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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deuce Traveler" data-source="post: 5892935" data-attributes="member: 34958">So my party is in some pretty decent shape, and I have confidence that if we can reach a camp area to heal and load up on spells we should be pretty much home free.  After some traveling southwards towards a rock outcropping, the following message comes onto the screen.  "Above the outcropping is a grim sight--sinister vultures circling lazily.  As you watch, one of them swoops down and lands out of sight in the outcropping."  Looks like something died nearby.  Curious, I turn east towards the outcropping and decide to explore further.<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-zntYjdNpIXE/T5qV0UCCV_I/AAAAAAAAAYA/rSfUpweKNts/w229-h152-n-k/Rock34.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />"The ugly scavenger-bird screams in anger and flies away as you approach.  When you step into the circle of boulders you see its foul feast--the body of a recently-killed young gnome. The body bears several wounds. In his left hand the gnome holds a broken club. An empty sword scabbard is attached to his belt, on the right side of his body."  I decide to press 'Look' in order to search him.  "You look over the dead gnome's body at the entrance of the outcropping. Beneath the gnome you find a pouch opened and spilling fourteen silver coins. Next to the pouch, near the gnome's cold hand, is a crumpled paper drawn with a crude map. It seems to show this outcropping." I decide to walk around the walls of the outcropping with the active search turned on, wondering whether or not this find is a treasure map.  "Fenris looks at you, a bit wide-eyed. 'Surely we must be cautious the nearer we get to the Rock, but... do we have to search every step of the way?'"  Gee, thanks Fenris...I ignore him and take another step.  "The party has discovered a secret door to the east." Sticking my tongue out at Fenris, we go east.  "You pull open a cleverly concealed secret entrance--certainly not the work of goblins.  A narrow crawlspace leads into the darkness, but your torch seems to illuminate a chamber in the distance. Fenris frowns, slipping back out of the tunnel. 'I don't like this. Anything could trap us in that crawlspace, and we could never defend ourselves.'"<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-RtEiAh0ahIA/T5qV0iID4sI/AAAAAAAAAYE/J12JPiCyQTc/w344-h230-k/Rock35.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Worried about a possible trap, I make the thief, Scott DeWar, active before proceeding.  "The ceiling is considerably higher here.  The cave contains six blankets, a washtub, three small covered pots, one large pot, various household tools and utensils, six short swords, eight daggers and four shields.  There is also enough dried food for your party to subist for nearly a week. As you investigate the food and wares, you uncover a blue smoked-glass vial that is nearly full of watery liquid."  The only items of value to me are the vial and shields.  Unfortunately some glitch doesn't allow me to see them in the first treasure listing.  Instead I only see six short swords and two daggers, which are relatively worthless to us.  I have to go through three treasure screens before the shields and vial are available to grab.  I have to wonder what programming glitch led to this.  Fenris, Scott DeWar, GlassEye and (Un)reason are all getting the much needed shields.  I breathe a little easier now that their respective ACs are 4, 3, 2 and 6.  "Though uncomfortable, the skillfully made entrance to this cave practically ensures your safety. You could likely rest here for a time. As long as the owners don't return."  I rest a day, which fully heals my barely scratched up party and restores my spells.  I have Queenie memorize and cast detect magic on the party items.  Fenris' broad sword, Queenie's silver dagger, ring and potion, and Col Pladoh's silver dagger and two potions all radiate magic.  Our newly acquired maces do not, but I'm still happy with the results.  Queenie rests for another few hours to memorize sleep, and we leave the encampment.  I leave the cave and rock outcropping and head south once again.  It should be smooth sailing until the end of the module."As the trail winds through the narrow mountain valley, you near an eerie, wailing sound drifting down on the wind from the rocks to your left. A moment later, the same sighing wail rises on your right, as if in answer."  Hmmm... odd.  I don't remember this part.  I take a step forward.  "Suddenly, the rocks all around erupt in wailing, hollow whistles and inhuman war cries. Goblins--at least twenty--leap from their hiding places onto the tops of the rocks, screaming and dancing in full view.  They are wearing tattered animal skins and woven bark, and are armed with stone weapons. Each also has a leather thong tied to an animal skull or piece of bone that it is swinging around its head. The wind whistles through holes drilled in the bones, making the unearthly whistling noise.  One goblin, larger and dirtier than the others, shouts in pidgin common, 'Weapons you drop quick! You fight not! Like rabbits be, or we hurt you much!' The leader looks around your party, focusing on your dwarven companion [Scott DeWar]. 'Him...dwarfkin...him tie up, you will...a toll he will be,  so you can use our road...' The dwarf draws up indignantly, already reaching for a weapon. The goblins snear, getting ready to attack! As the goblins advance, your mage companion [Queenie] reaches into a spell component pouch. The creatures freeze in mid-step, their eyes widening. Thinking quickly, your friend changes the spell into a simple cantrip, a flash and some smoke. Filled with panic, all twenty of the creatures flee, some dropping their weapons in the raw panic gripping them!"  And that's that.  The goblins were enraged to see Scott DeWar, our dwarf, but freaked out when Queenie reached to her components to blast them.  I am left to wonder what would happen if I didn't have a dwarf or a magic-user in the party.  A twenty goblin fight with no magic slinger would be fatal, even if their leader spoke like a degenerate Yoda.I run into a wall of thick forests, so turn east.  <img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IILpLScZqh8/T5qVxsCibyI/AAAAAAAAAXw/6Am8bUn4EvM/w232-h151-n-k/Rock36.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />"Five strange creatures step forward from behind the rocks where they had hidden themselves.  Like living rock themselves, these are unlike any other creature you have seen.  They are spires of granite, each about seven feet tall and each obviously powerful, despite their slow, clumsy movement and appearance. They move onto the trail to block your path. You see that this is a living wall you will not pass easily. The first statue raises its jagged, stony right hand, palm outward, as if commanding you to stop.  The other four have their arms folded across their chests.  The first rock man speaks, saying, 'I am Krag of the rock men of the Barkel Mountains.  We are the Barkel Mountains; there is a toll for crossing this stretch of trail. Pay or go back.' His four companions stand at his flanks, unmoving as stone."  As you can see in the above picture, Glasseye and (un)reason are ready to level up at this point, and are highlighted in blue.I'm not paying any toll.  I have my party attack.  "Crying out, the rock men lumber towards you. It sounds as if the very mountains themselves are marching on your party.  The rock men are slow moving, but solid as worldrock."  The five rock men are all coming from the east.  I move to form a shield wall so that I might try to drop some of them with a sleep spell.  I wish my ranger had some arrows.  Each rock man has an AC of 2 and 14 hit points.  We get two initial rounds against the slower moving rock men until they move, enabling me to form my wall while shooting off two rounds of slings from both my magic users.  Only Queenie hits, doing 4 hit points of damage to the lead rock man.  When he closes with my party, Col Pladoh hits him with a sling stone and Fenris finishes him off.  I get impatient and stupid, moving my dwarf forward to attack another rock man.  The readied rock man gets a free attack on Scott DeWar, doing 7 hit points of damage on the fighter/thief and dropping him.  This puts me in panic mode and I use a sleep spell to take out two of them.  Fenris and Queenie kill the two unconscious ones.<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0pXr_GO875o/T5qVzi-balI/AAAAAAAAAX4/2ogEemL_Vj0/w345-h228-k/Rock37.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />I have (un)reason cast cure light wounds on poor Scott DeWar.  The two other rock men attack, but both miss.  Queenie and Col Pladoh both hit for a total of seven hit points of damage, but one of the rock men takes out (un)reason with a punch.  Queenie wounds the rock man again, bringing him down to 3 hit points, and Col Pladoh glances him for another hit point of damage bringing him down to 2 hit points.  But the rock man attacks once more and knocks out our last healer, Fenris, with another punch.  Glasseye fails to kill the lead rock man with a mace strike that only deals one point of damage.  Now losing the fight, I have Queenie cast our last sleep spell at the remaining two rock men, even though one enemy still has a single hit point left.  It knocks them both out and we kill them in their sleep.  "As the fifth rock man falls, a terrible cry echoes through the mountains, ushered up by the stones themselves.  Then, silence. You can pick five heart-shaped gemstones from the rubble which was once the rock men.I grab the treasure, then get greedy.  I decide to search the area.  "Rock men await you in ambush!  Massive stones roll down the mountainside, forcing you back into their trap!"  Two rock men charge us from the north and two from the east.  We flee, with the magic-users firing sling stones from a distance ineffectively.  Unfortunately, they kill Fenris and (un)reason, who were unconscious, and Queenie who didn't get away.  The party now consists of Scott DeWar, Col Pladoh and Glasseye.  One tactical error (having Scott DeWar charge) and one bad decision (searching in a hostile area) led to half my group being wiped out.  I realized that Fenris and (un)reason would die if left behind and tried to play with Queenie running and sniping against four slow rock men, which was working as she was dwindling one of them to near death, when I got caught in a corner and misjudged their movement.  One hit was all it took for them to take down a squishy mage.  Alternatively I could have used up my sleep spells, but we aren't even close to home base yet and I don't know of any more camping areas.So now we have a decision to make.  The only battle I had to fight was the one against the rock men.  I can easily reload and face the encounter again, or press on with only three party members and hope to make it back home without being horribly killed.</blockquote>

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