Castle Caldwell and Beyond: (A 5e Campaign) - The Wrecking Crew (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Histoff agrees.
And says
I do feel somewhat old..but I feel I can still move as fast as before I saw the horror He shivers for a moment and continues it's as if I am still in my prime years... but older, just like a old man, who which every year loses his youthful reflex more and more

He smiles and laughs
I warn you.... I am still in my prime years

Klodd listens to the lighthearted banter and just shrugs, ready to move on. "Yeah. Let's go check out that other place".

Victor turns to Perry, "Let us head to the shrine this Priestess guided us to. If it is what she said it is, then perhaps I can trust her too, if it is not, we will know where we stand".

Perry shakes his head at Victor. "No," he says, "We'll go to the shrine when we're almost ready to call it a night. Lijan says he still has plenty of youthful vigor left, so let's put it to use and get some more work done, then see what we can do for him in the shrine this evening. For now, back to our previous path."

Victor shrugs, "Very well then, I am fine with that choice. After all you are my chosen leader for this jaunt through this dilapidated Keep".

Victor sheathes his sword and takes up his bow notching an arrow.

"As before, I shall watch the rear".

Agreed
It's not like I am old by a lot of years,although I wouldn't mind to go back to my orginial age, but there is work to done....

Day 1, Wednesday approximate time of day, 3:40 pm (turn 95). Location: Caldwell Castle, Harrispania. The party has examined the fountain in the courtyard, and now returns to the Southwest corner buildings.

With the sense of immediacy and danger now lifted, the group casually returns to the great hall, where they had earlier discovered a small sack of treasure stuck under a heavy wooden chair.

As they approach the south, western wall of the castle structure they notice, for the first time, the tower like structure in the very corner of the castle wall.

It is a large, round tower, at least fifty feet in diameter. Tall, taller even than the castle walls, the tower has no entrance on the ground floor, but a set of wooden stairs is seen that leads up from the inner courtyard to a landing, made from stone, that accesses not only the tower, through a door which can be seen, but also accesses the top of the castle wall which runs from the tower in the southwest corner to a similar tower in the northwest corner, but turning around, you cannot see the stairs that access the northwest tower, because there are several small buildings, built into the western wall of the castle.

The small buildings built into the western wall of the castle are not like the great hall or barracks structures attached to the gate house. These smaller structures have as one wall, the western castle wall, then two stone walls, their north and south walls, but their eastern walls, where doors can be seen (the wall facing you as you look west) are all made of wood.

You can enter the great hall, take the stairs to the tower entrance of the southwest tower, or move to the next structure in a clockwise fashion, bypassing the tower. The next structure looks like it is about forty feet wide (north to south) and stands twenty feet to the north of the southwest tower.

"I think we should try the tower."

Ayita moves up to the bottom step and tests if it looks sturdy but waits for approval before proceeding further.

Niall shrugs. " Sounds good enough to me. "

He inspects the steps as Ayita puts some weight on them.

Investigation : 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

Victor looks and listens for the sounds of any residents already present.

Perception 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Heading with the group to the tower

Ayita approaches the stairs with great caution, so far the wood work of this place, being neglected for who knows how many years, has proven to be in sorry shape.

Nail goes down on one knee and peers through the boards of the stairs looking for danger, but he doesn’t see any sign of rot or collapse..

Victor looks left and right, making sure nothing is approaching the group from behind.

The stairs creek as Ayita puts weight on them, but they feel solid and safe. With one slow step after another she ascends to the stone landing, approximately fifteen feet above the ground, and there she sees a wooden door, which looks in better shape than the doors at ground level, recessed in the stonework of the round tower wall.

Amber follows, not too closely, and when she watches Ayita go up the stairs, she moves to the side of the group, lowers her eye stalk, and slides it along the wood, looking closely

Well, it’s a type of wood that is resistant to rot, not even soft enough or moldy enough to eat yet. It looks safe to me.

She then lifts her eye stalk almost high enough to see Ayita, then lowers it again and faces the group, So, would it be aright if I just followed you guys for a while, until you find someplace safe for me to settle down. I’m starting to get a little hungry. You haven’t seen any piles of mulch or other edible droppings lying around, have you?

Ayiya listens at the door and signals for Lijan to come up and check for traps with her.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

Ayita responds to Amber, "I don't recall seeing anything like that, but if we don't find anything by the end of the day, I can go out and forage something for you tonight. I know I can find something that would be edible to you outside the castle."

Ayita comes back down to speak to the party away from the door.

"There's definitely something behind that door. It sounds like at least a dozen small feet. But it sounds like they are wearing shoes or something hard. Did the goblins wear shoes? It's probably something else. Do kobolds wear shoes? Maybe its a big spider?"

Perry nods along with Ayita's report, his brow furrowed pensively, until she gets to the part about spiders. "The hell? Where do you come from that spiders wear shoes?"

"Oh well I don't think spiders wear shoes, but they have small hard feet."

"Nice save. Anyway, I'll check out this door. If whoever's on the other side is friendly, I can probably parlay with them reasonably well. If not, well, it feels like it's my turn to take the brunt of things. Just... be ready to back me up, okay everyone?"

Perry then ascends the stairs and knocks politely on the door.

"Well, we have a donkey that tends to produce droppings regularly, if your tastes run in that direction," Magnus says.

He sighs and draws his sword as Perry knocks on the door. "Please, Vodhan, let be lacking in peaceful and friendly manners."

Niall nods to Perry

" Might be tricky for ranged attacks if it comes to a fight, what with the stairs and the door but I'll my best. "

He gets into line ready to race up the stairs to Perry's aid if things go sour.

When Perry knocks on the door, nothing happens.

"Right then," Perry says, and opens the door.

Klodd keeps his position near the rear of the party, and readies his crossbow just in case.

When Perry opens the door, he is startled. The room beyond the door, what must have been at one time a large round room, with wooden floor and roof overhead, is populated by giant ants.

The ants, alerted to the presence of the heroes, rush toward the door.

The ceiling of this tower room has partially collapsed, mainly due to the growth of tree limbs that have protruded into the tower, through arrow loops in the wall. The tree limbs are stout, enter through three arrow loops, measure as thick as a main’s thigh, and have grown up and through the roof. The ants entered this tower by way of the tree, and some ants can be seen on the limbs.

The ants come in two sizes, the first, and most numerous, are about the size of a small to medium sized dog, while there are a few even larger ants, being as large as good sized hunting dog. The ants are dull red in color, and have large mandibles. There are nine worker ants, and four warrior ants

EditThe Party is NOT Surprised

Worker Ant initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Warrior Ant initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

I will try to build a map

"See. I wasn't so far off when I thought I heard a spider."

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

Well, at least I beat the ants. Should we go ahead and post actions?

Initiative 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

Can I see them well enough to shoot from my position? I assume not but figured I would ask anyway.

Initiative: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

Initiative : 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Slow to react, Magnus stumbles on the stairs, delaying him as he tries to reach the fray. When he gets the chance, he climbs up to the stone landing and hacks at the nearest ant, trying to keep them in a bottleneck there.

Longsword attack on nearest ant: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

"Gah! Ants!" Perry shouts, then shouts another word, this time in a magical language. Greenish flames erupt inside the room, settling on various objects and the ants themselves.

Casting faerie fire. It affects a 20ft cube, which I'm hoping can cover a pretty decent number of ants. Ants in the area make a DC 13 DEX save or get marked by the glowy flames, granting advantage to our attacks against them. Concentration, up to 1 minute.

Perry then draws his sword and prepares for battle.

If I can do so without provoking, I'll also retreat a bit, hoping someone else can get in front before I start having to make concentration checks from getting hit.

Round 1 - Initiative 10

Victor fires at the ant nearest to Perry to give him time to step back.

Longbow Attack 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Arrow Damage 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Victor grimaces realizing he should really start making sure he is at the front of these damn confrontations...

Hey, you never know, you might get advantage on that attack.

1d20 ⇒ 13 Initiative

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12 Crossbow
1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4 If advantaged

1d8 ⇒ 5 Bolt

Klodd releases his held bolt at one of the moving figures with a twang, and draws his warhammer, prepared to engage.

Initiative 12

I'm not really sure where to go but I'll move up and punch something.

Shortsword: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Shortsword Crit Confirmation: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Crit Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Init 14

You don't have to confirm crits Ayita ;)

Niall moves up onto the landing,

If the room looks big enough, 20 ft from the door to the far wall.

Niall takes out his wand and swishes it through some arcane gestures, a trail of glittering specs floats into the room over Perry's head to the back wall, bursting out amount the ants.

Sleep hps: 5d8 ⇒ (3, 8, 7, 3, 7) = 28

creatures within 20ft of a point I choose (20 ft straight ahead of Perry so it won't affect my allies.) are affected in accending order of their current hit points.

If the room isn't that big:

Niall takes out his wand points it directly at one of the bigger ants and utters some outlandish words. Then a beam of crackling energy zaps at the ant.

Bonus action: Casting Hex on one of the bigger ants.
Action: cast Eldritch blast.
Ranged spell attack : 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Force damage : 1d10 ⇒ 5
Necrotic damage from Hex: 1d6 ⇒ 4

initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
rapier: 1d8 ⇒ 2

Histoff attacks the closest ant that comes to his reach

Day 1, Wednesday approximate time of day, 3:40 pm (turn 95). Location: Caldwell Castle, Harrispania. The southwest tower – Giant Ants!.

Round 1…be patient with me, this one might be tougher than the Goblin battle

When Perry shouts, AntsIt isn’t immediately clear that he means that he sees giant ants, and the rest of his associates are a little startled, but nevertheless they react quickly.

Lijan draws his weapon and stands ready to attack anything that comes out of the door, and Niall draws out a wand, and even before Perry can finish the spell on his lips, throws a sleeping spell into the large round room and Perry watches as seven of the smaller ants all collapse to the floor, or freeze where they stand, clinging to branches, their heads dropping down into slumber.

Being on the steps, at the back of the party, Klodd readies his crossbow, but doesn’t have a clear target.

Ayita, reckless and without fear, rushes past Perry and attacks a warrior ant. She drives the point of her sword down straight through the head of the dangerous vermin, while she uses her foot to pin its mandibles to the ground.

At that moment, Perry finishes a spell, and throws a burst of green light to his right, catching all of the remaining warrior ants in the spell’s area (and a few of the sleeping worker ants as well)

Dexterity Save, DC 13: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Dexterity Save, DC 13: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
Dexterity Save, DC 13: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Two of the warrior ants, manage to dart out of the area before the spell can bathe them in its light, and they rush forward to attack Ayita, while the last ant hesitates.

Seeing the slow moving warrior ant, Victor takes aim and fires an arrow at it

Victor has Advantage on his attack! Roll again

But then the ants are on the move. There are two worker ants who are not asleep, and they seem confused for a moment, but then move to rouse two of their sleeping kin

At the end of this round, four Worker ants will be awake, five will be sleeping

When the warrior ants rush at Ayita, Magnus pushes to the door, and sees she is in trouble

Magnus’ attack, if an ant would have come near the door, would have missed.

Bite Attack, Ayita: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Bite Attack, Ayita: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Ayita feels the mandible of one of the ants tear into her leg

Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

let Victor take his shot with Advantage now, then lets move to round 2, okay. I'll try to update the map tonight, if anyone wants to move into the room, or get closer to the door

Longbow Attack (Advantage) 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Longbow Damage 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Victor grins as his arrow hits home, still, I may need to move up front from now on.

Round 2

Not entirely satisfied with how that opening volley panned out, Perry changes tactics from trying to preserve his spell to trying to put down some ants. He draws his sword and rushes into the room alongside Ayita, then swings down hard with both hands at one of the soldier ants.

Longsword (2h): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11, Damage: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

"Are you alright?" Perry says, eyeing her wound with unspoken memories of the casualties of his last mission. "Don't worry, there's still some healing magic left in this group. You've got this."

Bonus action: Giving Bardic Inspiration to Ayita (description in profile).

Round 2

Ayita winces at her wounded leg, but fights on to defend her allies.

"I'll live, she replies to Perry."

She attacks the warrior ant that bit her.

Short Sword: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Short Sword Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Unarmed Strike Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Then if its safe to move without provoking she steps back towards the door if there is room to do so.

"For all her talk about some tree goddess, the wood elf seems to want to meet the Crow God with all haste,"Magnus says, shaking his head as first Ayita, then Perry, rush into the room rather than taking advantage of the natural bottleneck at the door.

When he has a chance to act, the big man sighs and steps into the room, staying as close as he can to the door while swinging his sword at the nearest ant.

Longsword attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Round 2

Victor climbs the stairs drawing his sword allowing his bow to drop to the ground.

I assume moving through and up will take all round, if I assume wrong, please let me know.

Klodd follows Victor into the room, cringing in anticipation of what he might find.

Day 1, Wednesday approximate time of day, 3:40 pm (turn 95). Location: Caldwell Castle, Harrispania. The southwest tower – Giant Ants!.

Round 2…

Klodd is quick to charge up the stairs, but hesitates for a moment.

As Ayita struggles to stay out of the “bite” zone, fighting with two warrior ants, she feels something unusual

She stabs one Ant, and then when she sees it is not dead, stomps down on its head, finishing it off.

When Perry rushes into the room, drawing his sword, there is a sound

He manages to hack off a leg, but the giant ant is not dead

Following behind Perry, Victor drops his bow, draws his own sword, and enters the room. Then Klodd follows. The two stop just past the door way…

The two worker ants have woken two others, and then they turn to attack, while the two that have just been woken, move to wake two others

The remaining Warrior Ant attacks Perry

Warrior Ant, vs Perry: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

But Perry easily moves out of the way

Meanwhile the two worker ants rush forward and attack Ayita and Victor

Worker Ant vs Ayita: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16
Worker Ant vs Victor: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Ayita is bitten on the leg again, but the wound is less severe

Damage: 1d4 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1

Finally, Magnus takes a cautious step through the door, and when he puts his massive foot down, he feels and hears disturbing things

Round 3

"Be careful. The floor is giving way under our weight. The ants must have weakened the foundation."

Ayita fends off the ants biting at her.

Short Sword: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
Short Sword Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Unarmed Strike Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Crit Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3

If Ayita needs to move to reach a second ant, she moves towards another. The warrior ant will be her first choice if it is still alive.

Perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (13) + 0 = 13

"Crap, I just heard something snap underneath us!" Perry shouts. "This place can't hold all of us at once! Magnus, you and Ayita stay in here, everyone else, get outside and provide supporting fire!"

Perry then casts a quick healing spell on Ayita, gives a word of encouragement to Magnus, and heads out of the room, waving for others to follow.

Cure wounds: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Bonus action: Bardic Inspiration on Magnus.

I figure Ayita is a melee powerhouse with her bonus attacks, and poor Magnus hasn't gotten to kill stuff much yet, so they seem like the candidates to fight in the front lines while the rest of us shoot. At least, in my estimation. Also, Ayita, don't forget that you still have that bardic inspiration die (though the way you're rolling, you may not need it).

"Thanks."

I didn't forgot. I just haven't needed it yet.

Ignoring Perry, Magnus steps back outside to the platform, taking a position next to the door where he can hack at any of the ants that come through.

"Get out here you fools - you, too, Ayita. That floor won't hold, and we can kill anything that comes through the door. "

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Longsword attack if an ant approaches: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9