Scorch
Explorer
Adventure 20
My pace for writing these journals is a bit off thanks to the crashing of the EZ Boards. I took notes but it has been over two months since we did this session and a lot more gaming has happened since then. Fortunately a lot of what happened here is fresh in my mind.
A few sessions back I had planned out that Dagon Ziss had made contact with Tousice after Ravenspur spurned his proposal. Dagon provided the vengeful were-rat with what the party had been up to all this time and where they had been traveling. Tousice saw an opportunity to ambush the players to take his revenge at the Road Side Inn while they were coming back from Barakus. I wrote up an encounter that included Tousice, two ogres, five low level were-rats, and about six human thugs. Their stats were all right out of the module. I also had some building pieces and trees all ready for the miniature fight packed up in a box in the trunk of my car. Now all I needed was the players to spend the night at the Road Side Inn.
This session opened up with the group deciding to explore the southwest section of the second level. They discovered the prison area with the strange words written above the door and the maze with orange squares. The squares were avoided until they encountered the ghast. Then in the heat of combat they walked all over them but nothing happened.
The undead creature was defeated and the hidden room in the center of the maze was found. There they found the second key to the triple locked door underneath the lake. I knew they were not going to find the third key since they already passed it a long time ago and had no reason to go back to the area it was hidden in. It was in the well near the ghost’s area in the north east of the second level.
Having explored the prison maze, they decided to start playing with the orange squares. They found out what the first two words did as they teleported around the maze. Then Ivo spoke the third word and found himself somewhere else. More specifically he was on the third level near the Stone of Madness. He decided to stay put, hoping the others would find him.
After some debate the others decided to follow Ivo by speaking the third word on the teleporter squares. I had everyone make will saves and they were all successful (DAMN!). The arcanists examined the mad scribblings on the walls of the room they found themselves in and could not make heads or tails of them. After some debate they decided to head south following one wall until they could find out where they were.
As they followed the corridor they came across the feuding Halfling brothers, Kiva and Teelo. The one who was the monk is amiable enough to them (although insane) and a debate broke out among the characters what to do about him since he was on their to-do list of people to rescue. They decided to come back to him later and continued to the next room where they were promptly ambushed by the rogue brother who was wearing his ring of invisibility. He managed to inflict some massive sneak attack damage before the group overwhelmed him and beat him into unconsciousness.
Another argument broke out between Micca and Absinthe about heading back and knocking the monk out as well. Finally they all managed to get on the same page and headed back and dogpiled on the monk. They tied up both brothers and after an uneventful fight with a troglodyte, they found the stairs heading back up to the second level. Not once did they cross the line into the second area where they Stone of Madness would force more will checks (double DAMN!)
Since they were now burdened with two crazy Halfling brothers who would try to kill one another, a consensus was reached to head back to Endhome and get them cured of their madness. This of course would have them spend the night at the Roadside Inn where I had planned the ambush (JOY!)
I arm waved the journey to the inn and asked them some basic questions about how they would handle the brothers. Since they were hauling the two back in manacles and gagged they needed to answer some questions of curious patrons of the inn. This allowed me to find out who was staying in what room that night.
Halfway through the night I had the attack begin. Players had to make listen checks as the inn was surrounded and lit flasks of oil were thrown on top of the thatch roof, setting it ablaze. After setting the roof on fire, the human thugs surrounded the inn, armed with crossbows with the ogres as muscled backup. Tousice and his were-rat rogues hid nearby.
Absinthe and Keldin awoke almost instantly and roused the others. There was a mad scramble for weapons and armor. Aislenn shrugged into her chain shirt while Micca just picked up the two bound Halfling brothers and started trudging downstairs. Absinthe and Adson secured a rope and climb out their window, dodging fire from crossbows. The others ran down the steps into the common room along with the other guests and staff of the inn. They were pinned down by crossbow fire from the front. Keldin and Ravenspur started sniping away with bow fire and magic missiles at the thugs outside while the others dashed out the back entrance.
Absinthe and Adson were surrounded by thugs with the two ogres charging at them as well. Things did not look good for them until Aislenn, after throwing most of the groups possessions out the window that they could not carry, jumped down to the ground and started laying into their opponents. I had Tousice split his were-rat rogues so half would come around one side of the Inn while the others engaged the three party members on the ground. His hope was to flank them.
By then most of the human thugs were unconscious, slept, or just plain dead. The were-rats that came around the back of the Inn, including Tousice, were engaged with Ivo and Micca. Absinthe rushed back to help them and started going one on one with Tousice. A well-aimed tangle-foot bag glued the were-rat leader to the ground and Absinthe finished him off with after getting the flanking bonus with a sneak attack. The rest of the were-rats and ogres were put down and the fire was put out before it destroyed the inn.
Four of the human thugs had survived the fight and were bound up for delivery back to the authorities at Endhome. The journey back was uneventful but it would trigger several events I had planned out. Dagon Ziss had watchers at the city gates who would report whether Tousice or the adventurers would return.
The thugs were turned over to Bragger Bondhome and the Halfling brothers were brought to the temple of Kord were the party paid for the remove disease which cured them. Teelo and Kiva fell into a deep sleep and the head priest said it would be a few days until they awoke. The group headed back to Micca’s temple but on the way they were accosted by Mrs. Barmey. I figured since she kept on having psychic visions of her husband’s well being that she would see that Micca was within one hundred feet of him. She started berating the poor cleric in the middle of the street for leaving her husband behind in Barakus. Absinthe made the suggestion that they quickly get her into Micca’s temple so as not to make a scene. We decided to break the game at this point.
The players were very happy that Tousice was taken off of their to-do list. There was quite a bit of satisfaction when he was glued to the ground and could not go anywhere while they finished him off. I have big plans for the consequences of that encounter including the evil adventuring party and the Pulanti Estate.
Next Adventure: Big, Stupid Giant!
My pace for writing these journals is a bit off thanks to the crashing of the EZ Boards. I took notes but it has been over two months since we did this session and a lot more gaming has happened since then. Fortunately a lot of what happened here is fresh in my mind.
A few sessions back I had planned out that Dagon Ziss had made contact with Tousice after Ravenspur spurned his proposal. Dagon provided the vengeful were-rat with what the party had been up to all this time and where they had been traveling. Tousice saw an opportunity to ambush the players to take his revenge at the Road Side Inn while they were coming back from Barakus. I wrote up an encounter that included Tousice, two ogres, five low level were-rats, and about six human thugs. Their stats were all right out of the module. I also had some building pieces and trees all ready for the miniature fight packed up in a box in the trunk of my car. Now all I needed was the players to spend the night at the Road Side Inn.
This session opened up with the group deciding to explore the southwest section of the second level. They discovered the prison area with the strange words written above the door and the maze with orange squares. The squares were avoided until they encountered the ghast. Then in the heat of combat they walked all over them but nothing happened.
The undead creature was defeated and the hidden room in the center of the maze was found. There they found the second key to the triple locked door underneath the lake. I knew they were not going to find the third key since they already passed it a long time ago and had no reason to go back to the area it was hidden in. It was in the well near the ghost’s area in the north east of the second level.
Having explored the prison maze, they decided to start playing with the orange squares. They found out what the first two words did as they teleported around the maze. Then Ivo spoke the third word and found himself somewhere else. More specifically he was on the third level near the Stone of Madness. He decided to stay put, hoping the others would find him.
After some debate the others decided to follow Ivo by speaking the third word on the teleporter squares. I had everyone make will saves and they were all successful (DAMN!). The arcanists examined the mad scribblings on the walls of the room they found themselves in and could not make heads or tails of them. After some debate they decided to head south following one wall until they could find out where they were.
As they followed the corridor they came across the feuding Halfling brothers, Kiva and Teelo. The one who was the monk is amiable enough to them (although insane) and a debate broke out among the characters what to do about him since he was on their to-do list of people to rescue. They decided to come back to him later and continued to the next room where they were promptly ambushed by the rogue brother who was wearing his ring of invisibility. He managed to inflict some massive sneak attack damage before the group overwhelmed him and beat him into unconsciousness.
Another argument broke out between Micca and Absinthe about heading back and knocking the monk out as well. Finally they all managed to get on the same page and headed back and dogpiled on the monk. They tied up both brothers and after an uneventful fight with a troglodyte, they found the stairs heading back up to the second level. Not once did they cross the line into the second area where they Stone of Madness would force more will checks (double DAMN!)
Since they were now burdened with two crazy Halfling brothers who would try to kill one another, a consensus was reached to head back to Endhome and get them cured of their madness. This of course would have them spend the night at the Roadside Inn where I had planned the ambush (JOY!)
I arm waved the journey to the inn and asked them some basic questions about how they would handle the brothers. Since they were hauling the two back in manacles and gagged they needed to answer some questions of curious patrons of the inn. This allowed me to find out who was staying in what room that night.
Halfway through the night I had the attack begin. Players had to make listen checks as the inn was surrounded and lit flasks of oil were thrown on top of the thatch roof, setting it ablaze. After setting the roof on fire, the human thugs surrounded the inn, armed with crossbows with the ogres as muscled backup. Tousice and his were-rat rogues hid nearby.
Absinthe and Keldin awoke almost instantly and roused the others. There was a mad scramble for weapons and armor. Aislenn shrugged into her chain shirt while Micca just picked up the two bound Halfling brothers and started trudging downstairs. Absinthe and Adson secured a rope and climb out their window, dodging fire from crossbows. The others ran down the steps into the common room along with the other guests and staff of the inn. They were pinned down by crossbow fire from the front. Keldin and Ravenspur started sniping away with bow fire and magic missiles at the thugs outside while the others dashed out the back entrance.
Absinthe and Adson were surrounded by thugs with the two ogres charging at them as well. Things did not look good for them until Aislenn, after throwing most of the groups possessions out the window that they could not carry, jumped down to the ground and started laying into their opponents. I had Tousice split his were-rat rogues so half would come around one side of the Inn while the others engaged the three party members on the ground. His hope was to flank them.
By then most of the human thugs were unconscious, slept, or just plain dead. The were-rats that came around the back of the Inn, including Tousice, were engaged with Ivo and Micca. Absinthe rushed back to help them and started going one on one with Tousice. A well-aimed tangle-foot bag glued the were-rat leader to the ground and Absinthe finished him off with after getting the flanking bonus with a sneak attack. The rest of the were-rats and ogres were put down and the fire was put out before it destroyed the inn.
Four of the human thugs had survived the fight and were bound up for delivery back to the authorities at Endhome. The journey back was uneventful but it would trigger several events I had planned out. Dagon Ziss had watchers at the city gates who would report whether Tousice or the adventurers would return.
The thugs were turned over to Bragger Bondhome and the Halfling brothers were brought to the temple of Kord were the party paid for the remove disease which cured them. Teelo and Kiva fell into a deep sleep and the head priest said it would be a few days until they awoke. The group headed back to Micca’s temple but on the way they were accosted by Mrs. Barmey. I figured since she kept on having psychic visions of her husband’s well being that she would see that Micca was within one hundred feet of him. She started berating the poor cleric in the middle of the street for leaving her husband behind in Barakus. Absinthe made the suggestion that they quickly get her into Micca’s temple so as not to make a scene. We decided to break the game at this point.
The players were very happy that Tousice was taken off of their to-do list. There was quite a bit of satisfaction when he was glued to the ground and could not go anywhere while they finished him off. I have big plans for the consequences of that encounter including the evil adventuring party and the Pulanti Estate.
Next Adventure: Big, Stupid Giant!
