When we left our heroes last, they were in "room 27" of the goblin caves, having fought and killed over a dozen goblins, using up most of their daily allotment of magic, and taking some damage...
The party moved north through the narrow passage, which began to descend and widen. Because three of the six party members are human and do not have darkvision, torches were required, which would announce their presence to any monsters waiting up ahead.
Niam the rogue and Malachy the barbarian were in the first rank as the party advanced. The presence of the enemy was announced by an arrow whizzing by the rogue and clattering off the rock wall behind him. Quickly spotting the goblin archer, Niam returned fire with his short bow, and missed, but Malachy was more successful, skewering the goblin with a well-placed javelin, and tumbling the assailant off his ledge.
As the party advanced to reconnoiter, a general melee ensued. Additional goblin archers were shooting from the right and left flanks, and a trio of larger creatures were rushing at our heroes from across the cavern. As hand to hand combat ensued with the barbarian, it was believed (correctly) that the assailants were a pair of hobgoblins and a very large goblin. The melee in the center of the chamber was close fought, with Malachy and Badric (the dwarven cleric) going toe to toe with the three bad guys.
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| Tower Dungeon and Eastern Caves |
Badric, in his haste to rush up and support his hard-pressed friend, failed to notice the goblin shaman lurking off to the side, and was blasted with the lightning of a Witch Bolt spell. Badric was staggered by the attack, which was countered by a Magic Missile cast at the three main melee opponents (from Duncan the wizard). Melior (the Druid) rushed to support Malachy, while Niam and Mordechai (the fighter) rushed to deal with the shaman, whose Witch Bolt was still toasting Badric...
The shaman was hit, breaking his concentration and ending his spell, but Badric was hit with a melee attack shortly after and fell to the ground unconscious (gaining the honor of becoming the first "man down" of our campaign). Mordechai would also be incapacitated before the melee was over, but our heroes prevailed after a tense fight. Malachy performed admirably, but had taken some damage, as had the Druid from prior fights. Mordechai had served his "meat shield" role admirably, and the quickness of Niam and the firepower of Duncan all contributed to the success in this, the party's first "boss battle."
When the fight was over, the party agreed that it was best to find a safe place to hunker down for the night and rest, healing up as best they could.
During the night, the members of the party were all independently haunted by similar dreams of fighting undead creatures in a temple graveyard at night, utilizing abilities and powers that they didn't know that they had. This proved to be the way in which their respective higher powers bestowed on them the benefits of advancing to 2nd level.
The morning of April 7 was spent investigating the few known corners of the dungeon that had not been dealt with before. The only incidents of note, in the large natural caverns in the southwest corner of the dungeon, were a brief battle with 7 stirges (large blood-sucking birds), and the discovery of a rune and glyph covered door in the deepest depths of the far western cavern. Approaching the door, an apparition appeared in the pool of water nearby, saying "I Zaratha of Kel-Vandiir have sealed this portal. Open it at your own risk." Having neither the means nor necessarily the desire to open the portal, the party went about gathering their treasure and heading back to Fulcher's Hold. [Note that despite the map nobody knows what is behind the door - that chapter remains the be written - it may be a room and stairs, it may be something else entirely...]
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| Temple Dungeon and Western Caves |
The party decided that they would be careful about what information they divulged to Fulcher and his friends. Fulcher was glad to see them, and healed what wounds they had left. The party shared general information about dungeon and about the goblin tribe, but kept the discovery of the rune-sealed doorway and certain other details to themselves. Fulcher indicated that the news of goblins roaming the area was consistent with what Valtan, a Ranger in his group, had noticed. Fulcher then invited the party to stay as long as they needed, giving them the use of a cabin in the worker's village area.
The party has a number of potential leads to follow up on, and it remains to be seen where they will go next. Back to town seemed like an option that was getting some discussion.
Next...Where to?...
The Sage's Commentary - We have now played four sessions of approximately 2.5 hours each on average. This "boss battle" session to finish the dungeon was the first time that all 5 of us have all been together, which was very nice. Two of our four players have staggered their appearances, missing each other the first three times.
We seem to have settled into a good groove from a play perspective (and you would expect as much since we are practically all family), and I am becoming more and more comfortable running things. I am re-learning some old lessons and learning some new ones, but in general I think the flow is pretty good. This session taught me a few things I will do differently going forward, but there haven't been any major "oopses."
With all of the characters now at level 2, there is more flexibility in what the characters can do, and therefore a lot more options for what I can throw at them. Everybody's hit points are nearly doubled (you get max to start, but not after that, although I made sure they all got a good roll), and they have a 50% increase in daily spellcasting ability (3 slots instead of 2 each). Advancement to levels 2 or 3 are the first big step in choosing a "career path" specialization for most character classes, and the Druid and the Wizard both got theirs at 2nd. Melior, the Druid, is now of the Circle of the Land (Forest), and can shape shift with the Wild Shape ability. Very cool. Barbarians, Fighters and Rogues get their big choice at 3rd level, which won't be too far away. Everybody got some nice new abilities to play with.
I can't wait to get to work on what comes next, and I hope we can get together again soon.
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