Cursebreaker | 6 - Release the Docktopus
Last time on Cursebreaker. The standoff at the city gates of Lamplight resolved with 0 deaths. Buster, the transformed beetle, managed to usher Joe to safety and regroup with their party just outside the city gates. It seemed Joe, Buster, the courier and the kobolds had chosen their side of the conflict. But when Bert tried to follow the courier's wagon out of the city, he found that Emory had also teamed up with Joe's band of criminals.
Tim / GM:Bert warned him about the cursed sword that he held, but he and Emery remained on opposite sides of the conflict. With Jo gone, Tandi announced that the lockdown was over. She invited the party to debrief in her office and speak with Dave the Minotaur about their next moves. It was clear that they needed to get to Tildry and stop Joe from gaining a following there. Dave left them with a trove of information they could use to try to head off his attempts to get the elixir into new hands.
Tim / GM:Their travel plans were ruined, however, when a storm blew in early the next day. The party spent a quiet afternoon gathering supplies and sipping tea with Veronica Venus, who gave Holly a magic crystal that can create visual recordings of events. Later that evening, the storm intensified. Henry came to the tavern in a panic telling the party that he had lost Mayzie. When they found her on the docks, she was already in the process Maze.
Tim / GM:Veronica, Venus showed up and referred to herself as an old curse breaker and performed a ritual to rid Mayzie of her curse. It worked. But there was a cost. The curse had lashed out at the docks all around it and managed to cobble together a body of animated ropes, wood, sails, and chains. All in the shape of a giant octopus that had wandered too close to the magic.
Tim / GM:It is a dark and extremely stormy night. You can all see waves being whipped up over the tops of the dock. There are flashes of light far out over the bay and, even closer in town creating a sort of constant rumble in the background. The wind is howling, almost deafening you from each other. It is also strong enough to knock you down at some points, especially being out on the docks here.
Tim / GM:Speaking of which, you guys are in a section of town you've been in a few times. Here there are 3 docks. There are 2 wooden docks on the far sides and in the center is a metal graded dock where Uli had been practicing. It's a lot more sturdy than the others. This is also where, Uli had been hit with a loading crane.
Tim / GM:That device is also here. You see a lot of, you see a lot of sealed crates and barrels. You see a lot of ropes and chains and rigging. There are 2 docked ships here. There's a loading crane and, at every, 6 foot interval, there's a burning oil lamp on the dock that refuses to, surrender to the storm.
Tim / GM:Keep in mind, there are 3 people here with you. Henry Muldriff hasn't been able to help much so far, but he looks like he's ready and able to fight with you. Maisie is collapsed on the ground at the end of the dock, along with, Veronica who has also collapsed in a heap near Mayzie. Between the first and second docks, however you want to imagine that in your head, there is a giant octopus. This thing, its arms are mostly made of ropes ending in giant anchors.
Tim / GM:Its main body is comprised of, layered, like, shiplap wood. You can tell it's got some sort of beak on the underside when it thrashes and rides. It's essentially a construct made of of inanimate materials and an octopus as a sort of host. To start our initiative off, is actually, the layer itself. The storm has a turn.
Tim / GM:So, right as this confrontation sort of starts, you all see the sheet of rain come towards you as a, a huge gust of wind kicks up a wave that is higher than the docks, and comes rolling towards you. Everybody needs to make a dexterity saving throw. Ah, fuck. So, you all save except for Tibio, who is actually swept up, in the wave and cast off the docks into the water to start the fight. Tibio is floating between docks 12 in the same pool as the octopus, the octopus.
Tim / GM:Next up, we have Tibio.
Hannah / Eryn:Tibs. Alright.
Tara / Journey:I am threshing about in the water.
Hannah / Eryn:How do you swim with bones?
Speaker 4:Do bones float?
Hannah / Eryn:It depends how old they are, I think.
Tim / GM:They're old bones. They float.
Tara / Journey:They're old bones. Yeah. My bones float.
Speaker 4:So I'm getting a little floaty.
Tara / Journey:I'm gonna use magic missile.
Tim / GM:Alright. So you send, 3 darts kind of, whizzing out of your, skeletal drowning body. What do your magic missiles look like?
Tara / Journey:There's like a puff of kind of smoke that comes out of my skeleton hands.
Tim / GM:Mhmm.
Tara / Journey:And then it's this, like, zappy little firework that has black smoke coming out of it.
Tim / GM:Okay. So you all see 3 of those, rip up against, 3 separate tentacle arms, nailing each of them. And you can see that each of them is actually, kind of like half destroyed by these attacks, as the ropes are sort of shredded on each of those tentacle arms. Next up is Holly and then we've got, the Octopus.
Hannah / Eryn:Tibio. Tibio, are you okay? I'm okay. Okay. Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:Here we go. Okay. I think, I'm gonna cast Witch Bolt. K. And Holly hold out her little crystal.
Hannah / Eryn:Mhmm. Not the not the recorded one, but a different one from her pocket. My focus. A beam of crackling blue energy lances out, forming a sustained arc of lightning between you and the target.
Tim / GM:Pretty big target, fairly easy to hit. You just see this, arc of lightning between you and it, is now crawling all over its body. Looks like the electricity is trying to find a way in, and it, it's causing, these burning holes to be drawn all across the the hull of the octopus. Next up
Hannah / Eryn:Gotcha.
Tim / GM:Is the octopus itself. The, octopus rears up with one of those injured tentacle arms and, you can see the anchor at the end of the ropes glint in the stormlight. And it does a sweeping attack down at the cluster of people, that would include, Snack, Uli, Bert and Holly are being attacked. 11 bludgeoning damage, comes sweeping across the dock. You can see that it's actually ripping up floorboards as it drags the anchor across the ground towards you guys.
Tim / GM:And, that is it for the the octopus's, official turn. Next up is Mayzie and then Uli. Mayzie is, seemingly unconscious, and not moving at the end of the dock. Uli.
Speaker 5:How far away is Maisie and Veronica from me?
Tim / GM:Probably about 30 feet.
Speaker 5:I'm gonna run over to them Mhmm. And stand in front of them. Okay. And then I'm going to, the octopus, like, how much of it is comprised by a flammable material?
Tim / GM:Totally soaked head to toe being in a rainstorm and being in the ocean.
Speaker 5:Right. I am going to cast gust of wind at it. Okay. In the hopes that maybe it dries a little bit.
Tim / GM:This is probably the first time I've seen gust of wind being used to dry something.
Tara / Journey:It's a blow dryer.
Speaker 5:Yeah. But it's a 60 foot line. Okay.
Tim / GM:So I'm
Speaker 5:gonna be like, fuck you, and then punch out it, and it's like wind from my fists.
Speaker 6:Mhmm. And
Speaker 5:okay. So it's a line of strong wind. It's 10 feet wide, 6 60 feet long. Each creature that starts its turn in the line must succeed a strength save or be pushed 15 feet away. But otherwise, I'm gonna be a big, like, shield
Speaker 7:for
Tim / GM:the For the kind of pushing the octopus away at the
Speaker 5:same time.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. That is in effect. It will occur on the beginning of the octopus' turn. Okay.
Tim / GM:Next up is Bert and then snack.
Speaker 7:I'm going to probably stay put. I'd like to cast spiritual weapon on the dock opposite of, where Uli and Maisie and Veronica are.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 7:So a big, inkwell and quill appear on the other side of the dock. Uh-huh. Made of light. The quill's just kinda floating around, shimmering, looking nice.
Tim / GM:Waiting for something to bite.
Speaker 7:And then I'm gonna do my spell attack. 12.
Tim / GM:Let me check. 12 does not hit. Nah. Large as this thing is, it's made of largely solid components. That is a shmesh.
Speaker 4:Shmiz.
Tim / GM:Next up is snack.
Speaker 6:Snack. Cast his cloak aside, dramatically and it flies away in the wind and rain. And using beast speech, I'm going to speak to this octopus creature.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 6:Creature of the abyss, I, Snack, offer you an alliance should you surrender to me and my allies. What say you?
Tim / GM:You get a very mixed message back. You hear something like help me and what happened, but nothing after that.
Speaker 6:Snack, his face turns into from stoic to a grin, and he, decides to accept that this is
Tim / GM:a battle. Okay. I've
Speaker 6:got a few actions that
Speaker 7:For a second, I thought you were joining his side.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Let's do this.
Speaker 5:Did you have to give the poor victim octopus a personality?
Tim / GM:It's still in there somewhere. Right?
Speaker 5:No. It's not getting out alive.
Tim / GM:No. It's not.
Speaker 6:Anything else, Snack? I'm going to, cast hex on the creature. So it'll be like this then. I will zap you to death then. I will,
Hannah / Eryn:yeah.
Speaker 6:So I'm hexing it. Yeah. I'll just continue to taunt and
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 6:Have cast hex, and that'll be my turn.
Tim / GM:Yeah. At the end of your turn snack, you find that this octopus has a little more than the average, evil creature in terms of action ability here. So at the end of your turn, the octopus reaches out towards you with a ropy tentacle. You did not see this come up from the other side of the dock behind you. It's actually reaching an arm under the dock, around to grab you and it makes an attempt to grasp at you.
Tim / GM:You manage to elude it, Snack. You you hear the kind of,
Hannah / Eryn:Snack, look out.
Tim / GM:Stressing of ropes and chains as this thing attempts to wrap around you, but you just duck out of it and move a little bit farther down the dock to get away from it. After that, we have Veronica, who Uli, you can hear her breathing heavily on the dock. After that is Henry. Henry, takes out a wand. He points to, a one of those burning, oil lamps.
Tim / GM:He points to the whole post and he says, fight it. The, lamppost springs to life. Actually, 2 of them, form a crude humanoid shape Yeah. Yeah. With burning lamps at the end of either hand.
Tim / GM:And it starts kind of swinging and flailing wildly as it, like, just runs off the dock immediately and is, like, thrashing and swinging at the octopus. And it manages to spill a little bit of, burning oil towards it. So there's a little bit of burning oil that that is on this, octopus now. It hasn't quite caught fire. The oil is just kind of burning away, but we'll see where that goes.
Tim / GM:Next up is, this storm. The round has set over again. Again, the storm intensifies. Lightning flashes twice as often. The, the burning oil lamps, that mark every couple feet on these docks are swinging wildly, threatening to actually pull from their hinges.
Tim / GM:You guys are taking shelter behind crates and barrels when the wind blows. The the docked ships are starting to come loose a little bit and the storm takes its toll. At this moment, anyone who can't brace on a fixed object needs to roll a dexterity save.
Speaker 5:I'm gonna hold on to Maisie and Veronica Okay. And, like, flatten ourselves.
Tim / GM:Tibia, you're not really subject to this because you're in the water.
Hannah / Eryn:I was just gonna say, I would, like, try to grab the Snack and Bert and, like, huddle together.
Speaker 7:Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:Like, the closest things to me
Tim / GM:Okay. Who
Hannah / Eryn:I would grab.
Tim / GM:So Snack, Bert, and Holly have advantage. Tibio is unaffected. Uli also has advantage.
Speaker 6:Okay.
Speaker 5:We're all flat.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Or or weighted down to some degree. Although grabbing Snack and Bert is not exactly what I'd call
Speaker 6:stable. Snack, is always barefoot, and he's digging his, talons into the
Tim / GM:The wind just blows so aggressively. But in that moment, you guys actually reach out for each other Aw. And hold strong.
Tara / Journey:That's very sweet.
Speaker 7:Thanks, Holly.
Hannah / Eryn:That was a crazy gust. We better make sure to tread carefully.
Tim / GM:Tibio is up next after the storm. In the water, Tibio. What do you do?
Tara / Journey:I'm staying in the water. I will cast chromatic orb.
Tim / GM:Okay. Go ahead.
Speaker 4:10.
Tim / GM:10 does not hit. The, what, what element was your chromatic orb?
Speaker 5:It was gonna be fire. I was gonna burn it.
Tim / GM:You send an a, a beautiful burning orb of flames, kind of magmatic looking, sailing off over the bay, just missing the octopus. I'm
Tara / Journey:being tossed by the waves, so I can't figure out exactly where to aim.
Speaker 7:Here in the horrible wave pool.
Hannah / Eryn:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:Next up we've got Holly and then the Octopus.
Hannah / Eryn:So if I cast another spell, my witch bolt disappears?
Tim / GM:Yes.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. I'll just do witch bolt one more time, I guess.
Tim / GM:Okay. And you can still move around and do other physical things.
Hannah / Eryn:I think I'm gonna just stay close to my friends here.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Which bolt Oh,
Hannah / Eryn:I just gotta do a g 12. Yeah. I don't
Speaker 6:have to
Hannah / Eryn:hit. Yeah.
Speaker 7:Which which bolt's good?
Hannah / Eryn:8. Nice.
Tim / GM:Okay. That's Holly. Were you gonna move at all, Holly? You're
Hannah / Eryn:still No. I'm just we were holding on to each other, and I liked it. So I just I'm gonna keep doing it. Yeah. Perfect.
Hannah / Eryn:It comforted me because I'm a little scared of the rainstorm and the doctor puss.
Tim / GM:The doctor puss goes. And, seeing all the trouble coming out of Holly and that group right there Oh, great. It is going to, actually, it sort of turns and you see some of its, partially thrashed tentacles kind of like flop up and over it and it exposes its sort of underbelly and its beak. Which you can see is actually just a thrashing, writhing mass of ropes, and it jettisons this, this grid of ropes out at you. And, you guys are suddenly entangled by these heavy, slimy, wet ropes.
Speaker 5:Did it get pushed back at all?
Tim / GM:Oh, you're right. It's the beginning of its turn. Let's get pushed back. Yeah, so it actually gets pushed out a little more, into the bay kind of against that wooden dock where, Bert's spiritual weapon is chilling. Because of that extra distance, it actually does not get a great shot off with the, the rope that it just spat at you guys.
Speaker 5:You're welcome.
Speaker 4:Thanks, Lily.
Tim / GM:So I'm gonna give, everybody, advantage on that dexterity saving throw. For those of you that rolled a, 13 or
Speaker 7:higher. That's not a 10.
Tim / GM:You're fine. Those of you who did not are currently entangled in heavy wet ropes.
Hannah / Eryn:Somehow like a hole is just where I was standing and fell around.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Uli, what's your what's your doing? Jesus.
Speaker 5:So it's further away. Yeah?
Tim / GM:Yep.
Speaker 5:I would like to use quick and spell to make a bonus action, and I would like to do reduce on the octopus with that. And then for my actual action, I'm going to use my umbral guard
Tim / GM:Mhmm.
Speaker 5:Over the 3 of us. It's the wand I have to protect us from falling debris, projectiles, and rain.
Speaker 6:Mhmm.
Speaker 5:Cool. If it gets struck by something larger than a human or if it becomes crushed under constant pressure, it stops. But it lasts as long as I'm holding up the
Tim / GM:wand. So
Speaker 5:Cool. So I'm trying to protect us and also make that bitch tiny.
Tim / GM:Okay. Let's, let's resolve the, reduce before we, go through this.
Speaker 5:I'm also gonna, search. Nope. We're good. Okay. Okay.
Speaker 5:So, reduce. 19. Shit. Alright. It doesn't it doesn't get as small.
Tim / GM:You hear, as you, raise the umbral guard with one hand and with the other, you, attempt to diminish this thing in size. You hear a groaning of wood kind of creaking against itself as you see parts of its, body sort of, you know, shrink in and some splinters kind of rise up. But it refuses to be in Smaland. What is effective, though, is that you're holding this umbral guard creating a shield, not only from the rain, but also the wind and and really just kind of from the danger and from the threat and,
Speaker 5:Like, you know, tentacles.
Tim / GM:All of you can see Uli silhouetted by these flashes of light as she's holding one arm up and one arm out, trying to simultaneously save her friends and save the day. Next, we have Bert.
Speaker 7:So I'm grappled.
Tim / GM:Yes.
Speaker 7:And is it movement to get free?
Tim / GM:It would be an action to guarantee that you get free. Okay. I'll do that. Okay.
Speaker 7:Where are the controls for the crane thing?
Tim / GM:Not far from you.
Speaker 7:I think I'd wanna try to make it over there
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 7:And use, use it as cover if possible.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. So there's, like, a whole, sort of pedestal that's got a, like a winch that you would wind up and then a lever. And the lever seems to be cocked and loaded. And, this, this arm, this crane is holding a giant heavy looking crate at the end of it.
Tim / GM:And it's, it's ready to move. However, the, octopus is just a little too far out to hit at this moment.
Speaker 7:Well, I can use use my bonus action to move my weapon next to it again. And 16?
Tim / GM:Does hit. Yep.
Speaker 7:Okay. Great. Eleven damage.
Tim / GM:Alright. Damn. Okay. The, quill, moves towards the end of the dock, sort of sharp end pointed towards the octopus. The octopus sort of reaches up with the tentacle to swat it away, and the tent the, the quill starts darting around the tentacles and just little little, like, kind of like sword fighting, moves and then gives it a good stab right into its hull.
Tim / GM:Next we have Snack. Ends in Veronica and Henry and then the round is over.
Speaker 6:Snack is frustrated by being grappled. Yeah. So he, he bites into the ropes and, makes a frustrated growl. And, I cast, eldritch blast, like, through my teeth and claws, like, freely.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 6:It travels up the rope and then hits the octopus, hopefully. Okay. 18 to hit.
Tim / GM:Oh,
Speaker 6:yeah. So 6 forced damage, 2 thunder, and 3 necrotic.
Tim / GM:Damn it.
Speaker 6:So that was 6.
Speaker 4:That's a mess.
Speaker 6:8. 11 damage total. Okay. So, like, normally, my, eldritch blast is purple, but there's kind of, like, this, like, blood red that is is kind of like following up with it too. Okay.
Tim / GM:And, there's always that little, extra on the side. Is that what you just kinda present as smoke? That little plus 2?
Speaker 6:That's thunder.
Tim / GM:Oh, that's right. That's kind
Speaker 6:of like so there's a concussive sound when it actually hits them.
Tim / GM:Got it.
Speaker 6:So it's kinda like
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. Kind of, gets mixed in with the lightning, I think, a little bit. Yeah. The natural thunder collapse here.
Speaker 6:I also missed that my hex also gives, disadvantage on an ability score, so I'm gonna choose Constitution.
Tim / GM:Oh, great. Okay. You, you hear Veronica. It sounds like she's not doing well. Henry is up after that.
Tim / GM:Henry sees Tibio still thrashing in the water and kind of throws his robes out to the side and, reveals once again his bandolier of wands. He grabs 1, points to Tibio and he says, bo doop. And you see Tibio is immediately encased in a shiny iridescent bubble and begins rising through the air. Tibio instantly rises, 5 feet up and 5 feet away, right over the dock and the bubble pops.
Speaker 4:Merci, sir. Thank you.
Speaker 6:We will show no mercy, Tibia. Not this day.
Speaker 4:Oh, no, snack. That is not it's fine.
Tim / GM:K. Round starts over again. The wind blows heavy. Oh, my wind. This time a another wave comes crashing over, the top of the dock, threatening to dislodge all of you.
Tim / GM:Everybody please make a, dexterity save unless you're, on high ground. Will you hold fast to the those below you as well? Okay. So the tens, you are pushed about 15 feet back from where you were. Woah.
Speaker 6:Oh, that's it? Yep.
Speaker 7:No. That's fine.
Tim / GM:Just kind of like more towards the inner side of the the docks, towards land. Next up is Tibio and then Holly.
Tara / Journey:Can I get a rundown on the condition of the octopus right now?
Tim / GM:Yes. The octopus, has, 3 of its tentacles are kind of like half shredded off. It's got some like burning oil all over it. It's being pushed back by wind that it's constantly fighting against. And, you can see a little sheen of dark magic pulsing through it every now and then.
Tim / GM:Okay. Overall, the octopus is, looking not great. It is it is past the threshold at which you'd call it bloodied if it had any blood.
Speaker 5:Is it looking weathered? Oh.
Tim / GM:That's good. Yeah. It's a weathered octopus.
Speaker 4:I will cast chromatic orb in the hopes to burn this octopus. 22.
Tim / GM:That hits. Yeah. Chromatic Orb, slams right into the hole this time.
Tara / Journey:That is 15. Fire damage.
Tim / GM:So it slams directly into the center of the octopus and you see the flames kind of billow out to every side and almost fully engulf this thing, for just a moment. If there was any oil left on this thing, there no longer is. It is all burned off. The hull is charred terribly. There's actually a large hole in the center of the octopus.
Tim / GM:You can see a few of its, tentacle legs are still burned and smoldering and it keeps diving them underwater to avoid this. It is looking panicked, to say the least. Next up is the Octopus. At the end of your turn, Tibio, the Octopus is taking what's called the legendary action to use one of its abilities.
Speaker 4:But what if it didn't?
Tim / GM:Sure. So next up is Holly. For its action, the Octopus disappears beneath the water. Next up is We
Speaker 7:did it.
Speaker 5:Uh-oh. Does
Hannah / Eryn:my witch bolt still attack?
Tim / GM:Your witch bolt is still, like, going through the water and, like, into the water. And you can see this, like, like, bubbling, earth going down, but you know you're still connected.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Can I move when I'm doing which bolt? It's concentration.
Speaker 7:Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. I am going to try to, as soon as I see it start to go underwater, I'm gonna start running towards where Veronica and, okay, little girl are.
Tim / GM:Yeah. And so because of your witch bolt, as this thing is moving underwater, you can actually track it because there's a direct line going from you to it. And so you can see that this thing is moving underneath.
Hannah / Eryn:Crystal, my purple crystal, like, I'm running.
Speaker 5:It's over there, you guys.
Tim / GM:And and everybody can see this arc of lightning between Holly and the octopus as it's submerged underwater and the occasional pulses of light. You can see a little bit of this giant underwater figure Scary. Deep in the water. And you can see, actually, it's moving to the other pool between docks 23 to be on the other side now. Just trying to give you a little bit of misdirection and get out of
Hannah / Eryn:that windstorm. Veronica and
Tim / GM:Yeah. So you're by them. They both are not conscious, and they both look like they are equally not faring well.
Hannah / Eryn:Uli, I have a healing potion, but I can only use it on one of them. Who should I give it to?
Speaker 5:Give it to Maisie.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. I pop open the healing potion and, pour it down Maisie's throat. I try to hold her mouth open and then, like, get her dinner.
Tim / GM:So, you you prop up Maisie's head and start trying to administer this, healing potion. And, for anyone that's had a healing potion before, they don't taste great. It's not something you'd be tempted to drink as a snack. He gets Yeah. The word snack is illegal at this time.
Hannah / Eryn:She gets 2 d4+2.
Tim / GM:Okay. Maisie actually starts spitting out the healing potion before she drinks all of it and you just hear it go
Hannah / Eryn:Gross.
Speaker 7:Woah. Woah.
Tim / GM:And, she is, probably at full health. She she looks fine.
Hannah / Eryn:You should try to get out get out of here. Get somewhere safer. Go towards land.
Tim / GM:Her eyes kind of just, dark open, and she looks at you and and looks at Uli and looks around and sees Tibio on the dock. And, she, she clearly has no idea what's going on and is trying to kind of catch up.
Speaker 5:I'm just gonna grab her hand.
Hannah / Eryn:You need to get out of here. This is not a safe place to be. I'm holding my crystal in my other hand, after getting rid of the potion.
Tim / GM:Maisie kind of sits up after she's been healed, and you've still you're still channeling this witch bolt, against an octopus deep underwater. And, you just kind of, gently, like, lift the crystal over Maisie's head as the arc of electricity spans, like, you know, this deadly distance between you and the octopus. And then it it eventually fades out Mhmm. And you've lost your witch bolt. Next is can anybody guess?
Speaker 5:The doctor.
Tim / GM:The doctor. Okay.
Tara / Journey:Boo. The doctor poo.
Speaker 5:We've gone dark.
Hannah / Eryn:We don't know where it is.
Speaker 5:If it's out of range, I'm dropping concentration on gust of wind.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. So that that ends, abruptly.
Hannah / Eryn:The eye of the storm.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Well, you notice now the wind had been pushing against you the whole time, Uli. You've just been countering it with your own wind.
Speaker 5:Maybe I don't let it drop.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You feel it again a little bit. You guys see 2 tentacles dart out of the water much faster than before. The octopus is making some desperate moves. At the same time, a tentacle reaches out and tries to grab snack, and one reaches out and tries to grab Holly.
Tim / GM:I need both of you to make, grapple checks. You can choose strength or dexterity. 17.
Hannah / Eryn:6.
Tim / GM:I hate to do this. Snack, but you have disadvantage. You're already grappled.
Speaker 7:Just do it again.
Hannah / Eryn:Do better.
Tim / GM:Oh my Jesus. Yeah.
Speaker 7:Snack can't be stopped.
Tim / GM:Alright. Yeah. So, yeah. Snack, you just what do you do? You, like, get low on the ropes or what?
Speaker 6:I got too many sharp claws, and I just, like it comes at me, and I just scrape it a bunch and Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah.
Speaker 7:And backs off.
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's, it's actually trying to grab you with one of those pre shredded tentacles. Mhmm. And, it's almost like losing half of it because you keep biting and scratching and thrashing against this thing, and it just gives up on you.
Speaker 6:Gets away.
Speaker 4:You do kicky feet.
Tim / GM:Holly, however, gets firmly grasped by one of these tentacles that wraps around you and immediately lifts you 10 feet off the dock. Maisie is next, and she is awake. Maisie sees you just getting pulled away, vertically away from her, and and you see your eyes go wide. And you're just like, don't be afraid. Not away.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. You reach out to her and, and Mayzie just kind of like holds up a hand towards you, and and she actually, like, Mayzie moves as if she's gonna just run right off the dock. But, Uli, you've got her hand.
Speaker 5:Yeah. And I say, Maisie, it's okay. Go back. We have this. You can please run run that way, far, far away.
Speaker 5:I don't know what I'm saying.
Hannah / Eryn:Get out of here, kid.
Speaker 5:She
Tim / GM:looks around frantically, and she sees, she looks you in the eyes, Uli, and she looks down and and sees, Tibio as well. And then she looks and finds Henry. And, Henry doesn't have his wand out. He's not facing the octopus. He's on his knees and he's got both arms out in kind of a, come here and give me a hug, sort of gesture.
Tim / GM:And, Maisie just gives you a nod and crawls out of your arms, Uli, and starts running towards Henry. Next up is Uli, and then Bert.
Speaker 5:Yeah. Uli. So I'm still holding up the wand. I hold out my hand, and I flick 3 times at the tentacles holding Holly.
Speaker 6:Mhmm.
Speaker 5:And I cast magic missile k. Which auto hits.
Tim / GM:Yes, it does. Roll some damage.
Speaker 5:Okay. That's 9 damage.
Speaker 7:Okay. Nice.
Speaker 5:Yeah. I do that.
Tim / GM:You said that was to the octopus directly?
Speaker 5:To the tentacle holding holly.
Tim / GM:Perfect. Okay. So, 9 damage is actually, just a little more firepower than you needed. You see, a little bit of your magic gets, kind of wasted on the ether, but you cut this tentacle in half. Yeah.
Tim / GM:And, Holly just kind of plummets into the water.
Hannah / Eryn:Sorry.
Tim / GM:But it's better than being grasped by the octopus. Yeah. Anything else, Uli?
Speaker 5:Would it be an action to, like, try and move Veronica off the dock with my movement?
Tim / GM:You can move at half speed with Veronica.
Speaker 5:Okay. I'd like to start backing away with her.
Tim / GM:Okay. So, yeah. You get about halfway down the dock.
Speaker 5:Okay.
Tim / GM:Next up is Bert.
Speaker 7:What do you got, Bert? Alright. I wanna make it back to at least the control panel.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 7:But is the the dock bus is still not visible besides maybe
Tim / GM:No. It is it is Oh,
Speaker 7:it came back out. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Yeah. To to grab the
Speaker 7:Is it in range of the crane? Yes. Yeah. Great.
Tim / GM:So at this point, the crane is gonna have to do a a full rotation. So it would be kind of maximum momentum, to smash the 8 Octopus.
Speaker 7:Okay. Well, I wanna try that.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
Tim / GM:Why don't you roll? We're gonna do 6 d6 bludgeoning damage.
Speaker 6:Nice. Jesus.
Tim / GM:As this thing wheels around.
Speaker 7:Special delivery. 22 damage.
Tim / GM:Okay. You throw the lever on this device, and this giant cubic crate comes swinging along on the crane, in a flash of lightning, you see this thing, shatter up against the And, because this is enough to do it in, what was in the crate? Gunpowder. Gunpowder's good.
Hannah / Eryn:Knives. Snakes.
Tim / GM:Somebody goes, oh, my crate snake. My snake crank.
Speaker 7:Crabs, actually.
Tim / GM:Oh. That's really good. Okay. So the Crabs and lobsters and shit. The the wood of this crate just explodes as it collides with the hull of the octopus, and you can see it already start to disintegrate.
Tim / GM:If that wasn't enough, a horde of pinching, angry as hell crabs and lobsters fall out of this crate and start just consuming the rope fibers and the wood, trying to destroy whatever had just disturbed them. And, you see it all sink to the bottom, in a in a briny, murderous scene. Snack. You feel a vibrating at your hip.
Speaker 6:Oh, no. I, frantically rip the ropes off of me and, run to the side of the dock.
Tim / GM:Those of you who are watching where the octopus head sank, see a white light, much like the light that had been, arcing all around the dock to begin with. You see this raw light once again except it's in the shape of a small octopus and it's swimming towards the surface. A regular sized octopus. The octopus begins to crawl up onto the dock and it's sort of a strange, sort of, celestial scene. This thing is made of pure white light and it really has no detail or form beyond a general octopus shape.
Tim / GM:However, crawling across the docks in the relative quiet now after all the action is over, you all see Genie, burst from Snack's lamp and he just says, Calamari. And, he flies down the dock and throws a magical knife into one of the octopus's legs and pins it to the dock. And it immediately starts squirming and trying to get free and, and Genie puts another knife into one of its legs until it's just splayed out all 8 legs on the dock. He takes out another giant cleaver and he just bushes it into little pieces. He takes all the pieces and throws them into the air.
Tim / GM:He's wearing a chef's hat. He takes the chef's he takes the chef's hat off, flips it upside down, and catches all the pieces in the chef's hat. The chef's hat is now a boiling pot of oil, and he shakes it up vigorously. And he says, time to eat. And he throws all of the scraps into the air and opens his mouth wide, and you just see them single file, fall into his gullet.
Tim / GM:And, Genie pats his belly and he says, snack. That was wonderful, Genie. One wish. It's yours. One wish.
Tim / GM:And he disappears back into your lamp. He says it from an echoing distance, that was some tasty magic.
Speaker 7:Yes. What the fuck was that?
Speaker 5:Oh, my god.
Tim / GM:You, you hear another voice from behind you, through the rain wind. It's Tandy.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly's swimming out of the ocean right now. I should get out.
Tim / GM:And Tandy says, what's going on?
Speaker 7:I had a pretty good explanation, like, one minute ago.
Speaker 5:Sorry. Veronica needs help, like, immediately.
Speaker 6:Oh. Oh, I got you.
Speaker 7:I'll I'll, drop the spiritual weapon, I guess, and and cast healing word.
Tim / GM:You all lose a little bit of ambient light as the spiritual weapon fades out.
Speaker 7:Bare minimum. For health.
Tim / GM:Back to you, Veronica? Yeah. Alright. She, spits and sputters a little bit, and then she, like, coughs up a lungful of water, And then she just mumbles, like, I wasn't drowning.
Hannah / Eryn:At the same moment, Holly hauls herself up over over the dock, and then she's, like, and she's, like, coughing and all, like, just, like, super washed up or, like, makeup's running. Yeah.
Tim / GM:She's, like,
Speaker 4:I'm okay.
Tim / GM:So with with just your arms, over the dock, Veronica still laying on her side, reaches out, one of her hands and grabs yours, Holly, and she just kinda smiles and she says, good job.
Speaker 5:Good job, I'm gonna I'm gonna lift both of them up.
Tim / GM:Thank you.
Hannah / Eryn:You just pick us up,
Tim / GM:Ira. Whoop.
Speaker 4:Tibeo goes up to Tandy and says, chef Tandy, there was an octopus made of, the detritus of the ducks that we have defeated now. And the, snake did something.
Speaker 6:Genie cast, he stabbed at a bunch and made it into food, and he ate it, and he laughed, and he gave me a wish.
Speaker 4:But it is gone now. I don't know how, but it is gone now.
Tim / GM:And Tandy looks over the edge of the dock and says, down there.
Speaker 4:It's just gone.
Tim / GM:Yeah. She looks around at each of you to confirm. She says, gone, gone? Like, we don't need to worry about it anymore?
Speaker 5:Yeah. Probably.
Speaker 6:Yes, Jeanie ate it.
Speaker 5:Also, I would like you to look at all of the docs and see that they are intact. You're welcome.
Tim / GM:She, smiles and says, good. You kept it to the metal dock. Good.
Speaker 5:Was I on the metal dock the whole time?
Tim / GM:Yeah. That was the central one. Yeah. That's where it all kind of took place. Yeah.
Speaker 7:Mister Snack, have we been introduced to this Genie?
Speaker 6:No. Genie is my friend. I must keep I must keep him. He's my friend, and we are in different circles, you and I and Genie.
Speaker 7:Well, we'll put a pin in that one.
Speaker 6:No. Yes.
Tim / GM:Up on the dock, Henry and Maisie are sort of, embracing. Henry is carrying, Maisie around, on his arm, kind of, up in his shoulder and, walking around each of you and just kind of, thanking you for saving the town and all of their respective lives.
Speaker 5:Is the storm still going? Yes. Maybe maybe we move this inside.
Hannah / Eryn:Yes, please. Good idea. I'm so cold. Holly's, like, teeth are chattering, and she's, like, got kelp in her hair.
Tara / Journey:Is this a magic storm? Can we tell?
Tim / GM:No. It's just a regular thunderstorm. Just bad timing.
Speaker 5:Can I, I would like to have grabbed my tankard from the dock?
Tim / GM:Sure. Yeah.
Speaker 5:Where she dropped it. Okay. Now I have that.
Tim / GM:Thank you. Good. Yep. Good that we're keeping track of that.
Speaker 6:Sheriff Tandy, how often do these octopuses, come and attack the town such a way? Octo what?
Speaker 7:Octopi.
Tim / GM:This, this is unique. This is by far the largest octopus we'd ever seen, if you could really even call it that.
Speaker 6:Are we insubordinate for acting in such a way without badges?
Tim / GM:Well, no. I wouldn't say you're insubordinate, because you have no superior.
Speaker 6:We are the superior then. Is that what you are saying to Nd?
Tim / GM:Maybe we can think of it as more of a level playing ground. Are you sure you don't want one of these nice warm blankets wrapped around your shoulders like everybody else? Do you want a cup of cocoa? And you look around and other people have taken on the the blanket over their shoulder sort of emergency look.
Speaker 5:Cocoa is, hero's feast.
Speaker 6:Hero's
Speaker 5:feast. It's for champions.
Speaker 6:I will have 2 hero feasts, please.
Tim / GM:You guys, make a, a wet march back to the tangled jib, with cocoa and, rain resistant blankets.
Speaker 6:So blankets.
Tim / GM:So you were you're all well taken care of. Veronica and Mayzie both receive actual medical attention that they need. The next morning is clear and crisp and beautiful and sunny and, nothing like the night before. You actually, it takes you a moment to even recall what had happened. But you do before long.
Tim / GM:And, Henry is knocking on doors, before long, saying that you all need to, get a move on, and then Tildry lies in a wait.
Speaker 7:Is Veronica Rend?
Tim / GM:Yeah. The whole kind of crew from last night, Veronica, Henry, Maisie, and Tandy included, are all, having a very large, brunch together. Okay. Now it's a little later in the day.
Hannah / Eryn:Brunch. Holly, like, sits down, and she, like, flops at the table. She's like, I love brunch, and she just starts eating everything.
Tim / GM:And, Ross comes around with a huge heavy platter of bacon and sets it in front of snack and says, I heard about what you guys did last night. That's a real nice thing. And he, gives you a little, like, little fist on the back snack, and he says eat up, buddy.
Speaker 6:Snack's eyes go wide and, buddy he narrows him quickly and looks at him. I've have I insulted you, sir?
Tim / GM:No. Not at all. Did I insult you? Well, I sit here as a
Speaker 6:hero and I see there is no hero feast at this table.
Tim / GM:He's like hero's feast time.
Speaker 5:Some cocoa, please, for the man. What? Hot cocoa.
Tim / GM:Okay. He takes a beat, and he looks at all of you again. He goes, okay. And he he slowly backs out of the room. Tibeo.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 6:How how do you acquire this Hero's Feast? I very much enjoy it.
Speaker 4:Well, Snack, there is a very rare seed that must be gathered, and then it is roasted for a long time and then ground into a powder and then mixed with very many ingredients to make the hero's feast beverage.
Speaker 6:Bert, do you have this written down? We must remember to gather this for future adventures.
Speaker 7:Oh, I got it written down.
Tim / GM:Great.
Hannah / Eryn:Everybody eat up. Holly's, like, got a cup of coffee, and she's been all cute in, like, a sweater. Do, like, Instagram girl in winter time, Messy ponytail. This is just great. Just great.
Hannah / Eryn:Love brunch.
Speaker 5:Snack. What's that over there? I grabbed some bacon off
Hannah / Eryn:this plate. Alright.
Tim / GM:Make a yeast old check
Hannah / Eryn:and snack
Tim / GM:a wisdom a perception.
Speaker 5:15.
Speaker 6:15.
Speaker 7:Oh, boy.
Tim / GM:Snack, you you see Uli chewing on something. And, she opens her mouth for just a second, and you see, like, a bit of meat of bacon. She's got only pancakes in front of her.
Speaker 6:Oh, they Mhmm. Yeah.
Tim / GM:If you would like
Speaker 6:to partake of my bacon, I I can certainly share, but I do not like being duped in such a way. You have humiliated me in front of all our allies.
Speaker 5:I cut a piece of pancake and I offer it
Speaker 7:too. I,
Speaker 6:stick on my tongue, which nobody has noticed is very long actually.
Tim / GM:Well, I'll take
Speaker 7:it off of her.
Speaker 5:I dropped the fork. You can just have it.
Speaker 7:It's like Jar Jar Binks.
Speaker 6:No. It's not Jar Jar. It's a slow, uncomfortable tongue coming
Hannah / Eryn:out. It's forked.
Tim / GM:Ross Ross, the innkeeper comes back with a supplementary smaller plate of bacon and sets it on the table and, says, this is for everyone else. Also, Bert, I've, I've got something for you.
Speaker 7:Lay it on me.
Tim / GM:Actually, it's, it's, just behind my my desk here, and he walks over to kind of the the front desk or the check-in area of the the tangled jib. And he steps behind the counter and starts looking through some drawers in there. He's kind of making conversation while he's looking for this thing. Bert. He says, it's it's I promise it's it's not a bribe.
Tim / GM:It's not that. That's not what this is. Great. So we're clear it's not a bribe. Right?
Speaker 7:That's what you've said. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Perfect. Alright.
Speaker 7:And no one insinuated it was.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Unrelated. You know, I've I've read a couple of, Wisherspoon articles in in my day, and, you've got some talent, Bert. You're a great writer. And, I think what's better than that is, a lot of people seem to, think the same thing.
Tim / GM:A lot of people seem to like the cuttier jib, whatever it is.
Speaker 7:Oh, are, are people saying that?
Tim / GM:In fact, they are. And, a lot of people I know are actually, starting to say that. And I think, after today, things might get even a little more popular. What do you say in your reports, Bert? You just mentioned how great it was to stay at the tangled jib.
Tim / GM:You know, how I got up every morning and slaved away at the stove so you'd all have bacon and hero's feets and whatever else. He, he grabs a quilt out of a drawer, and you can see just the faintest, literal silver lining on the outside of this quill, and it flickers with a magic essence. And he says, what do you say?
Speaker 7:Well, you know, I can't promise any, any, anything, but,
Tim / GM:yeah, it's Yeah.
Speaker 7:Maybe I could put in a good word for you.
Tim / GM:This belonged to my dad, Bert. It's, it's pretty special.
Speaker 7:Well, no. No. Of course. I mean, this will only be objective reporting for me and my stories.
Tim / GM:And, I think it's fair to say you've had a pretty objectively good time here. Well, I'll leave you with this anyway. Like I said, this is my dad's quill. It's not, what you'd call unique, but, it's his, you know. Anyway, he called it a whisper quill.
Tim / GM:So all you do is you write down somebody's name, and you write down a short message, and then you cross it all out, and then it just disappears. It doesn't even matter what ink you use with this thing, but they hear that message. That's the cool part. Whatever you write down, whoever's name you write, it kinda knows who you mean, and, it gives them a message. So, you know, you could, my dad used to use it to write home when he was out on his research, but, you know, you could use it to, write back to lamplight every now and then.
Tim / GM:What do you think?
Speaker 7:Oh, yeah. That's a nifty little device you got?
Tim / GM:Well, now you got it. It's yours.
Speaker 7:Well, well, thank you. And I do. I just say, objectively, it was a great time staying at your inn.
Tim / GM:He looks at the bar and smirks and starts wiping it down. He says, that's good to hear. Why don't you, why don't you send me a note when you got that article finished?
Speaker 7:You got it, pal.
Tim / GM:There is a, young woman, with blonde hair and dimples, although she looks a little anxious. She's wearing clothes from Tildrey. And, she kind of looks around the room and sees that all of you are having brunch together and that you're also kind of the only people in this room. And so she feels a little like she might be interrupting. But you see her kind of shyly reach up and say,
Speaker 5:Holly.
Hannah / Eryn:Yes?
Tim / GM:Holly, I'm so sorry to bother you. I'm so so sorry. My name is Bella Beaumont. I and if you're in the middle of eating right now, I can I can scram the hell out of here, but if you could spare even just a moment?
Tara / Journey:Sure.
Tim / GM:That's fantastic. And she pulls out a chair and sits down next to you and she grabs a piece of bacon and she starts gesturing wildly kind of in circles and then she takes a bite of the bacon and continues to gesture. Here's the deal, Holly. I know exactly who you are. I know a whole lot about you.
Tim / GM:I know you got a shop in Tildry. I know you're you're part of the guild there. And look. Look. Look.
Tim / GM:And she, like, opens, her bag that she's got, and she pulls out a bunch of, flyers, a bunch of ads that you've created for your store, and she points at the different sketches of dresses and outfits, in the flyers and she says, this one, this was one of my favorites. This was 4 years ago in June. This was the summer to have one of yours. And look, right here. And this this is from later in that November.
Tim / GM:And, she's going through all of the magical outfits that you've put together in the last few years. She says, I'm a big fan.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, well, that is amazing. I, really appreciate dedication. I'm glad you you like my work.
Tim / GM:And it's really I'll just come forward with it. I'm trying to butter you up, Holly, and I'm sorry.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, it's working.
Tim / GM:So here's the thing. I'm from Lamplight, but I studied law in Tildrey. Okay? And it was it was all for today. I wanna be the ambassador for Lamplight, and I think I'd do a damn good job at it.
Tim / GM:I've got my interview later this afternoon, and I think just the last bit of confidence I need, Holly, it'd be one of yours. If you had time, if you had the the components, if you had the resources, I can't pay you much, but, Holly, I'd owe you something fierce.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, when when's your interview?
Tim / GM:About 6 hours.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, let me see what I I might have something on hand that will work and a little tweak here and there. And she Holly is, like, sizing her up with her eyes, and then she's, like, I think I can pull a few things together here.
Tim / GM:Are you serious?
Hannah / Eryn:Of course.
Tim / GM:You're gonna make an original?
Hannah / Eryn:Well, it'll be a slightly, cobbled original. I can't spend my normal time on it, but I'll do my best.
Tim / GM:Well, of course. But if I could get an original pair of Holly Hyacinth shoes, that would be spectacular. She, spends a moment outlining what she needs from you. Lamplight's colors are, a navy blue and a sort of, brassy gold. So Holly, you know that to create the look she is going for, you're going to need 3 special things.
Tim / GM:The first of those things is a stone of Lapis Lazuli. That's a real mineral but it's like a blue rock. The second thing you're going to need for some of the white accents is bone meal. And the last thing that you'll need for some of the metallic sheen are silver dart scales. It's a it's a special fish, if you know how to get your hands on a certain kind of fish.
Hannah / Eryn:I know a fish guy. And I'm taking on the southern accent. Whoo. Look at this.
Tim / GM:And, of course, you'll need, the pair of shoes to be enchanted. Mhmm.
Hannah / Eryn:I am gonna try to get to work doing that and finding that stuff. So Okay. We can
Tim / GM:So you all have the day to, gather the last bit of of supplies and errands and things like that. The weather is good. Today, you will leave, lamplight, for real this time. Woo. On your way out.
Tim / GM:Ross, the boss, just calls out to Bert, and he says, hey, Bert. One last thing. I never liked Joe. I just thanks a lot for sticking a feather in his ass.
Speaker 7:Our pleasure.
Tim / GM:And, I think next time, we will pick it up from there.
