Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (260 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (278 points)
"The" Lukas Zombanyi - Human Cleric of Bahamut, god of justice and protection (260 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (292 points)
Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (72 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)
Amothius 38th 2546, Outside Kral Aklaz
When the party woke in the morning, a warm breeze caressed everyone who had been in Kral Aklaz the day before, and they realized they were Blessed; Vaelcor figured this was a reward for helping the winged white stag. Lukas asked if he could have the fancy magical broadsword the party had found in the vault, but they decided that he was fine with just his light club for now. The party decided against using the Phial of the Mad Alchemist to try to Regenerate Argua's leg in case they needed it, and headed around the valley to the Observatory entrance, where Mahk lowered them down with the rope.
Masha's Bless saved her from falling, but Mahk lost his grip while climbing down and slammed into the stone floor. Lukas cast Lend Energy to restore the FP Mahk had lost lowering everybody down, and they looped around to the ruined floor down. The hallways to the north no longer had vines, and the doors looked different, but the party decided to ignore it, lowered everyone down, and got to the church. Just as Mahk took down the massive (50lbs) silver symbol of Moradin, Sturri, the shirtless and probably possessed sad dwarf, walked into the room.
Sturri asked the party to leave the symbol for half an hour, so that he could pray, and they did so. He prayed in silence, and then left without saying a word. With the symbol in Mahk's pack, the party (mostly Lukas and Elana) decided to go hunt down Odo the necromancer. They doubled back upstairs at the ruined floor, then looped down to the southern staircase, stopping for a bit when they saw light and heard heavy footsteps in the ruined tavern. Lukas lectured Masha on the evils of necromancy, and they continued once the light moved on.
While walking down the halfling hallway, they heard a fierce cry and the sounds of battle from the main hall, just as Puddin' spotted a new tripwire running across to a door. She disarmed it, and the party continued on to a tee, where, to the north, they saw Sturri fighting a bunch of giants in the main hall. As Puddin' disarmed another tripwire, hooked up to a deadfall, the party came to the realization that nobody had any idea which room the necromancer was in. Puddin' wanted to leave, and Lukas offered to cast a "special buff" on her to make her more brave, but she didn't want it.
They decided to check a random door, and decided on the one that had the tripwire connected to it. Puddin' used the Glasswall Tapestery to look through, and saw that there was a crude, sharpened battering ram made from scrap weighted on it. They opened the door, careful to stay out of the way, and the ram crashed out into the hall. While the party discussed their next move, an ooze made of skeletons emerged from a door to the east, filling the hall from floor to ceiling, and slowly slid towards them. The party argued over what to do, and while they did, it came into range.
Elana and Masha hit it once each before retreating north at the tee, and the rest of the party followed suit, except for Jahn, who furiously swatted at the ooze. The ooze kept puffing out and forcing Jahn back, and slowly gained ground. With a crit on Hidden Lore (Undead), Lukas realized that the ooze was immune to Turning, though damaging spells like Turn Undead would work; it was also Diffuse, which meant they wouldn't be doing much damage with conventional weapons. As it came closer to a large group of PCs, the ooze let out a foul gas, but thanks largely to their Blesses, nobody was affected.
Masha opened a door north of the tee, and found the southern barracks, which had a staircase in the south wall. The party headed in, except for Lukas, who searched in his backpack for a flask of Liquid Ice, and Jahn, who continued to pummel the ooze while being slowly pushed back. In one corner of the barracks, Puddin' saw a dead dwarf holding a gilded and bejewelled horn to his rotted lips, and tried but failed to wrench it from his grip. The hall was now dark, as Masha, with the only light source, was heading up the stairs.
In the main hall to the north, Sturri, who was hulking out, slew two giants with a flurry of attacks, and the third fled back through the ruined tavern. Sturri pursued at walking pace. Jahn the bear followed his master's voice through the door to the barracks, but couldn't find the stairs in the darkness, and the slime pursued. Upstairs, most of the party found the room they were in was missing its north wall, which opened out over the main hall, providing some light. As they stood around, waiting for everybody to make it up, a ghostly blue dwarf wielding a hammer and shield crackling with lightning appeared and yelled out "DUEL ME".
Vaelcor went back downstairs to fetch Jahn, and Masha jumped down into the main hall, landing softly on a dead giant, when she realized that Lukas wasn't coming. Back in the side hall, Lukas, his Liquid Ice ready, "snuck up" on the "back" of the slime, only for it to swell and send him flying back into a wall, nearly knocking him unconscious. He threw the flask at the slime and it hung there inside of it, as the ooze reared back and slammed him into the wall again. Before it finished Lukas off, Masha ran up and kicked the bottle inside of it, detonating it and killing the slime!
The party returned to the ground floor to discuss what to do next, while Vaelcor healed Lukas. Puddin' scouted to the east, and saw that the giants had all fallen back behind the barricades into the throne room. Despite his heavy wounds, Lukas refused to leave so long as the necromancer lived, and the party headed back to the halfling hallway to continue the search.
Notes:
I've decided to (retroactively) give hirelings 1XP per session they go adventuring (even if the PCs get 0). They do not get more for anything else. This encourages being nice to hirelings so you can get a better guy next time.
The rules I'm using to lower/lift things/people with ropes: Lifting ST-based Lifting -1 per 50lbs, failure costs 1FP, crit failure means they drop the load.
Allowed my new houserule for missile spells, which Vaelcor used this game: you can cast and fire on the same turn so long as damage dice are less than half Magery/Power Investiture.
Lukas didn't actually know how much damage the Liquid Ice did, or if it was an area (it isn't, but triple damage for internal injury is fine). Also worth noting; because it was diffuse, it should have just clattered to the ground and broke immediately.
As per usual, the party could have defeated the ooze far faster if they had just focused fire on it. An issue they pointed out is that they have no idea how much health they have, and that there's no feedback on how close they are to death. The following is a good rule of thumb: HP=10*(SM+1)
XP was 0, MVP went to Lukas for standing and fighting
+1 to Lukas for refusing to retreat with the necromancer still alive thanks to Fanaticism
They'll get another 3XP for the silver anvil when they finish the delve.
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