Into the Light 1.5: Behind the Screen

 

The session was going to start with a fight with an assassin who’d ambush them in their sleep. This could be seriously nasty, so I told the players at the end of the prior session that they’d be attacked in their beds. It’s a cliff-hanger, and it gave them loads of time to prepare a strategy. Or not. One keen player had drawn a floorplan of the PCs’ apartment before the session.

The Mage statblock in the MM is good to use for Gremmith, just lose the 5th-level spells. I also kept most of the spells he has in the adventure, though I added shield. To fix Phantasmal Killer, the spell needs to deal its damage at the start of the victim’s turn, with the save repeated at the end of the turn.

Encounter: Gremmith rolls one stealth check for his break-in, and attacks the nearest character with his magic blowpipe and poison. Consider doing it in advance, and rolling the PC’s CON save for them (M’narr started with just 3HP).  Gremmith prefers to use quieter spells like Phantasmal Killer and Acid Arrow, but if things get tricky, he'll use fireball while backing away. He'll dimension door as far away as possible if his HP gets dangerously low.

Loot: Gremmith has his blowpipe, and a Ring of Shocking Grasp. I didn’t bother designing it, just letting the wearer cast shocking grasp using their spellcasting stat. I did include Gremmith’s spellbook on his person though, because a spellbook is a great reward for a wizard. Note the mixture of common and uncommonly chosen spells

1st level: Mage Armour, Charm Person, Magic Missile, Sleep, Shield, Illusory Script, Burning Hands, Colour Spray.

2nd level: Melf's Acid Arrow, Blur, Nystul's Magic Aura, Invisibility.

3rd level: Fireball, Gaseous Form, Clairvoyance, Glyph of Warding, Lightning Bolt.

4th level: Dimension Door, Phantasmal Killer, Fabricate.

I also planned to give downtime to all surviving characters. There’s nothing wrong with asking players their plans in advance so you can flesh things out. I mostly used the Xanathar’s Guide rules, but for players wishing to advance in their faction, I rejigged the pit fighting rules. Find that here.

We finally started Out of the Darkness this session, but that’s for another post.

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