Spelljammer Recap #10

 

Spelljammer Recap 10 Sunday April 27, 2025 @ 12:00-3:00 P.M.

<<WARNING SPOILERS FOR THE LIGHT OF XARYXIS! >>

CHAPTER 10: SPACE INVADERS

    P40-X shot her pistol twice at the Solar Dragon but only hit once, shooting a bullet that her faeries followed to a dragon scale that they ripped off. The Solar Dragon did another fly-by attack and hit WuKong with its tail.  Nebun poisoned a crossbow bolt and fired at the Solar Dragon but missed. WuKong threw two darts at the Solar Dragon and hit once. Topolah cast Ice Storm on the Solar Dragon. Captain Elaina Sartell unleashed the mangonel stone and struck the Solar Dragon. Warwyck Blastimoff fired his musket and pierced the skin with the missing dragon scale, and the Solar Dragon was killed.

[At the beginning of next session, the party gets to loot The Xaryxis and go to Level 9.]

    The party found 700 copper pieces, 4,000 silver pieces, 2,500 gold pieces, 110 platinum pieces, and 11 gems worth 50 gold pieces each on The Xaryxis. They found 300 gold pieces in a sack with a note that said Dead Man’s Hand Money in the ashes of Grimzod Gargenhale. They looted two other Star Moths and gained 5 small golden statues worth 25 gold pieces each on one ship. They found an Adamantine Scale Mail that Nebun equipped, and a Longsword +1 on an Astral Elf Commander on the other Star Moth. Nebun gave his old Scale Mail and the Longsword to Warwyck Blastimoff.

       Topolah grieved Grimzod’s second death until Lefty crawled up on her shoulder reminding her a piece of him was still alive. The party escorted their Astral Elf Priest prisoner to the brig and found Zanth and Blackbird nearly completely drained of all health. The Will O’ Wisp and Grimzod had been feeding on them.

       The party took a Long Rest and leveled up to 9. Nebun noticed his Plasmoid body was growing a thick membrane while he made some basic poison. His fingertips had fingerprints; even his pseudopod. The rest of the party saw him growing taller and his face had growing brows and pointed ears giving him an elven appearance. The ring also seemed to restore strength perhaps by feeding on the energy of Nebun’s body.

      The Second Wind stopped next to The Moondancer. Fel Ardra demanded her remaining 200 gold pieces. Paid in full, she decided to go with them to the Imperial Citadel. Dakaer’s Tarrasque, Zoth’ess’ Gadabout and two other wasp ships were gone from the sector having looting and left presumably for Doomspace or the Rock of Bral.

CHAPTER 11: CROWNING MOMENT.

       The Moondancer and The Second Wind landed at the Common Docks of the Imperial Citadel. Topolah and Lefty, Warwyck Blastimoff, Fel Ardra, and Mister Flinch went with them to the Temple of Light. The party managed to stealth their way through the crowds and enter the Temple of Light at the moment of Emperor Xavan’s cremation within the light beam. Princess Xedalli stood accused of treason by Prince Xeleth. She countered by saying that Prince Xeleth had exiled her to die on Toril. The crowd didn’t believe Princess Xedalli so she asked for Trial by Combat. Prince Xeleth said only one with a Ring of Shooting Stars had that right. Nebun and the party appeared and Princess Xedalli pointed to them as her champions. Nebun raised his hand with the ring so all could see it as Tamayo told the crowd the truth. The crowd turned to Princess Xedalli’s side. Prince Xeleth sneered and chose the Zodar that had served their family since the first emperor as his champion.

        The Zodar floated forward to fight the party. Nebun cast acid Glyph of Warding on a stone and placed it in the Zodar’s path. The Zodar rolled over it and it exploded, dealing acid damage to the Zodar and Nebun. But the Zodar was immune to acid, and Nebun resistant to acid, so very little damage happened. The Zodar punched Nebun twice and tried to teleport him out of its path but Nebun rolled a natural 20 on his save. The series of attacks left Nebun at 11 Hit Points from a 75 max. Tamayo cast Magic Missile and struck the Zodar with three balls of force. Fel Ardra cast Shield of Faith on Nebun to give him +2 to AC. Warwyck missed the Zodar twice with his longsword. Mister Flinch fell over trying to lunge at the Zodar with his short sword. Topolah cast Mage Armor. Lefty flicked off the Zodar. WuKong summoned his astral arms and missed the Zodar from 10 feet away. P40-X cast Hunter’s Mark on the Zodar and went to work on her favored enemy, an aberration. She shot it twice with her pistol and had her faerie swarm trace the shot for nearly 40 damage.

      Nebun cast Healing Word on himself. The Zodar dodged out of the way of Nebun’s Sacred Flame cantrip. The Zodar didn’t like that and floated towards P40-X, taking damage from an opportunity attack by Warwyck Blastimoff who slashed it in the back with his longsword. The Zodar punched P40-X and tried to teleport her away but she succeeded her saving throw with help from Tamayo. On its second punch, the Zodar fell over off balance. Tamayo cast Magic Missile again to summon three more bolts of force. Fel Ardra cast Spiritual Weapon summoning a pair of astral daggers with a horn-like appearance but missed the Zodar’s prone form. Warwyck hit the Zodar once with his long sword. Mister Flinch missed twice with his short sword. Topolah also cast Magic Missile. Lefty made a three fingered flick of the wrist, imitating a magic missile. WuKong hit twice with a flurry of blows. P40-X dropped her pistol and stabbed at the Zodar with her rapier twice. Her rapier and faerie swarm ripped into the Zodar for thirty more damage leaving it shredded in parts of its armor.

      Nebun cast Aura of Vitality and healed himself. The Zodar got up and hit P40-X hard following up with a teleport attempt that failed with Tamayo’s help, leaving P40-X at 2 hit points. But the Zodar’s second hit sent P40-X flying into the rock wall behind her as the Zodar turned around to face Warwyck Blastimoff. Tamayo cast Witch Bolt and hurt the Zodar with electrical damage. Fel Ardra cast Sacred Flame but the Zodar used a Legendary Action to avoid it. She also missed with her spiritual daggers with her bonus action. Warwyck hit with his longsword once. Mister Flinch managed to hit twice with his two short sword attacks. Topolah cast Magic Missile leaving the Zodar teetering. Lefty made a V sign. WuKong punched thrice and took down the Zodar with the first two, whiffing the third as the Zodar drifted down to the ground and powered down.

       Nebun used Aura of Vitality to heal P40-X back to consciousness.

       With the party succeeding in the Trial by Combat, Princess Xedalli was declared Empress. She asked for her ring back from Nebun. He tried to take it off, but it remained firmly attached to his body. Empress Xedalli seemed to be enraged by this “refusal” and ordered her guards to give her champions their justly deserved reward…capture and execution.

CHAPTER 12: LIGHT OF XARYXIS

      The Zodar whirred back to life and began floating again. It then spoke in a resounding voice, “TAKE THE RING OF THE STARS INTO THE HEART OF THE STAR WHERE IT WAS FORGED, AND YOUR WORLD WILL BE SAVED!” Golden light shined from the eyes of the Zodar and washed over the party. The Zodar then drifted back down to the ground, rusted over, and disintegrated into red flakes.

     The party gained the effect of a Long Rest. P40-X found her visions of doom gone. WuKong achieved temporary Nirvana. “Skittles” appeared next to Tamayo ready for battle. Nebun’s outer membrane returned to normal and the Ring of Shooting Stars began to loosen from his finger.

     Prince Xeleth summoned a Solar Dragon and mounted it to try and escape. Empress Xedalli ordered her twelve Astral Elf Bodyguards to attack the party…

[End of session.]

Spelljammer Recap #9

 

Spelljammer Recap 9 Sunday March 23, 2025 @ 12:00-7:00 P.M.

<<WARNING SPOILERS FOR THE LIGHT OF XARYXIS! >>

 CHAPTER 9: DISCORD AND DIPLOMACY     

     Just then Prince Xeleth crashed through the glass dome surrounding Starbase Vocath on the back of a young Solar Dragon. Prince Xeleth boomed out, “I am Prince Xeleth of the Xaryxian Empire. I have come to save my sister. Surrender her to me, or die.”

    A fleet of a dozen star moths surrounded Vocath’s Starbase. Vocath lowered the force field around the arena. Princess Xedalli cast an illusion and then teleported into the arena. The party noticed footsteps in the sand. Princess Xedalli dropped her Ring of Shooting Stars into the sand and used telepathy to tell Nebun that he would need it to get to Xaryxispace. Princess Xedalli then teleported back and ended the illusion. Nebun noticed the ring was missing once the spell ended. Princess Xedalli agreed to go with Prince Xeleth back to Xaryxispace for his coronation.

     Vocath agreed to let the party try to form a coalition to fight the Xaryxian Empire. He let them have two hours to rest and get themselves presentable after cleaning off all the blood from the arena. Nebun used this time to attune to the Ring of Shooting Stars.

     Captain Elaina Sartell convinced the Human pirate captain of the space galleon Tarrasque, Dakaer, to join the alliance. Tamayo convinced Rika to join the alliance with the help of a star chart from WuKong as she wished to lead her Aarakocra people out of Doomspace and into a new Wildspace system. Rika was the second in command of Kree’esh of the shrike ship Skyrra. The star chart WuKong gave her said Humblespace.  Takana, a Thri-kreen in command of the scorpion ship Vrusk, was easily convinced with food from P40-X and Tamayo’s silver-tongue. Zoth’ess, a Ssurran from Fyreen in command of the wasp ship Gadabout, was convinced to join the alliance for 500 gold pieces to pay back his debt to Vocath. The party used Mending to repair his ship’s broken legs. Vortshu, an Aartuk from Aruun in command of the lamprey ship Remora, was the hardest to convince. He defeated Tamayo in a wrestling match and then was bested by WuKong who convinced him to join the alliance. Having convinced all five factions to join the alliance, Vocath added two hammerhead ships and five squid ships manned by Human, Thri-kreen, Aartuk, Aarakocra, and Ssurran mercenaries.

    The party long rested as it took ten days to assemble the alliance. Captain Elaina Sartell resupplied the ship and hired an extra crew member.

     It took the coalition thirteen days to leave Doomspace, with the other ships following Flapjack, Topolah, and Captain Elaina Sartell’s navigation aided by the Wildspace Orrery.

    After reaching the Astral Sea, the party encountered the Second Wind. The Second Wind was commanded by a Tiefling spellcaster called Fel Ardra. She had been searching for The Moondancer at the behest of Mr. Flinch trying to find Commodore Krux and to collect on the debts she was owed by Commodore Krux. P40-X told Mr. Flinch about Commodore Krux being a soul stored inside of her. The party convinced her to join the coalition by negotiating a 1,200-gold piece repayment plan with 1,000 gold pieces up front. Mr. Flinch made P40-X a new outfit. 

 CHAPTER 10: SPACE INVADERS     

     On the way to Xaryxispace, the group encountered a female Githyanki Knight called Dagaz riding a red dragon. She landed on the deck of The Moondancer and asked for any information about Mindflayer activity. Nebun told her about the encounter with the Lucent Edict and that there were no living Mindflayers aboard that they had found. Satisfied that they were telling the truth, she flew away on her red dragon.

     After two more days, the group arrived in Xaryxispace. Flying for most of a day, the group neared the Imperial Citadel and managed to ambush one of the Star Moths flying patrols around the Imperial Citadel. With that, the six faction fleets in the coalition started to engage the six Xaryxian Empire Star Moth patrol fleets.

     The party engaged the Star Moth Xaryxis, in the command of Commander Vael. The two ships exchanged mangonel and ballistae fire as they approached one another. Tamayo cast Ice Storm dealing damage to the Star Moth mangonel and surrounding crew. But this also triggered Wild Magic with Grease emanating from her and she fell over along with Captain Elaina Sartell. Nebun cast Guidance on P40-X to help her aim. WuKong summoned his astral arms.

    Nebun used his Ring of Shooting Stars to make a ball of lightning that rolled over a ballista and the crew manning it. When the ballista was destroyed the crew manning it went into the lower deck of the ship to hide. Topolah cast Fly on WuKong, allowing him to fly over to the back of the Xaryxis and start attacking the Astral Elves manning the mangonel, knocking one out. The Will o’ Wisp started draining the life from the unconscious Astral Elf taking them from an alabaster complexion to a sickly gray color.  Grimzod Gargenhale shot his heavy crossbow at the Astral Elves fighting WuKong and hit one. Warwyck Blastimoff fired his musket twice at the Astral Elves but missed. Captain Elaina Sartell couldn’t move anywhere because of the grease.

    P40-X hit the second ballista. The Astral Elves couldn’t fire the mangonel, so they used their Astral Elf radiance ability to enchant their longswords as they drew them and surrounded WuKong. Tamayo continued flailing about on the deck of The Moondancer. Nebun rolled the ball of lightning onto the second ballista, destroying the ballista and dealing damage to the three Astral Elves manning it. WuKong dropped one of the Astral Elves with a three-hit combo. The Will o’ Wisp drained another Astral Elf of all life. Grimzod Gargenhale shot one of the Astral Elves dead. Warwyck shot his musket twice and one of the shots grazed an Astral Elf while one nearly hit WuKong. Captain Elaina Sartell managed to get up from prone.

     P40-X launched a mangonel stone at the Star Moth mangonel that almost hit WuKong. The Astral Elves manning the second ballista ran inside the lower deck of the Star Moth to hide. Tamayo cast Fireball and hit the Astral Elves and the Will o’ the Wisp for minimal damage. WuKong leapt out of the way with his Evasion and flight. The remaining Astral Elves attacked WuKong and hit him twice. WuKong used his Hadozee Resilience to mitigate some of the damage. Nebun leapt over to the Star Moth through the open window and moved the ball of lightning to deal damage to the ship’s hull. WuKong knocked out one of the Astral Elves. The Will o’ Wisp drained an Astral Elf and recovered its lost health. The Will o’ Wisp then fled back to The Moondancer. Grimzod Gargenhale dropped the last Astral Elf on the sterncastle of the Star Moth. Captain Elaina Sartell waited for the grease to wear off.

     Meanwhile, in the battle raging around them, Captain Kree’esh was killed by a ballista bolt. The shrike fleet was down to just the Skyrra. Lieutenant Rika withdrew the Skyrra from battle and led the last of her people towards the Astral Sea to find Humblespace. Captain Vorthsu’s lamprey fleet was destroyed and he died cursing WuKong and Tamayo as well as The Moondancer ever arriving on Aruun. Captain Takana’s scorpion fleet was destroyed in glorious battle. Half the Star Moth battle groups were derelict and Captain Zoth’ess had his wasp fleet on the move to other sectors.

     P40-X fired the mangonel and destroyed the last Star Moth siege weapon. She then dashed over to the Star Moth lower deck through an open window and made it to the ladder underneath the forecastle. WuKong snuck inside the lower deck of the Star Moth as one of the Astral Elves went upstairs to inform Commander Vael of the situation.  Tamayo cast Firebolt and burned down one of the Star Moth’s wings before leaping over to the Star Moth sterncastle. Nebun opened up the door. He moved the ball of thunder inside and wiped out one of the Astral Elves. Then he closed the door. Grimzod Gargenhale shot his heavy crossbow penetrating the Star Moth’s hull with a crossbow bolt. Captain Elaina Sartell waited for the grease to wear off.

     P40-X climbed up a ladder to get to the Star Moth forecastle.  She spotted three Astral Elves behind glass on the bridge. She shot her pistol at the glass and shattered it by using her faeries to cut a circle in the glass where her bullet had weakened it. Then she shot the female Astral Elf wearing the Spelljamming Helm after casting Hunter’s Mark on her. The Astral Elf Spelljammer took off the helm and hit P40-X with a rain of radiant light but P40-X maintained her concentration on Hunter’s Mark. The Astral Elf Honor Bodyguard moved his body between P40-X and the Spelljammer. He hit P40-X with a ray of radiant light but again she maintained her concentration. Commander Vael teleported right next to P40-X.

     The Astral Elves tried to get through the door, but couldn’t push Nebun out of the way. The other Astral Elves got told to fan out by the returning Astral Elf messenger. WuKong, ambushed one of the Astral Elves and killed him by breaking his neck. Tamayo went down to the lower deck. She cast Lightning Bolt that WuKong dodged and then hit an Astral Elf, killing him instantly as it hit the ceramic wall of the Star Moth and ricocheted back into him as his corpse fell before striking two other Astral Elves. Tamayo was limned with brilliant yellow light from a Wild Magic surge. The light blinded WuKong and he fell over backward onto the stairs. Nebun cast Glyph of Warding on the door handle and he climbed up the ladder to be out of the blast radius. WuKong got up and tried to punch an Astral Elf but punched Tamayo in the back instead. He blindly flew up the stairs to the Star Moth sterncastle. Topolah cast Firebolt and burned the other Star Moth’s wing. Grimzod Gargenhale shot his heavy crossbow and struck Commander Vael. Captain Elaina Sartell ran to the ballista and fired at the Star Moth’s hull.

     P40-X stabbed Commander Vael twice with her rapier and once with her faeries. Commander Vael attacked P40-X twice but missed. The Astral Elf Honor Bodyguard tried to hit P40-X with a ray of radiant light again but missed. The Astral Elf Spelljammer tried to break off the Star Moth from combat but the ship wouldn’t move. So, she dropped her helmet and said, “I surrender!”

    The Astral Elves downstairs opened the door and were dissolved by acid from Nebun’s ward trap. The other Astral Elves were confused by the two-pronged attack, so they put their longswords back in their scabbards and unslung their bows while enchanting their quivers with radiant light. Tamayo turned the corner and cast Firebolt at the Astral Elf, burning him. Nebun went back below deck, opened the door and entered the room, casting Spike Growth around the two Astral Elves that were left. WuKong flew around the ship to the other side, using his astral arms to punch through the hole in the glass at the Astral Elf Honor Bodyguard. The angle was awkward, so only one of the punches landed. Warwyck Blastimoff shot Commander Vael twice, once with a critical that did major damage. Topolah cast Fly on Grimzod Gargenhale and he flew over and used his necrotic touch on Commander Vael, “This is for my destroyed fleet and The Last Breath!” Commander Vael was slain and instantly became a Vampirate. Grimzod Gargenhale laughing said, “It is high past time I started to form a new crew!”  Topolah cried out, “You told me you wouldn’t do that anymore!” Vael the Vampirate said, “Who am I? What is happening to me?” Unable to hit anything besides the Star Moth and with a fight happening on the forecastle, Captain Elaina Sartell moved her crew to man the mangonel instead and launched a boulder at the Star Moth that missed.

     As Commander Vael died, screaming was heard resounding from the white-hot sun of Xaryxis. Seven Solar Dragons left the star, five of them heading to the remaining coalition fleet, and two of them heading towards The Moondancer and The Xaryxis. The Solar Dragons and remaining Star Moths fought the coalition fleet in tandem, destroying the remnants of Vocath’s mercenary fleet in the last hammerhead and squid ships. However, one of the Solar Dragons met its end from a mangonel stone thrown by the Treant Starbough on The Second Wind. Captain Dakaer of The Tarrasque managed to destroy a Solar Dragon by pin cushioning it with several ballista bolts. Captain Zoth’ess continued to use his strategy of landing on forecastle of the Star Moths with his Wasp ships, preventing their ballistae and mangonel to fight them effectively. He then let loose his fierce Ssurran warriors to break the bridge and slaughter the Spelljammer to take the Spelljamming helm. The last Star Moth drifted aimlessly as the Wasp ships flew off the forecastle and began engaging the Solar Dragons with their ballistae.

       P40-X shot the Astral Elf Honor Bodyguard but missed once. Her faeries followed the bullet and were funneled inside the bridge, hitting him in the shoulder before returning to P40-X.  The Astral Elf Honor Bodyguard cried out, “Commander Vael! No!” Then he struck Grimzod Gargenhale with a ray of radiant damage. Grimzod used his Uncanny Dodge reaction to prevent his disintegration. The Astral Elves downstairs shot Nebun twice and Tamayo twice, but Tamayo used a Shield spell reaction to block the two arrows. One of the Astral Elves was blinded by looking at Tamayo's brilliant aura, so he couldn’t see the spikes at his feet to avoid them and took damage from the Spike Growth. The Solar Dragons approached the ship. Tamayo cast Firebolt on the blinded Astral Elf but missed. Nebun poisoned a bolt but his shot hit the wall of the ship instead of the Astral Elf. WuKong punched at the Astral Elf Honor Bodyguard again, and hit once. Grimzod Gargenhale said, “So you wish to join your commander in death?!” He tried to grab the Astral Elf Honor Bodyguard through the hole in the glass and hurt him with his necrotic touch. Meanwhile, Lefty crawled from his shoulder down his arm and leaped off, grabbing the Spelljamming Helm. Topolah cast Ice Storm, targeting the incoming Solar Dragons. Captain Elaina Sartell shot the mangonel but missed a Solar Dragon at long range. Warwyck Blastimoff, readied his musket for when the Solar Dragons entered his long range.

        Captain Dakaer crushed a Solar Dragon with a mangonel stone. The Wasp ships peppered a Solar Dragon with ballista bolts until it drifted lifeless in space. Captain Fel Ardra killed a Solar Dragon with a ballista bolt. With the Solar Dragons defeated, the fleet moved back towards The Moondancer to try and help if they could reach them in time…

       P40-X ran up to the hole in the glass and shot at the Astral Elf Honor Bodyguard at a 45-degree angle with her pistol. One attack missed, but the other one hit him in the left shoulder with a bullet and her swarm of faeries. The Astral Elf Honor Bodyguard slashed at Grimzod Gargenhale’s right arm and he disintegrated into a cloud of necrotic ash. Topolah screamed out, “No!” The cloud of ash hit WuKong, P40-X, and the Astral Elf Honor Bodyguard. Vael the Vampirate said, “I am free! I will have my revenge!” The two Solar Dragons approached the ship and unleashed radiant breath that disintegrated Vael the Vampirate instantly. The Astral Elves below deck missed their attacks against Nebun and Tamayo with one taking damage from the Spike Growth. Tamayo cast Firebolt and killed the blinded Astral Elf. Nebun cast Guiding Bolt but missed. WuKong moved over in front of the hole in the glass and unloaded a flurry of blows that knocked out the Astral Elf Honor Bodyguard. Lefty threw the Spelljamming Helm out the window onto the forecastle deck. He then crawled over and choked the life out of the unconscious Astral Elf Honor Bodyguard. Topolah cast Cone of Cold and hit both of the Solar Dragons. Warwyck unloaded his musket thrice on the lead solar dragon. Captain Elaina Sartell struck the lead Solar Dragon with a mangonel stone.

       P40-X shot a solar dragon twice and then slid down the ladder to go below deck. The last Astral Elf hit Nebun with a longbow arrow and he lost concentration on Spike Growth. The Solar Dragons attacked WuKong with their tail and bite attacks; hitting with the tail attacks only. Tamayo cast Firebolt and hit the last astral elf from behind. Nebun fired a crossbow bolt into the last astral elf’s jugular. Nebun then cast Mass Healing Word to heal himself and P40-X as a bonus action. WuKong unloaded a flurry of blows on the lead solar dragon, hitting twice. Topolah cast Magic Missile and dealt some damage to the lead solar dragon. Warwyck Blastimoff fired his musket twice, hitting the lead solar dragon once. Captain Elaina Sartell missed the lead Solar Dragon with a Mangonel Stone.

      P40-X clambered up the rope ladder and shot the lead Solar Dragon with her pistol twice. The first shot removed a dragon scale. The second shot pierced the skin and her metallic faeries traced the bullet inside and carved out the Solar Dragon’s heart. The last Solar Dragon did a fly-by attack that missed WuKong but hit P40-X with its tail. In this position so close to The Moondancer, Captain Elaina Sartell could only have the crew load it as the Solar Dragon was inside the firing arc of the mangonel. Tamayo went up to the sterncastle of the ship looking for a way to help while keeping her aura of blinding light away from her allies. Nebun climbed up the ladder and cast Guiding Bolt but the Solar Dragon seemed immune to it. WuKong flung out two darts and struck with one of them on the Solar Dragon. Topolah cast Ice Storm on the Solar Dragon. Warwyck Blastimoff hit the Solar Dragon once with his musket.

    P40-X shot her pistol twice at the Solar Dragon but only hit once, shooting a bullet that her faeries followed to a dragon scale that they ripped off. The Solar Dragon did another fly-by attack and hit WuKong with its tail.  Nebun poisoned a crossbow bolt and fired at the Solar Dragon but missed. WuKong threw two darts at the Solar Dragon and hit once. Topolah cast Ice Storm on the Solar Dragon. Captain Elaina Sartell unleashed the mangonel stone and struck the Solar Dragon. Warwyck Blastimoff fired his musket and pierced the skin with the missing dragon scale, and the Solar Dragon was killed. 

[At the beginning of next session, the group gets to loot The Xaryxis and go to Level 9.]