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Bigbrother87
2009-07-01, 10:30 AM
I'm finally playing with a real group, and since others(like SilverClawShift) have entertained me with their journals, I've decided to try and return the favor. But first, some back story! (Conveniently contained within spoiler tags so you may skip it if you wish. But, I did include videos ;) )

How This Group Got Started:
So, how'd this group get together? School, actually, but not how you'd think. I was in a Video Class in my community college, and was tasked with writing/directing/filming a short film with two other students. We decided on Super Heroes as a subject, and I started writing. When all was said and done I'd met some fantastic people, and really enjoyed the entire thing.

Under The Hood, Part 1
http://www.tinyurl.com/underhood1

Under The Hood, Part 2
http://www.tinyurl.com/underhood2

It was at the Cast party that D&D was mentioned, and it was found out that Villain and Oraclia were planning to start a game soon, and Butterfingers and myself were very interested in playing.

You can watch the movie up there to find out the personalities of some of the players, and yes, Butterfingers is somewhat like that in real life.

And that's how we got started, though it took us a few weeks to finally get moving on playing. We did agree to play 2e, instead of 4e, because Villain(The eventual DM) and Oraclia had the books for it. It eventually turned out that we have ten people around the table, though only eight players.

The Party and Group Involved:


Xander Goodson (Me), Male NG Human Druid and official mapkeeper for the group

Thanatos (Butterfingers, my long time friend), Male NG Elf Thief

Adara Brennan (Oraclia, married to Villain), Female NG Elf Ranger

Te'nlai Trevenwell (friend of Villain/Oraclia, player married to Le'aelwren's player), Male NG Elf Fighter and voted leader of the group

Le'aelwren (friend of Villain/Oraclia, player married to Te'nlai's player), Female NG Elf Wizard

Rixa Liran (friend of Villain/Oraclia, roommates with Kap), Female NG Human Druid

Kap (friend of Villain/Oraclia, roommates with Rixa), Female CG Gnome Cleric

Zexis Songblade Bladesong (friend of Villain/Oraclia), Male ?? Half-Elf Bard

The DM (Villain, married to Oraclia)

Dm's Assistant (Emma Vanderbilt from the video, another long time friend), she'll be playing the parts of various NPCs as needed.


Adara(Oraclia) and Bladesong have some experience playing before, as do I, but the rest are newcomers to the game...But they all love it so far! And yes, we do genuinely have four female players.

We'll have our second playing session Friday, and have had two Character Creation sessions and a Game Night so far. I'll be giving the sessions as stories, (but I'll include OOC funny like this, so you get the whole experience).
I'll also be using character names where I don't have a name to reference from my video.

Sunday, T-Minus 12 days, Character Creation Part 1

We first got together the Sunday two weeks before the first game, planned to take place on the night of the 26th. This session was purely for building our characters, and, unfortunately, I got there late :p

Found out we had a ranger(Adara/Oraclia), a fighter(Te'n), a wizard(Wren) and two druids(Rixa and Xander/myself) so far, though at that time I didn't know what Bladesong or Butterfingers would be playing, since they couldn't come that night.

Stats were rolled (DM gave me an 18 in Cha, since I needed that stat, but the rest of my stats are 11, 15, 16, 14, 16 and 18. Eh, it's what I have) Spells were chosen, but proficiencies(we're using nonweapon proficiencies as well) and equipment will be chosen the following Sunday.

And that's about all we got to do then. Emma and I stayed later with Adara(Oraclia) and DM, we'll be playing in their house, and I was able to choose my proficiencies while DM(Villain) looked over what adventure he'd have us play, and Emma skimmed through the Player's Handbook and the Monster Manuals...

Now, Emma has never played before, but she was having a grand time looking through the manual and saying things like "Brine Dragon...Is that good? I think they should face one of them" and "Ok, they'll have a unicorn for every nightmare" to DM, who was quite enjoying my reactions to these suggestions (fear, cringing, dread, etc)

This went on awhile when I said, my exact words, to DM "Ok, can we not face any of Tucker's Kobolds (http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/)?" ...He didn't know what they were. (Yay! In retrospect, I should have left it there, but I'm too nice...) I then explained what they were, and wow, THAT was an evil grin... "We're doomed" were my next words, and that pretty much sums up the first meeting.

EDIT: My DM just read this post, and says, and I quote:
"Awesome post. In reading it, I realized that I had yet to actually read up on Tucker's Kobolds, so I did.

I have to say I was smiling most of the time, but actually broke out in loud laughter when I reached the following lines:

(It didn't work. The kobolds caught us about 60' into the dungeon and locked the door behind us and barred it. Then they set the corridor on fire, while we were still in it.

"NOOOOOO!!!" screamed the party leader. "It's THEM! Run!!!" )

Muahahahaha . . . truly inspirational!"


Sunday, T-Minus 5 days, Character Creation Part 2
Wow, wow...What a character...She's gonna be FUN to play with. Ok, I should explain. Everyone except Bladesong was able to show up tonight(we found out what he was playing on game night), so I now knew 7/8ths of our party.

Kap has no experience with D&D, or games of it's type, but just said "I wanna play a kick-@$$ princess" which is where the name Kap came from. We helped her to understand classes and alignment and races and such, and it seemed to naturally come about that she chose a CG(because that's the personality she displayed, it's awesome) gnome(because they're short) cleric (flail, raising the dead...But, more importantly, possibly animating the dead). She, like everyone else, was given an 18 to assign in the most important stat for her, but her other rolls were 17, 16, 15, 15, 15...Te'n, the fighter, wanted to trade. I'm pretty sure everyone did.

She then found out that the shortest she could be was ~3 feet. She wanted to be smaller, so using all of her cuteness and charm, plus a successful Charisma check, she got the DM to make her a 2'4" tall gnome. She also got a big laugh out of our DM's button that he puts on the DM screen that says "We'll get along fine as soon as you understand I'm god." She joked him a little about that, but I believe it was around the time we were explaining the dangers of wishes when she said "If I smell sulfur and brimstone, I hardly think you're good." DM replies "You have no sense of smell."
That's became something of a running gag/motto for the group.

Thanatos(Butterfingers) was also able to make his character, which turned out to be an elf thief, which means we have five party members, so far, with darkvision. Lucky for us humans, that means we'll put them on watch duty ;) I also discovered that I'm the tallest character at 6'1" tall, and it was said that if the gnome got on the Wizard's shoulders, they almost equal my height.

I'm also the youngest character at 18, because the other druid is 19, and me, the player, is also the most paranoid. I'm gonna have to work on suppressing my knowledge of what may be coming, especially when the DM is flipping through a monster manual, goes "aha!" and furiously takes notes...Fun.

Another thing that happened that night was a mosquito was flying around the table, and I squashed it. Unfortunately, I squashed it so it got blood on my character sheet. I made the note that I was the first one to get bloodied. It was then discovered that it was likely that DM's blood on my sheet, making me the first one to bloody the DM!
Because of this, he says that my flying mount will be a giant mosquito...I'm holding him to that, since being the largest human in the party already makes me very intimidating. Having my giant mosquito mount behind me just makes me more so. Of course, we'll have to stat one out...

So, Friday, the plan is to shop for equipment, give a tutorial on combat and such, and get the game started at least, though it won't go late. I'm already making my shopping list... :)

And thus didst we begin... We're playing the "In Search of the Unknown" Module B1, so you can search for that online and read up about it if you want. Personally, I haven't. Spoilers, don'tcha know. Here's what we do know:

Rogan the Fearless(a Fighter) and Zelagar the Unknown(a Mage) were powerful adventurers who banded together to build a fortress in the past. They mostly stayed up there, causing rumors about them to grow and spread. But, when barbarians came to the area they left their fortress to help fight them off. Unfortunately, it is believed that they died fighting the hordes, because they have not been seen around their tower recently. We the party have come to the nearest town to look into rumors about the fortress, and thus, we search for the Unknown.

Friday, 1st Session - A Bard, a deaf Merchant and a Carrion Crawler
In Town
The story opens in a Tavern, with Thanatos, an Elven Thief, standing near the bar. He's unsure what to do, but that choice is taken from him when he steps back and bumps into a Half-Elf.
Thanatos: "Good Evening sir, I am Thanatos."
Bladesong: "I am Zexis Bladesong, accomplished performer and user of blades! You must come and see my show tomorrow in the town square!"
Than: ("Oh God, he's got a Bard," Thanatos(Butterfingers) said)

Bladesong made his way upstairs to his room, and Thanatos returns his attention to the tavern, but not quickly enough to avoid almost tripping over a gnome behind him. The gnome chitters at him in Gnomish(Really, at the table she did) and Thanatos said in common that he did not know Gnomish, and that he was Thanatos and was sorry for bumping into her.
Kap, in Common: Oh, ok then. I'm Kap, and you can make it up to me with a drink. Won't you lift me up to the stool?

Thanatos and Kap discuss why they are in town, but Thanatos has a bit of trouble remembering details. A robed figure sitting next to him whispers in.

Kap: So, why are you in town?
Than: Well, I'm here to look for...Look for...
Robed man: The Unknown?
Than: Yes. I've heard rumors of...
Xander: The abandoned tower? I'm also here in town to look into that. I'm Xander Goodson, Druid.

Introductions were made, and we decided to ask others in the bar whether they were also looking for the Unknown. Adara, a ranger, approached us about the Unknown, and Xander approached a woman in hide armor named Rixa about joining up. Te'n, a fighter, made his way over to mention that it did not appear as if we had much in the way of martial abilities, and offered his services. (Kap made the comment that she wondered if she'd be able to ride on his back like C3PO in The Empire Strikes Back. I said "yeah, but with a flail", and it was agreed upon that that would have been a great improvement).

After convincing Wren, an elven wizard to also join our band, and Thanatos mentioning Songblade the Bard upstairs ("Bladesong!" a voice cries out from above), we decided to get some rest.

It wasn't until half-way through breakfast the next morning that Thanatos remembered Bladesong's show at Mid-day. We decided to check it out, but after shopping at Akbar the Merchants shop. (not officially named, so we'll just go with this funny reference instead)

It turner out that Akbar was deaf, and had a street boy, Timmy, who would sign to him for the party. It seems Akbar was having a sale on general wares(listed price for all non-weapons), but that weapons were twice the usual price. Quite generous, since Akbar's was the only store in town, a fact Akbar(Emma) reminded us about quite often.

Most of the party got our shopping done easily by handing a list to Akbar, and then agreeing to his prices. It seemed safest not to question poor economic decisions made in our favor, after all. The only person with a harder time was Thanatos, who Akbar thought looked "shifty". (OOC, we knew what he was, a thief, but IC that had not been explicitly said.)

Thanatos got what he needed, but when he tried to negotiate on the price of boots by signing to Timmy(DM), it got awkward.

Thanatos: I'd like to buy a pair of boots also, please.
Timmy(DM): *signing to Akbar*
Akbar(Emma): For you, that will be 2gp.
Thanatos: *says he's signing to Timmy for 1gp, actually does real sign language*
Timmy(DM): *signs back, but also makes the "call me" signal*
Akbar(Emma): 3gp for that.
(Me: Thief got robbed.)

Leaving the store, we make our way to the square to observe Bladesong's display. He puts on quite a show, including blindly throwing knives into wood pillars behind the crowds, just missing Kap who was on Xander's shoulders. Then he lost the crowds attention when the gnome and human went tumbling backwards. (My fault. I knew I was the tallest, but at only 11 strength, the DM had us tumble backwards for 1 damage on Kap. This helped make it a little more real for the group. Plus, it was funny.)

Xander used cure light wounds on Kap to heal her bruised ankle, but Bladesong's crowd was thoroughly distracted. This is when we offered for him to join our merry band, because, after all, what better way for a Bard to find stories than to find the Unknown? The crowd is bored, and begins making comments about the party leaving town, including "We don't like you because you're different." (party of 2 humans, 1 gnome, 4 elves, 1 half-elf)(Apparently, Emma and DM decided the townsfolk were slightly prejudiced against non-humans. Unfortunately, Butterfingers responds to them. After he insults them...:

Butterfingers: Oh no. I wish I were dea-
Me: No! Don't do that!
Butterfingers: *remembering the warnings on Wishing the DM gave* Right. That's awesome.
Both: *high-fives exchanged*

To the Fortress!
Traveling by horseback to the Tower's location, provided by a handy map I just happened to have, we see a large wooden door in the side of the cliff.

Te'n the Fighter: I knock on the door.

...Yeah, he knocked. *sigh* The door opened with alcoves every 30ft or so. We traveled forward cautiously, with Rixa having cast Detect traps/pitfalls as we entered, and Te'n and Adara searching for secret doors with their weapons drawn. At the second set of alcoves, Wren the wizard cast Detect magic, and saw a glow coming from the third set. Reaching them, Te'n cautiously steps forward to have a look.

Magic Mouth on left alcove, booming its voice throughout complex: Who is this that enters this place?!
Magic mouth on right alcove: A band of adventurers? Foolish ones, surely soon to perish!
Magic mouth on left: continue on and face the wrath of Rogan and Zelagar!
(DM was kind enough to mention that we can hear the voices echoing far away, and that anything stepping between the alcoves would set them off. Thanotos(Butterfingers) didn't understand the problem until I explained "Um, yeah. Anything here has now been warned we're here. No sneaking for us.")

Moving forward again, we go through another door to see hallways to the west, east and north, with two doors in the north hallway before another junction, also going W, E, and N. We called Thanatos forward, because he had mentioned on the ride that he'd be able to help with doors and such. Listening at the door, he's slightly distracted by the sound of slight movement in the corrider to the north and west, and a scent-

Kap: I smell brimstone!
DM: You can't smell, but if you could, it's a rotten smell.
*Ranger is sent forward, peaks around corner. DM shows Adara(Oraclia) what she sees.
Adara: *whispering* Carrion Crawler. Big Bug. Around Corner. Feeding on corpses. Five bodies.
Te'n: Ok, maybe we can have our druids do something about this.
(Me, across the table: Maybe you should consult your druids about this.)
Te'n: *moves back to ask us about this* We've got a Carrion Crawler, can either of you do anything?
Xander: No, unfortunately, I have nothing prepared, and have not studied this creature. But, it strikes me as a scavenger, and if it is not bothered at it's meal, it should not bother us.

Thanatos returns to checking the west door, and when he opens it, the party sees a long kitchen, looking long disused though quickly abandoned (food left out, but covered in mold, etc.) and some skittering can be heard from the firepits near the end of the kitchen, before it turns to the north. We quickly move into the kitchen and close the door behind us, saying we'll come back for the bug.

Making our way towards the firepits, we discovered that there were three giant rats in there. Roll Initiative!

The rat's went first, but rolled a 1, a 1, and a 3(mentally, I blamed it on sneezing on ashes. DM said the first two bit their own tails with those Nat 1s, but it was just flavor text. We're not using fumble and die rules). Yay. Unfortunately, the rest of us didn't roll well either. Adara damaged one, Te'n killed one, and Thanatos finished off the one Adara had hurt. The second round the rat missed again, and Adara finished it off.

And that's where we ended that night. We'll pick up this Friday in that moldy kitchen, looking forward to moving forward. While Than was searching the door, I was able to introduce Xander's four trained rats that live in his robes. Fred the large one, Barney the smart one, Wilma the one who can guard, and Betty, who can retrieve my darts. Unfortunately, Kap doesn't like rats, but I hope they'll grow on her.

Well, whether anyone likes these or remains interested, I'll be keeping a record for my group of what happens. Hopefully some of you will be entertained, and I'll have session two on Saturday, I hope. Unless we go to the beach for the 4th...

Critiques/Comments are welcome, advice is also welcome, but spoilers will not be accepted. I'm gonna play this adventure honest, even if I have read the Monster Manual...

Willfor
2009-07-01, 11:00 AM
I enjoyed it. Though at some points it was hard to keep who was who straight because I don't really have time to watch the video yet. I'm sure it'll be easier once I can come back and see it.

Anyway, yes, keep writing it up for us. :3

Bigbrother87
2009-07-02, 08:37 PM
I'll see if I can make it clearer. Should I just use character names for everything, (and keep out of character comments like this?)

We game again tomorrow, with at least 6 hours set aside, depending on how long into the night we choose to go. Unfortuantely, Bladesong, our bard, will not be able to make it. But, he has agreed to let the DM handle his actions, and the game shall continue!

Bigbrother87
2009-07-04, 03:16 PM
Hooray for Holidays! We were able to get together earlier than planned because we were all off from work. Everyone arrived at 5, except for Bladesong, he couldn't make it. So Emma will be playing his character for him. ...I think he came out from the night best overall, but you'll see what happened. We actually got started playing at six, using that hour to talk and joke and have fun, and went till 11:30.

The Party and Group playing Friday, 7/3/09:

Xander Goodson (Me), Male NG Human Druid and official mapkeeper for the group
Thanatos (my long time friend), Male NG Elf Thief
Adara Brennan (married to DM), Female NG Elf Ranger
Te'nlai Trevenwell (friend of Adara/DM, player married to Le'aelwren's player), Male NG Elf Fighter and voted leader of the group
Le'aelwren (friend of Adara/DM, player married to Te'nlai's player), Female NG Elf Wizard
Rixa Liran (friend of Adara/DM, roommates with Kap), Female NG Human Druid
Kap (friend of Adara/DM, roommates with Rixa), Female CG Gnome Cleric
Zexis Songblade Bladesong (played by Emma for tonight, former DM's Assistant), Male CN(we learned what alignment he was tonight...You'll see) Half-Elf Bard
The DM (married to Adara)


To catch up and what happened, the party is in the tower of Rogan the Fearless and Zelagar the Unknown, a fighter and wizard of some renown, but they haven't been home in a while. They're presumed dead by northern barbarians.

We'd all come to town following rumors of possible treasure in this tower, and have already see, and avoided, a Carrion Crawler chewing on five bodies, probably adventurers. We didn't stay to check. We ended the last session in a moldy kitchen, over the bodies of three giant rats we'd killed in battle (cooking and eating them was mentioned, but we remembered my rats, and didn't want to turn them into cannibals :) )

Out of the Kitchen and into the Halls, towards the Unknown we go...

The party turned to the north corner of the kitchen, and Te'n again opened the door found there. Facing an unmarked corridor the heads north, and also back south towards the Carrion Crawler's corridor. We went north, planning to come back later to "take care of it."

Moving north we came to another intersection. A wide corridor slanted South and West, while two smaller ones went East, one just north of the other. Taking the southern corridor, we came to a T-intersection with just an alcove to the east. Thanatos searched the alcove, but it was Bladesong who found the secret door in the southern wall.

Adara pressed the rock in the wall to open the heavy stone door, and we go through into...a dusty Hell room.

Shake, Rattle and Glow.

Stepping through the secret door, we moved into a 30ft. by 50ft. room, taking note of certain features of this room. Things like the human skeleton hanging from chains in the NE corner, a wood coffin standing upright in the NW, racks for human sized victims figures on the west wall, a firepit and two cauldrons in the center, a smoked-glass stoppered jar on a stone table, three vats and several earthenware and glass containers in the SW corner, more shelves with containers on the north wall, and a large metal door in the south wall.

Oh yeah, and a large tanned hide hanging on the south wall with runes carved in it.

We were, understandably, cautions as we moved into the room to poke around. Te'n(the fighter) and Thanatos(the thief) moved to check the coffin, as Rixa(a druid) and Kap(the cleric) moved to the vats. Adara(the ranger) and Xander(me, the druid) poked through the ashes in the firepit before moving to the vats as well, while Bladesong(the bard) stood watch at the secret door.

Standing before the coffin, Te'n used his dagger to pry it open...but it creaks and gives Kap a start. Thinking there might be something invisible, Kap quickly cast Faerie Fire over that corner. Then she gigled because the coffin, Te'n, Thanatos and the Platinum pieces in the coffin were all glowing purple.

Wait, Platinum pieces?!?!

Thanatos quickly bent down and poked the pile of Platinum pieces with his dagger, and then finding no traps, swept them onto the floor to count and divide up equally, since Te'n WAS standing over his shoulder and all. Turned out there were 600 pieces, giving each of us seventy-five pieces. We were quite happy about this :)

The four of us checking the vats just found some brown residue, same as we found in the cauldron over the fire, and several closed earthenware containers. Kap started shaking them, and found that in seven of them she could hear something. These we moved to the stone table with the stoppered bottle, and went to check the hide.

Wren, the wizard, had cast Read Magic, and explained that the runes were a message:

"What mysterious happenings have their birth here? Only the greatest feats of Wizardry, for with every element of earth, water and sky is but a tool."

Not knowing what that meant, we all took a closer look at the skeleton. It appeared to have been hung there, quite deliberately, and some of the bones were being held in place with wires. When Thanatos checked it for traps, it's arm fell off, but nothing else was found.

We then decided to rest for an hour (the DM said that that would give us each a spell back, me Cure light wounds, Kap Faerie Fire, and Wren recovered Detect magic for use on the containers and stoppered bottle), eating some rations and thinking about what we'd spend or Platinum on.

(During the rest period, the DM had some of us roll d20s. Kap and Rixa rolled well, 17 and 19, while Thanatos, Wren and Xander didn't, 8, 8 and 9. We were a tad nervous about this as we, the players, got some food. Especially when the DM said we could feel our joints stiffening a little, for a temp loss of 1 dex. Contact Poison? Lingering Curse? Well, you'll see.)

That Itching Feeling...

After about an hour, and after Detect Magic revealed nothing magical within the room beyond Adara's bow, Thanatos' dagger, Kap's ring, Xander's robe, and something of Rixa's, a few of us mentioned that we weren't feeling too good, joints feeling bad and such like that. Thanatos was even scratching at his right leg, when he took a closer look at it. Oh look, a new tattoo. Wait, that's not a tattoo...It's a PLATINUM PIECE!

Thanatos and Xander checked their money pouches, and found nothing out of the ordinary with the seventy-four pieces found within. Hold up...

The rest of the party also checked their pouches and bodies, and while Bladesong, Adara and Te'n were fine, the rest were all missing a Platinum piece. And had gained a treasure under our skin. Thanatos had his on his leg, Rixa, Kap and Wren under their arms, and Xander had his on his wrist.
(Thanatos was marking out his inventory, with the help of Dm and Adara's young son, and Thanatos said for him to write, and I quote, "One possessed Pp." Say it, you'll figure out why we were paralyzed with laughter for a bit.)

We were, understandably, confused and scared about what to do. All but Bladesong and Te'n put their pieces on the floor or back into the coffin, hoping that might help, and Bladesong went and picked up all of the pieces we'd abandoned. His funeral, we thought, but we were too busy worrying about our new body ornaments to stop him.

Thanatos took his dagger and, very gently, poked the coin beneath his skin. It wriggled. Taking a closer look, Thanatos then noticed six LEGS coming from the coin, just shapes beneath the skin.

Urgh, we weren't happy. Kap was especially nervous. Remembering what the hide said, about the elements and things having their birth, Xander said that maybe fire would help, since it was an element that wasn't mentioned. Kap was enthusiastically in favor of this, and she and Xander started moving some logs they found under a table to the firepit.

When the logs were moved though, a ring was heard falling from the logs to the floor. Thanatos jumped to pick it up, and tried to see if it was worth anything. (since the fire was crackling by then, I joked that Thanatos should check it for an inscription, close to or even in the flames.

DM: What languages do you speak?
Thanatos: Uh, Common, Elven and Gnoll.
Dm: In an elven script you read "One Ring to Rule...
*lots of laughter*)

The ring turned out to merely be a steel ring colored gold, and Thanatos gave it to Wren. By this time, the fire was lit and crackling, and we were ready to experiment. Adara put her dagger in the flames, heating it up, and then held the hot metal near the piece on Thanatos' leg. It wriggled again. Giving Adara the go ahead, she stabbed the piece with her dagger.

Letting out a loud shriek, the piece drops out of the leg, curling up and clearly dead on the floor. Celebrating, Adara then de-coined the rest of us. Being cautious, Te'n held one coin of his near the fire, but had no reaction. We then turned to Bladesong, the 520 Platinum Piece richer bard...He didn't give up a single piece, and I'm sure we all hoped he had 520 Coin ticks in his pouch.

Oh yeah, the DM said, as we finished.
"You've just had your first encounter with the Coin Tick."

The DM remembered encountering these fellas in an adventure he'd played a long time ago, and doing a google search for "Coin Tick Dungeons Dragons" or something, he found exactly the adventure he'd remembered in a 1980 Dragon Magazine.

I haven't looked it up, since he said he also used a few other things from that adventure, but it burrows under the skin, and aims to totally paralyze the victim, then lay its eggs. Apparently, fire does work, but it was unrelated to the script on the wall.

(Rixa then got a phone call, actually asking for a horse shoer, "Did they mean a farrier?" I said, and then DM said he'd actually once received a sales call from a Funeral Home because "his number had come up." Also somehow we got on the topic of a monster eating the gnome. Kap said that she was sure that she wouldn't taste good, but I said "But you look like you'd taste good."

"Friend or Foe, and what do you seek?"

Deciding to check the bottle on the table, since the Coin Ticks were vanquished, Thanatos inspects the bottle, but can't tell if there's anything inside. most of the party, seeing him inspecting the bottle and ready for trouble, stands near the doors.

Thanatos: I'd like to open it-
Party: *gasps*
Thanatos: -but what I really do is put the bottle down and inspect the door in the south wall.
Party: *sighs of relief*

Me, passing the Dm a note: I put the bottle in my pack, wrapped in my blanket.
DM: Add Bottle Room IX to your inventory.

Xander looks forward to finding out what it is, if anything, later. Thanatos and Adara listened at the door, but only heard a faint shuffling. Thanatos searched for traps, but finding nothing, attempted the lock. The sharp needle coated in a green liquid shooting into his palm just underscored the fact that he couldn't unlock it. He took 2 damage, and is poisoned. (Thanatos is not having a great night.)

Stepping aside, Te'n then attempts to kick the door open, causing a loud vibrating boom to be heard in this room, and the room beyond. Thanatos moves back to the door to listen, but now hears nothing from beyond it.

Deciding to leave that room for now, the party moves toward the open secret door in the north, but are stopped when the door is yanked open by something on the other side, and a six-foot tall, brown-grey scaled humanoid with a fin steps into the room.

Kap: Friend or Foe and what do you seek?
Creature: *in garbled common* Snacksssss...
All: That answers that question.

As four more of the creatures move into the room,a nd we prepare for battle, an almost overpowering stench from a black oil on the creatures weakens several of us. They attack first, striking with both their claws and teeth, merely scraping Adara, but Thanatos is bitten hard, left with 2 hitpoints.

Adara, Te'n and Bladesong all attack with arrows, and most hit. Kap attempts to take out the creature in front of her with a flail to the kneecaps, but misses, merely hitting the ground between the legs. Xander hits one with his staff, and Wren begins murmuring as Thanatos flinches from the poison in his veins, taking 1 damage.

(We all lean forward as initiative is rolled for the groups. Te'n rolls us a five...And DM rolls a 1!)

More arrows fly, but Thanatos, knowing this is his all or nothing chance, leaps for the creature's head...and rolls a 12. Needed a 13.

DM: You(the 5'2" Elf) leap towards the creatures head(6'), but your dagger glances off the fin on top.
Thanatos: I do have a dagger of +2 random targeting, does that help?
DM: ...It does indeed. Instead of glancing off, your dagger lodges and cuts into the creatures skull, holding you aloft as the creature leans closer to your face, snarling.

With the 1hp Thief hanging from the creatures skull, Wren's spell finally activates.

Unleashing her Magic Missiles, she sends two into the one holding Thanatos aloft, killing it and allowing Thanatos to slip to the floor. She also sends three more into the other creatures, leaving one alive.

This last one dodges Xander's staff, but Kap sends her flail straight and true into the creatures chin, crushing bones and ending the battle. Seeing it fall, Xander quickly grasps Thanatos at his wrist, casting Cure light wounds to heal him for 4 hitpoints.

Just in time too, as Thanatos suffers another attack of the poison, but the spells seems to have cleaned the poison from his system.

Thanatos cuts out a fang from the Troglodyte(because that's what they were) he'd attacked, and we rested again.

And in Cabinet Number One...

Bladesong was watching out the scret door as we rested, but seeing a hyena-faced creature looking at the open secret door, Bladesong slams it shut and runs to the center of the room, screaming about a creature at the door. Given the description, Thanatos calls out:

Thanatos: *in Gnoll* Friend or Foe and what do you seek?
Gnoll: Let me in meat things, I want to gnaw your bones.
Xander: *also in Gnoll* Sorry, No.
Adara: What did it say?
Xander: It talked of meat things and our bones. Definitely not friendly.

Given that the northern route was now blocked, we walked into the southern room where the Troglodytes had come from. Entering the large room, we see a large black slab of stone with runes along the top, two long tables, and several cabinets along the north wall. The elves went along the perimeter, looking for hidden doors because we saw no obvious doors. Wren discovered a door along the west wall, back into the corridor we'd come from before, outside the kitchen.

Thanatos, curious about the cabinets, opened one of them to find about twenty earthenware containers like before, and a larger container. The larger one was made of glass and contained...A dead black cat suspended in liquid.

Xander, curiouser than before, took down one of the containers and opened it finding a powder that his druidic experience told him was dried shrooms. Quickly putting the lid back on and replacing the container, he opens another. Kap, Adara and Thanatos also begin opening containers and find, among other things:

Dead bees and flies, hickory chips, some quartz, tree resin, dog dung, cinnamon which Thanatos put in his pack, crushed marble, coal, sulfur which Kap thrust under Xander's nose to find out what it was, some Halfling blood and more. All harmless spell components.

Seeing that nothing bad came from opening the containers, Thanatos took the cork plug out of the cat(s jar), and, well, stuff happened.

The liquid instantly evaporated, Thanatos dropped the jar, the cat shook itself and leapt out of the jar's wreckage and ran towards the door in the north. We'd taken the precaution of closing it, and the cat stopped at the door and looked back at us. We weren't gonna open it, but before we could move to grab the cat, it WALKED RIGHT THROUGH THE DOOR!

Thanstos: I hope Sally scares the Gnoll up there.

Shaking ourselves back together from that...experience, we headed back to the secret door. Xander remembered a rumor he heard in town though, about a magical stone in this fortress that if you chip off a piece and place it in your mouth, you get a wish. (DM, because he said he felt tired and out of character, confirmed the existence of a magical stone.) We still decided to leave this slab alone.

Missing: Carrion Crawler

Going through the secret door, and remembering the Gnoll in the north, we cautiously moved south into the corridor with teh Carrion Crawler. Who wasn't there.

We moved forward cautiosly, and as Te'n searched the five bodies, we looked at the situation as we saw it:

A human fighter lying against the wall with his broken sword; a spellcaster, impaled on the wall with another sword; a dwarven fighter with his greathammer, though it looked like he crawled a bit before dying; and two human fighter that look like guards, one with his helmet bashed in. Searching them yielded a few gold pieces, and the wizard had a pouch of garlic cloves in his robes.

We think that either something killed them all, or this was actually two groups that met and killed each other, but either way, someone survived. I volunteered to hold the garlic in my robes, and also took the inside out pouch next to the dwarf and turned it rightside in and storing it in my pack.

Moving beyond there, we traveled north again, but since the players were tired, we paused outside a door in a corridor, not knowing what's on the other side.

"We open the door and find the cat from before, speaking to a black dragon," I joked.

And that's where we ended. We aim to play again Friday the 17th, or Saturday the 18th, depending on whether the DM has to work nights that week.

JadedDM
2009-07-04, 07:17 PM
So are there any other House Rules in play other than the NG Druid thing?

Bigbrother87
2009-07-04, 08:03 PM
So are there any other House Rules in play other than the NG Druid thing?

That I can Remember:


Druids just have to be a Neutral, not totally True Neutral

Resting for about an hour will restore 1 spell

Most encumbrances are hand waved, unless it's funny(like me picking Kap up), or unreasonable.

He gave each person an 18, to put in the required ability for our class, and then had us roll 6d6 and add the three highest, assign as wanted. Because of the 18, we do not gain the extra percentages of Xp.

Copper and Silver pieces have been done away with, we're just using Gold and platinum, mostly for ease of use for the new players.

He does award Roleplaying Xp. Thanatos got 100xp for looking at the Coin Tick and finding the legs, and Adara got 100xp while the rest of us got 75xp for figuring out together how to get rid of the Ticks.

My Robe is a Robe of Holding. 11 pockets like the Deeppockets spell, 9lbs or .5 cubic foot of space in each. I'm sure whether this item existed already or not, but he gave it to me when I made the character because I talked about having my rats living in my robes.

EDIT: I remembered that he has each group in combat roll for initiative, and then just go around the table for what we do, instead of individually.

Which maybe why Magic Missile took a round to complete and cast, instead of the 1 added to initiative from the PHB.


I can't think of any others, but he reads these journals too, like the other players, so maybe he'll tell me of more and I'll tell you, but I'll be sure to ask him for you.

ColdSepp
2009-07-04, 08:37 PM
Fun read. I am not very familiar with 2E, but still enjoyed the read.

Bigbrother87
2009-07-18, 03:06 PM
Tonight, we get to play again!

Developments? We're unfortunately losing our Bard. He can't make the trip for as much as we want/will be playing, so he's leaving the game. But, that brings us to a question.

How will the DM remove the Bard, who has ~520 Platinum pieces, 445 of which belonged to the rest of the party before the Coin Tick incident?


Death? Unlikely.
Played by the DM/Dm's assistant? Possible, depends on the DM's assistant.
Running away in the night with our money, perhaps to return later? I suspect we have a winner here! And if this happens, I KNOW Thanatos, at least, wishes to rob him blind first.


We'll be having a session of about 4 hours, and I'll be taking copious notes again, so you can expect a write-up to appear either late tomorrow, or early next week.

Bigbrother87
2009-07-25, 05:46 PM
The DM has said the title for that night shall be “Unintended Consequence,” but not in a way you’d think…

By now you should know our party.

Ardara the Elven ranger, Te’nlai the Elven Fighter, Le’aelwren the Elven Wizard. Thanatos the Elven thief and Zexis Bladesong the Bard(but we don’t know what’s going to happen to him, because the player can’t keep making the trip). The two human Druids, Rixa and Xander(Me), and Kap, the gnome cleric with a flail and no sense of smell. We also have the DM, and the DM’s assistant. Unfortunately, Bladesong’s player was absent…

The Party and Group playing 7/19/09

Xander Goodson (Me), Male NG Human Druid and official mapkeeper for the group
Thanatos (my long time friend), Male NG Elf Thief
Ardara Brennan (married to DM), Female NG Elf Ranger
Te'nlai Trevenwell (friend of Ardara/DM, player married to Le'aelwren's player), Male NG Elf Fighter and voted leader of the group
Le'aelwren (friend of Ardara/DM, player married to Te'nlai's player), Female NG Elf Wizard
Rixa Liran (friend of Ardara/DM, roommates with Kap), Female NG Human Druid
Kap (friend of Ardara/DM, roommates with Rixa), Female CG Gnome Cleric
Zexis Songblade Bladesong, Male CN Half-Elf Bard
The DM (married to Ardara)
DM’s Assistant(another long time friend)


We played for about five hours, with an hour’s break time for food, joking, fun spattered all throughout. As you have read, I’m sure, we begin the session outside a door in a corridor inside the fortress of a powerful wizard and warrior friend, not at all sure what we may meet.

My! What a lovely place for a wall…Or two…
We’re all in the hallway, Thanatos, Te’n and Ardara in front, checking the door, then Wren the wizard, we two druids, Kap, and Bladesong’s got our backs. And our money, but, that’s besides the point.

Thanatos doesn’t find any traps, and successfully unlocks the door, but we all hear a scraping of stone on stone, and a muffled cry. Kap, turning around to check down the corridor, sees nothing. Does a double take, and notices that Bladesong’s disappeared! (The players gasp in horror! For some if only because the platinum pieces have also disappeared…)

Moving back down the corridor, we find a spot of solid stone wall that looks like it rotates, but we can’t budge it. Not wanting to have a perfectly good unlocked door go to waste, Thanatos opens the door and looks through onto a brick wall. We’ve successfully found a door to nowhere…Hmm, small correction. A TRAPPED door to nowhere.

Not seeing any mechanisms on the door, behind it, or on the jamb, we agree to close the door and lock and unlock it again, keeping a close watch on the walls as we do. Locking it does nothing, but unlocking it again, we see the wall quickly spinning around, but no bard. Locking the door a second time, Thanatos is about to unlock it a third time, but before he can do more than insert his picks, we hear, from down the corridor…

“Stupid Thief! Setting off traps without checking first!” Bladesong says, moving along the wall back towards us.

What happened IRL(A voice echoes, saying these words and more, as Bladesong’s player moves along a hallway wall towards the table, decked out in full gear, including red and blue Mountain Dew in potion bottles and a short sword! See we, the players, had been told Bladesong’s player wouldn’t be able to make it anymore, so let’s just say it was a tad…immersing, to have him show up like that after we’d begun. He’d also been forwarded all the Facebook messages we’d sent to the DM about ways to have the character leave, while leaving us the cash…The good news? Bladesong knows nothing about that!)

Bladesong explained in few words that there was a short corridor behind the hall, littered with the corpses of previous friends of earlier lock pickers who had also set off this trap. Thanatos said “But it was only I who let you out!” “And who got me in there in the first place!” Bladesong replied. (Much roleplaying came of this, including a simmering feud between the two of them. A an especially fun part was when Kap, the two foot tall gnome, stepped between them and told them to calm down, or they’d deal with her and a flail.)

The Unintended Consequences Part…
Continuing down the corridor, the part finds another door at the end of the hall. (I had to go into the kitchen for something at this point, so I just saw this going on.) Thanatos checked the door, didn’t find any traps, but couldn’t unlock it. Te’n and Kap bashed the door in, and Thanatos politely asked Bladesong to precede him in. Bladesong politely declined. (I see the DM passing notes to everyone, as the party enters the room…)

DM: As you enter the featureless room, eight skeletons appear before you, immediately focusing on Thanatos.

Thanatos: *gulp*
DM: They open their mouths, and begin to sing…
All: Happy Birthday to you…!

(Yes, it was a surprise for Thanatos’ player, whose birthday was near the game day. I came from the kitchen with the cake and candles, we sang, gave gifts, and then ate some food.)

DM: As the skeletons finish their song, they collapse into piles.
Party: Now’s a good time to stop for the night.
DM: *grinning* Well, ok, mark where you are…
Party: NO! Just sleep for the night.

After a good night’s rest, we arm up in the morning, when Thanatos decides he wants to take a skeleton. Having the fact pointed out to him that we didn’t have a way to carry a full skeleton yet, he picked up just a skull…

Leaving the room, Ardara listens to see if she could hear anything, and the DM starts singing “Jimmy Crack corn, and I don’t care” rather loudly. The Party(the players) all turn to Thanatos’ trophy, which is making this racket.

Thanatos: (I ask politely) skull, could you please be quiet?
Skull: Certaintely.
Thanatos: Thank you.
Skull: You’re Welcome. *starts another song*
Thanatos: (what have I got…?) *looks for a gag, pulls out 50 feet of rope to tie the skull’s jaw shut*
Skull: Ooh! Kinky!

(Thinking about it, I remark that’d it’d be funny to tie an end to the skull’s jaw, and drop him down any dark holes we find to A. Act as a loud target to tell us if there’s anything down there we don’t want to meet, and B. to maybe shout out how deep it goes and what’s down there. The Dm’s exact words?

“Oh, what have I done?”

Yorick, the Singing Skull of Irish Brogue
(No, Yorick didn’t spring fully formed into the campaign. The skeletons were just there to sing for the party, but the DM had them just collapse, instead of disappearing. He then figured it’d be entertaining to have the skull be able to sing, even detached from it’s body.

Finding a use for an annoying, singing skull? That’s should be easy stuff for an adventuring party.

Thanatos gave the skull it’s name, Yorick, when he wrote it down on his character sheet. He also discovered the second part of the curse when Thanatos’ player, for fun, had used an Irish accent a few times since picking up the skull. The party decided that he should keep it, because A. it would help him distinguish between in character and out of character comments, and B. because it seemed to annoy the DM… And thus, Yorick the Singing Skull of Irish Brogue was born, now played by the DM’s assistant.

Behind Door Number One, or All That Glitters Isn’t Worth It…
Returning down the hallway of revolving stone, and hanging a left we found a door. After the usual shenanigans, we step through into a sparely furnished bedroom. An expensive looking Rosewood bed and bedside table stand in one corner, a table with three chairs supports a pewter pitcher and some goblets. And besides two doors, there’s not much here…Oh wait, there’s a large mural depicting a great wizard on a mountain scaring an entire army away with spells… I wonder who’s bedroom this was?

Acting impulsively, Rixa goes to the bedside table and tries to open the drawer on it. Feeling a prick, she pulls her hand away, feeling it burning within. I took her hand and cast cure light wounds upon it, but she said the burning remained. Thanatos attempted to disarm the trap, but was wary and unsure if he did or not, so was shy of trying to unlock it. Wren then cast Detect magic upon the room, and said she saw a white light shining from within the drawer.

I then got the bright idea of using the two feet of rope I had in my pocket to tie a loop around the handle and pull it open that way. I pulled, and the piece of furniture fell forward onto the floor. Using the rope to lift it back up, I sheepishly stepped aside so Thanatos could actually try to unlock it. He did, and as I braced the back he used the rope to pull the drawer open, revealing a simple gold ring. Wren snatched it up, but was unable to learn anything more, even when Thanatos looked it over as well. (meaning, other than glowing white magically, we know nothing about it. And beyond actually putting it on, and opening the stoppered jar in my backpack, we’re not exactly sure how to learn more about these things. But, that’s the fun of it.)

Moving to the western most door, Thanatos also opens that one, revealing a 30-foot hallway with two treasures chests overflowing with gold and gems at the end. Thanatos actually restrained himself, as we discussed the impossibility of this. Remembering the coin ticks, Rixa and I start dismantling the table and chairs for kindling.

Party: *various plans are discussed*
Me: Maybe we could throw a certain singing someone down the hallway?
Bladesong: I don’t sing.
Me, deadpan: I was talking about the skull.

It’s finally decided that, though throwing the skull might be fun, as muffled rap noises can be heard from the backpack, we used a grappling hook and rope instead. Throwing the hook down the hall, it passes harmless through the chests, clattering against the wall at the end. The illusion vanishing, it’s obvious that this hall was probably the wizard’s spell testing room, judging by the burns on the floor under the illusion.

Rixa and I stop breaking up the furniture for firewood.

Behind Door Number Two, or Zelagar MAY Have Already Won…
So, having been seriously disappointed with that door, and it’s contents, we turned to the other door in this bedroom. Going through the usual rigmarole with the door, it’s opened to show…some cloaks, including one with pewter buttons down its back and bone clasps, bolts of cloth, a table with books, another with papers, and not much else.

Wren steps into the room, looking for magic, but finding none, she steps over to the books. A history of the local area in Common, a book about local weather, a book in a language she can’t decipher, and a book in Elven about herbology. This she hands to me as I move to the papers on a different table.
It’s papers about food stock and shipping manifests, construction notes and reports, all dated at least three decades ago. We’d discovered the wizard’s mail. (personally, if this was a video game, I would have poured over these reports for information about this fortress and what it contains, but figuring the DM didn’t exactly have those prepared, plus it would take time from the other players, I let them be.)

Thanatos looked at the bolts of cloth, but they weren’t worth anything after being moth eaten. Ardara looks over the cloaks, but when she tries to remove the one with the pewter buttons, it moves.

(My reaction? Quick gasp of horror, and then one word, squeaked out through pursed lips: “Cloaker.”)

Releasing it’s hold on the pegs in the wall, the Cloaker turned to face us, allowing us to see the face on the other side. Seeing Ardara as the closest target, it tries to strike her with it’s bony claws, but misses. I try to hit it with my staff, and Thanatos with his dagger, but it dodges but hits, only to be hit hard by Kap’s flail. Wren prepares Magic Missile, while Bladesong throws two daggers at the creature. The first hits, lodging in the fleshy material of the cloaker, but his second dagger just knocks the first loose and onto the floor.

Seeing Kap as the more dangerous target, the Cloaker flies forward and envelopes Kap, biting down hard on her neck. We hear a muffled scream, and then the shape inside the Cloaker goes still. (Kap was reduced to negative 2 hit points, our first “death” of the campaign.)

Te’n and Thanatos move forward to hit it, but just barely dodge the Cloaker’s double tails. Wren fires off her five Magic Missiles, doing enough damage to kill the thing. We peel it off Kap, and I cure her with Cure Light Wounds. Of course after that we rested again in Zelagar’s room.

(Had a fun moment here. I for some reason though it was a d4, rolled a 4. DM then says it’s actually a d6, so I rerolled a 2. Then I checked the spell, saw it was ACTUALLY a d8, and rerolled a 1. The DM was kind enough to let me reroll again to get a result of 7. Also, The DM now realizes that we’ve been using Magic Missile wrong, and thus has instituted some changes. I detail those, as well as a few other things, at the end of this post.)

The Wind, It Speaks To Me…
Leaving Zelagar’s room, we headed south again. Turning east, we found a metal door. After opening it, all but Kap and Bladesong step through, and it slams shut. We on the other side of it found ourselves in a stiff wind that extinguished our torches, though our lantern remains lit enough for us to see a large tunnel, with wind coming from the north-east and weapons hung upon the wall.

Te’n turns to reopen the door, but Kap comes charging through it as he does. Because the door opened in and north, the wind blows it closed if we don’t hold it. We still tested again to make sure we could open it from this side.

Turning our attention to the weapons, we found a large collection of spears, swords, hammers, some shields and assorted other weapons. None of it was really worth picking up, and we figured we’d found the armory for the fortress. Moving north-east, we discovered the wind was coming from a natural shaft on the rocks about 40 feet north-east. Another 40 feet in that direction, we found a door that opened towards us. Checking it and finding nothing, Thanatos opens it and we hear the sounds of a large crowd of beings in the room beyond. Ardara stiffens up, and some of the party are able to understand the Orcish words being said.

Te’n slowly moves forward into the room and peers around a corner into large room with long tables and some bunks, obviously a barracks for the TWENTY ORCS he saw there.

And The Wind Says…Run Away!
Quickly moving backwards and out of the room, Te’n is still spotted by a lone Orc. Quickly relating what he saw to us, Thanatos says “I soil my shorts.” (my mind’s buzzing with what we might be able to do tactically, not remembering anything from the Monster Manual about them, so I’m completely unsure if we could even survive these 20 orcs.)

The lone Orc that spotted Te’n comes around the corner, and spotting all of us(we’d forgotten to close the door), charges forward giving a battle cry. Te’n closes the door as we quickly give options.

Me: We can’t get away fast enough, unfortunately.
Rixa: I pull out my sling.
Ardara: I nock an arrow in my bow, holding myself back(Orc is her favored enemy, they burned her village down.)
Kap: I pull out some packets of sulfur, preparing to throw them.
Wren: I prepare to cast Burning Hands.
Bladesong: Forget this. I open the door and charge forward into the room, assuming my Blade Stance(not sure where this is from, but it gives us all a +1 to Attack).
Party: *gasps of surprise and shock*
DM: You open the door and charge forward, meeting the first Orc right beyond. You also see four more Orcs moving around the corner after the first’s battle cry. What do the rest of you do?

The choice of combat or not having been taken from us, Te’n, Ardara, Thanatos and Kap move forward into the room. Rixa positions herself so she can shoot through the door, Wren is still preparing, and I stand to protect Rixa and Wren from anything that might come through. Begin Combat.

Us Versus Them…
(What follows is as close to blow by blow as I have recorded, but please realize I’ve missed some strikes and attacks and actions, and just take it for what it is.)

Round 1
Round 1 was mostly the movement, though Ardara had time to try to hit the first with an arrow.

DM: Ok, with your +5 for favored, +1 from Bladesong’s stance, Thac0 and his AC…You only need a 2 or higher to hit it.
Ardara: *rolls a natural 1*
Party: *many heads are smacked*

Kap also threw a sulfur packet, but I’m unsure what kind of damage or affect it had.

Round 2
Wren moves forward past me to burn the five orcs in front of the party, burning 4 seriously, but killing one outright. Te’n strikes and kills a burning one with his longsword, as does Thanatos’ dagger to an Orc skull. Rixa strike from behind, lodging a stone into an Orc’s eye socket, also killing it. Kap grabs her Flail and moves forward, and I follow, taking a spot in the front line. More Orcs move around the corner…

Tally: Us 4, Them 0

Round 3
The Orcs attacked first here, striking Bladesong in the shoulder for 4 damage, and another hitting Ardara for 1. An Orc looked down at Kap, wielding his double-bladed axe, but she was able to dodge it. Another hit me with his axe, doing 1 damage, but one with a short sword skewered Wren for 3 damage, leaving her with 1 hit point left. Wren, not having a choice steps back and prepares Magic Missile.

Bladesong guts one with his longsword, as does Te’n, and Ardara takes another with her arrow. I swing my quarterstaff around and down into an Orc’s skull, leaving a staff-sized furrow in it’s skull as it collapses. Kap swings her flail up at her Orc, but it glances off the Orc’s helmet.

Tally: Us 8, Them 0

Round 4
Initiative is rolled. They get a 4, we get a 3…That means they go first.

Kap tries to dodge an axe strike, but it catches her for 1 damage, and the rest of the Orcs miss, or took this time to move forward and/or around the corner from the tables towards us.

Thanatos strikes the one in front of him, driving his dagger into it’s guts, and then twisting it up and into the hert, killing it. Bladesong (rolls a Nat 20, giving double damage) swings his longsword and cuts one “Damn near in half” according to the DM. Ardara, seeing the trouble Wren was in, shot her arrow through that Orc’s throat, killing it. Kap, being tired of dodging, swings her flail into an Orc’s groin as he brought his double-axe up. A strangled cry leaves his throat, as he falls backwards to be gutted on his own axe.

Te’n nearly cuts off an Orc’s arm, and Rixa follow-up stone knocked it backwards, dead. Wren launches her five Magic Missiles(As I said, it’ll be explained at the end) to hit the five nearest Orcs each for 2 damage.

Tally: Us 13, Them 0

Round 5
Initiative is rolled again…They roll a 2…AND WE ROLLED A 1! Bleugh. But they all missed their attacks!

Ardara’s arrow knocks one back so Blaesong’s dagger strike is able to kill it. Te’n guts one with his longsword, and Kap’s Flail hits the Orc in front of me, though it also had a helmet. Wren moves back again, drawing her dagger as a last resort.

Tally: Us 15, Them 0

Round 6
Initiative is AGAIN 2 vs. 1 in their favor, and Te’n and Ardara are both hit. Kap, however, was knocked to negatives by an Orc’s attack, falling forward to be covered by her killer’s corpse when Bladesong’s Longsword struck it down immediately after. Bladesong also take the Orc in front of me out with his dagger, and Thanatos guts another with his as Ardara shoots the second to last down.

Seeing nineteen corpses in front of us, the last Orc hesitates for a second, and I move forward to hit it. (I hold up my d6 for damage. “Ok,” I say, “I give me a 6.” It rolled a 5)

My quarter staff stuns it for a second, but it recovers and starts cursing at us, but Rixa silences it by simply and easily killing it with a stone slung to the head.

Tally: Us 20, Them 1

Te’n and Thanatos rushed over to move the Orc off of Kap, and I cast Cure Light Wounds to bring her back to safe levels.

And that’s where we stopped, since it was 1:30am and the DM had a lot of Experience to figure out who to give to. I apologize that it took this long write-up, but now you only have a week to wait for the next session, since we’ll be playing again on the 31st. The DM has some changes to institute then, and here’s what he’s told us so far:

DM’s Changes:
“I will be nerfing Magic Missile somewhat - I've already mentioned it to Wren. In short, it was due to my own mistaken reading of the spell description that she should not be shooting 5 missiles out until level 9. Technically, she should only be shooting one at a time right now. However, I will still allow it to be 2 or 3.

I have an idea for a new "points" type of system that I will run by everyone in detail to see what you all think, but I think you'll like it. It doesn't take anything away, but offers some advantages.

Basically what I'm putting into place is a “Brownie Points” system.

Now, this does not mean that you get Brownie Points (BPs) by bringing me a few of my favorite things (but it doesn't hurt!).

One thing I've noticed is that I have not handed out XP as much as I had intended to for good role playing. So far, everyone has done a fantastic job acting in character, and I have only rewarded that on a few occasions. This isn't for lack of effort on your part, in the least, it's simply my absent mindedness at the time (there's a LOT to keep track of behind that screen).

So, in trying to figure out a way to help myself remember, I decided to punch things up a bit, and make it more than just a few XP here and there.

I'm still going to try to award XP for great roleplaying and great ideas. However, this is also where the Brownie Points come in. Anytime someone really shows me their character . . . I mean watching you interact, I can see more of your character than YOU, then BPs will be awarded (think of Zexis's reappearance, or Kap defiantly facing the Troglodytes for examples).

Likewise, if someone introduces a great idea, or even really throws ME a curveball (yes, Yorick!), that would earn one as well.

They will not be horribly common, but they will not be exactly rare, either. I will do my best to award them every time I feel they are appropriate.

Now, by now I know you're asking “well what the heck ARE these points and what are they for?”. I'm going to keep a tally behind the screen of who has earned what, but I'd also like each of you to put a spot on your character sheets to keep track of these as well.

As the campaign progresses (and since these are Player rewards, you may hang on to these on even if your character does not survive), you can accumulate these points and may cash them in whenever you like.

So far, the reward system is as follows:

2 points – you can re-roll anything. Example – you are down to one hit point, as is your opponent, you roll and lose initiative. Knowing that your opponent is likely to finish you off, you cash in 2 points for a chance at re-rolling initiative (note – this means only you re-roll).

3 points – you can re-roll anything, and gain a bonus. Using the example above, you would get a +1 to your initiative roll. An attack roll or saving throw might get +2 or +3, a thieving skill might get an extra 10 or 15%, etc.

5 points – you can re-do any action. If you've seen Galaxy Quest, think of the Omega 13, which reversed time by about a minute. Basically in this instance, you would be able to change any IMMEDIATE action that you have just taken. Example – you step into a room and suddenly the door seals shut behind you, cutting you off from the rest of the party. Cashing in 5 BPs immediately afterward would allow you to reconsider going through the door, or to examine the door and doorway more carefully before entering. This will take you back literally only a few seconds to the last immediate action taken. And that action is by anybody – if two people are trapped by that door, and one of them decides to try to pick the lock or examine the door more closely, neither player can then request to go back to before they entered the room.

A few more notes:

Whether you succeed or fail, the final result stands. If you cash in 2 points to re-roll an attack that you missed on, then the second roll is the final result, even if you miss again.

You may only use your BPs once in any specific circumstance. Likewise, another player may not piggyback cashing in their points with yours. In other words, if a player uses their points to go back and avoid a trap, and then the trap gets sprung again anyway, neither that player nor another player can then attempt to use their points go back on the same action.

You may not combine your BPs with someone else's.

The request to cash them in must be immediate in all cases. If you roll for initiative and lose, then take a critical hit on the first attack, you may not then use points to re-roll initiative.

This is a completely new idea, and not something I've used or seen in action before, so it's still in the developmental stages. If anybody has any suggestions, questions, etc., feel free to shoot me a message and I'll answer.

There will also be one or two other things that may get introduced into the session next week as well, and I will go over this whole system for everyone as well then.”

Also, Bladesong will be remaining with us for now, as detailed above under "My! What a great place for a Wall. Or two..."

So, um, yeah, we’re really looking forward to next week.

JadedDM
2009-07-25, 10:22 PM
What level are you guys?

Also, do you realize that in 2E, the lower initiative wins?

Bigbrother87
2009-07-26, 08:28 AM
What level are you guys?

Also, do you realize that in 2E, the lower initiative wins?

Right now, we're level 1, but Thanatos and Wren have the most XP and will probably level first. The former because of roleplaying, the latter because of combat. The DM messaged us again and let us know that Brownie Points will be in addition to Roleplaying XP, not replacing it.

Yes, but the DM has changed some rules, and whether high or low for Initiative makes little difference to us. Spells seem to all take a round to prepare, so far at least, and he may do that because a mindset of "higher is better" is already present at the table.

Bigbrother87
2009-08-21, 11:38 PM
Wow, it's been nearly a month...Sorry all.

First, the bad news. My computer with the play log quit working, so it'll be delayed more than it already has been. Since my last post, we've had one full session, and one session planning out our characters at level 9.

Why do that, you ask? To run The Tomb of Horrors of course!

Not really, it'll be a dream sequence for our characters, and there will be a tally system for how many times we die. The person who dies least, he/she gets an undisclosed reward. Also, when a character dies, the DM is going to have the player wait 10 minutes before he/she can bring their character back in.

This is an all day Saturday plan, tentatively set for Sept 12th. We decided to run ToH because Rixa will unfortunately be moving away in Oct. But, we have gotten a new player. I don't know her name yet, but she's a Ranger with a squirrel pet/companion, like my rats.

Until I can get the log back, I hope your games are always entertaining!