# [[028_20210620 Meeting the Mother]] ## Session Summary Faced with a 35-foot chasm and a broken bridge, Boris used the favor he'd acquired from the Lash of Shadows to fly each member of the party across to the other side. At the bone door to the lair of the Mother, we deliberated on what to do until Boris brazenly knocked down the door and stepped into the dark chamber. The Mother, who had clearly been expecting us, finished a ritual to touch the two normal Fire Brand Kobolds before her and turned them into Swolbolds to fight us. She immediately cast Hold Person on Boris, paralyzing him, while flying high up into the cavern as the Swolbolds attacked. Three Earrings particularly struggled during the fight, with several of her attacks seeming to fizzle out inexplicably. Despite her misfortune, the rest of us managed to defeat the Mother, thanks to a midair grapple from Boris and a finishing round care of the traceless, whisper-fast psychic blades of Ora. Before the Mother died, however, she did manage to send a message of warning to Vokodo, who responded with a large roar from not too far away. After the fight, we found a dragonborn man who had been flayed within an inch of his life, who, with his dying words, requested that Ora find something he'd hidden in the Hatchery and keep it safe. Cauldron in tow thanks to Boris, we all retreated to the Hatchery, where we realized that the thing the dragonborn had wanted to protect was the egg of a dragonborn baby that hatched before our eyes. We took a long rest in the Hatchery, with Boris downing a potion of watchful rest to keep an eye on the party. ^summary ## Housekeeping ### Goggles of Object Reading https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/goggles-of-object-reading These leather-framed goggles feature purple crystal lenses. While wearing the goggles, you have advantage on Intelligence (Arcana) checks made to reveal information about a creature or object you can see. In addition, you can cast the identify spell using the googles. Once you do so, you can’t do so again until the next dawn. ### Identifying magic items https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/treasure#IdentifyingaMagicItem - handling it gives you a clue that something is extraordinary or magical - Identify spell - Focus on one magical item per rest - potions are an exception: one little taste is enough to tell you what it does - Wearing or experimenting with it reveals properties - Some magical items don't immediately reveal properties. ### Heroes' Feast (Ora and CTE) until the end of the night - immune to poison and being frightened - advantage on Wisdom saving throws - increased HP ### Psychic Whispers Boris, Lira, and the Magma Belcher Basilisk until 15:30 (1.5 more hours). ### Drinking a potion Drinking a potion is a bonus action. Still better than the standard rules, where it's an action. ## Recap ![[027_20210606 Bridge over troubled lava#^summary]] ## Quest [[The Rumble at Rumblecusp]] ## Strong start > Boris has just killed the last kobold assassin, who had already partially turned towards a crack in the wooden bridge. As it got struck down, with its dying breath, it just managed to fall right onto the crack. You hear a loud creak as the crack widens, then SNAP, and it is completely severed. Part of the bridge that had already been weakened just snaps off and falls with the dying scream of the kobold to the lava below. (SCREAM) > Boris, you're standing on the bridge and just feel the floor beneath your feet suddenly go slack as the remaining sides of the bridge, which weren't supported from below, begin to fall. What are you going to do? ## Scenes - [x] [[Vokodo the Volcano#Bridge Over Troubled Lava]] - [x] DC 14 to get past the broken bridge. Possibilities: long jump, flight, rope, immovable rod, misty step, dimension door > The red-orange glow of the lake’s surface burbles now and again with a spurt of seismic activity, with globules of molten magma splattering with an oozy sound to be reabsorbed into the lake of lava. The heat is oppressive coming off of the lake, stealing the breath from your lungs and making you sweat through your clothing in a vain effort to cool your body temperature. - [x] [[Vokodo the Volcano#Lair of the Kobold Queen]] - [x] Eryn tries to get Ora on her side. She attempts to make a deal with Ora to get the crown back if she helps fight Vokood. - [ ] [[Vokodo the Volcano#Magma Bridge]] - [x] Returning to the Hatchery to find out what [[Trynnicus Ebynichtomonis]] left. - newborn dragonborn > The egg, smooth and iridescent, trembles and cracks down its middle with a sudden flurry of movement. A pair of clawed hands emerge, followed by a reptilian beak. The newborn dragonborn lifts their head, eggshell sitting like a conical hat on top, and blinks their eyes with horizontal eyelids. > The reptilian infant yawns wide, displaying a full set of sharp, white teeth. Their iridescent scales gleam as they move clumsily but determinedly, rolling from side to side to try and gain momentum to stand. With claws already wicked to look upon, the infant finds purchase and stands shakily, using their stubby tail for balance. ## Secrets and Clues - [x] [[Captain Three Earrings|CTE]] is losing her abilities due to her shifting allegiances, and needs convincing not to turn on the party in order to take the orb in Vokodo for herself. - [ ] [[Jannika Jäger|Viridian]] is Jannika Jäger, Ora's nursemaid and the closest thing to a mother that Ora has. She was freed by [[Aro|Karolin]] from the [[Vergessen Sanatorium]] in [[002_20210612 Where is my sister]] (835-09-10, about four months ago) and went to Urukayxl to follow Ora's trail, but she was waylaid by [[Thunder the Dragon Turtle]]. Her ship was shipwrecked in [[Rumblecusp]] and she became Viridian. - [ ] Eryn is a rogue/paladin who was sent like a trophy to marry Eluun, the Banoranth prince. However, she found to her surprise that she actually liked him, despite the deeds of his father. - [ ] [[Jannika Jäger]] has followed Ora into the volcano as a skunk. - [x] Killing Mother Krangor will stop more of the mist from being generated in her lair. The effect does not stop immediately, but it dissipates within a day. - [ ] If Boris takes three levels of fighter, he will become an Echo Knight. - [ ] Three Earrings has been having nightmares as Uk'otoa warns her she will be punished if she does not do as he commands: take the orb. Break the chains. Set him free. - [ ] Mother Krangor believes, and Vokodo has not done anything to dissuade her from this, that Vokodo wants to help the kobolds rise to power and take to the skies. The reality is that Vokodo just wants help protecting the orb that he was tasked by Tiamat to protect. - [ ] Vokodo is magically and physically trapped inside this volcano by Tiamat, who has promised that his constant service in protecting the orb will earn him his freedom someday. - [ ] Jamedi is technically undead. If Eryn does Divine Sense, she will learn this. However, she's not as clear-cut about her morality as most elves, so she listens to his story and keeps his secret. ## NPCs - [ ] [[Jannika Jäger]] - [ ] [[Eryn]] - [ ] [[Trynnicus Ebynichtomonis]] ## Monsters - [ ] [[Mother Krangor]] ## [[Loot]] ![[Vokodo the Volcano#Loot]] --- ## Log Start: 2pm Stealth for Mother 25 Lira 31 Eryn 25 Ora Ora took three more vials of encode thoughts. She should have five. Boris takes watchful rest and we all took a long rest 15:30: Ora loses Psychic Whispers with Boris, Lira, and the Magma Belcher Basilisk Eryn approaches Ora during the long rest and says: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oVexCJom86Q" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> > You've made no secret of the fact that you don't like me. That's fine. You don't have to like me. I don't have to like you. But perhaps we can come to an arrangement nonetheless. > There is one thing that I want. I came here with a magical item of emotional and familial significance. It was stolen from me. It connects to this circlet and is of no consequence to anyone outside the Feywild. It is mine by right, and not harmful unless someone other than its true owner attempts to use it. If we find it in this volcano, I request your help, should I need it, in convincing the rest of your party to let me keep it. > In return, I will help you and your party defeat this Vokodo to the best of my abilities. And should we succeed, I will give you, personally, my entire share of any treasure we find, including items other than the one I seek, magical or otherwise. Not your party. You. > You watch my back, and I watch yours. At the end of it, we go our separate ways. So not a friendship, then. But a working relationship. Do we have a deal? Ask Boris to roll checks to see if he notices: - Qresk watches the eggs, tapping them and then scooting backward when they start to crack. He pokes at newborn snakes and kobolds, but not to hurt them-- it's all done in scientific curiosity. - that Jamedi is not sleeping. In fact, he does not sleep the entire night. (8: Boris only knows that Jamedi is the last to sleep and the earliest to rise.) - that just before the rest of the party sleep, Eryn approaches Ora and talks quietly with her. (9: Boris doesn't hear anything of the conversation.) - that Three Earrings is not sleeping soundly. She's tossing and turning the entire night. - that Lira gets up early and goes to perfect her disguise. She'll cast Disguise Self, but she'll still need to rebind her wings. (natural 1, for 2 total. Boris just knows she got up early and was "freshening up" in the far side of the cavern.) - Jamedi rolled a 6 on perception for this, so he didn't see it either! But he has probably noticed by now that Lira always does this in the morning. Lira rolls a 22 on a Performance check to keep her wings bound. End: 836-01-26 04:00