First off, we were glad to welcome 3 new players to our campaign. One player took over the role of Jadis (who proved himself valiantly), and we welcomed Doz (a warforged wizard) and Rhaegar (A dragonborn hexblade).
We last left our heroes camped out just east of the frost dragon cave taking a well deserved extended rest and waking up pre-dawn on Day 9. They haven't seen much sign of Keira or Abraxus. Upon waking two strangers approach, and introduce themselves as Doz and Rhaegar. They don't know each other but both had decided to adventure in this direction. Upon exchanging stories, our heroes add Doz and Rhaegar to their party on their quest for King Hrothgar.
Toward that quest, they head back to the crossroads, and then barely get started north toward Hilliana when a roving Guard Band confronts them, and our heroes, with a growing history of violence from Hillianian guards take first blood. The fought 3 Human Guards, 8 Kruthik Hatchlings, 2 Kruthik Young, and 1 Ettercap Fang Guard. The guards affected numerous knock-downs with their halberds and reach our heroes prove tough and quickly start dispatching foes. One guard pleads for his life and tries to run away as only the ettercap and himself remain. Shava, with assistance, disarms the pleading guard, and uses his turns to hold the guard down while everyone else finishes off the Ettercap. As payment for his life, the guard offers the party notes he took from overhearing a cloaked figure and ruffian discussing the path to a treasure at the tavern in Hilliana. After some interrogation and discerning that this guard is just a peon without a clue, they send him packing, forcing him south with naught but his nightie.
The party fairly quickly decides to reverse course from heading to Hilliana to go seek the treasure from the notes. The notes head them through 4 landmarks East of the crossroads across the desert to a cave nestled in the hills.
Our party finds the first landmark fairly easily, but then strays off course going to the second landmark, running into a pack of 6 Hyenas and a large Cacklefiend Hyena. The expansive desert with its sand caused all areas to be difficult terrain and create a large field to battle in. The party focused their efforts on the large Hyena and dispatched him quickly picking off the smaller Hyenas later. Though they fought smartly, the hyenas pack tactics did create several group damages to a single player characters of 25-35 HP, in one case causing Rheagar to go unconscious. Fortunately, they had two healers with them who quickly recovered Rheagar. Rheagar continued to fight valiantly but was constantly plagued with healing surge management from that point on.
After clearing their surroundings of Hyenas, they gathered their bearing and found the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th landmarks without event. However, in finally locating the cave in the hills, they once again strayed off course, and found themselves surrounded by 8 Stormclaw Scorpions. Our party was fighting in a circle back-to-back against surrounding scorpions. The scorpions kept grabbing player characters and when the players wound break free attempt to sting them. Oddly, though players were grabbed and stung frequently, they almost always shook off the grab, poison, and immobility immediately. Especially powerful, was an encounter long ability that Rhaegar used that allowed each member of the party to slide an adjacent party member after an attack. These slides were helping them break free of the scorpions grab. Rhaegar and Varis were also frequently tag teaming Scorpions with combined attacks. Two more scorpions dug up from the sand after the first two scorpions were dispatched.
Alas, our party escaped mostly unharmed, and came to the greener pastures in front of the cave entrance and decided on a long rest. Varis checked for tracks during the rest and saw nothing discernible near and around the cave entrance.
Our heroes are now packing up camp in the pre-morning of Day 10 ready to enter the cave where they hope treasure awaits.
Experience Points:
Encounter 16 = Roving Guard Band -1123 XP
Encounter 19 - X Marks the Spot - 450 XP
Encounter 19.1 - Lost with Hyenas - 1050 XP
Encounter 19.2 - Lost with Scorpions - 1000 XP
Total XP: 3673 / 7 PCs = 524 XP each
Our next game has been scheduled for February 4th, Saturday, at 4pm.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Find and Search
I just went back through my posts and worked on better tagging. Now if you are looking for the home campaign, and only the home campaign, you can click on the tag "home campaign" or search for the same. Same is true for "Encounters" if that is all you are interested in.
If I missed a tag, or mistaged a post, please let me know.
If I missed a tag, or mistaged a post, please let me know.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Great Participation Anticipation
Holy cow! Eight players expected to show up this afternoon. I am busy rearranging my house as well as the usual last minute cleaning. I might need more tables. Oh, and more monsters :)
Sunday, January 15, 2012
"Thank you, but our princess is another castle." Scheduled to resume.
Finally have my custom campaign scheduled to play again. We have seven players who said they would like to come at this date and time, so we may see some new personalities emerge in a characters. Looks Glyth is scheduled for take over, and slight chance for an Abraxus take over as well. That would still leave 1 new character joining the campaign. Fortunately, our party left off on the open road, so they are bound to run across some player characters before much else exciting happens.
Game time schedule for 4pm, Saturday, January 21st, 2011. My home, in Richmond Hill. Typically we do serve some sort of dinner (frozen pizza is common), but your welcome to bring whatever you like, if anything.
Feel free to sound off in the comments whether or not you can make it.
Game time schedule for 4pm, Saturday, January 21st, 2011. My home, in Richmond Hill. Typically we do serve some sort of dinner (frozen pizza is common), but your welcome to bring whatever you like, if anything.
Feel free to sound off in the comments whether or not you can make it.
Encounters Session 8
Would you like to join us this Wednesday at 6pm? We play at Morningstar Games on Montgomery Crossroads. No experience or materials needed. We do recommend you RSVP by commenting on this post. Also, if you usually come and can't make it, post a comment and let us know. If you are running late the same.
A note on coming late: We really want to let EVERYONE who wants play. This last encounter was difficult, and possibly less fun, because our party of 6, became a party of 9 (before 1 regular dropped out to make room - THANK YOU!) after 6pm. If we would have known you were coming, we could have easily set up a 2nd game in preparation. Food for thought; now for our regularly scheduled program.
As has become tradition for this campaign, let's update our list of names. For the record I am not listing EVERY name, or this would be a VERY long post. Just the names that seem to matter for the overall story:
Lady Anya Tamora, Ruler of Crystal Brook
Lord Carric, Ruler of the Sildaine Forest
Count Varis Sybar, Ruler of Sybar (mediator between Tamora and Carric)
Juliana, daughter of Carric
Orlando, son of Tamora
Caerwyn, inside Juliana, daughter of Oran
Porpherio, inside Orlando, adopted son of Tiandra
Oran, archfey, Green Lord
Tiandra, archfey, Summer Queen
Ragnar, agent of Oran, a verbeeg mercenary
Uma, agent of Tiandra, a briar witch dryad
Basal, Ragnar's cousin, sent to kill Orlando/Porpherio
Soryth, Dream Queen, hag, at the Palace of Spires
Kalbon, Soryth's partner in crime?
Overall, a simple encounter, where our party finally comes the protected Water Palace and discovers Orlando/Porpherio in a trap door hiding from would be captors (our party). He is cordial enough once he finds out who the party is and that they know of Julianna/Caerwyn and that she has been captures. He is ready to head off and help us rescue her. However, as our party turns to head out they find the large Verbeeg Basal, Ragnar's cousin, barring the door. Before blood shed, he offers a contest (a fight until submission) for the rights to Orlando/Porpherio. Our party of EIGHT succeeds in 3 rounds of beating him to submission, and they head off back to Ragnar with Orlanda/Porpherio. They also find roses on the island giving our party their fourth and final key to the Palace of Spires (Soryth's base), though no one know hows to get there, so far.
Hope to see you Wednesday!
A note on coming late: We really want to let EVERYONE who wants play. This last encounter was difficult, and possibly less fun, because our party of 6, became a party of 9 (before 1 regular dropped out to make room - THANK YOU!) after 6pm. If we would have known you were coming, we could have easily set up a 2nd game in preparation. Food for thought; now for our regularly scheduled program.
As has become tradition for this campaign, let's update our list of names. For the record I am not listing EVERY name, or this would be a VERY long post. Just the names that seem to matter for the overall story:
Lady Anya Tamora, Ruler of Crystal Brook
Lord Carric, Ruler of the Sildaine Forest
Count Varis Sybar, Ruler of Sybar (mediator between Tamora and Carric)
Juliana, daughter of Carric
Orlando, son of Tamora
Caerwyn, inside Juliana, daughter of Oran
Porpherio, inside Orlando, adopted son of Tiandra
Oran, archfey, Green Lord
Tiandra, archfey, Summer Queen
Ragnar, agent of Oran, a verbeeg mercenary
Uma, agent of Tiandra, a briar witch dryad
Basal, Ragnar's cousin, sent to kill Orlando/Porpherio
Soryth, Dream Queen, hag, at the Palace of Spires
Kalbon, Soryth's partner in crime?
Overall, a simple encounter, where our party finally comes the protected Water Palace and discovers Orlando/Porpherio in a trap door hiding from would be captors (our party). He is cordial enough once he finds out who the party is and that they know of Julianna/Caerwyn and that she has been captures. He is ready to head off and help us rescue her. However, as our party turns to head out they find the large Verbeeg Basal, Ragnar's cousin, barring the door. Before blood shed, he offers a contest (a fight until submission) for the rights to Orlando/Porpherio. Our party of EIGHT succeeds in 3 rounds of beating him to submission, and they head off back to Ragnar with Orlanda/Porpherio. They also find roses on the island giving our party their fourth and final key to the Palace of Spires (Soryth's base), though no one know hows to get there, so far.
Hope to see you Wednesday!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Just Grrrr...
Okay, I'm still new to D&D. I hear stories of D&D being out for 40 years, and I am playing 4th edition. 4th edition which is new, like only 4 years old. Now I hear that 5th edition is well in the works.
http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/dungeons-dragons-plans-comeback-200249601.html
Remember, I am the cheapest gamer I, or most people I play with, know. I think I can still invest time in D&D, though this was not my first reaction. I just will not buy anything else that is not reusable. Minis, fine (I hope). D20s? Surely sacred. More rule books and add ons? Forget it.
I'm just so...grrrr... I don't know the word. Wait a minute? Is this one the 3.5 fan boys sounds like to me?
Fortunately, all 1 of our followers has signed up to be a beta tester. Dude, keep up informed!
I am glad to see that they are taking feedback, but I also hope they keep in mind that the loudest isn't always the best. One thing, in my uninformed, only played 4e opinion, is that 4e is structured enough to bring in fresh blood and is less scary to start. Kudos to the Encounters initiative as well for being accessible and a gateway a drug.
Sound off!
http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/dungeons-dragons-plans-comeback-200249601.html
Remember, I am the cheapest gamer I, or most people I play with, know. I think I can still invest time in D&D, though this was not my first reaction. I just will not buy anything else that is not reusable. Minis, fine (I hope). D20s? Surely sacred. More rule books and add ons? Forget it.
I'm just so...grrrr... I don't know the word. Wait a minute? Is this one the 3.5 fan boys sounds like to me?
Fortunately, all 1 of our followers has signed up to be a beta tester. Dude, keep up informed!
I am glad to see that they are taking feedback, but I also hope they keep in mind that the loudest isn't always the best. One thing, in my uninformed, only played 4e opinion, is that 4e is structured enough to bring in fresh blood and is less scary to start. Kudos to the Encounters initiative as well for being accessible and a gateway a drug.
Sound off!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Encounters Session 7
Interested in joining an Encounters game? Read the bottom. If you want to participate in a group story telling experience, you can catch up on the story in this blog and then come join us Wednesday at 6pm.
As has become tradition for this campaign, let's update our list of names. For the record I am not listing EVERY name, or we would be here all day. Just the names that seem to matter for the overall story:
Lady Anya Tamora, Ruler of Crystal Brook
Lord Carric, Ruler of the Sildaine Forest
Count Varis Sybar, Ruler of Sybar
Juliana, daughter of Carric
Orlando, son of Tamora
Caerwyn, inside Juliana, daughter of Oran
Porpherio, inside Orlando, adopted son of Tiandra
Oran, archfey, Green Lord
Tiandra, archfey, Summer Queen
Ragnar, agent of Oran, a verbeeg mercenary
Uma, agent of Tiandra, a briar witch dryad
Soryth, Dream Queen, hag
Kalbon, Soryth's partner in crime?
After questioning Rosaline last week, your party starts by going to visit Oakstaff,a treant who was chjarged with protecting Orlando/Porpherio. The long winded, and frequently reminiscant Oakstaff, reveals that he as taken Orlando/Porpherio to an enchanted island that is full of magic wards to protect him. He gives you each a bottle of Rider's Water, that allows you to convert any tiny creature, to a large mountable creature. He then points you off in the direction of the island.
When you arrive, you find a raft with room for 4 and a large expanse of crystal clear, 8' deep water. Your party boards, with your pixie member flying. Brandis grabs the pushing stick with both hands and starts to push your party across the water. A good ways in, a loud voice sounds from the shore you just left. As you look back, a pixie with a cloud like face above its head is the source of the sounds. The face commands the pixie to stop you, but fades as the pixie crosses the water. The pixie, Ariel, summons 4 water spouts, and creates a large area of tempest hendering your party.
Your party is clever, and decides to spend their move actions, standard actions, and action points, pushing the raft across the water. A solid plan, except for that the player pixie, Briarthorn, is flying and gets left behind. Briarthorn's diminutive health is quickly overwhelmed and she falls unconcious into the water. The remaining party decides to get to the otherside first. While pushing the raft, Fargrim lasso's an otter that was nearby, pulls him in, then uses his Rider's Water to make him large and mountable. He hops on the otter, and starts to ride to Briarthorn's rescue. Simultaneously, Brandis reaches the far shore, and then tuns back to assist with Briarthorn. He quickly gets in range and heals Briarthorn. They then make their way swimming and attacking where they can back to the far shore. Other party members, continue their ranged attacks from the shore. Once on shore, they take a few more shots, and drop Ariel dead. After evaluating their position, with several surges gone, most healing spells used, our party wisely continues onto the island leaving the water and its deadly creatures behind.
I will note that I enjoyed DMing this particular session more than any other session I have ever done. I have hard from a couple of other players that said they also enjoyed this one more than most.
Hope to see you guys this coming Wednesday at 6pm at Morningstar Games on Montgomery Crossroads. Anyone can come, no preperation needed.
As has become tradition for this campaign, let's update our list of names. For the record I am not listing EVERY name, or we would be here all day. Just the names that seem to matter for the overall story:
Lady Anya Tamora, Ruler of Crystal Brook
Lord Carric, Ruler of the Sildaine Forest
Count Varis Sybar, Ruler of Sybar
Juliana, daughter of Carric
Orlando, son of Tamora
Caerwyn, inside Juliana, daughter of Oran
Porpherio, inside Orlando, adopted son of Tiandra
Oran, archfey, Green Lord
Tiandra, archfey, Summer Queen
Ragnar, agent of Oran, a verbeeg mercenary
Uma, agent of Tiandra, a briar witch dryad
Soryth, Dream Queen, hag
Kalbon, Soryth's partner in crime?
After questioning Rosaline last week, your party starts by going to visit Oakstaff,a treant who was chjarged with protecting Orlando/Porpherio. The long winded, and frequently reminiscant Oakstaff, reveals that he as taken Orlando/Porpherio to an enchanted island that is full of magic wards to protect him. He gives you each a bottle of Rider's Water, that allows you to convert any tiny creature, to a large mountable creature. He then points you off in the direction of the island.
When you arrive, you find a raft with room for 4 and a large expanse of crystal clear, 8' deep water. Your party boards, with your pixie member flying. Brandis grabs the pushing stick with both hands and starts to push your party across the water. A good ways in, a loud voice sounds from the shore you just left. As you look back, a pixie with a cloud like face above its head is the source of the sounds. The face commands the pixie to stop you, but fades as the pixie crosses the water. The pixie, Ariel, summons 4 water spouts, and creates a large area of tempest hendering your party.
Your party is clever, and decides to spend their move actions, standard actions, and action points, pushing the raft across the water. A solid plan, except for that the player pixie, Briarthorn, is flying and gets left behind. Briarthorn's diminutive health is quickly overwhelmed and she falls unconcious into the water. The remaining party decides to get to the otherside first. While pushing the raft, Fargrim lasso's an otter that was nearby, pulls him in, then uses his Rider's Water to make him large and mountable. He hops on the otter, and starts to ride to Briarthorn's rescue. Simultaneously, Brandis reaches the far shore, and then tuns back to assist with Briarthorn. He quickly gets in range and heals Briarthorn. They then make their way swimming and attacking where they can back to the far shore. Other party members, continue their ranged attacks from the shore. Once on shore, they take a few more shots, and drop Ariel dead. After evaluating their position, with several surges gone, most healing spells used, our party wisely continues onto the island leaving the water and its deadly creatures behind.
I will note that I enjoyed DMing this particular session more than any other session I have ever done. I have hard from a couple of other players that said they also enjoyed this one more than most.
Hope to see you guys this coming Wednesday at 6pm at Morningstar Games on Montgomery Crossroads. Anyone can come, no preperation needed.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Session 6 Adventure Notes
Wow! What an interesting session. While not a whole lot of story plot, there was a ton happening within the party.
To start off our session, Abraxus, the dragonborn, fled the way they came. His fate is unknown and we didn't see him the whole session (read: his player was absent). The rest of the party tiptoed into the suspected dragon lair. An adult frost dragon was present, and the party was still winded (no dailies or action points). The party decided to turn tail, but Keira saw her opportunity and bolted for the treasure pile. Most of the party couldn't see the action from their vantage point, but Keira return slightly heavier and with a bit of frost dragon from being attacked by the dragon as she fled.
Now the whole party headed back into the cave, thinking they may come back after they find a place to rest. When they reentered the aMAZEing caves, they triggered the pending rock slide. Only Yelsha snuck through without triggering it, and three rounds of rocks came tumbling down on the rest of the party. Some where able to use their dugeoneering skills to avoid as much damage as others, but all but Yelsha were hurt. The way through Cave C was now blocked (how they got to the dragon).
As the rock slide came to a halt, a commotion was heard coming from the eastern caves were kobolds were suspected. The party finished a short rest and dug in for battle. Coming from the east cave, enter 3 Kobold Dragonsheilds, 2 Kobold Slingers, and 1 Koblod Wyrmpriest. They came out in advantageous formation with the slingers throwing glue and stink pellets, the Wyrmpreists buffing their allies and throwing energy orbs at foes. Our party departed their foes with no unconscious characters and an effective use of the sleep spell.
They make it back tot he chasm and feel sufficiently tired enough to take a long rest while the chasm protects their flank and they only have to guard one entrance. The rest went well, and they marched back toward the dragon lair. In the aMAZEing Caves, the found that Cave D was actually the right choice, and met back up to the same path as Cave C, but without a rock slide.
Early Day 8: As they enter the dragon lair, the dragon immediately fixates on Shava and Yelsha (we later guess that its because they were carrying baby frost dragon teeth). The frost dragon rushes the player party blocking their entrance into the wide open cavern and uses lots of fear and breath attacks. Occasionally switching up with a double claw attack. The party uses their standard retinue of attacks, with Shava also busting through a cave wall with a strength check to give the party a safer egress from the entrance tunnel and a way to surround the dragon. After sufficiently being surrounded, the dragon makes a bold run for better position granting 4 opportunity attacks. From there he kept wailing on Yelsha who was near and carrying her kids teeth. As the dragons health began to fail, she would shift back after each attack looking for an escape, but our heroes kept pressing and ultimately defeated the adult frost dragon.
There was a moderate amount of silver mundane treasure found. Perhaps, less treasure than there used to be.
Our party makes their way back to the cave entrance without further surprises. They then decide not to rest further and plunged into the cave to the right where there was still some noise coming, mostly draconic speech. As they entered an open room with a long narrow approach and a long narrow exit, Glyth triggers a pressure plate as a stone mechanical device of some sort rumbles. The party quickly works on figuring out what is going on. The best they can tell is that there is 30' of danger ahead, and they take turns running the distance while bull rushing 2 dragonsheilds that block the cave entrance. I felt the run/bull rush tactic was a genius move. It took our players clearing the room before they could find the control panel AND disable the pendulum scythe blades, but no one was hurt from them. Harassing our players while fighting the kobold dragonsheilds were two more kobold wyrmpreists.
Once the room was clear, a repeat of their entrance occurred with an accidental trigger of a pressure plate trying to exist the room. They employed the same strategy of run past danger and then disabling the trap. The finally come to a dead end where sits a larger treasure chest with a beam of light.
Our party approaches the chest, wisely, with caution. Keira discovers that the lock is "special" in that too many failed attempts will cause the lock to be unpickable for a period of time, and that it has 4 tumblers to succeed. Glyth then discovers that there is a magical trap on the chest that will radiant a 5' blast of moderate cold damage. They send Keira in to pick the lock, full of health, while the rest of the party stepped back to watch. Keira corrupted the lock on her 3rd tumbler (2 failures). But our heroes are not about to give up!
While I liked the idea of dragging the chest back with them to wait for lock reset, they prefer to explore EVERY idea including hoisting in the air and dropping it, beating the crap out of the lock, breaking directly through the chest, etc. After seeing how difficult most of these challenges would be (most impossible or improbably for their level), the find the iron hinges are a weak spot and take turns beating on them. Each failed beat caused a burst of frost damage, with another final burst on opening the chest. Everyone survived, and they were able to retrieve some magical weapons and armour (+1 Bloodthread Cloth Armor, +1 Frost Scimitar, and +1 Magic Holy Symbol of Pelor).
Somehow, after so much loot in a day, gold lust set in. Varis questioned Keira, politely on her loot from the dragon, but Keira successfully bluffed him. Shava wouldn't let it go, and a fight was about to break out. Glyth then attempted to cast sleep on Shava and Keira to break up the fight. Shava shook it off and Keira was put to sleep. Glyth quickly woke Keira up, but Keira was pissed at having a spell put on her from her own party, and stormed off. Wanting some time to cool down, she reset the traps on her way out. Our party, after a brief moment of mourning, headed out, essentially just gracefully tumbling through the traps before they could go off. They came back to where they had left their horses and wagon so many days ago and found one horse missing.
I would say it is now late afternoon Day 8.
There we decided to call it a night. A lot of drama in an 8 hour session. At this point several days have passed getting to, through, and out of the cave. What in the world has been going on? Our party seems to be keen to hold on to Faelywn's sword, at least until they have completed their quest for King Hrothgar. So, it sounds like they will most likely head north, toward Hilliana. The map the retrieved from a guard at the NW Encampment shows trouble ahead. Good luck to all!
Session Experience:
Encounter 12 (again) - Rockslide - 100 XP
Encounter 13 - Kobold Scouts - 725 XP
Encounter 15 - Mother Dragon - 1500 XP
Encounter 9 (again) - Cave to the Right - 900 XP
Encounter 10 - Chest in Dead End - 150 XP
Total Experience 3375 / 6 = 562 XP each player
As always I welcome feedback from friends and strangers alike. Players, I especially am looking for corrections and flavor additions. No time for the next has been set, but hope to by Wednesday.
To start off our session, Abraxus, the dragonborn, fled the way they came. His fate is unknown and we didn't see him the whole session (read: his player was absent). The rest of the party tiptoed into the suspected dragon lair. An adult frost dragon was present, and the party was still winded (no dailies or action points). The party decided to turn tail, but Keira saw her opportunity and bolted for the treasure pile. Most of the party couldn't see the action from their vantage point, but Keira return slightly heavier and with a bit of frost dragon from being attacked by the dragon as she fled.
Now the whole party headed back into the cave, thinking they may come back after they find a place to rest. When they reentered the aMAZEing caves, they triggered the pending rock slide. Only Yelsha snuck through without triggering it, and three rounds of rocks came tumbling down on the rest of the party. Some where able to use their dugeoneering skills to avoid as much damage as others, but all but Yelsha were hurt. The way through Cave C was now blocked (how they got to the dragon).
As the rock slide came to a halt, a commotion was heard coming from the eastern caves were kobolds were suspected. The party finished a short rest and dug in for battle. Coming from the east cave, enter 3 Kobold Dragonsheilds, 2 Kobold Slingers, and 1 Koblod Wyrmpriest. They came out in advantageous formation with the slingers throwing glue and stink pellets, the Wyrmpreists buffing their allies and throwing energy orbs at foes. Our party departed their foes with no unconscious characters and an effective use of the sleep spell.
They make it back tot he chasm and feel sufficiently tired enough to take a long rest while the chasm protects their flank and they only have to guard one entrance. The rest went well, and they marched back toward the dragon lair. In the aMAZEing Caves, the found that Cave D was actually the right choice, and met back up to the same path as Cave C, but without a rock slide.
Early Day 8: As they enter the dragon lair, the dragon immediately fixates on Shava and Yelsha (we later guess that its because they were carrying baby frost dragon teeth). The frost dragon rushes the player party blocking their entrance into the wide open cavern and uses lots of fear and breath attacks. Occasionally switching up with a double claw attack. The party uses their standard retinue of attacks, with Shava also busting through a cave wall with a strength check to give the party a safer egress from the entrance tunnel and a way to surround the dragon. After sufficiently being surrounded, the dragon makes a bold run for better position granting 4 opportunity attacks. From there he kept wailing on Yelsha who was near and carrying her kids teeth. As the dragons health began to fail, she would shift back after each attack looking for an escape, but our heroes kept pressing and ultimately defeated the adult frost dragon.
There was a moderate amount of silver mundane treasure found. Perhaps, less treasure than there used to be.
Our party makes their way back to the cave entrance without further surprises. They then decide not to rest further and plunged into the cave to the right where there was still some noise coming, mostly draconic speech. As they entered an open room with a long narrow approach and a long narrow exit, Glyth triggers a pressure plate as a stone mechanical device of some sort rumbles. The party quickly works on figuring out what is going on. The best they can tell is that there is 30' of danger ahead, and they take turns running the distance while bull rushing 2 dragonsheilds that block the cave entrance. I felt the run/bull rush tactic was a genius move. It took our players clearing the room before they could find the control panel AND disable the pendulum scythe blades, but no one was hurt from them. Harassing our players while fighting the kobold dragonsheilds were two more kobold wyrmpreists.
Once the room was clear, a repeat of their entrance occurred with an accidental trigger of a pressure plate trying to exist the room. They employed the same strategy of run past danger and then disabling the trap. The finally come to a dead end where sits a larger treasure chest with a beam of light.
Our party approaches the chest, wisely, with caution. Keira discovers that the lock is "special" in that too many failed attempts will cause the lock to be unpickable for a period of time, and that it has 4 tumblers to succeed. Glyth then discovers that there is a magical trap on the chest that will radiant a 5' blast of moderate cold damage. They send Keira in to pick the lock, full of health, while the rest of the party stepped back to watch. Keira corrupted the lock on her 3rd tumbler (2 failures). But our heroes are not about to give up!
While I liked the idea of dragging the chest back with them to wait for lock reset, they prefer to explore EVERY idea including hoisting in the air and dropping it, beating the crap out of the lock, breaking directly through the chest, etc. After seeing how difficult most of these challenges would be (most impossible or improbably for their level), the find the iron hinges are a weak spot and take turns beating on them. Each failed beat caused a burst of frost damage, with another final burst on opening the chest. Everyone survived, and they were able to retrieve some magical weapons and armour (+1 Bloodthread Cloth Armor, +1 Frost Scimitar, and +1 Magic Holy Symbol of Pelor).
Somehow, after so much loot in a day, gold lust set in. Varis questioned Keira, politely on her loot from the dragon, but Keira successfully bluffed him. Shava wouldn't let it go, and a fight was about to break out. Glyth then attempted to cast sleep on Shava and Keira to break up the fight. Shava shook it off and Keira was put to sleep. Glyth quickly woke Keira up, but Keira was pissed at having a spell put on her from her own party, and stormed off. Wanting some time to cool down, she reset the traps on her way out. Our party, after a brief moment of mourning, headed out, essentially just gracefully tumbling through the traps before they could go off. They came back to where they had left their horses and wagon so many days ago and found one horse missing.
I would say it is now late afternoon Day 8.
There we decided to call it a night. A lot of drama in an 8 hour session. At this point several days have passed getting to, through, and out of the cave. What in the world has been going on? Our party seems to be keen to hold on to Faelywn's sword, at least until they have completed their quest for King Hrothgar. So, it sounds like they will most likely head north, toward Hilliana. The map the retrieved from a guard at the NW Encampment shows trouble ahead. Good luck to all!
Session Experience:
Encounter 12 (again) - Rockslide - 100 XP
Encounter 13 - Kobold Scouts - 725 XP
Encounter 15 - Mother Dragon - 1500 XP
Encounter 9 (again) - Cave to the Right - 900 XP
Encounter 10 - Chest in Dead End - 150 XP
Total Experience 3375 / 6 = 562 XP each player
As always I welcome feedback from friends and strangers alike. Players, I especially am looking for corrections and flavor additions. No time for the next has been set, but hope to by Wednesday.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Encounters Session 6
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
No, I am not so obsessed with Dungeons and Dragons that it is the first thing I did on the new year. Scheduled posts are awesome!
Light attendance this Wednesday, most likely due to the holiday (and flu) season. With our three players we experimented a little and all played more than one character. An interesting treat.
Let's first update you on the name game again:
Lady Anya Tamora, Ruler of Crystal Brook
Lord Carric, Ruler of the Sildaine Forest
Count Varis Sybar, Ruler of Sybar
Juliana, daughter of Carric
Orlando, son of Tamora
Caerwyn, inside Juliana, daughter of Oran
Porpherio, inside Orlando, adopted son of Tiandra
Oran, archfey, Green Lord
Tiandra, archfey, Summer Queen
Ragnar, agent of Oran, a verbeeg mercenary
Uma, agent of Tiandra, a briar witch dryad
Soryth, Dream Queen, hag
Yes, I agree. The list of names is getting ridiculous. Imagine reading through this adventure the first time as DM.
So you finally earned your way to see Ragnar. You learn in your conversation that the Soryth's spell caused the agents to forget how to get to the Palace of Spires. Ragnar has also enlisted his cousin Basal to hunt down and kill Porpherio/Orlando as that would thwart the hags plans (apparently the dispute between he and Uma was exactly this kind of thinking - kill for a solution, or find another way). The Dream Queen, Soryth, wanted control over this magical island, but the control was with the souls of Porpherio and Caerwyn. To prevent triggering the wards on the couples' souls, she devised a plan that involved Juliana and Orlando. It now seems as if a partial soul swap has occurred (there is some conjecture here on Ragnar's part, but he is pretty confident). It's safe to say that a full soul swap was Soryth's goal before being interrupted.
Ragnar knows that Porpherio is still alive because he has not heard from Basal yet. He last saw Porpherio in the arms of a lovely nymph. As you give chase you run into some plants and barkburrs that give you a challenge.
After completing that encounter, you find a hill where the nymph, more radiant and lovely than previously described, waits. What happens next is for Session 6, but we did take a sneak peak as a party.
The nymph, Rosaline, tells you that she lured Orlando/Porpherio here for his protection. She has since placed him under the care of Oakstaff, a treant. She tells you that Juliana/Caerwyn is safe with Soryth for so long as Orlando/Porpherio is safe. She gives you 2 bottles of Horse's Breath for agreeing to seek out Oakstaff and do as he bids.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at Morningstar Games on Montgomery Crossroads Wednesday by 6pm. For our regular players, if you know you can or can't make it, comment here, with the character you intend to play. As new players show up early, I will now what characters are taken and how many seats are available.
New players, RSVP if you can as well. A lack of RSVP won't stop you from coming, but it will certainly help us better prepare for you. We now have 2 Dungeon Master's available, so if we know we are going to have a party of 8 or more again, we can break it into 2 sessions.
No, I am not so obsessed with Dungeons and Dragons that it is the first thing I did on the new year. Scheduled posts are awesome!
Light attendance this Wednesday, most likely due to the holiday (and flu) season. With our three players we experimented a little and all played more than one character. An interesting treat.
Let's first update you on the name game again:
Lady Anya Tamora, Ruler of Crystal Brook
Lord Carric, Ruler of the Sildaine Forest
Count Varis Sybar, Ruler of Sybar
Juliana, daughter of Carric
Orlando, son of Tamora
Caerwyn, inside Juliana, daughter of Oran
Porpherio, inside Orlando, adopted son of Tiandra
Oran, archfey, Green Lord
Tiandra, archfey, Summer Queen
Ragnar, agent of Oran, a verbeeg mercenary
Uma, agent of Tiandra, a briar witch dryad
Soryth, Dream Queen, hag
Yes, I agree. The list of names is getting ridiculous. Imagine reading through this adventure the first time as DM.
So you finally earned your way to see Ragnar. You learn in your conversation that the Soryth's spell caused the agents to forget how to get to the Palace of Spires. Ragnar has also enlisted his cousin Basal to hunt down and kill Porpherio/Orlando as that would thwart the hags plans (apparently the dispute between he and Uma was exactly this kind of thinking - kill for a solution, or find another way). The Dream Queen, Soryth, wanted control over this magical island, but the control was with the souls of Porpherio and Caerwyn. To prevent triggering the wards on the couples' souls, she devised a plan that involved Juliana and Orlando. It now seems as if a partial soul swap has occurred (there is some conjecture here on Ragnar's part, but he is pretty confident). It's safe to say that a full soul swap was Soryth's goal before being interrupted.
Ragnar knows that Porpherio is still alive because he has not heard from Basal yet. He last saw Porpherio in the arms of a lovely nymph. As you give chase you run into some plants and barkburrs that give you a challenge.
After completing that encounter, you find a hill where the nymph, more radiant and lovely than previously described, waits. What happens next is for Session 6, but we did take a sneak peak as a party.
The nymph, Rosaline, tells you that she lured Orlando/Porpherio here for his protection. She has since placed him under the care of Oakstaff, a treant. She tells you that Juliana/Caerwyn is safe with Soryth for so long as Orlando/Porpherio is safe. She gives you 2 bottles of Horse's Breath for agreeing to seek out Oakstaff and do as he bids.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at Morningstar Games on Montgomery Crossroads Wednesday by 6pm. For our regular players, if you know you can or can't make it, comment here, with the character you intend to play. As new players show up early, I will now what characters are taken and how many seats are available.
New players, RSVP if you can as well. A lack of RSVP won't stop you from coming, but it will certainly help us better prepare for you. We now have 2 Dungeon Master's available, so if we know we are going to have a party of 8 or more again, we can break it into 2 sessions.
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