Welcome
In the last post, the party lost their front-line warrior, slain by a pack of giant rats, but mostly also by how own incompetence.
Sessions for this campaign were co-ordinated by creating as Facebook events, and I used them to post the Experience Points (XP) gained in the previous session. For this one, the comment was "Less adventurers means more XP for the survivors. Yay !"
I hope you enjoy my D&D campaign write-ups, and the commentary I add to them. Questions, comments and feedback are welcome !
Image created by AI in NightCafe Studio
Introducing Griff
Before the diminished group of heroes moved onwards through the Sunken Citadel, there was one piece of business to attend to. With Gorwin dead, the player behind him needed to bring a new character in.
As a bit of a "quick fudge", we hand-waved it that the kobolds had found another prisoner in one of their dungeons and bought him to the party after cutting a deal.
Thus, the remaining heroes were introduced to Griff, a Beasthide Shifter Battlemaster.
Beasthide Shifters are a race introduced to 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons in the "Eberron - Rising From The Last War" supplement, and are basically human descendants of lycanthropes. They haven't got the kind of issues that come with lycanthopy (the whole ravaging the countryside when it's a full moon thing), but they definitely have a bestial aspect to their character.
Another Fountain and It's Rats
Now reinforced (and also with enough XP to finally make second level), the party moved onward in the Sunken Citadel to the next unexplored area.
This took them into a chamber with another dry fountain, also with an inscription in the draconic language. Having benefitted from the last fountain like this they'd found the party sat down to allow Garnet, their sorcerer, time to cast the ritual to read the inscription.
But the briefing for the dungeon was that if the party spend too long in this chamber, then the denizens in the next room might heard them, and will come to investigate. That's exactly what happened, and halfway through the ritual a party of fierce rats burst into the room, led by a bloated monster that was Mama Rat.
A vicious fight ensued, but although it seesawed back and forth for a few rounds, it was inevitable that the party would come out on top. After all, they were second level now !
However, the fight was made more complex because halfway through, Garnet finished her ritual and immediately read the inscription out loud. It had worked so well last time ! This time, it filled the side of the room the party were fighting from with poison gas. Oops !
Coughing and spluttering, the heroes did what was probably the right thing (for once...) and pushed forward out of the gas cloud and against the rats. Focusing their attacks on Mama Rat, they finally cut her down. With that, the heart went out of her clan, and most were cut down as they tried to flee.
Next time: first encounter with the goblins....
Previous posts in this series;
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-introduction
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-lets-meet-our-characters-
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-arrival-at-oakhurst
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-to-the-sunless-citadel
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-into-the-citadel
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-kobolds-are-people-too-
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-a-deal-with-kobolds
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-no-creatures-land