Third session

Tuesday 24th of June (Elar, Nadarr, Muffin, Eric, Brocun, Torn, Torinn)
The heroes continue on. By midday, making their way through the Silent Forest, they hit the shore of the Elra. They decided to get to the other shore, and follow the river back towards civilization. By evening, they hear the howling of a wolf. Suddenly they find themselves under attack by some wolves and a Dire wolf. During the fight, a vicious crocodile sneaks up upon Eric, and he is almost dragged into the water, but Elar shows quick thinking, and helps him escape the jaws of death.

Encounter: Wolves And A Watery Surprise (625 xp, 0 dead, 0 unconscious)

2nd Fireday, Early Spring
They spent another night in the forest, and early next day, they emerge a few miles south of Oakhurst. They immediately head home, to bury Rhogar (and Hadarai, to a certain extend). While in town, they take the time to play some Three-Bones, by far the most popular card game in Draegor. Muffin wins the pot. He is actually seen cheating by the new ranger that has joined them, but Torinn says nothing.

2nd Earthday, Early Spring
After the burial ceremony, the heroes turn south to deliver the message to Gadian Greenleaf. Towards late afternoon, they are approaching Willowwood. They notice smoke coming from beyond some apple orchards. The first place to be investigated is a farm which has been burned down. The second place is also a farm, but it is still in the process of burning down, with some shady people still hanging around.

Encounter: Bandits and Brigands (675 xp, 0 dead, 2 unconscious)

The bandits and their mage leader had some goodies on them:
Orb +1
Silver dagger (not magical)

After the battle, the heroes went on to search the first farm some more. There they found a badge and a dagger with Blackkeep's Sigil on. On they went, and found another farm, owned by Mac and Irene. They (Mac and Irene) gave them directions to Greenleaf's house, who lives nearby.

Arriving at Greenleaf's house after the sun has set, they find a locked house with light inside. A strange sound is heard, and quickly the lock is "handled". Inside, they inadvertently break the ritual keeping a demon imprisoned. Soon they find themselves in a battle for their life, against a Evistro Demon.

Encounter: A Surprise Demon (500 xp, 0 dead, 3 unconscious)

Not long after the demon dies, Greenleaf comes home. As it turns out, he says he has never heard of Mr. Jacoby, and when he is still given the scroll, he understands even less. The scroll has the classic Elven poem of Aldar and Evina, the story of an elf that falls in love with a woman, only to have said woman turn out to be a nymph.

Questioning Greenleaf leaves them with no further clues. After a bit of talk, they realize that they now have several options.

* Head home to Oakhurst and try to find Mr. Jacoby, in order to find out about the weird note.
* Head to Castle Whiterock, or at least find out exactly where it is. And find out who or what the kobolds were selling the players to.
* Find someone who can understand the ancient dwarven tablets and inscriptions.
* Investigate the burned down farms near Willowwood, and why Blackkeep would attack them
* Investigate the kobolds in Willowwood.

It was decided to head to Oakhurst and find Mr. Jacoby, and then to find out what was on those dwarven tablets.

DM's notes
Tonight was awesome. During the week, I made a few changes to the logistics of playing. I put out the pizza list on my wiki, and arranged with my players that from now on, you phone in your order with me before 5.30, so that I can order the food to be there at 6 pm sharp. That way we can handled the small things while eating, and move directly to the more demanding stuff already around 6.30, instead of 7.30 or 8, like it has been lately. It worked great, and left us with more time for rollplay and roleplay.

The encounter with the wolves and the croc was good. I sent in the normal wolves at first, and they definitely knew more was coming. But when the dire wolf stepped in on the scene, they thought that was it. So when the croc suddenly grabbed the unsuspecting warlock and tried to drag him out into the river, he panicked a bit Luckily, the ranger reacted quickly and pulled him from the jaws (made it a standard action to do it for someone else, instead of a move when you do it for yourself. Athletics vs the croc's fortitude). For the first time in years, they were great at focusing their firepower on a minimum of creatures at a time. Is it 4e's greater focus on team-work that is teaching them to work better together? Who cares, I am just happy.

The card game was run ad hoc and not very well, but the players had lots of fun. Basically I made everyone roll a d20 to determine how good his cards were over the course of the evening (in retrospect, I should have made it a smaller die, or several small dices). After that, they made 3 skill checks, one bluff, one insight, and one of either bluff/insight or thievery. Each success would give +2 to the original score, while a natural 20 would give +4. However had the highest number at the end would win.

If anyone who reads this has a great way to handle a card game, let me know, because I have a feeling it won't be the last time this group gambles about their hard earned winnings.

The encounter with the bandits was fun as well. Placing a tall (4 feet or so) fence in between the two groups gave a lot of interesting situations. Especially when the mage charmed (see below) Brocum and he hit Nadarr for 14 damage. I added the ability to charm to the 4th level mage from the MM (Charm Person (recharge 5,6) range 10, +7 vs Will. Target is dominated (save ends))

I made the evistro demon an elite, and gave him "Ripping flurry" (imm. reaction when bloodied) make 3 claw attacks against 3 different foes within reach. It worked as intended. Due to the cramped space in the little cabin, players had it surrounded and things looked as if it was going to be an easy fight. But as it got bloodied and they started to become bloodied, suddenly things started to accelerate quickly, since it suddenly had two extra attacks (since it couldn't move, it was converting it's move action to another bite). People started dropping, and while only 3 went down, it was being close to disastrous. A round or two at the most, and the squishy casters would have been alone with it...