Slain by Elf

'Which way does the door open?'

'It opens in to the room.'

'... which room?'

We were at the bottom of a structure and got to the top quickly thanks to dimension door and fly spells. Now we're at the top of the structure and want to get to the bottom quickly, but have no more spells.

Luckily, there's a crane just sitting there, with a rope leading all the way down to the ground. I'm sure we can use that to slide down.

'There's a hard, moderate, or easy check for going down the rope. If you pass the hard check, you can essentially abseil all the way to the bottom in one round.'

'And even if we fail the hard check, I take it we will still make it to the bottom in one round.'

Thinking we're doing well to bypass a swathe of guards by using dimension door and fly spells gets turned around when previously unspotted pteradons start swooping down on us. At least they're being ridden, and our monk is still flying.

The monk starts flying between the pteradons, and rather than fight the riders directly he tries to shove them out of their saddles. The shoves turn out to be successful more often than not, sending the riders plummeting down to a messy death.

The same fall could happen to the monk too, though. Pasha has cast the fly spell, and it requires concentration. Should his concentration break, the spell ends, and the monk no longer flies. 'Don't take damage now', the monk calls to Pasha, 'or I'll have to fly this pteradon!'

'No, this sounds like the perfect time to take damage.'

'I'm not sure what the rules are for breathing.'

'In the room, sacks lie on the ground, along with a broken bookcase. What you notice, though, is a hole 4 feet high, 3 feet wide has been smashed through the south wall.'

'Neat. I apparently have a keen eye for dimensions.'

[A little later]

'You ascend the stairs and go up 20 feet.'

'I have honestly never before walked up some stairs and known how high up I've gone. It's like I've gained a magical power.'

'Can we wear more than one cloak?'

'The DM's Guide says to use common sense.'

'Well, that's no help.'

'I'm pretty sure unattended objects catch fire if they can.'

'...really? Neat. I'm going to drop my axe and wait for the fireworks!'

'I think you missed part of the conversation.'

'You could write a note in Dwarven, maybe using Pasha's blood.'

'Or a novel perhaps.'

'An epic novel, in three volumes, plus appendices.'

'Just the one appendix, I would think.'

Whilst we're in the mine, Pasha wants to take advantage of the opportunity it presents. 'Can I take 20 to search the rock face for gems?'

'Okay, you can take 20 to find them, but how will you take them?'

'I'm taking 20.'

'And that helps by...?'

'...finding the ones that are ready to fall out of the rock face?'

'So you're saying that you're picking the ones that are ripe?'

'That's how gem mining works.'

Rather than the four of us attack a massive encampment directly, our dwarf companion suggests instead we enter the nearby mines. 'I suspect some of my friends will be hiding in there. If we find them, they will only be too happy to help fight the occupying army.'

In to the mines we go, and we soon spot a dwarf, but we are not the first to do so. The dwarf is tied up by duergar, and although we defeat the duerger there is no rescue mission. The dwarf is dead, and there is no sign of any others.

It's a shame. He would have doubled the size of our dwarven army.