Episode 41

Nov 20

🎙️ Welcome, dear listeners!

I’m The Archivist, Porthos, your chronicler of daring deeds and goblin‑shenanigans. Tonight we revisit Session 41 – “To The Rescue” from the Waterview Adventurer’s Guild, recasting the night’s exploits through my own swashbuckling lens while keeping true to our brave cast.

🏰 Session 41 – To The Rescue

Date: Friday night (recorded for absent friends)
DM: Peter (aka Petr)
Location: Primarily the Rusty Cog Tavern, then a quick hop to Yonathan’s island‑lab.

Sound‑check & Roll Call

Peter kicks off with a classic sound‑check (“If I can get a little bit of a sound check please…”) and asks everyone to state their name and the character they’re playing:

Marjorie – halfling druid
Voscheck – human warlock
Aubrey – elvish wizard
Dirk Goodhair – goblin ranger (impersonating his brother Gyrk)
Brynn – bugbear ranger (Karissa’s character), arrived a few minutes late
Shadow – Tiefling sorcerer (Chris without a beard), spoken softly, also joined after the roll‑call.

Peter announces they’re recording for friends who can’t make it and throws in a tongue‑in‑cheek welcome: “another wonderful Friday night at the WAG, where the dice hit the table harder than the bass drop at a goblin disco.”

The “Dirk‑Gyrk” Shenanigans – A Performance Check

The group dives straight into a role‑play scene that took place the night before:

Dirk Goodhair pretended to be his brother Gyrk for a tryst at the payday‑loan dive.
Peter asks for a performance check—the “sex check.”
Dirk Goodhair rolls a 15 on Acrobatics (which the DM re‑interprets as a sexual prowess roll) and declares, “15 with a big one. Awesome!”
The table erupts in jokes about “big dice,” “goblin intimacy,” and an increasingly absurd back‑and‑forth about who’s actually doing what.
The conversation spirals into goblin‑infection lore (ringspore, inbreeding, the rise of handsome goblins) and then veers into a hilarious debate over gestation periods for raccoons, iguanas, and other critters. Numbers get tossed around: 63‑65 days for raccoons, 30‑45 days for iguana eggs, etc.
Peter caps the segment with a mock‑serious line: “If you see a goblin with a Greco‑Roman nose and a prominent chin, that is an inbred goblin.”

Planning the Next Move – Shell Phones & The Mirror

After the comedic detour, Peter steers the party back to business:

Shell phones – The group needs two of them for the upcoming tower infiltration.
- They head toward Yonathan’s laboratory on the little island off Riverside.
- On arrival they’re greeted by a very‑still‑in‑bunny‑slippers Yonathan, clutching a massive coffee mug.
- After a brief “DING DONG!” exchange, Yonathan hands over two shell phones and assigns them numbers on the party’s “yellow page.”
  - Lucky 13 goes to Brynn (Karissa).
  - Shadow gets 14.
The magic mirror – Peter asks what they need before heading to the tower.
- The party mentions needing a MAC (Mirror Access Coordinate) address for the mirror.
- Yonathan explains the mirror is a gilded, arcane device with a large blue eye and long lashes; it requires a recitation (the classic “mirror‑on‑the‑wall” chant) to activate.
- The group scribbles down notes on the mirror’s location, its address, and the protocol for using it.

Mirror Misadventures & Charisma Checks

The party’s attempt to coax the vain, enchanted mirror mimic "Susan" into granting passage devolves into a hilariously chaotic series of “mirror, mirror” chants from Aubrey and her companions. After several failed charisma rolls (“Mirror, mirror on the wall… who’s the shiniest?”), they finally type the proper glyph code into the mirror’s keypad, triggering a swirling vortex that transports them deep beneath the Tower of Maligneus.

Arrival in the Tower’s Underground

The teleport lands the group in a dim, blue‑tinged cavern that once served as dormitory quarters for the tower’s mage apprentices. A synthetic voice—later identified as the tower’s AI —greets them with an enthusiastic “NEW ACHIEVMENT! You have teleported into the tower. REWARD!?!? No reward. Congratulations. You are here now!” The party reacts with a mixture of awe and comic dread.

The Labyrinthine Hangar

While exploring, they encounter an Igor‑like maintenance worker hauling scavenged organ pipes, who quickly hands over a handful of components. This turns out to be the aerialist mechanic, Mole Eye Arty, despondent about the continuously deteriorating condition of the hoverbug craft. The party help him haul is treasure trove of scavenged repair materials up to the lobby.

The lobby has had it's grand glass facade first blown up, then completely torn out by the aerialists, and the huge lobby now serves as a hoverbug landing pad and hangar. Two hoverbug craft (the “dragonflies”) are being serviced by Oddball’s mechanics; one is already airworthy while the other sits partially disassembled in the hangar/lobby. The crew learns that these hoverbugs are fifty yera old models, originally built to be "disposable" compared to more expensive ones, prone to frequent breakdowns even when they were new.

On the landing pad, two of the horse sized dragonflys are accompanied by their riders (Momo and Jamis). It seems they were responsible for ferrying the aerialist mechanics here after hoverbug two broke down. Again.

Tactical Planning: Turret, Prison Camp, and Dragfly Recon

The conversation shifts to the overarching mission:

Anti‑aircraft turret: Voscheck outlines a plan to jam the turret’s gears with a wrench, echoing the earlier “gear‑torque” tactic. Disabling it is essential before any hoverbug or drag‑fly can approach the central prison camp without being shot down.
Prison‑camp rescue: The party maps out three camps surrounding the tower (southwest Longhorn direction). They estimate roughly twenty prisoners per camp, noting that a hoverbug can ferry only a limited number of survivors. Their goal is to extract as many captives as possible while sabotaging the camps.
Invisibility & Dragfly reconnaissance: Brynn proposes using invisibility spells and a drag‑fly (a faster, quieter dragonfly rider) for a quick scouting run past the turret. Voscheck warns that any airborne approach will draw fire if the turret is still operational.

The Dragonfly Recon Mission Begins

After a break, the session re-opens with a rapid back‑and‑forth about how to signal the direction of an incoming projectile. Aubrey suggests using Dancing Lights to paint a glowing arrow; the party loves it and adopts the idea as a visual cue for “don’t go that way.”

Peter then paints a vivid picture: a horse‑sized blue dragonfly screeches into a landing bay on the side of a tower, reminiscent of a Star Wars docking port. The creature lands beside an elven male rider (handsome enough to make anyone pause), who gently nudges the dragonfly and pats its head.

The party gets to know their new aerial allies:

Jamis and Momo, dragonfly "Knights". Momo, a toxicly masculine, large statured elf with a barrel chest. Jamis, a beautiful, near androgynous elven tom boy with a mild manner and sharp wit.
Harlet and **Jezebel – their highly mutated, faithful, beautiful and powerful dragonfly mounts (named by Yonathan with an unintentionally risqué sense of humour... apparently he had soemthing to do with their creation).

Karissa’s exasperated cries (“Oh, dear God…”) pepper the scene as the group negotiates whether to approach by night or by day. After a brief debate they settle on a daylight insertion: the light will let them gauge camp size and activity, while still keeping enough cover from the anti‑aircraft turret (estimated at ~¼ mile range).

The party decide to ask the Dragonfly Knights for a lift to the outskirts of the compound, to give Mole Eye more time to repair the hoverbugs, and the party a head start with their approach. If things go to plan, the hoverbugs will follow, land behind the party and lie in wait for a signal to extract the party and prisoners once the anti aircraft siege tower is disabled.

Aerial Survey – The Landscape Below

Peter lifts the party’s perspective to 15‑20 minutes of high‑altitude flight. From up there they see:

A massive, jagged mountain sentinel rising from a swampy mire – described as “the Mount of the Eternal.”
Scattered, ramshackle settlements clinging to floating islands of wood and debris.
Sparse wildlife, including an infected purple worm that bursts up, attacks a large gray beast, that is quickly dragged back beneath the muck.
The faint outline of the enemy camp itself, a series of low‑lying structures surrounded by swampy water, brackish pools, and tangled vegetation – essentially a Vietnam‑style jungle with a heavy Ringfall/Ringspawn vibe.

The DM likens the terrain to Full Metal Jacket and Tropic Thunder, emphasizing the oppressive humidity, mosquito swarms, and the ever‑present danger of ringspore infection.

Landing on the “Island”

After roughly half an hour’s flight the dragonflies glide down onto a dry patch of land – essentially a small island in the swamp. Momo and Jamis dismount first, helping the exhausted halfling druid Marjorie who is visibly green‑tinged from fatigue.

Mosquitoes, Ash‑Milk & Constitution Saves

As soon as they touch down, mosquitoes bite the party. The bites are not ordinary – black veins flare under the skin, hinting at ringspore infection. The DM demands a Constitution saving throw every five minutes to stave off disease. The DM notes them that the dragonflies themselves are not preyed upon by the mosquitoes, so they won’t need protection.

The players scramble for ash‑milk, a field preventative that can ward off ringspore infection to an extent. The party’s members dive into their inventories, realizing that some may not have ashmilk on hand! Fortunately, Jamis breaks protocol and shares some of her and Momo's supplies. Alas... Dirk is bitten and becomes infected... the infection spreading quickly through the doubly succeptible goblin blood... The telltale black veins quickly spreading through his neck...

Spellcraft & Tactical Options

The group debates how to clear the swampy island of insects and help Dirk:

Marjorie attempts a Gust of Wind (a 1‑minute concentration spell) but admits it’s only a short burst and may draw attention.
Voscheck mentions his Scroll of Protection from Poison and Disease, which works more like a purgative than a preventative; they consider using it on the infected bites.
Aubrey wonders if any other magic could help, while Brynn reminds everyone not to sing (they've good reason to stay quiet for recon).

In the end, they decide not to cut into the infection yet, opting instead to monitor and possibly use the scroll.

The scroll turns out to work more like a purgative than a preventative. The DM described the scroll's effect mixed with the ash‑milk’s in vivid, almost grotesque detail – black‑veined “pimples” erupting under the skin before the ash‑milk sears them away.

Marjorie and Brynn each counted their remaining ash‑milk vials and remaining protection (two layers per person) and began a frantic inventory check. After a few bites landed on Brynn, Voscheck, Shadow and Aubrey, they redistributed the remaining doses so that everyone was left with at least one protective layer.

Fog Cloud, Fire & Dragonfly‑Powered Mosquito Control

Realising a fog cloud would mask their activity, Marjorie cast Fog Cloud (20‑foot radius) and suggested lighting a fire to give the insects something to bite. The party quickly set up a skill challenge (target 16) to keep the bugs at bay while they built a blaze in a manner hidden from view.

Brynn used Survival to select dry, low‑smoke wood – a natural 24, giving the fire a solid foundation.
Dirk Goodhair rolled a Nature check (11) and identified the swamp’s brackish water as an unlikely breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Aubrey investigated the island (Investigation 24) and discovered a large‑leafed plant pooling stagnant water – a perfect mosquito nursery. She suggested torching it.
Voscheck employed his Control Flames cantrip, swinging a torch to set the plant ablaze. The fire roared, scorching the larvae and sending a plume of smoke into the fog.

Other encouraged the dragonflies to snack on dozens of mosquitoes in the process. Their frantic wing‑beats scattered the remaining insects, and the party’s combined efforts reduced the mosquito threat to zero.

A Quick Medical Inspection

With the swarm cleared, the group turned their attention to Dirk Goodhair’s neck wound. The scroll’s magic had excised the infection, leaving a clean scar. The DM described the area as “cauterized and sealed,” confirming the ash‑milk and scroll worked as intended.

Plotting the Approach to the Eternal’s Tower

The tone shifted from survival to strategy. Peter reminded everyone that they were now two miles from the towering spire at the heart of the swamp, with dense foliage, sinkholes and occasional brackish pools littering the terrain.

The party debated entry points and vectors.
Marjorie performed a Perception check to spot any lurking threats – she rolled a 22, noting only distant birds and the occasional crane‑bill bird, but no immediate danger. She did however spot several hazards in the terrain beyond.
Dirk Goodhair used Nature (11) to confirm that mosquitoes would not breed in the brackish water surrounding them.
Aubrey performed an Investigation (24) and identified a tangled root system creating a stagnant pond – another potential mosquito breeding pit they could avoid.

The DM described the terrain as “swampy, with sinkholes that swallow unwary travelers” and warned of possible worm‑like holes. The party resolved to skirt the larger water patches, keeping an eye out for any large creatures (worms, basilisks) that might emerge.

This island in the swamp would serve as the stopping point for the dragnofly riders, who would wait here for Oddball under the cover of a Tiny Hut spell.

Mapping the Approach

Peter reminded everyone that they were approaching from the opposite side of the Eternal’s compound. The swampy outpost labeled Swamp Camp 13 sat to their left, while another encampment lay to the right – but none of the party’s friends were there.

The DM sketched a quick clock‑face: the tower was straight ahead, a sinkhole loomed directly in front, and a strange cave marked a hazardous detour. The consensus was:

Jink left toward Swamp Camp 13 to avoid the sinkhole,
Jink right again to sidestep the cave,
then head straight for the turret tower once clear.

Turret Talk (and Turds?)

Brynn asked what the looming turret actually fired. As they had no definite answer, the answer was… turds. Everyone laughed; the party agreed they knew little beyond that and would have to discover its true nature on‑site.

Timing & Terrain

Marjorie queried whether they should take out the tower first or rescue the camp. Consensus: the turret must fall before any rescue attempt, lest the enemy use it to bring down the hoverbugs.

Peter gave a rough travel estimate:

~2 mi of mixed terrain, about 3½ hours total,
roughly 1 hour to reach the edge of the tree line,
then another hour‑and‑a‑half through dense swamp.

Stealth vs Speed

The party debated moving at normal pace with a risky stealth roll versus slow, careful movement. With a ranger in their midst (the natural‑terrain specialist), they could ignore the difficult‑terrain penalty but would still suffer disadvantage on stealth checks.

Aubrey and Voscheck rolled modest successes,
Marjorie’s check landed at 33 (10 + ability + advantage),
Dirk Goodhair, Brynn and others were around the 15‑20 range.

Ultimately they chose a mixed approach – sprint the first mile, then slow down for the final three‑quarters of difficult ground.

The Perimeter Patrol

While probing the underbrush, Peter described hearing a faint mechanical squeak to their right. A perception check (19) confirmed a patrol circuit: two humanoid figures and a four‑legged “armored canid” creature moving in alternating clockwise/anticlockwise loops along patrol paths. The party noted the tracks were fresh likely a routine active watch.

Raven Escher’s Recon

Aubrey offered to send her raven, Escher, into the tree line toward the tower. The group debated whether a lone bird would draw attention; Brynn worried it might alert any patrols, but most agreed the intel was worth the risk.

Dirk Goodhair, ever the comic relief, tried to “smell for urine” (a 19 roll) and lamented his goblin‑themed dice jail idea. The table laughed as they settled on sending Escher skirting the tree line – staying below the canopy to stay hidden while scouting for additional patrols.

Closing the Planning Phase

With the reconnaissance plan set, the party prepared to move out, aware of:

a sinkhole directly ahead,
a mysterious cave on the right side,
the looming turret,
the faint mechanical patrol they’d just detected.

The Wheel‑House of Spokes

After a break, we pick up where the B‑Team’s aerial scout, Escher the raven‑familiar, has slipped into the tangled canopy surrounding the Eternal’s fortress. The party is perched on the outer rim of a massive, wagon‑wheel‑shaped network of trails – an inner perimeter that creates a quarter‑mile inner circle and a series of “spokes” radiating from inner path to outer path.

Scouting the Spokes

Peter prompts a Perception check for Escher. The familiar spots an inner‑perimeter trail about half a mile from the tree line – an obscured path that loops around the base of the tower. Around it, the spokes act as shortcuts between the inner and outer rings.

“It’s like 128 and 495 around Boston,” Peter quips, describing the dizzying geometry.

The party learns two crucial facts:

Spokes appear every hour‑long segment of the wheel (as in, there are 12 spokes); each is a potential choke point.
The whole area is riddled with traps – “man‑catchers” (bear‑trap style), tripwires, and hidden spikes placed roughly every 20‑30 feet.

“The entire thing is a minefield of traps,” Peter declares.

A Feathered Cat‑and‑Mouse Game

Escher attempts to blend in. Peter asks for a Performance (Charisma) check so the familiar can masquerade as a harmless raven. The roll lands at an 11, just enough to convince the patrol that this is “just another bird.”

The nearby patrol of soldiers spots Escher and, after a brief debate, fires a shot. With an AC of 12, the familiar drops – a single hit‑point creature vanishes in a puff of feathers.

What Happens to the Familiar?

The party worries about losing their scouting data. Peter explains that recasting Escher will take an hour, but any conceptual knowledge (the layout of spokes, trap locations, patrol routes) persists as mental notes – not visual memory. The familiar’s “telepathic link” can still whisper the gist of what it learned once Escher is resummoned.

The First Real Threat

As Escher fades, Peter as for Perception from the whole party and they hear a faint command carried on the wind, followed by the clatter of a mechanical four‑legged creature approaching from the right. The patrol that spotted the familiar splits up, with one member running unknowningly toward the party in their attempt to reach a spoke and report the strange bird sighting.

Cliffhanger & Thanksgiving Plans

Peter ends the session on a classic cliff‑hanger:

“So that is where we’ll leave on this little cliff‑hanger. We’ll play again in four weeks after the Thanksgiving break!”

The table immediately devolves into a post‑game banquet brainstorm – five ducks, smoked or rotisserie, potatoes by Bevin, desserts by Sarah, and a frantic debate over who’s bringing what to the holiday feast.

Highlights & Takeaways

Location Insight: The Eternal’s compound is laid out like a gigantic wagon wheel with an inner safety loop and deadly spokes. Expect traps every few steps.
Key Skills Used: Perception (to spot trails and traps), Performance/Charisma (for Escher’s disguise), Survival (optional alertness checks).
Combat Note: The patrol’s ranged attack on a familiar shows they’re on high alert – future stealth attempts will be harder.
Narrative Hook: A mysterious mechanical quadruped is part of the patrol. Who—or what—is this thing!?
Session Mood: Chaotic, comedic, and packed with quick‑thinking roleplay as the players juggle scouting, trap‑avoidance, and Thanksgiving menu planning.

Next time we’ll see if the B‑Team can out‑maneuver the mechanical beast, re‑summon Escher, and finally breach the inner perimeter of the Eternal’s fortress.

🎧 Closing Words from The Archivist

That concludes our deep‑dive into Session 41 – To The Rescue. I hope you enjoyed my retelling as much as the party enjoyed their goblin‑inspired comedy. Tune in next time for more daring exploits, perilous hoverbug flights, and perhaps a few extra ducks on the banquet table. Until then—à votre santé, dear listeners!

Petr Klapka