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Playtest Campaign: Second Session TPK
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<blockquote data-quote="MortalPlague" data-source="post: 6060681" data-attributes="member: 62721"><p><strong><span style="font-size: 15px">Treasure Aplenty</span></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>The characters made the decision to hold onto the books and wait out the six days in the dungeon. They figured that if they were going to haul back some treasure, they might as well make it a truly momentous haul! So in addition to the various gems and coins and potions they'd acquired, and the collection of books, they decided to take a pair of 500 pound marble statues.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The first order of business was to explore the last wing on the first level. Our heroes had destroyed the kobolds and plundered their section thoroughly. Then they had battled the goblins, reaching an understanding with Rax, their bugbear leader. Thirdly, they explored the side where the bandit town of Refuge was located, defeating all the undead who lurked in the halls nearby (though not actually visiting the town itself). The last, they had been told was empty; picked clean by previous adventuring groups. But Marissa Cairn, a fellow adventurer they'd crossed paths with earlier, had said she was headed there to see if anything had been missed.</p><p></p><p></p><p>In the interests of thoroughness, they set off to see what there was to see. The empty area was, indeed, empty. I hadn't even drawn a map for it, it was simply a collection of thoroughly-plundered lairs. All except for one section, towards the back; a gloomy pool in a cavern, with an island at the far side. And there, on the shore, looking terrified, was Marissa Cairn. Minus her pair of bodyguards.</p><p></p><p></p><p>They found out that her bodyguards had been eaten by some sort of monster in the lake, when they tried to cross and claim the treasure from the island. And, through some trial and error, they discovered that this thing was a blind creature with tentacles and one big mouth (think the Watcher in the Water from Lord of the Rings). Brelf, being a guide by background, decided that since they were spending six days here, he would attempt to condition the beast to fear attacking the surface. With the use of a hunting trap on a chain, he would bait the thing into setting off the trap, then haul it back up. If the tentacle was still caught, it would be hit by missile fire.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Since the party had holed up in a relatively safe area, the chance for encounters was low. Over the span of six days, there were two. The first encounter was at night on the third day, when a ghoul and a pack of skeletons happened to smell the tasty flesh. A relatively tough encounter, the two sides had a standoff at first. But as the skeletons advanced, the party sprang into action. The cleric went first, but unfortunately, her attempt to turn undead failed to yield any result (a really poor dice roll). The mage had better luck; Estel strode forward and blasted several skeletons back with thunderwave, dealing significant damage to three. Rosco's sling stone was tremendously effective, taking down another skeleton. At Brelf's direction, Drekkis, the NPC warrior stepped forward to chop down another skeleton with his greatsword. Unfortunately, that left Brelf without a target in reach, so he stepped up beside Drekkis, and stood shoulder to shoulder with the big warrior, ready to strike any skeleton that closed.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Sure enough, the skeletons closed. Brelf missed his attack, while the skeletons both failed to strike Brelf and Drekkis. The last skeletons were stuck behind the line of combat without a ranged weapon, as was the ghoul. The ghoul hissed and took cover behind a corner, while the last two skeletons waited to shuffle up.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The next round of attacks was more successful for the party. Handmaiden Mariele wielded Pelor's holy light with much greater success; she hit the ghoul with lance of faith, dealing 12 damage. That put the creature into bloodied territory. Then Estel acted, taking down a skeleton with a ray of frost. Rosco's sling did its work once more, and then Drekkis carved up another skeleton. That left one skeleton, and a badly wounded ghoul. Brelf stepped in and handily cut down the ghoul, and the skeleton was taken down by Marissa Cairn, the other NPC.</p><p></p><p></p><p><em>Under the hood: This was the second-toughest random encounter on my list, clocking in at 420 xp. 280 xp is supposed to be a tough encounter for a 2nd level party. The PCs had several advantages; they had the initiative, and they had a bottleneck. Being able to limit their incoming attacks was a big factor. Also, my skeletons didn't have bows, which their stat block entitles them to, so the xp perhaps ought to have been a little less, but I wanted to get them up to 3rd level, so I didn't nerf it. Furthermore, the ghoul was stuck at the back of the fight; I really should've given him superior cover from the corner, but I only granted him regular cover; every attack hit him. Still, the positioning was mostly to blame for the lack of challenge.</em></p><p></p><p></p><p>The PCs were 20 xp short of 3rd level, so I gave them each 25 for their training of the sea monster. They levelled at the end of their extended rest.</p><p></p><p></p><p>On the fourth night, during the first watch, there was another encounter with wandering monsters. A pair of orcs, on the hunt for adventurers to enslave, carrying three goblin gladiator-slaves with them, came wandering down the corridors. The orcs were laughing and joking and not being quiet in any way, so they were easily detected. Furthermore, the PCs were quiet in their preparations, and managed to surprise the orcs as they came around the corner.</p><p></p><p></p><p>We didn't even bother rolling out the combat. They took down the orcs, then took the goblin prisoners. One of the goblins spoke a little common, and he pleaded for their lives. There was a debate between Brelf, who wanted to kill them, and Handmaiden Mariele, who wanted mercy. Eventually, they agreed grudingly to let the goblins live, but they would bring them to the surface instead of turning them loose. Brelf did not want them to join with the other goblins, where they would then kill more hapless adventurers.</p><p></p><p></p><p>On the fifth day, the party began to move their treasure up to the dungeon entry. Parade Day was tomorrow, which meant the waters would be stopped, and they could march out in triumph. They piled the treasure on the beach, including their pair of marble statues, and they waited. During the night, a dwarf from Refuge exchanged some words from a distance, promising them work if they ever stopped by. Other than that, the evening passed without event. And then with the dawn, the river was stopped.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Our heroes met another band, made up of mercenaries, making their way inside. There was an exchange of boasting, but they were headed in opposite directions, so they took their leave. Commander Fang was surprised and impressed to see the party, and he offered some of his soldiers to help carry the statues (and offer gladly taken). With a great deal of wealth, they returned to town and earned their bracelets.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Drekkis took his leave, heading off to drink and woo some ladies with hiw new bracelet. Furthermore, Rosco Tealeaf, the halfling rogue, announced that he was through with this place. But he knew a guy who could step in to fill his shoes; an elf fighter with some thieving skill. And so, after splitting the treasure, he went off to happier paths.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The party spent a day or two in town. Some messages came in from friends of the characters (I had typed up letters for the other three, furthering some background details). Both Brelf and the new elf fighter (his name escapes me at the moment) purchased Displacer Beast Hide Armor, and borrowing a few gold pieces from Mariele, they masterworked their weapons. With a bracelet, they were also entitled to purchase the services of some more serious mercenaries at the Grey Company; Brelf investigated, seeing if any were worth their salt. Estel sold the statues to a sculptor.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 15px">Onwards and Upwards</span></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>With the bracelets came the notice of important parties. The characters were invited to a dinner with The Ivory Lady, a noble patron, who offered them a quest. Deep in the dungeon, in the haunted Hall of Bells, a mummy known as Queen Teera wore a priceless necklace, which the lady greatly desired. She sought adventurers who would accompany her in her mission to retrieve it. Offering two hundred gold to each party immediately, and five hundred upon a safe return, the offer was simply too good to pass up. Despite having to accept The Ivory Lady as the leader of the expedition, the heroes agreed to the task.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Furthermore, the party was approached by Commander Fang of the White Guards. He told them of a bandit queen who has been striking the food caravans coming to town. Reputed to be a lady of great charm, Illantha Fane is a serious danger to the town of Fortune. Since they had a few days to wait till the next Parade Day, when they could head for the Hall of Bells, they accepted the task. As they set out to track down the bandit queen, we wrapped the session.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 15px">Observations:</span></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">We didn't get as much done in the session as I'd have liked, but in the end, splitting treasure is <em>always</em> a long process, no matter the edition.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The gold from two levels of adventuring, after being split five ways, was not quite enough for masterwork weapon and an armor upgrade. I like that. Two characters managed it, by borrowing money from the casters (which they were then able to repay with the 200 from their new patron).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I'm going to be throwing some harder encounters at the PCs in the near future. These last two sessions, they haven't been challenged at all. Illantha Fane is secretly a Green Hag, so that ought to make things interesting. Also, she's got a lot of bandits.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Hall of Bells should also make for a good challenge. Mummies are a harrowing monster to fight. Lots of undead in the Halls too, as well as some custom creatures.</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MortalPlague, post: 6060681, member: 62721"] [b][size=4]Treasure Aplenty[/size][/b] The characters made the decision to hold onto the books and wait out the six days in the dungeon. They figured that if they were going to haul back some treasure, they might as well make it a truly momentous haul! So in addition to the various gems and coins and potions they'd acquired, and the collection of books, they decided to take a pair of 500 pound marble statues. The first order of business was to explore the last wing on the first level. Our heroes had destroyed the kobolds and plundered their section thoroughly. Then they had battled the goblins, reaching an understanding with Rax, their bugbear leader. Thirdly, they explored the side where the bandit town of Refuge was located, defeating all the undead who lurked in the halls nearby (though not actually visiting the town itself). The last, they had been told was empty; picked clean by previous adventuring groups. But Marissa Cairn, a fellow adventurer they'd crossed paths with earlier, had said she was headed there to see if anything had been missed. In the interests of thoroughness, they set off to see what there was to see. The empty area was, indeed, empty. I hadn't even drawn a map for it, it was simply a collection of thoroughly-plundered lairs. All except for one section, towards the back; a gloomy pool in a cavern, with an island at the far side. And there, on the shore, looking terrified, was Marissa Cairn. Minus her pair of bodyguards. They found out that her bodyguards had been eaten by some sort of monster in the lake, when they tried to cross and claim the treasure from the island. And, through some trial and error, they discovered that this thing was a blind creature with tentacles and one big mouth (think the Watcher in the Water from Lord of the Rings). Brelf, being a guide by background, decided that since they were spending six days here, he would attempt to condition the beast to fear attacking the surface. With the use of a hunting trap on a chain, he would bait the thing into setting off the trap, then haul it back up. If the tentacle was still caught, it would be hit by missile fire. Since the party had holed up in a relatively safe area, the chance for encounters was low. Over the span of six days, there were two. The first encounter was at night on the third day, when a ghoul and a pack of skeletons happened to smell the tasty flesh. A relatively tough encounter, the two sides had a standoff at first. But as the skeletons advanced, the party sprang into action. The cleric went first, but unfortunately, her attempt to turn undead failed to yield any result (a really poor dice roll). The mage had better luck; Estel strode forward and blasted several skeletons back with thunderwave, dealing significant damage to three. Rosco's sling stone was tremendously effective, taking down another skeleton. At Brelf's direction, Drekkis, the NPC warrior stepped forward to chop down another skeleton with his greatsword. Unfortunately, that left Brelf without a target in reach, so he stepped up beside Drekkis, and stood shoulder to shoulder with the big warrior, ready to strike any skeleton that closed. Sure enough, the skeletons closed. Brelf missed his attack, while the skeletons both failed to strike Brelf and Drekkis. The last skeletons were stuck behind the line of combat without a ranged weapon, as was the ghoul. The ghoul hissed and took cover behind a corner, while the last two skeletons waited to shuffle up. The next round of attacks was more successful for the party. Handmaiden Mariele wielded Pelor's holy light with much greater success; she hit the ghoul with lance of faith, dealing 12 damage. That put the creature into bloodied territory. Then Estel acted, taking down a skeleton with a ray of frost. Rosco's sling did its work once more, and then Drekkis carved up another skeleton. That left one skeleton, and a badly wounded ghoul. Brelf stepped in and handily cut down the ghoul, and the skeleton was taken down by Marissa Cairn, the other NPC. [i]Under the hood: This was the second-toughest random encounter on my list, clocking in at 420 xp. 280 xp is supposed to be a tough encounter for a 2nd level party. The PCs had several advantages; they had the initiative, and they had a bottleneck. Being able to limit their incoming attacks was a big factor. Also, my skeletons didn't have bows, which their stat block entitles them to, so the xp perhaps ought to have been a little less, but I wanted to get them up to 3rd level, so I didn't nerf it. Furthermore, the ghoul was stuck at the back of the fight; I really should've given him superior cover from the corner, but I only granted him regular cover; every attack hit him. Still, the positioning was mostly to blame for the lack of challenge.[/i] The PCs were 20 xp short of 3rd level, so I gave them each 25 for their training of the sea monster. They levelled at the end of their extended rest. On the fourth night, during the first watch, there was another encounter with wandering monsters. A pair of orcs, on the hunt for adventurers to enslave, carrying three goblin gladiator-slaves with them, came wandering down the corridors. The orcs were laughing and joking and not being quiet in any way, so they were easily detected. Furthermore, the PCs were quiet in their preparations, and managed to surprise the orcs as they came around the corner. We didn't even bother rolling out the combat. They took down the orcs, then took the goblin prisoners. One of the goblins spoke a little common, and he pleaded for their lives. There was a debate between Brelf, who wanted to kill them, and Handmaiden Mariele, who wanted mercy. Eventually, they agreed grudingly to let the goblins live, but they would bring them to the surface instead of turning them loose. Brelf did not want them to join with the other goblins, where they would then kill more hapless adventurers. On the fifth day, the party began to move their treasure up to the dungeon entry. Parade Day was tomorrow, which meant the waters would be stopped, and they could march out in triumph. They piled the treasure on the beach, including their pair of marble statues, and they waited. During the night, a dwarf from Refuge exchanged some words from a distance, promising them work if they ever stopped by. Other than that, the evening passed without event. And then with the dawn, the river was stopped. Our heroes met another band, made up of mercenaries, making their way inside. There was an exchange of boasting, but they were headed in opposite directions, so they took their leave. Commander Fang was surprised and impressed to see the party, and he offered some of his soldiers to help carry the statues (and offer gladly taken). With a great deal of wealth, they returned to town and earned their bracelets. Drekkis took his leave, heading off to drink and woo some ladies with hiw new bracelet. Furthermore, Rosco Tealeaf, the halfling rogue, announced that he was through with this place. But he knew a guy who could step in to fill his shoes; an elf fighter with some thieving skill. And so, after splitting the treasure, he went off to happier paths. The party spent a day or two in town. Some messages came in from friends of the characters (I had typed up letters for the other three, furthering some background details). Both Brelf and the new elf fighter (his name escapes me at the moment) purchased Displacer Beast Hide Armor, and borrowing a few gold pieces from Mariele, they masterworked their weapons. With a bracelet, they were also entitled to purchase the services of some more serious mercenaries at the Grey Company; Brelf investigated, seeing if any were worth their salt. Estel sold the statues to a sculptor. [b][size=4]Onwards and Upwards[/size][/b] With the bracelets came the notice of important parties. The characters were invited to a dinner with The Ivory Lady, a noble patron, who offered them a quest. Deep in the dungeon, in the haunted Hall of Bells, a mummy known as Queen Teera wore a priceless necklace, which the lady greatly desired. She sought adventurers who would accompany her in her mission to retrieve it. Offering two hundred gold to each party immediately, and five hundred upon a safe return, the offer was simply too good to pass up. Despite having to accept The Ivory Lady as the leader of the expedition, the heroes agreed to the task. Furthermore, the party was approached by Commander Fang of the White Guards. He told them of a bandit queen who has been striking the food caravans coming to town. Reputed to be a lady of great charm, Illantha Fane is a serious danger to the town of Fortune. Since they had a few days to wait till the next Parade Day, when they could head for the Hall of Bells, they accepted the task. As they set out to track down the bandit queen, we wrapped the session. [b][size=4]Observations:[/size][/b][size=4][/size] [list] [*]We didn't get as much done in the session as I'd have liked, but in the end, splitting treasure is [i]always[/i] a long process, no matter the edition. [*]The gold from two levels of adventuring, after being split five ways, was not quite enough for masterwork weapon and an armor upgrade. I like that. Two characters managed it, by borrowing money from the casters (which they were then able to repay with the 200 from their new patron). [*]I'm going to be throwing some harder encounters at the PCs in the near future. These last two sessions, they haven't been challenged at all. Illantha Fane is secretly a Green Hag, so that ought to make things interesting. Also, she's got a lot of bandits. [*]The Hall of Bells should also make for a good challenge. Mummies are a harrowing monster to fight. Lots of undead in the Halls too, as well as some custom creatures. [/list] [/QUOTE]
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