The following session did not start well: we had brutal sound issues that kept us busy for a full hour as we moved speakers, switched gear and went from computer to phone and back. Finally we settled on a configuration that worked reasonably well, considering.
When last we left off we had just encountered a cave that seemed empty. Well — it was not. There was an underground stream, a little lake, and the squawking of odd frogs who made their living down in these lightless depths.
Minig stepped forward with his lantern and said: “This might be a way station of sorts,” when he was narrowly missed by an arrow. Luckily there were natural pillars from stalactites and stalagmites joining over the millennia, which now served as decent enough cover. So we poured into the room and exchanged shots with a gaggle of goblin archers on some stone platform beyond the lake.
Minig hit a goblin, who fell into the lake and raised the squawking to an excited cacophony. Another goblin hit Minig back, wounding him for 4 HP.
Our heroes carefully advanced from cover to cover, while the goblins kept shooting from their elevated position. Farin stayed behind to guard our rear against potential ambushers. Luck had it that we were not hit often, and Minig found found that his aim was still true, as he soon killed a second foe. By that time there was only one last archer remaining, who chose to give up the fight and run into some dark tunnels.
Farin suggested we run right after him, but Minig did not like the idea of running in a goblin warren. He rather investigated the position to determine if this was a prepared ambush or just a chance encounter. He figured it had to be just Lady Luck playing with us, because the goblin positions, while advantageous, had an air of impromptu to them.
The floor showed signs of something heavy having been dragged from a downstream bank to the southwest, and the hobbits were wondering what that may have been. So Hermione snuck down there, with Minig and Farin backing her up at some small distance — just enough to provide light for her so she would not need to carry one herself.
So Hermione ran into a nest of eel-bats — snakish, moist carnivores with leathery wings, an aberration, a slap into nature’s face.
One of the creatures fluttered down to attack Hermione. Minig put down his lantern and nocked an arrow. He shot eel-bat one and got it good; apparently this was once again a session where his bow play shined bright.
Farin stepped out of the way to allow others to move in and join the fight.
Meanwhile, two more eel-bats woke up and fluttered down. Both of them elected to attack Hermione, and one of them even managed to get at an unprotected spot to bite down! The young scout got bit for 5 HP, and the creature prepared to suck her dry.
That made Farina reconsider his defensive stance, as he could not stand the idea of Hermione dying. He shouldered forward, only to find that his only tool was a mace, singularly unsuited to the task of fighting a bloodsucker connected to a friend.
He attempted to pull the creature loose with bare hands, but it was too slippery. Hermione tried to attack it herself, but failed to connect well. Minig dropped his bow and switched to a dagger, held onto the eel-bat and cut it off Hermione.
The second eel-bat swooped in, and Farin interposed himself between it and the Hobbitesse. The beast attacked with a 19! It bit the dwarf for another 5 damage. And one more fluttered down from the ceiling!
“Get the snake off me!” yelled Farin, and Willem was there. With an expert move he destroyed the sucker without harm to Farin. Now Hermione and Minig let loose with their bows and shot down the next eel-bat, while Willem hewed the last one in twain.
The curse of the eel-bats was lifted, and Farin could finally focus on healing Hermione.
More to come next time!
