Game Report: DaggerHunt, Session 21
Editor's Note: This is a recap of my weekly Daggerheart game. I'm the GM; we play in a homebrew world, a tropical archipelago. I'm adapting various 5E content from various sources, includiong Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting and The Crooked Moon.
The party faced the consequences of toppling King Ban-Gardax's effigy. Black ooze erupted from the barrow, spawning bone-filled monstrosities that crawled from the earth hungry for memory and sorrow.
"The Head of HR" [Ed. Note: the players get to name any not-already-named monster on the board; this was an absurd example that just stuck!] (a floating mass of ooze and armor) struck first. It ripped fears directly from the party's minds: Otzo's fear of being alone, Prim's fear of being forgotten, Bell's fear of not being enough. Then it hit everyone for 17 direct damage. It's on.
What followed was messy, desperate, and occasionally spectacular. Vanna rolled crit after crit, unleashing chaos (pronouncd "ka-os" at first and then just "cows" by the end) magic that tore through ooze creatures while her companions struggled. Prim burned through his divinity to reduce damage and gave Bell his last four Hope. A triple tag team using the Belt of Unity - Vanna, Prim, and Otzo combining their attacks - dealt massive damage to the boss in a bombastic three-person combo that felt straight out of an Avengers climax.
Meanwhile, Bell sat on the ground. Convincing Argument, her stolen glaive, stuck in the earth. Oozes batted at her harmlessly. Her evasion was too high to touch, but something inside her had already broken. While her friends fought in glorious slow-motion, she stared at nothing.
Then "Quivery" (a minion ooze) caught her. The ooze pushed itself into her lungs, drowning her in place. "Black Squid Puddle" (a leader ooze) wrapped tentacles around her skull, pushing into her brain through her ears. No more HP. Time for a DEATH MOVE!
Bell chose Avoid Death. She took her second Scar (strangulation marks around her neck) and fell unconscious.
Vanna responded with rage. Reign of Blades. More chaos. The oozes died.
Prim healed Bell by coaxing translucent mucus from her body in a scene everyone agreed was properly disgusting. Bell, usually quick with a joke, had nothing to say.
She'd seen something while dying. A lake of black ooze beneath the barrow. Soul goo [Ed. Note: this is a previously-established bit of lore. No, you don't want to know the details.] charged with ancient sorrow. "You can't kill sorrow," she said quietly. "We're going to have to think about how we deal with that."
The party navigated through the shifting mists toward The Rose Knight's resting place. Massive armor lay covered in ooze. Above it floated a spectral figure: a hooded skull, no body, tattered and drifting.
It spoke to Bell directly:
Must I remind you that every rose has its thorn? [Ed. Note: No, he's not above this corny of a reference. Yes, he did read out the lyrics in session.]
Asher. Her ex. Back from whatever this place makes of the dead.
