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<blockquote data-quote="thekwp" data-source="post: 6926533" data-attributes="member: 56444"><p><strong>Session 05 - Oct 19, 2016</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Player Summary</strong></p><p></p><p><em>The Scouring of Gate Pass</em></p><p><em></em><em>Act Three: Escaping the City -- The Dawn of War</em></p><p></p><p>Having recovered from the late night efforts, the party took a few moments in the morning to asses their situation. Bosma spoke of Gate Pass and their situation, saying "I plan to do everything in my power to protect Gate Pass from any antagonist." He pointed out that last night they had all acted in the urgency of the moment, but now they had a moment to deliberate on their actions, and what would come next. Bosma then asked the party for their support on the mission from the Resistance, noting "If you want out, now is the time."</p><p></p><p>Most people in the party agreed, each for their own reasons; some from a sense of honor such as Ceilthanus, some from a love of their home like Gath. Bromsby refused, however, believing that Gate Pass was doomed and wanting the opportunity for negotiations with others, but promised to oppose Ragesia. Dom and Ceilthanus argued that was good enough, and suggested the group could address the issue again if it came up.</p><p></p><p>The party made its way through the city in the cold morning light. The dusting of snow in the night added a layer of delicate frosting to the destruction from the previous night, and the air had the smell of cold smoke coming from the west portion of the city. As they made their way through the city, they could see how the firebombing had impacted portions of the town in this district, more than 3 miles far from the West Gate. While some people where out, the town was generally very quiet.</p><p></p><p><em>Act Three: Escaping the City -- Councilman Menash</em></p><p></p><p>They had no difficulty passing through the gate this morning, and then finding Councilman Erdan Menash's garishly painted green, yellow, and purple house in the next district. The guards at the low iron fence around the house were dressed in livery with the same colors, and allowed the party inside to the Entry Hall of the three story manor while they waited for Erdan Menash to return from a council meeting.</p><p></p><p>The Entry Hall of Menash's manor was filled with outlandishly decorated weapons and armor. Bromsby passed a little bit of the time the party waited for the Councilman by sketching some of the weapons, while Bosma looked around the place. They waited less than an hour for the councilman, who came in venting his frustration, complaining in a high-pitched, wheezing voice about the nincompoops in charge of the city. He gave a double take upon seeing the party, apparently surprised to have guests.</p><p></p><p>The party introduced themselves, and turned over the letter of introduction that Shakur Biggs had written for them. Erdan read it, then asked each of the party members their names and their purpose. He seemed agreeable to their goal but challenged each person to explain why they should be allowed out, apparently trying to asses if they wanted to flee the coming army or wanted to help Gate Pass. Erdan listened carefully to the responses, and seemed satisfied with the answers each person provided. He agreed to not only help the party leave the city, but also offered each person a selection from his collection of weapons and armor.</p><p></p><p>Bosma took a longspear, decorated with bright candy stripe spiral pattern in green and purple. Bromsby took a light crossbow, made in the likeness of a sandy orange scorpion. Ceilthanus selected a chainshirt including a coif, lacquered black and yellow like a large bee. Gath also selected armor, a breastplate decorated with vines and grapes, like an overdone vineyard. Dom declined to select anything for himself, but noted Gath eying a heavy shield made to look like rounded pig, and chose that. He then gave it to Gath. Torrent selected a falchion with a blade in the shape of a dolphin.</p><p></p><p>Discussing the other gear they had, Erdan offered to buy all the extra equipment off the party, and to let them buy from his extensive equipment of other undecorated gear in exchange. While doing so, he continued to discuss some of the details from last night's attacks. A few fellow council members died during last night's attack when a huge earth elemental arose from the ground and attacked their estates. Erdan apparently considered one of the lost council members, who rose to prominence during the Ragesian occupation forty years ago, a critical lose and likely to shift the council's votes. Some of the information he mentioned was already known to the party in one format or another, such as the fires that raged across the western most districts.</p><p></p><p>The councilman then gave the party a letter of introduction to Captain Herreman, with two sets of orders. One authorized a patrol of 15 members to venture out of the city, and other authorized a patrol of 8 members on the same mission. By presenting one pass to leave, traveling pass shift time, and then returning using the other pass, Erdan thought the Captain should be able to get the party members of the city without too much difficulty. The group thanked him for his assistance, then left to head to the barracks near the south gate heading to the old Elfroad that leads through the Fire Forest of Innenotdar.</p><p></p><p><em>Act Three: Escaping the City -- Street Ambush</em></p><p></p><p>After passing through Summer's Bluff, between the Coaltongue Statue and the Spire Clocktower, the party noticed they were being followed by a group of guardsmen. After only a few moment's observation, Krombholz and Bosma were confident that the guards were actually fakes; small details like their boots being calvary boots, and their insignia marking them for a western district would have its hands fool with the invasion right now. They party guessed that these were likely mercenaries. Since they were headed to a district barrack, they decided to wait and see what the group would do. When several members broke off, the party readied themselves for an ambush. Soon, three of the false guardsmen approached the party from a side alley a little in front of the group.</p><p></p><p>When they called out that the elf and gnome would need to come with them under suspicion of being mages, Bromsby responded without warning by casting a color spray in their face. This caught a few members of the party, like Bosma flat footed, but completely surprised the faux guards, dropping all three into unconsciousness. The party turned and confronted the remaining six behind them, and decisively defeated them. The party's suspicions were confirmed upon finding the Black Horse insignia armbands under the guard uniforms. Using the manacles the Black Horse mercenaries had on them, the party left their wounded and unconscious behind, notifying the guards as they went along but not willing to waste any time in their efforts to leave Gate Pass.</p><p></p><p><em>Act Three: Escaping the City -- A Rogue's Request</em></p><p></p><p>Just before arriving at the barracks, another stranger stepped out of the shadows. Krombholz and Ceilthanus recognized the man as the well known local rogue, Rantle. The charismatic young man complained good-naturedly that he had been trailing the party waiting for the chance to swoop in and save the day, but they had never been at risk! He outlined what he suspected the party was up to, and explained that he wanted them to deliver a message to his sister, Katrina, who last he heard was headed to Lyceum. “She’s about five and a half feet tall, with long red hair, and she looks too good for her own good. In short, she’s pretty much the stereotype of a fire mage. It’s kinda embarrassing.” Without confirming that they are headed to Lyceum, Bosma accepts Rantle's sealed scroll case, and agrees to deliver it if they meet her. With that, Rantle thanks them, then leaves them returning to the alley he came from. </p><p></p><p>The party spent some time examining the scroll, attempting to determine if it could be used in some way to track them or watch them with magic. Detecting magic from inside the case, Ceilthanus and Bromsby confirmed that the aura was evocation in nature. The only way that it seemed an evocation aura might be used to locate the party would be if it exploded in a pyrotechnics display of some sort on remote command. Deeming that unlikely, they concluded that it was more likely a trap set to destroy the contents if opened by anyone else.</p><p></p><p><em>Act Three: Escaping the City -- Captain Herreman's Barracks</em></p><p><em></em></p><p>Arriving at the barracks, the party was directed to Captain Herreman without issue. The middle-aged bearded half-orc sported a dagger that like a peeled banana, and upon looking for the party in their new equipment, accepted the letter of introduction from Councilman Menash without challenge. He then proceeded to get the party uniforms and gear to support their disguise as guardsmen, and got them access to the stables to let the party pick out mounts for their trip. Leaving them there, Herreman gathered a hand picked crew that he could trust to keep the secret of the deception intact.</p><p></p><p>Several hours later, the party left the barracks with Herreman's hand picked crew, making an effort to blend in with the other guards and not arouse any attention. They head toward the old Elfroad gate. Along the way, a single bell from the West Gate rang out ominously and mournfully. Captain Herreman suspected this meant that the Inquisitors had finally been let into Gate Pass. Herreman hurried the group to the gate, and handed over his orders to the gatekeepers. Menash's authorization got the entire group of the city without much commentary, except a wish of good luck in dealing with the necromancer.</p><p></p><p>Proceeding at trout for the next 20 minutes, Captain Herreman led the group well away from the gates and within eyesight of an old watch post. He warns them against traveling at night, saying the parts of the passes stayed icy in the winter and became near impossible to spot at night with such quantities of light as to make their presence and movement obvious for miles around. Wishing them luck on their travels, the stoic half-orc took his leave of the group and continued on ward. The party, at last, was out of Gate Pass.</p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p><strong>Story Deviation & Extra Details</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p>I had fun making up the outlandish details for Erdan's equipment, and I think the party enjoyed the humor as well. I think a chart with random ideas and motifs would be fun to include in a revision.</p><p></p><p>I had Menash challenge each character for their individual reason in part to let the player's follow up from the earlier in game discussion, but also to give them a chance to express their in character motivation and remind themselves why they were doing this. I had hoped that this might lead to more discussion with Erdan. However, I had trouble getting party to do more than ask for the pass out of town, and then for the supplied; as a group they were too goal focused to let Menash engage in much talking about the state of things, so I was not able to go into some of the other details provided about the war's activities the previous night. I did manage to work in the part about unknown hero's when the party presented the wyvern's rider full plate for sell to Menash.</p><p></p><p>Steven had his character Bromsby look the Black Horse thugs over for rope or something after knocking out three with Color Spray, and it struck me as being very logical that if they were intending on turning casters over alive to Ragesian forces, they would have a means to secure them. So, manacles were added to the entire group. </p><p></p><p><strong>Tactical Notes and Conversions</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p>I scaled the encounter with the Black Horse thugs in 'Street Ambush' up from 6 to 9 to adjust for the size of the party. Even at that size, they party teamwork and abilities gave the Black Horse members little chance. I don't think any significant damage was done by the party's opponents.</p><p></p><p>From a pacing standpoint, I had thought we would get to The Gauntlet tonight. Dealing with the role playing, and handling the selling and buying of gear, took up more time than I expected. However, I think the role playing was valuable, and the timing will work well to start the gauntlet next session.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mechanics Issues</strong></p><p></p><p>I was glad the fighter in the party, Gath, declined to take the Full Plate armor. I could not find anything in the rules for how to deal with Full Plate armor that has not been resized, and Full Plate is the only armor which requires resizing. Well there is a defined cost for doing so, there is no time given for how long, and the crafting rules could have it taken weeks; weeks the party will not have for a while. I had decided on a House Rule that until resized, Full Plate could only be Hastily Donned, but I am not entirely comfortable with that. The player opted not to take the armor on the basis the once sold they could pick up multiple suits of medium armor, which was better for the party as a whole, and that he wanted to take advantage of his Armor Training at third level with medium armor to increase his mobility in combat. The Revised Action Economy seems to have raised the value for speed and mobility in the minds of several of my players.</p><p></p><p>At what point is a surprise round triggered? Steven said "Bromsby steps forward and casts Color Spray on them," immediately after the Black Horse faux guards asked for "the gnome and the elf." When we positioned figures on the board, he would have to take a five step and then cast, which the alternate Revised Action Economy would not allow. I ruled that it was not his movement but the spell casting that started the surprise round. Since there was no effort to communicate among the party first, I had everyone in the group roll a Sense Motive (DC 10) to anticipate his actions enough to act in the surprise round.</p><p></p><p>The evocation aura is from the scroll of fireball within, of course. The party spent a modest amount of time musing over that, and I enjoyed that they were both cautious and willing to follow the request.</p><p></p><p>I wanted players to be more creative in their use of skills and abilities, and have invited them several times to tell me what other skill they might use to accomplish something. I was pleased when Rick had Bosma used Professional (Soldier) in place of Bluff when trying to pass without notice from the other guards.</p><p></p><p>The timing was excellent for Bosma who took cavalier for level 2. His mount is the steed he picked from the stables.</p><p></p><p><strong>Notable player reactions</strong></p><p></p><p>The party discussion at the start of the session turned out to be interesting in many ways. Alex has taken to playing Ceilthanus as a noble, with a fine sense of honor, and pledge to support the effort. J.T. played up Gath's distrust of outsiders but also his loyalty to Gate Pass, his home. In response to those players, Chris had Dom play up his own pledge of honor to his "adopted city," being of the gentry class but from Dessen. Kirk was unable to make the session. Steven, who had been the one to first voice support for the idea of a party leader, was the only player to dissent. I am not sure how much was based on Steven's view of the events so far, and how much it is because Steven and Rick have been on opposite sides of most discussions in the groups many years of history. Regardless, it was a nice little bit of role playing by the players, and one that should prove something to play off of as the secrets of the campaign world are revealed. In particular, I am looking forward to shifting reactions regarding Shahalesti as they uncover information in The Indomitable Fire Forest of Innenotdar.</p><p></p><p>As I mentioned above, the player's really took to Erdan's outlandishly decorated gear. Later, the peeled banana was a party favorite as well. </p><p></p><p>Looking forward to the shifting reactions regarding Shahalesti as they uncover information. </p><p></p><p><strong>Props, music, images, supporting handouts, etc</strong></p><p></p><p>Music for this session was:</p><p></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Last of the Mohicans by Joel McNeely </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dances with Wolves by John Barry </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Bourne Identity by John Powell </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by Patrick Doyle </li> </ul><p>Removed the "Weird Sisters" rock songs from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" ('Do the Hippogriff,' 'This is the Night,' and 'Magic Works'), and also removed the mermaid song 'Underwater Secret.' I selected the music for this play list to a bit more "wide outdoors" atmospheric for getting out of the city. I should have had something for activities inside the city, and then change play lists when they got out of the town.</p><p></p><p>For the regional map asked by the party, I had Shakur provide them the map I printed out pg 2 from the Maps bundle with The Scouring of Gate Pass; the one that is the Regional Map with political borders and cities, not the adventure icons (though the Monastery of Two Windows shows up anyway). I need to review if there are any better regional maps they should have before the next session.</p><p></p><p>I used the image of Rantle from the adventure, extracted and posted for the players as well. I wish we had an image of the banana dagger.</p><p></p><p>(Need to get detailed maps and timing for party and timing for Black Horse Gauntlet ready before the next session.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="thekwp, post: 6926533, member: 56444"] [b]Session 05 - Oct 19, 2016[/b] [B]Player Summary[/B] [I]The Scouring of Gate Pass [/I][I]Act Three: Escaping the City -- The Dawn of War[/I] Having recovered from the late night efforts, the party took a few moments in the morning to asses their situation. Bosma spoke of Gate Pass and their situation, saying "I plan to do everything in my power to protect Gate Pass from any antagonist." He pointed out that last night they had all acted in the urgency of the moment, but now they had a moment to deliberate on their actions, and what would come next. Bosma then asked the party for their support on the mission from the Resistance, noting "If you want out, now is the time." Most people in the party agreed, each for their own reasons; some from a sense of honor such as Ceilthanus, some from a love of their home like Gath. Bromsby refused, however, believing that Gate Pass was doomed and wanting the opportunity for negotiations with others, but promised to oppose Ragesia. Dom and Ceilthanus argued that was good enough, and suggested the group could address the issue again if it came up. The party made its way through the city in the cold morning light. The dusting of snow in the night added a layer of delicate frosting to the destruction from the previous night, and the air had the smell of cold smoke coming from the west portion of the city. As they made their way through the city, they could see how the firebombing had impacted portions of the town in this district, more than 3 miles far from the West Gate. While some people where out, the town was generally very quiet. [I]Act Three: Escaping the City -- Councilman Menash[/I] They had no difficulty passing through the gate this morning, and then finding Councilman Erdan Menash's garishly painted green, yellow, and purple house in the next district. The guards at the low iron fence around the house were dressed in livery with the same colors, and allowed the party inside to the Entry Hall of the three story manor while they waited for Erdan Menash to return from a council meeting. The Entry Hall of Menash's manor was filled with outlandishly decorated weapons and armor. Bromsby passed a little bit of the time the party waited for the Councilman by sketching some of the weapons, while Bosma looked around the place. They waited less than an hour for the councilman, who came in venting his frustration, complaining in a high-pitched, wheezing voice about the nincompoops in charge of the city. He gave a double take upon seeing the party, apparently surprised to have guests. The party introduced themselves, and turned over the letter of introduction that Shakur Biggs had written for them. Erdan read it, then asked each of the party members their names and their purpose. He seemed agreeable to their goal but challenged each person to explain why they should be allowed out, apparently trying to asses if they wanted to flee the coming army or wanted to help Gate Pass. Erdan listened carefully to the responses, and seemed satisfied with the answers each person provided. He agreed to not only help the party leave the city, but also offered each person a selection from his collection of weapons and armor. Bosma took a longspear, decorated with bright candy stripe spiral pattern in green and purple. Bromsby took a light crossbow, made in the likeness of a sandy orange scorpion. Ceilthanus selected a chainshirt including a coif, lacquered black and yellow like a large bee. Gath also selected armor, a breastplate decorated with vines and grapes, like an overdone vineyard. Dom declined to select anything for himself, but noted Gath eying a heavy shield made to look like rounded pig, and chose that. He then gave it to Gath. Torrent selected a falchion with a blade in the shape of a dolphin. Discussing the other gear they had, Erdan offered to buy all the extra equipment off the party, and to let them buy from his extensive equipment of other undecorated gear in exchange. While doing so, he continued to discuss some of the details from last night's attacks. A few fellow council members died during last night's attack when a huge earth elemental arose from the ground and attacked their estates. Erdan apparently considered one of the lost council members, who rose to prominence during the Ragesian occupation forty years ago, a critical lose and likely to shift the council's votes. Some of the information he mentioned was already known to the party in one format or another, such as the fires that raged across the western most districts. The councilman then gave the party a letter of introduction to Captain Herreman, with two sets of orders. One authorized a patrol of 15 members to venture out of the city, and other authorized a patrol of 8 members on the same mission. By presenting one pass to leave, traveling pass shift time, and then returning using the other pass, Erdan thought the Captain should be able to get the party members of the city without too much difficulty. The group thanked him for his assistance, then left to head to the barracks near the south gate heading to the old Elfroad that leads through the Fire Forest of Innenotdar. [I]Act Three: Escaping the City -- Street Ambush[/I] After passing through Summer's Bluff, between the Coaltongue Statue and the Spire Clocktower, the party noticed they were being followed by a group of guardsmen. After only a few moment's observation, Krombholz and Bosma were confident that the guards were actually fakes; small details like their boots being calvary boots, and their insignia marking them for a western district would have its hands fool with the invasion right now. They party guessed that these were likely mercenaries. Since they were headed to a district barrack, they decided to wait and see what the group would do. When several members broke off, the party readied themselves for an ambush. Soon, three of the false guardsmen approached the party from a side alley a little in front of the group. When they called out that the elf and gnome would need to come with them under suspicion of being mages, Bromsby responded without warning by casting a color spray in their face. This caught a few members of the party, like Bosma flat footed, but completely surprised the faux guards, dropping all three into unconsciousness. The party turned and confronted the remaining six behind them, and decisively defeated them. The party's suspicions were confirmed upon finding the Black Horse insignia armbands under the guard uniforms. Using the manacles the Black Horse mercenaries had on them, the party left their wounded and unconscious behind, notifying the guards as they went along but not willing to waste any time in their efforts to leave Gate Pass. [I]Act Three: Escaping the City -- A Rogue's Request[/I] Just before arriving at the barracks, another stranger stepped out of the shadows. Krombholz and Ceilthanus recognized the man as the well known local rogue, Rantle. The charismatic young man complained good-naturedly that he had been trailing the party waiting for the chance to swoop in and save the day, but they had never been at risk! He outlined what he suspected the party was up to, and explained that he wanted them to deliver a message to his sister, Katrina, who last he heard was headed to Lyceum. “She’s about five and a half feet tall, with long red hair, and she looks too good for her own good. In short, she’s pretty much the stereotype of a fire mage. It’s kinda embarrassing.” Without confirming that they are headed to Lyceum, Bosma accepts Rantle's sealed scroll case, and agrees to deliver it if they meet her. With that, Rantle thanks them, then leaves them returning to the alley he came from. The party spent some time examining the scroll, attempting to determine if it could be used in some way to track them or watch them with magic. Detecting magic from inside the case, Ceilthanus and Bromsby confirmed that the aura was evocation in nature. The only way that it seemed an evocation aura might be used to locate the party would be if it exploded in a pyrotechnics display of some sort on remote command. Deeming that unlikely, they concluded that it was more likely a trap set to destroy the contents if opened by anyone else. [I]Act Three: Escaping the City -- Captain Herreman's Barracks [/I] Arriving at the barracks, the party was directed to Captain Herreman without issue. The middle-aged bearded half-orc sported a dagger that like a peeled banana, and upon looking for the party in their new equipment, accepted the letter of introduction from Councilman Menash without challenge. He then proceeded to get the party uniforms and gear to support their disguise as guardsmen, and got them access to the stables to let the party pick out mounts for their trip. Leaving them there, Herreman gathered a hand picked crew that he could trust to keep the secret of the deception intact. Several hours later, the party left the barracks with Herreman's hand picked crew, making an effort to blend in with the other guards and not arouse any attention. They head toward the old Elfroad gate. Along the way, a single bell from the West Gate rang out ominously and mournfully. Captain Herreman suspected this meant that the Inquisitors had finally been let into Gate Pass. Herreman hurried the group to the gate, and handed over his orders to the gatekeepers. Menash's authorization got the entire group of the city without much commentary, except a wish of good luck in dealing with the necromancer. Proceeding at trout for the next 20 minutes, Captain Herreman led the group well away from the gates and within eyesight of an old watch post. He warns them against traveling at night, saying the parts of the passes stayed icy in the winter and became near impossible to spot at night with such quantities of light as to make their presence and movement obvious for miles around. Wishing them luck on their travels, the stoic half-orc took his leave of the group and continued on ward. The party, at last, was out of Gate Pass. [HR][/HR] [B]Story Deviation & Extra Details [/B] I had fun making up the outlandish details for Erdan's equipment, and I think the party enjoyed the humor as well. I think a chart with random ideas and motifs would be fun to include in a revision. I had Menash challenge each character for their individual reason in part to let the player's follow up from the earlier in game discussion, but also to give them a chance to express their in character motivation and remind themselves why they were doing this. I had hoped that this might lead to more discussion with Erdan. However, I had trouble getting party to do more than ask for the pass out of town, and then for the supplied; as a group they were too goal focused to let Menash engage in much talking about the state of things, so I was not able to go into some of the other details provided about the war's activities the previous night. I did manage to work in the part about unknown hero's when the party presented the wyvern's rider full plate for sell to Menash. Steven had his character Bromsby look the Black Horse thugs over for rope or something after knocking out three with Color Spray, and it struck me as being very logical that if they were intending on turning casters over alive to Ragesian forces, they would have a means to secure them. So, manacles were added to the entire group. [B]Tactical Notes and Conversions [/B] I scaled the encounter with the Black Horse thugs in 'Street Ambush' up from 6 to 9 to adjust for the size of the party. Even at that size, they party teamwork and abilities gave the Black Horse members little chance. I don't think any significant damage was done by the party's opponents. From a pacing standpoint, I had thought we would get to The Gauntlet tonight. Dealing with the role playing, and handling the selling and buying of gear, took up more time than I expected. However, I think the role playing was valuable, and the timing will work well to start the gauntlet next session. [B]Mechanics Issues[/B] I was glad the fighter in the party, Gath, declined to take the Full Plate armor. I could not find anything in the rules for how to deal with Full Plate armor that has not been resized, and Full Plate is the only armor which requires resizing. Well there is a defined cost for doing so, there is no time given for how long, and the crafting rules could have it taken weeks; weeks the party will not have for a while. I had decided on a House Rule that until resized, Full Plate could only be Hastily Donned, but I am not entirely comfortable with that. The player opted not to take the armor on the basis the once sold they could pick up multiple suits of medium armor, which was better for the party as a whole, and that he wanted to take advantage of his Armor Training at third level with medium armor to increase his mobility in combat. The Revised Action Economy seems to have raised the value for speed and mobility in the minds of several of my players. At what point is a surprise round triggered? Steven said "Bromsby steps forward and casts Color Spray on them," immediately after the Black Horse faux guards asked for "the gnome and the elf." When we positioned figures on the board, he would have to take a five step and then cast, which the alternate Revised Action Economy would not allow. I ruled that it was not his movement but the spell casting that started the surprise round. Since there was no effort to communicate among the party first, I had everyone in the group roll a Sense Motive (DC 10) to anticipate his actions enough to act in the surprise round. The evocation aura is from the scroll of fireball within, of course. The party spent a modest amount of time musing over that, and I enjoyed that they were both cautious and willing to follow the request. I wanted players to be more creative in their use of skills and abilities, and have invited them several times to tell me what other skill they might use to accomplish something. I was pleased when Rick had Bosma used Professional (Soldier) in place of Bluff when trying to pass without notice from the other guards. The timing was excellent for Bosma who took cavalier for level 2. His mount is the steed he picked from the stables. [B]Notable player reactions[/B] The party discussion at the start of the session turned out to be interesting in many ways. Alex has taken to playing Ceilthanus as a noble, with a fine sense of honor, and pledge to support the effort. J.T. played up Gath's distrust of outsiders but also his loyalty to Gate Pass, his home. In response to those players, Chris had Dom play up his own pledge of honor to his "adopted city," being of the gentry class but from Dessen. Kirk was unable to make the session. Steven, who had been the one to first voice support for the idea of a party leader, was the only player to dissent. I am not sure how much was based on Steven's view of the events so far, and how much it is because Steven and Rick have been on opposite sides of most discussions in the groups many years of history. Regardless, it was a nice little bit of role playing by the players, and one that should prove something to play off of as the secrets of the campaign world are revealed. In particular, I am looking forward to shifting reactions regarding Shahalesti as they uncover information in The Indomitable Fire Forest of Innenotdar. As I mentioned above, the player's really took to Erdan's outlandishly decorated gear. Later, the peeled banana was a party favorite as well. Looking forward to the shifting reactions regarding Shahalesti as they uncover information. [B]Props, music, images, supporting handouts, etc[/B] Music for this session was: [LIST] [*]The Last of the Mohicans by Joel McNeely [*]Dances with Wolves by John Barry [*]The Bourne Identity by John Powell [*]Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by Patrick Doyle [/LIST] Removed the "Weird Sisters" rock songs from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" ('Do the Hippogriff,' 'This is the Night,' and 'Magic Works'), and also removed the mermaid song 'Underwater Secret.' I selected the music for this play list to a bit more "wide outdoors" atmospheric for getting out of the city. I should have had something for activities inside the city, and then change play lists when they got out of the town. For the regional map asked by the party, I had Shakur provide them the map I printed out pg 2 from the Maps bundle with The Scouring of Gate Pass; the one that is the Regional Map with political borders and cities, not the adventure icons (though the Monastery of Two Windows shows up anyway). I need to review if there are any better regional maps they should have before the next session. I used the image of Rantle from the adventure, extracted and posted for the players as well. I wish we had an image of the banana dagger. (Need to get detailed maps and timing for party and timing for Black Horse Gauntlet ready before the next session.) [/QUOTE]
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