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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tool" data-source="post: 5312915" data-attributes="member: 94749">Activity 1BACTIVITY 1B Skill Challenge: Tracking the Kobold Runaways Complexity: 4 Successes before 2 failures Primary Skills: Nature (moderate DC): At least one nature check is required to navigate the lands safely while pursuing the kobold Perception (moderate DCs) +2: This is the baseline skill required to track down the kobold. This skill must succeed at least 2 times. Athletics (moderate DC): One time only a person may make an athletic attempt for the group to safely navigate the rocky terrain they find themselves in (eventually) Success: see narrative below Failure: attempt again or give up Tracking the kobold was not too difficult. The added weight of the chest helped to establish footprints in the soft ground in the beginning, giving you a very good sense of direction. On through the grasses you pushed on toward the hills you noted earlier. The sun is waning and darkness has almost fell upon the land when your feet take you between the grassy hills and the piedmont of the mountains. In the distance just off the the right a bit is the maw of a cave. A very healthy sized opening at that. It 'lays' at an obtuse angle from the ground. There is no doubt this is where the kobold ran off to. Making your way to the cave, you take the time to reflect on how the land has changed. The lush vegetation that seemed to swallow up the land has been beaten down by what little soil is available. Now only patches of grass and other remote plants are about. You have traveled quite a ways. Those little bastards covered a lot of ground, good thing they can't fight like they run. **Entering the cave** The air inside has dampened a bit. Rock formations are only occassional and the floor is not hard to traverse. You are not too far in when you see a kobold on the ground 30' ahead of you. Probably one of the ones you followed. A javelin has entered his side and come out his back. Blood pools on the floor. The chest is not to be seen. The cave has a branch that heads off the the left, while a couple bloody footprints head off straight. There are a great many small tunnels in the walls of the cavern with a few on the floor. A skittering sound is heard amplified by the cave, coming from the left passage. Glowing shapes float in toward the body, emitting a red/orage hue and hugging the ground. As they close in more details are revealed. It is a group of beetles, of varying size. The reach the body, but then notice you. After a slight pause, they head in your direction. Nature DC 10: These are fire beetles Nature DC 15: A fire betle has two fiery glands that continue to glow for (1d12) hours after the beetles death; these can be removed and used as torches. Monsters: Fire BeetlesFire Beetle minions Loot: None save the glands- If the party heads to where the beetles came from - Activity 1C- If they head where the kobold went - Activity 1D --------------------------My Notes------------------------- The first part of this activity didn’t go over too well in my opinion. I wanted to introduce a skill challenge to gain some experience with it and it seemed a bit poorly structured if not just plain illogical. Of all the components to the game skill challenges intimidate me the most. Why wouldn’t everyone just follow the ranger? I didn’t want just Jim (ranger) making one roll. I didn’t want him making all the rolls. Yet he’s the ‘tracker’ so why wouldn’t they just follow his lead? I’m not sure how I could have conducted a tracking skill challenge better and any help or examples on this subject are greatly appreciated.  They of course succeed and find themselves at the maw of a cave. The group discusses whether or not to take an extended rest before going into the cave. I am really unsure what I would have done had they attempted that but thankfully they just decide to go in. Before this however my brother (Brandon/wizard), the only controller at the table, declares that he cannot stay up any longer and must go home.  Aw hell. My first encounter with minions and the only controller fled to his bed. The Kobold triggered the first (and only) trap erected in the first room of the cave. This is credited to the extra weight of carrying the chest. Then I make my first truly large mistake. When the fire beetles come out, Jim (ranger) rolls a nature check to determine what he can inform the group about them. He knocks his roll out the box and I fail to inform him of the fire beetles breath weapon. I am thinking only of the content in the MM and not that paragraph in the PHB that details how he would know the beetles attacks.  The group makes egregious placement errors and gets messed up really, really bad. They manage to barely survive and we call it a night. Next session I decided to own up to my mistake and give each player 2 ‘free’ healing surges. I think that was fair, I’m not certain. I didn’t want to overdo it.</blockquote>

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