| Session Date | March 30, 2024 |
| Start Date | 25 Reaping 1273 |
| End Date | 26 Reaping 1273 |
| Starting Location | Lich Tomb |
| Ending Location | Dark Market |
| Player Characters | Helga, Hans, Burt, Mord, Sirius, ZZ, Deaglan* |
| Base XP Gained | Carry Over |
| Player Notes | ZZ's Notes |
The party rested that night, shifting spells to a more information-gathering mode. While they were doing this, their lawful good Troll announced his desire to move on in order to “do more good in the world.” He expressed gratitude to the party but said he did not feeling he was doing enough with them.
When ready, the party made their way to the blocked passageway, where Hans began to use clairvoyance and clairaudience to poke around beyond it. Beyond was a north-south passageway in darkness. Beyond the known door into the Troll King’s realm he could hear Bugbears talking and moving about. With this knowledge, they rested another full night in order to be at maximal readiness.
Returning to the blockage, the party ensured everyone had infravision available. Hans then used his wand to passwall through the rubble. Once in the passage, the party turned south and ZZ cast silence. They then entered the guardroom from the north, surprising and confusing the Bugbears, one of whom began to vigorously pull on a rope. Regardless of this, the Bugbears were soon slain and there was no further reaction apparent to the party for several minutes. But finally, a group of four Bugbears with halberds in a tight formation began moving cautiously south, clearly sweeping for invisible foes. Two volleys of magic missiles from Hans dropped two of them, and the other two fled back whence they’d come.
Hans followed up with ESP to scan beyond the door, noting the room was manned by several Bugbears and Ogres, all very nervous and anticipating an attack by forces of the Serpentine Lord. They were awaiting reinforcements as the alarm had been spread. For whatever reason, they had no choice but to hold or die – they apparently could not physically retreat. The party now demanded they surrender “by order of the Serpentine Lord.” The Bugbears shouted back their defiance! (“suck it, lizard bitches” was the apt turn of phrase). With a minor globe of invulnerability in place, Sirius bashed open the room with a knock spell, finding the northern opening to be blocked by a portcullis. He followed this up with a cloudkill spell, killing most of the defenders outright and sending it right up through the portcullis. A few quick strength spells and the party had the portcullis lifted and propped open. To the north, Deaglan could hear a great deal of noise of stomping feet, clashing arms, and the like.
The party advanced to a four-way intersection where they had Bugbears to the right of them, Ogres to the left. Now began a series of artillery shots with fireballs and lightning bolts all over the place from Burt, Hans, and Sirius with some walls of fire thrown in for fun. It was a bloodbath. Ogres and Bugbears dropped like crazy. The Ogres tried to stampede pack lizards at the party but they were largely burned up by a wall of fire cast in line with the passageway. Sirius, a bit further forward, noted that the passageway north opened into a vast, domed space with a deep amphitheater-like pit in the center, which he surmised to be for gladiatorial combats. His impression was that there were many hundreds of enemies up that way and that they were not acting recklessly but were being ordered and directed in a fairly logical manner.
They now decided to really cause some chaos. Mordecai summoned an air elemental and Sirius a fire elemental. These they sent to kill anything to the north they could, and many scream of terror soon flowed south. But something eliminated the fire elemental and the party was also hit with a lightning bolt from a spellcaster to the north. Feeling that they’d done enough, the party now retreated from the area. Once clear, they cleaned up their wounds as best they could and made their way to the Dark Market. Here they would rest for a time and then return to the Troll Kings, perhaps to offer their services against the dastardly Serpentine Lord who’d just “attacked” them…