Andor
First Post
Playtest notes: 5/27/2012
We assembled to play at about 1. 5 players (two by Skype.)
The party consisted of the Halfling Rogue 50 Copper, the Elf Wizard Luddadrizzit, The Dwarven Cleric Bubba JD, the Nameless Human Cleric and another Elven Wizard named Aeryhana Falcon. My players, you will observe, are not really on the emo, dark and gritty end of the spectrum.
The Clerics had come to the Keep on the Borderlands following a prophecy about the unearthing of a fragment of the eye of Grummesh, 50 Copper and Luddadrizzit were following a rumour, probably born in a pipeweed haze, of an artifact called the Hood 'o da Ghetto, and additionally 50 Copper, a former farmer by trade, was following the rumour of a reward for a merchant who had gone missing in the area recently.
Bubba, using his knightly wiles upon the Lord of the Keep, got hospitality and information from the party and they set off for the valley rumoured to be infested by all manner of foul humanoids.
Once they reached the valley (I inflated the exterior dimensions of the valley to provide more spacing between the groups, but kept the interiors the same) the rogue skulked his way around, spotting several cave entrances and a few guards. The party decided that Kobolds were probably the easiest targets and made their way towards the cave mouth with the kobold guards outside it. They made short work of the guards and proceeded inwards. The front rank stumbled into the pit trap although only Luddadrizzit actually fell in. The Kobold guards pelted them with daggers to some small effect but quickly lost most of their number. The few survivors retreated to the garbage room. The party followed and dispatched them with a burning hands which felled the kobolds and several rats, but angered the Dire Rat which attacked followed by the rest of the rats. The party waded into the rats killing them quickly, except for Bubba who decided to grab one and tame it. "I have animal handleing!" I said "Roll it." A 19 followed. I told him it tired to bite him but he petted it and cooed to it and it started calming down. "I shall call him Mr. Giggles." Next up came Luddadrizzit, who was upset at having lost a couple of hit points to the dire rat and decided some friendly fire damage was acceptable in order to be done with the rats. He therefore used another burnig hands to incinerate all the rats, and the entire party except for himself. While the damage was minor to the PCs, Mr. Giggles did not survive. I commented that he was the shortest lived pet I had ever seen in an RPG, not even making it through a single round. Bubba was beside himself with grief and swore vengance, for some reason blaming the Kobolds. Luddadrizzit meanwhile cast Light on the charred skeleton of Mr. Giggles and used Mage Hand to float it around as a portable light source.
After "looting" 11 lbs of semi-cooked rat and having a short rest, the party proceeded onwards. They found (and looted) the larder then backed up to find the main room. The glowing skeleton of Mr. Giggles was sent in first to light the way. This, understandably, drew a volume of fire from the Kobolds. Mr. Giggles expired again. Bubba chaged into the room to avenge his twice fallen rat and fell to a large volley of daggers, 3 of which critted. He was instatly dropped from full to long past dead. The party learned a valuable lesson about the undesireability of being outnumbered by 10 to one. The rogue smashed his lantern on the ground to create a pool of fire to prevent the kobolds from swarming them and the party retreated.
On returning to the Keep the Lord was upset to hear of the demise of Good Sir Bubba, and more upset to hear his remains were in the hands of the kobolds. He assigned a guardsman (Dwarven Fighter named Ted) to assist the party in recovering the remains of the only notable (I.E: Noble) member of the party and after a good nights sleep they left for the caves again.
The rogue once again stealthily surveyed the area and discovered that the Kobolds had set up a double ring of sentries, four spaced about 50 yards from the caves and a second ring by the cave mouth. They decided to snipe the outer ring of sentries, and everyone crept up on their selected targets. Some lucky stealth rolls later they all attacked at the signal. (The mage lofted the now headless skeletal remains of Mr. Giggles into the air.) They made short work of the sentries and then crept up on the second group. THe second group fell quickly. The group advanced up to the pit trap and the rogue knelt to disarm it, for once however the Kobolds were the stealthy ones and the party the unobservant ones and a quick fully of daggers left the halfling unconcious. The cleric of Pelor lept forward to heal him and drag him to safety while the Wizard provided covering fire. (literally.) However one guard survived the flames and ran squeaking back to alert the prepared remaining kobolds. The rogue, quickly revived, spiked the trap door closed and they proceeded onwards. They quickly realized the main body of the kobolds were advancing towars them however and quickly retreated back to the pit. 50 Copper, who was coming to develop a real fondness for oil and fire dumped a cask of oil on the surface of the pit and the party waited for the Kobolds to come. The Kobold chieftain (a Hulk of a Kobold) and his shieldsmen led the assault. A flurry of thrown axes dropped Ted down to 6 HP. Luddadrizzit once again responded with a fan of fire and dropped two guardskobolds and set the pit ablaze. Ted decided alcholism was the better part of valor and retreated back to the keep for a beer. The wizards proceeded to freeze the Kobold chieftain in place with ray of frost while a steady barrage of missile fire reduced the kobold horde. Once the chief was slain by a Searing light the bulk of the remaining Kobolds were wiped out by yet another fan of flames which was particularly deadly in the tight confines of the corridor where the kobolds had been crowding up trying to bring their superior numbers to bear. The remaining 4 kobolds quickly surrendered. The party then systematically looted the complex, recovering the remains of Sir Bubba from the larder. The Kobolds tried to tell the party whetever they thought they wanted to know, but lost another member when it turned out they didn't know very much. The remaining few were spared however when the party hit upon the scheme of using them to grow more pipeweed under the direction of farmer 50 Copper.
They again retreated to the Keep where they returned the body of Sir Bubba (minus his head) to the Lord of the Keep. After a proper burial, the King asked them if they wanted the cowardly Ted back. They declined. The King then exiled Ted, but Ted pointed out that execution was the proper sentence for cowardice in the face of the enemy. The King was disinclined to argue. At the execution however the crafy if moderately insane Ted revealed his plan to use the executuion as an opportunity to attack the Lord and take his place as rulers of the land. The party again declined. While an impressive dodge and (the executioner rolled poorly) and even more impressive breaking of his bonds got Ted off to a good start, the wizards again took turns freezing his feet in place and Ted soon went down under a hail of missile fire.
(to be continued)
We assembled to play at about 1. 5 players (two by Skype.)
The party consisted of the Halfling Rogue 50 Copper, the Elf Wizard Luddadrizzit, The Dwarven Cleric Bubba JD, the Nameless Human Cleric and another Elven Wizard named Aeryhana Falcon. My players, you will observe, are not really on the emo, dark and gritty end of the spectrum.
The Clerics had come to the Keep on the Borderlands following a prophecy about the unearthing of a fragment of the eye of Grummesh, 50 Copper and Luddadrizzit were following a rumour, probably born in a pipeweed haze, of an artifact called the Hood 'o da Ghetto, and additionally 50 Copper, a former farmer by trade, was following the rumour of a reward for a merchant who had gone missing in the area recently.
Bubba, using his knightly wiles upon the Lord of the Keep, got hospitality and information from the party and they set off for the valley rumoured to be infested by all manner of foul humanoids.
Once they reached the valley (I inflated the exterior dimensions of the valley to provide more spacing between the groups, but kept the interiors the same) the rogue skulked his way around, spotting several cave entrances and a few guards. The party decided that Kobolds were probably the easiest targets and made their way towards the cave mouth with the kobold guards outside it. They made short work of the guards and proceeded inwards. The front rank stumbled into the pit trap although only Luddadrizzit actually fell in. The Kobold guards pelted them with daggers to some small effect but quickly lost most of their number. The few survivors retreated to the garbage room. The party followed and dispatched them with a burning hands which felled the kobolds and several rats, but angered the Dire Rat which attacked followed by the rest of the rats. The party waded into the rats killing them quickly, except for Bubba who decided to grab one and tame it. "I have animal handleing!" I said "Roll it." A 19 followed. I told him it tired to bite him but he petted it and cooed to it and it started calming down. "I shall call him Mr. Giggles." Next up came Luddadrizzit, who was upset at having lost a couple of hit points to the dire rat and decided some friendly fire damage was acceptable in order to be done with the rats. He therefore used another burnig hands to incinerate all the rats, and the entire party except for himself. While the damage was minor to the PCs, Mr. Giggles did not survive. I commented that he was the shortest lived pet I had ever seen in an RPG, not even making it through a single round. Bubba was beside himself with grief and swore vengance, for some reason blaming the Kobolds. Luddadrizzit meanwhile cast Light on the charred skeleton of Mr. Giggles and used Mage Hand to float it around as a portable light source.
After "looting" 11 lbs of semi-cooked rat and having a short rest, the party proceeded onwards. They found (and looted) the larder then backed up to find the main room. The glowing skeleton of Mr. Giggles was sent in first to light the way. This, understandably, drew a volume of fire from the Kobolds. Mr. Giggles expired again. Bubba chaged into the room to avenge his twice fallen rat and fell to a large volley of daggers, 3 of which critted. He was instatly dropped from full to long past dead. The party learned a valuable lesson about the undesireability of being outnumbered by 10 to one. The rogue smashed his lantern on the ground to create a pool of fire to prevent the kobolds from swarming them and the party retreated.
On returning to the Keep the Lord was upset to hear of the demise of Good Sir Bubba, and more upset to hear his remains were in the hands of the kobolds. He assigned a guardsman (Dwarven Fighter named Ted) to assist the party in recovering the remains of the only notable (I.E: Noble) member of the party and after a good nights sleep they left for the caves again.
The rogue once again stealthily surveyed the area and discovered that the Kobolds had set up a double ring of sentries, four spaced about 50 yards from the caves and a second ring by the cave mouth. They decided to snipe the outer ring of sentries, and everyone crept up on their selected targets. Some lucky stealth rolls later they all attacked at the signal. (The mage lofted the now headless skeletal remains of Mr. Giggles into the air.) They made short work of the sentries and then crept up on the second group. THe second group fell quickly. The group advanced up to the pit trap and the rogue knelt to disarm it, for once however the Kobolds were the stealthy ones and the party the unobservant ones and a quick fully of daggers left the halfling unconcious. The cleric of Pelor lept forward to heal him and drag him to safety while the Wizard provided covering fire. (literally.) However one guard survived the flames and ran squeaking back to alert the prepared remaining kobolds. The rogue, quickly revived, spiked the trap door closed and they proceeded onwards. They quickly realized the main body of the kobolds were advancing towars them however and quickly retreated back to the pit. 50 Copper, who was coming to develop a real fondness for oil and fire dumped a cask of oil on the surface of the pit and the party waited for the Kobolds to come. The Kobold chieftain (a Hulk of a Kobold) and his shieldsmen led the assault. A flurry of thrown axes dropped Ted down to 6 HP. Luddadrizzit once again responded with a fan of fire and dropped two guardskobolds and set the pit ablaze. Ted decided alcholism was the better part of valor and retreated back to the keep for a beer. The wizards proceeded to freeze the Kobold chieftain in place with ray of frost while a steady barrage of missile fire reduced the kobold horde. Once the chief was slain by a Searing light the bulk of the remaining Kobolds were wiped out by yet another fan of flames which was particularly deadly in the tight confines of the corridor where the kobolds had been crowding up trying to bring their superior numbers to bear. The remaining 4 kobolds quickly surrendered. The party then systematically looted the complex, recovering the remains of Sir Bubba from the larder. The Kobolds tried to tell the party whetever they thought they wanted to know, but lost another member when it turned out they didn't know very much. The remaining few were spared however when the party hit upon the scheme of using them to grow more pipeweed under the direction of farmer 50 Copper.
They again retreated to the Keep where they returned the body of Sir Bubba (minus his head) to the Lord of the Keep. After a proper burial, the King asked them if they wanted the cowardly Ted back. They declined. The King then exiled Ted, but Ted pointed out that execution was the proper sentence for cowardice in the face of the enemy. The King was disinclined to argue. At the execution however the crafy if moderately insane Ted revealed his plan to use the executuion as an opportunity to attack the Lord and take his place as rulers of the land. The party again declined. While an impressive dodge and (the executioner rolled poorly) and even more impressive breaking of his bonds got Ted off to a good start, the wizards again took turns freezing his feet in place and Ted soon went down under a hail of missile fire.
(to be continued)
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