Dungeon Bashing! Penultimate Pathfinder Session

Yesterday we had another session of our Pathfinder game.  Jesse was back, Robbie couldn't make it, and we had a new member of the Busan Gamers, Shard, joining us to fill in for Robbie.

This game session's cast: Oxide, Warforged Fighter (Jeremy), Zesser, Half-Orc Alchemist (Jesse), Brother Repose, Human Cleric of Wee-Jas (Dean), "Red," Half-Orc Cleric of Olidamara (Greg), Siseret (sp?), Human Wizard (Shard), and Elwood, Human Paladin (me).  Brian of course is the DM.

Again, SPOILER ALERT for the Age of Wyrms Adventure Path modules.

We ended the last session in the middle of some caverns, and handwaved the disappearance of Toki the Sorcerer (Robbie's PC) and the arrival of Zesser with Siseret.  Brian decided that Toki the jokester was just running around behind us, completely invisible.  Zesser had stayed behind in town to brew more poisons, and came to join us with his new companion Siseret.

We continued further into the grimlock caverns, and came to yet another "pit" room, where we had to drop down a slope, then got attacked by grimlocks in a room with a cliff on the far side as well.  Weak grimlocks (maybe 1 or 2 HD) came charging down a 5' wide passage on one side, so we mostly kept them contained and whittled them down, but a big, tough grimlock attacked from the other side.  The big guy was going after anyone with light armor first, so Brother Repose was knocked from full health to negative hit points in one hit!  Zesser also took some damage from the brute after that, but a combination of attacks, including my smite evil ability, took the brute down just as the grunts managed to bull rush past Red and attack our flank.  I let the other guys finish off the grunts while I healed Brother Repose.

We looted their lairs and found a bit of good stuff, including more magical armor.  Then we continued on and the next big chamber was the "boss fight."  [Very linear dungeon design in this section, but there were some interesting, if repetitive, tactical challenges from the terrain.]  This was another large chamber with a drop from the entrance to the main floor, then another rise at the far end, where the Cleric of Erythnul, a grimlock with beholder eyes sewn over where his eyes would be if he had any, sat.  He was buffed up already and prepared for us.  With him were five grunt grimlocks and a female bruiser (maybe another barbarian?).  The grunts formed a spear-line along the ledge, threatening us with AoO if we tried to jump/climb down, but held their ground.  We spend a couple of rounds buffing and trading spells (Oxide was Held in the first round, so was out for the first five rounds, but didn't miss that much of the battle).  Then, having used alchemist's fire and bombs to break up their line, and a pair of the grimlocks backing up to throw javelins at Oxide, several of us made it down the cliff.

Zesser and Elwood took on the barbarian-hag, while Red, Oxide and Brother Repose engaged the grunts, and Siseret traded spells with the leader.  Eventually, we eliminated the "help" and Oxide lifted Elwood up to the ledge so I could smite the leader.  Shortly after that he was toast, and we looted the corpses.

We briefly debated resting up in the caves, or heading back to town.  We decided town was the better option, since it was only about an hour's walk away.  In town, we re-armed, healed up, rested, and sold/split the loot.  I decided to stock up on scrolls of Magic Weapon, and got a couple of Bull's Strength as well.  Dean suggested letting Brother Repose carry some, so that he could buff me while I meleed, or we could both cast a buff in the same round.  Sounded good go me, so I let him have a couple scrolls.  [For in character reasons, Brother Repose just donates all of his gold to his temple, and sometimes they give him a 'reward' that he can use.  He was allowed to keep his chain shirt +1, which is nice.]

We returned to the Dourstone Mines, and hit the Vecna section of the dungeon.  It was a twisty maze of 5' wide corridors, riddled with secret passages, and kenku Rogues who would slip around, use potions of invisibility, and the like to ambush us at every turn.  Zesser was really good at finding secret doors, and I suggested, after realizing that Oxide had some pitons, that we spike them shut after finding them.  Other than some of the kenku, we battled some giant weasels and I got to show off my mad mapping skills.

And we experienced an "unfun" maze.  We spent a lot of time with Brian describing the twists and turns of the passages, while I mapped them and he checked my mapping to see if it was accurate.  Several other players were bored, because a lot of the twists and turns and loops didn't really serve a purpose.

We ended the session having found a small treasure trove with three pairs of Eyes of the Eagle, which improve perception checks, which should make the rest of the maze a bit easier.

Next week we'll have our final session for this game.  Then some of the guys will be playing in Adam's Birthright 3E game.  Shard's also considering running Pathfinder if anyone wants to keep playing it, but it would be in his campaign world and would likely require starting over at level 1.  I've decided not to play in any of the Sunday face-to-face games and instead play in a G+ Labyrinth Lord game on Fridays run by Justin, a guy in Pohang.*  At least for a while, anyway.  This way I can get some gaming in and still have lots of weekend time to spend with my family.

*Apologies, Claytonian.  Sorry I couldn't get in on your online game.  Mondays don't work so well for me, but Fridays are OK.