SoloDark: Pelor's Quest ep67

--/-- Welcome to SoloBickering! It's a solo rpg, which means I roll dice generate a story and decide outcomes, and lose arguments with myself as I portray the exploits of my adventurers. 

--/-- Join me on a journey into the game world I play face to face in, and it may sound vaguely familiar to you. Like many another DM I stitch my world together from any bits and pieces I fancy, adding them into a standard setting, Faerun's Sword Coast.  

--/-- AI and NSFW: For this possibly brief adventure the stars are young and moderately hot, and I'll be using CoPilot AI to buff my romance bar, because I'm useless at romance, and for side situations that need social interactions. Some of the situations the young protagonists find themselves in may turn out to be NSFW. I won't be deliberately aiming for that, but oracles are what they are. So if on either account you take an ethical stand against those, skip this episode and listen in to Rollohi, my other SoloBickering output. 

--/-- And having said that, let's get the game started. 

 --/--Music from Pixabay with thanks to: daynightmorning, Good_B-Music, JefWakeUp, LudoSoundX, makesoundmusic, Playsound, teodholina, and White_Records

--/--Selected tracks from "Ancient Realms" by Joel Steudler Music.

--/--The adventure *the Lurker Beneath Red Larch* by MT Black: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/184581/the-lurker-beneath-red-larch-adventure
--/--MT Black's 5e Vol i collection: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/198501/complete-adventures-of-m-t-black-vol-i

https://larrymannplayssolobickering.blogspot.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Two days. Yes. That is regional. A ritual not quite in that time. And now that I have the scroll, I can't really afford to linger here myself. Every hour I delay is an hour the valley loses. Two days? Two days is a time I would have spent traveling with the survivors. I can give you that. If you strike the threat beneath the red light and return within two days, I'll be ready and waiting for you, gladly. But no more than that. After two days, I will ride to Beliard with you or without you.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Join me on a journey into the game world I play face-to-face in. And it may sound vaguely familiar to you. Like many another DM, I stitch my world together from any bits and pieces I fancy, adding them into a standard setting, Faroon's Sword Coast. For this adventure, the stars are young and moderately hot. And I'll be using co-pilot AI here and there to buff my romance bar, because I'm useless at romance. And besides situations that don't really need tools, some of the situations the young protagons find themselves in may turn out to be NSFW. And if you're uncomfortable on either of those two scores, skip this and head over to the world of Rolley. Otherwise, having said that, let's get on with this show. Welcome to what promises to be the finale of The Lurker Beneath Red Large by MT Black. Details about where to buy that module are in the show notes. Our four heroes find that they are within sight of something that has attracted Natalie's attention, and she has called urgently to the rest of the party. They are roughly forty feet along the last stretch of the normal dungeon before they meet the true lurker. It is a thing that squats between planes, called here by the dread god Bane, in direct opposition to the entry upon this plane of Palor. What Natalie has seen at the edge of the flickering torchlight is an arched entrance to a deeper cavern. And unmistakably from that cavern beyond the arch. The entrance itself has been carved into the earth. And the right hand with the thumb and fingers together in a closure. The affinity of his sword satisfied with whatever lies beyond. Urges and onward, and his pace quickens. He breathes deeply through his nose, pumping blood ever more strongly through his veins. And seeing Drum's pace quicken, the other three have to make a decision. Do they, too, quicken their pace, or do they try to talk drum back, fearing that they are out of resources? Let's make a morale check for the three who are not drum. 5. They are in support of whatever he is feeling. If drum is sensing that this is the moment to attack, then so be it. Still trying to keep to a circling motion with their feet. Natalie and Lucinda quicken their pace, and the torchlight flicks up, down, across. Where is that last phase spider going to attack from? Faithful to its command objective, the extremely badly damaged phase spider launches from the rear of the party. And that's exactly from where Lucinda was expecting it to attack. With the dirty 20 and max damage, her short sword sunders the last bits of the face spider, and it falls apart before it can try its poison sting. Drum is not even watching. Instead, he's feeling there's something in the air all around him now. Something ready to attack. And attack it does. Invisible coil drops to water. Swinging shifts by two-handed as a cat. It's well over 20. It feels stony, although we can't see. Some help. Does a massive image. Whatever it was, it drops to the ground and forms into a visible, great tentacle. Drum snarls. And Sakeb hurries his pace as best he can, trying to stay a link between Lucinda, Natalie, and Drum. The young priest mutters prayers to Timor, even though he senses that the area they're now in is well beyond his deity's reach. A second tentacle drops, this time around Sakheeb. It stares him as a roll, a seventeen. Sakuib takes a d8 damage, three points. Set points drop to 17 of 26. Two things happen. Sakeb is completely pinned. And secondly, he vanishes from the call. He's already punching ahead, watching for the next attack. Sakib's scream of pain as whatever it is bites him. It comes from far ahead. Sakib has taken a further seven damage using ten remaining hit points. I'm not sure whether initiative is at all relevant because the monster guarding the rift itself is invisible and under normal circumstances out of reach. And all of the characters, just like they did with the face fighters, are reacting when anything comes near them. So rather than worrying about initiative, we'll move to the next round where an invisible tentacle tries to grab Lucinda and misses. And with disadvantage, they each make really good disadvantage attacks. Lacenta's worst roll is a twelve, and Natalie's worst roll is a thirteen. Damage. Although not shorn on two, the tentacle is now too mangled to be of any use to the thing. And since it didn't manage to snare them, drum can surge forward and attack as the remains of the tentacle is withdrawn to the archway. It's a great roll. Here's Shatter Spike's damage. Not as much as the first, but substantial. Meanwhile, here is Sakeb's save to use his strength to break free. That's an easy save when he's adding four to that. Rolls a 14. Technically disadvantaged, so I'll roll again. Oh, that's even better, 16. So he successfully makes a DC-15 drop and no further damage off the roof of the cabin. He is ready with Goblin Grief for the next run. Generally, following a tactic of removing the hard hitter from the lighter members, the thing once again attacks Saki, attempting to teleport him well away back down the tunnel. Meanwhile, Drum will attempt to get to Sakhi and the women will of course be catching up to Drum this round, hurrying as best they can. In terms of theatre of the mind, Drum is at the arch, preventing tentacles from getting out without being attacked by him. Sakeb is inside the cavern in darkness, and the two women will have light to the to the inner cavern by the end of the round. Sakeb fighting defensively misses his stroke. The creature makes an attack on Sakib, a further bite on Sakeb, and an attack on a torch. The attack on Sakeb is therefore successful since Sakib's fighting riposte was useless. However, he does not get bitten as the creature rolls a miserable eight, which will not penetrate his armor. And in response, Sakib tears free. Sakib took two damage, dropping him to eight of twenty six hit points. The two women pause at the arch as Lysander's torches lit from Natalie's to get light inside the cavern. Meanwhile, Drum lays about him, striking here and there at invisible tentacles. His worst role is a 14, easily striking home. He does 13 damage. The creature above him is still invisible, but the damage is taking its toll. New round. With a natural twenty, the giant creature extends a tentacle and snags Drum and hurls him violently back down the tunnel at the rock wall. The brooch, worn under Drum's outer gear, blows. And before his body smashes into the rock fall, he floats to a stop and then to the ground. But he is over fifty feet down the tunnel, away from the action. The only good news for Saki is that light has finally spilled into the cavern. At the rear, an effigy of the dread god Vane stands, guarding what is clearly a wrongness in the fabric of reality. A shimmering passage formed out of solid rock, which changes its shape every few seconds, deceiving the eye. Sakib has little time to note that the effigy is probably well worth looting, for he is dealing with another attack. The Guardian creature rolls a six, Sakib is safe. With its third attack, the Guardian creature makes another tentacle attack at the wound folk. And they unfortunately flub up their response. The creature rolls a one and they roll a one and a five, so I would say that Natalie's torch went out in the excitement of dodging out of the way of Drum seeing where he went and then getting attacked by an unsuccessful tentacle. During the last part of the round, Drum races back towards the light. He makes a basic acrobatics save to stay upright as he runs. Rolls a 13, that's no problem at all given his superior decks, that's DC-15. He's yelling something. Perhaps help Sakeb or where is Sakeb? And in either case, his lips yell, Sakeb! And in the cabin, Sakeb responds as best he can. He brings up his shield and smashes at the tentacle, reaching out for him. Finally, Goblin Grief makes contact. And it's decisive. The creature becomes visible. It's a horrendous cross between a giant squid and an cave leech. Its fanged mouth, Sakeb can testify to already, but now cracks run over its stony exterior. And it crumbles a piece at a time, falling onto Sakeb. By the time Drum gets to the cavern arch, the fight is over. What the hell was that? Sakeb says something from the depth of the underdark, I should think. Lysinda opines. You look like you're in a bad way, Sakeb. Also, hey, you're a priest. What is that statue of? You didn't say before. That's right. I almost recognise it just from the symbol on the spiders, but this is definitely the god Bane, Sakeb confirms. As Natalie lights her dead torch from Lucinda's torch. It doesn't look like this is a cave of sacrifice. It's almost as if he trails off and accepts the rough bandaging that his friends can supply him with. Alright, I'm none the worse for wear. How the hell did you survive that? Uh I think it was the brooch we got at Tribor, remember? Clark told us about it, how it would stop your fall. Well, it also seems to stop a fastball thrown by a great big monster. I was about to smack into the wall. Lose consciousness, maybe, but uh I just slowed right down and dropped to the ground. Then I ran back, but you're taking care of it. Nice work. I got a stand. Yes, me too. Nat agrees, still shaky. I got a good swing, but I'd say whatever power Shadow Spike has, it seems to be doubled in this kind of area. Yeah, I know. It seems to be calling me from beyond. I think we might have cleared the dungeon. What do you think? I think we need to have a look around, but yes, I I can't believe we did all that in the day. Alright then, I guess they at last maybe without touching the guard there. That looked valuable. And the adventurers' suit actions to Lucinda's advice, pack up as best they can any useful looking items of the phase spiders, and with a very respectful examination of the portal that lies beyond the uh statue of Bang, depart the Red Larch Dungeon. Thank you so much for listening. Ratings and reviews are much appreciated. For those keen to find out like-minded creators, check out solo roleplayersnetwork.com. It's a treasure trove of solo roleplay stuff. For those keen to get in touch with me, you can contact me through soloplayersnetwork.com or at Larryman Plays on Mastodon. Or you can email me direct at LarrymanPlays at gmail.com. That's Larry with two R's and man with two N's. Larryman Plays, all one word at gmail.com. Thanks again and catch you later.