Session 18 — The DM Had Been Looking Forward to This

Session 18 — The DM Had Been Looking Forward to This

The party took a long rest, woke up, immediately set a large patch of brown mold on fire, and then spent the rest of the session hunting a creature the DM described as "so dumb, and I've been so excited."

What Happened

The session opened with a decision about the long rest: yes. The winery cellar was secured, the doors were locked or barred, and the only unresolved architectural feature was the secret door Brother Moro had spotted with a 23 Perception — the one in the dividing wall between the two cellar halves, the one the party had pointedly closed because of the cold air and the darkness and the sound of reason. Nobody had to open it.

Sable Burrowbane opened it. She brought a torch.

Brown mold covers walls, floors, and ceilings when it has been sitting in a cold cave tunnel for an unspecified amount of time. It does not react well to fire. It reacts to fire by expanding in the direction of the fire source and covering the creature holding the fire. Sable had a 17 Constitution save (success), took 11 cold damage from having the heat leached directly out of her body, made a second save on a nat 20 when she could not throw the torch in time, took an additional 7 cold damage, and managed to exit the cave. The torch was out. The mold had moved 10 feet down the tunnel. The party sealed the door, agreed the cave contained nothing useful, and declined to discuss this further.

Celeste cast Cure Wounds from her Acolyte background and brought Sable back to full hit points. This established that the healing existed, that it was once per long rest, and that it did not require a spell slot. The party took notes.

During Brother Moro's watch the previous night, a figure had been visible in the vineyard — sometimes walking, sometimes crouching, sometimes vanishing underground. Celeste's watch produced a closer look: a humanoid with an oversized head, crouched at roughly 15 yards, digging a hole, disappearing into it, reappearing 15 yards away, scurrying into the tree line. She cast Detect Magic. It was not magical. The ring took 5 cold damage from the ring, as was its habit, and now holds 29 points stored.

Pre-dawn, the party went squatching.

Sable moved through the vineyard rows — silent, ears flat, Perception 24. She located two things. First: a hole in the dirt that had not been dug by hands. The edges looked like something had swept them aside with a flat blade. Second: glints of metal in the early dawn light, distributed across the vineyard in a rough pattern. She returned, reported, and went to investigate the metal. She rolled a 1 on Investigation. She rolled a 25 on the resulting Dexterity save when she didn't see the bear trap she had walked into. Her tail counted as a hand. She cleared it with a full backflip. She disarmed the trap with a 15 on Thieves' Tools, pried it open without breaking a stick, and took it with her.

The party split. Merich and his wings went up and over the vineyard toward the eastern tree line. Sable and Brother Moro advanced on foot, checking carefully. Celeste sent her cat up. Esmeralda stayed back with Stanley.

Merich reached the tree line first and found more holes — man-sized, numerous, arranged along the border of the trees. He looked down into one. He got to the other side with a straight d20: nat 20. He stood up.

A medium humanoid with a giant head locked eyes with him and paralyzed him for one round with a Wisdom save. Merich made it on a nat 20 at the top of his turn and was no longer paralyzed. Initiative was called.

The creature — described by the DM as having a head based on "the giant plaster-mache head they have him wear in the performance," its knees bending backwards like a bird's when it ran, its entire stat block drawn from the actual cannibal Shia LaBeouf — fought the party in the tree line. It was not magical. It was, however, resistant to non-magical bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage, which became relevant halfway through the fight in what the DM considered a balanced and fair reveal.

Brother Moro emerged from his hole and moved through Spike Growth to reach it, taking 7 damage from Sable's spikes in the process, which the party considered a reasonable price. The party traded attacks through two rounds of difficult terrain, resistance, and Celeste's Eldritch Blast arcs. Merich cast Hex. Stanley clawed it. Celeste's cat flew. Esmeralda contributed a 1st-level Magic Missile.

Brother Moro stunned it. It did not escape the stun. Brother Moro then grappled it. It did not escape the grapple. On its turn, it used its actual cannibal bite on Merich for 10 necrotic damage and healed itself. Then it got down on all fours and sprinted — technically 60 feet, reduced to 30 in the tree line's difficult terrain — away from the party, which triggered opportunity attacks from both Merich and Brother Moro for a combined 27 damage.

Celeste's cat killed it. The head exploded into confetti. The DM had been looking forward to this.

No loot was discussed. The DM said that was a conversation for next session.

Key Decisions

NPCs Met

Locations Visited

Items Found

Loose Threads