spell casting | Dungeon DuTchess

The end of the corridor opens into a chamber, that contains eight straw beds, a wooden table, many wooden crates and a fire pit. Smoke is billowing around the room. As an arrow buzzes towards her, Phaedra realizes that it also holds a bugbear, even two. The second one shoots Lilith square in the chest. She counters with a spell, suggesting that the beast attack its mate. The bugbear doesn’t know what is happening, but obediently shoots its comrade in the face. And it keeps attacking until it drops dead, aided by an earth elemental that the Wizard sent forward. Then the bugbear regains its senses.

Phaedra slowly advanced on the first bugbear and takes cover behind the table. Meanwhile her sister is under attack by a third creature, that was hiding around the corner. The Scout turns and lashes out, striking hard with her spiked chain. The enraged Cleric smashes her flail straight into the bugbear’s face. Satisfied, Phaedra walks back towards her initial attacker, which is already under attack by the earth elemental and Jharrath’s missiles. Their brother has set his lizard to guard the entrance and mingles in the fight. Unfortunately – drained of his strength – he’s too weak to do any real harm, so it’s up to the Scout to kill another opponent in the end.

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They find all kinds of food and dried insects in the crates. These bugbears are very well stocked, equipped and trained! The room seems like a nice place to rest for a while. Phaedra takes the first watch and is relieved by Alvra after a couple of hours. His fatigue is gone, but he is not well yet. When the Cleric wakes up, she calls upon the Spider Queen to restore Alvra’s strength. Almost back to his old self, he gulps down an anti-toxin potion.

Further down the Scout sees solid ground. Alvra climbs back up to get the grappling hook and rope, and ties them to the platform. Tired of the delay, Lilith ties the rope around her waist and tells the Fighter to lower her down to the floor. A decision she regrets when she hears scuttling behind a thus far concealed web in the right corner. Then a huge hunting spider appears from the left, trying to break his fast with the Cleric.

Pull me up!

she hollers, but the spider’s fangs sink into her body. Her siblings quickly haul her back to safety. By now two eight-legged monsters are drooling in anticipation down below.

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Back onto the platform, Lilith drinks a potion that neutralizes poison, while the Wizard shoots a Kellgore’s firebolt at the welcoming committee. Phaedra joins in with crossbow bolts. One of the hunting spiders launches a web at Jharrath. As the Scouts cuts him loose, she hisses

Wizard, send your minions down there!

He grabs his candle and summons earth elementals to attack the spiders. The others help with crossbow, javelin and spells. A fireball kills the first spider, and Alvra steers his lizard halfway down to check out the retreating other. The spider aims webbings at the pair, and both get stuck in the sticky threads. Then a hissing, hurtling ribbon of pure darkness flies from Lilith’s hands and the monster rolls onto its back.

Alvra guides his lizard over to the ladder and investigates the mechanism. It seems to move up and down, not horizontal, but there’s one lying next to it. The Fighter directs the wooden structure to the other side of the Abyss, creating a bridge for his siblings. With the help of Phaedra’s grapple hook and rope, they make a safety line to get down the slope and soon all four Drow are reunited on the east side. Lilith checks out the bugbear corpses and finds very powerful bows, as well as beautiful morningstars and chainshirts. She gives the collection to Alvra to carry them home.

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Yes, my sketching abilities are superb. What? Oh, let’s call them unique then 😉

When the sisters climb down the ladder, they are being shot at. Phaedra gets hit and tumbles down the ladder – right on top of the ettercap’s fat belly. The creature is as dead as a doornail, lying with its feet in the air on a sort of platform. When the Scout surveys her surroundings, she spots the archers – two bugbears – standing on the wooden structure, which is about ten feet wide. She takes out her spiked chain and readies.

Jharrath fires his wand of magic missiles at one of the bears, and the beast returns the favor with an arrow. Taken aback, the Wizard drops the wand, which falls down the ladder and lands on the platform next to Phaedra. He scolds the bugbear with every Drow curse he can think of and gets back up to cast Mage Armor on himself. Lilith climbs as far down as she can, while Alvra steers his mount down the west side of the abyss. Then the air around Phaedra shimmers, and five more Drow appear next to her, looking very similar to the Scout, right down to the spiked chain.

Of course the bugbear can’t withstand such an excellent challenge. It drops its bow and charges full ahead with its longsword. One image fades out of existence. The other beast joins in and smashes another mirror image to pieces with its morningstar, then another. Alvra hurls a javelin at the creature but misses, and his second attack barely misses his Scout sister. He orders his lizard to attack, but it doesn’t do any damage. The Scout shows him how it’s done and kills one of the bugbears.

Just when Lilith steps onto the wooden structure, the Wizard attempts to descend in double speed. He fails to hold on to the ladder and drops down. The Cleric steps aside just in time. Now both her brother and his wand are lying at her feet. She activates her flail and… goes for the remaining bug bear. Her flail’s special ability sets the beast on fire. Phaedra finishes it off with a mighty swing of her weapon.

The platform is empty for now. Phaedra hands Alvra the excellent looking longsword of the bugbear, while Jharrath picks up his wand. The Cleric uses her healing powers on both Drow brothers. She still might need them.