Gutbur’s Grand Adventure: Session #004

Introduction | Previous Sessions

The Adventure Continues…

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[DM]: You spend the rest of the day traveling. Ahead through the trees the ruins of a once magnificent mansion can be seen. When built, it had two floors, but most of the roof has since collapsed.

However, most of the building has remained standing, and will probably be able to resist the weather and ravages of time for years to come. An ideal home for the Cinderlings.

[Gutbur]: Ooo-rah!

Check out the ruin first make sure it is safe for the Cinderlings.

If the ruin is safe, I will say my farewells to Bop and his merry Cinderlings and return to the grave site to attempt to re-cover it.

[DM]: Walking around the mansion to scout it from the outside is easy. There used to be gardens all around the building, and while they are now overgrown, trees have had a hard time growing close to the house due to stone paths covering the ground.

The mansion has 9 outside doors. All provide fairly easy access to the inside. The wood has swollen and is partially rotten, requiring just a little bit of force for the doors to break free of their hinges.

[Gutbur]:
I would be looking for signs of recent use, campfires, footprints, but will go inside and start looking around.

[DM]:
Which entrance would you like?

[Gutbur]: lol, I can be inside

…uhhh, from which direction did we approach it? South side?

[DM]:
There are 3 walls on that side, east, west, and central.

[Gutbur]: Having done a quick circle around the exterior, I’ll come back to where we started and go in the west door.

[DM]: Plants have taken over most of this room. Roots have burrowed into the floor, and leafy stems hold up whatever is left of the roof. Shards of glass poke out of the green in places. There is a door in the east wall. You came in an overgrown door in the south wall.

[Gutbur]:
I’ll go through that door.

[DM]: The Cinderlings are following at a safe distance.

This room was once a library. Now, however, not much is left. Cabinets that reached to the ceiling have partially collapsed, leaning against each other. Leather sofas have a pile of mushrooms growing out of them. Of most books nothing is left but scraps and dust. There are doors in the east, north and west wall. A door in the south wall leads outside.

[Gutbur]: I will try to keep my eyes open for any signs of recent passage or use, but not linger in any one room just yet. I tell the Cinderlings to keep me in sight. I’ll go across the room and through the east door.

[DM]: This room used to be a large, opulent living room. The floor is parquet and has warped with dampness. Vines have grown inside through the broken windows. The smell of damp is pervasive and comes from moldy heaps of collapsed furniture. There are two doors in the north wall and one in the west wall (that you came through). A door in the south wall leads outside.

[Gutbur]:
North door next I think.

(Lasarian):
I need to warn you I’ll have to pause about here to get myself into work.

(Talolan):
We’re almost to a good pause point :slight_smile:

[DM]: This room was a large dining hall which is in remarkably good shape. The air is dry and smells faintly of smoke. Two long tables have collapsed in the centre, and upholstered chairs have been reduced to kindling. Both tables and chairs show scorch marks. A large fireplace stands against the north wall.

There are two doors in the south wall, three doors in the west wall, two interior and one exterior door. There is one door in the south wall. The east wall holds one door and a hallway leading to a door going outside.

[Gutbur]:
Take a look down the hallways to the east and then check the door on that same wall.

[DM]:
As you move forward the Cinderlings enter the room, they start enthusiastically squeaking and pointing at the fireplace.

[Gutbur]:
Gutbur grins. “This must be the place.”

[DM]: They rush forward. When the Cinderlings come within 10 feet of the fireplace, a flame suddenly roars to life in its center. The flame quickly splits into multiple smaller flames.

(Talolan):
And that is where we’ll stop for now.

(Lasarian):
Okay, very cool. :thumbsup:

(Talolan):
I can’t have gutbur go completely combat-free on this journey of self-discovery.

(Lasarian):
heh heh

Intermission (grab some popcorn)

(Lasarian):
Ready when you are 😉

[DM]:
Roll for initiative.

[Gutbur: Initiative]: 1d20 (16) = 16

[DM]: Alright. You react quickly as the Fire Elemental and two Smoke Mephits emerge from the fire place.
You are first.

I’ll shout to the Cinderlings to get back as I draw Volgnir* and offer up a prayer to Uthgart.

I get within striking distance and attack the Elemental.

[Gutbur: Volgnir (Warhawk)]: 1d20 (15) + 8 = 23
[Volgnir (warhawk): Damage]: 1d12 (12) + 4 = 16

[DM]: 23 hits :slight_smile:

You slash into the elemental, you can tell that you hurt it, but being made of fire, it doesn’t do as much damage as you’d expect.

(Lasarian): Yeah ….
Dont know how to switch to the maul side but I assume that won’t help much.

(Talolan):
Likely not.

[Gutbur: Volgnir (Warhawk)]: 1d20 (8) + 8 = 16
[Volgnir (Warhawk): Damage]: 1d12 (8) + 4 = 12

[DM]:
16 hits.

[Gutbur]:
2nd attack.

[DM]: Again, a good solid hit, but not as much damage as you hoped.

Are you raging?

Additionally, on the second attack you take:

[Fire Elemental Damage]: 1d10 (10) = 10

[DM]: 10 fire damage as the flames react to you.

Now, it is the Fire Elementals turn. It reaches out to burn you.

[DM]:
I’m pretty sure 22 hits.

(Lasarian): oh yeah
Feelin the bern

[DM]:
You take 9 fire damage, additionally, you catch fire.

[DM]:
It attacks again, rolling 20 to hit.

[Gutbur]:
That hits!

[DM]:
For 11 fire damage, but you aren’t like… extra on fire.

[Gutbur]:
I felt that.

[DM]: The mephits move to flank you on either side. The one on your right exhales a cone of smoldering ash. Make a dexterity saving throw.

Danger Sense applies.

Advantage Roll: Danger Sense

(Talolan):
Sorry, kids.

(Lasarian):
no worries

[DM]: 16 saves, there is no effect on you.
Seeing that, the other mephit does the same. Make another dex save.

Advantage Roll: Danger Sense

[DM]:
14 saves. :slight_smile:

[Gutbur]:
14 :sweat_smile:

[DM]: Bop and Several Cinderlings gather together and scurry up you, putting out the fire on you, and then back to their spot behind you. It seems to have drawn the ire of the mephit on your right.

And it is your turn again.

[Gutbur]: Drop the warhawk and switch to Bob*.
The Cinderlings have aggro’ed the one on the right you are saying?

[DM]:
I did say that.

[Gutbur]:
Swing at that mephit

[Gutbur: Bob (Battleaxe)]: 1d20 (4) + 8 = 12
[Bob (Battleaxe): Damage]: 1d10 (4) + 4 (+3 rage) = 11

[DM]:
12 hits… barely

[Gutbur]:
10 really
Oh shit, rage is now +3 …11

[DM]: It takes all of that, but still stands…
floats…
flies…

[Gutbur: Bob (Battleaxe)]: 1d20 (17) + 8 = 25
[Bob (Battleaxe): Damage]: 1d10 (5) + 4 (+3 rage) = 12

[DM]:
Yeah, 25 hits.

[Gutbur]:
12 this time.

[DM]:
You slash Bob through it, and it explodes in a cloud of dust.

[Gutbur]:
… a cloud of dust … of course it does.

[DM]: The space it occupies is now heavily obscured. Anything in that space would be effectively blind, but also hidden.

[Gutbur]:
I think I get an extra attack since it died.

[DM]:
Yup.

[Gutbur]:
The other mephit.

[Gutbur: Bob (Battleaxe)]: 1d20 (20) + 8 = 28
[Bob (Battleaxe): Damage]: (CRIT!) 2d10 (5, 5) + 4 (+3 rage) = 17

(Lasarian): wowza
Not even sure how to do this … roll up damage dice x3?

[DM]: Roll the damage and we’ll see what happens.

So another 1d10

[Bob (Battleaxe): Damage]: 1d10 (2) = 2

[DM]: +3 rage
is 19

[Gutbur]:
yeah

[DM]:
It is still alive, but it isn’t particularly happy about it. Like an angsty teen, or Stephen Miller.

[DM]:
As a plus, the mephits don’t burn you when you attack them, like the Elemental.
All done?

(Lasarian): actually, wait a sec…
Savage attack gives me another damage die on a crit, assuming I am reading it right.

[DM]:
Between Brutal Crit and Savage Attack, you should have had 4d10

[Bob (Battleaxe): Damage]: 1d10 (9) = 9

[DM]: Much like the other one, it bursts into a cloud of dust… which is usually called smoke. :slight_smile:

Now the areas to both your left and right are heavily obscured.

[Gutbur]: How big are these smoke clouds?
I don’t even know how big a mephit is

[DM]:
Mechanically, they fill the square the mephits occupied.

[Gutbur]: okay, so for our purposes a 5′ x 5′ ?

If I can move, I would put one of those between me and the elemental.

[DM]:
You’d have to step out of its reach, provoking an “Attack of Opportunity”.

[Gutbur]: Roger that, nm.
Do I get yet another swing since that mephit died?

[DM]: No. You only ever get 1 bonus action.

The fire elemental reaches out and touches someone… mostly you.

[Fire Elemental Attacks]: 1d20 (5) + 6 = 11

[Gutbur]:
AC 15

[DM]:
Frustrated, it tries again.

[Gutbur]:
That’ll do it.

[DM]: It burns you for 6 fire damage, and you are on fire again.

But that ends its turn.

After its turn, the cinderlings pile into the smoke cloud on your right, and you can see when they enter it, it starts to shrink.

Your turn.
You take:

[Fire Damage]: 1d10 (2) = 2

[DM]:
2 fire damage at the start of your turn.

[Gutbur]: Got it.
… what part of me is on fire, just out of curiosity?

[DM]: Your chestal region.

Let’s swing at that elemental then

[Gutbur: Bob the Battleaxe]: 1d20 (18) + 8 = 26
[Bob the Battleaxe: Damage]: 1d10 (4) + 4 (+3 rage)= 11

[DM]:
Yeah, that hits.

[Fire Damage]: 1d10 (3) = 3

[DM]:
You take 3 fire damage in return, but it looks like Bob does full damage.

[Gutbur]: got it.
2nd attack

[Gutbur: Bob the Battleaxe]: 1d20 (20) + 8 = 28
[Bob the Battleaxe: Damage]: (CRIT!) 2d10 (4, 4) + 4 + (3 rage) = 15

[DM]:
The crit gets you a bonus action attack, as well as killing somebody does.

[Fire Damage]: 1d10 (6) = 6

[DM]: You’ll take 6 fire damage from this one.

So 15, plus another 2d10

[Bob the (Battleaxe): Damage]: 2d10 (8, 1) + (3 rage) = 12

[DM]: 24 in 1 hit without any magic fire weapon

+3 rage

(Talolan): That was in the 15 I said.
12+3

(Lasarian):
oh i missed it.

[DM]:
If the elemental had blood, you would say it was bloodied.

[Gutbur]:
Extra attack for crit

[Gutbur: Bob the Battleaxe]: 1d20 (17) + 8 = 25
[Bob the (Battleaxe): Damage]: 1d10 (5) + 4 + (3 rage) = 11

(Talolan):
Jeeze

[Fire Damage]: 1d10 (8) = 8

[DM]:
8 fire damage back at you

[Gutbur]:
down to 44 of 105.

[DM]: You guys are having a race to 0.
End of your turn?

[Gutbur]:
Yes, end of turn

[DM]
It reaches out to scorch you again.

[Fire Elemental Attacks]: 1d20 (6) + 6 =12

(Talolan):
Booo

[Gutbur]:
miss …

[DM]:
And again…

[Fire Elemental Attacks]: 1d20 (8) + 6 = 14

(Lasarian):
phew

[DM]:
This time, seeing that its attacks aren’t working, it floats through you to the space behind you.

[Fire Damage]: 1d10 (6) = 6

[DM]: You take 6 fire damage as it passes by.

The mephit smoke to your right is rapidly shrinking now… several cinderlings dash to the cloud on the left, which starts shrinking as well. Bop and another cinderling climb up and put out your fire.

Before moving into the left-hand cloud back to you.

[Gutbur]: Nice to have allies

Going Reckless Attack this turn.

[DM]:
Great Weapons Master?

[Gutbur]: Hang on …Yes

I was just double check the penalty.

[DM]:
So -5 to your to-hit. but +10 to your damage.

(Lasarian):
Yeah, I remembered the +10, wanted to check the -to hit

Advantage Reckless Attack

[Bob the (Battleaxe): Damage]: 1d10 (9) + 4 + (3 rage) + (10 GWM) = 26

[DM]:
27-5 is 22, which hits.

[Fire Damage]: 1d10 (7) = 7

[Gutbur]: 26 damage.
2nd attack

Advantage Reckless Attack

[Bob the (Battleaxe): Damage]: 1d10 (9) + 4 + (3 rage) + (10 GWM) = 26

[Fire Damage]: 1d10 (3) = 3

[DM]:
You take 10 fire damage between the two.

[Gutbur]:
Got it.

[DM]:
23-5 hits

[Gutbur]:
26 again.

[DM]:
The second attack hits and kills it.

(Talolan):
That round started with you at 38, and it at 39.

(Lasarian): the reckless GWM saved my bacon.
That was a fight, without those 2 crits I might have been in trouble.

[Gutbur]:
Extinguish myself …

[DM]: It only takes a few seconds, but the smoke clouds quickly shrink to nothing, and you give a quick glance….

[DM]: There are 2 more cinderlings than you started with.

Bop, we’re parents!

[DM]: Bop and the Cinderlings, quickly… congeal… around the remains of the fire elemental.

You watch for a few minutes, before they step away, and a softball sized stone sits in the place. It looks like black rock with veins of magma flowing through it.
They present it to you.

[Gutbur]:
I look at Bop, “what is this?” Before picking it up.

[DM]: He calls it the creature’s heart.
You pick it up, and while it looks like it should burn you, it just feels warm.

[Gutbur]:
You mean for me to take this? I ask him.

[DM]: He emphatically says yes.

By now, the rest of the Cinderlings have gone into the fire place.

[Gutbur]: I accept it, thank you.
Will you all be safe here? I ask Bop.

[DM]: He says yes. One of the new cinderlings comes back into the room from one of the other doors. It must have wandered off while you were talking (which if you remember takes a while because you can’t actually hear Bop). It puts a small flower on your boot before going into the fire place.

[DM]: laughing … I take the flower too.

You can tell it is one of the new ones because it is more gray than black.

[Gutbur]:
Laughing .. and coughing from flame and smoke and having recently been ablaze.

[DM]:
Bop motions for you to bend down.

[Gutbur]:
I do so.

[DM]: He takes his hand and make some kind of mark on your forehead, before retreating into the fire place.

[Gutbur]: Puzzled, I will have to wait until the next calm pool of water to see what that mark is. I say my farewells to the fireplace and as long as the ruin is fully explored, I want to return to the burial site.

Oh, there was one more room beyond this one I think.

[DM]: Being made of mostly stone and metal, this kitchen has weathered pretty well. The metal has rusted, but countertops are intact. The south wall is mostly taken up by a large oven. There are two doors in the south wall. A door in the north wall leads outside.

[Gutbur]: I assume at this point with the fire elemental and its minions the rest of the ruin is empty, being so guarded.

[DM]:
A safe assumption.

[Gutbur]: One last farewell to the Cinderlings and I’ll leave the way I came in.
I will pause outside to look at the elemental heart and the flower, offer a prayer to Uthgardt for the battle I just fought and thank my ancestors for their guidance in bringing me here.

[DM]: If master of all things body-parts, Daesy, were here, I’m sure he could tell you all about the fire elemental.

(Talolan):
I think that is all for now. Who knows WTH my kids are up to.

(Lasarian): Understood – thanks!
prayer to Uthgar*

(Talolan):
Uthgar = Man/Demi-Power… Uthgardt = his people.

(Lasarian): Yeah, I was working from memory.
I know you’re checking on the kids, I was scrolling back to the beginning to reorient myself. I believe I left Oswin’s Spear two days ago, lol.

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Credits:

Original Discord and Avrae play sessions were April 5th 2021

Images:

• Castle Avatar Art by Lasarian
• Gutbur Avatar Art and Title by Lucy Lisett
• Shield Art by Lasarian
• “Volgnir the Warhawk” and “Bob the Battleaxe” illustration, by Tundrra (medium: Chalk Pastels and application: “Procreate”)

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Sessions

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  Gutbur’s Grand Adventure: Session #005
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