This session happened Tuesday, April 26, 2011.
Adventuring Group:
Harkaitz of the Red Soul (male human cleric of Ra)
- Aziz of the Light (male human paladin of Ra)
Wednesday (female elf rogue)
Sahar (female human fighter)
Tre-ba Bel a sheer (female elf alchemist)
Frankie Hu, Master of the Distracting Fist (male dwarf monk)
Late Afternoon, April 13, Year of the Earth Rabbit
Praise Ra, for illuminating our path.
With drow patrols in the area and a shortened sleep schedule, we decided to leave Luna at the camp with Short John as security for our base of operations [the player was ill and could not attend the game]. Camp security is something I will need to take care of in the future. Perhaps I can recruit people in the elven city we are heading to? But I get ahead of myself.
In the morning we once again descended into the drow barrow. Wednesday ranged ahead to scout without the additional noise and light we humans made and needed. She heard a drow walking out of the prison area and gained sight of him carrying an empty food tray. She relayed this to Frankie, who was around a bend behind her and he relayed it to the rest of us. I advised that the two of them go and grab the prison guard. Admittedly, my hand signals may have been taken to mean "give him a beat down", but what I meant was "knock him unconscious". Either way, it did not matter as the drow noticed Wednesday when she stepped back around the bend and started shouting an alarm and running down a side passageway.
Frankie, Aziz, and Tre-ba immediately gave chase and surrounded him. Sahar and Wednesday took a side passage we knew led to the only path out of the maze the drow was running into, attempting to cut him off. I, somewhat slow to react [rolled a "1" for initiative], followed up behind and chose to follow Sahara and Wednesday so Sahar would have light to see by. All of us ran into more than we expected.
There were two drow guarding the exit passage, who gave Sahar and Wednesday some trouble, but the three of us (once I finally arrived) defeated them. The rest of the group thought they were capturing one drow, until two more stepped out of the shadows to support him. Then another two drow arrived, one of whom was a spellcaster. From what Aziz told me later, this fight was difficult due to the two groups being interspersed amongst each other, but the drow were eventually cut down.
After relieving the drow guards of their equipment (they had no other valuables), we investigated the prison area as Wednesday believed they now had a live prisoner there. As it turned out, they did have a surface elf prisoner and Tre-ba knew the individual. He was (eventually) introduced at Ferahal, Watch-Captain of the elven city north of here – I didn't catch the name of the city as the elves kept talking to each other in their native tongue, a language I have not been able to learn (they refuse to teach it). [Actually, the DM hasn't named the city yet. The elf players did talk mostly in Elven and do refuse to teach it, mostly so they can make catty remarks about the human characters, an amusing bit of role play.] Wednesday finally examined the skeleton in the side cell, finding a pair of eyes of the eagle in one of the pockets.
After we freed Farahal from the cell he was in and I healed him from the beating he had taken from the drow who captured him, we discussed our plan of action. We could escort him back to the elven city or press on our exploration of the barrow. Farahal stated the drow had taken a key to the city's defenses and he needed to retrieve it before returning, so we decided to explore further. I cast locate object to track down the magical gate we are looking for and followed the promptings.
I could have tried for the key, but really, what is an elven city key compared to our divinely-mandated quest to find the gate and free it from the drow? If we do not stop the drow from gating in the demons and devils here, the elven city will fall just like Terranor.
The trail led back to the entrance of the barrow and through the portcullis we had been spiking closed (of course). After removing the spikes (and burning time on the spell) we moved forward as fast as Wednesday could clear the path of traps. Just as the spell was fading we found a ramp leading down deeper into the earth. Without a clear method to track the gate (I had several more prayers ready, but locate object was not among them), we decided to finish exploring this level of the barrow. This would have the advantage of clearing out any enemies behind us.
A side cave was discovered to contain a secret compartment in the floor. Concealed in the compartment was a chest of coins and jewelry, either the drow treasure or an emergency stash of coinage. It was trapped with a fireball trap that Wednesday bypassed. Once the chest had been emptied into a bag of holding, the chest was replaced and Wednesday attempted to reset the trap with a different trigger (at my suggestion). Unfortunately, she instead triggered the trap herself, catching Tre-ba, Frankie, myself, and herself in the area of effect. She and Frankie avoided the explosion entirely and Tre-ba mostly, but I took the full effect. Luckily, Ra has seen fit to make me resistant to fire, so while it was painful, it was not as bad as it could have been. After I channeled the light of Ra to heal Tre-ba and myself, the group moved on. Before we got too far, I went back and scrawled, in Goblin, "Super Rat has your stuff" above the blast marked compartment. Always good to keep your enemy guessing.
In another cavern we discovered a secret passage between the two halves of the barrow caverns. The passage was trapped (of course), but Wednesday was able to disarm the dual lightning bolt trap. We knew to look because the drow trap everything, even their bedrooms. Not wanting to go through the passage yet (there was more to explore on this side) we backtracked and closed the secret door.
In the final dead-end passage we checked on this side, Wednesday found a spiked pit trap. After disabling it, I asked her to search for secret doors as a dead end was an odd place to put a trap, even for drow. Wednesday found a secret door to a small chamber with a chest and an armoire. The chest had more coins and jewelry (which we took) and a concealed compartment under the coins. The concealed compartment was trapped (of course) with a poison gas trap, but I was ready with neutralize poison and halted the poison's effects on Wednesday. Inside the concealed compartment was an amulet that turned out to be the "key" Farahal was looking for. The armoire contained a set of monk robes that Frankie immediately donned. Dwarves will wear anything.
Having cleared this side (except for the ramp down) we returned to the secret passage. Inside we arrayed for battle and stormed out of the far door, right into a group of very surprised drow. We killed most of them quickly, but one ran away. Frankie, Farahal, Aziz, and Sahar gave chase, cornering and capturing the drow alive. Frankie put manacles on the drow to keep him from getting into any mischief and we took the prisoner and all the loot back to our camp. Aziz tells me that Farahal can shoot arrows around obstacles and make them magical. The Watch-Captain is an arcane archer? Interesting.
Short John is currently preparing a nice rabbit stew for us while our prisoner is tied up. I am taking a moment to update my journal while I wait. Once we have fortified ourselves with a good meal, we will set to questioning the drow.
*End of Session*
[This was a good session. We got a lot done, dealt a solid blow to the drow, rescued a prisoner who will vouch for us at the elven city, and most of us leveled. Next session will start off with the interrogation...or an attack by a drow patrol where we have to keep the captive alive so we can question him.]
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