Under the inn, through the sewer - part 2 of 3

Be sure to read part one first!

When we left off our heroes were in quite the situation. Kobolds and zombies to the front, enemy soldiers behind. And in case you've forgotten, they're in a nearly pitch black sewer with seemingly no means of escape.

It'd be really inopportune to roll a "2" right about now.

After a near-failure of a spot check, the party discovers bars stacked on the nearby wall that look suspiciously like a ladder. Another look around reveals a circular disc far up on the ceiling that, with any luck, would be a manhole cover.

Time is ticking quickly as we take a small moment to deliberate: who should climb the ladder? Unanimously, my strength-ridden barbarian is chosen; after rolling a natural 20, she silently moves toward the rungs. 

Unfortunately, because moving silently didn't make her considerable bulk invisible, the zombies took notice. As they began their disgusting, moaning drudging toward the party, we all rolled for initiative and I began to scramble up the ladder.

"Sure hope I remembered to put ranks into 'climb'!"

As the rest of the party entered battle with the onslaught of zombies and kobolds, my mighty barbarian repeatedly slipped down the latter after a series of embarrassing rolls. The only upside to the situation was that some kobolds appeared at the sound of the enemy soldiers' clattering, and so they were being held up in their own altercation.

When at last I reached the top of the ladder and the manhole cover, I gave it an almighty push but it didn't open. My party members below were backing toward the base of the escape route, a few enemies creeping closer. Two of my fellow adventurers had already begun to climb.

Our mighty sorcerer staved off a complete invasion by casting a line of grease between us and the zombies and kobolds. Our well-aiming ranger turned the grease into a wall of fire with his ever so handy flaming arrows. 

Two rounds of battle later, with everyone else finally climbing up, and I still had been unable to successfully roll high enough to enter freedom. It was with the eventual help of our shady ranger that we were able to make it to fresh air and the world above. 

The Lich King raged in disappointment, his newly raised zombies now without targets. We had finally escaped the horrors of the sewer, and we collapsed in joy and relief. It was time to head to the castle.

In my mind it looks a little like this.

Don't miss part 3 tomorrow, it's quite the shocking ending!

-MJ

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Under the inn, through the sewer - part 1 of 3

Saturday brought a glorious happening to my life, something I've waited months for, wished for, dreamt of and thought would never arrive...

...a session of Dungeons and Dragons, and an opportunity to use my brand new dice!

Awww yeaaaaah.

The plan had been in the works for about two weeks, but it can be fairly difficult to wrangle people together to get a story progressed. It was for this reason that I harbored a small fear that our DnD date would fall through! But it didn't and I was happy.

It had been a few months since we last played, so everyone was a little rusty on the story. Fortunately, our DM is a good one and he had plenty of notes ;) After character tokens were chosen and character sheets were reviewed, our band of six picked up our story.

There we were, in the cellar of a boarded up inn. We were fighting against vomiting humanoid rats in search of missing treasures belonging to the barkeep, when suddenly the newest member of our party informed us that enemy soldiers were hot on our tails.

Into the lair of the rat people we went (they having been eliminated) and, with it being our only way out, we plunged into the pitch black sewers before us.

Ranger, paladin, barbarian, fighter, sorceress and sorcerer. 

I took the front position; my tank barbarian could handle it, but her dark vision came especially in handy. The other half-orc took up the rear incase the enemy broke through our hastily setup barricade.

Things were looking hopeless in the dark, labyrinthine sewer. Not only were we trying to save ourselves, but our two newest party members! The original four of us were on an escort mission to bring the other two to a high magician. Failure was not an option.

Our journey was filled with the perils of not only sewer monsters, but unfortunate instances of slipping and nearly falling on the narrow and slippery walkways into the disgusting, smelly depths below. Many balance checks and reflex saves were made.

When our party first encountered the kobolds (reptile like creatures) in the water, they posed only a minor threat. Two of our party members received attacks, but the fight was soon over and our allies healed. We felt safe for only moments before we heard the clanging of steel behind us, an ominous sound telling us the enemy soldiers were hastening in our direction.

We immediately continued down the sewer before encountering more sounds of battle and a bright blue glow. What should await us but a battle raging between kobolds, zombies and a commanding Lich King? And at a dead end of the sewer, too.

Enemies to the front. Enemies behind.

Come back tomorrow for part two of this exciting adventure!

-MJ

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