Dr Midnight's Keep on the Shadowfell - Unbelievably updated on 7/30

[Dpulse303]

Nice story hour .
Morrus is running this for our group so i hope we play at the same rate as you write it up . wouldnt want to spoil it for me

keep it up sir.

 

[Dr Midnight]

Game night was tonight... good stuff. Not a lot of roleplaying, it was 90% combat. The combat, involving many MANY combatants, ran smoothly and was engaging for everyone, interesting the whole way through. I'm really liking the 4e.

I'll get to writing in the morning.

In case anyone's interested in the minis, here are the ones I've hand-painted (years back) that are being used as PCs.

Moltezom:

Lathon:

Gloraen:

If anyone wants to poke through my other minis and geek-based images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tommartinart/sets/72157604373825958/

 

[Dr Midnight]

Session 2 – Chapter 1
That’s a Lot of Kobolds
_______________​

Lathon was retrieved from jail, where he’d spent only one hour, and all of that on his knees praying in silent meditation to Bahamut. The company spent the night at Wrafton’s Inn, turning in immediately to get a good night’s rest for the coming day. They’d only had enough money to buy dinner for the group and one room. None of them fell asleep for at least an hour, each turning over in their head the prospect of finally breaking into adventuring. They’d started off fired and marooned, and now were employed at many times their former rate of pay. This was experience. This could lead to bigger and better things… assuming they lived.

In the morning, they shared a quick breakfast and left for the southeast, following the map Lord Padraig had drawn for them. They found a crude footpath and followed it for almost ten minutes. “The kobolds are supposedly only a mile from Winterfell, yes?” Osivan asked. “We should be there before too long.”

Just then, a mass of kobolds leapt from the underbrush, hurling javelins and howling for blood. The group fell right into combat stance and began to fight. “This isn’t so many,” Lathon grunted as he chopped a head free. “I’m almost disappointed.”

One of the kobolds wore a small dragon skull as a helmet, and skulked at the edge of the combat. He raised his hands and fired a glowing orb of greenish energy that splashed into Greldo. The halfling cried out as the liquid-like energy sizzled against his skin. Greldo somersaulted away from the combatant he was facing and engaged the kobold priest, keeping him from being too great a threat at range.

A kobold holding a dragon-scale shield came up behind Greldo, flanking him, and cut him down. Osivan cooked him where he stood as Moltezom, Gloraen and Lathon were mopping up the remaining kobolds handily. One of the dragonshields yelled to another “Go, warn the others!” just before falling to Moltezom’s maul. The last kobold bolted swiftly to the south, disappearing into the foliage.

Gloraen knelt by Greldo and healed him back to consciousness. “One’s running,” Moltezom said. “He’s going to warn the encampment of our approach.”

“This wasn’t the encampment?” Osivan asked.

“I guess not,” Greldo said, getting to his feet. “Let’s get him.”

“Wait,” Gloraen said. “Some of us are badly damaged. Greldo, you could die if you run right into another ambush…” It was too late, the halfling was already loping after the kobold. The others broke into a run.

Gloraen and Moltezom, heavily armored though they were, found the best paths through the trees. The cleric could see the kobold running, dead ahead. He stopped, aimed, and fired a lance of light as Moltezom bulled past him. The kobold was struck, cried out, but kept running.

The chase came to the top of a steep and sandy cliff. The kobold leaped out over it, landing in a practiced run and scampering down the slope. Moltezom threw a dagger after him as he and Gloraen maintained a good pace. Osivan and Greldo followed, and Lathon hit the sand with unsure footing, sliding down several feet and losing his stride for a moment.

The hill ended at the edge of an open field, and the kobold sprinted across it. Gloraen fired another beam of light at it, and Moltezom threw another dagger. Both missed. The others fell further behind.

The field’s other side bordered on a wide, shallow stream. A thick tree trunk was laid across the gully. The kobold, as small as he was, ran across the log without slowing. Moltezom ran out across it as well without slowing at all. Dwarves are not built for balancing or careful footing, but the fighter’s momentum carried him in a more or less straight line across the log bridge. Gloraen grimaced and judged that he didn’t want to fall and lose what little lead he had, and he slowed to a brisk walk, joining Osivan and Greldo far behind the chase. Lathon had fallen so far behind that he was now jogging to keep up with the party, having lost any hope of catching the fleet-footed kobold.

Moltezom grunted as he kept pace with the wounded creature. He knew that the encampment was near. It could be just over the next rise. He pushed hard and his thick, stout legs pumped against the ground as they ran through thick forest. The dwarf was huffing just behind the kobold, almost within reach. He pulled his maul free and then swung it. The kobold was smashed in the ribs and slid through fifteen feet of forest floor leaves to a stop, stone dead. Moltezom braced himself against his knees as he struggled to catch his breath.

The others arrived, equally winded. “You… You got him?” Osivan gasped. “Fine work… my friend. Huh… Huh…” Gloraen went about healing Greldo’s wounds at last, and the others rested for a moment, regaining their strength.

Greldo looked about. “The encampment must be really near… look at all the refuse around here.” There were discarded waterskins, droppings, bones, and paper wrappings cast off from rations. “I’m going to scout ahead.”

“Be careful,” Gloraen called in a hushed whisper after Greldo as he melted from tree to tree, keeping low and to the shadows. Over the next two rises, he found it. A cliff looked over a valley of trees. Atop this cliff was a wide cave mouth, and within it torch light could be seen, occasionally blotted by a passing figure. At the base of the cave, an underground stream came to the open air and formed a waterfall that fell thirty feet to the valley floor. The stream wound away to the southwest. There, milling about the stream, was a garrison of thirteen kobolds. They cavorted and splashed in the stream, yapping and arguing, seeming to take their guard duty very lightly. Greldo noted that the valley rose up to the cave’s left and right sides in a sloping path. He took everything in and slunk back to the party.

“What did you see?” Lathon asked.

“Kobolds… lots of them. Possibly dozens. I didn’t get an exact count. They’re based in a cave at the top of a thirty foot tall cliff. I think I found a weak spot, and a way there.” They spoke for a few minutes more, and then moved off toward the camp.

They circled wide around the camp and came in from the north side, on the cliff. Greldo motioned for them to stop when they came within view of the stream from above. From here, they could skirt around into the cave from the north entrance… provided they weren’t seen by the kobolds below.

Greldo moved off to investigate the interior of the cave. He crept along, clinging to the rock sides on the wide path that linked the hillside and the cave. He paused at the lip of the cave and looked. He couldn’t see the entire cave interior- the irregular formations of the walls blocked his view of much of the cave- but two kobolds were talking here. One seemed to spot him out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to see nothing. He walked around to the outside of the cave, and no one was there. The kobold shrugged and walked back inside.

Greldo crept back to the others with the report. “I’ve got a plan. Kind of. I want to penetrate the cave, killing silently and swiftly, leading us inward until we reach Irontooth. The problem is the garrison below, they have full view of the footpath to the cave, and you’re not all as sprightly as I am. They’re not paying too much attention but a group of armored adventurers walking on higher ground will be hard to miss.”

Osivan thought and said “I can get rid of the garrison.”

“What do you suggest?”

“I can cast a spell that makes a sound. I can lead them off into the forest, thinking they’re heading off an approaching party. It’s a perfect distraction.”

Moltezom said “I’ve seen you cast that. Don’t you have to be within a certain distance? You’d have to get pretty close to make it sound like there’s a group of adventurers on the other side of them.”

“I thought of that. I’d have to creep in, somewhat, but the sound I make can be whatever I please. So the sound I make will be that of a distant adventuring party.”

Gloraen smiled and nodded. “Ahh, very nice. Far-off voices, maybe echoed a bit.”

“Exactly.”

“It’s a good plan,” Greldo said. “Okay, Osivan you sneak down as close as you have to and we’ll prepare to skirt right into the cave mouth as soon as they’re distracted. Once they’re gone, we’ll have a much easier time clearing out the cave. We might even be gone by the time they return.”

“Let’s do it already,” Lathon muttered. “I’m tired of planning. I just want to strike some kobolds dead.”

Moltezom, Lathon and Gloraen followed Greldo, who took point on the path around to the cave’s side. Osivan crept down the hill, keeping behind trees when possible, looking to get close enough to cast his sound upon the other side of the valley and- snap! Osivan’s blood froze as the sound of a branch breaking beneath his foot carried over the area. It was so loud that it even echoed, a little.

Every kobold head in the valley turned and stared at Osivan. A silence fell over the valley. It was the most uncomfortable silence the wizard had ever known. Fortunately, it didn’t last long.

_______________

Next time
One Hell of a Fight

​

 

[Dr Midnight]

Session 2 – Chapter 2
Irontooth
_______________​

Before Osivan even stepped on the branch, Greldo was moving. He’d seen the branch and knew what was coming, and now was a blur moving into the cave. As the crack was still echoing from the valley below, the two kobolds were dead, their throats cut. Greldo had failed to notice a third party around the corner. A kobold skirmisher looked with eyes wide at the halfling and yelled “INTRUDERS! TO ARMS!”

All at once, bodies started moving. The horde of kobolds in the valley surged toward Osivan, and a clattering of armor filled the cave above.

Osivan backed up the hill and cast his ghost sound beyond the bushes to the west. A group of kobolds broke off and ran in that direction. Gloraen moved to fortify a position at the cave’s path nexus, looking to bottleneck the valley attack and give Osivan someone to stand beside. Moltezom and Lathon rushed into the caves.

The paladin swung his longsword at a kobold, and the kobold flinched so that the blow missed. The kobold chuckled and hissed as several of his fellows ran up behind him, brandishing spears. Lathon opened his dragon’s jaws and a green-yellow cloud billowed out from his lungs. Acid chemically cooked the kobolds where they stood, and they fell to the ground as clattering slimed bones.

Moltezom and Greldo began working in tandem, flanking opponents and killing them in swift order. The dwarf fighter succeeded admirably in gaining all their attention, when the real threat was behind. Greldo would work a dagger between the chinks in their armor and have them gurgling on the ground within moments.

Osivan allowed the kobolds from the valley to fill the bottleneck Gloraen had formed on the hillside path, then stepped around to the side and spread his hands toward them. Flame erupted from his palms and roasted a great number of the screaming horde.

“WARN IRONTOOTH!” a kobold yelled. He was, like the one from the day before, loading a ceramic globe into a sling. He fired it at Osivan and missed. The globe exploded against the cave wall in a glut of viscous white.

“Which of these do you think Irontooth is?” Moltezom called.

Lathon laughed. “I’m not sure, but I’m not impressed.”

A clanking of armored footsteps issued from deeper in the cave.

Greldo stabbed a downed foe and cocked his head to the noise. “What’s that?”

Moltezom began retreating toward the entrance. “A second wave is coming… fall back Greldo, fall back!”

Greldo turned to see the approaching threat. At the rear of the main group was a kobold wearing robes and mouthing silent incantations. Two kobolds carrying dragonscale shields walked point. Between them stood the biggest goblin the halfling had ever seen. He stood at around five feet tall and was thickly muscled. He carried a battleaxe and wore a chain shirt and a wolf’s skin headdress. Scars lined his body and he rushed toward Greldo, smiling. Hammered metal shards glinted from his gums.

“That’s Irontooth,” Greldo gasped.

The battleaxe slashed across him. The dragonshields followed close behind and one raked the halfling with his sword. The other swung and Greldo rolled beneath the blow, getting to his feet and hobble-running across the cave to Moltezom, who beckoned him. Greldo left splatters of blood with every step.

Irontooh and his dragonshields advanced on Moltezom in a line formation, keeping pace with each other. Moltezom shifted his maul in his hands, looking for weaknesses. Greldo stood behind the dwarf, his back was to the waterfall and a thirty foot drop to the valley below. It wasn’t safe to move anywhere else- kobolds still outnumbered the group and combat raged on outside the cave. The kobold priest darted from behind a column in the cave and fired an orb of energy at Greldo, who dropped to the ground.

“Gloraen,” Moltezom urged. “We need a spot o’ healing, and quick!”

Lathon was now engaging the kobolds en masse at the footpath, so Gloraen broke away and moved toward the caves. He stopped as he saw Irontooth and company advancing on Moltezom and Greldo lying on the floor. He looked back to see the kobolds and Lathon and Osivan. Everyone was in range… it would work. The cleric held up his holy symbol and cried to the sky. “Bahamut, in your name, I call upon a beacon of hope. Let your good works be done!” The silver symbol flashed brilliantly and bathed the area in light. As the light washed over the group, small cuts and wounds were closed and Greldo’s eyelids flickered open. Several of the kobolds were sticken with the holy power and moved at a crippled pace.

Greldo got to his feet shakily. Moltezom parried a thrust by Iroontooth and said “Stay back Greldo… you can’t be healed enough to fight.”

“Nonsense,” the halfling coughed. “I’m feeling well enough to take them all on without you.” He limped back into battle as Osivan fired a magical arrow into Irontooth, splashing his dragonshields with acid and killing them. Irontooth was now alone but looked as though he were hardly injured by Moltezom’s mighty swings.

The kobold wyrmpriest approached cautiously, stopping at the waterfall’s edge. He had a fine line of sight to the halfling, dwarf and cleric here, so he cackled and began casting. Then, Greldo darted toward him and feinted with his dagger at the priest’s left side. The priest instinctively lurched his weight to the right, which was exactly what Greldo had intended. The halfling grabbed a handful of robe and pulled, tipping the kobold far off balance. The wyrmpriest was flung far out into the open air and fell screaming into the churning shallows at the base of the waterfall.

Irontooth was now alone. His minions had all been killed and the enemy was surrounding him. He grunted happily and swung his battleaxe along Lathon’s armor, dragging a new scar into the dragonborn’s scales. The dwarf approached from his left and Irontooth readied a swing. “No, here, I’m the one you want!” the paladin yelled. The distraction served and the goblin’s battleaxe missed the dwarf by inches. Infuriated, Irontooth swung at Lathon, and then at Moltezom, again.

Lathon swung back and cut the goblin deeply. Osivan pelted Irontooth with rays of frost. Greldo sidled into position alongside Irontooth, bandishing his dagger and looking for an opening. He found one and stabbed. The goblin roared and swung his battleaxe in an arc, chopping Greldo about the shoulder. The halfling fell again.

“Greldo!” Moltezom cried. “You leave him be, you cur!” The dwarf whipped his maul around in a half-circle, smashing it against the goblin’s jaw. Irontooth wobbled on his feet a bit. “Is that it, have we got him?”

When Irontooth turned his gaze back on Moltezom, his eyes were going bloodshot and filling in a thick orange-red. His teeth gnashed together so hard that sparks actually flickered amidst the grinding. His arms thrummed and his veins stood out.

Moltezom looked fearful. “What’s happening?”

“We’ve made him mad,” Lathon said. “Good. HERE, you stupid ape, I’m right here!”

Irontooth roared and swung his battleaxe at the paladin, who blocked it deftly and said “I’ll keep his focus on me, keep hitting him with everything you’ve got!” The party hammered at the goblin, raining blows on his back as Lathon commanded his attention.

Irontooth oozed blood from several mortal wounds, but he wasn’t slowing down. “He can’t have much left in him,” Gloraen yelled as he bashed the goblin in the side. Irontooth responded by putting all of his weight against Moltezom, whose back was to the falls. The dwarf grunted, planted his foot on what little space he had behind him and pushed back. A dwarf that does not want to be moved is a very difficult thing to move. The two struggled. Some of the stone crumbled at Moltezom’s heel and fell into the raging waterfall. Osivan struck the goblin in the back with a sizzling bolt of energy.

Irontooth howled “KALAREL, PREPARE MY WAY!” Moltezom regained his balance and swung his maul, killing Irontooth in a final uppercut motion.

The party huffed and waited for a moment to make certain that there were no more kobolds waiting in the shadows to run out. When they were convinced that they had fully defeated the encampment, Gloraen healed Greldo back to consciousness.

“Hey, look! He’s got a pouch.” Moltezom was rifling through Irontooth’s things and he’d found a pouch around the goblin’s neck. “Ooh, it’s got a key in it! And a piece of paper.” He unfolded the note and read aloud.

Irontooth
My spy in Winterhaven suggests we keep an eye out for visitors to the area. It probably doesn’t matter; in just a few more days, I’ll completely open the rift. Then Winterhaven’s people will serve as food for all those our Lord sends to do my bidding.
Kalarel​

“…and there’s a little symbol drawn underneath. Looks like a skull with goat horns.” He shrugged and put the note in his pack. “Morbid,” he muttered. “Hey, what do you think this ‘rift’ is?”

Gloraen said “No idea. The skull looks vaguely familiar, though. I think I’ve seen somewhere. Some kind of dark old symbol. We’ll have to ask a few questions back in…”

“Treasure chest!” The distractible dwarf had wandered away. “It’s got a lock, and I’ve got a key I took from the pouch. I want to open it.”

“Go ahead,” Greldo said. “Watch out for traps, though.”

“Traps?” Moltezom paused.

“Oh, yeah. Spike traps, poison traps, exploding fireball of death traps…” Seeing the dwarf's terrified expression, Greldo waved him on. “I’m kidding you. A goblin’s not really likely to have any of those. Go ahead.”

Moltezom turned to the chest and licked his lips thoughtfully. He wiggled his eyebrows and took out the key. He placed the key slowly into the lock and leaned as far back as he could, shielding his face with his hand and wincing. He turned the key. Click. “Heh. Haha!” Moltezom lifted the lid. BOOM! The dwarf whooped and fell back on his rump, shielding his face. He trembled, then realized he wasn’t hurt. He unclenched his eyes and looked around. Osivan was laughing. “Did you do that, wizard?” Moltezom demanded.

Lathon whacked Osivan lightly on the back of the head. “Shame on you, picking on poor dwarves.” The dragonborn couldn’t restrain a grin. “The look on his face was hilarious, though.”

“Did you hear how he yelped?” Greldo said, causing Osivan to snicker even harder.

Moltezom chuckled. “Fell right on my ass. That was a good ‘un.”

Soon, the entire party was laughing.

Next time
History Lesson
​

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Ah the big battle with Irontooth. That seems to be one of the toughest battles in the entire adventure. Looks like your PCs weathered it well, with a few close calls for Greldo.

 

[Nebulous]

This fight might come up our second session. From all that i've read on Enworld about it, i'm somewhat...worried.

 

[Dr Midnight]

This fight might come up our second session. From all that i've read on Enworld about it, i'm somewhat...worried.

And you're right to be. Don't judge it by this write-up... it's a harsh encounter. Seriously. My players SKATED. They have no idea how easy they had it. It's an EL 6 encounter and they make it to the end only having one PC drop.

Irontooth did an awful job of landing hits. And after he became bloodied and gained 1d10 damage, guess how many times he hit. None. None hits. He missed EVERY SWING FROM BLOODIED UNTIL DEATH. That continues to astonish me. Lathon's marking him helped that out a lot.

I was cringing when the combat started, because they were starting from the cave-area, engaging BOTH kobold encampment encounter areas at the same time (and getting sandwiched between), and within three rounds, out comes Irontooth. They made it through just fine. Baffling luck.

I think I made a poor impression on the new guys with my disappointment in the NPCs scoring hits, because maybe I looked like I wanted them dead or to feel superior or something like some DMs do. I was mostly feeling like they weren't going to respect the encounter for its difficulty. I wanted them to know they'd been in a fight. Kids today. They can wipe out twenty-nine kobolds and a super-goblin without trouble. Don't know how easy they got it, I tells ya.

Note: the wyrmpriest that got knocked off the falls actually lived and walked back up around and into the fight, but got killed quickly. It was more dramatic to just write him as dying from the fall.

 

[Xorn]

Great fight, Dr Midnight.

My group ambushed the outer encounter and entered the falls with no warning being sounded. Then, while they got swarmed upon entering, they dropped the first wave before the reinforcements could arrive. Irontooth was big an nasty, but he really just wasn't a match for a maul swinging fighter, a flanking rogue, and a ranger with him locked in her sights. He passed through bloodied without getting a single attack.

The wyrmpriest and dragonshields actually did a lot of damage though.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Great fight, Dr Midnight.

My group ambushed the outer encounter and entered the falls with no warning being sounded. Then, while they got swarmed upon entering, they dropped the first wave before the reinforcements could arrive. Irontooth was big an nasty, but he really just wasn't a match for a maul swinging fighter, a flanking rogue, and a ranger with him locked in her sights. He passed through bloodied without getting a single attack.

The wyrmpriest and dragonshields actually did a lot of damage though.

I ran my group through Into the Shadowhaunt last night, and we're starting Keep on the Shadowfell in two weeks time - so I'll let everyone know how it goes!

Great write-up Dr Midnight - exactly what I was hoping for when I saw you'd started a new Story Hour!

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

Ah, sweet!

Doc, you really should give due consideration to keep this campaign going. I remember very fondly the Knights of the Silver Quill; I started at the very beginning with them, don't you know. Between you, (contact), and Wulf's story hour I was entertained and influenced greatly.