Session 16 — Stanley Lives Again (The Sign Does Not)

Session 16 — Stanley Lives Again (The Sign Does Not)

Merich received a birthday gift: a scroll that could resurrect a saber-toothed tiger killed by a lightning dragon. The scroll specified this specific set of circumstances. The party took this as evidence that someone out there is paying attention. They used it, recovered Stanley, and then immediately subjected him to spike growth. This is the arc of Stanley's life.

What Happened

Morning broke on The Stone Tower (Lake Baratok). Celeste's ring did its thing — the Dream Weaver's Thorn rolled eight, took eight damage, stored eight more, and now sits at twenty-six points. Something is accumulating. Nobody has established what. The ring remains unconcerned.

A raven arrived at the window carrying a wrapped package. It handed the package to Sable Burrowbane (Animal Handling 28 — she's a ranger and also, technically, an animal) and then stared pointedly at Merich until she threw it at his head. The note said happy birthday. The box contained a resurrection scroll — single use, NPC tigers only, requires death by lightning dragon, no exceptions. A scroll so specific that its market value is approximately one transaction. Merich chose the tiger. The party leveled Stanley back into existence.

With the birthday handled, the party pointed itself toward the Wizard of Wines Winery. Esmeralda had reconsidered her plan to immediately depart for Vallaki and was persuaded — mostly by Celeste and mostly by the logic that she had just blown up all her supplies and could use the gold — to travel with the party first. Celeste is officially in charge of Esmeralda's character sheet.

The road south delivered a weather-worn signpost at an intersection. Three arms: north to Kresk (a stone bridge visible through the trees, river beyond), east to Vallaki (road sloping up), southwest to the Wizard of Wines (sloping gently down). Sable and Brother Moro immediately decided to paint over the sign. They put on little overalls, got a bucket of whitewash, and knocked the signpost flat. Celeste rolled 17 to stand back and laugh. The first sign was completely illegible, now horizontal, and both painters were covered in white paint. Sable's dark fur was entirely white. She was briefly an albino bunny.

They kept the blank sign. They also kept the broken sign. They kept going.

A second signpost at a later junction — this one pointing west toward the winery — went better. Sable stepped in her paint bucket (one paw), but recovered. She successfully wrote Wizards of Winerly Place with a giant crayon. They added the first blank sign next to it for ambience. Marked improvement. The rain started shortly after, washing most of the paint off Sable.

Near the vineyard approach, as the trail descended into a mist-shrouded meadow and the building came into view, a cloaked figure at the tree line gestured for the party to come over. He had eight people with him. They materialized quietly from the trees, waited for attention to be established, and then receded back into the tree line as their leader spoke.

His name was David. He said the winery had been under siege — things coming out of the vineyard, attacking, looking for something, then retreating. Workers and children on-site. They could not fight. When the creatures came they hid. He had three barrels ready on the loading dock if that's all the party wanted. But if they wanted to fix the problem, they were welcome to try.

The party wanted to fix the problem. Sable's ears went flat as they walked toward the building.

The winery arrived: old two-story stone, thick ivy on every wall, iron fencing along the roof line. Loading dock. A wooden stable attached to the east wall. A crumbling well to the west. A powerhouse. It had been there a long time and intended to remain.

The vineyard erupted. Inhuman shapes — thirty needle blights, in six groups of five — lurched out of the mist, limbs cracking, heading toward the party. The party ran for the loading dock. Merich and Stanley managed to get into an interior room; Esmeralda followed. Celeste, Sable, and Brother Moro ended up in the loading dock.

From above, a voice. A druid — male, carrying a spongy black staff that bled red when it hit things and made Sable's prey-brain register wrong — cast Entangle. Roots and vines grabbed at the party below. A strength save was called for everyone in the dock. Everyone made it (one Lucky coin spent by Sable).

Celeste used Misty Step to appear on the upper level and immediately hit the druid with Eldritch Blast (21, 12 damage). He hit back — a 17 strike, six bludgeoning, DC 12 wisdom save against the staff's effect. Celeste made the wisdom save (Lucky coin). The druid's concentration dropped; Entangle ended.

Sable climbed the winch rope with her ears (Athletics 12, acrobatics-adjacent) and began shooting out windows. Three attacks per turn, advantage from hiding, sneak attack triggering — the needle blights were discouraged.

Brother Moro did some flippy stuff on the rope (acrobatics 11 — "a sloppy 11" — enough to hang there while tangled but not enough to actually get up) and then made it on the second try (26). He closed the door to the stairwell on his way.

Sable cast Spike Growth in a 20-foot radius sphere centered on the loading dock exterior. Everything in range — which turned out to be everything except the people inside the winery walls — took 2d4 piercing damage per five feet of movement. Six groups of needle blights began walking into it. The DM noted that the rules on spike growth are very dumb, this is a sphere, and everyone should just think carefully before moving. Merich sprouted his wings to avoid walking damage. Merich is an aasimar. He has wings. This was the first time anyone had used them.

Celeste dropped Fireball from the second level into the loading dock exterior — 8d6 damage (cast at her highest slot: 9th-level warlock, so it was 9d6). Three groups failed their save; two passed. Everything on fire. Spike growth remained in effect. The combination was unpleasant for the needle blights and excellent for the party's long-term interests.

Meanwhile, Merich held the interior room door against an advancing second druid — this one female, wearing an animal skin gown, a carved headdress, and a necklace of human teeth. She had twenty-four twig blights behind her. He cast Hold Person on her (DC 16 Wisdom save). She failed. The twig blights had to walk in through a normal door, which meant single file, which meant they ran out of session before they ran out of door.

Stanley bit the held druid for 17 damage (autocrit on a held target). She survived but barely.

Esmeralda cast Lightning Bolt down the hallway. Eight dice. The druid was also still held (held target auto-fails saves). She took 28 lightning damage and died. The twig blights on either side of her took variable damage (28 full or 14 half depending on their saves). The druid's corpse collapsed. No staff this time — she had been armed with something else. The hallway was quiet.

Back outside, the remaining needle blights died to a combination of Sable's arrows, Celeste's Eldritch Blasts (including a natural 20 for 32 damage over two beams), Brother Moro's crossbow, and the spike growth field they kept walking into. The last one standing attempted to climb the winery wall and was shot through a window. The combat concluded with the party's cat at two hit points, standing next to Stanley who had 45.

The session ended as the last needle blight stopped moving. David and his eight companions were presumably still in the trees.

Key Decisions

NPCs Met

Locations Visited

Items Found

Loose Threads