Finally, we're playing again. Only three delvers today. But it's good to be gaming again.
Date: 9/11/2022
Ambassador Durinn Hothrun, dwarf cleric (250 points)
Desmond McDougal, human wizard (263 points)
Kaylee "Blue" Blackwall, half-elf knight (250 points)
Eegah the Basher, semi-human thug (??)
"Pigsticker" Paul, human spearman (??)
We started out in Stericksburg, where Desmond gathered with his two new friends, Kaylee (who he nicknamed "Blue" for her hair color) and Durinn Hothrun, of the Ambassadors of the Good God. They quickly put the word out that they needed help delving in Felltower, but couldn't afford to pay for it. They couldn't find Orcish Bob, who usually will come for a share. Raggi is semi-retired. But they found "Pigsticker" Paul and Eegah the Basher.
They gathered rumors and headed out. They went down through the "main entrance" of Felltower and crossed the pit . . . but Paul bungled his crossing and fell into the pit, crippling his left arm. Desmond brought him out with Levitation and Durinn healed his arm.
They moved through the dungeon with as little noise as they could make, which was a fair bit, given Desmond's Hard of Hearing, Eegah's communicating in grunts (except for one spoken warning to watch out for snakes), and Kaylee being a knight in scale. They made it to the second floor and opened up the secret door near the Apetrium and had Kaylee touch the six-fingered hand. She suffered 1 HP injury and 5 FP lost, and -1 DX and HT.
They went from there toward the stirges, which they decided to wiped out and search for loot.
They closed the door on a double-doored room full of stirges and made sure there were no others. Then, they gathered at the door and forced it open. They tossed in a lightstone and then Desmond threw an Explosive Acid Ball at a group flying at them. He took one down and wounded two others.
What followed was a close-in melee, as they couldn't keep the stirges from flying over the front ranks. They were engulfed by a few dozen of the critters.
In the melee, Kaylee hacked down strix after strix with her greatsword, even in close combat. Desmond put Shield on himself and another (I can't recall whom) and then realized Armor was a better choice. He managed to get that off on Durinn and then Kaylee, but Eegah and Paul unfortunately not. Paul skewered a stirge right away, but then was quickly mobbed by four that latched on to him and brought him down. Eegah dropped his club and kept pulling stirges off of himself one after another. Soon enough Paul dropped, as Durinn tried to concentrate long enough to get Cleansing off on him. He died before that could happen.
In the end, they killed or dropped about two dozen or so stirges, but in the process lost Paul and Eegah was badly wounded. The steady slaying of Kaylee as well as Durinn taking some out before he switched to healing helped, as did Eegah's primitive grab and squeeze method.
They pulled back right away, and camped in a nearby room to heal and recover. A couple hours passed in rest and spellcasting, including Seek Earth to find some treasure. They detected gold and silver in what is probably the stirge room.
So they put Armor on Ambassador Durinn and Kaylee and sent them in. They scattered a horde of rats gnawing on fallen stirges, and then searched the room as stirges kept away from them. In it they found a skeleton in armor, and dragged it and its weapons to the other room.
They tooks its gear - slightly rust light mail and a plate helmet, broadsword, spear, a couple knives, and 63 sp worth of gold and silver coins.
They used Seek Earth again and detected more gold and silver, but it was a trip to get to it. So they decided to head home. (I offered to just say they got back, if they went the same way. They declined, wanted to "just check" the tower trapdoor exit.)
They climbed up to the first level and headed to the circular stairs . . . and stumbled into three rust monsters! They fled, but the rust monsters caught him. Just in time, Desmond created a wall of earth, and they ran up and turned it to stone. He floated himself over the top and threw a 3d Explosive Acid Ball at them. He wounded one slightly and the others barely, but they backed off. They PCs fled to the surface the way they came in.
They made it back to town, used Final Rest on Paul, sold the stuff, healed Eegah . . . and divided up their loot. Each got a few hundred sp and Kaylee kept the helmet they found.
Notes:
The PCs originally considered the Black Library, but shot it down once they realized a) they don't have anyone who speaks Elder Tongue and b) you need to be evil to get in.
It's always amusing when the party insists on going back a different way instead of taking a free pass out of the dungeon in safety. I've done it.
Eegah the Basher is semi-cousin to Basher the Thug. Same stats, except he's SM+1 and has a defensive beard. I couldn't find Basher's mini but I found a similar one, and thus made him a different NPC. Eegah was given $50 as a tip.
Paul had some bad luck. He just kept rolling 17s and 18s. He fell, he rolled an 18 on consciousness, he rolled a 17 on a death check. He just couldn't make it go today, and died as a result. Pigsticker Paul will rest in peace. No long will he be planning to purchase or purloin pork pockstickers from pocksticker purveyor "Potsticker" Pete. (Credit to my players for that whole series of jokes.)
The PCs decided there must have been a hireling strike, and these guys were scabs.
We also decided that Ambassador Durinn is almost certainly a Star Wars character. Probably on-screen in Jedi for two seconds in that big hangar scene, and you'd need to buy three X-wings, two A-wings, and the Death Star playset to have enough credits to send away for him.
4 xp for loot, MVP was Desmond for his spell use, even though he's the reason they blundered into some rust monsters.
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