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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 9819027" data-attributes="member: 70468">Commentary for <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/describe-your-last-rpg-session-in-5-words.679952/post-9819026" target="_blank">post #5093</a>.We only had about 45m or so for a prologue today. As I mentioned in <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/how-do-you-like-to-start-a-campaign.716612/post-9818966" target="_blank">post #52</a> of the “How do you like to start a campaign” thread, I rolled on the Seekers table and got:Late at night in a warm tavern, you are all discussing your next move — but someone approaches you with reports of a terrible event!That’s not super exciting, but I can make it work. I read the entry then asked the first question: What were your plans?They responded that they had come to Battenberg looking for Ancient ruins. Battenberg is a village just east of an outpost responsible for monitoring the border between the Amity Protectorate and the Neutral Territories. The land beyond the outpost is strange, looking like it’s dying. While the PCs were discussing their plans, a disheveled man burst into the tavern looking for help. He had been on a supply run to the outpost when it was attacked by monsters. There were many more oozes, cait siths, and dreadmoths than usual. They seemed to be coming from the direction of the outpost.(What sudden obstacle bars your way? Monsters, clearly.)The PCs responded to the man with a very important question: Do you know if there are any Ancient ruins nearby? The man was kind of baffled by the question. All he could say is that the people in the Outpost would know, and he could introduce the PCs if they helped him out. The party agreed and set out. Lorenzo pondered what he knew about cait siths and dreadmoths. The player rolled 【INS + INS】to make an open check. He did poorly for the cait siths but rolled well enough to know that dreadmoths are vulnerable to fire, which is great because he knew the Flare spell.As the party set out, I cut away to a site with indicators of Ancient ruins. Water nearby rippled as a large, armored shark leapt out of it and started eating the monsters nearby as it flew around. (This was the first Villain introduced, since bosses should be Villains.) I showed the players its picture in the book, and they were like: holy crap!(Did your enemies finally make a move? Maybe. We’ll have to see.)I cut back to the players as they arrived at the remains of the supply run. There were bodies on the ground. The cait siths were playing with the head of one of the corpses. A dreadmoth was eating the food and then moved on to start eating the clothing supplies. The PCs were expecting more monsters (but I didn’t want to go too hard in their first because I’m still developing a feeling for how the system works in combat), so they were happy to attack. They won initiative and got to go first.Knowing that the dreadmoth was vulnerable to fire, Lorenzo went first and blasted it with Flare. His damage before doubling was 31, which doubled to 62 fire damage due to its vulnerability. This was more than enough to kill it in one shot. One of the cait siths took notice. Its eyes started pulsing back and forth from red to blue as it tried to cast Heat Control on Lorenzo. Fortunately, it failed its magic check; but Bez was still able to learn the spell from it, which is how chimerists learn their magic. Curious, I asked him: Who taught you the art of Chimerism? He replied that it runs in the family, which has interesting implications for the royal family. Gan moved up to engage the cait sith that tried to cast a spell, smacking it good with his iron hammer. The round ended with the other cait sith trying to meow a blast of fire at Lorenzo, which Gan intercepted to Protect him; then Bez tried to Encourage Gan (which healed him and buffed his Might attribute).The next round went by quickly. When we established goals at the start, I indicated that the dreadmoth was like to fight to the death, but the cait siths weren’t going to stay. The PCs just wanted to drive them off. The round started with Gan continuing to beat on the cait sith in front of him. When they got the chance, both of them took off. That ended the conflict with the PCs having gotten what they wanted. They spent a few moments burying the dead. I asked Gan: What do you think of religion? Are you part of a specific cult, church or institution? He replied that elves are usually naturalistic and animists, which is what he is too.Our time was up, so we stopped there. Since the prologue is just part of an actual session, we’ll do XP and advancement at the end of the next one.</blockquote>

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