GM WhtKnt's Castle Amber

Game Master WhtKnt

Aletta waits.

"Is...is anyone doing anything? I'm just asking because I'm not doing anything. Right now. I mean, I could, technically, start ramming on my phat lewt. But we're blind and in a crazy bat-butt weird place, so I'm not gonna do that just now.

Um, maybe it's just dark? Like, really really dark. Should we try backing up?"

"Phat lewt, that's what you're calling it now? Tha's a new one. You know we can hear in the dark, right? I hope you're not thinking about me while you do it. Because that would be weird."

Aletta picks a direction and starts walking.

Karhu runs his free hand over the fire flaring in his right hand, trying to detect if the fire is there or not. A magical darkness concealing the flame, perhaps, or is he truly blind? Or is the spell shedding light being blocked somehow...

Eamch listens to the others speaking. When someone starts to walk away, Eamch says "We should try to stay together. If someone can see, we should follow them." That being said, he'll slowly start after the sound of Aletta.

Rakbura clears his throat self-consciously, but keeps hold of Savas' shoulder while the party moves in order not to get lost.

Not recalling the distance to the stairs nor exactly how far he has to the edge of the catwalk, Savas, with Rakbura in tow, uses his staff to tap-tap his way to the wall. With something solid on one side, the monk pauses a moment and simply waits for his eyes to clear.

"An odd trap if there is no real danger. Be careful my friends, if there are no live enemies, perhaps pits have opened in the floors or some other nefarious obstacle placed where it wasn't before." He says slowly, carefully exploring the area around him with the staff.

Karhu, you are fairly certain that you are blind and not just something obscuring the light. To clarify, you are on the main floor, the catwalk being above you, and accessed by several staircases.

Aletta, you get only a few steps before running into a wall.

Aletta rubs her nose snd follows the wall.

"Why would I think about you Aletta while playing my tiny guitar? Now you're the weird one."

Having not had his 'area of darkness' theory dispelled, Brian starts backing up the way he had come.

Convinced that he is blind and not just in an area of magical darkness, Karhu casts Lesser Restoration on himself to remove the blindness, hoping that the light from the flame in the palm of his hand will allow him to see once more in this strange, mirrored room.

"Mm-hmm," Aletta hums in response to Brian's next euphemism. "I've seen how you look at my tail."

Karhu, you are no longer blinded.

Aletta, you travel forward along the wall for some distance before reaching what appears to be a door. Brian, you back up, but there is no change in your condition.

Karhu says, "I was blinded, but the nature magic has restored my sight. Come to the sound of my voice and I will watch for trouble--hopefully all our sight will return soon, as I only have enough powerful magic for one more such cure," says Karhu, shepherding the others to a safe place and keeping watch, describing what he sees for the benefit of the others.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

"If only one more of us can be cured ..." Rakbura cleared his throat self-consciously. "Who of us shall it be? Savas has already proved his mettle in battle."

"Wait, we're blind? We're all blind? Well nuts. That's so...anticlimactic.

Alright, so, why don't we all just go back to the fighting ring room and wait until we can see again? Whether that's from this thing wearing off, or from Karhu's power returning, it looks like that's our best choice."

Hoping the current state of his vision is nothing permanent, Savas sighs and starts carefully tapping his staff as he moves back toward the stairs. With Rakbura in tow, the monk cautiiously and carefully navigates his way back down to the main floor to regroup with the others.

So as I understand it, the party is waiting for their sight to return. If no one wants to do anything in the meantime...

The group holes up in the corner of the hall and waits. Within two hours, everyone's sight has returned.

I'm trying to find a map to use on Google Slides. When I do, I will post a link to it in the game description.

Karhu watches carefully for threats while he waits for the others' sight to return (Perception roll of 23).

So as I understand it, the party is waiting for their sight to return. If no one wants to do anything in the meantime...

Yeah, when nothing else happened, didn't see any reason to do anything.

"Finally," says Aletta, her feelings a bit hurt that no one tried to grope her in the dark.

"Who wants to pick a door and open it?"

Brian had no probelm opening doors, but he wanted to be more careful. "I have no problem opening doors, but we should be more careful.

We already paid for Door number 1. May as well collect on it."

Brian approaches the door they had entered and were then blinded by and checks around carefully, looking for trap-like thingys.

Perception!: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Unfortunately at that moment he gets distracted by thinking about sex.

Aletta exhales audibly. She had a deep, seething hatred of doors. There was no creation more diabolical than a door. Not only did it stymie movement on purpose, but often times it was impenetrable from the outside without a key, and if there was one thing that Aletta felt the opposite about compared to doors, it was penetration.

Feeling a bit unhinged, she unleashes a torrent of obscenities upon the door Brian had chosen. "G$%~##n motherf$&!ing cocksucking s&&!eating f&*@ing f#@*er..." She went on like this, working herself into a lather, for some time, as if attempting to intimidate the door into vanishing into the abyss.

Finally spent, she opens the door herself.

Savas waits patiently for his sight to return. The pause offering him a chance to ease the bruises and soreness still remaining from his earlier bout with the construct.

The darkness slowly gives way to dim blurriness and finally his usual clear vision. The gaudy hall is a welcome sight but he is careful to shade his eyes and be prepared for a repeat of the trick as Aletta wages her verbal assault upon the hapless door and then swings in open.

Short Rest HD Heal: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

As the party enters the room, there is a sudden popping noise and every light in the hall goes out (including those brought by the party), leaving you in complete blackness.

I think we had already opened the door, since we all had to enter the room.

Yep.

This is brutal. Aletta obviously does not open the door they already went through. Why would Brian be checking traps at that door. Open, literally, any other door.

Irritated, Aletta proceeds to the door directly across the hall and flings it open. Beyond the portal is a narrow corridor with three doors along its length, all on the east wall.

A map is now linked at the top of the page.

Karhu watches carefully for threats while he waits for the others' sight to return (Perception roll of 23).

Did Karhu notice anything in the hall while waiting for the others’ sight to return?

I'd be checking for traps because there was a trap that apparently went off and blinded us all. I'd want to see either if I could tell what kind of trap it was, or if there are any more with it. This could be a long day if the room is so important as to have a dozen 15 ft. radius Blindness spell traps on it.

Having definitely found any more traps on the first door they opened, Brian enters the room. "Now what's so important that someone would put a Blindness trap on the door?"

Which door is the first one we opened on the map? Also, can you let us edit it so we can put on and move our counters?

Moving with increasing impatience, Aletta enters the room she opened, finds three more doors, and goes to the last one and opens it.

Karhu did not notice anything unusual in the hall (beyond the fact that it is mirrored beyond any reason). Beyond the portal, Aletta finds a closet, filled with fresh linen, bath towels, soap, and other household items.

"If this is the closet, then the next room better be..."

Aletta moves back down to the set of two doors in the middle of the narrow hallway and opens the first (north) door, fully expecting to find a luxurious bath.

Thanks

Keeping a low flame going in his palm so he can clearly see in the mirror hall, Karhu keeps watch on the others as they recover from their blindness. When Aletta starts checking doors, Karhu stays in the main area, alert for anything coming out of the other unexplored doors.

Eamch grunts in approval as he seems Karhu watching the group's back.

He follows Aletta as she moves in to open even more doors.

Not needing to answer nature's call at the moment Savas leaves the narrow hall. Looking down the long, mirrored hall, the monk moves toward the next door on down the same side of the room as the commode. He waits for the others to catch up before he finally tries to open it.

Which was the door we opened that had the Blindness trap on it?

The one on the south wall, in the west corner. The trap triggered when everyone entered the hall.

This room appears to have been the quarters for servants. The room is now completely filled with a mass of giant spider webs. Three giant spiders sit in the webs. These arachnid creatures are the size of a pony and have greenish-brown, coarse hairy bodies. Their abdomens have a bulbous protrusion and their front two appendages end in humanoid-like hands complete with digits for fine manipulation. Viscid poison drips from their black mandibles.

The party is up!

Party Init: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Spiders Init: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

Seeing a room full of spiders, Karhu immediately decides there will is too little space for him to move to the doorway and fight hand-to-hand, so instead he conjures up some ruddy orange flames and lobs them into the room, coating everything in there with softly glowing Faerie Fire!

DC 13 Reflex or illuminated and grant advantage to attackers. 20 foot cube matches the interior of the room, more or less.

He then moves to the north to allow others to engage at the doorway, if they so desire.

"Well let's get this party started right now!" Brian yelps, almost bouncing with glee as another wonderous chapter in this epic tale begins.

"Now I know all the high-speed hitters-of-things are gonna wanna stand at this door and hold them off while everyone who can ranged is gonna ranged like a ranging ranger, so I'll kick off the festivities."

Normally a bard would need to bring out his Phat Lewt and play a couple bars to get his magic going. But Brian the Bard is beyond such things. He just clashes his shield against his STEEL and suddenly the web-room reverberates with METAL.

Shatter damage!: 3d8 ⇒ (6, 6, 2) = 14

Casting Shatter inside the room. DC 13 Con save for half.

Savas waits by the door his staff held in a casual at-the-ready stance. As soon as one of the illuminated arachnids approaches the door he springs into action with staff and a booted foot.

Readied Staff Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Advantage if Faerie Fire applies: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Martial Strike: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
Advantage if Faerie Fire applies: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Aletta could not be more disappointed. Instead of a luxuriously appointed bath, the dingy room is infested with monstrous spiders. Literally, her most hated things ever.

"I am not going in there," she declares and waits for one of the spiders to approach.

Readied Attack, longsword: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Seeing the others reactions to the door opening, Eamch pulls up a handaxe. When Karhu illuminates them, he hurls an axe at one of the spiders.

To hit 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14, damage 1d6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 2 = 10.

Karhu nicely illuminates two of the opposition as Brian provides the musical introduction. The spiders squeal (an incredibly humanlike sound) in pain as the shatter spell affects them. Oddly enough, the creatures do not rush the door (or even approach the door), they are content to remain as far back in the room as possible (though one is near enough the door for Aletta and Savas to get an attack in). Savas strikes hard and fast, barely giving the spider time to realize what has hit it before Aletta follows through with a sword strike. The spider is still moving but is leaking a sticky green ichor from its abdomen. Eamch's axe sinks into one of the spiders in the back, eliciting a shriek of pain.

Pausing to let Rakbura decide what to do and will then post the spiders' reactions.

Status
Spider 1: -14 hp
Spider 2: -7 hp
Spider 3: -33 hp (nearest door)

Spider 1 Dex save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11 ([color=red]Fail[/color])
Spider 2 Dex save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22 ([color=green]Pass[/color])
Spider 3 Dex save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12 ([color=red]Fail[/color])
Spider 1 Con save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11 ([color=red]Fail[/color])
Spider 2 Con save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15 ([color=green]Pass[/color])
Spider 3 Con save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4 ([color=red]Fail[/color])

Rakbura winces from just outside the doorway, startled by Brian's spell and frankly feeling that quite a lot of things were happening at one time. However, he was sufficiently on top of things to send a handy little offensive spell at the nearest spider.

Mind Sliver: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Rakbura's spell goes off and the spider nearest the door sinks to the ground, unmoving. The two remaining spiders suddenly begin chanting in the language of magic, each setting off a spell to potentially devastating effect. One of the pair waves a hand at Savas and a puff of noxious vapors wafts towards the monk.

Savas, you must make a Constitution save against DC 12 or take 1d12 ⇒ 11 damage.

In the same instant, the other "spider" casts a spell at Aletta.

Aletta, you need to make a Wisdom saving throw against DC 12 or be paralyzed.

The party is up!

Spider Int save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Wisdom Save: 1d20 ⇒ 20 I should have just closed the door, thinks Aletta with great wisdom. Hmm, nothing's stopping me...

Rakbura attacks the spider that's attacked Aletta, a little offended that it's profaned the language of magic.

Mind Sliver: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Karhu maneuvers for a clear shot on spider number 1, the one still glowing with Faerie Fire. He then hurls flame at the glowing creature!

Produce Flame Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
Produce Flame Attack Advantage: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Produce Flame Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 8

Eamch looks confused as the spiders start casting, but it doesn't change his response. He gives Aletta at the door a sideways glance and asks Aletta and asks "Back or forward?" Not wanting to commit to melee until he knows their strategy, he tries another distant attack.

Throwing a dart this time at the closest one.
To hit 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18, damage 1d4 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 2 = 6