Our battle at this session is an object lesson in why you always need a tank. Joseph wasn't feeling well, so Thok was absent.
After we re-grouped following the battle in the cultist barracks, Snapjaw and thirty or so of his lizardfolk emerged from the bullywug barracks victorious. Despite a few being badly injured, they volunteered to assault the cultists' tower while we went into the keep to attack the head of the cult.
It turns out, they came to us. As we approached the door to the central keep, a pair of invisible attackers ambushed us. Fortunately, thanks to his feats Corrin couldn't be surprised, and managed to beat the attackers on initiative. He managed to stun one of the attackers: the red wizard Azbara Jos. Corrin managed to both stun him, and disrupt his concentration. We actually missed the concentration check right after the attack, so Dralmorar, the other attacker, got in a shot he should not have. He ended up attacking me, but I survived the initial assault. Finally, two gargoyles swooped down off the roof and landed behind cover.
We managed to make some progress in the first normal round, doing some more damage to Azbara, maintaining the stun lock on him, and getting an attack in on Dralmorar. Then two more gargoyles flew in Rezmir, who proceeded to use her breath weapon, dropping Sandi and doing quite a bit of damage to Corrin. By this time, I had been knocked out as well.
D.J. Did offer one option for me to take: having Jamna Gleamsilver show up and have me control her. Ultimately, the turn I took with her ended in a futile charm person spell.
Corrin and Censura did manage one thing: they dropped Azbara Jos and injured most of the gargoyles with a fireball and lured Rezmir away. Although this left poor Sandi a charred corpse, I managed to get a Hail Mary 20 on a death saving throw, which meant I was conscious with 1 hp. I stood up and dropped another gargoyle.
Despite having the upper hand, Rezmir grabbed the unconscious Azbara and flew away with her gargoyles. At this point, Dralmorar offered a cease fire and a truce. Apparently, our ability to win over the lizardfolk had impressed him, and he's not a fan of Tiamat.
Sanpjaw and his lizardfolk emerged victorious from the cultists' tower along with Thok. They saw Rezmir flying into the caves below the castle. If we followed her and took out the bullywug leader, Pharblex Spattergoo, Dralmorrar even offered to bring Sandi back to life.
I'm guessing that Paul may end up playing Jamna next session until we can complete Dralmorar's quest.
Clearly I made the battle too difficult, especially with Thock being absent. I kept expecting Joseph to arrive but by the time it became apparent that he wasn't going to be there it was too late. D&D Encounters can certainly be a little challenging to DM because of the unpredictability of attendance.
ReplyDeleteSandi will forgive you if he ever comes back to life.
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