We leveled up to 2nd. FGU was a little clunky and some stuff had to be done manually but it wasn’t too hard. The Fighter’s new Marshal archetype had a protection from fear aura so Brian rebooted the game to enable that. Which messed up the windows so he removed it and restarted again. We started in the crypt from last time. All agreed to leave the sarcophagus alone but what about the treasure? Since no one could use the shield anyway, the Monk advocated for just leaving it. Evil room, venerated ancestor, just leave. But then the Druid said she used a shield. But this one was metal and she was limited to wood and leather. However, DG pointed out that PE2.1 had evidently removed that. WotC proprietary limitation? Which sent us down the PE2.1 update path. Brian rebooted again and enabled the new rules. But changes are going to be hard to spot in there. The Druid thing was in fact true. DG noted that the Fighter (and all others?) multiclass no longer required two feats be used before picking up a second. Who knows what else lurks. And after all that, Dave chose not to use the metal shield because it wasn’t a true Druid. So, the Fighter is carrying it but not using it. (Not magical, we think.) We also grabbed the Everlast Torch. Basically, a permanent light spell in the form of a torch. The Monk has that. And finally, we left the room.
We went past a barricade of barrels into a new area. To the north was a natural cavern that had a terrible stench. We deferred that and went to the right into an ancient chamber. The entrance had a puddle of water. In the other 3 corners were spheres of fire, air and earth however the fire one seemed cracked. It was emitting smoke and fire. We also found shards in the puddle. As we stumbled in, we realized there was a creature in the fire corner. A Cinder Rat. Basically, a combo of a Wade Rat TM and a Hell Hound. We charged in and attacked. It had some sort of AOE save attack and if you were hit, you took persistent fire damage. Luckily there was a puddle nearby. But it was 4 against 1 and it was dispatched pretty quick. The Druid used her new Battlefield Medicine feat on the Fighter and rolled a crit. We searched around but didn’t find anything. Not writings or doors, secret or otherwise. The Fighter placed the broken fire orb on the center pedestal but nothing happened. They were too big and cumbersome to carry so we left them for now.
We headed north. The Fighter in the lead had to make a save against the stench. The DC was pretty high and he took -1 to everything including AC. He could hear mutterings he could not understand. We fell back and discussed. Minus 1 to everything is a steep price but the only other way was past that cursed fountain and into the Kobalds. After a few rounds, he recovered. But then the humanoid reptilian men approached and they stank of rotting fish. The Monk was guarding and he made his save. But he rolled poor on initiative and everyone ran past him. About half saved but once saved, you were immune for a minute. The melee guys attacked and managed some flanking. The casters used cantrips and slings at range. It was noted that a sling took an action to reload which slowed the Druid a bit. For some reason, he didn’t have a ranged damaging cantrip. There were 5 of them but we worked through them. Unfortunately, the Fighter could not be treated again until an hour had passed. We fell back to the orb room and took a rest. While there, the Sorcerer touched one of the spheres at the GM’s urging. It granted him a 20’ fly for 10 minutes within the next 24 hours. The Druid and the Fighter raced to the earth one and the Druid got a similar +2 to melee damage. The stench room had a natural passage that seemed to go off into the distance. We were curious as to where that might come out since we were 3 levels down. Plus, the only entrance had been banned by the government so an alternate would be welcomed. Everybody failed their save this time since there was nowhere to stash those bodies. Evidently, a dead one smelled worse than a live one. But the passage went on for an hour so we had plenty of time to recover.
We came across what the players knew to be a Gibbering Mouther but the characters just saw a disturbing pile of flesh with multiple eyes and mouths. Can 4 2nd level characters take on such a thing? (The answer will be no.) We fell back and debated. We’d been walking for an hour so the Fighter was treated again. The Fighter was eager to attack. The Druid wanted to flee. The Monk was leaning towards avoiding it. We decided to try to attack it at range, assuming it was slow. If things went bad, we’d just run for it. About then, a map appeared with it on it. Unfortunately, the melee guys had short-range hurled weapons and the Druid was running out of sling bullets so the at-range plan was poor. We rolled initiative and it got a 33. (We should have fled at this point but we figured, with 20 eyes, its perception would be high and therefore its initiative would be high.) It moved up and cast confusion on the Fighter. He failed a stiff Will save and it all fell apart. He was forced to attack a random person (and there were move of us than them) with all his actions. He attacked the Monk, only hitting once. The Druid cast a Summon Creature and put a giant centipede behind it. The Sorcerer zapped it. Evidently, the Fighter would get a new save if he took damage so the Monk debated whether to whack him or the monster. He decided to go for the monster figuring those Will saves would get us all eventually. We should have fled at this point but that would likely leave the confused Fighter for dead.
It was simply beyond our abilities. (5th level monster?) Its “to hit” was big so it hit and crit a lot. It had the confusion (60 feet range), a ranged acid attack, a bite with persistent damage, and an engulf-free grapple attack with suffocation. All of which did tons of damage. And a big AC. We rolled poorly and Brian crit like 4 times. The confused Fighter took out the familiar next and then attacked the mouther. By then, the Druid, who closed in order to use his best cantrip, was out and engulfed. The Fighter went out next. The Monk managed to grab the Fighter and move one move away. And then dropped from the persistent damage from the previous crit. The Sorcerer flew back to them but had no chance to carry one let alone two of them. She used a heal potion to get the Fighter up and then was dropped from persistent damage. And then the Fighter was dropped again from the acid spit. TPK. We never had a chance. So, Brian said we woke up, hours later, with 1 hit point and all our dead vegetable matter gone. Evidently this thing eats dead stuff, not live stuff? (Basically, Brian didn’t want to restart character creation.) So, no clothes or belts or shoes but metal and wood remained. It’ll be a bookkeeping challenge to figure/argue out what survived. (Healer’s kit?) And how to carry it. And then we’ll have to survive the trip back to town and sneak back to our houses. Re-equip and examine our life choices.
GM Summary:
Current Date:The date is Starday, 21st Gozran, 4719 AR Somal's phase is Waning Gibbous
Last Session...
Having reset a spear trap, our heroes maim themselves and destroy a kobold in what appears to be a large audience chamber. Finally catching their stride, the heroes absolutely destroy several (non-dead) kobolds hiding just ahead. The leader is found to be wearing a somewhat unusual piece of jewelry. A copper necklace with a bit of cracked eggshell rather than a gem. While the ivory with green vein shell is only 3 inches across, by its shape it must be from an egg that was at least 2 feet wide. The other noteworthy traits of this unusual object:
■ nobody in the group actually finds it unusual (especially since it doesn't appear to be magical)
■ at least half the group will swear this object was never mentioned or described previously
■ this item as well as several others are being carried by indeterminate people and float unattached in the Party Sheet
Post combat Xeeli zigged when she should have zagged and turns her finely tuned trap finding nose in the opposite direction allowing others to locate the hidden traps in the room. Meanwhile, Oakwood musters the courage to mention the double doors he found on a ledge further back in the maze of corridors.
Oakwood leads the party back to the doors behind which is found a forgotten shrine of Gozreh, the god of nature and the fury of the ocean. Being the inquisitive (???) sort, the group plunders the altar. The silver bowl on the altar is drained of its magical healing liquid, converting it to normal water. The silver bowl is placed in a backpack, thus breaking its divine connection and ability to create the healing liquid. On the bright side, the bowl is made of pure silver and is worth something.
Our heroes head back to the audience chamber where they faced the last group of kobolds. Still being relatively fresh, they elect to take the stairs down. Below the group finds more kobolds guarding the stairway entrance into their lair. The kobolds lurk behind an overturned table and behind carefully arranged barrels. Despite this preparation, the kobolds quickly find they are no match for the intruders. The final remaining kobold flees into and through the adjoining room. This room contains a large mermaid fountain filled with water.
Oakwood and TerStegen chase the kobold into the room. Meanwhile, Xeeli stays behind to ensure she can't be blamed for the trap about to be triggered. The fountain animates (of a sort) due to a mis-step by Oakwood and TerStegen. A tiny horde of kobolds is riled up by the invaders and a large melee ensues. The adage of only needing to be the fleetest of foot in the group plays out as the group retreats a bit. Oakwood is relatively unhurt while the rest of the group either goes down or is on the verge of going down. Between water damage from the fountain and attacks from the heroes, the tiny kobold horde is put down.
The group now sits in the carnage of the battle, contemplating further retreat for recovery. It does occur to the heroes that one of their initial foes, the large spider, still has not been seen. While it has been several hours, surely it couldn't have recovered and returned to its lair. However, the bigger question is does it still have TerStegen's hand-axe?
