DnD Thu Ep#68(267) Played Feb 14, 2019 (Ches 8, 1490) Hammer Time

INTRODUCTION

When last we left the In REALLY DEEP Hammers

and those preparing to swap universes with them ... again 

... or not,

the team had recovered the Revivitor stone and 

preliminarily decided to return to their home universe 

to get on with the business of saving the world, 

though Herbak was having ideas about 

engaging his alter-Herbak 

in a conversation about morality and misleading the flock. 

And that Herbak can be pretty persuasive ...

(Persuasion +3) ... just sayin'.

THE TIME IS 1000 HOURS, THE 8TH OF CHES (MARCH), 1490 (Home Universe)

SCENE 01 - Next Move?

Poised to get on with saving the universe(s?), the team has yet to depart and faces a purposeful Herbak, fairly committed to the notion of making his alter-self see the alter-light.

Taking 20 Minutes to Decide to GO!

• Mystra/Mystara would NOT appreciate having her followers misled ...
• In THIS universe, maybe the goddess's name IS Mystara
• At ANY rate ... HERBAK fails to convince the group to let him pursue his reaching out to Alter-Herbak
• but wait ... :) 
• The team heads down to the Anywhere-Again room and plans to target the location beneath Mirabar where they left the ghosts ... BUT 
• Veralt wants to know if the Anywhere-Again room can also drop them at a TIME of their choosing. PITCHES this idea with a Persuasion check of 17 ... sounding pretty convincing. 
• Gilam and Llyrin counter roll Insight at 1 and 7 ... SO ... Veralt convinces the group to TRY to displace their arrival by an hour later than would normally be the case.
• How will we know it's an hour later?
• Plan A - Veralt checks out his star map at night after climbing up 3 levels 
• Plan B - Ask the ghosts "how long ago did we leave"
• Plan C (Flora) - what if we check the time in another location and then come back, now knowing that the AA room does or doesn't shift time
• Plan D (Flora) - what if we don't try to mess with time
• Flora tries to counter-persuade the group with a 15 ... not quite enough
• Veralt proposes they try targeting the moment right AFTER the group left for Catworld ... if they land there a day later, they'll know that the AA room (a.k.a. "the cushiomatic") can't do time shifting. If they DO land a moment after leaving, they know it CAN target times. 
• Llyrin decides to take the center cushion - INT or WIS check, whichever is higher for the "driver"
• First attempt - fails
• Gilam tries - Nat 20!
• The group reappears well below Mirabar in the 3rd Hammer Room - 
• ghosts aren't present, 
• Halls sleeps in the corner and 
• The cushions came with you and so did the eggs.
• Did time displacement NOT work ... or did Gilam intentionally NOT try to displace time  

SCENE 02 - Back Home Again/"Hammer Time"

After a few minutes of being back in third Hammer Room, the ghosts drift back in through the walls, and they seem pleased to see you've returned ... expectant even. 

• LLYRIN removes the Revivitor Stone from the Bag of Holding ... and FWOOSH!!! All eight dwarven ghosts burst into blinding green flame
• As the party regains their sight, there are eight dwarven clerics, quite alive, standing before you.
• The dwarves, as you may recall, are the now-living cleric folk who were originally sacrificed by the invading army to create ghosts to protect the Sacred Hammers and the Anvil Room. 
• Brought back to life, the cleric dwarves volunteer to help you in any way they can
•  After considerable debate, the group decides that it's OK if the clerics suit up and guard the upper Anvil Room to make sure it's not destroyed while you're below. 
• Yes, you can use your EGGS to return to the alternate universe room but this would give you a local evacuation option that doesn't cost the party anything to secure.  
• Should Halls come along? As a guide? 
• Halls has never gone as deep as you're about to go ... she can't help guide you that far down.
• How does the Anvil Room Portal work?
• Three timed strikes HERE brings you to a matching Anvil Room THERE (down below)
• Three timed strikes THERE brings you back to the Anvil Room HERE (up top)

Hammer Time

• The cleric dwarves explain how the anvils work
• #1 strikes
• #2 strikes 3 seconds later
• #3 strikes 3 seconds later
• #1 strikes 
• ROLL 1 - Gilam = 4, Flora = 4, Argus = (couldn't hear)
• ROLL 2 - Gilam = 4, Flora = 1, Argus = (couldn't hear) 
• ROLL 3 - Gilam = 10!, Flora = 7, Argus = (couldn't hear)
• Veralt points out that as a Half-elf, he's ... 
• Well... Veralt isn't half Dwarf.  An entire half of him is Elven (a mix of multiple elf bloodlines)... but the other half of him is a mix
• His race is "Half-Elf Mutt".  

• ROLL 4 - Gilam = 4, Flora = 16, Argus = 17
• OK ... this is NOT working
• INSIGHT CHECK - Flora - 7
• The aching arms say let's take a short break and let someone else try
• VERALT wants to try to control their timing in "slow" mode enough to make them swing at the right time ... but this doesn't sound promising enough to try.
• LLYRIN will count out a cadence (ADVANTAGE)
• ROLL 5 - Gilam = 15, Flora = 15, Argus = 2
• "This hammer is out of balance!!!" (Argus)
• ROLL 6 - Gilam = 17, Flora = 15, Argus = 19 YAY!!!!!

With a brilliant flash of light, the group appears in the lower Anvil Room, FAR below Mirabar.

Back Up Plan

• Veralt casts "Time Trigger" to allow a single word to correctly time the fall of the hammers once the first one has been struck ... this way, if the group wants to use this mechanism to effect an escape, only one blow and a word will do the trick ... this is set up.
• This takes a half hour to ritually set up
• WHILE Veralt is working on that ...

Moving On

• LOWER ROOM - THE DOOR - A single door leads out of identical Anvil Room room - Gilam finds the door to be locked (rolls 22) 
• No Traps - Llyrin unlocks the door and sticks his nose out to see how the passage looks beyond the door
• DOOR swings out into 10 feet of FINISHED STONE CORRIDOR, followed by a UNFINISHED STONE TUNNEL of much more roughly hewn stone. 
• Flora casts STONE CUNNING (ADV from Gilam) - 23, YAY
• Formations are well over a mile under ground. 
• It's a bit warm down here. 
• The roughly hewn tunnel extends away from the lower Anvil Room, but this is still just roughed out, not clear if it was intended that it be finished out or not.
• Extends out 50' from the room and then splits in a T
• Glowing stones inset in the wall provide light
• Flora uses her Archaeologist Background - Looks into the question "Why is this here?"
• WHAT FLORA LEARNS (INVESTIGATE = 11)
• Looks at the room, tunnel, some runes
• This was built a long time ago with the purpose of allowing only a select group of people to come to this place which they believed to be the furthest depth of caverns below Mirabar, and that this area contains a secret that the select few don't want most folk to know about.
• At the end of the Tunnel, there's a T intersection
• Marching order
• LLYRIN
• ARGUS
• GILAM and HERBAK (carrying Revivitor)
• FLORA and VERALT
• Clover
• LEFT BRANCH
• Llyrin peaks left - 30' stretch of tunnel, then a right
• RIGHT BRANCH
• Llyrin peaks right - 30' stretch of tunnel, then a left
• Flora looks further down the RIGHT branch and finds a metal door down the 2nd 90' tunnel
• GOING LEFT BRANCH
• After turning right, a widening tunnel extends 90 feet to a location where 3 warriors with 2 large dogs are standing watch
• Anyone else going down the tunnel would likely be visible in the light of the bonfires
• The guards are tallish and well armored 
• Llyrin uses Spider Climb and makes his way up the wall to get above and closer to the dark figures
• Flora casts invisibility on Llyrin, along with Veralt and Flora (spell casters need this sort of cover)
• Llyrin advances 45 feet closer to the dark figures, and looks down toward them as he approaches - not going to be easy to get behind the dark figures.
• Llyrin is able to make out ... these are DEATH KNIGHTS.  
• Llyrin recognizes them (INT = 14) as Death Knigths (remembers seeing them in Waterdeep (ours, the one that burned down)
• The dogs look pretty creepy too.
• Three additional doors exit the larger room beyond the Death Knights - 1 large passage, two smaller doors.
• HERBAK hands the Revivitor Stone to 
• DEX Check handing stone from Herbak to Llyrin - they don't drop it
• CLOVER
• Going after a snack, DEX check - 7 dropped a jingling trinket on the stony floor.

NOTES FROM JAMES  

The items Veralt is making for Gilam

• From JAMCROW to Everyone:  12:24 PM
• To Chris:
• Veralt walks up beside Gilam and motions his head towards Herbak's new mask.  He waggles his eyebrows and then mouths "YOU'RE NEXT"
• From JAMCROW to Everyone:  12:43 PM
• So, conditions of the 3 Time Triggers
• Hammer 1:
• Anyone in the party EXCEPT Gilam says "Exit"
• Gilam can instead say "Hooray Veralt"
• Hammer 2:
• 3 seconds after Hammer 1 hit anvil
• Hammer 3:
• 3 seconds after hammer 2 hits anvil
• HALF ELF MUTT - includes dwarf!!!