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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Brakkart" data-source="post: 2215318" data-attributes="member: 19617">DM's Log of Session Twenty FiveAfter several hours of trekking up an old mountain trail that wound its way up into the Delphin Mountains from Procalith, the party finally spotted the entrance to Dowinn's Lode, a fortified gatehouse built into cliffs on the far side of a dirty lake, crossed by a single stone bridge, the causeway ending at the cavernous opening in the cliffs that was the entrance hall itself. Above the gate loomed a set of enclosed battlements.Deciding that they were not going to be lucky enough to get inside without a fight, Ki opted to go first and headed across the bridge, only to be ambushed by the Darktentacles lurking in the lake, its rubbery tendrils lashing out towards him. Seeing this threat emerge, Ash, Jebodiah and Zamtap moved towards their comrade, the priest chanting a prayer on everyone to bolster them for the battle to come. As the group walked out onto the bridge, so the kobold archers inside the battlements, loosed a volley of arrows at them, though only one struck home, lightly wounding Ash. Aeron walked up behind Jebodiah and boosted the dwarf's already considerable strength... and then things got really nasty.Two fireballs erupted around the clustered group in quick succession as the kobold sorcerors lent their aid to the battle, the blasts hitting almost the entire group, though having very little effect on Aeron, he having cast several protective magics on his way up the trail towards the old dwarf hold. Hurting badly, Ki retreated back across the bridge, the Darktentacles following as best as it can, hauling some of its bulk up out of the waters and onto the edge of the bridge. Angry and hurting, Zamtap let loose with a Sound Burst on the kobolds, but the spell had little effect, killing a single archer and only slightly wounding one of the sorcerors and a sargeant. Seeing how ineffectual his spell was, and hurting badly from the fireballs himself, he headed back off the bridge also.Thinking tactically, Ash laid hands on Jebodiah, healing him of much of the fire damage and the dwarf then hurled himself at the Darktentacles, charging into it with wild abandon. Standing alone in the middle of the bridge, made Ash a tempting target and sure enough every kobold archer launched arrows at him, though all either missed or clattered harmlessly off the paladins armour plating. Deciding to show the priest how an offensive is done, Aeron grinned and launched a Scintillating Sphere at the gatehouse, the blast shooting back through the arrowslits and annihilating six of the archers in one go, as well as badly wounding a sargeant and the unharmed sorceror. Both of the kobold sorcerors decided then to swig potions, one drinking a vial to bolster his charisma, the other gulping down healing fluid. As more arrows harmlessly bounced off Ash's armour, Ki ran back across the bridge towards the entrance to the Lode, now that the vast majority of the archers had been dealt with.Jebodiah's battle with the many limbed Darktentacles was not going so well though, the creature easily grappling him and starting to crush the life out of the barbarian. Seeing his stout friend in peril, Ash charged into the melee, hacking away at the monstrosity, though failing to distract it enough for it to release its grip on the dwarf, Jebodiahs struggles proving not equal to the task of freeing  himself from its clutches. Seeing Ki advancing towards the gatehouse, the few remaining kobold archers attempted to bring him down with their arrows, but fail to even hit him. Seeing the Darktentacles as the most pressing threat, Aeron launched a volley of magic missiles into the beast, and was answered in turn by both sorcerors launching volleys of the same into him, the missiles impacting harmlessly on his Shield though.Both kobold sargeants took aim at Ki, injuring him, and the rogue changed direction then, charging into the Darktentacles also in an effort to rescue Jebodiah, as the creature was starting to head back towards the murk of the lake, his blow causing the creature to release its grasp on the dwarf and flee underwater, but to no avail, a vengeful Zamtap sending a Spiritual Warhammer to bludgeon the creature to death under the surface. Both Ash and Jebodiah breathed a sigh of relief, and swigged back healing potions, even as more arrows pinged off Ash's platemail and shield..The group then sruged forwards across the bridge, Aeron in the lead, with Ash, Jebodiah and Ki in close pursuit, a web cast by one of the sorcerors failing to materialise as it was badly targeted, though the other sorcerors Magic Missiles struck home, doing what the archers arrows could not, and wounding Ash. Activating his healing brooch, Zamtap advanced back across the bridge, grinning as arrows bounced harmlessly off him.The two sorcerors now clearly the greatest threat to the group, Aeron turned his attention on them, and stunned one with a Gedlee's Electric Loop, the other sorceror and both of the kobold sargeants retreating into the upper level of the gatehouse then, out of sight and range of the group as they abandoned the battlements and headed to the second line of defense, though not before the sorceror blasted Zamtap with another fireball, dropping the priest in the middle of the bridge, only the regenerative magic of his brooch keeping him from passing to the Fugue Plane. Seeing their priest down, both Ki and Ash raced back across the bridge, Ki intent on reaching him to see if he was dead or not, while Ash attempted to draw the kobold archers attention. Inside the gatehouse, Jebodiah advanced down the entrance hall, being pelted with rocks from murder holes in the ceiling as he headed towards the still intact third and fourth portcullises, the first two having been long since broken open.In the entrance of the gatehouse, Aeron launched a volley of Magic Missiles at the stunned sorceror, being answered in turn by a fireball as the rival spellcaster snapped out of his trance. Out on the bridge, Ki tapped Zamtap with his healing wand, but the touch had little effect on the priests considerable wounds, while Ash did his best to provide a distraction at a safe distance from the rogue and fallen priest. Inside the gatehouse, Jebodiah set about the task of making the third portcullis less intact, Stormcleaver clanging again and again into the sturdy bars as he stubbornly cut his way through, being pelted the whole time from above to the sound of kobold laughter and taunts.Casting Horizikaul's Boom on the sorceror still at the battlements, Aeron smiled in satisfaction hearing the kobolds death scream. Ki tapped Zamtap again with his wand, restoring the priest enough to wake him, he then drinking a healing potion and standing up. Seeing the gondsman up on his feet again, Ash headed back to where Aeron was stood in the entrance of the gatehouse. Growling at the annoyance of trying to work whilst being pelted, Jebodiah took a break from hacking at the bars and drank a healing potion of his own, while Aeron took advantage of a murder hole opening above to cast another Gedlee's Loop on the sorceror up there, stunning him. Both Ki and Zamtap healed their wounds and headed back across the bridge towards where Aeron and Ash were gathered. Deciding to copy Aeron's tactic, Ash drew his pistol and shot up a murder hole, killing a kobold above, but suffering as a basket of rocks was dropped on him, as did Jebodiah as he drank yet another potion of healing...DM's Notes:Well this was a hell of a session. I honestly didn't expect the group to do as much running back and forth as they did (and this pattern continues in the next session!), and had expected them to get into the hold proper this session. Maybe I overestimated them, or the dice just weren't on their side this time, but the assault on Dowinn's Lode parte one  sure was a lot of fun to run. Having said that, the group were minus Gylippus this week, and thus lacking in spellpower (and sneakiness), leaving Aeron to take on two sorcerors singlehanded (which credit to him he did very well).</blockquote>

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