Session 8 Players Map


Can you spot the difference yet?

Alliances forged and fights fought, were the order of the day.

The kobolds agreed to accompany the party in a 'safety in numbers' style pact.

The party decided to revisit the lair of the giant flying octopuses, which have now been revealed as darkmantles, these were the biggest darkmantles yet encountered.

Employing an ambush strategy, the party's plan of using Curbag as bait collapsed into a 'use the entire party as bait' strategem within seconds of encountering the Darkmantles, and they were immediately surrounded by the huge flapping strangling beasts.

Boyikt, the leader of the kobolds unaware of this change of plans, waited patiently outside the room for the party to withdraw.

Eventually the kobolds joined the fray, every hit and miss was being made to count, many of party had been injured and fear of death was keen in the air.

Finally the party and kobolds emerged victorious with only one Darkmantle escaping.

They now tend their wounds, and prepare to advance further into the forbidding darkness.

Rosia Lightfoot's Journal - Part 8

In the room behind the trapped door which got Curbag, we met two lizard-folk, Kahliss and Slith. They attacked us at first, Slith was a druid who summoned up a ball of fire which he could move to attack us. When they realised we weren't orcs (or at least most of us weren't!) they offered a truce. We discovered that they had been hired by Longtail to guide him through the mountains to this place, Kahliss turned out to be a ranger who presumably had knowledge of the area. Anyway, they told us that Longtail had summoned up the FOs (which turn out to be called Darkmantles) and then lost control of them. They weren't very happy with him, or the other members of his retinue, and were waiting for a chance to escape this place. They also told us that this place used to be a prison, which explains all the traps and manacles. I wish we could find some way of making the traps think we were guards!

We spent the night in the room with Kahliss and Slith, they offered us some rats to eat, but I decided I would scrounge some rations from Quercus instead. He made me pray to Pelor for an hour, but it was worth it to avoid the rats. (I was secretly praying to Ehlonna, but I don't think I'll tell Quercus about that...) We decided that it might be good to go back to the Kobolds we'd met before and try to parlay with them. We though that they might have more information about this place. We managed to form an alliance with their leader, Boyik, despite the fact that he didn't really have anything to tell us. (He made us drink blood wine to seal the pact - ugh!) But he did agree to join with us on raid of the Darkmantles' lair. We thought it would be best to deal with them before we explored any more, as we didn't like the thought of them popping up when we least expected it. With the Kobolds (and the strange cat-like creature they have with them called a Krenshar) we made quite a force. We decided to ambush the Darkmantles, using Curbag as bait. Being the fastest of us, he volunteered to run out into the FO lair and bring them back into the large room where we would be waiting to surround them. It all went a bit wrong though... The Darkmantles wouldn't come out of their room when Curbag went to the door, so he ran further in, but was caught by one and surrounded. We all waded in and it got messy and scary very quickly. I was nearly strangled by one, but Isaak zapped it with his magic missiles. I was too busy trying to breathe to watch how he did it this time! We finally managed to kill them all, with the help of the kobolds, but it was a tough battle. I think we are ready to move on now, but I'm not sure how long our alliance with the kobolds will last.

Still no sign of food, other than rats...

Character Status

• Rosia Lightfoot - Halfling - Rogue 3
• Curbag - Half-orc - Barbarian 3
• Quercus - Elf - Cleric 3
• Oren Viggrimmar - Dwarf - Fighter 3
• Isaak - Human - Sorceror 3

Rosia Lightfoot's Journal - Part 7

We found a strange artefact, a weapon of some sort, made out of bone and covered with ancient runes. I tried to decipher them, but didn't recognise the script. The weapon rested on top of a sphere of glass, and was surrounded by the charred bodies of the flying octopus (FO) creatures. Assuming there was a trap I was about to move in to disarm it (or set it off, which would have been more likely...) when Isaak stopped me and instead performed some incantation which allowed him to move the weapon safely towards us through the air without touching it! I watched him carefully when he did this, and I think I could master this skill if I had a bit of help.

Anyway, after seeing the runes on the weapon, Isaak and Quercus were keen to go back to the manacle room (the one where I had my nasty experience) and make copies of some of the runes we saw there. (Or in Quercus' case to destroy them, I expect. I worry about his fanatical attitude, I think it could lead to problems...) Anyway, I had no inclination to go back there, and Curbag didn't seem very interested either, so we decided to split up. The two of us went off to the north east, and the others went off looking for runes. Curbag and I discovered a large room, full of kobold and orc bodies, and more dead FOs. (But no Trogs, do they carry their dead with them? Or worse, are they cannibals?) We decided not to explore too far into this room, at least not until the others caught up with us. Instead we explored some side passages, which just led back into the main room (although I did find a nasty wire trap, which we were able to circumvent).

The others finally caught up with us, and we explored more of the large room. We noticed an FO there and chased after it, ending up in a room to the east. Here we were ambushed by several very large FOs, who came out of nowhere. Their darkness effect was stronger than the smaller ones we have met before, and even the magical light rods we are using now could barely penetrate the gloom they generate. We decided that we could defend ourselves more easily from behind a closed door, and ran back into the larger room. Unfortunately there were three small FOs waiting for us there, although this was a fight much more in our favour. We were able to kill two of them, but the other escaped. It took with it the body of Toerag, who got strangled to death. Can't say I'm too sorry to see him go! I think we should move on from this open area, it is too easy to be surrounded. We need to rest as well, I am growing weary in this underground tomb. We still haven't found a decent source of food. We might end up eating FOs...

Session 7 Players Map.


Haunting sounds, eeries cold spots and phantasm sounds also plague the group.

At the eastern end of the long room the players met their most difficult foes yet (even more difficult than the kobolds), the largest flying octopuses they had yet encountered. They were quickly surrounded and only by concerted teamwork did they manage to escape.

Unfortunately Turag met his end in the clutching tentacles of those foul beasts.

The magical traps are coming thick and fast, testing Rosia's abilities to the limit and beyond...