Session 5 - Gnomengarde

The Party has chosen their Rider’s Bond:

Diz – Dragon Knight: her bond will focus on the physical might of her dragon.

Kali – Dragon Mage: her bond will focus on the magic flowing between herself and her dragon.

Burr – Dragon Friend: his bond focuses on becoming one with his dragon.

Kali and Burr rush into the room and see Diz being held by one of the claws coming out of the wine barrel. Burr attempts to help Diz but is grappled by another of the barrel’s claws. Suddenly a gnome jumps out of the second barrel and yells for the first barrel to stop. He introduces himself as Bim and lets them know the other gnome is Bop. They tell the party that are hiding because two other gnomes have gone missing and they don’t want to be next. The part asks them to take them to the actual wine barrels.

They pass through a room on their way to the wine barrels that has a rotating platform equipped with four heavy crossbows that reload automatically bolted to the floor. Sitting in the chair when the Party first enters is the device’s inventor, a rock gnome recluse named Facktoré. She swivels back and forth but lets the Party pass by as they are accompanied by Bim and Bop.

They continue on and enter the Wine Cellar. This room contains twelve gallon size barrels set into wide alcoves. Each barrel is secured by a wooden brace. The barrels in the south alcove have been tapped with wooden spigots. After some investigation the Party see that two of those barrels are half full, and two are nearly empty.

Diz then investigates the remaining 8 barrels. Seven of the eight barrels in the north and east alcoves are untapped and full of mushroom wine. As she goes to open the eighth barrel it comes to life, opening its mouth wide showing pointy teeth and a purple tongue. The party begins attacking the creature, but Bim and Bop flee in terror. Kali chases after them calling them cowards and insisting they come back and fight, as this is their home. During the fight Sutton-Hoo accidentally zaps Cyprus while aiming for the creature. In the end they are able to defeat it. Kali and Vroeas grab Bim and Bop by the scruff of their necks and bring them back to the barrel. Diz and Burr cut off the creature’s tongue to show as proof that it has been defeated. They all take a short rest to regain their strength and then convince Bim and Bop to bring them to the Kings.

They continue on and are stopped by two gnomes called Ulla and Pog who have been instructed by King Korboz to be on the lookout for a shape changing monster. They question the Party and after attacking both Kali and Diz are convinced by Burr that they are Dragon Rider’s and they have defeated the shape changing monster. They are then allowed to pass.

 

They exit the caverns for a moment, crossing a bridge that takes them over the falls before entering back into the caverns on the opposite side. This area is lightly obscured by mist from the waterfall. The larger eastern part of the room contains two rapidly spinning devices that look like turnstiles fitted with stacks of long, sharp blades spaced 1 foot apart. The northern turnstile spins counterclockwise, while the southern one spins clockwise. Bim and Bop make their way effortlessly between the blades and stand on the other side. Burr follows behind them, showing an amazing amount of dexterity. Once on the other side, he sees a lever and turns off the blades so the rest of the party can make their way through before turning the blades back on.

As the Party approaches the next area, they overhear an argument in between two rock gnomes, Fibblestib and Dabbledob. As Gnomengarde’s foremost inventors, they are trying to dream up an invention that will cure King Korboz’s madness. Fibblestib’s proposal is a sanity ray. Dabbledob thinks that’s dumb, and wants to build something called a straitjacket instead. Diz interrupts them and suggests they not use the sanity ray and that the Party has defeated the shape changing monster and they can show the Kings proof. As the party looks around they see the workshop is cluttered with half-completed gnomish inventions that serve no purpose, as well as worktables strewn with tinker’s tools. A 10-foot-high ledge overlooks the room, set with a wooden pedestal on which sits a leather-bound book. Diz convinces them to let her have the book. Its cover describes its title as Magick of Gnomengarde (in Common and Gnomish), and it contains the wizard spells burning hands, detect magic, identify, mage armor, magic missile, shield, and sleep.

The Party first tries to talk to King Korboz through the chamber door, but he stops responding. Fibblestib suggests the secret door to the chamber located behind the thrones in the throne room. Diz and Kali go to check it out while Burr stays behind at the chamber door. As Diz opens the door he sees King Korboz who startles and slams the door at the end of the corridor. The Party is finally able to convince him to open the door so they can show proof that they have killed the creature. Upon seeing the creatures severed tongue the Kings embrace and lead the Party into the throne room. They discuss the creature and Diz suggested Ulla and Pog make up a new unit within the Kings’ Guard who’s daily job it is to walk about the caverns and poke everything with sticks to make sure there is never another shape changer.  

The grateful gnomes give the Party a clockwork amulet and pole of collapsing (G13)

Clockwork Amulet: This copper amulet contains tiny interlocking gears and is powered by magic from Mechanus, a plane of clockwork predictability. A creature that puts an ear to the amulet can hear faint ticking and whirring noises coming from within. When you make an attack roll while wearing the amulet, you can forgo rolling the D20 to get a 10 on the die. Once used, this property can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Pole of Collapsing: While holding this 10-foot pole, you can use an action to speak a command word and cause it to collapse into a one foot long rod, for ease of storage. The pole’s weight doesn’t change. You can use an action to speak a different command word and cause the rod to revert to a pole; however the will elongate only as far as the surrounding space allows.

They also receive a gift from each king: a wand of pyrotechnics from Gnerkli and a hat of wizardry frim Korboz.

Wand of Pyrotechnics: This wand has 7 charges. While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 of is charges and create a harmless burst of multicolored light at a point you can see up to 60 feet away. The burst of light is accompanied by a crackling noise that can be heard up to 300 feet away. The light is as bright as a torch flame but lasts only a second. The wand regains 1d6 +1 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the wand’s last charge, roll a D20. On a 1, the wand erupts in a harmless pyrotechnic display and is destroyed.

Hat of Wizardry: This antiquated, cone-shaped hat is adorned with gold crescent moons and stars. While you are wearing it, you gain the following benefits:

-       You can use the hat as a spellcasting focus for all your wizard spells. 

-    You can try to cast a cantrip that you don’t know. The cantrip must be on the wizard spell list, and you must make a DC 10 Arcana check. If you succeed, you cast the spell. If you fail, so does the spell, and he action used to cast the spell is wasted. In either case, you can’t use this property again until you finish a long rest.