Keep on the Shadowfell - Session 2

Potential spoilers for Keep on the Shadowfell herein.

A summary of our second session exploring the Keep on the Shadowfell. In attendance:

• me - DM
• Kevin - eladrin wizard
• Dave - elf ranger
• Lance - dwarven fighter
• Murph - half elf cleric

So this week Ed and Bob couldn't make it but Lance and Murph (our more casual players could). I'm hosting.

After the last session I'm pretty worried that it's going to be difficult to hurt or kill the characters. I'm pretty interested to see if the party goes after the kobolds as the encounter inside the lair is a level 6 encounter.

Murph and Lance use characters that come with the adventure. Ed's cleric is tied up at the local temple and the dragonborn's head exploded while experimenting with ways to make his breath weapon more deadly. We decided to go role-playing light as we get a feel for the system (this was probably somewhat of a mistake, because this pretty much ends up being where the majority of role-playing in the adventure actually happens).

They do some socializing at the local tavern and eventually are offered a mission to rid the surrounding area of the kobold scourge by the local lord which the party accepts. I'm looking forward to this as we'll see what happens when my party gets to the kobold lair.

Thanks to a rough map given them by the lord the PCs easily find the lair. The party and a group of kobolds guarding the entrance to the lair (the lair is in a cave under a waterfall) notice each other at the same time. Kobolds go first and move into position to attack the party. Murph is the first PC to act. He runs up to "whack the kobold with his mace." What? Uh, Murph remember these powers we discussed? Check out the at-will ones. You can attack from a distance. Plus, you can usually do more damage with these powers than your basic attack. He still uses his basic attack. We'll have to guide him a bit.

Eventually, Murph starts using his powers (including his daily) and the party easily handles the kobolds. The ranger takes the last one down as he attempted to warn those in the cave. Those in the cave have not noticed the PCs.

There is some debate as to whether or not to take an extended rest as a couple of the guys used their dailies. They decide to have the ranger scout the cave at the top of the waterfall and make a final decision based on the situation. Dave manages to sneak to the entrance and sees a lot of kobolds moving about inside the cave. Unfortunately, he fails his check when attempting to sneak away. I say, "As he starts to climb down, the ranger finds that the rocks give way beneath him. He manages to catch himself, but the noise has alerted the kobolds to his presence."

The party realizes that the kobolds know they are there and the ranger is at the top of the waterfall. Kevin's wizard BAMFs himself to the cave entrance and drops a sleep spell. The others climb up to join the ranger and wizard. The battle is going in the party's favor. It looks like it might be another cake-walk.

Fourth round, the reinforcements arrive. The second wave consists of two kobold soldiers, a wyrmpriest and Irontooth. Irontooth is an elite monster. This is our first fight involving a non-standard or minion monster. Lance is loving his powers and his dwarf has waded into the thick of the kobolds. He's taking down the minions left and right. I asked and the players preferred not knowing which baddies are minions. I've found that minions may go down easily but they can be very effective. It reminds me of the 1E days where you'd fight some goblins or kobolds where the list of HP would be 8, 7, 7, 6, 2, 1, 1. Slowly my minions whittle away the dwarf's hit points. Irontooth battles both the ranger and wizard while the wyrmpriest takes on the cleric.

The dwarf eventually is taken down. The cleric had used his healing word power twice (once on the wizard). The kobolds are between the cleric and the fighter. Lance fails his first death save. Murph uses his Healing Strike power but misses. Lance makes his 2nd death save. He's all happy. Not so fast my friend. You're not stable just yet. You need to be healed or roll a 20 before you fail your death save 3 times or your dead. "You b@@tard," he replies while laughing. "I like." The wyrmpriest and his goons are preventing Murph from getting to Lance and attempt a skill check. Lance fails a death save for the second time. At this point, the cleric is taken down. Lance fails his third save. The fighter is dead.

While this is happening, the other two are taking a beating from Irontooth. The ranger falls. The wizard's next attack pushes Irontooth into the bloodied state. Once bloodied Irontooth goes into a frenzy and proceeds to attack the creatures nearest him, which happen to be some kobolds. While he has a chance to stabilize the ranger, the wizard decides that the wyrmpriest is too much of a threat and heads for an exit. He manages to escape just as the ranger and cleric fail their 3rd death saves.

I'm a little surprised how deadly things can get once you're in the dying state. I don't know if it was bad rolls or what but each of the characters who died made no more than 4 rolls before they expired. I'm feeling better that 4E combat can be deadly and challenging. I actually really like the death save mechanic. I expect to use a modified version if my campaign goes back to 3E.

Get the group's reaction. Lance loved the tactical aspect of combat and can't wait to play again. After the first combat, Murph seemed to get the hang of the game and was willing to play again. So far, it seems to be fairly easy to get the hang of the game. Rest of the group wants to continue KotS.

At this point, I'm now seriously considering making my campaign a 4E one. I've enjoyed running 4E. I've found it no more difficult than running previous editions. While I really like my AE/D&D hybrid, it's too much work to convert adventures. I don't have the time to make my own. I was debating going back to core D&D only before we started this campaign (not sure what Pathfinder will bring yet). We'll see what the next few sessions hold.


We just ran our 5th session on Friday. I have most of sessions 3 and 4 written up. I'll should post those in the next few days.