Date:
2018-11-02
Weather:
Cool, cloudy
Player Characters:
Elias (Wiggles), Wood Elf Cleric, 222 points
Garreth (Zuljita), Half-Orc Fighter, 269 points
Ibizaber (Demented Avenger), Human Thief, 257 points
Polly (Kalzazz), Wood Elf Archer, 242 points
Seépravir (Archon Shiva), High-Elf Wizard, 279 points
Ibizaber (Demented Avenger), Human Thief, 257 points
Polly (Kalzazz), Wood Elf Archer, 242 points
Seépravir (Archon Shiva), High-Elf Wizard, 279 points
Significant NPCs:
Lady Chauntessa, innkeeper and amateur historian
Quintus, alchemist and wizard
Quintus, alchemist and wizard
13 troglodyte warriors
4 huge rats
A gray ooze
The PCs met at the Inn of the Slumbering Drake and tried to deal with some loot. First they tried showing the tome about golems (written in Draconic) to Ixnay the shoulder dragon, but he wasn't interested. Then they asked about resizing gnome-sized magic clothing to fit larger people, but got no evidence that it was possible without ruining the magic. Zaber went looking for his nemesis Lord Granger Flitwick, but he was out of town, possibly in Mystenmere.
Having run out of interesting things to do in town, the PCs decided to head for Castle Whiterock, and sell all the gnome-sized clothing next time. Everyone made their Hiking rolls for once, so they made excellent time and did not get ambushed. Seépravir cast a pile of spells, and then everyone went downstairs to the troglodyte level. Their wandering monster luck remained strong, and they made it south to the Ceiling Snake area and then down a narrow curving passage to a new level, without encountering enemies.
Zaber scouted ahead invisibly and spotted three troglodyte warriors, accompanied by three huge rats. Unfortunately Polly was also scouting ahead, visibly, and was spotted, so there was no chance of surprise. Zaber started sneaking behind the trogs, while Polly started shooting arrows. Further behind, Garreth heard the sound of arrows flying and a trog screaming, and charged for the battle. Seépravir and Elias followed, but it would take several seconds to catch up.
During those several seconds, Polly pincushioned a trog, while another one commanded the rats to attack her, then ran away. Zaber invisibly snuck up behind one of the rats and impaled it in the vitals. Polly ignored the other rats that were closing on her, and shot the running trog, injuring it badly enough to slow its running. Zaber backstabbed another rat, which was too busy trying to bite Polly, and injured it but not badly enough.
When the running trog finally got out of range, Polly started shooting rats, and finished off the ones that Zaber had wounded. About then, Garreth reached the battle, and Polly pointed him to the northwest where the trog had escaped. Those two gave chase, while the others didn't.
Garreth and Polly reached a battle in progress,with two troglodytes fighting a translucent grayish oozy slimy jelly-like thing, and a third troglodyte with a couple of Polly's arrows sticking out of trying to sneak past. The wounded troglodyte eventually passed out from its wounds. The ooze appeared acidic in nature, and was dissolving the trogs' armor and javelins, and eventually injured a trog enough that it decided to run. Polly shot the remaining trog in the skull a couple of times, and killed it. Garreth put his katana away and drew a less valuable knife. Polly put a few cutting arrows into the ooze, doing a lot of damage. Garreth stabbed it with his knife, doing lame damage, but it just happened to be enough to force a death check and the ooze rolled badly, so Garreth got the kill. His knife did not survive, and neither did Polly's arrows, but those were all fairly cheap. Polly shot the retreating trog twice in the legs, crippling both, and reducing it to crawling speed. She let Garreth finish him, and Garreth finished him.
Meanwhile, Zaber had found an exit to the east: a ledge with a knotted hemp rope, dropping into the darkness. He climbed down the rope, smelled trog, and climbed back up the rope. Then a tactical conference began: everyone would go down the rope in quick order, except Seépravir would Levitate. That didn't happen, though, because after Zaber and Polly went down, Zaber spotted a camouflaged trog against the wall, and pointed it out to Polly, who eventually (there was a failed Gesture roll) started shooting. So once again we had a split-party fight.
Polly shot a trog in the head a couple of times, with predictable results. Zaber all-out defended while waiting for reinforcements. Garreth used his Acrobatics and Climbing skills (and his gloves, allowing sliding down a rope without badly injuring his hands) to do a quick rappel down the rope, reaching the ground uninjured in two seconds. (Climbing down a knotted rope is easy, but slow. Going down a rope fast takes skill.) Seépravir cast Missile Shield and Levitate on herself then started floating over the battle, inviting thrown javelins. Elias used his Luck to defend against trog stench, then got his crossbow out and started looking for targets, but couldn't see any very well because they were out of the light radius of the flaming flail at his feet. (Only 3 PCs had Dark Vision.)
The trogs were wearing some kind of insect chitin armor, which broke when it took serious impact. Zaber stabbed a trog and broke its armor, but didn't do serious damage besides that. A couple of trogs aimed then threw javelins at Polly. She almost failed to dodge one of them, then used her Luck. One threw a javelin at Zaber, who dodged easily. When Garreth reached the ground, he drew a glowing (full brightness Continual Light) sai, and threw it at a trog. He missed, but that illuminated that area, which gave Elias something to shoot at. Garreth pulled out his katana and chopped a trog to death, Zaber stabbed a trog in the eye and knocked it out, and the fight was over before Elias got to shoot.
Searching the dead trogs, Zaber noticed that their javelins all had the same symbol on the heads: knucklebones and fangs under a mountain. Certainly not trog worksmanship: someone was equipping them. Nobody recognized the symbol though.
Moving on, the party snuck north down a passage, with Zaber scouting ahead in the lead. He noticed some flickering firelight, which was suspicious because everyone was pretty sure trogs had Dark Vision. Maybe they were cooking? For once, Polly refrained from charging forward and shooting, and instead the party formed up to try a coordinated ambush. First Zaber checked the passage to the southeast, making sure there weren't more trogs hiding there to sneak up behind them. He didn't see any, so the attack began. There were three trogs sitting around a fire, and a huge rat nearby. One of the trogs had an odd-looking white spear with feathers, and it looked magic to the elves.
But the trogs were alert, and the party failed to achieve surprise, so there was a bit of a stare-off, and then the trog with the weird spear threw it at Polly. She dodged it, ruining her aim, but then the spear flew back to the thrower! At that point even the non-elves knew it was magic. Zaber did All-Out Defense (Dodge) and started heading toward the guy with the magic spear, with larceny in mind. Polly started shooting the assumed leader, but he dodged. Seépravir, with Missile Shield still on, headed forward to draw fire. A couple more trogs threw javelins, and missed.
The leader threw his magic spear at Garreth, who acrobatically dodged with style. (He made a critical success on the acrobatics roll.) Elias aimed his crossbow at the rat. Seépravir, tiring of a fair fight, noticed that several trogs and a rat were kind of clumped together, and cast Mass Daze on them. She made a decent roll but decided to use her Luck and go for a better roll, and got a 7. That was enough to defeat everyone's resistance, and there were 2 dazed trogs and a dazed rat, staring into space, not fighting.
The trog leader with the magic spear was the only one not Dazed. Zaber invisibly front-stabbed (I allow Backstab from the front if you're Invisible and your stealth beats the target's hearing roll) him in the eye, and rolled good damage. The knife crippled the eye, continued into the brain, and did enough damage to force a major wound check with a huge penalty, which was failed by enough to result in an instant knockout. At that point the fight was effectively over: leader knocked out and the others dazed, with no defense against the first attack.
Everyone started lining up their unfair attacks against the dazed enemies. Polly double-shot one trog in the skull. Garreth double-chopped another dazed trog in the skull. And Elias shot the rat in the skull. Heavy brain damage and failed knockout checks all around, and the fight was over.
Unfortunately for the party, treasure was pretty sparse. The leader had the magic spear, a bag of mushrooms, a shield, and some very stinky leather armor. The other trogs had javelins and stinky broken insect chitin armor. But it was otherwise a successful delve: many trogs defeated and no PC injuries. They headed back to Cillamar.
The troglodyte that was supposed to run away and alert the others failed to get away. It's hard to run away from Polly. That turned a potential difficult ambush encounter into a fair fight.
Mass Daze and an Invisible stab to the eye turned a fair fight into a rout.
I find the troglodytes rather boring, but the party is tearing through them rapidly, so maybe they'll get to meet some more interesting enemies soon.
Zaber scouted ahead invisibly and spotted three troglodyte warriors, accompanied by three huge rats. Unfortunately Polly was also scouting ahead, visibly, and was spotted, so there was no chance of surprise. Zaber started sneaking behind the trogs, while Polly started shooting arrows. Further behind, Garreth heard the sound of arrows flying and a trog screaming, and charged for the battle. Seépravir and Elias followed, but it would take several seconds to catch up.
During those several seconds, Polly pincushioned a trog, while another one commanded the rats to attack her, then ran away. Zaber invisibly snuck up behind one of the rats and impaled it in the vitals. Polly ignored the other rats that were closing on her, and shot the running trog, injuring it badly enough to slow its running. Zaber backstabbed another rat, which was too busy trying to bite Polly, and injured it but not badly enough.
When the running trog finally got out of range, Polly started shooting rats, and finished off the ones that Zaber had wounded. About then, Garreth reached the battle, and Polly pointed him to the northwest where the trog had escaped. Those two gave chase, while the others didn't.
Garreth and Polly reached a battle in progress,with two troglodytes fighting a translucent grayish oozy slimy jelly-like thing, and a third troglodyte with a couple of Polly's arrows sticking out of trying to sneak past. The wounded troglodyte eventually passed out from its wounds. The ooze appeared acidic in nature, and was dissolving the trogs' armor and javelins, and eventually injured a trog enough that it decided to run. Polly shot the remaining trog in the skull a couple of times, and killed it. Garreth put his katana away and drew a less valuable knife. Polly put a few cutting arrows into the ooze, doing a lot of damage. Garreth stabbed it with his knife, doing lame damage, but it just happened to be enough to force a death check and the ooze rolled badly, so Garreth got the kill. His knife did not survive, and neither did Polly's arrows, but those were all fairly cheap. Polly shot the retreating trog twice in the legs, crippling both, and reducing it to crawling speed. She let Garreth finish him, and Garreth finished him.
Meanwhile, Zaber had found an exit to the east: a ledge with a knotted hemp rope, dropping into the darkness. He climbed down the rope, smelled trog, and climbed back up the rope. Then a tactical conference began: everyone would go down the rope in quick order, except Seépravir would Levitate. That didn't happen, though, because after Zaber and Polly went down, Zaber spotted a camouflaged trog against the wall, and pointed it out to Polly, who eventually (there was a failed Gesture roll) started shooting. So once again we had a split-party fight.
Polly shot a trog in the head a couple of times, with predictable results. Zaber all-out defended while waiting for reinforcements. Garreth used his Acrobatics and Climbing skills (and his gloves, allowing sliding down a rope without badly injuring his hands) to do a quick rappel down the rope, reaching the ground uninjured in two seconds. (Climbing down a knotted rope is easy, but slow. Going down a rope fast takes skill.) Seépravir cast Missile Shield and Levitate on herself then started floating over the battle, inviting thrown javelins. Elias used his Luck to defend against trog stench, then got his crossbow out and started looking for targets, but couldn't see any very well because they were out of the light radius of the flaming flail at his feet. (Only 3 PCs had Dark Vision.)
The trogs were wearing some kind of insect chitin armor, which broke when it took serious impact. Zaber stabbed a trog and broke its armor, but didn't do serious damage besides that. A couple of trogs aimed then threw javelins at Polly. She almost failed to dodge one of them, then used her Luck. One threw a javelin at Zaber, who dodged easily. When Garreth reached the ground, he drew a glowing (full brightness Continual Light) sai, and threw it at a trog. He missed, but that illuminated that area, which gave Elias something to shoot at. Garreth pulled out his katana and chopped a trog to death, Zaber stabbed a trog in the eye and knocked it out, and the fight was over before Elias got to shoot.
Searching the dead trogs, Zaber noticed that their javelins all had the same symbol on the heads: knucklebones and fangs under a mountain. Certainly not trog worksmanship: someone was equipping them. Nobody recognized the symbol though.
Moving on, the party snuck north down a passage, with Zaber scouting ahead in the lead. He noticed some flickering firelight, which was suspicious because everyone was pretty sure trogs had Dark Vision. Maybe they were cooking? For once, Polly refrained from charging forward and shooting, and instead the party formed up to try a coordinated ambush. First Zaber checked the passage to the southeast, making sure there weren't more trogs hiding there to sneak up behind them. He didn't see any, so the attack began. There were three trogs sitting around a fire, and a huge rat nearby. One of the trogs had an odd-looking white spear with feathers, and it looked magic to the elves.
But the trogs were alert, and the party failed to achieve surprise, so there was a bit of a stare-off, and then the trog with the weird spear threw it at Polly. She dodged it, ruining her aim, but then the spear flew back to the thrower! At that point even the non-elves knew it was magic. Zaber did All-Out Defense (Dodge) and started heading toward the guy with the magic spear, with larceny in mind. Polly started shooting the assumed leader, but he dodged. Seépravir, with Missile Shield still on, headed forward to draw fire. A couple more trogs threw javelins, and missed.
The leader threw his magic spear at Garreth, who acrobatically dodged with style. (He made a critical success on the acrobatics roll.) Elias aimed his crossbow at the rat. Seépravir, tiring of a fair fight, noticed that several trogs and a rat were kind of clumped together, and cast Mass Daze on them. She made a decent roll but decided to use her Luck and go for a better roll, and got a 7. That was enough to defeat everyone's resistance, and there were 2 dazed trogs and a dazed rat, staring into space, not fighting.
The trog leader with the magic spear was the only one not Dazed. Zaber invisibly front-stabbed (I allow Backstab from the front if you're Invisible and your stealth beats the target's hearing roll) him in the eye, and rolled good damage. The knife crippled the eye, continued into the brain, and did enough damage to force a major wound check with a huge penalty, which was failed by enough to result in an instant knockout. At that point the fight was effectively over: leader knocked out and the others dazed, with no defense against the first attack.
Everyone started lining up their unfair attacks against the dazed enemies. Polly double-shot one trog in the skull. Garreth double-chopped another dazed trog in the skull. And Elias shot the rat in the skull. Heavy brain damage and failed knockout checks all around, and the fight was over.
Unfortunately for the party, treasure was pretty sparse. The leader had the magic spear, a bag of mushrooms, a shield, and some very stinky leather armor. The other trogs had javelins and stinky broken insect chitin armor. But it was otherwise a successful delve: many trogs defeated and no PC injuries. They headed back to Cillamar.
GM's Comments:
The gray ooze was fun because of its equipment-wrecking acid attacks, but it died before it got to wreck any PC armor, and Garreth was clever enough to use a disposable knife instead of a valuable katana against it.The troglodyte that was supposed to run away and alert the others failed to get away. It's hard to run away from Polly. That turned a potential difficult ambush encounter into a fair fight.
Mass Daze and an Invisible stab to the eye turned a fair fight into a rout.
I find the troglodytes rather boring, but the party is tearing through them rapidly, so maybe they'll get to meet some more interesting enemies soon.
I think were more than 11 troglodytes. 3 in initial fight, 1 of which escaped and went to ooze fight where 2 more, 5 in rope fight, and 3 in the boss fight so 13 total
ReplyDeleteI think that's correct. Counting is hard.
ReplyDelete