The Hatchery - 1st session

My Wednesday Night D&D Encounters group is back in chapter 3 - the Dragon Hatchery. Or, at least most of them are. One of my players wandered off with the cult for a couple of days, and is well north of the rest of the party. Unfortunately he revealed himself as an adventurer, not a true cultist, and ended up hanging from a tree by his ankles. Specifically he was hanging by a pair of large hooks that had been driven through his ankles.

Seriously injured, he managed to get himself off the tree and to a nearby stream where with an amazing survival check found some weeds and herbs that had some healing properties. In the process he passed out multiple times.

Tonight he limped down the road, found a hamlet where he procured some clothing and food, and then was hunted by some gnolls. Cowardly creatures, he managed to make them flee through the use of thaumaturgy and phantasmal force. But they kept after him... eventually he drove one away. Then the other 2 attacked. He killed one, and drove off the last one, mostly because of my terrible dice rolls, and the fact that he was using up spell slots to cast shield.

The rest of the group got past the 4 guards at the cave entrance, then ran into a group of kobolds in a tight hall. They killed most of them in the first round, but failed to stop the last 2 from running to get help. The party holed up in the nearly empty store room, and the thief decided that the stoned and drunk cultist already hiding there needed to be executed. The rest of the cultists, along with 2 fanatics, and the 2 remaining kobolds stormed into the room after paralyzing the dwarf barbarian who stood in the doorway and shoving him aside. Again, my poor dice rolling turned what would have been a tough fight into a far easier one. Also, 9hp cultists tend to drop pretty quickly.

All in all a pretty good session. Just really need to get the one player back with the rest of the group...