Burning Sewage

The party:
Human cleric 9
Human barbarian/sorcerer/eldritch knight 1/6/1
Elf fighter (archer) 8
Human cleric 5 [NPC]

The group was back down in the secret sewer complex trying to finish up their mission. They found a large chamber with a chest at the far end, on the other side of a glowing summoning circle. The cleric 9 and eldritch knight entered the room while the archer covered them through the door way, and the cleric 5 stayed back out of the way.

When the cleric 9 got near the circle, the glow increased and a huge fire elemental erupted into the room. The resulting fight sent the eldritch knight and cleric 9 running out the door, badly hurt, burned, and on fire. They both jumped into the sewer water to put themselves out. The fire elemental disappeared from the room.

The party regrouped, planned, and charged back in. They killed the elemental in pretty short order.

That’s the kind of encounter that I really like, as a DM. Something jumps up and seriously smashes the PCs, but they managed to withdraw, without a death; the party regroups and returns to thrash the monster. The fact that the PCs had to jump into sewer water to escape just adds a chuckle for me.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com