LFG: Monkey Business

Game Date: 10/05/2013
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: Looking For A Group, Session 14
System: D&D Next / 5e Playtest
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Baer "Halfbeard" (Cliff) - Dwarf Fighter
Barad Stronghollow (Jeremy) - Dwarf Paladin
Demethius the Holder of Actions (James) - Human Cleric
Doran of Clan Hawk (Eddie) - Human Barbarian
Jared (Rob) - Elf Druid
Keyleth Siannodel (Matt) - Elf Druid
Steif Tartaus the Verminslayer (James, subbing for Thomas) - Human Monk
Woil Xurcaine (Daniel) - Gnome Wizard
Zuul the Designated Punching Bag (Graham) - Half-Orc Paladin

The Session:

Keyleth's Favorite Spell

We're still exploring this island, searching for an ancient artifact in a lost city.  While on watch one day, Zuul and Demethius encountered some Aranea in the trees.  Since most of us were asleep, we started the battle at a disadvantage, complicated even further as the spider creatures fired webbing at us.  At one point Doran (who's still level 1) was taken down to 2 hit points, causing his fiancee Keyleth to lose her temper and kill his attacker.  This was the first of many times Keyleth defended her betrothed this session.  She's going to have a tough time keeping him alive until the wedding.

More resting, more wandering.  One day we encountered an aggressive tribe of apes.  One of them gave Woil a big hug. Zuul tried to scare them off with a mighty roar.  And it worked... sort of.  They apes ran off, still carrying Woil with them.  Our party chased after them, working our way over rough terrain, and dodging the rocks they threw at us.  One of Zuul's spells had the side effect of causing a loud peal of thunder.  The sound attracted the attention of a much larger ape.  It was a rough fight, but we got through it.  Woil cast the spell that finished off the big one, and we wiped out the remaining apes within a couple of rounds.

Damn dirty apes!

Later we heard the sound of something chasing something else.  We investigated just in time to see the tails of some giant lizards running by, but we didn't try to draw them into a fight.  Another night we were accosted by a bunch of monkeys.  They weren't much of a threat in battle, but they were quite annoying in that they kept trying to steal our equipment.  We wiped them out and went back to bed.  A couple of hours later, the smell of dead monkey attracted four more apes.  It wasn't a long fight, but it was yet another one where sleeping party members had to join the fight late.

Another day, we found some humanoid tracks.  We followed them to a group of neanderthals.  Zuul and Barad greeted the primitive people, who spoke in broken common.  We asked them if they knew where we could find the city we sought, and they agreed to lead us to the bridge to the city.  We followed them for a few hours.  We saw more monkeys, but we just ran past them while they threw feces at us.  That may be the first time I've used the word "feces" on this blog.  A bit further, a giant spider suddenly burst out of a mountain crag, killing one of our neanderthal guides.

Not really a squid.  This time.

We fought several giant spiders, with a cliff wall on one side and a drop-off on the other.  The spiders had the advantage of being able to climb the walls and attack us from the sides.  The best moment was when Woil, having spotted a spider climbing up the cliff below us, used a grease spell to make the spider fall to its death.  After the battle, we continued for a few more hours, when we met some exiles from Doran's tribe.  They were friendly, and allowed us to camp with them.

We ended the session there.  We're at the camp, but we haven't actually taken an extended rest yet.