LFG: This Wall Is On Fiiiiiiiiiiiiire...

Game Date: 9/21/2013
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: Looking For A Group, Session 12
System: D&D Next / 5e Playtest
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Baer "Halfbeard" (Cliff) - Dwarf Fighter
Barad Stronghollow (Jeremy) - Dwarf Paladin
Demethius (James) - Human Cleric
Jared (Rob) - Elf Druid
Keyleth Siannodel (Matt) - Elf Druid
Steif Tartaus (Thomas) - Human Monk
Woil Xurcaine (Daniel) - Gnome Wizard
Zuul (Graham) - Half-Orc Paladin

The Session:
So, we're on a tropical island, in the village of Tanaroa, hoping to eventually search some ruins for a pearl.  But that's on the back burner for now, as we're still trying to endear ourselves to chieftess Mira.  Her brother - or possibly cousin (a confusion I will attribute to inbreeding) - has been captured by pirates.  Mira believed he was being held in a pirate cove on a nearby island.  We agreed to attempt a rescue.

As we sailed around all the tiny reefs and sandbars, our ship got caught in some sort of web.  The captain was nonchalant, "It's just sea spiders."  Oh, thank goodness, is that all.  We managed to cut the ship free and continued the trip.  We approached the pirate island with too little subtlety, and their galleon attacked us with its catapults.  We turned the ship around and fled with our tails between our legs. 

But eventually we did manage to take some landing boats and make landfall about fifteen miles from the pirate cove.  Due to the heat, we waited until nightfall to travel.  Around morning we reached the pirate cove.  It was a walled-in compound consisting of about sixteen huts, opening up onto a beach.  It had three watchtowers, and the wall was covered in thorns.  Once again we waited until nightfall so we could attack under cover.

While waiting for sundown, Zuul and Keyleth went foraging and were ambushed by five dire rats.  It wasn't much of a fight. When the sun finally set, we sneaked up to the outer wall and started attacking one section.  After about a round we managed to break through, but the pirates were alerted to our presence.  Most of the battle was clustered around that entry point.  Demethius set large sections of the wall on fire in order to give us more ways in.  We spent a good portion of the fight tracking which sections of the wall had taken damage from the flaming thorns.

As wave after wave of pirates stormed out of their huts to attack us, we faced several moments of peril.  A couple of us went down more than once, and we burned many healing spells and potions to stay on our feet.  About halfway through the encounter, Keyleth started using her Flame Orb spell, making her feel useful for the first time this battle... until her spell set fire to a hut that contained some of the pirates' prisoners.  Zuul bravely rushed through the enemy lines to rescue the captives.

It was a very long battle.  All told we faced forty-three pirates and their leader.  We killed or captured about half of them; the other half fled to the beach and escaped in their rowboats.  While a couple of us came very close to death, we all survived the battle.  After the fight, we found more captives tied up in huts, including Mira's brother/cousin.  We also found a few treasures, including a Ring of Waterwalking.  We ended the session there.