Further Underground

[Dead Greyhawk]

To recap

After resting within the cemetery, the Company surprises a guard outpost filled with Jagged Blade orcs, discovering from them where the stairs to the underground are. Trekking underground, Cedrus identifies the most used passage, which leads the Company directly into the clutches of giant ants and insect men. A fierce battle ensues, with the insect men retreating after taking losses. The Company backtracks and finds an empty room with a trapdoor in the ceiling. This looking less promising than where the insect men fled, the Company returns to track the fleeing insect men. Cedrus's skill is not up to the task, so the Company chooses randomly. Eventually, a sewaged filled room is found, the outer edge of which is only partially submerged. A store-room is found and creatures like pig-sized grubs are spotted in the sewage. Raven kills one. The sewage leads to a wide sewer which eventually leads past a trap and a secret door. The corridor behind the secret door is found to connect to where the slave's are apparently held in cages. A battle between the Company, augmented by freed slaves, and the orcish slave guards, augmented by insect men and some shopping slavers, occurs. The Company, though battered, is victorious. Cedrus, after releasing the slaves, discovers two things: A noblelady named Melba left in a slave caravan headed by Esterath, a slaver, earlier that day and Tenma is in charge of the slave-holding operation here.

Options for the Company to consider:

1. The strength of the Company has been augmented by two capable freed slaves. Should the Company push on looking for more slavers to slay?
2. The route back as currently known is fraught with danger, both in the sewers and in the insect men tunnels. Is there a better route?
3. Should the Company try to cause a distraction to allow the others to escape more easily with the men from Saltmarsh?

All this and more!....

[Ginger]

Dead said:

1. The strength of the Company has been augmented by two capable freed slaves. Should the Company push on looking for more slavers to slay?

That depends how tough our new friends are. Having another bow specialist on the team is pretty sweet.

2. The route back as currently known is fraught with danger, both in the sewers and in the insect men tunnels. Is there a better route?

We should take the fastest route back to the rest of our posse. I'd guess that's the sewers.

3. Should the Company try to cause a distraction to allow the others to escape more easily with the men from Saltmarsh?

I think that depends on how beat up we get on the way back.

[Dell]

We've accomplished as much of our mission as we can, at this point. So now we need to escape. Our goal is now to rejoin the Saltmarsh group as quickly as possible, so we can retreat.

Going through the sewer is a route we know. However, it takes us through the home of the insect people. The insect people have lots of hit points, multiple attacks, and a good THAC0 and AC, so I don't want to see any more of them than I have to. Plus, my sleep, charm, and hold person spells don't work on the insect people.

Going upstairs where we are, we'll encounter hordes of orcs, who are basically cannon fodder - but there will be a lot more of them. Plus, the orcs will be assisted by spellcasters, and they are no doubt waiting for us to come up. Then again, there will probably be someone waiting for us at the top of any of the staircases in this place - so even if we go through the sewers and only have to deal with a couple of insect men, we'll still have to fight our way past a bunch of orcs once we get upstairs.

At our current strength, I think we're better off going against the orcs, which would mean going upstairs where we are - into the temple. An additional benefit of going upstairs right away is that Winthrop's Protection from Normal Missiles will still be working, as only around 30 minutes have gone by since he cast it.

The fact that temples usually have precious metals, valuable gems, and expensive tapestries played a very small part in this decision.

The freed slaves should probably all hide on the opposite side of the secret door while we fight. And since we're all pretty weakened, this is Cedrus's big chance to go out there and beat some heads with his hammer. And the snake and the lion should be released early on in the fight, before we all get held and slain.

[Dell]

Other leaderly details from the leader -

Al will give his shortbow and arrows to the arrogant guy that says he can use it. Actually, Al should also be carrying the 18 strength "holy bow" of Ed's - see if the new guy can use that.

Winthrop should wear the bracers taken from the spellcaster, since his shield spell is down.

[Dead Greyhawk]

The two warriors that have joined you are Diego Hildago, a warrior from the Wild Coast, and Pavel Novak, a wandering adventurer who was taken by orcs.

Diego claims to be the armsman of a minor lord from Carvalis. He also claims to be an expert marksman with the short bow, though he refers to it as the "horse bow." He can not pull Eledwhen's bow. Currently he is equipped with a scimitar and shield and armored with ringmail.

Pavel Novak claims to be a wandering warrior of no particular skill. He is proficient in many handheld weapons and can use both the scimitar and longsword equally well. He is currently equipped with a longsword and shield.

The other former slaves are currently led by Matthias of Gax, a townsman of remarkable height. He has equipped himself with ringmail and a longsword, though he does not appear to be experienced in its use. The other 15 former slaves have clothed themselves, some taking the remaining armor, shields and weapons. They can be treated as a group.

[Ginger]

So, we've got a horde of Orks, with at least one ogre, waiting behind a web. Is there a defensible position for us to fight them off? Downstairs? Upstairs? What kind of crowd control spells do the mages have? Stinking Clouds?

Also, what the heck is a "wandering warrior of no partilcuar skill?" Is he an assassin or a thief or something? We should ask him a few more questions on Sunday.

[Dell]

Dell currently has 2 sleep, 2 charm, magic missile, web, knock, wizard lock, and a hold ready for use. He also has invisibility, but he's saving that for when he needs to run away.

The sleeps will take care of a lot of orcs by themselves. The charms might help - if I can charm a leader, or someone more powerful than just a generic orc, they can help us a lot in the battle.

The web - hopefully I can get the spellcasters or leaders entangled in that, then we can take them out at our leisure. If that doesn't get them, hopefully a charm or the hold person will.

If there's a door that he can wizard lock to keep out reinforcements, then all the better. Or, if we need to run away, we can wizard lock a door behind us.

[Mr. Trommer]

Winthrop has 4 Sleeps, 1 Shatter, 1 Jump, 1 Web, and 1 Minor Globe. I also have to Gem of Pellor Light Power. The Gem has three functions which should work well against a charging horde either blinding or stunning them.

[Dell]

As far as magic items, I have a wand of paralysis that might come in handy, if I can figure out which end points at the bad guys. And of course the lion will be released to wreak havok among the bad guys.

And one more leaderly tactical thing - the Minor Globe spell has a five foot radius, so it should be possible for someone standing next to him to be protected from spells as well. This will be very useful if we encounter other casters. So Raven could stand next to Winthrop, fire arrows, and not have to worry about being held, slowed, fireballed, or whatever.

[Ginger]

6 sleep spells should be very effective at putting down the crowds. I'm worried about a horde of Orks grappling me, so sleep will be good at protecting against that.

Hopefully we can charm someone who can tell us how to escape without dying.

[Mr. Trommer]

It will also depend on how many ogres there are. Let alone shamans and mages that may be there.