Top Ballista: Heart of Darkness 5E solo
by Karl David BrownHere we go again.
My solo method requires not having read the adventure so no spoilers please.
But, this is a play through of the 4th adventure in Top Ballista so: Contains Spoilers!
This is the 4th adventure in the series. Check out "Tabi Hunt", "Scream of Terror" and "Crash Landing" threads for more.
I'm using my D&D 5th edition conversion of Top Ballista available on the Vaults of Pandius.
For this adventure Elminster's Guide suggests a 19th level character to be equivalent to a 9th level party. Top Ballista introduced a new unusual playable species. Here is my Sphinx PC at 19th level.
It's been six years since my last tale.
After the Cloud Clipper landed at Serraine officers of the Watch and Top Ballista Squadron ground troops were waiting to take us into custody. I of coarse complied and after a few hours of questioning was released. It turns out air cadet Dunbar decided to show off to his friends by taking then on a jaunt in a Cloud Clipper that was not authorised. Most of the gnomes were let off with a warning but Dunbar got a hefty fine and was dishonourably discharged from the squadron. I heard later that he was running with a street gang in the Labour Quarter.
After the legal excitement of those first few days, I settled into the usual excitement of life in the flying city. For work I freelanced as a scholar and as a soldier defending the city. There were dragon attacks, exciting additions to the Great Library, rough-house training with the pegataur mercenaries, and I published a treatise comparing ancient Taldaran military tactics to those of contemporary Thyatis. In my spare time I lived in the museum-home of my people and enjoyed the techno-magical attractions of Serraine. You, however, don’t want to hear about the ‘usual excitement’ you have been waiting while I spin my tales for my account of the ‘Heart of Darkness’ incident. At last you, like the pupils of Gegratis the Orator, can now hear the account from one who was there…
Like most Serrainers I was too late to ‘join the dots’. The increased rate of tourist disappearances, the spread of animated skeletons beyond city districts where Nagpa dwell, and then the incident with the corpse of the Alphatian noble, I forget his name, but The Watch finding his body in a sack and an unidentified nagpa fleeing the scene caused the Alphatians to ban their citizens from visiting Serraine, terrible news for the coffers of the City Council and businesses. It is among this disquiet that my tale begins.
Hmmm, limiting my own knowledge by not having read the adventure is tricky when the next few sections’ headings look like they are going to give away all the secrets. To make matters worse the referee is instructed to create preceding encounters. I’ve tried to skip over this using the preface above. I skip ahead to ‘Courses of Action for PCs’ then concoct a drive to get Leandrokrates on track. I can tell this is going to be hard work to solo this one.
I was in the Great Library idly studying a tome of ancient lore while people watching through the window when I saw a Nagpa leave the library with a bulging ragged book of notes. Given the news at the time of skeletons abroad and the recent incident with the Alphatian corpse I’m ashamed to say I suspicious of my fellow citizen. However, I likely would have looked back to my book and forgotten him if not for the foreigner that exited the library after him obviously following the nagpa. The human was a Glantrian by dress, a commoner, tall and broad despite being a hunchback. I watched the pair disappear around a girder on the street, the human furtively following the nagpa then shrugged and went back to my reading.
I probably would have eventually forgotten the incident except that a few days later I was back in my favourite spot by the window enjoying the setting sun, the city was flying south at the time, when my quiet revery was interrupted by a kerfuffle uncharacteristic of the Great Library. I turned toward the main desk and there was the Glantrian hunchback again arguing with Matazumi! Only an idiot foreigner would argue with Head Librarian Matazumi. For someone who is just a levitating glowing skull Matazumi was doing a good job of radiating annoyance. His green glow pulsed with increasing frequency and his skull positively vibrated! Curiosity piqued but also alarmed and looking for indications that I should make haste for the door I paid careful attention to the heated discussion. The human ‘Yegor Ponomarenko’ wants a library card. Matazumi is adamant that as a visitor to the city and not a resident the human will not be allowed to take books from the library. In the end when the undead skull librarian’s eyes begin to glow like white lightning the human male takes the hint and exits the library in a hurried lurch. Thankfully, Matazumi floats off annoyed but containing his wrath.
I close my book and, I’m ashamed to say, do not reshelve it before hurrying out to shadow the foreigner. It is after all it is the duty of every Serrainer to protect the city and I needed evidence of Glantrai agents and plots before I went to the Watch.
I pad out of the library slowly allowing the human to get a bit of a head start then languidly spread my wings and take to the air. Humanoids, especially Grounders, rarely look up.
Looks like a Stealth v. Yegor’s perception. Doing enough conversion to figure out his perception gives +5. He’s probably on alert so roll rather than passive perception.
Yegor rolls 14+5= 19
Leandrokrates rolls 9+3=12.
He’s onto me!
I follow the human for a block. He’s obviously nervous looking around and hussling along and suddenly he ducks under a girder into a narrow alley.
Time for the chase rules again. This time using the urban table. Is he slower than most humans? No, apparently not. OK speed 30 feet. Following the instructions (DMG 252): roll initiative
Leandokrates 11+1=12
Yegor 19+4=23
What is the distance? Well I deliberately let him get ahead and was inside when he left so 2 rounds of walking = 60 feet.
Yegor dashes stretching the divide to 120’. 1 of 6 dashes allowed. Complication roll 14, no complication.
Leandrkrates dashes in flight 120’ closing the gap. 1 of 6 dashes allowed. Complication roll 9 = overzealous guard opportunity attack with spear 13+3=16 hit but non-magical does not damage
I do a hasty wing-over into the alley and see the dark-haired hunchback sprinting away but I’m using gravity to speed my way as I fly down to my quarry. Seeing my feline form in pursuit of a figure an overexcited member of the Watch decides to intervene and tosses a spear my way. The spear barely hits but is no threat to my magical hide. Then I’m on my quarry.
At this point I have to pause and read Yegor’s stat-block and convert it so I can determine what his options are. I intend to grapple next.
OK, back
Yegor: Casts Darkness. Bonus action Disengage. Is there doorway or similar he can disappear into? Consult EGSA. 1d6=5=Yes. Move 30’.
Leandrokrates: Moves on land toward the sound of his retreat. Do I need to squeeze to follow? 2=No. Easily catch up to him. Grapple. Athletics 13+16=29. He resists: 12+4=16. He is Grappled.
As I reach my quarry I go blind, there is nothing to see but darkness and in this sudden night my prey slips my grasp but my keen ears hear him scurry away. I follow the sound burst out into daylight, a dome of night behind and the hunchback within paw’s reach ahead. With two forepaws I grasp my prey even as he tries to slip aside.
Yegor: Tries to slip out of the grapple: 15+4=19. I try to stop him: 5+16=21.
Leandrokrates: “what is going on? Why were you following the nagpa? Tell me or I’ll shake it out of you rat!” Intimidation. EGSA: DC20, 1+5=6.
“what is going on? Why were you following the nagpa? Tell me or I’ll shake it out of you rat!”
The ‘rat’, merely grins a cold grin. ”You have nothing on me and that Watch officer will be here soon”.
Round 2.
I calculate the Watch arrives at the end of this round. Officer’s of the Watch always travel in squads so a squad arrives. Fortunately, I’ve already detailed the Watch.
Yegor tries to Break out of my grapple. 7+4=11
I resist his attempt to escape: 19+16=35 yeh nah.
Leandrokrates: Seeing the Watch approach I let the human go and address them “Greetings officers, just a misunderstanding between myself and this visitor to our city over his behaviour toward Matazumi in the library. However, all cleared up now and I wouldn’t want to interfere with the head librarian’s business.” EGSA: DC20. Persuasion roll 12+5. They are not buying it.
I can hear the sound of rushing boots on the other side of the dome of darkness. The human futilely struggles to escape but when the first gnome officer of the Watch rushes out of the magical dark I take my forepaws off the human and speak to the Watch “Greetings officers, just a misunderstanding between myself and this visitor to our city over his behaviour toward Matazumi in the library. However, all cleared up now and I wouldn’t want to interfere with the head librarian’s business.” By now the rest of the patrol has emerged from the dark and they don’t look convinced.
”This citizen was pursuing you. We pride ourselves on the safety of visitors to our city.” states the gnome officer officiously. ”Do you wish to press charges?”
To my surprise the human replies “No, just a misunderstanding”
Yegor persuasion EGSA DC10. 17-2=15
“If you say so sir. Perhaps if the citizen would stay to answer a few questions you can be on your way”
I give the officers my name and relate the two incidents that aroused my suspicions while the human vanishes into the lanes and alleyways.
After the officers depart I try to track the hunchback through the maze of Serraine’s streets.
Survival consult EGSA to create a DC 20 partially because this is my hometown. Roll 1d20+4 = 16. Nope
Although I know the city like the back of my paw the trail is cold and I’m not much of a tracker. I fail to find the human.
Pay lifestyle expenses at Wealthy level for a Large creature 8gp
The next day I ask around about the hunchbacked human. Quite a few people have noticed this distinctive foreigner standing head and shoulders above the gnome population but no-one seems to know anything. As I’m about to forget the whole matter an off-duty porter from the Imperial Hostelry relates that Yegor the hunchback is a servant of a guest at the hostelry, one Baron Miroslav Gorevitch-Stekel, a Glantrian noble. The pair are suspiciously private. Cleaning staff are not allowed to enter their rooms in their absence and if it is necessary to disturb the baron staff are told to knock and wait to be let in. Being private is not a crime so I still have only suspicions to take to the Watch. I resolve to investigate the Imperial in the morning, if nothing else there is an excellent breakfast buffet.
Pay lifestyle expenses at Wealthy level for a Large creature 8gp
Early in the morning I pad over to the 10-story edifice of white marble and brass that is the luxurious Imperial Hostelry. Inside I ignore the curious looks of foreigners unused to sphinxes and ask for a breakfast table at the front desk, preferably one at the back corner good for people watching “There are so many intriguing foreigners here but I would not want to disturb your guests. A discrete table out of the way in the back corner would be ideal.”
I take my time with a platter piled high with eggs, roast meats, and sausages hoping to spot either of the Glantrians. I don’t have a good description of the Baron but might recognise him by his finery and accent. As it is I don’t spot the baron but a good way through my plate the hurries down the grand staircase, foreigners often don’t trust the high speed mechanical lifts much to the disappointment of their gnome operators.
Does he spot me sitting in the dining hall? My stealth v high passive perception of 15. 17+3=20!.
He hurries out the door without seeing me. I leave payment for my breakfast and a healthy tip and head out into the street to shadow him.
Breakfast is part of wealthy lifestyle expenses. This does not feel like a significant change from the situation of the Stealth roll I’ve already made so I’ll let it stand.
The human lurches down the street for a few blocks. I see him rummage in his coin pouch pull out a tiny blob of something then gesture and proclaim a few arcane words before vanishing!
Arcana check to realise what just happened. EGSA for a DC 10. Roll 9+9=18.
I recognise the gum Arabic and a few words of the incantation and know that he has cast an invisibility spell. I immediately listen and watch for signs of the invisible man’s passage.
Perception check against his stealth. I disadvantage for his invisibility.
He rolls: 12+7=19
I roll: 2/12+14/=16. Sod a perception of 14 and I still failed!
Despite my keen feline senses I can detect no sign of the invisible man. Disappointed I fly back to my lodgings. The more I investigate the Glantrian the more suspicious behaviour I observe and the intrigued I become. I am certain he is up to something nefarious, but what? I resolve to stake out the Imperial Hostelry until I find out.
8gp for living expenses and I give myself Inspiration for following my Ideal
The next morning. I give notice to my landlord at the Sphinx Halls then fly across the city to take a small, but luxuriously appointed room at the Imperial. The concierge dispatches one of the Imperial’s Tabi messages to arrange the delivery of my things from my residence. And then I spend the day in the dining Hall watching for the hunchback and his master, the baron. The day had turned to dusk and I was about to give up and retire for the night when I see what could only be the baron emerge from the lift. He is tall even for a human, over 6 feet, with pale skin and straight black hair combed back from a widow’s peek. He wear dark clothes of foreign cut with a cloak lined with scarlet silk. He looks to be in his thirties. The baron stalks slowly and deliberately across the lobby.
Does he notice me? My stealth v. his passive perception 11. Roll 9+3=12
After he exits with a distracted wave to the doorman I shadow him through the streets. He keeps to the main streets passing the skychair depot before turning starboard at the Fly School and passing between the Science Park and the Pegataur Eyries. This brings him to the Great Library and he stalks inside.
I really should be making more use of my spells. For example, Locate creature would have been useful last time.
No-one really notices when I enter the library, my kind and myself in particular are a common sight within it’s aisles of books, scrolls, and tablets. I spot the Baron immediately, he is at the help desk berating an assistant librarian. The gnome listens patiently and stone-faced as Baron Miroslav restates that he is an ”…important and monied noble and scholar and should be issued a card. I know my servant was not able to clear this up and so I have been forced to come here in person and away from my studies. Now if you will produce the documents I’ll be having my card now”
”Baron Miroslav, respectfully you are welcome to conduct your research here in the library but as a foreign citizen it is against regulations to issue you with a card” says the gnome calmly.
”Regulations! Regulations do not apply to me I’m a mage of noble blood. Fetch your superior and I’ll have tossed out!”
”As you wish Baron” the gnome then rings the dreaded little bell that calls the head librarian.
I select a periodical from the new arrivals stand using my mage hand spell and retreat to my usual spot by the window.
The head librarian arrives. Matazumi’s is a floating skull with a green glow. Unexpectedly for a foreigner, the Baron is unshaken by the head librarian’s terrifying visage. “This peasant has refused me a borrowing card. I DEMAND a card, an apology, and his removal from his current employment. Furthermore, I demand access to the Shroudwell Collection”
“NO” responds Matazumi in a barrotone like a hollow grave.
“No? No!” shouts the Baron.
The gnome assistant librarian now looks nervous ”Baron, please. … Perhaps you can return later when…”
Suddenly, Matazumi’s glow becomes a blazing wreath of green fire “GO”
“My work is of utter importance and…” begins the Baron.
“SILENCE” a word like thunder from the levitating skull and it is so. The baron speaks but there is no sound. The sound of scratching quills, the sounds of machines outside on the street, all utterly absent.
Furious, the Baron storms out silently into the night.
History check do I know what the Shroudwell Collection is? EGSA for the DC15. 2+15=17
Why does the Baron want access to that restricted collection on Necromancy? I follow the Baron. He simply heads back to the Imperial and up the lift presumably to his rooms. I pad back to my rooms to ponder on what I know.
1) Miroslav is visiting Serraine
2) Miroslav’s servant was seen tailing a Nagpa. The Nagpa have a cultural acceptance of necromancy.
3) The pair are very secretive restricting access to their rooms and the servant has used invisibility as a precaution.
4) The servant at least is a spell caster of at least middling power.
5) Miroslav wants to take books from the library to study in private and wants access to a restricted collection of works on necromancy.
So, it is something to do with necromancy, a practice shunned by many grounders which might explain the secrecy. Ah hah! Perhaps this has something to do with the up-tick in tourist going missing. Most of us suspected harpies, but what if this pair are involved? How does the Nagpa fit in? Was he the same one seen by the Watch fleeing a crime scene recently? It takes a while for me to find sleep as my mind ponders my next coarse of investigation.
Another 8gp for wealthy lifestyle. My cash reserves are running low.
I allow myself a sleep-in and then a filling breakfast in the dining hall. The baron nor his servant appear during my repast. My first task is to look to my own finances. Unwilling to take on the distraction of a freelance contract at this time I regretfully must sell one of my last treasures from my adventures around Rugaluv. I spend the day negotiating with various gem-sellers in the Artisan’s Quarter and finally get a good price for the stone. My money pouch full again I return for the evening meal (no sign of the pair of suspects) and then to my room. Tomorrow the investigation will continue.
Cashed in an Emerald worth 450 gp. Remove 8gp for wealthy lifestyle
The next couple of days I wait in the dining room for the pair from my corner with a good view of the building’s front door. Neither of the Glantrians show up for meals nor do they exist the hotel. This situation precludes following them. I consider my leads. There is the baron, the servant, the Shroudwell collection, and the nagpa. This last person I’d recognise if I saw him but otherwise, I have nothing to go on, no name, no residence nothing. The Shroudwell collection of necromancy tomes wouldn’t be much of a clue even if I could get to it. No doubt it is full of many distasteful magics that could be applied to a great many nefarious purposes. So, no the Glantrians remain my best lead.
At this point I really still don’t know what is going on. I’ve maintained my ignorance by selectively reading what I need to but no more. I do know a bit more about the baron than Leandrocrates does but I’m not sure that helps explain everything that is going on.
16gp for 2 days living expenses.
I need to remember to use Truesight more. I also have it as a spell, I considered changing it for another but since the spell enables me to gift the ability to others I don’t feel like I can justify changing it now.
The next day I get up before the early dawn, the city is quite high, and eat an early breakfast before the sun rises. Then I head out into the cold dark street. Quite brisk, we must be high. Around a corner into a side-street out of sight of the hostelry and then spread my wings. I fly to a rooftop opposite the Imperial and set down gently. I then pad over to sheltered spot in the lee of chimney to hide.
Stealth check. 11+3=14. Enough to beat the Commoners in the building below the roof? Passive perception 10 assuming they are not asleep.
From my concealed vantage point I watch the front door of the hostelry and when the sun rises above the clouds below I scan the windows for a glimpse of the pair. They do not exit the building and if they are in their room they are in one of the rooms with the heavy drapes drawn all day, or a room without a widow onto the street. The latter seems unlikely for a baron.
Is there any chance that someone spots me during the day? The watch is on patrol and some of the citizens are flyers. EGSA exploration chart for a DC. DC10. I’m ok.
Investigations can involve long dull hours waiting for something that never happens. I have a whole day like that. However, as the sun goes down I stay putt. This stakeout will last all night in case they are slipping out after dark.
odd/even roll where odd=yes. 5=yes
My perseverance is rewarded when a little after dark a heavy drape is pulled back in one of the windows of the Imperial and I can see the Baron outlined by golden lamp light. He opens the window, turns to say something to Yegor then abruptly dissolves into a pillar of greyish fog. The fog-baron drifts out of the window. This confirms the baron has access to powerful magic. I watch the fog-baron drift out of the window and head Starboard over the rooftops.
already established that we are above the clouds. I’m going to assume dim light.
I let the small cloud drift starboard against the wind for a while then spring into the air and spread my wings. I follow the little cloud starboard over the Science Park, the machines below silent now the visitors have all long gone home. I stay high and trust the streetlights to keep him night-blind to my dark shape gliding quietly behind and above him
Does he spot me? I’m giving my self advantage. He is probably alert and will roll perception against my stealth. The baron 9+1=10. Leandrokrates 10+3=13. No.
He flies over the Science Park and into the Upper Class Residential Quarter.
The cloud that is the baron drifts against the wind and down eventually settling on the balcony of an fancy three-story home and coalescing into the solid form of the baron. I circle above. A young woman exits from the glazed door to the balcony. I glimpse a boudoir within.
Do I notice anything unusual about this clandestine meeting? Insight. DC from EGSA with my usual modification =25. 1d20+4 = 5
The two soon amorously embrace. I wheel about and fly back to the hostelry to give the two lovebirds some privacy. There will be nothing to be learned here.
Back in my room, and after a good sleep, I take stock of what I know. If nothing else I need reassuring that this costly investigation is not a waste of time based on nothing more than suspicions.
8gp living expenses
1. The Baron is having a secret affair with a local young woman.
2. The Baron is a powerful magic user who is seeking access to a prohibited tome of necromancy in the Great Library.
3. The Baron and his servant Yegor rarely leave their room and demand an unusual level of privacy.
4. The servant Yegor is also a reasonable spellcaster.
5. I know which is their room now.
6. They are interested in a particular Nagpa for some reason.
7. There has been an increase in tourists going missing.
8. A nagpa was seen fleeing where a sack containing a dead foreigner was found. Is this the same person the servant was tailing?
The Foreigners are very careful. I could break into their room but such burglar-like behaviour sits ill with me and they are in their room most of the time. Certainly, I have have not seen them out and about at the same time. This line of investigation my be a dead end. Maybe I’ve been going about this all wrong, after all is was a nagpa that was seen fleeing a scene of a crime shortly before I witnesses Yegor trying to tail a nagpa. The nagpa have a presence in Serraine but, like my own people, they are a numeric minority. There are, what a bit over 100 of them in the city. That the two nagpa are the same person is not extremely unlikely. All I can think of to do is stake out the library, which is basically just returning to my usual daily routine.
So, totally stumped I came up with this plan. Then I opened the original Top Ballista adventure book after several months away and looked at the next unread section and read the first couple of sentences and there it was. I’m more impressed with the writers of this adventure now
I avail myself of the included buffet breakfast then check out of the Imperial Hostelry and arrange a to stay in one of the many rooms in the museum-halls of my own people. This rearrangement of my affairs takes the lion’s share of the day and so I retire early.
4gp per day for Comfortable expenses
The next morning I fly over to the Great Library and install myself in my customary spot by the window with a good view of the comings and goings through the main entrance and the main enquiries desk.