Session 4: The Sunken Temple, Round Two!

Player Characters:

The Bonz Level 2 Human Cleric Chaotic Evil

Little Jacob Level 2 Human Druid Neutral

Stumble McFumble Level 1 Human Fighter Neutral Evil

Down Time:

Little Jacob teaches his snake to fetch, and The Bonz works on his deviled egg recipe whilst in the Scalie camp. The boys realize they need to make a big score this time or these guys are going to kill them.

Side Note: This session was all done with zero prep.

9/29/23 The party is brought a new captive to help them. He is a fighter named Stumble McFumble, and he is a bit of a drunkard. The Bonz has a plan to make a charcoal facemask which he calls "Chin Diapers" incase they run into poison gas again. Little Jacob and Stumble go fishing for rations for the rest of the day.

9/30/23 The party heads out East bright and early heading towards the Sunken Temple. There are no encounters.

10/1/23 At midday the party arrives at the base of the Sunken Temple. They ascend the large staircase and enter the dungeon. They decide to pick up where they left off so Joey B pulls out the map and they go to the room where the torched the body in the chair. There is another door in this room the party has not been through on the Northern wall. It is stuck and after several loud attempts they are able to unjam the door and enter the room. Unfortunately it was being occupied by eight nasty gnolls armed with spears.

A battle quickly erupts. The Bonz and Stumble throw lit oil flasks, whilst Little Jacob casts fairy fire. The gnolls engage with the party who are all spaced out in a straight line with a constrictor snake, hawks, and three non combatants (Joey B the M.A.P. and the two link boys, Nat and Geo.) First round no deaths but some hits exchanged. Second round party wins initiative again. The Bonz casts hold person on three gnolls and Little Jacob casts heat metal and the pack leaders armor. blows are exchanged again and young Nat is struck by not one but two dastardly gnolls spears poking many holes into him.

Gnolls win initiative and the leaders armor starts to heat up but this is just the heat of battle "it will be fine" he thinks. Combat happens and young Geo is also killed by the savage beasts. "No more link boys, oh no!" thinks Joey B. Its the players turn The Bonz casts fear and Stumble and Little Jacobs animals kill two gnolls.

Next round party is clashing with the gnolls and his armor is now burning dealing two damage to the gnoll alpha. Little Jacob casts cure light wounds on his hawk and another gnoll dies. Last round the gnoll leader takes six points of searing damage and dies. The party executes the gnolls effected by hold person. The final gnoll that was feared away snaps too, sees his pack decimated and decided to book it out the door next to him on the other side of the room from the party. The boys search the bodies and find fifty two electrum.

Then for no reason at all the scene gets weird. The Bonz wants the kids femurs for some kind of evil morbid ritual so he takes them. little Jacob questions him about this but justifies it by saying he is not letting the body go to waste. Then Joey B. takes a lock of the kids hair as a memento. Stumble thought he was weird but didn't want to cast any shade at his companions. They decide to leave the dungeon camp and decide what the next move will be. They leave and Joey B. demands a twenty gold bonus since the young lads were gone. The party agreed and gave him ten electrum. They rest for the night with no encounters.

10/2/23 "Today is the day we finally make that big score," they thought as they climbed the steps into the Sunken Temple for a third time. Third times the charm, right? They go back to the gnoll room and check the door the last gnoll retreated into. It was stuck bad and after several attempts the party took it as a sign to move on to another area. They backtrack to where the gas chamber was located and decide to put on their masks and re open the room. They do and it is void of gas, the party loots their dead companions bodies and then go through a door on the opposite end of the room. Here they enter a room with a small stream running through it and piles of teeth strewn across the floor. A horrific sight that they pondered over.

They exit the room via another stuck door and enter the first room of the dungeon. There is one more door they haven't gone through in this room to the South so they go that way. They enter a room with some scaffolding and a statue of a feathered serpent. The Bonz climbs up to investigate but just fines specific plastering tools and some wasted material in a bucket. They leave the room, go through a short hallway and come to another room. This one with an ominous alter staid red with a stone dagger atop. No real treasure to their dismay. The party leaves this room to find another hallway.

They get into marching order and I ask who is leading. Stumble and Little Jacobs guard dog. They move down the hall and Stumble McFumble stumbles onto a pressure plate of a ceiling trap. He then proceeds to fumble his roll and is smashed by the ceiling falling down on him. As the trap resets a pink mist is in the air with red stains of blood splattered across the floor. The party agrees to GTFO of this dungeon and and screw the Scalies. They are heading back to Brightoni.

The party camps for the night and during Little Jacobs watch there is an encounter of great fortune. Twenty Plateosaurus wonder through the area. The men had heard strange tails of dinosaurs but this was their first ever encounter with any since their arrival to the "New World." He asks if he can use animal friendship on it and I could find a reason not to allow it and it failed the save. So now they have a massive pack animal, very useful.

10/3/23 No encounters through the marsh.

10/4/23 There are no encounters during the day. This was good considering this was the hex the Scalies' camp was located. As they camp at night, on Little Jacob's watch. The party wins surprise. He spots movement in the near by water and wakes the party. Then six crocodiles start to emerge from the waters. The Bonz thinking quickly throws Nat and Geo's disembodied femurs at the gators and says, " Run!" It is enough to entice some of the crocks and allow the party to escape. They find a new camp sight and no more encounters.

10/5/23 No Encounters

10/6/23 No encounters during the day. Again an encounter on Little Jacob's watch. This time some Giant Cray fish emerge from the waters very slowly with Little Jacob wining surprise again. They decide to avoid another fight and retreat after throwing the fish they caught at the beginning of the session and make a new campsite.

10/7/23 The party finally returns to Brightoni and gets their one gem appraised. It is worth enough to cover their upkeep and still keep fifty gold each. The MSC question about what happened to the others they left with and the party just says they died in the Sunken Temple. The MSC guards then see the dinosaur and remind the party about how the MSC will pay big for one. Fifteen thousand gold but little Jacob holds to his values and denies them.

XP and Treasure: Split two ways between The Bonz and Little Jacob

42 Electrum after paying Joey B. - 104 XP

7 Gnolls slain - 172 XP

Ranking:

The Bonz - E - His use of hold person and fear really helped the numbers game against the gnolls. Somehow taking the kids femur was very useful later on when it came to getting away from the crocodiles.

Little Jacob - S - Thanks to him they have a freaking dinosaur to carry stuff, but something didn't feel right about him allowing The Bonz to take the kids legs and Joey B. their hair. however big props to him keeping his word on not selling the dinosaur for the huge amount of money.

Fumble McStumble - D - Dead, it sucks that this is his second time playing, and he died again... but now he defiantly realizes how lethal AD&D is and is still wiling to give it a go with us.