Fourth Session Ends In Tragedy

I blame WotC for their Level 6 encounter designed to face off against a Level 1 party. Seriously.
I blame myself for, after seeing the party beaten once, not being far more careful the second time.
I wish I could blame text messaging and cell phone distractions, but they probably played little role in this event. Still . . .

Telafinil and Dram recouped outside the cave, and were joined by a Warlock tracking down the death cult in the area.
They tried to sneak back into the cave to rescue their fallen comrades but Irontooth and the kobolds were ready for them. The three fought bravely, long enough for Ghesh and Anastar to awaken - but apparently a level 3 Elite Brute is more than a party of 5 1st level characters can reasonably handle, especially if the Brute has allies and/or the party is half-dead.

General consensus was that the players would create new characters, the DM would more carefully screen the upcoming encounters for difficulty, and gaming would resume (same storyline, new party) October 8th.