DD Chapter 5: The Expedition - Ultimate Arsenal

Opening

Darkjaw & Jaw Company awake to an emptier abode. Warvillus wakes in pain, HP restored but physically scarred from last night’s attack. Lamarva looks less scarred, and is much more energetic this morning. Darkjaw, meanwhile, had dreams of his ultimate arsenal, and elects to travel upon Lamarva’s back for the first part of the expedition. During the flight, Darkjaw brainstorms several special weapons projects:

• Spear of Vengeance: heavy spear with thrown range 20/50 ft, 1d8 (1d10 versatile): can channel Darkjaw’s hateful aura and Draconic essence into a 60 ft wide beam of fire
• Blade of Wrath: renamed Greatsword with upgraded properties, can channel Darkjaw’s vengeful aura and Draconic essence into a wave of fire up to 30 ft wide, traveling 40 ft before dissipating
• Lash of Mercy: renamed Vine Whip with upgraded properties, Darkjaw used a ritual to channel his Subjugate Lesser Beings spell into the vine
• Lamarva’s Lance: deals poison & fire damage, like it’s namesake

After 4 hours of travel in the morning, Jaw Company lands and they set off on foot, Darkjaw leading point. Throughout the day, he forages for flammable rocks/minerals and prospects for ore (21 Survival & 6 Nature), finds plenty of spark rocks but no mineable or unique ore veins.   At night, Darkjaw asks Warvillus about his magic, specifically Animate Dead, Create Undead & Create Willing Undead. Warvillus crit fails on Insight and doesn’t read into this at all, but proposes a mystical trade:

1. Darkjaw permanently transfer knowledge of Reptilian Regeneration & Share Draconic Essence to Warvillus, allowing him to enscribe the spells into his spellbook while Darkjaw meditated. Darkjaw will also give him his fiery dagger, so Warvillus can protect himself better
2. In exchange, Warvillus permanently transferred knowledge of Cloud of Daggers & Vampiric Touch to Darkjaw while he meditated by the book. He will also enchant his future spear with Animate Dead, Create Undead & Create Willing Undead.

Darkjaw agrees, seeing it as a way to act independently should Warvillus perish. Throughout the week, Warvillus & Darkjaw work together towards their own goals:

• Week 2, Day 5: Warvillus & Darkjaw perform the spell trade. During the day, Darkjaw finds 7 spark rocks, but no ore.
• Week 2, Day 6: During the day, Darkjaw finds several dry plants that would make strong twine for his arrows & spear. He finds an ore vein and immediately goes to town on it with his greatsword, but only chips away and uncovers the surface; a large, charred root with the density of stone, which he identifies as the root from a fossilized Lava Palm tree. These trees are known to be nearly heat proof and extremely dense, yet still organic. Darkjaw spends the rest of the day mining with Lamarva and the sharpest tools he can muster, successfully mining enough for the blade of his desired spear. At night, Darkjaw uses what he learned from the spell trade to transfer Subjugate Lesser Beings into his Vine Whip. He meditates and accesses the spell within himself, but fails to insert it into the whip. Thinking it is because it already has the Petrified Wood spell, he decides to trade his spell for that. He succeeds and trades Subjugate Lesser Beings for Petrified Wood, imbuing the vine with new magic.
• Week 2, Day 7: During the day, Darkjaw searches for a volcano, needing a place to forge his new weapons & armor. He spots a volcano and does a decent job getting the party to it, but finds signs of an establishment. Darkjaw tells the group that this is perfect; much of their work is already done.

Raid of the Forge

  Darkjaw leads his troops into the cavernous establishment, decently getting them through. Through his tracking and Lamarva’s fiery senses, they make their way towards the top of the volcano, encountering three kobolds who greet Warvillus, but do not allow Darkjaw any further. He responds by firing a regular arrow at each one of them, executing each in a shot. He picks up his arrows casually as he walks past their corpses, claiming that they must carry on.   In the upper half of the volcano, kobolds and drakes are transporting metal & mining materials, but slowly stare at Darkjaw, who responds to any questioning of why he’s there with immediate execution from his sword or bow. When firing the bow, he takes care to recover each arrow that he can, only losing three in the process. Eventually, he and Jaw Company arrive at a large door, believing it to lead to the forge itself. Warvillus flies up to solve the combination, but fails. Darkjaw nat20s and sniffs out the right combo (its only late afternoon, so he’s not in wolf form), getting the door open and leading his men to the chamber beyond.   They find a large forge chamber, with the forge centered over a large opening to the volcano pool of magma below. Off at a blacksmith’s station is a large, Infernal Dragonborn man, working on a sword using a large hammer. Darkjaw announces his presence, stating that he needs to use this forge. Unfazed, the forgemaster states that this is a private forge that mainly does distribution, but commisions are available for a higher price. Darkjaw reiterates that he will not be paying for this work. In fact, if the forgemaster does not step aside and allow unrestricted access to Darkjaw, then HE will have to pay in blood. Amused, the forgemaster grips his maul and says “Then why don’t you come over here and collect that debt?”.  

Combat: Jaw Company vs. Bhaldo the Forgemaster (4,000 XP)

Initiative

• Darkjaw: 20 (63/75 HP, AC 17), used 2 reg, 2 poison, 1 greater poison, 1 acidic injection
• Warvillus: 15 (8/32 HP, AC 15 with Mage Armor)
• Lamarva: 14 (72/110 HP, AC 17)
• Bhaldo: 2 (4/121 HP, AC 18)

Round 1

• Darkjaw: Fires two dual-shot rounds (1 reg-1 poison each), dealing 7 piercing/2 fire/5 poison on the first round and 13 piercing/0 fire/4 poison on the second. Bhaldo passes the Con save and cannot be poisoned for 24 hours, but still takes 31 total damage. Darkjaw runs to the other side of the chamber, flanking Bhaldo in a way that he has to either attack him or Lamarva
• Warvillus: Casts Mage Armor and flies out of immediate view
• Lamarva: Attacks Bhaldo with Toxifire Breath, but Bhaldo wins his Dex save and only takes 8 damage.
• Bhaldo: Smirks, then brings down the Forge Maul onto Lamarva, dealing 13 bludgeoning/1 fire (14 total to Lamarva). He then pulls out his Heavy Crossbow and fires a round at Darkjaw, but misses

Round 2

• Darkjaw: Fires an Acidic Injection arrow, but Bhaldo swats it away with his hammer. Fires a Greater Poison Arrow with Sharpshooting, dealing 9 piercing/3 fire/12 poison/10 sharpshooter damage (34 total to Bhaldo)
• Warvillus: Casts Steal Draconic Essence on Bhaldo, who crit failed the Constitution saving throw and has been temporarily sapped of his infernal power. This has been absorbed into Warvillus, but Bhaldo can make a Wisdom saving throw to get his power back at the end of each turn.
• Lamarva: Wings twice, hits once for 6 bludgeoning
• Bhaldo: Angered by the loss of his power, he fires a crossbow bolt at Warvillus, hitting for 11 piercing and breaking his concentration. Renewed, he pulls out his Greatsword and charges Darkjaw, slashing twice but meeting Darkjaw’s own blade each time. Locked in a duel, he smirks as he coughs blood out the corner of his mouth

Round 3

• Darkjaw: Swings twice with his Greatsword, clashing with Bhaldo’s blade both times and embarrassingly so on the second strike. Bhaldo laughs at his “inferior strength”
• Warvillus: Casts Negative Energy Flood on Bhaldo, who succeeds on his Con save and takes 17 necrotic damage. Noticeable weaker after that one, and definitely worse for wear.
• Lamarva: Does 21 damage to Bhaldo via bite, but misses the tail
• Bhaldo: Swats Lamarva away with the Forge Maul, dealing 21 bludgeoning/6 fire damage (27 total to Lamarva)

Round 4

• Darkjaw: Seeing his opponent so close to death’s door, Darkjaw places his sword towards Bhaldo’s throat (who still has his sword up) and offers a proposition “Join my undead army as first amongst the ranks; your skills can be a great asset to my cause.” Bhaldo doesn’t believe him and spits in his face, leading Darkjaw to angrily slash but meet his sword every time. Bhaldo laughs at his failure, angering the ranger
• Warvillus: Casts Sapping Sting on Bhaldo, but it fails against his Con save.
• Lamarva: Attacks twice with bite & tail, but they smash off his armor
• Bhaldo: Swings madly with his greatsword, once at Darkjaw for 9 slashing/3 fire (12 total to Darkjaw), once at Lamarva to clank off, and quickly fires his crossbow at Warvillus, hitting for 13 damage

Round 5

• Darkjaw: Infuriated, Darkjaw Casts Petrified Wood on Bhaldo, which doesn’t work against his Con save. Darkjaw does not flee, but instead pulls out his whip
• Warvillus: Casts Hold Person on Bhaldo, trapping the warrior.
• Lamarva: prepares to finish him off, but Darkjaw stops him. He says, “I’ll give you the chance to choose again, join me in undeath, or join the Underworld in true death.” Bhaldo starts making fun of him, stating that he talks a lot of shit but can’t seem to back it up. Darkjaw immediately slashes the whip across his face, downing his prisoner and successfully Subjugating the forgemaster (when he wakes, he will have disadvantage against resisting any orders Darkjaw gives him)

Might of the Forge

Darkjaw uses his hempen rope to tie up Bhaldo, then got to work.

• Spear of Vengeance: 16 to heat the Lava Palm root, 16 to carve 3 bones into a shaft, 12 to string it with the tough plants, 12 to forge the molten rock into the spear blade, 24 to combine it all and finish off the weapon with the forge’s heat. Hands off to Warvillus to enchant, who messes up the Create Willing Undead enchantment, nails Create Undead, does decently on Animate Dead, then gets creative and enchants it with Create Unwilling Undead (variation of the original spell).
• Dragon Mail: 19 to strip scales from shield, 15 on magical understanding for alignment, mostly based on what he’s done before. 22 to attach the scales & forge the armor. Pulls it out and cools it off, showing his new Dragon Mail Armor (16+Dex, resistance to acid, poison & lightning damage).

  After giving his creations ample time to cool off, he dons both and walks over to Bhaldo. As he comes to, he sees Darkjaw in werewolf form, fully armored and holding a deathly spear. In the other hand rests his whip, which he instantly remembers. Darkjaw asks “Have you had time to consider my offer?” Bhaldo gives in, submitting to Darkjaw as his master and ready to become undead. Pleased, Darkjaw slaps him across the face with the whip, then flips the spear so that the pommel smacks his foe while he’s down. With Bhaldo on the ground, Darkjaw stands over him and slowly inserts it into his chest, feeling necrotic dark energy course through the weapon into Bhaldo’s chest. Slowly, his body corrupts from the bright red to dark, sickly red, and his eyes turn yellow with disease. Eventually, Bhaldo is Forgemaster is transformed; Captain Deadnok II is the first replenishment recruit for Jaw Company, and they think he’ll do just fine.   Satisfied with their work, Darkjaw Lamarva & Warvillus go to sleep as Deadnok keeps watch.   Inventory changes for Darkjaw:

• used 2 reg, 2 poison, 1 greater poison, 1 acidic arrow
• Dragon Mail Armor (16+Dex, resistance to acid, poison & lightning damage)
• Spear of Vengeance (1d8/1d10 piercing, can cast Create Undead, Create Unwilling Undead & Animate Dead, each once per day)
• Lash of Mercy (contains Subjugate Lesser Beings spell with modified rules)
• Learned Petrified Wood spell (Darkjaw wants to apply this to his arrows, like his lightning enchanted batch)