Rappan Athuk: Mouth of Doom - Gnolls and Bandits and Stirges, Oh My!

 Session played on 2/28

Nick the Pike, Fighter 6 (Me)
Borumar, Thief 9 (Josh)
Karl, Dwarf 9 (Julia)
Biffin, Fighter (NPC)

Karl the Dwarf Lord caught up with the party in the tiny village, 2 more arms-men were hired, and everyone headed back toward the Mouth Of Doom. On the way, 6 gnolls with bows had blocked the road. Negotiations were brief, and combat was joined. One of the new hirelings was shot dead right away, and another was cut down in melee before the gnolls were dealt with. A meager 5sp was collected from their corpses.

Once at the MoD, the party agreed to deal with the bandits first, and after carefully stepping over 15 trip wires, they reached the pair of secret doors to their lair. Upon opening the door, the party got the drop on them, but only just. They’d apparently been waiting for an attack, as 4 were barricaded behind an overturned table with bows, while 4 orcs and their ugly rat faced leader waited by the door. Thanks to the gnoll’s bows, the bandits got a bunch of arrows in the face, dropping 2, while Nick cut into the rat faced dude.

Borumar blasted the table to bits while the woman at arms killed the remaining 2 bandits. Biffin tripped over himself, and then Karl clocked Ratface with his hammer.

Nick hits Ratface again, before Karl pounds him into the floor. Borumar kills an orc, and the remaining 3 orcs call for a halt… they offer up all the treasure, and promise to leave the dungeon. We make them dump the treasure and disarm the trap, and then tell them to be on their way. Better return than the gnolls at 175gp and 1sp, but… Ratface’s rapier is crudely inscribed with “Tael the Rat” and Borumar holds onto it, though it doesn’t seem particularly valuable.

Heading out of the bandit lair, the party goes to a room with pools. Karl spends time playing with them, sticking his 10’ pole into them. 4 out of 5 are about a foot deep, but one is more than 10’ deep. One also scares Karl, causing him to run for the surface, hitting 7 trip wires on the way. The party follows the first time, but not the second or third. Meanwhile, through a hole in the wall to an adjoining room Stirges keep coming out. The 3 arms-men are tasked with shooting anything that pokes its nose through the hole. The deep pool is discovered to be not actually filled with water, but to be a tunnel with the illusion of water over it. Karl, Borumar, and Nick climb down the ladder to take a look, see some hallways and doors, and head back up.

After a dozen stirges are killed, the door to the room they seem to be coming from is checked, revealing some wasp-like nests on the walls, and a lot of bones on the floor. The nests are destroyed and some treasure found.

Exploring some more of the dungeon brings the party to a room with a long exhausted dart trap that is still attempting to shoot the long dead body crumpled on the trigger plate. The bones are shoved off the trigger.

From the next room down the hall, rustling could be heard…

Gains: 6sp, 175gp, jade necklace, silver mirror, small cut diamond
Kills: human bandits, orc bandit
Losses: Hith the arms-man and Mack the guardsman