We started week three with a bang. Abelard was back, though unfortunately Ranger Rick has had to bow out and is not going to be able to continue playing with us. (hmm, I wonder if the PCs will ever meet Rick again.. muah hah hah)
While Alric and Biff were venturing out in the forest, Abelard stayed behind to speak with the full-figured and hairy Salty Sneed. He hung with her for a little while, enjoying the free ale and sharing stories. After a few hours, he began to sense that Salty had an ulterior motive of the intimate kind, and he decided to set out. Abelard knew that his friends were heading north in the forest, and so he decided to head north too. Alone. After about an hour of adventuring, the day began to turn to night. And while Alric and Biff were fighting goblins, Abelard continued through the forest, failing a vital listen check. Without warning, a small metal disk with jagged edges whizzed out from between the trees, pegging Abelard right in the shoulder. He tried to dive for cover, and while in mid-air, his vision blackened around him, and he fell unconscious.
Meanwhile, Biff lay, stable but unconscious, and Alric, exhausted from cleaving kobold after kobold, fell into a deep sleep. Biff's raven was set for the watch, but he didn't do a great job. Neither dwarf nor human heard their predators approach and knock them unconscious.
What followed next practically took all night. My virgin characters met a variation of the infamous ten foot pit. Alric and Biff woke to find themselves together in some kind of pit-style jail cell. They were naked, and without any of their equipment. Abelard found himself alone in an adjacent cell, nude and hurdy-gurdyless. The cells were about 5 feet total in diameter, with ten foot high walls. Each cell had a iron/wooden slatted door on the ceiling. Most the walls were entirely smooth, and there were rocks all over the floor. The adventurers soon found out that they were not alone. A goblin passed them, walking along above them. Then he crouched above Alric and Biff's cell, and defecated. After the feces hit the floor, it turned very very hard. Gross! Also, their original quarry, Ivella Smythlei and her Handmaid (later to be identified as a half-elf named Yenna), were in the cells next door. Alric and Biff were able to speak to them through a small chink in the wall. The adventurers also heard the strange sound of snoring, which eventually stopped as Alric began to yell, revealing that there was, in fact, yet another captive. A somewhat-stoned-sounding elf, who identified himself as Caleforn Goldenstave. (Who does, in fact, have a golden stave...)
The PCs went through a number of ideas to try and get out. Alric found that yelling really only attracted the attention of their captors, but didn't get any results. Alric and Biff found that there was one wall they could climb up, though only Alric was strong enough to do so on his own. Abelard gave up, and began drawing prison cell graffiti on the walls. He also chatted with Caleforn, who was lamenting the loss of the twins he had been seducing in the forest before they had all been captured. Ivella and Yenna, were occasionally speaking with Biff and Abelard, trying to collaborate on how to escape. Alric climbed up the wall and yelled, and the orc jailer just stepped on his fingers. Alric tried building a castle out of goblin poo and rocks, but only got himself about 3 feet off the ground. Biff shot a magic missile at the door, which appeared to singe it a bit but didn't open it. You can imagine how much fun I was having behind my DM screen.
After about an hour of failed planning, Alric decided to climb the wall and punch the door. Voila! He was strong enough to bust through. However, he didn't quite have a plan on what to do after he got out. Instead of helping his friend Biff escape, Alric noisily climbed out himself, only to be confronted by the orc jailer (Who by the way, is a level 2 fighter with a bastard sword). Alric did manage to overrun the jailer and tear down a cave-corridor to find a room that had all of their equipment. Meanwhile, Biff tried in vain to climb out of the jail cell. Although Biff has decent strength for a sorcerer, (I think his strength is 10), it was not enough to pull himself up the vertical wall on his own. Alric managed to grab his battle axe before the jailer beat him to a pulp. Alric fell unconscious, and the captives waited in anguish for news of their friend. They heard little. Suddenly, Alric was dropped back into the cell, unconscious, but his wounds had been patched up. Biff saw the hatch close above him, and a large rock was rolled onto the door. The PCs were back where they started, only now Alric was unconscious and there was a rock above the door of Biff and Alric's cell.
Luckily for our adventurers, the women next door were a little more adept at team work. The PCs heard a very strange noise, almost like the sound of moaning or crying coming from far away. They heard the footsteps of the jailer retreat, and suddenly Ivella and Yenna jerked into action, punching their hatch with rocks and helping eachother climb out. They snuck down the hall to find their stuff, and began making mincemeat of the single orc jailer. Yenna stayed in swordplay with him while Ivella stayed back, rolling the rock off of Biff's cell and slinging bullets at the orc. The orc was suddenly dead, and of course, was carrying keys. Everyone was released. And as it turns out, Caleforn Goldenstave, not only having talents for seducing women, also has healing powers from his goddess, Ehlonna. Biff decided that he hates Caleforn, though with a fantastic bluff skill, has convinced Caleforn that he likes him and is his "bro." Caleforn went down into Alric's cell and healed him. And that was the end of the adventure for that night.
I had a really fun time with this. I didn't know that it was going to take the players almost two hours to get out of this pit and be healed and ready to go. I also really enjoyed the planning, frustration, the roleplaying (especially between Abelard and Caleforn), and it's really fun to watch the different ways that people's brains work. Like, for me, it was very obvious to try and climb up and hit the door. However, hitting the door didn't seem to be an option that crossed anyone's mind. I also think that being thrown into a situation where you have this character, and you have all their items picked out, and you're getting used to the way your character functions, and then to have those items taken away from you, very much throws you off guard. I borrowed this idea from a previous campaign that I had been in, where I was the PC who had all of her stuff taken away and was thrown into a pit with all of the other PCs (who had also had their stuff taken.) It's a cool idea, and like any cool idea needs to be used sparingly. I really enjoyed doing this to the guys, because I remember what it was like when my character got thrown into a pit and didn't have any of her stuff.
While on one hand I wanted to make this difficult for them, I also wanted to give them a little bit of character interaction to help them find a "way out" if things didn't go the way they had planned. (or, in this case, not planned at all.) Instead of making Ivella and Yenna non-combat NPCs, I decided that they should definitely have classes and combat ability. I threw Caleforn in for comic relief, plot (he's an elf, and his knowledge is useful), and also a temporary cleric. I knew I was going to be throwing these guys into a complex cave/tunnel system, where it would be unclear if they could escape for some time. And therefore, I thought that making their party a little more diverse would be fun. Especially for first-timers. They are still wandering around this dungeon. Next installment will detail Ivella, Yenna, and Caleforn a little bit.
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