Rhenny
Adventurer
Travensburg Campaign – Part 8 - 11/23/13 session
We played for 3 hours…3 players and 1 DM controlled PCs – 3rd level PCs – Continuing our Adventure
Erkas the Dwarven Druid of the Mountains
T’rissril Eilsndar the Drow Rogue/assassin who shadowed the party and joined after Erkas left.
Fid (the Dwarven Fighter who transformed into a Warforge Fighter)
Fawnsworth the Gnome Illusionist ex-jester
Nalcon the Lightbringer Cleric, noble who doesn’t like to get his hands dirty
Warning: This part of my campaign is a modified Mines of Madness (Spoilers abound)
Our last session ended when the PCs had found a magical door in the dungeon (The Mines of Madness) and Erkas was turned into a 100 electrum pieces. As the coins hit the ground, Fawnsworth, the illusionist, acted quickly and threw his staff into the open door before it could slam shut. After that, they gathered up all of the coins and put them in a pouch. When they looked at them they could see Erkas’ face and the slogan “A fool and his money are soon parted.” Fid replaced Fawnsworth’s staff with one of his throwing axes, and the party decided to back track and try to leave the mines to see if they could get Erkas back some how. Fawnsworth felt that the mines themselves were filled with horrible magic and he suggested they leave.
On their way out, the party was attacked by dwarven skeletons. Fid took an axe to the chest and felt it, but Fawnsworth summoned forth a flaming sphere to damage a number of the foes, while Nalcon stepped up and blasted his Divine Radiance to take care of the rest of the undead dwarves. After the short battle, the adventurers exited the mines and as soon as they did, Erkas was Erkas once again. He was quite rattled, and decided that he would take a short break from adventuring. (The player wanted to try a rogue, so we switched out PCs).
Before returning to the mines, the group decided to go out to a safer area and rest for the night. When they returned, they decided to check other areas on the first level of the mines that they had missed their first time through. Passing the cockatrice nests, checking to see if the eggs were still there, the group continued down a number of corkscrew passages. T’rissril, the Drow, was stealthily following the group, so the group had no idea she was there. Fid strode forth, his metal body making a good deal of noise, peeked into a larger square room to see 15 dwarven skeletons working, directed by another dwarven skeleton standing on a barrel, holding a diamond tipped pick axe in one hand, and a rolled up parchement in the other. Fid’s noisy entrance alerted these undead, and they all swarmed toward the dwarven warforged. The battle in this area took a while. Fid was pelted by attacks and hurt badly. Nalcon stepped up to heal him. Then from out of the darkness behind the group, arrow after arrow came wizzing past the group, downing skeleton after skeleton. Fawnsworth used his flaming sphere to great effect, keeping it in action for many rounds. Fid eventually dodged to keep himself from getting overwhelmed by the many skeletons, all the while, they heard the one skeleton on the barrel, directing the others, shouting out “Finder’s keepers. Finder’s keepers.” Eventually, the group downed all of the normal dwarven skeletons, and then Fid kicked the barrel from under the ranting skeleton. Fid restrained the creature, and tried to speak with it, but clearly it had lost its mind. It was afraid that the party was there to steal his mine. After another arrow hit the restrained skeleton, Fid snapped its neck and the skeleton went lifeless. At that point, T’rissril, introduced herself and told the party that she had been following them since they entered the mines. She was on their side. In fact, she eventually got the party to let her read the parchment that the Dwarven skeleton was carrying and she told the group that it was an authentic and perfectly valid deed to the mines.
Then the group looked over the edge of a pit that was filled with fine white powder to see a number of skeletal lizards. Fawnsworth’s flaming sphere made short work of them. Fid decided to jump down and see what the white powder was, and as he hit the ground, a cloud of the powder arouse into the air. He was able to withstand the irritation, and soon climbed out. Nalcon could tell that the powder was lime, so the party put some into a pouch, and some more into an empty potion bottle for later use.
Three doors were on the south side of the larger square room. The Drow checked them all for traps and found none. Then Fid opened up the western one to see a tunnel with two mine shafts and boards spanning them both. T’rissril scouted ahead and when she got to the second mine, the planks beneath her gave way and she was not able to jump clear. She tumbled 30’ into another passage taking substantial damage. Bruised and battered (only 7 points from unconscious), T’rissril crept around one corner of the lower tunnel to spot a shimmering mass about 20’ ahead of her (crit perception check). The creature moved up to her, but before it could slam her, she disengaged and ran back to the shaft. Fid had already come over and dropped a rope down, so T’riss could climb up and run before the gelatinous cube captured her. Unfortunately, Fid could not see the cube, and the cube climbed up right next to him. Before Fid could run, the cube bounced off of him but did no damage (Fid’s a toughy with great AC). The rest of the group ran back and when Fid followed, he pulled the planks that that were over the other pit so that the cube would fall down again. The cube fell down, but then climbed back up and Fid could not see it. Luckily, he and the others could run back to the larger room and close the door before the cube could reach them. They waited to see if the cube would push down the door, but the closed door seemed to prevent it from advancing. At this point, the group took a short rest and the Drow, and Fid bandaged themselves.
At the eastern door, the group advanced, T’riss moving into a 70’ hallway 10’ in front of Fid, with Fawnsworth and Nalcon remaining in the larger room. They found the bodies of two dead adventurers in the room, along with a pack. T’riss inspected the pack and the rest of the hall (finding a door at the other end too). In the pack was some rope and an empty wine skin, and a journal. One of the dead bodies was an Elf wearing a fine cloak (cloak of Elvenkind), with 6 arrows (+1 arrows) remaining in a quiver, the other was a Dwarf in scale mail with a bloody battleaxe beside it. Both looked as if they were killed or hurt by each other. The journal bore that out. It seems as if this hall was some kind of trap and these adventurers got stuck inside. They ran out of food, and eventually attacked each other. The Elf ended his own life with an arrow jabbed up through his throat. Only 10’ into the room, Fid decided to back out cautiously when he heard what was in the journal. T’riss tried to walk back to the doorway, but with each step she took, it seemed as if the room itself grew another 5’. She tried and tried to walk, run, jump, throw a dagger, but nothing she did got her any closer. She could see the others in the doorway, but she was stuck, magically. She even tried to walk towards it with her eyes closed, but that didn’t work either. After a while, Fawnsworth and Fid realized that Fid had been able to get out of the room, and he just backed up, so they told T’riss to turn around and back out of the room. Success.
Knowing the trick, the group was able to get to the other side of the hallway and open the southern door. Beyond that, they found a stairway down that led to the very door where Erkas had been turned into electrum pieces. The axe that Fid used to jam the door open was still in tact. The group decided to go back upstairs before venturing down below, so they backtracked and opened the middle door finding just an empty alcove. Suddenly, Fawnsworth had a brainstorm. He realized that the lime in the pit was a substance that would react violently with acid, so he told the others that if they could lure the gelatinous cube into the lime pit, that might destroy it. The group was keen to try this out. Fid put the dead Dwarf’s battleaxe in front of the door on the ground, and opened the door that barred the cube’s progress. He couldn’t see the cube, but he did see the battleaxe shimmer and move. The others fired missle weapons at the cube, and one of them threw some of the lime dust all over it. When the lime dust settled, the cube was much easier to see. Then, Fawnsworth started banging on the lime pit ledge with a pick axe trying to draw the cube’s attention. It worked. The cube slithered over, and then Fawnsworth stopped banging, but he used an illusion of a Dwarven miner complete with loud sounds to attempt to draw the cube into the lime pit. That worked too. As the cube moved into the pit, the lime ate away at its mass, and eventually it dissolved into a puddle of stinking ooze. Feeling a sense of fulfillment, the party explored beyond the cube’s lair (which had nothing of value).
As the group came to a bend in the tunnel, they heard moaning, and T’riss could see a small hole in the southern wall. Looking into it, she could see a large skull shaped room with a black portal in the middle of it. The portal had a purple haze with snowy shapes swirling within it….and the moaning was coming from the portal.
That’s when we stopped for the night.
Comments
The player who played the Druid and switched to the Rogue…loved the rogue and felt as if the druid was not as fun or useful overall. Although, he and everyone else did remark how entangle or spike growth would have really helped when the group encountered the room filled with Dwarven skeletons.
Everyone else enjoyed his character and used many of the strengths and abilities afforded to him.
We are confused about the grapple and restraining rules. Had to look them up and puzzle them out a bit. After reading them, it seems ok. First grab…reduce to 0 movement. Then…next turn (unless the grab is broken), you can try to restrain. A restrained creature has speed 0 and gets disadvantage to all attacks, and attacks against it have advantage. It seems weird that a restrained creature could attack at all (especially if it is the same size or smaller than the restrainer). We’d rather have it that the restrained creature can’t move or act until it breaks free.
Note on the Gelatinous Cube and the lime. The player who played the illusionist is a chemist and a NASA scientist. It was his idea to lead the cube into the lime. Since lime is a base and the cube is an acid, we decided that something horrible would happen when the cube came in contact with a large amount of it. I totally decided to go with it, and let the cube dissolve. The group loved it, especially the illusionist player. He felt as if that was a great kill.
We played for 3 hours…3 players and 1 DM controlled PCs – 3rd level PCs – Continuing our Adventure
Erkas the Dwarven Druid of the Mountains
T’rissril Eilsndar the Drow Rogue/assassin who shadowed the party and joined after Erkas left.
Fid (the Dwarven Fighter who transformed into a Warforge Fighter)
Fawnsworth the Gnome Illusionist ex-jester
Nalcon the Lightbringer Cleric, noble who doesn’t like to get his hands dirty
Warning: This part of my campaign is a modified Mines of Madness (Spoilers abound)
Our last session ended when the PCs had found a magical door in the dungeon (The Mines of Madness) and Erkas was turned into a 100 electrum pieces. As the coins hit the ground, Fawnsworth, the illusionist, acted quickly and threw his staff into the open door before it could slam shut. After that, they gathered up all of the coins and put them in a pouch. When they looked at them they could see Erkas’ face and the slogan “A fool and his money are soon parted.” Fid replaced Fawnsworth’s staff with one of his throwing axes, and the party decided to back track and try to leave the mines to see if they could get Erkas back some how. Fawnsworth felt that the mines themselves were filled with horrible magic and he suggested they leave.
On their way out, the party was attacked by dwarven skeletons. Fid took an axe to the chest and felt it, but Fawnsworth summoned forth a flaming sphere to damage a number of the foes, while Nalcon stepped up and blasted his Divine Radiance to take care of the rest of the undead dwarves. After the short battle, the adventurers exited the mines and as soon as they did, Erkas was Erkas once again. He was quite rattled, and decided that he would take a short break from adventuring. (The player wanted to try a rogue, so we switched out PCs).
Before returning to the mines, the group decided to go out to a safer area and rest for the night. When they returned, they decided to check other areas on the first level of the mines that they had missed their first time through. Passing the cockatrice nests, checking to see if the eggs were still there, the group continued down a number of corkscrew passages. T’rissril, the Drow, was stealthily following the group, so the group had no idea she was there. Fid strode forth, his metal body making a good deal of noise, peeked into a larger square room to see 15 dwarven skeletons working, directed by another dwarven skeleton standing on a barrel, holding a diamond tipped pick axe in one hand, and a rolled up parchement in the other. Fid’s noisy entrance alerted these undead, and they all swarmed toward the dwarven warforged. The battle in this area took a while. Fid was pelted by attacks and hurt badly. Nalcon stepped up to heal him. Then from out of the darkness behind the group, arrow after arrow came wizzing past the group, downing skeleton after skeleton. Fawnsworth used his flaming sphere to great effect, keeping it in action for many rounds. Fid eventually dodged to keep himself from getting overwhelmed by the many skeletons, all the while, they heard the one skeleton on the barrel, directing the others, shouting out “Finder’s keepers. Finder’s keepers.” Eventually, the group downed all of the normal dwarven skeletons, and then Fid kicked the barrel from under the ranting skeleton. Fid restrained the creature, and tried to speak with it, but clearly it had lost its mind. It was afraid that the party was there to steal his mine. After another arrow hit the restrained skeleton, Fid snapped its neck and the skeleton went lifeless. At that point, T’rissril, introduced herself and told the party that she had been following them since they entered the mines. She was on their side. In fact, she eventually got the party to let her read the parchment that the Dwarven skeleton was carrying and she told the group that it was an authentic and perfectly valid deed to the mines.
Then the group looked over the edge of a pit that was filled with fine white powder to see a number of skeletal lizards. Fawnsworth’s flaming sphere made short work of them. Fid decided to jump down and see what the white powder was, and as he hit the ground, a cloud of the powder arouse into the air. He was able to withstand the irritation, and soon climbed out. Nalcon could tell that the powder was lime, so the party put some into a pouch, and some more into an empty potion bottle for later use.
Three doors were on the south side of the larger square room. The Drow checked them all for traps and found none. Then Fid opened up the western one to see a tunnel with two mine shafts and boards spanning them both. T’rissril scouted ahead and when she got to the second mine, the planks beneath her gave way and she was not able to jump clear. She tumbled 30’ into another passage taking substantial damage. Bruised and battered (only 7 points from unconscious), T’rissril crept around one corner of the lower tunnel to spot a shimmering mass about 20’ ahead of her (crit perception check). The creature moved up to her, but before it could slam her, she disengaged and ran back to the shaft. Fid had already come over and dropped a rope down, so T’riss could climb up and run before the gelatinous cube captured her. Unfortunately, Fid could not see the cube, and the cube climbed up right next to him. Before Fid could run, the cube bounced off of him but did no damage (Fid’s a toughy with great AC). The rest of the group ran back and when Fid followed, he pulled the planks that that were over the other pit so that the cube would fall down again. The cube fell down, but then climbed back up and Fid could not see it. Luckily, he and the others could run back to the larger room and close the door before the cube could reach them. They waited to see if the cube would push down the door, but the closed door seemed to prevent it from advancing. At this point, the group took a short rest and the Drow, and Fid bandaged themselves.
At the eastern door, the group advanced, T’riss moving into a 70’ hallway 10’ in front of Fid, with Fawnsworth and Nalcon remaining in the larger room. They found the bodies of two dead adventurers in the room, along with a pack. T’riss inspected the pack and the rest of the hall (finding a door at the other end too). In the pack was some rope and an empty wine skin, and a journal. One of the dead bodies was an Elf wearing a fine cloak (cloak of Elvenkind), with 6 arrows (+1 arrows) remaining in a quiver, the other was a Dwarf in scale mail with a bloody battleaxe beside it. Both looked as if they were killed or hurt by each other. The journal bore that out. It seems as if this hall was some kind of trap and these adventurers got stuck inside. They ran out of food, and eventually attacked each other. The Elf ended his own life with an arrow jabbed up through his throat. Only 10’ into the room, Fid decided to back out cautiously when he heard what was in the journal. T’riss tried to walk back to the doorway, but with each step she took, it seemed as if the room itself grew another 5’. She tried and tried to walk, run, jump, throw a dagger, but nothing she did got her any closer. She could see the others in the doorway, but she was stuck, magically. She even tried to walk towards it with her eyes closed, but that didn’t work either. After a while, Fawnsworth and Fid realized that Fid had been able to get out of the room, and he just backed up, so they told T’riss to turn around and back out of the room. Success.
Knowing the trick, the group was able to get to the other side of the hallway and open the southern door. Beyond that, they found a stairway down that led to the very door where Erkas had been turned into electrum pieces. The axe that Fid used to jam the door open was still in tact. The group decided to go back upstairs before venturing down below, so they backtracked and opened the middle door finding just an empty alcove. Suddenly, Fawnsworth had a brainstorm. He realized that the lime in the pit was a substance that would react violently with acid, so he told the others that if they could lure the gelatinous cube into the lime pit, that might destroy it. The group was keen to try this out. Fid put the dead Dwarf’s battleaxe in front of the door on the ground, and opened the door that barred the cube’s progress. He couldn’t see the cube, but he did see the battleaxe shimmer and move. The others fired missle weapons at the cube, and one of them threw some of the lime dust all over it. When the lime dust settled, the cube was much easier to see. Then, Fawnsworth started banging on the lime pit ledge with a pick axe trying to draw the cube’s attention. It worked. The cube slithered over, and then Fawnsworth stopped banging, but he used an illusion of a Dwarven miner complete with loud sounds to attempt to draw the cube into the lime pit. That worked too. As the cube moved into the pit, the lime ate away at its mass, and eventually it dissolved into a puddle of stinking ooze. Feeling a sense of fulfillment, the party explored beyond the cube’s lair (which had nothing of value).
As the group came to a bend in the tunnel, they heard moaning, and T’riss could see a small hole in the southern wall. Looking into it, she could see a large skull shaped room with a black portal in the middle of it. The portal had a purple haze with snowy shapes swirling within it….and the moaning was coming from the portal.
That’s when we stopped for the night.
Comments
The player who played the Druid and switched to the Rogue…loved the rogue and felt as if the druid was not as fun or useful overall. Although, he and everyone else did remark how entangle or spike growth would have really helped when the group encountered the room filled with Dwarven skeletons.
Everyone else enjoyed his character and used many of the strengths and abilities afforded to him.
We are confused about the grapple and restraining rules. Had to look them up and puzzle them out a bit. After reading them, it seems ok. First grab…reduce to 0 movement. Then…next turn (unless the grab is broken), you can try to restrain. A restrained creature has speed 0 and gets disadvantage to all attacks, and attacks against it have advantage. It seems weird that a restrained creature could attack at all (especially if it is the same size or smaller than the restrainer). We’d rather have it that the restrained creature can’t move or act until it breaks free.
Note on the Gelatinous Cube and the lime. The player who played the illusionist is a chemist and a NASA scientist. It was his idea to lead the cube into the lime. Since lime is a base and the cube is an acid, we decided that something horrible would happen when the cube came in contact with a large amount of it. I totally decided to go with it, and let the cube dissolve. The group loved it, especially the illusionist player. He felt as if that was a great kill.
