Session 12: Round and Round

The party re-entered the trog dungeon for the fourth time, though it is a significant sized space, especially considering there's a whole other half that is utterly unexplored. But this night, the fight was here, with the players entering at (1) and entering the area that had been mapped out previously. They caught sight of troglodytes at once, who promptly skedaddled, as they were just there to track the party as it entered. It did not take the party long to remember that the space was a roundabout, and that the intention of the trogs was to trap them somewhere and attack them from two sides. So they left a hireling, Oddsdrakken, at (2) and proceeded towards (4). The two trogs they'd seen at the corner of (3) assembled with others... the first group attacked at (5) and the party was able to make good meat of them quickly, unlike the earlier combat. For one thing, most of the party had made their saves this time and were sustained by the presence of Zoltan, whereas in their first meeting with the trogs they'd been down both Zoltan and Ti; this time, Ti still couldn't make it, but the extra body made a big difference.

The second group attacked at (6) and, amazingly, Lexent, his dust devil spell and the man-at-arms Fenwick did a pretty good job against them until Zoltan could come down and join them from the other fight. Both fights ended quickly enough, though there were some moments of tension that had plainly worried the party at points. Nonetheless, it worked out in their favour and they chose to continue.

A point about combat... because for the last two runnings it has pretty much been two combats in each session. This really was two combats taking place at the same time, though as the one at (6) was starting, (5) was in the wrapping up stage. I've had some argue that they can run five or six combats in a 4 hour session, but I'll be damned if I know how. At a few points during the combat I was pushing to roll and call the party to act as fast as I could; I did miss some details and was reminded about them, which I always appreciate. I told the players that I was merely trying to keep the pace going as rapidly as possible, which means someone pretty much talking non-stop. There were no moments of reflection during the game; no one made an outside reference to a film, a product, another situation that had happened at some other time. The players were utterly into the combat, 100%... which means, as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter how many combats were getting played, the ones being played was utterly engrossing.

That is what should matter, nyet?

Pushing past (7) on the map above, the party searched this next part of the dungeon, found upon the adjoining page.

This image shows the battle in progression after the party had made their way to the trog's personal lair. The two other passages might have given the trogs an opportunity to get behind the party and trap them in a dead end, but the party picked right of the three choices before them, and thus the final battle is on going. The party were mid-round when I looked at the clock and found we'd already passed our assigned stopping time; I pointed this out and everyone was surprised. We were all in flow, utterly unaware of the time or anything except the game, which I count as a successful run. In fact, I'd call it the best session I've had with this campaign, and among my best ever, so far as engagement counts. I felt a rush the rest of the evening and experienced none of the usual emotional "drop" that follows post-game. This session just went too well.

So, there are 11 trogs left; one is apparently glowing without anyone knowing why, while two are glowing with the party's faerie fire spell just now. Four of the trogs are stunned (red stops) while those players who have yellow crosses have failed their save. The green number is counting the number of rounds the nausea has been in effect (I do not give it a limit, like it has in the original Monster Manual). The green dot is Lexent's loaded sling for the next round to fire. I use the purple dot for someone casting a spell, because I do not permit casting and release of spells to happen in the same turn. This weakens my mages and gives more purpose to the fighters. The two purple dots atop the trogs are the cantrip twitch cast by Mikael the mage.

You can see plainly the trogs will be fighting first when the game re-commences, this Friday.