Friday, June 27, 2014

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…

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