Dear Master Loquist Faldamiare,
Once again I went out to see what could be done about the gnoll situation. I joined a group that was going back to a large crevice and a mine/cave network they found. When we got there one of the party started poking at the ground and another was trying to detect magic. I asked if this was really necessary and was told it was a good idea. I shrugged and, rather than let him get too far ahead of the group, started walking beside him. I was sort of the only melee fighter in the group so I figured it was good to keep towards the front.
Of course, he missed a trap and just as we stepped on it jumped back but I was not so lucky. I fell in and landed on the spikes at the bottom. The group was able to get me out without difficulty and we moved on. Until I fell in another trap. That was when I decided that maybe our ‘trap finder’ was not so good at his job. I hung back to get some healing as he went on and sure enough he triggered several dart traps. He was able to avoid all but one and then he declared the way clear.
We were at a four way passage and discovered that ‘the middle one’ had tracks the others did not. We went that way and saw a kobold that immediately took off. We quickly deployed and started fighting several kobolds and a few gnolls. I did my usual of getting into the thick of it but could not score a hit to save my life, literally. Fortunately, I was able to keep from getting hit for the most part, my shield spell proving very helpful. Just as we thought we were winning a device of some type was thrown into the group that blew up killing one of our party.
It was then that a dwarf showed himself and cackled something about not being there. We continued to fight the rest of the enemy as he tossed a couple of spells and another of those devices. Once we finished off the ash and trash I started chasing the dwarf. He ran into a smallish room and detonated what appeared to be several runes carved in the walls. I am fairly certain that the explosions killed him as well as collapsing several of the tunnels. We decided it was time to go and quickly made it back to town.
I learned two important things on the adventure. First, I need to be more aware of my surroundings. Falling into holes can be very painful and detrimental to future survival. Second, I need to practice actually hitting the enemy. It is great that they don’t hit me but making them stop attacking is better than just stopping individual attacks.
With regards, Tuzok.