Today's session started right where we left off last session. Rook and Glanbir were facing a large and partially damaged Troll. Jabri and Riveara were still trapped behind the Gelatinous Cube, though Riveara was able to maintain concentration on his Spike growth. Bryndon was near Grunden south of the effects of the Druid's spell. A long legged, fair skinned, anime princess showed up out of the darkness talking about "Zombies" and undead that were following her. While it was obvious to her that no one (except possibly the fair haired high elf in Evereskan Noble attire) was of her social level, she didn't hold it against the "peasants" and immediately started barking out orders. She also jabbed her rapier into the first troll she saw, inflicting an extreme amount of damage. With the help of the "Princess," Glanbir and Rook quickly took care of the Troll. Riveara lost concentration on Spike Growth when he cast Flaming Sphere. Considering the circumstances it was the best choice. The sphere constantly dealt fire damage to the Cube, Ghouls and then the Trolls. The fire damage kept the Trolls from regenerating on their turns. Without fire damage this battle could have gone terribly wrong. Jabri and Riveara soon destroyed the Cube and the Oozes, while Bryndon ran past Rook when the Undead started arriving. Glanbir placed his heavily armored body between Ghouls and his Companions making a front line with which to hold off the onslaught. Riveara was able to escape past the front line and find refuge in the back. Unfortunately for Jabri, Riveara left the Flaming Sphere next to him and a Ghoul paralyzed him before he could escape. This led to bad series of rolls by Jabri. He was stuck in one spot until the end of the combat. If it hadn't been for Glanbir turning the undead, they might have consumed all the flesh off his bones. As it was, the troll did get a bite of dragon meat before he was slain by the rest of the party working together to concentrate their fire. After this battle the party was low on healing and hit points. Several of their spells had been burned also. That's why they decided to retire to the cave entrance where they had left Sir Trenchton on guard and try to get a long rest. It was still early in the day, but the circumstances had drained them of both their magic and their health. The afternoon was uneventful, as was the night. The party awoke the next morning with renewed vigor and new, stronger powers. They were now 5th level. Empowered, the party followed their previous trail and where attacked by a large group of ghouls who lined up in a file waiting for someone to cast a lightning bolt on them. These wretches were no match for our power-uped party. After the quick battle the party walked boldly out into a very large cavern with a high cieling. Unfortunately for them, they alerted a Flameskull that was on patrol. He dropped a fireball on the group and everyone started crying. Leaping into the air, our brave companions were able to defeat the first insane cackling abomination. The second floated a little out of reach of melee attacks, even those coming from our basketball playing Dwarf. But through combined fire the party was able to defeat this second menace. But not before he also dropped a fireball on the group. At this point our loyal companions were becoming a little more timid and decided to send the rogue ahead to scout out the area to the south. Glanbir's Dwarven Stone Cunning told him that there was a central section of the mine that they hadn't explored and he didn't want to leave it there in case someone was waiting there to come up behind the party at a later time. This was a good idea and could save the party some headache later on. The rouge did find the room in question, but didn't try the door. On the other hand she found an out of the way store room that had a strong door and could be barred from the inside. The party decided to take a short rest to spend hit dice and shut themselves into the room. This was after nearly 6 hours of play, so we thought this a good place to stop. I look forward to next week when you finish your short rest and finally clear out the Southern half of Wave Echo Cave. From there it is possible to finish all of WEC in just one session, but you will have to be faster with your decisions. Combat was slow today not just because we were helping new players, but because all of the party was scared of what might happen if they made a bad decision. I feel this caused many of you to doubt or second guess yourselves. If your can be more decisive next week and keep the rhythm of combat going, you will be able to finish in one session. Otherwise we are looking at two more. Also much will depend on which direction you decide to go. On one side there is great risk, but also great reward. While the other side holds your ultimate goal, but less reward. Which will you choose? Where will you go? We will have to wait until next week to find out. XP: 400 xp - 4 Gray Oozes 700 xp - 1 Gelatinous Cube, Greater 3600 xp - 2 Trolls 2400 xp - 12 Ghouls 2200 xp - 2 Flameskulls 9300 Total XP divided by 6 = 1550 xp each. Loot: Found a vein of gemstones, but none collected
