| | You are not authorized to post a reply. |
| | Author | Messages | |
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
    
 | | 04/29/2006 6:54 PM |
| Even though I posted this at Wizards it seems that people are more into these reports over here, so I figured I would do a quick recap of my players experiences with the RHoD.
-------------------------------------
The cast:
CABLE, tough hard nosed fighter wielding the huge Greatspear that killed his father.
Fighter 4/ Paladin 1/ Kensai 2
- exotic weapon proficiency (greatspear), monkey grip, shorten grip, weapon focus (greatspear), power attack, combat expertise, and cleave.
KAELWYNN, dual wielding Half Elf with a habit of having his weapons destroyed.
Swashbuckler 7
- two weapon fighting, two weapon defense, weapon finesse.
JESSENIA, master craftswoman and wielder of magical blackpowder weapons.
Cleric 7 of Gond (domains: Craft, Metal)
- mercantile background, exotic weapon proficiency (firearms), skill focus (craft: armorsmithing), craft wondrous item.
SERGE (aka Power Surge), master of offensive spellcasting.
Warmage 7
- sudden empower, sudden maximize, quicken spell, leadership.
TARA, Halfling cohort of Surge, competent bow woman.
Ranger 2 /Rogue 3
- precise shot, point blank shot, rapid shot, weapon focus (longbow)
The party rides Heavy Warhorses into battle, except Tara who rides a Wild Boar.
-------------------------------------
The campaign:
Forgotten Realms, high power.
32 point buy, full HP at first and second level, 75% HP at each additional level.
Almost every WotC book is available for use (including books I don’t own and didn’t approve apparently - I'm such a pushover).
-------------------------------------
Background:
Starting off in the Dalelands, this group has fought everything from an Efreeti lord leading an army of Azers, Magmin, and Salamanders to a Kobold Vampire (who Dominated Cable and used him as his puppet for a while). | |
| |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 04/29/2006 7:00 PM |
| The party discovered the plans of the Red Hand when they interrupted a meeting between Hobgoblin agents of the Red Hand trying to recruit an Ogre into their cause (see Web Enhancement). Although Cable made a case for proceeding immediately to face the army, the party took some time to craft new armor for the Cleric (Adamantine Full Plate, thank you very much) since she had lost her Breastplate to a Rust Monster (hehe).
Following a portal to Elsir Vale, they arrived south of Drellin’s Ferry…
Running into the Marauder Attack, the party had some problems but easily handled the Hobgoblins thanks to AoE and Magic Missile spells from the Warmage (and some VERY POOR rolling from the DM [B)] ).
As a note, the pregenerated map could have been a nice touch, but with my group all being mounted it was far too small to make for an effective ambush. The party was on the archers within a couple of rounds, negating their terrain advantage. I should have just drawn it out on our tac-tiles.
Since I did not use the Vraath Keep hook, I had one of the Hobgoblins wearing a pendant with a stylized V (the symbol of Vraath Keep).
Entering Drellin’s Ferry, the party stopped to talk with Sergeant Hersk for a bit. Although nobody really tried a Diplomacy check on him (in fact, the Swashbuckler – who has the highest Diplomacy - found out where the bar was and left immediately), I ruled that the talk of their exploits impressed him enough without a roll.
The meeting with Norro and Soranna went well. The players didn’t push for any gold and Cable actually gave them 800 gold to hire more warriors to replace the guardsmen the town lost. Luckily, Serge remembered the stylized V necklace and was able to find out about Vraath Keep. Kael again decided to wander off though, finding his way to the Brewhouse and striking up a friendship with the Half Orc Gausler.
The players spent the next morning scouring the town for magic items. They grabbed a scroll of Dispel Magic from the Shrine of Lathander (Pelor) and asked to have another scribed, as well as placing an order for some minor potions (although Derny does not have the Brew Potion feat, I ruled another Cleric probably would). They laughed their way through Sertieren’s “haunted house” defenses (I embellished this a bit) and managed to buy him out of his potions (actually trading the masterwork swords from the defeated Hobgoblins for them), again placing orders for more potions. Jessenia managed to bluff Morlin into letting her use his forge to craft some pitons (I’ll be interested in seeing what they get used for too), as a “ceremony” to Gond (good thing he failed his Knowledge Religion roll, since the player was counting on him not having any ranks in it).
The party did search out Jorr (and managed not to attack his dogs), but I played him up as a slow talking hick (belying his actual intelligence) with an overwhelming hatred of Goblins (I took the modules suggestions to the next level). I think the party didn’t know what to do about him (Cable even used Detect Evil on him), since they passed on paying him 10 gold a day for his help (it wouldn’t have broken the bank). He did give them a quick overview of the forest before they took their leave though, hitting all the high points.
The party headed off towards Vraath Keep, encountering the Hydra on the Blackwater Causeway. They made short work of it though, with the Cleric using Conjure Ice Beast (Frostburn) to bring two huge Ice Beast centipedes to harass it while the Warmage Empowered and Maximized a Scorching Ray spell to finish it off (living up to the nickname ‘Power Surge’). The Halfling had taken some hits from the Hydra before it went down, but with more poor rolls on my end (two 1s on 6 attacks) she was never in any real danger.
They managed to reach Vraath Keep later that day, which is when the session ended…
-------------------------------------
They got a little farther than I expected. I am concerned that Kaelwynns player seems uninterested (almost outright working against the module, much like the "slightly bitchy contrarian" from the Ebberon thread), hopefully he will come around. CN in a LG/NG group is asking for trouble (he started CG, but definitely hasn’t acted that way).
I expected them to easily overcome these encounters (being above the recommended level for the module anyway), but my rolls almost made it a cake walk. I rolled two 20s (on initiative and some skill check) to go with (at least) SEVEN 1s during the session. Uggh. Hopefully they won't be too complacent when they start hitting the tougher encounters.
We meet every other Sunday and the next couple may fall victim to “real life”, but I’ll do my best to keep up with the updates. | |
| |
|
maijstral
Underboss
2105 Posts
| | 04/29/2006 8:10 PM |
| nice write up , I'm running the module this summer and love to read other DM's approach to the adventure as well as player reactions.
One thing though, you said they were riding horses and that gave them a greater advantage in the opening ambush encounter. The main road they were riding on is almost a ditch with a 5 foot steep grade leading up to the woods were the Hobgoblins were hiding. I would think the grade and the closeplaced trees would slow down if not stop the horses from getting in among the Hobgoblins, especially the close placed trees of the woods. The trees were almost flush against the road so the horse's shouldn't have even been able to jump up the grade.
I like what you did to Jorr (and may shamelessly steal it[}:)]) but my NPC tend to have a very short life expectancy. I have thrown one to many moles and spys at my players they tend to distrust NPC that want to join the party.
I feel for you with 7 1's low rolls are the bane of my exsistance. Other players don't even want to borrow my dice.[:)]
As for being a pushover I usually limit my players to books I have, I have most but two of my players have them all, and core races but this time around I told them anything they want no restrictions except goblinoids and C.E. They have to let me read the books they use first so I can make sure they aren't just powergaming (again), so far I have a Warforged Divine mind and a Kobold sorcerer built from the Races of Dragons. | | | |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 10:16 AM |
| Thanks for the comments.
When I say the pregenerated map was too small, I mean that the party took up the whole road. They did dismount before going into the woods, but since they were at the edge of the road already the double movement cost didn't hamper them much. If you look at the map, the clear portions of the road are only 5 feet wide and since horses take up 10 foot squares they were "off" the road in some places already.
I hope that makes my concern about the map more clear.
As an example of what I mean: With the Ftr/Pal/Kensai having a reach weapon and Mithril Breastplate, he was actually able to threathen an archer in one round (dismounting into the "ditch", then paying double movement to move through the trees/undergrowth).
Steal away with Jorr, I thought it was funny too. My group is also wary of moles and infiltrators, although I've never used them a previous DM did and they're still gunshy. I don't think that's why they passed on Jorr though...
Yeah, bad dice. Luckily my dice get hot too. They call me the "Crit Factory" when that happens. It wouldn't be so frustrating if I didn't have hot and cold streaks.
I'm sort of joking on the pushover thing, I started out this campaign leaving everything open to the players. I even put the option of choosing their own stats (no rolling or point buy) on the table, but they thought better of that.
I don't own the Book of Exalted Deeds, but a couple of players are using that (or plan to). I just made sure they knew that if they used it, then I would be using the Book of Vile Darkness. I actually own Frostburn, but I wouldn't have brought it to game if I had seen the Conjure Ice Beast spells before the Clerics player started using them (it pretty much removes all the negatives of summoning, with an added "HP kicker" for the creatures). Oh well, I'll get over it. [)] | |
| |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 05/09/2006 1:59 AM |
| The approach to Vraath Keep was easy enough, since they had done nothing to raise an alarm. They still cautiously approached from the south side of the Keep, through the forest. They moved up to the hole in the side wall, but just glanced in to look for any movement. Seeing none they went to check out the shed in front of the Keep, but oddly they just looked inside and no one entered it at this point*.
They entered the courtyard and didn’t waste any time moving toward the hole in the wall of the (new) barracks and the battle was joined. The Minotaur was the first to spot the PCs and raise the alarm. The Halfling Ranger sent an arrow at him, but it was wide of the mark and allowed him to move off and warn Wormlord Koth. The Swashbuckler made use of his Acrobatic charge to get over the rubble in the hole and strike at the nearest Hobgoblin, almost scoring a critical. Serge sent an Orb of Sound at the Hobgoblin he could see, who moved to rouse the Goblin Worg riders on his turn. This left him open to Jessenia, who leveled her magic rifle at him. Cable shot a Hobgoblin grabbing his weapons with his bow and then readied his spear.
BOOM!
Jessenia dropped the Hobgoblin, but finished his mission at the same time by alerting everyone in the Keep. The Manticore hopped to the roof to investigate.
Kaelwynn began his slicing and dicing and Tara sent some more arrows at the Hobgoblin getting ready. The Hobgoblin on Kaelwynn scored a hit on him, but also backed up to get ready to heal himself when his reinforcements arrived. Serge didn’t wait to see what the Manticore was going to do, sending a couple of Scorching Rays at him. One missed, but that was enough to get him to fight the party. Cable moved into the barracks to back up Kaelwynn. Jessenia moved away from the Manticores reach (he actually couldn’t reach her, but she played it safe) and nailed him with a Curse of Ill Fortune (-3 to attacks, saves, skill and ability checks, missed the save by “that much”). He didn’t appreciate either of the attacks, but he sent his first volley of spikes at Serge.
By this time the newly awakened Hobgoblins were able to join the battle against Kaelwynn, although the results were not to their liking as he did more damage to them than they were able to deal to him. It did allow the original Hobgoblin to drink his healing potion though. Serge moved into the barracks, unwilling to face another volley from the Manticore. His Magic Missile dropped the nearest Hobgoblin as Serge entered the room and moved to the door the Minotaur fled (or so he thought) through. Cable found fighting through Kaelwynn a bit tougher than it should have been. Jessenia cast a protection spell (can’t remember exactly what it was, but it may as well have been Entropic Shield since it’s only effect on this combat was a 20% miss chance). Some of the Manticores spikes still managed to fly true and strike Jessenia, although her armor provided enough protection to keep her from being badly wounded (Adamantine granting DR 3/-).
The Goblin Worg riders appeared and took some shots at Jessenia, which she ignored. Tara turned her attention to them, using Jessenia as cover (heh). Kaelwynn dropped one of the Hobgoblins he was facing.
Suddenly Koth burst through the door Serge was standing near, but without a weapon ready he could not take an attack of opportunity. Koth had other plans on his mind though, as he ran towards the war room. The Minotaur made his way to the door and introduced Serge to his axe. Serge didn’t appreciate that and used a withdraw action to get out of harms way. Cable dropped the remaining Hobgoblin and moved to take on Koth. Jessenia summoned a Spiritual Weapon to beat on the Manticore, who responded with yet another volley of spikes. Kaelwynn headed to the courtyard to see what was going on out there, where he and Tara traded blows with the Goblin Worg riders.
Koth nailed Cable with a Ray of Enfeeblement and ran into the war room (to gather the map) and the Minotaur followed up with a charge at Cable (GORE! GORE!). It was a costly attack though, as Serge sent a Magic Missile into the exposed Minotaur and Cable finished him off with his spear. Jessenia and the Manticore continued their tit for tat attacks outside, as did Kaelwynn, Tara, and the Goblins. Serge moved back up to the tower door, which gave him line of sight to a Goblin on Kaelwynn, who he nailed with a Magic Missile (the Goblin, not Kaelwynn!). Cable moved to the door of the war room, slashing at it with his greatspear. Despite the damage, the door held (barely, even in Cables Enfeebled state). Jessenia’s Spiritual Weapon was finally too much for the Manticore to put up with anymore and he begged off the fight, although he did head back inside his “lair” to grab his money (he did leave the necklace and cloak). One of the Worgs managed to trip Kaelwynn, but he and Tara had done enough damage to them that it was hard for them to press the advantage. Serge helped their cause with another Magic Missile through the door. Cable burst through the door of the war room and found – nothing, failing his spot check to see the now Invisible Koth. Jessenia turned her attention (and Spiritual Weapon) towards the Worg that was still up, hitting it with her spell, but missing with her pistol. The Manticore flew away at this point, uninterested in testing the group further. The battle continued in the courtyard though, with Kaelwynn taking a full defense on the ground. | |
| |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 05/09/2006 2:00 AM |
| At this point Cable heard a spell being cast and stabbed blindly towards it, catching only air.
KAPOW!
The air filled with electricity as Koth reappeared catching Cable and Serge with a Lightning Bolt. Both took the full brunt of the spell (despite using their extra rolls from a Fortunate Choice spell), although they were saved by it not being the most powerful of blasts (side note – Koth has no Concentration to allow casting on the defensive, this seems like an oversight since although he is supposed to use his wand in combat it was much more advantageous for him to sling Lightning Bolts).
Serge let loose at Koth with a Magic Missile, but they just impacted on his Shield spell for no effect. Cable stabbed at Koth, catching him once with a glancing blow. The battle continued in the courtyard. With Cable and Serge STILL lined up, Koth let loose with another Lightning Bolt and Cable missed his attack of opportunity as Koth had hoped. Both of them made their saves this time and it was lucky for them as this one was a much more powerful version of the spell (not really, I just rolled VERY high). Being very low on HPs, Serge took cover inside the tower room. Cable stabbed weakly at Koth and backed up into the main room, giving Koth an avenue to escape.
Kaelwynn finally fought from prone and dropped the Worg standing over him, adding the flair of a Kip Up (we seemed to remember this being a DC 35 to stand as a free action so I allowed it and sure enough he rolled a 20 to beat that) to face the Goblin. The Goblins saw what direction this fight was going and turned to run, the mounted one got away, but the Worgless (new word!) Goblin was cut down by an attack of opportunity from Kaelwynn.
Seeing his chance for an escape, Koth ran out of the war room and past Cable (who missed yet again) into the courtyard. Serge emerged from hiding at this point and happened to have a clear view of Koths getaway, so he dropped him (just barely) with an Orb of Sound…
Although Koth was still breathing, the group was apparently not willing to risk what he might do if they took him hostage and they finished him off. One of the hobgoblins had stabilized, so they tied him up with rope and went about gathering loot and searching the Keep for secret doors*. It was also at this point that the Halfling decided to search the shack out front, sure enough she collapsed it in a couple of rounds and took some minor injuries when she failed her save.
When the Hobgoblin “expired” from his wounds a couple of hours later we all had little rules discussion (PHB pg 146, Recovering without Help). I allowed a Heal check to see if they knew the Hobgoblin still needed tending to after he stabilized by himself. They passed the check, so we had a little disturbance in the time space continuum and they healed him before he could pass on. It was oddly all for naught though, as the Hobgoblin flustered their attempts at interrogation quite easily.
They did manage to find the secret door and spent some time getting into the alcoves to get out all the goodies hidden there. I was afraid they would think of selling the Staff of Life when I read through the adventure and my fears were realized, as the first thing they said was “we can get a TON of gold for this!” Fear not fellow DMs, they will find few takers and the greed of these outsiders in times of trouble will not make them many friends (“How dare you try to take advantage of us!”). That is, of course, if I don’t force them to use it before they make it to Brindol… [}:)]
They spent the night in the Keep and no patrols happened to return, so they headed back to Drellin’s Ferry with their uncooperative prisoner in tow (who they ended up knocking out, since he did his best to hinder their movement). They ran into a group of 5 Goblin Worg riders on the return trip, which were heavily outclassed and broke and ran after the Warmage dropped 2 of them quickly.
Back in town, the Speaker and some of the other town council members searched out the group and ended up calling a town council meeting for the next morning. The party thought they would have more information for the town council from Koth’s papers, but failed to see through the secret code.
The meeting went oddly, since the characters didn’t have any hard facts and only Koth’s map with illegible Goblinoid scribbles on it (the actual meeting is supposed to take place after they find out more information about the army gathering at Cinder Hill). They did manage to convince Wiston to evacuate the children and elderly, since an “army of 1,000 Hobgoblins” was massing in the hills*.
That was the end of the session, comments to follow… | |
| |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 05/09/2006 2:04 AM |
| That was a quick recap of the session, some of the “facts” may be a little off (I’m pretty sure I missed some of the action in the Vraath Keep battle), but you get the gist if it.
I am a little concerned.
At the beginning of the session not just one, but TWO of the players joked about seeing the RHoD at the FLGS. Ha ha, funny, didn’t think much about it.
Until…
- Not entering the shack when they first approached it. The players even went so far as to state that they didn’t enter the shack when they went to search it. Why?
- Actually searching for secret doors is not done very often in my group. As a DM I rarely use them. This was my first concern, but I put it off due to the fact that they knew it was a published module. My big problem came when they found the secret door, they STOPPED SEARCHING for another one. They never searched the Manticore “lair” or the stables. Hmmm…
- 1,000 Hobgoblin army? I never mentioned any numbers and they never managed to find any info from questioning the Hobgoblin or from Koth’s documents. Where did this come from?
Sure, all of this could be explained away as mere coincidence, but I’m not convinced. It’s just too convenient. It all seems to point to one player as well (one of the two who joked about seeing the module)…
I’m already going to redesign Ozyrrandion, since they never found out that he’s supposed to be a Green Dragon – so he no longer will be in my campaign (I haven’t decided if he will be Blue or Red yet). I am considering redesigning the War Adepts as well, so they won’t know the spells (or I may make them into Warlocks or possibly even Warmages).
Anything else I should consider redesigning? Or better yet, anybody else redesign some of the creatures encountered already? I seem to remember someone redesigned Varanthian into some sort of Fiendish Dragon.
Unfortunately we will be missing the game in two weeks due to RL issues, so the next update will be at least a month from now... [:(] | |
| |
|
Frederyck
Sneak
134 Posts
Uppsala, Sweden
| | 05/09/2006 5:35 AM |
| A couple of things - my group usually only searches for secret doors in the more "interesting" areas, for example the room where the leader kept his or her things etc. It would fit in with this behaviour.
If you read the back of the module which your players very likely might have done, it says "... the thunder of ten thousand screaming hobgoblins..." So even if they did pick it up, they donät have to have looked inside.
So even while their actions might be a little suspicious, I would give them the benefit of the doubt. If you keep seeing strange behaviour, however, that indicates that they've read it, try and confront them and ask them if they've read it. (For example, if they suddenly try to gut the first greenspawn they defeat, even if they never eviscerate fallen enemies otherwise...) | |
If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. | |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 05/09/2006 4:19 PM |
| That is an idea, they have NEVER cut open a defeated enemy so it would be WAY out of character. Sadly though, even that could be explained away, since we actually did cut open a Brown Dragon in another campagin (that was DMed by the suspected player as a matter of fact).
-------------------------------------
One other thing I should mention, the encounter at Vraath Keep would have been very deadly had they actually been at their suggested levels.
The Warmage Serge was down to 4 HPs, so if he had been one level lower he would have gone down. The Fighter Cable was down to 22 HPs, one level lower and he would have been alone with Koth, who could have then easily finished him off with the Wand. The Cleric Jessenia did not take as much damage, but one level ago she did not have her Adamantine armor and its damage reduction. Even the Swashbuckler Kaelwynn was down to 16 HPs, last level he would have been in single digits (it also helped that he has Armor of Light Fortification, this fight was the first time I've ever scored a critical on him and the armor saved his bacon - I missed that in my recap).
Also remember that I give full HPs at first and second levels, then 75% every level after that. Under the standard system, PCs will most likely have less HPs. | |
| |
|
Skyscraper
Sergeant
659 Posts
Montreal
| | 05/09/2006 5:20 PM |
| Thanks for your writeup, interesting stuff.
Concerning whether or not your players have read the adventure... even if they have, what does it change? I mean, the idea here is to have some fun RPGing, would they not be the losers in the end for not having the thrill of surprise, the fun of an unknown adventure? In other words, why verify what they do and all that to try to see if they know the adventure, aren't they penalizing themselves if they cheat? E.g., i never verify the PCs hit points or die rolls or all that stuff, if they wanna cheat, what do i care? Just a thought, maybe it's a question of group dynamics or something else i dont see.
Sky
| |
The wise man doubts often. The ignorant, sometimes. The fool, never. | |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 05/09/2006 8:03 PM |
| The problem is that it seems to be one player in particular, which cheats not only me but all the other players at the table.
And I do think it cheats me if they read through the adventure. After all, if you know everything why do you even need me there? Roll your own dice, I'll find something else to do...
I don't verify dice rolls and I don't verify the effect of every spell they cast (I know a lot of them but with all the new books I just don't keep up with it like it's my job), so I do give them a lot of leeway.
I actually do keep track of their HPs, but that's more of a "mystery" thing we developed as a group a few years ago that we all use when we DM. We divide the characters HPs into 8 "ranges". You know a hit took you from "wounded" to "hurt", but not exactly how many HPs you have. | |
| |
|
Can of the Cave Beer
Commander
2838 Posts
| | 05/11/2006 12:23 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Dragon Snack
Anything else I should consider redesigning? Or better yet, anybody else redesign some of the creatures encountered already? I seem to remember someone redesigned Varanthian into some sort of Fiendish Dragon.
Half-Fiend White Dragon? I wonder who would be so strange as to do that!
The stats are at the bottom of the page | |
Champion of the Werewolf Lord, Knight of Anything Duergar, and Squire of Things Gnollish
List reset with the start of previews for each new set...got Chainmail®? | |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 05/11/2006 1:40 AM |
| Thanks CotCB!
Well, I talked to another player to see if the suspected player had said anything. Sure enough, apparently he said he "Flipped through it"... [:(!] | |
| |
|
Can of the Cave Beer
Commander
2838 Posts
| | 05/11/2006 1:56 AM |
| Not a problem. That's my first (and so far ONLY) attempt at applying a template, so it may not be accurate.
I'm sorry to hear that your player(s) couldn't refrain from digging into the information. Some folks can do that and not spoil things, but most can't. It's not fair to the other players and it's certainly not fair to the DM who now has to massively rework things in order to keep some suspense going.
On the other hand, enjoy springing new and different things on the players. If your spoiler keeps meta-gaming--Well, let's just say that my "not nice" side would make an appearance if I were in your situation.
Let him stock up on the electricity resistance for when Varanthian comes calling, and then be surprised by the Half-Fiend White. If he convinces other players to stock up on anti-electric items...Whoops! It seems a couple of those were mislabled (crazy old wizard!) and are really Protection from Cold! Wow, that was "lucky." Let them know you're bailing their bacon out of the fire--it should serve as a nice warning regarding meta-gaming.
If you do that though, you'll have to be careful so as not to overdo it and still get your point across. | |
Champion of the Werewolf Lord, Knight of Anything Duergar, and Squire of Things Gnollish
List reset with the start of previews for each new set...got Chainmail®? | |
|
Skyscraper
Sergeant
659 Posts
Montreal
| | 05/11/2006 10:51 PM |
| Well, i admit that it can take the fun out of the game for the others. I don't understand why he'd want to do that. Some people are lame.
Sky | |
The wise man doubts often. The ignorant, sometimes. The fool, never. | |
|
Frederyck
Sneak
134 Posts
Uppsala, Sweden
| | 05/12/2006 8:44 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Dragon Snack
That is an idea, they have NEVER cut open a defeated enemy so it would be WAY out of character. Sadly though, even that could be explained away, since we actually did cut open a Brown Dragon in another campagin (that was DMed by the suspected player as a matter of fact).
Did they gut the Hydra? If they suddenly have developed an interest in the intestines of gruesome monsters they ought to have chopped their way into that beast as well. | |
If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. | |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 06/07/2006 1:22 PM |
| Ah, where to start? At the beginning I guess…
Before I was even getting ready for game Jessenias player called me, asking me to roll up magic items for a new character (we roll up random items for characters coming in at above 1st level to keep “cherry picking” items down). I couldn’t understand why, the character has kept away from harm easily enough. I totally thought that if there was a character death coming up, it would not be the Cleric.
Then when I arrived at game, the Fighter/Paladin/Kensai player was making up a new character as well.
This is called foreshadowing kids, pay attention…
To top it off, we hung out for about an hour waiting for the last player to show up, finally calling to find out what was going on. Turns out that he forgot what week we were meeting, since we skipped the last game session. Apparently he promised his boss he would work on some blueprints this weekend and (of course) still hadn’t finished them so couldn’t come to game. At least we had enough info to cobble together a character sheet for his PC (Kaelwynn)…
So, on to the game...
-------------------------------------
When last we left, the players had taken Vraath Keep and managed to kill Wyrmlord Koth. They found his papers, but other than the Goblin on the map they had no idea what they said. In the meeting with the Drellin’s Ferry council it was decided to evacuate the children and the elderly, while the group looked into the matter further.
The group then proceeded to debate the merits of heading to Brindol (to sell some of their items and try to find someone who could decipher the map) and going back to the Witchwood and heading towards Skull Gorge Bridge (I cringe again, but it was mentioned on Koth’s map). In the end, taking the 4 days (one way) to travel to Brindol was deemed wasteful and they decided to head towards the bridge. Soranna asked them to inform Jorr about the coming invasion since they were headed that way and he would be no match for an army of thousands by himself (I was hoping that they would bring him along, but again they didn’t). The trip into the Witchwood was uneventful and the party decided to camp at Vraath Keep.
All went well until the final watch, just before sunrise. Jessenia took up her position outside the barracks (where the party had decided to sleep). Unfortunately she was not the most alert member of the group. At some point she drew the attention of a flock of Stirges (not the 80s bardic group). Moving in stealthily, they got the drop on her. As the combat erupted, 3 Stirges immediately attached themselves to Jessenia, viciously draining her of Constitution (surprise round). In the confusion, Jessenia faltered with indecision (low initiative), allowing the Stirges more time to drink her blood. Tara had also been outside and was awakened by the commotion, dropping one of the Stirges. Alas, it was not enough to save our poor Jessenia, as her desiccated body fell to the ground, motionless. The remaining Stirges scattered to new victims, attacking the horses and Pumba (Tara’s Boar mount). Unfortunately, most of our group was sleeping heavily (holy cow, what low Listen checks), with only Kaelwynn being awakened by the fray. Luckily for the rest, the remaining Stirges were easily dispatched or took their leave themselves after being satiated.
Aside: Whoa, this put a damper on the game session. Even though I hadn’t put up the DM screen (I mean, they were Stirges after all) and they knew it was on the up and up (in fact, Jessenia’s player informed me that she was dead before I added up the numbers), there was still much haranguing about ‘no chance to act’ and ‘they were only Stirges’. Unfortunately, (IMO) if random encounters are to really mean anything, they have to have consequences.
The party solemnly headed back to town the next morning, nursing their injuries and prepared to bury their friend (she had a printed out Do Not Raise paper)…
The group made arrangements for Jessenias funeral and stayed in town an extra day to allow the mounts to recover from their Constitution loss. Fortuitously enough ( [)] ), Jessenias sister showed up the day of the funeral with a band of mercenaries in tow, ready to face the Red Hand.
That’s not the end of the session; the next update will be the battle at Skull Gorge Bridge (which they faired much better at)…
-------------------------------------
Our new character (I don’t have her background or feats yet, I’ll edit the post later when I have them):
ASHANTI
Knight 7
We usually have new characters come in a level lower, but due to the unfortunate circumstances of Jessenias death and the fact she was close to 8th level I let this rule slide. | |
| |
|
arbados
Underboss
1407 Posts
New York, USA
| | 06/09/2006 1:49 PM |
| | Very nice write-up. I enjoyed reading it. I am planning on running this adventure shortly so the insight adds to both my excitement and ideas on how things went with your group. Look forward to reading it to its conclusion. | |
Give me more MIND FLAYERS! | |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 06/28/2006 2:52 PM |
| Ouch, I may be missing some details due to the length of time since I actually ran the encounter. Real Life smacked me in the face, between getting ready to close on a house, picking up extra days at work (which I actually didn’t want), and getting injured in one of my “side jobs” (I got kneed in the shoulder/chest by Rick Steiner coming off the top rope, pretty sure something is broken) I haven’t been able/had the time to type up the recap.
-------------------------------------
But anyway, back to our story…
The party left Drellins Ferry the day after the funeral, headed towards the Skull Gorge Bridge. For those of you keeping track, this is now day 7 of the adventure. They went from being 3 days “ahead” of the timeline to cutting it close. Luckily, with Wyrmlord Koth dead, the Red Hand waits a day before heading towards the Skull Gorge Bridge…
The hard march through the Witchwood went uneventfully. The group only paused for a short time as they passed the Forest Giant effigy, ignoring it in favor of their quest to get to the bridge.
This is a weak hook in my opinion. EVERYTHING the players know about the Forest Giants has them as an enemy of the humans. Of course they are going to avoid them (or him, as the case may be), unless they are looking for a fight. Did I miss something here? It seems a big jump in logic that a group of Giants who once killed off the humans of Vraath Keep would now want to help humans (gifts notwithstanding).
The group arrived at the bridge slightly before dusk. The sight that met them struck terror into them – A DRAGON! Don’t act so surprised, I told you about him earlier…
But what I didn’t tell you about was my changes.
Well, I relented a bit. Ozzy was still a Green Dragon, but instead of Alertness I gave him Ability Focus (Breath Weapon) and his Potion of Bulls Strength was traded in for a Potion of Cats Grace (since he’s not supposed to get into melee with the group – he’s supposed to use his BREATH WEAPON!).
In addition to the changes to the Dragon, the Hell Hounds (which I always thought were a bit odd for this adventure) were changed into a Horned Felldrake (hey, aren’t those Good!? Well, not this one) and a Goblin Sorcerer (3rd level, spells: Benign Transposition, Buzzing Bee, and Reduce Person, items: Staff of Fire, 5 charges).
The Hobgoblin Sergeant became a Fighter 2/ Cleric 1, exchanging XWP and Iron Will for Dodge and Divine Vigor (he kept Weapon Focus, but it was for a Heavy Pick instead of Bastard Sword). I gave him a couple of scrolls of Blessed Aim (or would it be Cursed Aim since he is evil) and dropped the +1 Strength bonus on his bow.
His Veterans switched up their Strength and Dexterity (since they are archers) and lost their shields and masterwork swords (their bows stayed masterwork, but dropped to a +1 strength bonus since that’s the best they could muster).
I upped their Cure Potions to Cure Serious Wounds (to compensate for the lesser equipment, but also because my group currently has no Cleric – I think Potions of Cats Grace or Shield of Faith +2 may be more useful to the Hobgoblins if you wish to do something similar). [}:)] | |
| |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 06/28/2006 2:53 PM |
| And it begins…
The party lined up just inside the tree line, ready to make the charge towards the bridge (or so I thought). Serge opened the fight with a Sudden Maximized and Sudden Empowered Ice Storm on the Dragon, BAM!
Ozzy’s tactics changed after he took a hit like that, he grabbed his Invisibility potion and drank it down. For whatever reason, instead of charging the party just moved out and set up to fire their bows at the Hobgoblins. The Knight moved up and took a defensive stance. Volleys of arrows were exchanged while the Felldrake moved slowly towards the party in a defensive stance to see what they would do. The Goblin Sorcerer moved into cover and cast Reduce Person on himself.
Serge guessed correctly that Ozzy hadn’t moved, dropping another Ice Storm on the Dragon. This prompted him to quickly down his Cure Serious Wounds potion. Before his group was split up in the confusion the Sergeant used a scroll of Blessed Aim to give (most of) his men better aim. As the group continued exchanging volleys with the Hobgoblins, the Goblin switched places with one of the front archers via a Benign Transposition spell. The Felldrake continued to wait out the party, hoping to get a charge in on whoever was foolish enough to get within range of his horns.
Seeing the spellcaster exchange positions, Serge decided a retreat back to the cover of the forest was his best option (and it probably was). The Dragon crawled under the roof of the tower and grabbed the potion belt from the Hobgoblin (like he was going to argue). The Sergeant charged across the bridge, ready to take on any in the group who came towards the bridge. In the ensuing volley between the archers, Kaelwynn caught the tepid Felldrake with a nasty shot (critical). This forced the Felldrake to move back towards his group and hope for healing from his master. With the Warmage out of his range for a Buzzing Bee spell, the Goblin brought forth his prized Staff of Fire and dropped a Fireball into the mist of the interlopers. Ashanti and Cable were able to shrug off most of the effects of the blast, but it proved too much for the two unlucky mercenaries fighting alongside them.
Serge thought he could neutralize the threat of the Sorcerer with an Acid Arrow, but between the Goblins reflexes, his newfound smaller size, and the cover afforded him by the tower, Serge was unable to hit. Ozzy took to the sky, drinking an insurance potion along the way – it was time to get into the fight! The Sergeant gave a Cure potion to his wounded Felldrake, if only to encourage him to return to the fight. As the Hobgoblin archers from the opposite side of the bridge closed into range of the party, their aim became more deadly and they managed to drop another of the mercenaries with the party. Cable moved away from Ashanti (and dismounted) to avoid drawing another Fireball from the Goblin while she stood fast, waiting to shout a challenge to a worthy foe. The Goblin obliged her with another Fireball, also catching Tara in the effect although she avoided most of the blast due to her cover (having not left the forest).
Serge dug deep into his repertoire of spells and as he moved forward (to get into spell range) and he filled the tower around the Goblin with a Stinking Cloud. This had the unfortunate effect of exposing him to the Dragon, who was out for a little payback. Swooping in (and taking full advantage of the extra movement from diving), he caught Serge with a blast of his breath weapon as he reappeared from Invisibility, although Serge avoided the harshest of the gas. Confident that the Dragon could take care of himself and with the volleys of arrows not taking down his men, the Sergeant cast Shield of Faith on himself (there would be melee soon enough). Ashanti shouted a challenge to the Dragon, although his only thought was “What a silly girl”. Spurred on by his healing, the Felldrake took off after towards Cable, who had been moving off by himself (apparently trying a flanking maneuver, but not having the speed to pull it off). Sputtering and choking, the Goblin moved to get out of the nauseating cloud surrounding him.
Serge let loose with a couple of Scorching Rays, although only one blasted the Dragon. Not wishing to land and be swarmed, Ozzy put some distance (and altitude) between himself and the party. As the arrows continued to fly, the Sergeant raised his Unholy symbol and called forth the power of Tiamat to protect him (Divine Vigor). Ashanti took this lull in the battle to give her horse a healing potion. Finally close enough to someone to bring his horns to bear, the Felldrake charged in at Cable. Cable deftly avoided the nasty rack on the beast, but was unable to make his own blow land true. The Goblin managed to make it to the stairs of the tower, but was not out of the vile cloud yet.
Serge slammed the Dragon with a Magic Missile as it continued to “flee” and gain altitude. The Sergeant took a full defense as Ashanti moved in toward him, shouting a challenge that maybe this one would take, but again fell it on deaf ears (the Sergeant being too low a level to effect). As the arrows continued to fly, Cable and the Felldrake danced a deadly tango, with neither one able to land a blow. The Goblin stumbled down the stairs, finally free of the fumes but not their effects. | |
| |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 06/28/2006 2:55 PM |
| With the Dragon at some distance and not knowing how long the Goblin would be nauseated, Serge turned his attention back to the hapless little one. This time his Acid Arrow flew true, burning at the Goblin but not dropping him. Feeling his breath weapon returning, Ozyrrandion the Dragon began a long sweeping turn to set up his next attack. Frustrated at her lack of someone to accept her challenge, Ashanti took a full defense again. Staring back at her, the Sergeant did the same while calling for his men to concentrate their fire on the spellcaster since this one was too well armored. It was a good call, as the lightly armored Warmage was peppered with arrows. At this point, Cable gained the upper hand against the Felldrake, his powerful spear smashing into it’s thick draconic hide and dropping the beast (talk about ineffective, that puppy didn’t hit once). Seeing the Goblin stumbling about and burning from the acid, Kaelwynn dropped him with some well placed arrows.
After being assailed by the arrows, Serge found himself short on healing potions (having only a Cure Light Wounds on himself) and called for the others for help. Tara moved up to offer healing with the party’s Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds. Finding an extra party member next to the pesky spellcaster, the Dragon dove in to breath on the duo. Lucky for Serge his reflexes were with him that day as he again avoided the brunt of the Dragons breath (he was down to 3 HPs, failure would have brought him to -10). Ashanti moved over to give Serge her healing potion. Away from the action, Cable ran back to his horse to remount and move into battle.
Serge gladly gulped down the precious healing potion as the Dragon moved away. The group finally decided to take the battle to the enemy, as they charged in at the defenders. While Ashanti’s prowess at mounted combat was beneficial to the group, the rest of the party was not having any more luck in melee than they had at range.
With the rest of the party engaged in melee and the Dragon out of sight, Serge tried to pick off a couple of the Hobgoblins with a Magic Missile spell. Sending his missiles at multiple targets was a mistake though, as it allowed them to survive and make use of their own healing potions. While the party initially had the numbers to take on the Hobgoblins, their mercenary friends were not as up to the task as they had hoped as the Hobgoblins dropped two more of them. Ashanti made good use of her Extended Reach (or whatever feat that is from PHBII that gives you an extra 5’ reach) to drop the Hobgoblin on her. Cable and the Sergeant clashed weapons, but neither was able to make it through the defenses of the other.
Seeing the mercenaries go down, Serge turned his attention to the Hobgoblins in melee – dropping one (probably with another Magic Missile). Ashanti charged into the skirmish and Cable and the Sergeant landed blows on each other that they were each able to shrug off. Two of the Hobgoblins dropped their weapons and attempted to drag Ashanti off her horse, unsuccessfully (we used the Grapple rules here, although upon further review dragging a mounted person off their horse is a Trip).
At this point, Serge made the odd comment to the group that he was out of spells (if you’re keeping track – he wasn’t) and he ran back to his horse. This caused most of the group to start to retreat. However before that could happen, up popped Ozyrrandion from the gorge. While he would have preferred to take out the pesky spellcaster, the group in melee offered a chance to catch far more of them in his breath weapon and also allowed him to continue to move into cover behind one of the towers. His breath weapon didn’t drop any of the party however (it did drop an unlucky Hobgoblin). Kaelwynn and Tara were already in retreat, but Ashanti and Cable were still locked in combat. Ashanti easily outclassed the remaining Hobgoblin on her however and moved to flank for Cable.
Seeing an opportunity to get the Dragon, Serge mounted his horse (making the quick mount IIRC) and charged towards the Dragon, nailing it with a couple of Scorching Rays (at which point the rest of the group remarked on how he had been “out of spells”). What he hadn’t counted on however, was the randomness of the Dragons breath weapon recharge (I rolled a 1 this time). The Dragon spun around in mid-air and caught Serge with a blast of noxious gas (and again, he was nimble enough to avoid the full blast), then moved off to gain cover from the bridge. Ashanti and Cable were able to tag team the Sergeant and drop him, as Kaelwynn reversed his retreat and headed back to the fray.
Serge moved up to the edge of the gorge and caught the fleeing Dragon with a Magic Missile. Not having any success in taking anyone out with his breath weapon (and being below 50 HPs yet again), the Dragon continued his retreat. With the Dragon neutralized the party suddenly had the upper hand against the Hobgoblins and they pressed their advantage.
Serge was able to send another Magic Missile into the Dragons posterior as he fled and the group finished mopping up the rest of the Hobgoblins. It did take a couple of rounds, but from that point on the outcome was no longer in doubt… | |
| |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 06/28/2006 2:56 PM |
| At that point it was 2 or 3 in the morning, so we quickly packed up.
While it was a hard fought battle and the players thought they were in peril, I actually think that most of the group (other than the Warmage obviously) was never in any danger and their tactics could have been better.
Setting up a huge first attack and then staying back to face the Hobgoblins on their terms (ranged attacks) never allowed them to press the advantage they had with the mercenaries in tow (or their advantage in being mounted). The group could have easily overpowered the majority of the hobgoblins if they had moved in quickly, which would have given the Dragon much less time to recharge his breath weapon and use the healing potions.
They were also spared by the high rolls I got on most of the breath weapon recharges (two 3’s and a 4 before rolling a 1). Giving Ozzy Ability Focus (breath weapon) never came into play either, their Reflex saves were phenomenal that night.
After a little rules lawyering (phfft, a LOT of rules lawyering [:(!] ) from Ashanti’s player, we did find the rules for grappling a mounted character (well after the game). As I mentioned above, it’s a Trip under the RAW (PHB pg 159, “Tripping a Mounted Opponent”). Probably a work around for the whole “entering your opponents space” grapple rule, since you can’t enter the horses space. Seems counter-intuitive to me, but there you go. [:p]
We’ve already had one session since then, with another session coming up this Sunday. Hopefully I can get the last one finished before I get behind again… | |
| |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 07/31/2006 7:21 PM |
| Oh man, I am SO BEHIND in these…
For those of you keeping track, the party managed to defeat the Red Hand at the Skull Gorge Bridge on the 8th day. Lucky for them they had killed Wyrmlord Koth, so General Kharn waited a day to see if he would report. That meant the army would march the next morning…
However, since the army was so close to moving out and Ozyrrandion had made his escape, I figured he would have flown as quickly as possible to Cinder Hill to warn the rest of the Red Hand. Since a Dragon with Ozzys flight speed can hustle over 40 miles in an hour, the Red Hand soon knew of the threat to the bridge. 2 Chimera were pressed into service and Ozzy was healed up. Abithriax joined the trio as they headed back towards Skull Gorge Bridge.
The Dragons were able to cover the distance much faster than the Chimera, so they went ahead to scout out the scene and make sure the interlopers weren’t trying to destroy the bridge in the meantime. The party was looking to rest after the battle and the lookout Cable was not able to see the Dragons in the moonlight, so they decided to bide their time until the Chimeras arrived (I’m being nice, since Cables low Spot check would have given the Dragons a surprise round, but I figured they would still be wary of the Warmage). While the Dragons waited, Serge and Tara came on watch duty. Luckily they were able to catch a glimpse of the Dragons in the moonlight. After some serious panic, the party decided the best option would be to retreat from the bridge and they made haste back into the forest.
While Cable and Kaelwynn had gained enough experience to improve their skills (8th level), it was overshadowed by the retreat from the Dragons…
The next day they didn’t bother returning to the bridge, heading directly back to Drellin’s Ferry to report to the town. Plans were made for a quick (well, quicker now that they knew there were at least 2 Dragons in the army) evacuation.
During the night a rider from Brindol arrived, warning the town that the roads to the north were blockaded. The party, feeling overmatched with the appearance of the second Dragon (and with the Warmage feeling a target on his back), decided to head to Brindol to resupply and sell their plunder (read: the Staff of Life). From there they would attempt to break the blockades of the north road.
The travel to Brindol was uneventful except for a small stare-down with some looters (Dirty Rotten Looters, pg 43) who were woefully outmatched by the party of 8 mounted warriors (4 party members, cohort, and 3 mercenaries). Oddly enough, after this encounter the Warmage figured out how to cast more powerful spells (also advancing to 8th level, with his cohort gaining a level as well)…
The party arrived in Brindol and inquired about for a place to sell their items. Since most places were closing up shop due to the impending war (I figured Brindol wasn’t deserted yet, due to the party being WAY OFF SCRIPT at this point). They did manage to secure an audience with the City Council and work out a trade for some items of interest to them in exchange for the Staff of Life and the plethora of weapons and armor they had been amassing (having multiple Handy Haversacks and Bags of Holding in the group). The Council was more than willing to allow them to attempt to break the blockades on the north roads, since it would give them a chance to gauge the skill of the party as well as opening up another avenue of escape for the displaced masses.
For whatever reason, the party suddenly seemed to be in no hurry – despite encouragement from the Council. They waited for 4 days while the items they commissioned were crafted. Meanwhile, for those keeping track, Drellin’s Ferry had fallen and the Horde had begun its march towards Terrelton…
The party finally set out, passing on staying the night in Witchcross for the extra miles they could make up to get to the blockades. It proved to be a poor choice though, as another untimely encounter with a group of Stirges left them (and especially their horses) drained and needing some extra rest to semi-recover (nobody was in any real danger, but a few Stirges did get away full after feasting on a couple of the horses).
After the delay, the assault on the blockade was a bit anti-climactic. The Warmage set up far downrange and blasted the wooden structure (and those in it) with Fireballs. After the Warmage had blown the doors of the blockade off their hinges (taking longer than he thought, due to objects taking half damage) and begun the route of the occupants, the rest of the party charged in on horseback to mop up the fleeing Ogres and Hobgoblin…
Sorry about the lack of details, although you aren't missing that much. The encounters I went over here were not a serious threat to the party. That was a little over one session worth of adventure, there is the bulk of the next session and then 2 more sessions I need to get to in order to catch up... | |
| |
|
| | You are not authorized to post a reply. |
|
| |
ActiveForums 3.7 | You must be signed in to participate in the
games. |