The Second Age [4e PoL campaign]

[Jack99]

Just want to tell you how much I'm enjoying reading this. I'm very new to D&D, but this is still really fun to read.

I loved your Epic Virgin thread too, but this is even better since I've been reading it from the beginning.

I am glad you enjoy it. While the primary purpose of the writeup is for my own reflective process, there is of course a secondary purpose of helping others to know what to do (or what not to do) based on my observations.

We didn't play on Tuesday, sadly. 2 were sick, 1 had a family-birthday to attend to and one player had just told me he needed to take a break as work and family are extra demanding atm. Luckily it is not often we have to cancel, but it does happen. Unfortunately it will happen again soon, as I have a 1-week conference in February. I tried to convince my players to drive all the way over to my hotel (a couple of hours) and play, but they didn't bite

Indeed, nice write up. Secret Death Saves is and interesting rule. Its certainly more in keeping with the story. Our table treats those rolls like Vegas, they're all big a public!

Yes, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the way you run the game. In fact, I agree that it could create some great moments. Unfortunately my players have just acknowledged that they are incapable of not meta-gaming when it comes to how close a character is to death, so the info gets abused if available to all.

 

[Jack99]

Session 3

We had some personnel changes - Lucan, or rather the guy playing Lucan has announced that he is too busy to play for a while (job and family stressing him a tad too much), so we will (only) be 5 players when all are present. Also, the guy playing Azul, the paladin, is very unhappy about the class and has asked to switch to fighter. Since he is still very new to the game, I allowed him just to roll a new character and since we just started the campaign, we just did as if it had been him (the new character) all along.

New character: Paavu, Goliath Fighter (Twohander)

Sonday 19th Zeptambor, Year 599 (continued)
After having killed the kobolds at the river, the party continued into the forest, following more kobold tracks.

After an hour or so, they were ambushed. Kavaki found himself dangling 20 ft above ground, his foot caught in a snare for almost the entire combat. The kobolds, who were quick on their feet and showed a tendency to focus their "firepower", did cause the party quite a few problems. Especially Velkin got a sound beating, being out for counting twice. But in the end, even the superior tactics and breath weapon of the kobold tribe were no match for our heroes.

[sblock=Thoughts]This was a pretty funny fight, even though it was easy. Mostly due to the snare-trap which left the warden dangling 20' above ground for most of it. And when he finally got out, he fell to the ground for a solid 17 damage. Quite effective that trap.
[sblock=Snare Trap]
Snare
Trap
Level 2 Lurker
A cunningly hidden loop of rope is in the undergrowth, ready to snare the unwary and hoist them feet first.When activated, it tightens around a creature’s foot and release a small tree to pull up the snared creature into the air.
Perception DC 18: The character notices the loop of rope hidden on the ground.
Nature DC 22: The character notices the bent tree or branch that provides the “spring” for the snare.
Trigger: The snare attacks when a creature enters the trap’s square.
Attack: Opportunity Action Melee
Target: The creature that triggered the trap.
Attack: +7 vs. Reflex
Hit: the target is restrained. While restrained, the target is suspended 20 feet above ground and upside down. Aftereffect The target takes 2d10 falling damage and is knocked prone.
Countermeasures:
Acrobatics DC 16 or Athletics DC 16: A restrained target can use a successful escape action check to free themself.
A restrained target or another creature within range can attack the snare’s rope (AC /Reflex 10, Fortitude 5; hp 10, vulnerable 5 fire). The restrained target is knocked prone after the rope is destroyed.[/sblock][/sblock]

After the fight, the party talked a bit about going on, but opted to find a safe spot and huddle up, as several (Velkin) were quite exhausted even though it was still relatively early in the day (mid-afternoon). Kavaki found a place for the party and they settled in.

During diner, the party was surprised. Noone heard anything, but luckily for them, it was merely a lone man called Jeremy, a messenger who had lost his way in the forest and stumbled upon their camp. The party was very suspicious at first, but since Jeremy answered all their questions to their satisfaction, no one could find a good reason why they should turn down his request to share their camp-fire. As it turns out, Jeremy was a fun fellow with a lot of good stories, and with him came a batch of Ebon Coffee, arguably the best coffee of Draegor.
[sblock=Thoughts]Another rolled random encounter, which turned out to be a non-hostile NPC. Which was my first gaffe of the night. Since they were in the hex of the kobold camp, they should, by the guidelines I had decided upon before starting the campaign, have run into a guard patrol or such thing, instead of something from the random encounter table. Hopefully I will remember the next time this happens. Instead, I had to figure out something (I should really start preparing a couple of 4 random encounters, just to have something better than I can make up on the spot) and it turned out to be Jeremy, who luckily did act suspiciously enough for the players to notice, without setting off their alarms completely. So, for now he is just a contact, but I am definitely going to use him somehow. No clue as of how, yet.[/sblock]

Mansday 20th Zeptambor, Year 599
The next morning, the party and Jeremy parted ways. He was heading for Fallcrest, while they were headed deeper into the forest in search of those pesky kobolds.

And it wouldn't be long before the party found them. A couple of hours later, the heroes stumbled upon what looked like a small kobold camp. 5 tents spread out on a very steep slope up a 60 rock protruding from the ground, on 3 different levels. One of the levels also had what looked like a black obsidian octagon 10' high and 3' wide.

The party started debating what to do, when one of the kobolds started to move towards the place where they were hiding. Without thought, they all crashed through the bushes and "opened fire" on the poor innocent () kobolds. A few kobolds went down, but more kept coming. It certainly looked as if it might be a hard battle. Then, out of the top tent, came a small green dragon, roughly the size of a boar. It hissed and roared, claiming they would all die for interfering with it's plans, then it took wings and flew by the heroes and breathed it's poisonous breath upon them, severely wounding several, turning the battle against the party.

Tokiel slowed down the dragon, while Velkin forced it down to the ground, where Garel-Kai and Paaku could get to it (Kavaki was holding off 3 kobolds up the slopes, far away). Unfortunately, the dragon, despite it sized, proved to be a very dangerous opponent. First Velkin went down from the earlier poison breath, then Paavu also went down to the second breath which also killed Velkin permanently as he was laying within the area. The green dragon then took to the air and flew away. Torkiel tried to stop it by slowing it down, but unfortunately, it just got out of range and sight before dying.

With the dragon gone (and most of the kobolds by now) it was just a matter of time before the last kobolds would be eradicated, or so they thought. Kavaki had been holding out a long time up top, and was very confident. But a few good hits by the last kobold downed him as well, although not more than he was up and about a few moments later.

RIP Velkin.

[sblock=Thoughts]Another encounter, another screwup
The encounter itself was originally entended to be a n+1 encounter at 675 XP. Korak (the green dragon) was just supposed to grab his scrolls with info, head out of the tent, breathe once on the players and then head northward to the main kobold camp. His survival and the info he had to pass on was more important than killing a few adventurers. So maybe it could arguably be counted as a n+2 fight (n+1 and a round of dragonbreath, although likely, a hard n+1 would be closer to the truth). Instead, it turned into a n+4 combat. As the dragon flew out, the avenger/invoker cast a spell that immobilized the dragon. I had the dragon drop down (my mistake) and this forced it to join the fight. Being marked and surrounded, it had little choice but to fight at least until it could get the fighter of it's back. The avenger/invoker went down from the first breath, and when it was bloodied, the breath recharged. At that point, it could not avoid hitting the dying avenger/invoker, since he was laying there, right in front of it, in between the fighter and the sorcerer. Luckily, my players thought it was fair enough (they usually do) but it was still annoying that my mistake ended with a player being permanently killed and having to roll up a new character. This change in combat also made it very fortunate that they had recently rested, because it would definitely have been a TPK otherwise. At the end of the fight, they had 0 healing and 0 second winds left, and were all down to only at wills. They all hit on their dailies, and there was even two crits on them. Yes, that rest was definitely a good thing.[/sblock]

After searching the camp, where they found 4 magic potions and a pair of gauntlets of ogre power, the unnamed heroes decided to return to Fallcrest and inform the Lord Warden of their findings.

[The characters dinged level 2 at this point]

Back in Fallcrest some hours later, the party was rewarded with 200 gp per member present. The Lord Warden said he wouldn't mind if they chose to pursue the of the kobolds (which the party assume exist), but he would be equally happy if they chose to deal with goblins, brigands, the thieves guild running rampant or whatever struck their fancy. After a quick talk, they decided to head up north (after some information gathering) and look for some more kobolds the next morning

Tirsday 21st Zeptambor, Year 599
Before heading out, the heroes decided to swing by the church and get the staff identified. At the temple, they met Dobukan, a deva invoker out on adventure, looking for a party. They agreed that he would identify the staff for free, against joining the party. As it turns out, no one wanted the staff, so it was given to the new guy, since he could. What a nice party of freaks.

New player: Dokuban, deva invoker

[sblock=Thoughts]Probably the cheesiest introduction of a new partymember ever, but we never put much energy into those, at least the last 10 years. The good thing was that it was 100% instigated by the players, the invoker, who is usually fairly passive when it comes to the RP, took charge and decided that he would be in the temple and could identify the staff for the party, thus creating an opening.[/sblock]

After the temple, they swung by the tower of the wizard to see if he was in. He wasn't, but someone else answered his door. He claimed he was the apprentice of the tower and that the mage was out looking for components, but Torkiel called his bluffs (there were several) and pressured him, trying to get the truth out of him. At some point, he got enough and pushed open the door, which revealed that the room was in chaos, it had obviously been searched. A battle followed, and the man proved to be far from an apprentice, but instead a competent illusionist. A quick succession of area spells had the good guys on their heels, but luckily for our friends, Paavu (by miracle) resisted everything and took care of the illusionist, almost singlehandedly. Torkiel and Garel-kai just managed to stop him from killing the bad guy, so it all ended with him being captured and tied up.
[sblock=Thoughts]Every time a player stopped by the tower, I had rolled 1d6. On a 5, there would be a mook of the thieves guild (the succubus has kidnapped the wizard and is holding him captive somewhere), posing as an apprentice. On a 6, it would be a guild mage, an illusionist, much like the one leading the bandits at Castle Flames. He opened the fight with several encounter powers, action-pointing (level 4 elite) in the first round, which shocked the hell out of the players, since most of the attacks were area burst, catching them all in a relatively confined area. That almost got most down around the point where you not only ask for a heal, but start screaming for one (<5 hit points). I actually thought he would either get away or kill them all (not a mean feat, considering he was technically a n-2 fight), but then the fighter got to him, AP'ed, critting on his daily and again on the following attack, dealing almost 70 damage to the poor guy, which downed him. He did however manage to state it was a non-lethal attack, so we finished with the players getting ready to interrogate their prisoner. So now I wonder, will they pursue the thieves' guild hook they have been presented (again) or will they continue on their way and head north to search for the kobolds, after they have done some intel-gathering.[/sblock]

Overall I was happy enough with the session, although I never like to perma-kill any players. But its an occupational hazard. In our campaigns, it is a must that some occasionally die, so that the illusion of risk persists. It's always annoying with having to cancel a game night, especially at the beginning of the campaign, but between illness and conferences, it is getting harder and harder (impossible) to maintain a 52 week a year schedule. Its just that at the beginning, it is important to keep a steady regular schedule, so that people can get into their characters, the plot and the campaign world.

 

[Jack99]

Session 4

After tying up the illusionist, our heroes decided to interrogate him on the spot, instead of contacting any authorities. Despite doing their best, he would say nothing but: "I can not betray the mistress". Even a knife through the hand and under the knee-cap could not make him talk. This convinced Tokiel that he was under some spell exerting mental control beyond normal means.
[sblock=Thoughts]This first part took a while. There was a lot of in-game debate over how to proceed with the prisoner. Usually I cut short such arguments after about 5-10 minutes, and tell people to vote. Not because I do not like roleplay or debate, but because after a while, it's just people repeating the same arguments over and over, and no one is changing their mind based on them. Might as well get the story flowing. Anyway, they opted for diplomacy and bluff first, but little did it help, and then they go creative [/sblock]
Using Hand of Fate, Dobukan found that the wizard was below. Searching through a ravaged laboratory turned up a trapdoor and a recently dug tunnel below, leading to the sewers.
[sblock=Thoughts]Hand of Fate is an odd duck. [sblock=Hand of Fate]When you perform the ritual, ask up to three questions about possible courses of action. A translucent blue hand appears and indicates with a gesture what the most rewarding course of action is.
If you describe courses of action that refer to directions or specific objects, then the hand points toward the choice that bears the greatest reward. If you ask the hand, “Should we head down the stairs or through the doors?” then the hand responds by pointing either to the stairs or the doors. If you ask the hand, “Which of these three levers should we pull first?” then the hand responds by pointing to a lever.
If you describe only a single course of action, the ritual assumes that inaction is your other option. The hand either beckons you (to indicate that you should proceed) or gestures for you to halt. For example, the question “Should we explore the ruins of Solitronia?” results in the hand either beckoning you or gesturing for you to halt.
The hand can’t assess events in the far future; its judgment extends only to likely events in the next hour. If the hand can’t indicate a preference, the ritual has no effect and expends no components.
There are two drawbacks to using the ritual to aid your decisions. First, fate values rewards over risk, and this ritual provides guidance accordingly. It points you toward a high risk, high reward option before pointing you toward a low risk, low reward alternative. For example, if one tunnel leads to a dragon and great wealth and the other tunnel leads back to town, then the hand points toward the dragon. However, a high risk, low reward alternative is considered less rewarding than a low risk, low reward option.
Second, the hand can choose only the most rewarding course of action relative to the alternatives provided. That doesn’t mean that the indicated choice is necessarily a good idea, only that it’s a better idea than the other options you’ve indicated. In the example above, if all three levers activate traps, then the hand points toward the lever that triggers a trap less lethal than the others.[/sblock]It seemed possible to ask it - If we go this way, will we find the wizard, or similar questions. I allowed it this time around, mostly because I like when players use rituals. It was also nice to see the others chip in for the cost of casting the rituals.[/sblock]
After a quick foray into the rather disgusting sewers, the party returned to the tower in order to search it for more clues. In the bedchamber, they found Yuzura, a magical dagger that Tokiel immediately claimed as his.

Not satisfied with the clues they had, the heroes shoved the unconscious illusionist into a big bag and made their way to the Temple of Erathis. After a short talk with an acolyte, they gained access to High Priestess Dirina of Erathis.

After a short but hard negotiation, Dirina agreed to try to remove the enchantment from the captured illusionist. Alas he didn't survive the removal. Angry that she hadn't mentioned that this was a possibility, the heroes demanded a refund. No luck on that. But she did offer them a discount on a speak with dead ritual. Via their questions, they learned that the illusionist was merely there too look for additional components and scrolls and that Mistress Adele was a woman who had taken over the Ravens and that she was controlling the members by magical coercion.
[sblock=Thoughts]Here I turned my meta-game screw-up into something in-game. I had totally forgotten that you could die from the results of the ritual, so when I rolled and looked it up and realized that the guy would die, I could either turn back time and warn the players, or simply roll with it. The high priestess knew from the players' talk that the illusionist was an evil man and that they needed information from him. She decided to not reveal what could happen, so that she might be able to sell them a speak with dead as well. It turned out pretty well, creating some debate and role-playing. [/sblock]
After the transactions were done, Dirina blessed the party, but little did that help their mood. They swore never to return to the church of Erathis.
[sblock=Thoughts]The blessing was just sorta a on the spot thing I came up with, giving the players +1 to hit on the first attack they would make within 24 hours. Just to add a little something to their visit. [/sblock]
Back to the tower and sewers the party went, determined to find the wizard and Mistress Adele. After a couple of hours of searching, some castings of Hand of Fate, and a lot of swimming around in , they finally found a secret entrance leading up. Following the tunnel, they stumbled over a rogue counting money in front of a door.

Retreating a bit back, the party had a talk about what to do. When they finally agreed to bluff their way in, the rogue was gone. Instead they found themselves standing in front of the door, not sure whether they should head in or wait.

Suddenly the door opened, and without looking, Tokiel blasted away, killing a young girl of about 11-12 years. [sblock=Thoughts]I love being a evil DM at times. I said: You hear something at the door, and my player promptly stated. I blast whoever opens the door. It was just supposed to be a random thief, but that changed quickly. Actions and consequences. We will see if adds to his character's personality. [/sblock]

Now there was no way back, they felt. Entering the headquarter of the Ravens, the heroes started to snoop around. They found a lot of sleeping rooms, and a guildhall full of thieves and thugs. Not wanting to take them on all at the same time, they explored further. After dealing with a trap on a chest in one of the rooms, the heroes finally found the wizard. Unfortunately, he was pretty dead, hanging in chains up on a wall, with his entrails half hanging out, half laying on a stone on the floor in front of the wizard's body.

Dobukan used a quick ritual, Last Sight Vision, to see what the wizard experienced just before dying. After his vision, Dobukan stated: "I do not think she is human". When asked, he told how a raven-haired relatively young girl had been casting a ritual, while eating the entrails of the wizard.

Garel-Kai mused that it might be some sort of ancient ritual that allows you to draw out of the power of arcane spellcasters while they die.

Determined to deal with this threat, the party decided to set up an ambush to take out some rogues, before confronting the majority of the inhabitants of this secret hold-out.

Unfortunately while good, the ambush plan was not air-tight, and after killing 5-6 rogues, one managed to escape. The heroes followed in pursuit, ending up facing around 20 thieves, rogues and thugs in the main eating hall of the guild. Mistress Adele was there as well.

The fight was long but furious. Mistress Adele took some good hits and fled, but not before spending some time empowering a couple of thieves, turning them into raving maniacs that felt no pain and were thus very hard to kill. [sblock=Thoughts]The "empowering" results in changing a level 1 minion to a level 5 brute, so a rather big change, making the monster much more dangerous. I initially considered just adding temporarily hit points and some bonus to damage, but I wanted a significant change. Worked pretty well for us.[/sblock]

In the end, the heroes managed to kill all the thieves. And no one died, although it was close. Especially Kavaki was under a lot of pressure, and had to drink several healing potions to stay alive. They party also learned that Garel-Kai's focus was not on "healing", but instead on combat. "I only heal people when they go down".
[sblock=Thoughts]Before any rogues were killed, the guildhall was a 1650 xp encounter, not counting the succubus. At level 2, that's an +5 encounter, most likely a lethal encounter. So I was fairly happy when they decided not to storm things. The reason why the encounter went relatively well was the invokers complete control over the battlefield, using his spells to dictate where the fight should take place. This forced many opponents to stand at a distance and use their relatively weak ranged attack, instead of being in the middle of things, getting CA and sneak attack bonuses.[/sblock]
With the thieves dead, the focus of the heroes soon reverted to Mistress Adele. Although pretty beaten up, they decided to find her immediately. Finding a secret door in a storage room, put them back on her trail and they found themselves once again in the sewers. Paavu rushed off to the right, while Dobukan was sure he had evidence that she had gone left. Unfortunately for Paavu, Dobukan was wrong.

Not far from the others, Paavu was surprised by Mistress Adele, who dominated him and sent him back to kill his friends. Luckily, Paavu was no match for his 4 friends, but he did manage to bring Kavaki down and slow down the heroes so that Mistress Adele could escape. [sblock=Thoughts]If you have been reading my previous campaign, you will know that there is nothing I love more than a dominated character killing a party-member. Which was one of the reasons for making this very special succubus one of my BBEG's for this campaign. I even went as far as giving her a stronger ability, called Charm. When charmed, the target is not dazed and can still use encounter powers, magic item powers and utility powers. Paavu's player promptly took advantage of that and used his gauntlets on his first attack, causing an additional 10 damage and flooring the poor warden. Great fun. [/sblock]

 

[Jack99]

Session 5

The guy playing the monk is still on a break, and our invoker was missing as well tonight, being on vacation (lucky sob)

Tirsday 21st Zeptambor, Year 599 (continued)
After getting everyone on their feet, the yet to be named heroes debated hotly on whether to pursue Mistress Adele or not. They figured they needed at least a small break before tracking her down and confronting her. But it proved too hard. Not many tracks to follow in the sever, and Kavaki soon had to give up. Instead they decided to head up to the surface and go tell the Lord Warden that they had found the nest of the Ravens and had taken care of that problem. He was of course more than pleased, and rewarded them handsomely. After telling him about what had happened, they realized that in their haste to catch Mistress Adele, they had completely forgotten to search the guildhall and all the rooms, so back down they went. As it turned out, that was a good idea. While there was no significant treasure, they did find directions to a kobold camp sketched on some paper. The thief in question must have been used to deliver messages or something. Obviously there was a connection.
[sblock=Thoughts]This was one of two ways to find the kobold camp. Not counting sheer dumb luck of course. The other would have been good old fashioned research, which would have let them south, to the shapechanging fomorian hermit, who keeps a kobold from said tribe as slave. I would have preferred the other way for more fun, but the players' choices should decide the course of the adventure, not what I think. Or at least, that's what I am trying to do.[/sblock]

Before heading north, they swung by the House of Sun, once a great temple to Pelor, now run only by a lonely dwarf priest named Grundel. They wanted information about what kind of creature Mistress Adele could be, although they were already convinced that she was some sort of undead creature, perhaps a vampire. Grundel couldn't really help them, but since they seemed convinced they were fighting undead, he did give them a couple of bottles of holy water, and a blessing of Pelor for the road.
[sblock=Thoughts]Based on the description of Mistress Adele, I silently ruled that there was no way in hell that Grundel would recognize her as a succubus, or even a demon. So when they asked, they got nothing. Sometimes it is okay to say no

The blessing of Pelor was yet another little bonus, that usually will make no difference at all, but gives some flavor. This time they got +1 to all defenses against the first attack within 24 hours targeting them[/sblock]
After buying some rations and some sun rods, the party of heroes headed north, following the thief's directions . After 5-6 hours, they found themselves standing on the river bank of the Jade River. This time however, there was little trouble getting over to the other side, since all present were adept swimmers. They continued north for a while, until they decided to rest for the night. Kavaki found them a nice spot, which secured them a good night's rest.
[sblock=Thoughts]Despite being fewer and missing the closest thing they have to a skill monkey (Deva Invoker, high Int and Wis) they did really well on the skill challenge to see if there was any random encounters and on the skill challenge to camp for the night.[/sblock]

Onsday 22nd Zeptambor, Year 599
The next day, they pushed further north, soon finding the ruins of an ancient tower that Garel-kai is convinced was built by kobolds, however odd that sounds. Not far from the ruined tower, they found (still following the notes, of course) a clearing with 3 man-dragon shaped statues in the middle. Scouting the clearing, the heroes were soon jumped by 4 kobolds, but they were quickly dispatched. Kavaki found an entrance to the kobold warrens behind some bushes. The entrance was actually fairly wide but as they got in, the heroes found that none of them could walk upright around in the tunnels.
[sblock=Thoughts]The statues were one of those things that, as a DM, I just toss out there, without knowing what it is yet. Luckily they failed all their checks, so I have plenty of wiggling room to make something up, should they show continued interest in what they were. Having thought about it last night, I think I want to introduce draconians in my world, as some sort of draconian overlords, messengers of the dragons or something along those lines.[/sblock]
Once inside, the party quickly realized that the sneaky kobolds had made a small maze of corridors. Going a bit around randomly (there were tracks everywhere) they eventually stumbled on a spear trap, shewering both Kavaki and Tokiel. Almost immediately after, the place was crawling with kobolds running in and out, throwing javelins at our heroes. The battle moved around in the corridors, and suddenly the party were split up, and Tokiel found himself alone with 3 kobolds. A few seconds later, Tokiel was down. With everyone spread out, it took some time for the others to find out that Tokiel was down and in need of help. Unfortunately, by that time, the rest of the party was fighting both Griina (Kobold Highpriestess) and Korak (Green Dragon, encountered earlier), as well as quite a few kobolds. Garel-kai tried to get back to Tokiel, but was repeatedly blocked by the kobolds. Tokiel died just seconds before Garel-kai got to him with a healing potion. At the other end of the battle, Kavaki and Paavu had killed Griina and most of the kobolds, but were struggling with Korak. Kavaki went down, with poison in his system, but Paavu managed to kill the green menace and Garel-kai got back just in time to save Kavaki.
[sblock=Thoughts]Another PC dead. It was a pretty hard encounter (n+4), but they had only had 1 encounter during that day, so it should have been doable. Also, there was plenty of time to save the sorcerer, since he was down for 7 rounds before dying. I do think the problem is that I have been playing my intelligent monsters a bit more smart this campaign. I am in general better at using the terrain to my advantage, and also on focusing their fire on one person at the time. Especially if the players are bloodied. That's like (and should be IMO) having a bull's eye painted on your forehead. Problem is, I haven't adjusted for that in my balancing of the encounters. I will have to pay even more closely attention to things, because while my players like it rough, killing too many too often will ruin my campaign for sure.[/sblock]
With all the enemies dead, the heroes searched the caves and found the dragon's lair and treasure, but no more clues regarding the connection between the kobolds and Mistress Adele. They then headed back south towards Fallcrest, with the corpse of the dragon. On the way home, they dodged what sounded like a really, really big boar, before resting for the night.
[sblock=Thoughts]The boar that they dodged was a Death Boar, something which could have proven fatal. Luckily their checks allowed them to hear the boar before it heard them, and they chose to go around it. It is actually very rare, that my players avoid a combat. Despite them not having run into a hard random encounter since the first night of playing, the respect is still there. And that is a good thing.
Torsday 23rd Zeptambor, Year 599
The next morning they got home to Fallcrest. There they found themselves the heroes of the day, being dragonslayers and all. At least a couple of hundred people followed them through the town when they arrived, carrying the green dragon's corpse.

While the Lord Warden was happy that they had eradicated the kobold tribe that seemed behind the attacks on the town, he was disappointed that they had not managed to take at least one prisoner to interrogate. But as Paavu said, it is kinda hard to remember to not kill when you are being swarmed and have a dragon on your ass. With the war coffers being low-ish, the Lord Warden asked them to settle for his gratitude for this time around. Instead he introduced the party to Durham, personal (dwarven) smith of the Lord Warden, so that Paavu could get the dragon's head mounted on his helm.

As they exited Durham's forge, a kid yelled: Hey look, it's the Fallcrest Dragonslayers!
[sblock=Thoughts]I really want them to have a name for the group, it gives a certain je ne sais quoi, so I had an NPC come with a suggestion, based on what has happened. It actually didn't happen at the game table, but it was included in the summary posted on our blog (which is identical to this post, minus all the comments, of course)[/sblock]
[sblock=More Thoughts]I am still not super-happy about the campaign. My players are having fun (according to them anyway) and they like the multiple choice situation they are in constantly. But right now, they are merely basing their choices on what sounds the most fun. It is both their and mine, that eventually, the choice will be taken because their characters "feel" more for something.

I thought a lot about this (on holiday, so plenty of time to think) and perhaps it is a natural process of every campaign that is not extremely linear. It takes some time, some adventures, before the campaign gains the right form and the players can relate 100% to what happens. So I guess my verdict is that I have to be patient, and let things develop at their own pace. Since the players like this form, I will stick with it for now, but to be honest, I think I prefer a slightly more linear type of campaign. [/sblock]

 

[Jack99]

Session 6

The Warlord was in Sweden on conference this week

Lordday 25th Zeptambor, Year 599
After the last few weeks of excitement, The newly named Fallcrest Dragonslayers decided to take a couple of days relaxing and deciding whether they should go find out what was behind the treasure map, look for Mistress Adele or hunt some goblins.

In concert with the Lord Warden, they decided to go find the goblins that sporadically attacked the farms south of Fallcrest. While they waited, they were approached by River, an elven ranger, who had been sent by the Lord Warden. Maybe he could be useful in tracking down the goblins.
[sblock=Thoughts and comments]The party gained a new member today, since Tokiel, the sorcerer died the last time. The player had rerolled a ranger. He was initially quiet annoyed over losing his sorcerer, but after making the ranger, or rather, making the background of it, he came around and after playing it for just one night, the sorcerer was already forgotten, more or less.

What started out as a delicate situation was quickly turned into something very positive. At first, right after having lost the sorcerer (and a couple of days after), he was ranting a lot and was really not up for making another character, claiming he didn't want to play anything but sorcerer, but on the other hand, he didn't want to make a carbon copy. Had I stepped in and tried to move him along with making a new character, it would surely just have annoyed him even more. Instead I let him rant himself out, and he eventually got around. I also made sure that we got to work on a great background, since that is one of those things that appeal to this player, as well as make him a couple of items that tie in nicely with that background. I also incorporated his background into the new map, so that he would early on feel his character's thumbprint on the campaign. And it worked. It's all about knowing your players really. Some will care they die, some won't. But in order to handle a campaign where players die, and do transitions well, you need to know how to deal with your (usually) very different players.[/sblock][sblock=New Map]

[/sblock]
As they were leaving the south gate, they were stopped by a small group of children who wanted to know what the famous Dragonslayers were up to. One of them, a young boy, also had a pie from his mother to the famous adventurers. Kavaki thanked the kid for the pie and told the kids some story about dragons big as mountains, and then the Dragonslayers were on their way south, towards the farms who had been suffering from the goblin attacks.[sblock=Thoughts and comments]Because their name was only mentioned once in the summary of the previous game session, I wanted to stress it early on, so that they could get used to it. Of course, they aren't forced to adopt the name (although some have already) but they would have to chose to not want it and do something about it. If they didn't this was what they would be called henceforth.[/sblock]
They hadn't traveled for many miles when smoke in the horizont indicated they were heading the right way. When they arrived at the scene, they found a farm and barn which had been burnt down, with most of a family who had been killed. The fighter had died fighting, with scythe in hand, the son of the family had been locked up in the barn while it was burned down and the mother had been suspended up in a tree, and then used as a human piñata. Kavaki also found a doll amongst the destruction, which indicated that there was a little girl somewhere, and since they found no body, they decided she had probably been kidnapped. River recognized the arrows as those used by the Green Warrior Goblin tribe, one of the larger goblin tribe of the Silent Forest.

After a couples of hours in the forest, tracking the goblins who they figured had a 12 hour head start, they suddenly spotted a goblin caster hiding behind a rock, some 60 feet ahead. As River tried to circle around to get a shot, the others hovered back, waiting for the ranger to be in place. Before he got that far, the goblin called out to them, demanding to know where they were going and what they were doing here. As it turns out, he wasn't really all that interested, it was merely a ruse to lure the Dragonslayers a bit closer to him, so that his 9 friends hidden in small holes dug in the ground could spring up and surprise them. Little good did it do the goblins, since the Dragonslayers were way too big a mouthful. Soon enough, the goblins were dead, and although especially Dobukan took quite a few hits, it was not a big challenge.

With the goblins dead, the Dragonslayers tracked on, heading further west into the Silent Forest. They didn't get far though. About 2 hours later, while traversing a clearing, Dobukan suddenly found himself with a couple of crossbow bolts in the gut. 4 goblins were hiding in the bushes and trees, and had caught the Fallcrest heroes in a deadly crossfire. Luckily for the Dragonslayers, River proved that he too was very adept with a bow, and the first goblin went down to his first double-shot. Slowly but surely the tide of the battle turned, although for some, it consisted mostly of trying to hide from the arrows coming from the edge of the forest.[sblock=Thoughts and comments]This was a nasty n+1 encounter, in a 20 square wide clearing, where the goblins were hiding and snipping at the party, who were caught in the open middle, with no cover. The invoker was bloodied during surprise, and only a quick initiative saved him from dying before even acting. Of course, the ranger opening with 38 damage on a twin strike did even things out, taking one level 2 goblin from full hp to dead status.[/sblock]

After a short break, the Dragonslayers of Fallcrest continued onwards. Towards evening, they spotted a wall (of a ruin) standing next to a hill. River tried to snuck over to the wall to see what was behind the wall, but no sooner had he started to move, before his foot caught a hole full of dry leaves, alerting the goblin behind the wall that something was up. He fired a quick shot at the elf, and jumped down from the wall, out of sight. Kavaki immediately took up pursuit, but when he realized that the goblin had run down some stairs to a crypt beneath the hill (which was the only thing behind the wall), he decided to not follow the goblin in. Instead he took up place over the entrance/exit, while motioning the others to come in view of the stairs and hide behind some trees.

They didn't have to wait long. A couple of minutes later, a goblin head came in sight and Kavaki made short work of it, by cleaving the poor creature with a single stroke of his longsword. No sooner had he done that, before 5 goblins rushed out to defend their lair. The battle was pretty fierce, with especially Kavaki taking a beating from the goblin crossbow archers. Down he went, and things were looking fairly bleak for a while, but the Dragonslayers managed to turn things around. Except that the goblin voodoomaster arrived as well, and really made the Dragonslayers work for their pay. Kavaki was first blinded, then downed for the third time, and since River was running around blinded as well, it definitely looked like the end of a short career there. Luckily for them all, River broke his blindness just in time to help Dobukan kill the voodoo-goblin and end the battle. Which was just in time as Kavaki was hovering on death's door..[sblock=Thoughts and comments]This is just one of those things that did not go at all as expected. I always run our combats on the tic-tac tiles we have. But I do actually own most of WotC dungeon tiles, I have just never used them. For this encounter, I had built the entire dungeon out of tiles, had brought them, and was actually looking forward to seeing how they would react to those tiles. The plan was that they would see the goblin minion which was keeping watch, kill him and the proceed down, exploring a bit, before encountering the goblins, which would then start a battle in several rooms at the same time. But, since the ranger decided to roll a 1 on his stealth-check and the warden decided not to pursuie the goblin down the stairs into the "dungeon", it was all for nothing. There was no way the goblins would not come out to battle (IMO anyway), since they could in theory be smoked out or worse. Luckily we still had a great combat, although it once again got very close, with the warden going down 3 times and being at 2 failed saves for a round or two, before he could be saved by what was the very last healing potion in the party. Having the leader away on a conference does make things even more lethal at times.

The players leveled to level 3 at this point[/sblock]

Down in the crypt, which turned out to be several rooms, they found some treasure (gold and rituals) and the kidnapped girl, an 8-year old called Melissa. After searching the place thoroughly to see if there were any leads that would connect the goblins with Mistress Adele or to a fellow named Krusk which had been mentioned by several goblins ("Kill me all you will, Krusk will deal with you" and things like that), they decided to move outside and rest for the night..[sblock=Thoughts and comments]Krusk is indeed one of the goblin leaders, in fact he is the hobgoblin who has taught the Green Warrior Goblins to fight with discipline and smarts.[/sblock]

Sonday 26th Zeptambor, Year 599
In the morning, as they prepared to leave, they were attacked by 3 dog-sized spiders, but that didn't even break a sweat for our favorite Dragonslayers. After dispatching the spiders with ease, the Dragonslayers decided to head home and deliver the news of their success to the Lord Warden and the girl to someone better suited to help her.

The trip home was fairly uneventful, as nothing hostile was encountered. The only thing approaching drama was when Melissa started to ask about her parents, and, when figuring out that her parents were dead, if Kavaki was her new dad. His hesitation made the rest of the Dragonslayers pretty loud - they apparently did not want him to say yes...

Once they got to Fallcrest and reported their news, they decided to strike out again after gathering some intelligence. They had gathered that kobolds and goblins rarely worked together, except under the leadership of some powerful figure, usually a dragon, giant or the like, and they were convinced that Krusk, whoever he was, would have the information they would need to uncover this mystery.

Mansday 27th Zeptambor, Year 599
Before heading out again, after taking a good night's sleep, Kavaki had a talk with Kama, the owner the Blue Moon Alehouse, and convinced her to take care of Melissa.
.[sblock=Thoughts and comments]In case some have missed it amidst all the info, Kama is a silver dragon, living in Fallcrest to protect an ancient evil artifact. I am not sure how this will affect Melissa and her story, but it is certainly something that should be milked significantly[/sblock]

 

[Jack99]

So, we are going to have yet another new character in the group the next time we play. Not that anyone died, but J, who plays the invoker, is quite unhappy about the class. He doesn't like the feel and can't really get into it. So we talked about it, and I gave him a couple of days to consider things again (I always allow character changes, but I do feel I make sure they really want it, before allowing it). So, for Tuesday, he will roll up a human wizard, so he is staying within the same role. Actually I think he has already rolled it up, and we will see about it later today, when we play in another campaign.

Of course, it's always annoying if your players want to change their characters, as it does create some issues with continuity in the campaign, as well as the flow in the group. I do however feel that those problems are overshadowed by the benefit of having happy players. I have also found that the wish to create new characters (for my players anyway) always happen during the first 1-4 levels. After that, I can't recall when I have last experienced an unforced character change. Must have been in 2e.

Thinking about next time, the players need to find and fight the Green Warrior Goblins in their lair. Two things have made it impossible for me to finish the adventure. I can't decide how their lair should be - fort, caves, ruins etc, and how the battle should flow. Or rather, I haven't been able to. Reading this post S'mon's post. I am planning to do just that. Run the GWG lair as one big encounter. The PC's enter the lair, fight a few goblins, the alarm is rung, and if they do not retreat, wave after wave of goblins will arrive from different part of the lair, trying to overcome the PC's.

Might be tricky though, since I would have to carefully construct the room where all or most of the fighting will take place, and make sure that it is attractive enough (defensibly) to have the PC's stay, while not being too good, so that they just crush the poor goblins.

Then again that's kinda defeating the point of my Green Warrior goblins. I gave them a hobgoblin trainer in order for them to distinguish themselves from other goblins, but their tactics should reflect, well the superior tactics that a hobgoblin would teach them. So I want to show that off as well, without turning the superior tactics part too much into the realm of nasty traps, since that is a kobold thing.

I wonder how many goblins you can squeeze into a n+7 encounter... should be fun either way.

-------------

The player mentioned in the last post has decided to switch. He will be making a cold-themed orb of imposition wizard.

Chilling cloud, ray of frost, icy terrain and (I imagine, he wasn't quite done selecting powers) Icy Rays/Chill claws. Nothing even remotely overpowered. He will also chose grease (has always been his favorite spell, since we started playing) and most likely sleep.

In order to keep the cold theme, I suggested to him the possibility of adding the cold keyword to both spells. Grease would instead be a sheet of ice that makes people fall, and sleep would cause targets to first slow down before finally turning to ice statues. There would be no mechanical change to the spells, but it would give the character a even stronger flavor (IMO). Of course, I could have missed something (a synergy with certain feats) that could give problems, but offhand, I can't see any. Anyone else want to weigh in on this? Maybe someone has tried to do something similar?

Another thing that I completely forgot when I wrote the writeup of our last session. We had a little talk about Font of Life (again). According to WotC, Font of Life applies to death saves (I asked during the first Twitter Thursday), and whoever I talked to was pretty adamant on the subject. Anyway, this caused an issue during the game. The warden went down, and he started to roll death saves. He rolled twice per round, no matter the result, but after a couple of rounds, it struck me.

The warden shouldn't get the end of turn roll, if he passes the font of life death save. If he does, it would just become a bonus-try-to-pop-a-surge-roll.

Agree? (This is all assuming that you accept the fact that Font of Life applies to death saves)

Speaking of dying rules, there is something that has annoyed me for a while. A dying character has a chance to pop a surge and rejoin combat. A stabilized character can do nothing of the sort, and is left completely at the mercy of his companions' choices. Is this *fair*? Is it merely a balance, meaning that as long as you can die, you can get back, but the moment there is no chance of dying, you should no longer be able to get back in the game on your own?

Thoughts?

I have started a thread regarding the Font of Life issue and the dying rules over in the rules forum, just to get more imput. Feel free to comment either place.

 

[Jack99]

Our ranger was working late , monk is still meditating somewhere, so there were 4 players present for this session.

Before starting, we decided to revert to the RAW when it comes to Action points. The 1 action point per combat houserule was ruining the whole concept of AP's, and most of us didn't really like it in play.

Session 7

Mansday 27th Zeptambor, Year 599 (continued)
After shopping a bit, the 3 Dragonslayers of Fallcrest headed out, determined to go south and find the goblins that were attacking the farms.

Not long after leaving town, they ran into a human wizard called Kudes, who seemed lost. He had absolutely no recollection of his past life, nor of what he was doing here. He knew the lay of the land, his own name etc, but nothing else. After hearing they were heading out to kill goblins that were praying on helpless farmers, he offered his services to the Dragonslayers.
[sblock=Comments]The player who wanted to switch from invoker to wizard had done no background, so when the rest of the party started asking him questions, he went with the amnesia stitch. I am however going to use his laziness and make an integral part of the campaign. Assuming he gets to live for a while, of course. Anyway, since he hass a cold-theme going for him, I thought it would be perfect to link his character to the Sons of Winter, an evil organization introduced via the background story of the sorcerer. Well, he might have died, but no reason not to use the organization. I am thinking the wizard is a former apprentice who got out when he realized just how evil they are, maybe with some knowledge or item that they want back.[/sblock]
Passing by the farm of the Johnssons, which had been burning down last the Dragonslayers passed by, they soon ran into Jessica and her husband, who were heading to her sister's for a birthday party. They talked a bit with the couple about goblins, but they had seen nothing. Nor could they enlighten the heroes about trails going west into the forest. The husband was oddly silent, but after eating a bit of their cake, the Dragonslayers went on their way.[sblock=Comments]The husband has no tongue, which is why he was silent. But it immediately drew their suspicions, as they thought the woman might be Mistress Adele and the husband one of her dominated victims. I often make NPC's overly suspicious on purpose, just to keep players on the edge, especially when dealing with someone who can shapechange. Although they do not know she can, they assume it by now.[/sblock]

They headed into the forest, making good speed. After a couple of hours, as they were passing over a small river, Kavaki was attacked by a big lizard, a venom-eye basilisk. The poor basilisk, despite getting the jump on the Dragonslayers, never stood a chance. Soon enough it found itself on the back and being brutalized. [sblock=Comments]I was actually surprised how quickly a level 10 creature went down. Most likely because they rolled pretty high, at least 3 of them anyway.[/sblock]

The Dragonslayers continued westward for the rest of the day, and with no sign of goblins, they were forced to make camp. Often they would be cursing that River was not with them, as his tracking skills and ability to lead them silently through the forest was missed.

They decided to camp on a little hill, and when it was his turn, Kavaki climbed up in the tree on the hill, in order to get a better view of the surrounding area. Soon enough, he spotted 4 dark shadows creeping closer. Goblins! As they approached the camp, he dropped down a weapon to wake the others and then proceeded to swing himself down via a rope he had set up, Tarzan-style. He hit the ground running, and charged down the small hill, towards the shocked goblins. Unfortunately for the goliath, he had misjudge the steepness of the hill, and he ended stumbling down, landing face down in the middle of two the goblins.

Battle started, and while most of the heroes were unarmored (and Garel-Kai almost slept through the whole thing), the 4 goblins were really no match for the Dragonslayers of Fallcrest. Of course, they forgot to keep one alive to question him. Ah well, c'est la vie, and after reminding each other to do so the next time, they decided to go to sleep again and attempt to follow the trail the next morning.

Tirsday 28th Zeptambor, Year 599
The heroes followed the goblin tracks for most of the day, deeper into the forest. As it was getting dark, they suddenly realized they were being followed. They stopped at a couple of rocks, determined to fight with their back at something. As it turns out, they were being hunted by 8 hungry gray wolves, who attacked shortly after. A while they were certainly wounded, the combination of might and magic made the wolves an easy fight.

Once again, they rested, and this time, nothing disturbed their sleep.

Onsday 29th Zeptambor, Year 599
Shortly after beginning their tracking of the goblins, they arrived at a 100' deep ravine. Looking over the edge, they could see the entrance to a dungeon, a lair, and 4 goblins patrolling outside. The Dragonslayers walked further down, along the edge of the ravine, and found a spot where it looked as if they could come down. By some miracle, they all 4 managed to climb down without making enough noise to alert the goblins. When down, they started to edge closer to the guards, and almost succeeded in closing in on them, when suddenly Kudes thought it would be wise to walk into a tree.

The goblins howled, and were about to attack, but Kavaki charged and killed one, and the magic of Garel-kai took care of the rest, before they could move.

Sneaking inside, they found a guard room and a corridor leading deeper into the hill. After waiting a bit to make sure the whole lair wasn't on the way towards them, they went down the corridor. No sooner had they moved 20-30 feet, before two portcullis' smashed down, blocking the way forward and backward. No sooner had the portcullis' gone down, before small holes opened up in the ceiling of the corridor, and black smelly liquid started to pour down on top of them. Oil. What would come next was pretty obvious, so Paavu stormed to the nearest portcullis and tried to pull it up, with the help of Garel-kai and Kavaki, but no luck. Kudes started looking for a mechanism to open up the gates, but none was to be seen. Meanwhile the oil kept pouring down on their heads, soaking them to the bone, and they could hear goblins cackling above their head.

Finally they got the gate a bit up, and Kudes rolled out of the oily corridor. That prompted the goblins to move down from their secret hiding place and attack those trying to get out. Garel-kai and Kavaki got out as well, while Paavu was holding it up. Before Paavu could get out, another two goblins arrived down at the gate where the Dragonslayers had entered. One had a crossbow, the other a torch. Swuush, and an inferno erupted in the corridor, barbecuing Paavu, and also setting Garel-kai and Kavaki on fire, since they were standing next to the corridor, soaked in the oil. Paavu, who was still alive, tried to get out, but Garel-kai and Kavaki couldn't keep it (the portcullis) up, and Paavu found himself pinned to the burning floor by the portcullis. All the meantime, one of the goblins had cornered Kudes, and to avoid the goblin, he sidestepped, but got too close to the corridor and caught on fire, since his clothes were also soaked. Paavu, by a heroic surge, got the portcullis pushed up just a bit, so that he could squeeze out. Of course, he wasn't out of the woods yet, as he lay on the ground, burning, almost dead, with two goblins standing next to him. But this is where the battle turned. It was a bit rough, but the Dragonslayers managed to kill the goblins without getting anyone (from the party) killed.[sblock=Comments]I dunno how it reads when written by me, but I can tell you that it was one awesome fight. The second I announced the portcullis' came down and the black sticky fluid started to pour down on their heads, the players knew what was coming, which created a real sense of urgency. It was almost as if you could see a slight edge of panic in their eyes. Then they got the gate up really quickly (of course, lifting a gate isn't the most challenging thing in the world when you have a fighter with 20 str, a warden with 19 str and a warlord with 18 str.) and for a few, they actually thought they were going to make it out before being set on fire. Then, when they dropped the portcullis on the fighter, he really thought he was done for. Pinned under a portcullis with single digit hit points and your body on fire will do that to you, of course. So when he rolled a DC 30 escape artist check to get out, the roar was almost deafening. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but he was as happy as I have yet seen him at the table for the last 20 years. [/sblock]

After a short break, they continued further in. Most doors they found were made of stone and locked, but at the end of the next corridor, they found a set of doors that were open. Behind the doors was the kitchen, with room enough for about 30 goblins to eat. As they moved through the room, Kudes decided to stop and cast a ritual of Comprehend Languages, and while the others walked a bit further, Kudes was jumped by a goblin with a cleaver, who had been hiding in the cupboards. The goblin proved to be a hard-hitting and rather tough nut, but alone against the 4 Dragonslayers, his life expectancy suddenly became very short. As soon as it was dead, the Dragonslayers hurried on, heading into the next corridor, finding the next set of doors. This pair of doors were slightly open, and in the room behind, the Dragonslayers could see a goblin with a crown sitting on the throne, with a couple of guards.

While it was fairly obvious that something was off, they still decided to burst open the doors and storm in, swords and spells blazing. The 4 goblins went down faster than a hooker from Bangkok As the last goblin went down, an imp appeared of out nowhere, attacking Paavu. For a bit, the Dragonslayers were playing a game of find-the-invisible-imp, when suddenly a couple of goblins with crossbows appeared up on two balconies, firing away on the Dragonslayers. Kavaki jumped up to deal with one of the Xbow goblins, while the rest of the were focus on the imp.

As the battle moved towards the left side of the room, small kegs with explosive powder were rolling down on our heroes. The imp was killed, but the battle spread out in different rooms and corridors with everyone running back and forth. Paavu goes unconscious from the imp's poison, but the Dragonslayers manage to turn things around, and get Paavu back on his feet. Eventually, there is only one goblin left (one of the crossbow-goblins), severely wounded, and things are looking up, when the doors to the west burst up, and the Dragonslayers find themselves facing Krusk, the hobgoblin who has been running things and 10 more goblins. Krusk proved to be a hard-hitting fellow, and Garel-kai soon went down, and both Paavu and Kavaki were very wounded as well, by the time the last hob/goblin went down. A hard fight, but yet again one where the Dragonslayers came out victorious. [sblock=Comments]This was another fight that I was more than pleased with. Broken into 3 waves (First: Assassin Imp, 4 goblin minions - Second: 2 goblin sentry's, 2 goblins sharpshooters - Third: Hobgoblin boss, 10 minions), the fight ended up just about as planned, in 5 different rooms and corridors, with people moving around a lot, people jumping up and down from the balconies etc. In general, I think it was probably one of the most dynamic battles I have ever done. And apparently I had balanced and timed things just right, because there was no room for a breathing and when the battle ended, all were pretty much either dying or in the 1-digit hp zone, with no healing left (afaik).[/sblock]

After catching their breath and searching the compound, the Dragonslayers found some gold, a longsword and a hide armor, as well as a lot of scared goblin females and children huddled up in the furthest corner of the dungeon.

[sblock=Comments]Yeah, that was quite a few encounters in one night. But people are starting to get to know their characters, and things are moving along nicely. Of course, the session was a bit RP-light, but you can't have everything every time.[/sblock]

 

[coyote6]

I am being told that my thread from General Forum belongs here. I personally never considered it to be a Story Hour, but got to follow the rules...

FWIW, it's always seemed to be a lot like the original threads that spawned the Story Hour forum - a recap of your game.

That said, subscribed.

 

[Jack99]

Session 8

As mentioned in another thread, we are currently down to 4 players. 2 are on a break due to work-related business. So, atm, we have a goliath fighter (Paavu), a goliath warden (Kavaki) , a genasi warlord (Garel-kai) and a human wizard (Kudes). No striker, which means we might suffer from prolonged fights at times.

Onsday 29th Zeptambor, Year 599 (continued)
It didn't take long for the Fallcrest Dragonslayers to decide that all those goblins could potentially be a threat some day, and slaughter them. Having done that, they took a look at their options. Should they head back to Fallcrest and look for Mistress Adele? Should they investigate the rumours of mysterious murders in Miners' Gate? Should they follow up on the reports of bandits to the east and south of Fallcrest? Or should they check out the treasure map and the mysterious ruin. Since it was connected somehow with the full moon and that the full moon was only three nights away, it was quickly decided that they would head south and see what it was.

Heading south, they ran into a druid called Hoddar later the same day. He proved to be a friendly chap, although he didn't care much for civilization and the attacks on Fallcrest. He did however provide some info about the area towards which they were heading, including that it was the territory of a green dragon called Aglera. Kudes also convinced Hoddar to teach him how to brew simple potions of healing. Aside from the normal recipe, he was also told that certain ingredients (parts) of certain fantastic creatures could add potency to the potion when mixed with the usual brew.
[sblock=Comments]I had earlier announced that it would be possible to brew potions, but that recipes for each potion would be needed. I must admit I hadn't thought much about it, but when Kudes' player mentioned it before we started play, I quickly decided that he should get a recipe. Via the druid NPC Hoddar, I also hinted that it might be possible to experiment with ingredients in order to create better effects. I am hoping that the recipe/ingredients parts will make brewing a more interesting mini-system than it is now. [/sblock]
Before the night, they also fought some rabid wild dogs, but they were no match for our now veteran heroes.


Torsday 30th Zeptambor, Year 599
The day through the forest was pretty uneventful. Kavaki led them straight towards the treasure map, and by night, they saw light. It turned out to be the hut of Zanex, a blind spellcaster who lives there with his books and his pet kobold, Guurak. The hut was definitely not normal, from the outside it looked as one room, but there were several once you got inside. Zanex however, seemed to be an amiable fellow, freely dispensing with advice and knowledge, even letting Kudes copy a map.

He also told that a small evil from another world was brewing in Miners' Gate, and it would be in their best interest to investigate and stop it at some point.

The Dragonslayers stayed the night, got fed (chicken and tea!) and went on their way the next morning
[sblock=Comments]Zanex is going sort of a mentor for the players, guiding them (if they wish, of course) towards certain adventures. His goal is to protect the world against the forces of the Underdark and the Far Realm. While he will certainly help them work towards certain goals at low levels, I plan for his involvement to really kick off around paragon level. I plan for the paragon part of the campaign (assuming we get that far) to take part in the Underdark.[/sblock]
Freeday 1st Auktaubor, Year 599
Heading towards the X on the map, the Fallcrest Dragonslayers arrived during the afternoon. With little trouble, they found the Monolith with arcane runes inscribed upon. It told them that for 48 hours during the full moon (the night of the 30th, 1st and 2nd every month) a temple would appear here, before returning to the Shadowfell. The monolith also spoke of magical wardings, and ways to bypass them and be able to enter the temple.

While waiting for the ruins to appear, Kudes decided to test his new brew and make some potions for his comrades. While making the second one, they Fallcrest Dragonslayers were once again ambushed by phase spiders. But, it seems that ones does learn from ones past battles, because none of the Dragonslayers went unconscious from the spider toxin this time around, and the battle was much easier than the first time around.

Night came, and so did the ruined temple. Appearing out of nowhere, only announced by a ripple in reality, it was suddenly there. Kudes soon dismantled the magical wards ("it was just *that* easy) and the Dragonslayers entered the temple.

In the first room, the walls were full of small stone drawers, and the drawers full of some weird magical sand (not residuum), but otherwise, there was nothing to be seen.

In the second room, which was a big room with stairs going down in the middle of it, it was kinda hard to miss the 24 sarcophaguses, and the Dragonslayers, experienced as they are, expected something to jump up from the sarcophaguses and attack them. They were also right. Instead the ghosts came out of the walls and the floor.

A long and brutal fight followed, with the pressure being on the Dragonslayers. Kavaki went down, and in general, the horrible screaming of the ghosts almost proved devastating. But, after a long fight, the Dragonslayers stood victorious and the four ghosts were really dead. A quick search of the sarcophaguses, revealed they were full of mummified remains. One of them did wear a very nice magical robe, that Kudes immediately claimed for himself.
[sblock=Comments]Those ghosts were nasty. Mostly because I deleveled level 12 Wailing Ghosts and somehow I must have forgotten to tweak them, because the Terrifying Shriek was almost identical (save the to hit, of course), which of coursed proved pretty lethal. Close burst 5, targets enemies and immobilizes is very controllery but perhaps too much. At least when you have 4 of them. I should have followed my own advice and not employed that many controllers in the same fight. It is not that it became a grind, but it definitely made it a slowish combat. There will be more ghosts later on, but instead of using these again, I will probably make a skirmisher type and use those instead.[/sblock]
After searching the room, they went down the stairs. There they found another set of double stone doors, these locked. That didn't stop Paavu for many seconds, who kicked it once, then twice before it broke open. In front of the Dragonslayers was a dark omnious chamber with a big coffin. They suddenly decided that it might be a good idea to make some healing potions before venturing on, since they were pretty low on those.

Paavu stayed at the entrance to the room in order to guard against whatever might come, and the 3 others went back upstairs to start the brewing.

No sooner had Kudes started to brew, before 3 wraiths slipped out of the shadows and jumped Paavu. Before he even managed to blink, the proud warrior was already hovering on death's door, only being kept alive by his magical armor. A poor start of a very tough fight. The others rushed down to join the fight, and soon the Dragonslayers found themselves engaged in a fight for their lives in a tight corridor. The Wraiths passed in and out of the walls, making it very hard to pin them down. In the end, the heroes did win the day, but they were so badly hurt that they had no choice but to slip back up and out of the temple, without further investigation.
[sblock=Comments]Okay, so maybe it was a bit evil of my, jumping one player who stayed behind, but they gotta learn that stupid play has consequences. Of course, no one died permanently, so maybe they wont learn anything.

Regarding using the wraiths. I had planned to change them, but apparently I had forgotten. I knew from experience that unless you have a lot of radiant power, they are pretty much a drag to fight - as in, it takes forever. at-will weakness, insubstantial and regeneration = evil combo of grind from hell. Now, it never felt like a grind, mostly because all players in the party were running out of surges, had zero healing left and very little hit points left. With that said, it was easily our longest combat in the campaign, despite it being a n+0 fight. I am definitely never using multiple wraiths as they are written again.[/sblock]

 

[Jack99]

Session 9

Freeday 1st Auktaubor, Year 599
Exiting the temple, the Fallcrest Dragonslayers set up camp near the temple. The night went well, although Kavaki didn't sleep too well and awoke with a mysterious new tatoo of a serpent-dragon around his neck. Unfortunately, the temple disappeared as soon as the sun came up, so they had to wait until the next night until they could go back.

Lordday 2nd Auktaubor, Year 599
After waiting most of the day in the clearing near where the temple would appear, the Fallcrest Dragonslayers got paid a visit by a dragon. Aglera turned out to be one huge green dragon, and it was none too happy about the Dragonslayers being on it's territory. As it was quite clear that they were outmatched, they agreed to it's demands. Inside the temple, there should be a lot of old books, which Aglera wanted in exchange for letting the heroes live.

Night came, and under the watchful glare of the dragon, the Dragonslayers entered the temple once again. They quickly went downstairs to the room where the wraiths who nearly killed them all had come from. In there, they found a room with a black altar, and no exits.

As they started to explore the room, they set off a trap. The only doors out locked, and water started to pour in through some sort of magical gate suspended in the air. As the water started to rise, two secret doors opened, letting two golems into the altar room. The fight begun, and the Dragonslayers room found themselves fighting for their lives. The magical constructs were obviously very hard to kill, and the rising water was not making things easier. It didn't take long for the entire room to fill up. This of course didn't make any difference for the constructs, but for the Dragonslayers, it was a huge problem. After a long fight, they finally managed to kill the two golems, but they were still stuck in a room filled with water and no air.

Frantically they started to search for an exit or something that could save them. After a long time desperately searching every square inch of the room, they found some magically runes instructing how they could reverse the water gate and empty the room of water. Kudes started working on the gate, while Garel-kai assisted him. Unfortunately, the magic of the gate was hard to figure out, and Kudes attempt to manipulate it created a magical blast, killing Garel-kai, Kavaki and Paavu. Kudes managed to survive the blast and kept at it, racing the almost inevitable. Moments later Kavaki re-awoke, just to watch Kudes fail at fixing the gate and running out of air. So Kavaki was awake, but with no magical knowledge, he could not manipulate the gate and there was nothing he could do but wait for death....

Fallcrest Dragonslayers: R.I.P​

[sblock=Thoughts]Yeah, so I did it again apparently. It was actually an awesome encounter, but poor thinking by the players and atrocious rolling killed them all. Well, and me, of course.

I had changed a few things. Normally you can breathe underwater for 3 minutes with no problem, unless you are hit, in which case you loose a healing surge unless you make a DC 20 endurance check. Once you are out of surges, you lose 1 hp per level instead of losing a surging. I had changed 3 minutes to 2 minutes, becuase I do not think that you should be able to breathe that long a time under water while fighting. 3 minutes is fine if you are just swimming a bit around or focusing on keeping your breath, but not when fighting. I also changed the 1hp/level to surge value.

Now with that said, I still think they had plenty of time. The fight took 12 rounds, which left them 8 rounds until they had to start making endurance checks, but unfortunately, Garel-kai missed his arcana check (rolled a 1) to analyze the portal, and Kudes didn't think of checking it. Instead they spent countless rounds missing the runes which described the process to follow (analyzing the portal or reading the runes would yield the same result), rolling poorly on their perception checks every time someone was near the runes. When they finally found out what to do, time was running out. To make matters worse, they missed 4 arcana checks in a row (where they only had to roll 6), which in turn set off the explosion, killing several and leaving Kudes with almost no air. He only had to make one more "win" on this particular skill challenge, but he kept rolling 5 or lower, while making none of his endurance checks (he failed every one of them). Had just one of the endurance checks been made it would have given him another round to make that last arcana, or if he hadn't failed 7 DC 16 arcana checks with a +10 modifier, it would all have been good. But he didn't so instead, I have got myself another TPK on my hands.

Anyway, seeing that it was quite early, we took a long talk about what they wanted. As it turns out, they like the campaign and wanted to get to know the setting better, so we decided to continue the campaign, just with new characters. The link with be River, the ranger, who was absent. This works fine with me, since I do not feel I have the time to think up a new campaign right now.

So, tomorrow, Tuesday, we will be starting with a new party - mostly. So far, it seems the party will be a goliath tempest fighter, a human bear shaman, a human tome wizard (focusing on summonings), a goliath barbarian and of course the elf ranger. Still a strong nature theme going on in the party.[/sblock]