Mulahey may be defeated, but the looting must go on.
We used the Identify scroll on the unidentified wand I had found in the hollow of a tree outside the mines, revealing it was a Wand of Frost (column of ice vs single target, 8d6 cold damage). Ah, that brought a smile to my face. This would undoubtedly be a potent tool in my arsenal. I wondered what I would end up using it on.
In an alcove just above Mulahey's personal quarters, an elf was tied up against one of the stalagmites. We untied him, of course.
"I thank you for my freedom, friends," he said, "For I have languished in these dismal halls too long."
The elf introduced himself as Xan, a Greycloak of Evereska. Evereska was a hidden elven city in the North, whereas the Greycloaks were a little-known elven organisation based there which were likely named after the surrounding hills, Graycloak Hills. Xan was an Enchanter of slender build, and the Moonblade +3 which we had found in the chest belonged to him; no one else could wield the blade.
"If you be enemies of Mulahey, I would join your cause, hopeless though it is," he said.
"Why is it hopeless?" Imoen asked. "Do you know something that we don't?"
"I do not, only that our quest is vain," Xan replied, morose. "What is the point? We should all just lay down and die."
"Maybe he's down because he's been stuck here for so long," Neera whispered to Imoen behind me.
I wish. Xan was just, well, like that. A pessimist. Someone had to be, I guess?
"We're all doooooomed."
Yes, really. With him in the party, morale was bound to plummet. Or not. Honestly, I found his negative reaction to everything hilarious. As for his skills…
"So as an Enchanter, you specialize in enchantment spells like Sleep?" I confirmed with him, knowing full well the answer. "Or advanced enchantment magic like Confusion and Chaos?"
"Indeed, my talents in enchantment are considerable. Not that it will do us any good in the end," he responded. "However ineffective our actions be, I shall not rest until I have made payment to you."
"Loyal, a powerful personal magic weapon and an excellent magical specialization. We've been getting great use out of enchantment magic in our group, so you'd be a great fit," I concluded. "Most of all, your magic isn't in the habit of going awry."
Behind me, I could hear pink irritation #2 whimper and grumble.
I resisted the urge to look back at her. "Unfortunately, our party is full and role of arcane spell-caster is filled."
"Of course it is. I don't know why I bother," Xan lamented.
Mulahey's personal cave was on this odd island in the middle of a cave, surrounded by water. Exploring around the opposite embankment, we encountered gray oozes which required magical weapons to damage. Fortunately we had plenty of those to go around, with Jaheira casting Shillelagh and Branwen using her innate ability to summon a Spiritual Hammer.
Reaching the edge of the embankment, there was a hint of sunlight pouring through. An exit leading out, but we were fast losing sunlight.
"A quick way out would be welcome, rather than wade back through the mines," Branwen said.
"Back to civilization at last! Or out of the mines, at least," Imoen cheered, "I for one ain't gonna miss the dark, damp and all them traps."
As we stood by the exit, I considered our resources. We had a lot more spell slots at our disposal. Most importantly, knowing what's out there, we still had Branwen's Silence spell.
The group looked to me, waiting for the order to move out. How would I handle this? I couldn't just say there's another assassin group just outside the exit.
"Okay, let me first apologise for what I did earlier. With Prism, before the mines. I'll make it up to you all when we get back," I told them. "But we're not out of the woods yet. Literally. Let's not get complacent and scout out a safe route back. Stay alert."
"Ye're expecting trouble?" Imoen inquired.
"I'm always expecting trouble. Having literal assassins after one's life kind of does that to a person," I lied, "Specifically, I don't want to run into the executioners that Mulahey was expecting. At least not unprepared."
To our dismay, the way out crumbled as we stepped through. No way back down. As noted earlier, the sun was starting to set.
We had the main group hold position, while I and Imoen scouted separately while maintaining stealth. I made sure I went north so that I could find the assassins and report back to the group once Imoen had returned.
"Four of them, armed to the teeth, on the prowl," I said. "Only question is if we're their target."
"We can't just assume they're enemies," Jaheira said. "Striking first without evidence of hostility is out of the question."
I agreed with her begrudgingly, not that I showed it. I was already resigned to the fact that I wouldn't be allowed to strike first all my would-be assassins from now on.
"In that case, let's discuss strategy in case this comes blows."
Newbie Traps #4, or the 'little amazons' as this assassin group is affectionately known by the gaming community, consisted of Lamalha and Zeela, both clerics, and Telka and Maneira, both powerful ranged specialists. They were extremely potent opponents, and cheaty, cheat-cheat characters to boot. First off, they're obnoxiously high level compared to the expected level of a party that meets them at that point, ranging from level four to SIX. The other thing was their outright illegal weapon proficiencies. Lamalha and Zeela were pure clerics who somehow had +++ in their weapon of choice (+ is normally the limit for clerics). Telka and Maneira were both human fighter/thieves, an illegal combination, with ++++ in bows and darts respectively, at level 4! They were using Arrows of Fire and Darts of Wounding, so a single hit was able to cause massive damage. In a fair fight, the little Amazons can crush low level parties fairly easily, and higher-level ones too.
Definitely a step up over all the previous newbie traps. Taking them on safely would require, uh, special tactics.
Lamalha, a cleric of Cyric like Mulahey, was leading her party towards the back entrance to the mines. Her mission was twofold; execute and take Mulahey's place in the Nashkel Mines, and organize the hunt for the Iron Throne's enemy, Sonny the halfling. She had a good description of both half-orc and halfling and was confident of identifying either on sight.
"Trouble ahead," Telka, the archer of their group, pointed forward. In the distant, they could make out a group of armed women and one man.
A group of adventurers so close to the back entrance to the mines! Lamalha's brow knotted tight. It couldn't be a coincidence. Just to be sure, she quickly incanted a spell which would help her see through lies; a gift from her Cyric, god of lies.
As the adventuring group drew close, she caught sight of the leading warrior. A Calishite? Didn't really match the description. No sight of halflings in the group.
"You there!" Lamalha shouted, "Are you the part of Sonny's group? Hurry up and answer. Your answer better be the truth, for your life depends upon it!"
Just try and lie to me. Lamalha smiled inwardly. The magic of Cyric's blessing had already taken hold.
The Calishite held a hand to his ear. "Wh-what? C-c-could you repeat that?"
"It is kind of far," Zeela, fellow cleric of Cyric, said.
Lamalha's brow furrowed. She hollered louder still, "I said, are you part of Sonny's group?"
The Calishite put up a hand. "W-w-wait! I come closer. No-no-no shout!"
"Maybe he doesn't speak common very well?" Telka offered, uncertain.
Lamalha grunted. Cyric's gift did NOT translate common to the Calishite tongue, if it came to that.
The group of warriors in front of them approached. In the setting sun, she couldn't really see the faces of the other warriors, who were all hooded. Lamalha wasn't familiar with Calimshan culture so she didn't know what to make of it.
"G-g-good morning!" The leader said as he came up to them. "I am from Calimshan!"
The women looked at each other, puzzled. But it's evening?
The gift of Cyric indicated to Lamalha that it was in fact not morning and the man was well aware of that. The gift was otherwise rather confused whether that counts as a lie or not.
"Maybe it's a common phrase he learned?" Zeela suggested. "Like 'thank you' or 'where is the privy'?"
Telka and Maneira had nothing to say. Both took a step back, as they were far more comfortable at range and did not appreciate the proximity of an armed warrior.
Lamalha could barely contain her frustration. "I asked you a question, worm! Answer me, or I swear-"
"G-g-good morning!" the man said again. "I am from Calimshan!"
The gift of Cyric, again, indicated it was not in fact morning, good or otherwise. The gift settled for 'white lie' rather than a full-on falsehood.
"You already said that you fool!" Lamalha stomped her foot. "And we know you are from Calimshan! Answer the question!"
"The-the-the question?" the Calimshite asked. "I-I-I forgot. I get nervous easily when I talk. Sorry!"
HE FORGOT MY QUESTION?!? Lamalha fumed, gnashing her teeth. That has to be a lie! He has to be faking it!
The gift of Cyric, was silent. No lie had just been uttered by this man.
"You really forgot my question I asked you seconds ago?!? Because you're nervous?" Lamellah screamed and stomped her foot in disbelief. "Enough of this foolishness! Sisters-"
"Lamalha, look!" Maneira said, pointing to the side.
A halfling with black hair was wading through the grass, fiddling with something while they were preoccupied with the Calishite right in their face. The halfling, caught, grinned awkwardly at the women and did a little wave.
Lamalha's eyes widened in shock. That was Sonny, she recognised him from the description!
"THAT'S SONNY! THEY DIE NOW!" she screeched, and started incanting.
"You first," the halfling said, and triggered the bolt launcher hidden in the grass.
Lamalha wanted to dodge the bolts flying towards her from the front, but somehow first felt bolts penetrate her body from the back. Staggered, she could only watch as the bolts in front of her fly straight into her face.
Double traps set by me and Imoen tore through the 'little amazons' and to my surprise, Lamalha went down immediately to just that. Telka starting running for her life.
"Good morning! I am from Calimshan!" Khalid said with a bemused look on his face as he ran after Telka.
"Aaaaah, shut up!" Telka screamed.
Urm, why was he still saying that? Looks like he was having fun with the ridiculousness of pretending to be a tourist.
I couldn't blame Telka. After all, Khalid was immediately in their face so Telka and Maneira could not bring their preferred ranged weapons to bear. Jaheira stepped up to support him by pressuring Maneira.
Zeela, the other cleric, started incanting, trying to hit Khalid with Rigid Thinking.
Of course, the rest of the party wouldn't sit quietly and let her get that spell off. I and Imoen focused our ranged fire on Zeela, but Zeela stubbornly kept casting through the onslaught. What Zeela couldn't keep casting through was Branwen's Silence spell, which shut her down any more spell casting from her. Meanwhile, Neera managed to put Maneira to sleep but not Telka, who kept running.
Though, not for long. Even as Telka ran for her life, Khalid slashed her exposed back from behind, cutting her down. Meanwhile, Jaheira gave her sleeping target an extended, permanent, rest. Only Zeela left.
Wordlessly, Zeela regarded her closest target with cool eyes, and charged. Jaheira, still focused on Maneira on the ground, didn't manage to block Zeela's flail in time. The ball on chain swung around around Jaheira's shield and slammed into her side, knocking the wind out of her.
Even as Khalid rushed back to support his wife, I gave the order, "Blind her!"
Neera nodded, started casting. Unfortunately the energy went wild. "I'm really really really sorry!"
Energy trailed and shot at Zeela, then spread to everyone around her. Zeela, Khalid and Jaheira all looked at the energy as it infused them. The whole battlefield paused to see what happened.
…nothing?
"What, what did it do? Do you know?" I asked Neera.
"Er, I silenced them," she said. "Again."
"…" Jaheira did not say.
"…" Khalid did not say.
"…" Zeela did not say.
Thankfully, all six of us bore down on Zeela and defeated her without any further injuries. I was so annoyed with Neera the whole time, I forgot to pose and look cool.
I call this tactic "Repositioning via Yakking". Basically, you talk to people to get in close to their ranged units. Pretending to be a tourist is optional. So was settings traps, really.
The little amazons had two major weaknesses. The first, funnily enough, was an in-game trick where if you took the initiative to talk to the leader with your front-line warrior, the warrior would be allowed to walk right up to said leader to engage conversation*. That would usually put your warrior in striking range of their ranged specialists. Telka and Maneira were very specialised into their ranged builds, see. Their melee attacks were far less impressive.
The second was the Silence spell, which shut down the spells of the two clerics very consistently (80-90%). In spite of their impressive THAC0, Lamalha and Zeela's melee attacks were nothing particularly special (1 attack per round, no strength bonus to damage) by this point in the game. Their hits may hurt but your tanks will probably survive the pressure just by guzzling healing potions.
"I still wish we could have just fire-bombed them," I said when we were done. "I was really wanted to try out our new Necklace of Missiles."
"For the last time, you will not firebomb my husband together with our opponents!" Jaheira said while standing between me and Khalid. Khalid was peering out from behind her with wide eyes.
"He'll be immune to fire!" I protested. "You cast Resist Fire, he chugs the Fire Resistance potion, 100% immunity!"
"You try it then, show us how it's done!" Jaheira pointed a finger at my chest.
"Fine, I will! Next big group that calls for firebombing and backstabbing both, I'll model how safe the process is myself," I replied, arms crossed and looked at the whole team. "Once I've done it, I don't want to hear anyone chickening out of using spells and potions to resist our own friendly fire."
Jaheira drew back, taken aback. Guess she didn't expect me to agree to it so easily? Really now, I'm talking pretty basic gamer tactics here!
The rest of the party looked at Jaheira glumly, as if she had made a terrible mistake.
The amount of loot carried by the little amazons was just as amazing as their carriers:
Leather armour +2, Studded Leather Armor +1, a plate mail,
20 Arrow of Fire (unidentified), 20 Darts of Wounding (unidentified, poison on hit),
Oil of Fiery Burning, Potion of Hill Giant Strength, Potion of Stone Form (meh), Potion of Power (!), Potion of Magic Blocking (!!),
and an unidentified longsword?
I examined the longsword up and down. I don't remember what the longsword was? Why was a cleric even carrying one, she can't even use it.
I looked to Imoen, and she shook her head and shrugged. "Haven't figured out the enchanted arrows either. Identical to the ones from kobolds though."
The Potion of Stone form had it's uses, I guess. It helped with AC but reduced Dexterity so in the end it didn't help AC much? Meh. It was also good for bonuses to saves, so I didn't discount using it vs Sirines later.
Potions of Power were a rare find. They give a bonus to THAC0 as well as many thief skills. Perfect for fighter/thieves like me.
The Potion of Magic Blocking was almost too precious to use. It blocked all spells of level 5 or lower. Absolutely fantastic. There are too many instances in which it would allow me to cheese through difficult battles later. So hard to pick which one!