Adventures in Marshall Barony, ep 16 & 17

THE CAST O' CHARACTERS:

CURRENT ROSTER
Vance - Yozzat, a dwarf
Joe - Olwen Door-Hinge-Bane, a human ranger
Tim - Raymondo M., human thief
Steve - Dosta Grimm, a fucking elf
Shane - Gordo the thief/ then Brother Allman

DM Note: I missed the count of sessions and left one out when we did some shopping and hanging out in Shiteton, the missing session was prior to the 'Battle of Shiteton'. Thus I have added one to the session count to correctly number the sessions. 

Ep 16. Into the well. - 28 Jan
The party is about to bed down after the Battle of Shiteton when they notice flames outside the Burntwood Inn. Going to investigate they discover a group of people have formed up surrounding a large funeral pyre. In front of the flames is Wolfstan Redmane, saying a prayer with tears rolling down his cheeks. Apparently his son, Bronc, was killed in the battle. Bronc and others who passed in the battle are now being served up to the gods. Wolfstan thanks the party for assisting in the defense of the village and mentions his disdain for Lady Romilda Freug, the local ruling lady. He mentions it was quite a coincidence that her and half her guard left town just hours before the attack began. Supposedly a visit to the distant city of Bourdain. He again thanks the party and says quite ominously "It is good to know I have friends that are not afraid to step up when needed. There will be a time, and I am glad I can count on you."

Next morning the party gather up their gear and head out (a few players forget they have hirelings). They arrived at the well and slowly made their way down. A large dome shaped room lies 70 feet below the well, with large stalactites hanging from the ceiling like a forest of stone. The rest of the party comes down and they discover the chests, a dagger among the bones (which Yozzat immediately clips to his belt) and Brother Allman takes one of the mushrooms for later snacking.

The chests are quite rewarding and just as the party discusses heading up top, two large Crab Spiders drop from the ceiling and launch their attack. A quick use of the oh-so-useful Sleep spell by our party elf, Dosta, and the two spiders are easily dispatched. The group heads back up to count their coins and rest the night (and gain back another damn sleep spell).

Ep 17. Back down the well, and "Should we listen when we are warned?" - 4 Feb
The following day, the group heads down, discovering that the spiders they killed have now been cocooned and entrapped in large spider webs covering about half the room. They set these on fire and begin moving down the passage to the southwest.

Dosta moves forward, using his infravision to scout ahead. As the party moves through the area Dosta and Olwen hear a faint but deep voice that tells them a few things: This is his home. Pests have invaded and killed his brother. That the way north is dangerous and they should be careful.

The party deems that this may be a troll but decide to ignore the repeated warns and head north anyway. (What is a DM to do?)

A small chamber with some candles is discovered, they brashly knock over the candles and pocket the brass candle holders then proceed north to find a dirt filled, moss-covered room with clumps of mushrooms growing here and there. The party moves into the room and suddenly two mushroom men pops out of the ground and moves to engage. Marigold and Olwen sprint to the next hallway but the rest of the party is forced to engage the 'schrooms, which prove quite deadly. A single blow more than halves Yozzat's hit points while a single blow pommels Brother Allmen into a mushy mess. Half the party begins a hasty retreat, tossing vials of oil to create a flaming barrier between then and the upset ' schrooms. They head back towards the entrance.

Doing so however, traps Marigold on the other side, deeper in the dungeon...

DM's Thoughts: 
Its been great getting back into the game again. I am struggling a little with the size of the group. Before the holidays I was lucky if I had three players for each session, rarely I would have four. These last two sessions I have had a full house with six! There is a little too much time with people speaking over each other and in between players each taking their turn. Players have not commented on it yet, but I am feeling it.

THE GRAVEYARD

Grey, a short-lived archer (Shane)

Misstep, wayward magic-user

Able Artone, human fighter - (Christian)

Macros - long-living magic-user (Joe)

Brother Adelmo - cleric (Tim)

Vox - human barbarian (Bryan)

Janos - halfling (Jason)

Harold Flynn - halfling badass (Vance)

Shelzabaz the Magnificent - magic-user (Steve)

Caradoc - an awesome halfling unjustly murdered by a callous and vile DM (Vance)

HIRED HELP

Dimgert Flathammer of the Kragagor clan, alas dear friend, ye are no more

Bint (kobold) who they oddly forgot about this adventure!!

Usee (kobol) likewise forgotten  

About ten kobolds who died to avenge their people!

Garth the human (dead)

Izzy the elf (dead)

Too many retainers to count and I cannot recall their names