Last week the party had successfully entered the Horned Hold by killing a group of Orc Berserkers that had been serving as guards. The orc's put up a tough fight, but when it got down to the last one he tried to run away, leaving the guard room and heading into a small hallway where he was slain. The hallway contained a total of five doors for the party to investigate.
Krstic and Bogar drug the last orc back into the guard room and closed the door behind them. It appeared no further alarm had been raised, so the party took a five minute rest and discussed which door to go through next. If the orc had been running for help or to warn somebody the door he was running to would be the likely choice to take, but perhaps it might be wise to check the other doors to ensure the party didn't get caught between two different groups of enemies.
There was a set of double doors just to the left as the party exited the guard room, so the party decided this was the place to start. The party moved into the hall, took their positions, and Krstic opened the door. In the darkness of the room Krstic could see six humanoids standing around the outside walls of the darkened room and using their surprise round led the charge into the room. It wasn't until Jenneth managed to set two of the straw dummies on fire that the party was able to identify their enemy as life size practice dummies that were secured to the wall.
As this occurred the doors directly opposite of the party opened and an orc stuck his head through. Seeing the party he uttered a "yeep" and slammed the doors behind him. Knowing they had been discovered the party had no choice but to reverse their attack. When they burst through the other set of doors they saw the Orc Berserker and two Duergar Scouts, but these three were soon supplemented by a third Duergar Scout, a second Orc Berserker, and a hulking Duergar Smith.
And so the fight was on. The orc's proved to be just as tough as their counterparts from the guard room and also seemed to have the same ability to re-strengthen themselves once they were bloodied. The scouts fired off their crossbows and their poisonous quills, but did the most damage with their war hammers. The smith was able to fire off a Brimstone Hail attack down the hallway that damaged and then knocked prone five of the party members. And just when things started to look tough, a third Orc Berserker burst through through an as-of-yet unopened door and started swinging at Miave.
The magic user drew the attention of Krstic and several of the ranged attackers, with one of Miave's arrows doing 36(!) damage. He was soon eliminated and the rest of the enemy combatants were being whittled down one-by-one. Several party members were bloodied but managed to stay alive, and just when the party looked to be wrapping things up several of the scouts went invisible. The party managed to find other things to swing at in the interim, but the scouts suddenly reappeared next to Krstic with the intention of finishing off the bloodied dragonborn. He managed to avoid the damage (DM Note: damn dice), one of the scouts went down and only one scout remained.
So he went invisible again. The party could perceive that the invisible character had moved through the party towards another room that featured a set of double doors that, if the party had their orientation correct, led out of the hold and onto one of the walkways that lead across the chasm. Several party members attempted to discern the exact location of the missing scout, but he could not be found.
DM Note: We hadn't dealt with invisibility yet, so we took this opportunity to review the rules and to make sure we were playing it right. The party members did at least have a chance to detect the invisible character's location, but this character happened to have had a good stealth number to begin with and the DM rolled well so he was able to avoid detection.
Most of the party moved up towards one set of doors, some stayed in the hallway to cover the doors there, and Oester stayed behind to guard another set of double doors in the room where the big fight was. The Duergar Scout suddenly reappeared next to Oester, smacked him for 20 points of serious damage and managed to at least unlatch the door, but before he could actually get the door open and make an escape the party quickly responded and down he went.
As the party looked around they saw:
3 Orc Berserkers, each wearing leather armor and wielding a great axe
3 Duergar Scouts, each wearing chainmail armor, wielding a warhamer and a crossbow, and carrying ten crossbow bolts.
Urwol, Master Duergar Smth, wearing robes and wielding a warhammer
The party inspected the remaining rooms in this portion of the hold, finding several rooms with beds, a large vat of fresh water, and some closets and some barrels and crates with mundane provisions. This part of the hold was undoubtedly the smith's foundry area. A large fireplace, several wood piles, miscellaneous smithing tools, and several anvils provided the workspace needed to make the halberds and warhammers that were found on the several sets of shelves located around the area.
Further inspection revealed no secrets, but two chests were found. The first chest was located in the smith's private quarters, and the second in what was identified as the quarters of the scouts. No magic items were found, but between the two chests a total of 335 GP, 478 SP, and four 25 GP gems were found. Each member of the party earned 180 XP for the encounter.
The next questions was where to go next. There were two large double doors that had not been opened yet, so the party cautiously opened the door they thought would lead to the walkway. The exit did lead to the walkway, and from this vantage point the party was able to confirm much of what they had seen when they first arrived outside the hold. There was another section of the hold on this side of the chasm, both sections having their own walkway that led to a larger section of the hold on the other side of the chasm.
The party then peered through the other set of double doors and saw there was a cave-like walkway that angled away from the hold for about 20 feet where a lit torch provided some illumination, and then the cave went on ahead about another twenty feet or so to a set of double doors. The party decided to further investigate the remaining portion of the hold on this side of the chasm before heading across the bridge to the larger room.
Score Card: With the completion of this encounter the party had accumulated an additional 355 GP, 578 SP, and 350 GP in gems. Oester did indeed claim the Quickling Boots. With the 180 XP earned during this encounter the part had accumulated 6020 XP (7500 needed to reach Level 6).
Krstic and Bogar drug the last orc back into the guard room and closed the door behind them. It appeared no further alarm had been raised, so the party took a five minute rest and discussed which door to go through next. If the orc had been running for help or to warn somebody the door he was running to would be the likely choice to take, but perhaps it might be wise to check the other doors to ensure the party didn't get caught between two different groups of enemies.
There was a set of double doors just to the left as the party exited the guard room, so the party decided this was the place to start. The party moved into the hall, took their positions, and Krstic opened the door. In the darkness of the room Krstic could see six humanoids standing around the outside walls of the darkened room and using their surprise round led the charge into the room. It wasn't until Jenneth managed to set two of the straw dummies on fire that the party was able to identify their enemy as life size practice dummies that were secured to the wall.
As this occurred the doors directly opposite of the party opened and an orc stuck his head through. Seeing the party he uttered a "yeep" and slammed the doors behind him. Knowing they had been discovered the party had no choice but to reverse their attack. When they burst through the other set of doors they saw the Orc Berserker and two Duergar Scouts, but these three were soon supplemented by a third Duergar Scout, a second Orc Berserker, and a hulking Duergar Smith.
And so the fight was on. The orc's proved to be just as tough as their counterparts from the guard room and also seemed to have the same ability to re-strengthen themselves once they were bloodied. The scouts fired off their crossbows and their poisonous quills, but did the most damage with their war hammers. The smith was able to fire off a Brimstone Hail attack down the hallway that damaged and then knocked prone five of the party members. And just when things started to look tough, a third Orc Berserker burst through through an as-of-yet unopened door and started swinging at Miave.
The magic user drew the attention of Krstic and several of the ranged attackers, with one of Miave's arrows doing 36(!) damage. He was soon eliminated and the rest of the enemy combatants were being whittled down one-by-one. Several party members were bloodied but managed to stay alive, and just when the party looked to be wrapping things up several of the scouts went invisible. The party managed to find other things to swing at in the interim, but the scouts suddenly reappeared next to Krstic with the intention of finishing off the bloodied dragonborn. He managed to avoid the damage (DM Note: damn dice), one of the scouts went down and only one scout remained.
So he went invisible again. The party could perceive that the invisible character had moved through the party towards another room that featured a set of double doors that, if the party had their orientation correct, led out of the hold and onto one of the walkways that lead across the chasm. Several party members attempted to discern the exact location of the missing scout, but he could not be found.
DM Note: We hadn't dealt with invisibility yet, so we took this opportunity to review the rules and to make sure we were playing it right. The party members did at least have a chance to detect the invisible character's location, but this character happened to have had a good stealth number to begin with and the DM rolled well so he was able to avoid detection.
Most of the party moved up towards one set of doors, some stayed in the hallway to cover the doors there, and Oester stayed behind to guard another set of double doors in the room where the big fight was. The Duergar Scout suddenly reappeared next to Oester, smacked him for 20 points of serious damage and managed to at least unlatch the door, but before he could actually get the door open and make an escape the party quickly responded and down he went.
As the party looked around they saw:
3 Orc Berserkers, each wearing leather armor and wielding a great axe
3 Duergar Scouts, each wearing chainmail armor, wielding a warhamer and a crossbow, and carrying ten crossbow bolts.
Urwol, Master Duergar Smth, wearing robes and wielding a warhammer
The party inspected the remaining rooms in this portion of the hold, finding several rooms with beds, a large vat of fresh water, and some closets and some barrels and crates with mundane provisions. This part of the hold was undoubtedly the smith's foundry area. A large fireplace, several wood piles, miscellaneous smithing tools, and several anvils provided the workspace needed to make the halberds and warhammers that were found on the several sets of shelves located around the area.
Further inspection revealed no secrets, but two chests were found. The first chest was located in the smith's private quarters, and the second in what was identified as the quarters of the scouts. No magic items were found, but between the two chests a total of 335 GP, 478 SP, and four 25 GP gems were found. Each member of the party earned 180 XP for the encounter.
The next questions was where to go next. There were two large double doors that had not been opened yet, so the party cautiously opened the door they thought would lead to the walkway. The exit did lead to the walkway, and from this vantage point the party was able to confirm much of what they had seen when they first arrived outside the hold. There was another section of the hold on this side of the chasm, both sections having their own walkway that led to a larger section of the hold on the other side of the chasm.
The party then peered through the other set of double doors and saw there was a cave-like walkway that angled away from the hold for about 20 feet where a lit torch provided some illumination, and then the cave went on ahead about another twenty feet or so to a set of double doors. The party decided to further investigate the remaining portion of the hold on this side of the chasm before heading across the bridge to the larger room.
Score Card: With the completion of this encounter the party had accumulated an additional 355 GP, 578 SP, and 350 GP in gems. Oester did indeed claim the Quickling Boots. With the 180 XP earned during this encounter the part had accumulated 6020 XP (7500 needed to reach Level 6).
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