Three encounters in to second level on Athas. We followed an ankheg hole below the desert and have found ourselves in a dungeon of sorts. Up until this point it had all been rough hewn, possibly created by giant worms, but full of the dead who came back to life.

Tonight, though, we fought through a crystal spider web and entered an obvious dungeon, created by intelligent beings for a specific purpose. What that purpose was, we do not know. What we do know is that the crystalline creatures that were guarding the place are now shards beneath our feet.

It’s like Seattle has turned in to Athas. Well, maybe not, Seattle is 95 today, and asphalt is definitely a blight, but we’re supposed cool down soon. Athas, on the other hand is a desert world, where it goes from 120 to below 0 as night falls. And blight is caused by the misuse of arcane magic.

Currently I’m holed up in my room with a fan trying to keep cool, keeping the monster dogs at bay and trying to rest, while our D&D Encounters characters have been trapped in an Ankheg hole, taking an extended rest and leveling up.

I went to my first session of D&D Encounters tonight. It is the start of the second round of Encounters, and is giving us a preview of the soon to be released renewed Dark Sun setting.

I’m playing the sorcerer. At 1^st level, this character does equivalent damage to my 15^th level bard/paladin (seriously).

Since Dark Sun is a post-apocalyptic world, it is one we have a soft spot for. Tonight, in the initial encounter, the world tried to kill us with lizard men and sandstorms. We prevailed, but barely, dragging one of our muls on a tarp behind us.