Slain by Elf

At the end of the session, we ask the DM for the XP we earned, keen to see if we go up a level this week. We were close last week, needing less than 1,000 after that week's XP was awarded. The DM asked how much we were on and what we needed to go up, to see if he would be giving us some good news, so a couple of us told him.

'Um, you say we're on 15,000-odd? And that we need less than 1,000 to go up?' I ask, starting to flip through my PHB. 'We're all ready at 6th level, dammit! We should have gone up last week!'

That's the last time I listen to these monkeys when trying to work out if we've gone up a level. I can't believe I trust them with my Monk's increasingly-fragile life.

'Fiendish Drow Cleric, you will not defeat our party, not with feared Mage Gimp Stormglass still standing! I draw upon the arcane powers! Pay heed to my call, creatures from this realm! Come to my aid! SUMMON SWARM!'

'Uh, Gimp? Are you sure that was the best spell to cast?'

'OF COURSE. How dare you doubt my choice as being most suited to the situation at hand. The Cleric can no longer reliably see us through the swarm of creatures, and her spell-casting is prone to being interrupted by their agitated movements all around her. Coupled with the Web spell I cast earlier she is now at our mercy!'

'Yes. About that Web spell: wouldn't a Swarm of Spiders have been a better choice than the Swarm of Bats you summoned? They're not really swarming around her as much as suspended as a living, twitching mobile.'

'SILENCE!'

Heading in to the Drow complex in our attempt to save the townsfolk, Grot heads forward to put his Darkvision to use when the cave tunnel we are wandering down widens. He has a look around the small cave but fails to see anything, but he gets an odd sensation of dread fill him. He pulls out his magical Greatsword to light the whole area for us all to see, and we are faced with an eight-legged monster, chained to one wall of the cave. We enter battle.

None of us have encountered something like this before, so we call on Gimp to try to recall anything he may have read about something like this. As he is 'guarding the rear' yet again, Gimp doesn't have any sort of view of the monster, and doesn't seem keen to take a glimpse either, so our Cleric shouts back a brief description for him to work on. Hearing this description Gimp believes that what we are dealing with is a Basilisk, feared for its gaze attack that can turn people in to stone! He calls out to us about this and that we should avert our gaze from it, lest the worse happen.

We continue attacking it, concentrating on looking at its body and trying not to look in to its eyes, and within a few more seconds Gimp comes from his rear-guard position to try to help out himself. On rounding the corner and seeing the monster in the flesh, he sees more details of the creature and again assesses what it could be. 'That's not a basilisk', he says, on rolling a natural 1, 'that's a Gecko with delusions of grandeur.'

Sadly, our Ninja must have failed a Wisdom check and believed the Mage's revised opinion, as he stared right back at the basilisk when it looked at him, and the inevitable happened. Still, the party now has a nice art nouveau statue, until we can find a Break Enchantment spell somewhere.

The Drow outpost under the city is cleared, after taking care of the last few guards and finding some kidnapped citizens. We return to the duke and offer to travel to the Drow land to find the rest of his people. A few days later we are on a mountainside, approaching some caves that we believe are the entrance to the Drow's underground complex. We get closer using our customary stealth tactics, and so are seen from far enough away to be caught by surprise by various Drow guards. One group of three Drow are kept busy by the Ninja just plain getting himself in the way of everyone, whilst the other group of three are approaching us from 100 feet away, hand crossbows at the ready.

Grot decides to remove the threat of the second Drow group, and charges towards them, greatsword raised, ready to strike down upon his foes. Charging along the side of a sloping mountain face, with sections of scree, proved to be a little difficult for the not-so-nimble Half-Orc and he stumbles and slips the moment he sets off. That's what happens on a Balance check of 1. Nevertheless, losing his balance worked out quite well, because rather than hitting a table, as he did in the outpost, his greatsword haphazardly cleaved off one Drow's head as Grot waved his arms around trying to stay upright.

One down, two to go.

Not to be out-done in the fumbling stakes, our new member of the party showed us how well he was going to fit in. Rescued as one of the captives in the Drow outpost previously, we met the acquaintance of Garrick, an Elven Archer, keen to help fight against the Drow. He was welcomed in to the party, knowing that the true aim of a good archer would be a good addition to our firepower. In hindsight, we probably should have asked to see him shoot his bow a few times before inviting him along. He nocks an arrow, pulls back the drawstring, and lets fly! The drawstring flies forwards with some power, but, sadly, the natural 1 on the attack roll meant that the drawstring and arrow had parted company without him realising, and the arrow falls at his feet, some way short of the Drow. Looking sheepish, he picks it up and tries again. This time, the arrow flies away from the bow, and connects solidly with another Drow, dropping him as he advances on us.

Two down, one to go.

The Drow reacts to his fellows being killed, taking hasty aim with his hand crossbow, and shooting Grot in the thigh. It is not much of a wound, but Grot's immune system is overcome by a poison smeared on the arrowhead. He groggily falls to the floor, dozing off. As the lone remaining Drow of that group starts to reload, our Mage assesses the situation. Trying to work out the threat posed he asks, 'Which Drow shot Grot?' Ah, you have to love these high Int characters. While the Mage tries to work out this little conundrum, the Archer drops the last Drow with another couple of arrows.

We prepare to enter the cave system.

After a fairly attractive Drow stalled for a bit of time whilst her spiders manoeuvred across the ceiling and dropped down behind a few of us, the Mage leapt in to action. He whipped out his familiar wand of Colour Spray, took careful aim, and fired the spell at myself and the Ninja.

Luckily, we both made our saving throw, avoiding his treacherous attempt to disable us so that he could leave the party and join with the forces of evil. However, it seems that one of the spiders was also caught in the effects of the Colour Spray spell, collapsing to the ground dazed, so he was able to claim that that was what he was really aiming for.

Maybe he should start putting some ranks in Bluff.

After disposing of the threat from the Drow and their minions, the Ninja takes a look at the secret door, as we are intrigued as to what lies behind. With the rest of the us standing safely to one side, the Ninja searches the door for traps, managing to find one that protects the door. He tells us that he thinks he can disable it, and prepares himself to do so. 'Why don't you take 20?', I ask.

Of course, as we all know, taking 20 when trying to disable a trap means that although you are successful in the attempt you also set the trap off in the process. The Ninja didn't like my helpful suggestion for some reason, and rolls his Disable Device check. Much to his chagrin, the die skitters to a halt on a natural 1, and the Ninja doesn't react in time to avoid being cut by a sweeping blade, which also delivers a poison along with the physical wound. Managing to resist the primary effects of the poision, and the Cleric helping a bit later to avoid the secondary effects, the Ninja tries again to disable the trap, which appears to have reset. This time, he rolls a natural 20. He knows exactly what he did wrong last time and deftly manages to bypass the trap for us.

Still, the whole process would have been quicker, with the same results, if he'd just taken 20 in the first place. Listen to the Monk, for he is wise.

To help out in the fight against the Drow and Grimlocks, the Mage, a specialist Conjurer, summons up yet more creatures to aid us in battle. This time we get some Celestial Riding Dogs. Once they are called they get to work attacking the Drow ahead of us. The first dog attacks, hits, and deals some solid damage to the Drow. The DM crosses off the hit points and tells the Mage that the Drow is dead. With a little cheer, the Mage picks up the miniature from the mat to remove it from the game, except he picks up the wrong miniature: he takes one of his summoned creatures from the table instead.

I guess he's just too used to dealing damage to the creatures he's summoned or members of the party instead of the enemy, and it was an instinctive reaction.

Getting through the door that blocked the Ninja's head's access, we encounter some more Drow and their minions. It looks like we have stumbled in to the quarters for the guards, and we fight our way through a few waves of fairly weak foes. It doesn't take long to take them all down, so we check out the rooms to make sure we haven't missed any that could ambush us. The Mage, somehow being an expert in architecture and building design despite having taken no Knowledge ranks in that, wonders why the corridor should extend a further 20' unless there were a secret door at the end, and looks all smug when the Ninja manages to find one there. The smugness doesn't last, when, having stayed at the back of the party, he is nearly ambushed by more enemies.

Luckily for him, Grot and I manage to get ourselves between him and the attackers before they manoeuvre further in to position. We see that we are facing two Orcs, two Grimlocks, and two Drow. The Ninja uses his ghost-step ability to become invisible for a round and gets his extra attack damage against one of the Orcs, killing it quickly. This, however, opens up the space for one of the Grimlocks to charge.

With the Ninja invisible and my Monk standing behind him, the DM questions what happens when someone tries to charge through a square occupied by an invisible creature. A short discussion breaks out on the possibilities of the Ninja electing to let the charging character pass, although the Grimlock would finish the charge in his square if it attacked me so what happens then, and so on. The discussion ends when the DM remembers that the Grimlocks have Blindsight and so can 'see' the invisible Ninja. D'oh. The Grimlock simply charges him instead of me. Huzzah!

Checking the side corridors and rooms leading from a fight with a spider led us to a couple of scuffles, but nothing too serious. We headed down the only other exit from the spider's room, ending at a door. I listened at the door and heard some voices behind it. Although I didn't understand what they were saying I could make out perhaps two conversations occurring. In whispered tones, we formulated a plan. It was brilliant. The Ninja and I, using his Hat of Disguise and my Ring of Chameleon Power, would disguise ourselves as Drow and pass through the door before the others. This should not provoke as much attention as our Half-Orc Fighter, and so we would perhaps take the enemy a little by surprise, as well as letting more of us in to the room before a brawl broke out.

'Okay, ready?', asked the Ninja. At the thumbs up, he strode forwards purposefully and walked in to the door. The silly bugger hadn't bothered to check to see if it was locked. The noise of his hollow head bonking against the wooden door also gave those on the other side time to prepare for intruders. I guess the Ninja had failed to get the secret knock correct as well.

'Shall I roll a Move Silently check?'

'Um, you have a Silence spell cast on you.'