Spelljammer Recap #4

 

Spelljammer Recap 4 Sunday July 21, 2024 @ 12:00-5:30 P.M.

 

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

CHAPTER 4: A FRIEND INDEED

      Tamayo attuned to the Amulet of Wild Rifts. It became a choker around her neck. When it clasped into place, her spirit left her body and her body went limp in a burst of Wild Magic that manifested itself as astral projection. She left the ship and witnessed her world, Toril, starting to die. Crystalline vines reached beyond the stratosphere and the biggest of them starting to shoot out green light towards the edge of the star system. So much time had passed that the ship, The Moondancer, had left. Tamayo’s spirit followed the emitting green light and it led her to the asteroid field and the scene of the group taking the last of the supplies from the Lucent Edict and the looming ambush of the Nightspider vessel ahead in the asteroid field. Her spirit entered The Moondancer and found her body. Merging with her body, she drew a rasping breath as she became conscious for the first time in 24 hours.

     WuKong investigated the pilfered items in the ship’s hold. Traevus had stolen weapons, brandy, and a chest from the Waterdeep Art Museum. Investigating the chest, WuKong found it trapped. He attempted to disarm it, but trained as a monk and not a rogue, he triggered the sleep dart trap. It had left him asleep for 24 hours. Tamayo found WuKong, shook him awake, and told him about the danger above. WuKong and Tamayo rushed to the upper deck of the ship. 

     The group saw the Neogi Nightspider as it came out from behind an asteroid, a mere 250 feet away from The Moondancer. The two vessels exchanged fire with the Neogi Nightspider having an advantage in possessing a mangonel and two extra ballistae. WuKong manned a ballista as Nebun cast Guidance to assist P40-X with the other one. P40-X and WuKong managed to heavily damage one of the ballista on the Nightspider. The Neogi fired their mangonel and two ballistae. These attacks heavily damaged one of The Moondancer’s ballista and lightly damaged the other ballista. Fortunately, Tamayo cast Mending to heal the more damaged ballista.

      The ships closed to within 170 feet. P40-X severely damaged the enemy ballista with Nebun’s Guidance spell but WuKong missed. Tamayo repaired P40-X’s ballista. The Neogi missed their two ballistae and one mangonel attacks.

      The ships closed to within 90 feet. P40-X destroyed the enemy’s ballista with Nebun’s Guidance but WuKong missed again. Tamayo ran to the prow of the ship and she cast Firebolt at the other ballista and set it on fire. The Nightspider’s mangonel missed again. The Neogi ballista managed to hit P40-X’s ballista. But using the burning ballista burnt the Neogi pirate and his human servants.

     The ships closed to within 10 feet. Tamayo unleashed a Lightning Bolt that hit the enemy mangonel, an Umber Hulk, a human servant, and three Neogi pirates. The human servant was killed instantly and the rest were wounded. Nebun ran to the prow of the ship and he cast Spike Growth on the enemy vessel’s deck. P40-X and WuKong missed the enemy’s ballista. WuKong used his bonus action to summon his astral arms and then ran to the prow of the ship. Captain Elaina Sartell ran to the prow of the ship and drew out two daggers.

     The Umber Hulk and two Neogi pirates ran to the other side of the ship. The four human servants died from the burning damage or spike growth as they tried to run away. Two Neogi pirates died trying to leap to The Moondancer, dying to the spike growth as they planted when they tried to jump and went hurtling into space. The Spelljammer of the Nightspider started a maneuver, turning the ship 90 degrees trying to get their rear ballistae in position to fire.

    The ships closed to near 1 foot (close enough for boarding actions without ramming into each other although it was close with the maneuvers of the enemy vessel.). Captain Elaina Sartell tossed two of her daggers, killing a couple of human servants. She then drew out her scimitar and a dagger in her offhand. Tamayo cast Firebolt dealing some damage to a Nightspider ballista. A Neogi pirate fired their ballista at P40-X’s ballista but missed. P40-X fired her ballista and missed. Nebun cast Poison Spray and a human servant fell ill and stopped moving. The Spelljammer of the Nightspider turned the ship another 90 degrees. WuKong leapt to the other ship and started a Flurry of Blows that injured a Neogi pirate severely.

   The human servants brandished their clubs and beat up WuKong who managed to mitigate some of the damage with his Hadozee Resilience.  Captain Elaina Sartell threw her dagger, killing a human servant to clear space for her landing and then leapt to the Nightspider. She tried to hit the Neogi pirate but missed and her scimitar fell from her hand. It ended up embedded in the bottom of the hull of the Nightspider buried like a sword in the stone with its hilt up. She drew two daggers from her bandolier and shrugged as if to say, so be it. Tamayo cast Firebolt and set a Neogi ballista on fire. Two of the Neogi pirates jumped to the other ship and attacked Tamayo and Nebun. Tamayo was severely wounded and Nebun lightly wounded. The Neogi pirate on WuKong hit him with his claws. The Neogi fired his ballista but missed the P40-X’s ballista. The scorching flames burnt the pirate and killed the human servants that aimed and loaded it. The Neogi pirate moved away from the ballista and towards Captain Elaina Sartell. P40-X missed with the ballista and then moved forward towards amidships of The Moondancer. The Umber Hulk dashed and jumped to The Moondancer. Nebun looked away from the Umber Hulk and then shoved the Neogi pirate off The Moondancer. He ended up at the bottom keel of the Neogi Nightspider upside down. Nebun activated an ability as a bonus action to recover a spell slot expenditure. WuKong’s Flurry of Blows defeated the wounded Neogi pirate that had clawed him.

   A human servant smacked WuKong with his club. The human crew of The Moondancer fired at the Umber Hulk and struck it for a light wound (for an Umber Hulk anyway, most characters would have been killed or bloodied). Captain Elaina Sartell killed a couple of the human servants then hit the Neogi pirate for light damage. Tamayo disengaged from the Neogi pirate and ran back to amidships. The one Neogi pirate that Nebun shoved off made his way up the side of the Nightspider to the bulwark. The Neogi pirate on the other side tried to hit Captain Elaina Sartell but missed and fell off the side of the Nightspider. He boomeranged to the ship bottom right into the hilt of Captain Elaina’s scimitar, breaking ribs in the process. The other Neogi pirate managed to hit WuKong for heavy damage with his bite attack somewhat mitigated by WuKong’s Hadozee Resilience. The Neogi pirate turned to attack Nebun and hit him with his bite and a claw. Fortunately, Nebun was resistant to poison as his gelatinous flesh as a Plasmoid absorbed half the damage. P40-X stared the Umber Hulk down and was not affected by its gaze. She cast Hunter’s Mark and then shot the monster for a light wound. Then the Umber Hulk barreled towards her leaving her bloodied from a bite and a claw attack and she lost Hunter’s Mark. Nebun cast Spiritual Weapon and directed it to swipe at the Neogi pirate twice. WuKong directed his Flurry of Blows at the Neogi pirate and severely wounded him.

      The Moondancer crew fired the ballista but missed the Umber Hulk. Captain Elaina Sartell finished off a Neogi pirate with her daggers. Tamayo cast a Firebolt that finished off the Neogi pirate attacking Nebun. P40-X dropped her pistol and stabbed the Umber Hulk with her rapier. She directed her faeries to push it off the deck and somehow the Umber Hulk lost its footing and was sent careening off into space. The Neogi pirate on the side of the ship moved around the flaming ballista and jumped over to The Moondancer. The other Neogi pirate got up from prone on the scimitar’s hilt and walked up half the way to the ship’s bulwark from the ship’s keel. Nebun smashed the Neogi pirate with his mace and spiritual weapon, and the Neogi pirate crumpled. WuKong readied a punch for when the Neogi pirate got up to the deck.

      The Moondancer crew went to the other ballista and prepared to fire it. Captain Elaina Sartell readied an attack to stab the Neogi pirate when they got up to the deck. Tamayo cast a Firebolt at the Neogi pirate making him bloodied. The Neogi pirate screamed retreat as he made his way to the main deck and was stabbed and punched once he arrived. The crew refrained from firing with their Captain in melee with the target. The Spelljammer of the Nightspider started to turn the ship to try and escape. P40-X stowed her rapier and grabbed her pistol while running to the prow of the ship. Nebun prepared to jump to the Nightspider and moved his spiritual weapon to the same spot. WuKong used his punches to take out the last Neogi pirate and then used his bonus action to activate his amulet to restore a Qi point.

      The Spelljammer of the Nightspider turned the ship and tried to flee but Flapjack the Flumph was easily able to keep up with them. Nebun, Tamayo, and P40-X jumped to the Nightspider. P40-X explored an armory that had a curious lack of ranged weapons, martial weapons, or guns. The armory has some manacles, rope, and locks that P40-X took. Captain Elaina Sartell and WuKong went down below discovering a stairway that led to the ship’s hold and a Neogi quarters filled with spider-web beds.

    The group decided to explore further down the hallway towards the front of the ship. P40-X found 100 gold in the Captain’s quarters. WuKong found a star map in the star chart room. Other rooms had a kitchen with a stove and tables, a pantry with food for Neogi such as insects, and a rigging and sailing room with spare sails and rope. P40-X cast Cure Wounds on herself a couple of times to heal.

    Eventually the group made their way to the bridge. A Neogi Void Hunter was the Spelljammer. She enslaved Captain Elaina Sartell and then vanished as she cast Invisibility. Captain Elaina Sartell turned around and attacked WuKong with her daggers, leaving him bloodied. WuKong hit her back and that knocked sense back into her. Nebun cast Spike Growth into the room. Tamayo ran into the room taking some damage from the Spike Growth and cast Shatter. She managed to hit the Neogi Void Hunter and shattered a nearby window on the bridge. She failed her Concentration check and became visible on the ceiling.

     The Neogi Void Hunter cast Dimension Door and vanished. Nebun stopped concentrating on the Spike Growth. The group ran down the hallway and heard a clicking noise off to the left at the end of the hallway. When they got there, an Umber Hulk was smashing a cell door and squeezed into the hallway.

[This is where I remarked that the 5e game designers hadn’t adjusted the ship’s plans to account for large creatures in 5e being 4 squares wide. The plans might have been fine in 2e (like the Umber Hulk was large but just tall maybe like a Minotaur, Gnoll, or Bugbear) but made the Umber Hulk awkward to use inside the Nightspider even on the battle deck.]

    Captain Elaina Sartell tossed her daggers at the Umber Hulk’s legs. WuKong used his arms to attack it around a corner while avoiding its gaze. P40-X stared at the Umber Hulk and was dumbfounded by its gaze. Nebun moved to the ramp to the upper deck to block movement up the stairs. He refused to look at the Umber Hulk in the eye, so missed with his mace and spiritual weapon attacks at its leg. Nebun heard footsteps behind the Umber Hulk. Tamayo ran behind P40-X and cast Firebolt at the Umber Hulk for light damage.

     The Umber Hulk squeezed into the hallway further and missed P40-X. WuKong made a Flurry of Blows around the corner, punching the Umber Hulk in the leg. P40-X cast Hunter’s Mark on the Umber Hulk and then dropped her pistol and attacked it with her rapier, lightly wounding it. Nebun missed with his mace and spiritual weapon attacks. Captain Elaina Sartell drew her last two daggers and ran into melee next to P40-X dealing light damage to the Umber Hulk. Tamayo cast another Firebolt at the Umber Hulk but missed.

    The Umber Hulk smashed into P40-X for severe damage and she lost Hunter’s Mark. WuKong used a Flurry of Blows that almost felled the Umber Hulk. Nebun missed his mace and spiritual weapon attacks. He told the Captain he heard movement below decks. Captain Elaina Sartell finished off the Umber Hulk with her daggers and then she ran downstairs with Nebun and WuKong behind her.

    When Captain Elaina Sartell made it downstairs she found the Neogi Void Hunter on top of the ceiling. Nebun used a bonus action to poison his mace. Nebun handed her his poisoned mace. She hit the Neogi Void Hunter with the poisoned mace for moderate damage and the Neogi Void Hunter countered with a claw hit and a bite that did moderate damage to Captain Elaina Sartell. WuKong ran downstairs and attacked the Neogi Void Hunter with his astral arms for light damage. The Neogi Void Hunter disengaged and then climbed up the ceiling to the cargo hold hole and made it back upstairs to the main deck. P40-X and Tamayo had hung back with their health so low and were still on the main deck and moved to block the door.

    WuKong decided enough was enough and he did a running jump to grab the ceiling support and then used his climb speed to get behind the Neogi Void Hunter by spending a Ki point to Dash as a bonus action. He then punched her twice in the abdomen and it erupted in blood like a spider that had been stomped.

    After defeating everyone on the Neogi Nightspider, the group managed to find 20 sp and 2 gems each. They also found three potions, a +1 shield, and a scimitar for Captain Elaina Sartell. Nebun identified the three potions as a Greater Healing Potion, a Cold Resistance Potion, and a Lightning Resistance Potion using his clerical knowledge and the alchemy kit in his room. Tamayo grabbed the crown of thorns that was the Spelljammer Helm of the Nightspider. When she donned the helmet, she learned the name of the Neogi ship, The Ebonsnare.

    The Moondancer’s crew pulled supplies from The Ebonsnare as well as removed the intact mangonel.

    The Moondancer sailed to the Rock of Bral where the group long rested in the docks. Captain Elaina Sartell directed the party to find Commodore Krux at a tavern called the Happy Beholder. She said she would be busy selling the gifts that Traevus had given them in order to get money to repair damage to the hull of The Moondancer and to the ballistae, install the mangonel, purchase ammo for the mangonel, as well as provisions and water. The 54 citizens of Waterdeep that the group had saved disembarked at the safety of the Rock of Bral after thanking the group.

    After the game, I helped Nick and Summer level up their characters to Level 6.