First Full Session or Why Darkmantles are Evil and the DM doesn't pull the Trigger
Howdy all. This past Wednesday I just finished the second session (and first full session) with the group. I was considering a blog, but since we only get together twice a week updates would be very infrequent.
The party just had a Human Paladin join them when they walked through A2 to investigate beyond the first few rooms. (Last time they wrapped up after having "fun" playing with the Acid Arrow trap.) Bringing the total party to:
Halfling Ranger
Human Rogue
Human Cleric
Human Monk
Elven Wizard
Human Paladin (new this session)
I had given the entire party 200 gold each to spend on potions, as it seemed like a good idea to encourage survival.
For the set-up I did go with 5'/square, mainly because we're using the dungeon tiles from Wizkids, which have really added to the game play. Except for the minor factor that I've had to have each square be 10' x 10' or else we would have run out of room really quickly. [grin]
Anyway, this session really reinforced the concept that 1st level characters are egg shells with hammers. After investigating the orc punctured with holes, they walked into the next room. I put the first darkmantle directly over the door but let several of them enter the room before attacking. Somehow it was still the new Paladin who got hit and then successfully grappled by fiendish flying squid. He hit the negatives rather quickly, but the rest of the group closed in and dealt with the problem.
[Question on the grapple - would the Darkmantle get a -4 due to size difference?]
Next came the rat swarm. And this time, the Halfling Ranger managed to hear the swarm coming - but instead of closing the door, he just moved alongside the opening. Bad idea. Both he and the Monk got covered in the odd rats and contracted the Devil Chills. Which they'll feel the effects of later.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
They did get the effect of a minor tremor early in the session, so they're now aware that this is an unstable area. The first thoughts they had were - "What direction did it come from?" As if a really large creature was heading their way. [grin]
Upon entering the Orc Captain's room they spent a bit of time trying to figure out what was up with the pile of dirt. I didn't leave the East secret door open, as I didn't want them heading that direction quite yet. This was aided by the fact that they didn't search in that spot. But they did find the southern secret door and entered the first safe room.
While the thief was getting attacked by the scythe blade on the trapped door, the Wizard found the deck of cards. This became the source of jokes for the evening. "Hey, where's Frank with the cards." "Give us back our cards - now!" Etc. Fun stuff. However the first reaction was - it's a deck of many things! Yeah, right guys, sure. [chuckle]
After establishing that it was a safe room to rest in, they decided to keep going up the hall North of A11. Having all the doors be open was really getting on their nerves. It reached the point where the Paladin kept closing the doors behind them, just to establish some order in the place.
The first two rooms are normally empty, but in this case they ended up fighting two Troglodytes who were - guess what - playing cards. The battle wasn't too serious, the monk got dropped to zero, but the ranger - using the size bonus to his advantage - managed to finish them off.
More rats, but this time of the dire variety, came next. While the battle was quick (only one of the three got away) they did learn an important lesson. When everyone went into the room, one of the players just picked up everyone's miniature and placed them slightly randomly around the room. So when I placed the rats down, they happened to be at the back of the room - next to the Wizard and Cleric. No problems here, but there was a little "discussion" about how they need to be careful since where they place the miniatures is where they are on the map.
The night wrapped up after entering the final room of quad - with the two darkmantles. The halfling was the first one in - and he went down in the darkness after a slam and a grapple as my d20 started to run hot. Next the monk got hit by a leather version of the Flying Guillotine as he and the paladin walked in. He avoided the grapple, while the wizard attempted to deal with the darkness issue by casting light, and the cleric cast cure minor wounds to stabilize the halfling ranger. Oh, and it was his last cure spell.
The situation went from bad to worse when the paladin got another darkmantle to sit on his head and tell him that it loves him. Did I mention that my dice were running hot? And 5-8 + 5-8 damage is incredibly nasty for first level characters. The dice told me that the paladin was dead. I told the paladin that he was at neg. nine. I didn't want to pull the trigger that quickly. Then I realized that the cleric was out of spells. Oops. So conveniently skipping the paladin's action this turn (he followed the darkmantles) I gave everyone a final action to try and save him.
Foolishly, I had ruled earlier that you couldn't pour a potion down someone's throat during combat - you'd probably just end up drowning them in haste. So the cleric ran over to attempt a heal skill roll to stabilize the paladin. And thanks to a healing kit given to him (in hindsight) by the town when they left, just managed to stop Richard Trueblood, Human Paladin, from becoming our first casualty in the WLD. (Like I said at the beginning, I couldn't pull the trigger. At least not this early.)
Meanwhile, the Monk goes down, but only after one of the darkmantles are defeated. Then a color spray from the wizard and a coup-de-grace from the rogue finished the other one off. And then back to the safe room for some much needed rest and healing.
It was a very exciting full session. And it brought home the concept that this is a dangerous place. Very dangerous place.
Coming up in two weeks - Stirges, an Ogre, and the ground will move again.
Jon
A World's Largest Dungeon DM.
"TWLD - I love this place!"
(Holy cats, this was a long post.
)
