Ninth Dungeon! Finally ... Inside the Tower of Creepiness!

Readers! So much has happened for our brave adventuring party in previous episodes! If you need help with remembering, please go to girlfriend Claire's kind and generous page of all dungeons so far. It's here!

Dungeon Master: Now begins the dungeon of the creepy black tower! You have the three marbles. You have reached the tower porch. Solving of many mysteries lies before you!
Plummet: Wait ... already, we reached the tower? I don't remember getting there last time.
Helsa: Clearly, a Dungeon Master has impatience for us to adventure into this keep of creepy darkness.
Rouge: Our characters must have rushed here, I think.
Dungeon Master: Yes! So abrupt! Who can explain this speediness?
Pilchard: I can, but not from characters rushing. For our characters, the day of last session or two, there was breakfasting, and also Rouge treasure-digging near a dangerous river. Then, finding a homunculus, then following it slowly to this town's middle area because of oppositional and creepy winds, and also needing to keep eyes down to avoid seeing creepy tower happenings that the notes of a starved skeleton warned us about. Then traveling back to an ale-ery, fighting an ale-emental, meeting a new tiefling, searching for six hours through the town for gargoyle bits, lunch-resting, and fighting a sewing golem. So many happenings already for one day, and additionally, spells were used, and some characters must be pained from being golemed.
Rouge: Actually, by examining my character sheet, I find it's true -- I am so pained.
Bingly: So pained with an "o" or sew pained with an "ew"?
Grolka: A pun that requires explaining this way must be with an "ew."
Pilchard: My reason for disclosing these happenings is, how late of the afternoon is it when the golem has its defeat? My guess is three o'clock or later. Add on short resting from being so or sew golem-harmed and it's almost evening! Do we enter a creepy tower dungeon not so long before night-time, and still with many of our spells missing?
Plummet: Oh! Then a long sort of rest is superior over a short one! I am so tired just from hearing all this explaining, my character must be even more so tired.
Rouge: Or more sew tired.
Bingly: I used zero spells and suffered no goleming. However, after mourning my octopus all day and also after reading rules about familiars, a long resting equals time to cast a Ritual of Find Familiar. What is my new familiar? A bat! This could be handy inside a dismal and dim dungeon tower.
Luce: Why have you used so few spells?
Bingly: My character is unwisdomly and only picks spells he thinks are "cool."
Grolka: She showed me her character sheet. The spells there ... so weak.
Bingly: Yes, but very cool.
Luce: I will await castings of these spells to see, then. Also, I agree to the usefulness of a longish rest over a shortish one.
Dungeon Master: This explanation -- very sensible. Normally, a Dungeon Master would exclaim, "50 experience points!"
Pilchard: "Normally ...?"
Dungeon Master: It's obvious the Dungeon Master wished you to be hurrisome, tower-ward! An explanation this long, full of all these discussed happenings and spell countings and familiar plannings and long-restings ... I can't award more than 10 experience points. Especially due to it being sew pun-full. Please perform your long-resting and then your characters must hurry to the tower!
Pilchard: Yes. Sorry. But I do get 10 experience points?
Dungeon Master: No. The 10 is divided by all characters who made explaining contributions. Generously I will round up, so, 2 experience points each.
Pilchard: It's more than zero experience points, but this feels almost penalizing.
Bingly: Well, my long-resting is accomplished. I only had to erase some hit dice used for healing last time and write "familiar = bat."
Dungeon Master: 5 experience points for this speediness toward allowing the adventure to continue.
Grolka: I am done also, after erasing woundings, uses of hit dice, and one mark of raging.
Dungeon Master: 5 experience points!
Rouge: I had only damage to erase, which is now complete.
Dungeon Master: 5 experience points.
Pilchard: This awarding of experience bonuses to characters who don't need recovering of useful spells the way my character does ... I'm not sure it's unbiased.
Dungeon Master: Is Dungeons and Dragons always a game of equal and fair?
Pilchard: I concede the pointy-ness of this question.
Dungeon Master: No experience points for flatterings like that. Is everyone long-rested?
Pilchard: Now I am.
Plummet: Me too.
Helsa: Entirely.
Luce: I think. Remember, I'm new to these rest rules.
Dungeon Master: So -- now you are on a porch. The tower door has holes of marble size in it. What do you do?
Pilchard: Put our three marbles in? Seems obvious, I think.
Plummet: Agreement from your Plume mage sister!
Grolka: A barbaric orc only grunts and makes ready her battle-axe.
Helsa: Probably anyone who is not in front holding marbles only looks groundward to avoid seeing strange energies warned of by a homunculus.
Rouge: Yes, even a Chaotic Chaotic rogue is sensible enough to do that.
Dungeon Master: When marbles are put in, a clicking sound emerges! The door opens!
Pilchard: Are things visible inside?
Dungeon Master: Dim! On this ground floor, zero windows. Only light that enters the door assists your vision.
Pilchard: I cast my Light cantrip.
Dungeon Master: You think, "Much better!" Now, inside, the room is half a circle in shape. It's so tall! Two stories of room under the ceiling high above. Opposite your door, a flat wall that is stone for 10 feet, then wood above that. Stairs go up along each curving wall and reach doors that enter this wall where it is wood. Here, like this:

Dungeon Master: Also, there's a brief stone platform that faces the door, only two or three feet in height. Upon it is a statue, strange and peculiar of shape. It has many tentacles and three eyes of different sizes.
Pilchard: I observe it for signs of golemry.
Plummet: Me too!
Dungeon Master: No golemry that's obvious.
Helsa: Could be a golem of patience, though.
Rouge: I would like to enter and no longer be in this wind of creepy energy!
Bingly: Yes!
Dungeon Master: All enter, then, followed by an eager homunculus. It sniffs searchingly.
Grolka: I proceed to the platformed statue and examine it for liveliness -- especially hostile liveliness.
Helsa: I am attentive to our homunculus. I ask what it smells.
Dungeon Master: The homunculus shakes its head, frownful. Its moment of hopeful sniffing ends.
Bingly: Everyone inside? I close the door.
Dungeon Master: The clicking sound returns when you do ... then, it's shut.
Pilchard: Uh-oh. Did Bingly just imprison us with a self-locking door?
Luce: I'll determine it. Does the door open when attempted?
Dungeon Master: No.
Pilchard: No problem. We just need to exit and find three more marbles, right?
Helsa: An easy accomplishment. Already, I think, it's almost done.
Dungeon Master: Grolka, you examine the statue. In one of three eyes, there's a gleam!
Grolka: I look to see what is gleaming there.
Rouge: Could be a treasureful gem! Do I witness this gleaming?
Dungeon Master: No, only someone examining the statue with such nearness as the orc, who notices -- in this eye (it's a large and polished black stone), there's a wizardly shape! Tall and thin, in robes. Or possibly just thin. He's gleaming in a statue eye, so it's hard noticing his actual height. You see that he points upward, and raises three fingers.
Grolka: I tell him this is a gesture of severe rudeness for orcs and raise three fingers back at him.
Dungeon Master: He points at his ear and shakes his head. Possibly he cannot hear you. Now he points out, as if at the room. He raises one finger. He points and looks left, then points and looks right, as if at the two stairways of curvy. He raises two fingers. Then he points up twice, and raises three fingers again.
Grolka: I am scowling barbarically. Rude! I raise three fingers again.
Helsa: I ask our orcish barbarian, "What are you doing?"
Grolka: I tell you I am about to fight a rude little gleam of a wizard in this statue eye.
Helsa: I ask for more detailed explanation.
Grolka: I tell you to come look for yourself. Warning! He will gesture rudely at you.
Helsa: I look at the eye of gleaming wizardliness.
Dungeon Master: Inside, you see it seems like a reflection of the wizard I described before. His appearance is also what I described before, except that also he looks possibly impatient or annoyed. He repeats the series of gestures I described before.
Helsa: I'm okay in intelligence, but not ingenious. I try to understand these clues with my Investigating skill. 17. Is this enough to conclude I think he wants us to stair our way up to the third floor?
Dungeon Master: Yes, definitely. Your deducery earns 20 experience points!
Helsa: Thank you.
Rouge: I'm worried. This urging of us third-floorward could be trappery.
Bingly: Could be. Does this mean, let's avoid floor three and any treasure of that floor?
Rouge: No. Only that we should look for all possible treasure while exploring that direction.
Luce: I agree. Should we first search this room for secrets of the hidden sort?
Pilchard: Yes, but my chance is not good. Searching the wall that is northerly ... Oh! My roll is natural 20, so 22 in all.
Dungeon Master: Your searching -- it's commendable. Very thorough! But you find only firmly made wall.
Helsa: My examination moves from gleams in statue eyes to the platform beneath. Any panels of secrecy or messages written? My roll is the opposite of Pilchard's ... a 1 which is a total of 5.
Dungeon Master: Apparently, you are very distracted by the still-gleaming eye. The gleam wizard there has arms crossed and taps his foot. You find nothing.
Rouge: I search the platform as well! For me, the total is 14.
Dungeon Master: Less distracted, but with results unchanged.
Helsa: How are the stairs built? Is open space under them, or could a secret area lurk where they sit on stone-constructed support?
Dungeon Master: They attach to the wall with braces. It's just open room beneath the steps and attachments.
Pilchard: Seems like time to climb them, then.
Helsa: Almost! Possibly first our rogues should examine them for trappery.
Rouge: My examination ... so poor! Only 5 total.
Dungeon Master: Which stairway was this?
Rouge: The eastward one.
Luce: Rouge searches easterly, I will search westerly. 10.
Dungeon Master: No traps found in either direction of stairs.
Pilchard: I roll to see if I notice Rouge examining with sloppiness compared to Luce. Only a 6, though.
Dungeon Master: Any difference ... it's unobvious to you.
Pilchard: Okay with me to go either direction, then.
Grolka: I proceed upward to the west. I know more of Rouge, but so far Luce has shown more sensible behavior.
Dungeon Master: No traps prevent you from reaching the door above.
Grolka: I open it. Unless it is locked.
Dungeon Master: It opens! Here is what you see.

Dungeon Master: It's a narrow room of wood floor all the way across the tower. Or possibly it's a wide hallway. Could be either one. More stairs go up east and west. The other stair's door is seen in the east. Occupying the center of the room (or hallway) -- a strange machine! Like half a cylinder lying flat on the floor of wood, but with squarish chunks missing. From its top, a pipe goes up into a ceiling that is also of wood.
Pilchard: This machine -- I am curious! So, I examine it.
Dungeon Master: Very smooth, mostly. But on one side, there's a hole of familiar size. This hole opens above a long, thin tray. The tray has slight angling. At its bottom end, four marbles are sitting.
Rouge: I search the machine for secret chambers. So weak my searching today! Only a 10.
Luce: I imitate Rouge, except for the part of weakness, hopefully. 13?
Dungeon Master: Neither searching is searchly enough, apparently. Or else there is no chamber to find.
Pilchard: Should we take these marbles?
Plummet: Maybe another door will need unlocking!
Bingly: But ... what if these marbles have not yet used their power of golemizing? If we put them in a pocket, will we have sudden pants golem?
Luce: Are you happy to see me, or are your pants a golem?
Dungeon Master: Do you take any marbles?
Pilchard: Maybe later. If we need them.
Grolka: A strange machine is boring for an orc of barbarism. I go up the west staircase to see where it arrives.
Helsa: I follow in case it's a place dangerous for just an orc.
Rouge: I watch to see if this method finds a trap more quickly than rogues searching.
Dungeon Master: At the top, you see there is no door -- the stairway rises through the ceiling to open in a new floor. The room here has a strange shape!

Bingly: A bat face with large ears! My familiar will appreciate this room.
Luce: It does appear so batty, now that you say this.
Dungeon Master: Unplanned but also correct! 20 experience points. In this room are laboratorical merchandises of many sorts. Tables, and on them beakers, tubes, jars ... things of such.
Grolka: Is a gleaming wizard there?
Dungeon Master: Seems empty and quiet, so far. You notice that from the floor to ceiling, a pipe occupies the same place as the pipe from the machine below.
Pilchard: Could be the strange cylinder machine is central heating, and marbles are compressions of ashes from expired coal or wood?
Plummet: I avoid touching this pipe in case it is so hot.
Grolka: An orc calls downward, "Are others stairing upward to this third floor?
Rouge: Is there treasure?
Helsa: Possibly! A door is visible. Also, laboratorical merchandises.
Rouge: I proceed upstairs.
Bingly: I send my bat. When it arrives I can Bonus Act to see what it sees.
Luce: I follow Rouge.
Pilchard: Fighting types all seem to be abandoning the Plume Mages. I suggest we follow, sibling.
Plummet: I agree. Let's go!
Bingly: I don't wait alone for a bat report, then. Upstairs with me too.
Dungeon Master: You find the room as described before.
Bingly: Aha! So like a bat head! My bat does a flittering dance of happy.
Luce: So, these laboratorical apparatuses ... do they seem more chemical-ish or more alchemical-ish? Wait, never mind. Probably my character doesn't know these things.
Rouge: My character either. Also, she does not care. A better question: do the apparatuses look treasurely? Or boring due to inexpensiveness.
Pilchard: In the Handbook for Players, "Alchemy Supplies" have 50 gold pieces of value for 8 pounds. So a table of similar merchandise may be similarly treasureful.
Dungeon Master: Good! 25 experience points!
Rouge: Excellent! How many pounds are on the table?
Bingly: Hmm. Also in the Handbook, a flask equals 1 pound for 2 pieces of copper. So is the table more like Alchemy Supplies or more like flasks?
Dungeon Master: This question shows honesty! 25 experience points! Does any one have a skill of Alchemy? No? In this case, Medicine seems close enough to make a Disadvantaged roll for determining the treasureliness of these apparatuses.
Pilchard: My roll is 11.
Plummet: Mine is 7. Sad face.
Grolka: A barbarian is disinterested.
Helsa: Likewise a hermitly ranger.
Rouge: My roll is 19!
Dungeon Master: Looks like mostly these apparatuses are wares of glass -- flask-ish and beakerly. Maybe some other supplies are there but spoiled. 20 pounds of it has a worth of 6 gold pieces.
Pilchard: Seems like it would have been better to roll for these values before Bingly's question.
Rouge: Hard agree. It will be troublesome to carry wares of glass around for only 6 gold pieces. If someone falls or drops a bag of them ... crash! ... and, trash.
Luce: I go to the southward door to examine any traps there.
Dungeon Master: Roll to see what you Perceive!
Luce: Almost my best skill! But I roll a 1. Total is 5.
Dungeon Master: You have so much confidence it is untrapped.
Luce: Confidently, I open it, then.
Dungeon Master: Beyond, you see a small office, or living room, or combination of both. A desk, a chair, a couch and small table before it. In the middle of this room, a ghostly figure! Grolka and Helsa recognize this figure as the wizardly gleam from the statue below! The room's appearance is this:

Grolka: I make the rude gesture of 3 fingers at the wizard ghost.
Helsa: I do not.
Plummet: I hope it's a talkable ghost! More interpreting of gestures will be so much work.
Dungeon Master: The ghost speaks immediately, in fact!
Pilchard: I hope it's not a ghost of hauntful shrieking.
Dungeon Master: No, only a little spooky, its speaking. It begins a tale of explanation and request. 
Plummet: A long tale? I notice a comfortable couch.
Grolka: I notice it also. I will walk couchward and sit there. If the ghost occupies my path, I will walk through it.
Dungeon Master: The ghost's speaking becomes grumblesome in addition to spooky. But it continues. its tale is a sad one of prideful and errors. Long ago, this tower was cultish! The cultly villains who owned it -- very evil! In the basement was a pit of sacrifice where the cult would throw victims to summon energies of wicked sorts from another universe.
Grolka: I ask why it is telling us this.
Dungeon Master: Did others enter the room? Or just remain in the laboratorical one while the barbaric orc went to sit?
Pilchard: I am content to let a ghost talk at me from farther away, not closer up.
Plummet: I wanted to sit, but became nervous when our orc walked through the ghost.
Helsa: I share the attitude of Pilchard.
Rouge: I share the attitude of Plummet.
Bingly: I pet my bat.
Luce: No entering rooms of ghosts for me, thank you.
Dungeon Master: In this case, the ghost ignores an orcish barbarian's question and continues its address of everyone in the laboratorical room. It says that when enough sacrifices occurred, the energies of wickedness flowed up through the pipe to a device on the roof. There, they became winds of darkness! Anyone nearby who looked became teleported to the pit below!
Pilchard: I am glad a homunculus told us not to look.
Plummet: I also am glad!
Dungeon Master: Then someone came and heroically stopped the winds of the tower. Also, heroically killed the cult and sealed the tower so no others could use it.
Pilchard: Who did all this? I am curious.
Plummet: Heroes, probably.
Dungeon Master: 50 experience points! Yes, the wizard says long-ago heroes triumphed against the cultly keep. Over time, others forgot them.
Rouge: I hope they demanded treasure for this service. Otherwise, forgetting them seems a doubling of insult.
Dungeon Master: Now comes the prideful and error-ful part. With a face of guilt, the wizard reveals he found the tower and thought, "Hmm! Could be an interesting headquarters!" So he moved in and made it one. Also, he did experiments. Some dark energy remained in the pipe! Not enough to create winds, but it moved back and forth between the pit and the machine on the roof. By trapping this energy, the wizard found he could make marbles!
Pilchard: Seems like a lot of dangerous work just to make dangerous marbles.
Dungeon Master: Do you say this out loud?
Pilchard: Yes.
Dungeon Master: You gloom the wizard's face. But he continues. The magical marbles seemed unharmful, so he gave some to villagers as keepsakes. They found these marbles would make miniature golems of their goods! At first, these were small and entertaining. Villagers who had no marbles became full of coveting. So greatly they coveted their own marbles and miniature golems! But the wizard said his marble-making experiment had very little dark energy left. Some villagers formed a plan. They gave the wizard a gift of ale mixed with a potion of sleepiness! While he snored, they snuck in and explored. Some found the pit ... sadly, they explored it also. Dark energy released! Only enough to make some marbles, though, not enough to make dark winds. Some villagers left with the marbles. Some villagers said, "Wait! Where are our friends who went to explore?" They explored after their friends and, oops, more exploring into the pit of sacrifice.
Helsa: These villagers sound unwisdomful.
Dungeon Master: Yes. And enough explored to start the winds of darkness! Folk of the town looked at the winds! Into the pit they vanished! Fearing and terrored, other folk of the village fled. The wizard awoke and struggled with the energies of darkness. He learned how to stop the energies -- three of the marbles must go into the eyes of the statue. But all his marbles were taken already.
Pilchard: Lost.
Bingly: I wasn't going to say it.
Dungeon Master: The wizard told the townfolk remaining, "Bring me the marbles!" He made the door with holes for marbles and locked it. This way, marbles could be deposited, but no more townfolk could get in and accidentally do fatal pit-exploration.
Plummet: Wait ... if a locked door was to keep villagers out, and a wizard told villagers to put marbles in the door, why did the door open from being marbled?
Dungeon Master: The wizard is too embarrassed to admit that part. Possibly it involved great foolishness from him. Or possibly the Dungeon Master struggled with this plot and just decided, "It was too embarrassing." Who can say?
Pilchard: Hmm! Possibly the energies of darkness cursed the wizard? First, confusing his magic and making the marbles able to unlock the locked door. Then, weakening him until he died.
Dungeon Master: Exceptional! 100 experience points!
Pilchard: But ... the wizard needed only three marbles, and already there were four in his machine. Why not use three of those?
Dungeon Master: This part the Dungeon Master devised, untroubledly. After the wizard's dying by cursedness and dark energies, the tower still stood. The winds still blew! Adventurer types came adventuring and saw the winds of energy, so poof into the pit of sacrifice they went. This made the four marbles you saw. Or possibly only two of them. The wizard's dying might have happened with two marbles already made, since three are needed for the eyes of the statue. Do you ask the wizard for these details?
Grolka: I will growl orcishly if anyone asks questions of that sort. Pointless! We know there are marbles; now we know what to do with these marbles. No more need to discuss with a rude wizard. I stand up to return back downstairs.
Helsa: Wait! I have a non-pointless inquiry for the ghostly wizard. We have seen golems created by these marbles ... will putting marbles in the eyes of a statue golemize it?
Luce: I approve of this inquiry. Appropriate in cautiousness!
Dungeon Master: The wizard shrugs. "There's a potential," he admits.
Grolka: We have killed three golems already. A barbarian is confident to kill another, especially on that is only potential in its golemness. I continue down the stairs.
Helsa: I will follow.
Rouge: I allow others to proceed first.
Bingly: I will also allow others to proceed.
Rouge: Bingly will be one of the others I allow to proceed before me.
Bingly: Very generous ... I am appreciative! Has all of our allowing allowed other party members to return downstairs-ward?
Luce: To be honest -- wait. I am rogueish and criminal of origin, so probably not full of honestness. Therefore, I don't explain my behavior, but I remain on floor three also, observing the contest of allowing between Rouge and Bingly.
Plummet: Already, I went downstairs.
Pilchard: I accompanied my sibling.
Rouge: I scowl at the unnecessary remaining of my two companions. "Really," I tell them, "I am allowing you to go first."
Bingly: But I want to talk to the ghost of wizardly errors and tragedy. I proceed into the room and ask him, "Do you have a spellbook? If yes, can I look within it for cool spells?"
Plummet: Hey! Very unfair! Are these three remainers going to loot a ghostly wizard's room while other party members must fight golems?
Rouge: You don't know yet if a golem will occur.
Plummet: Still ... we will be making efforts to walk downstairs. Rewards should be ours too!
Rouge: Already you are downstairs. So this arguing is not actually able to occur.
Plummet: Oh. True.
Rouge: Since we are asking the wizardly ghost with such straightforwardness, I will ask him what treasure he has, since he is not using it anyway.
Dungeon Master: The ghost is unpleased by your questions. Stopping evil winds first! Discussion of possible treasures and spellbooks later.
Rouge: Hmm. Can a ghost do anything about it if we decide to search this room?
Dungeon Master: It's a Religion roll to know.
Rouge: My roll is 17!
Dungeon Master: The task is very easy ... you think, people are scared of ghosts, so there is probably a reason for it. With such a high roll, you also know some things about ghostish abilities. Very hard to damage! Able to make a terrorizing face! Also, it might possess you.
Rouge: Okay, I proceed downstairs.
Bingly: My roll to know about ghosts is only 8, so I know less than Rouge. This means I am curious! I tell the ghost I would like to know more about what ghosts can do.
Luce: I proceed with Rouge.
Dungeon Master: It's a roll of Persuading to get a ghost to talk. Especially one already irritated by barbaric orcs and plundersome thiefly tieflings.
Bingly: Aha! I roll 19 and have a bonus of 2! 
Dungeon Master: For some reason, the ghost allows your questioning. You may read the page of "Ghost" in the Manual of Monstrousness.
Bingly: Probably, he is charmed by my cute bat.
Dungeon Master: Meanwhile! Others have proceeded to back to level 2. What do you do?
Grolka: Since I am first, I take three of the marbles and continue to the next stairs downward.
Helsa: I follow.
Pilchard: Same.
Plummet: Same.
Dungeon Master: Very speedy! It is quicker to take marbles than to ask a ghost questions and try remembering Religion facts, so this fraction of adventurers reaches ground floor, hmm, two rounds before tiefling rogues do. What do you do?
Grolka: I walk straight at the statue and push marbles into its eyes. If there is a gleam image of a rude wizard in any of them, I marble that one first and hardest.
Dungeon Master: No such gleaming. But with insertion of marble number three ... the prediction of golemry comes true! Roll for Initiating!
Pilchard: Hah! 19!
Plummet: 18 for me. Plume Mages are speedy tonight!
Grolka: An orc also. 19.
Helsa: I am rangering on initiative 5.
Rouge: 6 for Rouge.
Luce: 15 for Luce.
Dungeon Master: No need for Bingly to roll while questioning a ghost. Grolka or Pilchard Initiates first! You see the tentacles of the statue twitch and writhe. It's body of stone becomes slime-dripping and black.
Plummet: Ick!
Grolka: Axe. Sadly, my roll is poor. A certain miss.
Pilchard: I roll for Witch Bolting the statue! 20! Damage is 16 points!
Dungeon Master: Seems like the slimy drippage absorbs some of your bolting. Damage is lessened.
Pilchard: Boo.
Plummet: I will Orb it Chromatically! Foo, I miss.
Dungeon Master: Slime-dripping tentacles slap at the barbaric orc! It has 3! One roll is 16, one 13, one 12.
Grolka: My armor class exceeds those rolls.
Dungeon Master: Then Luce and Rouge move one round closer to floor one. Unless one does something else?
Rouge: No, nothing but stairing.
Luce: Luce also.
Dungeon Master: Helsa! It is your rangerly turn.
Helsa: With my shortbow, I roll 12.
Dungeon Master: Ineffective! Again it is the turn of Grolka.
Grolka: I Bonus Act to Rage barbarically. Then, axing. This time it's a 19, which I hope hits. Damage is 10 if so.
Dungeon Master: You do hit! However, despite its altered appearance, the golem's body is stone, and slashing damage is reduce.
Pilchard: What a tough golem! My Witch Bolt continues for 8 points. I also throw a dagger, but it misses.
Plummet: I am frustrated from missing. So this time, I cast Magic Missile! You know ... it's strange that it has the word "miss" in it but it can't miss. My damage is 9 points.
Dungeon Master: This spell appears to damage it fully. Now the golem! One hit with its tentacles of stoney drippage! 6 points in bludgeoning damage, 6 points in acid!
Grolka: Painful, but my Rage reduces the bludgeoning.
Dungeon Master: Tieflings arrive downstairs! But, no Actioning until next round.
Rouge: At least we're here.
Helsa: I again shoot with my bow. But first, I Bonus Act to cast a spell of Hunter's Mark. My attack is 17.
Dungeon Master: A hit!
Helsa: Excellent. My ability of Colossus Slaying grants one extra d8 of damage, and Hunter's Mark one extra d6 of Force damage. This results in 5 points of Piercing and 6 points of Force. Also, my arrow Vexes it. I can shoot with Advantage next round.
Dungeon Master: The Piercing is reduced. The Force is not. The new round begins.
Grolka: I axe with 17. Damage is only 7 before being golemly reduced.
Bingly: My Witch Bolt persists ... damage is 12!
Dungeon Master: Luce is before goleming; Rouge will be after.
Luce: I attack with shortsword and dagger. 13 for the sword, 17 for the dagger.
Dungeon Master: The sword: miss. The dagger: hit.
Luce: My ally is within 5 feet of the golem, so I apply Sneak Attack damage with my daggering. 14 points.
Dungeon Master: The golem! Luce has damaged it, so it applies one tentacle to her and two to Grolka. Grolka, it misses. But Luce, it hits. Ow! Damage is maximized! 8 of bludgeoning, 6 of acid.
Luce: So painful!
Dungeon Master: Rouge may act now.
Rouge: I do not wish to receive any tentacle-ing, so I will shortbow it. But, I miss.
Helsa: My shortbow attack this round has advantage -- I hit. 7 points of Piercing, 3 of Force.
Dungeon Master: A new round begins!
Grolka: I axe it at 16 this time.
Dungeon Master: 16 is still a hit.
Grolka: Damage, 9 points.
Pilchard: 10 electrical Witch Bolting damage on my turn!
Plummet: More missile-ling on my turn for 12 points!
Luce: I shortsword and dagger. Both miss. Then I Bonus Act to Disengage and move away from these tentacles!
Dungeon Master: You elude them. The golem returns to attacking its orc opponent! Two hits! 13 of bludgeoning, 7 of acid.
Grolka: I announce that some healing would improve my ability to continue living.
Rouge: My shortbow attack misses.
Helsa: I move up to cure the wounds of an orc, then move back to remain unreached by tentacles. 13 of healing, Grolka.
Dungeon Master: A new round again.
Grolka: A miss with my axe.
Pilchard: Only 6 points from my Witch Bolt.
Plummet: I cast a Magic Missile of second level to do an extra missile. 16 point of damaging!
Dungeon Master: The golem is destroyed! 300 experience points each! Bingly can have 100 experience points for Persuading a ghost and learning ghostly things about it.
Pilchard: Only another fight or two and I will be level 4.
Plummet: Maybe 2 or 3 fights for me.
Grolka: Probably 3 for me.
Luce: I don't know how much is needed to increase in level.
Dungeon Master: For level 4, 2700.
Luce: Oh good! That seems soon!
Dungeon Master: Also soon-seeming, I think, is bedtime. The Dungeon Master calls adjournment. Next session, probably, it's the end of this creepy tower dungeon!
Pilchard: It's been less creepy than my expectings, once we arrived inside.
Plummet: Don't jinx us!
Dungeon Master: Possibly I should imagine creepier happenings for next time. We will see!
Bingly: Thank you for such a fun game, Dungeon Master!
Luce: Yes! I'm enjoying it very much!

Eighth Dungeon! To Find the Last Marble!

Well, readers, some weeks passed in awaiting the return of Luce Sapphro's player. Also, then, more weeks because of the household-joining from Luce's move. Where does this item go? Is there room for that one? Why was this one brought at all when obviously I should have thrown it away? Additionally also, other enjoyments were prioritied ahead of Dungeoning and Dragoning. Now, though, it's a record of our new session!

Dungeon Master: Two marbles are now the possessions of the group! Where is the third? It's tonight's mystery for solving!
Plummet: Oh no. Mysterying sounds so laborious! My hope was, there's one building left with a roof we have not been in, so maybe a marble is there.
Grolka: Possibly it's just an easy-solution sort of mystery.
Dungeon Master: Unknown until there is sleuthing to discover it! What do you do?
Pilchard: Well, our plan at the tower porch was, look inside the last roofly buildings. Why change it now?
Rouge: Even if no marble is there, treasure is a possibility, so I favor the plan.
Bingly: No other clues point elsewhere, right? Let's go to the last building of roof-having.
Dungeon Master: Soon you arrive! It is triangular in shape, with a door that is uncrumbled.
Grolka: I attempt opening it.
Dungeon Master: The knob turns. The door opens -- no difficulty! Inside is dim, but you see counters, and cases. Behind the counters, a kitchenish area. Rice cookers are there! Also mallets and large usu for pounding of cooked rice with mallets.
Plummet: What's usu?
Helsa: According to google translate, a mortar.
Plummet: Don't you stick bricks together with this?
Helsa: No, it's a heavy object, hollowed like a bowl, for grinding of things.
Dungeon Master: Or pounding.
Bingly: I am forseeing a rice monster.
Pilchard: Maybe a rice-ceratops?
Luce: Isn't rice just an ingredient here? Something must be made from it, if there's pounding in a mortar. In the bakery, a bread golem attacked, not a flour-thing. And in the gargoyle-guarded shop, it was an ale-emental, not whatever ale is made from.
Rouge: What is made from pounded rice?
Dungeon Master: The Dungeon Master eagerly awaits a correct guess. There could be experience points for it!
Pilchard: It must be something our Dungeon Master favors ... what is made with rice that she likes?
Plummet: Krispies?
Grolka: Sushi rolls?
Helsa: Pilaf?
Bingly: Pudding?
Dungeon Master: Sigh. No experience points for any of these guessings.
Pilchard: Will there be experience points for a deducing instead? Let's see ... if needs an usu and is made with rice and is something our Japanese Dungeon Master enjoys, can we infer its identity?
Plummet: I don't know that many foods of Japan.
Grolka: Also, can we assume our Dungeon Master enjoys it? Is ale one of her enjoyables?
Luce: Japanese foods ... which do I know? Mmm ... sushi is already a no ... miso ... ramen, udon ... no rice in those, right?
Rouge: Egg rolls?
Bingly: From China, not Japan. Or, wait, maybe even from United States. I don't know how much authentic they have.
Pilchard: Mochis! Are those made from rice?
Dungeon Master: Yes!
Pilchard: Triumph! How many experience points in my reward?
Dungeon Master: Zero. So much knowledge of your girlfriend's mochi-lovingness you have! It's an oldest thing about me that you know ...  I even wrote for you a story of this! Why this delay to guess or deduce with correctness? So peeving!
Plummet: Oh! Yes, we all read those emails of early courting! Shameful to remember so slowly!
Grolka: Also, he had uncertainty rice was even a component.
Rouge: An embarrassing failure of boyfriending.
Bingly: Usually so thoughtful ... it's a mis-step for sure.
Dungeon Master: 50 experience points each for these girlfriend supportings!
Plummet: Woohoo!
Pilchard: Extreme guilt and apologizing. Now I must buy you mochis when I go out today.
Dungeon Master: Forgiven! Plus, 100 experience points! But I will deduct them if you return mochiless from erranding.
Pilchard: I won't.
Plummet: So ... now we must fight a mochi golem? But where is it?
Grolka: I prepare my battleaxe.
Helsa: A ranger will search. Do I roll?
Dungeon Master: No rolls needed. You search and search, but no mochis are found.
Plummet: What?
Rouge: I don't get it.
Bingly: Hmm. Another mystery for solving?
Pilchard: Aha! Solved! Mochis were made ... therefore, they must all have been eaten. Bread or ale, it's understandable some might remain unconsumed. But who would leave mochis?
Dungeon Master: Correct! 50 experience points!
Helsa: So no marble is found here either?
Dungeon Master: Correct also.
Plummet: But ... it's the last building that is roofed. We don't have to search every unroofed building too, do we? Too exhausting!
Helsa: Maybe we can puzzle it.
Rouge: Using what for clues?
Bingly: Let's think. One marble in a bakery. The roof there was partial. One marble in an ale-ery. Its roof, complete. What other characteristics were notable?
Grolka: Doors. A heavy one at a bakery, a locked one at the ale-ery.
Helsa: Should we look at roofless buildings that have doors?
Luce: Wait! I was gargoyled at the ale-ery! What if we look for other buildings with such nefariousness in statuary?
Bingly: We can look for both in one search -- doors or gargoyles present, equals places worth examination.
Plummet: So many buildings to look at, though. Oh!
Grolka: What?
Plummet: Maybe a homunculus knows about doors and gargoyles! We could ask it and not have to walk and peer so much. I look at the homunculus and see if it was listening.
Dungeon Master: Sadly, it shrugs and shakes its head.
Pilchard: I have an idea. Why don't we go to the bakery and search for broken gargoyle pieces near the door? Possibly a gargoyle was sent to guard each marble, but some other group broke the bakery one. This way, if we find gargoyle pieces at the bakery, we would only have to look for gargoyles, not examine every building with a partial door.
Plummet: Good idea!
Helsa: I like this stratagem. 
Luce: Still, on the way there we should keep eyes out for doors and gargoyles both, so there's no need for backtracking later.
Rouge: I will do this also ... especially since no roof and a door has more likelihood of treasure than no roof and no door.
Bingly: Or no walls or roof or door.
Dungeon Master: All buildings on the way to the bakery are very crumblesome. No sign of doors or gargoyles or gargoyle pieces. Now, who searches about the bakery? Make rolls of Perceiving.
Pilchard: 17.
Plummet: Natural 20! That becomes 22 with my skill.
Grolka: 5. No gargoyle pieces or door. I thought you said this building was doored? I can't even Perceive one.
Helsa: 9.
Luce: Eh. 7.
Rouge: 17!
Bingly: 2. I'm sure the bakery was around here some where. Did we get lost?
Dungeon Master: With these rolls, Pilchard and Rouge think, Hmm, is this piece of rock part of a gargoyle wing or foot, perhaps? But Plummet has sharper eyes and says, "Look! It's definitely a gargoyle head, right?" All agree when she shows them. A gargoyle was near the bakery as well as the ale-ery. 100 experience points to Pilchard for this success of his idea.
Pilchard: Thank you!
Luce: Now we can stop looking for doors and only search for gargoyles and pieces of gargoyles.
Rouge: I intend to continue my door search. Especially, I will be looking for doors of very strong and solid appearance.
Bingly: What if a ruinous building has all walls in collapse and only a powerful door and door frame?
Rouge: I'll decide that if I find one.
Dungeon Master: All right. All searchers, roll for Perceiving gargoyle pieces throughout the town.
Pilchard: 17.
Plummet: 5. Boo.
Grolka: 15.
Helsa: 23.
Luce: 9.
Rouge: 21.
Bingly: 9.
Dungeon Master: After six hours of searching, Helsa discovers a gargoylesome stone leg in front of a mostly standing building. There are two stories of this building. No roof on the top story, and mostly no floor for story number two, but one room of floor one has ceiling and a shut door. All other rooms, only broken beams and doors collapsed or off hinges. This information is visible from open windows or holes in walls.
Bingly: Wait! Before entering and exploring a door of possible golem-releasing, I remain injured from ale-whelming. Is healing available? Or can we do some short resting?
Plummet: Probably I would become hungry during six hours of peering for gargoyle bits. I think a lunch rest would have happened.
Dungeon Master: If all agree, this is allowable. Perform a Short Rest, in this case.
Pilchard: I recover spells.
Plummet: Me too!
Grolka: I spend a Hit Die to heal from a scratch.
Helsa: No rest needed for me.
Luce: Can I recover spells?
Rouge: No. It is a wizard thing, not an Arcane Trickster one. I looked when deciding to be a Thief.
Bingly: I spend all Hit Dice. Much better now!
Dungeon Master: So, with all these recoveries, what do you do at the building marked by a gargoyle leg with one intact room?
Pilchard: Was it a business? Is there a sign?
Dungeon Master: The first, unknown. The second, no.
Pilchard: Any clues for detecting its nature?
Dungeon Master: Do you enter to search?
Pilchard: Not without an orc barbarian for protection.
Grolka: I accompany the Plume Mage.
Plummet: I'll go too!
Dungeon Master: The missing front door opened into some room of merchanting, it appears. A counter is on one side, half collapsed. Scattered floorwise are broken dummies, worn by weather.
Pilchard: Is it a shop of ventriloquism?
Plummet: Or the kind to test how well wagons crash?
Dungeon Master: Neither. You notice a few have scraps of cloth hanging on them, almost aged until disintegrating.
Plummet: Oh! Like mannequins from a store for clothing?
Dungeon Master: Exactly like this. 30 experience points!
Rouge: Hearing a lack of cries and alarm, I enter also. When I see the counter of merchantry, I go immediately to search for a coin box or other valuables.
Dungeon Master: Roll to see if you perceive such in its collapse of wood and boards.
Rouge: Grr. My total ... 5.
Dungeon Master: Seems like no things of that sort.
Pilchard: Is the door to an only complete room in this room?
Dungeon Master: No. You see the empty arch of one doorway in the middle of the wall, opposed to the front door. Also, at the far right wall, a troublingly dilapidated staircase.
Pilchard: I ask my protective orc to explore the empty arch doorway with me.
Grolka: Did you phrase it this way? I'm not sure I like being called "your" orc.
Pilchard: No. More like, "I think I will go this way. Can you come with me?"
Grolka: Tolerable. I go.
Dungeon Master: In this space you find seamstering tables. Scissors -- very rustly. Scatters of needle-shaped rustiness. Other tools for the making of clothes. Cabinetry for the storing of things. Maybe threads, or maybe measuring tapes. On the left end of this area, the door is closed to the only complete room. It lies next door.
Rouge: I search inside the dummies. Maybe one is secretly a hiding place for valuables.
Dungeon Master: They are creaky and decrepit. No hidden goodness in any.
Helsa: I ask our halfling and new tiefling if we should go in also.
Luce: Probably better than standing around in a street.
Bingly: I agree. Nothing cool is happening out here.
Dungeon Master: Inside, you see what has been described. Rouge is rattling mannequins.
Bingly: I don't know of her counter searching, so I will go and repeat it.
Luce: I assist.
Bingly: I roll a 17, but it becomes 15 from poorness of wisdom.
Luce: I also roll a 17! And it becomes 21 from my skilledness!
Dungeon Master: Luce discovers a drawer wedged under several collapsed boards of this counter.
Luce: Can this drawer be pulled out from its wedged location?
Dungeon Master: Seems stuck by the collapsed boards. Which could be moved? Which will bring more collapse if moved? It's very puzzle-ish.
Luce: What about this skill -- Thieves' Tools?
Dungeon Master: Maybe helpful to move puzzle pieces, not so helpful to decide which to move.
Luce: Aha! Investigate! I will look and analyze this puzzle for clues of solution.
Dungeon Master: Good! Please roll.
Luce: 15.
Dungeon Master: You think you see a way. Roll for bracing things and moving things with your Thieves' Tools.
Luce: This skill is worse than my Investigating. Oof. 5.
Dungeon Master: Still very stuck.
Luce: Well ... I am strong, I now remember. Can I try pulling it out with brutish force?
Dungeon Master: Yes. Roll Strength.
Luce: 7.
Dungeon Master: Insufficient.
Luce: Wait! In my burgling pack, I have a crowbar. I apply it!
Dungeon Master: Roll strength again, but Advantaged this time.
Luce: 9 and 18 ... the total is 21 with Strength modification.
Dungeon Master: Your prying loosens the drawer. But now the whole counter -- collapsing! Do you leap back to avoid the crushing weight on your hands or feet? Or do you try hurriedly to pull out the drawer with possible consequences of finger or toe injuries?
Luce: Stubbornness forces me to attempt the drawer pulling.
Dungeon Master: Make a Save of Dexterity with Disadvantage.
Luce: So poor. 4 total.
Dungeon Master: 7 points of painful crushing! On this d6, 1 or 2 is foot crushing, 3 or 4 is hand crushing, 5 is foot crushed and trapped, and 6 is hand crushed and trapped. The roll is 4, so your fingers now are bruised and throbbing. Also, the drawer is now buried.
Rouge: I hope no fragile treasures occupied that drawer!
Dungeon Master: Meanwhile, Plume Mages and a barbarian have arrived at the only door. What do you do?
Pilchard: I could listen at this door in hopes of hearing any activity beyond. But so far, no activity has happened until we opened some container of golem-making.
Plummet: I could cast my Detect Thoughts spell! But do golems have thoughts?
Grolka: I could just open the door. So I do.
Plummet: Wait!
Dungeon Master: Too late. The door is now open.
Pilchard: Great. We're about to get golem-ed again.
Grolka: What do I see inside?
Dungeon Master: A closet, or store room, it seems. Many bolts of cloth are stacked on shelves inside. Very musty in odor. This room is about three meters by three meters, but due to such a volume of shelves, the space to stand in is much less. Maybe only one and one half meters by two meters.
Pilchard: What kind of golem is there?
Dungeon Master: No golem that you see.
Grolka: Yet.
Pilchard: Well, Grolka. You are at the door.
Grolka: I walk in and push at the bolts of cloth. Do any leap up to attack?
Helsa: This has a sensation of anticlimax so far.
Dungeon Master: No leaping of bolts.
Plummet: Are we sure that was a gargoyle piece outside this building? Anyway, I guess I'll look in those cabinets described earlier.
Dungeon Master: You find many spools of thread. Also ...
Plummet: Yes?
Dungeon Master: These spools begin unwinding! Thin wisps of thread fly out to knot and tangle! Some you see, still have needles attached! Roll for Initiating!
Pilchard: 3.
Plummet: 18!
Grolka: 4.
Helsa: Those of us elsewhere than the room? 9. 
Luce: 2.
Rouge: Wow, we're sucking at this far! Wait -- natural 20 for me! 23 total!
Bingly: Very exceptional, both you and Plummet. My roll is ... 14. Pretty average.
Dungeon Master: First is Rouge! Unfortunate, because she remains unaware of these occurrences. Is there an activity you wish to perform related to the room of entry?
Rouge: I go over to peer at wreckage from the counter. Any details with interest there?
Dungeon Master: Roll to Perceive.
Rouge: 16.
Dungeon Master: Two coins that were not on the floor previously, now have rolled out from somewhere to rest by the collapsed counter. One is copper, one is silver. Plummet -- threads and needles endanger you! What is your action?
Plummet: I shut back the cabinet and say, "Eek! Threads and needles acting so aggressively! Help!" Then I try very hard to prevent any opening of the cabinet from inside.
Dungeon Master: The turn of Bingly is next.
Bingly: I dash into the room of sewing! "What?" I ask. "Where?" I only see a Plume Mage holding shut a cabinet and an orc near an open doorway of closet, plus another Plume Mage looking closet-wise. Seems like not much for me to do.
Dungeon Master: The golem's turn! Its threads push with golem strength against the cabinet door. Plummet must roll a Strength check against the golem roll.
Plummet: Yes, but now I am a Diviner since achieving level 3! I can Portent the golem and make it use a roll I rolled after we Long Rested!
Dungeon Master: Clever! What roll must it use?
Plummet: A 2! Oh. Wait. I checked rules just now to make sure I had them correct. No Portenting a creature I cannot see, and it is inside the cabinet.
Dungeon Master: Sad. But 20 experience for diligence in rule-checking. The golem rolls 9 total.
Plummet: My roll is only 8. And my Strength -- it's magely and reduces that to 7.
Dungeon Master: The golem pushes open the cabinet door by a crack. Its threads and needles fly out! One needle is a sorrowful roll of 1. But the other ... 19! Plus a bonus makes it more than 20. Damage is small -- only 4. But now it is stitching you! Every round until stopped -- more damage.
Plummet: Ow! My hit points are low!
Helsa: It is a hermitly ranger's turn, yes? I rush into the room, revealing my sword. Threads seem very cuttable -- I slice them! No, probably not. Only an 11. For a Bonus Action, I cast my Hunter's Mark at it.
Dungeon Master: Grolka is next.
Grolka: I Rage at these threatening threads that stitch my companion. Also, I attack recklessly, allowing Advantage for my roll. Others gain Advantage against me, though. One of my Advantaged Dice is a Natural 20! I choose to Savagely Attack as well, which is similar to Advantage but for damage. The total becomes 19 damage.
Dungeon Master: You split numerous threads ... but seems like your damage is unexpectedly low. Maybe weapons are untroublesome to a thing made of so many tiny threads. Next will be Pilchard.
Pilchard: Seems like I'd better Witch Bolt it. 20 for my Spell Attack! My damage is 18.
Dungeon Master: Seems more effective than axing. Lastly, Luce.
Luce: I also will run in to sword the strands. Does 16 hit?
Dungeon Master: Yes!
Luce: I damage it Sneakily then, for 16 points.
Dungeon Master: Or, it appears, somewhat less. Rouge may act now.
Rouge: Probably I should come back later for these coins. If room remains for me to attack, I will do so.
Dungeon Master: Sorry. It's Plummet in front of this cabinet, Luce and Helsa between you and the cabinet, and Grolka on the other side from Plummet. No room for reaching in with your sword.
Rouge: Then with my Infernal Fiendishness, I cast Fire Bolt at it. 22! Damage is 7!
Dungeon Master: Several threads catch fire and are singed! Needles of those threads drop to the floor. Plummet is now being stitched at the start of her turn. 4 more of damage! Then you may go.
Plummet: I squeak from pain! Then I Cure Wounds on this stitchery and feel better.
Bingly: My character is next, but very poor at combatting. I throw a dagger. Hmm! 17! Damage is only 3, though.
Dungeon Master: Less, actually. Golemry occurs! One threaded needle at each melee combatter! 
Plummet: Wait! I force it to use my Portent of 2 against me!
Dungeon Master: You are missed by the new needle, but continue to receive stitches from the first one. Grolka, it has Advantage on your Recklessly Attacking barbaricness. 22 to hit! 3 damage plus continual stitching! Luce! You are attacked Critically! 10 damage points!
Luce: So painful! But wait, I have Temporary points remaining. I use them and suffer less.
Dungeon Master: Helsa may act.
Helsa: I miss all threads with a roll of 5 total.
Dungeon Master: Grolka! You are stitched at the start of your turn. 5 points! What do you do?
Grolka: More Reckless Attacking. Definitely it's another hit. 10 points.
Dungeon Master: Or, less. Pilchard. 
Pilchard: My bolting continues for ... only 2 damage. I throw a dagger as well ... a miss.
Luce: More stitching on my turn?
Dungeon Master: Yes. 3 points of it.
Luce: Can I move away and cut loose this needle?
Dungeon Master: If you move normally, the golem may attack you an extra time. A Disengage is possible, but then you have no action to cut at the thread.
Luce: Still, I will do that. Endless needling seems unbearable.
Rouge: My turn! Now there is room for swording! But I roll very poorly.
Dungeon Master: Plummet's turn to be stitched! 3 points.
Plummet: I will cast a spell of Chromatic Orb at it with energy of Fire. Only a 10 to hit, though.
Dungeon Master: A miss, misfortunately. Bingly?
Bingly: I throw my last dagger. 13.
Dungeon Master: Miss. Again the golem! It stitches at Helsa ...
Plummet: I force it to use my Portent of 8!
Dungeon Master: Does 13 hit you, Helsa?
Helsa: With relief, no. Thank you, Plummet.
Dungeon Master: A stitching at Rouge! Definitely this hits, and for 5 points of damage plus persistent stitchery on your turns. Helsa may act.
Helsa: I attack with a roll of Natural 1.
Luce: How is your dicing so unlucky?
Helsa: Unknown.
Pilchard: If you think statistically, then even without superstition involved, it's certain that some individuals will have average rolls consistently worse than most individuals. This is the Law of Large Numbers.
Grolka: Seems suspicious that statistics could predict Helsa's continued unluckiness.
Pilchard: It's observational only. We can't say, "Helsa will probably continue her poor rolling." But if poor rolling continues, we can say, "This outcome is unsurprising due to millions of people rpg-ing and otherwise dicing. Some must inevitably do worse than others. Helsa is so far one of those."
Grolka: Hmm. Regardless, it is time for barbaric axing. Chop! Failure. My roll is also a Natural 1.
Helsa: No need to roll so commiseratingly for my sake.
Grolka: I will try not to do so again.
Dungeon Master: Oh, also on your turn there was supposed to be persistence of stitching. 3 points. Pilchard?
Pilchard: Witch Bolting continues for 4. My last dagger is flung with ... 8.
Dungeon Master: A miss. Luce! You are stitched for 4 points.
Luce: I attempt cutting the thread.
Dungeon Master: This is an easy Dexterity roll.
Luce: I waste a Natural 20 succeeding.
Rouge: My turn? I sword at it. 12.
Dungeon Master: You miss. Also, you receive ongoing stitches. 4 points. Plummet, you are stitched for 4 points.
Plummet: I cast a Magic Missile of Level 2 to avoid more contributing to this dice-flunking Law of Large Numbers. 11 points.
Grolka: Still a below average roll.
Bingly: For my turn, I am out of daggers. You said there are scissors? I look for a pair not too rusty to use.
Dungeon Master: Roll dice of percentage.
Bingly: 75.
Dungeon Master: You are able to check two scissor pairs each round. The first two break rustily or refuse to open or close.
Bingly: Disappointing.
Dungeon Master: Now, the golem! Rouge, Helsa, Plummet, and Grolka remain within reach. New needles attack Rouge, Helsa, and Grolka. Rouge is stitched for 5 points.
Rouge: I yell, "This golem -- what a prick! A healing would help greatly right now ..."
Dungeon Master: Helsa.
Helsa: I will cure 11 of Rouge's wounds.
Dungeon Master: Pilchard.
Pilchard: 11 points of Bolting! But now I am daggerless. Like Bingly, I also attempt location of working scissors. Do I roll percentage also?
Dungeon Master: No. You check two pairs of scissors this round as well -- they are unfunctioning.
Pilchard: Hmm. Seems like Bingly's percentage roll deprived us of working scissors.
Bingly: Sorry.
Dungeon Master: However, your characters only know that so far all scissors are broken. Are others also impossible for use? Uncertain. Grolka, you are stitched for 3 and may go.
Grolka: My reckless attacking produces a hit. My Savage Attacking makes it 12 points.
Luce: My turn, yes? I cast False Life for 11 Temporary Hit Points. Also, I draw and drop a dagger for some searching mage to use instead of scissors.
Bingly: Good planning!
Dungeon Master: Rouge -- two needles are stitching you now. 9 points is the damage.
Rouge: Unfair! I Bonus Action to Disengage and perform the Dexterity check to cut a thread. Will a 9 succeed?
Dungeon Master: Yes. It is easy.
Rouge: I also say, "Help! I am still being stitched!
Dungeon Master: The turn of Plummet arrives. Stitching amounts to 4 damage points.
Plummet: I apply curing to myself for 7 points.
Bingly: Can I retrieve the dagger of Luce, move to Rouge, and Dexterity check to cut her other thread?
Dungeon Master: Yes.
Bingly: 12. Stitching fixed!
Dungeon Master: The golem strikes! A hit at Helsa for 3 points! A second needle at Plummet misses! Another at Grolka misses also. Helsa may go. You are stitched for another 3 at the turn's start.
Helsa: I shortsword it with a roll of 14. 6 points of swording and 6 points of Force if it hits.
Dungeon Master: It does. Pilchard?
Pilchard: 7 more of Bolting. I persist in futile searching for scissors of use.
Dungeon Master: You find none. Grolka receives 6 points to begin her turn.
Grolka: Reckless! 20 to hit. Savage! 10 for damage.
Luce: I remember now that "Light" means a weapon may be attacked with for a Bonus Action. I return to the creature and attack with both sword and dagger. Both are hits! 20 points of damage.
Rouge: My turn? I say, "Healing, please!" Then I cast Fire Bolt but miss.
Dungeon Master: Plummet is stitched for 4 points.
Plummet: I use the action of Disengaging and move close to Rouge. "I will do curing if you will cut this stitching needle's thread!"
Bingly: Since my turn is the next, I will do this despite needing no cures. My Dexteriting is 17.
Dungeon Master: She is loose. Golem! New needles at Helsa, Grolka, and Luce! All 3 are hits! 6 damage to Helsa, 5 to Grolka, 4 to Luce. Helsa may go. Two needles are stitching you first, though. 3 points and 5 points.
Helsa: Time for more healing, it's definite. Ah! 17 points. I am much better.
Dungeon Master: Pilchard may go.
Pilchard: My Bolting is 12 this round.
Dungeon Master: Enough to kill the golem! All stitching is done. 300 experience points are awarded!
Rouge: I look inside the cabinet for a marble.
Dungeon Master: You find one! Also thimbles and other sewing goods, such as working scissors.
Plummet: We can go back to the creepy tower's creepy door!
Rouge: No. There are coins by the broken counter in the first room here. Possibly more are hidden under the collapse, so we must first explore the possible treasure under it.
Dungeon Master: It is laborious, but eventually you uncover contents of a coin drawer. Who will roll the dice of percentiles to learn the amount?
Plummet: Ooh! I will! 44!
Rouge: Hopefully it's a number of gold, not copper.
Dungeon Master: Yes, 44 gold pieces in value, though some is gold, some is silver, some is copper. This probably is a good location for ending our session.
Plummet: I feel accomplished for our third marble.
Grolka: Finally, we may investigate the tower.
Rouge: There is treasure inside. I sense it!
Dungeon Master: We will see. Is a Dungeon Master in a mood of generosity? Hopefully things will motivate her in that direction this week!

Seventh Dungeon! Guardians and Guest!

Readers, suddenly in this session a new character appears! This is the character of our visitor from a faraway state and the faraway past of ranger Helsa's player. After introductions and sharings of meals and conversations, we insisted, "You must play this game with us!" Possibly rude for hosts to insist so boldly, but the player of Helsa supported this extortion of entertaining our guest. The new character is "Luce Sapphro." Another tiefling! Also, another rogue! However, this time it's Arcane Tricksterism gained at level three instead of "Thief" as with Rouge Hornytail the Black.

Luce: Your character's name is "Hornytail?"
Rouge: It's true.
Pilchard: Always her characters are unusuals of extreme.
Plummet: But in ways so fun!
Grolka: I predict you will be entertained.
Helsa: Also ... your character has a name of "Sapphro." Is "Hornytail" worse in flagrancy?
Luce: Mine is a pun from my character's fiendishness.
Rouge: Mine is punnish as well. I have horns and a tail. Together they make "Hornytail." The second meaning becomes amusing coincidence.
Bingly: We actually like puns in this household.
Grolka: Some of us.
Luce: Chagrin. I missed the pun part. Only the second meaning came to me.
Helsa: Tch. So dirty, your mind.
Luce: I have not heard you complain this way before. Should I think with more chasteness around you from now on?
Helsa: No. I am chastised. Let us continue our play.
Dungeon Master: Yes. First, the Dungeon Master must disclaim something. My preparations did not include adding a new character! 100 experience points to the first person who explains why Luce is here!
Plummet: Ooh! I know! She was in our wagon. But because of her criming, she snuck there without paying! While hiding in a crate, she fell asleep, and then woke up and could hear she was alone in a wagon carried by a roc!
Grolka: She must have very good ears to hear so much.
Luce: Remember! I did put Expertise in my Perceiving skill, you know.
Dungeon Master: Excellent! 100 experience points for Plummet, and 30 experience points for Luce, as reward for quick rule-applying!
Luce: Where do I write that?
Helsa: Right here beneath "Alignment." Oh, but your Alignment spot is empty!
Luce: What is Alignment?
Dungeon Master: It is a word of values and philosophizing by your character. Very easy to understand! Are you Good, Evil, or in between?
Luce: Well, I'm crimish in background, so probably not good. Additionally, I'm fiendish in species, so also probably not good. I don't like to be evil, though, so ... in between?
Dungeon Master: The in-between word is "Neutral." Now, are you a Law-abider, or do you want everything upset into Chaos and unorderliness? Or, again, are you in between?
Luce: Crimish and fiendish, so ... obviously no Law-abider. But if all is Chaos and unordered, how will there be money and properties for me to do crimes at? In between again, I think.
Dungeon Master: Neutral there as well, then!
Plummet: All of our alignments are two words. Is she Neutral Neutral then, like Rouge is Chaotic Chaotic?
Pilchard: No, just Neutral. Or, if you demand two words, "True Neutral."
Plummet: But Rouge is Chaotic Chaotic. Should she be "True Chaotic" instead?
Bingly: Rouge is Chaotic Neutral. Her thought was, "Chaotic Chaotic is funnier to say."
Rouge: Also, how could I be True and Chaotic together? Those words are opposed. Chaotic Chaotic is much better.
Dungeon Master: More important is our new knowledge that Luce has Neutrality for Alignment and was asleep in a crate. Now, when -- yes, Plummet?
Plummet: What did she do when she needed a bathroom?
Luce: Probably I brought a jar, or several.
Pilchard: Realism on this point may be undesirable.
Dungeon Master: The Dungeon Master agrees! Now, more story of Luce! Learning her situation in a roc-carried wagon, she also used Feather Fall similar to the group doing so. But, her Feather Falling happened later, so it took her longer to arrive at this town of ruin. Who wishes to explain this Feather Falling technique to Luce?
Helsa: I am delighted to explain. Luce, your character is equipped with this spell, thus a drop from any height is undamaging (if less than 600 feet). Your character sheet shows two of these Spell Slots for spells of the first level, which Feather Fall is. So on discovery of being so high up due to a wagon-absconding roc, it's feasible for you to jump out and wait until 600 feet or less from the ground to cast the spell. Then, down like a feather you drift. Think about what you might do during such a fall! Obviously there is no going back up once you arrive groundward.
Luce: Hmm. Probably, I'm wondering, "Where am I?!" Would I recognize the land from so high up? Are there maps in Dungeons and Dragons, surely? But even if there are, how much knowledge of them does Luce have?
Dungeon Master: Two skills might be useful in knowing maps. One: History. The other, Survival. Examine your skill list! It will tell which is better. Then roll the die of twenty sides and add the number for that skill.
Luce: This die?
Dungeon Master: Yes.
Luce: I have nothing for Survival, and only 1 for History. Definitely these are not my forte. A total of 12 when I make my roll a Historical one.
Dungeon Master: Not much help from History. All you know is, the caravan you boarded sneakily was to travel past a great plateau, going to the south of it, and now you are falling above the middle of a great plateau. But also, roll for Perceiving this plateau. You may spot interesting details.
Grolka: Or goats.
Plummet: Giant ones!
Luce: My Perceiving is improved over History. But this roll! It's only a 1 and then a 5 when Perceiving is applied.
Dungeon Master: You observe a river, flowing in some direction. But which one? Nature or Surviving might help for understanding this.
Luce: Hmm. I am unNatural ... only a 1 there. But we already know I'm even worse with Surviving. It's another total of 5 when I roll.
Dungeon Master: It's very easy to know that shadows go one direction in the morning, another in the evening. So a 5 is sufficient. Looks like the river is a north-south one.
Luce: Which side of this plateau did our wagon expect to caravan near to?
Dungeon Master: The south one.
Luce: Then when I land, I will follow the river in such a direction.
Dungeon Master: Sensible! You may have 30 experience points for this travel strategy.
Luce: So, now I have 30 experience points besides the 30 I already wrote. What do I do with them?
Dungeon Master: Eventually, they result in increasing of level. But surprise -- you have more! To match the level of other characters, we made yours third in level, which requires 900 experience points. Now let's add a random amount more. Roll 1 die of 6 sides and these dice of percentaging. 
Luce: Um ... 4 and 35.
Dungeon Master: Good! The 4 becomes 400, and the 35 becomes 35. 
Pilchard: 1335 when you add those to the 900.
Plummet: Plus the 60 awarded this session so far!
Grolka: This exceeds my current total. 
Pilchard: Likewise for me.
Plummet: And me!
Dungeon Master: It is an amount less than those who fought a bread golem, more than those who did not.
Luce: A bread golem?
Dungeon Master: Details will be discussed later. For now, Luce journeys south along the river. What does she encounter? The dice say, "Nothing!" However, after many hours, she does encounter hunger. Subtract rations from your supplies, unless you lack them or willingly subject your stomach to grumblery. Also, you thirst. A river is nearby, remember ...
Pilchard: Possibly Luce will want to be wary of it, though.
Plummet: Definitely possibly!
Grolka: We know she possesses multiple jars of fluid. The river may be avoidable as a result.
Luce: What's wrong with the river? Also, ew. I am neutral about most things, but not about drinking my own urine. Or anyone else's! I likely left those jars in the wagon. Definitely I would drink from the river, unless it has obvious perils.
Dungeon Master: Your character is unaware of any peril from the river. However, other players should be aware of peril from the Dungeon Master! Avoid these disclosures!
Pilchard: Sorry.
Plummet: Our bad.
Dungeon Master: After such long hours of marching with a break for ration-eating and river-water-drinking, ahead of you grows visible a town! It appears so:

Plummet: Ooh, that bridge is -- oops, shh, Plummet! Please don't glare so angrily, Dungeon Master.
Dungeon Master: It's an extra glare-some look because of not just one mistake but two! First is glaring about discussion of a bridge Luce does not know exists, and second is glaring because our new character landed on the other side of the river from our old ones. Thus, she has no bridge need for arrival in the town -- she's already on that side.
Luce: When am I arriving? Also, from how far away have I seen this town? And how extreme is its ruination? Did I see from far off, "Oh, it's ruined. No getting my hopes up," or did I see, "Oh! A town! I may be saved ..." only to lose many spirits when nearer perceivings revealed its brokenness? 
Dungeon Master: Your questions -- very sensible! The answers fit together. The time is early evening and the town somewhat distant when first spotted. Very low buildings, except for one black tower of exceptional size at the town center. There is a wind of despondent sound, growing louder and sadder as you get closer -- or possibly as it grows later toward night. Maybe it's not related to a town at all. With darkening, it's a challenge to see. But also with darkening, you notice, hmm, no lanterns coming on in this town.
Luce: Not a good indicator of population.
Dungeon Master: Now, it's twilight. All the north side of town, you can see, is rubble-ized -- the buildings, so wreckaged. Same with the east side of town, it seems. Only the west, nearer the river, has buildings with lots of walls standing. No lights there either, however. Night presses down over these sad-winded ruins.
Luce: I suppose it's the west side of town for me, then. I walk there looking for a least-ruined building I can shelter in.
Dungeon Master: Roll for Perceiving!
Luce: 16.
Dungeon Master: You spot one! It's the building of diamond shape there at the top middle map area. A roof is observed.
Luce: I approach using caution.
Dungeon Master: This is your Stealth skill if you are sneaking, or your Investigate skill if you are looking for clues of danger.
Luce: Can I use both sorts of care?
Dungeon Master: Yes. Two rolls, then.
Luce: I am 13 Stealthy and 25 Investigative.
Bingly: Ooh, that's a natural twenty!
Luce: Does a 20 make it Nature when I am trying to Investigate?
Dungeon Master: No, when the die says 20, without any additions, it is called the "natural" kind and always a success.
Pilchard: Well, in old versions. In this version, it's always a hit when fighting, but no rules appear about when skilling. So it could still fail for a very difficult challenge of your skill.
Bingly: I somewhat like the old version.
Pilchard: But the other end uses the same approach: a natural 1 fails in fighting, but could succeed for rolls of skill if the plus is great enough.
Plummet: Maybe we can use old rules for skill natural twenties, new rules for skill natural ones!
Grolka: Up to the Dungeon Master, really.
Dungeon Master: Both Luce and the Dungeon Master are still learning this game! No rules from olden times, please. Now, is 13 Stealthy enough? You don't know yet. Possibly something hears you but does not do any revealing itself. But 25 is so Investigative! It's a roll of success. You see clues of unoccupancy, such as non-disturbed dirt on the step before the door. Also, the door is open several centimeters. A cobweb is in the open space. Windows have shutters, but those are open. What you can see of inside is empty-ish looking.
Luce: Can I see when night is pressing so heavy?
Rouge: Yes! We are tieflings, so we have excellent eyes for darkness.
Luce: Hm. This is the Darkvision 60' on my character sheet.
Dungeon Master: Correct. One other thing you see, above the door. It is a gargoyle, but small. Only the size of a doll.
Luce: A gargoyle of sculpture, or a monstrous one?
Dungeon Master: Impossible to tell, unless it moves or attacks you.
Luce: I will use this Mind Sliver spell on it. Bingly informed me it is like a brain poke, so if this gargoyle is monstrous with a brain, probably it will react, yes? Do I need to roll something for spelling at it?
Dungeon Master: No, the spell says it must Saving Throw with Intelligence. Did you write down a Save DC for your spells?
Helsa: It's right there, Luce.
Luce: Thank you. The number is 11. 
Dungeon Master: I will roll, but notice that I always roll when characters don't know a roll is necessity. This way, you don't know it's just a sculpture by seeing me not roll, and don't know it's a monster by seeing me roll.
Luce: Devious!
Dungeon Master: Yes. Now you find that either it has made a saving throw correctly, or it is only a sculpture.
Pilchard: Or it is immune to Mind Slivering.
Rouge: Or it is tough and pretends there's no pain.
Luce: This spell says, "cantrip," I see. I was told I can cantrip as many times as I want each day, right? So I Mind Sliver it again.
Dungeon Master: I dice more poorly ... it screeches with anger! Roll your damage.
Luce: Only 2.
Dungeon Master: So slight! Now it's time for Initiating. Roll the die of 20 sides, adding your bonus of Dexterity.
Luce: 15 ... pretty good, yes?
Dungeon Master: Yes, but this gargoyle is quick with a natural 20 for Initiating. It swoops and attacks! A 9 probably misses you ... but an 18 probably hits, and damage is 3 points. Its flight is especially quick -- before you can attack, it flies out of reach.
Luce: If it is still inside 60 feet, I again use my cantrip. Also, its Saving Throw is more difficult now, right?
Dungeon Master: Yes, but the penalty is unneeded -- I roll a 1.
Luce: Now my damage is worse. Only 1 point.
Dungeon Master: Gargoyle's turn! It misses with both claws and flies far again.
Luce: More Mind Slivering, then.
Dungeon Master: Failure again.
Luce: Better! 5 points now.
Dungeon Master: Another gargoyle claw scrapes your flesh! 3 more points.
Luce: I feel it is paining me more than I am paining it.
Pilchard: An option is to Ready an action. You say, "I wait until it is in reach and strike it with my sword." Your sword attack and damage are bonused by Strength.
Luce: And mine is good, right? Plus 3. I do that, then.
Dungeon Master: It flies at you, so you may strike!
Luce: Ah. This is the "natural one" we discussed.
Dungeon Master: Always a miss when fighting, sorry.
Pilchard: Better than old rules, though; back then it's a "fumble" and you'd drop your weaponry or even hit yourself.
Luce: The new rules are my preference this turn, then.
Dungeon Master: Again it succeeds at clawing! 4 points now.
Luce: I repeat last round's strategy.
Dungeon Master: Roll to sword it.
Luce: 18! Plus 3 of Strength is 21.
Dungeon Master: It's even more because attacks get "Proficiency" -- 2 more at your level. Roll to damage it.
Luce: 4.
Pilchard: Not great, but your shortsword also causes it Vexation. You'll hit it more easily next turn, if you attack.
Luce: If I am still living.
Dungeon Master: Trouble! It gouges you with a claw and another claw! 7 points in all.
Luce: I need more hit points, I think.
Helsa: Remember this False Life spell from your Fiendishness.
Luce: But if I cast it, I don't get to attack, right? Does its Vexation go away?
Pilchard: Yes.
Luce: I am going to move away and use the spell. Possibly it won't follow if it thinks I'm not trying to enter the building it guards. 11 points! I feel less pained.
Dungeon Master: The gargoyle returns to its doorway post.
Luce: I move to 60 feet away and Mind Sliver it. Possibly it can't fly that far in one turn.
Dungeon Master: It saves with success and grows rage-full! Also, your guess is incorrect -- it can fly 60 feet in one turn, and so it attacks you again. One hit, one miss, only 2 points of damage.
Luce: But it doesn't fly out of reach?
Dungeon Master: 60 feet is all it can go and still attack.
Luce: Slice! My shortsword cleaves at it. 18 total! Damage is 8!
Dungeon Master: It looks harmed, but still active. Two more claws at you, then it flies back. Scratch! Gouge! You endure 5 more damage points.
Luce: Can I reach it and attack this turn?
Dungeon Master: No -- it is 40 feet away now.
Luce: I move 20 feet back and Mind Sliver.
Dungeon Master: It Saves and flies back to its perch.
Luce: I cast my False Life spell again. 11 more points! If it remains on its perch, I return to 60 feet away and Mind Sliver again.
Dungeon Master: Failure.
Luce: 2 is the damage.
Dungeon Master: More screeching. It flies to attack you. Two clawings for 8 points of damage!
Luce: Again, it can't move away this turn, right? I slice with my shortsword. 15.
Dungeon Master: This hits.
Luce: Only 5 points.
Dungeon Master: The gargoyle shatters in pieces.
Luce: Whew! I think from now on I will only pick fights with allies near.
Dungeon Master: Experience points are 225 for killing this micro-gargoyle.
Luce: I return to the building. Any sign of more gargoyles?
Dungeon Master: Not at this time.
Luce: I open the door to peek inside.
Dungeon Master: A small store. It has strange racks ... you think maybe, they're for wine bottles? A few do still hold bottles, but they're broken. In one corner, there's a barrel.
Luce: I Investigate carefully for signs of danger. 14 is my total.
Dungeon Master: Seems pretty safe.
Luce: If I sleep here, will I heal?
Dungeon Master: Yes ... if nothing attacks.
Luce: I close the door and all window shutters. If there are locks, I lock them.
Dungeon Master: A lock on the door, latches on the shutters. They seem to fasten okay.
Luce: My False Life can be used up to 3 times each day, right? Does this mean I get all 3 back in the morning?
Dungeon Master: Yes ... but also only if nothing attacks.
Luce: I will cast my last False Life to have the most temporary hit points possible before going to sleep. Hmp. Not as good as before, only 8. But that's better than the 3 I had left after being gargoyled with claws.
Dungeon Master: I roll to see if something encounters you in the night. The answer is "no."
Luce: Good. I eat more rations for breakfasting.
Dungeon Master: For the sake of convenient, we must say, Luce slept to a tardy hour. This is because other characters were following a homunculus to learn what it wanted. Now, those characters have learned a goal.
Plummet: Black marbles!
Luce: Hmm. Similar to the one in Mothership? I read part of that gaming record. Very beautiful the story you created about the marble.
Plummet: Thank you! It merely blabbled out because of upset emotions, though. There was no plan.
Pilchard: This makes it superior, truly. Storytelling excellence is in hard work, but genius is in inspiration.
Plummet: (blush)
Dungeon Master: The answer, though, is, "not the same kind of marble." Sorry. Maybe somewhere, it stuck in the head of the Dungeon Master. But I wasn't thinking, "Oh, I remember a marble in Mothership" when saying "You find a black marble."
Pilchard: Since we know now we're on a marble quest, I suggest turning away from the creepy black tower and hurrying back to ruinous streets for searching. We know two other buildings have roofs -- probably checking those is good for a start.
Plummet: Wait! We must still look at the ground, right? We don't want to see the cause of winds so icy, air that is creaking, or cold shadows of this tower.
Rouge: When we turn, does this homunculus lead us again?
Dungeon Master: Yes. And as you follow, the way is much easier -- wind is at your back, the air becomes less heavy in each step instead of more, and you pass from the tower's creepy shadow into sunlight. 
Pilchard: Which building with a roof do we search first? The map shows one much closer to the tower than another.
Plummet: I would like to get very far from the tower soon! I vote for a farther building.
Grolka: Same distance to go from tower to one building to another building and back to tower, right? Might as well humor our fearful Plume mage.
Luce: "Plume mage?" Is this a pun of feathers?
Pilchard: Yes! At last someone notices. Pilchard Plume is a scribe, so wields a feather quill at times, and Penny or "Plummet" Plume is expert in casting Feather Fall.
Helsa: How did I look past this punnery? We have all been saying it since Pilchard first did.
Bingly: Nice subtlety of punning!
Plummet: (frown) Um ... too subtle maybe? I am embarrassed I don't hear a pun. Bonus embarrassment because my character is a Plume Mage so the pun is about me. 
Helsa: "Plumage" means the feathers of a bird.
Plummet: What! It's so humorous! Why did no one tell me?
Grolka: Apparently no one here has the brains of Luce. Only Pilchard knew.
Pilchard: And if a jokester must explain his joke, humor chances decline.
Plummet: Oh. Okay. Haha, "Plume Mages!"
Dungeon Master: Sounds like the group agrees to the farther roofed building. This is also the one with a tiefling inside! Thus Luce must roll Perceiving as they approach.
Luce: 10 plus 4 of Perception is 14.
Dungeon Master: Footsteps outside while you are breakfasting your rations!
Luce: I hide behind the barrel.
Dungeon Master: It's stealth for this roll.
Rouge: Should be pretty good, since Luce is Roguish.
Luce: Only my Strength is worthwhile, sadly. All others, +1 at most. Dexterity is one of those. So for Stealth, a die says 14 ... my skill inflates this only to 17.
Pilchard: Not terrible.
Grolka: I attempt opening the door when we arrive.
Plummet: It's locked!
Grolka: But I don't know this. Also, our Dungeon Master did not describe this door. Is it sturdy? Or crumblesome like the one where a sad skeleton died? A crumblesome door might break open even if locked.
Luce: I should have Investigated for that.
Dungeon Master: It is not crumblesome. Grolka discovers its lockedness.
Grolka: I indicate there's a purpose for our thieveling tiefling here.
Rouge: A door worth locking may conceal treasure! I use my Thieves' Tools. 19 with the addition of my skill.
Dungeon Master: The lock unlocks.
Rouge: I open the door and look inside for treasure!
Dungeon Master: Roll Perceiving. 
Rouge: 11.
Dungeon Master: No treasure in sight, and this roll is too low to spot a Stealthing Luce.
Rouge: I enter and begin searching the many racks you described before.
Grolka: I enter as well, with alertness for foes. My Perception ... only 6.
Dungeon Master: Luce hears the light footsteps of one person and the heavy footsteps of another. 
Plummet: "Are there black marbles?" I ask.
Grolka: Not so far.
Helsa: I venture inside also.
Bingly: Same.
Dungeon Master: Luce hears more entrancing.
Pilchard: I don't wish to remain alone in the street with no protectors, so I go in next.
Plummet: Me too. "Plume Mages are here!"
Dungeon Master: All remaining characters should make their Perceiving rolls.
Pilchard: 9.
Plummet: 14.
Helsa: 13.
Bingly: 4.
Plummet: Even with your bonus?
Bingly: My character is unwisdomly, remember. I have a minus, not a bonus.
Dungeon Master: So many footsteps, Luce hears. But still she is unviewed.
Pilchard: I suggest everyone should look for black marbles.
Plummet: I agree with the suggestion!
Grolka: Someone should guard the door. A barbarian orc seems appropriate.
Helsa: I look in shelves that Rouge is not yet searching.
Bingly: I will look at the barrel. Does it have a lid that comes off?
Dungeon Master: Possibly. However, when so close to the barrel, it becomes very hard to miss a hiding tiefling. Roll again to Perceive, using Advantage and, mmm ... +2.
Bingly: Even with such boosts, I achieve only 15.
Dungeon Master: Luce hears footsteps approach very close! Bingly sees that this barrel has a lid with a handle. Maybe it turns and lifts.
Bingly: I turn and lift it.
Helsa: Wait. Remember when I opened the ...
Dungeon Master: Everyone must roll for Initiating!
Pilchard: Uh-oh. Well, my roll is 10.
Plummet: 13 for me.
Grolka: Only a 7.
Helsa: Sigh. Natural 20. That is 21 total, but now I have used all my dicing luck, I'm sure.
Rouge: 16.
Bingly: 6.
Luce: 9.
Dungeon Master: Helsa's turn first! She sees a surge of frothing yellowy-brown liquid swirl up from the barrel!
Plummet: Ew! Is it a pee monster?
Grolka: More likely beer or ale.
Helsa: I will bonus action to cast my Hunter's Mark, then shoot this ale-emental with my shortbow. Hmm! I was incorrect -- my roll is 18 in all. Perhaps luck is better for me today. If this hits, my damage is 10.
Bingly: Haha, "ale-emental!" Excellent, Helsa.
Dungeon Master: Possibly it's bad to reward punstering, but I agree with the quality of this one. 10 experience points! Next is the creature! It sloshes frothily into Bingly's space and uses a "Whelm" ability! Make a Saving Throw of Strength.
Bingly: So poor, my strength. The total is 11.
Dungeon Master: You are Grappled! Also, Restrained. Also, suffocating in alcoholic beverage! Damage is 11 points.
Bingly: Ow! I mean, "Gurgle!" Someone please hand me the book so I can learn my fate from suffocation.
Dungeon Master: Here. Next, it is the turn of Rouge.
Rouge: I shortbow the ale-emental. Or possibly it is a booze golem? Either way, my roll is 23. Is an ally within 5 feet of this enemy without Incapacity?
Dungeon Master: Bingly has the book. Does Incapacity come from Grappling or Restraining?
Bingly: Looks like the answer is no. Also, because I am so Constitutional, I can hold a breath for 4 minutes. So unless the monster kills everyone else, I should be okay.
Rouge: In this case, an un-Incapacitated ally means I can Attack it Sneakily for 2 extra d6. Damage is 11.
Dungeon Master: Plummet is next.
Plummet: I think Magic Missile sounds good for this situation. My three missiles hit without even rolling! 10 points of damage.
Dungeon Master: Pilchard now has his turn.
Pilchard: I will spell it with Witch Bolt. My roll for Spell Attack is 16 + 6, so I assume I hit. Damage is 20!
Plummet: So much more effective than my Magic Missile!
Grolka: Yes, but he might have missed.
Dungeon Master: Luce may act next -- or may continue to hide.
Luce: My character has the same Sneaky Attacking ability of Rouge, yes? I will stand up from behind the barrel and shortsword this being. Only a 10 for hitting, though.
Dungeon Master: That is a miss. Grolka may go.
Grolka: I rush over and Savagely Attack it with my battleaxe. 18 is my attack, and damage is 10.
Helsa: So much damage we are doing in one round!
Rouge: It's unusual for us.
Dungeon Master: Bingly is Restrained, but may act now.
Bingly: Probably I'm too weakling to escape, so I will dagger at it. Not sure how I can miss from inside, but Restrained gives me Disadvantage, so I do. I burble at everyone to hurry and kill it.
Dungeon Master: It returns to Helsa's Initiative.
Helsa: More arrowing. Ah, now we see the normal rolls of Helsa. 5.
Dungeon Master: When the ale-emental's turn begins, its bubbly liquid squeezes Bingly for 3 additional damages. 
Bingly: Gurgle!
Dungeon Master: Next there is Slamming. Grolka is close. Slam! 17. Slam! 25.
Grolka: 17 is a miss. 25 ... that's obvious. 
Dungeon Master: 8 damage points. Rouge is next. 
Rouge: Shortbow! Natural 20! So many dice I get to roll! 26 points total!
Dungeon Master: So damaging! Plummet is next.
Plummet: My brother embarrassed me with all his Witch Bolting. I will try this spell: Chromatic Orb! Oh. But my Spell Attack is 7. Now I have embarrassed myself even more.
Dungeon Master: Pilchard.
Pilchard: With a Bonus Action, I continue my Witch Bolting for 10 damage!
Plummet: What! I am still being embarrassed by this spell?!
Pilchard: Also, I will Ray of Sickness it. But this time I miss.
Plummet: Hah! Your show-offery fails.
Luce: My turn? Again, I will shortsword. Look! A Natural 20 like Rouge!
Rouge: Tiefling power!
Luce: I really get to roll all these dice? 
Rouge: You got it, sister.
Luce: Not as good as Rouge -- only 16 points.
Dungeon Master: Still, it is enough to slay the ale-emental. 250 experience points each! Also, Bingly must make a Constitutional Saving Throw. 
Bingly: Only 11.
Dungeon Master: Booze has oozed into your pores and mouth, causing inebriation! You have the Poisoned condition for one hour.
Bingly: I say, "Oh no, I'm drunk! I see two of our tiefling!"
Luce: I explain that I am a different tiefling and perform introduction. "Sorry to be hiding behind a barrel for so long," I say. "I was gargoyled last night, so I am cautious now."
Rouge: It's understandable. I ask if you have seen any treasure or black marbles behind that barrel while hiding.
Luce: No.
Plummet: Possibly inside the barrel?
Luce: I don't know. I wasn't in there.
Rouge: I will rush over and examine the barrel interior!
Dungeon Master: A black marble! At the very bottom, under some ale-emental remnants. The homunculus flies over to look and then points with excitement.
Pilchard: The homunculus is still here?
Luce: What is this homunculus? Is it worrying to me?
Dungeon Master: A small winged creature with a Dragonborn-ish shape. Roll Nature or Arcana to recognize it.
Luce: Both are the same bonus: just 1. With my roll, 12.
Dungeon Master: This is enough for you to recognize it's no micro-gargoyle like last night.
Luce: I am relieved. With no worries of more gargoyling, I ask why a black marble is sought.

[Readers! Here, new character Luce received a tale-telling by party members. With tiredness from Dungeon Mastering, I did not capture all this storying. But you have read all of this story in previous dungeon notes, so you should be fine. Or! Possibly you did not read those, so this Seventh Dungeon is mighty in its confusing power! You should go read them.]

Dungeon Master: Now that Luce has awareness of the mission, one marble remains unfound! However, I see a late hour on the clock and hear it tick-ticking. This is probably enough for one session.
Rouge: Does this mean the shelf-and-barrel-full building of gargoyle guardedness has no other treasure besides a marble? My character ... very disappointed! Probably I kick the barrel.
Dungeon Master: It makes a kicked-barrel sound. No treasure is produced.
Luce: Well, I had great fun Dungeons and Dragoning! Much happiness at learning this new hobby.
Plummet: Yay! We can play more when you come to stay.
Luce: I will anticipate it.
Dungeon Master: Session complete!