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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 4900937" data-attributes="member: 16069">The Friday KnightsSession 1- Sellswords of Fallcrest Part 1. To the Gate.The characters find each other in an Inn, hey that sounds familiar- Cathal has heard that there's money to be made venturing into the lair of the Beggar King, indirectly the Beggar King is bound to have some money and the like hoarded away; more directly the local Thieves Guild- the Shadowmen, have set a 500gp bounty on the Beggar King's head. The Fighter wants some of that, all he needs is to find some unsuspecting... Ah, here we are.Kullervo has just escaped his home, he's in search of adventure, and also starving, lost and alone in the big city- and he wants in.Ignaran is in Fallcrest on business, he hates Fallcrest, and cities in general. However the business is important, Nimozaran the Septarch of Fallcrest (Chief High Honcho Mage) has a job for the Druid- there's a strange phenomenon he wants Ignaran to investigate, an odd black cloud sometimes seen surrounding a tower in the Dock Quarters. Ignaran can't say no to the Mage, all he needs then is to find some likely individuals to accompany him in his investigations, for protection, and to carry things, and the like.It turns out that the tower cloaked in black haze is part of the Beggar King's domain- wouldn't you know it, the Friday Knights are gathered.Much of the first session is spent in the Blue Moon Inn in Fallcrest, the Knights drink a little, laugh a lot and keep an ear out for rumours and gossip about the Beggar King, the tower etc. There's plenty of gossip flying around as it happens; talk of a turf war between the the Beggar's Guild and the Shadowmen, tales of the Beggar King's long lost treasure, even stories of black clouds descending from the aforementioned tower into the streets of Fallcrest to attack passers-by. Black clouds capable of stripping a man's flesh from his bones, supposedly.The hunt is on. At midnight the Knights head out to Cutpurse Alley, the entrance to the Beggar King's domain, alas the way ahead is blocked - an ornate gate, which Kullervo attests is “trapped to 'igh 'eaven.” There's talk of abandoning the project, Ignaran however has other ideas and boosts Kullervo up onto a low roof, sometime later all of the Knights are pressed against the cold wet shingles, spying down on Cutpurse Alley. They get wet, very wet- the weather is atrocious.The three head along the roofs, careful like, till they find a nice spot; ahead are lights, a low roof on the opposite side of the alley, a burning brazier, several guards, well hidden- at least from the front gate, now obvious. One of the guards is eating a pie, one stares at the moon and gibbers, the last squints into the dark.A minute later Kullervo has one down, a beautiful flick of the wrist culminating in a dagger buried in the pie-eating guard's back- the guard falls, backwards, and lies still on the cobbled floor of the alley- deathly pale. The young Rogue has never killed or harmed anyone (much) in his life- he's a little terrified, well played that Player.Cathal in the meantime goes all action hero, sprints down one slick roof, leaps to another, runs up and along and drops down on the moon-gazing guard, and stabs him through the heart- dead. Cathal takes death and destruction (of others) in his stride- doesn't bat an eyelid.The squinting guard is three rooftops away by the time the above has played out, sword scattered and not looking back, or ever coming back- now officially unemployed.Kullervo is briefly ill, just after looking at the mess he's made of the pie-eating guard on the cobbles below.<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3449/3722079426_96d8f44ff1_o.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Strike one for Kullervo & Cathal, Ignaran grips onto the roof and curses the foul weather.[DM Interlude Encounter #1 [300 XP = Level 1] 3x Human Sentries (Level 1 Skirmishers). Easy I know but before prior to this campaign I had played only six sessions of 4E via Maptools, two of which ended in TPKs- that's quite a strike rate. Conservative, and wanting the players to gain some early success I decided to give them a couple of encounters to get into the swing of things.]So it comes as quite a shock when the formerly pie-eating guard peels himself off the deck and hares back down the alley and to a door, flings it open and dashes within, all the while screaming something along the lines of “intrewgers, intrewgers”, while wiping the remains of his scalding hot pie from his face.The Knights do a double take, what next?They don't have long to wait- Fernando Del Amitri is a fighter and a lover, a bounder and a cad, with an excellent pedigree and a great first line... “I am Fernando Del Amitri. I killed my father. Prepare to die.”Cathal leaps down into the alley to prove his prowess, a test of arms, and steel, and grit, and other macho exhortations- he damn near breaks his legs and lands in a heap, prone before Fernando, who cuts him up a little, it seems he's not big on fair play.However before Fernando can really get to work Kullervo flings another dagger, and connects again; a moment later Ignaran conjures and a Wolf appears at Fernando's side. The Wolf stares at the Swordsman, the Swordsman stares back- then the Wolf does its best to eat the swarthy swordsman. A little later, still struggling with Wolfie, Fernando finds respite- Cathal finally gets to his feet and slashes through his armour and deep into his chest with his longsword, Fernando dies, it seems Cathal doesn't mind a bit of dirty fighting either.<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2605/3721266943_682e992a9b_o.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Fernado Del Amitri, his dad's dead, don't worry- he'll be seeing him soon.[DM Interlude Encounter #2 [125 XP = Level 1] Human Tough (Level 2 Brute). The second easy encounter to allow me and the players to get our collective eye's in, as it were.]The session ends as the Knights nose further into the alley, after robbing the fallen of course- nice work Kullervo. Only two combat encounters but two thirds of the session was given over to character creation, roleplay in the Inn, background detail et al.Finally a note about XP, I do it differently, always have- name the edition, I do it differently. Players get XP for everything- good roleplaying, investigation, smart play, killing stuff, finding the things they are looking for, being amusing, or emotional, or emotive, or... everything. Obviously it takes more XP to get up levels, I'm not going to explain exactly how it works save to say it does- also I don't tell the players how many XP they need to get to the next level, I like to keep them in the dark a little. That said the players earned 844 XP this session, that's between the three of them- it's split equally.</blockquote>

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