S&W White Box: Recap; Session 11, 8/16/10

True to form, I missed this session. Looks like trying to put back to back appearances together is not as easy as it seems. The school year starts next week for Kathy both as a teacher and a grad student, so I don't know how that will change my attendance.

Either way, the party descended down to the 2nd (presumably) level and faced a higher caliber of challenges...

SESSION ELEVEN (08.16.10)

Godsday the 18^th of Planting, CY 576

“The Dungeons”

Level three of the dungeons below

 The Castle of the Mad Archmage

Cast of Characters

Fen Sen the Conjurer (3^rd level Magic-User)

Galathos the Swordsman (3^rd level Fighting-Man)

Kor the Dwarven Footpad (2^nd level roguish Fighting-Man)

Old Man Halgron the Priest of St. Cuthbert (3^rd level Cleric)

“Harolde” hired lantern-bearer/porter

“Karhle” hired lantern-bearer/porter

“Willim” hired lantern-bearer/porter

MIA: Dantry the Elven Warrior/Seer (2^nd level Fighting-Man, 2^nd level Magic-User); Gloin the Dwarven Warrior (2^nd level Fighting-Man)

Apparently the wenches at the Green Dragon Inn were serving up plates of courage the evening prior to our band of adventurers’ latest expedition. Although missing the services of the Dwarf Gloin (who quite possibly had imbibed too much of the liquid courage the wenches had also been serving) and the Elf Dantry (who had travelled to the Gnarley Forest on a fey mission) they were joined by an acquaintance of Galathos’, the Dwarven Warrior named Kor. Kor and Galathos neglected to explain the particulars of their relationship or why the Dwarf eschewed armor and was very proficient in sneaking around. Glad for another arm, they steeled themselves against the expected danger and they wound their way through the Storage Rooms and descended down deep into the darkness, all the way down to the Dungeons. Galathos seemed extremely eager to put the magical warhammer found in the previous exploration which he had claimed to the test.

The foursome and their hirelings came to a portcullis that they proceeded to open noisily; once into the room beyond they were startled to find two large carnivorous apes charging them. The seven foot tall and extremely broad beasts loped towards the party as Old Man Halgron and Galathos stepped to the front in order to protect Fen Sen and the hirelings. Unnoticed, Kor crept into the shadows of the room and began to circle around behind the aggressive apes. Trading blows with the unbelievably strong apes, the Fighting-Man and the Cleric suffered hefty damage from the bludgeoning fists of the primates. Fen Sen attempted to ensorcell the apes into slumber, but was dismayed when his spell failed to have the desired effect. Halfway around the room, Kor spied some humanoids peeking around the corner of an unexplored corridor. The humanoids’ hairy hides were dark reddish-brown in color, their faces were bright red-orange, their noses blue-red, and their yellowish eyes reflected the torchlight. The creatures were armed with shields and swords and armored in a type of scale with breastplates. As the creatures backed away from the fracas, the Dwarf continued on behind the unsuspecting apes.

Beginning to second-guess their decision to descend so deep, Galathos and Halgron began to fall backwards while Fen Sen readied his newly learned spell and Kor studied the apes for a moment of weakness. Again the apes and the men traded blows, forcing Halgron to retreat behind Galathos to send a quick prayer to St. Cuthbert for magical healing. The Magic-User succeeded in summoning up his magical energies to craft an illusory warrior to aid the party in battle as the Dwarf failed in his roguish attack from the rear. The next moments of the melee sped by in a blur, with a confused turmoil of action. One ape was brought down, the party fell back into the corridor, and four of the humanoids marched out of the far corridor and towards the melee. With the one remaining ape held off by the Old Man and Fen Sen again calling on his Art to force the approaching humanoids into slumber, this time successfully. Galathos struggled to release the piton holding the portcullis up as the four closing creatures collapsed to the floor. The Fighting-Man finally knocked the piton free, causing the portcullis to crash down on the ape and trapping it on the other side. After dispatching the wounded beast the party re-entered the room, finished off the slumbering monsters and began searching for the loot that they clearly were owed.

Finding nothing and fearing that their struggles had been for naught, they began to closely inspect their surroundings. Eventually Kor discovered something odd about the stonework in the north-eastern portion of the room. Realizing that a section of the wall was movable, he began pushing that section down a newly found secret passage. As the party wondered where the sneaky dwarf had gotten off to, Kor found himself in a hidden armory stocked with an amazing collection of armaments. Another room held shackles, a cold brazier, and what appeared to be implements of torture. Relaying his findings back to the party, Galathos stood guard as the rest of the group bundled up as much of the weaponry as they could and set fire to the rest. As they were preparing to head back to the surface to drop off their loot a mysterious pearlescent floating bubble began bobbing down a diagonal corridor towards the Fighting-Man. Perhaps nervous from his last encounter with a mysterious orb, Galathos called out to the others and they hustled back up the stairs with Galathos knocking the portcullis back down in a rear-guard action. Seeing that the bubble had stopped on the far side of the gate, he fired off a couple of arrows with the second hitting the bubble causing it to erupt in a fiery explosion.

Thinking that that was enough for one day, they headed back up to the surface and returned to town. The party was able to sell the acquired weaponry for a decent amount of gold orbs and while at the shop the armorer informed Galathos that his commissioned suit of plate was almost finished. As excited as a schoolboy, the warrior convinced the rest of the group to wait on the armor before heading back down on another expedition.

Again, they headed down to the Dungeons- this time discovering that the stairs had been blocked with wrecked furniture that needed to be cleared out. Once down close to the portcullis they kept hearing the sound of breaking glass. Fearing a trap, they backed up and were none too surprised when the gated corridor was lit in the oily flames. Waiting until the furniture had burned down to smoldering embers they again forced the gate open and threw a torch into the room to provide illumination. As the torch flew out into the room two arrows spun through the air from the right. Peeking into the room they were confronted with five more of the humanoids, these armed with bows. Between the magical talent of Fen Sen, the martial skills of Galathos and Old Man Halgron, and the deft quickness of the lightly equipped Kor they gradually overcame the humanoids, taking two prisoners and managing to kill the rest with few injuries of their own. Turning to the prisoners the party…

Coin: 0

KIA: 2 carnivorous apes, 7 hobgoblins

POW: 2 hobgoblins

Treasure: various and sundry arms and armor (338 gp worth)

Rooms Explored: 4

Experience: 255 each (1020 total)