The Heirs of Ruin Play Report 2

Characters

• Randy's character, a genasi swordmage/warlock hybrid who is named something like Sars I think
• Maximus, human warlord (Beth)
• Jiga, elf rogue (Liz)
• Kevek, goliath shaman (Kamon)

On day three of their less then luxurious stay at the Criterion, the characters were able to escape after a silk wyrm escaped from its cage while being transported and busted open the cell holding Sars and Maximus. While the guards were busy trying to get it off the handler, Sars managed to sneak out of his cell and use his psionic talent to lift the keys off of one of them. Maximus tried to get a weapon from one, promising to help fight, but they told him to stay put as they knew his reputation as a former general.

The silk wyrm tore off the handlers arm before turning on the guards prodding it with trikals. It briefly transformed into sand, flowing around them to avoid being surrounded, and continued tearing them with its jaws. The guards had gotten lucky with mighty strike, which the wyrm remedied by drinking the blood from one and healing itself. Sars was able to free several other prisoners, incuding Jiga and Kevek. As the guards started to fall, the wyrm eventually fled. The last one standing, faced with a bunch of freed slaves, ran into the hall and sealed the door.

The characters took some time to loot the guards, who of course didn't happen to have just the weapons they needed, and had to make do with no armor, trikals, and dejadas. Another door lead to the mess hall, which contained a handful of guards and jhakars who were heading over to investigate all the noise. Since the characters were armed and supported by a mob of slaves following Maximus's lead, they didn't stand a chance (especially considering that with two leaders, even if I dropped Sars he'd just get back up with more than half his hit points anyway).

The found more weapons and armor that they didn't like and decided to actually arm the other slaves, allowing them to make attack rolls with an actual bonus. In a storeroom I decided to make things easier on them and let them make checks to find gear suitable for their characters (plus they had character sheets with the "normal" stats and all). A squad of guards, including some more jhakar trackers and a "wielder of the Way" showed up looking for escapees soon after, which they handled by jumping into a waste disposal pit because whatever lives in the sewers probably makes for a more level-appropriate encounter.

Fortunately the managed to snag a single torch, and almost immediately had to fight off a pair of gray oozes that generally enjoyed pre-killed snacks. Kevek's wild talent let them know which way was north, which made it easy for them to pick the general direction of Balic's slums before moving on (I gave them a small bonus). After wandering through the sewers for an hour they were ambushed by rats of both usual and unusual sizes due to failing part one of the skill challenge, after which a pair of slaves were dead and Maximus was diseased (he got better, due to a meager DC of 12). Exhausted, they settled down for the day, munching freshly killed rats.

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A major goal of this session was to try and usher them into the waste pit so that they could wander through Balic's sewers until they found a mini-dungeon with some plot-centric stuff. I was worried that they would try to fight their way through the main hall, but I didn't want to invalidate that option by making it obviously impossible. While drawing up the map of the barracks, I figured that if a guard could escape he could lock the door from the other side. A character could break it down, but it would take awhile, and included another unlocked door that would point them in the right direction. They went for it, found the storeroom, and leapt into the pit of their own accord instead of facing a very difficult--but still doable--challenge.