The party returns to the Caves of Chaos and heads directly to the…Lair of the Owlbear!
This session was played on Monday, February 21, 2011.
Featuring the PCs:
Vith and his henchman Hillgax
Binford and his man-at-arms Ardoon
Scratch and his torch-bearer Kiltag
The henchman/NPC Bryton and his man-at-arms Rothmak
and, after several untimely deaths, the dwarven men-at-arms Morag (Binford) and Thurdir (Vith), and the torch-bearer Ulix.
This session featured a foray back to the Caves of Chaos. The party approached the canyon from the same direction, but decided to bypass the entrance to the kobold kaves (they noticed the area barricaded) in favour of the cave in the lower center. The stench of death wafted from inside but they lit torches and decided to proceed.
Inside they found the remains of dead orcs and humans and scrounged for loot. The found a few coins and gave these to the men-at-arms. They proceeded to the right and entered a natural cavern with a shallow pool. Vith, ever on guard from above, noticed several slime-like appendages and yelled to the party. A Gray Ooze, similar to the one faced in the Citadel of the Iron God, dropped from the ceiling and attacked! Hillgax readied some flaming oil but determined that the creature was immune to fire damage. Both Ardoon and Rothmak hit with their halberds and put it out of its minsery…just in time for two more to drop and attack the party. One of the oozes wrapped itself around Kiltag the torch-bearer! Without armour, Kiltag was no match for the ooze which inflicted a massive 13 points of damage. Kiltag had but 2 hip points and died. The party destroyed the two creatures thanks to Vith's Wand of magic Missiles and set about searching the room. They found a bejewled goblet in the shallow pool, that after some feet stamping, they retrieved. The goblet was the finest they had ever seen and Snatch the Unlucky Number estimated its value at a wopping 1300 gps!
The adventurers continued their exploration of the natural caverns finding many bones and carcases. They searched each time without and random monsters.
At last, they entered a larger cave and their lantern light could not see to the opposite wall. They decided to light a torch (the d6) and throw it into the room. This action roused a mighty beast from its slumber. A giant, terrifying owlbear rose from its nest, and, in a few sort steps spanned the distance between itself and the party.
A battle for the ages ensued!!! This is one of those super-cool battles where everything hinged on each inititative roll.
After trading a preliminary round of attacks, the owlbear clawed and bit off the head of Rothmak, the man-at-arms! At the same time, Ardoon nimbly made his way around to the torch in the hope of flanking the best. The henchman Bryton of Mystral, storied for his prowess with Skullsplitter the heavy mace, moved forward to attack. As he did so he slipped (critical miss) and landed on his backside right in front of the terrible clawed paws of the owlbear! Things did not look good for Bryton. The following is worth recounting in dice (keep in mind the DM is using target 20)…
The owlbear targeted the prone Bryton (fully +4) and missed on all three of its claw/claw/bite attacks! Including two critical misses! Too funny.
The next round Bryton again dodged fate by rolling to-and-fro to avoid the claws of the owlbear. He took some damage from a claw but the rest of the attacks missed.
The next round Bryton managed to get back on his feet - just in time to get hit three times by the owlbear for a total of 20 points of damage!!! Bryton took so much damage (-10) he died without a saving throw (Kiltag went in similar fashion earlier in the session).
By this time, Binford had thrown flaming oil on the owlbear and it had taken a fair amount of damage.
Ardoon, seeing the mighty Bryton fall to the beast, panicked (failed his morale check) and, despite being at the back of the cavern bee-lined for the exit. The owlbear took a free swipe and killed him with a great roar.
The battle ended with Vith hitting the creature with a volley from his Wand of Magic Missiles. Huzzah!!!
This is where Vith's account of the adventure begins, and Binford's ends.
The heroes returned to Threshold and licked their wounds, they also managed to hire two crazy Dwarves who saw the party stumble back into town at half their numbers. These Dwarves were Morag and Thurdir, and have yet to prove their mettle in combat.
After their brief respite in Threshold the party, saddened by their loss of numbers, but bolstered by their victory and new found wealth, climbed up to the second tier of the canyon where Scratch scouted out the inside of a nearby cave.
Scratch spotted several Orcs and managed to make it outside to the party, who were lying in wait. Here, the party put most of the Orcs to the slaughter. However, one of the orcs managed to escape and alert the rest of the cave of intruders.
After trying to decide whether to lay an ambush and try to lure the Orcs out, or press the attack, the party decided to have Vith cast his newly gained invisibility spell on the already sneaky Halfling: Scratch. Scratch nimbly searched the interior of the cave and found empty guardrooms, and the only way to proceed through the cave entrenched with Orcs readying ranged weapons. The party decided that fighting their way past more than a dozen entrenched Orcs was foolhardy, so they retreated to Threshold until things cooled down.
Thus ended this chapter of the Heroes' foray into the caves of chaos. Many of the team now have a new respect, fear and hatred for the ferocious Owl-bear. Also, they forgot to collect the heads of the Orcs that they killed. They will have to be more vigilant in the future.
Binford advances to 4th level!
Vith advances to 3rd level!
Scratch advances to 3rd Level!
Totals to Date:
PCs Killed: 1
Hirelings Killed: 16
PCs/Hirelings Reduced to Zero HP: 13
Goblins Put to the Sword: 58
Kobolds Dispatched: 14
Hobgoblins Killed: 25
Orcs slaughtered: 2
Owlbears De-Clawed: 1
Ogres Downed: 1
Skeletons Destroyed: 70
Zombies Destroyed: 35
Ghouls Killed: 7
Giant Spiders Killed: 2
Giant Centipedes Exterminated: 3
Gray Ooze De-Slimed: 4
Brigands Killed: 8
Giant Rats Exterminated: 20
Plundered Goods: 12483 gps of value
Days in Campaign: 57
