First of all, the most pertinent fact of the session: it was my fifth with a character and I did not die. The curse is absolutely broken, any way you slice it. Officially, Cardigan is now my longest surviving character since about August last year. It is a wonderful feeling.
The other important fact, as pointed out to me by one of my fellow players, is that this is the first session where we didn’t feel like we were teetering on the edge of a TPK. Through a combination of good tactics, good luck (some of it masquerading as bad luck) and dice just going our way, we got through what could have been a gnarly situation without excessive hassle. It wasn’t easy, but it was easier than the last couple of weeks.
First off, we explored the remaining ruins of Thundertree without too much hassle (although when Parvus and Airina hurried off to reach the next building, leaving Mercenary and I behind still searching the previous one, and they disturbed a horde of twig creatures, Parvus did end up going down before they were all wiped out). Satisfied we had cleared the area, we began the journey south before cutting into the forest to head towards Cragmaw Castle.
When we arrived, Droop and I scouted (being the only quiet ones), discovering a main entrance, a secret entrance to the north, and a third small door to the south, but not much in the way of visible enemies. Deciding on subtlety, our plan was for me to Disguise Self (a recently acquired racial spell) as a wounded bugbear and lead the others in as prisoners. That plan lasted until the first roll, when I rolled a 1 for my Performance check. The goblins, showing a surprising amount of cunning, directed me to a door with a rock-fall trap, and the moment it triggered they started yelling intruders and the fight was on.
We were in a corridor just within the main entrance, and I managed to dart back out of the entrance-way, going in and out to strike. The other three remained in the corridor as waves of goblins and hobgoblins entered and started hacking away. It was a bloody fight, but Mercenary removing her mask and radiating waves of searing energy (she’s a scourge aasimar) made the difference. Parvus went down and back up a couple of times, but in the end we stood all four victorious in what was a veritable charnel house of a hallway.
In a way, our failed plan was to our benefit, as if we had made it further in before triggering an alarm we would have been completely surrounded, rather than fighting off the goblins on two main fronts.
In the aftermath of the first fight, we checked the immediate rooms but found them empty (anyone that had been in them was long since dead in the hallway) before settling down to rest in a hall. However, before we could finish a short rest, we were spotted by a pair of hobgoblins who quickly retreated. Unsure of their intentions (but well aware of what happened the last time we let people get away) we began our pursuit.
We quickly caught one of the hobgoblins and cut it down, but the other made it to a distant room before we could stop him. He pulled open the door and jumped out of the way, taking a swing at me but missing before a freaking owlbear came barrelling out of the room. However, it did not succeed on many attacks before we cut them both down.
Backtracking, we methodically cleared out the remaining rooms. First, we fought this weird, tentacled creature-thingy in the outer chapel, before I was walked into a trap by both Parvus and Mercenary screwing up their perception checks in the inner chapel. I was nearly killed (4 hit points left) so I bailed, fled to the chamber where the secret north entrance connected, hid amongst some barrels (natural 20 on my stealth check – no one was finding me) and drank some healing potions to heal up. After the others killed the ambushing goblins and finished up in the chapel, I chose to remain hidden while they moved on to the last section of the castle. This, weirdly, turned out to be an incredibly fortunate move.
The others entered the final room of the castle, where they found an unconscious Gundren in the clutches of the bugbear king, leader of the place, alongside his pet wolf. At the same time, at the other door to the room, behind my companions but in full view of my hidden self, I saw a female drow sneak over and begin to wait. Not knowing her intentions, I prepared to strike at her if she seemed aggressive towards my companions.
Mercenary did her best to negotiate Gundren’s safe release, but as she got close to take him the bugbear yelled ‘now!’ and the drow attacked. So did I, slicing her before she dashed in to pummel Parvus a bit. Mercenary wrenched Gundren from the bugbear, and then shit got real.
Airina and I fought the drow, her the anvil and I the hammer, until the drow fled. I gave chase, just managed to catch her, and decisively finished her off (and as she morphed back into a grey, shapeless humanoid I realised she was no elf after all). Parvus and Mercenary, meanwhile, fought the bugbear and his wolf. Mercenary, in the best example of her tactics to date, used the Dodge action on almost every turn while the bugbear and wolf persisted in attempting and mostly failing to hit her. We worked out she probably tanked about a hundred and fifty points of damage, if not more – because when the bugbear did hit, he hit hard. He took Parvus, who was almost at full health, down in one turn, and a single hit floored Mercenary and Parvus each on other, subsequent turns.
Eventually, Airina and I joined in the fight against the bugbear and his wolf. It looked hairy for a minute, but a solid Sneak Attack from me took out the wolf, and then able to focus on the bugbear, we finally took him down as well. Victorious, and without anyone coming anywhere near close to death, we took Gundren’s unconscious body from the castle and settled down for a long rest.
That’s where we finished, after what was probably the most solid session we’ve had so far. I think we’re really starting to come together as a fighting force. I’ve definitely figured out how to play a rogue, and Mercenary has nailed her combat tactics as well. She and Parvus work well together on the front lines, and Airina is really getting into her stride in support. All in all, I think this is the most unified and tactically efficient party we’ve had as a group, and this last session has demonstrated it wonderfully.