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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 6216923" data-attributes="member: 16069">Let's Play #9 Goodman Games DCC55 Isle of the Sea Drake (Level 1)Session 1.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40504969@N08/10384414446/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5497/10384414446_f93d5dfc4e_b.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>Encounter #2 The Fallen Tree (Area A-2)[sblock=The Map]<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40504969@N08/9162515532/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7377/9162515532_ef0518cb54_c.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a> The Map- obviously the guys don’t get to see this. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40504969@N08/9160319191/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7364/9160319191_43d68242ef_c.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a> Area A-2. The Fallen Tree... [/sblock]Shuva, the closest to the woman, races forward to see…The woman is sprawled in a hollow in the jungle floor; she must have tripped over the fallen tree, covered in vegetation, before the hole- Shuva suddenly yelps. From a hollow in the fallen tree several small feathered and scaled Drakes emerge- some jungle variant of the Spiretop Drake. The foul creatures squawk and flutter in to the air, their calls echo up above, or else there are more of the foul Drakes in the canopy.That’s not what makes Shuva yelp however, sprawled in the hole- with the woman, seemingly clutching the woman in fact, is a skeleton.Shuva, just for a moment thinks it’s real- animated, that is until the wriggling screaming woman in the hole manages to crush the skeleton’s skull with a flailing arm.“Thank the gods for that!” Shuva whispers, and is then swarmed by Spiretop Drake Hatchlings.Bad Guys 200 XP Level 1 EncounterSpiretop Drake Hatchling Level 1 Minion Skirmisher x4Spiretop Drake Level 1 Skirmisher x1[sblock=The Monster Manual]<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40504969@N08/9160232985/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7299/9160232985_0a9646ac4c_o.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40504969@N08/9162456626/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2854/9162456626_ec3bb219b8_o.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>[/sblock]Two of the Hatchlings flutter and peck wildly at Shuva, moments later the Half-Elf Warlock- hands before her face, is left bleeding. She manages to get one hand free, draw her dagger, and swish impotently at the annoying fiends- her cack-handed swipes fail to make a mark.Two more of the Hatchling’s flutter over to menace the quick approaching Brevill and Lia, the Princess cuts one down with a swipe of her new magical short sword. The Rogue’s smile soon fades however when a full-sized adult Spiretop thumps in to her back and with its huge serrated beak rips a hunk of flesh from between her shoulder blades.Lia stumbles forward, trying to get free of the creature, she almost falls.Arannis however is quickly up to speed.“Turn and face it Princess.” The Warlord inspires Lia, her wounds are forgotten, but Arannis is not done, he’s still issuing orders.“Brevill, to Shuva, cut that one down!” Arannis points at the Hatchling which menaces the Warforged, it also blocks the route to Shuva and the fallen woman. Brevill responds immediately- cuts and swats, and slays another of the beasts.At which point, still holding his head, Heain gets up and in to the action.Shuva however is still being menaced, the Half-Elf Warlock does her best to stand over the fallen woman, to keep the Drake’s from getting to her- she takes another bite for her pains and bleeds some more.“Incoming!” Shuva shouts and sure enough another wave of the Spiretops descend from the canopy above.Bad Guys 400 XP Level 1 EncounterSpiretop Drake Hatchling Level 1 Minion Skirmisher x8Spiretop Drake Level 1 Skirmisher x2Arannis, a little away from the action, is however not immune to the creature’s attentions- a Hatchling descends upon the Eladrin in a dive and skewers the Warlord who clutches at the spot.It’s getting very busy, with eight of the Drakes still in the air.Brevill however is all action; he cuts down one of the Hatchlings menacing Shuva, and then interposes himself between his mistress and another.The other adventurers are swinging wildly but, so far, are not having much luck.Brevill’s heroics are being tested- the Warforged is very quickly being menaced by almost all of the remaining Hatchling Drake’s, his armoured body is even punctured once. The Warforged cuts another of the Hatchling’s down- it’s slow going- that is until the artillery starts up.“Fire of Sehanine” Heian incants and a Hatchling Drake is consumed in a ball of flame; for Shuva it’s slightly more subtle, although her Witchfire consumes yet another Hatchling all the same.The last two Spiretops, the adults, disengage then swoop up, and then down again- taking it in turns to claw and bite and rake at Brevill as they pass- they’re defending their young, and their lair seemingly.The Warforged is almost knocked down, scratched and scored, and stabbed with the Drake’s razor sharp pointed beaks (Brevill is quickly down to 6 hit points). “Fight on Warforged- Fight on!” Arannis declares, and once again Brevill’s pain is swiftly forgotten.Lia even manages to get in to the action, standing side-by-side with Brevill, she cuts another of the Hatchling’s down, only one remains.The last of the baby Drakes is not giving up however, it clatters in to Brevill, perches momentarily on the Warforged’s heads and then slams its beak in to the metal man, another puncture wound- sparks fly from the opening.Heian rushes forward, hefting his Morningstar, the Cleric of Sehanine means to save his metal friend- he swipes at the Drake, which takes flight at the very last moment- his Morningstar continues on and thunks in to the trunk of a tree. The Priest attempts to wrench it free, but it’s stuck, Heian heaves with all his might- the two-handed bludgeon comes free, he jerks it around to swat again at the offending last Hatchling (with his Elven Accuracy). He misses by a mile.Although comes close to smashing the weapon in to Brevill’s head, the Warforged has to flop on to the jungle floor in order to avoid the blow (that was a ‘1’ for the initial attack- a Healing Strike, followed by a ‘1’ with his Elven Accuracy). Brevill however is quickly back on his feet, and as part of the action he lances his longsword up and skewers the last Hatchling- that’s how it’s done.Heian looks suitably unimpressed.The two adult Spiretops swoop down again, the adventurers however are better prepared, and are no longer fighting for their lives, they scatter- the pair soar ineffectively by, and then turn again- ready for another run.The adventurers scrabble for cover, hide behind trees or else duck behind thick vegetation, the Drake’s swoop in again, the first is caught in another blast of Shuva’s Witchfire- it squawks, and screeches, loud enough to wake the dead- it’s bat-like wings singed, smoking and in places still aflame.Shuva isn’t done, as the burning Drake turns the Half-Elf is suddenly shrouded in shadow- she moves swiftly, and unseen, getting closer to the already wounded Drake.The Witchfire comes again, and this time the singed Drake is entirely consumed (a Crit for 21 Fire damage), Shuva blinks out and reappears amongst her friends.The last Drake, suddenly conscious that it is the last Drake, swoops and turns- trying to get away from its terrible foes- the adventurers. A lance of radiant light burns it, almost knocks it off its course; a javelin- quickly fetched out and flung by Brevill leaves it bleeding and fluttering frantically to gain height.But the attacks are not enough to end the last of the Drake’s, the battered and bleeding Spiretop soon after disappears in to the canopy above- lost from sight, and beyond the range of any of the adventurer’s weapons or powers.Encounter #2 CompleteBad Guys 400 XP Level 1 EncounterSpiretop Drake Hatchling Level 1 Minion Skirmisher x8Spiretop Drake Level 1 Skirmisher x2Moments later the woman, clearly a native of the island, is being helped out of the hole- although she’s still a little reluctant.While Arannis, Shuva and Lia attempt to communicate with the woman Heian takes a look at the skeleton, and is surprised to find a bag full of gold coins, and a beautifully cut garnet- treasure aplenty. The skeleton is that of a human the Cleric declares, probably another of the previously encountered nasty islanders.Now to the cool bit, or at least it was pretty cool at the time, the guys take it in turns to try and communicate with the woman, who a little later they discover is called Zochi.I play the next section entirely in mime, I do Zochi- the guys do the guys, they have a chat and then take it in turns to try and make themselves understood- as I say through mime, if they speak they have to sit down- yep, I know in the actual situation that’s not a game-changer but it concentrates the mind.It played out superbly; or rather it was incredibly funny, particularly when I had to mime the word ‘husband’, I was trying to tell the guys that Zochi was following their attackers on the beach in the hope that she could find where her husband was being held prisoner… I’m afraid I was reduced to emphasising the difference between men and women.We spent a good ten to fifteen minutes at this, with prizes being given for the best mimes, and there were some corkers, the exact details escape me but I remember being in tears at times.Eventually the guys learn that Zochi is indeed an islander- a member of the Coyomi, and that the bad guys- or at least the natives with the painted skull faces are the Comiqui. The Coyomi live on this side of the island, the Comiqui on the far side, actually as you can see from the map there are two islands, the PCs have not made this connection at this point.The guys also learn, eventually, that Zochi’s husband, along with a bunch of other males from her tribe, have been captured by the bad guys, who may be being led by the Pirates- Zochi is vague on this last point. Lastly the guys learn that there’s a Coyomi village less than 5 miles to the east, the village however is now ruled by a terrible creature, and also home to several more of the skull-faced Comiqui. The terrible creature in question is a Gnoll, but my miming skills are clearly not up to the job, although I’m not sure the kids know what a Gnoll is. They ask, and Zochi agrees, to take them there, and so they head off- through the jungle with Zochi pointing out the way.Comment: Again a stunningly good encounter, I realise this isn’t a genius scenario with a myriad twists and turns, but there’s lots to go at; plenty of combat and plenty of exploring to do, with a few nice side-shows to act out- like the mimes.The kids were absolutely loving it at this point, as with the last scenario they played LP#7, they seem to get more involved when they’re pitched in to a battle of good versus evil (or bad, or whatever), particularly when there’s people that need helping, saving or rescuing. They love the noble ambitions; it’s the stuff of films, and books and games. I therefore tend to emphasise this point in-game, make the plot easy(-ish) to follow and ensure the bad guys are really bad, and nasty; while the good guys are needy, and down-trodden et al.I think aged 4 to 14 the urge to be a hero is pretty strong; and the difference between right and wrong is easy to grasp- particularly when presented in simple terms.</blockquote>

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