My First 5E Campaign Session 4

-shudder-

Proof that player interviews are not 100% full-proof.

We invited a guy to join us, and then uninvited him.

Let me just say that his role-playing style didn’t mesh with ours.

-shudder-

I could explain more, but I don’t want to. I lost sleep over this one.

Anyway…

Justin was out this night, and it was a mostly combat night.

Aaron playing Rhoanel, half-elf bard (level 3)
Dale playing Rumi, wood elf monk (level 3)
Everett playing Markus, halfling rogue (level 3)

We last stopped with the party travelling to the cave opening on the small flat land section of The Shield Wall. (Since Cedraic wasn’t there, we role-played him just guarding or scouting around.)

When they got near the cave opening, they noticed a small rowboat (4-6 people), pulled up onto shore.

When they listened at the cave entrance, they heard humanlike voices.

So they went inside and attempted to chat with them. Well the response didn’t thrill the party.

There were 5 humans in robes investigating the back of a carved out room in the Shield Wall. The place they were investigating was what appeared to be a hole that had been closed not that long ago (no dwarf or similar skills around to help more with that). The humans had chisels and hammers.

The 5 humans said something to the extent of “Leave now and we’ll let you live.”

Note: they were lying.

When the party was halfway up the 150’ climb, half the humans attacked, aiming for the rope.

The party had to spend a lot of time trying to climb back down, and not fall.

Rhoanel used an illusion to cover the lower area in a fog, but that only impaired the attacks. The group of humans had a caster (actually 3 casters, but only 1 could attack at that time), and he spent his time harassing the party, including using a Command spell to make Rhoanel flee up the rope.

The fight took a fair chunk of time, and the party eventually won, but only after they made it to the ground.

Inside they decided to check the wall the robed humans were interested in. So they used the chisels to open it up.

On the other side was a more natural cave, with plenty of salt water smell in the air.

They grabbed a torch the robed humans used and descended into the cave.

First they found the remains of a person long dead, and now the home to lots of vermin (spiders and centipedes).

Further down they triggered a shrieker mushroom, which caused all the bats and other vermin in the room to spaz out, and thus get attacked (bat swarm, a couple of giant bats, and a giant centipede).

The 3 PCs made fast work of them. (Monks can be kick ass.)

The cavern split into a Y. The side the party investigated first was mostly full of small vermin that they did their best to not disturb.

The other side had another dead body, but this time when they searched it, they triggered a trap (without realizing it was a trap…woohoo secret DM rolling).

Four poisonous snakes surrounded the party and bursting forth from the body a swarm of smaller snakes attacked.

The party realized they need a tank sometimes, but what they realized more was that their rogue should not tank at all, as Markus left the fight with lots of bite marks. (And he is very lucky halflings get some poison resistance.)

Well they had been beaten up pretty bad, so they decided to rest for a moment and then move on.

When they came to a large cavern, filled with a lot of webs, they decided to head back to the cave entrance and took an 8 hour rest. The DM gave them a chance to see the candleholder they were after, but horrible perception checks stopped that. They saw it later anyway, just in the middle of the fight.

Well they thought they were going to be up against a spider. No, they were up against an ettercap. He was smart enough to prepare just like they were. So he was able to add a few more creatures to his side of the combat, and some more webbing to his lair.

Now they were up against the ettercap, who was hanging out on the ceiling webs, 4 giant wolf spiders (who attack the party once they’re halfway in), and the ettercap filled a couple of clay pots with some angry snakes (so he could drop them on the party).

The party crept through the lair, making their way through a maze of webs, mostly waiting for the giant spider they expected to drop on them.

Then several spiders jumped out at them and a clay pot dropped near them while the ettercap stayed up top.

The 3 PCs were fully rested and expected a big fight, so they tore up everything that came at them. When the ettercap came near them, he didn’t last 2 rounds.

After a thorough search, they grabbed the candle holder and any other treasures, and then returned to town.

They returned the candle holder to Talbert, but not before trying to read his thoughts with a spell. His thoughts were of relief and happiness. So the party made some gold and were happy.

Next session – a full group and some hacking and slashing.