A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES:
This session we gained an additional player in Tom’s old friend (and generally awesome guy) Ian. He’ll be playing Tuomac a hardcore half-orc druid.

Party Composition at the Beginning of the Session:
Ian – Tuomac (Hardcore Half-orc Druid 1)
Jake F. – Tahlrenki the Void (Elf Scout 1)
Jimmy – Mars the Mage (Hardcore Gray Elf Warmage 1)
Matt – Othiogauov Kaveth’uthan’uvagoa (Hardcore Goliath Warblade 1)
Tom – Ragnar the Wise (Hardcore Human Swordsage 1)

Party Composition at the End of the Session:
Ian – Tuomac (Hardcore Half-orc Druid 1)
Jake F. – Tahlrenki the Void (Elf Scout 1)
Jimmy – Mars the Mage (Hardcore Gray Elf Warmage 2)
Matt – Starilaskur (Hardcore Crane Samurai 1)
Tom – Edward (Hardcore Human Cleric 1)

Deaths:
Othiogauov Kaveth’uthan’uvagoa (Permadeath)
Ragnar the Wise (Permadeath)
Tahlrenki the Void (Non-permadeath; 500 XP lost along with 5,500 GP)

It was definitely a bloody session, that’s to be sure. I actually made the dungeon more dangerous (mainly by adding traps and beefing up the number of monsters that can be encountered) and I actually scored a pair of kills (one was stolen from me and not the one you’d think – I’ll elaborate later) this session!

I was honestly surprised that it was the two Tome of Battle characters that were slain (and the Scout, but his death isn’t permanent) and, surprisingly, the mage is still alive and kicking!

- A New Face -

Since the party pretty much lives in a local tavern/inn (they haven’t bought any property; though I doubt they can afford it yet) they’ve gotten to know a few locals and recognize the regular faces to their hangout. Today there was a new face, a half-orc wearing druidic garb and sporting some wicked dreadlocks. As Mars was performing (for his one adoring fan – a heavy woman who would just as soon eat him as bear his children) and the rest of the party was lounging about, a pair of strange creatures burst into the bar apparently hell-bent on killing anyone who got in their way.

Combat began with one of the creatures croaking the words ’stay seated’ to Kaveth, who promptly gave the beast his form of a "no" which, to his surprise, didn’t kill it in one shot. The battle carried on for several rounds and Ragnar was nearly killed (but got VERY lucky on his stabilization roll) and the "new guy" assisted the party as well as he was able in the brief amount of time the combat lasted. Eventually the party was able to dispatch the two creatures and had gained a new ally (one capable of curative magic) in their fights in the dungeon.

- The Dungeon -

After introducing themselves to their new ally, the party quickly determined they’d head back into the dungeon and try to earn some more experience and loots. They earned something alright.

The party’s first encounter in the dungeon was with a trio of blackscale lizardfolk; they’re larger and much nastier than the typical breed. Ragnar lead the charge and was struck down and Kaveth took his place and began cutting down the beasts in earnest (dropping two in one round and then the third on his next move). Tahlrenki was also knocked unconscious during this fight but Tuomac was able to raise him back to health with a timely cure light wounds spell. After the battle ended the party burned Ragnar’s corpse and said a few words as Tom began rerolling another character (hardcore human cleric).

The party then carried onwards to more battle.The second encounter of the night was with a pair of werewolves which the party (surprisingly) dispatched with relative ease.

After a bit more spelunking the party came to another door. Ah the third encounter. Kobold Zombies; six of ’em, probably the easiest encounter of the night, right? Wrong. This encounter almost caused two PC deaths.

Kobold zombies. *sigh*

The battle started off well enough, the kobolds were dying fairly quickly, then all hell broke loose, first Mars went to cast an orb of sound but fumbled it and almost killed himself (dropping into negatives but he stabilized – Jimmy’s description of his warmage blowing his own head off drew a good deal of laughter). Then the kill that was stolen from me occurred. Kaveth, the mighty warblade, was going to strike down a kobold zombie, but instead…

Critical fumble.

Critical fumble confirmed (yes, I require critical fumble confirmation from the players and they’re only allowed to critical fumble once a round (enemies don’t get confirmation, they automatically critical fumble and they can critical fumble more than once per round) — bit fairer to the players that way).

I drew a card (card: you deal damage to yourself).

Kaveth one-shotted himself.

I can only imagine the one thing going through his mind (beyond his sword) was "pah, kobolds, pathetic creatu–" Laughs were had by all and a new story to tell when we hang out was quickly penned. Matt began rolling up a new character (hardcore kenku samurai (Oriental Adventures version)) and the party returned to town after finishing off the remaining kobolds. While in town a cleric (Tom) joined the party and they rested for a bit before continuing their adventures.

Several more fairly inconsequential fights later the party trekked back to town once more and met another stalwart companion, a kenku samurai. After a brief greeting and a night spent resting, the group ventured forth once more. After a bit of walking the party came to the entrance of another room and promptly triggered a trap (which, to my entertainment, targeted Matt’s samurai) but managed to avoid it handily. A quick battle was had involving five characters and a single lowly gnoll (yeah, it lasted probably half a round).

Onto the final encounter of the night.

A trio of Ibixians (goatfolk), probably one of my favorite monsters from Monster Manual III, was encountered in a fairly small room and Matt nearly lost another character (I went so far as to have one of the goatfolk throw its greataxe (epic kills happen…) just to see if I could kill him with it – but alas, no more kills for Gene) in an attempt to drop the samurai. All was not lost, however, as I did manage to kill Jake’s scout (though he just "respawned" in town a couple XP short and totally broke) which counts for something I suppose. After the battle the party also got its first treasure drop of the night, roughly two-hundred gold pieces and a wakizashi. After grumbles about lack of treasure (not my fault; the random number generator is a cruel mistress this day) the party returned to town once more and we hung it up for the night.

And thus, session two ended.