Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
15th of Waxing Fall, 0AL
In spite of the tragic death of Dugg's badger, Laverne, the 3rd Watch decide to press on through this strange game they find themselves in - as the next room is the seventh room, and, to their knowledge, the farthest anyone has gotten before. So they follow the nudge in their minds coming from the outside game controls and move through the next door.
In this room, they find themselves in a room that looks a lot like a field outside a castle. In front of them, side-by-side, are two creatures of stone and metal, both with towering shields strapped to each arm. At the far end of the field is what looks like a dragon-headed ballista. Stor charges in to attack the two in the middle of the field, but backs away when not only does his first blow not connect, but the second is blocked by his target's companion.
When the ballista launches a bolt that explodes, hitting most of the group, Stor and Extang circle around the enemies and focus on it, while the others slowly take down the two hard-to-hit defenders. However, they do win, and - after finding a grimacing shield and ring on the one skeleton in the room - decide that they'll try just one last room. They proceed through the next door - and instantly regret it.
In a gloomy, castle-like room, they see four dark, spiked, evil-looking suits of armor that look remarkably similar in design to one that the 3rd Watch had fled from back in the ancient ruin they fell into. Stor, T'Zaric, and Extang are all instantly concerned as these enemies march and fly into battle. It's the biggest challenge they've faced so far in this game - the suits of armor prove to be incredibly difficult to damage, and they fight quite well. Stor and Fiaeorri take hits that nearly take them out of the fight while Extang casts a spell slowing these deadly foes for a little while.
Operating the controls from outside the game, Stor's mother mercilessly directs the damaging effects of one of the buttons at Dugg so it will switch to its healing property so she can save her son with it. Another button causes a healing potion to appear out of nowhere, which T'Zaric feeds to Fiaeorri.
After much bashing, beating, and blasting, the suits or armor are all defeated. Searching the room, they are surprised to find a few skeletons - they had believed no one else had made it this far before - with some treasures. They move on through the next door, hoping this was the last door in the game - but they are once again in the transition room with the two unlabeled doors. They immediately feel a tug towards one of them, and Stor waves his arms in the air, trying to indicate that they don't want to go on and they all feel a tug towards the same door. Extang and T'zaric make illusory words requesting an exit, and once again they feel a tug towards the same door. Knowing that the message shows up really small, they aren't certain if the message was recieved. However, they reason that they think Stor's mother would want to get him to safety outside the game, so they follow the tug...
And reappear outside the game, where Stor's mother throws her arms around him and tells him to never go back into that game - which now has a reward of 10024 gold coins. The bar is also very full now, and they are greeted by cheers and jeers from the various creatures who were drawn in to watch their adventure.
The 3rd Watch, in spite of having just slept little more than an hour ago, decide they really need to rest and recover. While doing so, they examine and identify a number of magic items they found. Once they are sufficiently recovered, they decide it's time to move on. First, they need to find the fly idol that the lizardfolk requested of them.
Stor suggests that T'Zaric ask one of the kobolds he befriended where the fly is. Overflowing with charm, T'Zaric not only learns that the idol is in the kobold's command room, but he also gets directions on how to get there.
Leaving Dugg and Hammer behind to guard Stor's mother, the 3rd Watch head back out into the sewer system. Following the directions, they find themselves back in kobold territory. Suddenly, from narrow tunnels dug into the walls, kobolds spill into the tunnel both in front and behind them. It looks like a nasty fight is about to start, but T'Zaric calls out, claiming that they aren't enemies. This causes the kobolds to pause long enough for some of them to recognize them from their time in the bar's game. The kobolds disperse, with a few hanging back to get a better look at the 3rd Watch, and then the group moves on - after getting new directions to the command room.
The tunnel to the command room is so narrow that only Stor can move through it easily. The others have to squeeze in behind, single-file. In spite of all attempts to remain quite, there is no way to conceal the screeching of Logan's armor on the cave walls.
There's a branch off the right side of the tunnel that opens up into a room containing a dozen kobolds. Stor and Fiaeorri move to the other side, hoping they've avoided notice, but something does seem to have caught the kobolds' attention. T'Zaric turns himself invisible, then walks into the room, keeping his eyes open for the fly idol - which he doesn't see. Wishing to aid his friends by distracting these creatures, he goes to the far side of the room - near a second narrow tunnel - and kicks a stone.
One of the kobolds casts a spell in his direction, missing, but now there's no doubt that something is happening. The four who have wings fly up onto shelves near the ceiling, while a couple head for T'Zaric and the others move towards the tunnel entrance. Inside the tunnel, there is a great deal of confusion, as there is very limited mobility and Stor is the only one who can see in the dark.
Realizing that he needs to buy more time for his friends, T'Zaric drops a fireball that explodes at his feet, filling the room with an explosion of fire that kills half the kobolds. He gets scorched as well, but he knew he would either be hitting himself or his friends.
In the cramped and narrow tunnel, the rest of the 3rd Watch is able to make their way to the blocked tunnel opening, but, though they take down some more of the kobolds, the going is slow and they can't stop getting in each other's way.
And that is where this game session abruptly ends. Come back next week to find out how the battle ends in Episode 39.
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