Session 1: “Only on the edge of death can one be truly free. Free whiskey.”
Events: Party make a decent impression on the folks there. Khaotica tricks 8 drunks into following her. Priest Cestin joins the party to destroy evil. Party sets out with a guide to the caves of Chaos. Find a chimney. Set fire to drive people out with smoke. Nobody comes out. Eventually a goblin comes out of one cave, party attacks, skirmish, charges inside. All drunks die, but monsters are driven off. Get caught in an ambush between Goblins and Hobgoblins, which they overcome. 1 Goblin and 2 Hobgoblins surrender to the party.
Loot: 50sp/ea for Ambrose & Glint for performing a day’s labor in the keep.
Session 2: “We’ve come to challenge the Lion Clan to a dance-off.”
Events: The two goblins who surrendered were taken prisoner–one put into a barrel and fed drugs(?) by Chaotika, the other enslaved in garish style by Rubastish. Shortly thereafter the party discovered some prisoners in a torture chamber, now unguarded. They decapitated a gnoll, freed the 4 humans, and left the orc where he was. One of the humans–a plump old merchant–was nearly dead. The party opted to return immediately to the Keep on the Borderlands to ensure their safety. The first night on their way back to town Cestin and his 3 acolytes (whom the party had begun to mistrust) slipped off in the night. After an otherwise uneventful trip along the road they arrived, and were rewarded with 800 gold pieces (100gp/xp each) and a Magic Dagger +1 by the merchant’s wife. The party spent about a day in town filling up on supplies. Rubastish commissioned a fancy chest and raiment for his new Goblin hireling, and Ambrose the Priest put up a notice that he was looking for a hireling, along with some language meant to subtly appeal to any other Gnostic Christians. While in town the party learned that Cestin the priest had never visited the local chapel.
The party set out again, this time using Glint to guide them through the forest. On their way they encountered a crazy old hermit who gave them a bit of information on the Caves of Chaos, and asked them to bring him seasonings for his food. Further on they encountered a Kobold named Sneed who had once lived in the Caves of Chaos, but left to found a more equitable polity (of which he is currently the only member.) The party convinced Sneed they meant to liberate the peoples of the Caves, and he offered them a good deal of information. The party decided to try to usurp one of the orc tribes. Glint used his superlative disguise abilities to make himself look like an orc. The party approached the cave of the Lion Clan orcs with raucous dancing, demanding to challenge the chief to a dance competition for control of the clan. The more serious among the orcs are not amused by this so far, though the common orcs are certainly enjoying the spectacle.
Loot: 800gp, a Magical Dagger +1
Session 3: “The only human here is a warlock. Human meat doesn’t bother us.”
Events: The party’s attempt to challenge the leader of the orcish Lion Clan didn’t go particularly well, and led to Glint facing the chief in one-on-one combat. The party managed to participate in the battle with enough subtlety that it wasn’t regarded as intentional interference, and Glint himself acted with commendable respect during the combat. The chief was killed, but Glint nearly was as well. By the end he’d broken his nose, permanently losing 2 charisma. Just as the fight ended Rubastish threw a moltov cocktail he’d prepared, and Khaotika began shouting “HOBGOBLIN ATTACK!” The ruse worked. Khaotika accompanied the warband off to fight the hobgoblins, while Glint and the rest of the party went to the cave to consolidate their leadership over the nerds and children. By the time the warriors had returned the party had their people well in hand, and offered the returning warriors a cask of good wine they’d found in the old chief’s chambers in celebration of their victory, thereby consolidating their rule amongst the warriors as well. In particular the orcs seem to vibe with Rubastish way of doing things.
The party took a haven turn in the caves to rest and recuperate. During the downtime it became gradually more clear that tensions were rising with the neighboring Scorpion Clan orcs. They were not convinced of the strength of the Lion clan’s new outsider leaders, and would eventually attack if the party did not attack first. The party quickly got organized and set off to fight.
Next Session: Twilight. 9 Orc warriors are positioned outside the Scorpion clan’s cave. 9 nerds afflicted with nihilism are also there, holding rocks for throwing. The party is heading inside, and 5 additional orc warriors are accompanying Rubastish.
Loot: The party has plenty of time to loot the orc leader’s chambers. They discover 289gp, 50pp, a silver belt with gold buckle (160gp), an ivory bracelet (100gp), copper bowl with silver chasings (50gp). That comes to 1,099gp/xp total; or 275gp/xp each.
The party also finds a 50′ long “Rope of Climbing” Can be commanded to move somewhere, secure itself to something, or knot itself. Moves slowly.
Session 4: “Let’s put the shit sack over the sleeping bear’s head, then set it on fire.”
Events: Due to an odd confluence of events, only Ecco and Wob were available for this session. Since we were so short on manpower, and lacking most of the people who had planned the raid on the Scorpion clan, we decided to diverge from the main action. We went “back in time” to the Haven turn the party took in session 3.
Ecco and Wob spoke with the Lion Clan orcs to get a lay of the land, and asked where they might find some treasure. The orcs figured the wealthiest person in the caves must be the Ogre who lived near the goblins, since he often worked as a mercenary. The two went over to his cave and staked it out for several hours. Eventually the ogre came out looking furtive and holding a sack. Wob went into the cave, while Ecco stood watch. Wob avoided what seemed to be a bear in the first chamber, discovered a bean bag chair with a cheese wheel in it in the second chamber, as well as a tiny hole high on the wall. At this point the Ogre was returning, and Ecco made a signal sound. Wob, not wanting to get caught in the doorway, threw a grapple up to the hole. He had climbed most of the way up when a head poked out, and he felt someone begin sawing at the rope. He dropped back down, skillfully retrieved his grapple, and made his way to the entrance of the cave. Fortunately, Ecco was keeping the Ogre busy with chit chat. The ogre assumed he was an undead creature sent by the undead priests, and Ecco played to this assumption. Wob managed to sneak behind the Ogre’s back as he turned to go into his cave. They could hear the goblins in the hold shouting that someone had been in the Ogre’s cave, and so Wob ran a bit up the hill and shouted something to make the Ogre think he’d been robbed by the cultists.
The ogre ran up the hill, and the adventurers used the opportunity to explore more thoroughly. Turns out the bear was just a bearskin on top of a pile of leaves, and the cheese wheel was only one of seven items in the bean bag chair! There was also a cask of brandy, and five sacks of coins. Ecco made some clay paint and wrote a priestly taunt on the wall, and Wob negotiated with the goblins to convince them not to help the Ogre find out who had taken his treasures. The two arranged to carry the five sacks back to the cave of the Lion Clan orcs in trips. Unfortunately, just as they were running across the open field with their last sack, the Ogre spotted them. He couldn’t catch up, and dares not assault the Lion Clan’s stronghold haphazardly. But he knows who took his treasures.
Loot: 376gp (converted), which comes to 188 xp / gp each. ALSO: Six arrows +1, A Potion of Invisibility, and a Cleric scroll with 2 spells: Cure Light Wounds and Hold Person.
Next Session: Action will resume where it left off in Session 3.
Session 5: “Orcs are like a Toxic Masculinity-Archy”
Events: At dusk, as the Nerds of the Scorpion clan left their cave to go about their chores, the party ambushed and killed several of them. They fled back into their cave, and shortly thereafter a group of Scorpion Orc Warriors came out, which the party also killed, but not without losing some of their own men. The party arranged themselves outside the cave as Khaotika used her klaxon to pound a message of “Surrender or Die” into the cave as a sort of Waco-style sound torture. This went on for a bit before a volley of spears flew out of the darkness of the cave, striking the party but doing a disappointingly low amount of damage. Khaotika switched to a strobe light and charged into the cave, party and lion clan orcs behind her. The combination of bright lights + 800lb robot proved too much. The orcs were overwhelmed and half were chopped to bits. The final 6 warriors were convinced to join the Lion clan, which conveniently replaced the 6 orcs the party had lost in the fighting.
The party explored the rest of the cave, which seemed pretty empty. Most everyone had charged out to fight them. They did come upon a huddled cluster of nerd orcs, who Khaotika and Rubastish simultaneously coaxed & whipped into agreeing to join the party’s growing band of Orc dependants. Khaotika put them to work building a still so she could turn some shitty beer she found into something better for Mx. Goblin. Meanwhile, the newly-joined orcs were grumbling that their warchief was nowhere to be found. Apparently she’d arranged the ambush, then disappeared back into her private cave. The party threw open the locked storage room for the nerds to prepare a feast, then went to find her.
Her room was mostly empty, but there was no way she could have gotten by them, so Khaotika looked about for secret doors, which she found. The chieftain was with her two favorite svlet nerdboys, and was rifling through a sack of loot she was apparently trying to escape with. The secret room had a second door which led–shockingly–into the Lion Clan’s own caves! The party pursued her, and did some damage, but she managed to get away. Khaotika projected a big ol’ hologram of her severed head to let the valley know they’d beaten her.
As the party was mopping up, they recieved notice from Rubastish’s watchtower that the Goblins had told the Ogre when the fighting started, and the Ogre had rushed over apparently intent on joining the fight, but by the time he arrived it was basically over, and he decided to retreat rather than attack the party from behind.
HAVEN TURN: Glint spends the time acting the part of Orc Warchief, with a little more sharing and frindliness than the orcs are used to, but he’s doing well by them overall, trying to act according to their expectations. Khaotika spends the time further spreading her nihilistic philosophy, particularly among the new orc nerds. She’s now got 12 nerds eager to die in some interesting way. Also they watch her sleep now. Rubastish makes a trip to The Keep to pick up the items he comissioned in session 2, as well as to keep his ear to the ground about rumors.
RUMORS:
-No news at all has reached the Keep about what the players are up to. Not a lot of conversation between the keep and the Caves of Chaos
-There were some crazy lights from the Inner Bailey a few days before Rubastish arrived. Everyone is certain that the Castellan’s pet wizard is up to something crazy.
-There’s grumbling among many of the other monster communities in the CoC that there aren’t that many Orcs anymore, and they’re taking up a lot of valuable cave space while other tribes are cramped into tiny areas.
LOOT: 91 gold pieces, a potion of healing (1d6) That’s 30gp/xp each. 3 suits of chainmail, a number of well crafted swords, axes, and shields. A crossbow with 60 bolts. The warchief got away with most of the good stuff.
Session 6: “I got a map!”
The party rigged up a set of leg braces for Glint to wear, grabbed the Ogre’s sack of gold painted lead, and paid the big guy a visit. They tried to make peace with the Ogre, who realized the lead coins were fake, wasn’t convinced that the party didn’t know that, and generally assumed the party had ill intent towards him. He was interested enough in the idea of leg braces, however, that he decided to play along and pretend that everything would be fine if the party could provide him with a good set of braces. The party realized the ogre was lying, but agreed all the same. Goblins, acting as a neutral party, took the Ogre’s leg measurements, and everyone parted ways for the time being.
Ekko and Glint then figured they’d like to make contact with the other humans in the valley–the priests up on the hill. They baked a strawberry pie and headed up there. No guards in sight, they began wandering around somewhat aimlessly at first, then realized there were some zombies closing in behind them. Fearing an encounter with someone who couldn’t be reasoned with, they darted down some stairs where they discovered a couple guys who were apparently merchant guests of the priests, and a torture chamber where an old man was held prisoner. Ekko managed to convince everyone down here that he was a zombie in service to the priests, which prevented anyone from attacking him. He even managed to convince the torturer to draw a basic map to the high priest’s chambers on his hand.
On the way back, the party could hear the zombies still closing in, now led by human voices. They gave this group the slip, but couldn’t sneak past one acolyte guard who’d stayed at the top of the stairs. Ekko tried his ruse again, but this acolyte was more familiar with the types of undead the cult created. Glint attempted a grapple from behind, but she managed to cast “Fear” on him before he tackled her, sending him running out of the caves and leaving Ekko alone to nearly be killed by the acolyte. Fortunately for him she wasted a round trying to Rebuke him, which didn’t work since Glint isn’t an undead. This gave him the moment he needed to follow glint and flee out of the caves, severely injured but alive. Also his feet fell off from running so hard, so Glint had to carry him home.
HAVEN TURN: While Ekko repaired himself, Glint kept watch on the priest cave from the tower of Friendship and Diplomacy. Spotted the merchants leaving and heading South West. Also the Orcish cooper built a pair of leg braces for the Ogre, which are significantly improved over the first set, though still far short of being good craftsmanship.
Session 7: “I don’t wanna pick a fight with this tree.”
EVENTS: The party set out overland away from the Caves to visit the wizard they’d heard about from the mad hermit in session 2. Turned out he was more of an alchemist than a wizard. His goal was primarily the creation of alchemy for alchemy’s sake. Artistic alchemy and such, but he did regular alchemy to pay the bills. The party gave him their scrolls of Cure Light Wounds and Hold Person. They spent 180gp on potions, and put a 200gp down payment in for the guy to research a paralyzing contact poison. Upon discovering Ekko’s skin changes colors when he imbibes potions, the guy paid Ekko 200 gold to hang around and endure some experimentations for a couple days.
From here the party set out for the keep. On the way they were nearly ambushed by rat men sitting up in the trees, but managed to spot the ambush before it occurred, and the rat men were too nervous to carry out their attack. The party reached the Keep safely.
At the Keep, Adelaide purchased several copies of an adventure book with the intent of starting a little lending library, and Wob inquired at the gate to the inner keep in the hopes of meeting the resident wizard. The wizard responded surprisingly quickly. As it turns out, he’s been trying to create a set of portals for some weeks now, and is consistently failing. With the aid of another caster he figures he might be able to get it right. And–what do you know–first chance the dice roll just right and he’s able to open a portal to another part of the world. The party popped through to explore it.
The other side of the portal opened in a boulder in the middle of a plane. The plane met the sea only a few miles to the south, while to the east, west, and north it started to rise up into rolling hills. Far to the north the party saw mountains. They heard the buzzing of dragonflies and the chittering of fieldmice, but saw no other signs of life, and nothing to suggest manmade works. They returned to inform the wizard who viewed this as a fairly good outcome. Those planes might be useful as farmland, and the nearby sea access could be a good place for a settlement.
The wizard invited the party to return and use the portal at any time, though warned that they may not be welcome if he was not there to vouch for them.
LOOT: Potion of Cure Light Wounds, Potion of Hold Person, Potion which depicts last night’s dreams on your fingernails, potion which causes one’s hair to float as if underwater. 200gp (67gp & xp each)
NOTE: The alchemist Ornoc is working on a paralyzing contact poison for the party. He was given 200gp, but was actually able to get the job done for 175gp. The party will need to visit him to pick it up & get their refunded money. Also, the poison works on contact, but will take about an hour to fully absorb and work.
Session 8: “Very nearly the final bear pun.”
The party left the Keep, and headed back towards the Alchemist’s place to pick up their Poultice of Paralyzation. On the way they were surprise attacked by three rat men who dealt significant damage before two were killed and the third surrendered. He claimed to be a good kid who was peer pressured into the attack, and the party took him on as a porter. (Which he majored in at ratman school). The party reached the Alchemist, who handed over the Poultice along with 25 gold because he managed to create it under estimate. The party set up camp in his back yard, and their ratman porter fled in the middle of the night.
As the party neared the caves they spied a wagon trundling along up ahead, along a winding and unmarked track that could not be called a ‘road’ even by the most charitable definition. Abby went in to talk with them. The two sides lied back and forth, and she came away with the distinct impression that they were on their way to the Caves of Chaos for some no good dealings. This was confirmed by Ekko who was fairly certain that the voice of their spokesperson matched the voice of the merchant he’d encountered within the Shrine of Evil Chaos in session 6. The party decided to set an ambush.
The ambush was successful, but costly. Everyone survived and all six wagoneers were killed, but not before the cart was overturned and Glint shattered his jaw. The party looted what they could, including four horses (who can apparently talk?!) hid the rest of the cargo by the side of the road, and set off for the caves, finally arriving back there a couple hours after dusk.
LOOT: 6 human corpses 6 sets of light armor 4 crossbows 6 swords 6 daggers 1 barrel of whisky 1 crate of various spices and seasonings 1 Mummy, ~200 years old, wearing plate armor 240 gold pieces (80 gp & xp each) 4 talking horses named Francis, Annette, Bqarbara, and Stacy
LEFT WITH THE WAGON: 8 wheels of cheese 1 crate various iron tools 3 crates mysterious objects likely for use in divine rituals 1 crate various spices and seasonings 1 crate dried fruits 1 barrel of wine
INJURIES: Ekko: 0hp Glint: 0hp + Shattered Jaw Addy: Also took a few hits, but I don’t recall her current HP.
Session 9: “Diorama of Death”
The party returned to the Caves of Chaos to discover their combined Orc tribe had been attacked by Gnolls in their absence, leaving only 2 warriors and 11 nerds alive. The only reason they survived was that the Gnolls had hoped to gain advantage by swiftly defeating the orcs on their own. If they’d waited for the combined assault planned amongst an unknown number of other factions, the orcs would likely have been wiped out entirely. As it stands the orcs won only a phyrric victory, for now they would be easy pickings for the other races.
The party cheered their faction somewhat with the spoils taken from the wagon, then set to work planning a defense. They made entreaties to the Kobolds in the nearby cave, presenting them with a “Diorama of Death” showing all the various ways the orc caves could be filled with traps. The kobolds agreed to throw in their lot with the orcs in exchange for the caves of the old Lion Clan. Territory the cramped kobolds badly needed, and which the party was happy to part with.
At this juncture the game moved into a kind of “Dungeon Keeper” mode. It was determined that the Kobolds composed 2 teams of skilled trapmaking labor, and the orcs composed 1 team of unskilled trapmaking labor. The 3 teams could be guided by the party to construct various defenses each day, with an unknown number of days until the inevitable attack would come. This is what they accomplished.
DAY 1:
- -Built cave-in traps at entrances B & C. Not visible from the outside, will block the entrances fully once dropped.
- -A pit trap at the intersection to the left of entrance B.
- -A ‘leg slicer’ trap just past the pit to the left of B, activates when people jump over pit.
- -The mummy taken from the cart is in area 10, with many signs directing people towards it. Lamp oil on ropes are arranged to swing down from the ceiling and shatter against torches on the wall. Fuel spread out across the floor.
- -Glint & Addy spent time recovering from their wounds.
DAY 2:
- -All supplies and treasure were moved to the treasure alcove in area 12 for safekeeping.
- -Wob animated a large boulder to roll around on a path centered around the slope above area 9.
- -Powdered glass set to drop on intruders at the door leading to area 16
- -A dart trap in area 7, shooting West towards B.
- -The party delivered their poisoned braces to the Ogre, and managed to kill him. It was intense. Ekko is a sinister dude when he gloats.
DAY 3:
- -An arrow trap in the hall above C, firing towards area 13
- -An arrow trap in area 11 pointing towards the door.
- -A pit trap 1 square beneath the ‘g’ in area 16
- -Large lumbermill sawblades installed to pop out in the corridors to the right and the left of C.
- -Glint and Addy rested further.
On the sundown at the start of the 4th day, the party saw the enemy forces starting to form up for their attack. Next session will begin with this invasion, and the party’s preparations will be put to the test.
Session 10 “The first third of the session was just Nick describing traps going off.”
The forces of the Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Gnolls divided into two groups. Each forced the goblins into the front as they advanced into the party’s two entrances, and each force was brutally reduced in size thanks to the party’s many precautions. Unfortunately, only Wob was camped outside the caves. The rest of the party, as well as the orcs, were all sleeping in the Scorpion clan’s old caverns. There was no chance to escape without giving away their plot, so instead they moved to the deepest part of the caves to make their stand.
Even after the traps had devastated their numbers, the invaders still posed a sizable threat. The party used the narrow spaces of the dungeon to their advantage, but none the less the last two Orc bravos were slain, leaving only 11 weakling nerds as the party’s only followers. None the less they managed to kill first one group of invaders, then turn around and finish off the other–including the former Chief of the Scorpion clan orcs, who had aided the invasion in hopes of reclaiming her prestige.
With all the warriors of the Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Gnolls defeated, there will only be a bare minimum of defense left in those caves. Ripe for the looting next session.
Session 11: “Boobs Only. Not looking at her face.”
The party purchased a 6th crossbow from the Kobolds. They had 11 nerd orcs remaining, and equipped 6 with crossbows, 5 with spears & shields, and quickly trained them to stay in a tight little formation. They also took the time to loot all the jewelry and nice weapons and armor from the slain invaders, equipping their people with the best stuff, and ensuring they were wearing some of their ornamentation for intimidation purposes.
The party started out with the Goblin’s cave. The slew the first guard they encountered. The second managed to rally a group of goblin youths, but was quickly slain, and the youths brought to heel. The youths feigned obsequiousness and led the party to their chief’s chamber, but one managed to sneak off and gather up 3 more goblin warriors. The party was severely injured by a volly of arrows from behind, but they’d been prepared for goblin trechery and made short work of the situation without further injury.
The party they moved on to the Gnoll’s cave. Glint and the orcs formed up outside, while Wob explored the place using an invisibility potion. Seeing no more than 4 warriors and a bunch of small demure males, the party easily cowed them out of their caves, forcing them to leave all their belongings behind in a “we don’t care where you go but you can’t stay here” way. In the Gnoll chief’s chambers the party discovered a secret door that apparently even the Gnolls didn’t know about. There they found and looted a skeleton. The passage led to a storage room, and the hall outside was patrolled by a gelatinous cube. The party ducked through a door into a crypt where they accidentally awakened a ghoul, and Wob suffered terrible injuries. Fortunately they never lost their invisiblity, and managed to crush the ghoul in its own sarcophagous lid, then stab it to death before it could tear its arm free. Searching its box they found a hidden bottom with some treasure, and a helm of reverse alignment which Wob put on. After some discussion it was agreed the helm would reverse alignment only relative to a person’s views on the Church of Evil Chaos. Wob now thinks they’re probably not bad guys, and would like to deal peacefully with them if the party is able.
Deeper into the halls Glint realized he’d been here before! The party was in the caves of the Cult of Evil Chaos. They headed South into an area Glint had not visited, and there encountered a woman in a prison cell. She pleaeded for help, but Wob was cautious. Using a mirror he discovered she was a medusa, but she promised to do them no harm if the party would free her from the cell before the cult sacrificed her to a demon. Taking all necessary precautions the party did so, and led her back out the way they’d come in. Madeline (the medusa) did not act trecherously towards the party at all, and left with general good feelings towards them.
The session ended with the party in the secret passage between areas 50 and 63, with their 11 orc nerds (drunk on booze to keep them busy while the players scouted).
LOOT:
200gp worth of jewelry off the dead invaders. (Distributed amongst the orcs.) 90gp Silver Cup 900gp Gold and Silver Tapestry 250gp worth of currency from the Goblins 450gp black clock 200gp Gnoll Harem Collars 400gp worth of currency from the Gnolls 600gp from 12 gems found on skeleton 800gp silver dagger studded with gems
TOTAL: 3890 experience points, 3690 gold pieces. [DIVISION TO BE DETERMINED]
2 wineskins of SUPERB booze 1 animated bottle full of the same SUPERB booze Gnoll-sized Plate Armor Cursed sword -1, can’t drop once held. Boots of Elvenkind (Wob)(Move without making sound) Longsword +2 Scroll of protection from Undead Helmet of Opposite Alignment (with regards to the cult of evil chaos)
Session 12: “As you flee, the orcish warsong is abruptly cut short by the crunch of a mace.”
This session was almost entirely a series of highly tactical combats as the party made their way into the haven of the Cult of Evil Chaos. First step was to set up an ambush for the Gelatinous Cube, which was slain in a single round. A little further on the party got the drop on a priest and 4 zombies, whom they slew handily, despite their 6 crossbow orcs firing into the melee and hitting a couple party members. There was also a darkness spell which caused some difficulty, but it was overcome.
From here the party split. Ekko and Addy went off to the torture chamber hoping to free the old man Ekko saw there back in session 6. He, of course, was long gone, but the torturer was actively putting the screws to a different, younger man. The two snuck up on the torturer and got a good first strike in, but the man was surprisingly adept with his great two handed battle axe. The fight was a close thing, but the party manged to finish him off before taking any grievous wounds themselves.
Before learning anything about the young man they’d saved we cut the action back to Glint and the Orcs. They knew the previous battle with the zombies and priests had been heard, and that a group was planning to come down the stairs to investigate. They prepared themselves, and delivered a devastating first strike, managing to take out 5 of the second group’s zombies, leaving only 2. The party lost one of their frontline orcs, and two were injured, but the line was holding.
The real problem, though, were the priests. Their “Protection From Good” spell fortunately only afflicted Glint, but when they cast “Fear” and Glint failed his save, all cohesion among the orcs broke down. The two injured orcs were quickly put out of their misery. The remaining three each fled in a different direction: one fled South towards the medusa’s cell, where they were discovered and killed. One fled back towards the crossbow orcs, and all 7 then fled back into the secret passage where they are currently safe.
The last orc fled along with Glint to the North. Next session will begin with the two halves of the party meeting back up in a dead end, pursued by zombies, acolytes, and a senior priest.
LOOT: 287 gold pieces worth of coin from the gelatinous cube. A femur carved into a WAND OF ENEMY DETECTION with 9 charges. (96 gp/xp each)
Session 13: “The TPK That Wasn’t”
Basically this entire session was a single great battle on the stairs against zombies, evil acolytes, and a great big evil cleric. I promised myself when I started writing these that I wouldn’t get myself wrapped up in describing play-by-plays for battles, no matter how exciting they were, so I’ll try to keep this brief: the zombies got tripped into a heap. Glint got Light cast on his eyes and spent most of the battle blind. Ecco detatched his hand, tied it to a rope, and threw it around the battlefield with surprising efficacy. Despite coming very close to death, none of the party actually died. (Adelaide had her leg broken by a big ol’ mace) . They managed to take out errybody but the big guy, then dogpile him down to the ground. They got his helmet off to discover—CESTIN! The “goodly” priest who had joined the party in session 1 to destroy evil, then mysteriously disappeared. They placed the helm of alignment change on him and…he was still kind of a dick, so they killed him.
NOBODY died. Not even the lone orc who’d fled the previous battle with Glint. Not even the poor level 0 peasant the party had rescued from torture who only had a single hit point between him and death. It was determined that this whole thing counted as a sort of “Funnel” adventure for that orc nerd. They’re a full-fledged Orc Bravo at this point. They’ve also developed an unlikeley comraderie with that peasant, with whom they did battle side-by-side.
The party managed looted the bodies, then made their way back to the secret entrance. They rolled an encounter on the way back, but by now it was 45 minutes after the time the game was supposed to end, so we rushed through a chase scene where nobody got hit or hurt. The party made it into the secret tunnel, and their pursuers were dissuaded from following by a volley of crossbow fire. The 6 crossbowmen, and one of the spearmen, had survived! The secret tunnel is now well known to the cult.
HAVEN TURN:
Adelaide read her book while her leg healed. Glint distributed the spoils of war, and bonded with his much reduced tribe. Ecco made a special glove for his detachable hand, with hooks on the stump bit to make attaching it to rope easier.
During their Haven Turn, two uncannily well made Hobgoblin statues appeared flanking the entrance to the Goblin caves. Madeline the Medusa has gathered together the fragments of the Gnoll and Goblin tribes, and subdued the Hobgoblins, and collected them into a pan-monster coalition under her leadership.
LOOT: Plate Mail + 1 Shield +1 Mace +1 5 gold chains worn by the acolytes (500gp) Gold chain w/ bloodstone gem worn by Cestin (500gp) Carried money between the 6 of them: 183gp TOTAL: 1183 gp/xp (Divided to 395gp/xp each?)
Session 14: “That’s a wrap on the Caves of Chaos”
Much like the previous session, this one was almost entirely combat. First, the old man and the orc who fought with the party last session set off for the Keep. The orc agreed to escort him there, then return to the party. Then the party set off to visit the alchemist, and on the way encountered some undead wolves, one of which had a pearl earring in its belly when it was cut open. Perhaps a notable victim? From the Alchemist they bought a ‘useless’ potion which allows the imbiber to fly for d6+2 turns, but allows demons to speak to them during their entire flight. The Alchemist also transformed their several doses of “Stone to Flesh” potion into 9 “Protection from Medusa’s Gaze” potions, which the party used to visit Madeline the Medusa, and convince her to join them in ridding the caves of the Cult of Evil Chaos once and for all. She agreed, on the condition that:
1. The party would agree that the Caves of Chaos are her domain.
2. The remains of the Lion/Scorpion clan orcs would be encouraged to join her.
3. The party hand over 10% of the liquid treasure they loot from the Shrine of Evil Chaos to her coffers.
The party agreed, and Madeline the Medusa joined them, in addition to four Goblin archers/tripline managers, and four Hobgoblin bodyguards.
The invasion into the Shrine of Evil Chaos was intense, and it repeatedly looked like the end for the party. All the goblins, and all but two of the orcs were killed when the clever cultists sprung an ambush mid-combat, pouring additional skeletons, zombies, and adepts into the fight from behind the party. The Medusa’s gaze, while you’d think it’d be a huge asset, managed to accomplish very little as the villains made successful saves round after round after round–until it didn’t. The chief priest was turned to stone, and most of the adepts were killed or subdued. Thinking quickly the party demanded that the remaining cultists submit themselves to Madeline as their ruler, or face annihilation. The morale check was failed, and Madeline’s position as Queen of the Caves of Chaos was confirmed. She was good to her word: the party were allowed to loot, so long as they left 10% of the loot with her.
And that is more or less a wrap on the Caves of Chaos for now. The party is, of course, free to continue adventuring there if they wish, but the most valuable caves have been looted, and their continued presence would make it seem they were trying to become Madeline’s rivals.
LOOT:
The Stone that used to be the Abbot of Evil Chaos’ Face – No Value Shield +1 – Not Selling Magic Snake Staff Gold Pieces – 7560gp Waist Chains – 120gp Gem Eyes – 400gp Gold Wine Set – 1400gp Copperware – 150gp Gems – 2000gp Unholy Artifacts – 7000gp SUBTOTAL: 18,630gp Madeline Tax: -1863gp TOTAL: 16767, or 4192 xp/gp each for Glint, Ekko, Adelaide, and Wob.