Xorn
First Post
That's right, ran Oakhurst again, doing the live game this time! I had five people sitting around the table when I started up at my local gameshop--one player had played 4E before the rest hadn't, though all had varying D&D experience. I passed around the quick start sheet from Wizards as they all sat down, and we just dove right in.
Characters selected were the paladin (pretty new player), the cleric (heavy 3.5er, liked clerics), the ranger (plays W40K RPG mostly, old buddy), the warlock (some 3.0 experience, guy will try any game), and the wizard (this guy has played in my games already).
So I only had to mention the statue of Amaunator being defiled and the party was on their way to stomp some raider butts, and the party snuck their way down into the caverns, the ranger leading the way. With some surprisingly good stealth rolls, they actually got to the warren without alerting Ichi-ichi! Getting a surprise round they all quickly burst into the room. The paladin and cleric both charged into the room, the paladin whiffing at Ichi-ichi, and the cleric braining one of the minions, swinging his mace around two-handed! The ranger, warlock and wizard all flooded into the room and the combat started.
The paladin locked up in combat with Ichi-ichi (who sprung the trap and rang the gong the first round) while the cleric stood behind him (protecting his flank) while the ranger, warlock, and wizard began their night-long demonstration of bad rolls. As the second wave of minions entered, the wizard dropped scorching burst, action pointed, and dropped scorching burst a second time. Out of 8 hit rolls, there were two dead minions.
The ranger bounced around the room a bit putting arrows into the walls with terrible rolls, and the warlock found himself pinned against the corner with two minions ready to OA him if he cast a spell. The paladin was managing to hit decently, but the MVP was the cleric, smashing his mace into a new target every round of the combat. Didn't miss once, and AC boosts were flying around the room!
Otto-wombo actually got to the ledge, hurled one firepot (missing) then promptly died to the wizard and ranger nailing him. Ichi-ichi went down on the same turn to the cleric and paladin, and the warlock managed to dagger one of the minions and teleport away (it was cursed). With two minions still left in the room, Varkaze blasted four of them to the ground with a Force Pulse before retreating, and the party mopped up the kobolds, shouting at the cleric not to chase Pik.
After a quick rest, they took off after Pik (watching behind them for the hobgoblin) and found themselves in Meepo's chambers soon. They quickly moved to the furs and scanned the room for Pik, and found both Meepo and Pik under the furs, while the ranger spotted Ix before a surprise round. Still Ix topped the initiative chart and pounced on Riardon, brutally dropping him to -2 and putting him down. This fight saw the warlock pinned in the corner again, while the ranger and wizard dropped back out of the room putting ranged fire down, and Meepo and Pik set up a flank and put the hurt on the paladin.
But the cleric kept braining Meepo over the head (two-handed style) and granting AC bonuses to the halfling, and soon Meepo was down. The warlock was struggling with the spider, but with help from the cleric and wizard they finally dropped the beast, finishing with a critical magic missile. Digging around in the chamber they found the secret door with ease, and proceeded down the corridor.
Opening up into Nightscale's chamber, I followed my normal routine of just going around the table and asking what everyone wanted to do, with the caveat that they couldn't go more then their movement for their activity. The ranger moved to check out the clean waterfall turning foul as it hit the lake, while the rest of the party moved along the shore to get to the ledge. The ranger spotted Nightscale's shadow in the water and called out a warning to the party so there was no surprise round.
Nightscale breathed acid over the whole party, except for the ranger, and hit three of them (missed the Paladin) dropping the wizard to 7 HP by the time his turn came around. The wizard and warlock (fittingly) went first, and fled back down the secret passage, diving into the pile of furs to try and generate a saving throw. It was a creative use, so I let them make a roll before the end of their turn, succeeding. Meanwhile, the paladin challenged the dragon and cracked her over the head (bolstering) then dropped On Pain of Death, while the cleric hit her with Cascade of Light (both attacks missed, doing half) and the ranger whiffed with his Split the Tree then ducked under the waterfall.
The wizard and warlock spent their turn ready with some furs to aid the rest of the group (who weren't coming, of course) while the dragon roared, only managing to stun the ranger. I proceeded to fail one recharge roll after another, which drastically hurt the fight. Darkness quickly followed, and the ranger, wizard, and warlock (returned to the chamber) readied basic attacks when for when they saw her again. Nightscale missed the paladin again, both he and the cleric missed again (and her tail swipe missed, never hit the whole fight, actually), swinging blindly in the dark.
Then the wizard tried to counter the darkness with light, and with no other mechanics I had him roll his spell attack vs the dragon's will. Succeeding, the light was dispelled and the ranged people blasted away, scoring hits all around. The next turn (and another failed recharge roll) saw the wizard blast her again, and the warlock land Curse of the Dark Dream (which Nightscale failed to save for two turns) and besides doing a lot of damage, she shoved Nightscale up against the wall and the paladin and cleric set up a flank!
Over the next turn or two, Nightscale would miss a bite, the two meleers would land at least one hit between them (and a tail swipe would miss) and the ranged attackers would hit about half the time, just wearing her down. The paladin was out of lay on hands, and second wind was blown, and the cleric was out of heals, but Nightscale was approaching bloody! Finally her breath weapon recharged, but the party was so spread out she could only hit the paladin or cleric, and no one else. Challenged by the paladin already, she blasted him for minimal damage and he saved the next turn, and she lost more health.
On the next turn or so, realizing she was losing this battle badly (about 8 HP from bloody) she took off and fled (which is funny because the turn before the ranger moved off of the ledge where the escape tunnel was, concerned the dragon would flatten him). She ate an OA from the cleric (who did more damage than anyone over the adventure) and the wizard (the guy that had played before) dove under the water as the warlock blasted her one more time, driving her to bloodied and receiving a bloodied breath! Her concealment kept her safe though, and the dragon fled up the shaft, escaping.
As the party left I stated that the hobgoblin room was empty (they decided to flee when the party beat Nightscale) and they returned to Oakhurst to find the town burning, livestock stampeding, etc--totally stolen. The first to act was the cleric, who climbed atop the topped statue of Amaunator and began to address the looters with a shameful sermon (Religion) while the wizard checked for where help was needed most (Perception--fail) and the warlock tried to douse the fires on the inn with a blast of frost (Arcana). The ranger found someone trapped on the top floor of a general store (Perception) while the paladin began to motivate the looters (who had stopped) into a fire brigade with more preaching about their dastardly luck being deserved (I made it high difficulty as the sermon was done, but he rolled a 20). Soon they got a fire brigade going, and the ranger, having swung himself up to the second floor (acrobatics) tossed the girl down to the paladin (athletics)...
In the end they made their 8 successes before 4 fails (had 3 fails though) and managed to restore order and save the city.
Was a great game, and all of them are looking forward to Game Day (I'll be running games that day with two other DMs)!
The cleric said he loved the new style, getting the heal while pounding faces. The paladin said he had a good time, but might have liked the fighter more. Warlock had a blast, wanted to know when my campaign would start (hard to tell them you have a full group already). Ranger had fun, had the most miserable rolls of everyone, and said he enjoyed himself despite not being a D&D guy--he'll play if I run one-shots, but he's not interested in an ongoing game. The wizard is my buddy that I play with all the time, he's about as nerded out for 4E as I am.
Characters selected were the paladin (pretty new player), the cleric (heavy 3.5er, liked clerics), the ranger (plays W40K RPG mostly, old buddy), the warlock (some 3.0 experience, guy will try any game), and the wizard (this guy has played in my games already).
So I only had to mention the statue of Amaunator being defiled and the party was on their way to stomp some raider butts, and the party snuck their way down into the caverns, the ranger leading the way. With some surprisingly good stealth rolls, they actually got to the warren without alerting Ichi-ichi! Getting a surprise round they all quickly burst into the room. The paladin and cleric both charged into the room, the paladin whiffing at Ichi-ichi, and the cleric braining one of the minions, swinging his mace around two-handed! The ranger, warlock and wizard all flooded into the room and the combat started.
The paladin locked up in combat with Ichi-ichi (who sprung the trap and rang the gong the first round) while the cleric stood behind him (protecting his flank) while the ranger, warlock, and wizard began their night-long demonstration of bad rolls. As the second wave of minions entered, the wizard dropped scorching burst, action pointed, and dropped scorching burst a second time. Out of 8 hit rolls, there were two dead minions.
The ranger bounced around the room a bit putting arrows into the walls with terrible rolls, and the warlock found himself pinned against the corner with two minions ready to OA him if he cast a spell. The paladin was managing to hit decently, but the MVP was the cleric, smashing his mace into a new target every round of the combat. Didn't miss once, and AC boosts were flying around the room!
Otto-wombo actually got to the ledge, hurled one firepot (missing) then promptly died to the wizard and ranger nailing him. Ichi-ichi went down on the same turn to the cleric and paladin, and the warlock managed to dagger one of the minions and teleport away (it was cursed). With two minions still left in the room, Varkaze blasted four of them to the ground with a Force Pulse before retreating, and the party mopped up the kobolds, shouting at the cleric not to chase Pik.
After a quick rest, they took off after Pik (watching behind them for the hobgoblin) and found themselves in Meepo's chambers soon. They quickly moved to the furs and scanned the room for Pik, and found both Meepo and Pik under the furs, while the ranger spotted Ix before a surprise round. Still Ix topped the initiative chart and pounced on Riardon, brutally dropping him to -2 and putting him down. This fight saw the warlock pinned in the corner again, while the ranger and wizard dropped back out of the room putting ranged fire down, and Meepo and Pik set up a flank and put the hurt on the paladin.
But the cleric kept braining Meepo over the head (two-handed style) and granting AC bonuses to the halfling, and soon Meepo was down. The warlock was struggling with the spider, but with help from the cleric and wizard they finally dropped the beast, finishing with a critical magic missile. Digging around in the chamber they found the secret door with ease, and proceeded down the corridor.
Opening up into Nightscale's chamber, I followed my normal routine of just going around the table and asking what everyone wanted to do, with the caveat that they couldn't go more then their movement for their activity. The ranger moved to check out the clean waterfall turning foul as it hit the lake, while the rest of the party moved along the shore to get to the ledge. The ranger spotted Nightscale's shadow in the water and called out a warning to the party so there was no surprise round.
Nightscale breathed acid over the whole party, except for the ranger, and hit three of them (missed the Paladin) dropping the wizard to 7 HP by the time his turn came around. The wizard and warlock (fittingly) went first, and fled back down the secret passage, diving into the pile of furs to try and generate a saving throw. It was a creative use, so I let them make a roll before the end of their turn, succeeding. Meanwhile, the paladin challenged the dragon and cracked her over the head (bolstering) then dropped On Pain of Death, while the cleric hit her with Cascade of Light (both attacks missed, doing half) and the ranger whiffed with his Split the Tree then ducked under the waterfall.
The wizard and warlock spent their turn ready with some furs to aid the rest of the group (who weren't coming, of course) while the dragon roared, only managing to stun the ranger. I proceeded to fail one recharge roll after another, which drastically hurt the fight. Darkness quickly followed, and the ranger, wizard, and warlock (returned to the chamber) readied basic attacks when for when they saw her again. Nightscale missed the paladin again, both he and the cleric missed again (and her tail swipe missed, never hit the whole fight, actually), swinging blindly in the dark.
Then the wizard tried to counter the darkness with light, and with no other mechanics I had him roll his spell attack vs the dragon's will. Succeeding, the light was dispelled and the ranged people blasted away, scoring hits all around. The next turn (and another failed recharge roll) saw the wizard blast her again, and the warlock land Curse of the Dark Dream (which Nightscale failed to save for two turns) and besides doing a lot of damage, she shoved Nightscale up against the wall and the paladin and cleric set up a flank!
Over the next turn or two, Nightscale would miss a bite, the two meleers would land at least one hit between them (and a tail swipe would miss) and the ranged attackers would hit about half the time, just wearing her down. The paladin was out of lay on hands, and second wind was blown, and the cleric was out of heals, but Nightscale was approaching bloody! Finally her breath weapon recharged, but the party was so spread out she could only hit the paladin or cleric, and no one else. Challenged by the paladin already, she blasted him for minimal damage and he saved the next turn, and she lost more health.
On the next turn or so, realizing she was losing this battle badly (about 8 HP from bloody) she took off and fled (which is funny because the turn before the ranger moved off of the ledge where the escape tunnel was, concerned the dragon would flatten him). She ate an OA from the cleric (who did more damage than anyone over the adventure) and the wizard (the guy that had played before) dove under the water as the warlock blasted her one more time, driving her to bloodied and receiving a bloodied breath! Her concealment kept her safe though, and the dragon fled up the shaft, escaping.
As the party left I stated that the hobgoblin room was empty (they decided to flee when the party beat Nightscale) and they returned to Oakhurst to find the town burning, livestock stampeding, etc--totally stolen. The first to act was the cleric, who climbed atop the topped statue of Amaunator and began to address the looters with a shameful sermon (Religion) while the wizard checked for where help was needed most (Perception--fail) and the warlock tried to douse the fires on the inn with a blast of frost (Arcana). The ranger found someone trapped on the top floor of a general store (Perception) while the paladin began to motivate the looters (who had stopped) into a fire brigade with more preaching about their dastardly luck being deserved (I made it high difficulty as the sermon was done, but he rolled a 20). Soon they got a fire brigade going, and the ranger, having swung himself up to the second floor (acrobatics) tossed the girl down to the paladin (athletics)...
In the end they made their 8 successes before 4 fails (had 3 fails though) and managed to restore order and save the city.
Was a great game, and all of them are looking forward to Game Day (I'll be running games that day with two other DMs)!
The cleric said he loved the new style, getting the heal while pounding faces. The paladin said he had a good time, but might have liked the fighter more. Warlock had a blast, wanted to know when my campaign would start (hard to tell them you have a full group already). Ranger had fun, had the most miserable rolls of everyone, and said he enjoyed himself despite not being a D&D guy--he'll play if I run one-shots, but he's not interested in an ongoing game. The wizard is my buddy that I play with all the time, he's about as nerded out for 4E as I am.
