D&D 4E Running Commentary on Rel's 4e Campaign (Complete 8/2/10)

[Rel]

The party successfully navigated to the elven village and returned the farmer to his grateful family. The elves were rather awed and pleased to have these heroes from the sky suddenly announce that the bird-men who'd been terrorizing their village for months were now destroyed. The asked the Dragonborn in particular, "Are you part of the Dragonborn group that is helping Enmur?" (Enmur is the capital city of the elven lands on Enmurinon)

Astavian told them that they were not but this was a rare reference to groups of Dragonborn and he was curious to see who this group might be. Fortunately Enmur was their next scheduled stop. But first they spent a day and a night in the small village where they got the scoop on the fact that the "swamp tribes" of Lizardmen and Bullywugs had been raiding the border villages and taking slaves for most of the last year and their attacks were becoming more wide ranging and frequent than ever. At this point there was effectively a state of war and Enmur was calling for all volunteers to report to the city where they were forming an army to fend off this menace.

Meanwhile a few of the local lads had taken a keen interest in the beautiful (and slightly exotic) Llyra, who was posing as an Elf. She mentioned to the rest of the party that they could certainly use some extra hands on board the ship, especially if the PC's planned to leave her aboard while they went off adventuring in the future. After some debate they decided to take these Elves on as crew, at least for a trial trip to Enmur. They departed the following day.

Astavian was eager to get moving and hoped their stop in Enmur would be brief. His deity, Ryukaar, had tasked him with bringing the strange Seal of the High Priest (that he'd found on that dragon skull in the depths of Karak Tor) to the High Temple in Alboa to the west. So far there had been many delays and distractions but he was becoming more anxious as they got closer.

The trip to Enmur passed quickly and without event. They spent a few days there undertaking various items of personal interest:

Zanne found a local embassy to the Empire of Vond (her homeland) and dispatched a message regarding the brewing troubles between the Arcanon Confederacy and the Dwarves of New Karak Tor as well as the kingom of Opkhar. She urged her superiors to establish friendly relations with Opkhar and Karak Tor as soon as possible to cement an alliance against the expansion of the Confederacy.

Mialain made a trip, accompanied by Llyra, to the village near Enmur where her parents lived. They were pleased to see her but found the trappings of Melora as well as this...follower she had acquired to be rather odd. That was until it was revealed that Llyra had met Selerain, Mialain's brother, in person. At that point all her parents wanted to do was ask about his safety and whereabouts. They admonished Mialain for not doing more to locate and rescue him from the pursuit of the Eladrin who considered him a heretic. Mialain told them that she was doing all she could for the time being, considering that Selerain was on another plane of existence. Mialain left her parents home feeling that she had much to live up to, as usual.

Eshik and Astavian both visited a "temple" that had been set up by a band of Dragonborn that were recently established in Enmur. The temple was dedicated to Gorunaga, who represented the more protective/defensive aspects of Dragonborn religion (as opposed to Ryukaar who represents righteous vengeance). They met with the priestess, a Warlord named Kava Scaleshield. She had been in Enmur for several months and led a band of Dragonborn who were trying to aid the Elves against the raiding swamp tribes.

Her office in the temple was papered with maps and she was clearly harried by the daunting task before her. She exchanged pleasantries with them, especially Astavian who clearly bore the symbols of his faith. But she indicated that if they really wanted to be of use to her that they could help out on a rescue mission she was planning. They were particularly well suited to the task given that they had their own airship since the village in question was located deep within the swamp. The Dragonborn listened and said that they were willing to help, pending the approval of the rest of the crew.

Meanwhile the Elf lads they had recruited in the village, Peren, Carric and Varis, were taking turns guarding the ship and venturing off to explore the sites in Enmur. Although Enmure was rather sprawling and sparsely populated compared to many cities the party had visited, it was the big time as far as these young Elves were concerned. During this time the PC's also had spent some of the coin they had accumulated recently on commissions for a few magic items that would aid them in their further adventures.

During this contact with the local mages guild, Zanne also asked them to take a look at the mysterious book they had found in the tower on the tiny plateau where they had encountered Blackbreather/Steelslicer. With the insight of the Elves added to that contributed by the Dwarf sages of Karak Tor, she began to make a bit of sense about some of the contents.

(Here is a cut and paste from the handout I gave Zanne's player, minus some of the fancy fonts.)

The Mysterious Book
The dwarven scholars pore over a few of the passages and determine that they appear to have been copied from earlier accounts of the Dragon War. Pieces of different passages (possibly by different authors although this is unclear) speak of the "warriors of wood, stone and light" having gathered on the "shores of the Icy Ocean".

The Icy Ocean is the body of water that laps at the base of what were once known as The Bitterpeak Mountains, that is the high cluster of plateaus that comprise the known surviving world today. The tales that survive today among the dwarves tell of a shaky alliance between dwarf, elf and man that banded together briefly in order to bring down the Empire of Arkhosia. They think this would roughly correspond to the passage about the warriors of "wood, stone and light" as the human contingent was spearheaded by the followers of Pelor.

The elf sages agree with this interpretation as well. With their greater understanding of Arcane magic they are further able to uncover another page of the manuscript that reads as follows:

"...gathered armada braved the frigid waters, ready to cast down the Dragon overlords of the Isle.
As we made our last approach the legends were proven true as the gigantic beast defended itself. Its claws were each the size of one of our boats. With each swipe a hundred men died and whole ships were thrown into the unforgiving sea. The flotilla dissolved into chaos.
Above this fray could be seen one of the High Priests, his huge, red wings catching the pale sunlight. His breath engulfed one ship after another in flames. It seemed all hope was lost.
Standing large in the prow of our vessel, the Aspect of Corellon drew out his mighty bow and nocked a spear-length arrow. He let fly at the Isle itself, his aim true. But before the beast could be struck dead the High Priest swooped into its path and the arrow knocked him dead instead. His body fell, broken, onto the spiked shores of the Isle.
As it swam away we regrouped our remaining ships and retired to shore, our small victory won at terrible cost. Before I had even hung my bow up in my tent I heard the dwarven axes felling more trees for new ships. Those timbers would never ride the ocean.
The Mist came across the ocean three days later."

 

[Riggs]

This sounds much awesome with lots of win sauce.

You mentioned something about a character death, Rel. I am eager to hear of that!

Oh. BTW. Since DP has come out, has Astavian retrained anything cool from that book?

He'd better not have!

Actually we're using nothing beyond the PHB thus far except for Paragon Paths. This isn't because I think anything is "broken" or "overpowered". Just decided to keep it simple for our first 4e campaign. So far no regrets.

It's just the Man keeping the Dragonborn down!

That series of fights started with a lot of "If I could just get to that jerk, I'll fix his breathing problem" but having stuff in the way, like the cliff (Astavian climbed up the 30' but got kicked off once) or the slowing mental attacks from the spider guy. The Umber Hulk was substance and annoying since he could Confuse and hit hard. Astavian actually did well resisting overall, but didn't escape the Confuse very often. If you get a meal of "Annoying Git Baddies" and then are offered Umber Hulk for dessert---pass!

 

[Rel]

The PC's navigated their way deep into the swamp and located the lizardfolk village where the elven slaves were supposedly being held. Landing the ship in a clearing a short hike away from the village, they approached with as much stealth as they could muster and managed to avoid any patrols on their way in. But they were spotted by guards as soon as they set foot at the edge of the village proper.

The group held up well under the continuous fire of blowgun darts from the tops of the guard buildings. But they also found themselves confronted with much larger, black-scaled lizardmen with greatclubs. These brought them to a halt and the battle was soon joined by a Lizardman mystic whose magic enveloped them with clouds of swamp gas.

Astavian charged into a group of the enemy near the western guard post while Zanne and Eshik dealt with the ones to the east. Mialain used the magic of her new bow to set the roof of the western guard post aflame. Zanne waded in among them with her Armor of Agathys harming all who came near and the last of them near the eastern guard post fell to Eshik's twin blades. They then pressed to the western post where Astavian was hard at battle against foes who were replaced by more minions faster than he could fell them.

Finally, pressing ever closer to the palisade cage where they could see the elven prisoners, Eshik dodged between the groups of enemies and with a pair of powerful strikes he felled the Mystic and then sliced through the door of the cage. Their spiritual leader slain, the Lizardfolk lost their nerve and retreated beyond the edges of the village.

Upon their release, the Elves told the PC's that they had been frequently bled by their captors. This blood was collected in large buckets and these were taken from the village approximately once a month by a trio of blue-scaled draconic centaurs. Upon searching the party discovered that some of the Lizardfolk warriors wore leather thong necklaces with a single, large, blue scale strung on them.

There was little time for talk however as they needed to evacuate the dozen freed Elves as quickly as possible. They armed them with a few spears they gathered from the dead Lizardfolk and grouped the Elves into a column for the march through the swamp back to the airship. Formed up like this and with Eshik acting as a rear-guard, they headed back into the swamps.

They were barely beyond sight of the village when they were ambushed by another pair of blowgunners, one of the large, black-scaled warriors and another Mystic. Zanne almost immediately engulfed the Mystic and his Blackscale bodyguard with the Hunger of Hadar, but they quickly retreated from it and were able to use it as cover. Cancelling the spell revealed the Mystic doing some sort of ritual. Mialain allowed him to complete only part of it before his concentration was disrupted by a pair of her arrow.

Eshik and Astavian found it nearly impossible to close with the enemy. A combination of the shin deep water and mud beneath as well as the poisonous darts of the blowguns making them lethargic meant that they were sometimes only lurching forward a couple steps at a time. Finally they managed to cover the distance and engate the Blackscale and Mystic while still under fire from the blowgunners. Their combined might with that of the spellcasters was able to fell first the Blackscale and then the Mystic.

No sooner had the Mystic's body fallen into the swamp than it began to bubble and seethe with greenish energy. Seconds later a massive form of vines and roots erupted from the muddy water and attacked them. Eshik was pulled entirely inside the creature and his unconscious body fell beside it after a moment. Mialain rushed to his side and channeled her healing magic into him while Astavian chopped at the swamp thing. Zanne continued to hurl fiery blasts at the creature and finally it fell back into the swamp.

Exhausted and wounded, they dragged themselves back to the airship and got the Elves fed and given fresh water. They took to the air but it was far from a comfortable flight. In order not to interfere with Llyra and the trio of elven crewmen, most of the rescued Elves were crammed belowdeck. Still, fatigued from the slog through the swamp and shaking off the effects of the Lizardfolk poison, the PC's fell rapidly to sleep.

Their awakening was rather rude as the ship bounced and crashed along the treetops of the swamp. As they cast about for what was causing this, Astavian immediately sensed that something was wrong. His pack lay open beside him and many of the contents were laying on the deck. The Seal of the High Priest was missing!

They bolted up on deck and found the crew trying to get control over the ship. Grabbing one of the nearby Elf crew they demanded an answer.

"Peren was on watch! I don't know why he lost control of the ship but I saw his eyes glowing a weird green color! He went over the side on a rope!"

Llyra quickly got the ship under control but Astavian was at her side in an instant. "Take us down, NOW! That Elf took something of mine and I'm going after it!!"

*******

Ok so a good bit of stuff to comment on this time.

So I came up with this notion that the most interesting part of the "rescue the prisoners" situation was protecting the fragile (minion) prisoners on the way to the airship. So I made a Skill Challenge where, if successful, they could simply pay a couple Healing Surges to have already made it to the cage where the prisoners were held. Then the rest of the fight would be them fighting a running battle from the center of the village to the airship. Sound cool? It did to me.

They totally failed the Skill Challenge.

They made like one successful roll followed by three really bad ones in a row. I said to myself, "Well, they are busted." And so they battled their way into the village rather than out of it. Ah well, the best laid plans and all that.

I still got a bit of what I was after by ambushing them in the swamp by a smaller force of Lizardfolk. The somewhat amusing (if you're not my players) part of this was that they fought probably around 18 enemies in the village fight with no real problems. About 8 of the 18 were minions, who would show up every round, 2 at a time, to join the fight until the Mystic was dead. Regardless, they were up against tough odds and came through it fine.

Not so against the 4 enemies in the swamp. The Difficult Terrain combined with the Slow of the poison and the Immobilize and Daze effects the Marsh Mystic could unleash meant that the melee types had a hell of a time trying to close with the enemy. Added to that was the fact that the dice went very cold on them. It was a big pain in the butt and rather frustrating to the PC's involved.

Then of course was the Shambling Mound. Fortunately I decided that since Mialain had disrupted the ritual (including a crit from her bow) that the Mystic failed to actually summon the Shambling Mound and instead would turn into one upon death and that it would only have half normal hit points. Still Eshik would have died if he hadn't made the save vs. the Shambling Mound. Finally they made it through that fight and got back to the ship.

The bit with Peren stealing the Seal of the High Priest was handle via exposition. That was pretty frustrating to Astavian's player, especially on the heels of that fight. In retrospect I might have handled that differently given the circumstances but I reasoned that the PC's were really tired from all the fighting and also, with all the Elves crammed in around them, they wouldn't notice somebody rifling the pack. Also I had the advantage of knowing that this was going to lead to some really cool stuff coming up while the players (especially Riggs) didn't.

So it was a bit of a mixed bag from a GMing perspective but live and learn I suppose.

 

[Rel]

The PC's followed the tracks that Peren had left as he made his way through the swampy forest. Thankfully the ground wasn't as wet as it was near the Lizardfolk village. In fact it turned out that they were further west of the village when they were supposed to have been headed east. It seemed that Peren had steered them off course before abandoning ship.

The tracks led eventually to the banks of a river and ran alongside it. But Eshik could also tell that they were losing ground on their quarry. The heavy armor that he and Astavian wore slowed them down and Elves were fleet of foot in any event. The Dragonborn hastened their pace to close the distance, knowing that it would leave them tired but feeling the need to press forward.

Soon they came to the scene of a fight, and one that seemed bizarre and disturbing. A pair of large creatures, roughly matching the description the Elves had given of the dragon-centaurs, lay dead by the riverbank. Their heads appeared to have burst from within. The party exchanged nervous glances but none knew what could have inflicted such wounds. Peren's tracks continued past the scene of this massacre and they followed.

Gradually they became aware that they were being followed in turn. They spotted movement away from the bank within the treeline and they formed up by the river. Moments later a trio of the dragon-centaurs burst from the woods. As the battle unfolded one of them knocked Eshik into the swiftly flowing river with a bat of its monstrous tail but he managed to scramble back up the bank within a few moments. But Zanne in turn hurled one of them into the water with her Diabolic Grasp. Astavian stood toe to toe with a pair of them trading tremendous blows and the group finally claimed victory over their enemies as the remaining Dragon-centaur ran for the safety of the woods.

Examining their foes they saw that they bore dark skin but it was unevenly patched with scales and their features looked rather warped and misshapen. Astavian worried that these might be creatures tainted by the Mist but he'd never encountered their kind before. With still more questions than answers to be had, they pressed on down the riverbank.

Ahead they began to hear a roar and soon came to a waterfall where the river plunged some 500 feet into a vast sinkhole. At the bottom it collected in a small lake before flowing around an island shrouded in both mist and Mist. Beyond they could see a break in the side of the sinkhole where the water plunged again out into the distant vastness at the edge of the plateau. A narrow path cut into the side of the sinkhole made its way around the perimeter and it looked to lead to a cave around the far side of the huge hole. They took a moment to catch their breath and decide what to do next.

Then everything vanished in a flash of golden light...

 

[Rechan]

Rel you teasing bastard.

 

[Rel]

Rel you teasing bastard.

My wife said something similar the other night.

 

[meomwt]

There's some good stuff in this 'ere Journal, and I especially liked the continuous combat in the Kenku/ Neogi lair (there's a set-up to try in 3.5E and see what happens )

Also I had the advantage of knowing that this was going to lead to some really cool stuff coming up.

Yeah, and we haven't got to that yet, either...

 

[Rel]

Astavian found himself aware of being in a white, featureless void. Before he could speculate that he was dead he sensed an approach and saw a large, golden-scaled Dragonborn. Ryukaar. He knelt before his deity.

"Stand Astavian, and well met. I have little time and things hang in the Balance."

Astavian stood but could think of nothing to say.

"Your service in my name has not gone unnoticed. You have done well and your faith has been steadfast. But events are about to unfold, terrible events, and ones I had not foreseen. That faith will be tested."

Astavian found a way to stand up even straighter than before.

"May I hold your sword?"

Astavian reverently drew his weapon and offered it. Ryukaar examined it with a smile, noting the chisel tip that had resulted from Steelslicer's claw. Ryukaar held up his left hand and it seemed to grow much larger as both the fingers and claws extended. Suddenly he flashed the blade down and cut off one of his own fingers. Astavian gasped and Ryukaar, for all of his divinity, winced in pain.

Ryukaar then bent and retrieved the large claw. His mouth moved with whispered words that Astavian did not understand. But he watched as Ryukaar pressed the golden claw against the blade of his sword and the two became one. The sword now held the same shape as before but had a slightly golden color and nimbus, stained slightly with red smears of blood. Ryukaar handed the blade back to Astavian who couldn't help but kneel again as he received this gift.

"You have placed your faith in me, Astavian. And now I place my faith in you. Whatever happens I know that you will do what is right. I look forward to our next meeting."

The roaring in Astavian's ears was that of the waterfall and he knelt still holding the sword. It's faint golden glow was barely discernable in the sunlight. But it was there, as were the bloodstains.

"What happened?" asked Eshik.

Astavian turned to see his companions all sprawled on the rocky ground as though they had fallen there. One by one they awoke and got to their feet in confusion. Astavian, still trying to internalize what had just happened, explained simply, "We were visited by Ryukaar."

None of the others had any sort of vision or recollection of anything besides having seen a bright golden light. But they couldn't deny that they felt rested and refreshed, which was most welcome as they hadn't properly slept since before their attack on the Lizardfolk village.

With steely determination, Astavian led the way down the spiraling pathway into the mists below.

*******

Ok so I consider some of my strengths as a GM to be designing fun and challenging encounters and spinning diabolical plots by my powers that be. The method acting...not so much. So here I had to portray a deity addressing one of his flock and I knew that it was important that it seem like a Big Deal without it feeling hokey.

Riggs can tell you whether I did a good job or not (he's a better roleplayer than I am) but I think I made the right call in pulling him out of the room with the other players. It removed any distractions or potential for wisecracks by the other players. And it also diminished any sense of stage fright for either of us.

The actual speech I gave was probably a bit less smooth and cool than what I've posted above but the details were essentially the same. If Riggs remembers any major departures then I'd encourage him to post about them.

 

[Riggs]

Re: Deific visitation

I thought you made the right call. We don't often get called away from the group, so it's no hassle, and it did set the scene better as we were the only ones there as the characters were. As you said, no distractions and for me, no feeling that I was hogging the spotlight there. It was easy enough to picture Astavian in awe and so honored he would have run through a wall at a mention.
It also worked well because I could RP that passed-along info as I chose, and could try and translate the feeling that this paladin got called for a meeting and gift from his deity. I have tried to keep that going a bit as you have seen he hasn't tried to contact Ryukaar or even consider it except for spells, as he feels empowered to get a job done and doesn't need to ask why (or even what, as he doesn't know much what to do yet).

And as far as your speech goes, I think it was just fine. I think I would have been stabbing you with your insulin if you had dimmed lights and stood on a chair and boomed down at me!

Back to the called away for private RP stuff, when it happens later with Eshik, there was no problem by us out there at all, so it's cool as needed.

 

[Rechan]

Very cool.