We had a good game today. I enjoyed the second half more after we got passed some of the technical difficulties. I feared that I was spoiling everyone's fun with all the BS from Roll20 and the problems with my macros. I felt better after talking to Michael and Jabril, I hope everyone had a good time. I enjoyed letting you walk into the trap. I know Alex was getting pissed and looking for a way out on a technicality, but it wasn't that big of a deal. You guys will destroy the Oozes and Trolls and go on save the day. I still enjoy a good old fashioned dungeon crawl, but I'll be glad once we are finished with "Lost Mines" and have transitioned into Strahd. There are so many more opportunities for RP in CoS. The session started after the short rest that was initiated last session. The party decided to go East. You encountered a room full of skeletons, but I was giving the Stirges advantage, (which is -5 on your passive perception because no one asked about the ceiling and it was obvious that your attention would be on the skeletons on the ground) so you didn't notice them. Bryndon's Pseudo Dragon explored the nearby area and found a cavern covered with a carpet of mold and fungus. The spores were identified as poisonous. The party then went south to what Glanbir deduced to be the original entrance to the Mine of the Phandelvers Pact. Unfortunately the original entrance seems to have been blocked by a cave in. He also identified an ancient barracks and an Assayers' Office. In the barracks you faced the reanimated skeletons of the Orcs and Dwarfs who died fighting here over 500 years ago. This shouldn't have been much of a threat for such a strong party, but the old piles of bones would have killed the Monk Jabri if it wasn't for his ability to suck up hp when he kills something. Probably the giant sized maul of Rook had something to do with his success also. After the Battle Glanbir offered a gold piece at the altar of DUMATHOIN, the dwarven deity of mining and underground exploration. Hopefully the Dwarven patron of mining will smile on the party during your endeavors. While Glanbir revered the patron deity of the mine, Bryndon made a bee-line to the Assayers' Office, having sees some parchment through the eyes of his familiar. Unfortunately for him the ancient scrolls only held accounting data. The Monk's high perception paid off as he found the iron strong box that was used by the pay master of the mine to pay the miners after they turned over the raw ore. At this moment the party heard the sound of battle and a cry for help. As they tried to make their way North to the large cavern with skeletons on the floor they saw a lone Half-Elf who was fighting for his life with a swarm of Stirges. Two of the bat like creatures were attached to his neck and draining him of his life's blood. An unfortunate use of an awesome spell prevented the party from lending aid as soon as they would have liked, but another attack from above caused the spell casting Half-Elf to loose concentration and the huge AOE spell ended. This allowed the party to aid the lone druid. Rook used a well timed Magic Missile to kill three of the creatures, while bryndon followed suit and killed three more. Even Glanbir got a kill with his often tried, but rarely successful cantrip, Sacred Flame. Brief introductions were made and the party along with the druid, went north and then tried to explore the passages to the West. This proved successful as the found their way back to the entry cavern and there companion Trenchton who was still keeping guard over Tharden's body. From here the party went North. Trusting to his high Passive Perception, Glanbir fell into a natural sink hole that had a thin layer of uncolapsed stone over it. This cost a few hp, but wasn't a big deal. After climbing out and jumping across the pit, the rest of the party made it across, either with the aid of ropes or by their own power. A creature was spotted by Bryndon's familiar and the party tried to avoid it by going back East. This led them to a passage that deadended into a rock face covered in precious gems. Quickly Glanbir led the party in that direction only to run literally into a Gelatinous Cube. Escaping from the Cube he was hesitant to engage the onslaught of Oozes who followed. Jabri and his new compainion Riveara were left between a Gelatinous Cube 4 Gray Oozes. Not realizing the Oozes were easy targets with little hp and weak attacks they fled into a dead end. Let's hope that their dead end doesn't become a "dead" end. Now they are trapped there with an Cube upon them. Unfortunately the rest of the party has their own concerns as a Troll has come up to replace the Ochre Jelly who was threatening Glanbir and Rook. At least you now know that fire damage is required to keep Trolls from regenerating. Of course in game your characters have no idea about the other Troll or the other undead who rolled initiative before we called the game. Both Mike and Alex had to go at this point. We played for 5.5 hours and I think it was a good stoping point even if we did have to leave the battle in mid swing. I hope everyone returns next week for the conclusion. XP: 450 xp - Ochre Jelly 250 xp - 10 Stirges 400 xp - 8 Skeletons 200 xp - 1 natural pit trap 200 xp - discovering and avoiding the poisonous spore cavern 1500 xp Total divided by 5 = 300 xp each. Loot: 600 cp 180 sp 90 ep 60 gp
