May 28th 2010.
Calendar Date: Monday the 16th of Young Month.
TOEE Update –Stuck on the wrong side of the Gate(s).
The TOEE hunters started the day with a choice: To follow the two assailants that had fled south on the road away from Hommlet or to return to the Moat House. After much debate, and planning on how they’d try to track down the monk and barbarian, it was decided to instead press the advantage at the Moathouse.
Two hours of trekking and the party of four arrives at the ruins to begin a day of hard adventuring. Their two targets were to check out the tower near the destroyed front gate. That proved exceedingly dangerous as two giant wolf spiders descended from the upper section rafters onto Myro and Sigil. Using the “5 D’s of Defense” , Myro went dodging, ducking, dipping, diving and dodging up the stairs and away from the Wolf Spider. Too bad the spider still had webbing attached and escalated to the same level as the fleeing Myro, poisoning him on the attack. (Minus 2 strength). The rest of the party counter attacked and dispatched the spiders without anyone else getting punctured and poisoned. A fine and possibly magical book along with an ivory box are found amongst the bones littering the spider’s den.
(Also- Myro’s Armor is damaged: 6 HP’s of damage)
With the spiders dead, and the last enemy (a swarm of vicious rats) on the first level known, Sigil suggests that they use the spider’s dead bodies to lure the rats out of the cupboard. The plan works to perfection and 13 rats pounce on the spider carcass. Tobias uses a sleep spell to knock out 4 of them, and the rest of the party slaughters the remainder. Once the cupboard is cleared, it is discovered that a set of stairs leads down to the belly of the Moat House. Myro , being very cautious , descends the stairs and a sense of upcoming danger certainly saved the parties lives. As above the lip of the stair well were lurking two Grey Oozes blended perfectly with the stonework of the ceiling. A tough and contentious battle ensued where the Heroes of Kassen tried fire, acid, magic, blunt weapons and missile weapons to little effect. While the mindless monsters were very easy to hit, acid that the creature produced was devastating and quickly overpowered Myro. It almost consumed him , and if not for the desperate and frantic actions of the rest of the party, The Moat House would have claimed another soul.
(Note: Myro had a very bad day. His magic dagger sustained 8 HP of damage. It is considered broken. He also lost a lot of his items to the oozes acid after being embraced for 2 or 3 rounds. )
(( Players, feel free to flesh out the description of this combat or the one with the Bugbears))
Once the room was cleared out, the party noticed two doors in the southwest corner of the room. One was heavily barred (the bar on your side) and the other was normal. The party carefully checked the room and found a secret door that led to an empty and dusty storage room. Not content, they search some more and find another secret door within the storage room. Excitement and apprehension grip this expert team, as they realize are delving into a section of the Moat House that no other good adventurers have gone before.
Part 2
June 19th
Darkness clung to the walls, ceiling, and floor of the winding corridors on the other side of the secret door. The party used their bulls-eye lanterns to slowly check each square foot . They paused at every intersection and listened intently for what the darkness might reveal. After 20 minutes of dungeon crawling they came upon an opening to a larger room. Myro, being extra careful thought he noticed a trap in the floor (this was an error, as no trap was present). While engrossed in the faux trap, and with limited light,enemy bugbears took up positions within the room. On an organized cue, they unloaded on Myro, who was severely wounded. The party retreated to cure their hurt comrade. The Bugbears pressed their advantage of the limited light, and pursued them through the hallways. After getting their equalibrium, the party counter maneuvered. Little did they know, that Phil the bugbear, theif had taken up position in the shadows to catch the party if they showed a weakness.
Having an attack plan, Sigil threw a light coin intending to bounce it off of walls to land in a spot that would allow Sir Reginald to rush the Bugbear attackers. By some strange level of luck, the lightcoin bouncded off of Phil, ruining his hiding place and causing Phil to be trapped between two expert martial player characters. The Bugbears attacked, but being a narrow hallway only one bugbear could attack at a time. Trying to intimidate Sir Reginald, they tried to gain an advantage, but little did they know that Sir Reginald has an almost fearless heart. He showed the bugbears how a magical longsword can turn an enemy from living to corpses. Tobias helped with a slew of spells, and Sigil put foot to Phils’ face. The tide turned against the bugbears and the leader called a quick retreat. In a combat frenzy, Sigil knew that he could route the enemy if he could take their leader down, so he followed into the teeth of the bugbear lair in pursuit of the leader. Furious blow after furious blow took the leader down,while the ranged weapons from the enemy took their bite into Sigil’s flesh. Myro didn’t want a straight up combat, and neither did Tobias.. Sir Reginald had been given a critical wound from the prior combat, so strategy won out and Sigil backed off. His intelligence won over the smell of bloood in his nose and the rage of his fighting heart.
Moving to a safer location, they spent a few minutes rejuvinating their vigor. They used spells from scrolls, and magical charms to “buff themselves” and then charged back into the Bugbear room. …. Only to find it empty. With three doors showing in the Eastern wall and an archway in the northern part of the room, they acted quickly to open the doors and check out the northern arch. The northern archway revealed a small connector corridor that opened into a triangle shaped room that obviously held the bugbear’s sleeping areas, but no enemies. The three doors were even stranger. They opened to five foot deep “closets” . But, the middle door was a trap and sounded both a loud alarm to the rest of the dungeon, along with a strong portcullis gate that barred their escape. Confused by this strange set of doors, and lack of bugbears, the party searched for secret doors, clues to this mystery and a better understanding of what they were dealing with. Tobias , not liking the fact that they were trapped, used his acid bolt to gain an escape. After 20-30 minutes (and all their buffs wore off). They moved back to exploring the corridors and side passages. They found another winding passage that led them to another room with three doors. They opened the middle door and down came another alarm and gate to block their path. This time, they noticed that they weren’t alone in the room. A gnoll appeared in an off passage. The hyena like barking coming from the passage gave indication that this Gnoll wasn’t alone……… Roll initiative.
