Slinks attack!
Whew! What a
session! We fought one massive combat that lasted almost the
entire night. And it's not even over yet --- next session we have
to pick up where we left off! Here is a
picture of the battle mat at the end of the night.
Mace Blackstar (Mike D.;
Human Fighter)
Wilbered The Silent (NPC; Human Cleric)
Castor Bean (NPC.; Human Bard)
Trygvie (NPC; Elven Wizard)
Kane (Al G.; Human Monk)
Ryneh (Tom S.; Human Rogue)
When the last session ended, the party was busily looting "The
Captain's Room." Ryneh found a key, a wand, a few coins and a
potion flask on the body of the albino-looking elf. Mace
collected a silver dagger, some coins and a bastard sword (possibly
masterwork) from the body of the adjutant. Both the captain and
the adjutant had armor, weapons, etc., and both of them had a strange
mark, like the letter "P," inscribed on their armor. An empty
potion bottle lay on the floor. A desk held a number of
interesting notes, among them:
- "The prisoners indicate that the 'Council' may investigate the
slinks in Bramwald."
- "The Boss is concerned about security. He thinks that his
illusions may not be sufficient to keep out determined intruders."
- "The Adjutant dislikes the boss's pet cat because he was mauled
by it and required a healing potion to recover."
- "Heard that the Boss's last apprentice didn't walk the true path
to the chapel."
The body of the dead, burned animal on the floor appeared to be that of
a giant badger.
Exploring the room where they had met the plant creature, they found a
lot of plant waste, some puddles of water and a pile of copper and
electrum coins. Ryneh found two gemstones and a scroll. He
gave the the scroll to Trygvie and kept the gems. The party
collected 1000 electrum coins and left the copper. Kane wryly
observed the greed of his fellow adventurers.
They began to experiment with the levers on the wall of the captain's
room. One opened and shut the door to the plant creature's room
(as suspected). Another opened and shut a pit trap in front of
the north door in the room. The third rang a loud alarm bell
which they quickly switched off.
The players then decided to go through the north door. The key
that Ryneh had taken from the dead elf fit the lock and opened the
door. Ryneh and Mace entered, finding a small landing with a
narrow stairs going straight down to the west. Mace asked Ryneh
to scout ahead. The thief shuttered his lamp, went forward about
40 feet down the stairs, feeling his way along, and found the hall
turned north. He went north about 20 feet and suddenly the narrow
hall opened into a wider room. Ryneh heard movement and something
whistled over his head. He unshuttered the lamp and saw huge
numbers of slinks before him, swinging clubs with the usual idiotic
smiles on their faces. Beaten by the slinks,
Ryneh retreated, shouting for help. When the slinks rounded the
corner they met the full force of Mace's attack and several of them
were instantly cut down. Kane leapt down the stairs and over
Mace, landing, catlike, upon the wall where he clung like a spider and
began showering kicks on the slinks below him.
Suddenly some sulferous green vapors appeared in the narrow stairwell,
sickening several party members who instantly began retching and
vomiting. The nasty vapors did not appear to have any effect on
the slinks. The slinks were pressing forward and suddenly a
fireball exploded in the narrow corridor, destroying several slinks and
injuring Mace, Kane and Wilbered. The fireball did seem to burn
up the stinking vapors (like striking a match in the bathroom), so they
were spared the effects of further exposure, but it
took a few rounds for the nausea to subside. Sickened and unable
to fight, Kane and Mace staggered up the steps away from the slinks.
The door opposite the one through which they had gone to encounter the
slinks burst open and three ogres forced their way in, waving heavy
spiked clubs and doubtlessly
attracted by the alarm bell. Trygvie grabbed a wand and
webbed all three into the doorway
as the rest of the party retreated up the stairway and into the
room. Wilbered was suddenly hit with a salvo of
magic missiles from somewhere
behind the slinks.
The slinks began coming up the stairs as the ogres simultaneously began
tearing their way out of the webs. Castor ran back into the room
with the corpse of the captain in it and stood at ready near one of the
levers. Two of the ogres tore their way out of the webs,
smashing and bashing the characters in front of them while Wilbered
fought a retreating action in the stairwell, holding the slinks in
place while some unknown enemy hurled spells at him. When one of
the ogres was standing on the trap door, Castor pulled the lever,
dropping the ogre into the shallow pit onto some spikes below.
Despite his injuries, the ogre began climbing out of the pit.
The party was now divided by the pit --- Wilbered and Ryneh on the far
side holding the slinks at bay and everyone else on the side with
the ogres. Trygvie cast
Cause
Fear and one of the ogres failed his save and ran directly away
from the elf and into the room formerly occupied by the plant
creature. Castor pulled a lever and trapped the ogre inside the
room.
Castor leapt across the pit and pummeled the ogre that was attacking
Wilbered and Ryneh, finally killing it. Wilbered could see a
figure in armor down the stairs as well as a man in robes, standing
behind the slinks and directing them to attack. One or both of
these creatures was apparently a spell caster; suddenly a large and
fiendish wolf appeared in a cloud of smoke, apparently summoned by a
spell. The wolf attacked Ryneh and then leapt across the pit to
attack Mace. Kane climbed up the wall and swung on the door
frame, wrapped his legs around a slink and dragged it into the
pit. The slink climbed out and Castor shot it with an arrow and
it fell back in, apparently dead. Trygvie closed the pit long
enough to let his companions cross, then opened it again, trapping the
rest of the slinks and spell casters on the other side.
The last ogre, who had been tearing his way out of the webs all of this
time, finally got free and smashed Ryneh into the pavement with his
massive club, killing the poor thief. Retreat seemed the only
option. After their combined efforts had killed the ogre and
destroyed the wolf creature (which dissolved in a cloud of smoke),
Wilbered smashed Ryneh's lantern on the webs, setting them afire.
Would the webs burn away fast enough to allow them to escape before the
slinks and spell casters got across the pit?
The session ended here.
character/player:
|
class/level:
|
XP at start:
|
XP
award:
|
|
XP for next
level:
|
XP at End:
|
|
Mace (Mike D.)
|
human FTR 8th
|
31,125 |
771
|
|
36,000
|
31,896
|
|
Wilbered (NPC)
|
human CL 7th
|
26,830 |
386
|
|
28,000
|
27,216
|
|
Castor (NPC)
|
human Bard 7th
|
21,564 |
386
|
|
21,000
|
21,950
|
|
Trygvie (NPC)
|
Elven MU 7th
|
22,913 |
386
|
|
28,000
|
23,299
|
|
Kane (Al G.)
|
Human Monk 8th
|
28,095 |
771
|
|
36,000
|
28,866
|
|
Zuran (NPC)
|
Human Fighter 4th
|
8,727
|
na
|
|
10,000
|
|
|
Rhyneh (Tom S.)
|
Human Rogue 5th
|
12,738 |
na
|
|
15,000
|
|
dead
|
