Thori rests enough to recover his mana and hits (once he has the mana, he can heal himself magically). They arrive on the eastern side of the stream that bisects the gully. They attempt to sneak up towards area 7. All are successful! Teo got an 8+2=10, and the twins each rolled a natural 12. Wow. They see the one kobold on guard duty (he’s busy scratching and biting at himself). Teo casts sleep and is successful. The kobold fails its resist, and falls asleep. They carefully carry him out of the cave, back down into the gully across from the bridge, at the base of the ascent. They awaken him, and Teo uses tongues to speak with him. He succeeds in casting it. He succeeds with the mind check in talking to the kobold, and it spills the beans about the acolyte and the itching/scratching.
Kobolds are evil, and will attack humans if allowed to survive, so the team decides to kill this kobold (mercifully), and to attack the others. They plan to capture the chief to see if he can share more information (they haven’t learned about the altar in area 20).
They are able to move up to area 7. It is unlikely that the kobold told them about the trap. It did. They don’t go towards area 8, but instead turn south. They descend the stairs into area 9. Because the kobolds are making so much noise, and are so distracted, each hero gets +1 edge to sneak checks. They all succeed, and are in the doorway before the kobolds see them.
Round 1
Teo casts sleep. Even though he has +1 edge from sorcery, the spell still fails. Uh oh.
Tali fires an arrow at a kobold. She hits and kills one.
Thori throws an arcane dart, but the kobold dodges with a natural 12.
6 kobolds attack, but 4 move into melee range for next round. They group their attacks, getting +2 to hit and damage. They actually hit Tali for 4 damage. She makes her armor check (rolled a 10) and is down to 8 hits. The chief fires an arrow at Teo, but misses.
Round 2
Teo tries sleep again. Ouch. Another failure (and almost a botch - rolled 3 and 1).
Tali fires an arrow. She kills a second kobold.
A kobold fails to resist Thori’s arcane dart. Three kobolds dead, and 8 remain.
The kobolds manage to hit Tali again for 3 damage. She fails her armor check, and is at 5 hits. The chief fires an arrow at Teo, hitting for 3. He makes his armor check with a natural 12. The arrow is sticking out of the pin of his cloak.
Round 3
Teo will try sleep a third time… success! Finally. All of the 8 kobolds are in the AOE, so each has to check (at +0) to resist. 3 are successful, but 5 fail. Most importantly, the chief falls asleep too. Nice.
Tali misses with an arrow.
A kobold fails its mind check. Thori’s arcane dart kills it.
2 kobolds attack Teo. They miss.
Round 4
Teo casts an arcane dart and kills a kobold.
Tali misses with an arrow.
Thori casts arcane dart and kills the final kobold.
They kill all the sleeping kobolds, but tie up the ‘king’. When he awakes, they question him. Teo rolls a natural 12 on his charisma check. He convinces the king that his final act can be to get vengeance on the acolyte who tricked him. He also suggests that they were sent by the acolyte, but would betray him if they had the information to do so. The ‘king’ reveals the location of the altar, and that the altar opens to the Corrupted Crypts. It knows the name of the demon (Atragar) and that there is a shadow fiend that has corrupted Corgan to evil. They quickly kill the kobold leader.
They search the room and find 260 cp and 45 sp. They sip a little of the tallgrass ale and find it barely palatable. They move on to area 10. Teo detects that the statue radiates magic. He rolled a natural 12, so his lore also reveals to him that this is a living statue. He knows that interacting with it will activate it, so the group ignores it. Thori casts healing word on Tali. He fails the first try, but on the second restores 6 hits, putting her at 10, completely healed.
They continue northward, into area 11. As they step into the room, the 5 shadelings rise from the ground around them. It’s initiative. The shadelings win.
Round 1
1 shadeling reaches at Teo. He steps aside from it.
2 shadelings grasp at Tali and miss.
2 shadelings grasp at Thori and manage to claw at his heels and calves. They would do 3 damage, but he rolls a 12 with his shield and manages to beat them away.
Teo misses one with his sword.
Tali destroys one with an arrow.
Thori destroys one with his sword (natural 12).
Round 2
One shadeling on each of them. The one on Teo hits with a natural 12. He fails his armor check. It deals 3 hits to him, leaving him at 14.
Teo attacks with his blade and misses.
Tali destroys one with an arrow.
Thori destroys one with his blade.
Round 3
The final shadeling hits again with a natural 12. This one is very persistent. Teo fails his armor check, and is now at 11 hits.
Teo manages to redeem himself, hitting it with a natural 12 and destroying it with his blade.
It takes a few tries, but eventually Thori is able to restore 6 hits, putting Teo back at full health.
They search the room and find the chunk of copper. They keep it. On to area 12. The rot creeper around the corner fails to surprise them, and it’s initiative. The creeper wins.
Round 1
The creeper bites Teo (who is first in line). It barely hits. Teo fails his armor check (which is bad). He suffers 4 hits, and is at 13. However, he fails his might check (which is worse) and is paralyzed for 3 rounds.
Tali backs away 10’ and attempts glimmering weapon, but she fails. Drat. She fires an arrow at -1 edge and hits anyway! She deals 3 hits, and the rot creeper fails its armor check. It is at 15 remaining.
Thori attempts glimmering weapon and succeeds with a 12. He will get to keep his +1 edge this round with his attack, and hits for 3 damage. This time the rot creeper makes its armor check, and is down to 13.
Round 2
Having paralyzed Teo, the rot creeper turns to Thori. It hits with an 11, dealing 5 damage. Thori makes his armor check, and suffers 3 hits (down to 10). He really needs to make this might check… He does!
Backing up another 10’, Tali attempts glimmering weapon and succeeds. She fires an arrow and misses. Next round she will have +1 edge.
Thori attacks with his sword, and hits for 3. After a successful armor check, the rot creeper is at 11.
Round 3
The creeper bites at Thori again, hitting. He makes his armor check, and suffers 2 hits (down to 8). He needs to make this might check… but he fails. He is also paralyzed. Teo will be back next round, however. Thori will be back in round 6.
After another 10’ backing up, Tali fires an arrow, dealing 5 on a natural 12. The rot creeper makes its armor check, so the 3 damage brings it down to 8.
Round 4
Since it sees Teo stirring, and Tali is now 40’ away, the rot creeper attempts to bite Teo again. He has just enough energy to evade the attack.
Tali backs up another 10’ (now 50’ away), and looses an arrow. She hits with a 12. The rot creeper fails its armor check, suffering 5 hits and reduced to 3.
Teo attempts to cast an arcane arrow, and just barely succeeds. Even though the creeper makes its reflex check, it still suffers 3 hits, and is slain.
Notes
I am really, really happy that I changed durations for effects throughout. I had previously defaulted to one minute for most things, but now effects are generally linked to a trait (or to a creature’s level). Having the paralysis last for 3 rounds is still sucky, but it creates more drama as the rest of the team tries to buy time for effects to wear off, and people who were taken out of the combat early can rejoin later on. It makes for much more dynamic play. This version of the game is really, really slick.
My characters really have no reason to explore the other side of the river - they have learned about the temple and where Corgan is, so they really have no reason to mess with the goblins, bugbear and trogs… although they might still decide that these evil creatures need to be cleansed from the caves.
I can see a break coming up between them… I see Teo as a very practical and ‘ends justify the means’ character, whereas the twins are a bit younger and more good-natured. If they end up with a moral dilemma over the female troglodytes, Teo would vote to kill them, while the twins would probably want them to live. I could see this as an event that causes them to go their separate ways. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.
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