Wizard Mountain #7: Green with Envy
And now, a brief Wizard Mountain Adventure:
Halacar, 4th level halfling fighter, 43 hp, played by Joel Green
Standish, 4th level human fighter, 42 hp (?), played by Katherine Anderson
Browork, 4th level dwarf cleric, 29 hp, played by Joel Green
Brigling, 4th level halfling thief, 24 hp, played by Katherine Anderson
A small section of the various Cornell Wizard Mountain team (otherwise
known as the Larry Consortium), decided to get some revenge on the
impertinent troglodytes who had thrown spears at us while we were mucking
about one of the dungeons.
So the four of us set out, and arrived without incident. Traveling through
the caves by the use of the INTERESTING maps provided by various other
members, we reached the large cavern where the troglodytes had
attacked. There was a bridge of some sort going across the underground
river, wide enough to fit two people abreast.
The guard dog remained back at the entrance to protect against a possible
back attack by hobgoblins from their nearby fortress, and the party moved
up the ramp. Browork had taken Slow Poison spells, but had cast one on the
war dog, and one on Standish, relying on the legendary constitution of the
halflings and dwarf in the party to conserve spell power. Before we had
crossed the bridge, a line of troglodytes appeared and began throwing
spears at us. Our gamble with the Slow Poisons worked, and we engaged.
The melee was extremely one sided-- one side of our front line, Standish, was
successful, the other, Halacar, couldn't hit the broadside of a
barn. Nonetheless they both held for quite a while, Halacar taking more
damage from rogue swings by Standish than from the troglodytes who engaged.
The primitive things eventually ran out of spears, as they were having a
terrible time hitting us, particularly Browork, who used his large shield
to good effect. In melee they used their claws and teeth, and occasionally
weapons. However, it was becoming clear that we could not win as more and
more troglodytes piled up behind the others to face the slaughter. At one
point, there were 45 troglodytes within sight, and Standish and Halacar
were tiring. Also having good success was the thief Brigling, who was
nailing them with his bow and helping Halacar actually kill a few.
A few nasty hits changed the situation, however. Browork patched up some
of the damage, but it was clear that we would lose. So when Standish fell
to dangerously low health, Browork cast a Light spell on his opponent,
blinding him and effectively blocking half of the bridge. Standish
withdrew, followed by Halacar, while the war dog covered. We then dashed
out to a nearby cavern, seeing if we needed to flee.
Fortunately, the troglodytes had suffered a severe morale failure, as over
20 of them lay dead on the bridge, and did not pursue. Following an
astounding series of Cure Light Wounds, the party was actually healed to
full health within three shifts and charged once again. We met and
engaged, and Halacar was almost immediately trashed by some sort of
troglodyte hero. He and Standish switched off, and Standish fared somewhat
better, eventually defeating the monster with help from another successful
blinding Light spell from Browork. Brigling fired nearly every arrow he
had, at about the same time that Halacar and Standish had been worn down
once again. With only about 10 troglodytes remaining in sight, the party
was forced to flee once again.
This time we took a very abbreviated round of healing, and then charged
right back eight hours later. There was no one blocking the bridge, and
we advanced cautiously forward. We entered some sort of primitive throne
room. Brigling searched and found a secret passage behind the throne...
And we nearly crumpled from the smell of troglodytes. At us came all the
women, old men, and children of the tribe. The battle was long and over
before it began, as Standish methodically killed the entire group.
Inside we discovered a room full of eggs and a small number of gems. As it
turned out, Brigling massively undervalued the gems, but we caught the
mistake. It turned out to be almost irrelevant as the 73 eggs we picked up
were valued at 20 gp each! So we ended up with about 2000 gp in cash and
gems, and paid off remaining debts. Brigling then trained to 5th level!
Just some random extra notes for those in Telvar withdrawal (such as myself)!
Joel/Rangorn/Halacar/Browork