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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 6802707" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 12: TRIBE OF GHOSTS</strong></p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 16 January 2016</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>The road had become little more than a wide, well-worn dirt path winding between rocky hills. As the two mules pulled the wagon steadily forward, a figure suddenly appeared up ahead, staggering toward the heroes. Upon their approach, he dropped to his knees, a bloody hand holding the left side of his torso, where his robe was torn open by a group of parallel rips.</p><p></p><p>Ingebold reined in Franco and Tantrum and the wagon slowed to a halt. Finoula dismounted from Daisy and examined his wounds as Ingebold raced up, the words to a healing spell already spilling from her lips. She placed her hand upon the wounded man's side and allowed positive energy to channel through her fingertips and into the wounds. Binkadink, meanwhile, remained mounted on his jackalope and alert for danger; Obvious followed his rider's lead and looked about as well.</p><p></p><p>"Did you notice the discoloration along the edges?" asked Finoula, cradling the man's head on her knees.</p><p></p><p>"Aye, 'tis poison, by th' looks've it," replied the dwarven cleric. Then, turning her attention to the man's face, she asked, "How'd ye come t' get these wounds, then, friend?"</p><p></p><p>"...Dragon," gasped the wounded man, looking down at his ripped robe and noticing the cleric's spell had already stopped the bleeding. He was already looking better, too - the sallow color of his skin had taken on a more natural coloration. But he remained where he was, sprawled out on the ground with his head on Finoula's knees.</p><p></p><p>"Forgive me," he said, gasping for breath. "I'm still a bit weak...dizzy. But thank you."</p><p></p><p>Taking a deep breath, he began his tale. "My name is <strong>Derringold</strong>. I was riding south, 'bout half a mile from here I guess, when out of nowhere this dragon came racing up outta the hillside. He bit deep into my horse and swiped me here, on the side, with his claws. I only managed to crawl away because the dragon was too interested in eating my horse. But take care, 'cause if you follow the road in the direction you're traveling, it'll take you right past where it happened."</p><p></p><p>"A dragon?" asked Darrien. "What color was it?"</p><p></p><p>"Color?" repeated Derringold, as if unable to understand why that would make a difference. "Gold, I guess."</p><p></p><p>"Gold dragon attacked you?" demanded Gilbert. "That make no sense."</p><p></p><p>"Yellow, then? Tan?" amended Derringold. "It all happened so fast. The dragon was just a blur of motion, and I didn't stop to take a good look at it."</p><p></p><p>"I never heard of no yellow dragon," mused Gilbert, skeptical.</p><p></p><p>"Well, you'll get to see one for yourself if you continue on that way. Forgive me, but I have no desire to return to go see it again. I'm out a horse, but other than a bedroll and a few days' worth of travel rations, I'm not out anything else. I'll carry on on foot from here."</p><p></p><p>"Where are you headed?" asked Castillan.</p><p></p><p>"I'm a penitent, on a pilgrimage," replied Derringold, and declined to elaborate.</p><p></p><p>"Let us at least offer you a little food," suggested Finoula, rising up to fetch some of her own travel rations from the wagon. Derringold was sad to have her stand up; he'd been very comfortable resting there on her lap. But he slowly got to his feet as well and took the offered food with many thanks. "May the gods bless you all," he offered as he continued his southern journey.</p><p></p><p>"So, a dragon," said Binkadink as everyone mounted back up. The others couldn't help but notice the eager gleam in his eye at the thought of testing his mettle against a dragon. "How do we want to handle this?"</p><p></p><p>"A gold dragon?" repeated Gilbert, still trying to wrap his head around the concept of a good dragon gone bad. "That poisons people and eats their horses?"</p><p></p><p>"We could take a different way home," offered up Castillan. "Nobody says we have to go riding past a dragon's lair."</p><p></p><p>"Dragons are notorious treasure hoarders," replied Binkadink from the back of his jackalope mount. "There are two possible outcomes here: it's a real dragon, and we kill it and take its considerable treasure for ourselves; or it's not a real dragon but we remove a danger to those passing by."</p><p></p><p>Castillan had pretty much stopped listening to the gnome after "considerable treasure." "We really should take it out," he said. "It <em>is</em> a danger to those passing by."</p><p></p><p>"It might be a wyvern," suggested Darrien. "Aren't they poisonous?"</p><p></p><p>"Let's go find out," replied Binkadink, sending Obvious hippity-hopping on ahead. Finoula followed on Daisy with Wrath at the pony's heels, and the others followed along in the mule-driven wagon.</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, there was a big pool of blood in the road about a half mile to the north, with drag marks showing something large had been tugged off to the hillside to the right. Binkadink and Finoula dismounted, Ingebold brought the wagon to a halt, and the group slowly made their way north on foot, as quietly and cautiously as possible while Obvious stayed behind guarding Daisy and the mules. There was a cave in the side of the rocky hill; Castillan immediately began climbing up the near-vertical face of the hill, maneuvering himself so that he'd be directly above the cave opening. If a dragon was going to leap out at them from the cave, he wanted to be able to drop down upon it from above.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink cautiously approached with his gnomish glaive in both hands, the flickering light from the <em>everburning torch</em> he'd attached to the antlers on his helmet providing just enough illumination to make out the cave's interior. The first thing the gnome noticed was the dead horse on the ground; it was a white stallion and it stood out amongst the murk of the cave interior. Then a head lowered from above the horse and took out another chunk of flesh. Binkadink stared straight into the eyes of a reptilian monster, who stared back at the gnome as it swallowed down its bites of horseflesh. A chain rattled from an iron collar around the beast's neck; its other end trailed back behind the creature to be swallowed in the deeper shadows of the cave.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink readied himself for the expected attack, but the giant lizard - for now that the gnome's eyes were getting accustomed to the gloom of the cave's interior, he could see the creature had no wings - merely bent down and bit off another chunk of flesh from Derringold's slain steed. He seemed content to continue on with his meal as long as these other creatures didn't try to enter his cave and take the dead horse from him.</p><p></p><p>"What's going on?" hissed Castillan from above, still poised to leap down upon a dragon that wasn't cooperating by sticking its head out of its cave.</p><p></p><p>Finoula had a sword in each hand; Ingebold wielded her warhammer; Gilbert held out a magic wand; but nobody was eager to enter the cave to face the "dragon." Darrien took matters into his own hands, firing an arrow into the lizard's shoulder. Its only reaction was to hiss in anger, an unnerving sound like dozens of teakettles boiling over all at once, before taking another chunk out of the meal at its feet.</p><p></p><p>"It doesn't want to come out," observed Finoula, starting to empathize with the creature who, after all, was just trying to eat its meal in peace. But she could see into the cave, and mingled in there with the bones of previous meals of the occasional horse and donkey, she saw the bones of humans and elves. Like it or not, this overgrown lizard was a threat to those simply wanting to pass by its lair. And the fact that somebody had leashed it here with a chain meant that they were putting travelers in harm's way - that had to be stopped.</p><p></p><p>"I have a dumb idea," announced Darrien suddenly. "But I think I can get that thing out here." The ranger took careful aim, then let loose an arrow from his <em>Arachnibow</em>. The arrow flew true, hitting not the giant lizard but the remains of its meal - and through the power of his magical bow, the arrow had transformed into a length of sturdy spider silk in mid-flight.</p><p></p><p>"Give me a hand with this," the ranger asked those around him. Finoula sheathed her swords and helped Darrien tug on the cord. To the giant lizard's annoyance, its meal started dragging its way out of the cave. It pounced on the dead horse, got a firm grip on it with its teeth, and tugged back. The two rangers had to release their cord to avoid being pulled into the cave with the hungry lizard.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, for pity's sake," grumbled Castillan, starting his way back down the side of the hill. It was apparent he wasn't going to be diving directly onto any dragons' heads anytime soon.</p><p></p><p>"We'll have to swarm it," suggested Ingebold, running in to smack the lizard with her warhammer. Gilbert followed up with a blast from his <em>wand of magic missiles</em>, while Darrien pulled back the bowstring of the <em>Arachnibow</em> and fired, this time allowing the arrow to remain an arrow. Finoula unsheathed her swords and waded into battle, as did Binkadink and - eventually - Castillan. Even Wrath got into the action, darting in to bite at the lizard's leg and then dropping back again. A few of the heroes got bitten, but they were wary of its claws, which was apparently where the creature's venom originated. Eventually, they brought it down without anyone being poisoned.</p><p></p><p>There were two other exits leading further into the hill from the giant lizard's lair, one to the north and one to the east. As the chain led to the opening to the north and the passageway to the east was larger, that's the way the heroes opted to go. Binkadink led the group through the narrow, winding passageway until it opened up into a much larger cavern, this one stocked with all manners of fungal life. Mushrooms and toadstools of wide variety glistened along the floor of the room, save for two distinct paths that meandered among them, each leading to a separate natural exit. There was enough light to see that flowstone formed natural stairs leading down at either exit.</p><p></p><p>"Keep eyes open," warned Gilbert. "Stay away from any fungus that moves." He was specifically thinking about strains of ambulatory violet fungus he'd been reading about in one of the books he took from the Purple Mage's library. The group cautiously made their way through the fungal stalks, Finoula and Wrath leading the way to the exit to the north while Darrien went to check out the one veering off to the northwest. Binkadink was at the fork of the "Y" while Ingebold, Castillan, and Gilbert remained back in the narrow corridor, waiting to see if it was safe before entering the cavern themselves.</p><p></p><p>Seeing this, the lizardfolk rangers spying down into the cavern from the level above decided to take action. They dangled upside-down from three holes in the ceiling, letting fly with sling stones that swished into the chamber below. Each stone struck true, but none had been aimed at the heroes; instead, each hit a particular type of fungus, causing them to explode into a cloud of spores that quickly encompassed the room. The adventurers already inside the fungal chamber started coughing; those of lesser constitution felt a strength-sapping weakness coursing through their limbs. Even Ingebold back in the narrow corridor was affected, but her dwarven constitution allowed her to shrug off the intended effects. Castillan took a deep breath and scooted past the dwarf into the room, giving it a quick scan all around before ducking back into the narrow corridor. But he then called into the chamber what he'd seen: "There are holes in the ceiling! There's something up there above us! Everybody, quick, get through the room and to the passageway on the left!" The bounder couldn't see where either of the natural sets of stairs led; he'd just picked the leftmost exit at random.</p><p></p><p>Taking a deep breath, Gilbert ran into the room, while Darrien, Finoula, and Wrath ran down the two sets of stairs positioned directly in front of them. Darrien found himself in a small, dead-end cavern; Finoula and Wrath were in a much larger cavern with a large pool of water directly before them. They were all glad to be out of the cloud of spores; the ranger in particular had choked down a large quantity of spores and felt to be at about half her normal strength.</p><p></p><p>"I said the passageway on the left!" chided Castillan as he ran into the room behind Gilbert. Now the party was split into two groups, and all because they hadn't listened to him. <em>Amateurs!</em> he thought to himself.</p><p></p><p>The three lizardfolk rangers had already known what was coming when they let fly with their sling stones, so they had prepared themselves by taking in large gulps of air before striking. Now, still holding their breath, they dropped into the room and sought their initial targets. Two happened to land on either side of an astonished Gilbert Fung, and struck out at him with teeth and claws. Another dropped down in front of Ingebold, preventing her from even entering the fungal chamber.</p><p></p><p>The wizard and the cleric each got a good look at their foes, and these were not at all like any lizardfolk they'd heard of before. To begin with, their scales were a pearly, almost translucent white, causing them to appear to be ghostlike, especially in the dim light of the cavern amid clouds of swirling spores. Their eyes bulged out and their fingers had retractable claws and large, sticky pads on the tips - all in all, they looked rather like albino, humanoid geckoes. And as it turned out, these lizardfolk rangers had specialized training about the best way to strike at their favorite meals - humans - as Gilbert learned to his dismay, suddenly-deployed claws cutting through his robes in much the same way as Derringold's had been ripped. <em>At least they're not poisonous</em>, the wizard thought as he did his best to defend himself.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, Binkadink was just in front of the wizard when the lizardfolk attacked. Whirling around, mouth sealed tightly in an attempt not to breathe in any more of the strength-draining spores, he brought his glaive crashing down upon the nearest reptile, dropping the lizardfolk where he stood. Darrien shot at the other one attacking Gilbert, having gotten a good breath of clean air in the dead-end cave. And back in the narrow tunnel, Ingebold slammed her warhammer into the side of the lizardfolk threatening her.</p><p></p><p>Stuck behind Ingebold and unable to get past her and into the fray with her swinging her warhammer about, Castillan backed further down the corridor, then sprinted toward the dwarven cleric. Before he got to her he leapt up onto the side of the wall, bounding from it to the other wall opposite, back and forth keeping his momentum going and also rising up the walls as he progressed. Finally, he somersaulted above both the cleric and her lizardfolk opponent, dropping down into the chamber, spinning around, and stabbing the reptile in the back with the short sword in his hand.</p><p></p><p>That was all the prompting the lizardfolk ranger needed; it immediately stepped back from between the dwarven cleric and the elven bounder, then, surprisingly, ran straight up the wall, across the ceiling, and through a hole partially hidden between hanging stalactites just large enough to allow its girth.</p><p></p><p>Ingebold took a step back, further into the narrow passageway, but more importantly, even further out of the cloud of spores taking their own sweet time to settle back to the stone floor. Pulling a glass vial from her belt, she pulled out the stopper and quickly swigged down its contents, wincing briefly at the taste. But then, Winkidew Dundernoggin's <em>potion of spider climb</em> took effect and the dwarven cleric took a deep breath of fresh air, stepped back into the fungal chamber, and raced up the same wall and ceiling, to crawl through the hole and into another unlit chamber directly above the fungal garden.</p><p></p><p>The lizardfolk ranger had been waiting - perhaps not for the dwarf, but for anyone who might be able to follow. He lashed out with his retractable claws, catching the cleric in the shoulder and neck above her armor, but she swung her warhammer into the reptile's ghostly-colored head and brought him crashing to the stone floor, dead. Only then did Ingebold think to cure her own wounds.</p><p></p><p>Down in the lowest cavern discovered thus far, Finoula had turned to look back up the natural stairs leading to the fungal chamber, surprised to see that nobody had followed her to safety. Wrath's sudden growl alerted her to danger; spinning around, she saw a smooth rock in the middle of the subterranean pool, and in the span of time it took her mind to process whether or not it had been there before, it moved. A large, lobsterlike creature rose up from the pool, water streaming off of its carapaced back. A serrated pincer snapped out at her, striking her but failing to catch her within its crushing grasp. With a yell to the others, the ranger backed up the narrow stairway, where she guessed the creature couldn't follow due to its size. Wrath growled and snapped at the nearest of the creature's four legs, now that it had stepped almost completely out of the water.</p><p></p><p>The chuul, for its part, ignored the wolf snapping at it in favor for the larger - and, it knew from past experience, tastier - elf scurrying back out of reach. But just as the elf made it back to safety, more delicious morsels made themselves available. Darrien had by this point made it halfway down the stairway and was firing off arrows at the chuul, to little effect; the creature's hardened carapace protected it from most such damage. But Binkadink had also made it down the stairs, and he raced all the way to the chuul, striking at it with his glaive.</p><p></p><p>The chuul snapped its claws at the little gnome, capturing him and rising him up off the stone floor. And now Castillan came down into the pool cavern, flashing short sword attempting to pierce the chuul's armor. The monstrosity transferred the wriggling gnome to the tentacles hanging down from its mouth, and while it took a moment or two for the paralytic secretions to immobilize Binkadink, eventually the gnome had succumbed and the chuul was able to snatch up the bounder in its claws as well.</p><p></p><p>By then, even Gilbert had made it down the stairs, having finished off the remaining lizardfolk ranger with his trusty <em>wand of magic missiles</em>. Seeing the situation, he quickly calculated distances and let fly with a <em>fireball</em> in the back corner of the chamber that caught only the back half of the chuul in its fiery explosion, only narrowly avoiding having it extend as far as Binkadink or Castillan, both still caught in the chuul's embrace. Castillan was still held firmly in a serrated claw, and as he was not paralyzed he was fully able to scream in pain as the merciless claw continued squeezing him tighter and tighter, until he thought he'd surely snap into two pieces. Consciousness left him and he fell limp in the chuul's claw, struggling no more.</p><p></p><p>Upstairs in the fungal garden, Ingebold walked back down the wall, surprised to see nobody else there but two slain lizardfolk. She followed the sounds of battle down the stairwell to the right, and made it back to the others in quite literally the nick of time. Several of the heroes had potions of healing at their belts, and were desperately trying to reach the unconscious bounder. Gilbert had been attacking the chuul from the left side of the pool cavern, where he could shoot out sheets of flame from his <em>wand of burning hands</em>, in an effort to slay the chuul quickly. For the chuul had taken quite a bit of damage in the last few minutes of heated battle and had decided enough was enough. It held a paralyzed gnome in its tentacles and an unconscious elf in one claw; it was time to cut its losses and flee the scene with its two morsels of food. As a result, it had deliberately backed into the pool of water, submerging its treats to drown them but also feeling with its two back legs for the submerged tunnel that led to the underground stream from which it had originally come.</p><p></p><p>Darrien, in a last-ditch effort, turned his sights from the nearly-dead-but-not-dead-quick-enough lobster-beast to his fellow adventurer Castillan, whose unmoving form he could still see below the water thanks to the illusory flames emanating from Binkadink's submerged <em>everburning torch</em>. The half-elf ranger fired a shot at Castillan, catching him right between the shoulder blades. Fortunately for the bounder, Darrien's arrow had become a line of strong spider silk before striking him; with a frantic tug, Darrien snagged the bounder out from the unsuspecting chuul's grip. Another strong tug pulled Castillan's unconscious - and heavily bleeding - form up onto the stone floor of the cavern, where Ingebold instantly healed the worst of the bounder's wounds with a single touch and the words to her most powerful healing spell.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert swapped wands now that the chuul was completely submerged, but he was able to still target the beast with a barrage from a <em>wand of magic missiles</em> even if <em>burning hands</em> was no longer an option. The missiles struck unerringly, and that was more than the harried chuul was able to handle. It collapsed, completely submerged, and Binkadink's unmoving form was released from its tentacles...to plunk down to the bottom of the pool, weighted down as it was by metal armor. Finoula waded into the pool and pulled the gnome to safety.</p><p></p><p>After that, there was a brief span of time when the adventurers weren't in combat. They took the opportunity to drink down healing potions as needed, and Ingebold applied spells as well. Then it was time for further exploration: there was a small chamber off to the west of the pool cavern, containing a quite unexpected sight: a feral troll, growling and menacing, but rendered helpless by the fact that his head and hands were locked in a heavy wooden stock, the whole thing chained to a thick stone column formed by the merging of a stalagmite and stalactite.</p><p></p><p>"What in the world?" asked Castillan, surprised beyond belief.</p><p></p><p>"Why would the lizardfolk have an imprisoned troll in their caverns?" asked Finoula aloud.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert gave it a moment's thought. "He food," the wizard finally replied. "Carve off troll meat, it grow back. Never run out that way."</p><p></p><p>Finoula's face displayed her horror and disgust at the thought. "That's <em>horrible</em>!" she exclaimed.</p><p></p><p>"We kill him, put him out of misery. But we do that later. He not going anywhere." And the rotund wizard started shooing everyone back up the stone steps leading back up to the fungal caverns. Ingebold was the first up the steps, and there she got a surprise of her own, for the once-empty cavern was now filled with four angry, hissing lizardfolk who bent over their slain males. They raised their heads her way and displayed their sharp teeth, then moved in for the kill. Ingebold stepped forward and met the first one's attack with her warhammer, slamming it off balance to the side.</p><p></p><p>Before the other lizardfolk females could press the attack, Binkadink, Finoula and Wrath filled up the area beside Ingebold. In the meantime, another lizardfolk popped out of a hole in the cavern ceiling above the underground pool, crawled silently along the ceiling, and dropped down behind Gilbert. The wizard and Darrien dealt with it, since Castillan was already halfway up the steps leading to the fungal cavern.</p><p></p><p>With the bounder's assistance, the others made quick work of three of the lizardfolk females in the fungal cavern; the fourth, seeing herself hopelessly outmatched, fled up a wall and up a hole in the ceiling. Ingebold tried following her, discovered the <em>spider climb</em> effect was still active from the potion she'd drunk before, and scooted up through the same hole in the ceiling a few moments behind her prey.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert returned to the fungal cave to find the others discussing how best to follow to the upper level. Behind him, Darrien was searching the pool cavern's ceiling, looking for the hole the lizardfolk had used to get the drop on him and Gilbert. He soon spotted it, and had to wade into the pool to get directly beneath it. Then, he used the special power of the <em>Arachnibow</em> for the third time that day, sending a silk line directly up through the hole in the ceiling and attaching it to the roof of the level above. Stowing his bow on his back, the half-elf ranger tested its strength by tugging on it; finding it fully adhered, he started climbing.</p><p></p><p>In the fungal chamber, Binkadink and Castillan had been boosted up by Finoula and scrambled through a hole in the ceiling. Gilbert ambled up and gave the ranger a questioning look.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, I don't think so," replied Finoula, staring at the wizard's oversized belly. "How about you give me a boost, instead?" Gilbert shrugged, then bent over with his hands cupped, allowing the ranger to step into his grip. Rising up, he pulled her up to his shoulders, and then she scrambled up through the hole in the ceiling after the others.</p><p></p><p>"Just you and me left," Gilbert replied to the wolf. Then, calling up to the hole, he said, "Hey! One of you throw down rope!"</p><p></p><p>Up on the upper level, none of the heroes was in a position to comply with the wizard's request, because they were facing not only the female lizardfolk who had escaped up here, but four more of her tribe. "Fine!" grumbled Gilbert to himself, rummaging through his own pack to pull out a grappling hook and a rope of his own. While bloody combat ensued above, he swung the rope around his head and tossed it up through the hole, getting lucky on his first shot. Then he started climbing, taking a considerably longer time doing so than Darrien had done minutes earlier.</p><p></p><p>In fact, when Darrien popped through the hole above the pool, he found out the lizardfolk had been making good use of it, for sitting on the floor near the hole was a wooden bucket and a length of rope, with which they apparently drew water from the pool below - a set-up that no doubt came in very handy once the chuul entered the pool from the underground stream nearby. Untying the rope from the bucket, Darrien coiled it up and tied it to his belt; there was no telling when that could come in handy!</p><p></p><p>Wandering into a larger cavern to the south, the half-elf ranger heard sounds of battle. Sure enough, there were four of the ghostly-colored lizardfolk crowded around the entrance to a smaller cavern, where they attempted to rip into Darrien's friends with their teeth and claws. Silently, he scooted over directly behind them and started cutting them down with his bow. The remaining lizardfolk then found themselves trapped between two forces, and were quickly brought down. By the time Gilbert climbed up through the hole - it was a bit of a tight fit - the combat was over. "Hrrmph!" he snorted in disgust.</p><p></p><p>Further exploration found the tribe's treasure, such as it was, stored in a series of canvas bags. Besides a handful of coins (no doubt taken from slain travelers), there was also a masterwork dagger (with dried troll's blood confirming Gilbert's suspicions about the purpose of the troll imprisoned below) and a red gemstone on a necklace the lizardfolk likely didn't even realize was magical in nature.</p><p></p><p>"Well, that that," announced Gilbert. "Guess all that left is go kill troll."</p><p></p><p>"Ew," replied Finoula, but she had confirmed through Malaterminus earlier that the troll was an evil creature, and she convinced herself it was a mercy killing in any case. She didn't want any part in killing it, though, helpless as it was.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Obvious was glad to see the return of the heroes.</p><p></p><p>"Everything go well?" he asked Binkadink in the language they shared.</p><p></p><p>"Fine," replied the gnome fighter, climbing back into the saddle. "But that wasn't a dragon after all." There was a hint of disappointment in his voice; he'd have to wait a bit longer before he got to test his combat prowess against a dragon, it seemed.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>We played through this adventure in one session, then upgraded everyone's PCs to 6th level immediately afterward. We had one anomaly: usually we switch off between the players as to who runs Ingebold in any given session. (I certainly don't want to do it - I prefer that she not be a DMPC, and switching off allows Joey to get the occasional taste of running a primary spellcaster character.) This time it was Vicki's turn to run her, so she made all of Ingebold's spell selections, and then right when the group first encountered the giant lizard in the cave, Dan kept "back seat driving" as far as to what Vicki should have Ingebold do, much to Vicki's irritation. "You know what?" she finally asked. "Why don't you run her, since you know exactly what she should do?" We also ran into a lot of disappearing players; about half of the time it seemed no matter whose turn it was, that person was invariably not in the room, either off in the bathroom or wherever. So if it was Ingebold's turn and Dan wasn't in the room, Vicki would run her. Vicki seemed to run her more as a healer, whereas Dan ran her more as a front-line fighting type. (This explains her somewhat schizophrenic behavior during this adventure; normally Ingebold - the party's primary healer - doesn't go chasing off after a single opponent by herself, leaving the rest of the group in combat by themselves with no clerical backup.)</p><p></p><p>We also came really close to having our first PC death. Castillan, in the clutches of the chuul, was unconscious and failing to stabilize, and Ingebold was off fighting her own lizardfolk enemy two different levels away. With half the party at reduced strength due to the fungal spores, there was no way they were going to be able to get him away from the chuul before he was slain. (He was taking automatic crushing damage every turn.) Joey's bright idea would have instantly saved the day, but then he didn't roll high enough to legally pull Castillan from the chuul's grasp. Not wanting to just out-and-out cheat and hand-wave Castillan's rescue, I gave the group a couple different opportunities for my dice to betray me. I ruled the chuul had been surprised by the sudden tugging away of his prey, and made the chuul make a Reflex save to hold onto the bounder. When that failed, I had the chuul decide to just be happy with a gnome snack (since by that time the chuul was at pretty low hit points). Jacob was sweating it out, and I was rooting for Castillan to make it out alive, but we've always been a "let the dice fall where they may" group and had there been no way to keep Castillan alive I was perfectly willing to let him die. After all, that's one of the reasons we even have Ingebold: as a backup temporary PC to keep a player in the game in case of PC death.</p><p></p><p>But fortunately, it didn't come to that.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>T-Shirt Worn: Since the plot hook was an alleged encounter with a "dragon," I decided to play up that angle by wearing one of my dragon T-shirts. I went with the green dragon with lightning bursts in the background of a black T-shirt.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 6802707, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 12: TRIBE OF GHOSTS[/b] Game Session Date: 16 January 2016 - - - The road had become little more than a wide, well-worn dirt path winding between rocky hills. As the two mules pulled the wagon steadily forward, a figure suddenly appeared up ahead, staggering toward the heroes. Upon their approach, he dropped to his knees, a bloody hand holding the left side of his torso, where his robe was torn open by a group of parallel rips. Ingebold reined in Franco and Tantrum and the wagon slowed to a halt. Finoula dismounted from Daisy and examined his wounds as Ingebold raced up, the words to a healing spell already spilling from her lips. She placed her hand upon the wounded man's side and allowed positive energy to channel through her fingertips and into the wounds. Binkadink, meanwhile, remained mounted on his jackalope and alert for danger; Obvious followed his rider's lead and looked about as well. "Did you notice the discoloration along the edges?" asked Finoula, cradling the man's head on her knees. "Aye, 'tis poison, by th' looks've it," replied the dwarven cleric. Then, turning her attention to the man's face, she asked, "How'd ye come t' get these wounds, then, friend?" "...Dragon," gasped the wounded man, looking down at his ripped robe and noticing the cleric's spell had already stopped the bleeding. He was already looking better, too - the sallow color of his skin had taken on a more natural coloration. But he remained where he was, sprawled out on the ground with his head on Finoula's knees. "Forgive me," he said, gasping for breath. "I'm still a bit weak...dizzy. But thank you." Taking a deep breath, he began his tale. "My name is [b]Derringold[/b]. I was riding south, 'bout half a mile from here I guess, when out of nowhere this dragon came racing up outta the hillside. He bit deep into my horse and swiped me here, on the side, with his claws. I only managed to crawl away because the dragon was too interested in eating my horse. But take care, 'cause if you follow the road in the direction you're traveling, it'll take you right past where it happened." "A dragon?" asked Darrien. "What color was it?" "Color?" repeated Derringold, as if unable to understand why that would make a difference. "Gold, I guess." "Gold dragon attacked you?" demanded Gilbert. "That make no sense." "Yellow, then? Tan?" amended Derringold. "It all happened so fast. The dragon was just a blur of motion, and I didn't stop to take a good look at it." "I never heard of no yellow dragon," mused Gilbert, skeptical. "Well, you'll get to see one for yourself if you continue on that way. Forgive me, but I have no desire to return to go see it again. I'm out a horse, but other than a bedroll and a few days' worth of travel rations, I'm not out anything else. I'll carry on on foot from here." "Where are you headed?" asked Castillan. "I'm a penitent, on a pilgrimage," replied Derringold, and declined to elaborate. "Let us at least offer you a little food," suggested Finoula, rising up to fetch some of her own travel rations from the wagon. Derringold was sad to have her stand up; he'd been very comfortable resting there on her lap. But he slowly got to his feet as well and took the offered food with many thanks. "May the gods bless you all," he offered as he continued his southern journey. "So, a dragon," said Binkadink as everyone mounted back up. The others couldn't help but notice the eager gleam in his eye at the thought of testing his mettle against a dragon. "How do we want to handle this?" "A gold dragon?" repeated Gilbert, still trying to wrap his head around the concept of a good dragon gone bad. "That poisons people and eats their horses?" "We could take a different way home," offered up Castillan. "Nobody says we have to go riding past a dragon's lair." "Dragons are notorious treasure hoarders," replied Binkadink from the back of his jackalope mount. "There are two possible outcomes here: it's a real dragon, and we kill it and take its considerable treasure for ourselves; or it's not a real dragon but we remove a danger to those passing by." Castillan had pretty much stopped listening to the gnome after "considerable treasure." "We really should take it out," he said. "It [i]is[/i] a danger to those passing by." "It might be a wyvern," suggested Darrien. "Aren't they poisonous?" "Let's go find out," replied Binkadink, sending Obvious hippity-hopping on ahead. Finoula followed on Daisy with Wrath at the pony's heels, and the others followed along in the mule-driven wagon. Sure enough, there was a big pool of blood in the road about a half mile to the north, with drag marks showing something large had been tugged off to the hillside to the right. Binkadink and Finoula dismounted, Ingebold brought the wagon to a halt, and the group slowly made their way north on foot, as quietly and cautiously as possible while Obvious stayed behind guarding Daisy and the mules. There was a cave in the side of the rocky hill; Castillan immediately began climbing up the near-vertical face of the hill, maneuvering himself so that he'd be directly above the cave opening. If a dragon was going to leap out at them from the cave, he wanted to be able to drop down upon it from above. Binkadink cautiously approached with his gnomish glaive in both hands, the flickering light from the [i]everburning torch[/i] he'd attached to the antlers on his helmet providing just enough illumination to make out the cave's interior. The first thing the gnome noticed was the dead horse on the ground; it was a white stallion and it stood out amongst the murk of the cave interior. Then a head lowered from above the horse and took out another chunk of flesh. Binkadink stared straight into the eyes of a reptilian monster, who stared back at the gnome as it swallowed down its bites of horseflesh. A chain rattled from an iron collar around the beast's neck; its other end trailed back behind the creature to be swallowed in the deeper shadows of the cave. Binkadink readied himself for the expected attack, but the giant lizard - for now that the gnome's eyes were getting accustomed to the gloom of the cave's interior, he could see the creature had no wings - merely bent down and bit off another chunk of flesh from Derringold's slain steed. He seemed content to continue on with his meal as long as these other creatures didn't try to enter his cave and take the dead horse from him. "What's going on?" hissed Castillan from above, still poised to leap down upon a dragon that wasn't cooperating by sticking its head out of its cave. Finoula had a sword in each hand; Ingebold wielded her warhammer; Gilbert held out a magic wand; but nobody was eager to enter the cave to face the "dragon." Darrien took matters into his own hands, firing an arrow into the lizard's shoulder. Its only reaction was to hiss in anger, an unnerving sound like dozens of teakettles boiling over all at once, before taking another chunk out of the meal at its feet. "It doesn't want to come out," observed Finoula, starting to empathize with the creature who, after all, was just trying to eat its meal in peace. But she could see into the cave, and mingled in there with the bones of previous meals of the occasional horse and donkey, she saw the bones of humans and elves. Like it or not, this overgrown lizard was a threat to those simply wanting to pass by its lair. And the fact that somebody had leashed it here with a chain meant that they were putting travelers in harm's way - that had to be stopped. "I have a dumb idea," announced Darrien suddenly. "But I think I can get that thing out here." The ranger took careful aim, then let loose an arrow from his [i]Arachnibow[/i]. The arrow flew true, hitting not the giant lizard but the remains of its meal - and through the power of his magical bow, the arrow had transformed into a length of sturdy spider silk in mid-flight. "Give me a hand with this," the ranger asked those around him. Finoula sheathed her swords and helped Darrien tug on the cord. To the giant lizard's annoyance, its meal started dragging its way out of the cave. It pounced on the dead horse, got a firm grip on it with its teeth, and tugged back. The two rangers had to release their cord to avoid being pulled into the cave with the hungry lizard. "Oh, for pity's sake," grumbled Castillan, starting his way back down the side of the hill. It was apparent he wasn't going to be diving directly onto any dragons' heads anytime soon. "We'll have to swarm it," suggested Ingebold, running in to smack the lizard with her warhammer. Gilbert followed up with a blast from his [i]wand of magic missiles[/i], while Darrien pulled back the bowstring of the [i]Arachnibow[/i] and fired, this time allowing the arrow to remain an arrow. Finoula unsheathed her swords and waded into battle, as did Binkadink and - eventually - Castillan. Even Wrath got into the action, darting in to bite at the lizard's leg and then dropping back again. A few of the heroes got bitten, but they were wary of its claws, which was apparently where the creature's venom originated. Eventually, they brought it down without anyone being poisoned. There were two other exits leading further into the hill from the giant lizard's lair, one to the north and one to the east. As the chain led to the opening to the north and the passageway to the east was larger, that's the way the heroes opted to go. Binkadink led the group through the narrow, winding passageway until it opened up into a much larger cavern, this one stocked with all manners of fungal life. Mushrooms and toadstools of wide variety glistened along the floor of the room, save for two distinct paths that meandered among them, each leading to a separate natural exit. There was enough light to see that flowstone formed natural stairs leading down at either exit. "Keep eyes open," warned Gilbert. "Stay away from any fungus that moves." He was specifically thinking about strains of ambulatory violet fungus he'd been reading about in one of the books he took from the Purple Mage's library. The group cautiously made their way through the fungal stalks, Finoula and Wrath leading the way to the exit to the north while Darrien went to check out the one veering off to the northwest. Binkadink was at the fork of the "Y" while Ingebold, Castillan, and Gilbert remained back in the narrow corridor, waiting to see if it was safe before entering the cavern themselves. Seeing this, the lizardfolk rangers spying down into the cavern from the level above decided to take action. They dangled upside-down from three holes in the ceiling, letting fly with sling stones that swished into the chamber below. Each stone struck true, but none had been aimed at the heroes; instead, each hit a particular type of fungus, causing them to explode into a cloud of spores that quickly encompassed the room. The adventurers already inside the fungal chamber started coughing; those of lesser constitution felt a strength-sapping weakness coursing through their limbs. Even Ingebold back in the narrow corridor was affected, but her dwarven constitution allowed her to shrug off the intended effects. Castillan took a deep breath and scooted past the dwarf into the room, giving it a quick scan all around before ducking back into the narrow corridor. But he then called into the chamber what he'd seen: "There are holes in the ceiling! There's something up there above us! Everybody, quick, get through the room and to the passageway on the left!" The bounder couldn't see where either of the natural sets of stairs led; he'd just picked the leftmost exit at random. Taking a deep breath, Gilbert ran into the room, while Darrien, Finoula, and Wrath ran down the two sets of stairs positioned directly in front of them. Darrien found himself in a small, dead-end cavern; Finoula and Wrath were in a much larger cavern with a large pool of water directly before them. They were all glad to be out of the cloud of spores; the ranger in particular had choked down a large quantity of spores and felt to be at about half her normal strength. "I said the passageway on the left!" chided Castillan as he ran into the room behind Gilbert. Now the party was split into two groups, and all because they hadn't listened to him. [i]Amateurs![/i] he thought to himself. The three lizardfolk rangers had already known what was coming when they let fly with their sling stones, so they had prepared themselves by taking in large gulps of air before striking. Now, still holding their breath, they dropped into the room and sought their initial targets. Two happened to land on either side of an astonished Gilbert Fung, and struck out at him with teeth and claws. Another dropped down in front of Ingebold, preventing her from even entering the fungal chamber. The wizard and the cleric each got a good look at their foes, and these were not at all like any lizardfolk they'd heard of before. To begin with, their scales were a pearly, almost translucent white, causing them to appear to be ghostlike, especially in the dim light of the cavern amid clouds of swirling spores. Their eyes bulged out and their fingers had retractable claws and large, sticky pads on the tips - all in all, they looked rather like albino, humanoid geckoes. And as it turned out, these lizardfolk rangers had specialized training about the best way to strike at their favorite meals - humans - as Gilbert learned to his dismay, suddenly-deployed claws cutting through his robes in much the same way as Derringold's had been ripped. [i]At least they're not poisonous[/i], the wizard thought as he did his best to defend himself. Fortunately, Binkadink was just in front of the wizard when the lizardfolk attacked. Whirling around, mouth sealed tightly in an attempt not to breathe in any more of the strength-draining spores, he brought his glaive crashing down upon the nearest reptile, dropping the lizardfolk where he stood. Darrien shot at the other one attacking Gilbert, having gotten a good breath of clean air in the dead-end cave. And back in the narrow tunnel, Ingebold slammed her warhammer into the side of the lizardfolk threatening her. Stuck behind Ingebold and unable to get past her and into the fray with her swinging her warhammer about, Castillan backed further down the corridor, then sprinted toward the dwarven cleric. Before he got to her he leapt up onto the side of the wall, bounding from it to the other wall opposite, back and forth keeping his momentum going and also rising up the walls as he progressed. Finally, he somersaulted above both the cleric and her lizardfolk opponent, dropping down into the chamber, spinning around, and stabbing the reptile in the back with the short sword in his hand. That was all the prompting the lizardfolk ranger needed; it immediately stepped back from between the dwarven cleric and the elven bounder, then, surprisingly, ran straight up the wall, across the ceiling, and through a hole partially hidden between hanging stalactites just large enough to allow its girth. Ingebold took a step back, further into the narrow passageway, but more importantly, even further out of the cloud of spores taking their own sweet time to settle back to the stone floor. Pulling a glass vial from her belt, she pulled out the stopper and quickly swigged down its contents, wincing briefly at the taste. But then, Winkidew Dundernoggin's [i]potion of spider climb[/i] took effect and the dwarven cleric took a deep breath of fresh air, stepped back into the fungal chamber, and raced up the same wall and ceiling, to crawl through the hole and into another unlit chamber directly above the fungal garden. The lizardfolk ranger had been waiting - perhaps not for the dwarf, but for anyone who might be able to follow. He lashed out with his retractable claws, catching the cleric in the shoulder and neck above her armor, but she swung her warhammer into the reptile's ghostly-colored head and brought him crashing to the stone floor, dead. Only then did Ingebold think to cure her own wounds. Down in the lowest cavern discovered thus far, Finoula had turned to look back up the natural stairs leading to the fungal chamber, surprised to see that nobody had followed her to safety. Wrath's sudden growl alerted her to danger; spinning around, she saw a smooth rock in the middle of the subterranean pool, and in the span of time it took her mind to process whether or not it had been there before, it moved. A large, lobsterlike creature rose up from the pool, water streaming off of its carapaced back. A serrated pincer snapped out at her, striking her but failing to catch her within its crushing grasp. With a yell to the others, the ranger backed up the narrow stairway, where she guessed the creature couldn't follow due to its size. Wrath growled and snapped at the nearest of the creature's four legs, now that it had stepped almost completely out of the water. The chuul, for its part, ignored the wolf snapping at it in favor for the larger - and, it knew from past experience, tastier - elf scurrying back out of reach. But just as the elf made it back to safety, more delicious morsels made themselves available. Darrien had by this point made it halfway down the stairway and was firing off arrows at the chuul, to little effect; the creature's hardened carapace protected it from most such damage. But Binkadink had also made it down the stairs, and he raced all the way to the chuul, striking at it with his glaive. The chuul snapped its claws at the little gnome, capturing him and rising him up off the stone floor. And now Castillan came down into the pool cavern, flashing short sword attempting to pierce the chuul's armor. The monstrosity transferred the wriggling gnome to the tentacles hanging down from its mouth, and while it took a moment or two for the paralytic secretions to immobilize Binkadink, eventually the gnome had succumbed and the chuul was able to snatch up the bounder in its claws as well. By then, even Gilbert had made it down the stairs, having finished off the remaining lizardfolk ranger with his trusty [i]wand of magic missiles[/i]. Seeing the situation, he quickly calculated distances and let fly with a [i]fireball[/i] in the back corner of the chamber that caught only the back half of the chuul in its fiery explosion, only narrowly avoiding having it extend as far as Binkadink or Castillan, both still caught in the chuul's embrace. Castillan was still held firmly in a serrated claw, and as he was not paralyzed he was fully able to scream in pain as the merciless claw continued squeezing him tighter and tighter, until he thought he'd surely snap into two pieces. Consciousness left him and he fell limp in the chuul's claw, struggling no more. Upstairs in the fungal garden, Ingebold walked back down the wall, surprised to see nobody else there but two slain lizardfolk. She followed the sounds of battle down the stairwell to the right, and made it back to the others in quite literally the nick of time. Several of the heroes had potions of healing at their belts, and were desperately trying to reach the unconscious bounder. Gilbert had been attacking the chuul from the left side of the pool cavern, where he could shoot out sheets of flame from his [i]wand of burning hands[/i], in an effort to slay the chuul quickly. For the chuul had taken quite a bit of damage in the last few minutes of heated battle and had decided enough was enough. It held a paralyzed gnome in its tentacles and an unconscious elf in one claw; it was time to cut its losses and flee the scene with its two morsels of food. As a result, it had deliberately backed into the pool of water, submerging its treats to drown them but also feeling with its two back legs for the submerged tunnel that led to the underground stream from which it had originally come. Darrien, in a last-ditch effort, turned his sights from the nearly-dead-but-not-dead-quick-enough lobster-beast to his fellow adventurer Castillan, whose unmoving form he could still see below the water thanks to the illusory flames emanating from Binkadink's submerged [i]everburning torch[/i]. The half-elf ranger fired a shot at Castillan, catching him right between the shoulder blades. Fortunately for the bounder, Darrien's arrow had become a line of strong spider silk before striking him; with a frantic tug, Darrien snagged the bounder out from the unsuspecting chuul's grip. Another strong tug pulled Castillan's unconscious - and heavily bleeding - form up onto the stone floor of the cavern, where Ingebold instantly healed the worst of the bounder's wounds with a single touch and the words to her most powerful healing spell. Gilbert swapped wands now that the chuul was completely submerged, but he was able to still target the beast with a barrage from a [i]wand of magic missiles[/i] even if [i]burning hands[/i] was no longer an option. The missiles struck unerringly, and that was more than the harried chuul was able to handle. It collapsed, completely submerged, and Binkadink's unmoving form was released from its tentacles...to plunk down to the bottom of the pool, weighted down as it was by metal armor. Finoula waded into the pool and pulled the gnome to safety. After that, there was a brief span of time when the adventurers weren't in combat. They took the opportunity to drink down healing potions as needed, and Ingebold applied spells as well. Then it was time for further exploration: there was a small chamber off to the west of the pool cavern, containing a quite unexpected sight: a feral troll, growling and menacing, but rendered helpless by the fact that his head and hands were locked in a heavy wooden stock, the whole thing chained to a thick stone column formed by the merging of a stalagmite and stalactite. "What in the world?" asked Castillan, surprised beyond belief. "Why would the lizardfolk have an imprisoned troll in their caverns?" asked Finoula aloud. Gilbert gave it a moment's thought. "He food," the wizard finally replied. "Carve off troll meat, it grow back. Never run out that way." Finoula's face displayed her horror and disgust at the thought. "That's [i]horrible[/i]!" she exclaimed. "We kill him, put him out of misery. But we do that later. He not going anywhere." And the rotund wizard started shooing everyone back up the stone steps leading back up to the fungal caverns. Ingebold was the first up the steps, and there she got a surprise of her own, for the once-empty cavern was now filled with four angry, hissing lizardfolk who bent over their slain males. They raised their heads her way and displayed their sharp teeth, then moved in for the kill. Ingebold stepped forward and met the first one's attack with her warhammer, slamming it off balance to the side. Before the other lizardfolk females could press the attack, Binkadink, Finoula and Wrath filled up the area beside Ingebold. In the meantime, another lizardfolk popped out of a hole in the cavern ceiling above the underground pool, crawled silently along the ceiling, and dropped down behind Gilbert. The wizard and Darrien dealt with it, since Castillan was already halfway up the steps leading to the fungal cavern. With the bounder's assistance, the others made quick work of three of the lizardfolk females in the fungal cavern; the fourth, seeing herself hopelessly outmatched, fled up a wall and up a hole in the ceiling. Ingebold tried following her, discovered the [i]spider climb[/i] effect was still active from the potion she'd drunk before, and scooted up through the same hole in the ceiling a few moments behind her prey. Gilbert returned to the fungal cave to find the others discussing how best to follow to the upper level. Behind him, Darrien was searching the pool cavern's ceiling, looking for the hole the lizardfolk had used to get the drop on him and Gilbert. He soon spotted it, and had to wade into the pool to get directly beneath it. Then, he used the special power of the [i]Arachnibow[/i] for the third time that day, sending a silk line directly up through the hole in the ceiling and attaching it to the roof of the level above. Stowing his bow on his back, the half-elf ranger tested its strength by tugging on it; finding it fully adhered, he started climbing. In the fungal chamber, Binkadink and Castillan had been boosted up by Finoula and scrambled through a hole in the ceiling. Gilbert ambled up and gave the ranger a questioning look. "Yeah, I don't think so," replied Finoula, staring at the wizard's oversized belly. "How about you give me a boost, instead?" Gilbert shrugged, then bent over with his hands cupped, allowing the ranger to step into his grip. Rising up, he pulled her up to his shoulders, and then she scrambled up through the hole in the ceiling after the others. "Just you and me left," Gilbert replied to the wolf. Then, calling up to the hole, he said, "Hey! One of you throw down rope!" Up on the upper level, none of the heroes was in a position to comply with the wizard's request, because they were facing not only the female lizardfolk who had escaped up here, but four more of her tribe. "Fine!" grumbled Gilbert to himself, rummaging through his own pack to pull out a grappling hook and a rope of his own. While bloody combat ensued above, he swung the rope around his head and tossed it up through the hole, getting lucky on his first shot. Then he started climbing, taking a considerably longer time doing so than Darrien had done minutes earlier. In fact, when Darrien popped through the hole above the pool, he found out the lizardfolk had been making good use of it, for sitting on the floor near the hole was a wooden bucket and a length of rope, with which they apparently drew water from the pool below - a set-up that no doubt came in very handy once the chuul entered the pool from the underground stream nearby. Untying the rope from the bucket, Darrien coiled it up and tied it to his belt; there was no telling when that could come in handy! Wandering into a larger cavern to the south, the half-elf ranger heard sounds of battle. Sure enough, there were four of the ghostly-colored lizardfolk crowded around the entrance to a smaller cavern, where they attempted to rip into Darrien's friends with their teeth and claws. Silently, he scooted over directly behind them and started cutting them down with his bow. The remaining lizardfolk then found themselves trapped between two forces, and were quickly brought down. By the time Gilbert climbed up through the hole - it was a bit of a tight fit - the combat was over. "Hrrmph!" he snorted in disgust. Further exploration found the tribe's treasure, such as it was, stored in a series of canvas bags. Besides a handful of coins (no doubt taken from slain travelers), there was also a masterwork dagger (with dried troll's blood confirming Gilbert's suspicions about the purpose of the troll imprisoned below) and a red gemstone on a necklace the lizardfolk likely didn't even realize was magical in nature. "Well, that that," announced Gilbert. "Guess all that left is go kill troll." "Ew," replied Finoula, but she had confirmed through Malaterminus earlier that the troll was an evil creature, and she convinced herself it was a mercy killing in any case. She didn't want any part in killing it, though, helpless as it was. - - - Obvious was glad to see the return of the heroes. "Everything go well?" he asked Binkadink in the language they shared. "Fine," replied the gnome fighter, climbing back into the saddle. "But that wasn't a dragon after all." There was a hint of disappointment in his voice; he'd have to wait a bit longer before he got to test his combat prowess against a dragon, it seemed. - - - We played through this adventure in one session, then upgraded everyone's PCs to 6th level immediately afterward. We had one anomaly: usually we switch off between the players as to who runs Ingebold in any given session. (I certainly don't want to do it - I prefer that she not be a DMPC, and switching off allows Joey to get the occasional taste of running a primary spellcaster character.) This time it was Vicki's turn to run her, so she made all of Ingebold's spell selections, and then right when the group first encountered the giant lizard in the cave, Dan kept "back seat driving" as far as to what Vicki should have Ingebold do, much to Vicki's irritation. "You know what?" she finally asked. "Why don't you run her, since you know exactly what she should do?" We also ran into a lot of disappearing players; about half of the time it seemed no matter whose turn it was, that person was invariably not in the room, either off in the bathroom or wherever. So if it was Ingebold's turn and Dan wasn't in the room, Vicki would run her. Vicki seemed to run her more as a healer, whereas Dan ran her more as a front-line fighting type. (This explains her somewhat schizophrenic behavior during this adventure; normally Ingebold - the party's primary healer - doesn't go chasing off after a single opponent by herself, leaving the rest of the group in combat by themselves with no clerical backup.) We also came really close to having our first PC death. Castillan, in the clutches of the chuul, was unconscious and failing to stabilize, and Ingebold was off fighting her own lizardfolk enemy two different levels away. With half the party at reduced strength due to the fungal spores, there was no way they were going to be able to get him away from the chuul before he was slain. (He was taking automatic crushing damage every turn.) Joey's bright idea would have instantly saved the day, but then he didn't roll high enough to legally pull Castillan from the chuul's grasp. Not wanting to just out-and-out cheat and hand-wave Castillan's rescue, I gave the group a couple different opportunities for my dice to betray me. I ruled the chuul had been surprised by the sudden tugging away of his prey, and made the chuul make a Reflex save to hold onto the bounder. When that failed, I had the chuul decide to just be happy with a gnome snack (since by that time the chuul was at pretty low hit points). Jacob was sweating it out, and I was rooting for Castillan to make it out alive, but we've always been a "let the dice fall where they may" group and had there been no way to keep Castillan alive I was perfectly willing to let him die. After all, that's one of the reasons we even have Ingebold: as a backup temporary PC to keep a player in the game in case of PC death. But fortunately, it didn't come to that. - - - T-Shirt Worn: Since the plot hook was an alleged encounter with a "dragon," I decided to play up that angle by wearing one of my dragon T-shirts. I went with the green dragon with lightning bursts in the background of a black T-shirt. [/QUOTE]
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