After Action Report: Cauldron, Session 5

The entire company of delvers had left the magical darkness when we had seen them last. Well, almost the entire company. One brave (or confused/foolhardy) soul stayed behind to battle against the creatures of the dark-- Kurgan. Things did not go well for the Dwarven fighter. One of the creatures managed to grab his hand in the dark. It wanted his ring of protection. It was in the process of cutting his finger off to get it, when Kurgan slumped to the floor. Another creature had snuck up behind him and stabbed him unconscious. The rest of the party were in a quandary. What do they do? Stay in the relative safety of the light or return to the darkness to help Kurgan? Another confused, bravehardy soul made his choice. Camlin, the young wizard stepped off into the darkness to see if he could assist Kurgan. Encouraged by this display of will, Cadfan and Fonzig joined him. Locke was of two minds, but eventually swallowed his fear and followed the rest.

Camlin and Cadfan stood shoulder-to-shoulder marching in the darkness and swinging staff and sword to fend off creatures. They encountered no resistance. Meanwhile, Fonzig, unchastened by his previous run-in with a stone wall, decided that he would run towards the sound of Kurgan's combat and try to enter the fray. He managed a flying kick into a wall and later stumbled through the gear door groping his way to Kurgan. Fonzig was set upon by one of the creatures and unconsciousness quickly found Fonzig. Locke tried dealing with the darkness by crawling on the floor. In his first efforts he managed to find the legs of a creature. Attempting to hold on, he soon learned that he had fastened himself to Camlin. So much for that approach. Camlin and Cadfan continued their steady march towards the sounds of Kurgan, now slumping and Fonzig. Locke, getting more and more nervous with the blackout conditions, made a blind dash for the door and found it.

Now that the company were down to three conscious individuals, Locke soon found himself attacked on both sides of the doorway-- from inside the room where Kurgan and Fonzig lay on the floor. Thrusting blindly with his rapier, Locke managed to gore one of the creatures which resulted in a combustible explosion. Locke was now blinded from the flash, but the darkness had been lifted. Cadfan and Camlin swiftly entered the room and now made short work of the small creature, which also exploded when killed. Soon, the entire party was unconscious or blinded-- but alive. Kurgan was revived and the others were taken to the safety of the city above. After healing spells and recuperation, the party was back up to full strength-- sort of. Locke announced that the darkness had traumatized him enough that he wanted to spend some time working in one of the local taverns for awhile.

The company sold their non-magical items at Tygot's Old Things (where Kurgan negotiated a good price) and the party discovered how to cure the Vanishing (which Camlin and Fonzig had contracted). Once they decide what to do with their magical items, we'll see how many of them level up...