Montporte Dungeon Campaign Session 8 Notes

Map A (1 square = 5 feet)

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the First Circle (Half Orc, 2 Lvl Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Duncan Kern (Gnome, 1 Lvl Wizard/Thief): Dan
Dante Rathburn (Human, 1 Lvl Warlock): Bard (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, 1 lvl Marksman): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
3 cave goats

The Session
Session 8 began with the brave adventurers in Room 1 (Map A above). They had just killed two tall scary humanoids, both armed with halberds, and their hooded companion at the end of Session 7. There were also four cowering naked humanoids, chained together and cowering in the corner.

The party tried to converse with the chained up group but it only frightened them further, leading to lots of babbling and squealing. The party discussed whether or not they should lead these pathetic creatures to the surface and let them go, but then decided that they would die for sure. In the end, the party unchained the four, left them with some food and water, and headed out of the room.

They went across the hall and explored Room 2 (Map A above) and found a few small treasure items buried in the debris on the floor. Then they went west to Area 3 on the map. There was a portcullis in the corridor but it was raised so they were able to head north. The corridor sloped downward and a curious wide shallow groove had been worn in the floor. There was some concern that this was the sign of a trap but Duncan was able to discern that it looked like an area where barrels were rolled along the floor.

As they turned the corner into Area 4 (Map A above), they heard a metallic thud behind them and concluded (correctly) that the portcullis had dropped. And, more importantly, they were face to face with 3 ghouls. A Web spell, lots of oil, and a torch made for quick work with the ghouls. The party also found a lever in the wall in Area 4 that raised and lowered the two nearby portcullises (Areas 3 and 5 on Map A above). One portcullis is raised while the other is lowered.

The party moved on and explored a few small unexplored corridors, which eventually led them to Room 6 (Map A above). The room had a pool in the middle, with a thick column at each corner of the pool to support the ceiling. The water looked to be about 10 feet deep and was crystal clear. At the bottom, the group could see a shiny object. The temptation was apparently too much for Duncan and he did a little gnome cannonball into the pool. At this point, the group remember Duncan's affinity for jumping into things (in Session 1 he famously stated "I'm a gnome, I wanna go in the hole"). Lots of laughs all around.

As soon as he jumped into the pool, three water elementals formed on the pool's surface and the party's laughter was cut short. Dante was able to fish Duncan out of the pool before the elementals fully formed. There were three water elementals...two small ones and one that was a little bigger. A fierce battle ensued and, after a fair amount of swinging and missing (plus some poorly tossed daggers), the party finally prevailed. Duncan, on hunch, decided to inspect the columns and was rewarded for his efforts. He found a small compartment in one of the columns. There was a some gold and silver tucked away, along with a Cloak of Protection.

Duncan dove into the pool once again and was rewarded with a shiny key. Using the key, the adventurers unlocked the iron-bound door on the west wall of the room. Heading west from there through a narrow corridor (Area 7 on Map A above), the party found a secret door that provided access into a large cavern (Area 8 on Map A above). There they encountered four giant ants (3 workers and 1 warrior). The workers were stacking some sort of cube-shaped stuff into piles. The party didn't have much time to take it in as the ants were intent on defending their territory.

The ensuing melee saw Little Larry going down for the count. Dante and Adzeer also critically failed and each of them had their weapons slip from their hands in mid-swing. Adzeer's mace sailed off towards Area 9 (on the above map) and Dante's battleaxe spun off into Area 10. Once the battle started to turn in the party's favor,* Adzeer rushed over to Little Larry and poured a healing draught down his throat. Duncan and Dante finished off the four ants.

Adzeer walked a bit west to get his mace while Dante went north to get his battleaxe. They were set upon by more ants. Dante went down but Little Larry rushed to his aid to keep the two worker ants off him. Duncan cast a Color Spray on the three ants that attacked Adzeer, knocking out two (workers) and blinding the third (a warrior). Duncan and Adzeer quickly finished them off then went over to rescue Dante. They made quick work of the two ants and used one of their last healing draughts on Dante.

They explored the room a bit further and found that there were piles of cubed material all around the room. The cubes were about 1' on a side and turned out to be pieces of giant mushrooms. We ended the session at this point. The map below (Map B) displays the area explored so far.

Map B (1 square = 5 feet)