5e D&D Dwimmermount session 8 - Shot through the neck and you’re to blame, you gave elves a bad name.

The party retreated with their captured kobold, who hissed and spat at the dwarf at every opportunity. It spoke a debased form of low Thulian, swung from almost moronic to horribly insightful. The creature named itself Grimvart and it was a servant of the Queen with eight legs. It berated the party for allowing such a debased thing as Errol amongst them. It spoke of it’s many fellows, of a cursed place with quiet dwarves and a place called the Moonpool. It drew a map of the caves beyond and talked of treasure to the north. It pleaded to be let go, and wrote, in exquisite script a letter of introduction to the Queen, of whom it said was from the black worlds beyond this, an ancient and rare phrase meaning the Abyss. Another figure in the kobolds mythology was mentioned, a king called Guran which is a dwarven name.

Grimvart was taken to the prison they’d found near the entrance and locked up, then the party moved forward into a chamber leading to the caves of the Kobold that contained an oily slick in front of the far door. The party feared a trap, so tried to lure anything out that might live beyond the portal to caves. They were rewarded with success, a thrown flaming brand appears from the darkness and ignites the oil, creating a fireball that does no more than singe their cloths since they’d moved away from the trap. However Errol and Zoilus’ battle blood was up and the leaped through the fire to meet whatever lay beyond, with mix success. The barbarian got through, but the dwarf rolled a 1 and slips, burns and became prone facing a horde of kobolds. The desperate fight in the narrow confines of a rough hewn corridor is brutal. Bittersalt, whose player couldn’t make it this session, rolls a 1 and then rolls a 20, hitting Flandar the warlock with an arrow through the next, almost killing him. However the battle goes the way of the party, and the kobolds are put to the sword.

Entering the cave system properly the party find ancient and impressive stalagmites and stalactites. The stone had been worked, but with a very light hand, and to enhance it’s natural form. A cave to the south contained a triptych carved into the stone. It shows Thulian knights descending upon a city and executing it’s ruler.

Heading towards the cave to the north where Grimvart promised treasure, the party came across huge spiderwebs crisscrossing the floor and ceilings. Fearful of giant spiders, Brother Spenzar cleverly used his thaumaturgy again to vibe the webs in the centre of the warren beyond. After a few minutes a pair of giant wolf spiders emerge looking for their meal. Before the party could act a terrible cry came out from Paulo, the torchbearer. Spiders had encircled the party and were attacking from the front and rear. This turned into a desperate battle, as almost immediately Paulo, Spenzar and Flandar fell unconscious from the poison running through their veins. Calphis quit the battle immediately, and fled the caves while Bittersalt cut a way clear for the rest of the party to escape. She was cruelly bitten and also fell to the spiders venom. At this point the party were in rout, with Zoilus picking up both Paulo and Flandar. When Errol realised that Bittersalt was no longer behind him, he got Spenzar to safety and then bravely returned to pull the elf free from the spiders who were already starting to wrap her in silk. Slaying one and driving the other off ended the battle for the exhausted and injured group.
After a brief discussion the players decided it was time to return to civilisation, train and better equip themselves for whatever lies ahead. However as they journeyed through the great central halls of the dungeon, they were met by a party of four well armoured dwarves. These dwarves claimed they were here to seek the remaining party of dwarves that had come to find the dwarven cemetery. The party explained everything they’d heard from the kobold Grimvart, much to consternation of these dwarves who felt that they’d need to come back in even greater number to safely travel the corridors of Dwimmermount. Agreeing to travel together, the group went to check on the kobold only to find he’d been freed to an unknown fate. Leaving the dungeon the secretly retrieved their buried treasure and headed to Muntburg before then going onto the grand city of Adamas. The party of dwarves spoke of many things to do with Dwimmermount and the history of their people to Errol during the trek.

So next session looks like it’ll be set in Adamas, and I’m very much looking forward to putting in some prep work for that at the weekend. Yet another awesome session, with a really strong mix of roleplaying, exploration and battle. The party have hit 3rd level, which on paper looks like quite a jump in terms of power and resilience. The XP curve also quietens down here, needing far more experience points to get to 4th than the previous levels. I also need to get painting, the growing piles of beastmen, undead and ‘things’ for the levels below aren’t going to self-colour.          

It’s been bit of a struggle getting this session diary together, and a week is a long time for my poor memory, so I must get these done closer to the actual session.