Week 41
TL;DR - The Hive attack begins
The march to war begins. Jaxzon gives his lion an out of the contract he’s embroiled in. Leaving the cave the party travel out across the leaves, more and more Fey creatures can be seen joining the march.
Several minutes of walking later, the trees up ahead look more twisted and gnarled, along with signs of spider webs and other infestation. Some groups of Fey creatures start readying weapons.
Several wierd sounds can be heard, the occasional scream as allies are taken by teleporting spiders. The commanders tell the party to stand down, as they need not worry about them.
More evidence of corruption can be seen, strange insects that haven’t been seen before - bear sized insects, mantis’ and centipeded, as well as bipedal spiders. Beyond the gnarled trees, an arachnotitan can be seen moving toward the army.
Serbereth bids the party farewell, and rushes to attack the arachnotitan, his size increases.
Sir Bearington calls the party near and asks them to prepare themselves - Jaxzon casts Stoneskin, Iliqua activates Bladesong and his Longstrider boots, Shebrum gets his poison dagger ready, Zer0 simply swings his sword about. The party are requested to physically touch for the spell.
YEET.
“I see you have decided to visit me after all.” - Endo.
The battlefield is boggy marsh, a pulsating mass of black flesh and pustules, and a large rotten tree trunk ahead with Endo sitting in the middle.
The same fear effect overcomes the party again, but the sewer druid plays a set of panflutes to remove this very quickly (Calm Emotions).
“Well, aren’t you clever little Satyr.” The shadowy visage fades to show a humanoid with gross facial features.
Shebrum jumps into a nearby bog, Iliqua interrupts the monologue with a firebolt doing a decent amount of damage.
“I guess the Fey lack of manners has rubbed off on you. How about I teach you some?”
(Traits: Lord type, controls minions. Resiliant, lots of health. Soul boss, if the party die, all other characters die too. Not merciless, will not finish downed characters.)
Initiative: Endo (19), Shebrum (15), Iliqua (15), Jaxzon (12), Zer0 (8), Sewer Druid (2)
— ROUND ONE —
Endo points to the bog containing Shebrum and tries to poison it. Shebrum succeeds his saving throw but still takes a bit of damage (5). He then spawns a hardened maggot from the Hive.
Shebrum exits the acidic bog, shoots an arrow at Endo, hitting but doing very little damage. He then continues to the next bog and jumps in.
Iliqua casts Fireball centered near the maggot, but Endo counterspells it. He moves to the right near the forest wall.
Jaxzon performs a martial check to find attack information - one action + bonus action. Douse, Swarm Rises, Trapjaw, spellcasting focus.
Trapjaw - a 10 feet square patch on the ground, difficult terrain, with a grapple option.
Jaxzon moves up, and casts Shatter to hit Endo who saves against it (6). Then casts Spiritual Weapon next to him, hitting and doing some damage (7).
Zer0 dashes up to the maggot.
SD spawns a floating green leaf that heals those who stand near it, then hides behind a rock.
— ROUND TWO —
Another maggot exits the hive, and hits Zer0 (immunity to disease comes in handy).
Endo casts Stinking Cloud targeting SD and Iliqua - the former fails losing concentration on the healing leaf, the latter passes.
Shebrum tries a martial check to see if Endo can be poisoned. He activates his psychic dagger and makes it invisible, moving it next to Endo ready for the next round.
Iliqua exits the cloud and fails to do a martial check, then casts Fireball again, hitting two maggots, Endo and Zer0 (33 damage). Four more maggots tumble out of the hive. Finally he moves off to the left.
Jaxzon moves up and summons the glass elemental. A spiritual weapon bonk connects with Endo (6).
Zer0 moves up to the maggots and critically hits a maggot, killing it and levelling up his sword. A second attack hits, but doesn’t quite kill a second maggot. He moves behind Endo for future flanking attacks.
SD moves out of the cloud but can’t do anything more due to a coughing fit.
— ROUND THREE —
Endo closes his eyes and chants “Move my children” - the maggots sink into the ground then reappear next to every one of the party. One hits Zer0, resetting the disease damage. One hits Jaxzon and applies the same disease effect. One hits Shebrum, disease effect again. One misses Iliqua. The last hits SD.
Shebrum commands his dagger to attack - hitting and doing a decent amount of damage (15), however a rebuff also damaged Shebrum (7). An attack on the nearby maggot does some damage (6).
Iliqua swings on his maggot but misses twice. A martial check to find out health gives some useful info. He moves away from the maggot, using Shield to block the attack of opportunity, ending up next to Endo.
Jaxzon gets info about the swarm movements, and commands his elemental to squash a maggot and try to hit Endo (misses). He attacks with his axe, the first misses, the second hits with a divine smite added (32). His spiritual weapon misses.
Zer0 kills the nearby maggot, gaining an understanding that killing enemies no longer upgrades his sword, offers Endo a chance to surrender which he declines. His second attack on Endo hits, doing a decent bit of damage (14). Using one of his special Second Wind things, heals up 14 health (1 of 3 used).
SD runs from the maggot, which critically hits, and he recasts his healing leaf, placing it under Zer0.
— ROUND FOUR —
Endo casts Insect Plague, covering everyone bar Shebrum and SD (20 to Iliqua, 10 to Zer0, Jaxzon and the Elemental).
Several maggots combine to form a swarm and move to attack Zer0, hitting on a second attack. Other maggots move and try to attack SD (miss), Shebrum (miss).
Shebrum makes a run for it, nearby maggot misses its opportunity attack, and a thrown Venom Dagger misses horribly. His psychic dagger does hit (18), and gains advantage on his next martial check, and moves behind a boulder. Insect Plague is disrupted, the insects returning to Endo.
Iliqua casts Green Flame Blade, both attacks miss. A martial check gains info on Douse - healing from maggots, and AC boost per 10 health. Can also cast a similar spell to Poison Spray.
Glass Elemental burrows under the tree trunk, picking up a large amount of insects underneath. Attacking the maggot swarm hits twice (25 damage), reducing the swarm to individual maggots (less two).
Jaxzon attacks Endo with his knuckledusters and smite (27 and 20). A hit from his Spiritual Weapon to end his turn (10).
Zer0 finds more health info on Endo, then attacks twice (37 with a crit).
SD casts Moonbeam on a few maggots, two pass, one fails and dies. Then misty steps away from the maggots.
— ROUND FIVE —
Endo throws acid at Zer0 who fails a save taking some damage (12).
Maggot swarm attacks Zer0 twice, missing both times. Others move and miss Jaxzon, a second solo maggot misses Zer0. Others move looking for targets in the water pool.
Shebrum stabs with his psychic dagger, missing the first and hitting with the second (12), also taking the same rebound damage (6).
Iliqua tries again with Green Flame Blade, finally hitting Endo (13) and the maggot swarm (7). A second attack also hits (9). He moves and casts Aganazzar’s Scorcher targeting Endo and the Swarm (both fail, 15 fire).
Jaxzon attacks Endo with his axe and divine smite once (22), with a non-smite attack second (13). Spiritual Weapon hits (11), causing Endo to drop his worm form. The ground rumbles and rises, a large swarm of bugs erupts out pushing everyone away.
A large worm like thing replaces the original Endo form and yells “Fear me!”.
To be continued…