Session 45 - Scene 5 (of 9)

Sage leads the group to the Moonsong Temple, where she asks to speak to the high priestess, Loreveo.  Once the elf priestess appears, Sage explains she is interested in knowing if there exists a ritual that is capable of locating a person.

Loreveo explains that such a ritual does exist, but although her temple specializes in divination, the ritual is beyond their abilities.  The group quickly asks around the other temples in town, but Grundelmar at the Temple of the Sun specializes in removing afflictions, Dirina Moonbrow at the Temple of Erathis specializes in healing, and Father William at the Raven Queen monastery specializes in communing with the dead.

Undeterred, Sage states that there is still one possibility in town – Nimozarran.  She has Leigh take her to see him.

When the group arrives in the High Septarch's tower, the old man greets them as usual, speaking only to Leigh.  He asks her once again if she's returned to take his offer (to become the next High Septarch), but once again she declines, stating she is not yet ready.

The group notices Nimozarran is not alone; his old apprentice, Tobolar Quickfoot, is also in attendance.  Tobolar greets the group as the High Septarch explains that he had Tobolar come to stay with him for protection.

Nimozarran tells the group he sensed great danger for Tobolar.  Leigh confirms he was correct to worry – stating how Scholmo went on the warpath against their families and acquaintances.  The High Septarch proclaims they wouldn't have dared to try and attack him in his tower – it is too well defended.

The High Septarch then remarks to Leigh that her group's composition has changed since last he saw them.  Once again, an explanation of the group's shifting membership is made.  Nimozarran is encouraged to see Sa'lid, though slightly less so when Leigh explains he is only "sort of" a wizard.

Leigh then introduces Sage to Nimozarran and the cleric proceeds with asking her question about the ritual to locate a person.  The old mage explains there is such a ritual and he is capable of performing it, but he will need a personal item.  Krolec insists the entire group leave to grab Challa's axe and return with it; he fears splitting up the group is far too dangerous at the current time.

Session 45 - Scene 6 (of 9)

With the axe now in hand, Nimozaran retires to a private chamber to perform his ritual.  He explains he will require privacy and some time.  Krolec tries to look over his shoulder as he heads in to make sure there are no windows or other threatening areas, but the old man dismisses his concerns.

The white-haired wizard emerges some time later.  He explains he was able to sense Challa was still alive, and somewhere cold and very dark.  He could hear muffled sounds and sense she was tightly confined, though lying down somewhere.  Finally, he notes a faint smell of fish was in the air.  Sage feels this confirms her personal theory that Challa is being held somewhere down by the docks.

Nimozaran gives one more word of caution to the group.  In addition to Challa's location, he has also sensed the purpose behind her abduction and the other actions was not only to injure them, but to distract them as well.

Krolec can think of only one thing the group is being distracted from – gaining access to the Temple of Light and Darkness.  He believes Schlomo is being manipulated the same way Szartharrax was being manipulated earlier, by a darker force behind the scenes.  Speculation grows among the group that it has something to do with the mysterious man in the purple cloak and his strange activities.

Sage suggests the group leave rescuing Challa to the authorities and head immediately to the temple.  The rest of the group, who actually know Challa, are less sure.  Krolec wants to take care of Schlomo before heading down, while Sa'lid worries the town guard are not up to the task.  Sage implores them not to let the distraction work; Krolec notes that it is difficult because the distraction is a very powerful one.

Session 45 - Session 7 (of 9)

The group heads over to Moonstone Keep to see Lt. Gerdrand and tell him what they have found out.  Krolec explains the problem with the kidnapping being used as a diversion and asks the guardsmen about having the town guard start kicking in doors in the docks district.

Gerdrand explains that won't be so easy.  Magistrate Damikos is unlikely to issue any kind of search warrants in the docks area with the vague information they have at this point.  There is also the problem that even if they manage to capture Schlomo, it is unlikely he'll be cooperative.

Krolec explains how the group needs to get back to the Temple of Light and Darkness.  Gerdrand agrees to handle the issue using his men, but cautions that the depleted ranks of the town guard means most of the men are rather green and not very experienced in either combat or investigation.

The ranger is concerned.  He knows the guardsmen need to be guarding the town and they are not equipped to handle the mission.  The group briefly discusses the risks involved – there is no easy answer for which path they should go down.

Sage tries to come up with a plan about using the hat of disguise to impersonate Schlomo on the docks, but Sa'lid reminds her the hat doesn't work that way; it can't be used to mimic a specific person.

Krolec favors making one quick pass by the docks area to try and locate where Challa is being held.  Sage cautions that such an action could tip their hand, resulting in Challa being quickly killed.  Krolec feels the risk is worth it.

Sage convinces Krolec to use the hat of disguise so he won't be recognized.  He will be posing as a dock worker down on the docks while the rest of the group hangs out at the Lucky Gnome Taphouse.

Krolec casually walks around the area near the docks, looking for anywhere that might fit Nimozaran's description.  Putting on his best act, Krolec tries to pose as a fish merchant.  Unfortunately, Krolec's natural inability to lie combined with his lack of knowledge about the seedier aspects of society cause him to stick out like a sore thumb.  

He is immediately made as a phony by the more dangerous types hanging around by the docks.  He notices a group of three of them headed in his direction.  The ranger quickly moves inside a dark alleyway and uses the hat to change appearance, evading the men.

Trying a different tactic, Krolec looks around to see anyone transporting fish.  It doesn't take wandering around for too long before he notices a man wheeling a wheelbarrow of fish headed into a nearby ice warehouse called the Sunshine Fishery.

Krolec casually sneaks his way inside the main entrance of the warehouse.  He can see that it largely an open warehouse with fish storage bins and a dozen or more workers, but there are a few areas sealed off from the rest of the warehouse – a small office and a couple of storage sheds.  One of the storage sheds has a heavy and newer-looking lock and set of chains on it.  He knows that's where Challa is being kept.

Heading back outside, Krolec tries to look around the back of the building.  He sees the chained off room has no windows and the thick logs used for the building walls would take too long to break through.

Undeterred by his previous failure at fitting in, Krolec grabs a couple of large fish lying around the docks area and swings them over his shoulder.  He then heads in through the main warehouse entrance.

Once again, Krolec is quickly made.  One of the workers gruffly asks what he is doing there, and approaches the ranger.  Krolec tries to lie his way out of trouble, but is unconvincing.  The man tries to grab him, but Krolec avoids the man's grasp.

In response, Krolec tries to use one of the fish as a club to strike the man with, but it is too slippery and he loses his grip on it.  Another of the men approaches Krolec and tries to punch him.  The ranger dodges the blow and again tries to attack back with a frozen fish club, but loses his grip on that fish as well.

Not wanting to get in a brawl with the men, Krolec slips away out the door and makes a run for it.  He manages to escape any pursuing workers.

Session 45 - Scene 8 (of 9)

Krolec then adopts a different disguise and heads back towards the warehouse.  He stays far enough away to avoid being seen but close enough to make sure the door is still locked.  Two men are seen talking to a third inside.  They leave the warehouse, walking deliberately towards the slum areas.  Krolec decides to tail them.

As they pass near the Lucky Gnome Taphouse, Krolec breaks off and resumes his normal appearance.  He then heads inside and quietly tells the others what is going on.  Leigh tells him to continue with following the men.

Krolec heads back outside, resumes his disguise, and catches up to the men.  He spots them just as they head inside a building that is located right where Varys said Schlomo's safehouse was located.

The ranger scans the building and the immediate area.  The windows to the building are sealed off and the door is clearly fortified.  He looks around for spotters, but can't tell if any of the various indigents in the area are acting as lookouts.

Heading back to the bar, Krolec takes a roundabout way to make sure he isn't spotted.  Once in the bar, a couple of people start asking questions, but Sage makes sure they get out of the bar before talking to avoid alerting anyone.

Krolec insists they will need to hit the warehouse immediately, before Schlomo can send word back for Challa to be killed or moved.  Sage asks about the difficulty of assaulting the warehouse, but Krolec assures her that it contains only dock workers and won't be much trouble.  He does caution, however, than the men inside are largely innocent workers and non-deadly force is called for.

Bunching the group into a tight formation, Krolec leads a mad rush in through the front; he decides as Schlomo is already being alerted, the time for stealth is gone.  The group manages to get over halfway through the warehouse before the men inside can react.

Some of the dock workers seem overwhelmed and rush out of the building.  A few others rush at Leigh and Sage, but are unable to hit them with their fists.  Leigh responds with a powerful strike that cracks the man's skull and sends him flying over a crate of fish.

Sa'lid uses his magic to fly himself and Snarg over near the door Krolec identified.  Krolec moves to grab Snarg and carry him right up to the door, offering him five gold pieces to compensate him for having to leave Sa'lid's side.

As Sa'lid heads over, the goblin examines the door and declares there are no traps.  Durmindin elects to stabilize the wounds of the man Leigh attacked.

Sage smacks the men who attacked her in the head with her mace, knocking him out.  She then takes a position to guard against the other three men who have been holding back.  They grab fish hooks and move in to attack, cutting into her.

Feeling less of a need to hold back now, Krolec switches to his bow.  He fires a shot off at each of two of the men, hitting them both in the legs.  The men collapse to the ground, howling in pain.  Sage takes care of the last guy with her mace.

Meanwhile, Snarg is having trouble picking the lock.  He narrowly avoids a poisoned needle trap on the lock that would have killed him.  Leigh heads over to help.  She sees the lock has no more traps active on it, but notices the door itself is trapped to explode if opened.

Snarg analyzes the explosive trap while Krolec comes over and helps with opening the lock.  Leigh and Durmindin head up to the main entrance to watch for anyone coming and Sage helps heal the men wounded by Krolec's arrows.

Krolec and the goblin work together and disable the trap on the door.  Feeling it is now safe, the elf pulls the door open.  Inside, he sees a very injured Challa; she has clearly been tortured and left lying on a block of ice.  Her right arm is badly shattered and has turned black.

The ranger grabs his companion and throws her over his shoulder.  The group quickly rushes away, heading to the nearest guard outpost.

Session 45 - Scene 9 (of 9)

At the guard outpost on the west side of town, Sgt. Trotter organizes his men and heads out to seize and control the warehouse.  Meanwhile, Krolec plans to lead the group back to Moonstone Keep and meet up with Gerdrand to plan taking down Schlomo's safehouse.

When they reach the keep, Gerdrand has his men take Challa to the infirmary and summons the royal surgeon to look after her.  He also starts organizing his troops for the assault on the slums.  

Before they head out, Krolec also grabs a mace from the keep's armory, in case he needs an easier way to subdue Schlomo.  The groups then head out.

Krolec's plan is for Gerdrand's men to secure the perimeter while Krolec and the others storm the safehouse itself.  To that end, Krolec leads the group the long way around so they can come at the building from the back.

Some distance away, Krolec can see they are too late.  He spots Schlomo, Slippery Pete, and two other flunkies running towards the small river nearby that heads into the larger river.  

The ranger tries to signal the soldiers, but they are too far away to reach the criminals in time.  Krolec then attempts to fire off a long distance shot at one of the thugs, but misses.

A chase through the broken ground of the slums ensues.  Everyone but Sa'lid manages to keep up.  Durmindin, however, manages to trip and twist his ankle as the rest of the group closes in.

Krolec gets off another shot, taking down one of the thugs.  But taking the shot causes him to fall behind, leaving only Leigh and Sage headed towards the men.

The criminals reach the boat and start pushing off.  Krolec fires another shot at the other thug, but misses.

Determined not to let the men get away, Leigh uses a fireburst spell.  The boat explodes in a burst of fire that sends the men and debris flying into the river.

As the bodies and flotsam float down towards the main river, Krolec and Leigh run along the bank.  They want to recover the bodies to make sure the men are all dead.

Sage decides to swim out towards the men instead.  Unfortunately, the icy waters immediately cause her muscles to seize up and she begins to drown.

Leigh manages to make it to a small bridge overlooking the river.  She knows she will have only enough time to try and grab one of the bodies in the water with her staff.  The wizard elects to try and save Sage rather than go for one of the criminals.  She pulls the cleric out and manages to get her breathing again.

Krolec finally gets ahead of the bodies, but not before they pass under the bridge.  He elects not to risk heading into the water.  With no way to reach the bodies, he is forced to watch as the undertow pulls them under the waters as they head into the main channel.  They do not resurface.

The ranger then heads up towards the docks area and looks for a boat to hire to go looking for the bodies.  A fisherman wants 50 gold.  Krolec is unable to talk the man down, and eventually pays in disgust.

Krolec and the men boat around the river for the next hour or two.  They manage to locate one body – a very badly burned and obviously dead thug.  They find no other bodies and after a while the captain of the boat insists on heading in.

Durmindin and Krolec talk it over.  They eventually decide that there is very little chance Schlomo and/or Slippery Pete managed to survive the fireburst, the icy waters, and whatever large fish would be living in the undertow waters.

The group meets back up with Lt. Gerdrand, who has successfully led his men into capturing the rest of Schlomo's organization.  The only thing of interest they found was a list with the names of the group's friends and family on it.

Krolec notices one curious thing about the list – Nimozaran's name is written on the original list but later marked out.  While most believe this is just Schlomo deciding not to mess with the wizard, Durmindin worries perhaps Nimozaran was part of the conspiracy.  Sa'lid doesn't trust the old wizard either.  But Krolec dismisses the concern, saying it could be for any one of a dozen reasons.

Gerdrand then asks about Schlomo and Slippery Pete, and Krolec fills him in.  The lieutenant agrees the men are in all likelihood dead and not worth worrying about.  He then tells Krolec and the others that Challa is recovering nicely at the keep, although they did have to amputate her arm.

Lt. Gerdrand then congratulates the group for all they've done, noting that they've essentially removed the last criminal elements from the city.

Session 45 - Session Notes

I'll just start off by saying I know I've given the group a lot of grief about their investigation skills in the past, but they really do seem to be doing better now, so I salute them for a job well done.

This session was very investigation and interaction heavy, even moreso than the previous session.  It also basically had no combat, except for the very brief scene in the warehouse.

I really liked how they know they are being manipulated, and yet feel forced to go along with it anyhow.  Much like the call for help last session, its interesting to see what they choose to do as either way had consequences.

Brief thoughts on this session:
* Scrag was originally going to be there, but got called into work at the last minute.
* Lady Abigail's survival was dependent on a saving throw rolled by the Sa'lid character.  I used the same method last time for the other NPCs that were attacked.  I thought it'd feel like the players had more input on the events that way (even if it was just some random die rolls).
* Dancor Rossi was involved in so many acts that day for one simple reason - I didn't want to have to give another insignificant NPC a name if they were going to end up dead anyways.
* Killing off Vanka and Dortos was just more of me cleaning house with the NPCs.  They weren't likely to appear again, so why keep them.  Originally Challa and Grundelmore were scheduled to die, I even toyed with the idea of killing off Dirina Moonbrow, but I felt that would negatively impact the campaign too much.
* The Dortos killing with Krolec was intended to be a call back to what happened out at Kobold Hall.  Oddly, none of the players remember the incident with the doppelganger there.  Confidentially, the killer took Krolec's form because he guessed the PCs would use the ritual again and it was kind of meant as a middle finger to them.
* I must have told the players a dozen times now which temple can do what rituals.  That gets really old.  And yes, they already have a cheat sheet.
* I did think the general idea was good, so I had Nimozaran able to do the ritual (which I don't believe exists in the actual rules).  However, if they start going to the wizard all the time, his rapidly deteroirating health will finally fail.
* Choosing to save Challa over going directly to the temple does have a consequence.  However, if they had done it the other way I would have killer her off.
* Krolec's rolls for Bluff and Streetwise at the docks were a series of 1s.  It was quite funny.
* Schlomo and Slippery Pete being presumed dead wasn't exactly railroaded, they just failed the skill challenge to try and retrieve them (a lot of bad rolls there).  Still, I thought it was a good outcome.
* I wanted the players to really get a sense of accomplishment.  The city is now noticably better off with all of the major criminals in town gone.  Soon, the mysterious conference of lords will end and another noticable new chapter in the history of the area will form.

Our next scheduled session falls on the holiday weekend, so the next session won't be until mid-Dec (which will be the last one for the year).

Session 46 - Cast of Characters

Scrag Graveborn - Half-Orc Warden
Sir Krolec Jar'Bin - Elven Ranger
Dame Leigh - Eladrin Wizard
Sage - Longtooth Shifter Cleric
Sir Durmindin - Wilden Shaman
Sa'lid Dra'lah - Human Sorcerer

Session 46 - Scene 1 (of 4)

After the eventful day of tracking down Schlomo and rescuing Challa, the group decides it makes more sense to go back to Scrag's mansion and rest for the night before heading down into the Temple of Light and Darkness, even though they suspect the events of the day were designed to keep them away from the temple as long as possible.

The next morning, the entire group heads out – including Scrag, who is still melancholy about having to have replaced his deceased gardener.  He muses to himself that between his gardener and the one at Reiner's manor, gardening is a more dangerous occupation than he would have thought.  Krolec, meanwhile, makes sure to grab the two vials of acid they procured.

With the sewers cleaned out and the city purged of its criminal elements, the travel to the temple is uncharacteristically uneventful.  Scrag, in the lead, approaches the door but is cautioned by Krolec to wait so he can look for traps.  

Leigh reminds the ranger they already checked the door last time, but he reminds her that someone else may have added traps since then as part of the conspiracy against the group.  Once he is sure the door is untrapped, Scrag opens it.

The chamber beyond is very dark and dusty, leading to a set of stairs leading down.  Krolec does not spot any tracks in the dust, or any traps in the entryway.  Sage activates her sunrod as Scrag steps inside.

Using the copy of the blueprints Leigh retrieved from the tomb of the architect Enrigas, Krolec guides Scrag down the twisting stairs.  At the bottom, they know they can either head a short ways west and up a short flight of stairs to get to a location identified as the "armory", or take the main chamber south to the rest of the temple.

Session 46 - Scene 2 (of 4)

To avoid being surprised from behind, the group elects to check out the armory first.  Krolec quietly makes his way to the foot of the stairs and slowly creeps up them.  He keeps his distance from the armory room itself, glancing as much as he dares from around a corner.

With Sage keeping the light source fairly far behind, Krolec can barely make anything out in the passageway ahead, even with his low-light vision.  He is fairly sure, however, he has spotted some slight movement in the room.

Krolec signals back down the stairway to the others.  Scrag, using his panther armor, moves along the shadows and heads up to the top of the stairs to get into position.

The elf then steps up a little further to get a better view into the room.  Looking inside, he can see the room is indeed an old armory – one with a group of four battle wights inside.  The creatures do not appear to spot him hidden in the darkness.  Krolec signals the number four back to the others.

While everyone else either holds back or advances slowly to the foot of the stairs, Sa'lid misinterprets Krolec's signal as a need for immediate help.  He runs up the stairs and towards Krolec, causing the wights to turn their attention to the hall.  With their undead darkvision, they immediately spot Krolec and Scrag.

The battle wights charge at Scrag and Krolec, striking out with their ghastly longswords.  Both the ranger and the warden are hit, causing them both injuries as well as the becoming immobilized.  Worse, they can tell the wights are draining their life force with each hit.

At the sound of battle, Leigh heads up the stairs and sees the creatures.  With the tight hallway, she knows she will have no choice but to risk hurting Krolec and Scrag in order to injure the wights.  Firing off a fire burst spell, she blasts the wights and Scrag, but manages to miss Krolec.

Sage heads up the stairs as well and moves to protect Leigh.  She attempts to blast a wight with her sacred flame, but misses.  She then uses a healing word to heal Scrag.

Scrag attempts a thunder ram assault against the wights in front of him, but they fend him off with their shields.  Krolec has no better luck as he attempts to use his swords to strike at the creatures with a hawk's talon maneuver.

Durmindin moves up behind Leigh and Sage, and summons his spirit companion next to Krolec so he can assist the ranger.  The spirit strikes out, hitting one of the wights.

Sa'lid follows up the attack by using his swirling stars spell.  Unfortunately, it not only hits two of the wights but Durmindin's spirit companion as well.  As the spirit is dispelled, the nearby shaman suffers the psychic feedback and cringes in pain.

The wights press the attack.  Two of them drain Scrag's life force quickly, using it to heal themselves.  The other two hack into Krolec, badly injuring him and draining nearly all of his life force.  The ranger yells out to the others to retreat and leave him behind.

Leigh ignores Krolec's command and decides to press on with a flurry of spells.  She begins by blasting the wights and Krolec with a shock sphere.  She follows it up with a fire scythe spell that hits all the wights but knocks Krolec safely prone.

Sage attempts to use a hymn of resurgence, but finds the wights are too tough to be affected.  She then moves up and gives a healing word to Krolec.

Scrag then blasts the area with his manticore shields.  The wave of darts kills two of the wights, and injuring the other two along with Krolec.  The warden then summons forth his triumphant vigor.

Inspired by Sage, Krolec is able to shake off the effects of the wight's paralyzing hits and uses acrobatics to jump to his feet.  He tries to retreat past the remaining wights to safety, but is struck by a wight sword as he passes and once more finds himself frozen in place.

Durmindin summons forth his spirit again.  He strikes out at a wight with a thunder bear's warning, but the creature fends off the attack.  The shaman fares better with a wrath of winter spell, blasting the wight into oblivion.

Sa'lid moves to take on the last battle wight.  He blasts the creature with a blazing starfall (that narrowly misses Scrag as well).  With the creature still barely standing, the sorcerer flings his vial of holy water at it, causing the creature to melt in the ensuing explosion of blessed liquid.

Session 46 - Scene 3 (of 4)

Everyone takes a few moments to recover themselves.  The majority of the group is doing fine, but Krolec is severely weakened from the battle.  He believes the group should head back out and rest before continuing to explore the temple, but does want to check the armory over first.

The ranger first makes sure the room is free of traps.  He then looks around the room; it appears to be filled with racks of ancient, rusted weapons and old furniture.  At one point, this room appears to have been used as a guard post for the guardians of the temple.

Krolec does spot one weapon that appears to be in strangely good shape.  Leigh examines it, and determines it is a magical Medic's Mace.  Sage and Durmindin start discussing how Sage could take the new mace and give Durmindin her old one, but Krolec interrupts them and says they can discuss it during the trip back to the mansion.

After making certain there is nothing else of value in the room, Krolec has Scrag lead them out.  But as Scrag gets to the top of the winding stairway, he tells the others to stop.  Up ahead he sees the entrance doors are shut and a carved mouth appears on the wall next to the doors where there wasn't one before.

Leigh slowly approaches it.  She can tell it is a magic mouth, created by magic.  Once she gets close enough, it begins to speak, "Hello Leigh... Krolec... Scrag... Sage... Sa'lid... Durmindin...  I want to play a game.  For far too long, you have interfered in matters that do not concern you.  Your interference has caused much pain and suffering and many deaths of innocents and friends.  Your obsession has brought you to this place.  And now this tomb will be your tomb."

With that, the magic mouth disappears, having finished its message.  Leigh notices that not only has the wall been enchanted with a magic mouth, it also appears to have sealed the doors with some kind of magic.  Sage realizes what the mouth meant – they are now trapped inside.

Leigh can tell the spell was cast by someone more powerful than her and she will be unable to dispel it.  Krolec wonders if they can use the acid vials to burn around or through the doors.  Leigh explains that the doors aren't just sealed, it's as if a wall of force were protecting the doors and the wall they are part of.

Scrag and Sage attempt to force the door open, but fail to budge it.  Krolec begins to suspect Durmindin was right after all – only Nimozarran would seem to be powerful enough to use this magic.

Session 46 - Scene 4 (of 4)

With no way to get through the doors and not wanting to try and fight their way back to the Chamber of Twilight (where they know another entrance is located via the collapsed section of the ceiling), the group elects to head back to the armory and seek refuge there.

Scrag and Sage take the lead back down the stairs.  But as they reach the hall below, Scrag spots two deathlock wights headed in their direction.

Leigh immediately moves up next to Scrag and fires off her fireball spell.  Sa’lid follows, casting a deep shroud to conceal them and blasting the creatures with a blazing starfall and the moon and the stars spells.

Krolec decides to hang back, reminding himself he is weakened and trying to keep mindful that he should not behave like a front-line fighter.  Durmindin stays back with him.

The wights attempt to fire back at the sorcerer with grave bolts, but miss.  Sage has no better luck with a counterattack of her sacred flame.

Scrag decides to charge ahead at the creatures.  He strikes into one with his thunder ram assault, killing it.  Leigh then uses a fireburst to finish off the other one.

The group quickly makes their way to the armory.  Krolec has them take some of the rusty weapons and have Snarg create alarm traps in the hallways to alert them of anything approaching.

They know the night will not be easy to survive…

Session 46 - Session Notes

This session was pretty short - really only two hours of play.  We got started about a half hour late because of people being delayed plus chit-chat.  And we ended early because of the winter storm coming (in particular, the kid has to drive like 30 miles of highway to get home and just got his license, so we didn't want him to get hurt).

The session also had the misfortune of falling between two holidays, so the last session was nearly a month ago, and it will be nearly another month before we get together again.  Given that, probably best we didn't get too far into it.

A few notes from this session:

* I've had the Temple of Light and Darkness mapped out for a while now.  It's been ages since I've had to do much DM prep.  The only thing that changed between the original plans and now is that the door locked behind them with the magic mouth.

* The magic mouth was something I wanted to do for a while.  In RPGs, its so hard to give villains a chance to say anything.  So, I always have to resort to dreams, visions, letters, side interludes, and now a magic mouth.  Obviously I cribbed a little from the Saw movies here - though that was just to make it seem more menacing rather than any sort of correlation.

* The door being sealed and the magic mouth, btw, are the direct result of the PCs taking the bait last session.

* I believe I mentioned before this map was based on an actual set of roman catacombs.  Between the time I originally handed out the player's map to now, the Leigh player actually saw the map on some tv program and recognized it.  That was pretty funny.

* The encounters in the tomb were designed to be deadly, but not nearly as deadly as it almost was this session.  But I completley blame the players for using bad tactics again.  Other than Krolec being beaten down, they were in perfectly fine condition at the end of the encounter.

* The paranoia over Nimozarran annoyed me the way it always annoys me when they can't handle having multiple NPCs with different goals and personalities.  They also seem pretty ignorant of the capabilities of their enemies.

I have a hard time understanding how anyone could think that Nimozarran makes any kind of sense as the master villain.  Not only has he been one of the few who keeps pointing out there is a conspiracy, he is on his deathbed most of the time and generally only cares about Leigh taking over as the new head wizard.  

No, instead of factoring any of that in, it comes down to "magic was used - it must be Nimozarran!!!"  Actually, I think it might be even worse than that.  It might just be "we saw Nimozarran last and thus he's the only NPC in the entire campaign we remember right now - he must have done it!!!"

I swear, I understand now why popular tv shows only ever have one good guest and one evil guest per episode - anything more and it apparently blows people's minds.

Session 47 - Cast of Characters

Scrag Graveborn - Half-Orc Warden
Sir Krolec Jar'Bin - Elven Ranger
Dame Leigh - Eladrin Wizard
Sage - Longtooth Shifter Cleric
Sir Durmindin - Wilden Shaman
Sa'lid Dra'lah - Human Sorcerer

Session 47 - Scene 1 (of 7)

Everyone positions themselves in the ancient armory room in the hopes of resting enough to move on.  Sa'lid and Snarg head over to a far corner, with Krolec sleeping nearby.  In the opposite rear corner of the room, the sunrod lies as an artificial campfire.

Between Sa'lid and the sunrod, Durmindin rests in the back of the room.  Up near the doorway, Sage and Scrag stand guard.  Leigh sleeps nearby, wanting to be available quickly in case of trouble.

An hour in, and Scrag hears the alarm of rusty metal go off from outside the room and down the nearby stairs leading to the hallway below.  He blends into the shadows and sneaks out of the room and into the short hallway leading from the armory to the stairs.

Scrag spots a solitary battle wight heading up the stairs.  He sneaks back to inform Sage.  She tells Scrag to wake Durmindin and Leigh, and readies herself to charge the wight as soon as it passes in front of the doorway.

As the wight approaches, Sage runs and slams into it with her mace.  The undead creature responds by striking back at her with its sword, hitting her hard.

Scrag takes the time to make sure Leigh wakes up.  The wizard stands herself up and moves into a position to see the wight attacking Sage.

Using her hallowed might, Sage strikes the wight again with her mace and uses her divine powers to teleport Scrag next to the creature.  Scrag follows up by cutting into the wight with his axe.

The wight strikes at Sage again, scoring another deep wound.  Scrag makes sure he gets the wight's full attention, chopping into it with his strength of stone.

Leigh moves over to Durmindin and gives him a quick kick with her foot to awaken him.  But the wilden sleeps soundly, simply tossing a little and mumbling something incomprehensible.  Not wanting to waste more time on the endeavor, Leigh decides to blast the wight with a magic missile.

Sage finally finishes the creature off with a healing strike.

Leigh wonders why they bothered to wake her and heads back to sleep as Scrag and Sage resume their normal positions.  They also decide to dim the sunrod's light a bit by partially covering it with one of their backpacks, hoping it will attract less attention to them.

Session 47 - Scene 2 (of 7)

Another hour and a half go by before Scrag hears something again.  As before, he attempts to meld into the shadows and head over to get a better look.

But this time, he makes too much noise while moving.  A lone battle wight heading up the stairs spots him and charges the warden.  Scrag manages to fend off the attack.

Scrag shifts back into a better position to allow Sage room to maneuver.  The wight follows him, and tries to attack again, but Scrag's armor holds off another blow.  He strikes back at the creature, hitting it with his strength of stone.

Sage then moves into position and strikes the wight.  The wight and Scrag exchange a set of blows as well.

After Sage hits the creature with another blow from her mace, Scrag uses his earthgrasp strike to knock the creature down.  The battle wight attempts to stand and strike back, but Scrag parries the blow.

Scrag and Sage attempt to strike the wight again, but his shield blocks both of their attacks.  Luckily, the wight is still having no luck in its attacks against Scrag.

Sage is finally able to finish the undead creature off with a healing strike.

Happy they were able to deal with the wight without being injured or needing to wake the others, Scrag and Sage move back into position.