Kingmaker Session Summary via Will (with proper name corrections by Brian):
As you may recall from last time, the party discovered a great sycamore tree. It was ailing, and common talk in the region holds that it is infested with mites. The party's druid (Verdessa) and ranger (Telvin) were greatly incensed at its condition, and the party had just found the entrance to the lair of the mites at the end of last session, with Telvin dropping down to begin exploring, stealthily. I didn't remember that he had rolled an 18 on his stealth check, and we proceeded as if he had a 22.
Inside, Telvin found two mites engaged in a peculiar game. Each one had a miniature catapult; they were taking turns firing caltrops at one another's open mouths. One of them, being particularly sharp-eyed, spotted Telvin and charged him. He drew his dwarven waraxe and brained it with the flat side, instantly rendering it unconscious. The other party members came slithering down the hole into the cavern, bringing tiny cascades of sandy dirt down with them. Little John lit a torch, and Raynor began casting Light cantrips as Telvin grappled the remaining mite and demanded to know what happened the mites had been doing to the tree. The mite repeatedly told Telvin to die, which he declined to do, and then it squirmed free and ran off down a thirty-foot shaft nearby.
Telvin and Dunk (the paladin) pursued as the others dealt with light sources. Raynor cast Light on a dagger for Grendel; for Verdessa, he cast it on an arrow, which she tucked behind her ear. It looked very fetching in among her locks of teal hair.
Telvin and Dunk climbed down the shaft (which was full of roots offering easy handholds) to the next room. There they found seven mites, six plus the one that had run away. Five Sootscale Kobolds were tied to the walls there; four were dead, and the fifth was being jabbed mercilessly by six mites with sharp sticks.
As Telvin and Dunk arrived, the fugitive kobold alerted its fellows to their arrival, and the group turned and attacked. Grendel came climbing down the shaft as the mites crowded in upon Telvin and Dunk, but could not find room to get down. Upstairs, Verdessa, Little John, and Raynor hovered anxiously. Little John kept a sharp watch on the corridor leading the other way from the initial chamber, but nothing emerged from it. Raynor made a couple of impromptu necklaces out of rope and cast Light on them, so that every party member was equipped with a light source (except the dwarves, who have darkvision anyway).
The mites attacked, and succeeded in dealing some minor damage to Telvin and Dunk; Telvin took a five-foot step to the side and clove one in twain. Dunk raised his waraxe to do likewise, but accidentally buried the blade int the side of the shaft above him, right between Grendel's ankles.
Grendel kicked it loose and dropped down cat-like into the room below, while Verdessa began the descent above him.
There in the dark chamber they fought; Telvin did for another one, as did Dunk and Grendel, leaving four on their feet. Three began to back off, while one stayed behind, unaware that its comrades had abandoned it, until it was too late and it was cut down (by Grendel, I think). Verdessa popped out of the shaft as Grendel, Telvin, and Dunk advanced on the mites. Two fell to their blades, and the final one fled. Verdessa swiftly plucked the shining arrow from behind her ear and sent it speeding into the dark after the mite; but alas, it missed, and buried itself in among the roots hanging from the ceiling further down the corridor.
Above, Little John glumly contemplated the difficulties of navigating such a cramped and narrow space, but resigned himself to it and began climbing down the shaft. Raynor, having collected the unconscious mite and popped it in a sack, hemmed and hawed for a while, deeply reluctant to leave the exit, but eventually joined the others below.
Dunk gazed at the imprisoned kobold and determined that it was evil; but Telvin pointed out to him what a glory it would be to Dunk's god if he could convert their entire tribe to the worship of Torag. They interrogated the kobold. His name is Mikmek, and he told the party that the mites and the Sootscale tribe had been fighting because the mites stole a statue of Old Sharptooth, the god they venerate under the direction of the shaman Tartük (the U is an oooo sound). Mikmek seemed frightened of Tartük; when asked what he thought of eliminating both Tartük [ed. actually there is no umlaut, but I think it looks better with one] and the worship of Old Sharptooth, and converting his tribe to the worship of Torag, Telvin was sure he saw a flash of hope in the creature's eyes, though Dunk remained doubtful.
In any case, Mikmek agreed to help them scour the den of mites, and they freed him. They did not give him a weapon, and told him to stay back in the event of combat. Raynor healed Dunk's wounds before they moved on after the mite that got away.
At the east end of the room, the party found a narrow chasm, filled entirely with criss-crossing roots. A tunnel had been carved through the roots, and a series of handholds installed to ease passage. Verdessa's arrow of light had fetched up just on the opposite side. Raynor cast Light on a rock, which the party tossed down in amongst the roots to see how deep it was; about thirty feet, and all filled with roots. Telvin crossed, and Grendel after him; then, up from the dark in one end of the chasm, came an enormous centipede. Verdessa knew it at once as a Whiptail Centipede, cried out to avoid the tail, and tried to pacify it with a Calm Animals spell; but it was a creature of pure instinct, and too stupid to be affected by the spell. Its long, slithery body was greatly obstructed by the lattice of roots, but it lunged up its head and struck at Little John, dealing him a dreadful blow and laying him out on the floor, bleeding terribly. (14 points of damage, bringing John to -4.)
Raynor channeled positive energy, healing every living thing in the area (+4, Little John at 0 hit points). Grendel scrambled to pull out his bow. Weakly, Little John scrambled back a few feet and swallowed a Cure Light Wounds potion while Dunk moved past him into position to strike at it (LJ to 5 hit points).
Telvin stepped coolly out onto the treacherous footing of the root-mass, lifted his waraxe, and with a guttural shout struck a blow so mighty it slit the centipede lengthwise, sending shards of chitin and globs of verminous intestines showering over the area. (Rolled a natural 20 on the attack roll; on the critical confirmation roll, a SECOND natural 20, and Brian ruled that the critical hit would gain a +1 to the critical multiplier, for a total of 4d10 + 12 damage, which came to 35).
Though grievously wounded, the centipede yet lived. Verdessa blasted its face with fire. Inspired by Telvin's strike, Dunk decided to leap forward through the air and bring his axe down on its head. But alas, he misjudged the height of the ceiling, lost his axe, and fell flat in the dirt of the passageway mere inches from the mandibles of the centipede. Hissing in agony, the centipede lurched forward. Its hindquarters separated and fell away as it gave Dunk a kiss he will never forget, clamping its jaws down on his face. (19 damage, Dunk's hit points down to -9, succeeded on a fortitude save versus poison, and Brian's said it's definitely leaving a permanent pair of mandible-shaped scars, and possibly affect his Charisma score. I suggested giving him a +2 history bonus to Intimidate.)
Raynor reached forward in the passageway and cast a Cure Light Wounds spell upon him (Dunk to -2, stable); and from the opposite side of the chasm Grendel nocked an arrow, drew, and pinned the last writhing segment of the centipede to the roots below it. Its jaws slackened and it fell dead, away from Dunk's prostrate form.
Verdessa laid a hand on Dunk's shoulder and cast Cure Light Wounds (Dunk to 7 hp). Slightly the worse for wear, but still in generally good shape, the party made their way across the chasm -- Verdessa deftly plucking her arrow of light from the roots as they passed -- and continued deeper into the mites' burrow, a wide-eyed Mikmek following after.
The narrow passageway soon broadened out into a larger chamber. At places the floor had been worn smooth by the passage of mite feet, and at one end of the chamber stood a rickety table made of wood held together with twine and covered with a dirty, red-and-white chequed table cloth. On top of it lay an odd sort of map made of twigs, dirt, and stones. As the party entered, they spied a mite mounted on some strange creature. Telvin thought it must be a spider, but Verdessa recognized it as a sort of giant tick. That, plus four other mites instantly initiated combat. Little John stepped smoothly into the room and cut down one mite with a single blow. The others swarmed in on the mounted mite, the leader; as soon as that mite was down, the others threw down their weapons. The tick continued to fight, biting poor Dunk (down to 2 hp); and, incidentally, diseasing him. But in short order the party squished the foul thing, leaving it a flattened stain on the floor with legs poking out around it.
The three mites who had thrown down their weapons tried to sneak away; but Dunk, in an understandable foul mood, charged towards them and sent two careening backwards into the wall while one more jumped aside at the last second, narrowly avoiding the same fate. The party then invited Mikmek to pick up one of the mites' weapons and finish them off; but alas, he wasn't doing too well when six more appeared from further down the corridor, portending a larger fight.
And that's all for the night. A much more satisfying night's adventuring than last time!
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