Dangerous Alliances Story Hour: Session 1

A couple of weeks ago, the members of my gaming group back home got their hands on 4th Edition and started devouring it. After getting sucked into one of their ridiculously-high-e-mail-count conversations, I proposed the idea of running an online, bi-weekly game on the weeks that they don't meet for their face-to-face game. I figured it would give them a chance to familiarize themselves with more of the game, it gives me more practice running the game, and it also lets us all game together, something I've been missing very badly since I moved out here. As much as I enjoy having two games a week filled with industry professionals, they'll never replace my old gaming buddies.

Back home, I'd run the excellent Age of Worms campaign for these guys. Using some software called MapTool, I had been projecting a virtual battlemat up onto my widescreen TV, since I didn't have a lot of D&D minis at that point. For our new online game, we decided to put this software to the test, and use it for its intended purpose. We used Ventrilo for communication (special thanks to my buddy Joe Al-Khazraji for the use of his Vent server), and I had everyone make 12th-level characters so that they could get a feel for paragon tier adventuring (which isn't altogether different from heroic tier, except they got a paragon path).

As a result, we ended up with the following heroes:

• Ammon, tiefling wizard played by my brother, Brett Thompson
• Nikolai Splintershield, dwarf fighter played by Michael Beeler
• Gromir Splintershield, dwarf ranger played by Jose Adams
• Skaldir, human cleric played by Doug Hyatt
• Chay'Drick, elf rogue played by Shay Wells
• Vilar, half-elf warlock played by John Bell

We got started a bit late as some people hadn't finished making their characters yet, and we had some issues getting people connected to the software, coordinating Ventrilo connections, adjusting volume levels, and the like. Technical issues probably consumed a good hour of our playtime, leaving us with about three hours to play.

The adventure begins in the city of Alhaster, in the nation of Redhand. Some years ago, the city of Alhaster was the site of a series of terrible events as cultists attempted to free the dark god Kyuss from his prison and bring about a cataclysmic era known as the Age of Worms. A small band of heroes managed to disrupt these plans and trap the Worm God back in his prison, saving Alhaster and, by extension, the world. During those days, Alhaster was a dark and evil place, a theocracy ruled over by a blackguard of Naran (the god of tyranny, see Book of the Righteous), Prince Zeech. Zeech, realizing that he had failed to protect Alhaster from the threat of Kyuss and his minions, challenged the party's cleric, Bors Splintershield, to a duel which he intentionally lost, making Bors the new ruler of Alhaster. Our story begins some years after this event; Bors is still the ruler of Alhaster, whose theocracy reveres Terak, the god of battle, in place of Naran. The city is recovering from the tyranny it once lived under, but slowly, and Alhaster is now a far more welcoming place than it was years ago.

Our heroes, who have already done many great deeds and have been working together for some time, have arrived in Alhaster for some rest and recuperation. After nearly a week of downtime, the heroes were preparing to move on when our story begins. Early in the evening, just past twilight, our heroes are dining in the common room of an inn called the Deluxury when, from outside, they hear a thundering of hoofbeats as several riders race by, followed by the shouts of a crowd in pursuit. A quick questioning of the city guards reveals that some unknown thieves, posing as members of a diplomatic delegation from the nation of Barovia, broke into Alhaster Keep (formerly Prince Zeech's palace) and stole something. During their conversation with the guard, the heroes hear what sounds like an explosion and see a brief flash of light, adding haste to their steps.

Following the guards rushing to the scene, they find that the culprits have fled to what appears to be an abandoned (and heavily vandalized) church. Outside of the church are over a dozen bodies, which are being tended to by priests of Mormekar, and a few badly-wounded guards being tended to by clerics of Terak. While aiding the clerics, Skaldir is able to get a good look at these guards' wounds and discovers that, while they appear to be singed, the burns are superficial and not what killed the other guards. In fact, most of those that yet live are clutching their heads and moaning in pain.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Chay'Drick slips into a nearby alley and around to the back side of the church, where he finds a rear wall that has collapsed in on itself. While he removes some of the rubble, he is able to hear the sounds of several people inside, speaking in a guttural language, though the elf is forced to retreat when he dislodges a large section of debris that falls with a clatter. Returning to the group, Chay'Drick relays his findings to his comrades, who decide to act and hopefully save the lives of more city guards, who are clearly outmatched. The heroes return to the collapsed wall Chay'Drick found, slip inside, and find themselves in some kind of ritual preparation chamber in the rear of the church. Chay'Drick is then able to slip through a trap door onto the roof and step, nimbly, across the rotting roof to peer through a hole and see into the main area.

Below him, Chay'Drick sees a ruined chapel, and inside are four githyanki and their grell servant. After a brief discussion, the heroes burst into the room and the fight is on. Two of the githyanki, clearly warriors and expert swordsmen, draw their silver greatswords and match steel with Nikolai and Chay'Drick. As the heroes enter, two of the githyanki, both women, begin unleashing psychic assaults on the heroes, one of which is so severe that three of the heroes are unable to focus enough to fight effectively. However, the heroes press through their psychic haze and manage to defeat these interlopers, despite the attempts of one of them to telekinetically leap up through a hole in the roof. The githyanki defeated, the heroes are able to look around and see that frescoes on the walls of this chapel indicate that this was once a church of Naran, and the frescoes depict demons rising up from the ground, only to be stomped down by Naranite clerics. Chay'Drick discovers a secret passage beneath the heavy stone altar, and pushing it aside the heroes see a stone staircase leading down into darkness.

Overall, it was a good first session, though my hope is that next time we will go more quickly since everyone should have their characters complete and already have the technology figured out. Hopefully they will have also set up macros for their attacks, which will speed things up since we're using the software's built-in dice roller (which has a command-line interface).