Wik
First Post
So, we started Savage Tide today. It was a lot of fun.
The group got together, and when they found they had to go after Vark, they did what my group usually does in a situation like this: they hit the streets.
After almost an hour real-time of bar-hopping trying to get information (and they did well; not only did they find info on Lavinia, but they found good info on her parents... and I was quite surprised to find that the group's cleric of Wee Jas was very interested in the harbourmaster). They settled in the Drunken Bear tavern/mead shop (which I populated on the fly with a one-eyed bartender named Breldik) and did all their snooping around.
After an hour, the goliath player said "look, there's no way we can attack straight on! That'd be suicide!"
Within about ten minutes (and a little bit of gentle prodding on my part) that's exactly what they did. And hilarity ensued.
For starters, it was night when they attacked, so everyone was up and in defensive positions. The catfolk rogue snuck onto the ship, before she got spotted and dived into the water. The group rowed up, picked her up, and came close to the ship. The thieves were nervous and said "you should back off! This is private property!" to which the dwarven fighter in the group wonderfully replied "yeah, but not YOUR private property!". The goliath then said some mean things about Vark's mother, so a fight ensued.
It would have went fairly well. The Goliath made the climb up the ship easily, and engaged three of the rogues right off. The catfolk rogue fired a shot (and hit) one of the rogues, while the cleric was smart and cast entropic shield on himself.
Then the dwarf tried to climb up the rigging. He failed. Bad.
So, he falls from the ship, and makes a reflex save. So, he falls prone back into the ship's rowboat. Vark and some rogues really hurt the goliath. The goliath kills Vark with a critical (43 damage in one hit... for what is basically a second level character.... OUCH), and skewers another rogue with cleave. The rogue takes out an archer, before she is knocked to zero by archer fire. The cleric uses his next spell to heal the catfolk. The dwarf gets to his feet, tries to climb up to the boat.
And fails. Again. And makes his save. Again. So, he falls prone into the rowboat, again, cursing all the while.
Next round, the Goliath charges a set of archers and engages them, while the cleric is brought down to 3 HP from mor earcher fire. He retaliates with his final 1st level spell - Cause Fear. The Goliath takes out his two (again, with cleave and a critical), while The Dwarf tries to climb aboard the ship. And fails.
Again.
The next round gets tough, until the dwarf finally gets on the ship. I think there were two remaining thugs, who instantly surrendered. And then there was the "burn them all!" command, which had the goliath and dwarf charge into the hold to fight the rhagodessa.
Keep in mind that the Goliath was at 1 HP when he got there. In one round, he was brought to -10 HP (but I let him instantly stabilize, cuz I'm nice like that). Luckily, he had hit it for 18 in one swing before going down. The cleric and the rogue came speeding in, knowing there was trouble, only to watch as the fully healthy dwarf was brought from something like 13 or 14 hp to 3 HP in one round. Only through the cleric and rogue working together to flank the grappling rhagodessa were they able to kill it.
***
And that was our first session. Every character came incredibly close to death (and one character actually should have died). And two of them are TECHNICALLY 2nd level.
I love Savage Tide.
The group got together, and when they found they had to go after Vark, they did what my group usually does in a situation like this: they hit the streets.
After almost an hour real-time of bar-hopping trying to get information (and they did well; not only did they find info on Lavinia, but they found good info on her parents... and I was quite surprised to find that the group's cleric of Wee Jas was very interested in the harbourmaster). They settled in the Drunken Bear tavern/mead shop (which I populated on the fly with a one-eyed bartender named Breldik) and did all their snooping around.
After an hour, the goliath player said "look, there's no way we can attack straight on! That'd be suicide!"
Within about ten minutes (and a little bit of gentle prodding on my part) that's exactly what they did. And hilarity ensued.
For starters, it was night when they attacked, so everyone was up and in defensive positions. The catfolk rogue snuck onto the ship, before she got spotted and dived into the water. The group rowed up, picked her up, and came close to the ship. The thieves were nervous and said "you should back off! This is private property!" to which the dwarven fighter in the group wonderfully replied "yeah, but not YOUR private property!". The goliath then said some mean things about Vark's mother, so a fight ensued.
It would have went fairly well. The Goliath made the climb up the ship easily, and engaged three of the rogues right off. The catfolk rogue fired a shot (and hit) one of the rogues, while the cleric was smart and cast entropic shield on himself.
Then the dwarf tried to climb up the rigging. He failed. Bad.
So, he falls from the ship, and makes a reflex save. So, he falls prone back into the ship's rowboat. Vark and some rogues really hurt the goliath. The goliath kills Vark with a critical (43 damage in one hit... for what is basically a second level character.... OUCH), and skewers another rogue with cleave. The rogue takes out an archer, before she is knocked to zero by archer fire. The cleric uses his next spell to heal the catfolk. The dwarf gets to his feet, tries to climb up to the boat.
And fails. Again. And makes his save. Again. So, he falls prone into the rowboat, again, cursing all the while.
Next round, the Goliath charges a set of archers and engages them, while the cleric is brought down to 3 HP from mor earcher fire. He retaliates with his final 1st level spell - Cause Fear. The Goliath takes out his two (again, with cleave and a critical), while The Dwarf tries to climb aboard the ship. And fails.
Again.
The next round gets tough, until the dwarf finally gets on the ship. I think there were two remaining thugs, who instantly surrendered. And then there was the "burn them all!" command, which had the goliath and dwarf charge into the hold to fight the rhagodessa.
Keep in mind that the Goliath was at 1 HP when he got there. In one round, he was brought to -10 HP (but I let him instantly stabilize, cuz I'm nice like that). Luckily, he had hit it for 18 in one swing before going down. The cleric and the rogue came speeding in, knowing there was trouble, only to watch as the fully healthy dwarf was brought from something like 13 or 14 hp to 3 HP in one round. Only through the cleric and rogue working together to flank the grappling rhagodessa were they able to kill it.
***
And that was our first session. Every character came incredibly close to death (and one character actually should have died). And two of them are TECHNICALLY 2nd level.
I love Savage Tide.
