I had an absolute blast with everything. I was allowed in early as I heard that DM's were OK to come in early (not sure if this was actually true, but it got me in the door!) and received my t-shirt, mini's, dice and maps with glee.
Spoilers for how the actual session of play went below:
[sblock]The party gelled very quickly, getting the hang of the mechanics with some ease, handily for me. Everyone also got the idea of using their 'at-wills' each round, and we were able to launch into the adventure with the minimum of preamble.
The party quickly realised that making lots of skills checks would be a good idea, allowing me to reel off a lot of background information that was provided. They also solved the riddle quite quickly, although I'd made a minor alteration and had one of the statues be on the floor so they got the idea that they could be moved.
Going up against the hobgoblins has left with me with my first memorable 4e fight. The fighter leapt over one scarcophagus to engage one hobgob, leading the dwarf to try the same - only to fall into the now flaming oil! Next turn, the fighter did a great trick - he shifted round and slammed the hobgob into the second scarcophagus, which I ruled broke it and set him on fire! The rogue was then able to run down, flank and sneak attack.
They managed not to set the stone guardians going by not entering the room at all, and the rogue snuck forward to spy out the last room. Spotting Helvec on his platform, a plan was quickly hatched.
The dwarf ran in, braced himself against the platform and waited, allowing the human fighter to run in, use the dwarf as a stepping stone, leap up onto the platform and then use an action point to Tide of Iron the hapless elf off the platform and out of the magic circle of defense, to the joy of all players and my sad sigh.
The rest of the party piled in, and other than activating the stone statues Helvec was so much dead meat before he could do much. However, the fight with the skeletons and statues was also very exciting (that knock-down, kick-em combo is just horrible) but the heroes prevailed in happiness.
I had an absolute blast running the game, and had a really good group that understood teamwork and fighting as a unit. Particular kudos to the wizard player who used the Icy Blast encounter power to slow the statues coming out of their room, giving everyone else another round to fight the statues.[/sblock]
I was the human fighter in Tallarn's game. Can I take this opportunity to congratulate him on a session very well run, and enjoyed by all of us. And thanks to Zander also for a leg up when it counted!
I do feel that the wizard should get some credit for my leap over the sarcophagus and subsequent pushing the hobgoblin into the flames, as he was the inspiration for both parts. The eladrin moved forward and then teleported behind the hobgoblin before using an action point and thunderwave to try to push him in. When the attack failed I felt it was my duty as a defender to run up there and support him. Using tide of iron to push the hobby into his own trap was just a fighter's way of showing the wizard how it should be done.
The London Dungeon would be phenomenal. But I suspect WotC paid a pretty penny for its use, way more than we could afford.
