Live streamed and uploaded every week on YouTube. Join us live on Sundays around 8pm Pacific/11pm Eastern!
Original character art by Jimmy McClure
Music by Kevin MacLeod.
Chat with us in the Official Discord Server.
Support the channel via Patreon!
Keys from the Golden Vault Session 28
Starring
Varrow, level 6 gnome Thief Rogue/Ranger
Stayzie Diamondz, level 6 orc Champion FighterElowen Fernwhisper, level 6 wood elf Circle of the Moon Druid
Chéri Powder, level 6 human Illusionist Wizard
Taveen, level 6 aasimar Warrior of Mercy Monk
Thanks to Chéri’s horses and Varrow’s escape methods, the party puts some distance between them and the rest of the Zhentarim agents, as they disappear into the city.
Trench had pointed out some useful safehouses scattered around Waterdeep. The party ditch the horses and hunker down for a much-needed short rest — and to interrogate their captive Zhentarim leader, Arlo.
Shop for tabletop games, CCGs, miniatures, RPG supplies and more at our sponsor!
Arlo respects the party as competitors, and they him. The captive interrogation played out almost more like a business meeting… though they definitely disarmed him, robbed him of some gold, and stripped him naked.
Stripping captives naked and leaving them somewhere is kind of a weird gag in our group. No funny business, though!
Arlo had a helpful, hand-drawn layout of the Vault, a large, two-story building in a rundown part of town. The first floor featured rooms of gems, potions, artwork, weapons, and more, while the second floor was a bit more mysterious.
With just a bit of prodding, and a guarantee of his safety, Arlo pointed out a secret door in the back, where they could easily avoid the guard patrols and the guarded entryway and balcony.
Varrow wanted to bring him along as insurance, but Stayzie tied him to a rope hanging out of a window.
Naked, of course.
The Vault’s secret door was right where Arlo said it was, and after some careful inspections, the party ducked inside, entering a room of crates full of gems.
Stayzie can’t resist the bling, but when she ran over, she fell through a collapsing pit trap. She managed to avoid the poison-tipped spikes and climbed back out, and the group helped themselves to heaps of expensive gems.
Into the bag of holding they go!
Varrow heard some noises from the northwestern door, which their map indicated as the break room. The rogue carefully jammed the door shut, as they entered the other northern door, finding shelves of potions and vials, and barrels filled with scrolls.
Chéri checks for another floor trap, rattling the precariously-balanced vials of acid. The party realizes it’ll take a steady hand to grab the potions.
A sleight of hand! Which Varrow excels at.
The gnome thief swipes half a dozen potions, without breaking a single acid vial.
But right as he grabs the last one, a door to the north opens, revealing a patrolling guard!
Everyone is surprised, but the guard reacts first, firing his crossbow into the group before running further north into a room with large safes and banging on a door, shouting for help.
Stayzie rushes up to cut him down with her axe, wounding him.
Chéri uses a scroll of hold person to paralyze him, then quickly whispers for the others to grab him and shove him back into the potion room and close the door. Just as the northern door in the safes room opens, Chéri uses his hat of disguise to appear as the guard.
The door opens, revealing the lobby entryway and a pair of concerned guards with their crossbows drawn.
Chéri downplays the incident, explaining that there was a large rat running around.
Varrow hears him, and helps sell it by casting minor illusion of a rat squeak.
The ruse works, and the guards eventually return to their posts. They remind Chéri-guard that he and another guard have about an hour left on their patrol routine. Then they shut and lock the door.
Whew!
The rest of the party has fully knocked the initial guard unconscious and shoved him into a barrel. They find more finds of magic spell scrolls, including detect magic, dispel magic, cure wounds, identify, and more.
Into the bag of holding they go!
Chéri checks the safes for traps (they’re getting appropriately cautious and paranoid, now) and discovers an arcane rune. He casts dispel magic from the new spell scroll, disarming the safe. Then Varrow easily picks the lock.
Inside they only find papers. Perhaps some useful information on nobles, crimes, etc, but nothing with monetary value to them.
Still, they have the good sense to grab it, thinking Trench might find them valuable.
After making sure the eastern door isn’t trapped, they open it up, revealing the art room. Varrow spots a suspicious statue of a man playing a flute-like instrument, facing the doorway.
He back ups, but Stayzie charges through. She steps on a pressure plate, receiving a blast of fire from the statue!
She moves up to attack the statue, but notices a switch by the door. Switching it seems to disable to pressure plate, as the rest of the party files in.
There are some gorgeous, expensive-looking paintings in here. Unfortunately, Trench’s magic painting isn’t one of them. They’ll have to keep searching.
Live post-session discussion:
Next session: More trapped treasure rooms!
Live streamed and uploaded every week on YouTube. Join us live on Sunday around 8pm Pacific/11pm Eastern!
Support my channel via Patreon!
Shop for tabletop games, CCGs, miniatures, RPG supplies and more at our sponsor!
RogueWatson 