Xorn
First Post
re: "sustain minor"
Yes, it means that be blowing your minor action, you maintain the effect. It's notable for the dragon as if she sustains it, then she won't start rolling recharge (to use it again) until she stops sustaining the current one.
re: "curse"
Both the warlock's curse and the ranger's quarry are not marks. They choose a target that is closest to them that they do extra damage to--which keeps that until it dies or they choose another closest target.
So, I've run this adventure... a lot. Like six times now, for four different play groups. The sixth time was last Sunday morning, and it was probably the most fun yet. Since this is such a popular thread, I'll go ahead and include my report. There are a bunch of screenshots, but I haven't uploaded them yet, but if you look at www.fantasygrounds.com Forums, in the Gallery, there's a thread about it.
Anyway, the players:
I only knew one of them personally, the rest were all forum goers at Fantasy Grounds, interested in a 4E fan playtest/demo, and I've kinda gained some distinction of running it very well. So I had six players, every Experience Character in play.
The fighter was new this adventure and new to Fantasy Grounds II software, but pretty familiar with 4E. The cleric was playing 4E for the first time, but played a 3.5 cleric most of the time, so it was great to get his feedback. The wizard was a pretty anti-4E person that I offered a slot to, since they said they hadn't played but were not impressed with what they read, and the Ranger was a close friend of his. The warlock was in GMT+1 and really excited about 4E, but it was his first try at it--he ended up getting my campaign from me so he can run it for his friends there. The paladin was played by my buddy here in Kansas City, who just loves to play any of the characters, and is a never-ending thorn in my side with that damned Second Chance!
Kobold Warren:
The ranger did some excellent scouting, getting the layout of the room (but not getting close enough to detect Ichi-ichi) and so the party went in quietly. Well, they tried to, but even though the paladin had a natural 20 on his Stealth check, the wizard bombed out with a natural 1, and the gong started ringing as they reached the mouth of the cave. No surprise round, since they knew what was down there, and initiative plays out. Terrible rolls from the players leaves the paladin at the mouth of the cave, surrounded by kobolds and blocking the line. Corrin wades into them, but due to low rolls (and being pinned in there to begin with) left the party jammed up in the back, with the strikers (warlock, wizard, ranger) unable to even get line of sight!
This meant big trouble for the party, as by the time the strikers stopped delaying their initiative (because a hole opened up) the second wave of kobolds were in the room. However, the wizard made real short work of them, layering scorching bursts and magic missiles around the room while the fighter set up a front line and the paladin locked up with Ichi-ichi. The cleric proceeded to put metal to meat with his mace, throwing around bonus AC like it was free cheese samples at Whole Foods.
Pik & Otto-wombo enter the fight from the east, and the ranger (separated from the party via teleport) narrowly dodges a fire-pot while the kobolds shift madly around Corrin and the wizard and warlock keep picking off the minions. No one took heavy damage, but it was pretty obvious the swarming minions were really making Ichi-ichi dangerous! The fighter charges over to the new combatants and again says, "This is now the front line!" and proceeds to lay down smack on them. Ichi-ichi goes down the next round (with Varkaze watching stealthed at the top of the scene) and Otto-wombo barks and runs away--unfortunately for him, the ranger, warlock, and wizard had other plans, and drop him (finishing with a critical magic missile)!
The next turn Pik risks the OA from Kathra (which misses) and bolts out of the fight, running to warn Meepo (who is no longer flees right away in my game) and before the melees can decide to give chase, Varkaze blasts the party with Force Pulse, scaring the crap out of them. Deciding to deal with this threat, the paladin and fighter charge over to put the hurt on him (the fighter charged), while everyone puts firepower on him. Next round, Varkaze recharges and fires off another Pulse, with the intended effect of bowling over the fighter and running for it. Instead, she shrugs off the push, and makes her granted save (Stand Your Ground), weathering the blast and staying glued to him. They said it FELT like a freaking fighter. Varkaze has to bolt, so tries to run and gets immobilized, then mauled by the strikers before the turn ends.
Some damage was done by Ichi-ichi and Varkaze, and two Healing Words and a short rest later, they decide to chase after that kobold that got away.
Kobold King!
They try to sneak down the tunnel again, failing miserably, and when they enter the room no one mentions actively searching, so the kobolds easily "outstealth" their passive checks. Ix is on the ceiling, and Meepo and Pik are both crouched in the pile of furs. Ix launches a Death From Above at Corrin during the surprise round, who cheeses me off by calling out Second Chance! to my natural 20. Did I mention I'm only friends with him because I feel sorry for how ugly he is? Anyway Ix still hits, then the paladin eats a crossbow bolt from Meepo, as and a charge from Pik misses.
The first round sees them all get another attack (terrible initiative again) and Corrin drops to Ix's next bite, then the spider leaps across the room. The party floods in and actually applies the beatdown to the bad guys after that, and soon the spider is riddled with arrows and on fire, while Pik is grabbing at a sucking axe-wound as he gurgles his dying breath, and Meepo decides to give up. Kathra (who has blown and action point and missed 3 times in a row, more furious with each miss) manages to stop the killing blow and they take him prisoner. We roleplayed the interrogation (and I REALLY wish I had done a skill challenge instead (like 3 success before 2 failure) to get info from him, but I didn't think about it in time, so I didn't do it.
Anyway, they rest up, Corrin and Kathra are down several surges and they take Meepo prisoner! They refuse to let him go, insisting he take them to the "hobbos", quietly. Planning to run away at first chance, Meepo agrees--and might even get revenge!
Bandit Leaders
As they file up the passage, ready to kill Meepo for the slightest wrong step (the wizard actually wore Meepo's crown, saying he was king now) they round the corner, and Meepo screams out a warning to the hobgoblin and makes a break for it. With a 26 initiative, he was just too fast for them to stop him! Meepo runs up to the hobgoblins, who were already ready for a fight, and makes it all the way to the table (since Varkaze is gone, this worked out) and scoops up a handily available weapon.
The battle is brutal and fun. The paladin and fighter lock up with the soldiers, and the fighter used Tide of Iron (and the paladin his mark) to force the soldiers to break up their phalanx, and the strikers put on the firepower. The wizard was dropping force orbs and scorching bursts like mad, wearing them all down, but ate some fire from the archer in return. The cleric stepped up and granted AC bonuses to the wizard, as did the paladin on a later turn, while the warlock and ranger drilled Meepo, literally ignoring the archer in their rage. This was the most one-sided fight, really. One of the soldiers landed a nasty hit (and one crit was negated by that bastard child friend of mine yelling out, "Second Chance!), but really the encounter was weak with Varkaze gone. They earned it though, so I let them maul the hobbos. They all mentioned that would have been alot harder with Varkaze there.
So the wizard is sure to jam a spear into Meepo in a humiliating fashion as a punishment for his soul to see on the way to the afterlife, and they collect the raiding plans and rest for a moment. Having used two daily powers, they are considering resting, and I mention that according to the plans, there may be a large raiding force coming back, soon--but they decide to risk it (and my buddy the paladin wasn't talking them out of it, knowing what's coming)--and I look at the clock. I want to get through the dragon fight entirely, so I roll a bunch of 20s (which they just see a shadow of, knowing a rolled a lot) and tell them the patrol doesn't return. They all sighed with relief, so I guess the purpose was served.
Nightscale
They move into Nightscale's layer, only one player knowing what was going to happen. I let them move about the chamber and describe what they are doing, and the paladin moves his halfling to the other side of the room, at the top of the ledge. "Eh... I'm thinking, let's not move farther than you can in one turn, so that I can take care of what everyone is doing meanwhile." He chuckles, knowing what is coming, and even walks up to the water's edge and says, "Well I guess I could make it here if I was heading to the ledge." Nice of him to play along. The rest of the party spreads out a little bit, searching for stuff, looking at the runes and lichen, etc. Then they notice I've locked their tokens in place and they can't move them.
"I think we're in trouble..." says one of them, "I can't move my token." Then I put that LARGE dragon token on the map, popping out of the water 1 square between her and the paladin, and heard the collective panic of them all as they saw it.
I love this game for moments like that.
What followed that moment was the coolest dragonfight I've had in this game yet. I'll try and hit the fight from Nightscale's perspective (note that I adjusted her defenses down by 2, from Mike Mearls mention they were too high):
She breaths acid on the surprise round, only catching the paladin in the blast, who takes almost max damage but saves the acid on his turn (still... like 18 from the breath weapon!) then all hell breaks loose. I rolled terrible for her initiative and everyone goes before her. The paladin, cleric, and ranger blow action points and daily powers in the first round, and Nightscale is missing something like 80 health after the first round! She drops darkness and dives back down into the water, and the party quickly spreads out so she can't catch them all again with her breath. I give them perception checks as they get in sight of the water to spot her silouhette, and the ranger spots her as he clears the side of the darkness. They all ready actions to attack the moment she surfaces.
She comes up to eat a Scorching Burst (11 square range was needed), a Careful Shot, a Lance of Faith, and a Tide of Iron. The fighter missed again (horrible rolls the whole fight) and the dragon was laying down the damage again, but taking a TON in return. Her breath weapon recharged and she put down another blast, severely wounding the wizard and paladin, but the cleric managed to keep the wizard alive long enough to save, and Corrin shook off the acid again, making a terrific leap over the deeper water to nail the dragon again, re-establishing his mark (I've ruled that if you don't make a melee attack on your mark by the end of your next turn, it fades), as the cleric tops him off again.
At this point, the warlock nails Nightscale with her daily, and slides the dragon away from Corrin (who is hurting badly after a bite, again) and the wizard lands SLEEP. This pretty much ends it for the dragon, who is now past 200 damage (the bloodied breath did almost no good) and she fails her save against the sleep! As the fighter had not used her daily yet, those before her on initiative all delayed (the paladin patching himself up again) and Kathra executed a Brute Strike on a helpless target (instant critical hit)!
So thirty-five damage later, Nightscale finally gets to act, and has just been torn to shreds. I'm actually not sure if she can make it out of the cave now. She manages to take off (as she's flanked by the fighter and paladin finally) with the fighter missing (she would have died for sure, otherwise) and beats her wings to fly out of the cave. With the warlock in the way (she was up there) I have the dragon bullrush with a +4 from size, and roll a 1 (warlock got 19). Blow an action point and repeat, knocking the warlock aside and flying up the tunnel--but gave the party one round of attacks, as there was not enough movement to start going up yet!
They got her down to 18 hit points, then she flew 14 squares up, and the only person with line of sight (the warlock) was out of range.
It was truly an awesome fight, and an awesome game altogether.
The anti-4E said he is one of the converted masses, and wants in the next fan demo. Heh. Everyone loved the game, everyone is excited about 4E, and we spent the next 30 minutes talking about behind the scenes stuff (I kept my dice revealed to the players, as half of them are DMs) like encounter balancing, condition tracking, and how it compared to 3.5, etceteras. This was probably the most fun I've had running this adventure yet, and the whole adventure was 5 hours from fart to flush!
Yes, it means that be blowing your minor action, you maintain the effect. It's notable for the dragon as if she sustains it, then she won't start rolling recharge (to use it again) until she stops sustaining the current one.
re: "curse"
Both the warlock's curse and the ranger's quarry are not marks. They choose a target that is closest to them that they do extra damage to--which keeps that until it dies or they choose another closest target.
So, I've run this adventure... a lot. Like six times now, for four different play groups. The sixth time was last Sunday morning, and it was probably the most fun yet. Since this is such a popular thread, I'll go ahead and include my report. There are a bunch of screenshots, but I haven't uploaded them yet, but if you look at www.fantasygrounds.com Forums, in the Gallery, there's a thread about it.
Anyway, the players:
I only knew one of them personally, the rest were all forum goers at Fantasy Grounds, interested in a 4E fan playtest/demo, and I've kinda gained some distinction of running it very well. So I had six players, every Experience Character in play.
The fighter was new this adventure and new to Fantasy Grounds II software, but pretty familiar with 4E. The cleric was playing 4E for the first time, but played a 3.5 cleric most of the time, so it was great to get his feedback. The wizard was a pretty anti-4E person that I offered a slot to, since they said they hadn't played but were not impressed with what they read, and the Ranger was a close friend of his. The warlock was in GMT+1 and really excited about 4E, but it was his first try at it--he ended up getting my campaign from me so he can run it for his friends there. The paladin was played by my buddy here in Kansas City, who just loves to play any of the characters, and is a never-ending thorn in my side with that damned Second Chance!
Kobold Warren:
The ranger did some excellent scouting, getting the layout of the room (but not getting close enough to detect Ichi-ichi) and so the party went in quietly. Well, they tried to, but even though the paladin had a natural 20 on his Stealth check, the wizard bombed out with a natural 1, and the gong started ringing as they reached the mouth of the cave. No surprise round, since they knew what was down there, and initiative plays out. Terrible rolls from the players leaves the paladin at the mouth of the cave, surrounded by kobolds and blocking the line. Corrin wades into them, but due to low rolls (and being pinned in there to begin with) left the party jammed up in the back, with the strikers (warlock, wizard, ranger) unable to even get line of sight!
This meant big trouble for the party, as by the time the strikers stopped delaying their initiative (because a hole opened up) the second wave of kobolds were in the room. However, the wizard made real short work of them, layering scorching bursts and magic missiles around the room while the fighter set up a front line and the paladin locked up with Ichi-ichi. The cleric proceeded to put metal to meat with his mace, throwing around bonus AC like it was free cheese samples at Whole Foods.
Pik & Otto-wombo enter the fight from the east, and the ranger (separated from the party via teleport) narrowly dodges a fire-pot while the kobolds shift madly around Corrin and the wizard and warlock keep picking off the minions. No one took heavy damage, but it was pretty obvious the swarming minions were really making Ichi-ichi dangerous! The fighter charges over to the new combatants and again says, "This is now the front line!" and proceeds to lay down smack on them. Ichi-ichi goes down the next round (with Varkaze watching stealthed at the top of the scene) and Otto-wombo barks and runs away--unfortunately for him, the ranger, warlock, and wizard had other plans, and drop him (finishing with a critical magic missile)!
The next turn Pik risks the OA from Kathra (which misses) and bolts out of the fight, running to warn Meepo (who is no longer flees right away in my game) and before the melees can decide to give chase, Varkaze blasts the party with Force Pulse, scaring the crap out of them. Deciding to deal with this threat, the paladin and fighter charge over to put the hurt on him (the fighter charged), while everyone puts firepower on him. Next round, Varkaze recharges and fires off another Pulse, with the intended effect of bowling over the fighter and running for it. Instead, she shrugs off the push, and makes her granted save (Stand Your Ground), weathering the blast and staying glued to him. They said it FELT like a freaking fighter. Varkaze has to bolt, so tries to run and gets immobilized, then mauled by the strikers before the turn ends.
Some damage was done by Ichi-ichi and Varkaze, and two Healing Words and a short rest later, they decide to chase after that kobold that got away.
Kobold King!
They try to sneak down the tunnel again, failing miserably, and when they enter the room no one mentions actively searching, so the kobolds easily "outstealth" their passive checks. Ix is on the ceiling, and Meepo and Pik are both crouched in the pile of furs. Ix launches a Death From Above at Corrin during the surprise round, who cheeses me off by calling out Second Chance! to my natural 20. Did I mention I'm only friends with him because I feel sorry for how ugly he is? Anyway Ix still hits, then the paladin eats a crossbow bolt from Meepo, as and a charge from Pik misses.
The first round sees them all get another attack (terrible initiative again) and Corrin drops to Ix's next bite, then the spider leaps across the room. The party floods in and actually applies the beatdown to the bad guys after that, and soon the spider is riddled with arrows and on fire, while Pik is grabbing at a sucking axe-wound as he gurgles his dying breath, and Meepo decides to give up. Kathra (who has blown and action point and missed 3 times in a row, more furious with each miss) manages to stop the killing blow and they take him prisoner. We roleplayed the interrogation (and I REALLY wish I had done a skill challenge instead (like 3 success before 2 failure) to get info from him, but I didn't think about it in time, so I didn't do it.
Anyway, they rest up, Corrin and Kathra are down several surges and they take Meepo prisoner! They refuse to let him go, insisting he take them to the "hobbos", quietly. Planning to run away at first chance, Meepo agrees--and might even get revenge!
Bandit Leaders
As they file up the passage, ready to kill Meepo for the slightest wrong step (the wizard actually wore Meepo's crown, saying he was king now) they round the corner, and Meepo screams out a warning to the hobgoblin and makes a break for it. With a 26 initiative, he was just too fast for them to stop him! Meepo runs up to the hobgoblins, who were already ready for a fight, and makes it all the way to the table (since Varkaze is gone, this worked out) and scoops up a handily available weapon.
The battle is brutal and fun. The paladin and fighter lock up with the soldiers, and the fighter used Tide of Iron (and the paladin his mark) to force the soldiers to break up their phalanx, and the strikers put on the firepower. The wizard was dropping force orbs and scorching bursts like mad, wearing them all down, but ate some fire from the archer in return. The cleric stepped up and granted AC bonuses to the wizard, as did the paladin on a later turn, while the warlock and ranger drilled Meepo, literally ignoring the archer in their rage. This was the most one-sided fight, really. One of the soldiers landed a nasty hit (and one crit was negated by that bastard child friend of mine yelling out, "Second Chance!), but really the encounter was weak with Varkaze gone. They earned it though, so I let them maul the hobbos. They all mentioned that would have been alot harder with Varkaze there.
So the wizard is sure to jam a spear into Meepo in a humiliating fashion as a punishment for his soul to see on the way to the afterlife, and they collect the raiding plans and rest for a moment. Having used two daily powers, they are considering resting, and I mention that according to the plans, there may be a large raiding force coming back, soon--but they decide to risk it (and my buddy the paladin wasn't talking them out of it, knowing what's coming)--and I look at the clock. I want to get through the dragon fight entirely, so I roll a bunch of 20s (which they just see a shadow of, knowing a rolled a lot) and tell them the patrol doesn't return. They all sighed with relief, so I guess the purpose was served.
Nightscale
They move into Nightscale's layer, only one player knowing what was going to happen. I let them move about the chamber and describe what they are doing, and the paladin moves his halfling to the other side of the room, at the top of the ledge. "Eh... I'm thinking, let's not move farther than you can in one turn, so that I can take care of what everyone is doing meanwhile." He chuckles, knowing what is coming, and even walks up to the water's edge and says, "Well I guess I could make it here if I was heading to the ledge." Nice of him to play along. The rest of the party spreads out a little bit, searching for stuff, looking at the runes and lichen, etc. Then they notice I've locked their tokens in place and they can't move them.
"I think we're in trouble..." says one of them, "I can't move my token." Then I put that LARGE dragon token on the map, popping out of the water 1 square between her and the paladin, and heard the collective panic of them all as they saw it.
I love this game for moments like that.
What followed that moment was the coolest dragonfight I've had in this game yet. I'll try and hit the fight from Nightscale's perspective (note that I adjusted her defenses down by 2, from Mike Mearls mention they were too high):
She breaths acid on the surprise round, only catching the paladin in the blast, who takes almost max damage but saves the acid on his turn (still... like 18 from the breath weapon!) then all hell breaks loose. I rolled terrible for her initiative and everyone goes before her. The paladin, cleric, and ranger blow action points and daily powers in the first round, and Nightscale is missing something like 80 health after the first round! She drops darkness and dives back down into the water, and the party quickly spreads out so she can't catch them all again with her breath. I give them perception checks as they get in sight of the water to spot her silouhette, and the ranger spots her as he clears the side of the darkness. They all ready actions to attack the moment she surfaces.
She comes up to eat a Scorching Burst (11 square range was needed), a Careful Shot, a Lance of Faith, and a Tide of Iron. The fighter missed again (horrible rolls the whole fight) and the dragon was laying down the damage again, but taking a TON in return. Her breath weapon recharged and she put down another blast, severely wounding the wizard and paladin, but the cleric managed to keep the wizard alive long enough to save, and Corrin shook off the acid again, making a terrific leap over the deeper water to nail the dragon again, re-establishing his mark (I've ruled that if you don't make a melee attack on your mark by the end of your next turn, it fades), as the cleric tops him off again.
At this point, the warlock nails Nightscale with her daily, and slides the dragon away from Corrin (who is hurting badly after a bite, again) and the wizard lands SLEEP. This pretty much ends it for the dragon, who is now past 200 damage (the bloodied breath did almost no good) and she fails her save against the sleep! As the fighter had not used her daily yet, those before her on initiative all delayed (the paladin patching himself up again) and Kathra executed a Brute Strike on a helpless target (instant critical hit)!
So thirty-five damage later, Nightscale finally gets to act, and has just been torn to shreds. I'm actually not sure if she can make it out of the cave now. She manages to take off (as she's flanked by the fighter and paladin finally) with the fighter missing (she would have died for sure, otherwise) and beats her wings to fly out of the cave. With the warlock in the way (she was up there) I have the dragon bullrush with a +4 from size, and roll a 1 (warlock got 19). Blow an action point and repeat, knocking the warlock aside and flying up the tunnel--but gave the party one round of attacks, as there was not enough movement to start going up yet!
They got her down to 18 hit points, then she flew 14 squares up, and the only person with line of sight (the warlock) was out of range.
It was truly an awesome fight, and an awesome game altogether.
The anti-4E said he is one of the converted masses, and wants in the next fan demo. Heh. Everyone loved the game, everyone is excited about 4E, and we spent the next 30 minutes talking about behind the scenes stuff (I kept my dice revealed to the players, as half of them are DMs) like encounter balancing, condition tracking, and how it compared to 3.5, etceteras. This was probably the most fun I've had running this adventure yet, and the whole adventure was 5 hours from fart to flush!
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