Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Maghwi 10-11-06, 07:55 PM	* * * * * * * * SPOILERS BELOW * * * * * * * * This is my Red Hand of Doom recap thread. The Players: Jorr "Boss" - Human - Cleric of Mystra 3/Wizard 2 He's going for Mystic Theurge. His primary focus is on buffing the rest of the party and casting heals. Yeah, having an NPC and a PC both named Jorr has caused some fun confusion. I didn't say anything when he told me the name he picked. Anyway, he's the unofficial party leader. After their first encounter with Jorr the Ranger, the party took to calling him Boss. KuukRaan "Kook" - Elf - Rogue 2/Fighter 3 Kook is the group’s stealth fighter and trap finder. I expect that he'll focus on lightning quick attacks, and sneak attacks as he gains levels. Ernanaric "Ernie" - Elf - Barbarian 2/Fighter 3 Ernie...What can I say. He's the group's tank. We were trying to figure out the elf/barb thing, but he calmly said: "I am tired of playing spell casters". I figure he's got some wood or wild elf in him somewhere... Tyrfang - Grey Elf - Wizard 5 Tyrfang is not your classic Elven Wizard. While Boss focused on buffing and healing spells, Tyrfang handles the heavy artillery. Fanya - Human - Ranger 3/Fighter 2 Fanya is the group’s peerless archer and tracker. I actually created this character for the player cause she missed the first game. This is the character type I would have played had I been a player. Val - Xeph - Soulknife 5 Val is...well, we're not sure. He's odd. He does missile and melee well enough. He doesn't speak much, and there is an aura of mystery about him. But he seems wise... With 6 players, I've had to make some minor modifications. In most cases I just upped the HP's to max. In other cases, I've given the monsters a few extra "one shot" minor magic items to help balance things out. A potion here, a scroll there. Where it's important, I'll note what changes I made. All the NPC's with names I statted up in PCGen to flesh them out some, and to make notes on their personality. I have decided to place this in the Forgotten Realms. It's in the Shaar, between the Misty Vale and Chaanathwood, right where the designers recommend. I figure if they manage to survive all the way through, they can head northwest to the Border Kingdoms and find plenty of adventure there. For a hook, I decided to have Jorr and Tyrfang be students at Brindol Academy. Jorr and Tyrfang, having heard about the missing Vraath Horde, are going to Drellen's Ferry to investigate a lead that they found in the Academy Library. Their little jaunt is as much to get away from the rigid lifestyle of the Academy as to make some quick cash to cover their tuition/guild fees. KuukRaan and Val were barely more than criminals who were looking for an excuse to leave town. Fanya and Ernie were out of work merchant guards they met on the way who decided to travel with them. I've run 3 games so far, but the first one was pure setup and PC intro. Game 1: 4-5 hours. I don't really remember a lot. It was mostly administrative and introductions. We were also wrapping up some administrative things for our other games too. We didn't actually start RHOD till game 2.
Maghwi 10-11-06, 07:57 PM	Game 2: 8 hours I didn't take many notes on this game, so forgive the lack of detail. Day 1: Marauder Attack I didn't scale up the creatures at all for this encounter. And while I have veteran players, this was the first time their characters had worked together. It was almost a TPK. Zarr and Uth-lar quickly figured out that these weren't commoners. I had the party enter from the Southeast. Zarr cast hold person on Val who was in the back of the party. Then he cast invisibility on himself and began creeping up on the party. The Hobs started shooting at the casters and the hounds charged in and breathed on the rear of the party as well. Zarr then summoned another hound right on top of Tyrfang. The hounds were considered expendable. Their job was to keep the melee types busy for a few rounds while the Hobs fired shots from the higher ground. This worked and the second wave of Hobs arrived about when the last Hob finally fell. They got in bow range and fired a volley then dropped bows, pulled swords and charged. At the same time Uth-lar, Zarr, and his spiritual weapon attacked from the other side and left the PC's with little maneuver room. After all the dust settled, about 1/2 the PC's were in the negatives, and nobody had more than 10 hps. The looks I got from the players when it was all done was priceless. "ALL their stuff is MASTERWORK?!?" "Naw, just their weapons." :D They quickly figured out that this was no normal raiding party. Jorr aka "Boss" recognized Zarr's holy symbol. The hob equipment was too high quality and too new. They recovered the loot and strapped the merchant bodies to their horses. Not wanting to become implicated in anything, they also took the Hob heads as proof of their encounter. The rest of the trip to Drellen's Ferry was uneventful. Once at the town, they told the guards what happened and were told to talk to the Capt'n. Captain Soranna heard their tale and arranged for the bodies to be taken care of. She also had Speaker Wiston notified of the PC's arrival. Wiston and Soranna told the PC's that they suspected that the Hobs were probably planning a big raid on the town, and wanted the PC's to try to find the source of the vermin and wipe them out. The PC's haggled some, but finally agreed to check into things. Wiston told them to seek out Jorr the Ranger. The party stabled their horses and got a few rooms at the Inn. The night passed uneventfully. Day 2: Random Encounter Woke up and decided to leave their horses in the stables, as they felt that the woods were too dangerous for their simple riding horses. So they set out on foot, following the directions to Jorr the Ranger's house that Wiston gave them. Along the way, they encountered a lone Digester, who proved surprisingly tough for the party. I felt that since it was alone, and there were 6 PC's, I should max its HP's. It's really amazing the kind of havoc you can unleash on a party when the scouts blow their spot and listen checks. It helps that the Digester rolled an 18 on it's hide. I figured if it's got the skill, it should use it. :D It laid low till the PC's were past it. Then it snuck up on the rear of the party and let loose with it's acid cone. The party made their saves, and spun around. The surprise round over, I rolled a 19 on the Digesters Init, and it got to go first. Seeing that the party didn't melt from the initial spray, but that the attack was partially successful, the digester decided to withdraw and let it's goop weapon recharge. It was 100 feet away and deep into the brush (full cover) before anyone could react. The party put up a token chase, but the beastie easily out distanced them. Once it's acid attack came back online (rolled a 4...so it took a while) it circled ahead and hid again while they were debating whether to heal up, give chase, or press on. The party, figuring that they had driven it off, resumed their march, only they were even more spread out. Again they failed their spot checks, and again I had the digester unleash it's acid on them. But this time, I had it use it's stream attack on the first person to get within 5'. That happened to be Tyrfang. He saved, but was still in serious trouble. This time, however, the PC's won the initiative, and cut it to ribbons. They healed their wounds and warily pressed on. Jorr the Ranger's house. Right about dusk, Jorr the Ranger's house came into view. The party wisely ignored the dogs and called out to the ranger (I'm calling him the ranger to avoid confusion with Jorr the PC). The ranger asked them to step into the light and after a series of panicked looks, they party complied. The ranger called off his dogs and invited them up to the cabin. They roleplayed well, and got a lot of info from the ranger. When they noticed a large tattoo on the rangers arm, he snarkily replied "Yarr, dat's how I know these woods like tha back o' me hand." as he pointed at the map on his arm. (please forgive me, but it was just after talk like a pirate day...) The ranger told them to be prepared when they crossed the causeway, as he saw something large in the water near there. The party decided to spend the night there and set out for the Keep in the morning. The ranger told them that it would be the likely base for any Hob raiders. He didn't have a map of the keep or much knowledge of the insides, but he gave them a rough drawing of the outside of the place. "What?!? That place be haunted by the Vraath Kin. I'm not one ta go stirrin' up no ghosts. If ye want to know about the keep, go ask ol' Warklegnaw the giant. He's seen it up close. Yarr, assuming 'e don't squish ya and roast ya for dinner. Har har harr."
Maghwi 10-11-06, 07:59 PM	Game 3: 8 hours. I took better notes. Day 3: Another uneventful night. Just before Dawn, the ranger woke them up and told them to get moving. The Blackwater Causeway: The PC's cautiously approached the causeway and spotted something very shiny in the wagon. "ohhhhhh shiny!" Again, I rolled amazing on the Hydra's hide. Between the roll, the distance and it's mods, they needed 25's to see the single head it had exposed. Nobody saw anything more than the armor. I went to great lengths to describe the murkiness of the water, and how it seemed to be filled with nothing but skeeters and leeches. They decided that KuukRaan would get a fly cast on him and he would fly over to the wagon and retrieve the item. Val decided to attach one end of his cable spool to Kook as a "precaution". Val affixed the other end to one of the support posts on the causeway. He kept his finger on the rewind button, and readied an action "anything happens to Kook, or anything jumps out of the water, I'm hitting that button" That doubtless saved Kook's life. Kook flew over and landed on the wagon. That's when the Hydra attacked. Complete pandemonium! I don't know what they were expecting, but it sure wasn't a half dozen heads all attacking poor Kook. The look on Kook's players face was PRICELESS! I quickly glanced over at Val's player, and he was repeatedly making a hand gesture of mashing a button. At this point, I said what was probably the funniest line from the encounter. "Every time you interrupt me, I'm adding another head to the hydra." Maybe you had to be there. Now, the cable spool has a 16 str on the rewind. And Kook was trying his best to flee. I decided to roll a D8 to determine how many heads could actually get a piece of Kook. I rolled. A 2. While both heads scored a hit, it wasn't enough to do more than hurt Kook. Init was called, and the Hydra ended up going last. I knew the hydra was now in serious trouble, since the party was at full spell strength. It was quickly dispatched with ranged fire, fire spells, and wands. (Man, 3.5 hydras are a LOT tougher than 3.0...) Kook, meanwhile, took a d3 subdual damage from hitting a post. When it was all over, Kook flew back to the wagon. After a quick search, he recovered the mithril breastplate and he also found a scroll tube. The tube contained a note in Goblin from Zarr. (Thanks to Caligula for the idea) It was addressed to someone named Koth, and it recounted Zarr's successes ambushing people on the road. The wagon supposedly contained Zarr's loot, but all of it was lost to the swamp. The party now knows that there is something big happening, bigger than they expected. They decided to hurry across and check out the keep. As they got close to the keep, Fanya started picking up tracks. Lots of tracks. But no fresh tracks. They decide to set up their own ambush just off the road and wait for a patrol. The goal is to get more information before they get too close to the keep. They don't have to wait long. Ambush Random Encounter: Since the party decided to setup an ambush, I decided to reward them. I had previously decided to send some worg riders after them, as that was the most likely thing they would encounter. I decided to have 2 worg riders come up from the south, returning to the keep with a note from an agent they have in town. (Caligula again gets some credit for the spy idea. I was also planning on having a spy, but I was going to have it show up later. I think it's better to have it show up earlier since that fosters paranoia in the party.) Fanya did her best to hide everyone in a makeshift blind about 30 feet off the road with a clear line of sight to the path that led to the keep from the Dawn Way. The ambush would have been a great success, but the worg's sniffed them out. Combat started when both worgs howled out in alarm. (I grew up around coyotes, so I was satisfied that the Keep was in range.) Nobody told me that they had bows readied, so I only allowed Val to toss his soul knife at one of them during the surprise round. He missed. Time for Init. Kook and the Worgs were tied for first, and then the rest of the party followed. Kook grabbed his bow and took a shot at a worg (#2). He hit it and I let him roll his sneak damage since he was BEARLY in range (he went first because of his higher dex). The worgs decided to run away. I had them do a double move down the trail towards the keep. The worg riders laid low on their mounts, using them for cover. That's when farshooting Fanya puts two arrows into the same worg (#2) that Kook hit, bringing it down. (The gob tried to make a ride check to negate the hit, but was nowhere near Fanya's hit) Gob (#2) made it's ride check, lands on his feet, and spins to face his attackers. Meanwhile, Val tosses another knife at the remaining worg, but misses. He turns on burst and begins to chase the gobs, getting 50' closer. Tyrfang sends some Magic Missiles from his wand after Worg #1, doing 11 points of damage. Ernie, bow now in hand, also picks up the chase, getting 40' closer. Boss, who is low on spells, stands by and covers the parties flanks. Round 2 begins with an answering howl coming from the direction of the Keep. (Again, the looks on their faces was priceless.) The enemy is about 130 feet away from the blind at this point. Kook wants to do a full run after them, but I remind him that it's not a nice level road, but a path with many roots and ruts in it. He elects to do a double move. This puts him about 70 feet away from the Worgriders. Worg 1 and his rider continue to flee (now 230 feet away from the blind). Goblin #2 see's what's coming and decides to run as well. He takes off through the brush, heading south (the other worg is heading west) But he only gets about 30' because of the undergrowth. Fanya finally misses. Val decides to persue goblin #2, while Kook continues to persue #1. Tyrfang casts web at worg #1. The worg fails it's save, but the rider makes his. But this effectivly stops them cold. Ernie, decides to fire an arrow at worg #1. An alchemest arrow. "What? It does an extra d4...Oh, right, web...well an extra...um..3d4 then. Look, I never said he was smart." The arrow hits, but the fire won't do any damage till the next round. Boss tells me he's still looking out for reinforcements. Round 3 brings Kook closer to worg #1. The worg and goblin try to escape, but the goblin only manages to make 5' of forward progress. Fanya hits the webbed worg twice with arrows. That's when Tyrfang decides to cast another web on gob #1. He fails his save, and now both webs overlap the worg #1. At this point there is a loud <Woofa!> as the webs go up in flames from the alchemist fire arrow. Doing 5d4 to the worg, and 4d4 to the gob. Gob #1 survives for now, but the worg dies. Val is joined by Ernie in pursuit of Gob #2. On Round 4 Kook drops Gob #1 with an arrow, and Val and Ernie make quick work of Gob #2. However, this is where the rest of the party finds out that Ernie took the Unarmed Strike feat. "You took what?" "Yeah, it's fun." Turning to me, "I punch the gob in the face." Roll, hit, max damage, thud. "See. Fun." The rest of the players edged away from him for a bit. While everyone was paying attention to Ernie, nobody noticed that Kook slit Gob #1's throat and was busy searching him. "Saw Ernie punch him, so I figured #2 was still alive. Someone has speak with dead, right? Right?" Wrong. Still, their efforts didn't go unrewarded as Kooks search turned up the note from the spy. It was written in common and it's an attempt to warn Koth about the party and the death of Zarr. The party decides to withdraw back to The Ranger's (The other Jorr) house and try to get him to send word back to town. It's near dark, and they expect that they will be followed. So they decide to stay off the roads and Fanya does her best to cover their tracks, even going so far as to break out the scent breakers. It wasn't my night for good rolls, so they managed to make a clean get away. When they got to the ranger's house, he told them that he would glady take a message to the town, since he was thinking of heading there to resupply. He thinks that the gobs are going to burn his house down soon anyway, so his plan is to fight them in the woods for as long as he can. While the party hears much howling through the night, they are not disturbed. At dawn, they plan to head towards the keep from the southwest and see if they can slip someone in unnoticed and get an idea of the Keeps forces. We called the game here. I'll be running game 4 this weekend.
Caligula 10-12-06, 07:44 PM	* * * * * * * * SPOILERS BELOW * * * * * * * * This is my Red Hand of Doom recap thread. The Players: Jorr "Boss" - Human - Cleric of Mystra 3/Wizard 2 He's going for Mystic Theurge. His primary focus is on buffing the rest of the party and casting heals. Yeah, having an NPC and a PC both named Jorr has caused some fun confusion. I didn't say anything when he told me the name he picked. Anyway, he's the unofficial party leader. After their first encounter with Jorr the Ranger, the party took to calling him Boss. KuukRaan "Kook" - Elf - Rogue 2/Fighter 3 Kook is the group’s stealth fighter and trap finder. I expect that he'll focus on lightning quick attacks, and sneak attacks as he gains levels. Ernanaric "Ernie" - Elf - Barbarian 2/Fighter 3 Ernie...What can I say. He's the group's tank. We were trying to figure out the elf/barb thing, but he calmly said: "I am tired of playing spell casters". I figure he's got some wood or wild elf in him somewhere... Tyrfang - Grey Elf - Wizard 5 Tyrfang is not your classic Elven Wizard. While Boss focused on buffing and healing spells, Tyrfang handles the heavy artillery. Fanya - Human - Ranger 3/Fighter 2 Fanya is the group’s peerless archer and tracker. I actually created this character for the player cause she missed the first game. This is the character type I would have played had I been a player. Val - Xeph - Soulknife 5 Val is...well, we're not sure. He's odd. He does missile and melee well enough. He doesn't speak much, and there is an aura of mystery about him. But he seems wise... With 6 players, I've had to make some minor modifications. In most cases I just upped the HP's to max. In other cases, I've given the monsters a few extra "one shot" minor magic items to help balance things out. A potion here, a scroll there. Where it's important, I'll note what changes I made. All the NPC's with names I statted up in PCGen to flesh them out some, and to make notes on their personality. I have decided to place this in the Forgotten Realms. It's in the Shaar, between the Misty Vale and Chaanathwood, right where the designers recommend. I figure if they manage to survive all the way through, they can head northwest to the Border Kingdoms and find plenty of adventure there. For a hook, I decided to have Jorr and Tyrfang be students at Brindol Academy. Jorr and Tyrfang, having heard about the missing Vraath Horde, are going to Drellen's Ferry to investigate a lead that they found in the Academy Library. Their little jaunt is as much to get away from the rigid lifestyle of the Academy as to make some quick cash to cover their tuition/guild fees. KuukRaan and Val were barely more than criminals who were looking for an excuse to leave town. Fanya and Ernie were out of work merchant guards they met on the way who decided to travel with them. I've run 3 games so far, but the first one was pure setup and PC intro. Game 1: 4-5 hours. I don't really remember a lot. It was mostly administrative and introductions. We were also wrapping up some administrative things for our other games too. We didn't actually start RHOD till game 2. Great reading! :tiphat: Your introduction with having 2 PCs study at Brindol is a piece of masterwork in my opinion. Great write-in for the story. Makes it personal for the players also when the city comes under siege. But Im a little bit concerned that you only add hitpoints and magic items to balance the fact that you have 6 players instead of 4. They seem pretty battle-able and they are in fact 50% stronger than the module is written for. Im not saying this to critizise you because I can tell you are a great DM by your recap and your wonderful write-ins. But Im concerned that perhaps your adjustments wont be enough really. Perhaps you could try and increase the ELs and CRs by 50%? That way you would be right on track again. Just a thought... :detect: Anyway, thanks for taking the time and effort to share your experiences with us here at the boards! :)
Caligula 10-12-06, 08:21 PM	Game 2: 8 hours I didn't take many notes on this game, so forgive the lack of detail. Day 1: Marauder Attack I didn't scale up the creatures at all for this encounter. And while I have veteran players, this was the first time their characters had worked together. It was almost a TPK. Zarr and Uth-lar quickly figured out that these weren't commoners. I had the party enter from the Southeast. Zarr cast hold person on Val who was in the back of the party. Then he cast invisibility on himself and began creeping up on the party. The Hobs started shooting at the casters and the hounds charged in and breathed on the rear of the party as well. Zarr then summoned another hound right on top of Tyrfang. The hounds were considered expendable. Their job was to keep the melee types busy for a few rounds while the Hobs fired shots from the higher ground. This worked and the second wave of Hobs arrived about when the last Hob finally fell. They got in bow range and fired a volley then dropped bows, pulled swords and charged. At the same time Uth-lar, Zarr, and his spiritual weapon attacked from the other side and left the PC's with little maneuver room. After all the dust settled, about 1/2 the PC's were in the negatives, and nobody had more than 10 hps. The looks I got from the players when it was all done was priceless. "ALL their stuff is MASTERWORK?!?" "Naw, just their weapons." :D They quickly figured out that this was no normal raiding party. Jorr aka "Boss" recognized Zarr's holy symbol. The hob equipment was too high quality and too new. They recovered the loot and strapped the merchant bodies to their horses. Not wanting to become implicated in anything, they also took the Hob heads as proof of their encounter. The rest of the trip to Drellen's Ferry was uneventful. Once at the town, they told the guards what happened and were told to talk to the Capt'n. Captain Soranna heard their tale and arranged for the bodies to be taken care of. She also had Speaker Wiston notified of the PC's arrival. Wiston and Soranna told the PC's that they suspected that the Hobs were probably planning a big raid on the town, and wanted the PC's to try to find the source of the vermin and wipe them out. The PC's haggled some, but finally agreed to check into things. Wiston told them to seek out Jorr the Ranger. The party stabled their horses and got a few rooms at the Inn. The night passed uneventfully. Day 2: Random Encounter Woke up and decided to leave their horses in the stables, as they felt that the woods were too dangerous for their simple riding horses. So they set out on foot, following the directions to Jorr the Ranger's house that Wiston gave them. Along the way, they encountered a lone Digester, who proved surprisingly tough for the party. I felt that since it was alone, and there were 6 PC's, I should max its HP's. It's really amazing the kind of havoc you can unleash on a party when the scouts blow their spot and listen checks. It helps that the Digester rolled an 18 on it's hide. I figured if it's got the skill, it should use it. :D It laid low till the PC's were past it. Then it snuck up on the rear of the party and let loose with it's acid cone. The party made their saves, and spun around. The surprise round over, I rolled a 19 on the Digesters Init, and it got to go first. Seeing that the party didn't melt from the initial spray, but that the attack was partially successful, the digester decided to withdraw and let it's goop weapon recharge. It was 100 feet away and deep into the brush (full cover) before anyone could react. The party put up a token chase, but the beastie easily out distanced them. Once it's acid attack came back online (rolled a 4...so it took a while) it circled ahead and hid again while they were debating whether to heal up, give chase, or press on. The party, figuring that they had driven it off, resumed their march, only they were even more spread out. Again they failed their spot checks, and again I had the digester unleash it's acid on them. But this time, I had it use it's stream attack on the first person to get within 5'. That happened to be Tyrfang. He saved, but was still in serious trouble. This time, however, the PC's won the initiative, and cut it to ribbons. They healed their wounds and warily pressed on. Jorr the Ranger's house. Right about dusk, Jorr the Ranger's house came into view. The party wisely ignored the dogs and called out to the ranger (I'm calling him the ranger to avoid confusion with Jorr the PC). The ranger asked them to step into the light and after a series of panicked looks, they party complied. The ranger called off his dogs and invited them up to the cabin. They roleplayed well, and got a lot of info from the ranger. When they noticed a large tattoo on the rangers arm, he snarkily replied "Yarr, dat's how I know these woods like tha back o' me hand." as he pointed at the map on his arm. (please forgive me, but it was just after talk like a pirate day...) The ranger told them to be prepared when they crossed the causeway, as he saw something large in the water near there. The party decided to spend the night there and set out for the Keep in the morning. The ranger told them that it would be the likely base for any Hob raiders. He didn't have a map of the keep or much knowledge of the insides, but he gave them a rough drawing of the outside of the place. "What?!? That place be haunted by the Vraath Kin. I'm not one ta go stirrin' up no ghosts. If ye want to know about the keep, go ask ol' Warklegnaw the giant. He's seen it up close. Yarr, assuming 'e don't squish ya and roast ya for dinner. Har har harr." Man, this was great reading! Your improves as a DM are actually very impressive! I really liked how you handled Capt Sorannah and Norro Wiston. They acted as the module wanted to. The Digester should ofcourse use "Hide" and it was funny how tough he seemed to be. But they have pretty high hitpoints so they can be a challenge. But their low AC often makes them loose out pretty fast. My players never visited Jorr the Ranger, but it was cool what you did with the map as a tattoo! :tiphat:
Caligula 10-12-06, 08:56 PM	Its obvious that your players are experienced. The way they follow the story with visiting Jorr early on to get his services, negotiating with Drellins Ferry authorities, managing the Hydra encounter with the spool and cord, and planning for ambush...These guys know their way around and I think they stand a good chance at making it through this module. Their PCs look good to!
Maghwi 10-12-06, 11:45 PM	Great reading! :tiphat: Your introduction with having 2 PCs study at Brindol is a piece of masterwork in my opinion. Great write-in for the story. Makes it personal for the players also when the city comes under siege. But Im a little bit concerned that you only add hitpoints and magic items to balance the fact that you have 6 players instead of 4. They seem pretty battle-able and they are in fact 50% stronger than the module is written for. Im not saying this to critizise you because I can tell you are a great DM by your recap and your wonderful write-ins. But Im concerned that perhaps your adjustments wont be enough really. Perhaps you could try and increase the ELs and CRs by 50%? That way you would be right on track again. Just a thought... :detect: Anyway, thanks for taking the time and effort to share your experiences with us here at the boards! :) Thanks! Doing the writeups was a real challenge at first. But as I wrote things down, I not only remembered more about the adventure, but it gave me a few new ideas on how to make the bad guys react. I have some concerns about balance too. Max HP's do go a long way. However, one of the nice things about going up against an army is there are always reinforcements right around the corner. :evillaugh If they start wading through things too easily, I'll bump things up a notch. The biggest thing I'm doing is playing the NPC's as smart and orgainzed. I've been doing a lot of thinking about how the Hobs are gonna fight, how they are gonna work together and how their allies fit into the tactical picture. I don't want to tip my hand too much in the event that my players happen to one day read this, but I have done some mods to the primary enemy NPC's. Most of the mods are based on feedback from those who've run this before me. :D
Maghwi 10-13-06, 12:08 AM	Its obvious that your players are experienced. The way they follow the story with visiting Jorr early on to get his services, negotiating with Drellins Ferry authorities, managing the Hydra encounter with the spool and cord, and planning for ambush...These guys know their way around and I think they stand a good chance at making it through this module. Their PCs look good to! The roleplaying session with Wiston lasted the better part of two hours. I didn't go into it much in the summary but there was a lot of roleplaying, meeting the townsfolk, asking about rumors, etc... But the main thing was that they agreed to go check out the Hob raids for some cash and a few one shot items. I hope they make it through the module. They are all experienced players. They know enough to know that I don't pull punches, so they have to plan. But they also know that when people sit around too long, I do something to make them run. :mage:
snakeheadfish33 10-13-06, 11:58 AM	Nice recap. Very entertaining. One would think with all the different RHoD threads on the boards that I read, as well as posting my own, I would be getting sick of them. But with quality recaps to read, which are filled with original ideas and fresh takes on the NPCs and encounters, it's far from that. I think this not only shines the quality of the adventure itself, but the quality of DM's out there. DM's willing to "bare all" on the boards and seek ideas off each other. Bravo! The horde marches on ...
DEvo317 10-13-06, 12:32 PM	Nice recap. Very entertaining. One would think with all the different RHoD threads on the boards that I read, as well as posting my own, I would be getting sick of them. But with quality recaps to read, which are filled with original ideas and fresh takes on the NPCs and encounters, it's far from that. I think this not only shines the quality of the adventure itself, but the quality of DM's out there. DM's willing to "bare all" on the boards and seek ideas off each other. Bravo! The horde marches on ... Muchly agreed Snake, I'm on the boards now daily, waiting for the time that I can run my own RHoD campaign, and having all of these recaps at my fingers makes my planning all that more detailed. I'm constantly getting new ideas from everyone here posting, and I quite simply can't get enough of it. Thanks so much to you and to Maghwi and to everyone else for their posts and handouts. It's been very much appreciated! Thanks! -Jake
Caligula 10-13-06, 01:15 PM	I agree Maghwi. RHoD are well organized so each DM should study available tactics and plan it well ahead of sessions. The RHoD will also adjust their tactics after the way the players act in combat. Finally, I think this module offers some great potential roleplaying with NPCs. Skills as Diplomacy, Bluff, Sense Motive, and Intimidate are more valuable then ever before.
snakeheadfish33 10-13-06, 01:35 PM	Finally, I think this module offers some great potential roleplaying with NPCs. Skills as Diplomacy, Bluff, Sense Motive, and Intimidate are more valuable then ever before. Hear hear! I have a friend who's game group sees charisma as a dump stat and do not place much emphasis on the skills that you mentioned. My RHoD players USED to think the same way as well, but this game has changed all of that. Once they met with the Tiri Kitor and leveled up, they started throwing points in those skills. So if RHoD has taught them anything, it's not to take such skills for granted. So anyone who thinks this game is all about cutting down hordes of hobgobs needs to think again.
Caligula 10-13-06, 02:37 PM	Right on Snakeheadfish33, thats what I love with this module. It has so many different aspects to it. Charisma is extremely important as you try to build alliances and impress important NPCs. Not to talk about Intimidate when you want to interrogate enemies.
MerlintheTuna 10-13-06, 07:24 PM	Its obvious that your players are experienced. The way they follow the story with visiting Jorr early on to get his services, negotiating with Drellins Ferry authorities, managing the Hydra encounter with the spool and cord, and planning for ambush...These guys know their way around and I think they stand a good chance at making it through this module. Their PCs look good to! Sadly, these experienced players do not appear to know that you can't ready an action outside of combat. If you could, archery would be pretty sweet. "I ready an Improved Rapid Shot at the first thing I see move. What, standard actions only in a surprise round? Fine, I ready a Manyshot at the first thing I see move. That isn't another party member." It would be a total win-button against any sort of sneaking. This situation is what initiative is for.
Maghwi 10-14-06, 01:40 AM	MerlintheTuna, Meh. I thought about it. Rules get in the way sometimes. If the rules were perfect, we wouldn't need GM's. It would just be everyone opening up the module turning to page one, reading the descriptions, rolling a few dice and moving on to page 2. Might as well play WoW. Now, shoo. I'm having fun here.
Caligula 10-14-06, 07:13 AM	Actually, MerlintheTuna misses the fact that only Standard Actions can be readied and thus Rapid Shot would be impossible. Manyshot however would do fine. I think also that even if the PHB rules states that "Readying an action" is only possible when you act during combat in initiative order, a player could still cover a door with his bow and the DM could still judge that he gains surprise benefits against any intruders by beeing so ready. The DM has the last call and I think Maghwi has shown great judgement in resolving the issues in their game thus far.
MerlintheTuna 10-14-06, 11:07 AM	Actually, MerlintheTuna misses the fact that only Standard Actions can be readied and thus Rapid Shot would be impossible. Manyshot however would do fine. I'm not sure how I displayed "missing the fact" considered I even used that exact example... I think also that even if the PHB rules states that "Readying an action" is only possible when you act during combat in initiative order, a player could still cover a door with his bow and the DM could still judge that he gains surprise benefits against any intruders by beeing so ready. The DM has the last call and I think Maghwi has shown great judgement in resolving the issues in their game thus far. It does show a proper awareness of the situation, and thus the intruder would not gain the benefit of a surprise round. Then it boils down to initiative. That's what initiative is for. In fact, in the case of a door, if the intruder wasn't listening at the door, the party would gain a surprise round -- nearly the equivalent of a readied action, anyway. But if you don't use initiative as you ought to, you run the risk of long queues of "readied actions." The party readies an action to pull the flyer back if something pops up? Fine, the hydra readies an action to adjust his snapping if the party pulls the flyer back. The party readies an action to cut the rope if the assailant adjusts his attack. The hydra readies an action to bite the rope if it gets cut. These things are what combat rounds are for. When the hydra bursts out of the water, you roll initiative to see who reacts more quickly. Is the hydra agile enough to get the drop on the heroes? Or does the party have quick enough reactions to reel in their ally before the literal jaws of defeat clamp down on him? In this particular example (the causeway), look at the awareness. The hydra is hiding in the water, watching the group. They don't notice him. Right now, it looks like the hydra will get a surprise round, since he's aware of the party but they aren't aware of him. But the party does exercise caution and explicitly is watching where the hydra is coming from. Even though they failed the initial spot check, they do certainly deserve something for their carefulness. I'm just saying that I think the reward should be negating the surprise round the hydra would otherwise be entitled to. I suppose I did sound a bit too sarcastic in my initial post. I apologize for that. I've enjoyed the write up quite a bit, and your improvising does appear to be pretty solid, all other things considered.
Caligula 10-14-06, 11:28 AM	Well, I think we all have gotten the term "rules lawyer" defined here today anyway.... :D But I agree with MerlintheTuna in his factual conclusion. The group should be spared a surprise attack from the Hydra since they were focused on the possibility of an attack from the murky water. If you are focused like that on a special area you shouldnt be surprised. But all DMs can miss some rules, especially towards the late hours of a session when sometimes it feels like I dont know what Armor Class is even...I think Maghwi showed great DMing in using very realistic improves in his sessions. Something I would prefer rather than a DM just spitting out rules quotes...
Maghwi 10-14-06, 02:27 PM	Thanks for the kind words, MerlintheTuna. I was wondering what you actually thought about it. Actually, I sort of compromised on both. The hydra still got it's free shot in. But I to reward the party for their prudence by reducing the effectiveness of it's initial attack by rolling a d8 for the number of heads to hit. Anything over 6 meant all heads got a shot. I rolled a 2. <shrug> Then we did Init. Kook got higher than the Hydra, so he got into the clear. Where I'm kicking myself is that I didn't hit him with AoO's when he went flying into and out of the hydra's threatend squares. Total brainfart on my part. Heh. I'll be running the assault on the Keep today! It'll take me a few days to find the time to post the next installment tho.
Maghwi 10-18-06, 11:01 PM	* * * * * * * * SPOILERS BELOW * * * * * * * * We were joined by another of our group's players. He used to play with us all the time, but work and R/L issues kept him away. Now he's baaaaaack! Yeah, yeah, written for 4 players, and now I got 7. But I'm not gonna turn away one of my players who has been playing with me since before 3 of my other players were born. (My youngest player is 19, btw) On the other side of the coin, Boss's player was busy, and Ernie's had some family thingie, so I only had to deal with 5 PC's. So I stuck those two in the "PC Box of holding". (That's the place I put all no shows. They go away kind of like V's familiar in OotS (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0003.html). It's a huge handwave, but over the years we have tried DOZENS of ideas, and we've found that this is the best and fairest way to deal with absent players. I don't care how other groups do this, nor will I respond to posts about this practice. This WORKS for us.) So. Enter Cole. Not some of my best backgroud work, but...Being a Cleric of Lathander, and seeing how the Dawn Way is blocked by evil nasties...I decided that he was on a Mission From God (tm) to help clean up the mess. He left his temple in Denhovar, following a beautiful Celestial Robin west. The robin faithfully led him to the clearing where Jorr the Ranger's house is, safely bypassing all dangers and encounters. It's another handwave, but I'll fill in the blanks in his background later. I was eager to get started, and I knew that his background probably wouldn't come too much into play in the upcoming battle for the keep. Speaking of which, how did the group fare without their leader? Well, lets just say that it took them 25 full-on, knockdown, drag-out rounds of combat over 8 brutal hours to finally bring down Koth. Game 4: 8 hours, 6pm-2am. We started later than normal, and the game continued about 2 hours past our usual quitting time. The Players: KuukRaan "Kook" - Elf - Rogue 2/Fighter 3 Tyrfang - Grey Elf - Wizard 5 Fanya - Human - Ranger 3/Fighter 2 Val - Xeph - Soulknife 5 Cole - Human - Cleric of Lathander 5 Day 4: A beautiful morning! Clear and sunny. Like the first day of spring after a long winter. The party has assembled outside Jorr the Ranger's cabin, preparing themselves for the raid, and saying their farewell's to Jorr the Ranger. The ranger is taking a few messages to Wiston from the players concerning their thoughts on a possible spy. They hope that Wiston can figure out who it is and arrest them. The ranger then tipped his hat and headed off through the brush, his hounds in tow. Minutes later, there is an explosion of red feathers. Fanya: Nice shot, Kook! Kook: You owe me 5 copper. Cole: GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!! Heh, welcome back to the group Cole! Did you miss us? I seriously had to spend a few minutes explaining that a celestial animal normally dwells on the outer planes and when it died, it simply returned home no worse for the wear. (more or less. I do forsee some angry, dive bombing robins in Kook's future.) Speaking of Kook, who is he? He is the last of his Snow Elf clan. They were wiped out some time ago by a white dragon. Driven from the only home he knew at a young age, Kook thought of nothing but revenge. He remembered whispered tales he overheard from his parents of another clan of Snow Elves far to the South. Feeling alone against the world, he marched South, determined to find them by any means necessary. Over the years, the trail grew <ahem> cold, and he found himself stuck in Brindol, doing "odd" jobs for Immerstal the Red in the hopes that Kook could one day afford the mage's price for information about the southern snow elves. (I'll do someone elses background in the next recap.) Anyway, after some introductions, the party decided that they could use Cole's help. Especially since he was now determined to follow them once he was briefed on the situation. He knew it was his holy mission to purge the foulness from the road named for his very god. They decided to travel to the keep by heading West along the path and over the Dawn way. Then at the first path after the Dawn Way, to head North. Then head east along the Old Forrest Road until they got just into visual range of the Tower. Then they would go into the brush and approach it from the southwest corner like they had planned last game. It was a 16 mile trek, so that would put them at the keep roughly at 11am, assuming they didn't run into any trouble. Now, this also meant that they bypassed the pair of Worg Riders I had stationed 150 yards from the Keep to sound the alarm if they spotted anything approaching the Keep. Koth stationed several checkpoints on the major roads around the Keep after what happened the night before. They were well hidden, but that also meant that they were probably not going to see not on the road, or hear anything coming from the Keep either. The Party slowly crept up to the walls of the keep, near the southeast tower. All was quiet. It was 11:30am with clear skies and bright sun. Perfect time to sneak up on some Hobs and Gobs. Koth was stretched too thin looking for those acursed adventures. (The spy sent a second message that Koth DID get. They will find the new one next game.) He only had the forces listed in the module guarding him. He was counting on his scouts to intercept anyone coming at him from the road, so he didn't bother posting sentries. The Keep was only defended by the troops listed in the module. I did make a few changes to Koth, Karkilan, the Worg Riders, and the Manticore. I gave Koth an extra Sorc level, gave him +1 to his Charisma, gave him 2 potions of invisibility, redid his skills, and gave him the following new spells: Magic Missile, Darkness, and Haste. His spells per day was 6/7/7/5. I added a fighter level to the Minotaur like Caligula suggested. I gave the worg riders max HP's, the worgs max HP's, and some extra cure moderate wounds potions and 10 +1 arrows each. (These are the Worg Commanders, after all!) I made the Manticore much more friendly towards Koth. This seems like a tiny change, but it changes the nature of the battle when the Manti WANTS to help the Hobs. The Hob veterans I left unchanged. The party moves towards the base of the tower. All appears quiet. The module doesn't really describe the top of the tower. There is the one picutre with the manticore that looks like it has the tower in the background. In that picture, the tower has a pointy roof, not the classic crenellation kind. I decided that I wanted the top to be like the rest of the Keep, so I made it flat roofed, and put battlements all around the top. They decide to send Kook up the tower to look around. Tyrfang uses his wand of bull's strength on Kook and Val, just in case. Kook climbs up about 1/2 way and slips. But he manages to tumble and land safely. His second attempt works fine, and he's on the top floor. He pulls a 50' knotted silk rope out of his Heward's, secures it to the crenellations and drops the end down to the rest of the party. Then Cole begins to climb up. And the rest of the party lines up behind him. I wasn't sure why they drifted away from the plan to have Kook just scout around and report back. I guess they figured it would be better to have the high ground if things when wrong. Kook drops down into area 11. I told him about the flaming zombie looking thing and before I finish even describing it, he makes a throat slitting motion. "Ok, you ambush the corpse and slice away. It's jaw falls off." I then describe the rest of the room and tell him he can see out into the deserted courtyard. At this point, his attention turns to the stairs down. Cole at this point is on the top of the tower, and Fanya is climbing up. Kook creeps up to the stairs, staying in the shadows. His move silent roll isn't great, and Koth hears something, even with the -10 on Koths roll. Kook carefully peeks down the stairs. I ask for a spot check from Kook, and I roll for Koth. Both succeed, so I call for Inits. Koth's init 19! Kook's init 5! Kook's player visibly pales... To be continued...I gotta get some sleep.
Caligula 10-19-06, 06:45 AM	Again great reading Maghwi!vAnd "WOW!!!" 8 hour long session BATTLE!!! :D Entering Vraath Keep through the hole in the south-west tower is the best way. It´s the Achilles-heal of the Keep. My players found it and penetreated through it. They were 100% succesful in eliminating Wyrmlord Koth and his minions much thanks to this. We have 7 players now in our group but everyone cant show up every week. These "passive" PCs are considered to stay in Drellins Ferry to help with the evacuation, or in Brindol aiding the preparations for war. I think your improves with posting guards around the roads to Vraath Keep after Wyrmlord Koth was alerted were great! Adds realism to the game for sure! 2 questions: 1) Why did you have to remove a player? 2) Why did the players not hire Jorr the Ranger to follow them through the Witchwood? Looking forward to next post!
Maghwi 10-19-06, 01:01 PM	Entering Vraath Keep through the hole in the south-west tower is the best way. It´s the Achilles-heal of the Keep. My players found it and penetreated through it. They were 100% succesful in eliminating Wyrmlord Koth and his minions much thanks to this. So true. A frontal assault would have been fatal. I think your improves with posting guards around the roads to Vraath Keep after Wyrmlord Koth was alerted were great! Adds realism to the game for sure! It's really a pity that Koth's Int is only 8. He would have had a few worgs on patrol around the Keep itself or had someone in the tower if he had been a bit smarter. 2 questions: 1) Why did you have to remove a player? I'm not sure I understand your first question. I didn't remove any players. I had two players who couldn't make it to the game, and one new player. The two who didn't show will be back next game. (Unless something else comes up...) When a player doesn't show up, I remove his/her character from the game temporarilly. When their player returns, then their character shows back up. It's not a great solution to a problem, but it's way better than dealing with "Well, my character would have done blah blah blah" OR "My character gets himself into all kinds of touble on a solo adventure" OR whatever else they can think of. I could leave them in town, but if I did that, then I would have to run them in town. "do I get experience for helping with the evacuation?" I would LOVE to do that, but I don't have that kind of time anymore. The absent players miss out on the combat exp, but everyone gets the story awards. In the long run, it all evens out because everyone misses a game or three. 2) Why did the players not hire Jorr the Ranger to follow them through the Witchwood? They didn't hire Jorr the Ranger because they didn't ask. I felt that since there were more of them than the adventure is designed for that they didn't need the help, so he didn't offer to help them either. If there were only 4 players, then I would have dropped a few hints. I should have Part II of last weekend's game posted soon. I'm still debating on doing it as a story or with lots of numbers and game notes.
snakeheadfish33 10-19-06, 01:31 PM	I should have Part II of last weekend's game posted soon. I'm still debating on doing it as a story or with lots of numbers and game notes. I'm in your same boat. I do enjoy the "storybook" versions of the posts, but it kinda got me thinking. Should I continue my post with that format or should i start noting more mechanics? It's a tough call. I've decided to just let the thread evolve. I liked doing the "play by play" of the defense of Brindol but now think the nature of my posts might change. Like why/how I did things, or what minis/maps I used. You know, something more useful for DM's and whatnot. I'm enjoying your thread and will stay tuned either way.
Caligula 10-19-06, 07:07 PM	I think mixing numbers with story-telling is a good way to handle it. Its great to read the story about whats happening, but also kick in some game stats and numbers if you please! :) Always interesting to see!
Maghwi 10-21-06, 12:58 AM	Part II of Day 4 This is a huge post. With probably too much detail. Round 1: Koth won the Init. I honestly didn't expect this. Koth makes a listen check and rolls well enough to know that whoever is peeking at him from the top of the stairs isn't alone. (Cole is asking Kook what he sees, and is generally stomping around in his full plate.) Koth casts haste on himself, leaps out of bed and heads out to room 8. He bellows for Karkilan and sounds the alarm. Karkilan is awake already, playing cards with 2 of the hobs. Tyrfang starts to climb at double speed (Knotted rope with wall to brace against is DC 0, his skill is 1, and he rolls a 12. He doesn't know combat has started yet, but he had planned on moving fast anyway.) Meanwhile, Kook drops down into the room, and makes a b-line for the desk with all the papers on it. He sweeps everything on the desk into his Heward's Haversack and then heads back to the stairs. He finishes about 1/2 way up the stairs. Round 2: I have the party roll Init, and I roll for all the monsters. I group the Hobs together, and I group the Worgs together, but I have separate inits for Koth, Karkilan and the Manticore. Not everyone is in combat yet, but keeps everything orderly. (One init for all the monsters has led to problems in the past, so when dealing with large groups like this, we always break them up some.) Fanya: 21 Koth: 19 Tyrfang: 18 Manticore: 18 Val: 15 Worgs: 14 Karkilan: 10 Hobs: 9 Kook: 5 Cole: 4 Koth casts Mage Armor on himself, then tells the two awake Hobs #1 and #2 to go get the worgs (#1) and the Manti (#2) and to meet him in the courtyard. He points back to the tower and tells Kark to "Kill them! Kill them ALL!!" Tyrfang continues to climb (rolling fine). Karkilan wants to charge at Kook, but Kook is on the stairs, so he can't. :( Instead, he grabs his axe and moves into room 10 and ends up at the base of the stairs. Hob #2 double moves out the hole in the east wall of room 8 and bangs on the Manticore's Door. The other hob #1 opens and goes out the north door and is about 1/2 way to the Worgs at the end of the round. The sleeping Hobs (#3, #4) wake up and rub the sleep out of their eyes. Kook, who is swearing as he runs up the stairs, meets up with Cole. Cole decides to roll one of the leftover forest giant boulders down the stairs. Some quick math and we decide that he can move the 700 lb boulder. (Granite is about 168 lb/cu ft, the stone is a rough 2' sphere = 4.19 cu ft = ~700 lb. 15 Str = 2000 lb max drag) The boulder rolls down the stairs and tags Kark in the leg (failed ref save) for 1/2 of 3d6 dmg, or 7 points. (700lb falling 10' = 3d6, but it's rolling, so I figured 1/2 or no dmg if he made a ref save vs. Cole's Str check. And now I finally have a rule for that if it comes up later...:D) Everyone else is unaware combat has started. Round 3: Fanya takes the -10 to her climb to move at 1/2 speed and get to the top of the tower. Koth casts shield on himself and tells the remaining hobs to go help Kark. The Manticore wakes up and realizes it's under attack. It shakes the sleep off and decides to wait for the hob to explain the nature of the attack. Val summons a blade and waits for a target. He doesn't want to crowd up the rope. Karkilan moves up the stairs and takes a swing at Kook. He connects and does 19 points. The hobs inside the barracks move into room 10 and stand at the door. The Hob #2 tells the manticore that the enemy is attacking from the tower and Koth wants them dead. Then he goes back the way he came and helps cover the door to area 10 from inside the barracks. Hob #1 wakes up the worgs and gobs, tells them the tower is under attack and to get out into the courtyard. Hob #1 then heads back to the Barracks to help Koth. Kook hits Kark and crits him for 13. Cole takes a swing with his morning star and taps Kark for 4. Kark has 30 HP's left. Round 4: Fanya continues to climb. Koth moves to the hole in the east wall and casts Message on his 4 Hobs. He wants to be in visual range of The Worgs and the Manti so he can cast Message on them next round and get everyone organized. Tyrfang is now on top of the tower. Looking down into the tower, he spots Kark. Tyrfang casts flare at Kark, but Kark saves. The manticore goes airborne and spots Tyrfang on top of the tower. But he's got good cover, so it decides to get ready for a flyby attack next round. It also sees Koth, so it also keeps Koth in its field of vision. Val decides he wants to go check out the hole in the south wall of the keep. He cautiously moves towards it. The Worgs and their riders exit the stables and move towards the south wall by Koth, bows ready. Kark takes a swing at Kook, but misses. The hobs want to engage, but can't because Kark blocks them. They growl their frustration. Kook strikes back and hits for about 8 or so. I don't really remember because Cole rolls a 20. And another 20. I get up and go look for myself. Now, I don't have any silly insta-kill rules about rolling two 20's in a row, it's just a crit, but I always ask them to roll again anyway. 20. Fine. I dust off the seldom-used house rule and award him triple dmg. (I only do that with 20's) Then he maxes the damage. Roll: (8 + 3) * 3 = 33. Now I'm looking at an -11 hp Minotaur. Dangit. Round 5: Fanya clambers over to the roof of the tower then moves to the eastern edge of the tower and readies her bow, seeking targets. She spots the Manti, but can't take any more actions till next round. Koth, meanwhile, casts message on the Worgs, the gobs, and the Manti. Now he can start giving orders and getting things organized. Tyrfang casts web on the Manti, using the top of it's building for the anchor. It makes its save, but is still semi-entangled. I rule that since it made it's save, it's able to "glide" down to the ground and not take damage from a fall. The Manti only had to bust through 10', so I roll a str check, and it easily rips it's way out. Fanya takes 2 shots at the manti and hits once for 10 (6 + 3 str + 1 magic) Val, who now can see the worg riders through the hole in the Keep wall, throws his sword at one of them, but misses. He then starts climbing up the rope. The gobs return fire and hit Val for 6 total dmg. Val manages to hang on. The hobs #3 and #4 see what happened to Kark and decide to adopt a more defensive stance and put their backs to the door, swords out. Kook at this point is advocating a withdraw, since he's got a lot of papers off the desk, and intel is what they came for. He climbs up to the roof, and gets out his bow. Cole casts summon monster III, celestial black bear, down by hobs #3 and #4. Then he follows up after Kook. The bear claw/claw/bite and smite on claw 1, and hits Hob #3 for an amazing 24 dmg. (Remember, these are the hobs in no armor) Round 6: Fanya shoots at the manticore, miss and crit. Total dmg from crit 24. Koth casts darkness on a Copper Piece and tosses it into room 10, and tells his Hobs to fall back so they can bar the door. The Manti returns fire and hits Fanya 5 times for 42 damage, including a crit. I think this was the last crit rolled of the night too. We seemed to have got them out early. heh. Tyrfang fires a ray of enfeeblement at the Manticore and it's at -4 str for 5 min. Val continues to climb. The Worgs, seeing no targets left on the ground outside, fire at Val and miss. Then they move back into the keep, to tell Koth that there are only a handful of attackers. Hobs #1 and #2 help #3 and #4 get into room 8, keeping the bear trapped in the dark in room 10. Kook joins Fanya on the top of the tower and fires at the Manti, but misses. Cole does a cure moderate on Fanya for +16. The bear scratches at the door, but can't break it down. Round 7: Fanya tags the Manti twice for a total of 17 dmg. Koth tells his troops to keep the enemy busy for a few rounds while he goes and gets the map. He then casts another darkness on a rock and tosses it towards the hole in the east wall in room 8. The north 1/2 of the room is still light, and the hobs will move to that side of the room on their turn. Tyrfang shoots a Magic Missile at the Manti for 8 points. Now the Manti is down to about 15 hp, and it decides to fly over the East wall of the Keep for full cover and use it's flyby attack to pop over the wall, shoot spikes and then get back under cover. On it's way to the wall, it shoots another round of spikes at Fanya and Kook, but misses with all 6 :(. Val continues to climb. The worgs see the manti go over the wall, and realize that they need cover too. They move over to the ruined gatehouses and meet with the manticore. The manti demands healing, and the worgs drop 2 pots of cure mod for him. The hobs move to the north 1/2 of the room that's still lit and take a defensive stance around Koth. The wounded Hob drinks a potion of healing for 12. Kook sees the worgs and the manti "retreat" and suddenly thinks "maybe we can win this thing” He doesn't see any targets for his bow, so he drops it and climbs down on to the roof of room 8. Cole casts Prayer. It gets the 4 hobs, but not Koth. Round 8: Fanya, seeing no targets, drinks a CLW pot and heals 5. Koth is still getting the map. Since he's no longer hasted, he pauses and casts it again. The manticore drinks a potion and gets back 10. Tyrfang is looking for targets, but doesn't see any. He waits till next round. Val drops down into the tower and joins the bear. He feels around in the dark for the door. The Worgs hold position. The wounded hob has another potion, healing 10. Kook moves to the hole in the east wall of 8 (still on the roof) and sees nothing but blackness. He tosses a thunderstone into the room anyway, but it has no effect. Cole heals Fanya, bringing her up to near full. Round 9: Fanya still looking for targets. Koth is almost done getting the map into his bag of holding. Tyrfang decides to move up next to Kook on the roof of room 8. Tyrfang, Cole, and Kook are involved in a lively discussion about whether to continue or retreat. The Manticore drinks the other potion, recovering 15 HP's. The worgs, the hobs, and Koth discuss whether to continue to attack, or retreat. Val finds the door and gets ready to open it. (The bear goes away at the end of this round) This was an interesting round because everything got really quiet as both sides tried to figure out what to do. I found it very amusing. Round 10: Fanya readies an attack, which will trigger if she sees anything come back through the main gate (the worgs). Koth is finished packing up the map and casts detect thoughts. He's looking for targets behind the door to room 10 in the tower. He picks up 1 target. He tells his hobs to be ready to charge on his signal. Tyrfang is now next to Kook. Kook tells him to cast a fireball into the room next round and then Kook will drop in and try to kill anything he can. He's worried about the darkness, but suspects that the hobs are blind as well. At this point, the Manticore pops up over the wall spots Kook and Tyrfang, and shoots at them. Hitting Kook for 4, and Tyrfang for 14. Then it drops back to the ground and says to the gobs "roof" (16' up counts at 32' of movement. 16' down = 48' of movement, well within the 50'. Players decided that I was evil.) Val opens the door and is greeted with...more darkness. He steps into the room, moves left 5' and puts his back against the wall. The worgs now come into view as they charge into the courtyard. Fanya shoots and hits a worg for 7. The gobs shoot at Tyrfang and hit him for 7. Hobs wait, swords out. Kook waits for Tyrfang's spell next round. Cole stays put, waiting to see where he is most needed. The party doesn't have a lot of healing potions, so they more or less told Cole to stay put for now. Round 11: Koth and the hobs hear poor Val. Koth drops the detect thoughts and casts lightning bolt at Val. There are a lot of factors involved in shooting a 5' bolt into the dark. But Val makes his save anyway, and only takes 11 damage from it. However, Tyrfang decides to shoot his fireball into the room, not knowing Val is in there. He wishes he had rolled as well for his stats. four 5's and a 6. 26 dmg! Val takes 13, 2 hobs die outright, #1 & #3, and two more are down 13. Even Koth takes 13. The manticore does another one of its peek-a-boo attacks and shoots at Fanya. 4 spikes hit her for 31 damage. Val decides that this isn't doing him any good, and slips back into room 10 and closes the door. Fanya shoots twice at the worgs, hits twice, but one is negated. Does 8 total to the Worg. Worgs shoot back at her and hit for 6. They decide to move back into the stable. The remaining hobs advance on where Val was. There is a lot of cursing and bumping into things, but no real damage done. Kook drops into the darkness and makes a listen check on the hobs. He thinks he's close to one, but misses. Cole casts CLW on Fanya for 8. Round 12: Koth decides it's time to leave. He tells the hobs to cover his exit, and heads out the north door, towards the hole in the stable wall in the northwest corner. Once he reaches the safety of the stables, (he's still hasted) he spins around and tosses a lightning bolt at Fanya. She fails here save and drops to the ground at -3. Tyrfang tries to dispel magic on the darkness, but fails. The manticore pops up for it's final spike attack and targets Tyrfang. Hits him a few times and drops him down to 4hp. {EDIT: I just realized that I had it shoot 5 times. 5*6=30 spikes, it only has 24 by the book. But the module says it can do 6 volleys. I guess it's a wash anyway, but for future reference...} Val rushes up the stairs and sees Cole praying over Fanya. Cole: "No, she's not dead, just extra crispy" Val chugs a CLW pot and gets back 8. The hobs turn on Kook and miss. Kook misses as well. Everyone agrees that darkness sucks to fight in. Cole uses a cure moderate to get Fanya back to 13 health. Round 13: Koth tells the Worgs to get back out there and fight! Koth has only one 3rd level spell left, so he hangs on to it for a final haste. He casts Magic Missile on Fanya and drops her back down to 1 hp. Then he moves to the double doors. Tyrfang, low on spells, moves towards the stables to try to get some Magic Missiles on something. He takes a running leap to try to leap the gap between room 9 and the stables. He rolls and fails. Splat. Takes 2 dmg from the fall, and is now at 2hp. The Manticore moves into the gate area between area 4 and 5. It is going to cover Koth's retreat. Val drops down to the west Keep wall and runs along it towards the stables. He makes his jump check and takes no damage. The worgs move out of the stables and shoot at Tyrfang, but miss. Fanya shoots at the same worg as before and the gob's ride attempts fail, the worg expires under the gobs feet. The hobs continue to miss Kook, but Kook manages to tag #2 for 7. Cole hands Fanya a potion of Cure Moderate, and keeps his head down. Round 14: Koth casts haste on himself again, and runs through the double doors and out the gate. He is in full retreat mode. The manticore flies behind Koth. Tyrfang moves into the stables through the hole in the wall, and heads towards the double doors. He's trying to avoid the worgs, and it actually works! Val turns on burst drops down to the roof of the stable. He throws a mind blade at the worgless goblin and hits for 14, counting the Psychic Strike damage. Fanya drinks the potion and is back up to 14. The remaining worg rider follows Koth, while the goblin on the ground fires back at Val, missing. Kook finally drops hob #2, but gets hit in the process for a few points. Round 15: Koth looks like he might get away clean, but we count out the squares and he's juuuuuust in range of Tyrfang's web spell. Koth makes his save, but he's not going anywhere fast for a few rounds. At this point, it devolves into a running chase, with the party picking off the Manticore and the last worg and rider with ranged fire and wands. (It was also very late, and my note taking wasn't as good as it was earlier.) Kook finishes the last Hob, while Val takes out the goblin. By the time Koth frees himself from the web, the party is almost on top of him. He manages to get off a blindness on Val and a magic missile on Kook, but in the end, on round 25, Koth collapses on the ground and Kook finishes him off with his unique maneuver, the dreaded Kook de Grace. When it was all over, Fanya was at 16hp, Kook at 27, Val at 12 and blind, Tyrfang at 2, and Cole at 40. They were out of spells, and not enough healing potions to make a decent victory toast. I'm running the next part tomorrow night. They might even end up facing Ozzy!
Maghwi 10-21-06, 01:26 AM	If I had to do it all over again, I would have remembered to use the invis potions I gave Koth. I guess I could second guess myself all week. When I go back and re-read it now, I realized I could have played the bad guys better. Then I remember that Koth only had an 8 int. heh. It was fun anyway. I'm not sure I want another combat that long tho...
Caligula 10-23-06, 07:43 AM	If I had to do it all over again, I would have remembered to use the invis potions I gave Koth. I guess I could second guess myself all week. When I go back and re-read it now, I realized I could have played the bad guys better. Then I remember that Koth only had an 8 int. heh. It was fun anyway. I'm not sure I want another combat that long tho... I think you played out this one well! It is realistic and you played the NPCs according to character. I think your players played well and were quite lucky here in fact. Skull Gorge Bridge is a tougher encounter, especially if you bump Ozyrrandion to juvenile as I did. :cool:
Maghwi 10-26-06, 03:50 PM	Game 5: 5 hours, 4pm-9pm. We ended much earlier than normal because of R/L issues. 4 people had enough exp from the last game to finally level. I wanted the bulk of them to be 6th before they got to the Bridge. We spent a fair amount of time on character updates and administration. The Players: KuukRaan "Kook" - Elf - Rogue 3/Fighter 3 Tyrfang - Grey Elf - Wizard 6 Fanya - Human - Ranger 4/Fighter 2 Val - Xeph - Soulknife 6 Cole - Human - Cleric of Lathander 5 The others were absent again. Part III of Day 4 Not much happened this game. They dragged all the enemy corpses back into the Keep's courtyard. Then Cole cast detect magic, and they picked out all the glowing stuff. Then they debated burning the corpses, but decided to drag them into the stable, as a large fire would alert the remaining troops in the forest. Cole volunteered to drink from one of the potions that was found on the hobs, and was pleased to discover it was a CSW healing potion. He identified the remaining healing potions, but couldn't ID the others. The party used about 1/2 to heal up, and saved the rest. The rest of the equipment went unidentified for now. Afterwards, they decided to search the entire keep. With Fanya keeping watch on top of the tower, the rest, led by Kook, explored the grounds. Val was still blind, so he just stayed in room 10, ready to relay (shout) any messages from Fanya. They uncovered the remaining bits of treasure and items. They searched the tower last. Kook easily found the trap door, and after finding no traps, Kook and Cole climbed down. They took the sword and gauntlets, but Kook was unable to pick the locks on the bars. "I'm not THAT kind of thi...er...rogue." They all met back in the tower and discussed what to do next. After some debate, they decided to hole up in the keep and rest and recover. They figured that the outside would be just as dangerous as staying at the keep. Cole would pray for a remove blindness in the morning for Val, and Tyrfang would memorize a couple of knock spells and a comprehend languages. They were willing to smash the chests open if necessary, but were unwilling to smash the cages protecting the chests. I asked them why, and they responded in unison "Cause we want to keep the Keep." Assuming they survived the night, they were going to get all the documentation together in one place and have the mage try to decipher it all. They know much of the stuff is written in Infernal. They don't know it's coded as well. They found the map, and have a general idea what's coming, but they still don't understand all the implications. I have a feeling they will have to go look for themselves. In the middle of the night, Kook and Fanya were attacked by a pack of 13 stirges. They managed to fight them off. Several manage to land on Kook, but he always un-pinned one while Fanya would shoot the others off. I don’t think I rolled higher than a 5 when trying to hit Fanya (Whose Touch AC is a respectable 15), even with the AoO’s they got cause she was shooting at things. However, I was rolling great against Kook! By the time the rest of the party woke up, the situation was under control, and I didn’t count it as disturbing the spellcaster’s rest. Because they had so much downtime (from about 1pm till 6am the following day), and Cole made his heal checks, I decided to give them 3hp’s per level back. (Cole was only down 2 hp’s from the previous combat, so he healed that on his own.) There were no more encounters that night. Since Koth had the rest of the hobs in the forest looking for the PC’s. “Find them and kill them. Don’t bother coming back without their heads.” This can be a bad thing to say to your minions when your stronghold comes under attack! :rolleye2: Day 5: The party woke up the next morning and Cole removed the blindness on Val. At this point, we had to call it a night. For the next game, the party plans to review the documentation they got from Koth and to see if they can do something about the bridge. If they go north, they will likely run into at least two Hob search parties who are looking for them. While I’m sure the hobs will be defeated, it should make the encounter at the bridge more challenging if the PC’s use too many spells on an early encounter or two. If the party bypasses the encounters, it won’t be long (end of day 5) before the hobs in the forest figure out something happened to Koth and they alert Ozzy, assuming Ozzy still lives. Ozzy will then take over Koth’s position and really get the hobs organized. :plotting: Next game will probably be in a few weeks.
Anor 10-26-06, 06:20 PM	I think your players played well and were quite lucky here in fact. Skull Gorge Bridge is a tougher encounter, especially if you bump Ozyrrandion to juvenile as I did. :cool: Bump Ozyrrandion? I certainly hope you did'nt make the encounter harder when in fact it was very hard to begin with. That just makes no sense.
Maghwi 10-26-06, 07:30 PM	Well, keep in mind that I have more than 4 players. I gave Ozzy the wingover feat to replace alertness, and I redid his skills a bit. I briefly entertained the thought of giving him a necklace of fireballs (type II, it's cheap) if all 7 PC's show up, but thought that would be too harsh. I'll just gave him a few extra healing potions instead. :D I don't feel that I need to buff him any more than he already is. Ozzy has to hold the bridge. That means that if the PC's want to destroy it, they have close range and fight on Ozzy's terms. Ozzy will take full advantage of his flying feats and the cover offered by the terrain. I'd go into more of his tactics, but I don't want to give anything away. But rest assured, he'll make my player's lives miserable.
Caligula 10-27-06, 12:41 PM	The module lets the DM choose. A juvenile Ozyrrandion is still only CR:8, hardly breathtaking. The DMG recommends EL 5+ party level for final battles. Skull Gorge Bridge is the final battle of chapter 1.
Maghwi 10-27-06, 07:52 PM	Well, for grins I statted up Ozzy with the increase in his age catagory. +3 to all his saves (13/9/11; 15/11/13 with spells) (the ammy helps here with +2 to con) +3 HD (14 hd) +43 hp's (147) (the ammy helps here with +2 to con) +2 to all stats but dex (19,10,19,14,15,14) +3 to hit, +8 to grapple (+17/+22) 10' Reach with his bite Extra attack; tail slap Extra damage on all his attacks +2d6 to his breath weapon (8d6 acid) and a 40' cone instead of 30' with +3 to DC (21) (the ammy helps here with +2 to con) One new feat (probably Power Attack, but I'm looking at one that works with his reach better for AoO's) +2 to AC (25, but it's more like 31 with spells) More Spot, Listen and Intimidate skills. :D Oh, and spells (5 zero lv/4 1st lvl) Lv 0 Acid Splash (had too) Detect Magic Message Resistance Lv 1 Protection from Good Shield It wouldn't be a pleasant fight. I would give that fight high odds of a TPK no matter what they tried to do.
Caligula 10-27-06, 08:04 PM	You could also change the amulet to Natural Armor, and at the same time replace Protection from Good with Mage Armor. That would make it possible for him to increase his AC by +8 as he also has Shield.
Maghwi 10-27-06, 11:21 PM	I don't mind if the party gets a hold of bracers. I don't know if I want them running around with a +3 nat armor ammy they could put on a tank.
Caligula 10-28-06, 08:34 AM	Exactly, you have a good point there. Be careful what you portion out to the bad guys as it can easily fall in the hands of greedy adventurers!
Maghwi 11-03-06, 06:34 PM	Game 6: 6 hours, 6pm to 12am. Got a late start. The Players. Jorr "Boss" - Human - Cleric of Mystra 3/Wizard 2 KuukRaan "Kook" - Elf - Rogue 3/Fighter 3 Fanya - Human - Ranger 4/Fighter 2 Val - Xeph - Soulknife 6 Cole, Ernie, and Tyrfang were all busy. But we got Boss back. Day 5: part 2 They recovered all the items and treasure found in area 12 of Vraath Keep. I asked for a knowledge religion check to identify the Staff of Healing. Boss made the DC 15 check. (I figured that the Staff of Life belonging to the Vraath's would be clearly labeled or otherwise identifiable. Much like a First Aid Kit has a giant red cross on the front.) Kook, after cleaning them, assumed that the gauntlets were safe enough to use, so he tried them on and was pleasantly surprised that they made him stronger. They figured out what Koth's bag of holding was and put all the cash into it. They "tong and bagged" the sword and the other items for later identification as none of them remembered to buy any pearls. Oh, they did play around with the Huge Spiked Gauntlet to see if it would shrink to fit, but after that didn't happen, they bagged it too. Well, the party finally got all the notes and maps all together in one place. I explained to Boss that since the other spell casters were absent, he could choose to rearrange his spells to include a Comprehend Languages so they could read the notes in Infernal. Of course, that's when they found out that it was also in code. With Kook's help however, they were able to get rough translations. Between the notes and the map, they realized the full extent of what they were up against. While this was going on, Fanya made friends with a passing eagle and claimed it as her animal companion. I told her that she would have to train it, but that it knew one trick; fetch. That trick will probably come back to haunt me later. Afterwords, they planned on burying the dead giant remains. They speculated that the approaching horde might have necromancers and they didn't want to run into any giant skeletons later on. They didn't know a lot about proper giant burying rituals, but Boss figured that if they buried them out in the forest, their spirits might rest easier. (He made a DC 25 knowledge religion check.) So with the whole party pitching in, they spent a few hours interring the giant remains deep in the woods. They also took pains to conceal the trap door in the tower. They basically collapsed the ceiling above the trap door and created a layer of debris over the trap door. Fanya and Kook then applied their expertise to make it as well hidden as possible. I figured that it would add +5 to the search DC in the event it becomes important sometime down the line. Then they did something I didn't expect. The bodies of the red hand troops were carefully dragged into the old gardener's shack. (They explored this the day before and discovered it was unstable) The PC's temporarily reinforced the shack with wood taken from the stables. I allowed this because I wanted to see where they were going with this idea. Then they left a few alchemist's fire vials strategically located in the upper corners of the building. Ah. :detect: Clever. I made Kook roll his craft trapmaking skill, with a DC of 20 (figuring it was now a CR 3 trap, based on the original encounter EL of 2. Which is the same DC I discovered. Failure, I assured him, would be painful.) He rolled well, and so the trap was set for whoever next examines the shack. <sigh> If nothing else, it'll make a nice pyre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_funeral) for Koth. They told me that if it's not burned up by the time they come back this way, they will burn it as they pass through. But this wasn't the biggest surprise they pulled on me. It was late in the day at this point, so they decided to hole up for one more night in the keep. They spent the remainder of the day covering all the tracks they could, and posted watches. I rolled to see if any of the Hobs felt like reporting to Koth yet, but I guess they were still looking for the adventurers. I even upped the odds to 90%, but my dice were fickle. I guess Koth was the kind of leader who sent OUT messengers when he wanted to be updated. I decided that if they stayed one more night, I would send a patrol to check on the keep. But the party decided to move on at first light. Day 6: They decided to go pay a visit to the giant that Jorr the Ranger talked about and see if they could convince him to help their cause while they were on their way to the Bridge. About 150 yards North of the Dawn Way/Old Forest Road junction, they encountered a pair of worg riders at close range. (I use medium forest terrain (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/wilderness.htm#forestTerrain) near the roads, so that's 2d8*10' for the first spot checks. I rolled a total of 6, so the worgs were 60' away before the party got to roll a spot.) These were the ones that Koth stationed to protect the road. The worg riders weren't expecting anything so tough so they didn't run away like they should have. The party, now adapted to dealing with them, made short work of them. They relied on missile and wand fire to take them down in 3 rounds. They didn't encounter anything till they got to Warklegnaw. I read the description to them, and the party decided that an open palm approach would be best. About 1/2 way through the intense role-playing session with the giant the following happens: Boss: You say he looks really sick? Me: Yeah. Weeping sores, hacking cough, runny nose, the works. Boss: I want to heal him. Me: OK, you ask him if you can heal him? Boss: Yes. Hmmm... :thinks: At this point, Warkelgnaw was on the fence about whether to turn them into paste, or to roast them for dessert. But, he WAS feeling sick. What the heck. I figured if the cleric makes a heal check, I'll give them a +1 on the diplomacy check. No big deal. Me: Go on. Boss: You look wounded my large friend. May I try to tend to your wounds? Me: OK, he looks at you with narrowed eyes, one hand on the massive club. But he nods his head. Roll your heal check. Boss: No. That's not what I meant. I use the staff and cast Heal. I want to HEAL him. Me: :uh-huh: Boss: Feeling better? Good. After we respectfully buried your kin, the ones that perished at that a’ cursed Keep, in the deep woods, we decided to come here to see if you recognized this gauntlet thingie. We believe it might belong to one of your great chiefs, and we would see its return to your tribe. Me : :mymy: Rest Of Party: :bow: Me : :bigeyes: Boss: :ayyyy!: Um. +8 skill, +10 for the gauntlet, +6 for aid another, +5 for the Full Heal, +5 for properly burying the Giant remains. To top it all off, Boss rolls a 17. 51! They have no trouble persuading Warklegnaw to help their cause. He takes his leave of them and goes to get help. I gave out the exp for that encounter with an extra 500 bonus to Boss. Turns out that put Boss about 100xp away from a level. I told him to go ahead and level up. Then the party continued North to the bridge. They succeeded the spot check and didn't venture out into the cleared area. Creeping up, they all rolled 15+ on their hide checks, and with the distance, even Ozzy didn't see any of them. I described the scene to them and handed out a color print of the picture of the bridge on page 34. Everything got quiet. I let it sink in for a minute. Then everyone started talking at once. My work here is done, I thought to myself. 1/2 hour later, they decided that we should call it a night. And they hoped that more players would show up next game.
Caligula 11-04-06, 08:43 AM	Great recap! I enjoyed it immensely. I think you make great decisions as a DM. You have a way with handling spontaneous issues. Muy suave! ;) But I wonder, you said that the trap might "catch Koth": Didnt they kill Koth when they attacked Vraath Keep in the first place? I think your players roleplay well and they are cunning foxes really. The trap, the way they handled the giant, covering their tracks....This group might actually go all the way. And the 500 XP bonus was money well spent. Your player thoroughly deserved it! Looking forward to the next post! :)
Maghwi 11-04-06, 09:59 AM	Caligula, I have the upmost respect for my players. It's always a friendly battle of wits. I often lose. :twitch: It probably didn't translate well. Koth is dead. They put him on top of the pile of bodies in the trap. What I meant was that it will make a nice funeral pyre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_pyre) for Koth. I was being flippant. :D
Maghwi 11-09-06, 07:48 PM	Game 7: 8 hours, 6pm to 2am. Looks more like this is becoming our standard start time now, due to work schedules. This is a really loooong post. The Players. Jorr "Boss" - Human - Cleric of Mystra 3/Wizard 2 KuukRaan "Kook" - Elf - Rogue 3/Fighter 3 Fanya - Human - Ranger 4/Fighter 2 Val - Xeph - Soulknife 6 Cole - Human - Cleric of Lathander 5 Tyrfang - Elf - Wizard 6 (Tyrfang was late, arriving at about 10pm) The look on my player's faces when they came downstairs and saw the bridge model was worth all the frustration the bridge gave me. I didn't get it as finished as I had wanted, but it worked out great anyway. The tough part was keeping quiet about it. I have included some of the pics. Also, go here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=10596782&postcount=28) if you haven't already. Kudos to gastropod! Day 6: part 2 At this point, the party decides that they need to figure out how to destroy the bridge. They don't think they can take on the dragon and the hobs. They are not sure HOW they are going to take out the bridge, but they figure that it's dwarven made, so there HAS to be a pin or lever or some way to drop it in an emergency. :teach: Apparently this is the sort of thing that paranoid dwarves do. Since most dwarves are paranoid and xenophobic in my game, I didn't say anything. :shifty: A plan was formed to have the sneaky characters (Kook, Fanya, and Val) get close to the bridge and look for an easy way to drop it. They asked me if their characters had any familiarity with Hob, Dragon, and Hell Hound darkvision. I had them roll Know:nature for the hobs, Know:planes for the hell hounds, and Know:Arcana for the Dragon. I gave the Hob info to Fanya as a freebie, since her favored enemies are Goblinoids. They made the checks (DC20) and knew that the dragon had the best darkvision, and the hell hounds and hobs had about the same. I also told them that the hell hounds would likely pick up their scent if they got too close. They asked me how much sleep dragons needed, and I replied that the younger they are, the less sleep they need. I told them that the young green likely only needed 4 hours or so. (I'm sure that the dragon splat book differs with me, but whatever. I run 'em my way.) I checked the weather and it was clear and calm. No wind except within 10' of the gorge, where there are some updrafts. Here is the setup. (www.cabalpress.com/RHOD/506_bridge_setup.JPG) I started them at the far end of my battle mat, like this (www.cabalpress.com/RHOD/508_player_setup.JPG). It's 200 feet from the tree line to the base of the south towers. Ozzy and the hobs had previously cleared a lot of the wood and underbrush to improve their visibility. In this case, the horizontal green line at the bottom indicated the tree line. The second their mini's crossed that line, they needed to make hide and move silent checks. (V.I.F. stands for "Vast Impenetrable Forest". It started off as a joke about 15 years ago, when I wanted to be clear that nothing of interest was that way. Now I use it when I don't want to draw hundreds of trees and underbrush. I use V.I.S for swamps, V.I.D. for desert, etc...) After some more debate, the party decided to approach the bridge under cover of darkness. They’re reasoning that while the dragon has great night vision, it's on the other side of the bridge, so even it couldn't see well at that distance. The only thing they were really worried about was the hell hounds spotting them somehow. Boss cast a silence spell on an iron spike (piton) and gave it to Kook. Kook stashed it in his Heward's Haversack for now. Boss also cast Bull's Strength on him. They waited until the hobs had begun their evening shift change to start creeping up on the bridge. With the Hobs distracted by the shift change, they hoped that they could get very close before getting detected. They approached from the SE, keeping two towers between themselves and the Dragon. Click here to see them sneaking up. (www.cabalpress.com/RHOD/510_Sneaking.JPG) They stayed out of Ozzy's line of sight (www.cabalpress.com/RHOD/512_what_ozzy_saw.JPG). They approached in single file, with Kook in the lead, followed by Fanya, Val, Boss, and then finally Cole brought up the rear. Boss, having learned a thing or two from the Keep Battle, cast Message at the beginning of the advance to help keep everyone coordinated. They hopped from bush to bush, while the hobs more or less had their guard down. (the guard change had be come routine for them) Even the hell hounds were slightly distracted. The characters had all rolled sufficiently well up to this point that once distance was factored in, they went undetected. It also helped that Kook had remembered to take out the Silenced iron spike and stuck it in his bandoleer. Kook got to within 40' by the time the hobs finished the shift change. At that point, all the Red Hand monsters resumed taking 10 on their spot and listen checks. There was 2 minutes left on the silence spell. It was at this point that Kook decided to advance a bit closer, to within about 20 feet of the tower. He made his hide roll fine, but the nearby Hell Hound picked up a strange scent. It woofed! Unfortunately, Kook couldn't hear it! I should mention that the player's original plan was to have Boss and Cole hang back, while Kook and Val searched for the weak spot. Fanya's job was to kill anything that saw them and cover their retreat. But, as they say, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Init time! The first round Kook was still hidden when he noticed the Hell Hound sniffing and looking for him. He rolls to hit it and it drops with a confirmed crit and sneak damage. He then runs up against the SE tower. The silenced spike keeps anyone from hearing anything. The 2nd hell hound, having heard the initial "woof" last round, comes running across the bridge at this point and the Hob archers start making active spot checks. Ozzy also starts making active spot checks. But none of them see anything at this point. The 2nd round, the remaining hell hound spots Fanya, but she puts 3 arrows into it, killing it. Cole and Boss both cast bless. The hob archers finally see most of the party and shoot at Val for 4. Ozzy leaps into the air and flies 150', putting him right over Fanya. He rolls a spot check and sees everyone but Kook, who is still hiding. Speaking of Kook, he begins to work his way up the stairs on the outside of the SE tower. Val makes a break for it and runs towards the SW tower. Round 3 Fanya shoots at Ozzy but misses. Cole moves close to Fanya. Boss moves up and casts web on the center of the bridge span. The hobs in the towers shoot at Boss and hit for 3. The hob sergeant gets the off duty hobs organized and tells them to go to the tops of the towers. Ozzy breathes on Cole, Boss, and Fanya for 8, 8, and 17 respectively. Val throws his soul knife, with Psychokinetic, Psychic Strike and Psionic Shot, at Ozzy and...misses. Val is now at the base of the SW tower. Kook (still silenced) sneaks up on the Hob in the tower and takes him out with another critical + sneak damage. Round 4 and Fanya finally gets a few hits on Ozzy for 12. Cole holds his action till Ozzy moves back within the range of his Prayer spell. Jorr holds his action till Ozzy gets within 40' and readies a spell. (I don't require the players to tell me what spell they ready when holding actions. It makes it more fun for me.) The off duty hobs run up in the north towers, 2 extra in each. The Sergeant also grabs a burning log from the fire pit and heads towards the bridge. All the hobs shoot at Kook, but he has good cover, so only one hits him for 8. Ozzy does a wingover and dives down into the gorge while his breath weapon recharges (I rolled a 4). Val 5' steps roughly between the two southern towers and gets back his Psi Focus. Kook, tired to getting shot at, makes a running leap and JUMPS BETWEEN THE TOWERS! Normally a DC 10 for a 10' jump. I added 5 for the crenellations, but he rolled a total of 21 and made it fine. He's right on the edge of the SW tower now. At this point, Tyrfang's player finally showed up. I put him back in the forest. We speculate that he was relieving himself or something. "Where did everybody go? Guys? Hey! Guys! Wait up!" Heh. Maybe you had to be there. 5 minutes of laughter later, I have him roll his Init. http://www.cabalpress.com/RHOD/517_mid_battle.JPG - That's a "web spell" on the bridge. It's a fiber optic thingy that lights up. It's kind of pointless, but it makes a cool web. :) Round 5. Fanya shoots at the only target she can easily hit, the Hob that's in the SW tower with Kook. She hits once for 10. Tyrfang casts mage armor on himself and moves 30' closer. The Hob archers see a now exposed Val and 6 arrows come flying from the North towers. Val takes 23 damage from them. The Hob on the tower with Kook drops his bow, and draws his sword and swings at Kook, hitting Kook for 7. Ozzy flies up from the Gorge and lands on the north side of the NW tower to give himself cover. He grabs his potion of invisibility and his potion of Bull's Strength. The Hob sergeant, meanwhile, throws the burning log at the web on the bridge and...misses completely. Head bowed down, he heads back to the cook fire for another log. Boss keeps holding his spell, knowing the dragon will be back. Cole, being impatient, casts prayer. It helps the party, but the Hob in the SW tower is the only enemy in range. Kook slices that hob for 7. Val, not wanting to get shot again, wisely moves back around the south side of the SW tower. Round 6. Fanya kills the Hob in the SW tower. Tyrfang casts haste and moves up much closer, almost 1/2 way to the bridge. The remaining hob archers shoot at Cole for 4, kook for 5. The hob sergeant gets another burning log and heads for the NW tower. Ozzy drinks the Invisibility potion. I have the party roll spot checks, and Kook notices that Ozzy went invisible. Kooks player curses at me. Kook shouts to the party down below, "Inviso Draco" Then Ozzy leaps off the tower and begins a wide arc back towards the party, coming from the west. His breath weapon will be ready next round. Boss decides to stop waiting for Ozzy to show up and casts Detect Thoughts. He's frantically trying to find Ozzy, but I explain that it takes 2 rounds in one area to get a count and you can't pinpoint what you can't see. Cole casts obscuring mist at the southern base of the bridge. Obscuring the first 20' of the bridge and the area between the south towers. Kook runs down the stairs and to around to the east side of the SW tower. Round 7. Fanya fires at one of the Hobs in the NE tower and hits for 13. That hob takes a potion of healing while the rest shoot return fire and hit Fanya for 7. The Hob sergeant is now in the NW tower with the burning log. Ozzy is now due west of the party, and about 75' away. He's setup for a perfect strafing run. He also takes his bulls' strength potion. Tyrfang gets a Ray Of Enfeeblement ready. He will fire as soon as Ozzy becomes visible. Cole moves closer to the towers. Boss swings his detect thoughts around to the west, since that was the direction Ozzy came from last time. (I am getting predictable I think to myself...) Val moves to some soft cover behind a large bush just South of the SW tower. Kook 5' steps to the base of the bridge and into the obscuring mist. He starts in the SW corner of the bridge and tells me he's looking for anything that might drop the bridge. He's also looking at how it's built to see if there are any obvious exploitable weaknesses. I have him roll a search DC20 which he succeeds. Me: You find nothing there but a few small cracks in the ancient and weathered stone. Kook: Are there any big cracks? Me: Remember you are in the middle of a fog cloud. Visibility is limited to 5'. Kook: Ok. Are there any big cracks that I can see within 5'? Me: There are bigger cracks over there (pointing at the adjacent square.) Kook: Next round, I'm going there. Round 8. Fanya kills one of the Hobs in the NE tower, and hits another one. All the hobs in that tower drop down and take healing potions. The other hobs in the other tower have no visible targets, but the sergeant directs them to light the signal arrows (oil cloth wrapped arrows for signaling. No hob army should be without them.) and shoot at the web. They hit and the web burns. He then tells them to get ready to charge across the bridge. Ozzy suddenly appears overhead and breathes on Boss and Val for 31 and 15. Val shoots back at Ozzy with his charged soul knife and hits for an amazing 28 damage (3d6+D8+D4+3!) Tyrfang hits with his ray and drops Ozzy's strength by 4 points. Ozzy's flight path ends with him 40' above the gorge. Kook 5' steps to the square with the weak spot and makes another DC20 search check, finding the weak spot! I didn't expect them to find the weak spot so soon. After the game He told me he was hoping to see if there was some kind of quick-release mechanism. He actually thought that it might have been on the tower tops, but since I didn't mention anything while he was up there, he decided to just check the bridge itself. On the next round he was planning on going over the side to check the bottom of the bridge. I explained that the weak spot would be difficult to break through with the 8 hardness, but once past the hardness, one only needed to do about 30-50 points of damage. Kook: Hey Fanya! Me: She can't hear you. Kook: Oh, the spike. Haversack it. Me: You can next round. Kook: Doh! :doh: Round 9: Fanya shoots at Ozzy and hits for 11. Hobs run down the towers and meet with the sergeant. Ozzy readies himself for another pass next round. Tyrfang fires a fireball at Ozzy for 9. Boss casts Cure Moderate wounds on himself for 12. Cole moves towards Fanya to heal her next round. Val tries to get Psi Focus back and succeeds. Kook puts the spike in his Heward's. Kook: (yelling) Hey Fanya! Fanya: What? Kook: Toss me your sword! Fanya: :confused: Me: :confused: Kook: Just do it. Fanya: Ok. I toss it at him. Me: You can next round. Kook: Doh! :doh: Fanya: Doh! :doh: Round 10: Fanya tosses her Short Sword at Kook. :gah: Kook catches it (dex checks DC 15) Fanya: What did you want my sword for? Kook: It's Adamantine! Me: Doh! :doh: (How could I forget? I was the one who CREATED Fanya for her Player. Just like me to do something like that.) The hobs are now formed up at the far side of the bridge. Tyrfang is the only one who sees this and casts darkness on the middle of the bridge. Cole and Boss realize that they are way too close together and spread out. Boss fires a Magic Missile at Ozzy for 7. Ozzy sees that the two people who have been the most annoying to him are both within 30' of each other. He breathes on Val and Fanya for 18 and 18. Unfortunately that puts Val at -16, and Fanya at -3. Ozzy then wingovers back towards his tower, careful to keep away from anything the PC's could anchor a Web too. Kook takes the spike back out of his haversack, because he doesn't want the dragon to know what he's doing. Then he hits the weak spot on the bridge for 9. Round 11. The Hobs begin to charge across the bridge, right into the darkness. Tyrfang: (smiling) Cast web in the darkness. Me: Doh! :doh: The web entangles all the hobs except for the sergeant. He was leading from the rear. He hears the cursing of his fellows, and stops just in time. Cole casts Cure Serious on Fanya for 14. Ozzy, meanwhile, lands back on his tower and goes for the healing potions. Boss, moves over to Val to check him for vitals. But it's too late. Kook smacks the bridge for 11. Round 12: Fanya moves to the east side of the SE tower. She sees the sergeant and shoots him for 10. Ozzy drinks his healing potion for 12. The hobs stay stuck. The sergeant moves off the bridge on the north side. Tyrfang fireball's Ozzy for 9 again. Cole and Boss use Cure Light Wounds on Fanya. She is now at 26. Kook does 10 to the bridge. Round 13: Ozzy flies west again, across the gorge. His breath will be ready next round. Fanya shoots at Ozzy, but misses. Tyrfang casts Magic Missile at Ozzy for 10. Cole heals Boss and Boss heals Boss. Kook hits the bridge for 10. Kook knows that was the last hit and moves off the bridge. They all make their listen checks, and even Ozzy stops to watch as the bridge collapses, taking 5 webbed hobs with it. They don't scream for long... Fanya fires 3 arrows at Ozzy, and hits twice for 20. Ozzy has had enough. He's lost the day and he knows it. He must warn the horde that the bridge is destroyed. He dives low and away, plunging back into the gorge. But before he's gone, he yells at the PC's that they will meet again. The Hob sergeant, forgotten by everyone, slooooowly walks away... The party gathers around Val. They want to raise him. Boss uses the staff of life on Val. But Val decides that he'd rather stay where he is, and refuses to come back. (Val's player decided that he wants to play something different.) I decide that the charges aren't wasted. The party then buries him by the base of the bridge. Sadly, it looks like Ernie won't be able to play with us for a while due to R/L issues. This was also Cole's last game for a while because he's got a new job that works him on the weekends.
Prub 11-10-06, 02:43 AM	that sounded like 1 hell of a session.. I cant wait to start this with my group.. got about 3 or 4 more weeks till they will be ready. Of course I still need to buy it too and get it ready myself lol.
Maghwi 11-10-06, 11:24 AM	It was great fun. The bridge model was cool. I think one of the places I screwed up was the darkenss spell being ranged. Let's just say he cast it on a rock and tossed it to the middle of the bridge. He was still hasted. yeah. that's it. [edit: hit post too soon] One of my players asked me why I had Ozzy retreat. He had no backup, and with those two clerics pumping healing and buffs into the archer, he was pretty sure he could not kill them all. Being lawful, his duty compelled him to report the situation to his superiors. Ozzy will be punished, of course, but he'll be back.
snakeheadfish33 11-10-06, 11:55 AM	GREAT RECAP! Nice work on the bridge and the "dragon-flyer." It was a exciting read and a sad one for the heroes. I'm interested to see who replaces Val. With the way you described the slinking Hobgob Sgt. it almost seems like you have plans for him. Do you? Another Ozzy escape. What are your plans with him? Do you plan to stick to the way the adventure runs him or are you going to do your own thing? I have stuck with the way the game handles him but after reading other posts/recaps I kinda wish I had done something different with him. Anyways, excellent gaming. Have a good weekend.
Maghwi 11-10-06, 01:07 PM	GREAT RECAP! Nice work on the bridge and the "dragon-flyer." It was a exciting read and a sad one for the heroes. I'm interested to see who replaces Val. Thanks! I think Val's player is building a 5th level dwarven Fighter/Samuari, but I don't know for sure. He rolled his stats for the new character before he left my house the other day, so I'm excited to see what he comes up with. If he he plays the Samuari, he'll be working for Othrek Hammerfist of the Hammerfist Holds. Otherwise, he'll be affiliated with Lord Jarmaath or Immerstal the Red in some way. With the way you described the slinking Hobgob Sgt. it almost seems like you have plans for him. Do you? Up until this second, I didn't. But now I do! :plotting: He'll be in as much trouble as Ozzy. Perhaps they will form a bond and they will want to get revenge together. :evillaugh Another Ozzy escape. What are your plans with him? Do you plan to stick to the way the adventure runs him or are you going to do your own thing? I have stuck with the way the game handles him but after reading other posts/recaps I kinda wish I had done something different with him Ozzy took the loss quite personally. I'm pretty sure he'll show up well before act 4. With some friends. Heh. I don't want to give too much away, but...I think I'll have him and the Hob Sgt. replace some of the monsters on the 2nd encounter on page 46. If he survives that encounter, I'll keep bringing him back about every 5-10 encounters to hound the PC's till they kill him, or he kills them. Anyways, excellent gaming. Have a good weekend. I'm taking this weekend off, so no update till at least Nov. 20th. I am looking forward to the next update from you! I personally hope the Brindol stands! Good luck to your Players!
Caligula 11-10-06, 07:10 PM	Great reading! Your players were lucky and you are a much nicer DM than I am... A few questions: 1) Why did you have the PC that arrived later from the woods make an initiative roll? New persons that arrive to a combat and are aware of the combating sides should be automatically first in the initiative order. (DMG p.24 - "Newcomers are aware") Im asking this not to mind you about the rules, but rather to find out if you had some specific reason for doing so. Im curious. 2) How could the sergeant miss the web that was spread out across the entire bridge??? Had he been drinking "moonshine" all night by the fireplace? :D 3) Why did you reveal the hitpoints of the weak-spot? Did the PC have Knowledge Engineering, or were you just being nice? 4) Will you award any extra XPs for heroic actions during this encounter? I gave Eluard in our group 500 XP extra for flying in alone under the bridge and taking it out with spells. Good luck with next session!
Maghwi 11-10-06, 08:22 PM	Great reading! Your players were lucky and you are a much nicer DM than I am... Heh. Time will tell on that. :D I didn't give them any breaks that they didn't earn. They went in cautiously, with a plan, and as a team. And I liked how they tried to keep out of Ozzy's line of sight when they were sneaking up. 1) Why did you have the PC that arrived later from the woods make an initiative roll? New persons that arrive to a combat and are aware of the combating sides should be automatically first in the initiative order. (DMG p.24 - "Newcomers are aware") Im asking this not to mind you about the rules, but rather to find out if you had some specific reason for doing so. Im curious. He was late, so I ruled that he arrived on the map at whatever Init he rolled. Doing it the other way would only encourage tardyness from my other players. :D If he wanted to start out first, he could have waited a round and reset his init. 2) How could the sergeant miss the web that was spread out across the entire bridge??? Had he been drinking "moonshine" all night by the fireplace? :D In round 8, the Sergeant got the first web burned off with flaming arrows. In round 10, Tyrfang cast Darkness on the center of the bridge span by tossing a rock with the Darkness Spell on it. That was the round that the Hobs started on the bridge. Here is the bridge: O..........O ---ddddooo <--PC's on this side O..........O d=darkness o=obscuring mist Round 11 put the hobs mid span on the bridge. That's when Tyrfang cast the 2nd Web spell. I guess I wasn't clear that Tyrfang held action till they got into the darkness. They didn't want to have to deal with a bunch of Hobs attacking the one guy, Kook, who was working on destroying the bridge. 3) Why did you reveal the hitpoints of the weak-spot? Did the PC have Knowledge Engineering, or were you just being nice? Well, it says on P35 that a DC 20 search or DC 15 know:architecture & engineering check locates and identifies the weak spot. I took the identifies part literally. Kook rolled well more than 20 on his search. 8 hardness and 40 hp's is tough when you don't have something that bypasses the hardness. I expected him to be on the bridge for 20-30 rounds, not 4. I wanted to give him a rough idea of how long his character thought it would take. Sometime between 2 and 3 minutes. I forgot they had an Adamatine weapon. If I had to do it all over, I would have made the weak spot visible from the top of the bridge, but make them have to attack the weak spot from under the bridge. And not given one of them a hardness bypassing weapon. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialMaterials.htm#adamantine) :ahem: I did talk to Kook's player after the game, and found his logic reasonable for why he searched like he did. He asked a LOT of questions about the towers at first, which I didn't put in the game recap. I think he really did expect to find some kind of release mechanisim/pin in one of the towers. When that didn't happen, he started looking for a hinge or seam near the base of the bridge. When I told him there was only small cracks, he made the obvious leap and started looking for big cracks. 4) Will you award any extra XPs for heroic actions during this encounter? I gave Eluard in our group 500 XP extra for flying in alone under the bridge and taking it out with spells. I considered it a partial victory, since some of the enemy got away to warn the Horde. But I gave them full exp for the combat (CR 10) and for destroying the bridge (CR 8). I don't want them to level too quickly. As it is now, Kook and Fanya are on track to hit 7th before the end of Part I. Good luck with next session! Thanks!
pukunui 11-12-06, 06:15 PM	Hey Magwhi -- I only just read through both pages of your recap thread a little bit ago. You've got some great storytelling skills. You've also seriously inspired me with that 3D model of Skull Gorge Bridge. That's just totally rocking awesome! I want to make my own one. Wouldn't it be cool to make 3D models of some of the other iconic parts of the module as well? We don't use minis in my group -- just a random assortment of colored game tokens. I've also only got the little fold-out battlemat that comes free with the DMG. Sigh ... But still, I think it would seriously add a whole new dimension (literally) to our game if I could bring in some 3D models. :D
Maghwi 11-13-06, 06:19 PM	Thanks! With our group, mini's come in and out of fashion. But all my players agreed that the Skull Gorge Encounter was greatly enhanced by the model. I always try to think about wheter I want to use minis or not for every encounter. Overuse of them can cause the GM to get lazy with his descriptions, causing the whole game to feel less, um, real.
pukunui 11-13-06, 06:36 PM	Thanks! With our group, mini's come in and out of fashion. But all my players agreed that the Skull Gorge Encounter was greatly enhanced by the model. I always try to think about wheter I want to use minis or not for every encounter. Overuse of them can cause the GM to get lazy with his descriptions, causing the whole game to feel less, um, real. Yes, there are definitely pros and cons to using minis. Personally, I'd love to get some (and the collector in me would love to get them all), but there are a number of good reasons for me not to do so. It would be nice to have a better visualization than a random assorted game token occasionally, though. "You enter the room ... and suddenly 4 green dots leap out of barrels and attack you!" LOL.
Caligula 11-13-06, 07:19 PM	Another drawback with Minis is that the game, atleast the battles of the game, turn the whole game into strategy rather than roleplaying. :mad: I use minis and battlemaps for larger battles where the minis offer help in finding out the details in combat. "Who can hit who?", and "Does this spell reach that guy over there?", etc. It should be an aid to the game, but not become the game! Wise words from the land of winter and darkness.... :D
snakeheadfish33 11-13-06, 07:43 PM	of course the miniature using guy had to say something ... Well as one can see from my thread and fellow photostream minis are always used in our game. We grew up using miniatures, terrain, maps and large painted/drawn battle areas to depict each encounter. Being a visual person (I'm a graphic designer) I find I choose visual entertainment over others. Comic books over novels and video games over board games are just a couple examples. That's what miniatures do for us. They make the game more visual. It has not hampered our "role-playing" or our imaginations in one bit. It has enhanced the game for us beyond words. I can almost guarantee that the first time you sit down to play at full scale miniature map of one of the larger levels from, for example, Forge of Fury you would greatly think about changing your opinion. Of course I keep the map covered up and "only reveal as we go." Also for times when there's no action, and merely conversation say, then we do not use the minis. Don't for one second think that I take this as a personal attack nor is this meant in any way to be a lashing whip back at you. I respect the game no matter how it is played and have even MORE respect for the players and DMs.
Caligula 11-13-06, 08:00 PM	I wish I had the resourcefulness and talent of Snakefishhead33 to blow up these gigantic maps and play out the big battles on them. Unfortunately I dont so we use battlemaps that come with the modules, or we quickly draw them on blank sheets. I think you need minis to fully be able to play out these large scale combats that we see in RHoD and other large modules. Even the old classic Dragonmountain was innovative in introducing a battlemap and small cardboard figurines. Personally I enjoy using minis for battles, and my players are crazy about the minis so they are here to stay atleast in our campaign. I have some 100 minis right now and more are coming in with every pay-check! :) And I agree with Snakeheadfish33 in that as a DM I respect all different views on this matter! :)
Maghwi 11-15-06, 05:59 PM	Don't get me wrong, I love minis! I mean, I DID make the bridge. But I think that after this campaign, my players will want a long break from large scale combat and minis. Maybe instead I'll let Kook resume his Spider Queen campaign. He rarely uses minis. I've monopolized the last 7 sessions, after all. :D
Maghwi 11-15-06, 06:03 PM	"You enter the room ... and suddenly 4 green dots leap out of barrels and attack you!" LOL. I am sooo doing that to my players.
pukunui 11-15-06, 06:20 PM	I am sooo doing that to my players. LOL :D
Maghwi 12-05-06, 05:27 PM	I'm behind on recaps. I'll try to get the latest one up here this week. I'm on break right now because of the upcoming holidays and some of the other players wanting to run their games. After this next one, I'll resume recaps in January.
Maghwi 03-08-07, 07:48 PM	Game 8 and 9, 16 hours more or less over 2 days The Players. Jorr "Boss" - Human - Cleric of Mystra 3/Wizard 3 KuukRaan "Kook" - Elf - Rogue 3/Fighter 4 Fanya - Human - Ranger 5/Fighter 2 Tyrfang - Elf - Wizard 6 Arturs - Dwarf - Fighter/Samurai (5th level played by Val's player, I don't remember the level mix though) Now, where did I leave off? Since my last update, I've had four games. I'm going to do some catch up in this post and try to zip through those 4 games so I'll be caught up for the next one. Val's player decided on a Dwarven Samurai. He is from the Hammerfist Holds, and he is a nephew of Thaardin Ironhand, and he serves Othrek Hammerfist. Working a Samurai into the game was an interesting challenge. I decided that the Dwarven Urgosh would make a nice replacement for the more traditional Daisho. Arturs's player agreed and spent most of his starting cash on an Adamantine Urgosh. I told him to keep his cash and I Role Played a ceremony where the head of his clan handed him the family Urgosh right before he set off on a special mission for the entire clan. The ancesteral Urgosh is a non-magical, adamantine, pattern-welded (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_welding) masterpiece brought all the way from the Great Rift during the original founding of the Hammerfist Holds. I made a really big deal about what would happen if he lost it. :plotting: Arturs was tasked with finding out if the rumors of the Dawn Way being closed were true. The Holds were expecting a large shipment of special glass for their forges from Gallard in the Border Kingdoms. They know that the raw gemstones they sent made it, but cash and, more importantly, the glass used for their famous wootz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootz_steel) steel/adamantine weapons appeared to be lost somewhere near the Wyrmsmoke mountains. (Heh, guess how the Red Hand got all those cool masterwork weapons and armor? :devil:) The Hammerfist Holds sent Arturs to go hire some adventurers to try to find out what happened to their shipment. Day 6, late evening After burying Val's remains, they decided to press on and see Cinder Hill for themselves. After a more or less sleepless night watching out for the possible return of Ozzy, they set off. Day 7, early morning. The first thing they saw as they neared the hob camp was the dragons lazily circling over the hill. As they got closer, they heard the sound of a hundred war drums and the dull thunder of ten thousand troops marching inorexibly closer. They had seen and heard enough. Once on the other side of Skull Gorge, their wizards cast mount spells and they fled recklessly back to Drellens Ferry, pushing through the night. Day 8, They met with Norro Wiston and told them what they saw and did. Wiston seemed to take it well, but he had heard something similar from Jorr the Ranger. Wiston agreed to hold a town meeting in three days time, enough time to let everyone know and to gather them in town. It was then that they met Arturs. He had been marching down the Dawn Way and stopped at Drellen's Ferry when he heard about the problems. Norro Wiston convinced the dwarf to stay in town until the party returned. Arturs quickly discovered Morlin (A very distant cousin...) and the two spent time catching up and swapping stories. Anyway, once the party related what was going on, Arturs decided to try to help them. He fears that the shipment and the dwarves he's looking for are being held captive by the horde. It would certainly explain how the horde got so many high quality weapons so quickly. (This is true. The dwarves are being forced to work for the Red Hand! :evillaugh ) The party agreed to stick around for the meeting and even went so far as to commission some items from Morlin. In exchange for all the caputred weapons and armor, Kook got his scimitar and Fanya got her adamantine short sword enchanted to +1. Both would be done on day 12. I did this because they were not going to get many chances to buy or sell things. Arturs helped facilitate this deal. Morlin then turned around and gave what he didn't want to Captain Soranna Anitah. The PC's also agreed to help drill with some of the town militia and dig ditches and fortifications to help bolster the defense. They knew it wouldn't stop the horde, but it did make all the townspeople feel better. Again, Arturs coordinated most of the efforts. Boss and Tyrfang got busy making scrolls for later use. They also worked with Kook and Fanya setting some traps for the enemy. Day 9, More of the same. Day 10, I ran the Chimera attack. The party quickly broght it down with massed arrow fire. It managed to kill a few townsfolk, but the combat with it was terrifingly brief. Between Kook, Fanya, Captain Soranna, and some magic missiles from the two mages, it bearly lasted 2 rounds. :surrender Day 11, I ran the Rumors of War encounter. Not much to tell, it played out just like in the book. The PC's did decide to go to Rhest after they left Drellen's Ferry. This was good news for me. Then I ran the Desperate Counsel scenario. With all the pluses accumulated from everything, they had no trouble convincing the town to flee. Day 12, This was the day that the horde was supposed to attack Drellen's ferry. Instead, they were dealing with constant harrasment from the forrest giants. Jorr the Ranger came into town and told the party how the Giants had sabatoged the roads with huge boulders, trees and pits. They had even wrecked some of the siege equipment the horde had built. Jorr the Ranger estimated they still had 5 days before the horde hit. Day 13 - 15, With their newly enchanted weapons, Kook and Fanya were wanting to leave immeadiately. However, Boss had other ideas. He asked Wiston to tell the farmers in the surrounding area to harvest what they could, and burn what they couldn't. Then have all the farmers bring what they could to town and evacuate everyone together. He also told them to gather what livestock they could and slaughter and salt everything else. They even suggested poisoning the wells on their way out, but the townsfolk balked at that idea. "We may return someday..." So the rest of the party set to work doing everything they could to deny the Horde resources. They helped the non-combatants pack and leave town. They helped burn fields and drive cattle. I ran the goblin raid on day 14, but again the party beat them. The sorcerer was a problem, but once he fell, it was over quickly. Day 16, The party decides that they can do no more to help and heads out towards Rhest. There is a tearful goodby and many thanks from the people of Drellen's Ferry. :clap: Day 17-19, The party travels to Witchcross, warning those they meet along the way of the horde. Game 9 ended here. More as I have time.
snakeheadfish33 03-08-07, 11:34 PM	That was a great read. I really like how the dwarves of Hammerfist are wrapped into your story. I actually always thought they could have had a much bigger part to play in the module. I must also commend you on how involved you've gotten your characters into Drellin's Ferry and it's peoples. I must admit it's been awhile and I don't recall much of what's come before in your game. Keep up the great game and I look forward to more reads.
baron162 03-09-07, 09:04 AM	I just read through the whole recap and I want to praise both your DMing and your way of recapitulating all that has happened. I liked the model of the bridge very much, maybe I'll come up with something similar once we're there :) I'll use this as another example of how I want to DM :D
Maghwi 03-09-07, 12:35 PM	You are making me blush. I'm just standing on the shoulders of those who recapped before me. :D Thanks! Adding the Dwarven subplot made the situation all the more real for the players. The more engaged they are in the plot, the more fun it is for everyone. I got a few more hooks like that up my sleeve. :evillaugh And I had to do something. Dwarven Samauri's don't just go adventuring without a purpose. When he told me he wanted to play one, I initially refused. But then my old brain got to working. Where DID the RHOD get all those cool weapons from anyway? One thing led to another. One of the little side quests I'm planning on running is the rescue of the dwarves held captive by the horde. On their way to the Fane, they will get an opportunity to disrupt the Hob war machine!
Caligula 03-09-07, 05:49 PM	Maghwi, awesome what you did with the Dwarves from Hammerfist Holds, I really liked that! It makes it all come out so alive indeed. Too bad the citizens didn't accept the "burnt soil" strategy. Poisoning the water was a great idea really. Imagine the amount of fresh water it takes to support an army of this size in this hot climate. My players discussed many different operations to slow down the horde, but never thought of striking at their fresh-water supply. Looking forward to the next post, your players seem motivated and have good ideas! Long live Elsir Vale! :)
Maghwi 03-09-07, 07:38 PM	Well, the enormus river running through town also helped disuade them. :D But some of their ideas do defend brindol are quite striking. I hope they remember to impliment some of them. It'll make it really tough on the horde. I may even have to rethink how they attack the city if the party manages to put the moat plan into action. :rolleyes: