D&D 4E Running Commentary on Rel's 4e Campaign (Complete 8/2/10)
- Thread starter Rel
- Start date
Celebrim
Legend
Indeed. Earlier when I offered praise, it was more along the lines of 'That was really cool (but I've been that cool occassionally)'.
However, that has to be the coolest handling of a PC death I've ever encountered, and I'm shamelessly yoinking the whole idea and putting it neatly away in my stockpile of DM tools.
Bravo, indeed.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
Thanks for the kind words. It's been a crazy but fun week with me taking my daughter off camping for a couple days so I've not made the progress I'd have though on catchin up here. But I should have a chance to post something tomorrow at some point.
I note that the thing with Zhomkar raising Zanne kind of fell into my lap. It was one of those moments that I said, "Hmm. I hate that this PC had to die but boy does this work out just perfectly." That character had a quest to meet up with Zhomkar since Night 1 of the campaign so I liked that I was able to accomplish that in the same stroke.
Oh and Piratecat, Sinking City in Opkhar is a bit of an homage to Eversink so thanks goes partly to you for the inspiration.
I note that the thing with Zhomkar raising Zanne kind of fell into my lap. It was one of those moments that I said, "Hmm. I hate that this PC had to die but boy does this work out just perfectly." That character had a quest to meet up with Zhomkar since Night 1 of the campaign so I liked that I was able to accomplish that in the same stroke.
Oh and Piratecat, Sinking City in Opkhar is a bit of an homage to Eversink so thanks goes partly to you for the inspiration.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
...With hunger flashing in her eyes (and not the good kind) the woman reached out to King Klo of Opkhar and her arm became a cluster of scarab beetles that began to chew and bite the king before anyone could react. Then pandemonium broke out.
Lord Harrix backed away from the monstrosity and began edging his way toward the door to the kitchen hallway. The Royal Guards closed ranks to protect their king. Astavian climbed onto the table and made a running dive to try and tackle the bug-woman away from the king and knocked her down into Zanne. He and Zanne discovered that the beetles that apparently made up this woman were not limited to biting the king. The bug-woman stood and clapped her hands together with a shout, sending out a wave of pacification that left nearly everyone in the room stunned.
Lord Harrix recovered and dashed out of the room with Eshik close behind. Astavian and Zanne also recovered quickly and focused their attacks on the bug-woman trying to get her to loose her grasp on the king. It took Mialain several rounds to skake off the Stun.
One after the other the Royal Guards fell to the bug-woman's attacks or simply the blanket of scarab beetles that bit anything that got close to her. Zanne and Astavian sent blow after blow into her amorphous form but most seemed to do little harm to her. She suffered more from ignoring the Divine Challenge of Astavian. They did manage to usher the king into the kitchen hallway at one point and slam the door closed, ceasing her attack upon him for a moment.
Meanwhile Eshik chased Lord Harrix down the hall and around a corner. He was followed closely by one of the Royal Guards bent on letting neither Eshik nor Lord Harrix escape. Eshik rounded a corner a few steps ahead of the guard and found himself face to face with Lord Harrix. However a moment later he was staring into his own face as Lord Harrix changed form to look exactly like Eshik and plunged a dagger into his leg. The guard came around the corner to find two identical Dragonborn facing off against each other. However he paused a moment and saw that one was armed only with a dagger while the other held a pair of swords that he'd noted during the dinner. Eshik slowed "Lord Harrix's" escape with his Hunter's Bear Trap and the Royal Guard charged him and felled the changeling with his halberd.
Back outside the dining hall the bug-woman dissolved into a swarm of beetles again and scurried under the door the PC's had closed and resumed her attack on the king. The elderly king was clearly about to succumb to these wounds when Mialain unleashed her Beacon of Hope and provided him some healing. It was not enough however and the bug-woman's next attack dropped the king to the floor, mortally wounded. Zanne, Astavian and the guards unleashed a torrent of damage upon her however, including Zanne focusing on spreading out her Flames of Phlegethos to strike a more diffuse area. They weren't sure if this destroyed her but it did send the remaining beetles scurrying under doorways and down sewer drains.
Mialain shoved her way past the guards and knelt at the king's side. She mustered as much of Melora's power as she could and channelled it all into the king. He drew a ragged breath and opened his green eyes.
As this was happening Eshik was fighting his own battle with death. He wanted the so-called Lord Harrix for questioning and frantically worked to patch the wounds he and the guard had inflicted on the changeling. Just as he was certain the creature was going to die he managed to patch the last of the wounds and stabilize it. It's facial features relaxed and assumed the form of a strange looking female with pale skin and eyes.
The PC's were all placed in a storeroom for questioning by the Captain of the Royal Guard. Their story checked out however and they had clearly acted to save the king's life when given the chance. Finally they were brought before the king so that he could privately thank them. It was then that they noticed that the king's eyes were not the same color as they were at dinner and were now green. The king told Mialain that "whatever she did to bring him back left him with these new eyes". He wasn't all that happy to have his appearance changed like that but he could hardly complain about her saving his life, no matter the side effects. As he finished thanking them a scream rang out through the New Palace.
They all ran toward its source: The cell where the changeling was being kept. They burst in to find her bloody and partly consumed corpse laying on the floor near the cot. A scarab beetled scurred down the tiny drain in the center of the room as they saw the letters "A C" painted on the wall in blood near the changeling's lifeless hand...
*******
So if you haven't figured it out by now then you've not been reading the Monster Manual. This was a Lamia that I'd de-leveled to be a 7th level Elite Controller. If that sounds like a tough fight for four 2nd level PC's then you are correct. Then consider that Eshik missed nearly the entire thing while chasing Lord Harrix. Mitigating that somewhat was the fact that she was attacking the king nearly the entire time and they also had the help of the Royal Guards. The Guards were effectively 5th level Minions but (although I didn't plan this in advance) they were using reach weapons so they usually stayed out of range of her 5' radius swarm damage.
Another thing that made the fight tough was that Mialain didn't make the save vs. Stun for four rounds. But when she recovered she poured out gobs of healing, especially there at the end with the king. I had ruled that, being an old man, he wasn't all that durable and had only one Death Save he could fail before dying. But Mialain dumped so much healing into him in one round (Melora's Tide + Healing Word + a Heal Check, all under the effects of a Beacon of Hope) that he was nearly at full hit points when she was done with him.
Astavian probably did most of the damage to the Lamia by virtue of her ignoring his Divine Challenge round after round. He got in some nice shots with the greatsword as well but the Lamia reduced those by half. Same with most of Zanne's attacks but she did Power Stunt to turn her Flames of Phlegethos into an area attack spell (that still only hit the Lamia) so it did full damage and sent her fleeing (besides it looked like the king was dead anyway).
Props to Eshik for almost single-handedly defeating the doppelganger and then single-handedly saving her from dying. Eshik is not great at Healing and she was one death save away from biting the dust when he rolled well enough to stabilize her.
A quick note about the doppelganger who had been with the group since the start of the campaign: I had a tougher time than I originally envisioned portraying this NPC. The problem was that I wanted to try and give a few clues as to the fact that "Lord Harrix" was not who he seemed to be without making it blatant. That was tough because during fights I usually had the NPC fade into the background and the PC's seldom talked to the aloof Lord Harrix otherwise (this aloof, "don't talk to me unless necessary" attitude was intentional by the doppelganger who didn't want to get into any lengthy Q&A sessions that could reveal its identity). Thanks go to my friend Speaks With Stone (who isn't playing this campaign) for his idea to have Lord Harrix perform beyond expectations in some fight or other. In the prison mines he managed to down a couple of the Mist Demons that had teleported their way past the party. The PC's chalked that up to the fact that they were wounded anyway and he just "got lucky". But at least I did my due dilligence for planting a seed of doubt. I also think there was a dose of "something isn't quite right with this guy but my character has no reason to suspect him too strongly" roleplaying by the players so kudos for that as well.
The cryptic message in blood on the cell wall could mean a lot of things but most of the group thought it referred to the Arcanon Confederacy, a neighboring, expansionist magocracy. I guess we'll see...
(I'll be posting one more update sometime over the weekend covering the events of last session.)
Lord Harrix backed away from the monstrosity and began edging his way toward the door to the kitchen hallway. The Royal Guards closed ranks to protect their king. Astavian climbed onto the table and made a running dive to try and tackle the bug-woman away from the king and knocked her down into Zanne. He and Zanne discovered that the beetles that apparently made up this woman were not limited to biting the king. The bug-woman stood and clapped her hands together with a shout, sending out a wave of pacification that left nearly everyone in the room stunned.
Lord Harrix recovered and dashed out of the room with Eshik close behind. Astavian and Zanne also recovered quickly and focused their attacks on the bug-woman trying to get her to loose her grasp on the king. It took Mialain several rounds to skake off the Stun.
One after the other the Royal Guards fell to the bug-woman's attacks or simply the blanket of scarab beetles that bit anything that got close to her. Zanne and Astavian sent blow after blow into her amorphous form but most seemed to do little harm to her. She suffered more from ignoring the Divine Challenge of Astavian. They did manage to usher the king into the kitchen hallway at one point and slam the door closed, ceasing her attack upon him for a moment.
Meanwhile Eshik chased Lord Harrix down the hall and around a corner. He was followed closely by one of the Royal Guards bent on letting neither Eshik nor Lord Harrix escape. Eshik rounded a corner a few steps ahead of the guard and found himself face to face with Lord Harrix. However a moment later he was staring into his own face as Lord Harrix changed form to look exactly like Eshik and plunged a dagger into his leg. The guard came around the corner to find two identical Dragonborn facing off against each other. However he paused a moment and saw that one was armed only with a dagger while the other held a pair of swords that he'd noted during the dinner. Eshik slowed "Lord Harrix's" escape with his Hunter's Bear Trap and the Royal Guard charged him and felled the changeling with his halberd.
Back outside the dining hall the bug-woman dissolved into a swarm of beetles again and scurried under the door the PC's had closed and resumed her attack on the king. The elderly king was clearly about to succumb to these wounds when Mialain unleashed her Beacon of Hope and provided him some healing. It was not enough however and the bug-woman's next attack dropped the king to the floor, mortally wounded. Zanne, Astavian and the guards unleashed a torrent of damage upon her however, including Zanne focusing on spreading out her Flames of Phlegethos to strike a more diffuse area. They weren't sure if this destroyed her but it did send the remaining beetles scurrying under doorways and down sewer drains.
Mialain shoved her way past the guards and knelt at the king's side. She mustered as much of Melora's power as she could and channelled it all into the king. He drew a ragged breath and opened his green eyes.
As this was happening Eshik was fighting his own battle with death. He wanted the so-called Lord Harrix for questioning and frantically worked to patch the wounds he and the guard had inflicted on the changeling. Just as he was certain the creature was going to die he managed to patch the last of the wounds and stabilize it. It's facial features relaxed and assumed the form of a strange looking female with pale skin and eyes.
The PC's were all placed in a storeroom for questioning by the Captain of the Royal Guard. Their story checked out however and they had clearly acted to save the king's life when given the chance. Finally they were brought before the king so that he could privately thank them. It was then that they noticed that the king's eyes were not the same color as they were at dinner and were now green. The king told Mialain that "whatever she did to bring him back left him with these new eyes". He wasn't all that happy to have his appearance changed like that but he could hardly complain about her saving his life, no matter the side effects. As he finished thanking them a scream rang out through the New Palace.
They all ran toward its source: The cell where the changeling was being kept. They burst in to find her bloody and partly consumed corpse laying on the floor near the cot. A scarab beetled scurred down the tiny drain in the center of the room as they saw the letters "A C" painted on the wall in blood near the changeling's lifeless hand...
*******
So if you haven't figured it out by now then you've not been reading the Monster Manual. This was a Lamia that I'd de-leveled to be a 7th level Elite Controller. If that sounds like a tough fight for four 2nd level PC's then you are correct. Then consider that Eshik missed nearly the entire thing while chasing Lord Harrix. Mitigating that somewhat was the fact that she was attacking the king nearly the entire time and they also had the help of the Royal Guards. The Guards were effectively 5th level Minions but (although I didn't plan this in advance) they were using reach weapons so they usually stayed out of range of her 5' radius swarm damage.
Another thing that made the fight tough was that Mialain didn't make the save vs. Stun for four rounds. But when she recovered she poured out gobs of healing, especially there at the end with the king. I had ruled that, being an old man, he wasn't all that durable and had only one Death Save he could fail before dying. But Mialain dumped so much healing into him in one round (Melora's Tide + Healing Word + a Heal Check, all under the effects of a Beacon of Hope) that he was nearly at full hit points when she was done with him.
Astavian probably did most of the damage to the Lamia by virtue of her ignoring his Divine Challenge round after round. He got in some nice shots with the greatsword as well but the Lamia reduced those by half. Same with most of Zanne's attacks but she did Power Stunt to turn her Flames of Phlegethos into an area attack spell (that still only hit the Lamia) so it did full damage and sent her fleeing (besides it looked like the king was dead anyway).
Props to Eshik for almost single-handedly defeating the doppelganger and then single-handedly saving her from dying. Eshik is not great at Healing and she was one death save away from biting the dust when he rolled well enough to stabilize her.
A quick note about the doppelganger who had been with the group since the start of the campaign: I had a tougher time than I originally envisioned portraying this NPC. The problem was that I wanted to try and give a few clues as to the fact that "Lord Harrix" was not who he seemed to be without making it blatant. That was tough because during fights I usually had the NPC fade into the background and the PC's seldom talked to the aloof Lord Harrix otherwise (this aloof, "don't talk to me unless necessary" attitude was intentional by the doppelganger who didn't want to get into any lengthy Q&A sessions that could reveal its identity). Thanks go to my friend Speaks With Stone (who isn't playing this campaign) for his idea to have Lord Harrix perform beyond expectations in some fight or other. In the prison mines he managed to down a couple of the Mist Demons that had teleported their way past the party. The PC's chalked that up to the fact that they were wounded anyway and he just "got lucky". But at least I did my due dilligence for planting a seed of doubt. I also think there was a dose of "something isn't quite right with this guy but my character has no reason to suspect him too strongly" roleplaying by the players so kudos for that as well.
The cryptic message in blood on the cell wall could mean a lot of things but most of the group thought it referred to the Arcanon Confederacy, a neighboring, expansionist magocracy. I guess we'll see...
(I'll be posting one more update sometime over the weekend covering the events of last session.)
Joshua Randall
Legend
So is the king now a doppleganger or lamia, too? Or is the eye-color change on the up-and-up?
Rel
Liquid Awesome
Yeah there was some confusion over this among the players as well. It appears that the cause of King Klo's eye color change was from the power of Mialain's healing (she worships the nature goddess) that brought him back from the brink of death. Because of the nature of divinity and magic in my campaign world, little stuff like that happens.
Joshua Randall
Legend
Hmm. That sounds a bit fishy to me.
I've got my eye on you, Rel, if that is your real name.
Get it, "eye on you"? Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all night. Try the veal; tip your waitress.
I've got my eye on you, Rel, if that is your real name.
Get it, "eye on you"? Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all night. Try the veal; tip your waitress.
esparkhu
First Post
Prep Time?
I also DM and appreciate this thread. I wanted to let you know I like the way you explain your goals for future sessions and the thought process about setting up the encounters. It has given me a few ideas or my game. Thanks for doing this.
Also, I have a question. How much time do you spend prepping? It seems like you do quite a bit of re-skinning and adjusting the level of the monsters, in addition to all the story and world building. I feel like I put alot of time and effort into my game, but don't do nearly so much monster modification.
I also DM and appreciate this thread. I wanted to let you know I like the way you explain your goals for future sessions and the thought process about setting up the encounters. It has given me a few ideas or my game. Thanks for doing this.
Also, I have a question. How much time do you spend prepping? It seems like you do quite a bit of re-skinning and adjusting the level of the monsters, in addition to all the story and world building. I feel like I put alot of time and effort into my game, but don't do nearly so much monster modification.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
Hey, thanks for dropping in. I'm really glad you find the thread useful. That is kinda the whole point.
As far as my prep time, there are two broad-brush answers, neither of which is very useful. One is "It varies a lot." and the other is "It depends on what you mean by 'prepping'."
I think about my games quite a bit. In the shower, driving places, when talking to friends in Chat at CM. It's one of the things that I enjoy about running a game that it gives me something interesting to think about. I can't guess at how many hours a week I spend doing that. But I'm not sure I count that as prep time.
In terms of the nuts and bolts of getting the game ready, I spend more time on things like player handouts, writing down magic items on notecards and things of that nature than I do messing with monster stats. I have done a fair bit of reskinning and adjusting stats. But with the Compendium this is really no big deal in my opinion.
When I have an idea for a monster I usually do a quick search for some general term that I think will get me close to my concept. That pulls up a list of baddies. I take a minute or two skimming through them to pick one that I like. Then I simply cut and paste that into Word, edit any parts that I want to change, and print that sucker out. Then I put it in a notebook where I keep all the monsters for my campaign and I'm done. I'd guess that I never spend more than an hour on that part of the prep and it's probably less than 30 minutes most of the time.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
Ok so let me see if I can catch up before our session tomorrow...
First, as I think I've mentioned before, I try and take care of a lot of the expositional stuff between sessions by e-mail or in our ENW group. This helps set up the action in the session with minimal delays. Not to say that we try and minimize the roleplaying. Just take care of some of the minor stuff outside the session.
I failed to manage any of that before last session. Very busy work week, cut short by me driving up to DC for the (awesome) DC Game Day. Then I had my daughter all day on Monday so I didn't get any of that stuff out of the way. Hardly the end of the world but I knew it would take a bit of a toll on the pacing.
Anyway, things led off with a meeting with Zhomkar. Turns out that Zhomkar is persona non grata in Opkhar now because his "diversion" took the lives of a couple of the royal guards that he was trying to draw away to let Zanne inside the New Palace to warn the king about the changeling. As a result Zhomkar asked the PC's to introduce him to Tornear because he wanted the goblin airship captain to give him a lift back to Semma. Zhomkar reasoned that, if the real Lord Harrix was killed in Semma and the "gift" substituted for the Lamia then the gift must have been stashed in Semma somewhere. He intended to go find it if possible. In any event he wanted to carry word of recent events back to Vond.
The PC's made the introduction and Zhomkar in turn paid Harrix's remaining debt to Tornear. He also copied down a few rituals to give to Mialain and gave the PC's some money and told them to buy themselves some decent clothes because they'd gotten a summons to come before King Klo at the New Palace. The PC's did this, their old clothes having become quite worn in their various adventures.
King Klo received them warmly and thanked them in front of the court, giving them each a gift of a magic item. Astavian got a Horned Helm, Zanne got some Catstep Boots, Eshik got a Belt of Vigor and Mialain got an Amulet of Health (modified version that protects vs. Mist rather than Poison). Afterwards there was a private reception at which the PC's noticed the gryphon-riding Black Moon guy they had fought on the bridge and learned that his name was Rhazul. The didn't see what precipitated it but the did see him leave in a bit of a hurry. Astavian badly failed a diplomacy check to inquire about Rhazul's possible connection to the Black Moon and came just short of offending the king. The PC's were invited to stay in the New Palace for as long as they were in Opkhar.
That brought up the notion of how long they DID want to stay in Opkhar. It was generally agreed that they wanted to go back to try and confront "Blackbreather" the dragon they had fought. Also of interest was the purple, metallic powder they'd found in the Black Moon outpost. Zhomkar had told them that their best bet for an answer on that would be the Dwarves of Karak Tor to the east. But in order to get to either of those locations they would need aerial transport. Tornear would be their best option for that as he already knew how to get to the dragon plateau. But Tornear was tied up for the moment hoping to profit by helping ferry goods back and forth to Semma since the bridge was out. So they had a bit of time to kill.
A course of action suggested itself in the form of the High Priest of the Dweller, the state religion of Opkhar. He came to Mialain and asked her about the glass book she carried that glowed so brightly sometimes. There was a place in the nearby coal mines that had been discovered long ago that came to be known as "The Maw of the Dweller". It was a tunnel that led deeper into the plateau but none who had ever ventured there had returned to tell the tale. But their holy book said that "only those who walk in the light of the sun will be spared" or something like that (the exact translation was a bit unclear). Turned out that some of the coal miners had gone missing in that part of the mines recently and now all of the coal miners were effectively "on strike", fearing to venture into the mines. King Klo finally ordered some of his royal guards into the mines to discover what was causing the miners to disappear. They had not returned either. The PC's offered to go in and check things out.
They were given directions and found a pulley lift that could lower them down into the shaft that was clearly labelled significantly in words the PC's couldn't understand. Down they went. The bottom was not only dark but...wrong somehow. A feeling similar to that inside the desecrated Temple of Pelor lingered there. This malignance began to settle into the PC's as soon as they got there. Mialain drew out the Book of Glass and it glowed as bright as the sun, banishing the darkness and evil. They found a dirty stream flowing with sludgy water full of coal dust. Following it they discovered an underground lake.
Eshik spotted something in the water that turned out to be an iron ring with a chain extending from it. But before he could fully examine it a cold hand shot from the water to grab him on the wrist. Zombies began to emerge from the lake in a wide arc and the battle was joined. They came wave after wave and, during the fight, a pair of bounding ghouls moved in to flank them. When the dust settled they had destroyed over a dozen of the zombies and sent the ghouls fleeing.
But something grabbed Zanne's attention about the ghouls. They seemed familiar somehow and she finally made the connection that they were the same pair of male slaves they had rescued from the dragon plateau. Last the party knew those men had planned to get jobs working in the coal mines. They followed where the ghouls had fled and discovered a cave some 30 feet off the floor. Yelling from below they managed to coax one of them to the cave entrance. All it would say was "The taste. Once you taste that taste..."
And that's where we wrapped up the session last week.
From a mechanics standpoint there isn't a whole lot to comment on this session except to say that 4e REALLY supports my typical encounter design style, which could best be described as "throw the PC's in over their head, certain that they will figure out a way to overcome terrible odds". I threw 14 level 2 zombies and 2 level 5 ghouls at a party of 4 3rd level PC's. And they did fine! Nobody even used a Second Wind! I was impressed.
More exploration of these caves coming up this week.
First, as I think I've mentioned before, I try and take care of a lot of the expositional stuff between sessions by e-mail or in our ENW group. This helps set up the action in the session with minimal delays. Not to say that we try and minimize the roleplaying. Just take care of some of the minor stuff outside the session.
I failed to manage any of that before last session. Very busy work week, cut short by me driving up to DC for the (awesome) DC Game Day. Then I had my daughter all day on Monday so I didn't get any of that stuff out of the way. Hardly the end of the world but I knew it would take a bit of a toll on the pacing.
Anyway, things led off with a meeting with Zhomkar. Turns out that Zhomkar is persona non grata in Opkhar now because his "diversion" took the lives of a couple of the royal guards that he was trying to draw away to let Zanne inside the New Palace to warn the king about the changeling. As a result Zhomkar asked the PC's to introduce him to Tornear because he wanted the goblin airship captain to give him a lift back to Semma. Zhomkar reasoned that, if the real Lord Harrix was killed in Semma and the "gift" substituted for the Lamia then the gift must have been stashed in Semma somewhere. He intended to go find it if possible. In any event he wanted to carry word of recent events back to Vond.
The PC's made the introduction and Zhomkar in turn paid Harrix's remaining debt to Tornear. He also copied down a few rituals to give to Mialain and gave the PC's some money and told them to buy themselves some decent clothes because they'd gotten a summons to come before King Klo at the New Palace. The PC's did this, their old clothes having become quite worn in their various adventures.
King Klo received them warmly and thanked them in front of the court, giving them each a gift of a magic item. Astavian got a Horned Helm, Zanne got some Catstep Boots, Eshik got a Belt of Vigor and Mialain got an Amulet of Health (modified version that protects vs. Mist rather than Poison). Afterwards there was a private reception at which the PC's noticed the gryphon-riding Black Moon guy they had fought on the bridge and learned that his name was Rhazul. The didn't see what precipitated it but the did see him leave in a bit of a hurry. Astavian badly failed a diplomacy check to inquire about Rhazul's possible connection to the Black Moon and came just short of offending the king. The PC's were invited to stay in the New Palace for as long as they were in Opkhar.
That brought up the notion of how long they DID want to stay in Opkhar. It was generally agreed that they wanted to go back to try and confront "Blackbreather" the dragon they had fought. Also of interest was the purple, metallic powder they'd found in the Black Moon outpost. Zhomkar had told them that their best bet for an answer on that would be the Dwarves of Karak Tor to the east. But in order to get to either of those locations they would need aerial transport. Tornear would be their best option for that as he already knew how to get to the dragon plateau. But Tornear was tied up for the moment hoping to profit by helping ferry goods back and forth to Semma since the bridge was out. So they had a bit of time to kill.
A course of action suggested itself in the form of the High Priest of the Dweller, the state religion of Opkhar. He came to Mialain and asked her about the glass book she carried that glowed so brightly sometimes. There was a place in the nearby coal mines that had been discovered long ago that came to be known as "The Maw of the Dweller". It was a tunnel that led deeper into the plateau but none who had ever ventured there had returned to tell the tale. But their holy book said that "only those who walk in the light of the sun will be spared" or something like that (the exact translation was a bit unclear). Turned out that some of the coal miners had gone missing in that part of the mines recently and now all of the coal miners were effectively "on strike", fearing to venture into the mines. King Klo finally ordered some of his royal guards into the mines to discover what was causing the miners to disappear. They had not returned either. The PC's offered to go in and check things out.
They were given directions and found a pulley lift that could lower them down into the shaft that was clearly labelled significantly in words the PC's couldn't understand. Down they went. The bottom was not only dark but...wrong somehow. A feeling similar to that inside the desecrated Temple of Pelor lingered there. This malignance began to settle into the PC's as soon as they got there. Mialain drew out the Book of Glass and it glowed as bright as the sun, banishing the darkness and evil. They found a dirty stream flowing with sludgy water full of coal dust. Following it they discovered an underground lake.
Eshik spotted something in the water that turned out to be an iron ring with a chain extending from it. But before he could fully examine it a cold hand shot from the water to grab him on the wrist. Zombies began to emerge from the lake in a wide arc and the battle was joined. They came wave after wave and, during the fight, a pair of bounding ghouls moved in to flank them. When the dust settled they had destroyed over a dozen of the zombies and sent the ghouls fleeing.
But something grabbed Zanne's attention about the ghouls. They seemed familiar somehow and she finally made the connection that they were the same pair of male slaves they had rescued from the dragon plateau. Last the party knew those men had planned to get jobs working in the coal mines. They followed where the ghouls had fled and discovered a cave some 30 feet off the floor. Yelling from below they managed to coax one of them to the cave entrance. All it would say was "The taste. Once you taste that taste..."
And that's where we wrapped up the session last week.
From a mechanics standpoint there isn't a whole lot to comment on this session except to say that 4e REALLY supports my typical encounter design style, which could best be described as "throw the PC's in over their head, certain that they will figure out a way to overcome terrible odds". I threw 14 level 2 zombies and 2 level 5 ghouls at a party of 4 3rd level PC's. And they did fine! Nobody even used a Second Wind! I was impressed.
More exploration of these caves coming up this week.
