Shattered Star: My God, It's Full Of Stairs

Game Date: 9/6/2014
Location: The Game Cave
Campaign: Shattered Star, Session 4
System: D&D 5e
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Bjertha (Matt) - Dwarf Fighter
Bugg (Daniel) - Human Warlock
Looplily Timber (James) - Gnome Cleric/Fighter
Natalya Vancaskerkin (Lanessa) -Human Rogue/Sorcerer
Slancio Brioso (Thomas) - Human Bard

The Session:
Last session we found the first shard that will eventually make up the Shattered Star.  Then our characters took a week off to do more research.  During this week, Slancio had a vision about the location of the next piece.  It was at a place called the Crow, a piling in the waters of Outcast Cove.  Natalya led the way, knowing that her former friends the Tower Girls were using the Crow as a hideout.

We had to take a rowboat there.  When we docked, we spent a while bickering about whether to damage the other docked rowboats, but finally decided against it.  Natalya led us through a secret tunnel, where we passed the privy and headed up some stairs.  On one landing we saw some empty stone boxes and some yellow dust, along with some human and rat footprints. 

The waaiiting is the hardest part...

Up more stairs, and on the next floor we saw a giant rat flee up the next set of steps.  We figured it was going to warn the others an come back, so we set up an ambush.  We had Natalya stand in the middle of the room and announce her presence, while the rest of us hid off to the side.  Then we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Well, it was a good plan anyway.  We finally got bored and continued up the stairs.  Natalya led us up landing after landing, checking for traps on the way. 

At the top of one flight of stairs, Natalya was attacked by some Tower Girls.  Because of the stairs, it took an extra turn for the rest of us to catch up to the fight.  It was an odd-shaped room, with several nooks and crannies to hide in.  Two of the Tower Girls hid behind an overturned table, firing at us.  Each of our party members rushed from one side of the room to the next to get closer to our enemies, while taking cover behind the corner.  Finally Bjertha took point and rushed the table.  She got some good hits in, but a were-rat joined the fight.

The were-rat was tough because she was resistant to non-magical damage, could make both bite and claw attacks each round, and could disengage as a bonus action.  Still, our party eventually surrounded her, hacking at her from all sides. Bugg tried to hit her with Eldritch blast, but was at disadvantage due to using a ranged attack at melee.  He rolled a 20 and a 1.  What a waste of a potential crit!  Still, he hit anyway by using an inspiration die.  The were-rat attacked the Warlock back, and Bugg's Hellish Rebuke reaction finished off the creature.  When she died, she reverted to her human form.

Afterward, we looked around a bit and found a secret door.  Well, it wasn't that secret, seeing as how the door was propped open with a dagger.  Knowing it could be a trap, we followed the secret passage.

In another room we had to cross a rickety rope bridge, suspended 200 feet above some boats.  It was nerve-wracking but we made it across safely.  Next passage, Bjertha triggered a tripwire, setting off some warning bells.  A couple of sleepy Tower Girls attacked us, fleeing down the hall as they fired their crossbows at us.  We caught up to them and killed them quickly.

A half-collapsed side room contained a sealed amphora, and a small statue.  At the end of the hall was another set of stairs, going down.  We were about to head down the stairs, but it was getting late so we ended the session there.

Next week (spoiler alert):  More stairs!

Afterthoughts:
This is the second time I've been a Pathfinder campaign that switched systems a few sessions in.  Last time it was the Unlikely Heroes campaign, where we switched to D&D 4e after a couple of months.  I believe some of the players were disappointed in a few aspects of Pathfinder, such as the slow healing.  This time we're switching to 5e, but it's not due to any failing of Pathfinder, it's because we're excited about D&D's new edition.  Only time will tell if we stick with 5e or switch back.

Bjertha was the only character in the party that directly converted, because she's the only one with a race/class combination found in the 5e PHB.  Some of the others are similar in spirit, but it's still a very different party.

Funniest roll of the day.  Too bad he had disadvantage.

XP:
Since the numbers don't really convert easily, we just decided to start this session with everyone at level 2 (300 xp).  We earned 160 xp for the session, bringing us up to 460 xp.