Rhenny
Adventurer
Travensburg Campaign – Part 11 - 1/11/14 session
We played for 2 1/2 hours…4 players– 5th level PCs – Continuing our Campaign
T’rissril Eilsndar the Drow Bard
Fid (the Dwarven Fighter who transformed into a Warforge Fighter)
Fawnsworth the Gnome Illusionist ex-jester
Darhgel the Tiefling Evoker (new player)
The party had spent a few months in Travensburg helping the small town fortify itself against Orc and Kobold attacks, but eventually Tris, Fid and Fawnsworth decided to hit the road and travel to Freehold to find out more about the deed they had found in an earlier adventure. The deed was to a tower that seemed to be owned by Abracadamus. Since the group was unable to find the Forever Stone in the mines, they figured it may be worth it to investigate the tower.
One midwinter morning in Tam’s Inn, the party gathered to have their last breakfast in Travensburg before setting out. That same morning, a mysterious figure entered the inn. It was a Tiefling Evoker who seemed to be looking for adventure. Tris played a tune, and Fawnsworth created an illusion of a Cockroach wearing a hat. He had the illusory insect jump up on to the Tiefling’s table and begin dancing to Triss’ song (Hello my honey, hello my baby….). Then the Cockroach spoke with the Tiefling and tried to break the ice. The Tiefling looked up from his meal and uttered an incantation to scare the little vermin away. Fawnsworth could tell that the Tiefling was casting a cause fear spell, so he made the Cockroach jump up, beat feet in place (like in a Scooby Do cartoon) and then run. At that point, Fawnsworth introduced himself to the Tielfing and found that the Evoker’s name was Darhgel. After sharing conversation, Darhgel joined the party and the party left town heading west towards Freehold. The party’s other comrades (Nalcon the Hunan Cleric, Squeak the Halfling Rogue, and Kleeeg the Barbarian) all decided to remain in Travensburg to help the town further.
The party traveled for nearly half a day when they saw a small homestead of 3 huts. Cold and tired, the group had Tris (who wore a hat of disguise so she could change her appearance) knock at the door of one of the huts. The man who answered invited the party inside to his home, and introduced them to his kids and his wife. This was the Krieg family. They lived with two other families just off the main road. After a night entertaining the family with parlor tricks and songs, the adventurers were able to get a good night’s sleep. In the morning, the group left just after Johnny, the boy, went out to go ice fishing with the other boys.
On the road, the adventurers saw the boys at a frozen over pond, and as they walked closer, they heard screams of panic. The boys were being attacked by an ice gator that had burst through the ice on top of the pond, so they adventurers ran to help. Fortunately, little Johnny eluded the snapping jaws of the gator, and ran, but the other boys were still in peril. The adventurers moved closer to battle the icy beast and protect the boys as Fawnsworth created a phantasmal image of fire to push the gator back from the boys. The gator thrashed in pain as it felt the illusory fire burn it. Tris played a song to inspire the group in battle, and Darhgel unleashed a lightning bolt to injure the creature further. As Fid ran towards the beast, the boys were able to get away, although a few of them did slip and fall on the ice. Before Fid could attack, the gator dove back into the pond and disappeared from sight. Changing songs, Tris inspired Darhgel and the Tiefling walked up to the water’s edge and flashed another bolt of lightning at the water itself. The shocks spread through the pond and the hidden gator took more damage. All the while the gator failed to overcome the illusory fire that strangely affected it even when it dove into the water. Heedless of danger, Fid dove into the water and searched for the gator as Tris used dancing lights to offer some help. Fid saw the beast, but then he saw a second ice gator as well. The second gator burst through the ice and attacked Tris, chomping down on her with vicious jaws. As she was held in his grasp, Fawnsworth used another phantasmal force to try to get the gator to back away and drop Tris. The illusory fire worked and the gator pulled back and dropped Tris as well. As the group battled on, Fid scored some hits to one gator, but since he was attacking underwater using his axe, his blows did not do as much damage as he would have liked (I applied ½ damage). With a lucky bite, one gator grabbed Fid, but Darhgel fired magic missiles at it and killed it before it could drag Fid down or do further damage. Tris drew her rapier and skewered the other gator before it too jumped back into the water. Finally, Fid was able to swim up from under and cut the remaining ice gator down. After the fight, the boys thanked the adventurers and the group decided to bandage and dry off for an hour before traveling. The Krieg, Larsen and Fendrick families were grateful that the adventurers saved their boys.
After traveling for another 10 hours, the party saw what looked like a blanket in the middle of the road with a 6’ lump underneath it. As the party moved forward, Fid taking the lead, they were surprised by 6 Orcs on the side of the road popping up from the snow banks to attack the adventurers. Some of the orcs fired arrows while others closed with deadly great axes. There were 5 normal orcs and an Orc Shaman, their leader. Darhgel was the only one unsurprised (he was the only one to make a Wisdom Perception check) so after some of the orcs attacked, one hitting Fawnsworth with an arrow, and the Shaman hitting Fid with magic missiles, Darhgul was able to use Thunderwave to kill 2 of them and injure a 3rd. After getting hit by the arrow, Fawnsworth immediately turned invisible, but one of the other orcs had picked him for his target already. The orc moved to where Fawnsworth had been and swung his deadly axe in the area, but was unable to connect with the invisible Gnome. (disadvantage) Fawnsworth moved away quietly and then produced a flaming sphere that burned another orc. Tris used some Bard magic and then moved away, but another Orc attacked her and hit her with his wicked blade. The Orc Shaman fired a ray of frost at Darghul, injuring the Tiefling. Just then, a larger Orc threw the blanket off of himself and moved toward Darghul, hitting the Evoker with his greataxe hurting Darghul badly. Seeing that Darghul was in danger, Tris casted Hold Person on the burly orc and it worked. That turned the tide of battle and eventually Fid killed another 2 Orcs, and Fawnsworth’s flaming sphere injured both the Shaman and the held Orc. Soon after, the last foes died, the shaman’s heart skewered by Tris’ blade, the burly Orc nearly cut in half at the waist by Fid’s deadly blow (crit). After the battle, the badly injured group took a short rest to bandage and refresh themselves. Although the Orcs didn’t have much of value (25 gold and 210 sp), the Shaman wore a very fancy gold medallion worth about 400 gp. The group decided to push on through the night.
Nearing 11 pm, the group saw another homestead. This time, they heard shouting and they could see the glow of what looked like a bonfire behind the huts that were about 100’ north of the main road. Tris disguised as a demure Elven lady, walked closer to the huts. She could see that there was a large gathering of men over 15 of them all yelling as some of them held a human effigy over the roaring fire. They were yelling, “Down with Duke Porter.” Tris used her message spell to communicate with the others and then they all walked closer to the strange rally. When Tris got close enough, she tapped one of the men on the shoulder. He was startled, but eventually he and Tris spoke about the effigy and the group found out that Duke Porter was the Duke of Freehold. The men told the adventurers that they had lived in Freehold, but when they complained about The Skulls (a group of thugs who were extorting businesses and shaking down citizens in the streets of Freehold), the Duke turned a deaf ear to their plight. Eventually, the City Guards even ran the men out of Freehold. The men professed that the Duke was corrupt and they asked the party to help spread the word of revolt in the streets or at least see if they could find out more about the Skulls and why the City Guard and the Duke won’t take a stand against the Skulls. After Tris sang a rousing song of revolution, the men were inspired and they asked the party to join them in drink, song, conversation and a meal. After a few hours of revelry and pondering what might be going on in Freehold, the party was able to bed down for the night as guests of the Freehold exiles.
This is where we ended for the night.
Comments
We had a fun session with a lot of interaction/roleplaying and 2 combat encounters.
The bard had a number of opportunities to use Bard abilities in and out of combat. The player really liked playing the bard (a class he has always liked in other editions as well).
The illusionist was able to use his illusions for both combat and interaction/roleplaying, and now, the player is getting more comfortable with his illusion spells, and he has more spells, so he feels much more capable than he did when he was level 1-3.
The Evoker was a fierce combatant, and because he loaded up his Constitution, he survived even after getting hit by 2 or 3 Orc great axe attacks and an icy ray.
Fid the Warforged was able to dish out a lot of damage and he was able to fight the gators without fear of drowning. When Tris got bitten, there was a bit of fear that she would be dragged into the pond, but luckily the group got the gator to drop her.
The gator combat lasted a longer time (45 minutes) mostly because the gators dove back into the water to try to escape when they were attacked by phantasmal force. Only Fid could go after them.
The Orc ambush (lasting about 30 minutes) was more deadly since the Orcs surprised all but Darhgul. Darghul, Tris and Fawnsworth all took enough damage to fear the next hit, and Fid (even with very high AC 21 – magic chainmail) went down nearly ½. It is clear that fighting more opponents is much more dangerous than fighting even more powerful single or double opponents. Surprise going against the party is very dangerous, too.
Also, as usual, the narrative is only an approximation of the actual game session. I write them after the game from memory (and I do leave out misses and sometimes even hits for or against PCs).
We played for 2 1/2 hours…4 players– 5th level PCs – Continuing our Campaign
T’rissril Eilsndar the Drow Bard
Fid (the Dwarven Fighter who transformed into a Warforge Fighter)
Fawnsworth the Gnome Illusionist ex-jester
Darhgel the Tiefling Evoker (new player)
The party had spent a few months in Travensburg helping the small town fortify itself against Orc and Kobold attacks, but eventually Tris, Fid and Fawnsworth decided to hit the road and travel to Freehold to find out more about the deed they had found in an earlier adventure. The deed was to a tower that seemed to be owned by Abracadamus. Since the group was unable to find the Forever Stone in the mines, they figured it may be worth it to investigate the tower.
One midwinter morning in Tam’s Inn, the party gathered to have their last breakfast in Travensburg before setting out. That same morning, a mysterious figure entered the inn. It was a Tiefling Evoker who seemed to be looking for adventure. Tris played a tune, and Fawnsworth created an illusion of a Cockroach wearing a hat. He had the illusory insect jump up on to the Tiefling’s table and begin dancing to Triss’ song (Hello my honey, hello my baby….). Then the Cockroach spoke with the Tiefling and tried to break the ice. The Tiefling looked up from his meal and uttered an incantation to scare the little vermin away. Fawnsworth could tell that the Tiefling was casting a cause fear spell, so he made the Cockroach jump up, beat feet in place (like in a Scooby Do cartoon) and then run. At that point, Fawnsworth introduced himself to the Tielfing and found that the Evoker’s name was Darhgel. After sharing conversation, Darhgel joined the party and the party left town heading west towards Freehold. The party’s other comrades (Nalcon the Hunan Cleric, Squeak the Halfling Rogue, and Kleeeg the Barbarian) all decided to remain in Travensburg to help the town further.
The party traveled for nearly half a day when they saw a small homestead of 3 huts. Cold and tired, the group had Tris (who wore a hat of disguise so she could change her appearance) knock at the door of one of the huts. The man who answered invited the party inside to his home, and introduced them to his kids and his wife. This was the Krieg family. They lived with two other families just off the main road. After a night entertaining the family with parlor tricks and songs, the adventurers were able to get a good night’s sleep. In the morning, the group left just after Johnny, the boy, went out to go ice fishing with the other boys.
On the road, the adventurers saw the boys at a frozen over pond, and as they walked closer, they heard screams of panic. The boys were being attacked by an ice gator that had burst through the ice on top of the pond, so they adventurers ran to help. Fortunately, little Johnny eluded the snapping jaws of the gator, and ran, but the other boys were still in peril. The adventurers moved closer to battle the icy beast and protect the boys as Fawnsworth created a phantasmal image of fire to push the gator back from the boys. The gator thrashed in pain as it felt the illusory fire burn it. Tris played a song to inspire the group in battle, and Darhgel unleashed a lightning bolt to injure the creature further. As Fid ran towards the beast, the boys were able to get away, although a few of them did slip and fall on the ice. Before Fid could attack, the gator dove back into the pond and disappeared from sight. Changing songs, Tris inspired Darhgel and the Tiefling walked up to the water’s edge and flashed another bolt of lightning at the water itself. The shocks spread through the pond and the hidden gator took more damage. All the while the gator failed to overcome the illusory fire that strangely affected it even when it dove into the water. Heedless of danger, Fid dove into the water and searched for the gator as Tris used dancing lights to offer some help. Fid saw the beast, but then he saw a second ice gator as well. The second gator burst through the ice and attacked Tris, chomping down on her with vicious jaws. As she was held in his grasp, Fawnsworth used another phantasmal force to try to get the gator to back away and drop Tris. The illusory fire worked and the gator pulled back and dropped Tris as well. As the group battled on, Fid scored some hits to one gator, but since he was attacking underwater using his axe, his blows did not do as much damage as he would have liked (I applied ½ damage). With a lucky bite, one gator grabbed Fid, but Darhgel fired magic missiles at it and killed it before it could drag Fid down or do further damage. Tris drew her rapier and skewered the other gator before it too jumped back into the water. Finally, Fid was able to swim up from under and cut the remaining ice gator down. After the fight, the boys thanked the adventurers and the group decided to bandage and dry off for an hour before traveling. The Krieg, Larsen and Fendrick families were grateful that the adventurers saved their boys.
After traveling for another 10 hours, the party saw what looked like a blanket in the middle of the road with a 6’ lump underneath it. As the party moved forward, Fid taking the lead, they were surprised by 6 Orcs on the side of the road popping up from the snow banks to attack the adventurers. Some of the orcs fired arrows while others closed with deadly great axes. There were 5 normal orcs and an Orc Shaman, their leader. Darhgel was the only one unsurprised (he was the only one to make a Wisdom Perception check) so after some of the orcs attacked, one hitting Fawnsworth with an arrow, and the Shaman hitting Fid with magic missiles, Darhgul was able to use Thunderwave to kill 2 of them and injure a 3rd. After getting hit by the arrow, Fawnsworth immediately turned invisible, but one of the other orcs had picked him for his target already. The orc moved to where Fawnsworth had been and swung his deadly axe in the area, but was unable to connect with the invisible Gnome. (disadvantage) Fawnsworth moved away quietly and then produced a flaming sphere that burned another orc. Tris used some Bard magic and then moved away, but another Orc attacked her and hit her with his wicked blade. The Orc Shaman fired a ray of frost at Darghul, injuring the Tiefling. Just then, a larger Orc threw the blanket off of himself and moved toward Darghul, hitting the Evoker with his greataxe hurting Darghul badly. Seeing that Darghul was in danger, Tris casted Hold Person on the burly orc and it worked. That turned the tide of battle and eventually Fid killed another 2 Orcs, and Fawnsworth’s flaming sphere injured both the Shaman and the held Orc. Soon after, the last foes died, the shaman’s heart skewered by Tris’ blade, the burly Orc nearly cut in half at the waist by Fid’s deadly blow (crit). After the battle, the badly injured group took a short rest to bandage and refresh themselves. Although the Orcs didn’t have much of value (25 gold and 210 sp), the Shaman wore a very fancy gold medallion worth about 400 gp. The group decided to push on through the night.
Nearing 11 pm, the group saw another homestead. This time, they heard shouting and they could see the glow of what looked like a bonfire behind the huts that were about 100’ north of the main road. Tris disguised as a demure Elven lady, walked closer to the huts. She could see that there was a large gathering of men over 15 of them all yelling as some of them held a human effigy over the roaring fire. They were yelling, “Down with Duke Porter.” Tris used her message spell to communicate with the others and then they all walked closer to the strange rally. When Tris got close enough, she tapped one of the men on the shoulder. He was startled, but eventually he and Tris spoke about the effigy and the group found out that Duke Porter was the Duke of Freehold. The men told the adventurers that they had lived in Freehold, but when they complained about The Skulls (a group of thugs who were extorting businesses and shaking down citizens in the streets of Freehold), the Duke turned a deaf ear to their plight. Eventually, the City Guards even ran the men out of Freehold. The men professed that the Duke was corrupt and they asked the party to help spread the word of revolt in the streets or at least see if they could find out more about the Skulls and why the City Guard and the Duke won’t take a stand against the Skulls. After Tris sang a rousing song of revolution, the men were inspired and they asked the party to join them in drink, song, conversation and a meal. After a few hours of revelry and pondering what might be going on in Freehold, the party was able to bed down for the night as guests of the Freehold exiles.
This is where we ended for the night.
Comments
We had a fun session with a lot of interaction/roleplaying and 2 combat encounters.
The bard had a number of opportunities to use Bard abilities in and out of combat. The player really liked playing the bard (a class he has always liked in other editions as well).
The illusionist was able to use his illusions for both combat and interaction/roleplaying, and now, the player is getting more comfortable with his illusion spells, and he has more spells, so he feels much more capable than he did when he was level 1-3.
The Evoker was a fierce combatant, and because he loaded up his Constitution, he survived even after getting hit by 2 or 3 Orc great axe attacks and an icy ray.
Fid the Warforged was able to dish out a lot of damage and he was able to fight the gators without fear of drowning. When Tris got bitten, there was a bit of fear that she would be dragged into the pond, but luckily the group got the gator to drop her.
The gator combat lasted a longer time (45 minutes) mostly because the gators dove back into the water to try to escape when they were attacked by phantasmal force. Only Fid could go after them.
The Orc ambush (lasting about 30 minutes) was more deadly since the Orcs surprised all but Darhgul. Darghul, Tris and Fawnsworth all took enough damage to fear the next hit, and Fid (even with very high AC 21 – magic chainmail) went down nearly ½. It is clear that fighting more opponents is much more dangerous than fighting even more powerful single or double opponents. Surprise going against the party is very dangerous, too.
Also, as usual, the narrative is only an approximation of the actual game session. I write them after the game from memory (and I do leave out misses and sometimes even hits for or against PCs).
