before him. He found evidence of a great battle against a horde of now disassembled skeletons.

Many of those same skeletons now reformed into animated guardians and attacked him!

After dealing with these skeletons, Bordar continued up the hill towards the center of the island.

He neared the site of the abbey. Even in the moonlight he could see that the abbey appeared to be in ruins. A tower had burned and toppled. The refectory and hospital had been razed.

He saw five humans and a halfling standing or sitting in the ruins. They were talking among themselves. Bordar crouched behind some bushes and quietly crept nearer so he could better hear.

CHAPTER 26

"THE ISLE OF THE ABBEY"

The B-Team:

• Baylore - Neutral Human Pirate and Pugilist (Monk). 
• Brenna Whalersdottir - Chaotic Good Human Sailor and Divine Soul Sorceress, long-lost daughter of Whaler. 

Introducing: 

• Bordar Graniteshaper - Lawful Good Dwarven Bearer of Grudges (Barbarian), on a quest to rescue the son of the leader of his clan.

Brain Jellies:

• Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf  Outlander and Storm Sorceress from Ket. 
• Alot Aname - Neutral Good Warforged Fighter, ancient sentinel of a wizard's fortress, spent several decades deactivated underwater.

New Allies

Brenna and Baylore were discussing whether or not Lemundo the Lovely should join them as they descended the stairs into the abbey's cellar. 

Lemundo argued, "I can fight! I can handle myself!"

Brenna countered, "You were useless against the skeletons on the dunes!"

Lemundo said, "That's not my fault! The Dungeon Master kept forgetting about me! I'm actually fairly competent! Really!"

Brenna crossed her arms, "Okay then, what do you bring to the table?"

Lemundo puffed out her chest and declared, "I'll have you know I'm considered a Scout! I have an armor class of thirteen! I have sixteen hit points and plus four to hit!"

Brenna inhaled sharply through clenched teeth to signal her disapproval. Baylore said, "Yeah, No offense. You'll be staying up here with the two jelly babies over there."

DM Note-

I try to give the players as much narrative control over their situation as possible. They asked me if Lemundo would be joining them and I turned it around and asked, "Do you WANT Lemundo to join you? That's totally your decision!" After a few assessment questions, they decided it would be safer for her to stay upstairs. 

Suddenly, a squat dwarf emerged from the bushes. He wore a traveling cloak and carried two deadly looking battle axes - one in each hand. His arrival took Brenna, Baylore, and Lemundo completely by surprise! They leaped to the feet, weapons and wands drawn. Lemundo shouted, "Who goes there?"

The dwarf introduced himself as Bordar. He said he had come to this abbey searching for a prisoner whom he believed to be kept in a secret dungeon. 

Lemundo introduced herself as her alias, Lemony Butterscotch, and said that they too were seeking to free a prisoner from the abbey's secret dungeon. Lemundo asked Bordar if he was familiar with the Duke of Seaton. 

Once it became clear that the newcomer had no interest in local politics, Lemundo revealed her true identity as well as her mission to free her father, the true Duke of Seaton, from his betrayal at the hands of his twin brother.

Given that their goals aligned, the dwarf agreed to accompany the B-Team in their exploration of the abbey's cellar.

The Guardians of the Cellar
Baylore and Bordar led the way as they opened the cellar door and descended the stairs underground.

Lantern light filled a large room ahead. On the left side of the room three men played a dice game around an old table. The sound of the descending intruders caused them to leap to their feet and grab nearby weapons. Each of the men wore the robes of monks and acolytes of Procan.

One of the men, a big burly bald fellow holding a spear and a shield, took one look at Baylore and Brenna and shouted, "The pirates have returned! You bastards! I'll kill you for what you did!"

Baylore and Brenna looked at their clothes and manner, for both were indeed sailors and pirates by trade and appearance. They shrugged. Baylore said, "Well, you're not wrong about the pirate part, but we're not with those other guys".

Baylore ran up to the priest and acolyte. He was able to easily dispatch them with a single bare-knuckle punch to each. He then moved around the table to the burly priest. Bordar's bloodlust took over. The dwarf charged the burly man with a battleaxe in each hand.

The man shouted, "Liars! Alarm! Alarm!"

There were eight doors along the outer walls of the room. Two each on the left and right walls and four on the wall behind the stairs. At the burly man's alarm the doors began to fly open one by one.

One door opened only for the priest to curse loudly and immediately close it again.

A second door opened and a priest emerged, ready to defend the cellar, along with a bodyguard who appeared to be a mercenary. "What is it, Ormund?" demanded the priest.

The burly man replied, "The raiders have returned, Ozymandias! We are under attack!"

Ozymandias cried out towards another door, "Bayleaf! We need your assistance!" He looked towards the door of the priest who cursed and retreated back into his room, "Odium! I know you're in there! Get out here and help!"

Several additional combatants joined the fray. And well-dressed elf and a mercenary emerged together from a different room. The elf quipped, "I don't think we're paid enough for this."

Ozymandias said, "We'll double your pay, Bayleaf, just defend us!"

The mercenary with Bayleaf took cover behind the stairs and loosed several crossbow bolts towards Bordar. Bayleaf, for his part, stayed away from battle and instead hurled insults at Brenna. Much to Brenna's surprise, she found that his words cut deep. She took them far more personally than she would like and it struck at her morale, affecting her ability to fight.

Ozymandias invoked the name of Procan and created a spiritual trident that hovered in the air behind Bordar. The trident struck at the dwarf and moved where he moved.

An acolyte emerged from another door and summoned a spiritual scimitar that harassed Baylore.

The cowardly priest Odium would occasionally open his door and pray for some miracle but few such attempts were successful.

Ormund fought like a devil against two opponents. He kept trying to knock Baylore over with his shield while thrusting his spear at Bordar. Eventually the pair proved too much for the robust warrior and Ormund fell.

Bordar darted across the room and attacked the mercenary Bayleaf. It didn't take long for Bayleaf to fall to Bordar's twin axes and Brenna's magic spells.

Ozymandias became worried. He said a quick prayer and was instantly surrounded by a rotating vortex of celestial barracudas. Bordar and Brenna were caught within the swirling vortex and became worried. They knew this of this miracle and knew of its defensive capability.

Baylore countered by pointing at the priest. A thin ray of fire struck the priest and caused him to lose his concentration. The swirling vortex disappeared!

Bordar and Baylore descended upon Ozymandias who crumpled under their combined attack.

Another previously unseen mercenary came running out one of the rooms and joined the fray. Odium cowered in his doorway and shouted to the mercenaries, "Earn your keep, you fools! Kill the them!"  The two surviving mercenaries fought valiantly but ultimately fell before Bordar and Baylore.

Brenna directed her attention towards the cowardly Odium. Odium defended himself but sensing his inevitable defeat he surrendered to the intruders.

The Secret Cellar
Baylore tied Odium to a chair. Odium was forthcoming with information. He revealed that the monks of the abbey were secretly in league with the Sea Princes to the southwest. The abbey served as a warehouse of sorts for pirate plunder on its way to the Sea Princes. Odium was an accountant sent to the abbey to audit the operation's ledgers.

He happened to be present during when the pirates turned on the monks and attacked the abbey two weeks ago. He doesn't know why the pirates chose to attack. He thought they had a good working relationship.

The pirates sacked the tower and killed most of the monks. Unable to find any treasure, they burned the tower to the ground. Odium, Ozymandias, Ormund, Bayleaf, and a handful of acolytes managed to survive. When the pirates left, they were stranded. There were no boats with which they might leave.

When asked about a secret prison, Odium said Ozymandias might have known but Odium was just visiting and didn't know anything about that.

Odium then identified each of the doors and listed the original purpose of each room and who had been using it.

A Thorough Search
The B-Team checked each door and room in turn.

A quick search of the fallen opponents revealed nothing useful, though Ozymandias wore a gold medallion around his neck. The medallion was decorated with complex geometric designs.

They checked Odium's room and found many glazed clay figurines and marble statues, some obviously rescued from the abbey garden. Underneath a loose flagstone they found a scroll case with several scrolls and book of dark rituals to Olhydra - evil prince of the water elementals.

The next room revealed some bookshelves and a scribe's desk. Several books dedicated to the lore of the evil elemental princes lined the bookshelf. No one could open the desk to Bordar hacked it to flinders with his axes. The resulting destruction ruined the spell scrolls hidden within.

The kitchen revealed a scroll case containing several recipies.

Ogmund's quarters was once a wine cellar. The bottles and casks were all empty but they did find a suit of leather armor adorned with leather studs and a fine dagger with a fancy scabbard decorated with scrimshaw.

Bayleaf's quarters were located in the former armory. A pair of boots were placed at the foot of Bayleaf's bedroll. A loose stone revealed a hidden cache of scrolls and a pair of ruby earrings with a note revealing their intent as a gift to Bayleaf's love.

Ozymandias' quarters were in the storeroom. The room was filled with miscellaneous mundane  equipment.

The room that housed the mercenaries contained only the sleeping pallets, a kettle filled with warm coals, and a handful of weapons.

The final room was ostensibly used for meditation and devotion to Olhydra. The room was adorned with blue curtains. A table served as a makeshift altar. A bowl of seawater sat on the table.

In the corner of the room was an acolyte holding a scrubbing brush as a weapon. A bucket of cleaning water sat nearby. The acolyte appeared nervous and was afraid for his life.

Bordar ignored the acolyte and began removing the curtains. The acolyte took great offense and charged the dwarf, attacking him with the brush. Bordar punched the acolyte in the face but failed to knock him unconscious. The acolyte hammered Bordar with the brush again while Baylore watched and laughed, "Did that kid just hit you with a BRUSH? Good for him!"A second punch sent the acolyte to the floor.

Bordar continued to tear down the curtains, revealing a concealed door.

"Well, this must be what we're looking for!" said Bordar.

Brenna said, "We should probably rest first before heading in there."

Baylore nodded, "Good idea. Rest first. Tomorrow- dungeon."

To Be Continued...

DM Notes-

I really like the detail they put into each NPC hiding in the cellar. They're not just faceless bad guys to kill. They each had a story and a perspective and a motivation. I tried to communicate their story by having them shout at each other, give each other commands, and complain about the other during the fight. It made them feel much more real. 

I was hoping the players would pick up on this and try to interact with them more. But no dice. They were corrupt priests so they had to die, no questions asked. 

Secret Mission to Leper Island - Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Chapter 25

Alot Aname looked around. He was underwater.

He was standing in his oyster bed at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Keoland near the fishing village of Saltmarsh. A bag made from a fishing net was draped over his neck and shoulder. The triangular oyster dredge was  harnessed to his shoulders. He had apparently been dragging it behind him to harvest oysters.

He had no idea what day it was. The last thing he remembered was fighting trolls in the Drowned Forest.

He unharnessed himself from the dredge and returned to Saltmarsh.

Alot found his friend, the half-elven sorceress Avastana Kádár, known as "Aella". It was mid-day. The sun was out and a warm breeze blew in from the sea. He asked her what happened.

Aella blinked as if only just now realizing where she was. She was standing outside a market in the Old Town of Saltmarsh where she had just purchased some vegetables. She said the last thing she remembered was defeating Aulicus, the venerable black dragon of the Drowned Forest. She suddenly stopped and looked at Alot.

"Oh Alot. They're all dead! I couldn't save them! Auric, Annor, and Marlin were all killed by the dragon! The last thing I remembered was getting captured by bandits!"

"Where was I?" inquired the warforged sentinel.

"You had the brain jellies. You just sort of stood there on the skiff," she replied.

"Damn brain jellies! How long have we been out?"

The pair checked with a few people in town - the guard at the gate, the messenger boy, some dock people. They discovered that it had been three weeks since they left Saltmarsh on their mission to the Drowned Forest - which means it had been two weeks since the battle with Aulicus. Aella and Alot had returned from their mission, saying only that the others had died. They reported that they had found no bandits and had returned empty-handed.

Alot still possessed all his belongings. His magical short sword hung in its sheath.

Aella went to her house. She had all of her possessions too. If she had been captured by bandits, either they failed to take her belongings or she was able to retrieve them when she escaped. She had apparently recovered nothing from her fallen companions or the dragon's hoard. She did, however, find a sack with 1650 gold coins embossed with the image of Iuz. She had apparently sold something to the Loyal Quartermasters of Iuz.

Alot was looking out the window across the street, "Aella, you better look at this."

"What is it?" Aella drew aside the curtain to see at what Alot was looking.

The Whalerson house and the goat farm had been burned to the ground. Only charred ruins were left.

"Well, shit." She muttered.

There was a knock at Aella's door.

She opened the door and saw a woman wearing a traveler's cloak, her hood drawn despite the sunny skies. The woman withdrew the hood. It was Lemundo, daughter of the Duke of Seaton.

"Lemundo?"

"Sh!" admonished the woman, "I'm incognito. Call me Lemony Butterscotch. I need your help!"

CHAPTER 25

"SECRET MISSION TO LEPER ISLAND"

The A-Team:

• Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf  Outlander and Storm Sorceress from Ket. 
• Alot Aname - Neutral Good Warforged Fighter, ancient sentinel of a wizard's fortress, spent several decades deactivated underwater.

Introducing the B-Team:

• Baylore - Neutral Human Pirate and Pugilist (Monk). 
• Brenna Whalersdottir - Chaotic Good Human Sailor and Divine Soul Sorceress, long-lost daughter of Whaler. 

Special Guest Star:

• Bobert the Red - transient Halfling Druid with a drinking problem. 

DM Note-
It was Friday - Valentine's day. I am married and my wife and I feel VD is pretty much corporate BS, so we decided we'd celebrate on Saturday. Likewise Brenna's player (who is formerly Marlin's player) and his wife as well as Baylore's player (who is formerly Auric's player). Annor's player DID go out with his wife. Aella's player is single so she was okay to hang out with us.

But because it was Valentine's Day, we had a special guest player! We were joined by a very good friend who is single and didn't want anything to do with VD. Also, her regular Friday D&D group wasn't playing. So I invited her over to play and she said yes! So welcome Bobert!

The Secret Mission of Lemony Butterscotch
Lemundo, using the alias Lemony Butterscotch, brought Aella and Alot to a local tavern - the Empty Net. She told them that she thinks she located where her father, the true Duke of Seaton, was being held prisoner. She wanted to hire a team to take her to the location and help her free him. She was sad to learn of the fate of the A-Team but was happy that Aella and Alot had survived. In order to assemble a new team, she posted a recruitment offer on the town notice board.

They found three people waiting for them at the Empty Net.

One was a human woman with gold hair and gold eyes and red clothes. With her was a human man in a black loose fitting shirt and black pants with high boots. His face bore a long scar and he was missing an eye. Despite his intimidating countenance he carried no weapons. In a nearby chair dozed a halfling with long matted hair. The halfling wore dirty tattered rags and bits of fur.

Lemundo addressed the group, "Greetings. Thanks for responding to my advertisement. Before we begin we should do a round of introductions. My name is Lemony Butterscotch. This is Aella and this is Alot. And you are?"

The one-eyed man replied, "My name is Baylore. That's all you need to know."

"Oh, well, thank you. And you?"

The golden-haired woman spoke in a strange foreign accent. She seemed full of defiant energy, "My  name is Brenna Whalersdottir and I don't give a flying fuck about your advertisement! I'm looking for man who makes this cheese!" She produced a small wheel of Ten Goats of Cheese and shoved it in Lemundo's face.

Lemundo became flustered, "I- what?"

Aella gave the sad news, "I'm sorry to report that the man you are looking for, Annor Whalerson, recently died. He was torn apart by-"

Brenna interrupted her, "I don't fuckin' care! Just point me towards his house! I came to claim me birthright!"

Alot pointed towards the House of Whalerson, "I'm afraid the house burned down.

Brenna angrily declared, "I don't care about the fuckin' hoose! I want what was IN the hoose! Did anyone search the ashes?"

Aella shrugged.

Brenna slammed the table with her fist, "Just point me to where the house USED t' be then!"

Alot pointed up the hill, "Take this street up the hill, its the fourth house on the right past the old stone bridge. At least it used to be."

Brenna furrowed her brow and sniffed defiantly. She made a small grunting sound and burst out of the pub.

There was a moment of silence before Lemundo continued, "Well, I guess that just leaves our halfling friend. You are, sir?"

The halfling started and woke up. He had bloodshot eyes and looked hung over. "What?"

"Your name?"

"My name is Bobert. Am I in trouble? Do I need to leave already?"

"No sir. Thank you for answering my advertisement."

Bobert blinked in confusion. "The what now?"

Homecoming
Brenna marched angrily up the street to the former site of the House of Whalerson, now a pile of ash and charred timbers. She sifted through the remains near what was left of the fireplace.

She pulled out a silver harpoon tip. It was a metal rod about two feet long that ended in a sharp barbed tip. The wooden handle had burned away with the house. The silver tip had miraculously survived.

She muttered to herself, "The Hearthspoon. I found it, right where Uncle Gillian said."

The silver harpoon tip glowed magically in her hand. She smiled.

She then looked around at the ashen ruins, "Sorry I didn't get to meet you, brothers. We probably wouldn't have gotten along anyways."

She shoved the harpoon tip into a leather holder and marched back to the Empty Net. She found Lemundo still addressing the others.

"I got what I was looking for. Now, as it happens, I'm low on coin. Are you still hiring?"

Sea Trip to Leper Island
Bobert woke on a sailboat at sea. He had no idea how he got here. He had a terrible hangover and the bobbing of the boat in the waves wasn't helping. The sun was setting in the west.

He got the attention of the woman in the cloak. She seemed to be in charge. "What? Where am I? What day is this? What's happening?"

"Good evening, Bobert. It's the same day. We're on our way to Leper Island!"

"We're WHAT?" the halfling replied incredulously.

"Leper Island! Like I said earlier in the briefing. My father is being held prisoner there!"

Lemundo continued, "You see, I am, in truth, Lemundo Feldren, daughter of Obertus Feldren, the Duke of Seaton. And before you ask - No! Duke Obertus did not die from natural causes as reported by my uncle Marik. My uncle Marik faked my father's death and assumed the title of Duke. I later learned that Captain Horatio Vile, a fiendish pirate, had been secretly transporting my uncle to an unknown location to gloat over my father!"

"I tried to stow away on Captain Vile's boat to find where my uncle had imprisoned my father. But Captain Vile betrayed my uncle! He took my uncle prisoner and handed him to Gellan Primewater, a smuggler from Saltmarsh, so that the wizard Keledek might use some mind control magic on him! In doing so, I was discovered and captured."

"Luckily, Aella and Alot helped save me. They captured Captain Vile and freed my uncle, not knowing what else to do with such a high ranking nobleman. Since then I've been trying to find where my uncle had my father hidden. I eventually determined he was being held by corrupt priests of Procan on Leper Island!"

"Baylore here said that he knew about those corrupt priests. They allowed pirates to use the island and their abbey to smuggle stolen goods to the Sea Princes to the south. He said that after Captain Vile was imprisoned, his remaining crew attacked the island hoping to sack it and raid it of its stored treasures. He said that no one had heard from the pirates since, so he had no idea if they succeeded or not."

"So we're going to Leper Island, which is forbidden for obvious reasons. We're landing after dark to conceal our approach. We're going to find the abbey, enter it, find my father, and rescue him. Any questions?"

Bobert blinked wearily. He groaned, laid back down in the boat, and went to sleep.

A Long Walk on the Beach
The sun had set. It was now dark. A bright full moon rose over the eastern horizon. The island loomed before them. The island was oblong, a mile wide and just over three miles long. The island was a long flat slab perched at an angle. The far side was a cliff almost a hundred feet tall. The near side dipped into the sea and was covered by a sandy beach and hundreds of feet of windswept dunes.

Baylore possessed excellent night vision. He could see in the moonlight the remains of a pinnance smashed and broken and half buried by the sand. "That's the pirate landing craft. They never left the island."

They landed their launch near the remains of the pinnance. A clear path made by dozens of boots led away from the beach. The path was nearly three weeks old. Baylore had the best night vision so he led the way. The sand was loose and difficult to walk on. He followed the tracks through the towering dunes for about six hundred feet. To his surprise, the tracks veered sharply to the right. He shrugged and continued on, leaving the path of the tracks.

As they climbed the dune before them, a cold wind blew from the center of the island. The loose sand blew over the dune. Then more sand began to shift. It soon became apparent that humanoid figures wearing scraps of armor and carrying old rusted short swords and short bows were rising from the sands.

They were surrounded by the animated skeletons of the long dead!

The five of the skeletons charged the party and engaged in hand-to-hand combat while the remaining four loosed arrows from decrepit short bows.

Alot Aname slashed and stabbed at the skeletons with his short sword. Meanwhile Baylore waded into a throng of skeletons with nothing more than his bare fists. To everyone's surprise, Baylore would punch a skeleton in the skull and it would explode. He'd punch the next in the rib-cage and it would explode. He moved swiftly through skeleton after skeleton while Alot struggled.

The skeletons were soon destroyed. Brenna approached Alot and offered him a belaying pin, "Take this. They'll do more damage against yon skeletal beasties."

Alot sheathed his short sword, took the wooden implement, and thanked the sorceress.

The team pressed on. Baylore soon found the trail of footprints. It led from the right and made a turn directly ahead. They followed the path for three hundred feet before the path turned sharply to the left. Baylore once again shrugged and pushed on.

Once again they were beset by nine animated skeletons that rose from the sands! Once again they made relatively short work of the clattering fiends. Bobert was injured from some of the arrows but his wounds were tended by Brenna.

The Juggernaut of Bone
As they continued straight ahead the air became completely still and all was silent but the crashing waves of the Azure Sea. They were near the center of the dunes. The silence gave way to the sound of sliding sand all around them. Bones were rising from the dunes in all directions. They were surrounded by a clattering army of skeletons marching towards them. Before them rose a great pile of bones. The pile was twenty feet tall and took on an amorphous roughly humanoid form as it heaved towards them.

They were surrounded and squeezed together from all sides. Aella cast a witch-bolt spell at the juggernaut of bone and rose on a gust of wind that blew her backwards away from the crushing mass of skeleton warriors.

Alot shouted, "Stay away from the juggernaut! If it crashes down on you its bad news!"

Bobert managed to call upon the spirits of nature for help and a mass of weeds and vines sprang from the sand beneath the skeletons and the heaving juggernaut. The skeletons moved through the vines with east but the juggernaut became impeded. Bobert ducked low and scurried to safety away from the scrum of skeletons. Likewise did Brenna, Baylore, and Alot manage to maneuver away from the juggernaut while crushing skeletons.

DM Note- 
All the player characters managed to stay or be more than ten feet away from the juggernaut. The range of its tidal wave of bone is ten feet. Alas, its primary attack was neutered!

The juggernaut of bone was ensnared by the net of vines and weeds that had overgrown it. The sustained lightning bolt from Aella's witch-bolt continued to burn away the juggernaut and bones began to slough away from the mass. Soon the juggernaut lost all cohesion  and fell apart into a mass of bones. The bones soon reformed into separate humanoid skeletons.

Once the juggernaut was defeated the party made relatively short work of the remaining skeletons.

A few members of the party had taken a beating so they decided to rest for an hour before continuing.

The Ruins of the Abbey
The party continued their march towards the center of the island. They emerged from the dunes onto a grassy field. The moon shone high overhead and the wind blew through the tall grass in undulating waves. Small clumps of short trees were visible here and there.

They arrived at the site of the old Abbey. It was in ruins - burned to the ground. A pile of rubble, debris, and charred timbers were all that was left of what was once a tower. The ceiling of the attached refectory and leper hospital had collapsed and burned.  The pirate raiders had sacked the abbey and left nothing standing.

However, the ruins appeared to have been moved. Stones were piled up. Areas had been cleared. There were several small piles of items that had been salvaged from the rubble - utensils and tools mostly. Someone had survived and someone had been trying to clean up the remains.

More importantly, the rubble had been cleared around what was once a trap door in the floor of the refectory.

Baylore looked at Lemundo. Lemundo nodded. Baylore said, "Right, let's go in, shall we?"

Bobert backed away, "I'll- I'll just wait out here." The scruffy halfling sat down on a block and uncorked a bottle. "Have fun though!"

To Be Continued...