DnD Log: Session 4

So last night was the glorious return of our D&D Campaign, and the completion of our first major mission. We conquered the pyramid and bested a god, but I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s start from the beginning.

The first thing our party encounters was the vile portal trap which sent poor Sayid and Jonn to their early graves. A closer examination (I guess we really rolled poorly the first time. I forget.) revealed that the portal was a standard ritual we could easily disarm. Leave it to this group however to debate for way too long on a simple solution. Anyone listening to live stream probably heard me get upset when there was about a five minute debate about having Angry Joe/Lord Vane fire at the trap. In the end I scratched the runes with a sword and saved the day. There’s something very telling about this group that when the subject came up about breaking the runes our immediate reactions were to throw lightning and explosives at it.

Afterwards we entered a treasure room, and Sean/Darstine rolled a natural one for her trap check. His modifier wasn’t enough and in Spoony’s own words “[Darstine tells you this room is a classic set up]”. We left, but I regret not saying “eff that” and going back in. I asked Spoony later and we definitely did miss stuff in that room.

Either way we ascended up the pyramid and finally arrived upon the grand chamber and our first big boss battle. From the ceiling descended an enormous scorpion queen, and here is where things got shitty. First and foremost due to all being collective cowards we were trapped in a hallway where we were buffeted by the scorpion queen’s sand storm. I believe Lord Vane, Nik/Victor, and Skitch/Garrett where the only ones hit, but the hit managed to blind them all. Furthermore Spoony revealed that starting, ending, or spending any time in an adjacent square of the queen would inflict five poison damage. Not good odds, and furthermore our group was playing without a full arsenal. Garrett already used up his Daily, Victor probably had like two surges left, and our shitty formation entering the room left our Defender in the second row, while our Healer sat front and center. Not good odds, but even worse was our shitty rolls.

I believe that Darstine, Paw/Andraste, Jason/Grae, and myself/Juliet all used our Dailies, and of them only mine actually hit, and mine also hit a friendly (sorry Darstine!). During the encounter there were at least three blunders, and Jason managed to shoot a THIRD party member in the back. I don’t trust being in front of this guy. Anyway the battle started off poorly. Darstine darted around to the monster’s back, and due to unfortunate positioning, made it impossible at my current location to drop my Daily anywhere but on top of them both. Initially this seemed like an idiotic move, and it probably was, but the +2 combat advantages it granted the rest of the party completely saved us, and in addition the damage it did became the killing blow. However the bad news pilled on as Victor, our Defender/Lead Melee fighter was Dominated by the Scorpion Queen one round in, and was effectively removed from the encounter. Not soon after that Skitch entered the front lines and took two vicious shots and went into the negative, setting off our first party defeat (one of many that evening).

The battle raged, but by sheer numbers we held on. Eventually Grae stopped shooting opponents in the back and managed to hit some very impressive attacks. Darstine got off another good round, but only after we reminded Sean about Sneak Attack damage and using his action point. I felt like a real ass last night trying to control the game by reminding people of their bonuses and abilities, but I fear without it we might have TPK’d. I’m hoping certain members of the group learn how to play because it’s unfair to remind players how to spent their turn, and henceforth, I won’t do that.

Anyway Garrett was down and out, floating just over death after getting fucking gored, and Andraste attempted to heal him. Finally the Scorpion Queen saved against my Daily bringing on the aftereffect which hit her for a final 18 damage and causing her to explode in a torrent of light and scorpion guts. YEEHAW~! And here, I will legitimately say Spoony saved Garrett’s life. Garrett was going to die if we ended combat, and Spoony kept harping about ending combat until I eventually realized what he was saying. With Andraste’s turn we managed to rid Garrett of his poison, bring him back into the positives, and get him moving just as the pyramid began to collapse. We all tried to leave the pyramid, but I managed one final set of shitty rolls so that during our daring escape out of the pyramid’s top, Juliet fell a good ninety feet and barely survived. I was told to make three Death Saving Throws. A 4, 8, and 10. Juliet –barely- lived. Garrett managed to drop down just in time to bring me back to life, and after that the rest of the party came down and we all escaped as the pyramid collapsed in on itself like the house from Poltergeist.

Just to recap, Garrett was impaled through the chest by a goddess. After being tossed aside like a husk and was literally at death’s door, yet managed to survive just in time. Minutes later, the man leapt thirty feet down off a pyramid, crashed into the sand, healed Juliet, and helped drag her away from the imploding pyramid right before the thing went nova. There is no doubt in my mind that Garrett deserves some special BAMF award. After that we debated about the idea of telling the King about the goddess we met, but ultimately decided it was for the best. Paw also found some rubies inside of a pot he took from the pyramid, and at this point Sean left. Coincidentally this was the second time Sean left the game early and missed out on some major money. Either way we returned to Sarmanath, spoke with King Donovan, learned some important plot points regarding Garrett being tainted, picked up a sidequest about beating up some drug dealers with Lord Vane, and escaped a potentially awkward situation with two dudes kissing. Actually we did more than that, but honestly to explain that all would take forever.

Anyway, the season in total ran about 4 hours. This was a big one for many reasons. First was our first major completion of a quest. We investigated the South, found the ancient pyramid, and managed to kill the corporal form of a goddess. Pretty good for Level 1s. Actually, Level 2s now. Yep, our first level up, and damn does it feel sweet. Second was this was the first time a party member fell in combat. Sayid and Jonn were different in that they were solo and mauled, but in this session we had Garrett, Juliet, and Darstine all moments away from dying. For Juliet and Garrett it was quite literally moments. One more bad death roll on Juliet’s part and she’d have been toast. Third was that this time we had our plot elaborated on. Until now it felt like this adventure wouldn’t lead into anything else, but now we have several plot points to continue off on. Garrett is tainted, Vane wants to crack some skulls, Grae wants to hide, and Andraste & Juliet both want to find more answers about this goddess.

Actually, I’m curious. What do you guys think we should do? I know I want to go on this small sidequest with Lord Vane, but assuming we all survive, where should we go next? I’m quite curious about where the road will take us, and how we’ll all continue on as characters and players. I think our mercy from Spoony is about used up, so our next adventure should test our mettle. Have to say I’m really pumped for this.