Time: 6/26/22-7/4/22, rest 7/5/22, active 7/6/22
PCs: Gwendolyn the Goat (Bard), Max Bear (Barbarian), John Redcorn III (Cleric)
Hench: Cemil (Man), Wardog 1, Wardog 2
This week Team A was back in action after quite a bit of time compression and the death of Max Bear that just didn’t take. After crawling free of his grave and drinking away the thirst of the afterlife, Max was ready to rumble. The party spoke with Lord Issac (patron) and was offered a treasure map leading to a fancy necklace. They decided to investigate the abandoned mine of sessions 1 and 2 first, and off they went.
They had imbibed a potion of treasure finding during one of the earlier delves into this dungeon and found that the most valuable treasure was deeper in, so they knew there was something to be gained. They proceeded with a pretty good memory of the simple mine layout and came upon new territory, where the mine shafts changed to natural cavern corridors. The disturbing sensation of breathing that had plagued them before was about double the strength, fresh air being pulled past them into the unknown and fetid, hot, rotten air blowing past them.
Understandably wary of a giant beast of some kind, the party discussed options to recon, eventually settling on Redcorn casting Silence to mask their movement. They crept ahead and came upon a wide chamber that was expanding and contracting as if breathing, and seemed to be causing the air to move. The walls were glistening and sticky, but otherwise appeared to be stone. They yucked their way out of the creepy room pretty quick.
They came upon a freshly constructed rope bridge that spanned a wide canyon with a quaint little bubbling stream running down the center. The bridge looked sturdy and new so they went right across into a tighter part of the dungeon. They passed a hallway and found a little cubby, squeezing into a small room with a heinous black altar devoted to Nerull taking up most of the space. It radiated negative energy but being Neutral they immediately discussed how to capitalize on the altar’s destruction since they would gain nothing from destroying it themselves. Knowing that Lord Issac is a paladin, they decided he would be interested to know there’s a sinkhole of evil down here.
They carried on, still having not found the loot they were certain was still there. Around a bend they walked into another dark chamber, their torchlight illuminating the crucified body of some hapless adventurer and a clutch of ghouls. Some of the party was surprised but not all, and the fight was on. Cemil the hench got his eye plucked out by one but quick response by Redcorn saved him from death. Max and one of Redcorn’s wardogs got paralyzed by the ghouls claws and bite, but Redcorn was able to turn the ghouls before anyone was killed and Gwendolyn and the remaining wardog were able to destroy them while they cowered away from Obad-hai’s Life-giving Force.
The conundrum now was what to do with the paralyzed members of the party. Wait for an unknown amount of turns in the dungeon for it to wear off or spend their last magic to free Max and carry the dog out. They opted to free Max, snatch up the loot which was a bit of gold and a hardwood shield with glowing Frutzii runes along the rim that radiated warmth, and carry the dog out. They were able to escape with no encounters other than some fire beetles they saw down in the canyon by the stream.
They returned to Issac and laid out the news, who took the info under advisement but was busy with Patron stuff. The party asked for a reward and offered to help Issac cleanse the altar for an additional fee. Then they took the offered treasure map and jaunted out to investigate.
The map indicated a wooded area against the foothills north of Newbridge. They arrived with minimal challenges and investigated, revealing a small tribe of wood elves camped within. They surprised the elves who were pretty sour about that, but Gwendolyn was able to parley them into not-murder. They realized the treasure that the map led to was worn by the elven leader and decided they didn’t want to steal from some dudes just hanging out in the woods. They turned over the map to the elves in the interest of honesty and the elves escorted them out of the woods, encouraging them to never come back.
The party returned to Newbridge again with no troubles and the rest of the session was spent shopping and setting up downtime stuff for the few weeks we won’t be playing due to Holidays and such.
Musings:
This party is feast or famine with the random rolls. They move relatively slowly through the dungeon and catch one irrelevant random encounter. They travel several hexes in the wilderness, one or two randoms that they surprise and outmaneuver. The reaction of the elves could have gone horribly, but maxed out parley rolls got them out of there with no bloodshed. It’s interesting the way that trusting the dice leads to such varied results. I need to be more disciplined with the getting lost rolls and such in wilderness. That’ll come with more exploration in session play.
Extra Levels and henchman soaked some hits this session in a fight that could have very easily been a TPK. Extra Hit Dice are no joke, especially disposable ones in the form of henchmen. Identifying magic items is expensive in both time and gold. Players can spend a lot of energy on cost analysis of selling or using items which is natural I suppose. Sometimes the spirit of the thing gets lost in the math. We’ll all find our balance there.
XP from Kills: 145
XP from Treasure: 1930
Total XP Pool: 2075
Cuts: 9 total with PCs receiving 2 each.
PC Share: 0%: 462 5%: 485 10%: 508
Hench Share: 0%: 231 5%: 243 10%: 254
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