halfling rogue
Explorer
We've run through a few sessions since the last update.
Last time I wrote that the merchant captain's life was threatened by a pirate looking for the Duke of Neverwinter, who was hidden along with the PCs. At this the kids more or less revealed themselves and had a high tension conversation with the Pirate Captain which actually worked in their favor. The Captain held the Duke and the rest of the merchant crew in a cell, and let the PCs roam free, though unarmed and under a watchful eye. After a few days the PCs found out more and more of the Pirate's plan, that the Duke was to be handed over to someone named The Fishmonger at a town called Crossbridge. The Duke definitely did not want this to happen. Aside from that the Pirates mistreated the merchant crew and this led the PCs in an effort to start a revolt. Their plan was to release the prisoners and overthrow the pirates. Their plan failed.
More or less they didn't quite make their rolls and didn't stick to their own plan. They separated and left one another alone at certain points. They presumed they could battle the pirates with their cantrips alone (two with firebolt and one frost). They did a pretty decent job but they were overwhelmed. Two went down and the last wound up surrendering to save the others lives. She was thusly knocked out and they all woke with the Duke in his cell, at harbor around midnight. The Duke (who had not quite gained their favor yet) pleaded with them to aid him in taking out the Fishmonger. They agreed but only after he promised loads of wealth...
They hatched another plan and wound up starting a fire in their own cell. One nearly succumbed to the smoke before their pirate guards discovered something was wrong. They successfully fought their way past the guards, brought along the Duke and hightailed it on land as the ship was burning. They stuck to the shadows as much of the town (not to mention the pirates and the Fishmonger's goons) poured out of houses and inns to see the burning ship. They happened upon a kindly looking couple who aided them, and connected them with their next contact: Samrick the halfling owner of The Owl and Oak.
They met up with Samrick and without their knowledge the Duke was recognized by one of the Fishmonger's informants. Soon the Own and Oak was being busted up by some thugs looking for the Duke. The PCs by now were re-armed (thanks to Droop their goblin friend**) and they had a pretty good fight which culminated in a fight with the Fishmonger himself. After a quick look over the letter they had (which was sent along by the wizard NPC) Samrick discovered a code which told them that Samrick was to lead them to the hideout in the North Wood where the wizard would meet them. And that's where things have ended.
**I have found that having an NPC that travels along with the group has been invaluable. Since my kids are young they need some prompting and they need someone to remember certain things they forget. Droop the goblin has proven to be quite useful for this. For instance bringing their weapons from the Pirate captain's quarters before the ship burned down. Before that, the kids were sad that all of their possessions and weapons were sunk. When Samrick asked where the wizard's letter was they thought it was at the bottom of the harbor. He's small and quick and sneaky but he's not quite a part of the team...more like a mascot or the family dog. Anyway, I recommend having someone like Droop tag along simply to help storytelling and as a general aid to the players when things fall through the cracks.
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One of the interesting things about the last couple of sessions is that they both were nearly completely narrative. There was hardly much rolling of dice going on. Not on purpose, mind you. but things just happened that way. I noticed at the end of the last session that a couple of them were getting restless (kind of their own fault, they keep choosing to do talky things) so I threw the battle in at the end to liven it up. I probably should have had something better prepared, some skill checks, some type of minor challenge, but I hardly have had time to plan detail stuff.
From here the plan is to get to the North Wood with a few random encounters along the way. I'll probably have them level up once they get to the hideout with Samrick. The plan is to have the wizard meet them there with some kind of news...not sure what it is yet...perhaps he's being chased by some group...
From there I'm planning on him leading them further north in search of the Lost Kingdom. I plan on having them encounter a village that the wizard regards as a safe place, but upon arrival they find that it was destroyed. Likely by an organized force, maybe orcs or something. Whoever it is they now work for the Evil Ruler who sits upon the throne of the Lost Kingdom. He (and his dragon) will be the big bad baddies of the adventure. Who knows how long this will take or where it will go, but hopefully it will lead to the discovery of the secret temple entrance to the kingdom.
Last time I wrote that the merchant captain's life was threatened by a pirate looking for the Duke of Neverwinter, who was hidden along with the PCs. At this the kids more or less revealed themselves and had a high tension conversation with the Pirate Captain which actually worked in their favor. The Captain held the Duke and the rest of the merchant crew in a cell, and let the PCs roam free, though unarmed and under a watchful eye. After a few days the PCs found out more and more of the Pirate's plan, that the Duke was to be handed over to someone named The Fishmonger at a town called Crossbridge. The Duke definitely did not want this to happen. Aside from that the Pirates mistreated the merchant crew and this led the PCs in an effort to start a revolt. Their plan was to release the prisoners and overthrow the pirates. Their plan failed.
More or less they didn't quite make their rolls and didn't stick to their own plan. They separated and left one another alone at certain points. They presumed they could battle the pirates with their cantrips alone (two with firebolt and one frost). They did a pretty decent job but they were overwhelmed. Two went down and the last wound up surrendering to save the others lives. She was thusly knocked out and they all woke with the Duke in his cell, at harbor around midnight. The Duke (who had not quite gained their favor yet) pleaded with them to aid him in taking out the Fishmonger. They agreed but only after he promised loads of wealth...
They hatched another plan and wound up starting a fire in their own cell. One nearly succumbed to the smoke before their pirate guards discovered something was wrong. They successfully fought their way past the guards, brought along the Duke and hightailed it on land as the ship was burning. They stuck to the shadows as much of the town (not to mention the pirates and the Fishmonger's goons) poured out of houses and inns to see the burning ship. They happened upon a kindly looking couple who aided them, and connected them with their next contact: Samrick the halfling owner of The Owl and Oak.
They met up with Samrick and without their knowledge the Duke was recognized by one of the Fishmonger's informants. Soon the Own and Oak was being busted up by some thugs looking for the Duke. The PCs by now were re-armed (thanks to Droop their goblin friend**) and they had a pretty good fight which culminated in a fight with the Fishmonger himself. After a quick look over the letter they had (which was sent along by the wizard NPC) Samrick discovered a code which told them that Samrick was to lead them to the hideout in the North Wood where the wizard would meet them. And that's where things have ended.
**I have found that having an NPC that travels along with the group has been invaluable. Since my kids are young they need some prompting and they need someone to remember certain things they forget. Droop the goblin has proven to be quite useful for this. For instance bringing their weapons from the Pirate captain's quarters before the ship burned down. Before that, the kids were sad that all of their possessions and weapons were sunk. When Samrick asked where the wizard's letter was they thought it was at the bottom of the harbor. He's small and quick and sneaky but he's not quite a part of the team...more like a mascot or the family dog. Anyway, I recommend having someone like Droop tag along simply to help storytelling and as a general aid to the players when things fall through the cracks.
------------
One of the interesting things about the last couple of sessions is that they both were nearly completely narrative. There was hardly much rolling of dice going on. Not on purpose, mind you. but things just happened that way. I noticed at the end of the last session that a couple of them were getting restless (kind of their own fault, they keep choosing to do talky things) so I threw the battle in at the end to liven it up. I probably should have had something better prepared, some skill checks, some type of minor challenge, but I hardly have had time to plan detail stuff.
From here the plan is to get to the North Wood with a few random encounters along the way. I'll probably have them level up once they get to the hideout with Samrick. The plan is to have the wizard meet them there with some kind of news...not sure what it is yet...perhaps he's being chased by some group...
From there I'm planning on him leading them further north in search of the Lost Kingdom. I plan on having them encounter a village that the wizard regards as a safe place, but upon arrival they find that it was destroyed. Likely by an organized force, maybe orcs or something. Whoever it is they now work for the Evil Ruler who sits upon the throne of the Lost Kingdom. He (and his dragon) will be the big bad baddies of the adventure. Who knows how long this will take or where it will go, but hopefully it will lead to the discovery of the secret temple entrance to the kingdom.
I have one for each if interested.
). For these, I shy away from stats - just quickly indicate who the PC is. Like these:
