Friday, November 22, 2024

Nightwick Abbey - Session 102 - Treasure! But at What Cost?

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Want to learn more about the world of Nightwick from Miranda? You can follow her blog here and the ongoing development of Nightwick Abbey at her Patreon here.

Session 102 - 21st of November, 1398

This week's adventurers:

Blossom (Rogue 6)

Sir Uein (Fighter 6)

Mayfly (Magician 5)

Ulf (Magician 5)

Liminal Space (Changeling 5)

Krupe (Cleric 5) 

Thekla (Magician 4)

Marguerite (Magician 2)

Hirelings: Niklaus (Fighter 2), Helusch (Magician 2)

Downtime in the Village

A new fighter (played by Nightwick artist Huth) crosses the Nightwick streams to join our group from one of Miranda's other groups! We immediately give him the magical sword Dhinron to aid our quest.

Mayfly spent the week carousing and wound up with a blasphemous tattoo that he doesn't remember getting. At least he's done being a cleric for now.

Into the Abbey

We quickly leave the village in the morning to approach the hilltop concealing Nightwick Abbey.

Entering through the stone doors past the graveyard, we enter onto level 3 and rush through to the stairs down the level 4.

We enter into the becoming familiar 30' by 30' room with a blood-baptismal font on one wall.

Into Level 4

We go west, into a room with a shrine depicting the great city of Zenopolis. Fairy bones lie scattered about the shrine, 14 skeletons worth, bent as though praying to an item no longer there (a bronze cube that Liminal took a while back). Liminal takes two skeletons for his collection.

In the south of the room, lies a large pillow with fine Zenopolotian clothing lying on the pillow.

Treasure: It's Just That Easy

Blossom carefully checks it for traps, finds none, and we swoop them up. She determines that they are worth 750sp.

We continue on north, to check an unmarked door on our map. We force it open to reveal a great blackness and the distant sound of ocean - a dead end.

We go southeast from here, to a secret passage behind a sarcophagus to a passage we think might lead to Plutus, leader of the flymen.

Time Flies When Your Flymen Diplomacy

We see distant flashes of light around the bend in the corridor and Blossom and Liminal hear distant hissing of steam and gagging.

This takes us into a large 30' by 100' room that we remember from previous expeditions.

In the middle of the room is a large pool of water that four Flymen are using to temper their newly-made swords.

Liminal chats with the Flymen and they react warmly to us.

They reveal that they purpose is to "fill the world with treasure to bend the hearts of men."

We also discuss our shared hatred of the vampires of this level. 

Downtime  Diplomacy Is Always An Option Until You Fuck It Up

Someone [Ulf] offers them holy water to help them fight the vampires, which offends them greatly.

They angrily flutter over to our flank and attack! 

They hit Krupe for 5 damage and Uein for 7 damage.

The last one vomits gold on Liminal Space. He makes his save but takes 6 damage.

An Overwhelming Display of Magical Force

Thekla casts Phantasmal Force, projecting the illusion of approaching mist-vampires.

Ulf and his apprentice Helusch cast Light on two Flymen, one saves and the other is blinded.

Liminal Space casts Hypnotism on all four, commanding them to jump into the pool.

This combination magical display is enough to break their moral and the flymen flee.

We swing at them in their retreat, but it is not enough to drop any of the fleeing flies.

A Moment of Rest...

We clean the gold off of Liminal and continue exploring.

However, as we begin to leave the room, the Flymen return, with reinforcements!

There's 6 of them now, including one big one!

...or not.

They surprise us and fall upon our back rank - Niklaus is cut deeply and Helusch is killed in a single stroke!

The next round, the Flymen win initiative and continue the assault upon our back line and Niklaus is struck down!

Both hirelings dead, the party returns fire. Mayfly casts Lightning Bolt, killing 3 of them. Ulf follows up with another Lightning Bolt, killing the final 3!

Organic, Locally Sourced Gold

While Ulf mourns his hirelings for the appropriate amount of time, the rest of the party autopsies the dead Flymen to get the gold out of their stomachs, obtaining 70gp worth of gold.

We gather up the human corpses (pro tip, don't ever leave bodies in the Abbey) and continue exploring.

We go west from here, down a hallway where Flymen make the weapons - there are doors north and south.

We peek though the south door and see a single Flyman working on weapons. We quickly take him down - 8 on 1 - and Liminal immediately starts digging the gold out of its stomach with a knife.

Why Fight When You Can Loot

He had two swords he was working on, which we take, and a chest, which Liminal unlocks with a Knock spell. It contains 10,000 copper pieces along with 4 sacks, a trident (as wielded by the devil himself) and a sinister spear, both decorated with runes, meaning they are magical in nature. Each sack has 1,000 silver pieces. There is also a crate in the room, containing iron bars used in smithing, 1,000sp worth.

Back to the Village

Laden down with heavy treasure and down two hirelings, we decide to make our exit from the abbey. Fortunately, we are able to return to Nightwick village without incident.

Our final treasure count is: Fine Zenopolotian pillow and robes (worth 750sp), the gold from 8 Flymen's innards (800sp), a chest of copper pieces (1,000sp), four sacks of coins (4,000sp), and a crate of iron bars (1,000sp), for a total haul of 7,550sp.

We each receive 1,063xp and 943sp.

This is enough for Mayfly to level up! He learns the spell Clairvoyance as well!

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