NOTE -- SPOILERS FOR MODULE AA#5 Flaming Footprints of Jilanth FOLLOW

FIRST SESSION  (Sat, 2012-09-22)

The PCs:

• 4th lvl Dwarf Fighter (B.Axe Specialized) from the Glorioles, in Sunndi.
• 3/3/3 Half Elf Clr/Ftr/MU from the Rieuwood, in Sunndi.
• 4th level Monk.  His temple is on the southermost island of the Spindrift chain.
• 4th level Human Ranger (Longsword Specialized) from the Rieuwood, in Sunndi.

The Setup

Play begins with the PCs accepting employment as agents of the Lordship of the Isles.  Recently, flaming footprints were seen in the streets of Duxchan.  This sign was the symbol of the pirate known as Firebeard, who had been slain with all his crew by an assault on Firebeard's hidden base off the coast of Hepmonaland over two decades ago.  Some said the pirate had returned from the grave to seek revenge on the men of the Isles.  Within days, the Lord Prince of the Isles vanished without a trace.

The Crown Prince of the Isles, a young man of 18, insisted on an expedition to Firebeard's island base to seek answers about his missing father.  The Lord Prince's brother, who had stepped in as Regent despite the Crown Prince's majority, agreed to outfit a ship and assist his nephew in this quest.  The PCs -- known heroes -- are to accompany the Crown Prince.

The Lord Regent provided the PCs with a large cog (the Sea Ghost), a captain, and a crew of 20 stout Islemen.  

The PCs quickly found the Crown Prince to be an impatient, arrogant ass of unproven quality as a warrior, although very eager and courageous.  The Sea Ghost's captain, Talys, seemed an experienced and capable man with a fine crew.  After purchasing supplies, the expedition set sail for the Isle of Jilanth, one-time base of the Pirate, Firebeard.

Towards dusk on the first day of sailing the lookout spied another ship on the horizon.  By the time  night fell, it had become clear that the strange ship had turned towards the Sea Ghost.  When the next morning dawned the strange ship had gained, but was still distant.

For several days the two ships sailed and maneuvered, with the wind not being terribly cooperative.  The end result was that the Sea Ghost eventually lost her tail during the night.  On the final night of the voyage, a storm blew in, but the Sea Ghost was close enough to the Island that she didn't suffer, much, but managed to find safe harbor in the Island of Jilanth's bay.

Spoiler

I'm going to use these spoiler tags more as side-comments in DM voice than as actual spoilers.  The whole thread should be considered as a spoiler for the modules I'm using, though.

I had planned on typing up a cheat-sheet with some simple weather charts and encounter tables for this, but since we jump-started into the game I didn't get to it.  I ad-libbed weather with a d100 roll indicating wind/weather (01 is becalmed, 100 is a storm, doubles is something special like fog or sudden squall or a rogue wave) and a d8 for wind direction tendency.  Amazingly, that produced very consistent results.

The players were spoiling for a sea battle, but the dice didn't roll that way.  I'm glad it worked out that way, though, because I want to review those rules and maybe create some battlemats following deck plans.  For that kind of battle I'd like to use minis and do it wargame/skirmish style.  (And I'd probably use Chainmail-style rules for the 0-level participants where one hit kills them without any need for a damage roll.)

The next morning the PCs, the Crown Prince, and three sailors took a ship's boat to the rocky beach and started exploring the sea caves and the rickety rope and wood plank bridges that connected them.  The Half-Elf was attacked by a giant crocodile, but an outstanding display of archery by the Ranger (a natural 20 and a 19, with rolls of 6 and 5 for damage) caused the monster to think twice: it released its struggling prey and beat a hasty retreat.

Spoiler

The 11 points of damage was half the croc's hit points gone in a single round.  No wonder it decided "this sucks" and fled.

The party proceeded into the caves, noticing signs that someone had been here recently.  However, they also found some clearly undisturbed areas.  One cave, sealed with an actual door, was apparently an old pirates' barracks, complete with rotting hammocks and a table laden with cutlery and mugs.  The PCs recovered an old map which seemed to show the marshy coast of Hepmonaland.  An X-marked spot was indicated on the map in the middle of the swamplands, and mysterious (coded?) notations fired the imagination.

Deeper in the caves, the PCs came across a chamber filled with a dozen skeletons hanging from makeshift gibbits.  The remains of piratical garb, along with cutlasses and other weapons littering the floor, made the PCs suspect that here was the final resting place of at least some of Firebeard's crew.  As soon as the place was entered the skeletons animated and fell from the gibbets, picking up weapons.  To her consternation, the Half-Elf was unable to turn them, so a fierce melee took place.  The PCs triumphed with only a few wounds.  (There were a few chuckles when it became obvious that the Crown Prince had fouled himself, but he had fought well so the chuckles were kept quiet.)

Spoiler

As written, this encounter is with 12 skeletons with a special ability to "feint" once in three rounds, giving the skeleton a bonus if the PC fails a saving throw.  I thought this encounter was too weak.  I made the entire area "unhallowed/cursed ground" that makes the skeletons immune to turning while they're in the room, and I changed their special ability to a scream that causes magical fear-based paralysis on a failed save.  Once paralyzed, the victim gets another saving throw every round to recover their courage (and mobility).

I also had decided that the skeletons would re-form at moonrise once per day unless the area was hallowed/the curse lifted.  However, the players clearly suspected something of the sort, because they spoiled my plans gathering the bones for a sea-burial, which was good thinking on their part.

Oh, a comment on the Crown Prince.  I intended to play him as a spoiled, entitled brat that everyone hates (kind of an older Joffrey).  And that was going fine.  However, my daughter was rolling for him and her dice were incredibly hot this session.  As a result, the Crown Prince actually fought heroically and effectively.  The PCs started giving him some grudging respect.

Proceeding deeper, the PCs found a passage or doorway filled with rubble from a collapsed ceiling.  The Dwarf said it had been deliberately done.  The PCs decided to leave it alone, for now, and continued on, discovering a cave containing a giant rat lair.  The rats fled, so the PCs left them unmolested.

Spoiler

Again, I think the giant rat encounter is very weak sauce for an adventure that is supposed to be for 6-8 characters of 3rd-5th level.  There's only three rats, as written.  Why even bother?  If I'd have had some more time I probably would've replaced this encounter with something more interesting, but as it was I left it.  (I thought I was going to have a week to go through the module, again, changing/adding stuff.)  Anyway, I was happy the PCs ignored the rats.

The PCs continued their spelunking until they ran into the lair of a colony of giant spiders.  The spiders proved to be highly intelligent, and they were clearly communicating with eachother in hissing and clicking voices.  The PCs managed to kill several of the spiders and burn some webs, but were also spooked by the sight of an enormous "Mama Spider" down a foul, descending tunnel beyond the webs.  However, even after the death of her young, the Mama Spider apparently didn't want a frontal confrontation.  Keeping a wary eye on the tunnel, the PCs spent some time working to open the large, silk-wrapped bundles in the cave.  They found a dead wizard, a dead spider, and a barely living 5th level Thief.  The Thief, grateful for his life, swore to serve the Half-Elf (who had healed him) until he could repay his debt.  He also explained he was part of an adventuring party who had heard about the re-appearance of Firebeard and had sought out the pirate's one-time lair.

Spoiler

As written, this encounter is a single 4+4 HD giant spider.  I decided a single spider, even if level-appropriate, was likely to be killed quickly and be a boring encounter.  I made it a small colony of intelligent giant spiders (like in The Hobbit, of course).  They acted with good tactics and could shoot their webs as missile weapons.  The smaller spiders were 2+2 "half strength" giant spiders.  I also decided that since there were numerous spiders it was much more likely that PCs would be poisoned; consequently, I decided their poison would cause paralysis rather than death.  Yeah, I'm being a softie.

After the encounter with the spiders the PCs retreated to the ship.  The following morning they healed the rescued Thief and returned to the caves, following their previous route and intending to beard Mama Spider in her lair.  Unfortunately for them, Mama Spider had other plans, and had set up an ambush in the tunnels.  The Ranger, who was in the lead, snapped a web strand half-way through the right-hand entrace passage.  She immediately called out "Everyone run back to the entrance, now!"  

Spoiler

Again, my plans are spoiled by experienced players.  There are two parallel tunnels in this part of the cave.  Mama Spider put tripwire webs in both.  When the PCs entered one and tripped the web, some of her children would wall off one end of the tunnel and Mama Spider would come from the other.  However, the Ranger's response to breaking that web strand was IMMEDIATE.  I was astonished.  Anyway, the result was that the PCs weren't bottled up in the tunnel, but had a meeting engagement with the young spiders before the monsters could web anything shut.  Good play.

Rushing back to the cave entrance, the party met more young spiders and engaged in a frenzied melee.  Big Mama Spider also attacked from the other direction, down the tunnel, threating the PCs in her hissing voice, and using the common tongue (to the horror of the PCs and the delight of the players).  Fighting on two fronts, the PCs struggled a bit, with both the Ranger and the NPC Thief succumbing to the paralyzing poison.  However, all the spiders were ultimately slain.  Mama Spider tried to flee from the dripping axe of the Dwarf, but the Prince blocked her and then vanquished her in a berserk fury.

Spoiler

Again, the Crown Prince surprised everyone by fighting well.  His "death blow" attack roll on Mama Spider was a natural twenty and his damage 10 points to the already wounded monster.  He's only a 2nd level Fighter, but the PCs have been impressed and you could see attitudes changing.  Since he's being given some honest respect and genuine comradeship for actual deeds, I think I'll have him start acting a little differently towards the PCs, too.

The spider-fight took a lot out of the party, so they retreated back to the ship, again, to recover.  

And that's where we wrapped up the session.  Everybody had fun.

The rules we're using have been well-received, so far.  While I'm not a fan of weapon specialization, the players seem to be enjoying it (no surprise, since it really ups the Fighters' potency) and the weapon vs. AC details.  The Weapon vs AC thing goes quite smooth using Nagora's tables.  It's all pre-calculated and written down on their character sheets, so it's no more cumbersome than a standard table lookup.  They also like the expanded spell list, since I'm including the UA spells.

We didn't use minis or a battlemat or anything like that.  There were a lot of tied initiative rolls this session, for some reason.  Funny how that happens in spurts.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the Monk chose the Spetum for his weapon.  He hasn't tried using its disarm ability, yet, though.

SECOND SESSION (Sat, 2012-09-29)



The PCs rested a full day after their return from the caves.  This was the seventh day of the expedition, so the ship had used about half of its original supplies.  However, between rain barrels, clerical magic, and fishing while being anchored in the bay, some additional supplies were obtained; the captain remained comfortable with the supply situation.

On the eight day, the PCs decided to check out some of the areas of the caves they hadn't yet explored.  They soom came to a worked stone passage off one of the caverns.  They found a prison area with three cells.  The dwarf and elf fell for an illusionary trap and were sealed within one cell by a magical wall of ice.  Fortunately, the Ranger discovered a command word to free them in the second cell.  The last cell proved to be a trial: water dripped from a fissure in the stone, and the wet and muddy floor concealed a large gray ooze that surprised the party and did grevious damage to both the Ranger and the Dwarf.  Both fighters escaped with their lives, but both lost their armor to the monster, which was not vanquished -- the party merely fled faster than it could pursue.

Due to their misfortune with the ooze, the group again returned to the ship, where the fighters re-equipped with leather armor and the half-elf used her healing magic to ease the pain of their wounds.

Spoiler

The original module had the illusion/wall-of-ice trap and the command word to dispel the ice wall written in the second cell.  The third cell originally had three giant fleas treated as stirges.  In the second cell, I added a skeleton hunched facing the far wall.  Only after the skeleton was moved could the command-word be found.  That worked well, because after setting off the trap in the first cell, the group was very cautious about exploring the second cell, and the hunched (but inanimate) skeleton made them quite nervous.

I didn't like the fleas, and replaced them with a high-hp gray ooze, which I found to be a much more effective encounter.  The PCs wisely decided to flee and try to avoid the ooze in the future, correctly thinking it had no treasure to speak of.

The Dwarf was *very* annoyed at the loss of his armor.

On the ninth day of the expedition, the PCs explored another new section of caverns.  This portion was a large space that was almost completely flooded: many deep pools and shallower sections only a few inches deep, and even some parts above-water, but slick with mud.   Far across this treacherous cavern, the PCs could see a faint, magical-looking light-source glimmering in the darkness.

Spoiler

The rescued Thief, Hieroman, possessed a ring of spider-climbing which allowed him to transit the cavern using the walls, rather than cross the treacherous-looking floor.  When he reached the far side, he saw that the glimmering was caused by a glowing ring on the finger of a skeletal form.  The skeleton was crumpled and half-buried by mud, and next to it loomed a dark, burrow-like hole.  He decided to try and retrieve the glowing ring.

Despite the Thief's caution and stealth, his actions disturbed the Giant Fiddler Crab in its burrow.  He was trapped by its mighty claw and had to fight for his life while the PCs launched missiles at additional giant crabs that emerged to attack him.  The fight ended with the death of several giant fiddler crabs, and the rest retreated into holes and pools.  Hieroman lived and brought the glowing magic ring back.  He presented it to the half-elf, declaring his debt to her paid with this "obviously mighty gift."

The Ranger suggested taking the dead crabs to the ship to give the crew a feast.  This action was well-received by the sailors!

Spoiler

The flooded fiddler crab cave replaced the module's original piranha pool cave.  I'd hoped to grab some PCs and drag them into deep pools to drown, but I didn't figure on the Thief and his climbing ring!

The fiddler crabs are, of course, a Monsters of Myth monster.  I showed the pic, above, as well as the pic in MoM, and the players were suitably impressed.

I also replaced the ring.  Instead of a ring of spell storing, I gave them a ring of three wishes with two wishes remaining.  The glow was from two of the three gems in the setting, indicating the number of wishes remaining.  I know this was a powerful treasure, but it's a powerful and consumable treasure, and giving it out was worth it.  You should've seen the greed when they later identified it and realized what it was!  Although Hieroman had given it to the half-elf, the PCs ended up dicing for it, and the Monk wound up with it.  He didn't claim it, he just said he'd hold it for the party.  (Which was a good result, because the Monk is a level-headed player.)

The fight with the giant fiddler crabs had wounded severals PCs and NPCs, so the tenth day of the expedition was spent aboard ship, feasting on crab and recuperating.  During this down-time, the group discussed where to explore next, mentioning the collapsed tunnel, the unexplored sea-cave, and the tunnel beyond the spider lair.  When they mentioned the collapsed tunnel, Hieroman asked them if they knew the story of Firebeard's death, and related the tale about Firebeard's Voodoo Witch Sea-Wife, Xamacatla, who was so feared that Islemen entombed her in Firebeard's chambers rather than face her in battle.

The PCs immediately realized that the chambers beyond the collapsed tunnel were probably Firbeard's own, and that if the Islemen hadn't dared to enter them, they were also unlooted!  This became their next target.

Day eleven dawned with the group returning to the collapsed tunnel with tools and working to clear an opening large enough to crawl through.  The dwarf was the first inside, discovering a large cave furnished as living quarters.  The witch was sprawled across a great wooden desk, obviously dead (her corpse covered with dust).  The dwarf jokingly said "Hello" and to his horror she rose to greet him.  The dwarf fled, but the Ranger, Monk, and Half-Elf and moved to face the undead witch.  They had a hard time cutting her down, despite spells and magic weapons, but ultimately the Ranger laid the witch low.  Unfortunately, even as she fell, the witch uttered a death-curse to doom her slayer.

Spoiler

If you run AA5, I suggest putting in some rumors/legends/tales/clues that tell the PCs the story of a voodoo witch being sealed in Firebeard's private chambers.  It'll give them a reason to seek out the encounter and spend the time clearing a way through the rubble.  Otherwise they're likely to bypass one of the cooler encounters in the module.

I had decided to give the voodoo witch a charm/command like ability, as well as a mummy's usual fear effect.  This would allow her to order her enemies to approach her, which would help if the PCs tried to stand off and vanquish her with only spells and missiles.  In play, it turned out this was unnecessary.  The players were happy to engage her in melee.  The Ranger has been infected with mummy rot, as well as being cursed, although the Ranger's player hasn't realized this, yet.  She's going to be pissed -- she was already annoyed at being paralyzed and cursed.  On the other hand, she rolled three 20s during this battle and was instrumental in defeating the voodoo witch.

After the battle the PCs looted the chambers.  They ended up busting open the desk, which destroyed a potion of healing, but retrieved some treasure and Firebeard's personal journal.  After some misadventures with the sea-chest (which is protected with a magical teleport trap), they retrieved a large amount of treasure.  Returning to the ship, the gains were shared amongst all participants (even the 0-level NPC sailor who did little more than hold a torch).  Amongst the treasures were a ring of regeneration (the dwarf ended up with that) and a +1 dagger (the ranger ended up with that), and several potions (not sure who got those).

Spoiler

I increased the amount of monetary treasure in this room.  The module has a lot of magic, but really is light on gold.  Maybe I mentioned this earlier, but it makes me think that perhaps the adventure was originally for 3e and converted to 1e.

If you run AA5, you'll definitely want to go through and look at treasure.  Some DMs might want to tone down the magic, and I think just about all DMs would want to increase monetary rewards to give the PCs some XP that's worthwhile.

The 0-level sailor who was so generously rewarded for his "linkboy" services has been elevated to 1st level henchman status and is attached to the Ranger, now.

The session ended with some discussion between the PCs and the Captain.  The Captain wanted to reassure the crew that the treasure being recovered would be shared as ship's plunder (everyone saw that huge sea-chest come aboard), and the Captain wanted to discuss moving the Sea Ghost out of the bay, and possibly putting a shore-party on the island to climb the bluffs and watch for enemy ships.  He was growing concerned about the ship that tried to follow the Sea Ghost, and doesn't want to get bottled up in the harbor if a hostile ship shows up.  A shore-party would also help crew morale; the sailors are getting sick of being at anchor in the bay and being put through keep-busy kinds of tasks.

Oh, almost forgot -- the group used one of their two wishes to remove the mummy's curse from the Ranger.  Easy come, easy go...

THIRD SESSION (Sat, 2012-10-06)

The morning of the thirteeth day of the expedition dawned gray and rainy.  The Ranger noticed her skin was red and itchy where she had been wounded by the undead witch, Xamacatla.

Spoiler

Last session when the party healed I forgot about the mummy rot and allowed the Ranger to regain her hit points.  So I ran with it like the disease is only now starting to affect her.

The onset of the mummy rot caused some player annoyance, as I expected.  I pointed out, "Well, you guys still have another wish..."  That didn't seem to help.  

Amongst the papers retrieved from Firebeard's old quarters was a map of the island:



The PCs noted the step pyramid in the island's interior, which caused some interest, but they decided to keep their focus on exploring the caves, for now.  This time they decided to return to the cave where the colony of giant spiders had their lair and explore the long tunnel beyond it.  

The Ranger left her new henchman ("Sam the Sailor") behind, giving him instructions to act as the group's eyes and ears amongst the ship's complement.  So this time only two NPCs accompanied the group: the Prince and Hieroman the Thief. They all boarded a ship's boat and headed back to the sea caves and sought out the former giant spider lair.

Spoiler

The thief's name, Hieroman, comes from module AA5.  I was amused to see that Hieroman is also the name of a pregenerated NPC from the module I1.  Probably not a coincidence.

The tunnel beyond the spider lair proved to be very long: ultimately about a half-mile of underground passage.  The dwarf noted many sections where the route had been worked, widened, or smoothed ("decent practical work, but no real artistry").  The group also found evidence that at least some of the thief's party must have lived and made it past the spiders: they had left chalk arrows and notes on the wall.  Lastly, the PCs found some ashy footprints in one section of tunnel, as if they had once been aflame.  This encouraged the Prince, who had started to despair of finding any clue about his missing father or the mysterious flaming footprints.

At length, the group came to a heavily worked area where a series of stone steps led up to a pair of heavy double-doors. Carvings in gnomish proclaimed the place the "Halls of Mimda."  

The Halls of Mimda turned out to be a worked and finished "dungeon" area rather than mere caves.  The PCs spent most of the session exploring a series of tunnels and rooms that acted as former living quarters for a large colony of gnomes, but which were apparently abandoned long ago.  Nevertheless, the PCs found the Halls of Mimda were not empty!

Their first sign of trouble was when magical darkness enveloped the group.  Seconds later, those who were carrying torches or lanterns were attacked.  The attack seemed to focus on the light sources, rather than on their persons.  The PCs responded by trying to grab and restrain the attackers (which was probably a better tactic than flailing about with weapons in the darkness).

The fight ended with two of the attackers being subdued and captured by the PCs.  One of the prisoners was a strange, gollum-like creature: thin, wiry, and agile.  The other was a gnome, who Hieroman immediately recognized as his old comrade, Glimber Silvernose!  However, Glimber was no longer himself: he was pale, hostile, and sunken-cheeked, and light hurt his eyes and made him shriek in pain.  

Both prisoners were found to have black crystal gems in their possession; shadows seemed to move within the crystals.  The PCs confiscated these gems, but mistrusted them, so placed them on the stone floor away from the group while trying to question Glimber.

Spoiler

I *COMPLETELY* re-did this section of the module, maps and all.  In my version, Glimber has fallen under the same corruption that cursed that original gnomes of this place, although he's not as far along as them.

Amusing anecdote:  during the blind melee, the half elf was wrestling with Glimber and got a hold of the strap that held on his silver nose.  She jerked it off of him, and thought it might be some sort of lens or item that allowed sight in the magical darkness, so in the pitch blackness she was putting the silver nose up to her eyes on putting it on trying to see.  When the party found out it was a silver nose to replace the real nose Glimber had lost, the recollection of these efforts caused great hilarity!

Glimber proved to be uncooperative and unresponsive.  During the questioning, the gollum-like prisoner suddenly slipped its bonds, becoming almost rubbery and snake like in the process, and made a break for the black crystals.  The dwarf was ready for that, though, and *smashed* the crystals with a crushing blow.  To everyone's amazement, both Glimber and the gollum-like gnome burst into flames and died.


(Not a perfect picture of the gollum-like gnome, but good enough to give the players an idea of its appearance.)

The session wrapped up with the PCs still exploring the Halls of Mimda, which are apparently extensive.  They have discovered a stairway to lower depths.  

Spoiler

The players have not quite finished exploring my expanded gnome hold.  I have three levels (upper/lower/mines).  I've made the corrupt gnomes a combination of FF Dark Creepers and the Hold Creepers as written in AA5.

The blind fight was interesting.  It went smoothly enough, but I made many quick judgment calls, rather than worrying too much about the rules for fighting blind and for grappling/overbearing/etc.  I used the UA unarmed combat rules as a general guideline.  I think I need to re-read that entire section and try to become more familiar with the actual rules.  No one was dissatisfied with the way the combat ran, so it's more for me than for the players.

I should also note that the player of the Monk PC did very well in the blind melee.  I suspected that might be the case, and was pleased with the way it worked out.

FOURTH SESSION (Sat, 2012-10-20)

The session started off right in media res, where we'd left off last time.  So it's still the thirteenth day of the expedition, and the PCs are exploring the Halls of Mimda.

The group discovered a secret door that led to a series of rooms that seemed to have once been living quarters and storage areas for the gnomes that built the Halls.  They found nothing of value, but did disturb some sort of ghost or poltergeist in a storage room full of ancient casks and barrels.  Rather than confront the spirit, the PCs shut the door and beat a hasty retreat.

During their explorations, the group suffered another attack by a small group of the degenerate, cursed gnomes.  (Because of their use of magical darkness and their obvious vulnerability to bright light, the PCs started calling them "darklings.")  The PCs defeated them without much trouble, despite fighting blind.

After the darkling attack, the group decided they might as well venture down the stairs they'd found.  This stair led to a deeper level of the Halls, and they found the way blocked with rusting portcullises and crossbow-armed darklings.  Fighting their way through, the PCs suffered some damage, but drove off the darklings after killing several.  The group found itself in a large, fortified complex of rooms and chambers, most seeming long-unused.  They attempted to pass a great pair of iron doors, but their efforts to pick the lock resulted in the doors rapidly growing red-hot, so they abandoned that path and sought another.

Further exploration discovered a well-cave and a fungal garden (which was left alone after disturbing it led to the release of some mysterious spores), as well as a cave full of bones (mostly rat, but some humanoid).  This cave also contained a crude shrine to a figure made of bones and cloth and fashioned to resemble a bat-like humanoid.  The PCs found a collection of small gems apparently left as offerings.  One of these caught the eye of the dwarf, and he quietly took possession of it: a clear crystal with a shadowy pulse within its depths...

Spoiler

Yeah, he failed his saving throw...

Off the main passage through the lower halls, the PCs found a second metal door.  This one had a dragon's face depicted on its surface, and a background engraving that suggested a lair full of treasure.  When the Monk tried picking the lock he fell victim to a magical lightning trap that would have killed him outright were it not for the fact that he was wearing the ring of regeneration (the Dwarf had loaned it to him because of damage the Monk suffered during the combat, earlier).

A second attempt on the door succeeded, and beyond the group found a hall of records filled with books and scrolls.  Nothing turned up magical, but the group spent a great deal of time going through the documents, and learned a great deal about the history of the Halls of Mimda and the misfortune of its original inhabitants.  They also found a map of the mines.



Beginning to feel hungry and fatigued, the PCs decided to return to the ship to rest and recuperate.  They felt confident that the darklings were now afraid of and avoiding them, and this seemed true, as they were unmolested during their long stay in the Hall of Records and during their retreat from the Halls of Mimda and back to their ship.

Spoiler

This session seemed like it dragged a bit.  I'm not sure why, because they got quite a bit done and found plenty of interesting things (although they ended up avoiding some of the interesting stuff like the poltergeist and the fungal garden).  The combats were with the same enemies, which might be part of it, but even then the second combat was a different tactical situation.  Maybe it was just the ratio of exploration to treasure.  Also, they spent a lot of time on the upper level looking around empty rooms and searching for secret doors.  Maybe that's it -- Dunno.

FIFTH SESSION (Sun, 2012-10-28)

Usually we play on Sat. night, but my wife and I went out (sushi and beer -- yum), so the game was delayed until Sun. afternoon.

Our previous session ended with the group returning to the ship on the evening of the thirteenth day of the expedition.

The 14th day of the expedition dawned: clear, hot, and humid.  The group spent the entire day aboard the Sea Ghost, resting and recuperating.  The shore-party of sailors killed a wild pig they brought back to ship, along with word that they had sighted a sail on the northern horizon.  However, the ship did not approach, and eventually passed from sight.

The morning of the the expedition's 15th day the group decided to take the a ship's boat and explore the sea cave they had ignored, to this point.  They found evidence the area was once used as a ship repair facility.  They recovered a beautiful ship's figurehead carved as a leaping mako shark.  It seemed in remarkable condition after decades of abandonment.  They sent this back to the Sea Ghost while continuing their exploration of the caves.

The PCs came upon a cavern containing carpentry tools, rope, rigging, and similar materials.  A skeleton sprawled atop the coils of rope.  The dwarf entered and struck the skeleton a blow.  It crumbled to pieces: nothing more than inert bone.  However, even as the party breathed a sigh of relief, the ropes beneath the bones began to writhe; they came together and rose into a tall humanoid form with four tendril-like arms that whipped towards the intruders.

The rope horror proved to be a challenging foe: only magical weapons seemed to harm it, and it continuously gathered strength by drawing more ropes into itself.  The ranger called out that it should be assaulted with fire.  In response, the half-elf and the thief tried to douse the mounds of rope with oil, but these efforts caused the monster to focus its attacks on them.  Both were entangled and held fast.  Eventually the party succeeded in freeing their comrades and setting the rope horror afire.  As the horror flailed its death throes, thick black smoke forced the PCs from the cavern.

Spoiler

This was a good fight, but only because I beefed up the rope horror.  Had I run it as-written, the monster would have been vanquished almost immediately.  The group's main fighters possess magic weapons, and with specialization they deal out heavy damage very quickly.  That's devastating when they can focus on a single creature.  Frankly, I'm regretting allowing the specialization.  I feel like all it has done is up the power-level and force me to compensate, so it's a net wash.

Anyway, I beefed up the rope horror by increasing its hit dice and its healing rate when it has a supply of fresh cordage.  I also allowed 6 or more points of damage to sever an "arm," which could free an entangled friend or cause the horror to lose an attack that round (depending on how initiative went).  The net result was a well-balanced combat: the PCs did a lot of damage, cut off lots of rope "arms" (that would re-form the following round), and performed heroic deeds like rushing in to free entangled friends.  Lots of fun.  They had to struggle to execute their plan to burn the horror's supply of fresh ropes, but their eventual success turned the tide: with the extra ropes in flames the rope horror could no longer heal itself.

This turned out to be one of the more exciting and fun combats, so far.  The rope horror is a cool monster, and the combat setup is nice and hits the right notes for the adventure.  If you run AA#5, I advise making sure the rope horror is tough enough to make this encounter an important one, or all that will be wasted.

In a deeper cave the PCs found the long-abandoned quarters of a shipwright.  A search uncovered several items of value, including a finely crafted copper box in the form of a ship.  The box was locked, but the PCs found the key when they returned to the cave of the rope horror and searched among the ashes and remains of the skeleton.  Within the box they discovered a pouch of pearls, a pipe carved like a kraken, and three small potions.



After tasting all three potions and getting hints about their effects, the PCs' best guesses were clairvoyance, strength, and either invulnerability or heroism.

Spoiler

As-written, this treasure included 50gp, a single pearl, the pipe, and a ring of protection +1.  I got rid of the ring (too many rings, already) and replaced it with the potions (consumable, rather than permanent).  I've made the pipe magical, too.  

I haven't decided what the pipe is going to do, but I'm leaning towards making it a random and somewhat double-edged item.  Smoking an entire bowl might do one or more of the following (maybe once per week, or at "high tide" or something): delusion, confusion, clairvoyance, clairaudience, monster summoning (if near ocean), et cetera.  Any ideas on this?  It just seems like too cool of an item to leave as mundane.

Having suffered wounds during the fight with the rope horror, the PCs decided to return to the ship to better investigate their treasure and to recover.

The group spent the sixteenth day of the expedition on board the Sea Ghost.  The half-elf used her arcane arts to determine which items were magical, and to identify the powers of mako ship's figurehead.  Unfortunately, these efforts drained her, completely, and she needed an extensive period of rest before she felt herself, again.  (The requirements and consequences for casting identify are pretty brutal, in her case; she has a low Con.)

The mako figurehead turned out to be an enchanted item that would increase the speed of the ship and give its captain the ability to summon sharks that will obey his command.  The PCs presented it as a gift to the captain of the Sea Ghost.

On the seventeenth day of the expedition, the group returned to the Halls of Mimda.  They found the gnome complex to be as silent as a tomb, with no sign of the darkling gnomes, even when the PCs made a great deal of noise.  Their explorations uncovered more mysterious chambers.  The monk fell prey to a pit trap, but managed to slow his descent and took no damage from the fall.  One natural and living cave contained a statue of a female gnome, perhaps a fertility deity of some sort, standing in a clear pool full of fish.  The place seemed serene and undisturbed, and the half-elf had the idea that perhaps the fish would serve as spell components for her identify spell (which normally calls for a live goldfish, among other things).  She has plans to retrieve a net from the ship (or fashion one herself) and see if she can collect some small fish.

Spoiler

I thought that was good thinking, and would allow the substitution.

The ranger and her henchman, Sam, found themselves trapped in the bedchamber of an important gnome chieftain.  While exploring the place his shade attacked them.  Sadly, Sam fell victim to the wraith's icy touch before the ranger was able to vanquish it with her magic blade.  The ranger's distraught over Sam's death grew even worse when her henchman rose, again, wraith-light flickering in his glassy eyes.  She struck off her doomed henchman's head, giving him peace.  Unfortunately she remained helplessly entombed with his corpse, the door being blocked by a massive block of stone.

The rest of the party had been separated from the ranger and her henchman when the stone block trap sealed the door.  They tried freeing her by moving a great wheel on their side of the trap, but even with all of their combined strengths they found it too taxing.  The dwarf decided to try drinking the strength potion.  Within minutes he grew as strong as a storm giant, and made short work of turning the wheel and moving the massive block of stone.  The ranger emerged unscathed.

Using his storm giant strength, the dwarf also removed a portcullis that had been barring the the main passage.  Beyond, they came upon a once-grand feasting hall.  Banners hung from the ceiling and low wooden tables stood in the center of the chamber.  Gnomish bones lay everywhere, cracked, gnawed, and broken.  Several passages led in different directions, but chalk marks indicated the path that the NPC party (i.e., the group that had included Hieroman and Glimber Silvernose) had taken.  According to Hieroman, the only member of his group that remains unaccounted for is Wisteria, the elf.  She must have left the marks.

The session ended here: still the seventeenth day of the expedition, with the PCs deep in the Halls of Mimda.

Spoiler

The dwarf's storm giant strength has four turns remaining, and they are very close to a dangerous monster...