…which is becoming my mantra for the campaign, apparently. However, Orgonbrand surviving this session does make him my longest-lived starting character since I started telling D&D stories on this blog. Pretty big deal.
However however, last time such a milestone was broken, I immediately died in the next session (RIP Jack) and the way this session ended, it looks likely the same will happen. And I know I keep saying that, but this session ended in a situation that looks even more dire than the last couple, so…
Oh, and of course it needs to be said, we finally had both our new players with us for this one. Speaking of…
We began the session by heading downstairs, where a wood elf rogue, Korfel, happened to be hiding and waiting to see who we were and why we were there. He didn’t reveal himself until we were attacked by a trio of spined devils. They managed to knock Gib out, but we defeated them with Korfel’s help and I healed Gib with a healing potion.
Upon then meeting Korfel properly, he told us he was looking for someone and despite being stand-offish, agreed to accompany us. And thus, the party was finally whole.
Exiting the room, we found ourselves in the sewers. We decided to take a short rest in the narrow tunnel we were in, and despite being interrupted by a pair of cultists (who were promptly murdered) we managed to see it through. So we had managed to get a few hit points back and weren’t looking quite as rough as we had been, but we still weren’t looking too peachy.
Following the short rest, Sarek and Korfel donned the cultists’ robes and led the group through the sewers, with Korfel scouting several empty rooms along the way. Coming to a large door, he could hear chanting beyond, so he and Sarek entered and found a group of cultists chanting to a large devil. The tried to act like they belonged, but the devil saw through it and attacked, hitting Sarek. And then the fight was on.
Sarek was first to act, killing all the cultists with a Shatter before fleeing the room. Korfel also backed out, while the rest of us charged in to attack the devil up close.
While we fought, a new group of cultists came charging down the tunnel Sarek and Korfel were in, but Sarek killed them all, once again, with a Shatter. Then two clerics came from the same direction, and Korfel spent a couple of turns firing at them down the corridor and then hiding.
Meanwhile, inside, the devil insulted Bahamut, knocked me unconscious, and backed up to the far end of the room. The others followed while Gib backed into the corner to blast it eldritchly and I failed my first two death saves. Sarek, in the other corner of the room, was brought to 5 hit points by the devil’s own blasty powers before nearly being killed by the clerics and then healing me back up with a healing potion. I immediately went for the devil again, incensed that he would say such horrible things about Bahamut, but soon discovered that he was immune to my flame breath.
Following this, Clourc and Gib went into the corridor to attack the clerics. They did a chunk of damage before Korfel finished one off with a critical hit. Then Gib reentered the room to heal me back onto my feet (because I was unconscious again) and rejoin the fight against the devil.
Over the course of the final few rounds of the fight (the whole of which took a really long time in real world time) Clourc was knocked unconscious by the cleric, but Korfel saved him with a healing potion; Gib was knocked unconscious by the devil, but Sarek saved him with a healing potion; Sarek was almost instantly killed by a critically hitting Inflict Wounds from the cleric, but was saved by his earlier casting of Mirror Image (and a lucky 11 on an 11+ roll); Korfel finished off the last cleric; I was knocked unconscious again; and our NPC, who had sucked for most of the fight, finally got her act together to finish off the devil. And then Gib healed me with his final point of Lay on Hands before I could die.
At least, I think that’s the order things happened. It was a pretty messy fight, overall. The NPC, Korfel and myself were pretty much in the same places the whole time, but the others moved around a lot. In the end we won, though, so that’s that.
After the fight, we investigated the room, Gib finding a couple of secret doors while I tried (and failed) to decapitate a glowing stone statue. Then I cast Prayer of Healing with my final healing spell, gifting everyone an extra 16 hit points, before we started on the doors. Gib went through the first, which led to a secret entrance to the upstairs – no big deal. Figuring the second would be similar, I opened it and stepped through…
…to find myself confronted by the hench matriarch of the family and person we had come here looking for. She muttered one of those ‘I’ll have to do it myself’ threats and rolled up her sleeves, and that’s where the session ended. The earlier fight had taken just too dang long.
So, that’s why I say we (or, specifically, I) are in an even more dire a situation as we end than the last couple of sessions. Because when I say this lady is hench, I mean she is hench. Swole, even.
What’s even worse, though, is the fact that we won’t be playing next week. That means a two week wait to find out what happens. That sucks.
But, what can you do? Make sure to tune in in two weeks time to see what happens with Orgonbrand and the hench lady. Is my character going to die three days before Christmas? I guess we’ll find out.
P.S. Don’t forget to watch my new D&D video if you haven’t seen it yet!