I hadn't noticed how "flat" they are before. That said, some of that is perspective. There's at least one passage curving "down" in the lair. The Temple of Amuanator in the Umar Hills would be pretty easy to break into different elevations as well. If they ever go there, I may alter the map a bit to make it less linear.

Session 29: 4/14/2024
No Terry for a couple of weeks, and the new player couldn’t make it.

We ended last session with the wolfweres transforming into a couple of Greater Wolfweres. I used the werebear statblock with a slightly higher AC, two claw attacks, and a 2d4 bite. Mergand opened the battle with a Fireball hitting both of them, but they each have over 130hp and regenerate 5hp/rd.

Ludwig was bottlenecking them at the door, so he got shoved back and then bitten. The other greater wolfwere moved out and grappled Cormak. The next round or so was an exchange of shoves and hits (the wolfweres mostly trying to grapple and shove prone rather than attacking with their very damaging claws). Eventually both Cormak and Ludwig were prone and grappled, while Mergand and Nalia plinked away with Firebolt and poisoned crossbow bolts. I prompted Ludwig (low on HP) to take a look at his spell list, since prone & grappled is a bad place to attack from. Tasha’s Hideous Laughter connected, incapacitating the greater werewolf on him. Cormak was going to use Gust of Wind to blow the other wolfwere away, but they could hear and see the other (lesser) wolfweres on the way. He ended up using Stone Shape to make a hole in the bridge, sending the other greater werewolf plummeting down to the previously established “pool of water 80’ down”. We won’t see him again any time soon.

The other werewolves arrived, and the party eventually managed to kill off the other big one and the three little ones, although Ludwig and Cormak both got mauled down to low hit points. Nalia took a hit or two.

The party checks for loot, finding around 2,100 gold, some more magic arrows, and the Horn of Blasting. Here’s my spin on it, which combines elements of 5e & 2e:
Horn of Blasting
While many army engineers spent their time perfecting siege equipment, Julius
Baggar delved into magical tomes for his engineering insights. Therein he
found ancient scriptures that detailed how to make, control, and wield sound
waves. The Horn of Blasting was his first and only attempt at taking the
theoretical magical knowledge to create a practical new technology. An
apprentice blew through the Horn, aimed in the direction of Julius who
insisted on a 'useful experiment'. He did not survive.
Once per long rest, the horn can be blown as an action, dealing 5d6 thunder damage to all creatures within a 30’ cone and stunning them (save at end of turn). A DC 15 Constitution save halves the damage and negates the stun. The blower must then roll 1d6; on a 1, the horn explodes, causing the same effect to the user.

They short rest, and then explore the cavern off to the side where they had previously heard three voices arguing. Sneaking in, they find a dead wolf and a dead hobgoblin. The third person? Not to be found. It was a troll, and it left while they were short resting – their survival checks were too terrible to find footprints, and nobody could roll higher than a 9 on medicine checks, which was enough to tell that they were killed mostly by a bunch of smaller slashes and also by blood loss.

Ludwig takes a look around and finds an unusually flat area of wall. The group eventually decides to push it open, and find a second cave area behind it. A bow lies atop a moderate-sized pile of gold coins, but there’s a huge golem in the way, motionless. They roll checks, and Nalia gets a 20, letting her identify the threat level and general capabilities of an Iron Golem. They explicitly get told that they probably can’t take it.

They discuss attacking it anyway, or stealing the bow and trying to outrun it. Mergand ends up casting Invisibility on himself and rolling an 18 to sneak into the room, then rolling ok enough (vs PP 10) to climb up the pile of gold and retrieve the bow. When he leaves the pile, there’s a bell-like sound (Alarm spell), and the golem looks around, then breathes poison in an area all around it. Guess who has the amulet of protection from poison? Mergand does not take 10d8 poison damage!

The golem has no way to detect invisibility, so Mergand runs out of the room and they pull the door shut, having previously attached two ropes and grappling hooks. They now have the Heartseeker, although it has not been identified yet.
Heartseeker: This +2 longbow adds the user’s strength modifier to damage in addition to Dexterity, but requires a Strength of 14 to use. Twice per day, its enchantment can be activated as a bonus action to grant advantage on all attacks made with it until the beginning of the user’s next turn.


They head back across the bridge to the only area they haven’t been to… across a wood bridge, down a short tunnel, into a storage room (they steal a bit of food), then down a curving tunnel to a locked door. Both attempts at unlocking it fail (11 total), so two of them just kick the door in instead. Inside is a battle that was almost too tough: Tazok (ogre, AC 19, 2x attacks at +10 for 3d6+6); 2 Orogs (AC 18, 42hp, 2x attacks at +6 for 1d12+4); Chief Digdag (AC 20, Hobgoblin warlord but with only 2 attacks instead of 3); 1 shaman (Hobgoblin captain with Bless, never got to do more than cast Bless). Mergand is still invisible, but Tazok recognizes Ludwig from the fight beneath Baldur’s Gate. Tazok was a bandit captain, and was killed alongside Sarevok. Firkraag has brought him back for another shot, something about watching them perform.

Initiative is rolled, and it’s side initiative, which really makes it hard to recover if things go badly.
Mergand drops a fireball, putting the Orogs and the Shaman into single digit HPs immediately. Cormak casts Fog Cloud on the room, which will stay up most of the battle. Ludwig rushes in through the fog after firing an arrow blindly at the shaman. The orogs and Digdag go after Ludwig, hitting him once or twice. Tazok looms out of the fog and hits Mergand (now visible) twice for a total of 35 damage, putting him down to very low HP.

Ludwig runs out the back side of the cloud and hits the shaman, killing him and taking Bless off before it gets a chance to do anything. The player running Nalia looks through her inventory list and finds a scroll of Confusion (DC 15, 10’ radius). He’s able to hit ALL of the enemies with it, and all but one fail their saves.

I don’t know how many rounds this fight lasted, but at least 6 or 7 more. Digdag stayed confused almost the entire fight, and Tazok stayed confused up until the last round (I did not use my dice that seem to roll slightly better). Confusion takes away reactions, making it easier to play keep-away.
Cormak and Nalia ended up retreating and plinking away at Tazok with Fire Bolt, Spiritual Weapon, and one good hit from the Kneecapper. Cormak eventually goes down, and Nalia keeps Tazok chasing after her.

Ludwig ends up in melee with the orogs and Digdag (when Digdag is acting; confusion). Mergand stays at the back, plinking away with Hunter’s Mark + crossbow + poison crossbow bolts for 15-20 damage per round. Eventually Ludwig hits the orogs with Burning Hands and finishes one off around the time Cormak goes down and the Fog Cloud disappears. After the last Orog is dead, they work together to finish killing Digdag (97hp and AC 20 lasts quite a while). They go after Tazok, and Ludwig burns sorcery points to get a 4th level slot back, turning into a Giant Crocodile and tanking two hits before they finish killing the ogre. It’s late, so looting will be next time.

This was probably a bit too much of a fight. They probably would have benefited from using the Horn of Blasting as an AOE stun… but they didn’t. Everything had AC 18+. They pulled it off… but it was super, super close. If Tazok and Digdag hadn’t spent 50% of the time doing nothing, it could have been a TPK. But it wasn’t!

Only one fight coming up, and it’s just Conster the illusionist. If they don’t get some healing done, I’ll have to take away his Synaptic Static AOE. No chance they’re going to try to take on Firkraag at this time. I’m looking forward to the reveal and that conversation.