The Thrappled Lemmings and the Jailbreak (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

 Battered and hurting, the Thrappled Lemmings tumbled through the door away from the deadly lava pits. They were in a large room with several surprised guards.

"How? ... What? ..." one of them asked wittily.

The guards cannot believe that the Inescapable Trap of Inevitable Incineration did not kill the Lemmings

Despite their wounds, the Thrappled Lemmings sprang into action like a well oiled, but ever so slightly dysfunctional machine. Incunabulum blasted the Orc archers standing in the corner with a fireball. One of them was badly burnt but the other managed to duck out of the way. Aethelwyrd used her magic ring to blast the other one with a bolt of eldritch force that all but tore it in two, before charging the Temple Guardians sitting at the table in the centre of the room. The others split up to start looking for a way out. 

As Kalfr opened one door, the stench of rotting meat wafted out, bringing with it a Giant Fly. The guardsman, whose name they had not yet caught, raced up and cut the fly in two.Ash ran and opened another door, immediately wishing he had not. In the centre of the room beyond was a Skeletal Ogre. Aelfwyn sprinted over to him and shot an arrow at the beast but missed, because he was puffing too hard from the sprint.

Aethelwyrd and Onund attacked the nearest Temple Guardian, who was made of sterner stuff. Aethelwyrd parried the Guardian's blow, but Onund was cut down immediately. The other Guardians joined the fray. Fighting in a frenzy, Aethelwyrd was wounded by one but cut the second down while wounding the third.

"Suck that, scumeaters!" she spat as the Guardian died on her blade.

Taking a second to aim, Aelfwyn fired and slew the Skeletal Ogre. The guardsman raced to the next door and through it open. A large, jovial looking Ogre came through the door. He was carrying an empty flagon in one hand but was hurt and seemed to be looking for someone to take the lack of ale and his wounds out on. Kalfr ran up to him ready to fight, but also recognising that the Ogre might not actually be the bad guy here.

"Hey, big guy," Kalfr spoke soothingly, "We're trying to get out of here. There's ale in it for you if you can help us."

"I'm Gorbin, not Big Guy," replied the Ogre, "Yeah, I'll help you. Ale and busting heads are what I do, and these guys busted my head so I am not happy ... or maybe I just have a hangover."

Yay, we made the leadership roll to get Gorbin to join us. That will come in handy.

While this was going on, Ash had thrown open the door to another room and found an armoury. His eyes lit up as he spotted moveable goods that he could move. Eerie wailing arose in the room and suddenly ghoulish hands rose out of a grate he was standing on and grabbed Gorbin's ankles. He found himself unable to move.

Gorbin decides that the Lemmings are a good fit for him

Aethelwyrd attacked the wounded Guardian but could not get past his defences and was wounded once more. She ducked away from the two Guardians, blood spraying everywhere. They followed her up and in two blows she lay unmoving on the floor. The Orc archers shot Bergsveinn, who also fell to the floor in a bloody heap.

With Kalfr's help, Gorbin tore himself free from the ghoulish hands. The pair charged the Orc archer and cut him down. Ash and Incunabulum rushed into the armoury and grabbed everything they could carry as the guardsman opened another door onto an empty room. and the others moved to check more rooms. A skeleton crawled out of the ground behind Aelfwyn.

The Temple Guardians charged Aelfwyin and Kalfr. Gorbin moved to aid Kalfr and crushed the Guardians head as Aelfwyn desperately fought off the Skeleton and the other Guardian. As everyone rushed to aid Aelfwyn, the guardsman threw open a door.

"Hey, guys, I've found the way out. Hurry up and let's get out of here!"

A skeleton crawled out of the ground near him.

As Aelfwyn slew his skeleton, the Guardian took Ash out of the fight with a mighty blow. Gorbin slew the other skeleton.

"Come on! Keep up!" yelled the guardsman as he exited the room.

Suddenly a huge crashing noise emanted from the lava room. Dust and small stones spilled from the ceiling. Gorbin and Kalfr fell to their knees as the whole room shook mightily.

"Earthquake!" cried Gorbin.

As Incunabulum fled the room and the others struggled to get to their feet, a Giant Fly emerged from under the table in the centre of the room. It buzzed angrily over to Aelfwyn and swatted him to the floor. Kalfr rushed to help his comrade but only his armour saved him from harm. Gorbin raced to help his new chum and swatted the fly with one swipe of his mighty thews.

Moments later Aelfwyn had shot his last arrow

Another fly buzzed out of an open door and attacked Gorbin. He crushed it with a huge fist. Then he and Kalfr grabbed their fallen comrades and sprinted out of the exit to the open countryside above.

As the battered Lemmings made camp, they examined their wounded comrades. Aethelwyrd and Onund came round fairly quickly. Their wounds were minor. Bergsveinn was badly hurt. His wounds would take time to heal. Aelfwyn, alas, would never move again. The fly had slain him. The Lemmings hung their heads in grief and sorrow. They would raise a mug of ale to him when they returned to base. They had lost too many comrades to the Shadow Deep and this only stiffened their resolve to fight on and do whatever damage they could, before they too fell. The magical weapons they had recovered from the armoury did nothing to reduce their sorrow, but they would certainly be used against the Shadow Deep.

That was not a good fight. So many dice rolls went badly against my heroes. And then I rolled a 1 for Aelfwyn and he turned out to be dead. It feels like I have lost a lot of companions in this campaign. Certainly more than I would expect to lose given that they only die on 1-2 on d20. And Bergsveinn's mum is really going to have some choice words for me sending her son home badly wounded again. Better hope the treasure calms her down a bit!

On the plus side, the treasure tokens from the armoury turned out to be a Staff of Elemental Strike and a Two-Handed Weapon of Elemental Strike. Both will come in very handy, and Gorbin is now available to join the Lemmings. He could prove useful too.