Delve 3: Storming the Cult of Gessank

A dark evil is brewing in the middle of the city of Savista, and Our Heroes have been contracted by the Clanmaster Savista to clear out a suspected den of abhuman brutes in the slums. Confident, Mia and Saribke go to the large abandoned granary building to do Massive Yet Sanctioned Harm.

Encounter 7: Really Just Kind of Unfair

Saribke and Mia burst through the door and encounter two fire beetles and three ork berserkers, the area being lit up solely by the beetles' ambient light. The fire beetles are made to abruptly give up the ghost, plunging the room back into darkness. Doing their best, the orks charge Our Heroes, but are forced to swing wildly in the dark, and the only blow that could have hit missed Saribke by a wide margin. Mia breaks a sunrod, lighting up the place, and the duo dispatch an ork. Then, stuffing the sunrod back into her leather satchel, plunges the room back into utter darkness. Our heroes then cunningly move about in the dark. The orks, unable to find their torches, are one by one eliminated via this tactic.

Result: Utter victory. Saribke harries the orks enough to keep them from reaching a door to let in moonlight, and so he and Mia emerge unharmed.

Encounter 8: Rude Dinner Guests

Deeper in the complex, Saribke and Mia encounter a dining room full of Orks enjoying an innocent repast. What ensues is a surprisingly straightforward tactical scenario where Saribke repeatedly throws the entire dinner party back while Mia pings bursts of eldritch power and alchemical fire at them. The fire is particularly effective, toasting several of the more flammable guests. Our Heroes get some light wounds from the sheer number of reeling orks, but emerge quickly victorious.

Result: Straightforward victory, with no particularly crazy events. Saribke plays his standard bodyguard role and keeps the horde of minions from ganging up too much on him and Mia. Mia uses a batch of Alchemist's Fire she whipped up to great effect, resulting in only a bloodied status for our Duo. 4 healing surges expended.

Encounter 9: Comeuppance

Going away from the dining hall, Our Heroes walk into the barracks, where two ork berserkers, a dire wolf, and a Hulking Athletic Ork Chieftain +1 lie in wait, and Our Heroes are caught off guard. Surviving a merciless onslaught, Saribke and Mia finally are able to muster a response, although both are bloodied. In a frenzy of activity (4 bonus actions used, with all dailies expended!), the assailants are buffeted across the room and the Ork Chieftain is bloodied and thrown prone (Saribke), with a host of ugly curses placed on him by Mia. Another furious round of action later, and the Chieftain is laid low inciting a bit of hope for Our Heroes, but the berserkers and the wolf are fierce opponents and manage to separate Mia and knock her to the gates of Death. Killing the wolf, Saribke rushes to her side and fends off the two berserkers while Mia musters the will to survive. In a tense two rounds, Saribke manages to kill one of the berserkers, but Mia slips closer and closer to death. Finally killing the last Ork, Saribke administers to Mia's wounds, and she stabilizes. With a sigh of relief, Our Heroes survive and level up!

Result: Incredibly difficult, by-the-skin-of-my-teeth victory. Making up for the ease of the first two encounters, the final room had few defensible locations, and enough obstacles to impede our mobile heroes. The Chieftain was a level 8 Elite Brute, and did so much harm that when he finally died, the remaining opponents had enough advantage on Mia and Saribke to be formidable threats. Mia almost failed all her saves against death, which would have ended my little Solitaire D&D experiment for now. Thankfully, our heroes attain Level 4, a pretty awesome level! (New feat, attribute bonuses, and such)