Session 4: A Tangle of Snares

The road is Summercrest is long and narrow, passing through all kinds of terrain. It is largely untraveled and uninhabited, and so for eight days, the party passed through the great Forest of Tryn without seeing another soul.

On the ninth day, they awoke, and realized they were running low on water. The basket of Everlasting Provisions that Jaden had was feeding them well, but it had been over a week since any rain had fallen, and even the magic of the Provisions was having a hard time keeping up with the thirst of two large Dragonborns. They decide to try and fill their canteens from a lake or stream, and so made their way into the forest to find one.

About 100 yards off the trail they found a small lake, more of a pond really. As they were filling their canteens, they noticed on the other side of the lake a small gaggle of pseudodragons. The pseudodragons were just getting a drink, and while they definitely saw the party, they didn't seem particularly interested in them. Rougi, however, decided that they should try to trap them; they knew pseudodragons could be good as pets, and figured they could sell them in Summercrest.

Kava was able to fashion a quick but sturdy cage out of dead wood and the lengths of rope the party had. Then, before the pseudodragons could run off, Kava and Kriv began to move around one side of the lake, and Jaden around the other, with the intention of herding them down to where Rougi stood with the cage, now baited with some meat. The pseudodragons were a little skittish about the party's approach, so Kava held out a piece of meat to entice them closer. One of them slowly and cautiously approached her. Then, to her surprise, it went invisible! As Kava looked around puzzledly for it, she suddenly found that it had taken the meat right out of her hands.

For a moment this was amusing. But apparently the pseudodragons were hungrier and more aggressive than the party realized because only seconds after this, the little creatures began to attack. While not particularly powerful, they dealt out acid damage with the stings of their tails. Rougi, watching from the other side of the lake, realized that this was a bit serious, and began to rush over to help them. It's a good thing too, for Kava went down, precariously close to death once more, though Kriv managed to revive her. Kava and Jaden ended up being ganged up on, which was no small problem for them, but this left Kriv and Rougi free to attack them unencumbered. After Kava revived and Rougi arrived, the battle quickly turned in the party's favor, and they were able to subdue the pseudodragons. Getting them into the cage in their unconscious state, they then fed them some healing potions and locked the cage up tight. The pseudodragons snapped at them angrily, but were unable to escape, and could not sting the party anymore (unless they stuck their hands in, which no one did).

The party elected to rest for about 15 minutes, and then began making their way back to the road. As they did, they passed by a rather large tree, when, to their surprise, a mouth appeared on the tree, and it cried out, "Beware! Ochre Jelly!" Kava, Kriv, and Jaden were instantly on their guard, knowing that Ochre Jellies are a very dangerous and vicious kind of ooze monster. Rougi, however, was unaware of this, and so when a viscous creature the color of dried blood began to seep out from under the tree, he was caught completely off-guard.

The ochre jelly proved a bit of an elusive foe, shifting behind cover after its powerful slam attacks. Once again, Kava was nearly brought down. All in all though, the battle went remarkably well - before long the jelly split into two in a desperate attempt to divide them, but this actually only made it easier to bring it down. Kriv healed Kava, and pretty soon it was all over.

As the jelly dissolved, melting away in its death throes, the party realized there was a large number of bones and assorted items now scattered at their feet. The jelly had claimed many victims over the years, and had melted away their flesh for its sustenance, but the bones, equipment, and sometimes even clothing of its meals had not been digested and now was strewn about on the forest floor. Ever in search of more loot, the party pawed through the remains, finding 360 gp.

As they were looting, they found another strange thing - the leg bones of a humanoid, with some remnants of the trousers still attached. Sewn onto the hem of one of the pant legs was the symbol of Qualion's gang, now faded with age and ochre jelly acid. They made a search among the field of debris for a skull, but found only the skulls of animals. Eventually, they decided to head back for the road.

They had almost reached the road again when Rougi noticed a sword lying in the bushes. Walking over cautiously, he saw that the sword was clasped in the hands of a mangled skeleton missing its legs. Figuring this was the other half of the Qualion associate they'd found earlier, they took the skull, hoping to find someone to do Speak With Dead again in Summercrest.

Having just faced two battles in a short amount of time, the party opted to take their rest now, even though it was only mid-day. Securing a small spot just off the road, they fell into a much deserved sleep.

Rewards

XP: 900 XP
Money: 360 gp (90 gp apiece)
Treasure: Catstep Boots (Level 3)

Interlude: Level Up!

At this point, everyone should have 1,400 XP, which means you are ready to advance to level 2!

Leveling up is very well laid-out in the Player's Handbook on pages 27-29. To summarize what is says there and apply it to the party's circumstances, do this to level up:

1. Change your level value on your character sheet :)
2. There are a number of values that depend on your level, or rather 1/2 your level. Since you are now at level 2, where before you had a +0 (level 1 /2 = 0) to certain things, you now have a +1 (level 2/2 = 1)! Under initiative, skills, and the AC, Fort, Ref, and Will defenses there are boxes that read "1/2 LVL" -- modify these boxes and recalculate your scores. If any of you have secondary ability modifiers (the column that says MOD + 1/2 LVL under "Ability Scores") then be sure to increment that number as well. Your base attack bonuses will all go up by 1 as well!
3. Look at your class description - it will tell you how many hit points you gain per level. Increase your Max Hit points with this value, and then recalculate your bloodied hit points (1/2 Max) and your surge value (1/4 Max HP).
   Cleric, p. 60 PHB, Fighter p. 75 PHB, Rogue, p. 116 PHB, Warlock p. 129 PHB
   
4. Read through your class description to see if any of your class feats improve at this level.
5. You can each choose 1 extra feat and also gain a Level 2 Utility Power (these are found under your class description). Be sure to pay attention to the feat prerequistes when choosing.

And that's it! Now, if you're thinking that was really easy, good! Leveling was not always this straightforward :) If you're thinking you had thought it would be a lot cooler than that, don't worry! Level 2 isn't as big a jump as say, Level 4. The more levels you gain, the more stuff you get between them.

As a bit of a side note, you may notice that the party won/found 720 GP last session. That amount needs to be divided among the party members. If you guys want me to just always divide the money into four equal parts, that's fine; if you want to haggle in-game, that's fine too. Just send me emails or leave comments on the blog post to let me know.

Looking forward to playing again on the 3rd!

Merry Christmas everyone, and safe journeys, whereever you are!