Temple of Elemental Evil Session 9

DM Notes:

Well I am having to work on our game days so we have to put the game on hold for a bit.  Also with the new 5e Adventure and Encounters starting we will be having a group get ready to run those adventures.  This week our 2 extra DM was out of town so that meant 1 DM (me) running a MASSIVE table.  Again I hate sending people away so this week was less on RP and more on hack and slash.  Here is the group…

Chris - Oeridian Druid, Merc from Furyondy

Marshmallow - Warforged Paladin of St. Cuthbeth, Protector of Gran March

Peep Marsh - Oeridian Rogue, Spy for the Gran March

Who Hootsalot = Sylvan Druid, Guide from the Gran March

Kurana - Dragonborn Cleric kicked out of order for being drunk

Anderron - Dwarf Cleric of Mordin looking to help the Church of St. Cuthbeth in Hommlet to push back the evil

Ardeshir Roshani - Apprentice to the Circle of Eight Mordenkainen.  Looking to gain more magical power.

People from the other table:

Nazoj - Human Cleric

Thaedrad - Human Wizard

Roxanne Rose - Human Rogue

New Player

Thundrunn Thougunn - Dwarf Cleric (this was his first week)

We pick up where the last battle was just ending.  The group was able to fight though the last of the Gnolls and get organized.  That battle lasted about 15 min not no major damage from the Gnolls.  Since the casting of Thunderwave last week Lareth the Beautiful and his men knew they were there.  He used his connection to Lolth to take over the mind of some of the party and draw them to him.  The rest of the part was not sure what was happening as their fellows headed down the corridor in the dark to a new area.

I laid out a new map and placed the possessed characters about 100 ft ahead of the other and heading up a corridor into an ambush.  The possessed could try to break out at the end of each of their turns otherwise I would control them to move deeper into the room.  The rest of the party could not figure out what to do so we rolled initiative and started the final encounter.

Again with such a large group this battle took about 2 1/2 hours to complete.  We had 12 Soldiers, 2 Sergeants, 1 Lieutenant, and Lareth.  The possessed group was Thundrunn, Who, Kurana, Anderron, and Chris.  The battle started off with the possessed people walking through the dungeon toward a voice that was so beautiful.  It kept calling them and telling them to join him and his army.  At the end of each of the players turns they would get a save to break the spell.  Anderron ran forward and made it almost to the end of the hall but broke out of the spell.  The others were not lucky and continued to move down the hall.  Anderron  worked to stop the others but they just kept moving.  The rest of the party ran to catch up with the group and kept looking around for traps, but Roxanne ran fast and quickly caught up with the possessed people.

People started to slowly come too and after 2 turns only Chris and Who were possessed.  Who moved forward and around a corner but at the end of her move she shook off her possession and her vision cleared.  She found herself surrounded by 3 soldiers and a sergeant.  The sergeant attacked and called to take her down.  She was shot multiple times and taken to 1 hp.  Roxanne quickly ran in and hurt the sergeant bad with some beautiful sword work but was left in the open.  Thundrunn and Anderron quickly ran in and damaged the people and killed off the sergeant, while Peep quietly snuck into the room and to a back way to get behind the enemy.

Lareth the Beautiful appeared with his guard (Lieutenant) and looked at the heroes attacking.  He pointed at them and said 'SILENCE' and quickly all noise was removed from the area.  He then directed more of his soldiers to take down these heroes.  His lieutenant and a lot of soldier shot at everyone except for peep.  Roxanne was bloodied, Anderron was bloodied and Thundrunn was hurt.  The other started pouring into the room but the silence spell stopped all their spells and they had to get out of the spell radius in order to heal and attack.  This put a lot of the heroes into bad spots that would mean a target rich environment for the enemies.

Who fell back to heal herself while Peep stayed in the shadow trying to sneak to get to Lareth.  Kurana moved out of the silence spell and healed Roxanne while attacking a soldier and taking him down.  Ardeshir ran into the room and stopped in front of 6 enemies and cast his powerful Thunderwave.  Ardeshir's spell was so powerful that it killed 3 soldiers and pushed the Lieutenant to the wall, it did miss the one soldier standing next to him though.  Marshmallow moved forward and quickly finished off that one soldier next to Ardeshir.  Lareth healed up his Lieutenant and ran away to get away from the heroes.  Nazoj and Thudrunn moved deep into the room and took on the last Sergeant and some more soldiers.  Peep moved in and decapitated the Lieutenant (rolled a nat 20 on her primary attack and max damage on her secondary attack dealing a total of 27 damage).  She then moved back into the shadows and hid again.  Who came in and shot down another soldier and then moved to search for Lareth.  Roxanne again was taken down by the sergeant and needed to be healed by Anderron (with a healing potion).  Most of the group moved on to find Lareth while Marshmallow, Anderron took on the sergeant.  All their attacks laid out the Sergeant and left only Lareth left.

Who, Thundrunn and Ardeshir quickly went looking for him and Ardeshir cast a dispel magic which broke the invisibility spell that Lareth had cast on himself.  Who shot Lareth and Thaedrad shot magic missiles but the Mirror Images stopped all the attacks from hitting him.  Everyone concentrated on Lareth and started to break down his defenses and hurt him.  It was Peep that almost finished everything off with her slash across his neck leaving him holding his neck as blood flowed on the floor (again rolled 2 natural 20s on her Primary and Secondary attacks causing 31 points of damage (5d6 + 5 for her total damage), this took Lareth down to 1 HP).  Thundrunn tried to cast Cause Wounds on Lareth but missed.  Lareth used his Divine Smite against Thundrunn (only character still in base contact) and critical hit him.  A portal opened up to the Spiderweave and sucked Thundrunn into the web for Lolth to play with (Lareth did 43 damage to him and he had 11 HP max).  Who shot one of her magical arrows and it pierced Lareth's eye killing him (she rolled a nat 20 too).

The party grieved for Thundrunn and quickly searched the area and the bodies.  They found a lot of notes to Lolth and about a town called Nulu.  They also found some magical items and a lot of money and gems.  Off of Lareth they found Black Ring Mail +1 and a Mace +2 with symbols of Lolth on it.  The party quickly gathered up as much as they could and started back to town knowing that the Moat House was now theirs…

DM Notes:  Well I almost killed 4 people this week and was successful once (which was just back luck for him).  A total of 6 potions of healing and every spell was used.  This was a powerful battle and one that could of gone against them without some great timed critical hits that laid out some of the most powerful threats.  I did enjoy this a lot and they all enjoyed the Moat House.  For the next couple of weeks I am going to be swamped with work so we will not be running the Temple of Elemental Evil but a different GM (the player of Ardeshir) will be running the Hoard of the Dragon Queen for the store while I am away.  I am going to be giving updates on how that is going as I get back on track.

Another thing is that with the Players Handbook now coming out and with all the changes we will be doing an overhaul of the game.  No more Warforged and with the new Variant version of Humans I will be taking out the specialties that I have for humans and add in inspiration.  I might allow people to use Tieflings but I am not sure about that yet.

Also I might take the into a home game with a smaller group so things will be smoother and more roleplaying then the last few weeks (with all the new people in the game).  Overall seeing the new documents that Wizards has released and the way they are handling magical items and treasure I can't wait to see what they add in with the DM Guide and Monster Manual.

Temple of Elemental Evil Session 8

DM Notes:  Well as we approach the release of the 5th Edition Players Handbook new people keep showing up.  With 4 more new people we had some large groups (only 2 DMs so both tables had around 10 people).  I did not want to turn anyone away so I ran the bigger group and I hope next time we can get another DM to start a new table.  Also our store received the new Encounter's packets.  Looking though it I was impressed by the folios that were included and have my DM folio sitting on my desk right now.  I am glad that Wizards sees it needs more people to step up for DM work and the DM packet contained some great bonuses if we ever get to play and not run a game.  One of the new players wanted to make his own character so I let him make it and join in when it was done.

Group:

Chris - Oeridian Druid, Merc from Furyondy

Marshmallow - Warforged Paladin of St. Cuthbeth, Protector of Gran March

Peep Marsh - Oeridian Rogue, Spy for the Gran March

Who Hootsalot = Sylvan Druid, Guide from the Gran March

Kurana - Dragonborn Cleric

Anderron - Dwarf Cleric of Mordin looking to help the Church of St. Cuthbeth in Hommlet to push back the evil

Ardeshir Roshani - Apprentice to the Circle of Eight Mordenkainen.  Looking to gain more magical power.

Heyiamnot - Dwarf Mage, Former Priest

3 new people came.  All 3 new to D&D (or had been years since they had played)

Wizard 1 - Looking for Bandits

PreGen Wizard - Wanting treasure

PreGen Fighter - Friend of PreGen Wizard, Looking for treasure

After a big fight upstairs the group went downstairs and down the hidden ladder to the crypt.  From there they slowly moved though the winding passages and started to hear what sounded like a Dragon breathing (failed listen checks and they could feel wind blowing against them in a rhythmic pattern).  The party came to a T intersection and 5 went south while the others headed north.

SOUTH PARTY:

Who, PreGen Wizard, PreGen Fighter, Chris, Wizard 1

They followed the smell of water and ended up in a room with a natural spring in it.  They also noticed some treasure around the pool of water and decided to go for it.  The PreGen Fighter walked up and reached down to grab what looked like a scroll tube and failed, causing him to fall face first into the water.

This woke up a Huge Crayfish in the water and the Crayfish went to attack the Fighter.  With a mighty snap of one of his claws the fighter was taken down to 2 hp.  Next the wizard ran over and tied up a rope and tossed it into the water so the Fighter could climb out.  Chris ran straight for the Crayfish and slipped on some rocks.  He fell into the water and was also prone next to the Crayfish.  Who took out her bow and launched an arrow straight at the Crayfish.  The arrow was true and it pierced the Crayfish's eye sending ichor everywhere (max damage on the dice).  The fighter tried to climb up the rope but failed twice (needed anything but and 1 and rolled 1 twice on a d20).  Chris tried to stand up but failed but he did heal up the fighter.  The Crayfish attacked again and missed Chris but hit the fighter again taking him down to 1 hp.  The wizard tossed some magic missiles at the Crayfish blooding him and hurting him badly.

Wizard 1 was hearing the noise and quickly ran down the hall and saw the Giant Crayfish.  He also launched a volley of Magic Missiles killing the Crayfish which sank into the depths of the pool.  The group finally got the fighter out of the watered and patched up and also got Chris out of the water.  The group tried to get some of the money but kept knocking it into the pool (it was too slippery).  They heard some fighting north of them so they ran north looking to see what was happening, passing Heyiamnot who was running away in fear.  The wizard did make one last grab and caught hold of a scroll tube before it felling into the water.  In the tube was a scroll with 3 spells.  This will be useful soon I think…

NORTH PARTY

Marshmallow, Peep, Kurana, Anderron, Ardeshir, Heyiamnot

This party found a side passage and a door.  They quickly figured out that there was no lock on the door and opened it.  Anderron ran into the room and saw it was full of 17 gnolls, he quickly turned tail and ran even after they asked him a question.  Heyiamnot heard the question and they were asking who they were and what they were doing.  Heyiamnot responded to them and the leader of the Gnolls came forward and they talked about who they were and that they were not happy with the leader of the moathouse.  For the price of 180 gold they would be willing to leave and let the group deal with the leader of the moathouse.  All while this was going on Marshmallow moved into the room to be able to defend everyone and Anderron also formed a battleline to protect the others.

Ardeshir was getting bored and when Heyiamnot said if they paid the Gnolls would leave, Ardeshir decided he did not want to give money to them.  He cast light on the Gnoll leader lighting him up like a lamp.  The Gnoll took this for an attack and charged Ardeshir.  Anderron took a swipe at the Gnoll but missed and the Gnoll missed Ardeshir.  This started a major fight, The Gnolls drew weapons and moved forward trapping Marshmallow.  Anderron ran back into the hallway with Heyiamnot leaving Marshmallow and Ardeshir to deal with all 17 gnolls.

Marshmallow was a wall saving Ardeshir from many attacks and able to protect them both.  She took 12 attacks and only suffered minor damage.  Peep moved forward and double crit the gnoll leader (crit with both weapons).  She decapitated the gnoll and quickly moved back into the shadows.  Kurana and Anderron burnt 2 gnolls with sacred flame and Ardeshir moved up to unleash his powerful attack.  With a stomp on the ground his thunderwave exploded killing 4 gnoll and hurting 2 others.  The Gnolls kept pouring into the area adding more attacks to all the heroes.  2 gnoll archers found cracks in Marshmallow's armor and she went down (got 2 crits on her).  Ardeshir followed after with some powerful attacks taking him down.  Anderron and Peep also took some damage as the gnolls were slowly being killed off.

At this time the others from the south started joining in and using up healing potions to get the injured back up and fighting.  We had to call it a night but in the end only 8 gnolls were left but Kurana and Marshmallow were down on the ground bloody.  What will happen next…

DM Note: Thunderwave.  Great spell but one drawback.  Any creature w/300ft will hear the thunderwave.  This means that anyone that is near this area knows that they are here.  This might cause a problem for the group as they are hurting and running out of spells and healing.

Temple of Elemental Evil Session 7

Group:

Chris - Oeridian Druid, Merc from Furyondy

Marshmallow - Warforged Paladin of St. Cuthbeth, Protector of Gran March

Peep Marsh - Oeridian Rogue, Spy for the Gran March

Who Hootsalot = Sylvan Druid, Guide from the Gran March

Kurana - Dragonborn Cleric

Anderron - Dwarf Cleric of Mordin looking to help the Church of St. Cuthbeth in Hommlet to push back the evil

Ardeshir Roshani - Apprentice to the Circle of Eight Mordenkainen.  Looking to gain more magical power.

LBX-228 - Follower for Chris, Warforged.  It will not fight or anything but it will protect the horse and cart.

After a good rest and training in Hommel the group traveled with the merchants back to Verbobonc.  While they were traveling on the road, Peep and Who kept hearing odd sounds from the forests.  Peep was able to pick out a bandit in the forest but he seemed to be watching and not attacking.  Everyone was on high alert while the group got the caravan about a quarter of the way.  At that point they met another caravan and the merchants joined with them the rest of the way.  The group told the other caravan about the bandits following them and a wizard named Ardeshir joined them.  He wanted to get some more money and also maybe find some new spell scrolls to learn.

The merchants said they would be sending more payment for this help and would be able to sell goods to the group when they got back to Hommlet.  The group then decided to head though the woods back toward the moathouse.  Peep decided to start hiding in the woods and shadow the group looking for the bandits.  Who was leading the group through the forest and spotting a lot of tracks.  The group moved slowly and kept its eyes opened but saw nothing.

As Who passed a tree a 'twang' of a string was heard and a crossbow bolt headed right for Who's head.  She could not get out of the way and it looked like she might be taken down by the Crossbow bolt but suddenly a hand reached out and caught the bolt in midair.  Peep had appeared saving Who and pointing out where the bandits were.  Peep then did something amazing as she took the bolt and threw it back at the shooter at long range to her.  Her accuracy was so good that the bolt went through the eye of the bandit killing him instantly (roll 2d20 and take the lowest but when the lowest is a natural 20 then that bandit is dead).  The rest of the party attacked as the bandits tried to run away.  Who shot at one with her longbow and hit him in the back killing him.  Ardeshir showed off some magic and froze the bandit, slowing him down but not killing him.  Kurana then cast Sacred Flame and the bandit burst in flames and dust.  After searching the bandit the found a scroll mentioning a new group of adventures that were causing problems in the area.  It warned them to be careful and to increase forces to take them out.

The group took this knowledge and headed the rest of the way to the moat house.  When they got to the moat house they took their time moving into the moat house.  Chris though he saw something in the tower were the spider was and tossed some fire seeds into the tower.  It looked like one connected and the others slowly moved into the courtyard and checked the small tower.  Inside it was clear except for a dead rat (normal rat).  The party also noticed that the tower had be used since they had left.  Anderron said to look for secret passages and they searched but found nothing.  Durning the time Who and Marshmallow decided to check on the room they had been staying and the secret passage.  Both (without dark vision ran up the stairs and into the dark room almost all the way to the door (Who made it to the door thanks to her wood elf speed).  Anderron told them to let him check it out because of his ability to see in the dark but they did not listen.  Ardeshir then put a light spell on his wand and followed behind the others but staying at the entrance of the main room.  What he saw drained the blood from his face.

In the room was 4 goblins and 2 Ogres.  They were surprised by the two people running by them and gathered their weapons before the others appeared with light.  Peep took advantage of this lapse and moved next to the Ogre and with a quick double strike did a massive amount of damage (19).  She then using her new skills slipped away past the entrance to avoid the counter attack.  The Ogres attacked at that point hitting Who with a large boulder crushing her (downed to -5 so Death Save time).  The other Ogre moved into contact with Marshmallow and smacked her hard with his club but Marshmallow's shield deflected most of the attack leaving her rattled (rolled minimal damage).  Ardeshir yelled out to Marshmallow to move behind him as Who seemed to move a little under the boulder (1 Save).  Marshmallow quickly moved behind Ardeshir and took a breather.  Ardeshir ran forward and slammed his foot on the ground while yelling causing a thunderwave to explode out from him in such a loud explosion that could be heard for yards.  The wave picked up all the goblins and slammed them into the walls killing them all.  The Ogres where blasted but not hurt very much.  The rest of the group started to head to the battle but could not get close enough.  Anderron tried to cast sacred flame but the spell could not penetrate the keep.  The Ogres again attacked one threw a boulder at Marshmallow but missed.  The other attacked Ardeshir smashing him in the ground (-1 hp uncon).  Peep and Marshmallow ran back into the fight and hurt one of the Ogres bad blooding him.  The others started attacking the blooding Ogre and hurt him bad knocking him down to one knee but he was still up.  The boulder on Who was still crushing her and was slowing down (Failed Save).  Kurana healed Ardeshir and he cast shocking grasp on the Ogre (from the ground) killing him.  At this time a door opened and 4 bandits came out of the door.  They started shooting everyone with crossbows hitting Peep, Anderron, and blooding Chris.  The group quickly attacked the Bandits and the other Ogre.  Peep killed a bandit, Kurana breathed on 2 bandits killing them.  The Ogre took a ton of damage but was still alive.  Who stopped moving and looked at the edge of death (2nd Failed Save).  Marshmallow moved over to heal Who and healed her to full health.  Peep was getting ready to attack the Ogre but was stabbed 3 times in the back knocking her down to her knee and almost killing her (down to 2 hp).

5 more bandits were attacking and hurting the group badly.  The party first took down the Ogre before focusing on the bandits.  The bandit leader was next to go down with multiple attacks and finally were able to take out the rest of the bandits.  The party was very badly hurt and used up almost all their healing and a lot of their hit dice as they rested and searched the bodies.  They party found a lot of silver, some gold and a scroll with the same message that they saw before.  Someone was watching them and it looks like they will have to be on their guard for more attacks…

DM Notes:  So it was a good battle and the party is noticing that they are being watched.  It looks like they will be having some very tough fights coming up.  Also now they are going back downstairs they will have to find some safe places to rest or they will be running out of spells.

Temple of Elemental Evil Session 6

DM Notes:  Great news we had even more people, bad news is that we now need more DMs.  Right now someone stepped up to DM but still having tables with 6-8 players is slowing things down.  This week my group was selling all the goods back in Hommlet and learning more about things happening in town.

Group:

Chris - Oeridian Druid (1) and now Rogue (1) trained by Peep, Merc from Furyondy

Marshmallow - Warforged Paladin (2) of St. Cuthbeth, Protector of Gran March

Who Hootsalot = Sylvan Druid (2), Guide from the Gran March

Kurana - Dragonborn Cleric (2), Priest kicked out of order for being drunk

LBX-228 - Follower for Chris, Warforged.  It will not fight or anything but it will protect the horse and cart.

Anderron and Heyiamnot set off to fight some more monsters and meet up with a friend while Peep snuck away to get training and to report back to the Gran Marsh on what is going on.

So back in town the group split up to try and sell the good.  Marshmallow and Kurana headed to the Elder's house to turn in the bandit that they already killed (15) (Also Kurana said he would "sell" the kegs of brandy.  The Elder was ecstatic and handed over the 150 GP for their work.  They also told him about the zombies and ghouls they found.  He was disturbed by this and asked them to continue to clear out the Moat House.

Chris headed to the Blacksmith to sell some weapons and items he had.  Chris was very nice and was getting a good price from the Blacksmith.  He wanted to get more so he cast charm person on the blacksmith and got the smith to take all the Battle Axes, and Spears for a great price (50 GP total).  He left with a full pouch and ran into Marshmallow and Kurana as they were heading to catch up with Who.  They told Chris that the deal is still on for the Bandits and they need to clear out the Moat House.

Who had moved to the far side of town and to the Trading Post.  This was a large building with lots of odds and ends.  Who also noticed with her keen eyes that a lot of men-at-arms were around that they could hire if they needed.  Who met with Rannos Davl the portly owner of the Trading Post.  He was happy to deal with Who and gave her a fair price on the items.  Who was able to sell the crossbow, bolts, ring mail armor, leather armor, and shields with no issues.  She then brought out the cloaks the party found and tried to sell them.  Rannos was not so sure about the cloaks and what the symbol was but offered a silver piece for each cloak.  Who tried to persuade him but could not get a better price.  So Who sold everything and then decided to look around the store.  Rannos called over his servant Gremag and handing over the items while whispering something to him.  She found an dust covered shelf that had a lot of unique things on it.  She cleaned off one of the bottles and recognized it as a Potion of Healing.  She also found some Amulets and was not sure about them.

The rest of the party made it to the Trading Post and tried to sell the other stuff they had.  Chris sold some personal items for a little money and tried to buy some thieves tools.  Kurana sold only 1 Keg of Brandy and also sold the Bolts of Cloth and Silver Serving Set for some good money.  Marshmallow headed over to Who and Who showed her the Amulet she found.  Who was able to learn that it was an Amulet of Cairn Hills.  It was a powerful magic item to protect you against the effects of the Undead.  There was 4 potions and 3 amulets available.  The party tried to buy the items but the potions were being sold for 75 GP each and the amulets for 400 GP each.  Chris was able to talk him down to 250 GP for an Amulet and some Thieves' Tools but still could not afford the items.  Finally Chris just got a set of Tools for 50 GP and they left the Trading Post with a full purse and heading to the Moneychanger.

The Moneychanger was happy to have some adventures in town.  He was glad to exchange their money for some Platinum pieces for a small fee.  The party could not talk him out of the fee so they paid.  The gave him 2847 CP, 116 SP, 659 GP and had it converted to 63 PP (a lot lighter to carry… the CP weighed 47lbs by itself).  The party then headed to the Teamster in town to talk to the Merchants they saved from the Moat House.  The merchants were very happy to see the party and quickly bought anything they had on them for a higher price (more in thanks for saving them).  They bought the Glaives and Halberds for 100 GP and asked the group to help them on the road back to Verbobonc. 

The party asked the merchants about how they were captured.  The merchants talked about that they made it to Hommlet with no issue.  The had sold a lot of items to the town and resupplied the Tailor, Blacksmith, Tanner, Inns and Trading Post with goods.  The also picked up some bolts of fine cloth, a silver serving set, lots of food goods, and leather armor to take back to Verbobonc to sell.  Once they were about 5 miles away from the town they were quickly ambushed.  The Bandits seemed to know exactly what they had and even found the silver serving set that they had hidden.  They were then hooded and dragged to the Moat House to be a meal for the Ogre.  The party was surprise by this news and decided that they would investigate this further in the future.  The party headed to the Inn for a nice sleep and then to get training (1 week worth of time) before heading back out to the Moat House and to protect the merchants on their way to Verbobonc.

DM Notes: Next week the group will be back on the road and there will be a lot more fighting.  Also since we ended a little earlier I want to give people a taste of what was happening at the other table….

At the other table the group was clearing out the top floor of the Moat House.  They had cleared most of it and were down to 2 rooms and some stairs.  Well 2 new people showed up at the Moat House and the other party though they were bandits and moved to attack them.  The Mage stayed his ground and said he was not but the Rogue flipped a coin and it came up tails so he turned tail and ran deeper into the moathouse.  He ran to a door they had not opened and quickly opened it.  He was bull rushed from behind and fell into a room that was full of bandits ready to ambush them.  It sounded like they were having a good time and it was a tough fight.

Temple of Elemental Evil Session 5

DM Notes: Well at the Game Store we had a massive influx of players. We added 8 more players and so the player for Sknott took over running a different table while I worked with the rest of the players. This session was a little faster because the first hour was getting the new people setup and trying to break up the groups correctly. My group is heavy in healing so it might change a little next week.

Group:
Chris - Oeridian Druid, Merc from Furyondy
Marshmallow - Warforged Paladin of St. Cuthbeth, Protector of Gran March
Peep Marsh - Oeridian Rogue, Spy for the Gran March
Who Hootsalot = Sylvan Druid, Guide from the Gran March
Heyiamnot - Dwarf Mage, Former Priest
Kurana - Dragonborn Cleric of Pelor.  He was kicked out of his parish for being a drunkard and is trying to improve himself.
Anderron - Dwarf Cleric of Mordin looking to help the Church of St. Cuthbeth in Hommlet to push back the evil.
LBX-228 - Follower for Chris, Warforged. It will not fight or anything but it will protect the horse and cart.

We rejoined the group after a short rest in the torture chamber looking at the secret door with a ladder heading down in a pillar. Kurana recast the light but this time on Peep's dagger. Anderron and Heyiamnot decided to head down the stairs first and without light since they did not need it. The others stayed at the top of the stairs and listened for any trouble. Anderron and Heyiamnot fell into a small (5' by 10') room that had a secret door with an obvious opening mechanism in the door. They knew that this door was the way out but was not sure if it was trapped or if something else was wrong with it. Peep came down the ladder and took a look at the door. She had great insight (natural 20) on the door and found out that it was not trapped and easy to open. Also that the door had seen a lot of use. Anderron told Peep to douse her light and he would open the door. Peep hid here lighted dagger and grabbed a new dagger to throw. Anderron opened the door and rolled a 17 on the stealth check so it made very little noise. (Initiative time)

Peep was first into the room. He rolled her stealth and got a natural 20 for a 28 total. Peep felt around the walls and moved just 2 steps into the room but next to a wall that she was following. Anderron went next and searched from the small hidden room into the main room looking for shapes. He found out that it was a burial crypt and 2 Zombies were hiding in alcoves. Anderron stayed where he was and just readied himself for action. Right after that Peep head some noise in the south but could not figure out what it was. Something was there though. Heyiamnot decided to charge in and right into the first zombie. His powerful hit greatly damaged the zombie but it stayed up. The Zombie then decided to attack back and smashed Heyiamnot hard in the head almost caving it in (as I do every week my first attack roll against Heyiamnot was a Critical. That 8 points of damage left him with 1 point left).

The other Zombies moved out of the alcoves and we could now see 4 Zombies in total. The Zombies had not sensed Heyiamnot, Anderron or Peep yet so they just stood there looking for a target. Kurana cast light on Chris's sword Chris moved down the ladder and right into the zombie. He attacked with his Scimitar and sliced deeply into the shoulder of the Zombie removing an arm (If a Zombie takes damage below 0 he gets to make a CON save to stay up with 1 hp. This zombie rolled an 18 and was still up). Anderron then added his warhammer to the zombie but missed. He cast Healing word on Heyiamnot and healed him fully before stepping back away from the Zombie. Peep, now with light, stepped further into the room and found a hallway with more alcoves. She also could just make out the shape in the darkness. With sudden insight she figured out that these were Ghouls and their touch could paralyze the party. Peep stayed in the darkness and hidden away from the Ghouls. Marshmallow came downstairs and also attacked the Zombie but by doing minimal damage (4) the Zombie lost a leg but still fought on. Chris moved backwards some more letting Who make it down the stairs. She took a slice with her Scimitar but missed badly. She then moved back up the ladder so Chris could come back down.

While this was happening Heyiamnot attacked the Zombie in front of him and tore into him (10 points of damage). Heyiamnot's axe sliced off most of his torso on one side but the Zombie keep fighting (rolled a 19 on his save and kept on fighting). The Zombies attacked and two attacked Marshmallow but missed while the one attack Heyiamnot and also missed. The Ghouls moved forward but did not have an opening so stayed in the shadows.

Peep then was in a bad place. She was surrounded but a Zombie and 2 Ghouls. She tried to move silently by the Ghouls and behind them and rolled a 24 on her stealth check. The Ghouls did not see her and she got to a far wall and behind the Ghouls. Chris then attacked the Zombie blocking them in the room and sliced off its head in a powerful stroke. This allowed Anderron to get into the room and attack one of the Zombies doing very good damage but it still was up. Marshmallow followed into the room and also took on a Zombie but her blow was true and 1 more Zombie crumbled to the floor. Who and Kurana but made it downstairs and attacked different Zombies. Who struck lightly but Kurana's Scared Flame missed the Zombie. Heyiamnot scored another powerful hit and this time the Zombie did not get back up. The last Zombie attacked Marshmallow and missed while the ghouls moved up to attack. One attacked Anderron and hit him both times but for minimal damage. He was able to shrug off the paralyzing effect also. The last one missed Marshmallow.

Now with others in the room Peep knew it was time to shine. She got behind a Ghoul and delivered a massive dual attack. Her blades scissored thought he ghoul's neck and he fell to the ground dead (was able to deal full HP of ghoul in a single shot). The others took down the Zombie and beat on the Ghoul but were not able to take it out. The other ghouls (6 more) moved in to attack. They attacked at Peep, Anderron and Kurana but missed. Marshmallow moved into a group of 3 Ghouls to protect Peep and was able to do some minimal damage. Kurana shined as he breathed fire on the ghouls (who all could not dodge out of the way) causing them to be badly burned. Anderron stepped back and blasted one with Sacred Flame which burned the Ghoul to the ground. Who dropped her weapon and took out her longbow. She then fired into another Ghoul and it too dropped to the ground. The Ghouls turned on the Warforged that was in their ranks and attacked. 6 attacks was all that was needed (one being a critical hit) to take down Marshmallow and Paralyze her. She had 1 death save and passed and also was able to shake off the paralyzation. Chris moved in and attacked taking down the last hurt Ghoul while Peep moved forward and again hit with both weapons and cut off a Ghoul's head (got exactly what she needed to take one from full to 0). Kurana moved forward and cast Spare the Dying on Marshmallow while the others continued to attack. The Ghouls put up a good fight but were finally dealt with by the group and now they could search the room. The found a hallway leading from the room and a earthen passage that was broken though one of the alcoves. The group decided it was time to head back to town to train and to sell some goods (and get more supplies). They spent some time boarding up the earthen hole and then headed back up stairs. After about 2 more hours the Warforged returned with the cart and they started loading up. The list of items they took were:

Group:
Suit of Ring Mail Armor (15 GP)
Light Crossbow (10 GP)
224 Crossbow Bolts (11 GP)
120 Arrows (6 GP)
3 Battle Axes (15 GP)
50 Spears (25 GP)
10 Glaives (50 GP)
6 Halberds (30 GP)
70 Capes with mark of an Eye (70 SP)
20 Shields (100 GP)
12 Suits of Leather Armor (60 GP)
Rations (Worthless)
Silver Serving Set (50-80 GP)
2 Kegs of Brandy (100-160 GP)
2 Bolts of Fine Cloth (60-120 GP)
2847 CP
46 SP
3 GP
-----------------------------------------
Total:
2847 CP
116 SP
308 GP (not including the bolts, arrows or items that have a range in cost)


Need to talk to Mayor to get payment on Bandits:
15 Bandits Killed


Peep is hiding this on her:
Gold Chain (200 GP)
Fine Coffer w/inlaid gems (50 GP)


Also 3 Magic Items were found. They went to:
Large Shield +1 - Went to Marshmallow the Tank (AC now 21)
Cloak of Elvenkind - Went to Chris who now is learning Thievery from Peep
4 Arrows +1 - Went to Adaryn since she is the only one with a bow


Characters that are now Level 2:
Peep - Rogue Lvl 2
Olwen - Paladin Lvl 2
Adaryn - Druid Lvl 2
Chris - Druid Lvl 1, Rogue Lvl 1
Heyiamnot - ??
Kurana - Cleric Lvl 2

Temple of Elemental Evil Session 4

Group:

Chris - Oeridian Druid, Merc from Furyondy

Marshmallow - Warforged Paladin of St. Cuthbeth, Protector of Gran March

Peep Marsh - Oeridian Rogue, Spy for the Gran March

Sknott - Half-Orc Fighter, Blacksmith that is working in Hommlet

Who Hootsalot = Sylvan Druid, Guide from the Gran March

Heyiamnot - Dwarf Mage, Former Priest

Kurana - Dragonborn Cleric

Koro - High Elf Monk that use to be a Jester for the Verbobonc Court

Ishmael - Oeridian Fighter (Merc Soldier) sent to help with the clearing of the area

LBX-228 - Follower for Chris, Warforged.  It will not fight or anything but it will protect the horse and cart.

The group started with everyone waking up from a long rest barred up again in the one "safe" room.  This time they did not hear anything and everyone had a good night rest.  LBX-228 had left the area and went back to town with the freed merchants.  Koro decided to sleep in (player told me he was going to be late) so the others decided to clear out the first floor.

Since there was 3 rooms that still need to be searched and 1 room that was not even open the party split up.  Everyone that needed light went with together to search the rooms that were already checked while the two people with Darkvision went to the one closed room….

The main party (Chris, Marshmallow, Peep, Who, Kurana, and Ishmael) headed to the 3 rooms.  Peep, Marshmallow, Who and Kurana searched the conference room and a bedroom.  Both were very poor searches and they did not find anything new.  Chris and Ishmael were together to check out the room that Sknott and Heyiamnot said they heard noises.  Chris ready his weapon for an attack while Ishmael opened the door and stuck his torch arm in the room.  This cause the bats in the room to go nuts and start to fly though the door and into the hall while others flew outside.  Chris was prepared but the bats startled him so much that he swung his sword and cleaved into Ishmael and not the bats.  Chris then cast a healing word on Ishmael before they started searching.

Sknott and Heyiamnot opened the last room and found a kitchen.  They also, with a natural 20 and a 19, found the room contained 3 giant ticks feasting on the food in the kitchen.  They decided to setup a trap and baited the ticks to come after them.  They did this with Sknott attacking one tick and with a Critical Hit and a nice stab killed it with one shot.  They both stood by a door and hoped to fight the ticks one at a time.

The sound of battle drew the others to the Kitchen and the all ran by the main entrance.  One by one they ran by the main entrance and it was not till Who ran by did they notice a group of Bandits heading to the moathouse from the drawbridge.  It looked like reinforcements for the moathouse but they had not seen the group yet.  Heyiamnot and Sknott where doing well and beating on the ticks.  The ticks could not hit either one of them so it was just a drawn out fight.  Ishmael used his longbow to shoot the ticks while the others attacked in melee.

Marshmallow, Peep, Kurana and Who ran through the main entrance and at the bandits.  Marshmallow struck hard and quickly took down a bandit.  The others added their strength and quickly the battle went the hero's way.  After the ticks and the Bandits all fell the last room was checked over and the group decided to take a short rest and then finally head downstairs.

Sknott and Heyiamnot headed down the secret staircase while the others headed down the main staircase.  Sknott and Heyiamnot did not run into anything and moved though the rooms heading back toward the main staircase.  The rest of the group slowly moved down the main staircase looking for more trouble.

It was with the quick hands and keen eyes of Peep that the party was saved.  She saw a sheet of green slime on the celling that was being used to trap people coming down the stairs.  You had to walk in a single file line down the right side or the green slime would fall on you.  Peep had stopped Chris from stepping into the green slime and most likely saved him from a horrible, painful encounter.

Once the group got downstairs they searched and found 2 hidden doors.  Peep unlocked the doors and inside was large amounts of weapons, armor, and shields.  Also a lot of cloaks were also in the rooms.  While this was going on Chris, Sknott and Heyiamnot headed down a different corridor and found a torture chamber.  While investigating the torture chamber zombie came around the corner and attacked.  The rest of the team joined in and the first 2 zombies died quickly.  Zombies started breaking out hidden alcoves and started attacking everyone, 24 Zombies in total.  Koro joined in with the group and added his fists of fury into the battle punching the head off a zombie.  The group was still quickly overwhelmed causing Heyiamnot and Peep to go down and many others become bloodied.  The group was able to save Heyiamnot and Peep before they suffered any more damage and defeated the zombies.

After that they group searched the torture chamber and the alcoves.  Peep found a really nice gem while Chris found a secret door with a ladder heading down in a pillar.  The group decided to take a short rest and to prepare to head down the ladder deeper into the moathouse.  What will they find at the end of the ladder?  What other surprise will be in the moathouse?

Temple of Elemental Evil Session 3

Group:

Chris - Oeridian Druid, Merc from Furyondy

Marshmallow - Warforged Paladin of St. Cuthbeth, Protector of Gran March

Peep Marsh - Oeridian Rogue, Spy for the Gran March

Sknott - Half-Orc Fighter, Blacksmith that is working in Hommlet

Who Hootsalot = Sylvan Druid, Guide from the Gran March

Heyiamnot - Dwarf Mage, Former Priest

Kurana - Dragonborn Cleric

Koro - High Elf Monk that use to be a Jester for the Verbobonc Court

Ishmael - Oeridian Fighter (Merc Soldier) sent to help with the clearing of the area

LBX-228 - Follower for Chris, Warforged.  It will not fight or anything but it will protect the horse and cart.

Well most of the group was still downstairs looking at through the Ogre's things, but Sknott had snuck upstairs to search the other rooms to make sure nothing was going to be getting behind them.  Using his darkvision he quickly moved through the area and was about to open a new door when voices and a bright light came from the north.

Ishmael and Koro had just arrived and was calling out for the others.  They saw the Half-Orc hiding in the shadows and were about to attack until they noticed that he wore the clothing of a soldier of Verbobonc.  They asked him if he needed help and Sknott replied, "Douse the DAM light you fools"

Ishmael and Koro decided that they needed the light and took it to search some of the other areas.  Sknott meanwhile opened the door and looked inside.  The room was an old meeting room that was mostly full of broken furniture.  Sknott stepped back and closed the door.  He then moved to the next door.  Ishmael and Koro headed by the trophy room and bedroom looking in both and seeing nothing.  They finally reached the doors at the end of the hall and opened them.  It was a large room that most likely held the men-at-arms of the moathouse.  Ishmael and Koro were about to leave when Koro's keen eyes picked up a chest hidden in some debris in the corner.  The looked around the room but saw nothing so they headed in…

Meanwhile down in the Ogre's room the rest of the party went to the two doors that were bared on the east and south sides of the room.  The party moved to the Southern door first and Chris pushed his ear against the door to listen.  He could hear nothing so he opened the door… well tried to, the door was stuck tight.  Who added her might but could not push it open, Kurana also joined in but the door resisted them all.  Finally Marshmallow ran into the door and it finally gave and slowly opened.  Inside were 2 humans and a badly beaten gnome.  They were supposed to be food for the Ogre they told the group and they looked scared.  The group gathered them up and brought them back to the Ogre room to show them he was dead.  Peep and Chris moved on to the door on the Eastern side.  They opened that no with no issues and saw that is had been greased not too long ago and looked like it was used a lot.  The room was a small storeroom with just odds and ends but nothing of value.  That is when the group heard screaming upstairs.

Well upstairs a lot happened at the same time.  First Sknott opened another door and found small bedroom.  It looked ransacked and mostly destroyed.  Koro and Ishmael had moved into their room and to the chest.  They opened the chest and found 33 cp, a scale mail tunic, a light crossbow and a case of 24 bolts.  While looking in the chest 2 large snakes fell on them and struck.  The snakes bit deeply and the strong poison overtook both men quickly.  Koro let out a scream before he fell and they both hit the ground hard.

Sknott moved quickly from his location to where the noise came from.  Everyone but Chris headed back to the secret stairs to head upstairs.  Marshmallow decided to take the rescued merchants up to LBX-228 so that he could take them back to Hommlet (using the secret stairway also).  Sknott made it into the room to see the site of Koro being swallowed by one of the snakes and Ishmael on the ground but not being eaten, yet.  Sknott slashed hard with his longsword and lunged a piercing stab with his shortsword into the snake eating Koro.  The snake was hurt bad and released Koro to deal with Sknott.  The other snake continue to try and eat Ishmael but was not really getting anywhere.  Sknott struck again but this time the snake on Ishmael.  The snake was cut badly and blood covered the ground.  Both snake concentrated on Sknott but could not hit him.  The others quickly joined in and added their weight to the attacks.  The snakes quickly fell and both Koro and Ishmael were revived.

Now what happened to Chris.  Well he decided to check the rooms downstairs and started searching.  He found a large chamber and some hidden doors behind some barrels and crates.  He also found a different set of stairs heading up.  He quickly ran up the stairs to help the others and found himself in the area where the rats nets was.  He moved around the corner to join the others.

Marshmallow dropped of the merchants off with LBX-228 and before she could head back to the group the gnome handed her a ring that would allow her to ask for aid from the gnomes in the area to help as needed.  LBX-228 headed back to town with the merchants and Marshmallow went to join the others.  Sknott and Heyiamnot went back to the other part of the moathouse and searched the room that was left along with the one open room.  When they opened the door to the room they saw a room that was full of destroyed items.  Most of them were very expensive and looked to be badly damaged but hard to tell with only their darkvision.  They did hear some noises and looked up to see lots of heat signatures on the celling.  They could not tell what they were but decided to leave the room alone and just close the door.  They headed to the back room and Sknott quickly saw some glittering in the room.  He headed right for it while Heyiamnot looked around the room for a trap.

Peep and the others were still with the dead snakes and searched the room for more treasure.  Peep found a bluge in the snakes belly and quickly cut it open.  Inside the snake was a large shield.  Not needing it for anything and not knowing what it did she held on to it and kept searching.  Yelling from Heyiamnot quickly got everyone attention and they headed to the location of the sounds.  Heyiamnot and Sknott were being attacked by more snakes.  Sknott was stuck hard by a snake and the poison overcame him.  He fell to the ground looking back.  Heyiamnot was struck in the neck by the snake.  The wound was deep and blood was pouring down his armor and clothing.  The only thing that saved him was his natural resistance against poison.  He quickly backed in the corner and called for help while striking at the snakes.

Again the fight was quick and the snakes deftly destroyed.  The party was looking very haggard and tired after all this fighting and searching so they decided to head back to the corner room to take a long rest and heal up.  They felt they needed it before the pushed any further.

(DM NOTES)

OK I was surprised how well the snakes (Lvl 2 creatures) could attack when hidden.  The first group had a 22 on their stealth roll while the 2nd group had 20.  This made them very effective against the group.  Also with the group splitting up this helped to make the first round or 2 very effective against them.  Once the others appeared it was over in seconds.  So far the most effective threats have been the hoard of creatures (rats, snakes, spiders) over the Large Powerful creatures (Ogre).  I am giving XP to the people that are accomplishing the tasks so people have different levels of XP.  Right now the highest is Chris with 168 xp (about that much) while most are around 150 xp.  They need to get to 251xp to make level 2.

With such a large group I am having to add some more creatures and things to make the encounters balanced but overall it has been working well.  Everyone in the party has had to roll death saves and we are only in game 3.  Also the good mix of characters helps make the group effective in most situations.  Can't wait for next week and them finishing up the one room left in the moathouse and then back downstairs…