MortalPlague
Adventurer
I had the pleasure of running D&D at PAX Prime this year (first time running at a convention), and my first event scheduled was the D&D Next Playtest. Over the last couple weeks, I'd been preparing by running the Blingdenstone adventure, and it really helped me make some important tweaks. I've talked about a few of them in this thread.
But this thread isn't about the adventure tweaks. This is about me, sitting down with six complete strangers who were playing 5th Edition for the very first time.
And it was awesome.
The Characters
(all the pregens, using the archer fighter twice)
Moroch - Male human sun cleric
Adriena - Female elf wizard
Bree - Female halfling thief rogue
Legolas - Male human archer fighter
Selec - Male human archer fighter
Torc - Male dwarf guardian fighter
Of the players, Adriena and Bree were both 2nd edition players (I think Moroch was too). I believe Torc and Selec were 3rd edition players. And Legolas' player had never played D&D before. People chose characters pretty quickly, and then we got the ball rolling.
The Game
Our heroes met Briddick at the start of the defensive labyrinth, where he introduced himself, then asked the heroes to do the same. Several people immediately jumped into character, which helped some of the others slip in as well. Briddick led the party through the labyrinth, while Adriena began to use her magic to try and detect magic (this became a running theme). She began to try and understand the illusion magic that helped the maze confuse foes.
At one point, I asked for spot checks to detect the sound of shambling feet in a side corridor. Only two made it, but Briddick made it too. He invited the characters to come see some drow zombies, who had died assaulting the city. The party crept forward, with Bree the rogue slipping ahead to scout. She slipped into an alcove in a corridor as the zombies shambled past, but she decided not to strike. No, she waited as more and more zombies came around the corner. They numbered eight when all was said and done. The heroes began their attack, with the whole party at one end of the tunnel, a band of zombies in the hall, and the rogue pinned halfway along the hallway.
The players were delighted that zombies rolled a d6 for initiative. As expected, the undead went last, which meant that the adventurers could wreak untold amounts of damage on the poor drow zombies. The three nearest went down quickly, and the rogue took down one near her, then slipped through the zombies' spaces (because halflings can), and wound up behind them.
The zombies landed a solid blow on Bree for six damage, taking her down to one hit point. Sensing danger, the party made a concentrated effort to reach the wounded halfling, dropping zombies with a vengeance as they went. There were only two zombies still standing when they went again; one missed Torc, the other missed Bree after Torc forced it to take disadvantage.
After the zombies were dispatched, everyone looked to the cleric for healing. "But wait," said I. "In 5th Edition, anyone can heal, so long as you've got a healer's kit. You can bandage up your wounds and roll a hit dice, recovering whatever you roll!" The players figured out that three of the six adventurers had healer's kits, which put them in pretty good shape. They bandaged up Bree, who picked up the d6 and rolled.
One.
We looked at the cleric, who shrugged and divinely patched Bree the rest of the way up.
The rest of the labyrinth was uneventful, and Briddick filled them in on the situation in Blingdenstone. He suggested they'd want to meet with Kargien, because he'd be the one to let them know what to do. The adventurers agreed with the suggestion, and marched on in to see Kargien Dissengulp.
At the Ruby in the Rough, where Kargien makes his base of operations, the players found his small room quite interesting, since I'd placed a chest in the corner which glowed with the faint magic of something contained (the +1 Hand Axe from Henkala Shadowsong). Kargien was short with the adventurers, and they were short right back. Neither group got off on the right foot. But Kargien was able to outline the most important quest; to reclaim the crown of Blingdenstone. Oh, and the orcs.
The PCs, realizing that Kargien meant to wear the crown, called his bluff. He was indignant, but after a moment, he came around to the thought-out-loud that "Why shouldn't I wear it? I've earned it, toiling in these halls for forty years."
The adventurers left, promising to attack the House Center, and they explored the city. They met with Jalless in the infirmary, and immediately set about helping to tend the wounded deep gnomes. They spoke with her about Kargien, and she painted the opposing viewpoint, one which the characters agreed with. It became clear that the PCs would have to make a choice as to what to do with the crown once they gained it.
Adriena had the clever idea to ask one of the svirfneblin children who they looked up to, and Gurmadden's name came up. They realized they could talk to Henkala Shadowsong on the way (about the chest, naturally), and so they travelled south. As they came down the tunnel and into Phantasmal Glamours, the barricade was attacked by orcs! Since I had a full group of six, I rolled a d6+1 for orcs and got a one. I put in an extra one and had three attackers. The wizard won the initiative; she stepped forward and scorched them all with burning hands. Two orcs died, and one was sorely wounded, just in time for the second initiative count, where an archer put the survivor down.
The svirfneblin sentries were astounded at the PCs' prowess. One of them asked the wizard how he could learn to shoot fire.
Henkala Shadowsong had also witnessed the heroics, and she was glad to congratulate them on a job well done. She laid out the problem with Ogremoch's Bane, and asked for their help; the PCs decided that the earth elemental was worthy of their immediate attention (after they spoke with Gurmadden, of course). And so off they went, seeking the svirfneblin bard.
They ran into him trying to pull some life from his shattered singing stones. They approached him, and wisely, didn't throw down the "You could be king!" speech. Instead, they offered him the chance to come meet the pechs, something which he could sing about. He was delighted to accept.
There was another thought here, too; if the pechs could sing to heal the stone, could they heal the singing stones? I thought it was a great idea, so I ran with it. The party went to talk to the pechs, Gurmadden in tow.
The conversation with the pechs went rather well. They agreed to send their eight pechs to defend against Ogremoch's Bane, and they agreed to meet the PCs at the far side of the gnomish city (they would travel through the stone). The PCs entertained the thought of demolishing Entemoch's Boon, but Gurmadden expressed his complete and utter horror at the thought. So did Henkala, when they checked in on the way through. The PCs decided that it wouldn't be prudent, but there was a lot of discussion on elemental rights (isn't D&D great?).
At last the confrontation with Ogremoch's Bane was at hand! They marched in, seeing the elementals milling about, and two sharp-eyed PCs spotted a dark elf lurking on a high ledge, watching the chamber. Before they could deal with her, Ogremoch's Bane materialized, and they were surprised when he spoke to them. Seizing the advantage, the party talked to him, and convinced him that together, they could destroy Entemoch's Boon. Ogremoch's Bane agreed (no roll required), and they all made the trek to the boon. Eager, yet nervous, Gurmadden tagged along.
The dark elf Talabrina followed.
Eventually, they stood among the three twisting stones of the Boon, with Ogremoch's Bane in the center, proclaiming that this is the day of reckoning! Adriena stepped forward and asked Ogremoch's Bane if she could cast a beneficial spell to aid him. Her bluff check was stellar; Ogremoch's Bane prepared himself, and burning hands washed over him. The entire surprise round was an absolute disaster for him; he took 69 damage out of his hundred health.
And then we rolled initiative.
Torc was lurking outside the protective circle, so on his turn, he took a whole ton of damage. But he wanted to be up in melee with Ogremoch's Bane. The PCs didn't have nearly so much luck as in the surprise round, and the Bane survived long enough to make an attack or two. Talabrina struck, taking down a pech with a crit. The circle wavered as one pech fell, and the party each took two damage (except Torc, who was taking the full brunt). But in short order, the PCs took down Ogremoch's Bane (Selec's arrow had the final kill), then turned their attention on Talabrina.
Sensing defeat, the dark elf threw down her cloud of darkness and beat a hasty retreat. The PCs came up with the clever idea to ask the pechs to try and cut her off by travelling with stone. I gave them a chance of success, but they didn't manage to catch her. Still, they reported back to the PCs, telling them where she was headed and all about the pair of bugbears she travelled with.
Determined to beat the drow back to Blingdenstone (and suspecting she was going to assassinate someone there), Torc the dwarf led the way back to the city, using stonecunning to navigate the tunnels quicker than even the svirfneblin (which impressed Gurmadden to no end). The PCs arrived back to find that Talabrina had not been seen, and there hadn't been any attacks. Henkala was grateful, and she gave them a reward; an amethyst, and a key to the chest. Torc claimed the beautiful enchanted hand axe, and the party decided to rest up, then head for the House Center.
At this point, I told the PCs they had hit second level. We quickly went over levelling (which is mercifully easy in 5th Edition thus far), and then we looked at the time. We had one hour left of a four hour block. Not really enough time for a full quest, but we decided we'd give it a shot.
The characters awoke to some good news; the svirfneblin had uncovered a cache of healing potions, and I rolled '6'; everyone got a potion! This was one of the random Blingdenstone events off the chart (which was a lot of fun to use). Armed with new vitality (and an additional level), the PCs decided to storm the House Center and reclaim the crown.
They asked Gurmadden to come along, but he politely declined, citing the place's reputation for being haunted. Each PC in turn attempted to convince him, but each one rolled spectacularly badly on their charisma check. After all six attempts had ended with notable failure, Gurmadden turned to them and said, "I can see that even though words fail you, your hearts are in the right place. I... I will join you, and put my life in your hands once more."
There was much rejoicing.
I skipped over the random zombie encounter at the Center, jumping instead to the fort itself. I was using the revised House Center from the Blingdenstone Resources Page, which meant that things were a little more time-friendly; less obtuse corridor-wandering, and more getting straight to the action.
Bree and Legolas scouted ahead into one of the guard towers, and came upon the skeletons. Initiative was rolled; the fire beetles in the courtyard also rolled in, coming to investigate the noise.
The PCs began to battle the skeletons, who proved to be slightly tougher than the zombies from earlier. Bree and Legolas were both using piercing weapons, which had them doing half damage. They were battling two skeletons in melee, and one was firing at them from the other tower with a bow, while the fourth looped around for melee. The fire beetles, cowed by the undead, were lurking just ten feet away, waiting for the undead to fall.
Torc made his triumphant entrance by smashing the doors open, which actually attacked one of the skeletons. A door is a bludgeoning weapon, and the double damage came out to sixteen; a skeleton was smashed to dust with the dwarf's entrance. Moroch the cleric strode forward, holding his holy symbol aloft to turn undead, freezing both the archer skeleton and the approaching one in their tracks. He also forced the melee one back, which drew an opportunity attack from Torc, who shattered it with his warhammer.
We came to the top of the round. I rolled Talabrina Duskryn and her bugbears into the initiative. She made two attacks from the back of the fight; one arrow missed Selec, while the other struck the elf wizard, Adriena. The elf suffered six damage and failed her save, which slowed her by five feet. But the return fire was deadly as well; Talabrina took an arrow from Selec, and a spell from Adriena, and finally an arrow from Legolas took her in the gut, killing the dark elf.
Enraged, the bugbears charged into the fray, and began to attack with fury. Bree and Torc had set about slaughtering the remaining melee skeleton, then the fire beetles (who were really a pitiful threat, they learned) They took down all but one while Moroch continued to hold the archer skeleton. Bree decided that the bugbears were where she was needed, so she left the remaining beetle to Torc.
As the battle heated up on the bugbear end, Torc decided not to deal with the beetle; the beetle missed its opportunity attack, and Torc ran up and threw his enchanted hand axe at the bugbear. Bree stepped in and dealt some damage. But things turned against the party; the bugbear smote Bree for fifteen damage, taking her down to -3 in a single blow. And the last fire beetle came up behind Moroch the cleric and chomped his leg for six damage (the maximum possible).
Torc's player was heard to say, "I can't believe I just broke the cardinal rule of D&D; protect your cleric".
Adriena wanted to heal Bree with her healing potion, since she acted before the rogue (and would allow the rogue a turn). She wanted to know if she could drop her move for it, but I mentioned that it would have to be an action. However, I decided to allow her a dex check to attempt to pour it into Bree's mouth while casting a spell; failure would mean a spilled potion. She took the odds, and with a decent roll, she brought Bree back to life.
Time was running short for the block, so I decided it was time to throw the kitchen sink at them. The wight entered the battle, striding out across the courtyard to the party's vulnerable flank; only the cleric and Selec were at the back now, anywhere near the ferocious wight.
The others dealt with the bugbears with a few timely rolls, but the initiative was counting down till the wight would act. Everybody knew that he was bad news; a creature of that caliber could destroy a party. And so with the bugbears fallen, the cleric raised his holy symbol and made another attempt to turn undead.
The table waited with bated breath. I rolled a nine. They were silent with anticipation.
"The wight stops before the power of Pelor."
Cheers erupted from the players, and the cleric held the wight in check for a couple rounds so the PCs could gather around and shank him effectively. And take down the wight they did, with brutal efficiency. With the wight lying at their feet, and Talabrina dead outside the gates, they claimed the Crown of Blingdenstone.
Thoughts
Everyone had fun, myself included. It was the most fun I've had running D&D in a long time. The atmosphere was charged, players were roleplaying, even the new player got to the point where she was watching for her turn in the initiative order.
I was amazed at what the characters could survive; I threw four skeletons, four fire beetles, Talabrina and her bugbears, and the wight at them in a single, long encounter. And it never dragged, it never hit grind, they never ran out of interesting options... it felt as epic as it should have.
Everyone figured out their characters really quickly. There was a very quick learning curve, and everyone was improvising whenever they could.
And finally, everyone had at least one Crowning Moment of Awesome.
Moroch held off the wight with the power of Pelor
Adriena convinced Ogremoch's Bane to submit to her 'beneficial magic'
Bree killed a fire beetle so badly that she surgically removed its glowing glands at the same time. Also, she did tons of damage all the time.
Legolas scored the killing blow on Talabrina Duskryn.
Selec scored the killing blow on Ogremoch's Bane.
Torc used an iron door to shatter a skeleton.
But this thread isn't about the adventure tweaks. This is about me, sitting down with six complete strangers who were playing 5th Edition for the very first time.
And it was awesome.
The Characters
(all the pregens, using the archer fighter twice)
Moroch - Male human sun cleric
Adriena - Female elf wizard
Bree - Female halfling thief rogue
Legolas - Male human archer fighter
Selec - Male human archer fighter
Torc - Male dwarf guardian fighter
Of the players, Adriena and Bree were both 2nd edition players (I think Moroch was too). I believe Torc and Selec were 3rd edition players. And Legolas' player had never played D&D before. People chose characters pretty quickly, and then we got the ball rolling.
The Game
Our heroes met Briddick at the start of the defensive labyrinth, where he introduced himself, then asked the heroes to do the same. Several people immediately jumped into character, which helped some of the others slip in as well. Briddick led the party through the labyrinth, while Adriena began to use her magic to try and detect magic (this became a running theme). She began to try and understand the illusion magic that helped the maze confuse foes.
At one point, I asked for spot checks to detect the sound of shambling feet in a side corridor. Only two made it, but Briddick made it too. He invited the characters to come see some drow zombies, who had died assaulting the city. The party crept forward, with Bree the rogue slipping ahead to scout. She slipped into an alcove in a corridor as the zombies shambled past, but she decided not to strike. No, she waited as more and more zombies came around the corner. They numbered eight when all was said and done. The heroes began their attack, with the whole party at one end of the tunnel, a band of zombies in the hall, and the rogue pinned halfway along the hallway.
The players were delighted that zombies rolled a d6 for initiative. As expected, the undead went last, which meant that the adventurers could wreak untold amounts of damage on the poor drow zombies. The three nearest went down quickly, and the rogue took down one near her, then slipped through the zombies' spaces (because halflings can), and wound up behind them.
The zombies landed a solid blow on Bree for six damage, taking her down to one hit point. Sensing danger, the party made a concentrated effort to reach the wounded halfling, dropping zombies with a vengeance as they went. There were only two zombies still standing when they went again; one missed Torc, the other missed Bree after Torc forced it to take disadvantage.
After the zombies were dispatched, everyone looked to the cleric for healing. "But wait," said I. "In 5th Edition, anyone can heal, so long as you've got a healer's kit. You can bandage up your wounds and roll a hit dice, recovering whatever you roll!" The players figured out that three of the six adventurers had healer's kits, which put them in pretty good shape. They bandaged up Bree, who picked up the d6 and rolled.
One.
We looked at the cleric, who shrugged and divinely patched Bree the rest of the way up.
The rest of the labyrinth was uneventful, and Briddick filled them in on the situation in Blingdenstone. He suggested they'd want to meet with Kargien, because he'd be the one to let them know what to do. The adventurers agreed with the suggestion, and marched on in to see Kargien Dissengulp.
At the Ruby in the Rough, where Kargien makes his base of operations, the players found his small room quite interesting, since I'd placed a chest in the corner which glowed with the faint magic of something contained (the +1 Hand Axe from Henkala Shadowsong). Kargien was short with the adventurers, and they were short right back. Neither group got off on the right foot. But Kargien was able to outline the most important quest; to reclaim the crown of Blingdenstone. Oh, and the orcs.
The PCs, realizing that Kargien meant to wear the crown, called his bluff. He was indignant, but after a moment, he came around to the thought-out-loud that "Why shouldn't I wear it? I've earned it, toiling in these halls for forty years."
The adventurers left, promising to attack the House Center, and they explored the city. They met with Jalless in the infirmary, and immediately set about helping to tend the wounded deep gnomes. They spoke with her about Kargien, and she painted the opposing viewpoint, one which the characters agreed with. It became clear that the PCs would have to make a choice as to what to do with the crown once they gained it.
Adriena had the clever idea to ask one of the svirfneblin children who they looked up to, and Gurmadden's name came up. They realized they could talk to Henkala Shadowsong on the way (about the chest, naturally), and so they travelled south. As they came down the tunnel and into Phantasmal Glamours, the barricade was attacked by orcs! Since I had a full group of six, I rolled a d6+1 for orcs and got a one. I put in an extra one and had three attackers. The wizard won the initiative; she stepped forward and scorched them all with burning hands. Two orcs died, and one was sorely wounded, just in time for the second initiative count, where an archer put the survivor down.
The svirfneblin sentries were astounded at the PCs' prowess. One of them asked the wizard how he could learn to shoot fire.
Henkala Shadowsong had also witnessed the heroics, and she was glad to congratulate them on a job well done. She laid out the problem with Ogremoch's Bane, and asked for their help; the PCs decided that the earth elemental was worthy of their immediate attention (after they spoke with Gurmadden, of course). And so off they went, seeking the svirfneblin bard.
They ran into him trying to pull some life from his shattered singing stones. They approached him, and wisely, didn't throw down the "You could be king!" speech. Instead, they offered him the chance to come meet the pechs, something which he could sing about. He was delighted to accept.
There was another thought here, too; if the pechs could sing to heal the stone, could they heal the singing stones? I thought it was a great idea, so I ran with it. The party went to talk to the pechs, Gurmadden in tow.
The conversation with the pechs went rather well. They agreed to send their eight pechs to defend against Ogremoch's Bane, and they agreed to meet the PCs at the far side of the gnomish city (they would travel through the stone). The PCs entertained the thought of demolishing Entemoch's Boon, but Gurmadden expressed his complete and utter horror at the thought. So did Henkala, when they checked in on the way through. The PCs decided that it wouldn't be prudent, but there was a lot of discussion on elemental rights (isn't D&D great?).
At last the confrontation with Ogremoch's Bane was at hand! They marched in, seeing the elementals milling about, and two sharp-eyed PCs spotted a dark elf lurking on a high ledge, watching the chamber. Before they could deal with her, Ogremoch's Bane materialized, and they were surprised when he spoke to them. Seizing the advantage, the party talked to him, and convinced him that together, they could destroy Entemoch's Boon. Ogremoch's Bane agreed (no roll required), and they all made the trek to the boon. Eager, yet nervous, Gurmadden tagged along.
The dark elf Talabrina followed.
Eventually, they stood among the three twisting stones of the Boon, with Ogremoch's Bane in the center, proclaiming that this is the day of reckoning! Adriena stepped forward and asked Ogremoch's Bane if she could cast a beneficial spell to aid him. Her bluff check was stellar; Ogremoch's Bane prepared himself, and burning hands washed over him. The entire surprise round was an absolute disaster for him; he took 69 damage out of his hundred health.
And then we rolled initiative.
Torc was lurking outside the protective circle, so on his turn, he took a whole ton of damage. But he wanted to be up in melee with Ogremoch's Bane. The PCs didn't have nearly so much luck as in the surprise round, and the Bane survived long enough to make an attack or two. Talabrina struck, taking down a pech with a crit. The circle wavered as one pech fell, and the party each took two damage (except Torc, who was taking the full brunt). But in short order, the PCs took down Ogremoch's Bane (Selec's arrow had the final kill), then turned their attention on Talabrina.
Sensing defeat, the dark elf threw down her cloud of darkness and beat a hasty retreat. The PCs came up with the clever idea to ask the pechs to try and cut her off by travelling with stone. I gave them a chance of success, but they didn't manage to catch her. Still, they reported back to the PCs, telling them where she was headed and all about the pair of bugbears she travelled with.
Determined to beat the drow back to Blingdenstone (and suspecting she was going to assassinate someone there), Torc the dwarf led the way back to the city, using stonecunning to navigate the tunnels quicker than even the svirfneblin (which impressed Gurmadden to no end). The PCs arrived back to find that Talabrina had not been seen, and there hadn't been any attacks. Henkala was grateful, and she gave them a reward; an amethyst, and a key to the chest. Torc claimed the beautiful enchanted hand axe, and the party decided to rest up, then head for the House Center.
At this point, I told the PCs they had hit second level. We quickly went over levelling (which is mercifully easy in 5th Edition thus far), and then we looked at the time. We had one hour left of a four hour block. Not really enough time for a full quest, but we decided we'd give it a shot.
The characters awoke to some good news; the svirfneblin had uncovered a cache of healing potions, and I rolled '6'; everyone got a potion! This was one of the random Blingdenstone events off the chart (which was a lot of fun to use). Armed with new vitality (and an additional level), the PCs decided to storm the House Center and reclaim the crown.
They asked Gurmadden to come along, but he politely declined, citing the place's reputation for being haunted. Each PC in turn attempted to convince him, but each one rolled spectacularly badly on their charisma check. After all six attempts had ended with notable failure, Gurmadden turned to them and said, "I can see that even though words fail you, your hearts are in the right place. I... I will join you, and put my life in your hands once more."
There was much rejoicing.
I skipped over the random zombie encounter at the Center, jumping instead to the fort itself. I was using the revised House Center from the Blingdenstone Resources Page, which meant that things were a little more time-friendly; less obtuse corridor-wandering, and more getting straight to the action.
Bree and Legolas scouted ahead into one of the guard towers, and came upon the skeletons. Initiative was rolled; the fire beetles in the courtyard also rolled in, coming to investigate the noise.
The PCs began to battle the skeletons, who proved to be slightly tougher than the zombies from earlier. Bree and Legolas were both using piercing weapons, which had them doing half damage. They were battling two skeletons in melee, and one was firing at them from the other tower with a bow, while the fourth looped around for melee. The fire beetles, cowed by the undead, were lurking just ten feet away, waiting for the undead to fall.
Torc made his triumphant entrance by smashing the doors open, which actually attacked one of the skeletons. A door is a bludgeoning weapon, and the double damage came out to sixteen; a skeleton was smashed to dust with the dwarf's entrance. Moroch the cleric strode forward, holding his holy symbol aloft to turn undead, freezing both the archer skeleton and the approaching one in their tracks. He also forced the melee one back, which drew an opportunity attack from Torc, who shattered it with his warhammer.
We came to the top of the round. I rolled Talabrina Duskryn and her bugbears into the initiative. She made two attacks from the back of the fight; one arrow missed Selec, while the other struck the elf wizard, Adriena. The elf suffered six damage and failed her save, which slowed her by five feet. But the return fire was deadly as well; Talabrina took an arrow from Selec, and a spell from Adriena, and finally an arrow from Legolas took her in the gut, killing the dark elf.
Enraged, the bugbears charged into the fray, and began to attack with fury. Bree and Torc had set about slaughtering the remaining melee skeleton, then the fire beetles (who were really a pitiful threat, they learned) They took down all but one while Moroch continued to hold the archer skeleton. Bree decided that the bugbears were where she was needed, so she left the remaining beetle to Torc.
As the battle heated up on the bugbear end, Torc decided not to deal with the beetle; the beetle missed its opportunity attack, and Torc ran up and threw his enchanted hand axe at the bugbear. Bree stepped in and dealt some damage. But things turned against the party; the bugbear smote Bree for fifteen damage, taking her down to -3 in a single blow. And the last fire beetle came up behind Moroch the cleric and chomped his leg for six damage (the maximum possible).
Torc's player was heard to say, "I can't believe I just broke the cardinal rule of D&D; protect your cleric".
Adriena wanted to heal Bree with her healing potion, since she acted before the rogue (and would allow the rogue a turn). She wanted to know if she could drop her move for it, but I mentioned that it would have to be an action. However, I decided to allow her a dex check to attempt to pour it into Bree's mouth while casting a spell; failure would mean a spilled potion. She took the odds, and with a decent roll, she brought Bree back to life.
Time was running short for the block, so I decided it was time to throw the kitchen sink at them. The wight entered the battle, striding out across the courtyard to the party's vulnerable flank; only the cleric and Selec were at the back now, anywhere near the ferocious wight.
The others dealt with the bugbears with a few timely rolls, but the initiative was counting down till the wight would act. Everybody knew that he was bad news; a creature of that caliber could destroy a party. And so with the bugbears fallen, the cleric raised his holy symbol and made another attempt to turn undead.
The table waited with bated breath. I rolled a nine. They were silent with anticipation.
"The wight stops before the power of Pelor."
Cheers erupted from the players, and the cleric held the wight in check for a couple rounds so the PCs could gather around and shank him effectively. And take down the wight they did, with brutal efficiency. With the wight lying at their feet, and Talabrina dead outside the gates, they claimed the Crown of Blingdenstone.
Thoughts
Everyone had fun, myself included. It was the most fun I've had running D&D in a long time. The atmosphere was charged, players were roleplaying, even the new player got to the point where she was watching for her turn in the initiative order.
I was amazed at what the characters could survive; I threw four skeletons, four fire beetles, Talabrina and her bugbears, and the wight at them in a single, long encounter. And it never dragged, it never hit grind, they never ran out of interesting options... it felt as epic as it should have.
Everyone figured out their characters really quickly. There was a very quick learning curve, and everyone was improvising whenever they could.
And finally, everyone had at least one Crowning Moment of Awesome.
Moroch held off the wight with the power of Pelor
Adriena convinced Ogremoch's Bane to submit to her 'beneficial magic'
Bree killed a fire beetle so badly that she surgically removed its glowing glands at the same time. Also, she did tons of damage all the time.
Legolas scored the killing blow on Talabrina Duskryn.
Selec scored the killing blow on Ogremoch's Bane.
Torc used an iron door to shatter a skeleton.
