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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 5401450" data-attributes="member: 16069">HS1 The Slaying StoneSession 2 Part 2Rogar gets to the bottom of the stairs and has a peek within the chamber, a handful of Goblins searching through shelves and stacks of books- odd Goblins are not big readers. The adventurers launch their attack. The opening salvo leaves four of the five Goblins present deceased. The only survivor a strange looking Goblin who seems to be ripping pages out of a tome and eating them- weirder still, this is Rort; more of him later.The PCs continue their attack as more Goblins burst from the various chambers off this central area, more Minions however, they're soon accounted for- particularly as Rogar is delivering damage to any creature that moves adjacent to him (Lion's something), two or three more Goblins are killed in this manner.Rort however is made of sterner stuff, in the opening rounds he conjures a pair of Grey Oozes, which block the adventurers approach, and for good measure sends Resolute and Maldor spinning with a Violent Crescendo. Rort realises his Minions are no match for the PCs and legs it.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40504969@N08/5228999382/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5005/5228999382_5cefda9d2c.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>The Goblin Book Club gets interrupted.The Grey Oozes hold the PCs up a while- not delivering much in the way of damage but certainly allowing Rort to get some distance and set up a series of readied actions to fire off his Black Bolt a couple of times.The outcome however is inevitable Rort is finally cornered, after Rogar and Resolute leap over the Goblin, he's surrounded and falls to the floor to beg Neberendil for his life (he looks to be a fellow magic eater). The Grey Oozes and other Goblins are alas long dead at this point.This was Encounter 7: Monsters and Manuals, from the module, with a few extra Minions thrown in for good measure, a Level 2 Encounter- Goblin, Cutter (Level 1 Minion) x10; Ooze, Grey (Level 2 Skirmisher) x3 & Rort- Goblin, Tomeripper (Level 3 Artillery).Some notes-I tried to make sure that Rort had as many bad guys between him and the PCs at the start- I wanted this to be a drag-out affair with Rort having a chance to try all of his powers.This being the case I selected a map in which there was limited open terrain (but some), while Rort's retreat would be down 1 square wide passages, with various staging points en route.I used lots of Readied Actions with Rort so that as he fled any PC to poke their head around the door would get fried by something.I just threw the Minions at the PCs, no tactics- just hell-for-leather, hold them up while Rort gets a lead on them.I used the Oozes (and their Minor- Slimy: Shift 2) to try and trap PCs in corners and block routes to Rort.I also gave Rort a suit of +1 Leather Armour of Repulsion, so even when the PCs got close I pushed them away.Jeb's Telekentic Leap and some of Rogar's Monk movement powers meant that for all my efforts Rort eventually ended up cornered, also Resolute and Rogar (independently, it seems) decided to try to jump over Rort (triggering AoOs), then both rolled incredibly high- damn them.Drake's Astral Seal (-2 on all Defences and +9 HP to the next PC to hit the creature) got a good run out, it's a great power for a Pacifist Cleric and certainly helps with the need for Healing.Not for the last time Rogar's Second Chance Power saved him from a big hit, basically he uses it once every encounter without fail, and after our fifth session of play I can honestly say... it sucks to be me. For all the times he's used it I've only hit once on my second roll.Rogar's Lion's Den Power ((Con Bonus= 4) damage to any enemy that enters an adjacent square to you as a Free Action) accounted for three of the Goblin Minions in one round- they got wise to the Monk after that and generally tried to keep out of his way.Eventually I succeeded with what I was trying to do- which was to give the PCs the option of taking Rort alive.A couple of the PCs flirted with bloodied but Drake was always on hand to dish out the healing- damn his eyes!The PCs clear up a little, get rid of the bodies- after a thorough search, and then ask a few (too few) questions of Rort, who is singing like a canary. In truth the session took a little bit of a dive here, afterwards there was much chatter about what could have gone better. The players (unknowingly) have in their grasp the best source of information they are likely to find about the Goblins and Gorizbadd in general. However they chose to ask a couple of questions- What was with the torchlit procession the other night? 'Dunno', Where's the Slaying Stone? 'Dunno', andWho leads the Goblins? 'Hu-Jat', followed by a full description.And that was about it- and I'm playing Rort for all he's worth, the Goblin is trying his damnedest to stay alive by placating the PCs; and Drake (our pacifist Cleric of Pelor) likes the little guy, however several of the others spit when they say the word 'Goblin' and so...Rort desperately tries to stay alive by telling the PCs about a bunch of scratches on a wall- the PCs investigate and discover a secret vault, and what looks to be the box for the last Slaying Stone- empty of course. The box is taken as a focus for their 'Find Slaying Stone' Rituals, but it's not enough to save Rort- Resolute and Maldor get menacing, Drake however wants Rort put in the vault- kept alive.The other PCs continue to think only bad thoughts when they look at Rort, and even when he blurts out about the 'burping and farting Demons below', it's not enough, poor old Rort is strangled by Resolute, with one of the other PCs holding the Goblin down.I must admit I got more than a little peeved at this, part of the problem with our previous games- H1-H3 was that the adventures seemed to require little intelligence, beat bad guys- find clue- move on. I thought HS1 would provide a little more leeway for role-playing situations, clearly most of the players were on the previous page still. A huge number of e-mails pinged back and forth in the week between this and the next session- the players very early in spot that keeping Rort alive to ask a few more questions- we listed about 20 others that they could have asked in the e-mails, would have been a better thing to do. Obviously the Goblin needs to die- he's a Goblin! But in future a different method will be adopted- after all this DM doesn't want to just spend every session rolling dice, I like doing daft voices, and or playing the villains.However, Rort is dead, the players have a few more clues, and after a thorough search- a bag of semi-precious stones is found, they also have a set of stone steps heading down in to what they presume is the magical crafting section in which Treona worked.They head on down into a circular stone chamber...And thereabouts endeth the second session, a little annoying towards the end, but before that some excellent play, as I say I (now we) are aiming for a little less of the encounter follows encounter, follows encounter; all of which are fights. Instead more role-play- solving things with their great big brains, I figure we're all on the same page now. Personally I thought Rort was one of the best Goblins (from a powers perspective) I've played, he brought back fond memories of a Kobold Wild  Mage I used to know. Drake, played by Jack, our pacifist Cleric of Pelor, is proving to be excellent- Jack's previous character was a self-centred Elven Rogue who would steal from his fellows and behave outrageously in role-playing situations (sleeping with princesses, passing himself off as a Paladin, robbing the poor etc.). Now he's playing a young (19 years old) neophyte Priest who doesn't like violence, he's proving to be just as much a thorn in the other players side as he was in his previous incarnation. To paraphrase Drake said, at one point, of Rort- 'oh he was a nice chap, I do hope we get a chance to have more of a chat with him latter, is he safe Resolute?'; Resolute looks down at his hands, hands that have very recently crushed the life out of Rort, 'Very safe- he's going nowhere.' It's all turned round- the other PCs are the bad guys this time, and Jack is as awkward and uncomfortable as he was when he was playing his bastard-Rogue.Did I tell you about the time he slept with an Aboleth? Worse still their union was blessed.The PCs accumulated a smattering of coin, a few gems, some nice magic armour from Rort and are now 250+ XP in.Next Session- The Burping Demons.</blockquote>

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