3rd May 2019
Player
Charlotte
Tim
​Dec
​Jay
Character
Berta
Tiny Tracey
​Clint
​Valtius
Alton Cracksmasher
Info
Level 3
Level 3
Level 1
​Level 2 (semi-forcibly recruited)
Level 2 (forcibly recruited)
Session 13 is here, 3 weeks, 3 session!

Session 13, unlucky for some? Most definitely.
  • Most definitely unlucky for the players. The dice were not fickle, they were downright brutal.

As always, the PCs began their excursion at the open gates of legendary Castle Torrog. The mountain path winding down into the foothills below.

They descended to the shallow valley below and promptly ignored the old damaged tower and turned southwards. Intent upon returning to the quarry.
  • It's not going to be easy to get them back to the tower.

The journey south takes a day and a half: The first day passed without incident.
The second day was more eventful.
During the last leg of their journey, the party had to turn east and climb the foothills back into the Edion mountains. Unfortunately for them, a small pack of worgs had caught their scent and the party did not spot loping over a low hill towards them.
  • In the final encounter roll of the journey I rolled a 20, a double sized encounter.
  • I also rolled it as an ambush on the party.

When the party did gather their wits, it was almost too late! The worgs were too fast and without hesitation charged the party from the rear.
  • I rolled a 20 for the worg's initiative.
  • Despite most of the party making their initiative rolls, the worgs still went first.
The charge was devastating. Clint and Alton were felled in a single round!
  • Both were 1st level.
The party were put on the back foot and received savage blow after savage blow.
  • I rolled nothing but 18's and 19's - and 1 20!
However the party are a hardy bunch and weathered the attacks. Fighting back they managed to dispatch a worg and then another. The tide was turning and eventually all the worgs were defeated.

However the party were quite depleted, after reviving their fallen comrades they felt the need for a rest. They pressed on towards the quarry. The party knew that close to the mine were some abandoned and dilapidated old buildings that would provide some shelter and protection.
They arrived without any trouble and took a short rest.

​​Towards the end of the rest the most perceptive party members heard the crunch of gravel and rock beneath the skittering of many feet...
  • Taking a rest triggers an encounter roll.
  • The area also has a special activity roll (as I explained in journal twelve).
  • Both sets of rolls caused an encounter, one roll resulted in a 20, another double sized encounter.
  • The dice really are making themselves felt!

The party ascertained it was 7 giant spiders advancing towards.
A quick decision was made and they grabbed their weapons and bundled out of the old buildings.​The 2 fighters, barbarian and monk formed up loose frontline with the magic-user and cleric 60 foot back, ready to hurl ranged spell attacks.
  • I think they were a bit blaise here. The general opinion was, "Well we won against eight before, so let's go.".
  • The party composition was different then. Circumstances were different then. Previously the party advanced towards the spiders and opened with ranged volleys. In this situation, they were reacting to the spiders advancing on them! There were no ranged attacks.
  • Last time they had an encounter here with giant spiders they tried hiding, I gave them advantage at the time. As I would have done in this situation. I guess because it failed last time, they gave it no thought this time.
  • Hiding would have meant that they skipped the entire fight.
  • The party did not know it, but a further 5 giant spiders were lurking in the quarry basin. Even after defeating this bunch of spiders, there would have been even more to fight!

Combat ensued - and it did not go well for the players.
​When the 6 giant spiders advanced, they were in 2 small groups. The smaller group of 2 spiders moved forward and webbed Alton and Turwin. Meanwhile the larger group of 4 moved into melee range with the frontline.
  • The group of 4 spiders were the hunting party and the 2 spiders in the smaller party were the random encounter.

The party had not yet fully recovered and Alton was taken down in the first round, soon after a spider was killed and then Tracey went down. The spiders then started webbing up the 2 fallen comrades. The remaining party members realized what fate would await them if they lost the fight.
Meanwhile the other small group of 2 spiders turned their attention on Clint and Valtius.
​
This piled the pressure on to Turwin and Berta. Turwin, put up a good fight for awhile, managing to burn a couple of spiders before going down.
Then there were 3.

Valtius had used a 'Sleep' spell to good effect and stopped 1 spider.
But the remaining spider was still advancing on the spellcasters. Valtius tried to hold off the spider but was knocked out of the fight.
Then there were 2.

At the front, Berta was unrelenting. She killed a spider which granted her the shortest of respites before the other 2 spiders turned towards her. Berta held her ground and killed another giant spider before being felled by the remaining spider.
In this time Clint had killed the last spider in the small group.
Then there was 1.

It was Clint versus the remaining giant spider.
  • Die and it's a party wipe.
  • No pressure then.

Clint did not want to risk being bitten by the giant spider, he was a 1st level cleric and was worried a single bite would probably be enough to finish him.
  • A fair assessment. 1d8+3 damage and 2d8 poison damage (CON save for half).
As the giant spider scuttled towards him, Clint fired his crossbow and fell back. The spider drew closer and failed to web Clint up. Clint fired again and fell back again. The spider pressed on. Clint realised that he could not use his crossbow and stay out the spider's grasp at the same time. So Clint switched to the mace and held his ground.
Luckily Clint was more skilled with the mace than the crossbow and after a very tense few rounds, Clint had killed the spider.

The party was victorious, the price was high though! 3 unconscious characters and 2 stone cold dead characters.

After reviving the living characters, the decision: Even though they were at the quarry, they would have to return to the castle.

The party found a safe spot to camp and rested.
The return journey north was not uneventful. The party encountered a small band of goblins. Even though the party was down on numbers, the goblins did prove much of a threat. The party took some damage, but dispatched the goblins without drama and returned to the castle.

  • There you go, session thirteen.
  • Not much to talk about really, the party were at the whims of horrible dice rolls.

End of session thirteen.