During the last session the PCs fought Chitines (spider-creatures) in the Elvin ruins of Uvaeren. After defeating the monsters the heroes discovered a doorway. Heaps of fresh earth and discarded picks and shovels indicated it was cleared recently. This must be where Phoedele and the Zhentarim soldier went; underground into the lost Vault of Song.
The heroes were in no shape to continue so they returned to the old plaza with the statues and the pillars. They felt that they’d be safe resting there since the Chitines clearly didn’t come near the ancient residual Elvin magic. After a long rest the party leveled up (to level 6) and proceeded down the stairs.
This week at Silver Snail in Toronto we ran one table of 4e and one table of D&D Next. The 4e table was once again packed (eight players) while I had six players at my D&D Next table. The party consisted of Elf Ranger, Elf Wizard #1, Elf Wizard #2, Human Wizard, Halfling Rogue (re-skinned as a Bard), and Half-Elf Paladin.
The Zhents had a huge head start on the party. It didn’t really make sense for the party to stop and rest when they did, but mechanically speaking it was necessary. To account for this I tweaked the encounter a bit.