Chapter 4 – Losers and losers
Well I have just published chapter 3 and have to move straight into chapter 4 as chapter 5 is going to be coming along before I get it done! Anyway, Christmas and New Year is over, everyone is back to work and I have a few more days at the office before I start a new contract in Sydney, so I am making the most of it and trying to finish catching up on everything. So where are we?
Ah Yes! The group consists of:
Me – the DM.
Gary – playing as Quaite, a 3rd level human paladin. .
Dave – playing as Talwin (the Tof), a 3rd level halfling rogue.
Adam – playing as Flint Dankil, a 3rd level dwarf fighter.
Joshua – playing as Gerome “The Trippy Gnome”, a 3rd level gnome rogue.
The gang are eager to get into it – everything appears from the shelves without much fuss – it seems like the setup is becoming a routine. Everyone takes their accustomed places and settle in.
Dave has asked for an early finish – it turns out his mother is up visiting. So not wanting to disrupt happy family reunions we all agree to keep the session short. And it was. Short, but eventful!
Memory recall takes a dive with Dave stuck in the memory of the end of chapter 2 thinking he still needed to tackle some bugbears before the rest of the team enlighten him and correct his thinking. Ah he has got it! So they are all in the same headspace at last! Back in the castle having just defeated some hobgoblins.
They think they have now worked out the at cook they killed early wasn’t the king (it’s good to see their collective IQ in operation), so they think they have a tough fight ahead. Quickly they plough through a couple of more hobgoblins as they make a beeline for where they think the king is. Unluckily he has been tipped off, and Talwin takes a bad wound trying to sneak into the kings chambers. A melee ensues, which results in the death of the original inhabitants of the chamber – as well as the death of the dwarf that hired them (way back in chapter 1) who was being tortured there by a mimic. The mimic did allow me to have some fun with the party before it was killed – but yet again the party got off easy.
They quickly ransacked the room of anything valuable and so to blithely marched on to the last remaining door. Now this one was barred from the outside – but that didn’t stop them. They throw open the door – to be met by a very angry owlbear (for those who don’t know, picture a black bear with an owl’s head and a very mean disposition).
At last they think and back off allowing it to come out of its darkened lair into the light (where the
Paladin can finally see it!). Unfortunately, rather than leaving it to run off, they attack. This things hurts when it hits, but the teams luck holds again and before long it is left bleeding and dying on the floor. Gerome contemplates taking its ears but decides against them due to their size.
So back to town again for a rest and then the dash off to the final location. Everyone is feeling strong, physically and mentally. They are prepared for anything. They have the power (picture Drax from GotG)…. So you can tell where this is going.
I skip straight to the mines – this gang isnt interested in slow travel unless it guarantees killing something, so we ge straight into it and pick them up again as they enter the first cave. Finding the body of another dwarf, Talwin is eager to swap his boots for the dead dwarf’s (has he been reading the scenario I think to myself?). The boots are actually magical which he is delighted with and enable him to leap large distances – very useful for the sneaky little rat that he is.
Down into the pit at the end of the cave and the team have a choice. Left or right. Right it is, and soon they are in another cave. Boring! So Gerome decides he wants to climb the walls – which causes the nesting stirges (think classic horror movie vampire bats) to swarm that party. Before it even gets chance to get going though Gerome casts sleep into the middle of the cave with cries of “Nooooooo!” from the party. It works though – a number of the stirges fall to the floor and the rest are rapidly dispatched – although a reasonable amount of damage is taken.
Moving right along the team wander into a room containing ghouls. Again they make short work of them – it seems that this team can survive anything. Dave and Gary however are starting to cast worried looks at each other – I think they are beginning to realise that this mine is a lot more dangerous than anything else that they have faced.
The next encounter nails it. Talwin decides to scout ahead and gets ambushed by an Ochre Jelly. Whilst slow, this thing is strong. It’s also immune to most of the parties weapons – in fact after Talwin gets almost smashed by it, it then splits into two when it is attacked by the party. Hey! I like this. Now they have two of these things to fight!
The party attacks again to no effect with yet more damage being taken. Now the Quiate and Talwin are both seriously damaged. Flynt is also starting to look sick and even Gerome has taken some hits.
Finally the party admit defeat and decide to retire. To safeguard their retreat they use a couple of oil flasks and some flames to ensure they can’t be followed and beat a hasty retreat back to base.
Well guess it’s an early night for all of us. The guys have decided that they are not strong enough for the mines yet – so next session looks like it’s going to be side-quest time until they can level up and try again!