CELTRICIA- Steel Isle Online Dungeon crawl

[Weave]

Wait... I'm at negative 6 hit points??

[Ninja D!]

That doesn't make sense...Astell got hit hard but I didn't think he went down.

[LordVreeg]

Astell took 11, but was healed 5.  So he is 6 lower than he was.  And his butt is singed.

[Ninja D!]

There was fire.

[Weave]

Oooh, okay. Gotcha.

[LordVreeg]

The group continued into the second level, and surprised a gnoll on guard, in a small white plastered room.  There was compacted, ancient trash and paper, cloth, wood, furniture, bones, all in 6"-1' of pure garbage.
There was also a double wooden door, with huge hinges on the east wall, where the trash was a little cleaned off.  The dozing gnoll was just north of this.  Astell and Moss charged the gnoll as it reacted, followed by Burnous moving south and Smiggle asking for Burnous' torch.

Astell and Moss pinned the gnoll in place, though the fight was close.  Triske sent his remaining skeleton in, as well.  Smiggle tried to threaten the gnoll with the torch, then the double doors burst open, and another 7 gnolls poured out, in ring mail and variously armed.  Screams in orcash (and a deep gnoll voice yelling in Omwo~ in the back?) rang out as the newcomers poured out.  
The skeleton actually was in front of them and got in a lucky hit on one of the front gnolls, which kind of stopped them from getting in as the double door was only 5' wide, and that stopped on gnoll in his tracks.
Moss kept focusing on the first gnoll, while Astell sort of sidled over to try to cover both area, but he was gashed badly by a spear into his side immediately, drawing a lot of blood, though the knight stayed on his feet.  Burnous shot an arrow at the wall.
A demilune smashed the side of the skeleton's head, spattering bone fragments, but the construct got back up.  Moss smashed up the ring-maille armor of the gnoll in front of him.  
AStell missed a gnoll with reddish hair and a scimitar sliced open his left shoulder.  Luckily, Toden reached behind Astell and poured the power of the Treelord into the Beleagured Bone Knight, healing hims somewhat.
Thins were looking grim, and Smiggle put the torch to the garbage, hoping to light it.  It lit a bit, fitfully, and the explorers started for a retreat, though it looked like the warrirs would nt be able to properly retreat.  Astell screamed for the rest to leave and that he and Triske's last pet (somehow still up) would hold the door.  Smiggle was already moving toward the corridor in the north.  
AStell was in danger of being overborne when Burnous perfectly tossed an oil flask at the fire Smiggle had started smoldering, which fanned out and splashed onto the gnolls perfectly, igniting all the trash in that area.  Astell and Moss stumbled back from the blaze, and the gnolls, the front ranks ablaze, retreatred slightly into the doorway where the trash was less.
Moss and Astell both were slightly ablaze, and the skeleton fionally folded into the flames (brave revenant), and the group was one step ahead of the fire as centuries of detritus, thick and well packed, started to blaze.    
The group ran north, and as they emerged back into the huge cavern area, Moss and Smiggle heard gnoll voices echoing from the east...so the group kept running for the stairs, and as they got close, crosbow bolts started hitting the wall.  the group kept running all the way up and around the corner, clanging, bangning, through the corridors of the top level.  
They stopped in front of the skull fresco near the entrance.  The Voidtouched had all burnt their conduits, the fighters were bleeding.  Toden reached into the eye sockets of the skull fresco and opened the doors back into the hidden Chapel of St. Arbor, as the sound of gnolls could be heard getting closer.

[SDragon]

It was a good game.

[Weave]

UGH. Of all the games for me to miss...

[LordVreeg]

UGH. Of all the games for me to miss...

No stress...we missed you, but you lived.  Astell kept being strong and knightly...and was happy to watch the last skeleton sacrifice himself.  Now the group is hiding out in an early death cult sanctuary...I doubt he'll be happy

[limetom]

I can make it this week and next, but I don't know about after that.

[LordVreeg]

I can make it this week and next, but I don't know about after that.

And things get interesting...again.

[LordVreeg]

I can make it this week and next, but I don't know about after that.

OK, I am doing a bit of a mental roll call in my head.  I have a few more requests from outside the CBG to join the SIG.  
Currently, we have
Llum, Ninja D, SD, Weave, and Limetom
as pretty regular.  
What do people see as the optimal amount?  I know we often have a few people missing here or there.  

[Weave]

For the record, I will be there tomorrow!

I really enjoyed when we had ~8 or so people on at a time. I loved the feel of a large adventuring company we had going, but I also enjoy the poignancy of having a much smaller group, especially after having lost some crucial members.

Optimally? I'd say maybe 4 people with what we've currently got. At least 3, ideally, but I'm okay with a party of 2 when need be.

[SDragon]

I have a sort of curiosity of seeing what you'd be like at your limit, to be honest. The ~8 people was interesting, so that's fine by me. Really, whatever you can do is fine.

[LordVreeg]

For the record, I will be there tomorrow!

I really enjoyed when we had ~8 or so people on at a time. I loved the feel of a large adventuring company we had going, but I also enjoy the poignancy of having a much smaller group, especially after having lost some crucial members.

Optimally? I'd say maybe 4 people with what we've currently got. At least 3, ideally, but I'm okay with a party of 2 when need be.

Whenever I assume that a few people will miss any given session, we go three weeks with full attendence.

That being said, If everyone else is fine with a few more, I am all good with it as well.  It is fun when we have 5-7 players all speaking up...