SESSION 7 - Duel with The Dragon Mistress

The brave band of adventurers continued their exploration of the underground chambers of the Lotus Dragons Guild, during which they defeated more of the thieves and advanced to 3rd-level. Erdos began his journey towards the prestigious holy order of the Radiant Servants. The group found barracks, a mess hall, rum storage, a kitchen, training facilities, and a secret trapdoor leading up into the Texidermists' Guildhall. They even ran into another one of the hideous spider-things with suckers on the ends of its fore claws ("spidopus?"). The guild's chieftess, whom the captured thief called "The Dragon Mistress," still eluded the search -- as did the hated Vanthus Vanderboren, who was believed to be in cahoots with the Lotus Dragons.

While investigating the kitchen (which must have contained something very important as it was trapped with a bubbling cauldron of poison catapult), the party stumbled upon a cowering female kobold named Churtle. She apparently served the guild as a cook in exchange for colorful, pretty shells. She was not without her usefulness, however, for she created a fabulously delicious shrimp po' boy for Cosimo (Profession - cook check = 23). The group got a few directions from her and allowed her to tag along as they continued their search.

It was not long before the adventurers grew weary again and required rest. They did not wish to repeat the aftermath of sleeping in the drain pipe again (though many of them longed for slumber in that cozy tube of delights), so they set up camp in the thief training hall and had Reggie provide the first watch. Two hours had not even passed when the sanctuary was invaded by a group consisting of a pair of thieves, the taxidermist (apparently some kind of spell-caster), a green, reptilian creature with razor-sharp teeth, and one of the objects of the search -- Lady Lotus herself.

The adventurers were quickly roused by the spellthief (luckily, he heard their attackers' approach) and a tremendous battle was on. At first, our heroes were badly unbalanced, and the small draconic pet of the guild mistress was able to penetrate into the party's ranks. The band's strongest warrior -- Thada -- also became placed under a charm by the taxidermist. Soon, however, they were able to turn the tables. Drogg blasted the Dragon Mistress with an energy ray, forcing her to interrupt her battle-song and imbibe a potion. The spell-binder was lit on fire by another of the psion's powers and following that, Drogg performed a dimensional swap which placed Reggie in position for a backstab (and allowed the halfling to execute his first spell-steal). Still, the vicious reptile was doing quite a bit of damage and Lady Lotus stepped back from combat to down another magical concoction...

In a poof of greenish vapor, the guild leader turned into a cloud and proceeded to make her escape. The wizard had fallen into a burning heap and the other thieves had been dispatched, as well. Only the green beastie remained, and with Thada snapped out of her enchantment, everyone was able to converge on the creature and slay it. The battle was won!

OOC: Another fun and exciting session for the heroes. They reached 3rd-level and vanquished (or at least forced to retreat) the leader of the thieves' guild. Vanthus -- the true object of their quest -- remains hidden from them, however. They have potentially found a handy NPC in the kobold cook, but she has shown herself to be quite cowardly in the face of danger.

Quote storm...

"Okay, just lemme slap 'em!"
"John Heim... that's me... walks into a bar..."
"I can make my own hole!"
"NO! We might get a sandwich out of this!"
"That seems kinda dangerous."
"I'll leave 'em a nice monkey chunky."

Up next, looting bodies and experience!