The session begins five hours into a long rest within a Tiny Hut in the sewers of Gorgon. The party is alerted by Draven to the sound of 15 armed “bruisers” (associates of a criminal named Dimitri) approaching their position. When the hut is dropped, a chaotic skirmish erupts:

  • Draven immediately unleashes a 4th-level Fireball, followed later by a 5th-level Fireball and Scorching Ray.
  • Mickle utilizes Lofta 3.0 to hurl bottles of high-proof spirits, which Draven ignites to clear the magical fog.
  • Blu provides precision fire with his rifle, utilizing “piercing shots” that explode the heads of multiple attackers.
  • Nebish summons a swarm of bees to harry the center of the enemy formation.
  • Despite the enemies being “sturdy” and wearing body armor, the party kills ten of the fifteen bruisers.

Realizing that more reinforcements are likely en route, the party decides to abandon their rest and retreat to the surface to better prepare for the environment ahead.

Back at the Sloop Dogg, the party takes a short rest to recover. Recognizing the tactical disadvantage of the sewer’s “shit shroud” (toxic magical fog), they visit an army surplus store. They purchase six gas masks for 24 gold.

Utilizing a stone of Shardisite and a Chromatic Orb spell, the party enchants the masks with Devil's Sight. This magical modification allows the wearer to see through magical and non-magical darkness up to a distance of 40 feet, effectively neutralizing the Neolithid's environmental defenses.

The party re-enters the sewers at midnight. During their navigation, they encounter several curiosities:

  • The Mystery Growth Goo: They discover a room where a magical liquid drips from the ceiling, causing moss and sprouts to grow and die instantly. Mickle collects two jars of this “mystery goo.”
  • The Human Cocoons: In a spider-infested corridor, they find mummified vagrants wrapped in silk. They harvest five bolts of spider silk from the cocoons.
  • The Loadies: The party encounters a group of homeless junkies living behind a ramshackle door. For the price of bread, “Drunken Uncle” booze, and a dose of Illithidust, the dwellers provide directions to the Neolithid's lair: follow the south wall west.

The party enters a massive cavern (150–200 feet wide) and encounters the Neolithid, a gargantuan, psychic purple worm with a gaping maw and lashing tentacles.

  • The creature initiates a psionic assault, attempting to confuse the party and using telekinesis to hurl Blu and Draven against the rocky walls.
  • Draven maintains concentration on Immolation, keeping the beast continuously burning.
  • Nebish, empowered by a glowing celestial gem from the Angel of Relief, delivers a devastating radiant dive-bomb that slashes through the creature's tail.
  • Mickle uses Catapult to lodge a dagger into the beast’s side, subsequently casting Heat Metal to burn it from the inside.

The tide turns when the Neolithid swallows Mickle whole. While inside the creature's gullet, Mickle utilizes his final 4th-level spell slot to cast Polymorph, transforming himself into a Cloud Giant.

The sudden expansion of the giant's form inside the Neolithid causes the beast to splay open in four great chunks, spraying gore and stomach acid across the cavern. As the creature dies, the party emerges from the wreckage. In a final, undignified flourish, Mickle—still in gaseous form before his transformation—chooses to exit the dead beast by “farting out the butthole.”

The session concludes with the Neolithid slain and the party preparing to harvest the acid glands for their employer, Georgie Hristo.

  • campaigns/apocalyptica_arcanum_-_first_modern_campaign/campaign_one_recaps/session_thirty-four.txt
  • Last modified: 12 days ago
  • by drefizzle