After Action Report: Cauldron, Session 7

Seeing that the two fighters and the party's only cleric had hit the deck paralyzed, the halfling decided to take matters into his own hands...

The company returned to Cauldron with 2 unconscious humans and sought healing in the Church of St. Cuthbert. Revived and rested the party went to get some gems appraised before continuing their search for the kidnapped children.

The newcomer, Alton was given the task of negotiating with the local gem dealer. He was able to get a fantastic price. The party found an increased respect for their new ranger. He was to prove his worth even more in the hours to come.

The exploration of Jzadirune led to the first encounter of the day. They were exploring some of the rooms near their last battle, when they were plunged into darkness once more. This time, they were better prepared for a fight in the dark. Using his superior concentration skills, Camlin cast a sleep spell into the dark and managed to put the two creatures and Kurgan asleep. The party stumbled about in the darkness and pulled everyone and everything into the light. There, they saw this:



These small humanoids were quickly put to death. Their deaths caused explosions which blinded Kurgan the Executioner.

After mapping the enclave a bit further, the company decided to see what was behind the makeshift wall that was blocking one of the long east-west hallways. Kurgan and Cadfan easily pushed it aside and the adventurers found an old Gnomish factory hall. Two balconies overlooked the central floor from above the east and west entrances.

As Cadfan began to explore the east entrance, a tentacled beast descended on him and attacked from above:



The beast had 10 tentacles that it used to attack. At first, that didn't seem so bad until Cadfan failed a saving throw and succumbed to paralysis. Seeing Cadfan fall, the party's two dwarves rushed in to attack. Kurgan managed to put a massive blow on the creature before he and Tenkar also went down to paralysis.

While Camlin dragged Cadfan to relative safety, the gnome and the halfling used some ranged attacks against the beast. While Fonzig managed to hold it at bay with crossbow fire, Alton climbed up to the balcony and ran to the staircase, attacking the beast from above! Completely surprised, the creature flew out of melee range. When Alton moved in for another attack, it flew above the balcony again to regroup.

The halfling's success bought Cadfan enough time to recover from his paralysis and allowed a remove paralysis potion to be applied to Kurgan. Just in time, too, for Alton, buoyed by his earlier heroics, charged up the stairs and attacked the creature again. The creature defended itself against the halfling and then laid him low with 3 well-placed tentacle attacks.

Revived, Kurgan charged after the halfling. Seeing his new buddy on the floor, Kurgan landed a single axe blow that almost killed the beast. The beast managed to survive just long enough to paralyze Kurgan again with another successful attack. Tenkar and Cadfan followed the down party members, but couldn't hit the flying creature. It was Fonzig, running up the other balcony, who managed a crossbow strike that threaded the space between the cleric and the fighter and killed the beast with a shot into it's now-pulpy brain. Whew!

Experience Earned

PCs: Kurgan, Tenkar, Camlin, Cadfan, Fonzig, Alton Tosscobble
Treasure: 31xp/each (180gp, 62 sp, 160cp)
Monsters: 99xp/each
Role Playing: 80xp/each

Items Found:

magical dagger
2 different potions
vial of liquid

Screen Shots!

Darkness, bah!


The Big Gear Room


Finishing off the yellow square of death (aka the grell)!