OAWYM: A Climactic Battle

Game Date: 6/24/2017
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: OAWYM, Session 32
Module: Scourge of the Slave Lords
System: D&D 5e
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Byzun (Gary) - Human Sorcerer
Halfbeard (Cliff) - Dwarf Fighter
Karzen (Daniel) - Eladrin Artificer
Ulmack (Gary) - Halfling Monk
Val Ravensword (Matt) - Half-Orc Paladin
Velris (Graham) - Half-Elf Warlock
Xevrick (Graham) - Elf Mystic

The Session:
Last week we escaped our captors, but we weren't out of the woods yet.  Separated from our equipment, we made our way through a burning town of escaping slaves.  We equipped ourselves with the armor and weapons of some slaver guards.  There was one way out - a vessel manned by several high-ranking slavers.

Xevrick was absent last session, and it turns out that he'd been sold to a drow, to be her pet.  The drow and Xevrick were on the ship, along with a monk, a thief, a cleric, a mage, a half-orc assassin, and a few more enemies.  There were more foes on the docks, including an armored ogre.  We came up with a few possible plans.

We decided to take out the magic users first.  We used some invisibility scrolls we'd found last session to sneak on board.  Val and Karzen headed for the cleric, while Byzun and Halfbeard headed for the mage.  Most of us made some pretty good stealth checks, but Byzun tripped and turned a few heads.  We rolled initiative, and most of our party rolled badly.

The drow went first, casting Faerie Fire in the area around Byzun.  The cleric then cast a Zone of Silence in the same area.  Xevrick went next, hitting his drow boss with a psychic blast and causing her to lose concentration the Faerie Fire.  The mage turned himself invisible before Halfbeard and Byzun could reach them.

The cleric used a powerful Earth Dragon channel divinity power, which took out all of Karzen's hit points.  The drow used a levitation power on Xevrick, but it ended up doing more good than harm.  Xevrick fired off a spell downwards at the drow, the monk, and the assassin.  It killed the monk and the drow, ending the levitation.

The mage cast a spell on Val, causing her to see a large bat-like monster.  The ogre made his way onto the ship, and beat Xevrick down to zero.  The cleric teleported away, using a Word of Recall spell.  After all this time Halfbeard was still invisible, and closed in on the mage.  Halfbeard rolled well, used his action surge, and took out the mage in one turn.

We noticed that the dockside guards were busy fighting off more slaves, and things were starting to look up.  Then Byzun went down.  Val healed Karzen, and Halfbeard finished off the ogre.  Val killed the half-orc assassin, and started looking for more allies to heal.  Unfortunately, both Xevrick and Byzun had failed three death saves before she could reach them.  Halfbeard killed the final enemy, ending the battle.

About fifteen slaves (including Dame Gold) joined us on the ship, and we sailed away.  Our lost possessions were in the cargo hold, so we reequipped ourselves, leveled up, and took a much needed long rest.  Xevrick's and Byzun's players rolled up new characters, who were among the slaves we rescued.  Ulmac the halfling monk and Velris the half-elf warlock officially joined the party.

The geography of this island is weird and I'm not sure I really understand it.  Apparently the island is inside a giant volcano.  We sailed our ship to the outer edge of the volcano, left the ship, and headed for the tunnels that hopefully exit the volcano.  There were about eighty guards in the tunnels, so we discussed other possible plans for a while.  We could possibly use a Plane Shift spell, or fly people out the top of the volcano one at a time.

But we figured it was our mission to destroy the slavers, so we might as well go with the plan that kills the most of them.  We decided to confront the guard tunnel head on.  We faced a gigantic door surrounded by arrow slits.  Velris invisibly approached the gates and peeked through the arrow slits.  He saw two worried guards discussing recent events.  He killed them through the arrow slits using Warlock spells, then used a Passwall spell to open a hole in the wall.

We charged the gate, going through the opening and killing everyone within.  There were about fifteen enemies, but half of them were lined up in a row, making them a perfect target for a Lightning spell.  These enemies were very outclassed and we had no trouble finishing the rest off.  We ended the session right after the battle, but we could hear reinforcements approaching from down the hall.  We'll have to deal with that next week.