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…
