So, last Friday night I had my second session of Dragon Heist. It was honestly a blast, not everybody who came last time made it again, but it was still incredibly enjoyable. And the absence of one player was made up for by the presence of Renear Neveremember, the son of Dagult Neveremember, ex-open lord of Waterdeep. Anyway, once again here's the cast of characters!
Banjo, a Ghostwise Halfling Druid who was raised by Stout Halfling Folk and is always concerned about his appearance given his strange ghostwise nature.
Frritz Fo Yurden, a Dark Elven Fighter who idolized a specific hero (/villain) of Drow culture and strived to be like him by making his way to the surface.
Tsunami, a Water Genasi Bard eager to be as famous as she could possibly be.
Appotus, a Half-Elven Monk who lives outside of the law.
Goose, a Lightfoot Halfling Bard who is illiterate and abysmal at lying.
And then there was King, a High Elven Wizard who worships Oghma the god of knowledge.
Sewers... uck
Since they had discovered the apparent location of the crime syndicate called "The Xanathar Guild" Renaer recommended they try and be as quiet as possible. However, due to the large presence of characters who couldn't see in the darkness (Renaer himself included), that plan was eventually dropped in favor of hoping that if there ever was an ambush there would be safety in numbers. The permeating stench of the sewers overpowered their olfactory senses and the group agreed that they should spend as little time in this place as possible.
Goblins are sneaky little buggers to the players, but a great low CR skirmisher monster for the DM!
Just as they were discussing the possibility of an ambush, they found themselves at a crossroads, and before they could debate which route to take, arrows shot out of slits in the wall straight towards Frritz! Unable to fully protect himself from the surprise attack, he became a walking pincushion and was only just barely still standing. As the group finally gathered their wits about them they fought off the goblins, who ran off hiding behind walls only to re-emerge from their unseen positions with an arrow shot! Banjo found that his Poison Spray was especially useful as he could get right up close to an arrow slit and shoot a burst of poisonous gas. Whereas most other attacks were blocked by the cover of the arrow slits. Renaer also made a use out of himself as he hurled daggers with great effectiveness, and the group discovered that Renaer's 66 HP was an incredibly useful tool!
Renaer the tank!
The heroes, after disposing of the goblins, further investigated the area. Realizing that these sewers are most likely now the location of a hideout of some kind, they searched every nook and cranny, hoping to turn up some lost secret. And that they did, deeper in the sewers they discovered a strange passageway that seemed to be sized for smaller creatures. As the halflings slipped through the tiny hole, they found themselves in what seemed to be a basement of some kind. Boxes and crates littered the floor of the chamber within. However, as Banjo and Goose investigated further they were surprised by the emergence of ravenous rat-like humanoids!
Not all fights can only be won through violence, and with the wererat's immunity to non-silvered weapons, violence is oftentimes not the best choice!
Springing into action, Goose decided to cast charm person on one of them. It's incredibly hard to affect a hostile monster with that spell, but I rolled two 7s on my saves! Thus the wererat immediately called off the attack, confused why he was attacking his best friend. He introduced himself as Roscoe, and his friend A-Aron, who was even more confused why his boss was calling off a fight with these halflings who had clearly intruded on their territory. While Roscoe shifted back into his normal form, A-Aron remained watchful, carefully checking to see if there were any signs of betrayal and why Roscoe suddenly became very good friends with this random other halfling. Nevertheless, Roscoe, now in his halfling form, introduced himself as a member of a gang called the "Shard Shunners" who shared this part of the Sewers with the Xanathar Guild. Noting, however, that it seemed the Shard Shunners had much less space then the Xanathar Guild in terms of sewer control, Goose eloquently managed to persuade Roscoe to simply let them continue searching the sewers, as if they removed the Xanathar Guild, then they might have a chance at expanding their area of control. Roscoe consents to this idea and though A-Aron is still suspicious, he agrees with his boss. And thus, the adventurers are able to escape unharmed.
The Duergar, well known for their ability to turn invisible and grow to a great size!
As the adventurers headed back into the Xanathar Guild's hideout they managed to hear some talking from up ahead. As they put out their light and snuck forward they perceived what sounded like an argument of some kind. Leaping into action Appotus charged forward into the room, surprising everyone, including his own party! Barreling forwards he saw a duergar and the same "lazy-eye" that they beat up in the Yawning Portal Tavern. Several other thugs also stood nearby, keeping an eye out while lazy-eye and the duergar blocked one of the doors exiting this room. He charged the guards and while the rest of his own party gained their bearings, the duergar drew a gleaming fiery lance and charged the group. Meanwhile, lazy-eye grumbled about "Zemk" being a "show-off" as he drew his own weapons - dual maces. "Zemk," laughing at lazy-eye's remark grew to nearly twice his size in all directions, and with his now massive lance easily smacked down several party members. However, due to the quick castings of several Healing Words from Tsunami and Goose, nobody was slain, and although Zemk fought to the death, lazy-eye vowed vengeance (again) and set off deeper into the dungeon.
The terrifying mind flayer is one of the most alien creatures D&D has to offer
Due to their injuries, the party decided not to follow Krentz (lazy-eye) just yet, and instead eat several magic berries which Banjo had produced the day before. With some of their strength regained, the party set off once more, hoping to find Floon, and with Renaer surely leading the way (even though he only had around 40 HP at this point, that was much better than anyone else) they delved into its darkness. However, what they discovered was truly horrific to behold. As they entered the next room, they found Floon, who was being crushed by a half-orc dressed in mage robes, but that was not the most pressing matter. Standing and watching over the entire scene was a strange... creature. Its skin was purple and slimy, and instead of where its mouth should be, there were grasping tentacles. And at once a psionic force probed the characters' minds. As the characters' mental defenses were shattered like glass, a voice spoke to them. It informed them that they stood no chance at all, but checkmate this early in the game simply wouldn't be fun. Therefore, he'd play his own pawn, and see how it fared. Instead of fighting the creature simply set something it had been holding - a human-sized brain with massive legs, and left through double doors leading out of this chamber. The party was terrified and nobody made a move to stop it (including Renaer, who was frightened out of his wits).
The Intellect Devourer is a fearsome monster that poses a threat to heroes of all levels!
Nevertheless, after the creature departed the party finally set about saving Floon. However, there were several other threats before them. The Half-Orc greeted them, apparently his name was Grum'Shar, and as he spoke his form shifted, becoming blurry and transparent. Leaping into action, the party sought to defeat Grum'Shar, but with every attack, they only seemed to hit where he just was, and just when they thought they had hit, he conjured up a shield to protect himself from being hit and possibly lose concentration on his spell. However, Grum'Shar wasn't the only threat in the room. The strange walking brain also leaped into action and began battling the characters in a contest of wills. It probed their minds, and with its alien intellect tried to devour their intellect. However, the characters' managed to get incredibly lucky and save against its terrible abilities. Nevertheless, it still ripped into the characters, its sharp muscular claws hurting many a PC. As the combat raged on, the PCs luck seemed to be failing. They had not been able to remove the spell on Grum'Shar and thus he shot scorching rays and sent fire from his burning hands. Just when it couldn't seem to get any worse, emerging from the room the aberration had strolled into, were a batch of the strange orb-like creatures that the heroes had fought earlier at the end of the last session. It looked like there time was up...
However, with some incredibly quick thinking Banjo conjured a cloud of fog, realizing that the creatures most likely depended on sight to activate their abilities, and since enemies could neither see nor be seen, it would not affect any of the weapon users. As the Gazers, for that's what the strange orb creatures were, tried to find an end to the fog, the party managed to hit Grum'Shar, realizing that his blurry image had no effect when he could not be seen by the party, and although they soon realized that the brain that devoured one's intellect could still sense the characters' minds in the fog, a lucky hit from Renaer managed to slay the foul aberration. Meanwhile, Frritz was able to break through the wizard's magical defenses and kill Grum'Shar. With only the Gazers remaining, Banjo thought it a good idea to drop the fog cloud so the spellcasters could also join in on the beating, and the party easily disposed of the remaining monsters, saving Floon.
Grum'Shar, the Half-Orc wizard, and boss of this hideout
Floon quickly hugged the characters, rejoicing that he had been saved and recounting the terrible tragedy which had plagued him. He had been kidnapped by Renaer and dropped in a warehouse of some kind. He managed to wake up while Renaer was still out cold, but right as he tried to rouse him, a fight broke out in the warehouse, gang vs. gang. In all of the chaos, Floon tried to escape but he was captured by Grum'Shar, who brought him back to this horrendous place. Once here, he was interrogated, as his captors seemed to think that he was Renaer. However, because he wasn't, and knew nothing of this "Stone of Golorr" which they kept asking about, the half-orc who had captured him was punished by "Nihiloor," for that was the horrifying alien's name, and forced to wait here, guarding Floon until someone came for him, and for him to then make prisoners of those would-be rescuers. After all, Floon happened to mention he was friends with the great Volotharmp Geddarm, surely Volo would employ some heroes to go after his friend.
Volo was plenty eager to hear his friend safely returned!
After informing the heroes of his plight, Floon, Renaer, and the characters returned to the Yawning Portal Tavern and Volo, who eagerly hugged his friend and profusely thanked the characters. However, he did happen to mention that although he did promise them one-hundred dragons, also known as gold pieces, he did not necessarily have that amount of money on hand right now. However, he did have something else, which he informed them was ten times that, for he had the deed to a manor!
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Note to DMs: To any DMs who are reading this, you may note that some of the combats that I have written are not identical to the ones in the book. This is due to my scaling guide. Since I have 6 players and they were helped by Renaer, I increased the strength of the encounters by a decent amount.
Enjoying reading these.
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