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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Brakkart" data-source="post: 1878233" data-attributes="member: 19617">DM's Log of Session ElevenWaking on the morning of Marpenoth 20th, the party girded themselves for a hard slog along the causeway to the knoll that the house was built upon. With Thols in the lead, Elena just behind him and the others following them in single file, they set out into the Mere of Dead Men. All went well for many hours, and as the sun was dipping in the sky , and the shadows were lengthening, they were finally able to see the heavily overgrown hill up ahead, the causeway leading to some sort of small ruined buiding at the edge of the swamp. It was then as the group started to relax that Aeron realised that something was very amiss. His attention very much on the swamp, he bagan to hear the birdsong of a type of bird he knew to have been hunted to extinction decades ago. Realising instantly that the sound was being used as a call signal, he carefully looked to each side of the causeway, and spotted the moving shapes of about two dozen lizardfolk closing in on the group. Immediately casting Protection from Arrows on himself, he called out a warning in Elven and Dwarven, but only a couple of the others got it, before the swamp rang to the sound of plucked bow strings, and the sky darkened with arrows!Attacked from both sides, and heavily outnumbered, the groups cohesion faltered, andfor a moment all was chaos, as arrows struck home on several of the group. The Poison Dusk tribe certainly lived up to their name, the tips of their missiles coated in blue whinnis, to debilitate their foes. Seeing the ruin up ahead with its stone walls as their best bet, several of the group surged down the pathway towards it, running the gauntlet between various groups of the scaled archers, each advancement met with a hail of fire from newly appearing archers.Growling in anger, and fed up of being shot, Jebodiah unsheathed Stormcleaver, looked around, spotted the biggest, meanest lizardman he could lay eyes on, and bellowed a challenge at him to face the dwarf in single combat. Unable to refuse such a direct threat in front of his men, the lieutenant dove into the swamp water and swam towards the causeway, powerful tail pushing him quickly towards his taunter.As the others continued to move down the causeway, arrows bounced off Aeron left, right and centre, and the wizard launched spells to whittle down the numbers of archers harrassing his companions. Not wanting to be outdone by the genasi, Zamtap drew his pistol and started firing at those shooting at him, to give them a taste of their own medicine. Having reached the relative safety of the ruins, Gylippus and Thols ducked into cover, the paladin suffering from several doses of poison, shafts sticking out of gaps in his armour. Elena and Ki likewise reached safety and drew their missile weapons to return fire from cover, Elena's efforts delayed by her bowstring snapping.Back on the causeway the lizardfolk champion leapt out of the water, spear in hand to do battle with the dwarf, only to be swiftly hacked apart in a duo of awesome blows, the barabrians waraxe, showing just why it was named Stormcleaver, as twin crashes of thunder echoed over the Mere, his opponent reduced to shower of red mist and chunks of flesh. At this display of sheer carnage, fully half the remaining Poison Dusk beat a hasty retreat, not wishing to be the next to meet the dwarfs axe. With that settled, Jebodiah headed towards the ruin, leaving the remaining lizardfolk to be quickly picked off by Elena, Ki, Zamtap and Aeron.Checking the ruin, the group were able to determine that it must have once been the gatehouse to the Wolfhill estate. They also encountered a trio of giant worker ants, who were systematicly demolishing the place, taking the materials elsewhere back to the nest. Deciding to camp at the edge of the hill for the night, the group set up base amidst the massive reeds and set about healing up, with Zamtap muttering about how he'd have to memorise a lot of lesser restorations the next day to rid the group of all the poison in their bodies.DM's Notes:Well this entire session was taken up by one long battle, with two battlemats laid end to end, the group having to make it along the length, with arrows and lizardfolk coming at them from all quarters as they did. I'd never run a "Run the Gauntlet" style battle before, but I think it was a lot of fun and everyone had their moment (especially Jebodiah and the impregnable Aeron, who just walked through it all!). No doubt the Poison Dusk will lick their wounds and they'll be ready for round two when the party leave the hill (which they regard as taboo).After two sessions of little to no combat, I think the guys enjoyed an episode of serious dice rolling, I know I did!</blockquote>

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