Oriol > Shroomtown Blues

[hedgeknight]

Working for the Master of Drains and Underways has never been an easy task...but it is pretty much the only life Oriol has ever known. He has very vague memories, just patches really, of being in a real home where there was a boy who smiled at him and fed him bugs. But that was awhile ago. Since his 'awakening' he learned he had a different calling and has been a member of the Sewerkeeper's crew since. His main boss is Genamine Kopali > all of the Sewerkeepers report directly to her, although Oriol is convinced some report to other contacts outside the Sewer Keep.
Before the expansion of the city, the Sewer Keep was a marvel of magical ecological engineering, using vast holding tanks of magically augmented plants to purify the waste before dumping it into the river. The more the city grew, the more waste needed filtering, but less and less coin was donated on the process. The wealthy patriars had other interests and filtering their shit wasn't high on the list. So now, the three towers at the west end of the Seatower neighborhood is the perfect place for the Sewerkeeper's crew.
Oriol carries out his duties without a complaint, and his explorations have given him a pretty fair working knowledge of the sewers of the Upper City and much of the Lower City as well. Today, he is working on a blockage in Bloomridge near the gaudy mansion called Seskergates...and near the cafe known as the Smilin' Boar a favorite location of late for his...other work.

For the past 6 months, bodies have been appearing in the alley behind the Smilin' Boar, much to the dismay of the proprietor Jenna Allinamuch, a kindly strongheart Halfling who has been nice to you for as long as you can remember. She pays you for the mushrooms she uses in some of her soups. All of the bodies have a curved slice out of their wrists and a heart-piercing wound...the sign of what the locals have fearfully dubbed as the Sickle Man.

Oriol is working on the blockage near a rusted grate. The water here is about two-feet deep and the blockage appears to be a large bone...that is attached to a rotting corpse. It is no surprise to find such in the sewers under Baldur's Gate...but near the Upper City in the shadow of the Manor Gate...well, that raises an eyebrow. Or it would if Oriol had any eyebrows to raise.
Suddenly, Oriol gets an odd feeling he is being watched. He slowly turns and hisses in surprise.

Carrion_Crawler_2.jpg (93.3 KiB) Viewed 841 times

The slimy creature is a familiar one...and a rather large one too. It's been eating well down here. And now, it wants to eat him!
Actions!

[Enoch]

Oriol releases the protruding bone as he turns, reaching carefully for his staff, which leans against the slime-slick drain wall nearby. Although in slightly different circumstances Oriol might have left the creature to its meal, the body is blocking the sewers and must be dealt with more quickly than the crawler can handle. Besides, it doesn't look like it's willing to negotiate.

"I you no mean harm," he rasps, but the aggressively-waving tentacles imply the crawler either doesn't understand or doesn't care. Letting out a rattling sigh, Oriol prepares for combat against the beast.

Initiative: [1d20+2]=12+2=14

He stamps the butt of his staff in the fetid water running through the sewer, and as he does so, lichens crawl rapidly up the shaft. He takes a deep breath and his shoulders straighten, and in the dim light he seems to almost expand.

Bonus Action: cast Shillelagh (use Wis for quarterstaff attacks/damage; d8 damage die; becomes a magical weapon)
Action: Expend a Wild Shape to activate Symbiotic Entity (+4 THP, extra damage die on Halo of Spores, +1d6 necrotic damage on melee weapons)
Reaction: If Oriol wins initiative and the crawler either starts within 10' or moves there, activate Halo of Spores: 2d4 necrotic damage (with Symbiotic Entity) unless it makes a DC 13 Con save.
Halo of Spores damage: [2d4]=6

[hedgeknight]

Spores & More! Rd. 1
Initiative Order: Crawler (19), Oriol (14)

Perhaps sensing an easy meal, the carrion crawler rushes and tries to reach Oriol with its tentacles, but the nimble druid avoids them. However, this distracts Oriol just enough for the crawler to lunge and bite him on the shoulder!
The druid responds with a his own attack as a halo of spores flies in the face and tentacles of the crawler, eating into its fleshy bits with necrotic magic.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Crawler: -6 hp
Oriol: -7 hp (8 temp hp)
CC Initiative: [1d20+1]=18+1=19


CC Con Save (DC 13): [1d20+3]=3+3=6

I just went with the Halo of Spores since that was the action you posted. If you would rather attack with your staff or do both, then just let me know and I'll adjust. And if I overlooked something, just let me know > this is my first combat with a druid

[Enoch]

His action in the first round would have been consumed by activating Symbiotic Entity, so Oriol would not have been able to attack with his staff. From the second round on, however, he can use his Action to smack the carrion crawler with his staff and use a Reaction to activate Halo of Spores.

Action: melee attack with staff Shillelagh attack w/ Symbiotic Entity: [1d20+3]=18+3=21 damage: [1d8+3]=8+3=11 bludgeoning + [1d6]=1 necrotic
Reaction: activate Halo of Spores. The crawler needs to make a DC 13 Con save or take 2d4 necrotic damage: Halo of Spores damage w/ Symbiotic Entity: [2d4]=5

21 to hit with his staff, with 11 bludgeoning damage and 1 necrotic damage.
DC 13 Con save or an additional 5 necrotic damage from Halo of Spores.

Oriol wades into combat with the creature, oblivious to the cloud of fungi spores swirling through the air. He brings his staff down in a vicious overhand blow.

[hedgeknight]

Spores and More...Rd. 2
Initiative Order: Crawler (19), Oriol (14)

The crawler rears on several of its back legs and then plunges forward, wrapping Oriol with an embrace of its tentacles! Oriol grits his teeth as he feels the poison slipping into his skin. (DC 13 Constitution saving throw please)
Oriol shakes off the tentacles, wheels and wades back in, delivering a vicious overhead strike of his staff!
The crawler shrieks...if that is what one would call the sound, it's tentacles waving about frantically as more spores latch onto its face and head, eating away at its flesh. It rolls on the ground, struggling to get up, barely able to move as it tries to get away...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Crawler: -23 hp
Oriol: -11 hp (8 temp hp)

CC tentacle attack: [1d20+8]=14+8=22 [1d4+2]=2+2=4
CC Con Save (DC 13): [1d20+3]=1+3=4

[Enoch]

Constitution save: [1d20+3]=20+3=23
If the carrion crawler is retreating, Oriol will let it go. They play an important role in the sewers' ecosystem.

[hedgeknight]

Oriol watches it go, limping away most pitifully...if such can be said for one of its kind. It leaves splotches of body fluids in its wake...perhaps a trail to its lair?
The poison in his system only make him slightly nauseous and not paralyzed as what normally happens to a crawler's prey. Returning his attention to the body at the grate, and notices the corpse still has a bit of flesh left on it that the rats have not eaten yet. The flesh is under a gauntlet on the right hand of the corpse. The gauntlet has teeth marks on it, but it appears to have been painted black...even though the paint is peeling off in several places. (Make an Intelligence check please.)

While Oriol is pondering this discovery, he thinks he hears voices from somewhere behind him in one of the tunnels...

sewer 1.jpg (160.09 KiB) Viewed 814 times

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Oriol: -3 hp (since he had 8 temp hp and took 11 damage total)

[Enoch]

Intelligence check: [1d20-1]=17-1=16

[hedgeknight]

The black gauntlet...it is the mark of Bane, one of the gods of the Dead Three. Acolytes are known to wear a gauntlet and paint them black as a symbol of who they venerate...the god of hatred and strife. And as Oriol looks closer, he notes the corpse is tied to the grate by wire. But who would have done such?

[Enoch]

Oriol hisses in surprise as he drops the gauntleted hand back into the fetid water. He looks back in alarm as he hears voices echoing down one of the tunnels and raises slightly from his crouch. He glances down the various tunnels, assessing his options, and darts, skink-like, down the tunnel along which the crawler fled and looks for a vantage point from which to observe the intruders.

Stealth: [1d20+4]=7+4=11

[hedgeknight]

Following the slimy trail of the crawler, Oriol moves up the tunnel, searching for a spot where he can observe unseen. He hugs the wall as a grate about 20 feet from him literally opens like a door. Two figures emerge through the grate, dragging a body. One is a big human, bald with dirty clothes and a large club in one hand, the other drags the corpse. The second is a gnome and it's his voice you heard earlier. And he's still talking...
"I'm telling you, Ribbons is up to something! Why else is he having us drag bodies down here?"
"Just do what Boss says," replies the big human.
"Yeah, I know we do, but why? What's the point? Is he trying to piss off Kopali? I hear she's been fracking around at the Sewer Keep. Word is she's creating something in those tanks she guards. What do you think it is?"
The big human shrugs. "No know 'bout Kopali. Boss says do, I do."
The gnome throws up his hands. "I keep telling you, Dobb, that's why we will never be nothing but sewer rats working for someone else. We gotta think big! You know, how to move up the ranks so we don't have to drag dead bodies and shovel shit for Ribbons every damn...hey, what is that?"

Oriol slowly turns his head toward where the gnome is pointing and he sees a creature that defies description.

Nothic.jpg (106.49 KiB) Viewed 793 times

(Intelligence check)
It is sitting on its haunches on the opposite side of the grate where he was working earlier. The creature cocks its head to one side...and then it begins to crawl slowly forward, approaching the pair of body draggers. The big human drops the body and pulls the large club from his belt. The gnome is emitting some type of whining sound in his throat as he pulls a short sword and a dagger from under his cloak.
"St-stay away! That's close enough! W-we ain't meaning no harm here!" the gnome says, his voice even shriller than before.
The creature keeps coming, slowly, cocking its head from side to side; a thin line of drool drips from its open mouth; a mouth full of sharp teeth. But it's the eye that draws everyone's attention. Baleful and pulsing...one wonders what it is actually seeing?

Suddenly, the gnome grunts and hurls the dagger at the creature...but it is a throw of desperation and the dagger glances off of the creature's shoulder. It makes a hissing sound and then the large eye pulses with colorful light...and the gnome screams in agony.
Not daring to move, Oriol glances at the gnome and watches in horror as flesh melts from its bones and it falls to the floor with a wet slopping sound.
The creature smacks its mouth and turns its gaze toward the big man. With a huff and dexterity a man his size shouldn't have, he wheels and runs back down the tunnel...and the creature gives chase! Oriol can hear the big man crying out for help in the distance...and then those cries of help become cries of pain.

Actions?

[Enoch]

Oriol shrinks back against the slimy wall and stifles a groan as he watches the gnome literally dissolve before his eyes. He stares at the remains of the humanoid for a moment as the screams of the fleeing man echo through the tunnels, then turns and follows the crawler's trail, albeit with frequent glances behind. Kopali about this needs to know...if already not involved.

Intelligence check: [1d20-1]=17-1=16

[hedgeknight]

Intelligence check: [1d20-1]=17-1=16
The creature is one you've only read or heard others talk about. You know a bit about it and what it is: a nothic.

Cursed Arcanists. Some wizards who devote their lives to unearthing arcane secrets are reduced to creeping, tormented monsters by a dark curse left behind by Vecna, a powerful lich who, in some worlds, has transcended his undead existence to become a god of secrets. Nothics retain no awareness of their former selves, skulking amid the shadows and haunting places rich in magical knowledge, drawn by memories and impulses they can’t quite understand.

Dark Oracles. A nothic covets magic items, greedily accepting such gifts from creatures that seek out its knowledge.

Lurkers in Magical Places. Nothics are notorious for infiltrating arcane academies and other places rich in magical learning. They are driven by the vague knowledge that there exists a method to reverse their condition.

You also recognize the name "Ribbons" as being the kingpin of the Undercellar. You don't know much about him other than he is a very dangerous man who rarely loses his temper, even as he is carving someone who displeases him to...ribbons.

The slime trail of the wounded carrion crawler leads you on, past grates and tunnels familiar and eventually unfamiliar, as you realize you are heading into the sewers 'neath the Manorborn neighborhood. Turning a corner and looking down a tunnel cautiously, you spy the wounded carrion crawler about 50 feet ahead of you. You pass under a street grate or two and you hear above you the voices of those who live in the manses of the rich and powerful; something you will likely never be as a druid of spores, shoveling other people's...
Suddenly, you see a small shambler (shambling mound) and then a second one appear out of a side tunnel. The pair approach the now mewling crawler and seem almost to faun over it, assessing its wounds. Then, much to your surprise, they lift the crawler in arms made of rotting vegetation, and carry it as if it was a wounded friend! They don't overwhelm it and consume it like a normal shambler would.
Amazing! But...where are they taking it?

[Enoch]

Nothics here do not belong. Evil, cursed wizard it may be. I this will report. Dangerous.

Oriol blinks slowly as the shambles carry off the wounded crawler, as close to an expression of surprise as he's given to. He swishes his tail through the murky water in a sign of agitation, then slinks toward the tunnel down which they carried it.

[hedgeknight]

Agitated and wary, Oriol slinks toward the tunnel where the shamblers took the wounded crawler. Oriol tries to wrap his brain around the odd behavior of the creatures, and as he nears the side tunnel following the greenish ooze of the crawler. He follows it down the new tunnel, heading what he believes to be in a northerly direction under the Manorborn neighborhood. He passes a grate that leads off into a side tunnel, pausing only for a few seconds to note the side tunnel is surprisingly clean. Continuing onward for several more feet, the trail ends in a depression in the wall. There is no visible opening anywhere...

Sewer Map 1.jpg (1.77 MiB) Viewed 770 times

Actions?

[Enoch]

These tunnels, full of dangerous creatures they are. Oriol pauses and searches briefly for any hidden means of egress, then turns back. I to the Master of Drains should report this,, he thinks. He slinks off to do so, heading in the direction of wherever he usually meets his contact.

Perception: [1d20+5]=9+5=14

[hedgeknight]

Sewers 'Neath Manorborn...Secrets and Suspicions

Oriol notes a wet slimy patch on the side of the egress and with a touch of his hand, the front slides back revealing a tunnel beyond. He touches the patch again and the wall slides back. Knowing he should report this, he turns around and heads back. But as he passes the grate leading into the clean side tunnel, he hears voices raised in anger.

Where has she been? Locked in a fucking dungeon!! A gods damned wererat kidnapped yer daughter and sought her ransom and none of you rich cunts even bothered to look fer her!
HOW DARE YOU! (a woman's voice...Manorborn no doubt).

Other words are muffled in the tunnel, but then Oriol then hears the familiar sound of steel sliding from a scabbard, followed by more voices, and shouting > GUARDS! GUARDS! (the same woman's voice)
More voices, the sounds of running feet...what is playing out above?

[Enoch]

Oriol's eyes widen slightly at the shouting. Manorborn girl kidnapped? He pulls experimentally at the grate, looking to see if it can be removed or bypassed.

[hedgeknight]

Surprisingly, the grate gives way almost like that of a well-oiled door, and Oriol hustles into the amazingly clean side tunnel beyond. Within a few feet, there is a drainage grate overhead; this is where the voices are coming from, and even though they echo, Oriol is able to pretty much pick up what is being said.
There is shuffling of feet...perhaps guards coming to fight?
Then there is a man's voice with a slight accent (perhaps from the Outer City) speaking words of calm and reason.
The woman's voice (Mother?) responds, unsure but not shouting angrily as before.
The man mentions something about a reward...and then there are footsteps, light ones, running off in a different direction...escaping? Going for help?
The guard definitely disagrees with the reward option and follows up with a threat. Lady Bormul...of House Bormul?
(This should give Oriol a sense of where he is in the sewers.)

Footsteps rapidly approaching and then...a new voice...another man...perhaps a bit more refined...a patriar no doubt! His sister? Returned home? From where? Sir Tull...who?
The girl now, crying as humans do. She calls him 'Bryce.' Lots more crying...echoing in the tunnel. Feet shuffling above. One of them is standing right on the drain! (Perception check!)

The clink of metal...followed by a not so veiled threat from the older brother...Bryce.

Oriol hears a noise farther down the tunnel, somewhere in the darkness. He holds his breath, straining to listen...

[Enoch]

I'm assuming House Bormul is somewhere in the Upper City?
Perception: [1d20+5]=15+5=20