Have dice, will roll
Posted By: WotC_Shoe, 4/3/2008 6:32:39 PM
Some of the best D&D game sessions occur when the unexpected happens.
My weekly group reconvened after a 1-week hiatus while the DM (me) was on vacation. Only 3 players were available (one had been working late and the other was out of town), but we made do. The PCs were pursuing some stolen goods that had traded hands a few times since the theft. At each step along the way of the adventure, the PCs have battled some group of evildoers purportedly in possession of these goods, only to find that the goods had been traded or taken away shortly before the PC's arrival.
This time around, the PCs were set to infiltrate a fortress occupied by deurgar slavers. Based on their usual approach, I expected this attempt to involve storming the gates, battling through the guards and other hazards in the stronghold, until they finally rescued their prize and fought their way back out again. I had my minis for the first couple battles, figuring that in one evening's work the party would get through three or four encounters.
Then a funny thing happened as I was reaching for my initiative dice. The party wizard stepped forward and said "i've come to buy more slaves for my wizardly work." The other PCs played along, and suddenly all my combat prep went out the window. But without missing more than one beat, I pulled up the skill challenge pages from the DMG, and proceeded to keep the players on the edge of their seats as they proceeded deeper and deeper into the deurgar fortress. It wasn't a one-man show, either, as while the wizard was busy negotiating his way past the guards or other denizens, the rogue put on a show of being a sadistic thug, and the ranger tried her best to not look surprised or give away the ruse.
It was especially fun when, after the deurgar commander told the party that his slaves had already been scheduled to be sold to a mind flayer, the party's wizard suggested that not only would they buy the slaves, but they'd "take care of" the mind flayer. In a way that involved knives. The shock and "we are going to do What?" coming from the ranger (and her completely failed and untrained bluff check) was nicely covered up by the rogue creating a distraction...
In the end, the party escaped the stronghold, having retrieved their objective, and with a gaggle of newly freed slaves in tow.
Other than a brief combat at the end of the session (the party had to get rid of a pair of deurgar that were escorting them back to an underdark tradetown), there was hardly any dice rolling (well, some diplo, bluff, and Cha checks) -- mostly just roleplaying. It was a pleasant surprise and change of pace from this group's typical modus operandi (which is, try to kill it and take its stuff, then find more stuff to repeat). The party talking its way through the fortified stronghold will be remembered right up there with the time in a campaign a few years ago when the party managed to convince some athatch guards to drink some potions of Heroism, which turned out to be potions of gaseous form. Good times.
Last Edited By: WotC_Shoe, 4/3/2008 6:32:44 PM
