The Yaga Arrangement [session 32]

Adventurer's Present
Bilbo, a hobbit
Orsek, a dwarfley barbarian wizard 
Mossmullet, a dwarfley cleric of winter's bite
SMASH. a dwarfley cleric of root cellars

We left the small storage closet where we spent the night, and miraculously located our cousin SMASH in the halls of the Yaga's hut.  He joined us as we set about exploring again.  Our first stop was the hut's well room.  Once we'd slain or driven off the dozen ratling guards, we discovered that the well descended 100' before hitting water.  Hamster-form SMASH explored the underground reservoir, and discovered a huge sea serpent living in the well's water.  We tried to poison the beast by feeding it poisoned ratling corpses and blasting it with chromatic lightning, but it proved too strong for such tricks.  We also located a storeroom with a couple of gems hidden in it (but, as you'll see, we didn’t get to keep them).
 
Soon enough, the Yaga herself found us.  Instead of immediately attacking, she questioned us about our presence in her home.  Ultimately, she struck a deal with our group, offering us 42,000 gold for the retrieval of a magic spear from the depths of White Plume Mountain.  Figuring that it was better to keep our resale options open, we cut the deal with her.  She gave us some slightly useful information about the dungeon, and supplied us 3 water breathing potions to aid our journey.  She then took back our purloined pantry gems and escorted us off the premises.
 
Orsek's zombified troll servant hadn't yet overcome its undeath, so we set off through the swamp toward the Mountain itself with the rubbery zombie in tow.  Along the swampy tracks we were attacked by some crocodiles, but some quick lightning by the clerics and some axe work by Orsek cut the reptiles down pretty quick.  Poor Bilbo suffered the brunt of their attack, and was then somewhat electrocuted by a stray bolt of Varga's lightning, but the ferocious goddess made amends by Sparing the hobbit from true death.
 
At the end of the day we reached the base of the slope, but not before we stumbled upon 5 cockatrices, which promptly attacked.  Although SMASH had a couple moments of magical sloth, the main victim of the birds' petrifying attack was Orsek's zombie troll.  Completing its journey from life, to death, to undeath, to statue, the troll seems to have finally met its end.  Coming in a close second, unlucky Bilbo found himself fully paralyzed.  In a somewhat unorthodox maneuver, the party decided to have Orsek cut Bilbo's throat and end his life, before the cockatrice's bite could turn him fully to stone.  Varga's divine might again saved the day, as the hobbit was returned to the living.  The much-battered party made camp under the stony presence of the troll statue, awaiting to ascend the slopes and finally enter White Plume Mountain itself.

Party Experience Gained
Combat: 197 each
Exploration: 52 each
plus 175 each for talking to, instead of just trying to kill, Baba Yaga
... and Bilbo got an extra 100 for his brief view of the afterlife.

The Witch's Hut [session 31]

Adventurer's Present
Bilbo, a hobbit
Orsek, a dwarfley barbarian wizard 
Mossmullet, a dwarfley cleric of winter's bite

Travelling through the swamp, we were set upon by a huge, rubbery man-beast.  It was hungry, hungry for our flesh.  We fought it off until Orsek pointed his Finger of Death at it.  The overcast spell killed the fell monster, which then rose up in a mockery of life under Orsek's dark power.

Then, at long last, we came upon the Hut of Baba Yaga.  It stood upon weird twenty-foot tall trees.  We determined that these trees were probably actually the chicken legs of legend.  Wasting no time, our troll thrall lifted us up to the front door, and then grabbed the legs in the hopes that the hut would not wander off while we explored the interior.  And, lo, what an interior!

The main room was totally normal - a table, fireplace, comfy chair, etc.  Nothing to see here, folks.  We took the stairs up to the attic, opened the door, and that's when things got weird.  We kept a map, but I'm not sure how much use it will be - the geography of the place clearly does not follow any physical laws that we are aware of...

In various rooms, we encountered:

• Ratling guards, who we spoke with until relations broke down.  This did not go well for the ratlings.  Only a few escaped with their lives.
• A golden statue of a seemingly young and beautiful Yaga.  When touched, a fire elemental burst forth and attacked us.  We survived, and stole one of the statue's hands as payment for our troubles.
• Dust mites.  These unfriendly little guys make us cough.
• A tool room being guarded by a wind elemental.  Alas, no golden hands as reward for defeating the foul thing.
• Ratling thieves, who were easily duped.

We will continue on, hoping to find the mistress of the house...

Party Experience Gained 
Combat: 966 each
Exploration: 394 each

Swamp Creatures [session 30]

Adventurer's Present
Bilbo, a hobbit
Orsek, a dwarfley barbarian wizard 
Mossmullet, a dwarfley cleric of winter's bite

Setting off from the ruins of Castle Mukos, the party entered the mire of the great swamps of White Plume Mountain. Their immediate goal was to locate and eliminate the evil witch known as the "Yaga". The trio of Bilbo, Mossmullet and Orsek wandered about the damp and mucky reaches North of the mountain in search of the legendary crone, hoping to end the menace and loot her magical treasures.
 
While they did eventually locate the fearsome Yaga, who was posing naturally enough as a harmless old woman traipsing slowly through the swamplands, their ensuing combat produced no clear victor. After a couple of rounds of mutual spell casting, the Yaga chose to make herself invisible and flee the field of battle. Unable to locate or track her, the adventurers decided to continue to scour the swamps for her (chicken-legged?) abode.
 
The most memorable enemies the group found in the day's travels was a dozen serpent-folk. While it might originally have been possible to limit the interaction to discussion and/or trade, neither side was particularly interested in the conversation. The serpents opined about the obvious tastiness of the hobbit, and refused to lead the heroes to the evil Yaga unless the Ungarts agreed to supply Bilbo to the serpents for a meal. Finding the offer unpalatable and the parlay unproductive, Orsek decided to challenge the lead serpent to a one-on-one duel (naturally, to the death). The serpent chieftain immediately accepted, and the combat began. The creature's battle-prowess was considerable, his bite proved poisonous, and his trident quite pointy. Orsek was nearly defeated, but used some powerfully overcast Chromatic Orbs to finally slay the lead serpent.
 
Despite having given their word to lead the party to the swamp witch should they lose, the serpents merely lead the trio around the endless pathways of the mire while plotting upon their evening hobbit-snack. A nighttime attack by the band of serpents proved ineffective, leading only to five of their tribe dying in the attempt. Undeterred by the obvious difficulty of their prey, the remaining six launched a further ambush the next day. It proved even more disastrous for them than their previous attempt; not a one of them survived.
 
The final encounter of the session was an ambush by a swamp slime. It oozed from the waters, slapping Bilbo into unconsciousness (and partially dissolving his precious silvered fry-pan), putting him in danger of being consumed and digested. Orsek stepped in to do battle with the formless foe, and battled until he too was nearly dead. Picking up their fallen comrade, Mosssmullet and Orsek fled the slime, deciding that the dangerous denizen of the swamps was beyond their current abilities. Retiring for the night, the heroes intend to continue their slow circuit of White Plume Mountain, before proceeding inward and downward into the depths of that dungeon.

Party Experience Gained 
Combat: 587 each
Exploration: 10 each
Plus, Orsek gained 69 as a bonus for dueling the Serpent King
 

Clearing Mukos [session 29]

Adventurer's Present
Bilbo, a hobbit
Orsek, a dwarfley barbarian wizard 
SMASH, a dwarfley cleric of root cellars

We awoke in the dank cave and set out to discover our way out of it.  Not wanting to brave the waters again, and not finding any secret passages, we headed up the stairs we did find, only to find they ended at the bottom of the 60 foot deep pit which we had discovered at the end of the catacombs the day before.

We discussed many crazy plans, but finally settled on SMASH, er, smashing a hole in the grate at the top of the pit with his Phantom Shovel and Bilbo climbing the walls and tying on a rope for everyone to climb up.  This plan would have worked just fine, except Bilbo was mauled by giant rats upon reaching the top of the pit.  The rats messed him up pretty good, but he was able to shimmy down the rope to (what he thought was) relative safety a few feet down from the rats.  Alas, one clever rat found it's way down the rope and viciously attacked him, knocking him senseless and all the way down the pit.  A well-timed Grease spell from Orsek caused the rats to tumble from the grate to their ultimate demise.  The spell-casters survived the rat-and-hobbit rain, revived Bilbo, and we continued on our way.  But not before Orsek replaced his animated Flaming Dead Rat companion...

Our trip out of the castle was largely uneventful.  We found the cemetery; the graves were all disturbed -  some from within, some from without - which was disturbing.  We fought some vampire bats in the small mausoleum, and SMASH recovered an ancient shield with powerful protections against undead, which he now carries (his previous magic shield will bestowed upon Mossmullet when that dwarfley priest returns).

Wanting to test out the new shield, SMASH brashly called out for any nearby zombies.  But his calls were only answered by more giant rats, which proved to be surprisingly tough foes.  But we did eventually defeat them and live to delve another day.

Party Experience Gained 
Combat: 170 each
Exploration: 55 each
Plus, we all gained 17 or 34 experience for clearing the Ruins, depending how many sessions the character participated in 

A Found Map

Here is the map of White Plume Mountain that the adventurers found in the ruins of Castle Mukos:

[click to embiggen]

Perhaps it's not as complete as they thought...

The Ruins of Castle Mukos [session 28]

Adventurer's Present
Bilbo, a hobbit
Mossmullet, a dwarfley cleric of winter's bite
Orsek, a dwarfley barbarian wizard

In the steamy shadow of White Plume Mountain, our (reduced) group of heroes began their initial circuit of the environs around that dread dungeon. Setting out from the relative safety of the Dead Gnoll's Eyesocket, they soon located a ruined castle on the eastern slopes of the mountain. They decided to enter the castle through one of the tumble-down walls toward one end of the jagged ruin. Almost immediately, they were set upon by groups of zombies which seemed to inhabit the place. After defeating those, they located a ghast hiding in some of the rubble of one of the half-crumbled tower. He put up a spirited fight, but proved no match for the questing heroes.

Upon closely examining the tower's central support pillar, the group found a secret stairwell leading down into some catacombs. They naturally had to tour this underground wonderland, to see what could be seen. They found a smashed up wizard’s library. All the books were ruined, but they found a hidden MAP OF THE INTERIOR DUNGEON OF WHITE PLUME MOUNTAIN! SCORE!!! They also fought off about a dozen ghouls, some rats, a swarm of bats, and other attractions of the catacombs. That accomplished, they rested up from their busy day before going even farther down the stairs to some deep caverns.

The next day's exploration of the natural caverns brought the team to a large well room, guarded by some sort of self-acting suit of armor. After bashing this bellicose plate armor into dust, they scouted the depths of the well water with Bilbo's shadow. They found some underwater passages leading to additional caverns. What followed was a risky, and ultimately unsuccessful, plan to swim to those alluring depths. After nearly drowning Mossmullet and Bilbo, they conceded defeat and began to return to the surface. Luckily, an alert hobbit spotted an oddity of the walls in the stairwell, and closer inspection revealed a secret door. Inside was a chest of gold, and one of the previously shadow-scouted caverns. A slight reworking of the prior plan resulted in underwater success! The group made it to the larger submerged cavern, where they again fought off a swarm of vampire bats.

That was enough adventuring for another day, so the exhausted group took another nap. When they awaken, they'll have to finish cleaning out the ruined castle and its subterranean menagerie of undead and uglies. Then they can get on with clearing out the environs of White Plume Mountain.

Party Experience Gained 
Combat: 1503 each
Exploration: 253 each

The Ruins of Castle Mukos

Here is what the adventurers see when they finally make it to what's left of Castle Mukos.

Not very exciting, I know...

Notes from Far Away [session 28]

Adventurer's Present
Bilbo, a hobbit
Mossmullet, a dwarfley cleric of winter's bite
Orsek, a dwarfley barbarian wizard

The adventurers choose to explore the surroundings of White Plume Mountain, and so set forth from the Dead Gnoll’s Eye Socket in a clockwise fashion.

As they are walking down the river bank, they are attacked by a mound of vegetation. The monster loses an arm on Mossmullet’s shield, but then Mossmullet is knocked unconscious and almost killed (he was down to his last Death Save).  But he survives with some lucky rolls and some help from Bilbo. They pursue the shambling monster, and Mossmullet kills it with his mace.

The adventurers make it to the ruins of Castle Mukos. They bash down a door in the side of the ex-castle and attract a swarm of 12 large rats. They oil-fire combo the first half of the rats, then 3 more are killed by Mossmullet. Bilbo uses a single ricocheting rock to kill the rest. Orsek animates a dead burning rat. They then go to the courtyard and find a group of twelve zombies, who are killed easily via the miracle of crits and elbow grease. They go into a tower and encounter more zombies. These are also killed.

Exploring the tower, they find a secret door that leads to a nasty ghast. They dispatch the foul undead, and continue their exploration.  They kill bats in an underground library, then go down through another secret door to find a ladder heading down into the darkest depths.  The flaming rat is thrown down the pit to light their way.  Heading down, they find an offshoot passage with many intersections.  These crypts are filled with ghouls, which our doughty adventurers dispatch.  The crypts lead to a strange occult room with a pit in the middle of it.  Before getting to investigate this fully, they are ambushed by more ghouls.  These too are dispatched post haste.  The pit is blocked with a sturdy grate.  Whatever could be down there?

This question and others will wait till later, as our weary adventurers decide this is a good enough place to rest for the evening.  They set the puppet Charly out with strict instructions to wake them if anything should come down the passage and curl up for some Z's.

[We actually continued playing, but our intrepid reporter figured this was a good place to stop taking notes - it got pretty late...]

Party Experience Gained
Combat: 1503 each
Exploration: 253 each

Rumors of White Plume Mountain

After doing some reading and asking around, here's what our brave adventurers found out about White Plume Mountain:

1. Beware the depths.
2. All the mushrooms are edible.
3. The Dead Gnoll's Eye Socket is safe.
4. No one has ever escaped from the Mountain.
5. The mushrooms are poisonous.
6. The derro are watching everyone.
7. Mind control is real.
8. There is a gem that grants wishes.
9. The boiling bubble bursts boldly.
10. The tiny men are everywhere.

Obviously, all of these are not from the most reliable of sources...

A Short, Sharp Shock [session 27]

Adventurer's Present
Bilbo, a hobbit
Mossmullet, a dwarfley cleric of winter's bite
Orsek, a dwarfley barbarian wizard
SMASH, a dwarfley cleric of root cellars

This round of adventuring was a rather abbreviated and goal-driven undertaking. The party simply walked up and away from their captured campsite North of Cheddarbend up to the southern edge of White Plume Mountain. Their journey cannot be said to have been uneventful, but it didn't take more than a day of game time, nor more than an hour or two of real time.

The first encounter (other than some briefly-sighted jackalopes which ran for cover) of the day was a giant of some sort. Approximately 20' tall, slovenly, and armed with a tree trunk, he seemed vaguely inclined to pass the time talking with the dwarfs of the group when they approached him on the road. The hobbit (and maybe the ghost of some past elfish rogue?) hid in the bushes. Well, the hobbit was still cursed with invisibility, soooo… not really hiding so much as standing. The parley went fairly well until the giant turned his thoughts to his rumbly tumbly, and mentioned his willingness to make due with dwarf-meat. Then, of course, it was ON!

Orsek cast a Grease spell upon the oversized oaf, causing him to slip and fall when Bilbo utilized his enhanced Jump, which Orsek previously cast upon the invisihobbit while the giant was babbling. Bilbo's sudden landing upon the giant's shoulder, and the sack he had slung over that shoulder, caused him to shift about and lose balance. In a bit of bad luck, the Greased ground gave Smash and Mossmullet the slip as well; they miserably failed at dodging the falling giant, and he inflicted heavy damage. (Grin!) Despite being grounded, the giant managed to smack Orsek with his tree-club while the other dwarfs crawled out from under him. Bilbo helpfully searched the giant's sack for the rest of the battle, ultimately finding nothing of real interest.

The battle continued, with Smash invoking his deity's aid to causing binding roots to grasp the giant. He attempted to gain his feet, but failed to do so immediately. Mossmullet surveyed the skies, and noted that conditions were ripe for Varga's aid to take the form of Called Lightning to come down from the stormy skies. Three bolts of lightning, and some root-damage later, the giant died a large death. The heroes bandaged their wounds, then resumed their march.

The next and last encounter was with what must have been the least competent war-band of orcs in the land. They utterly failed to inflict any real damage upon the party. Six orcs and a wolf assumed an attack formation and came at the adventurers, but a Digging from Smash opened a pit beneath three of the orcs, and only one was able to jump to safety. The other two fell down, and never could get up again. They died rather easily, and the magical pit proved to be their grave. The other creatures succumbed to a thunderous Blitzkrieg by Mossmullet, and a sharp pointy from the hobbit.

Before taking their night's rest in the safety of the Dead Gnoll's Eyesocket (really just a cave, luckily marked with the dwarfley rune for "Safety"), the group reviewed the rumors and knowledge they'd gleaned from various sources. Also, Smash had the inspiration to ask again for his hamsterish lord's help, and managed to Remove the Curse of the Invisibility amulet from poor Bilbo. The amulet crumbled to dust under the Hamster God's eye, and Bilbo returned to normal visibility. Then, it was off to sleep. For tomorrow, White Plume Mountain, with all of its sketchy and barely-known environs, awaits!

Party Experience Gained
Combat: 208 each

The Ballad of Bilbo Barebottom [session 26]

Adventurer's Present
Bilbo, a hobbit
Mossmullet, a dwarfley cleric of winter's bite
Orsek, a dwarfley barbarian wizard
SMASH, a dwarfley cleric of root cellars

We awoke in the tower of the now-felled Necromancer.  Having defeated the Necromancer and his minions, as well as destroying the Orb and thoroughly looting the place, all we had to do was go back to Cheddarbend and spend our hard-earned loot...

We encountered a nest of stirges before leaving the tower.  These were not a problem.  We encountered a mass of zombies trekking across the Tomblands.  These also were not a problem (largely due to Mossmullet's new skull ring).  Having safely made it to Cheddarbend, that's when our problems began...

The clerics gave most of their loot to their respective churches without fanfare. Orsek was even able to research his Dark Arts without any brouhaha. That left our resident hobbit, Bilbo, to set out a-feasting all on his own (mostly). This proved troubling. First he was robbed of much of the money he had set aside for his bacchanal. He set his shadow in search of the bandits (thanks to his new magic cloak), scrounged up some more lucre and hit the town once more. This time he found himself locked in the pokey for indecent exposure. And it must have been really indecent, because the constable, while perfectly friendly, would not let him go without paying an exorbitant fine. This simply would not do - an escape plan was hatched.

Orsek went around to the prison window (is there always a window?) and, while the clerics kept the constable occupied, cast Feign Death on the hobbit.  The police gave us our dead friend's body, but held on to his possessions to cover the fine.  That night, SMASH, in the form of a hamster, snuck in and retrieved them.  To sneak the still-living hobbit out of town, we gave him SMASH's magic amulet.  This turns the wearer invisible to everyone except his true love.  SMASH got the amulet super cheap from a curiosity shoppe, and we soon discovered why.  The amulet did indeed work, but could not be removed.

Invisible hobbit in tow, we followed his shadow to the bandits camp and mounted an attack.  The plan was to spread out and surprise them.  Orsek would unleash the dread Finger of Death and we'd all attack.  The plan failed spectacularly.

Due to some clumsy dwarfs, surprise was blown.  Then, even more impressively, Orsek's spell conjured a huge earth elemental instead of the aforementioned Finger.  At least the granite goliath was under his control.  Well, until Orsek was shot by the bandit leader, forcing Orsek to lose his concentration.  The mobile mountain turned his furious fists on us...

We defeated the bandits (one was able to run off).  And even made a dent in the elemental.  It pounded Orsek pretty well, then turned his attention on Bilbo.  Despite Bilbo's continued invisible status, the mighty elemental landed blow after blow on him.  Could he see him?  Was this his True Love?  After beating him to unconsciousness, he tenderly lifted the little furry-footed one, and made for the hills.  A well-timed Shatter from Mossmullet reduced the elemental to rubble, but not before he could put the unconscious hobbit in a safe place - 10 feet underground.

All foes vanquished, we were able to free Bilbo from his rocky nest with a Dig spell from SMASH.  We also turned up the bandits' loot, which was all of our stolen money plus more.  So now we sit and rest in the bandit's camp, battered and bruised.  With an invisible hobbit.  Who we can't even be sure is wearing clothes...

Party Experience Gained
Combat: 325 each
Freeing Bilbo from prison: 125 each

Crazy Days, Stolen Nights [session 26]

Adventurer's Present
Bilbo, a hobbit
Mossmullet, a dwarfley cleric of winter's bite
Orsek, a dwarfley barbarian wizard
SMASH, a dwarfley cleric of root cellars

The winds and whims of the random environs of Cheddarbend blew to and fro this visit by the adventurers. As usual, most of the party’s misfortunes stemmed directly from the smallest (in stature) member: Bilbo the hobbit.

Immediately upon their victorious return to the dyspeptic hamlet, the foursome informed the townsfolk of the success of their quest to rid the land of the Necromancer and his Orb. Naturally, this news was greeted with mild approbation and approval. The adventurers basked in the glow of the love and adulation, for the single day it lasted. No feast of celebration was planned. No parade of rejoicing and merriment occurred. When the clerics injected over 11,000 gold pieces into the local economy via temple donations, no word of thanks resounded. When the wizard bought up rare compendiums and materials to conduct magical research, to the tune of another two or three thousand gold, no outpouring of welcoming resulted.

What did elicit a response from the townsfolk was the feasting and drinking of the victory celebrations…which the heroes financed for themselves. The townsfolk participated in this feasting, by 1) stealing over 1,100 gold pieces from one of the conquering heroes, 2) stealing 210 gold from another of them, and 3) arresting and incarcerating a third for the dastardly crime of public nudity. While that seemed somewhat odd in and of itself, the hospitality of the Cheddarbenders took on an entirely different flavor when they demanded a fine of…FIVE THOUSAND gold pieces, to secure the release of this do-gooding free spirit (Bilbo the Barenaked)!

Needless to say, once the clearly criminal guardsmen suggested this dazzlingly exorbitant and extortionate fine for this seemingly minor offense, the dazed minds of even the kindliest of the adventures turned toward…murder. A number of unpleasant actions were discussed (and discarded) by the unhappy heroes, before they recovered their wits and settled upon merely resorting to trickery and theft to obtain the release of both Bilbo and his belongings. Orsek used his necromantic powers to help Bilbo Feign Death, whereupon Mossmullet and Orsek carried his "corpse" back to their inn (where Bibo made a miraculous and full recovery to life and health). Meanwhile, Smash changed into a hamster, snuck into the constable's storeroom, returned to dwarfley form and recovered Bilbo's possessions, then repeated his transformation, and returned to the inn to reunite Bilbo and his things.

The party next used their powers to scout out and locate the thieves who'd so cavalierly nicked their gold while they celebrated. Bilbo's Shadow Cloak dispatched the hobbit’s shadow to search the town for signs of them, and returned with actionable intelligence. Six thieves were holed up a couple hours outside the town. Stealing away from the ungrateful hamlet in the wee hours, the party used Smash's (Cheddarbend-purchased) amulet of invisibility to disguise their quite-recovered hobbit’s escape. It was only after they slipped out of town that they realized the amulet was actually cursed: Bilbo could neither remove the amulet, nor return to visibility. Undaunted by the setback, the aggrieved adventureres beat a path to the camp of surprised cutpurses, attacking with the dawn's light. What followed was one of the more memorable battles the group had ever fought.

Trying to take maximum advantage of the element of surprise backfired wildly in expedited fashion. Orsek, in what’s becoming something of an unfortunate habit, delved into the Overcasting well once more. Once more, it was done with exuberance and a lack of basic self-preservation: he again attempted to blast a foe with the Finger of Death. What was noticeably different this time was a complete lack of obvious reason to do so. The thieves were unlikely to be a worthy match of the adventurers' combat prowess, and four of them were basically arranged around their campfire like sitting ducks. A quick Shatter spell from Mossmullet blasted three of those ruffians into the next life, before they even knew their peril. The other four were dispatched by the party with little trouble, the main danger being that they might escape with their larcenous lives.

But no danger the group of thieves might present could compare to the danger which the party summoned up for themselves: Orsek's spell failed spectacularly, turning the element of surprise into an Element of Earth! That is, an Earth Elemental. Orsek attempted to control it, but immediately fumbled his concentration. The angry element turned and attacked Orsek, hammering into the wizard with fists like oversized sledgehammers. The brave and risk-loving dwarf flew into one of his famous rages, and began attacking the monster with what can only be acknowledged as the absolutely perfect weapon: his oversized shovel-axe. While the rest of the group struggled to defeat the bandits, Orsek fought valiantly against his self-inflicted opponent. He lasted far longer than any other member of the party might have, but ultimately Orsek was no match for the outraged elemental. Battered into unconsciousness, he fell in battle and began fighting for his life. Plucky and invisible hobbit Bilbo took up the fight, but his foe either could see him clearly or didn’t rely upon sight; he immediately crushed Bilbo into an unconscious sack of (possibly invisible) hobbit. Considering that Bilbo’s other enemy, one of the thieves, also managed to hit the hobbit in combat, it seems possible that only the hobbit's friends have any difficulty perceiving him? Time will tell.

If this botched battle wasn't bizarre enough already, it was at this juncture that the earth elemental essentially declared his undying love for the small humanoid (perhaps as a furry-footed pet?). Scooping up the injured Bilbo, the elemental began beating feet out of the bandits' hollow carrying and tending to his battered new toy. After healing Orsek back to consciousness, the clerics turned their fury upon the besotted rock monster. Smash attempted to restrain it with his grasping roots, while Mossmullet lucked into the happy coincidence of being the exact wrong type of priest for a rocky-but-brittle elemental to fight. His Shatter spells caused the creature to roar in apparent agony, plow Bilbo's ailing body into the dirt, and then turn to fight. A second Shatter spell blew him to bits, leaving only a pile of rubble where he stood.

Confronted with the defeated earth monster's demise, Orsek and the clerics rushed forward to recover their friend. But when they reached the spot the elemental ditched Bilbo into the ground, they realized that what they really needed to do wasn’t to re-cover their companion, but rather to un-cover him. The angry elemental his shoved his unconscious form deep into the very earth itself, leaving not even an imprint behind! While the desperate Mossmullet searched his pack for a shovel, and Orsek prepared to once again undertake a shovel-ready project, crafty Smash saved the (hobbit's) day but imploring his deity Termas the Tunneller to magically Dig aside the offending earth. Bilbo's (still invisible) body was rescued from the earth, and his companions fumbled their unguided hands upon him in healing prayer.

Success in this unexpectedly substantial combat finally won, the group turned to looting the looters. They recovered the vast bulk of their stolen funds, and celebrated with a hard-won long rest in the remains of the bandit camp.

All four of the heroes achieved sixth level this strange and difficult session. Finally powered up enough for White Plume Mountain (they hope), and totally fed up with the greedy and self-centered folk of Cheddarbend, their next steps will surely take them back out into the wilds, and on to their next dungeon crawling expedition in the infamous Mountain. Which, I might add, they still REALLY need to read that book about. You know, the one they found in the necromancer’s tower? Let's hope for their sakes it's a really good read!

Party Experience Gained
Combat: 325 each
Freeing Bilbo from prison: 125 each

The Nameless Necromancer Tower of Treasure! [session 25]

Adventurers Present
Bilbo - hobbit
Mossmullet - dwarfley tempest cleric
Orsek - dwarfley barbarian wizard

Although the Necromancer himself was already slain by the party the previous day (along with his psychotic but dangerously skilled shoveler), there remained two full levels of his shadowy tower home yet to explore. The adventurers spent this day clearing the foul wizard’s bastion of the lingering evils it sheltered, and greatly enriched themselves in the process. 

The three stalwart heroes of the Cheddarbenders started the morning by ascending to the third of four floors in the tower structure. They came upon a large guard room filled with a dozen skeletons. The bony contingent attacked ferociously, and none of the three escaped their fury. Orsek, however, was most grievously wounded, for the skeletal commander hurled a Spear of Burrowing at the unfortunate dwarf, successfully striking him. Thereafter, the Spear stuck fast in his gut and burrowed ever-deeper each round, inflicting additional damage in the process. Undeterred, Orsek and his companions ground down the undead warriors until they were no more than bone meal. With the skeleton horde finally vanquished, cousin Mossmullet attempted to use his medical skills to painlessly extract the magical spear. Unfortuantely, despite Mossmullet’s display of passable surgical skill, the extraction proved mortal for the stricken Orsek. Only prayers and appeals to mighty Varga spared Orsek from the looming specter of death.  Mossmullet kept the Spear. 

The next room held the conquered Necromancer’s bedroom, and much loot was found within. Well, mostly it was found in the secret treasure room hidden behind the wizards’ wardrobe. Regardless, between the wizard’s bedroom and his secret treasure room, the party found many spell scrolls (claimed by the party wizard), a sizable amount of gold pieces, a magic ring of Turning Undead (handed to the party cleric), a robe of Shadow Servants (given to the sneaky little hobbit) , a gem of necromantic spell channeling (also claimed by the party wizard), and a pretty silver brooch of substantial monetary value. A pretty haul, to be sure! Before leaving that level of the tower, they found yet another secret treasure-stash room, which yielded up even more gold and spell scrolls. But only at the cost of being bush-wacked by a couple more wandering skeletons, who again dished out some damage to the three companions. 

The group then climbed all the way to the roof, which held nothing of interest. Descending back to the fourth level of the tower, they ransacked another small laboratory of the evil Necromancer. This room yielded a single spell scroll and a magic potion of unknown variety (but with an evil, black, swirly appearance). Passing through a door in the opposite side of the lab, they were confronted with what could only be the ultimate goal of their quest: a large black orb seated upon a pedestal. The group eventually got around to throwing tools at the orb repeatedly until it cracked, and then throwing it off the tower’s roof, shattering and destroying the evil object for good. The party also located a library upon that level, and after exterminating a small swarm of stirges (but not before the fell beasts sucked most of the blood out of our apparently tasty hobbit), they found a large stash of gems (of quite substantial value), a book about White Plume Mountain, and a potion of Healing. 

Their appetites for adventure, loot, and mayhem all sufficiently sated, the party took their (long) rest in the library. Their plan for the morrow? Return to Cheddarbend, announce the victorious completion of their mission of rescue to the hapless townfolk, and bathe in the gratitude and laurels of their accomplishments! With some well-spent coin, the trio of adventurers might well expect to increase their fame and abilities further yet (Level Up)!

Party Experience Gained 
Combat: 129 each
Exploration: 116 each

Chancy Undertakings and Tough Undertakers [session 24]

Adventurers Present
Bilbo - hobbit
Mossmullet - dwarfley tempest cleric
Orsek - dwarfley barbarian wizard

Chedderbend is delivered!  Hooray for the heroes!   The pared-down group of 
Bilbo, Mossmullet and Orsek quested onward (and eventually upward) to discover the secrets of the Necromancer threat.  Exiting the trash chute…er, trash room, where they’d defeated the tentacle trash monster, they entered the bedroom of an ornery and dangerous underling of the Necromancer.  Igor the undertaker took umbrage at the party’s invasion of his bedroom, wasting no words before launching an attack.  Wielding his mighty shovel the way another might a great axe, he laid into the three heroes.  The danger to the heroic half-pints was significant; his shovel bit deep and hard, and he was heavily armored with plate mail.  This evil minion proved a brawler of no small accomplishment.  He took the best hits the party could deliver and kept fighting until the trio was badly battered.  However, the undertaker finally fled out the door, trying to raise the alarm and escape to the surface up the stairwell.  Unfortunately for him, the party proved faster, catching him at the base of the stairs, where they finally slew him.

Unfortunately for the party, the undertaker’s attempts at raising the alarm were not in vain.  Apparently roused from his mid-afternoon nap, the Necromancer himself came to investigate!  Gliding down the steps, he confronted the heroes and accosted them for their effrontery in invading his home.  Unable to explain their presence (in particular over the dead body of the Necromancer’s underling) under the guise of being mere wine sellers (cellars?), the heroes quickly recognized that the Necromancer had begun casting a spell.  Despite the fact that their just-concluded battle with the devilish shoveller had left them bloodied and bruised, they had little choice but to again fight for their lives.  Leaping immediately into battle, they managed to steal the initiative and cut loose with their best attacks.  Bilbo launched a missile.  Mossmullet bashed the wizard with his mace, and quickly discovered that the spell-caster’s necrotic powers would damage anyone striking him.  But the real risk-taker was Orsek.  Using a ridiculously low-level spell slot, the dwaven wizard launched his own all-out necromantic attack – the Finger of Death!  Ignoring the grave dangers of his mismatched abilities and the spell’s requirements, Orsek gambled all upon an unlikely throw of the dice – and WON!  Performing the difficult magick as though he were the hated Necromancer himself, Orsek threw a perfectly executed Finger of Death at the haughty and feared wizard.  Instantly bloodying the magical tyrant though they had, they could not prevent the Necromancer’s magical reply of a Malaise spell.  Orsek was struck, and suffered an enervating effect of exhaustion.  But the party soldiered on, and battered the Necromancer to his death before he could do for them first.

The three adventurers retreated into the undertaker’s bedroom.  They rested up, searched the bodies and furniture for loot, and recuperated back into some semblance of readiness.  Orsek re-seated the undertaker’s shovel blade onto his magical staff, creating a brand new weapon for himself.  Just as they finished up their recuperative respite and weapon redesign, the tower’s ever-present skeletons located them and attacked.  Herding a small horde of 8 zombies into the bedroom, 3 skeletons joined the attack by firing arrows from the back.  Crowding into the room through a single doorway, the undead proved easy prey for the party’s spell casters.  After the skeletons’ opening salvo of arrows, the entire horde was knocked back and set afire.  Only one lucky zombie survived the onslaught and struck back, slightly injuring Bilbo.  Once again, the party was able to finish off the enemy with no casualties.

Having located no further rooms or tunnels to explore below, the party exited the tower’s basements and finally proceeded up the tower’s stairs to the second floor.  Having searched the kitchens and dining room without event, the three adventurers came upon (no surprise) another room full of 6 skeletons.  These guardians gave an unexpectedly good account of themselves, with one landing a lucky blow upon brave Orsek, running him through with its spear and felling him.  While Orsek lay unconscious on the floor, Mossmullet and Bilbo fought for their lives.  The goddess Varga’s Winter’s Chill sufficed to weaken the undead and even slay a couple, but in the end it was the mace, shovel and fry-pan of the stalwarts which secured the heroes victory.  Bravely battling his way back to consciousness, Orsek rejoined the battle and struck the final blow with magical staff/shovel.

Exhausted and weary, the group secured the door, and took a well-earned long rest in the tower’s guardroom.  Awaiting them when next the venture forth will be the tower’s upper levels, which they can only hope holds both the sought-after Orb and the Necromancer’s many and wondrous treasures!

Party Experience Gained
Combat:  545 each

Exploration:  206 each

Side Quest [session 23]

Adventurers Present 
Bilbo - hobbit
Mossmullet - dwarfley tempest cleric
Orsek - dwarfley barbarian wizard
Red - elfish rogue
SMASH - dwarfley life cleric

 
Turns out that Cheddarbend is being terrorized by an evil necromancer (name unknown), which the party only belatedly discovered (the townsfolk must have some aversion to discussing it). The town’s cows are being rustled and slaughtered, the townsfolk are disappearing one by one, and the lands laying to the west across the river are nothing more than necrotic, desolate wastelands. Those long-distressed western plains are known as the Tomblands, and the evil necromancer’s tower was only a half-day west. Somehow, the party gets sucked into undertaking a side quest to resolve this problem for the Cheddarbenders (who they weren’t especially fond of previously). But, whatever. Killing necromancers is rarely bad. Unless they’re Orsek. Then it’s a bit problematic.

So, the five set off across the Tomblands, taking in the lovely sights of ashy-gray plains, dead trees, stunted vegetation of other various types and the occasional herd of jackalopes. With nothing to hide behind and little to describe, the trip was super-quick and eventless.

Arriving at the tower, the party found a couple of zombie guards patrolling the tower’s main gate. The zombies were dispatched without any fuss, and the group went inside. They found a 30’ entry hall with arrow slits on each side. The rogues successfully snuck across without incident, but the armor-heavy dwarves awoke the towers defenders and took some arrows as they rushed through to the other side.

Emerging into the 50’ semi-circular chamber beyond, the group began the first of 3 battles with skeletons. They killed the skeletons, more came from a couple of side-rooms adjacent to the arrow slits. They killed that group, and more came down the stairs from up in the tower. They killed those skeletons as well. What remained were lots of bones, rusted weapons, and the lingering screams of thousands of dead babies.

Finally finding the (inevitable) secret door leading to the stairs leading down into the cellars, the party decided that down was better than up where necromancy towers are concerned. So, they went downward and found a series of laboratories and supply rooms with little of interest. Proceeding further down, they found a supply room with 20+ stirges. It took some effort (and getting wounded), but the party managed to eradicate them without dying. The door on the other side of the storeroom proved interesting, in that it was barred from the outside (the side the party was on).

Opening it up and finding a room full of trash and waste, they naturally decided to go on in. Brave SMASH led the way, and was immediately attacked by a trash-tentacle monster (TTM)! The TTM grabbed SMASH and pulled him prone, but he was quickly rescued by the party’s attacks upon that tentacle. The monster seemed quite dangerous, so Orsek broke out the BIG guns: he made his first Overcast, and burned a second-level spell slot to cast Finger of Death! The spell misfired, but Orsek was able to control and cancel the magical energies before anything really bad/fatal happened. Orsek decided to try again, burning another second-level slot while attempting Finger of Death again. This time, the spell went off, immediately slaying the TTM! Unfortunately, it also blasted Orsek into near-death unconsciousness. The clerics managed to save him, and the session ended there.
 
Coming up: into the necromancer’s tombs.

Party Experience Gained
Combat: 135 each
Exploration: 148 each

To the Necromancer! [session 23]

Adventurers Present
Bilbo - hobbit
Mossmullet - dwarfley tempest cleric
Orsek - dwarfley barbarian wizard
Red - elfish rogue
SMASH - dwarfley life cleric

 
So last session Red got into a bit of trouble while "feasting" and the kindly church of Termas bailed him out.  Well, there was one tiny condition: that he destroy the dread Orb that the local necromancer was using to terrify the populace. Apparently, some of the locals had noticed disturbances in the graveyard AND a bunch of livestock had suddenly come up ill (this last had nothing to do with Orsek's magical research, honest).


So, off to the Necromancer's tower we headed. The trip was pretty uneventful. Jackalopes were encountered; but we didn't mess with them, and they didn't mess with us. Did we fight some orcs? Maybe. Honestly, I can't remember. Upon reaching the tower, we did battle some zombies, who were promptly sent back to their graves.


The front door was unlocked, and we managed to sneak past the guards into the entry room of the tower. Where we were promptly set upon by those same guards. Skeleton guards. We fought those off, and the second wave that came as well.


Ignoring the stairs up, we searched for, and found the secret door to the basement. On the first basement level we found a pool of black slime, some store rooms and a magic lab. Orsek took a book from the lab, but there was little else of note here. We continued down.


Looking for trouble, we pushed past the first door we saw. It was old and broken; not even closed all the way. Inside was another store room, but this one held a nasty surprise: a nest of stirges. Having faced these little scourges before, we knew just what to do and dispatched the blood-bats forthwith. The storeroom had one other door in it. And it was barred on this side, as if keeping something locked behind it.


It is said that discretion is the better part of valor. It has never been said that we are valorous. We unbarred the door and entered to find a pile of rubbish. Two tentacles sprang forth and attacked us. The battle was joined!


It should be noted here that in his magical studies, Orsek has unlocked the mysteries of several high-level spells. Mysteries and spells that he has no business knowing or trying to cast. And now back to the battle...


It wasn't going particularly well. Our attacks seemed to be only momentary setbacks to the hungry beast (of which we still had only seen two tentacles). So Orsek decided to cast Finger of Death on the thing. Unleashing this kind of power could have unexpected (and disastrous) results for our lowly wizard. But in this case, the result was ... nothing. No Finger of Death, no catastrophic failure, no warp in the space-time continuum, nothing. So, naturally, he tried again the first chance he got.


This time it worked! The beast was slain. Alas, the backlash from the powerful magicks reduced Orsek to death also.


Alas, poor Orsek! We knew him - a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.


Or something like that. As it turns out, upon further inspection by the clerics, Orsek was only "mostly dead." Which, as you no doubt know, means he was also slightly alive. Our two miracle-workers brought him fully back to the land of the living (and delving).


(Our session was a bit shorter than usual; we ended right there, without any of the usual settling in for the night.)


Party Experience Gained
Combat: 135 each
Exploration: 148 each

An Updated Map

[click to embiggen]

We are expanding our little world.

Sorry the art is so crude.  And that i forgot which font i had originally used for the labels...

A Spooky Tower

[art originally by dyson logos - my apologies for mangling it]

Here is a spooky tower.  Perhaps a dread necromancer lives in it.  And perhaps our doughty (or at least doughy) heroes are headed here...

The Hills Have Orcs (and murderous bunnies) [session 22]

Adventurers Present

Bilbo - hobbit
Mossmullet - dwarfley tempest cleric
Orsek - dwarfley barbarian wizard
Red - elfish rogue (for most of the session)
SMASH - dwarfley life cleric

Awakening inside the Temple of Greed, the stalwart adventurers gathered their (gold-heavy) belongings and headed outside to a beautiful morning of sunshine and jackalopes.  As before, the clearing outside the temple was filled with a dozen of the grazing little beasts.  Unlike before, the critters scattered and fled at the approach of the party.  Perhaps feeling a bit peckish, SMASH opted for killing one of the antlered rodents before it got clear.  Surprisingly, this maddened the jackalopes into an all-out assault upon the party; they wheeled in place and charged as one!

The well-armed and armored band of warriors were never particularly likely to be defeated by a clutch of angry bunnies, horns notwithstanding.  That said, the furry furies acquitted themselves rather well; the inflicted some serious damage upon both of the more-poorly-armored party members (now where did that Red get off to this time?), using their antlers to repeatedly gore both Orsek and Bilbo into a rather serious state.  Luckily, the dwarfs & co. finished them off before anything truly tragic could occur.  But the group was left wondering what they might possibly put upon the headstone of a friend who succumbed to the jack-rabbit juggernauts.

The hares killed, skinned and dressed, and the party refreshed by a short rest, they again took to the road toward Cheddarbend.  Though the weather was mild and the babbling river pleasant enough, this day’s sojourn through the hilly badlands around Cheddarbend was not to be an easy one.  At every turn, their travels were interrupted by a series of unhappy encounters.

First there was the noisy, marching company of orcs, stomping and singing loudly as they trod the riverbank.  Our heroes laid in wait for them, taking shelter among the rocks and springing out only once the foolish humanoids stepped into their ambush.  The belated Red's arrows felled a brace.  Bilbo stabbed one nicely.  The dwarfs slew the rest of the dozen using their respective magics: Thunderwave, Burning Hands and Guiding Bolt.  Luckily, none of the shouting savages even struck a blow before their demise.

Later, in a somewhat worrisome turn of events, a second group of jackalopes appeared to disrupt the travellers' lunchtime meal (of jackalope, incidentally), and immediately attacked.  Perhaps they were disgruntled relatives of those bunnies who'd died outside the temple?  Perhaps they were simply enraged by the party's choice of lunchmeat?  They didn’t specify, but rather leaped (and bounded) into battle.  Alas, they did little damage to the adventurers on this occasion.  And so the travellers returned to the path.

The afternoon's encounters were both repeats of the morning's hazards, but with notable differences.  The party was strolling along the river's shore when they rounded a corner and came face-to-face with an even larger company of orcs - this one half again as large as the last!  There was little time to wonder about this surfeit of savage pig-men which apparently roam the hills in large bands, because battle was immediately engaged.  As luck would have it (thanks, Bilbo!), the party stole the initiative and launched their attacks first.  Again, they managed to make their attacks count: Bilbo threw oil, Red shot an arrow (though none of the enemy were felled this time), and the dwarfs again resorted to magic: Shatter, Burning Hands and Guiding Bolt.  After the party’s attack, two-thirds of the savage humanoids lay dead, and the remaining six were badly scorched.  Six singed orcs, as it turns out, are no joke!  They charged and laid about them, three of them ganging up upon and severely wounding poor Red.  The bloody rogue disengaged and killed one with his bow, whereupon his teammates came to his rescue: Orsek rendering Red invisible, and Mossmullet killing another with his mace before challenging the third to do battle with him.  The orc obliged, dealing the dwarf a damaging blow with his orcine great axe.  But the dwarfley cleric's patron deity Varga retaliated for hurting her priest, electrocuting the swine for his trouble.  Meanwhile, SMASH engaged and slew another orc, while Bilbo stabbed his attacker with his magic Frost-blade.  Orsek hacked the last one to death with his great axe.  While the party surely prevailed and escaped serious injury, even that brief taste of combats made clear that if the hobbit's luck hadn't given them the jump upon the orc-men, this encounter might well have led to the death of some or all of our heroes.

Last but…well, yes, also least, of the days travails was a final encounter with a third clutch of horned hares!  The weary and wary adventurers this time took the path of least resistance, and carefully skirted the jackalope-pack.  In what some of the party (Mossmullet, if no one else) felt was a definite relief, this third sighting of jackalopes did not seem inclined toward immediate homicide, laying to rest the fears of the more celestial-minded of the group that they might possibly have offended some great Rabbit-god in the sky by killing and eating his minions.  Whatever the reason, the hares kept their tempers and the party passed without trouble.

Cheddarbend!  What to say about this rustic hamlet in the hills?  That it's curios merchant is crooked and opportunistic?  That he’s also no sharp wit at evaluating gems?  That it boasts not only a temple to Varga Queen of Winter, but also to beloved Termas Tunneller?  That Jimmy "The Beetle" lends gold by the thousands to stray elves and hobbits he’s just met?  Well, yes.  All those things and more.

Or, we could simply stick to the game mechanics:  all of the five adventures turned the profits from plundering the Temple of Greed into enough experience to reach FIFTH LEVEL!!!!

Party Experience Gained
Combat:  115 each
[and everyone got goo-gobs of xp from trading gold for feasts, pledging gold to their patrons, and using gold for magical research]

Roadside Assistance [session 21]

Adventurers Present

Bilbo - hobbit

Mossmullet - dwarfley tempest cleric

Orsek Ungart - dwarfley barbarian wizard
Red - elfish rogue (well, for most of the time)

SMASH - dwarfley life cleric

After a restful night of sleeping deep in the tombs of the undead, our party emerged into the bright and dewy morning from the depths of Varga's hidden shrine-hole.  They had barely finished extracting themselves from their evening's burrow, when they were set upon by a small herd of centaurian road-agents.  A brief discussion played out, as the party considered what and how they might talk their way out of the proposed road-tax the centaurs were apparently levying upon them, but it quickly became clear that certain hot-headed members of the adventurers didn't have the patience for such dissembling.  With a resounding strike of his greataxe, Orsek hacked into one of the larcenous centaurs.  The ensuing battle was quite lopsided in effect: two of the five centaurs fell to SMASH's Command to surrender, while the other three quickly discovered the peril of dwarves and hobbits.  Orsek flew into a rage and suffered almost all of the centaurs attacks, while Mossmullet bushwhacked a couple of the aggressors with an inspired Thunderwave.  The stalwart Bilbo employed his frying pan to good (but limited) effect as well, before dousing one of the hybrid highwaymen with oil.  Orsek's ensuing Burning Hands lit that centaur on fire, and it eventually burned to death.  Mossmullet managed to bash in the skull of one centaur, but it turned out to be one of SMASH's surrendered pair, so the contribution was questionable.  Both Orsek and SMASH attempted to mount and grapple the strangle man-horse creatures, but neither was sufficiently acrobatic (or maybe tall...?) to succeed.  The encounter abruptly ended when the centaur leader called a retreat, and the surviving three centaurs wheeled and galloped away.  Unwilling to let bygones be bygones, SMASH unleashed a devastating Guiding Bolt upon the fleeing equinoid leader, blowing a hole of radiant fury clean through his cowardly back.  Thus ended the lesson: deadly danger comes in short packages!

After looting their slain foes, the happy heroes resumed their morning stroll up the East bank of the river.  No further adventures or encounters offered themselves that day.  At least, not until they reached the first of the foothills surrounding Cheddarbend near dusk.  That was when the travelers noticed a path leading up away from the river into the hills.  Hoping to find some sort of place to shelter overnight, the group followed the path to a large clearing infested with...jackalopes!  Imported directly from South Dakota, these odd little antlered prairie hares bounded around outside a large golden door in the side of a hill.  After cautiously approaching the mutant bunnies while shouting insults and threats, the group found that the furry beasts offered no immediate danger.

Examining the golden doorway, the words "The Temple of Greed" were discovered written upon the lintel, along with "Danger - Do Not Enter" hastily scrawled on the door.  It took Bilbo successfully picking two separate locks to get the party inside the hillside burrow that was the temple, where upon the party found a 40' passageway with a gem & gold encrusted ceiling.  The far side had a doorway with a puzzle-lock word game to solve, the answer to which was "avarice".  Entering inside, they were confronted by a stark choice: two doors to take, and a warning to the effect that Greed was always the RIGHT choice to make.  Taking the RIGHT door, the four dungeoneers avoided the grisly fate of probably immediate death; on their way out they found a deceased skeleton on the other side of the LEFT doorway, apparently poisoned to death by a trap.  The group then solved the puzzle of the three statutes, making a, "secret" door appear and open.  In the process, they also solved a ten-button electrified door puzzle and found an altar stone which liquefied any sacrifice which included all of a supplicant's gold pieces (granting the supplicant an equal number of experience in return).

Before venturing through the hidden door, the group encountered Red, who was apparently loitering in the temple in anticipation of the party showing up (OK, this is a sorry rationalization of one player joining the fun late).  The bolstered group entered a trapped altar room next.  They all benefited from the innate luck of hobbits, when their smallest member solved a multi-pronged trap by simply getting down and rolling over the most obvious portion of it!  The rest followed suit, and nobody died.  Finding a great golden altar, the greedy group tried dragging it back out of the temple but got no farther than the trapped hallway before the illusory nature of the altar revealed itself: it was merely made of stone.  It did, however, cause another hidden doorway to open, letting the explorers into the final trapped hallway of the temple.  Twenty feet into this seventy-foot long hallway, they found a coin slot and a warning that implied that they must pay a toll of over a thousand gold pieces to bypass the trap.  Exhibiting perhaps even a tad more greed than the designers of the temple expected, the thieving party pried up the tile of the coin slot and recovered over 3,000 gold pieces!  They also unknowingly broke the disarming mechanism for the 30' long, 30' deep pit-trap which immediately followed.  That all could have ended badly, for a lesser group of temple-delvers.  But not this lot!  They tied a rope around their small hobbit and sent him forward.  The pit trap opened and sent the hobbit plunging toward a pool of liquefied gold at the bottom of the pit, but the strong dwarves (and an elf) held firm and didn't let the hobbit drown in molten gold.  Finessing the trap open again, the group extracted their dangling scout back from the brink.  They then concocted a plan to use pitons and ropes to safely climb across the side walls of the trap.  Slowly but surely, the entire pack of plunderers made it safely across to the far side of the trap.  Where they were all greatly rewarded by a large room just chalk full of gold pieces!  The final haul of all this loot was almost 15,000 gp!

Exhausted by a very long day of adventuring, and by the very idea of getting that much wealth all in one place, the enriched group settled down for a good long rest.  With Cheddarbend only another day's journey, and White Plume Mountain not far beyond, the group looks forward to spending their newfound wealth upon prayer, research, and carousing, with the prospect of 5th level almost within their grasp!

Party Experience Gained

Combat:  143 each

Exploration:  132 each

[Red and SMASH also got some experience for offering gold to the god of greed]