Rhenny
Adventurer
It’s been tough getting the group together to continue our D&D Next game with the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year. We did play for 30 minutes Friday night, just enough to advance our campaign a tiny bit further.
The group had just finished resting inside the Orc bandits’ supply room. Since Fawnsworth the Gnome Illusionist was out of spells, and the group knew that the Travensburg could really use the food supplies that the adventurers found inside the supply room, he, the rogue and the barbarian headed back to town to get a wagon (the players could not make it). That left Fid, the Dwarven Fighter, and Erkas the Dwarven Druid alone in the halls of the ruined underground edifice, lucky for them, Nalcon, a cleric of Pelor, appeared on the scene. He had finished helping the townspeople try and convict Marsam, a human wizard who they caught leading an Orc raiding party against a wagon bound for Travensburg. Marsam and his Orcs had slaughtered the wagon drivers and two boys (the Johnson boys) who had gone out to see if the wagon was arriving soon, so the Regent of Travensburg was eager to exact revenge.
In the dungeon, Nalcon and the two Dwarves walked through a couple of corridors and heard the sound of heavy chains rhythmically jangling in the distance. As they got closer to a closed door, Fid could tell that the chains were in the next room. He opened the door to see a mine shaft with a winch that used a heavy chain to raise and lower the shaft car. The group crept up to the shaft opening and peered down. Without light, they couldn’t see much; even the Dwarves had trouble seeing down there so they surmised that the shaft car was probably pretty far below them, but it seemed to be slowly rising. Fid decided to jam his hand axe into the winch to stop it from working and he was successful. Then Nalcon dropped a silver coin that he magically lit, and the adventurers were able to see a semi-closed wooden shaft car with two Orcs inside of it. The Orcs were trying to turn another handle inside the car that the chain was attached to, but they could not make it budge. When the light shined on them, they looked up and started to panic. With Erkas assisting, Fid tried to jam his hand axe further into the chain, to break one of the links. It did not work right away, and soon the Orcs had applied enough pressure to their wheel to pop the axe from the mechanism. Unperterbed, Fid (with Erkas’ help) smashed the chain once more, and this time the link seemed to weaken. As the shaft car came within 10’ of where the adventurers were, the Dwarves tried to break the chain completely, but they failed. Nalcon, not wanting to get dirty, walked over and stamped his booted foot upon the axe that was wedged in the chain, and it popped the chain. The shaft car plummetted down over 100’ and smashed at the bottom. The group could see that the car descended at least 2 levels. Before they stepped away from the shaft, Erkas threw down some fire seeds, and the wrecked car started to smolder. The group could see more commotion below, at least 4 Orcs were trying to sift through the wreckage and put out the smoldering wood.
Cliffhanger. That’s all we did for the session.
Comments
It was really easy to use ability checks to keep this short session moving. I think I was able to create suspense and tension even when there was no combat. I like how Fid decided to jam up the works. I wonder how many Orcs are down below? lol.
The group had just finished resting inside the Orc bandits’ supply room. Since Fawnsworth the Gnome Illusionist was out of spells, and the group knew that the Travensburg could really use the food supplies that the adventurers found inside the supply room, he, the rogue and the barbarian headed back to town to get a wagon (the players could not make it). That left Fid, the Dwarven Fighter, and Erkas the Dwarven Druid alone in the halls of the ruined underground edifice, lucky for them, Nalcon, a cleric of Pelor, appeared on the scene. He had finished helping the townspeople try and convict Marsam, a human wizard who they caught leading an Orc raiding party against a wagon bound for Travensburg. Marsam and his Orcs had slaughtered the wagon drivers and two boys (the Johnson boys) who had gone out to see if the wagon was arriving soon, so the Regent of Travensburg was eager to exact revenge.
In the dungeon, Nalcon and the two Dwarves walked through a couple of corridors and heard the sound of heavy chains rhythmically jangling in the distance. As they got closer to a closed door, Fid could tell that the chains were in the next room. He opened the door to see a mine shaft with a winch that used a heavy chain to raise and lower the shaft car. The group crept up to the shaft opening and peered down. Without light, they couldn’t see much; even the Dwarves had trouble seeing down there so they surmised that the shaft car was probably pretty far below them, but it seemed to be slowly rising. Fid decided to jam his hand axe into the winch to stop it from working and he was successful. Then Nalcon dropped a silver coin that he magically lit, and the adventurers were able to see a semi-closed wooden shaft car with two Orcs inside of it. The Orcs were trying to turn another handle inside the car that the chain was attached to, but they could not make it budge. When the light shined on them, they looked up and started to panic. With Erkas assisting, Fid tried to jam his hand axe further into the chain, to break one of the links. It did not work right away, and soon the Orcs had applied enough pressure to their wheel to pop the axe from the mechanism. Unperterbed, Fid (with Erkas’ help) smashed the chain once more, and this time the link seemed to weaken. As the shaft car came within 10’ of where the adventurers were, the Dwarves tried to break the chain completely, but they failed. Nalcon, not wanting to get dirty, walked over and stamped his booted foot upon the axe that was wedged in the chain, and it popped the chain. The shaft car plummetted down over 100’ and smashed at the bottom. The group could see that the car descended at least 2 levels. Before they stepped away from the shaft, Erkas threw down some fire seeds, and the wrecked car started to smolder. The group could see more commotion below, at least 4 Orcs were trying to sift through the wreckage and put out the smoldering wood.
Cliffhanger. That’s all we did for the session.
Comments
It was really easy to use ability checks to keep this short session moving. I think I was able to create suspense and tension even when there was no combat. I like how Fid decided to jam up the works. I wonder how many Orcs are down below? lol.