#arcane stuff and dragon age stuff and dnd stuff….. sigh

[artoflevity]

even more commission stuff ✌🏻 since i think i’m a little artblocked on the personal art front haha

[kenzie-no-mc]

FINALLY got to play more DND today!

when we last left off, the party was taking a rest in what looked like a sitting area after sending some wolves towards some goblin corpses

our halfling rogue, Flint, went up to the next floor and immediately ran into two Axebeaks, and killed them swiftly. Flint slit one down the belly and got covered in guts, but since he took Arcane Trickster and is level 3, he was able to use Prestidigitation to clean up. in this room we found some prayer beads that didn’t do anything.

the next room had a statue of a mage holding a staff in one hand and a silver orb in the other, and a large stained glass window on one side. Flint stealthed over and picked up the orb, and the stained glass window came to life as a stained glass golem. we swiftly defeated that as well, with Turia (our white dragonborn sorcerer) using Shatter against it.

there was a locked door in this room, and when Flint failed to pick the lock, Books the half-orc barbarian smashed it open with both fists. Inside was a decaying body, and we discovered that the ghost of the body was still here, unable to leave because the door had been shut and locked since he died. we questioned him; he’d been a servant of the mage that lived here, and was left behind to care for the place when the mage left. he didn’t know how long he’d been dead. as a token of his appreciation for us helping him pass to the other side, he showed us where to find an empty endless flask, which Flint immediately filled with liquor.

there was a button under the orb that opened the passage to the next floor, this led to an office. there was a pan flute playing on its own, Turia investigated and discovered that an air elemental was bound to it. Books took the pan flute, and then because he also has a bag of holding, just started taking stuff “because i need it for my caravan that i’m saving up for!”

the next room was a library, including a bookshelf with about 40 books, and a locked book on the desk with the title The Diary of Hugo Harble written on the front. Flint failed at lockpicking. L used her Channel Divinity to cast Knowledge of the Ages to gain proficiency , and she borrowed the lockpick from Flint to try to open it herself and failed. Books tried to open it with punching and failed, so we threw it in the bag of holding with the other 40 books. Turia also found some goggles of dark vision in a desk drawer.

At this point, the others had been succeeding at investigation checks and finding things, and L had not, and in a fit of frustration, she walked to the nearest closed door and BLASTED at it with thamaturgy, hoping it was unlocked. The DM sighed, explained what the door looked like (large and grey), and then said “and if you would have touched it with your hands, it would have attacked you, but since you opened it with magic, it just swings open and you are none the wiser.” So L completely just had the party skip an encounter and they don’t even know! it’s amazing!

L charged into the next room alone, just having a pouty time, and discovered an empty room covered in a layer of dust. in the corner is a dusty chest, but when she blew the dust off, the chest disappeared! L decided to try to lockpick it, since she still had proficiency and the thieves�� tools, and rolled a nat20. Inside was a magical longsword, a wand of the warmage, 15 goodberries, an ornate hand mirror, 200 gold, and 3 basic healing potions. L gave the sword to Flint, the wand to Turia, the hand mirror to Books, and then kept everything else. Books also threw the invisible chest into the bag of holding because why the hell not.

opening the chest revealed the ladder up to the next floor, which is a dining room that contained a “bird monster”. it goes to attack Books and misses, and Turia asks L if she thinks it’s a cocktrice. L rolled a successful history check and confirmed it’s a cockatrice, and so the two mages took it out with spells while the melee fighters moved back. Books looted the table for the silver.

the next room is a kitchen, and Books decided he was hungry so he cooked the cockatrice while we took a short rest. during the rest Turia and L started going through the 40 books and found the Book of Wondrous Answers - we write a question in it, and it will answer it. It only has 3 charges left however, and Turia immediately started planning how to use it. (L has begun thinking about the question she wants to eventually ask, which is: how can i heal Ioun’s wound? but she hasn’t told this to the party.)

Books loots the kitchen of all the cookware and was told to put an asterisk by it in his inventory. the kitchen has a dumb waiter that goes up to the next floor. we pressured Squelch to tell us what was ahead, and he said it was the master bedroom, with the hoard and the rest of his tribe. L cast Shield of Faith on herself, we all manage to stealth into the room while Flint uses Prestidigitation to distract them, and we each get a free turn to hit them. L cast Spiritual Weapon and then used her hand crossbow, Turia cast Sleep, Flint threw some daggers, and Books went into a rage and started smashing.

then, suddenly, the building began to shake, and the dragon returned! Books and Squelch managed to scoop the entire hoard into the bag of holding, and we all jumped into the dumbwaiter, which went crashing straight to the first floor. Turia cast Feather Fall, and none of us took damage. we heard a THUNK on top of the dumbwaiter, and then Glubnose, who took massive damage from the 3 story fall through the chute, stumbled down the stairs and Books smashed his head in and we ran away; the dragon did not see us and we made it safely back to town.

Squelch told us he didn’t want any gold any more, the goal for him was to be the new chief after he killed shitty Glubnose, but now the dragon probably ate everyone, so what use did he have for gold? Books gave him ten gold and said “you come with me, you can help with the horses and the cart i’m going to buy!” Squelch decided to join the party (at which point I said “oh god we’re the fucking Scooby gang now” and everyone cackled)

we immediately pooled our money together and bought 2 horses and a caravan, and drove away from Longsaddle towards Neverwinter, and made camp along the base of a sheer cliff, where we finally looked at the hoard. including the leftover party funds, we ended up with 512 gold; we also got a jade cage, a golden scarab, 9 tiger eyes, a bottle of 200 year old elven wine, 2 greater healing potions, a potion of strength, and a +2 shield.

L examined the shield closer (because she’s the only party member with a shield) and discovered that it’s an Animated Barrier Shield - it requires attunement, but once attuned, L can cast it towards another party member within 60ft and increase their AC by 2!

Turia took the tiger eyes, Books took the time to set up the caravan, and Flint took one more look at the locked book. he got it open, and it immediately grew legs and began running around the ground. Books grabbed it, threw it in the invisible chest, and threw THAT into the bag of holding, saying “we can deal with that later”.

we rode to Neverwinter the next morning and L, disguised as a human, sold the goods we weren’t keeping, and that’s where we ended the session.