The Second Age - Commentary on my campaign
- Status
Jack99
Adventurer
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
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.
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Second Age
Glad to see you all got back on the horse after the old campaign and certianly a more random selections of characters.
I like the forest challenge and I especially like the non hostile random encounters.
It makes it feel so much more realistic that your not going to encounter something thats trying to kill you everytime your in the woods. I might even suggest some of those be as lame as you encouter 4 deer or something for more realism.
Glad to see you all got back on the horse after the old campaign and certianly a more random selections of characters.
I like the forest challenge and I especially like the non hostile random encounters.
It makes it feel so much more realistic that your not going to encounter something thats trying to kill you everytime your in the woods. I might even suggest some of those be as lame as you encouter 4 deer or something for more realism.
Jack99
Adventurer
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.
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.
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Defintely a good session and a scary first battle. N+4 at level one sounds like suicide. One death is pretty decent. Getting killed is terrible of course but the realization that death is very possible keeps each fight exciting and rewarding to survive. Our campaign alternates DM's and one of them I know pulls his punchs quite a bit. Lvl 10 and no one has been unconcious even in the last 4 sessions.
Jack99
Adventurer
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]
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
Adventurer
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]
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]
Herobizkit
Adventurer
Using my favourite "tv show" style comparison, most "first season" runs of shows have random occurrences for the first half to two-thirds of the season while sprinkling in tidbits hinting at "a greater evil at work". The first season ends with the heroes encountering, defeating, and learning from the Big Bad, who is in fact just a smaller part of the whole.
In short, decide where you want your linear campaign to go, and sprinkle in some relevant quests that will appear random to the players. Or, better, DM a separate NPC faction that IS following your story plot, and it's a guarantee the PCs will follow. Players hate competition, ESPECIALLY if the competition is doing BETTER than them.
In short, decide where you want your linear campaign to go, and sprinkle in some relevant quests that will appear random to the players. Or, better, DM a separate NPC faction that IS following your story plot, and it's a guarantee the PCs will follow. Players hate competition, ESPECIALLY if the competition is doing BETTER than them.
Traveon Wyvernspur
First Post
I have to agree on this one. Sometimes it takes a while to develop something more to the campaign. I think that you are doing an awesome job so far with it though. I really enjoy reading your campaign threads and the thoughts. Keep up the good work!
I agree with the others comments not to worry too much. My suggestion is to use all these mini random adventuers to see what inspires the PC's or that their characters get attached to solving the problem for more than reward.
Once you find the thread to work with you definitely have the creativy to expand it out into an overarching theme.
Once you find the thread to work with you definitely have the creativy to expand it out into an overarching theme.
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