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#1 JRedGiant1 Jul 17, 2009 3:05:55

Sarge – Human Warlord Sarl – Dragonborn Paladin Tour – Elven Ranger (archery) Anavar – Razorclaw Shifter Monk Wyreth – Eladrin Wizard Antler and Thistle, Roleplay – The characters all started as patrons of the Antler and Thistle, there for different reasons. Sarge, a 50 year old veteran who was a boy during the War of the Red Hand, was getting ready to commiserate with some friends after having been drummed out of the military for disciplining the High Commander’s son. Sarl was simply passing through town and decided this would be a nice place to stop for a drink. Tour was gambling in the corner with some card players, while looking for more information on High Commander Orrena. He holds a vendetta as Orrena’s father ordered his parents killed during the war for pacifism. Anavar hails from the Temple of the Seven Bells, which had recently been sacked by raiders bearing weaponry with a burning crescent moon insignia. He’s here hoping to meet representatives of the Elsir Consortium and travel with the caravan to Overlook, but none have arrived. Wyreth, an itinerant wanderer, sat by the fireplace and entertained Edrsirth and Alys, a young couple out on a date. Alys is Sarge’s niece. The bartender and Anavar discussed the banner behind the bar, a banner of the Red Hand. Jeorgrim, the bartender, was an archer during the war, and each member of his company shot an arrow into the banner to pin it to the wall. The bartender then served Sarge a drink (Sarge is more a nickname – everyone calls him that even after being drummed out of the watch) and was on his way back to the bar as Sarge and Sarl both realized something. Voices outside the tavern were not…quite…right – and then? Bar Fight – Encounter – The PC’s faired really well in this encounter. Predictably, Wyreth dropped a storm pillar in front of the door as soon as possible. One minion died trying to slip through and the others got the idea to break in the windows and climb through. The stream of minions gave the players plenty of targets. As for the human rabble, the barkeep was caught in a bad spot near the door and killed early. Ed charged into battle with a stool and was put down by the minions, while Alys kept her head and lead a retreat out the back, then when things cleared up a bit came back and headed for the storeroom for water to put out the fires. Tour managed to palm the kitty on the table while the card players were shocked by the fighting, then as he moved into position to start shooting the card players got into a lethal fight among themselves, the sole survivor getting trashed by a bitumen torch. The fire got out of control fast and was close to torching the entire side by bar area. Sarl introduced himself with an enlarged dragon breath that took out two mooks and wounded Wyreth, but then dropped a lay on hands to make up for it. Three PC’s dropped in action points, which they would regret later as…. The Ogre Bombadier – Encounter – Now this went a little scarier. I started the encounter a bit differently. I wanted to accomplish two things. One – give the PC’s some warning about the power of the ogre in melee. Two, give them a couple treasure parcels early to get them started. I accomplished this by deciding that they had already mowed down one party, the one remaining member being a melee ranger. So the first thing they saw was the melee ranger flying across the street, clocked by the ogre’s greatclub, and landing on the ground starting to make death saves. (I wanted to give them a chance to save him.) So seeing how terribly powerful the ogre was in melee, Anavar the monk double moved to get in close range, wild shaping (druid MC) on his way in. Sigh…so much for the warning about melee. Tour let go his Hunters Bear Trap, so the Ogre casually smacked Anavar into next week and a hobgoblin drilled him with an arrow to drop him. Things looked more grim from there. Some healing put Anavar back on his feet, but then Sarl went down, Anavar went down again and both Sarge and Wyreth whiffed their encounter powers. A few things turned the tide. First, after the second failed death save, I rolled a 20 for the plot device ranger. He leapt to his feet, muttered something in elvish about how he was getting out of this business after this, and charged into battle, engaging one of the archers. Second, Sarl had gotten a inspiring word and a second wind, then wound up a critical hit on his encounter power, dropping a heal on Anavar to boot. Tour finished the ogre after that. The elven ranger gave away his Sylvan Leather +1 and his comrades Dwarven Plate+1 as a reward for saving their lives. I totally recommend using the dying elf to other DM’s, even if you don’t want to work in some treasure reward for this fight. The dying elf in the street gave them fair warning what they were getting in for in melee, provided some extra tension in what is otherwise a slugfest, and gave a chance to show new players how the death system worked.