Quills of Danger

The party faced three Trolls attacking a flat bed wagon.  Demin, Mara and Alhellara spotted another Troll hiding in the scrub to the left of the party.  The battle was started as Gofin moved forward to shroud a Troll and attack it.  Demin fired a bolt at the hiding Troll and Alhellara blessed the party.  After the Trolls moved forward to attack the party was surprised by a sudden burst of quills from both sides of the roadway.  Out of the woods appeared two Duergar Hellcallers who moved toward the party.  Pretis and Lythandar both maneuvered around to attack the Hellcallers, Pretis seeming to move rather slowly.


As per usual the fiery runes again appeared amongst the enemy as Melisana again wrote with fire.  As the battle continued another Duergar appeared flinging quills and then Preaching submission directly at Mara.  Demin moved to hide among the trees attempting to fire from a hidden position.  The Trolls surrounded Alhellara, Mara and Lythandar clawing and rending at will.  The Hellcallers blasted the party with Asmodeus' Ruby Curse which also slid the party members where the Trolls could make Opportunity attacks.  As a Troll fell it burst into pieces severely injuring the party members around it.  

Gofin moved forward to engage a Hellcaller and just as she attacked the Hellcaller move back and a Legion Devil Hellguard appeared in its previous space.  Being so disoriented Gofin missed her attack.  Mara moved forward to attack the Blasphemer and just as she attacked the Duergar invoked Sinner's Slip to cause psychic damage to her.  The Hellguard hit Gofin and as she moved away she took more damage almost falling before reaching the Blasphemer.  Another Troll fell and blasted the party at which point Melisana moved as far away as possible to avoid any more damage.  

Lythandar kept up the Scorching Bursts, Mara and Pretis also kept up their attacks but the enemy proved very resilliant.  The second Hellcaller also moved out of the range of an attack and called another Legion Devil into the battle.  At this point the battle whimpered as attack after attack from both sides missed endlessly.  

DM Note:  This evening was one of those nights in which both the players and the DM could not roll to save their lives.  Endless rounds continued with little or no damage being applied.  Luckily the Trolls did get hit with Fire every so often limiting their regeneration.

Finally the battle turned as a Hellcaller fell followed by the Blasphemer.  The Devils hit the dirt as the party tried to move away from the last remaining Troll.  When the Troll died it again blasted the party and the final Hellcaller also died.  The party took a much needed rest as many of them were bloodied.  Demin found a Potion of Vitality on the Blasphemer as the party looked around.

Moving on the party moved into the Dry Steppes and soon came over a slight rise where they beheld a large structure made up of many concentric circles of stones.  Some  seeming to form gateways.  Beyond was a vast lake surrounded by large hills.  Since it was late in the afternoon the group decided to camp for the night.

Scorecard: The party received 743 XP for the battle and now have 29005 XP needing 2995 more to reach 12th level.