I normally consider the group dull on the tactics tip, but with the proper preparations, visual aids, minis, and maps, they started thinking tactically right away and it paid off for them, big time. There is a Tiefling Warlord leading the party, with a Dragonborn Fighter, an Eladrin Wizard, and a Half-Elf Rogue. It's only a four man group, so I figured KOTS would be a challenge.
It started as the group arrived in the sleepy fisherman's village of Silverwharf, where they expected to meet their old friend and business partner, Douven Staul. They were met with a weepy Mrs. Staul, who told them that Douven left over two months ago. His last letter to her came over two weeks ago. She gives them the letter and a map to Winterhaven. The letter explains the Douven was searching for an old buriel site, and that should his associates arrive, they should meet him in Winterhaven. So they were off.
*SPOILER ALERT*
I ran the first kobold ambush at full strength when the PC's were almost to Winterhaven. A few good rolls on the kobold side had them clearly in the lead in the beginning, but the group knew they were within a few hours trek to Winterhaven, so they blew most of their daily powers and came back strong, ultimately wiping the floor with dragonshields. The wizard had alot of fun with the flaming sphere, eliminating all the minions within a couple of rounds. The rogue used blinding barrage and disabled one of the dragonshield, which the fighter dispatched with a well placed cleave. The Warlord mostly stood in the back, using his Commander's Strike to hit through the rogue and the fighter. He also used both of his heals on allies. They won the fight, learned the rules pretty well, and were already having a good time. I could tell they were into it, and they got me into it.
Once in Winterhaven, after promising the guards at the front gate (they arrived at night) they wouldn't start any trouble, they group settled in at Wrafton's and got themselves a room. By chance, the wizard noticed that a wealthy merchant was sleeping in the large suite next to their room, and so kindled their long lost love for cooking up half-cocked schemes to steal stuff from people in D&D. So I made a skill challenge out of, which they also really enjoyed. The wizard, the rogue, and the warlord proceeded to rob the merchant while the (good aligned) dragonborn fighter got drunk downstairs. A handful of good rolls and a few close calls left them with a successful challenge, winning a small box of gems (worth 200 gold) instead of trouble with the town guard.
One particularly funny moment was when the eladrin wizard used his mage hand cantrip to pick up a pile of silks and furs and drop it on Ms. Priss, the merchant's fluffy cat. He successfully silenced the cat, but managed to wake up the merchant, who luckily failed his perception check, mumbled, and went back to bed. The cat managed to pull itself out of the mess of cloths, but promptly scampered under the bed.
After robbing the merchant, the group played it cool. The dragonborn met and conversated with Winterhaven's token dwarven blacksmith, who revealed the location of the kobold encampment. In the morning, the warlord spoke with Eilian the Old, who mentioned that he'd seen Douven. He gives the group directions to the buriel site.
At first, I planned to the second ambush, but I thought it'd be too soon, so I'll ambush them later when they're messing around with the keep. Instead, they successfully located the buriel site, since Eilian mentioned a trail that would lead them straight there. I ran this fight at full strength too...and it nearly killed the whole party. It was a bloody battle, with the halfling and the gnome incapacitating the fighter, and the guard doglizard beasts ganging up on the warlord, then the wizard. All but the rogue were down for a few rounds. The wizard rolled a twenty on his death saving throw and got back up, killed on the of the doglizards, then got put back down by the gnome.
The rogue managed to use superior positioning and good rolls with his crossbow to down both the gnome and the halfling, but finally using his healing skill on the Warlord (who had two death strikes), who dispatched the final the doglizard. It was a hardfought battle, and they were humbled by the doglizards gang-up bite, which does 1D10+9. The fighter got bit for 18 damage, and everyone felt it and were surprised. They saved Douven, who rewarded the courageous rogue with his amulet of health. The rogue is the newb, by the way, and has never really played any RPGs.
Now that the group had some money,they purchased some horses and some other random equipment. But they're a fairly anti-social group, not to mention they were paranoid about selling or even bringing the merchant's gems back into Winterhaven, so they didn't spend much time in the town. They rested in the woods with their new tent, then set about attacking the kobold enclave. Unfortunately, the dwarf didn't give the fighter good directions, and the group got lost. I made a skill challenge to find the waterfall, which they succeeded in.
They then wisely sent the rogue in to scout out the area, and he rolled a critical on his stealth check, so the group had opportunity for an ambush. The ambush started out bad, as the rogue failed his backstab, but he used an action point and succeeded the second time. The warlord used commander's strike with the rogue and hit, then used an action point and commander's strike again and hit, killing the skirmisher before the surprise round was over.
The group really knew their characters at this point. The fighter did a great job of gathering up all the minions. The wizard sniped the slinger with his magic missile, then let loose his burning hands on the fighter and all the minions surrounding him. The Warlord kept everyone alive, and stood back with his Commander's strike, which is an awesome power by the way. The rogue dished out insane amounts of the damage the whole fight, and never got hit once thanks to his riposte strike. They wiped the floor with them.
At this point, they gained enough XP to level up, and we called it quits for the night. We probably played for 5 hours straight, and everyone was eager to play again, which is rare with my group. It was a blast.
Just thought I'd share.
Not to nitpick, but acording to RAW, action points can't be spent during the surprise round. It seems like it worked for you, so it probably isn't a big deal, but just so you know.
Also there's word around here that the next encounter is a tough one, so keep an eye out for that. And keep up the great work!
I like to read these, thanks for posting - glad you had such a good time
I like reading adventure logs too! :D
Sounds like you guys had a blast! I hope I make it this much fun for my group. I like what you did with skill challenges. I'm still a little wary on how to institute them but it seems like you really made them work for you.
Not to nitpick, but acording to RAW, action points can't be spent during the surprise round. It seems like it worked for you, so it probably isn't a big deal, but just so you know.
Also there's word around here that the next encounter is a tough one, so keep an eye out for that. And keep up the great work!
Part of the reason I had so much fun was because I didn't try too hard to stick precisely to the books. I knew I was going to make some mistakes, and I was more concerned about keeping the game moving and making sure everyone was having fun rather then trying to get every rule correct. Basically, what I'm saying is I have no idea whether or not I ran the skill challenges correctly, but they were fun anyways. I'll read up tomorrow and see what the proper way to run them is, then do it that way next time.
Yeah, I think you're right about the action point thing in the surprise round. It would be a little crazy to let everyone in a five man group basically get two full rounds before the enemies. But, oh well, they would have been pretty disappointed if a poor roll spoiled the plan that took them nearly 15 minutes to conjure up, so I let it slide. I wanted to see the rogue do some backstab damage as much as they did :D
One comment that I noticed is that you felt like the second kobold ambush felt "too soon" after the first one. I actually went the opposite direction here - not only did I have them ambushed again immediately, I even threw in extra kobold ambush (the wagon encounter from the Dungeon article) on the way back from the burial site. I really wanted the players to feel the kobold threat, and be really tired of them so they'd want to find and destroy their leader. This really worked (they were sick of getting ambushed by kobolds), and after they killed Irontooth I stopped sending kobolds after them.
Since everyone seems to have enjoyed the adventure log I think I will relate the most entertaining encounter we've had so far. (Warning: LONG. Feel free to skip.)
I threw in the Bairwin encounter from the FR adaptation because my group ended up really disliking him and I figured they'd like a chance to beat on him. For those who haven't seen the encounter, it turns out that Bairwin had been providing Kalarel with supplies and was actually a cleric of Orcus. It was hilarious! We use the critical fumble deck for natural 1s (just re-drawing whenever a card that doesn't apply to 4e rules comes up) and at one point Bairwin drew a card that gave the wizard a temporary +8 to his strength score.
This actually gave him a better strength than the fighter, so his next round he charged Bairwin (while yelling out war cries), whacked at him with his staff, and rolled a 20! It almost killed Bairwin, who was totally shocked, and the group was rolling on the floor laughing. My sister had to leave the room for a bit to get herself under control!
The PCs ended up capturing Bairwin instead of killing him, in the hopes that he could tell them more about Kalarel's scheme. The whole interrogation was great, because Bairwin didn't realize that the incredibly strong wizard was a fluke and so was more terrified of the wizard than the dragonborn paladin with the insanely high intimidation score.
The RP for the whole thing was excellent and highly entertaining.
We were really geeked for 4th edition, and perhaps not surprisingly we loved this adventure - I liked DMing it and they enjoyed playing through it. My only complaint would be that I thought the final encounter against Kalarel was a bit too easy - we had 6 PC's, so I added in an Iron Cobra (Level 6 controller) and also included a stripped down skill challenge to close the Rift. The Party was level 4 by the time they hit this fight, but I felt like they were never really in danger (and I don't think they felt all that threatened either - the Cleric never even used healing word). On the other hand, the fights in the Ghoul Warren, with the Gelatinous Cube, and in the Warchief's Lair were very difficult. The fight with Irontooth was pretty rough as well. I'm thinking it might be influenced by party composition, but it's hard to tell.
The group leveled up with the last encounter, so their level 2 now.
The group spent a bit more time in town before they decided to attack the kobold stronghold once and for all. They picked up the quest to destroy the kobold threat from Padraig, did some research, did some legwork, rested, and then headed towards the waterfall cave.
The party encountered a small group of kobolds waiting outside the waterfall, but dispatched them quickly. The skirmisher made a pitiful attempt at moving into the cave to warn the others, but the fighter stopped him in his tracks with an opportunity attack, and then warlord used commander's strike to finish him off. So the group got the drop on the kobolds inside.
At first, I ran this encounter at full strength, since the party was level 2 now and they had the surprise round. But when they started to clean house within the first two rounds, I felt I had to beef up the reinforcements. So in addition to Irontooth, the wyrmpriest, and the two dragonshields, I threw in a pair of guard drakes and a couple minions as well.
With all their Daily powers and action points, the group had no problem focusing their attacks on Irontooth and taking him out before he did too much damage. Then the group used the cave walls to create somewhat of a bottleneck for the kobolds and guard drakes. This payed off, and the group was successful.
I was surprised how easily they defeated the two waves, especially with the added reinforcements. Everyone has been saying how difficult of a fight this is. I guess the surprise round and some good rolls makes a huge difference. As far as I can tell, I'm playing the monsters as I feel they should act, tactically speaking, and I'm definitely not pulling any punches. I guess they're just doing really good
After defeating all the enemies, they gathered the loot and explored the rest of the cave. They then returned to Padraig to claim their reward and we called it a night. We're still having fun, but we unfortunately have to trade comfort for piece and quiet. I'm not sure how to handle this problem yet, but I'll think of something.