Campaign Commentary- Adventures in Fallcrest

[Goonalan]

Where did you get the tower maps from? Did you make those yourself?

Nope- not me. Sorry, not a clue where I got them from, I do an awful lot of hunting for maps.

I'm not very computer smart- do you want them? if so I can... erm upload them somehow, although you'll probably have to tell me how. Do I just put them on flickr and send you the address- I don't know how these things work...

Cheers Goonalan

 

[Goonalan]

HS1 The Slaying Stone
Session 4 Part 1

The PCs are initially bottle-necked in the door of the chamber, the mud makes the floor Difficult Terrain, and yet the Mud Men move through the area with absolute ease- gliding to attack the PCs, and gliding away from the PCs when struck.

The initial surge sees four of the minor Earth Elemental types appear- they deliver a little damage, Jeb again getting caught in the crush by multiple enemies, Rogar is elusive (and dangerous) leaping from Mud Man to Mud Man delivering kicks and punches. The bottle-neck is soon broken through- the Mud Men attempting desperately to prevent the PCs approach to the staff- in vain.

Soon all four of the foul creatures are reduced to... Mud!

The adventurers press on through the swill, as another pair of the creatures rise up from the mire. By this time Jeb and Neb have discerned that the staff over the far side of the chamber is the source of the ill here, they need to break down its magical defences to set things right. The staff is malfunctioning somehow, it swirls and twirls on the spot, at its base a slowly expanding portal to the plane of Elemental Chaos- hence the mud.

There follows a Level 2 Complexity 2 Skill Challenge, this time instead of making it invisible I send the PCs a full explanation of what will happen should they fail the challenge- the tower will indeed fill with mud, and with each individual failure will unleash a tide of mud- damaging, pushing and knocking prone PCs in its path (see previous).

I got the idea for the overt Skill Challenges after reading the Commentary on Pirate Cat's Campaign, found here-

http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-dis...ommentary-pcats-d-d-4th-edition-campaign.html

One of the best reads on these boards, if not the best, although I'm only on page 50-something, having only discovered it three weeks ago. In fact this entire project (this thread) was started because of Sagiro & PCs (et al) posts there- imitation (albeit a poor attempt) is after all the sincerest form of flattery.

Anyway, my Skill Challenges, as I say- posted to the players beforehand, were less well received- the general consensus was too much information was being given. I also prepared the Skill Challenge for the PCs to stay hidden and out of sight while they moved around Kiris/Gorizbadd (already posted here).

I think there's good and bad in both methods, being overt with the skill challenges, I'd done the exact opposite previously- trying to blend them in to the action, the new method has allowed me to make the threat of failure more obvious- and, hopefully, increased the sense of danger, and the possibility of dramatic action. Previously, with the invisible skill challenges, although they seemed to work RAW, and at times were dramatic, they never seemed to have any real teeth. The players stated however that the more overt technique tended to remove some of the immersive aspects that are more conducive to role-playing.

We've decided (by we, I mean I) to continue with the overt method, although I'm going to provide less information than I did with my first attempts (I posted the actual hand outs I sent to the PCs prior to this update). I do however want to see how well they work, and so will use the Pirate Cat method for the remainder of this adventure, I think. It's something different to try.

Anyway, back to the here and now...

The fight becomes quickly no contest, Neb takes a brief beating- he gets too close to the swirling staff and the Mud Man guarding it- however he's soon healed right back up by Drake. Rogar again is all action, balancing on a chest floating in the mud, he delivers a roundhouse kick and knocks the head off the second to last Mud Man.

As I say, no contest, particularly as the Arcana Skill Checkers never falter, never miss a check- it's all soon over, with Neb grasping the magic staff after the portal finally vanishes.

Just a note to say this was the PCs most dangerous fight to date, the Skill Challenge and 6x Mud Man (Level 2 Brutes), for a total of 1,000 XP, a Level 3 Encounter. In truth the Mud Man, when they hit, did a big chunk of damage- however they rolled atrociously (again my (maptools) dice suck).

Some notes-

I tried to bottle-neck the PCs at the beginning of the fight so that I could get some of the Mud Men flinging Mud Balls to Slow/Immobilise the PCs, I figured that's what the guardians would try to do- keep the PCs away.

This tactic quickly came unstuck when I couldn't (again) roll anything over a ten, that and the fact that several of the PCs just dropped the bomb- very quickly I was down to two Mud Men and back-peddling furiously.

The Skill Challenge required the PCs to use Standard Actions (Religion & Arcana) I thought this would (again) slow up the onslaught by preventing at least two of the PCs from getting off attacks- while this worked a treat it didn't stop the PCs.

Even with another two Mud Men, and the threat of the Muddy Tide should the PCs fail their Skill Checks- the PCs made mincemeat of my bad guys, I've just been through the Chat Log from the session, they seem to have rolled 15+ on every attack they made.

What was to be a (mini) climactic encounter worked well, and yet, the PCs barely broke sweat, only Neb ended the fight Bloodied- the Mud Men hit hard but mostly just missed their attacks.

Neb discovers the item is a +1 Staff of Earthen Might, he will check the thing thoroughly at his next Extended Rest.

The only other thing of note is the chest (trunk) that Rogar is balancing on, the thing is dragged to higher ground, out of the gunk, and examined- within is a mountain of paperwork. Which turns out to be mostly receipts and shopping lists, however there are a bunch of reports mixed in from people who worked here, and while most of the writing is in Common, there are some scribbled notes here and there in Draconic- not a language any of the PCs are able to translate.

However one Comprehend Languages Ritual later and Neb is now very well-informed. Three workers, of note, there were others; were employed in this place-

Treona, the PCs patron, the Ritualist in the Tower.
Dreus, a Magic Item Crafter, who at some point did something bad (unspecified bad- the worst sort of bad, this section is written in Draconic).
Tyristys, the head of the organisation, his notes don't give much away, although he seems to have been keeping a close watch on Dreus, his reports and notes are all in Draconic.

More to the mystery it seems.

The above, that is the sections beneath the Kiris Library, were ripped from 'Stick in the Mud', a Chaos Scar adventure found in Dungeon magazine here-

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Stick in the Mud)

I don't intend to use the Chaos Scar campaign area (at least I have no plans to as of yet), I do intend to use what I can from any resource (particularly other bought scenarios) whenever I can. Obviously I bend things to make them fit. Still, a very nice series of encounters, the Bullywugs seemed to not deliver on the damage front- although I had terrible luck with my rolls.

I wanted to get a bit of backstory going with Treona and the others, this is the start of a larger plot, I thought Stick in the Mud would do to ground the story and start the PCs investigation.

That was the PCs 7th encounter, including Skill Challenges, we're getting into the swing of things, the game is playing very well, and after our chat after last weeks session, is only getting better.

NOTE- PLEASE REMEMBER MY PLAYERS ARE STILL IN-GAME, IF YOU HAVE READ THE SCENARIO THEN PLEASE DO NOT GIVE THE GAME AWAY.

Next time... Back up top.

 

[Goonalan]

HS1 The Slaying Stone
Session 4 Part 2

The PCs clear the area- all the bodies are ferried downstairs and dumped into the mud, the place looks- clean-ish, the best they can do in the circumstances.

Rogar and Maldor head out of the Library, and after a false start, manage to climb onto the roof of the the building, it has been snowing while they've been downstairs dealing in death and destruction. The eagle-eyed pair look for tracks in the snow- they spot a few but mainly on the main thoroughfare, a good way from their position.

Several areas & buildings however look to be inhabited (smoking chimneys and fires)- principally the Inn of the Tallest Fir, the Kiris Dahn Mansion, the Stables, the Kobold Slum and the City Gate... but not the Temples, which is the PCs next port of call.


Gorizbadd, in all its glory, is revealed.

Spying done the PCs do some quick thinking, find suitable bits of branches and bushes, hot-foot it through the snow to the first temple, with Rogar and Maldor following behind using the branches etc. to attempt to mask their trail. They're surprisingly successful, '19' & '20'.

The adventurers arrive at the Temple of Pelor, formerly a beautiful edifice with a glass ceiling now a damp and mouldering ruin.

Creeping inside the huge place they find a number of dead Kobolds, and very soon after some Stirges and Scurrying Rat Swarms.


Vermin in the Temple of Light, and some Rats and Stirges.

And it just goes to show, a simple encounter designed as nothing more than a quick and dirty fight, and the PCs start to roll low- not too low however. While the fight is fairly easy Rogar is missing, and making use of his Action Point. Neb is missing, Resolute is missing and this is before all of the Scurrying Rat Swarms have arrived, as Maldor said on chat-

'Ooooooh... the second swarm... now we're scared!'

Rogar spent a short time in Fallcrest working as a Rat-Catcher (bit of a misnomer- Rat-Killer would be more accurate), he doesn't like Rats and is roleplaying well.

The upside (for the PCs) of this is the Stirges, even with Combat Advantage only land one hit, the Rats are a little more successful, Drake is very quickly Bloodied and has to spend an Action Point to get away from the hurt.

Then normal service is resumed and the PCs start hitting, although Action Points are having still to be spent- the Rats survive a while longer, do a speck more damage, but are eventually destroyed, Jebediah delivering the final Sword Burst.

The encounter proved harder than the previous, oh the joy of actually connecting with the PCs...

A simple Level 1 Encounter with 3 Stirges (Level 1 Lurkers) & 3 Scurrying Rat Swarms (Level 1 Skirmishers), proving even these guys can be dangerous when the dice are on your side- four Action Points got spent defeating them.

Some notes-

- I thought this one would be a push over for the PCs, sure three swarms but... I tried to keep getting the swarms into the centre of the PCs to keep the Aura damage going on.

- The dice loved me for a short time, and with the PCs missing so much, and in particular with their Burst and Blast attacks, it looked good for a while, they were struggling.

- Then they started hitting of course, and particularly with their Busts and Blasts.

The PCs clear up the mess and check the Temple out, the Kobold bodies have been gnawed and bled by the vermin, however they seem to have been killed by hefty weapons- large spears and hammers, the PCs reason that the killers were probably not Goblins, unless there are some bigger Goblins about- Hobgoblins and Bugbears maybe.

More to the mystery- the PCs initial thoughts were that somewhere in Gorizbadd is another band of adventurers seeking the Slaying Stone...

Maldor also locates a Stirge nest, and decides that he wants to take two of the leathery eggs he finds inside, storing them in the velvet-lined box the PCs found, which formerly held the Slaying Stone.

Job done, and after a little light praying by Drake (the Pacifist Priest of Pelor remember) the guys make ready for the short dash to the next temple...

Next time- Kiris... that name sounds familiar.

 

[Mircoles]

Swarms can be nasty.

 

[Goonalan]

HS1 The Slaying Stone
Session 4 Part 3

The PCs make the short dash across the snow, covering the tracks again as they go, to the Temple of Sehanine- the place looks to be in much better condition, and what's this... the doors are barred- Rogar manages to lift the bar and get the doors open, although he makes a noise doing it.

“Who's there?”

From the darkness. The voice- it sounded like... a human, probably- certainly not guttural like a Goblin.

A brief call and answer takes place, until a wild looking man steps out of the shadow, he looks to have been living rough for some considerable time, and yet his clothes, although ripped and dirty, clearly indicate he is used to finer things.

“I am Kiris Hoyt...”

Which sends the PCs dashing for their notes, a time out is called- the PCs have a whole host of questions they want to ask (hurrah). Eventually, list made, Drake is put in charge of the operation- the Priest of Pelor has some outstanding Skill Bonuses with his social skills- it's what he does best after all.


Hoyt, a friendly (and familiar) face.

And Jack plays the part excellently, starting with introducing himself and the others, healing what wounds he can on Hoyt, and providing food and potable water- Hoyt is disarmed by the young Priest's generosity- I love it when they make it easy for themselves.

Over an hour of excellent roleplaying the PCs learn that-

Hoyt is the son of Petreus Hoyt, the cruel (his words) man who made Kiris Dahn.

That his father left him here to rot when the town was abandoned eight months ago at the time of the coming of the Shadow, which is pretty nasty...

Hoyt rebelled against his father, he wanted (still wants) Kiris Dahn to be a happy place, a place ruled by a fair and generous leader- a place in which all prosper a little and all sleep safe in their beds. This being completely contrary to his fathers ideas and methods- Petreus Hoyt was about squeezing every last Copper out of the populace and the place.

Hoyt is still convinced that Kiris Dahn can be rebuilt, it's his life mission.

Hoyt survived the last eight months or so due to the fact that he was sent away as a younger man to oversee various logging operations, he became an adept hunter and ranger.

Hoyt knows much about the Goblins-
the Goblins mainly occupy the north of the town, clustered around the Kiris Mansion;
they patrol haphazardly and generally wreck and destroy;
they're lead by Hu-Jat who rides about town sometimes on an angry Drake (with plenty of guards);
Boontah the Goblin Champion guards the city gate (as far away from Hu-Jat as he can be, Hu-Jat fears him), Boontah is crazy, as are his followers there;
The Goblins have a Wizard called Rort, he spends lots of time in the library;
There are other leader types, even a few Hobgoblins and a pack of Wolves.

Hoyt knows a little less about the Kobolds-
they scavenge at night;
and sometimes during the day;
other than that they hang out near the Kobold Slums;
they're led by... Hoyt isn't sure, but there is a leader.

Hoyt states that sometimes the Goblins kill a few Kobolds, just to show them who's boss, other than that the two groups avoid each other.

Hoyt doesn't know what the torch-lit procession was about last night, although he's certain that something (possibly multiple things) entered the town and that Hu-Jat went to meet them.

Hoyt is pleased to hear that Treona is well, and that she sent the PCs here, he smiles for the first time at the mention of her name, he states that he misses seeing her and chatting to her.

Hoyt remembers the Slaying Stones, his father had them made by Tiefling Magic Crafters, he didn't know that there was one left, however he's certain any remaining Stones would be in the Vault beneath the library. The PCs explain that they've already been there and the Stone is gone, they show Hoyt the box. The PCs state that they found great claw marks outside the vault-

“The Dragon...” Hoyt states and then is silenced as the doors to the Church of Sehanine are smashed open and a wave of screaming Goblins, led by a nasty looking fellow with a very shiny dagger, break in.

“Kill the Human Rat!”

Triflik yells, the Goblin with the nasty dagger, it gets very busy.

The last words from the chat, from Rogar-

“Dragons? But there can't be dragons in the Vale!?”

I love it when they play along...

Session four draws to a close and the PCs now have approx. 750 XP each, we're on target to hit the thousand mark during the next session (or the one after), I wanted to try and get the PCs levelled up every 5 or 6 sessions- certainly no faster than that.

Next time- Session 5 and the fight to save Hoyt.

 

[Ressurectah]

This area was very interesting to me. I liked the layout of the Temple.
Our DM did a funny thing, and naturally I was the one that fell for it....
Alas, If you look closely to the picture of Temple, you can clearly see the shiny light coming from that sarchophagus.Me, being the ever-greedy low level adventurer immediately went for it (I had to get there first, of course you understand...). When I asked him what did I find (all eager and whatnot)
He said to me..."Upon closer inspection, you find out that It is a magical light, a cantrip of some sort that is used to impress peasants and not so intelligent common folk of the power of Sehanine..."
Go figure...
Greed vs Intelligence....never ending battle for me ;-)

P.S... One correction. It was Jebediah that took the Stirges eggs, not Maldor..but if he wants to babysit and play mother.. I am fine with that..

 

[Goonalan]

This area was very interesting to me. I liked the layout of the Temple.
Our DM did a funny thing, and naturally I was the one that fell for it....
Alas, If you look closely to the picture of Temple, you can clearly see the shiny light coming from that sarchophagus.Me, being the ever-greedy low level adventurer immediately went for it (I had to get there first, of course you understand...). When I asked him what did I find (all eager and whatnot)
He said to me..."Upon closer inspection, you find out that It is a magical light, a cantrip of some sort that is used to impress peasants and not so intelligent common folk of the power of Sehanine..."
Go figure...
Greed vs Intelligence....never ending battle for me ;-)

P.S... One correction. It was Jebediah that took the Stirges eggs, not Maldor..but if he wants to babysit and play mother.. I am fine with that..

Ahem, sorry about that Maldor... No treasure to be had.

And this from Rogar Riverborn's report on Session 4-

<session 04>

...maybe it was a mistake, but I liked my place atop this chest and attempted to sling a bullet into the new Mud-Man; unfortunatly I only clipped it and nothing happened The others either surrounded it and attacked, while Neb and Jeb focused their magic on the staff. Before they could finish containing it, another Mud-Man surged out of t he muck to attack Neb, hitting him badly before he could move away. Still, that got me back into the fight (and into the mud) as I leapt out and struck at both of them, taking down one. The fight was over at this point, and we slogged through the mud to dispirse the last mud-man and Neb manages to contain the staff. As soon as this happens, the mud stops flowing and we all get to catch our breath.

It takes them a little while, but Neb and Jeb pronouce the staff to be a “Staff of Earthen Might”, Neb keeps it to augument his powers, hope the whole “FIVE TONNES OF MUD” thing was only a one off... although it could be a useful tactical choice, if we knew it was coming. Someone (I forget who) also thinks the “FIVE TONNES OF MUD” effect could be useful for fertilising fields; smart idea, but one for later testing I think.

The only other thing of note was the chest that I had used for a raft. It was unlocked and must have been knocked open at some point, considering the mud inside. Apart from the mud, the chest was filled with papers. Me and Resolute dragged the chest (trunk?) out of the mud and, when we had cleaned off (yay, Presto), we all took a look at them.

This was some type of magical lab/workshop, where they created magical and alchemical items for a profit. Most of the papers where related to that; recipets of purchases, notices of sales, records of time worked. Seemed similar to the boring straight jobs I had worked. Really, was this how magicians act? Anyway, we found some alchemical reciepes that looked both useful and simple, kept them for later; also we found some notes written in Draconic! (Ha, the mental image of a Dragon working in a workshop like this!) Luckily, Neb had a magical ritual perfectly suited for this occasion (although he had to be poked a little to use it. Maybe he didn’t want to burn the Residium?) and within 10 minutes, Neb was able to read Draconic and between the two sets of notes, we got a more complete story of the place.

We notes where written by and about 3 people:
Treona (who we know, the woman from the tower) human
Dreus (he ‘has done sometthing bad’, not sure what)
Tyrstys (leader/owner/manager, writes in draconic) half-elf

This ‘Tyrstys’ was the leader owner of the place, but not really a people-person. He mentioned that Dreus had done something bad, but annoyingly didn’t specify. The work must be getting to me, as this little secret exictes me. I just HAVE to find out what happened.

Well, we took some of the notes with us and stached the rest in the secret door on the basement level. Did some cleaning up as well, dragging all the Goblins and Bullywugs deeper and deeper into the tower, where they wouldn’t be found. After that, we cleaned up again and made plans to keep on searching.

We made our way to the library doors (past the ash ) and took a furtive look outside.

SNOW! SNOWITY SNOW-SNOW! The white stuff blanketed the place. This fallen town, this pit of Goblins and worse... it was a winter-wonderland.

But I forget myself. It was morning, proably time for second-breakfast and the place was carpeted in white. We would stick out like a sore thumb in this... but no one was about. Maybe they sleep through the day, maybe they are lazy giots who refuse to work in the snow, maybe... too many maybes.

Me and Maldor take the chance to climb the corner of the library and take a good look around. The snow was a boon and a blessing; we could easily see where people had passed as they left visable trails in the snow, but this meant that our merry band would do the same. There was about 4 hours of heavy snow, and little of it was touched. Only the main road, from the bridge to the manor house, was disturbed; the rest of the place, from the kobold slum to the stables was un-trod. Speaking of the Stables, Maldor said he saw a little smoke from the chimney there. Can’t have been much, as I didn’t see a thing, still it’s a place to either visit or avoid. The closest place to here are the temples, apparently to Pelor (Sun) and Sehanine (Moon); the 1st is all-but destroyed, the second seems almost intact, strange.

We made our way to the sun temple 1st; confirming that nothing was about before sneaking accross in single-file, with Maldor sweeping an improvised rake behind us to hide the trail.

The Pelorite temple was, indeed, ruined; It’s massive halls (I mean MASSIVE! 100’ wide and 150’ deep for one room!) all featured broken windows and much of the ceiling had collapsed. I expected Drake to react more to this, but he was quiet. Maybe it was shock. Anyway, there where two notable things to be found here: some dead Kobolds and some restless vermin.

Speaking of Vermin, the Kobolds hadn’t been killed by them. A two-handed spear and some heavy bludgen had done that, in addition, the bodies had been given a thourgh turning over (I wasn’t trying to steal from them, I was looking for clues, see?). Are we dealing with another group of adventuers?

The vermin where just an annoyance, but a painful one for sure. Swarming rats and three adult Stirges attacked us. I never liked rats, and now I’m not very fond of Stirges. At one point, the swarm was mobbing me and a Stirge was swooping about, trying to drink my precious blood; but I managed to dart away from the swarm, grab the stirge and slam it into the swarm, impaling a couple of rats on the end.

As we have sufficent rations, no-one was interested in the rats, although the rest of the group seemed oddly interested in the looming statue of a Pelorite saint. The Stirges had been nesting on it and a couple of the others swore blind that the statue moved during the fight; huh, they can’t even blame blood-loss for that. Jeb tore down the Stirge nest... then claimed a couple of the Stirge eggs for his own... this won’t end well.

Nothing left for us at the 1st temple, so went out to the (oh so pretty) snow, had a careful look about, then crept over to the other temple, again with the rake to hide our path.

The temple of Sehanine could not have been more different. Well-sized but cosy (as opposed to MASSIVE!), darkened (as the ceiling was intact and I guess the temple of the moon would be designed to be a little gloomy) and hardly damaged. The front door was also secured (the other place didn’t have a door) with a bar on the other side; I managed to lift it fine with a dagger but it made a clatter when I was lowering it to the ground. I heard a shuffle of feet from inside and we all moved in. Creeping forward, we found the place’s occupant and he wasn’t a goblinoid or worse: Kiris Hoyt, human scion of the Kiris family and apparently abandoned here by his own family. Not for a good reason though, not for training or protection, but to get rid of him. I was so shocked; I didn’t have... I still don’t have the words.

Focus. Observe. Learn.

It’s difficult to tell too much about Hoyt, given how long he was stuck here, hiding alone. Still, he looks mid-twenties (although bearded) and wears simple armour and a rapier. He apparently has, either through formal training or nessity, decent skills at hiding and moving quietly.

He was suspicious and rightly so, but we quickly explained the situation and Drake selflessly offered the man some rations (such a great idea, I would want to know a man before I eat with them), which turned him around and made us an ally.

He told us his story, his father ruled the town as a tyrant. Hoyt wasn’t favoured as he was too soft. When the town was lost in the darkness, when the goblins approached, Hoyt’s father knocked him out and stowed him in a hidden room. He inherited this (currently) useless land as a final insult.

Enough with such dour talk. When we mentioned the Slaying Stone, Hoyt took interest but said that all the stones where used. When I brought out the box from the hidden vault, he paled. However, when we mentioned Treona, the colour soon returned to his face! Another thing they never taught me; heh, no loss. When we mentioned the claw marks on the hidden vault, Hoyt mentioned Dragons! Dragons! I almost hope he has been alone too long...

Luckily, this topic is truncated by a more pressing and immeadate one... as Goblins crash through the windows!

 

[Goonalan]

HS1 The Slaying Stone
Session 5 Part 1

A short session this one due to a late start after the work's Christmas Meal, a fat and happy DM in play this evening.

The Goblins burst in and in the opening salvo attempt to swamp the PCs- there are a lot of them, and coming from all directions...


Jeb asks the Goblins to form an orderly queue.

In the opening rush Jeb is hit every time- and Bloodied very quickly, Drake has to dash down to provide healing while Neb drops the bomb (Scorching Burst) repeatedly- he and Jeb soon thin the Goblin Minion herd to the south.

Maldor and Resolute take a few hits but accomplish the same task to the north; Rogar is repeating the feat to the west- all is going to plan for the PCs.

Which is why Triflik, the Goblin leader with the oh so shiny blade, decides to get a better position, he heads out of a window, creeps around the outside of the temple, and then heads back in, gaining surprise against Jeb- who's soon Bloodied again, and requires yet more healing from Drake.

To make matters worse Triflik's second appearance, now much closer to Hoyt, sends the son of the town's founder in to a fury- in fact...

“Noooooooooooooooo!”

Hoyt screams as he transforms in to a six foot tall Rat Man, Hoyt is a Wererat. The cursed son of the founder however still possess a sliver of good, he slashes at Neb and Drake with his Rapier, hurting both of them, and then flees the scene- diving out a window.

The PCs decide quickly- Maldor and Resolute are despatched, taking attacks of opportunity en route- the pair head off and after Hoyt, their intent- to save him, they're a noble breed the PCs.

We'll catch up with this action in a moment, back inside the temple of Sehanine Rogar and Jeb do their best to defend the more squishy Neb and Drake. Neb is proving to be worth his weight in gold- Scorching Bursts destroy clumps of the Goblin Minions and badly scorch Triflik, soon enough the Goblin leader is taken down- knocked unconscious, while the last of the Goblin Minions are chased down and destroyed- none escape.

Neb meantime heads out into the snow in pursuit of Hoyt and his friends.

Now back to Hoyt, the Rat Man runs off through the snow, out in the open for all to see, Resolute and Maldor following on- the threesome end up stuck in the middle of the street battling, Hoyt is aware of what he's doing (and that is is wrong)- he screams for mercy as he slashes at the pair with his Rapier.

Resolute and Maldor are trying to get Hoyt to calm down, I improvised a Skill Challenge here to have the PCs talk Hoyt back round from his cursed/diseased form- alas Maldor and Resolute suck, or at least their dice rolls suck.

Worse still there seems to be some sort of commotion over at the Inn of the Tallest Fir, Goblins are spilling out onto the street, the lick of flame comes from the upper story of the building- the Goblins fortunately are too immersed in their own problems to notice the PCs fighting the Wererat Hoyt about 500 yards away.

It's at this point that Neb appears, he has a plan, and what a plan...

Ten or so seconds later Hoyt is rolling around on the floor screaming and hollering like his life is ending- in his mind the road has opened up and he is at present hurtling down some endless chasm to his death- Neb's Phantom Chasm Daily does the job perfectly.

“Grab him...” Neb shouts, Resolute and Maldor grab a leg each and drag Hoyt at pace back into cover and towards the Temple of Sehanine, just in time as it happens.

Down the street the Inn of the Tallest Fir explodes sending splinters of wood high into the air- from the ruins spill another dozen or so flailing Goblins, a number of them on fire, or else on their last legs- blackened and bruised.


The Tallest Fir becomes the widest distributed Fir.

From behind a stand of trees Resolute, Neb, Maldor and a slightly calmer (and Grabbed/Restrained) Hoyt watch as a bunch of Orcs wade into the Goblin wounded- kicking, punching, slicing- killing, laughing all the while.

The Orcs take particular delight in disfiguring several still alive Goblins, cutting at their faces with daggers and long knives- it's difficult to tell exactly what's going on.

The PCs have seen enough, and Hoyt is back to his normal self, and crying and gasping for air- they head back inside the temple to tell their tale, and to make sense of what's going on here in Gorizbadd.

An excellent combat that had the PCs run ragged at times, Minions are such a joy, particularly in big numbers- 15 Goblin Grunts (Level 1 Skirmisher Minions), Triflik (Skirmisher Level 3) & Kiris Hoyt, Wererat (Elite Skirmisher Level 3), a Level 2 Encounter.

Some notes-

In the initial attack I moved up every one of the Minions I could, I was after that feel- oops, we're surrounded and there's lots of them type of thing. It worked the PCs were in a tizzy from the start, particularly when Jeb took so many hits in the opening moments- and he has the best AC in the group, I just kept rolling 18+ to hit.

I was determined to have Triflik get as close as he could to Hoyt, I needed to justify Hoyt's transformation, hence the moving around the building- he also got a good hit on Jeb again, just after Drake had provided the Githyanki with a Healing Surge, he needed another straight away.

Hoyts transformation took all the players by surprise, although there had been mutterings previously of him being 'too good to be true', and thus it proved.

I was overjoyed to see the PCs first off knock out Triflik- for questioning later, and then grab and restrain Hoyt- then talk calmly with him until the terror had passed, excellent play x2. The fact that they then chased down all of the Minions, not one of them getting away, was also top work.

At the start of this scenario I exchanged a bunch of e-mails with the players stating that the adventure in Kiris would be a special ops style affair- several of the players expressed doubts, they thought themselves not up to it- being only 1st level and all. I'm glad to say that they are proving to be extremely competent...

My intention with Hoyt was to try to have him get away, I wanted him to be a sympathetic figure (and thus he proved to be), the forlorn wanderer, cursed/diseased and abandoned- the PCs however had other plans- they're the good guys after all.

Ahead of the game I made notes about a number of events that would take place in the ruined town- I wanted the environment to prove dynamic, other wheels are turning. The fire at the Inn was one such event, as was the torch-lit procession the previous evening. It's working.

Lastly the players loved the fight, it was desperate at times, although Jeb was the only PC ever in danger of hitting the negative numbers, there was lots going on all the time, and plenty at stake with the fracas in the street.

Next time- Goof Fighter, Bad Wizard.

 

[Bob_NS]

P.S... One correction. It was Jebediah that took the Stirges eggs, not Maldor..but if he wants to babysit and play mother.. I am fine with that..

Maldor wouldn't touch the disgusting eggs with a 10 foot pole. He wouldn't even stain his sword (or axe) with the damned things and would definitely not put them in his backpack or pouch.

 

[Goonalan]

Maldor wouldn't touch the disgusting eggs with a 10 foot pole. He wouldn't even stain his sword (or axe) with the damned things and would definitely not put them in his backpack or pouch.

Bit rich coming from a guy who two sessions past was carving out the eyes of Kobolds, I know we haven't got to that bit yet with the write up but...

Not exactly Mr. Nice-Guy the Elven Avenger of the Lady of Death.

Goonalan