Against the Giants: Session Ten, Part One

A list of the characters at this time:

Great Scott, a Half-Orc Lord of the 10th rank.
Altru, a Human Lama of St Cuthbert
Caier, a Human Magician
Carl, a Human Theurgist
Bhotan, a Human Conjurer
Crexis, a Human Esquire
Red, a Human Canon of St Cuthbert
Valxian, a High Elven Initiate of the 6th Circle
Rhonda, a Grey Elven Lama/Guide/Enchantress of Corellon Larethian
Gareth, a Human Master Thief of the 10th rank.

And, Tovena'ar, a Grey Elven Apparitionist. The two other new players were not here this session. Nonetheless, as you can see, we were long on magic but critically short of muscle, and with only two characters of two-digit levels this promises to be a very tough slog through the lower levels and drow. Fortunate for us the, that this did not come into play this particular session, as it was all the spell-slingers.

As I came in we lounged around some caverns, and encountered a large band of trolls and drow. Most were engulfed in the fireballs that spewed forth (Three real ones plus a illusionary one... but who can tell?) but the drow that did survive were taken down by combined effort from Great Scott and Crexis. It seemed then that the new guy was beginning to learn some useful things...

The party came across an extremely large boulder, which Great Scott easily rolled aside Altru was the first to stride through, followed by Tovena'ar and a few others. I believe it was Tovena'ar, Bhotan, and Altru that were in the room when everyone else were in the outer chamber, when the dragon revealed itself.

It demanded tribute, which after much circling debate we grudgingly agreed to. Tovena'ar tossed in his wands, Altru made for the portable hole, and Crexis laid his weapons down. Great Scott then walked in, and Tovena'ar shouted “Dragon! Red one!” before casting Wraithform. Several other characters made in to charge just as the dragon unleashed its fiery breath...

Altru barely managed to escape the blast, but Crexis, Tovena'ar, and Carl were all melted into the rock. The DM asked what our last thoughts were.

Crexis: I wish I stayed in Rome
Tovena'ar: Just a few more sec-
Carl: Ah, crap.

Altru tossed his portable hole into the outer chamber just as Great Scott charged in with his spear.

Amazingly, Bhotan caught the hole, and attempted to open it. Having never seen it in use or operated it before, the DM had him roll some percentage dice. He randomly came up with a Wish scroll.

Bhotan wished for the party to go back in time to reverse the process.

Something along the lines of "I wish we went back in time to before we enered the dragon's cave"

After much dice rolling and deliberation by the DM the party wound up before the great stone of the dragon's cavern, none of us the wiser for what happened. Once more Great Scott rolled aside the boulder, and once more Altru went inside to see what was there. Seeing the dragon, however, caused a different path to be made. Altru announced he was reaching inside the portable hole for another Wish scroll, and they rolled for initiative. Altru won, and he spoke these words:

“I wish you'd just drop dead”

Which, after more dice rolling, the dragon does.

That ends my first session back.

The next session opens with us beginning to count XP and the treasure, when Rhonda, acting as lookout, yells that there's a group of drow coming. The party moves into positions, outside the dragon's cave, and the battle is joined. This session we have all three new players and their characters:

Crexis/Bhotan
Spartacus
Paius (Pi) a cleric

Spartacus and Crexis both charge the drow first, instead of waiting for the wizards to blast or Great Scott to charge first. They end up getting hit pretty bad, whilst doing almost nothing to the drow. A couple of magic missiles and lightning bolts fly, and simply bounce off the elves' Resistance. My attempt to blind the group with a Light spell... useless. It turns to a slogging match between the warriors, and while we were never in any serious danger, the holes in our line-up are definitely made apparent. Bhotan attempts to burn them with a wand of steam, but all he ends up doing is scalding Crexis and Red.

Finally the drow warriors are cut down, and the drow wizard leader manages to Charm Spartacus. Spartacus picks him up and starts running in away from the group. A Hold Person by Altru and a net cast by Crexis miss, and we give chase. Crexis reaches him first, and tries to reason with him.

Crexis: What are you doing saving this guy? He's not even human!
Spartacus: But.... he's my friend, a very old friend of mine!
Crexis: He has pointy ears!
Spartacus:I... don't care. And stop chasing us! I need to save him!
In a fit of rage Crexis kills the drow with one attack, and then turns on his brother. They beat eachother up for three more rounds until a pair of Hold Peron's are thrown at them. This time Spartacus is Held, but not Crexis.

Now begins the downhill slide...

Crexis attacks his frozen brother one last time, and rolls a critical with max damage. Spartacus is now dead, and a collective “WTF” is heard around the table.

I think the guy playing Crexis didn't fully understand what went on here. He didn't know that Spartacus was so weak, he didn't know about subdual damage, and he was all caught up in “Crushing your enemies, seeing enemies driven before you, and hearing the lamentations of the women”.

There was a very big debate about what to do with Crexis... Ryan was given a 3rd level thief named Cimbur while we debated. This character had already been brought in, but no-one had been playing him for a while.

Eventually we decided on a democratic process, either to

Leave the Party
Kill him
Imprison him in the giant's cells

We had a tie vote on whether to kill him or give him his freedom; Rhonda's player was out getting a snack. When we got back we informed him of the impasse and so Rhonda voted to give him his freedom. Another vote was held as to kick him out or to give him another chance in the party. Again, Rhonda cast the tie-breaker to keep him in the party.

So it was with trepidation that Altru turned around to free Crexis from his bonds.... only to find them already slit. The portable Hole was also gone from his belt. A quick show of hands showed that Gareth (the thief we rescued from the dungeons) was gone as well.

Putting two and one and one together, Tovena'ar begins in haste to the upper levels, casting Wraithform to conceal himself. Several other characters begin a thorough search around the caverns, whilst Altru retraces his steps to see if perhaps he merely dropped the hole.

In the upper halls, Tovena'ar finally reaches the dungeon exit, only to see two small figures receding into the distance. Gritting his teeth, he sets off down he slopes in pursuit.

Meanwhile, down below, whilst sorting through the treasure Ky finds a scroll of Limited Wish. Slowly he reads it out out loud:

“I Wish that the treasure in the portable hole had been distributed amongst the members one hour prior to the theft of the portable hole”

Dice are rolled, and the DM writes in his notes and ponders this for a while. Eventually he reshuffles his notes and looks up.

The entire party (with the exception of Tovena'ar) has been unceremoniously teleported somewhere. Air is running out fast, and it is pitch black. A few characters possess light rods, so the scene is finally made out. They are floating in freespace, surrounded by piles of treasure. Evryone is confused for a second, until Ky's player finally gets it. The party has been transported inside the portable hole


A couple people start freaking out, confused about what to do. The magic-users start attempting various spells but the lack of gravity, orientation, and crowded naure of their predicament causes several sli-ups. Eventually Rhonda gets a Knock spell off, and suddenly the hole burps and an entrance is seen “above” Rhonda. Gingerly she attempts to make her way out...