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How The Herculean Monk Saved the Party from TPK With His Mighty Fists
Our DM does levels by XP rather than milestones; also, our group often has players coming in
and going out.
As a result, the party was not always equal in level.
At this particular time, the party was made up of four players:
Cannibal Lector, a 4th level Barbarian, and 1st level Fighter Goliath.
A wild guy who often has crazy plans but usually knows when to cool it.
Winoan, a 1st level Paladin Half-Elf.
Seems somewhat timid on the surface but puts on a brave face when others are in danger.
Solis, a 3rd level Monk Aasimar.
No-nonsense and lives for the fight.
Will risk it all to protect both his friends and his livelihood.
And myself, Tiso, a 3rd level Rogue and 1st level Fighter Halfling.
A cheerful rogue who isn’t one for thievery.
In battle he will not hesitate to kill but never drags it out.
We also had an NPC Elf girl named Mina who we met in a previous quest with us.
She was a 1st level Rogue with an unknown number of levels in Fighter.
Also, Solis was sworn to protect her as his character’s reason for even being present
was because he was serving as her bodyguard at the moment.
At this time, we found ourselves trapped in a small area that had been cursed by vampires
that made an external fog linger around a few towns and cities that made it.
So, if you tried to leave the area, you would turn to ash.
This fog had been lingering for about a decade.
At the moment, Winslow, the leader of a guild of vampire hunters and researchers, had us
looking for the journal of a woman named Corona who is believed to have escaped somehow.
Various investigations had led us to a black hut in a place called Ruin, a former city
left in shambles after many vampire attacks; and eventually, its true name was lost.
This black hut was believed to be the former home of Corona.
Upon entering, the place is very clearly in very poor condition.
While it is mostly empty from several past lootings, there remain dark vials hanging
on the walls and a few rugs and chairs.
At this time, a calling stone given to me by Winslow begins blinking, so I answered
it.
He informed me that he believes that some of the vampires are tracking us down and that
we might be in danger.
He also says that he is sending a team of all his best men, including the guild’s
champion, Brutas, to investigate the matter.
After relaying this to the party, we continued looking around for a little bit; Solis noticed
a trapdoor peeking out from under one of the rugs.
“Hey!
There's a trapdoor over here!”
Solis said.
We all rush over to see and indeed there is a trap door.
“Who would like to do the honors?”
Solis asked.
“I got this.”
Tiso said, bending down to open the door before realizing it is locked.
“You guys know I am not that great at this kind of thing but I will try.”
It is at this moment that the DM informed me that before I even start, I notice that
it is in fact, a magic lock.
All of us roll Arcana and surprisingly enough, only Cannibal succeeded.
Our DM then explained how Cannibal recognized the arcane markings from his years of mercenary
work, and from deep in his memory recalled how to dispel it.
I then roll Sleight of Hand and get a nat 20, opening the lock with ease despite my
lack of proficiency.
We then all look down the hole and just see darkness below.
Solis pulled a stone from his pack and cast a light cantrip on it, and then dropped it
down the hole.
It only falls about 10 feet before landing on a wooden floor.
We all climb down and find ourselves standing on a very creaky wooden floor.
The first thing that caught our attention is that there is a vampiric envoy chained
to one of the walls.
For those who don’t know, a vampiric envoy is basically like a lesser vampire.
They are significantly weaker than normal vampires and are basically mindless, usually
taking orders from full vampires.
It is quick to start hissing at us, but it is clear that it has been trapped here for
a long time and is incredibly weak.
“We should just kill it.
This is just cruel.”
Tiso suggested.
“Shouldn’t we like, interrogate it first or something?”
Cannibal asked.
“Sounds like someone forgot that envoys can’t speak.”
Tiso reminded him.
Cannibal then kind of just shrugged and attacked the envoy.
DM does not even make him role for hit or damage, saying that in its feeble state, anything
could kill it.
With that done, we turn our attention to the rest of the room.
Winoan put his attention on the creaky floor; meanwhile, my attention is on the vials stored
in this room.
They are filled with dark liquid just like the ones upstairs.
Filled with both curiosity and stupidity, I told the DM that I would like to dip the
tip of my cloak into a vial.
He responded by saying that as expected, my cloak comes out simply wet with the fluid.
Like an idiot, I then stated that I wished to lick this fluid off my cloak to find out
what it was.
My mouth is immediately filled with the taste of blood.
I spit it out and immediately began chugging a vial of holy water, terrified.
Right after this happens, Winoan rips a weak board out of the floor and we learn that below
this floor is just an empty pit -- who knows how deep.
Shortly thereafter, Solis and Winoan find a secret door into another room.
The floor in there appeared even more rickety, but there is also a table with a book laying
on it.
Winoan stepped into the room but a small part of the floor gave way and his leg got stuck.
Solis then made his way into the room and, once back on sturdier ground, grabbed the
book before helping Winoan.
As this was happening, the calling stone blinked again and I answered it.
Winslow informed me that the party he sent out to investigate, including Brutas, are
all dead.
Furthermore, the vampires likely know our location and are apparently particularly interested
in me.
He asks if there might be any reason why and I inform him of the vial of blood, but that
it had also barely just happened.
He then reminds me that in the 10 years it has operated, the guild as a whole has only
actually managed to kill two vampires.
I begin relaying this to the party when we all hear a lot of commotion and shouting from
upstairs and we are all freaking out.
We all decide to hide and everyone succeeds… except Cannibal who rolled a 2.
Not a moment later, vampires burst in and immediately cast a fireball at Cannibal.
Because we are not that far away, Mina and I are also both struck.
We both succeeded our dex saves but Cannibal does not, taking a hefty 22 damage.
Mina is also knocked out from this blast as she was missing HP from a previous battle
still.
The floor then, of course, collapsed under us from this explosion.
Cannibal and I both fall, as do an unknown number of vampires.
Solis sprouted his Aasimar wings and attempted to catch Mina but failed.
He then attempted to catch Winoan and succeeded, placing him by the exit ladder before flying
down after us.
Cannibal, Mina, and I all land far below with a mighty splash.
I have a mere fourth of my HP left; Cannibal, while having quite a bit more, is unconscious
anyway due to some bad rolls.
As I started swimming to shore, I spotted Mina on the shore with an envoy creeping up
on her.
At this time, Solis arrived and was able to spot Cannibal floating in the water and dragged
him to shore before spotting a full fledged vampire creeping in the shadows.
Around this time, I am basically crapping my pants because Mina is down, Cannibal is
unconscious, Winoan is not present, and I am critically wounded, and we are about to
be attacked by a full fledged vampire, an encounter I was fearing even if we were in
top shape.
I am terrified that we are about to have a TPK.
Roll Initiative.
Well, Solis and I did… first was me, then the envoy, then the vampire, then Solis.
I load a wooden stake into my crossbow and fired a bolt directly into the envoy; this
at least pulled its attention away from Mina.
I also used Second Wind and healed for 9 HP.
The envoy then attacked me and thankfully missed.
The vampire then attacked Solis.
Nat 20.
The vampire viciously sunk its teeth into Solis, but he is unfazed.
As an Aasimar, he is a holy being and thus, resistant to such evil powers.
Solis briefly looked over at Mina’s horribly injured unconscious body and then back to
the vampire.
“I am sick and tired of all these god-damn vampires in my god-damn plane of existence,”
Solis growled.
Nat 20.
He threw a wooden stake into the vampire’s chest and punched it.
Also, his wings are still out, which grants him bonus radiant damage.
Flurry of Blows – He got another two hits in, driving the stake in further.
The vampire is not down yet, but it took some heavy damage.
Around this time, up above, Winoan, not wanting to abandon his friends, safely climbed his
way down.
He saw the fight as well as Mina’s unconscious body.
He rushed over and dumped the few HP his level 1 Paladin self can into Mina, saving her from
death.
It is my turn again and I decided to take a risk and pull out my rapier and jumped at
the envoy, and managed to get several good hits in.
I am fully expecting to get hit right after, but instead the envoy charged at Winoan after
spotting him healing Mina.
Poor Winoan is taken down in a single blow.
The vampire then attacked Solis again but missed.
Solis retaliated with another attack and a flurry of blows.
Hit, Miss, Hit.
Cannibal woke up, and the DM told him that he will be able to act after Solis next turn.
Now it is back to me, I lunged at the envoy with my Rapier again and narrowly managed
to finish it off with a sigh of relief.
The vampire again tried to attack Solis, but again failed.
Solis then once again attacked as well as using his final Ki point to do a third Flurry
of Blows.
He rolled to hit: 20, 18, 20
With a screech, the vampire fell to the ground.
“You may think you have defeated me, but…” it snarled.
The vampire began mumbling some sort of incantation but, before it could finish, Solis punched
it in the jaw, snapping it out of place.
With that final blow, the vampire fell limp.
Solis single handedly beat a vampire to death with his bare fists.
Taking on a vampire single handedly!
Pretty epic to say the least.
Have you ever managed to kill a creature in spectacular fashion?
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