Wizard Mountain Summary #4: Feeding the Dragon
It's an ED&D weekend doubleheader!
Party Roster:
Halacar, 3rd level fighter, 33 hp, played by Joel
Browork, 3rd level cleric, 29 hp, played by Joel
Squibb, 3rd level fighter, 28 hp, played by Alan
Thudd, 3rd level fighter, 22 hp, played by Alan
Jefe, 3rd level woodsman, 19 hp, played by Jeff
Karnash, 3rd level fighter, 19 hp, played by Mark
Flit, 4th level thief, 17 hp, played by Matt
Katrina, 3rd level cleric, 12 hp, played by Jeff
Megan, 3rd level mage, 12 hp, played by Alex
Nass, 3rd level illusionist, 6 hp, played by Alex
Returning from last time were Halacar the halfling fighter, Browork the
dwarven cleric, Jefe the half-elven fighter, Katrina the half-elven
cleric, Megan the human mage, and Nass the human illusionist. Joining us
were Karnash the half-orc fighter, Flit the elven thief, and Thudd the
dwarven fighter.
We set off for the mountain o' death with high hopes. We tracked around
some corridors and heard weird clicking sounds that we thought might be
the returning hook horrors, which are hideously dangerous monsters. We
backed off and found another cave. Coming up the corridor was a
two-headed giant thing, an ettin!
It demanded that we had over all silver (which we had none of). When we
asked for an alternative, the ettin said that we could hand over our two
shortest morsels. Realizing that an attack was imminent, Halacar and
Thudd stepped forward, weapons out. The ettin protested that we had
sharp weapons, but when Thudd said that his was blunt and the ettin tried
to crush him and Halacar, a large club in each hand.
Thudd took damage and a wound, but Halacar was missed and struck back,
stabbing the creature with his falchion. Browork advanced and began a
Cure Light. Nass threw a Light spell that missed the creature's head.
Thudd withdrew from the formation to get to Browork, and was replaced by
the halberd-wielding Karnash. Karnash and the ettin had the same length
weapons and began bashing each other senseless.
Browork healed Thudd, and Katrina zoomed past in attempt to Command the
ettin. Karnash was suddenly badly wounded and near death, but Katrina
could not help him before he would be attacked again.
Megan cast an Invisibility spell on Karnash, who winked out, leaving a
surprised Katrina to take the hit from the ettin's club. Halacar struck
a second time but was finally hit, wounded and held at bay. Fortunately,
Jefe's throwing darts were devastatingly effective and creature went down
moments later.
We healed up and searched for the thing's lair. We found a huge area
with dung heaps and refuse and a huge chamber blocked by a large rock.
We tried to move the boulder, but Katrina forgot to carry the one (blew
an engineering check) and the rock rolled over Thudd, injuring him further.
Behind the rock was a large chamber with nearly 2000 silver pieces. A
real weirdo, this ettin. There was also a magical silver quarterstaff.
Halacar unhappily searched through the dung heap and discovered 400 gp
and about 5000 gp in gems!
We returned to town and Identified the staff as a Staff of Striking (one
charge, +3 damage, becomes a +3 to hit staff, up to three charges
expended for a total of +3/+9).
Halacar trained to 4th level, gaining 10 hp to stand at 43, and picked up
a second Single Weapon Combat proficiency with the falchion.
We set out again and bumped into the dragon. (Yup, I rolled it again)
And in normal fashion, the dragon was hungry and went after Al's
character, Thudd. The hapless dwarf was snatched up, took a final hammer
swing and missed, and was gulped down.
Burp.
But the dragon was still hungry. Nass dropped a Wall of Fog on the area,
confusing the dragon!
Still, it smelled out Halacar, who had taken refuge inside a log. It
couldn't see him, but the dragon picked up the log and dumped Halacar
out, who spilled onto the ground and took off, sprinting. The creature
attempted to kill him and missed!
Halacar dodged through the mists and successfully evaded. But the dragon
made its save vs. boredom and searched for another target.
Katrina was running for her life from the ravenous dragon. The thing
dashed forward, but she failed to evade completely. The dragon bit a
piece of her shoulder, inflicting only minor damage and allowing her to
continue running. Finally, she managed to evade!
The dragon was finally bored to tears and fled.
We returned to town whereupon Karnash pointed out that we should probably
buy a cow and bring it with us to reduce the risk of this happening. We
did so.
And Al's new character appeared as Squibb, a half-orc fighter.
We killed some giant ants in a fun little encounter, notable in my
opinion because the two clerics killed two of the four ants on their own,
in melee!
We set out once again and went back into the same cave. We turned down a
different corridor and found a large expanse of chamber. We heard
nothing and decided to head back out, but as the last of the party turned
to leave they were attacked by two giant ticks!
Squibb was latched onto by one and another was crawling about on his
shoulder. Browork attempted to knock one off, but missed. Pretty soon
the whole party was getting into it.
Then Megan threw a Sleep spell, which to our surprise caught both Squibb
and one tick!
The tick latched onto Squibb was still sucking blood, but no one could
seem to hit it. Finally, Browork managed to clock Squibb, waking him up
and prompting Squibb to stab the creature, killing it. Squibb glared at
Browork, and we limped back to town.
Katrina trained to 4th level, gaining 8 hp to stand at 20!
Treasure division: Each party member got 500 gp. Halacar and Browork
paid off their debts (including those to Brigling, Standish, Zero, and
Duran-50 gp each).
Another, um successful (yeah, that's the ticket) Wizard Mountain adventure!
Joel/Halacar/Browork