DM: Rusty
The Party:
Dalia (Matt): Human Ardent
Glynnyn (Tamara): Elf Druid
Keyanna (Chere): Half-Elf Sorcerer
Marrick (Greg): Dwarf Knight
The Session:
Last session we fought a small kobold army in a lumberjack camp, resulting in the deaths of three party members. As long as the party was going through drastic changes, we decided to switch systems, abandoning Pathfinder and returning to D&D 4e. We're also trying out the "inherent bonus" system (DMG2 p.138), and keeping magic items to a minimum.
The surviving party members headed back home, devastated by their recent loss. Upon reaching the city, their first order of business was to take care of their dead. Since their players were absent, Durp and Ranell volunteered to deliver Davor's body back to his family. This left Keyanna and Glynnyn to plan the burials of Vex and Adrilar. They headed for the church to make arrangements.
Meanwhile, Dalia Lockwood arrived in town. She is a member of the Eagle Knights, on an undercover mission to learn more about Kreed. Her organization has been suspicious of him for a while, but they haven't successfully gathered any evidence of his misdeeds. Lately there have been rumors about a group of adventurers who refused to join Kreed's payroll. Dalia hopes to speak to these heroes and see if they've seen anything that might help her. Her first few attempts to learn of their whereabouts were fruitless, but eventually she spoke to the right people and learned where to find the party.
A thick-skinned dwarf named Marrick came to town as well. He is looking for information about the Dwarven Monastery, and has been searching for his lost uncle Glintaxe. After asking around a bit, he was pointed in the right direction.
At the church, Keyanna had the sad duty of informing Jevra (our young lycanthropic ward) about the deaths of her adoptive parents. Jevra didn't take it well, but Keyanna promised her that the rest of the party would still take care of her.
Soon, Marrick entered the church and introduced himself. Keyanna told him what she knew of Glintaxe and the monastery, and Marrick joined the party. Shortly afterward, Dalia also arrived and introduced herself. While the adventurers couldn't provide her with any additional evidence against Kreed, they were exactly the kind of group Dalia was looking to join: people who have done jobs for Kreed without actually aligning themselves with him. Dalia plans to stay with the group for a while, so that she can collect the information she needs.
The party attempted to return to the tower, but found that they were now locked out. Apparently our contract was in the names of Davor and Snidely, both now deceased. We spoke to Kreed about the issue, but the meeting did not get off to a good start. Marrick lost his temper quickly, and tried to attack Kreed. Keyanna quickly stepped in and prevented the fight from going further. Once things calmed down, Kreed offered us a deal. Fulfill our obligations with him - that is, make up for the mission we just botched - and he would alter the contract to cover all the members of our ever-evolving group. We're not allowed to enter the tower again until the mission is complete.
Reports say zombies have taken some human prisoners at a place called "Cold Marsh". We left town right away, accompanied by Payday and more of Kreed's men. We reached our destination, a gargantuan burial mound. As we started down the stairs into the crypt, we were attacked from behind by a pair of Shadows. Dalia never managed to hit once this encounter; not a good start to my character. We continued down the stairs and found a room full of fountains, where we defeated three Lesser Water Elementals.
The next room was a large open area with what appeared to be clouds up above us, obscuring the ceiling. There was a smaller room to our left from which we heard moaning, and we could hear laughter coming from the hallway on the far end of the room. Marrick was a few steps into the room when a blast hit him from above. A Beholder floated down out of the clouds.
The Beholder hovered above us, forty feet in the air, which was frustrating since most of us don't have ranged attacks. Since she couldn't hit the enemy, Glynnyn decided to explore the adjoining room, which was full of sarcophagi. She found a magic sword (that's good!), but she also woke the dead (that's bad).
The Beholder finally came down, and we hacked at it with all our might. As it got closer to death, the battle was joined by a Wraith, three Wights, and two Deathlock Wights. It was a difficult battle, and we lost a lot of surges. By the end of the battle, Glynnyn was completely out of surges and low on hit points.
After the fight, our immediate plan was to hole up in the smaller crypt room, and take turns guarding the door so we could take an extended rest. However, as we moved towards the crypt, we heard some noises approaching from down the hall. We ended the session on that unsettling note.
Would you believe that in two decades of gaming with four different groups, I've only ever seen a Beholder in play once? Just two years ago.
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely a first for me.
ReplyDelete