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Elfin
2010-10-24, 08:22 PM
Red Hand of Doom

When it comes to published adventures for 3.5, I consider myself pretty well versed. I’ve done Barrow of the Forgotten King. I’ve done White Plume Mountain. I’ve taken a stab at Tomb of Horrors, run A Dark and Stormy Knight, played Dry Spell and Base of Operations, and quite a few others.
But never in my gaming career have I played what’s probably the best and most well known 3.5 adventure of all: The Red Hand of Doom.
I’ve wanted to run The Red Hand of Doom (which I’ll abbreviate RHOD from here on out) for quite a while, but my gaming group’s simply never gotten around to it. Just recently, though, inspired by Saintheart’s excellent Red Handbook of Doom (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171284), I finally blew the dust off my copy and convinced my group to give it a try.
Now, there are a multitude of great RHOD campaign journals, amongst them Saph’s, AslanCross’s, and kjones’s. Following in their footsteps, I thought I’d try writing up my own (though I doubt I’ll manage to achieve the same quality). I hope you enjoy it.


The Group:
There’ll be nine people in our group for most of the campaign: I’ll be DMing, and there’ll be eight players. We usually game on Saturdays, so I’ll be updating this journal every Saturday or Sunday.


Modular Characters:
This turned into a bit of a tangent during writing, so it’s spoilered. You can read it if you wish or just move on to the next section, below.

In my group, we tend to dislike disrupting our main plot for the purpose of modules or stand-alone adventures. Because of this, we’ve worked out a compromise which I like to call “modular characters”: every player has, besides their main hero, a character used expressly for published adventures and one-shots.
These characters inhabit a sort of timeless vacuum; during adventures, they gain XP normally, but at the beginning of any adventure they’re always precisely the level they need to be. While we don’t, of course, have character sheets made for all twenty levels, they do have a pre-decided class progression that remains constant. The party’s wizard, for example, will always take levels 1-5 in wizard, 6-15 in Incantatrix, and so forth, regardless of the adventure being run.
As for treasure, it’s kept between adventures. Thus, if a modular character acquired a magic sword on an adventure in which they were, say, 5th level, they’d have the sword in an adventure during which they were 9th (but not during one in which they were 3rd). Note that, however, a character can’t bring more treasure than their standard WBL with them for an adventure – they must select a portion equal to their WBL upon beginning one. Any treasure left out is assumed to be stored away for safekeeping, and is unavailable.

That aside, the characters in play will be (alphabetized by original class):
- Warforged Barbarian (Charger build)
- Lesser Aasimar Cleric of Raziel
- Dwarf Crusader (Tank)
- Human Druid (Shapeshift variant)
- Snow Elf Swift Hunter build (Archer)
- Lesser Tiefling Rogue (TWFer)
- Wood Elf Warblade (Charger build)
- Human Wizard (Generalist)

All the characters were created using 60 Point-Buy, because our DM at the time figured it was better to risk an easy encounter than a TPK.
The characters are beginning at 4th level, lower than usual for RHOD because of the party’s large size. Optimization levels are moderate, but we all generally restrain ourselves.



Session One:

The first session today was sprung on me a week earlier than I expected, due to the absence of the usual DM; nonetheless, it was quite exciting to finally get a chance to run RHOD. While the players set to work writing up character sheets, I spent some time looking over my notes and generally getting ‘in the zone’.
Finally, though, once the chatter subsided, we were ready to begin.

Day 1:

For simplicity’s sake, we agreed that all the characters were led to the Elsir Vale with the ‘Vault of Vraath Keep’ hook. After a brief overview of the area, we began with the Marauder Attack encounter; this one I left unaltered, just to gage the party’s effectiveness.
The hiding hobgoblins rolled dismally on their Hide check, and so most of the party spotted them: within a round, the rank-and-file Horde warriors were almost decimated (the druid, in her panther form, was especially prominent in this area). The first hellhound was blasted out of the water by the frontliners; Uth-lar the bladebearer (who I’d rebuilt as a 5th-level warblade) ran out towards the party, only to be frozen by the cleric’s Hold Person. Zarr, the hobgoblin cleric, responded with a Hold Person of his own, but it was easily saved against.

The party, having by now dispatched the remaining regulars and hellhound, rushed towards Zarr and Uth-lar, promptly slaughtering them (partly thanks to Glitterdust, that DM’s eternal foe…). The second wave of hobgoblin regulars went the same way as their comrades.
After the battle was over, the crusader happily took Zarr’s +1 banded mail, and the rogue took Uth-lar’s two +1 shortswords.

Once the PCs arrived in Drellin’s Ferry, we had a nice bit of roleplaying at the watchpost, the upshot of which was a conversation and subsequent job offer from Captain Sorrana and Norro Wiston at the Old Toll House. Unfortunately, the players seemed rather indifferent towards Sorrana and Norro themselves; but, to my great surprise, they agreed to find (and hopefully eliminate) the hobgoblin threat for free, since they were ‘already going that way’.
And these guys call themselves adventurers? :smalltongue:

This done, they took rooms at the Old Bridge, ate, and went to sleep.


Day 2:

At around this time, the players realized that they’d forgotten to stock up on healing supplies. After scouting out the town, they commissioned Brother Derny in the temple of Pelor to scribe a few scrolls of vigor and lesser vigor; while they waited for him to be done, they explored the village and talked to a few of its inhabitants.
By the time the priest had finished, it was nightfall. The players collected their scrolls and then retired to their rooms at the Old Bridge.

Day 3:

Finally ready to set out, the PCs bid Norro and Soranna farewell, crossed the river Elsir, and were off. Due to an unlucky roll, they fought off a random encounter on the way in; around midday they reached Jorr’s cabin, and, at Norro Wiston’s advice, hired him to guide them to Vraath Keep.
After a short while they reached the bridge – and, of course, the hydra.
The hydra, noticing them, burst out of the water. The PCs quickly debated a course of action and at last decided to make a break for it, attempting to beat the hydra to the bridge…but had no such luck.
A bloody fight ensued, reducing the barbarian and crusader to negatives – but at last, sorely wounded, the monster started a retreat. The warblade, though, was having none of it. In a moment of what’s probably best called incredible stupidity, he used his Sudden Leap maneuver to jump from the bridge onto the hydra, hacking it to death. Bit of an epic moment there.

Once everyone was healed up, the players (led by an enthusiastic rogue) headed down to the wreckage of the cart, where they discovered the +1 mithral breastplate. By now, only the warblade lacked magic armor, so he took it.

The excitement over, the party continued through the Witchwood as dusk fell, until they stood in the macabre shadow of Vraath Keep. There they dismissed Jorr with thanks, as well as a few gold pieces for his trouble.
With Jorr gone (he preferred to risk walking a few miles in the dark than incur the wrath of any of Vraath Keep’s inhabitants), they spent a long while discussing a plan of attack. Some argued that it would be best to camp here and attack at daylight, but in the end it was agreed that they would attack now.

“Now” of course being relative. By then, what with character creation, the three combats, and a hefty dose of roleplaying around Drellin’s Ferry, the session had to come to a close.

Parting thoughts:
I thought the session went quite well, myself. The first encounter was a breeze for the characters, even with my buffed-up bladebearer, but I’d expected that. As for Drellin’s Ferry, I was quite pleased how eager the players were to explore the town and meet its different inhabitants – because of this, I think the day-long detour for scroll scribing, which might otherwise have been rather annoying, actually turned out to be invaluable. One thing I’ll have to work on, though, is roleplaying Norro Wiston and Sorrana Anitah; as they’re NPCs known throughout the campaign, I’d like the PCs to feel attached to them.
As for the hydra, I think that went pretty well, too. The action economy the party had against it was greatly reduced by the fact that the thing could stand in the river, ten feet from the bridge and out of melee reach, and still make six melee attacks – greatly reducing the effectiveness of the melee characters. In fact, given a few more rounds I think the thing could have caused a character death or two.
The players were obviously not that into Jorr, though, which is why I had him depart right away (despite it being night) rather than tag along for the rest of the Witchwood adventures like the book suggests.

Anyway; next week, we’ll be having a marathon session of sorts, which will hopefully be enough to get through Vraath Keep and Skull Gorge Bridge.

evil-frosty
2010-10-24, 10:56 PM
Sounds like a good time, you might want to change the levels/stats around the rank and file horde members simply because thay arent good at anything cept taking up space really.

For the dragon at Skull Gorge if you arent sure what to leave him as is to see how the party handles him or possibly boost him an age category for the enlarged party size.

AslanCross
2010-10-25, 12:19 AM
The first encounter is definitely one of the easier ones, especially if you've got a big party. No surprise.

The hydra one is probably one of the more interesting encounters in the first chapter due to the terrain; it's rather surprising to see that they chose to run away.

I'm a bit torn on how much you should buff up the later encounters. Sure, more players means action economy, but I'm tempted to think diminishing returns will come in somewhere (especially when the terrain is too constricting for the PCs).

Runestar
2010-10-25, 06:32 AM
He has 8 PCs. I am thinking that he can afford to at least double or even triple the ELs of subsequent encounters by adding more monsters.

Saph
2010-10-25, 06:57 AM
I'm a bit torn on how much you should buff up the later encounters. Sure, more players means action economy, but I'm tempted to think diminishing returns will come in somewhere (especially when the terrain is too constricting for the PCs).

I'd be seriously tempted to just double all the non-boss enemies, but that might end up slowing combat down too much. On the other hand, you can't use enemies with too high a CR, or they'll either kill PCs with a single hit, die in a couple of rounds due to action economy, or both.

Elfin
2010-10-25, 10:58 AM
For the dragon at Skull Gorge if you arent sure what to leave him as is to see how the party handles him or possibly boost him an age category for the enlarged party size.

My plan right now is to bump Ozyrrandion up an age category. Even though the terrain around Skull Gorge Bridge is heavily in Ozzy's favor, I think the party should be able to cope, even without annoying spells like Downdraft or Earthbind.

As for enemy numbers, right now I'm a bit torn. I might just start by buffing up enemy numbers by 50% or so and seeing how the party copes.

For Vraath Keep itself, I've given Karkilan a level in Boar Totem Barbarian and two in Dungeoncrasher Fighter (which I think will come in handy, given the enclosed nature of the courtyard). The manticore and worg riders I'm planning on leaving the same, but Koth I've given a more useful spell selection and two red arcaniss bodyguards.
Hopefully, that should provide plenty in the way of challenges.

For Skull Gorge, I haven't quite made up my mind. I really like the suggestion in the Red Handbook of adding a bard playing a wardrum, so I might end up just adding that and doubling the number of hobgoblin archers.

Thanks for all the feeback. I really appreciate it.

Elfin
2010-10-30, 10:16 PM
Our game started last night and continued until the afternoon today; we got through quite a chunk of the campaign. (There was some sleep involved, too, but that’s not important.)
Anyway, for your enjoyment…

Session Two:

By the end of last week’s session, the PCs had found their way to Vraath Keep. Night had settled thickly over the Witchwood, and Jorr Natherson, who had been the players’ guide, had departed.
Faced with two choices – camping and entering the Keep in the morning or proceeding now – the PCs chose the latter, and for better or worse made their way towards the ruined keep’s gate.

Day 3 (continued):
I was actually a bit concerned by the players’ choice to investigate now, when they were already drained from two encounters (one of them fairly tough). But on the other hand, they had a couple wands of healing spells and a half-dozen scrolls of the same, so I wasn’t unduly worried.
In any case, the players approached the keep’s entrance, and once they were close sent the two stealthiest members of the party – the ranger and rogue – to investigate further, with a message spell from the wizard so that they could report their findings.

(DM’s note: I forgot to mention, by the way, that last session I’d told the party about the smoke rising from the keep and the eerie light in the tower. Because of this, the PCs were already expecting danger.)

The pair of them snuck into the keep’s courtyard, where they were able to detect the sounds of Koth’s minions. As soon as they realized the place was inhabited, the two summoned the rest of the party via message.

And a wonderfully fun slaughterfest began.

The PCs first burst into the worg stables (the poor creatures and their riders didn’t stand much of a chance), but alerted Karkilan, his warriors, and the manticore. A battle began in the courtyard; the manticore fought the cleric and rogue in the space between rooms 7 and 8, while Karkilan (who I’d given a level in barbarian and two in dungeoncrasher fighter) led his brutes against the rest of the party in the courtyard’s main area.
Koth himself I’d given two red arcanissi bodyguards. As soon as he became aware of the commotion, he spent a few rounds to buff himself and the two dragnspawn with a nice smattering of potions and scrolls I’d added to his hoard.

While it seemed for a while that the bad guys had the advantage, that illusion sadly didn’t last long. The two characters trapped in combat with the manticore took some heavy damage, but managed to down the thing after a couple rounds; Karkilan’s soldiers basically stood no chance, but Karkilan was quite effective: in the third round of combat, he scored a triple-damage crit with his greataxe - sending the druid to -7. Muahahahaha!

Unfortunately, the next round he got cut down himself. Straight down to -3…luckily, though, he had Diehard, and while the druid was no longer adjacent to him, Karky struck at the wizard’s heels in one final, grand waagh.

But the next turn, of course, the barbarian ran back and coup de graced the dying minotaur. So much for Karkilan.

By this time, Koth realized it was too late to join the battle proper, so he laid on a couple last buffs and stayed silent, fortifying the door and getting his two minions into position (I shouldn’t have wasted all those rounds buffing – argh).

The party took a moment’s rest while they searched their fallen foes’ bodies and each took a lesser vigor – and then, determining that they’d finished clearing out the monsters, decided that it was time to start looting.

They chose to explore the tower before the rest of the keep (to my delight), and so bashed their way through the door leading into it…to find themselves facing two monstrous, draconic, red-scaled humanoids with eldritch fire clutched in their claws – and backed by a very big, very angry bugbear.
And met with a readied lightning bolt and two readied fireballs.

Good times. (Well, almost everyone made their saves. But still.)

The PCs won initiative, for the most part. The wizard trapped Koth and one of the arcanissi in a web; the other players ganged up on the second arcaniss and killed it without giving it a chance to act.
The next round, the entangled arcaniss loosed a fireball, burning the web up and dealing a hefty load of damage to the PCs (Koth, in light of his bodyguards, had already given himself protection from fire). Despite the players’ best efforts, neither of the remaining foes went down.
Now the arcaniss loosed another fireball, sending everyone but the rogue (yay, Evasion) into or near single-digit hitpoints. Koth let out one of his trademark lightning bolts, which put all but two PCs into negatives! Things really got tense here; it looked like we had a possible TPK on our hands.

The rogue, thanks to his evasion having taken no damage, 5-footed up to Koth and attacked.
He had 4d6 Sneak Attack dice, times two from his two weapons: not one was lower than 4. With Craven and normal damage added, Koth, who was already wounded, got sent straight past -10.

The players still realized, though, that another fireball from the remaining arcaniss could spell doom for everyone (well, except for the rogue), and as such there were a great many cheers when the other PC standing – the crusader – managed to down it.

Phew.

Of course, the fun wasn’t over yet. The crusader and rogue frantically shoved healing potions down the throats of the characters nearest to death, one of who happened to be the cleric. The cleric got a few lesser vigors going to prevent further slipping into negatives, while the upped PCs did a couple more rounds of potion patrol. Soon, everyone was up and running, and everyone was sighing with relief.
Oh, and all the potions they had bought were gone.

Once everybody was steady (the players made sure to get to full HP this time, just to be safe), the treasure hunting began.
Besides the various treasures owned by Koth and Karkilan, they unearthed the map in the war room, which they spent a long while studying. The PCs discovered the Vraath Vault as well: the ranger took the +1 mithral chain shirt, the barbarian took the gauntlets of ogre power, and the warblade discarded his masterwork greatsword for the +1 frost bastard sword. The cleric held on to the staff of healing.

Looting done, the party hunkered down for the night inside the ruined keep; they spent a few increasingly ominous hours pouring over the notes they found in the war room, from which they learned all the facts in the sidebar on page 30.
For those of you who don’t have a copy of the campaign at hand, these are:
- That a massive hobgoblin army, the Red Hand horde, is gathering at Cinder Hill and preparing to invade Elsir Vale.
- Who and what the five Wyrmlords are, and their locations and roles/missions.
- The makeup of the Horde.
- That several dragons are allied with the Horde.
- That Skull Gorge Bridge is a key site in the invasion, and its destruction would slow the Horde’s advance.
- And that Drellin’s Ferry will be the invasion’s starting point.


These dire revelations on their mind, the PCs at last go to sleep, knowing that they’ll need some rest to face the trials ahead.



This isn’t anywhere near the end of the session, but I’m going to break it off here. The rest of the session will be up tomorrow.

blackjack217
2010-10-30, 10:27 PM
Dun Dun Dun!!

Elfin
2010-10-31, 12:32 AM
Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention: all the PCs are using max hitpoints each level. It's something I'm very glad of now, as they'd likely not have survived Vraath Keep without that particular boon.

Caustic Soda
2010-10-31, 04:13 AM
Sounds like you've got an enjoyable game running so far. I've always liked the campaign journals here, but since I only came out of lurking recently, I haven't posted in any of the others.

Elfin
2010-10-31, 10:12 PM
First of all:

I talked with the players earlier, and apparently a couple were wondering why I had Jorr depart without really any reason. I told them why (that it was because I thought they disliked him) and they told me that that was silly; they forced (well, perhaps not forced, but still...) me to retcon it.
Now, he 'actually' stayed outside Vraath Keep while the players attacked it, rested inside with them, and returned to his home in the morning.
Silly PCs. :smallannoyed:

Day 5:

By defeating Koth, the PCs had earned enough XP to reach level 5. While everyone took care of updating character sheets, they debated their next move.
There was quite a bit of deliberation here, but luckily the PCs decided to bite the hook that I’d shoved into their faces with Koth’s notes and plans. That is, they decided to go and try to destroy Skull Gorge Bridge to halt the advance of the Red Hand horde. It turned out that the main deciding factor – the other option the players considered was heading straight back to Drellin’s Ferry – was that this way they’d get to assess the Horde’s strength for themselves.

In any case, Koth’s map in hand, the party made their way northward through the Witchwood, creeping quietly along the forest trail so as not to attract undue attention.

Along the road, at around midday, they found the decrepit effigy which marked the forest giants’ border – but decided that they didn’t have time to investigate now, as time was of the essence. At last, as dusk fell, the players reached Skull Gorge Bridge.
(It was quite handy that it was sundown, actually, as that let me illustrate the situation perfectly with the drawing on page 34.)

In the way of ‘upgrades’, as an aside, I’d bumped Ozyrrandion up an age category and doubled the number of hellhounds and hobgoblins present. I’d also, on Saintheart’s suggestion in the Red Handbook of Doom, added a hobgoblin bard playing war drums so as to give the villains some nifty bonuses.
And to contribute some ominous background music.

Upon seeing old (well, young) Ozzy, the druid pointed out how glad she was that she always prepared downdraft in case of flying foes. I secretly groaned.

The PCs gave themselves a few of the customary buffs – plus, thanks to the wizard and his new 3rd-level spells, flight for himself and the warblade.

The hobgoblin veterans posted atop the towers got in a few lucky shots as the PCs approached, and Ozzy had had time to drink his potions. The hobgoblins in the camp across the bridge also had time to get buffed up by scroll-cast Mass Bull’s Strength and Mass Bear’s Endurance spells from the bard and begin to run towards the bridge to take up defensive positions (in case you hadn’t noticed, I like buffing my bad guys).
(And yes, maybe I maxed out the bard’s UMD just for that. I resent what you’re implying.)

The players charged in: the ranger came in raining arrows on the tower-top hobgoblin archers; the druid took to the air in her newly-discovered aerial form (she chose an eagle); the warblade leapt through the air and went straight for Ozyrrandion; the crusader, barbarian, cleric, and rogue took to the front lines, going for the bridge proper; and the wizard hung back, grumbling about the fact that he’d already used up both of his 3rd-level spells.

Ozzy started by pulling out the big guns – a lingering, maximized breath weapon which caught the five earthbound PCs for a hefty wad of damage. The druid and cleric had shelled out either resist acid or protection from acid spells to everyone, so about half the party took no damage, but nonetheless, it went a long way towards stripping away that particular defense.

Speaking of breath weapons, the hellhounds came in and used theirs too, which was a nasty surprise for the PCs. But it wasn’t much of an issue, as the four characters who were battling on the bridge swiftly took down all of the ‘hounds.

The druid, wanting to end the threat of the dragon as quickly as possible, brought out her downdraft spell. But my dismay quickly turned to delight as she completely tanked her CL check for Ozzy’s Spell Resistance – which he’d acquired with the Awaken Spell Resistance feat. Thanks again, Draconomicon.

Meanwhile, the ranger was taking out archers left and right, and the warblade closed on Ozzy. The wizard targeted the dragon with a ray of clumsiness, which hit for some scarily high Dex damage. If only Ozzy could cast 2nd level spells…then scintillating scales would have been on the table.

The battle raged on, the wizard laying a couple more debuffs on the dragon (luckily, he didn’t have any more rays of clumsiness, though). But eventually, the remaining archers focused fire on him, forcing the wizard to deal with them.
The warblade and druid continued to harry Ozzy, while the barbarian, cleric, crusader, and rogue cut their way through the ranks of hobgoblin veterans and the ranger took down the archers.

Ozyrrandion himself did heavy damage, interspersing breath weapons with full attacks on his pursuers. One such full attack dropped the druid to 10 HP or so, and so she abandoned the fight with the dragon, landing on one of the towers – where she returned to human form and healed herself before returning to the fight with the dragon.

By now, there were no archers left, and the ranger had turned his attention to Ozzy; only about five hobgoblins sill stood on the bridge. The wizard was out of combat magic, and everyone was starting to run low on hitpoints.

Even Ozyrrandion: a juvenile dragon can’t resist the attacks of four different 5th-level PCs for long.

The round the last remaining hobgoblin fell, Ozyrrandion swept downward and let out a final, fully metabreathed blast of poison, and the next round, his three assailants struck a mortal blow against him.
The dragon’s roar echoed across the gorge, the last venomous billows of his final breath dying in his throat as he crashed through the bloodstained sky, plummeting downwards and smashing, broken, upon he gorge’s rocky bottom. The dragon’s lifeblood drained from his carcass, dyeing red the waters of the creek below.



Sorry - I knew I said the rest would be up today, but it looks like there’s still a small bit to go. It’ll be up tomorrow. Promise.

Godskook
2010-10-31, 10:21 PM
The druid, wanting to end the threat of the dragon as quickly as possible, brought out her downdraft spell. But my dismay quickly turned to delight as she completely tanked her CL check for Ozzy’s Spell Resistance – which he’d acquired with the Awaken Spell Resistance feat. Thanks again, Draconomicon.

You spelled that wrong. Its spelled DracOMNOMNOMicon.


Meanwhile, the ranger was taking out archers left and right, and the warblade closed on Ozzy. The wizard targeted the dragon with a ray of clumsiness, which hit for some scarily high Dex damage. If only Ozzy could cast 2nd level spells…then scintillating scales would have been on the table.

Ozzy doesn't need UMD or to actually know a spell to cast it off a scroll.

Elfin
2010-10-31, 10:22 PM
Oh.
Right.
Scroll.
D'oh.

Greymane
2010-11-01, 07:09 AM
This has been a good read. I'm DMing this campaign myself at the moment, and I find myself cackling whenever something goes in your favor as the DM. :smallamused:

Our fight with Ozzy wasn't nearly so great. I'd hoped he'd fly around, wait 'till his buddies died, then high-tail it out of there. Much to my sadness, the druid prepared Downdraft three times. Worked on the last attempt, where they cornered and butchered him. He did manage to drop one of them to negatives, though.

Thanks for sharing, I think I'll keep reading this.

Elfin
2010-11-01, 06:50 PM
I'm glad you're enjoying the journal; the last part of the session will be up in a bit.

And as for the Druid with three Downdrafts...ouch. I consider myself really lucky that the PCs didn't prepare for a dragon fight, or it probably would have been a barrage of Downdrafts and Rays of Clumsiness.

Elfin
2010-11-03, 01:11 AM
Day 5 (Continued):

With Ozyrrandion slain and the guards at Skull Gorge Bridge defeated, the PCs had two goals remaining: scope out the Horde, and destroy the bridge.
Even though night was falling, the PCs jogged the last few miles to Cinder Hill, where they’d learned from Koth’s map that the Horde was mustering. Or rather, jogged to a few hundred yards away from it, because as soon as they saw how big the Horde really was they ran back the other way.

Panting like all the Hells, the party finally got back to Skull Gorge Bridge as the first wavering rays of grey sunlight streamed through the dark sky. With the last of their strength, the PCs set to work demolishing the bridge, and by the time dawn broke, it had gone the way of Ozzy – that is, down into the gorge.

This done, the thoroughly exhausted characters set up camp and went to sleep, confident that they were safe from the Hand.

Day 6:

It was midmorning by the time the players awoke; any peace the forest around Skull Gorge might have held was quickly shattered by the crumbled remnants of the bridge – a grim reminder of the last night’s events.

The party wasted no time in awakening, and before long they were heading back southward on the forest road. They did, however, perhaps against their better instincts, stop partway through to investigate the road marked by the decrepit effigy.

It turned out not to be a waste of time, however, as at the end they met Warklegnaw and managed to recruit him to their cause. Happy with their new alliance but realizing the urgency of the situation, the party then rushed back towards Drellin’s Ferry.

Also, the writers totally did not steal the forest giants bit from The Two Towers.

In any case, bone tired but determined to reach Drellin’s Ferry, the characters pressed on through the rest of the afternoon and night – and in the wee hours of the morning, arrived in the town. They arranged a meeting with Norro Wiston the next day, and then crashed.
Day 7:

Upon awaking in the late morning, the PCs met with Speaker Wiston, reporting their findings. During the day the wizard and cleric scribed a few scrolls of utility spells they might need, while the rest of the party rested and recuperated.

In the nighttime I began the Goblin Raid encounter. While not too difficult, the foes managed to wreak quite a bit of havoc on the western shore of the Elsir, as the PCs were on the eastern side when the attack occurred and had to cross the river.
But once the PCs showed up, it was relatively easy to drive the invaders off.

Meanwhile, the Horde set off from their camp at Cinder Hill.

Day 8:

Worrying that they might not have time to stock up on supplies for a while, the cleric and wizard continued to scribe scrolls (to my great annoyance, these included not just one but four scrolls of downdraft, amongst other utility spells; the wizard in particular scribed a couple of crowd control and AOE spells in case there was ever a need to face off a large number of foes). The other PCs helped clean up the aftermath of the previous night’s raid.

During the day, we ran the Chimera Attack encounter. While relatively easy to defeat, the thing did manage to squeeze in some damage to the town.

On the other side of the Witchwood, the Red Hand horde reached Skull Gorge Bridge - or at least, where it would have been if it hadn't been destroyed.

Day 9:

The day was spent, for the most part, helping to repair the damage the chimera had caused. Scroll scribing done, the PCs resolved to finally prompt Norro Wiston to action, and the appearance of Teyani Sura (the Lion of Brindol) in the same day at last encouraged Norro to schedule a meeting of the town council the next morning.

The PCs also planned quite a lot here. After a long while of talking, they decided that their three top priorities were helping to rally the folk of the Elsir Vale, to destroy the blockades which they’d learned about from Teyani Sura, and to find out what the two Wyrmlords with no known agenda were up to – that is, Saarvith and Ulwai.

Eventually, seeing to their dismay that the casters had no access to useful divinations (and that they had no access to higher-level scrolls), the players decided that they would go north to try and see what Saarvith (whose location they knew, thanks to Koth’s map) was up to, destroying any blockades they found on the way.

Day 10:

The time came for the meeting: it took a while, but despite the general opinion amongst the tribunal members that the best option would be to stay and fight, the PCs managed to convince the council that evacuation was the best option.

Once the decree was made official, evacuation began across the village. By the time darkness was falling, the last preparations were being made, and plans were in place to leave the town in the morning.

Day 11:

The morning came, and as the townspeople – now refugees - departed in their motley caravan of wagons and draft mules, the PCs sought out Norro Wiston and Sorrah Anitah and informed them of their plans. Presented with two options – ride east along the Dawn Road, then turn north along the Rhest Trail, or sail up the Rhestwash and along Lake Rhestin – the players chose the latter.

Soranna and Norro bid the characters farewell, giving them a pair of boats for the journey upstream. With that, they depart along with the townsfolk.

The party now paddles up the Elsir for the rest of the day, entering the humid Witchwood. They rest for the night in the marshy, vine-choked wetlands which mark the area where the Rhestwash flows into the Elsir.

Day 12:

Traveling up the Rhestwash, the players reach, near the end of the day, the split where Skull Creek joins the Rhestwash. Reaching here, the players decide to split into two groups: one will sail up to Lake Rhestin as planned, scoping out Saarvith’s base of operations, and the other will travel up the Old North Road, taking out any blockades they find. They plan to meet on the northwest shore of Lake Rhestin in a few days.

Now, from an IC perspective, this decision makes little sense, so it bears some explaining.

Four of the players can’t make it next session, but are all available on Thursday; three different players aren’t available on Thursday, but are on Saturday – only two members of the group, a player and myself, are free of commitment on both days. So we’ve decided to hold two sessions this week, one on Thursday and one on Saturday, each with just half a group…and ended up coming to this IC solution.

Of course, it means more work for me, but blargh.

In any case, the session ended here, after something like sixteen hours of gaming (like I said earlier, there was some sleeping in the middle, but that’s not important).

As you may have gathered, next ‘mini-session’ is on Thursday. I’ll try to get it up in a more timely fashion than I did this one.
And I apologize for my tardiness on it, by the way; rather swamped in real life right now.

Elfin
2010-11-05, 09:34 PM
Working on the summary of yesterday's session right now, and it will hopefully be up later tonight. But right now, in lieu of that, here are some thoughts on last week's.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I was honestly really happy with the way the session went. I'm especially relieved that the players a) decided to go to Skull Gorge Bridge and b) decided to head for the Blackfens next, all with only a little prompting from me. It'll for sure make my life easier, if nothing else.

As for Vraath Keep? I really enjoyed it, and it was fun how all the smaller encounters - the manticore, the worg riders, Karkilan and his hobgoblins - turned into one large battle that raged across the entire courtyard. I think one thing that worked especially well was that I managed to use the creatures to split up the party into three different groups, preventing Karkilan from getting slaughtered too quickly and allowing he and the manticore the time to really injure the PCs.
And in retrospect I'm glad that I added the two redspawn arcanissi. Maybe they were a little much, and with even a little more luck on my end they could have caused a TPK - but they didn't, and because of their presence the fight with Koth was a lot more tense (and for that, I think, more enjoyable).

So overall I'd rate Vraath Keep a smashing success.

Now, Skull Gorge Bridge. That was interesting.

If they weren't 5th level, I don't think the players would have been able to win, despite their numbers. 4th level would have meant no flight, no Downdraft, heck, no 3rd-level spells or maneuvers period. So it really amazed me what a pivotal point 5th level seems to be.

The first part of the fight was really fun, and the terrain was really cool to work with. But after a point, it sort of became obvious that the PCs were going to win, and the only question was whether Ozzy was going to be able to pull off a PC death and/or escape.

Ozzy was overall less useful than I had anticipated, too. Originally, I had planned for him to use his breath weapon and Blood Wind to rain death upon the PCs from above, but with three (and once the hobbo archers were dead, four) PCs trailing him directly, he found himself engaged in melee more often than he might have liked. Maximize Breath was great, but I hadn't foreseen that Lingering Breath, intended as a nasty surprise, would actually turn out not to be so useful when half the party had Resist Acid - so that mostly turned out to be a wasted feat.

But heck. The fight was fun, actually. Very fun. Maybe I wasn't able to utilize Ozzy to the potential I'd expected, but when I think about it, who cares, as long as the battle was enjoyable. And it was.

One last thing probably bears explanation: when Ozzy was down low on hitpoints, why didn't I have him run? I don't really have a good answer to that, except for this - whatever death he'd have eventually gotten if he ran, it would be hard to beat the image of a dragon plummeting down from the air into a rocky gorge, while overhead a setting sun leaks blood into the sky.
IC, I'd chalk it up to Ozzy's stubbornness or something.

So sue me, I'm a sucker for dramatic deaths.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-11-05, 10:06 PM
Kudos on a great session elvenblade, it seem you had a great time.

I am taking notes and subscribing to this thread.

DragonOfUndeath
2010-11-05, 10:35 PM
subscribed. this is awesome. keep writing this

Elfin
2010-11-06, 05:46 PM
Thanks, guys. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Well, I finally have Thursday's session written. Here you go: it was rather short (three and three quarters of an hour or so), but I hope you like it nonetheless.

Session Three:

Well, joining us for Thursday’s pretty short session are the cleric, druid, warblade, and wizard.
In case you missed last session (in which case, why are you reading this?) the party is rowing northwards from Drellin’s Ferry to Lake Rhestin, intent on finding out what Wyrmlord Saarvith is up to. Some two-thirds of the way to the lake, due to OOC reasons, the party split in two – the other group being the barbarian, crusader, ranger, and rogue. Which just made me realize, the latter has basically no spellcasters.

Anyway, the latter group is planning to take out blockades on the Old North Road, while the group in this session is intent on finding and scouting out Saarvith’s HQ.

Day 13

The PCs rowed northward, at last leaving the Witchwood and reaching Lake Rhestin. At dusk they dragged their boats onto the lake’s southeastern shore and camped there for the night, planning to go north to the Blackfens the next day.

The night passed uneventfully (though, anticipating the razorfiend encounter, I added some bone-chilling shrieks in the distance).

Day 14:

When morning finally spread through the misty marshlands, the PCs awoke, covered their boats and marked the location so that they could find it again, and set off into the Blackfens.
Again, though I had some fun describing creepy scenery, nothing much happened until twilight – when I sprung the razorfiend attack on them. The thing was actually pretty fun to play: there were some definite Jurassic Park vibes during the fight, especially when the pack of velociraptor-esque razorfiends leapt out of the underbrush and onto the characters, rolling delightfully well and giving the wizard and warblade some very nasty cuts.

Oh, yeah. I did mention that I upped the encounter from one razorfiend to three?

Heh.

This encounter was fun for me especially, since it was the first time the monsters had a real advantage over the PCs: three CR7 monsters versus four level 5 heroes.
Of course, as three of those four were Tier 1 casters, I was still a bit leery.

As the combat went on, the razorfiends continued to have great rolls; the cleric, druid (in her panther form, with a bite of the werewolf), and warblade surrounded the wizard, who had become heavily wounded in the ambush, while he healed and dished out spells.

The fight was pretty tough, but in the end SoLs and SoSs did their job, and two of the razorfiends fell. With only one left to defeat, the PCs broke their defensive formation and surrounded the thing, hewing it to bits – and by the time its corpse collapsed into the muck, everyone was slathered in the black blood of the razorfiends and their own steaming red ichor.

As the players healed and caught their breath, dark shapes emerged from the misty sky and landed: Killiar and his hunters. In the ensuing roleplay, the PCs are quite genial and befriend the Tiri Kitor elves, who after discovering Lanikar’s death flew them on owlback to Starsong Hill.

The party held audience with Trellyria Starsinger and Trellara Nightshadow, who they were able to impress with their deeds and high Diplomacy rolls. Of course, having another elf and another druid didn’t hurt.
I was really happy at this point! Unlike with Norro Wiston and Sorrana Anitah, the players seemed genuinely interested and friendly when talking to the Tiri Kitor leaders. I wasn’t really able to capture the feeling in the last couple paragraphs, but this was probably one of the best segments of roleplaying I’ve ever been through with this group.

I don’t want to bore you, though, so I won’t detail it.

After a long talk with Trellyria, Trellara, and Killiar (and I mean long: it was two hours) the PCs have told the Tiri Kitor everything about the Red Hand, their own mission, and the rest of their comrades. In return, they’ve learned about the Tiri Kitor, Starsong Hill, the recent appearance of razorfiends in the Blackfens, and the activity around the ruins of Rhest. In particular they find out that a goblin warlord (who they quickly realize to be Saarvith) is there – accompanied by a black dragon.

The elves, impressed by the PCs, provide them with lodgings and provisions and leave them to sleep.

Meanwhile, the drawing shadow of the Red Hand clutches its grip tighter. Though delayed by the destruction of Skull Gorge Bridge, the Horde reaches Vraath Keep.

Day 15:

Throughout the morning, the PCs explore Starsong Hill and talk more with its inhabitants.

The druid talks with Sellyria about druidic things; the cleric heads to the temple of Corellon and talks with the priests there; the wizard explores the archives of the Hall of Ancestors; and the warblade talks more with Killiar and the rest of the hunters, exchanging fighting tips and tales about great hunts and adventures.

Around the village, preparations start for Lanikar’s funeral. At around midday, as the bright sun crests the swamplands, flooding the misty green glades with filtered daylight, the Tiri Kitor (and PCs) gather for the ceremony. Amidst the eulogies and songs, Sellyria suggests that the characters supply their own performances – which they gladly agree to. Amongst the heroes’ displays of arcana, song, chant, prayer, and martial skill, the Tiri Kitor were overall pretty impressed.

After the funeral (wait, isn’t that a Poirot novel?), celebration begins. It lasts through the afternoon and night, but finally the PCs retire, laden with drink and dizzy from dancing.

Killiar himself, at the earlier agreement of Sellyria and the PCs, leaves once the festivity dies down, leading his hunters in a flight across Lake Rhestin, with the intent of gathering the rest of the party.

And there the session ended.

I’m about to go to the next session, with the other half of the group, right now. I’ll try to write the summary tonight and post it tomorrow.

Edit: Just wondering - does my current past tense summary work fine, or would you prefer something in present tense? IE, instead of "they went", "they go"?

McClintock
2010-11-08, 02:38 PM
So I am a player getting run through this adventure and I thought you would like to hear how we dealt with the gorge. We have 5 people in our party:
1: Jayde Whispersong - tiefling Swash 3/Fighter 2
2: Gareth Black - human Fighter 5
3: "Indy" - gnome Sorc 2/Favored Soul 3
4: Tharival - elf Scout 5
5: Mennix - human Warlock 5

We stopped and talked to the giant on the way here and had hoped we talked him and his people into joining us, but as of yet we had not heard anything from them. We were fully rested and ready for battle, arriving near sunset we dug in and began watching the camp.

Looking for an holes in the watch with the hobbys, dragon or hounds and finding none we began to develop a plan. Initially thinking to use the cover of darkness to sneak up on the first set of towers, we realized that the glow of the moon and stars on the clear night would not allow that.

Then I had a revelation: I am a tiefling and with a bit of work could be made to look like a scared, roughed up, emergency messenger from Koth. Being sent to notifiy Kharn that he would be along as soon as possible after he dealt with some trouble in the form of adventurers.

It took some quick talking and about an "hour" of game time but they finally belived me enough to use the dragon to pass the info onto Kharn. As soon as the dragon was far enough away to not be able to come back to the fight, my party started the attack.

Out Fighter killed both the hell hounds in the first round of battle and the warlock and scout went to work on the towers (after the guard had be doubled). The Sargent stayed on the far side of the gorge barking orders at the rest of the hobbys and me, but was in for a huge surprise when my 2 sword burst through his chest and had him nearly dead before the battle even really got started.

As the rest of the party worked their way over to me, I managed to hold off 2 attackers and an archer for 4 rounds before we killed everything.

At that point we were out of time and didn't get the chance to search anybody for anything, but our DM was impressed with our plan, and (other than the dragon) we didn't undo all of his prep time. (which we usually end up doing)

PS: In case anyone was wondering, I only read as far as we have encountered. I don't want to ruin whats coming up. =)

blackjack217
2010-11-08, 02:50 PM
he is gonna make you pay for not killing the dragon.

McClintock
2010-11-08, 03:52 PM
Yeppers, already working on the next plan. I'll let you all know how it goes next week.

Elfin
2010-11-08, 09:00 PM
Nice plan there; quite cool. Hopefully, you'll be able to stave off an encounter with Ozyrrandion until you're higher level and thus able to defeat him easily.

Can't wait to hear how it goes.

Nachtritter
2010-11-08, 09:02 PM
Oh, I always enjoy threads like these. Keep up the good work!

Elfin
2010-11-08, 11:06 PM
Firstly, something I realized while I was writing this entry: I never once made mention of the PC’s horses, which they had up until the evacuation of Drellin’s Ferry. Oops.

By the way, Saturday’s session got cut short due to RL reasons on the part of one player – so pardon me if this recap is pretty short.

Session Three-and-a-half

Joining us for this week’s even shorter session we have the barbarian, cleric, crusader, and rogue.

In case you missed what happened last session, there’s a recap in the last entry. Basically, the party split into two as they headed north, and this half of the party is tasked with traveling up the Old North Road to take out a hobgoblin blockade.

Day 13:

The PCs rowed up Skull Creek; when they neared Skull Gorge (and thus the Old North Road), they found a place to land and set off on foot. After walking a mile or so along the creek they reached the ruins of the bridge – but not without noticing that the area on the north side of the gorge has been trampled as if by thousands of footsteps, much of the surrounding forest is felled, and the field is covered with ashes and the remnants of bonfires. Examining the site, they also notice that while Ozyrrandion’s body is still lodged in the gorge below, a cairn of stones has been erected on the cliffside above: the dragon’s name has been cut into one particularly large ‘headstone’ rock (so much for nameless villains – hah!), and a Red Hand banner has been planted atop the cairn.

The PCs are reluctant to stay in such an obviously recently occupied area, but dusk is drawing on and they don’t want to be caught in the depths of the Witchwood – and so they go to sleep.

Day 14:

The PCs trek northwards, through the Witchwood and past Cinder Hill. Deprived of their horses, their speed is very much reduced; they fight off a random encounter in the forest, but by the end of the day still haven’t found the blockade they’re searching for.

Elsewhere, the Red Hand Horde makes it to Vraath Keep.

Day 15:

By midmorning, the group reached the blockade. Without any source of spellcasting besides the ranger, they rushed in un-buffed.

The fight was a pretty straightforward slugfest; luckily, the exact type of encounter these guys were suited to. Like I’m planning with all the ogres in this module, the two at the blockade were upgraded to Skullcrusher Ogres from MMIII; nonetheless, the crusader’s healing and defensive maneuvers, coupled with his AC bonus against giants (dwarf, remember?) let him stand even against them fairly well. The encounter went pretty cleanly, all in all, with the PCs easily dispatching the hobgoblins but struggling with the ogres.
The characters looted the place and set off north along the road, intending to meet the other heroes on the northwestern shore as planned.

This done, we’d only been going for about two hours, so I was contemplating adding in a second blockade – but as I described their travels northward, one of the players got a call and it turned out he had some real-life issues to attend to, and would have to leave in half an hour or so.

So we fast-forwarded to late that night, in the group’s camp, when (to the players’ great surprise) Killiar Arrowswift flew down with the Tiri Kitor hunters and announced his intentions (in case you missed it, he was there to bring the characters to Starsong Hill to join the others).

Diplomacy went…erm…not so well as it had with the other group, as nobody in this half of the group had a half-decent Charisma (seriously, no-one had more than a 10).
Nonetheless, at last the PCs agreed to come, and with Killiar traveled on owlback across Lake Rhestin.

...

After this, the barbarian's player had to leave, and the rest of us didn't have the heart to go on without him.

Elfin
2010-11-13, 12:07 PM
I'll be heading off to today's session in a bit, and will try to have the summary up by tomorrow.

McClintock
2010-11-15, 01:30 PM
Continuing where I left off:

We stripped the hobbys, dressed two of our more believable PCs up in their gear, tossed the bodies over the ledge, and waited for the dragon to return.

We only had to wait 30 mins, the dragon swooped and scouted the area before finally landing and surveying the area. One of our guys, the scout, got anxious and bust the plan before we could get the dragon on the ground so we had a long a grueling aerial battle with 2 bows, the warlock's blast, and a few magic missles.

I was able to get one good hit in when he came down and breathed on me in the sarge's tent.

All in all it was anti-climatic as the dragon seemed to want to die.

The most fun I had was taunting the dragon to get him to breathe on me and come into range for all the archers. We had enough potions and wands to keep me alive, and the dragon had a really short breath weapon, so he had to come in real close. Too Bad for him.

PS: If you tell a green dragon that it's just a pretender to a lesser/younger black dragon and not ever worth of being excrement from tiamat's lunch.... they get really PO'd

Elfin
2010-11-16, 07:27 PM
Sorry to hear that your plan didn't go off too well, but nevertheless it sounds as if the fight was fun. Have you considered starting your own campaign log?

On the topic of updates: again, really sorry for the delay. Summary will be up today for sure.

Elfin
2010-11-17, 06:59 PM
Session Four:

Day 16:

When morning came, all eight heroes were at Starsong Hill: half of them tired and worn out from a long night of flying, and the other half well rested, though perhaps a bit headachy from an evening of celebration.

Once the situation was explained to the latecomers, and both sides had been filled in on the events that had transpired in the last three days, the players talked amongst themselves. Consulting with Sellyria and Killiar, they made arrangements for the latter to serve as their guide on the way to the ruins of Rhest.
They stocked up on a few supplies and then set off with Killiar.

Grey clouds closed across the sky as the PCs took to the air, and by the time the giant owls landed (some half a mile from Rhest), a misty drizzle hung about the Blackfens. Killiar bid the PCs farewell and then flew off, leaving them once again on their own.

They took the next hour or so to scout out the small lake from a distance, noticing the lizardfolk who lived on its shores and (thanks to the ranger’s Listen check) bellows which they recognized as those of another greenspawn razorfiend.
While this went on the druid took to her eagle form, making a few passes across the lake, bell tower, and lizardfolk tents – and by these last, saw that next to each were a couple of reed rafts on the shore.

Once the players felt that they’d gotten a good idea of the area’s layout, they reconvened just out of sight and made a quick plan: they’d sneak down to one of the lizardfolk tents, slaughter the inhabitants, and make off with the rafts.
Moral qualms? I guess not.

In any case, the party pulled this off with surprising efficiency – lizardfolk have no ranks in Spot or Listen, and the penalty from the rain was pretty devastating to them.
Of course, probably more devastating was the fact that a group of armored, spell-slinging, shape-changing weirdos armed with glowing magical gizmos leapt from the fog without warning and cut them down without so much as a thought.

But back to the players.

With the lizardfolk dead, the PCs boarded the rafts and made their way over the rainy, vine-choked, ruin-filled lake.

Here I really had to appreciate just how darn cool the ruins of Rhest are.

I think (or would at least like to) that everyone got some great mileage out of the environment: with the rain especially, the place was very atmospheric. Describing the PCs’ passage across the lake, I distinctly remember thinking, ‘This is why I play D&D.’
Perhaps I just have swamp nostalgia…but this was some great stuff.

The party made it most of the way across the lake without trouble, and got quite near to the bell tower thanks to the rain. However, as soon as they got within two hundred and fifty feet, the hobgoblin sentries spotted them – and the alarm was raised.

With the game on, the druid shapeshifted into her eagle form and went straight for the sentries atop the tower; the wizard and cleric took time to buff themselves and the meleers while they dodged hobgoblin arrows. Inside, Korkulan (like all the bladebearers, rebuilt as a warblade 5) retrieved his potion of fly; however, realizing that, with the heroes so near, he wouldn’t have time to reach the town hall, he drank it and a couple other potions I’d added to his hoard, then headed down.

The druid morphed into a ravening panther upon reaching the top of the tower and tore up the hobgoblin archers without too much trouble.
Below, the other PCs closed on the bell tower and battle began. The hobgoblin sentries scored some lucky hits, and Korkulan was quite effective with his White Raven maneuvers; I’d pumped up the number of sentries there were, too, and so the fight actually proved surprisingly difficult.

Oh, and Korkulan’s flight was pretty nice - did a couple cool dive-bombs with him.
After a couple minutes of fighting, though, the clamor died down, all the hobgoblins dead on the floor. The rogue pocketed Korkulan’s magic shortswords (he had four now). They subsequently raided the barracks and the rest of the tower, finding a smattering of coins and the two remaining potions of fly.
Here the players healed and had a quick talk about their options: if they used the two potions, four of the PCs could take to the air and fly to the town hall, but they didn’t have any means of flight for the other four – and unwilling to be split up, all eight returned to the rafts.
Well, except for the druid, who flew above in eagle form.

The players burst onto the boardwalk in a bloody slaughterfest, dispatching the skullcrusher ogres positioned there: they fought their way upwards to the roof, then without pausing charged back down and launched into a fight with Nurklenak and his ettin guard.

By now most of the PCs were running on pretty dangerously low hitpoints, but they at last managed to defeat the ferocious pair.
The party sighed heavily as Nurklenak crumpled to the ground, panting with exertion from the combats they’d endured.

And then a terrifying roar echoed across the ruins of Rhest as Regiarix burst from his lair in a fit of fury, wan light rippling on his ebon scales as he took to the sky, Wyrmlord Saarvith cackling upon his back.

And there the session ended.

AslanCross
2010-11-17, 07:14 PM
I wish you luck in the Saarvith battle. I ran mine pretty horribly, and it's one of those "I wish I ran that again" encounters where the DM ends up doing things more stupidly than the PCs.

I agree that Rhest is perhaps one of the most awesomely crafted areas in the module. It's easy to find small towns, dungeons and besieged cities in D&D, but flooded cities? Not really.

I also like how it actually takes scouting and planning to get in safely, because well, it is a military installation. I had to play up the "This is a military base" feel in the Fane of Tiamat to prevent it from feeling like just another dungeon crawl, but Rhest is well done.

I giggled a bit when I saw that your rogue was collecting +1 short swords. The shifter barbarian/warblade in my party did that too. Needless to say, she made very good use of a casting of girallon's blessing later on.

Elfin
2010-11-17, 07:47 PM
Do you have any tips on the Saarvith/Regiarix fight? I'm actually rather unsure how to go about things with this party.

I upgraded Reggy to a Young Adult and gave him Scintillating Scales, Blood Wind, and some metabreath feats.
Saarvith I restatted as a Scout 6/Ranger 2. I stole most of the build from the Red Handbook of Doom:


Scout 6/Ranger 2. This build adds one level to Saarvith and basically abandons the route of Saarvith being mounted on a dragon, making him an independently-fighting ranged attacker. To make this work, apply the feats Swift Hunter, Shot on the Run, Improved Skirmish, and Expeditious Dodge (you’ll probably need a flaw or trait to make this work, obviously, though you get Rapid Shot for free from the second level of Ranger.) In terms of equipment, give him a couple of potions of Fly and a Ring of Entropic Deflection. Saarvith under this build starts off on dragonback, but then jumps off and starts standard skirmishing tactics from the air, diving in, shooting, and then retreating so melee types can’t hit him and ranged types have immense difficulty doing so. Dispel Magic is obviously the Achilles Heel here, which is why he’s got more than one Fly potion on him. This build focuses on damage on one attack per round more than spamming attacks as such.

AslanCross
2010-11-17, 09:50 PM
The black dragon has water breathing and a good swim speed. Saarvith, depending on his Con, can hold his breath underwater for a decent amount of rounds. Given that the two have a good relationship, Saarvith wouldn't need to steer Regiarix. This is a good way for them to duck out of the range of your PCs' offensive spells, and either way harass the PCs.

Elfin
2010-11-20, 11:07 AM
Next session is today; I'll do my best to get the summary up ASAP.

Elfin
2010-11-27, 02:17 AM
First of all, sorry for the double-post.

Sorry for the long delay, but I just wanted to reassure everyone that I still intend to write (and finish) this. It's been kind of crazy, and most of my free time has been spent on my in-progress warblade handbook.
The last session will be up soon - actually soon, not as in "soon".

Elfin
2010-12-03, 07:42 PM
It’s been a long time since the last installment, for which I’m very sorry. There was no session last week – it was Thanksgiving, and lots of us (including myself) were away.
I apologize if this installment is a bit dry, by the way, as the session was basically just one very, very long fight.
But now, without further ado,

Session Five:

Day 16 (continued):

The players had just been through an enormous, grueling battle. The corpses of six ogres, an ettin, a greenspawn razorfiend, and a heap of hobgoblins lie strewn about the ruined Rhest town hall. The heroes were awfully wounded, low on spells, and ready to call it a day.

Unfortunately, Regiarix and Wyrmlord Saarvith weren’t.

Regiarix had had his feats re-chosen and been advanced an age category, and was now armed with Awaken Spell Resistance, scintillating scales, blood wind, and metabreath goodness. Wyrmlord Saarvith, as outlined above, had been rebuilt as a Swift Hunter.

They wasted no time in going to town.

Regiarix came out right away with a maximized breath weapon, sending the crusader, druid, and ranger deep into the red; Saarvith followed up with some dragon-top Skirmish archery targeting the barbarian, which was surprisingly hefty.

There was palpable shock on the players’ faces, almost comedic, as it dawned on them that they were in a boss fight with next to no resources remaining.

But, not those to run from danger, they immediately set to work formulating a strategy.
I know, I know, technically they wouldn’t have time, but the odds were stacked against them enough as it was.

In any case, the warblade and barbarian (the two with the most hit points remaining) drank the potions of fly they’d looted earlier and took to the air; the cleric, crusader, ranger, and rogue dashed out of the room that provided access to Regiarix’s lair, taking cover in the main area of the town hall; and the wizard and druid dug into their scroll collections.
The wizard broke out a ray of dizziness – but I’d expected that, and thanks to Scintillating Scales the ray was turned back easily (much to the wizard’s dismay). The druid, however, was more problematic: as you may remember, she paid a hefty sum to scribe four scrolls of downdraft. It’s a killer spell for the reason, and sent Regiarix and Saarvith plunging downward, falling into the lake with an enormous splash.

The pair disappeared below the surface with a gurgle, and the PCs sighed with relief. But, as it turns out, my gaming sessions are getting more and more like a sitcom, because just as they prepared to heal up, the ranger’s player looked up seriously (I could almost see a slow, comical blink) and said, in an almost monotone voice –
“Wait, wasn’t that a black dragon?”

And then they realized that black dragon+water=/=dead dragon.
We all found that incredibly funny, which likely speaks most about our own lack of humor.

Now the heroes ran back to the lair entrance room, frantic. Examining the gaping hole in the floorboards, the rogue caught a half-second-long glimpse of gleaming, venomous green dragon eyes; he had just enough time to begin muttering an obscenity when Regiarix and Saarvith came bursting through the floor, shooting upwards like a thunderbolt. The dragon did a flyby attack with blood wind, adding the barbarian to the critically injured pool, and Saarvith loosed another round of elfbane arrows, which, had it not been for the last round’s healing, would have taken out the ranger.
Things were not working out well for the PCs.

But when has that ever stopped them? The cleric began with a Mass Resist Energy (Acid), his only remaining 3rd-level spell, and the druid healed herself. The barbarian raged to make up for his low hitpoints and arced through the air, hot in pursuit, while the warblade followed. The rogue UMD’d some healing for the crusader, who took up a defensive position in front of the ranger - who in turn did some long distance shooting at Saarvith. The wizard, not ready to give up his assault on Regiarix, used his single remaining scroll of ray of dizziness, again to no effect.

We had a nice mano a mano, ranger vs. ranger thing shaping up, but unfortunately Saarvith broke it – this time, he shot against the warblade, the elfbane arrows once again performing admirably.
Regiarix, still waiting for his breath weapon to recharge, clawed another blood wind-enhanced attack at the same.

By now, the heroes were desperate to buy more time, and so the druid cast a second downdraft, once again sending the villains down into Lake Rhest. The flying PCs hurried as fast as they could back to the ruined room, and everyone pumped out as much healing as they could in two rounds. Which was when the dastardly duo returned, Regiarix bellowing in fury.
Now the game was on.

The wizard had begun to suspect something was up (actually, I think he guessed Reggy was using scintillating scales), and so brought out the big guns: his scroll of dispel magic.
And it worked. Right there, Reggy’s buffs were stripped away.
The crusader, unfortunately feeling fairly useless, went on potion patrol, force-feeding healing potions to the ranger. The ranger, running to the edge of the ceiling-less room (really, more of a big ledge), continued to attack Saarvith, planting a crit; the barbarian and warblade charged into the air once more. The rogue, feeling quite foolish, drew his crossbow, and the druid buffed herself with bite of the werewolf before shapeshifting into an eagle and flying off with the meleers.

And the villains? Regiarix caught the barbarian, druid, and warblade with a maximized breath weapon, and Saarvith drank a potion of fly, leaping into the air under his own power.

But now I won’t bore you with the details.
The three pursuing Reggy got caught up in hit-and-run attacks, but managed to get in some hefty hits of their own. The wizard was out of useful scrolls and spells; he was reduced to attacking with his trusty wand of magic missile interspersed with a couple lesser orbs of fire (just the former after his fly spell ran out). The ranger and Saarvith got their mano a mano after all, with an old-fashioned shoot-out (the rogue shot at Reggy).
Initially, the cleric hit Saarvith with his scroll of dispel magic, and the goblin smashed down onto the boardwalk; but after that he drank his second potion, and the cleric turned his attention to Regiarix.

And then it happened: under the party’s combined efforts, Regiarax fell dead from the sky, eyes torn by eagle claws and sides slick with blood from sword-cuts. For the third time the black dragon plummeted into the lake, sending up a fearsome wake of murky water; but now, the dragon’s body lay broken, sprawled half-floating by the side of the town hall.
And the next round, an arrow soared from the ranger’s bow and hissed through the misty, overcast afternoon and lodged itself in Saarvith’s skull; and that was the end of the Wyrmlord of the Blackfens; and like a rag doll the goblin fell spread-eagled upon the plank floor of the roofless room.

And there the session ended.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-12-03, 08:54 PM
EPIC Session... I really wish I could play in a game like that, and for the record I too love dramatic deaths.

AslanCross
2010-12-04, 06:16 AM
Congratulations on running that battle well! I just love dragons with water breathing. It adds further options for tactical retreats and unpredictable assaults. :smallbiggrin:

Kudos to your players as well; they handled the battle well despite their initial difficulty. Last-minute turn-arounds are what make for memorable boss encounters.

Elfstone
2010-12-11, 03:12 PM
That was amazing.
*subscribed*

Elfin
2010-12-12, 12:27 PM
Well, after this we’re just a session behind. Sadly, this and the last were quite short, only about two hours each, but yesterday we had a double-length one. I'll try to get it up sometime before next Saturday.

Now, a couple things I left out last time, forgetful as I am:
- The crusader’s player was absent last session, which, while perhaps not crucial to the story, I thought you might want to know.
- Saarvith drank his potion of mirror image during the fight, which was the reason it took so long to down him. Remind me to equip all my villains with those.

Session Six:

Day 16 (continued):

Two Wyrmlords down, three to go.

Twilight was settling by the time the heroes had cleaned the town hall of foes and treasure. The encounter in the razorfiend hatchery left them completely bereft of healing supplies, but after killing the monster they did manage to destroy all the razorfiend eggs.
The rogue now had a shiny new +2 mithral chain shirt, the ranger took Saarvith’s +1 longbow, and everyone’s coin purse was now noticeably fatter. The crusader was delighted with +2 plate armor, the druid with her Periapt of Wisdom +2, and the cleric with his +2 silvered heavy mace.
And then there was the matter of the phylactery.
You really can’t give more obvious a plot hook than that.

Feeling quite ready to be done with the ruins of Rhest, the PCs clambered back down to their rafts and began towards the shore – not that I was going to make it that simple.
Halfway across the marshy, vine-choked lake, a forest of spikes and spears leapt from the water, gripped by the scaly, clawed hands of the lakeside lizardfolk; both rafts were surrounded. There was silence for a moment as the dripping bodies of fifty-four lizardfolk rose from beneath the lake’s surface…and then the ranger, always ready with Quick Draw, whipped out his greatsword and cleaved one in half. And all hell broke loose.
The rafts were each only ten feet by ten feet, so all the characters provoked AoOs when they drew their weapons. The druid shot straight into the air in eagle form as the hackfest began; the barbarian sliced up those threatening the adjacent wizard, who in turn dived for cover and drew out his two scrolls of fireball. A few seconds later, a searing burst of flame spread across the water, leaving behind a wake of charred lizardfolk corpses – and a second followed, centered close to the raft. Unfortunately, this meant that it set the raft on fire, too, and left the thing a burning wreck.

Back on the other raft, some thirty or forty feet away, things weren’t going quite as well. The warblade and cleric were still going strong (the latter still had buffs left on him), but the ranger and tiefling were, by a multitude of groping arms, actually dragged down into the water. Surrounded by spears and scales and claws, the two fought madly to get back up, but there were just too many. Luckily, though, up above, the hordes attacking the raft were thinning – and the warblade, leaving the cleric to finish things off, jumped off the raft and plunged down into the water to help.

Switching back to the other raft, though, there was now little remaining but a fiery carcass, and so the four heroes on it hastily agreed to abandon ship; they leapt off, straight into the water. The barbarian, unfortunately, being a warforged, sank straight out of sight.
But the crusader, even in his armor, managed to stay afloat by means of grabbing viciously onto a lizardfolk as he hacked it to death, and the wizard kept afloat without too much trouble. Then, though, with nothing but a dead lizardfolk to hold on to, it looked like the crusader was going to sink.
And then the wizard pulled out the most useless spell ever scribed – Tenser’s floating disk.
So now the dwarf, to his dismay, was lifted bodily from the water by a magic, 3-foot-diameter disk of force.
Meanwhile, the druid finished pecking out the eyes of the lizardfolk who remained around the first raft, and returned to the others. They were soggy, bloody, and barely afloat, but they were alive.
Well, except for the poor barbarian.

Of course, we’ve been neglecting the second raft. What happened there?
For the cleric’s part, he mopped up his foes fairly easily. Down below, the warblade managed to hack through a few of the lizardfolk holding down the ranger and rogue, allowing them to escape – and together, the three of them killed off the last of the lizardfolk.
With all their enemies floating dead around them, and one of their own gone, the heroes piled on to the remaining raft and laboriously dragged themselves to shore.
There they collapsed upon the muddy ground and bathed in the wan light of dusk, mourning for the barbarian.

Who promptly came trudging calmly out of the water, bloody sword in one hand and a giant crocodile head in the other. The other PCs could have sworn they saw him grin as he plodded up onto the shore and said, in his always-gruff tone, “Warforged, remember. Don’t need to breathe.”

Exhausted, the PCs decided to rest before heading back toward Starsong Hill. They found a relatively dry copse of trees and then made camp, ready to seek out who, according to Saarvith’s note, must be next – Wyrmlord Ulwai.
But for now, they slept.

Everyone had earned enough XP to get to level 6, and so we spent the last twenty minutes of the session leveling up.

And leagues away, the Red Hand horde in all its fury swarmed across the River Elsir, only to find Drellin's Ferry deserted.
By the time they have moved on, only burned-out shells of buildings remain.

Elfin
2010-12-14, 09:47 PM
This is it – we are, for the first time in weeks, actually caught up. As in, we’ve covered every session to date. As in, no more procrastinating when I meant to be working on this and my Warblade Handbook. Which is funny, because working on these is procrastinating in itself, so I’m actually procrastinating procrastination. Must be setting some sort of record there.

Session Seven:

Day 17:

The heroes were now all level six, and standing in the middle of the Blackfens. They’d sacked the ruins of Rhest and slain both Regiarix and Wyrmlord Saarvith in a climactic battle atop the sunken town hall, obliterated the nearby lizardfolk, and acquired the Ghostlord’s phylactery.
Now they were wondering just who the Ghostlord is.
But their first task was to return to Starsong Hill. The PCs spent a mostly uneventful day slogging through the marshes.

Day 18:

The morning was spent traveling, though midway through the heroes found themselves fending off a screaming pair of harpies. Outnumbering them four to one, though, the PCs took down the monsters without too much trouble.

In the afternoon they reached Starsong Hill, where they ate and met with Sellyria and Killiar. After recounting their adventures in Rhest, the two Tiri Kitor leaders are quite impressed; but now the talk turns to what happens next.
The PCs, already having talked about the phylactery, now ask about the Ghostlord – and Sellyria fills them in on the stories that surround the lich. Much talk ensues, and the players are divided in opinion on what they should do now: most want to pursue the Ghostlord lead, but a couple others are committed to helping stop the advance of the Kulkor Zhul directly. In the end the former plan wins out, though, and they decide to head south to the Thornwaste.
Sellyria, very favorably impressed, even pledges a pair of giant owls to fly them there.
And then the involvement of the Tiri Kitor comes up. The elves are naturally reluctant to help, but with the PCs having earned quite a number of alliance points, they at last agree to take part in the defense of the Elsir Vale.

Once the conversation was done, the heroes retired.

Day 19:

The day was spent in rest, so that the casters could replenish their scroll collections (which Rhest had nearly wiped out).

Day 20:

The PCs wake in mist-wreathed Starsong Hill at the crack of dawn. They bid farewell to the Tiri Kitor and then clamber upon their owl escort, bound for the Thornwaste.

The morning goes by without event (if you can say that when you’re soaring over monster-infested marshes on the back of a giant owl), but around noon the travelers spot something down below – an old, ruined house sinking into the swamp. They land nearby and investigate, only to find the place empty – but, examining the place, the ranger recognizes evidence of razorfiends and deduces that this must have been where the pack that attacked the party previously were lairing. There are a few nice treasures heaped about, and after picking them up the adventurers return to the sky.
As the sun starts to fall and stain the sky orange, the familiar eaves of the Witchwood begin to appear on the ground. Soon they’re in the thick tangle of the forest proper; the owls roost in a cluster of large trees, where they’re undisturbed till the dawn.

Day 21:

Another day is spent in flight, this time without any distractions. By the time night falls they’ve reached the village of Terrelton – where they find that rumors of the Horde’s dark cloud have spread. With the invaders spreading south and east, scouts raiding and pillaging, and the bulwark of the army a few days away at most, the people are readying an evacuation. The PCs find lodgings there, and are welcomed – when the people of Drellin’s Ferry passed through a few days ago, tales of the heroes were not lost on the people of Terrelton.

Day 22:

The PCs leave and fly southward – but when they cross the large road some ten miles south of Terrelton, they encounter a ruined caravan being picked over by a gang of goblins and a pair of ettins; the Mercenary Gold encounter. The foes are taken out without too much trouble, and the PCs decide to return the mercenary payment to Terrelton so that it can be sent to the dwarves as was intended. But when they return, there’s a new scene going on: the Not-So-Sick Spy encounter. After unmasking Miha Serani, they capture her very easily (three full casters with a nearly full retinue of spells! Gah!) and turn her over to the authorities, asking that she be sent with the refugees for imprisonment and questioning in Brindol.
It was late afternoon by this time, and so the PCs spent the rest of the day helping the evacuees and tending to the wounded. Later, at night, they went to the captain of the town guard (who they’d turned Miha over to), ready to interrogate her with the aid of magic. To their great alarm and shock, though, they found that the captain had already had her summarily executed – they’d hoped to glean information about the Horde from the aranea.

Day 23:

The day was spent flying southward across the farmlands south of the Elsir. The effect of the Kulkor Zhul army was quite evident: the lands were empty, and plumes of smoke curled on the horizon. The party encountered and dispatched a group of hobgoblin soldiers accompanied by a pair of dire wolves (Easy Skirmish encounter), and at nightfall landed, expecting to reach the Thornwaste the next day.

Day 24:

The first part of the day passed without event – but soon the bleak, barren Thornwaste stretched in the distance, storm-grey sky whirling above. As the party closed, the full extent of its desolation was visible: it was apparent that tales about the place had not been exaggerated.
As they neared, too, weather steadily worsened. By the time they were close enough to see the place clearly, a storm was raging across the wasteland, beating back the owls and harrying their flight. They made it only a mile or so in before it was too much: the owls were driven to the ground. Apologetically, the battered owls confessed that they simply couldn’t make any more headway into the gale – from here, the heroes would have to make it on foot.

And so, the heroes were left standing on the cracked ground of the Thornwaste and dry winds howled across the great barren plain, prisoners beneath the iron-grey sky, as the owls circled upwards out of sight: and then they were alone, and the only route was forward.
To the Ghostlord.

And there the session ended.

...

The storm was basically DM fiat incarnate, and I actually hadn’t planned it…but hey, it was cool, and fit with the mood.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-12-14, 10:12 PM
Seriously Elfin... I hate you sooooo much, all your sessions seem to be excellent fun and awesome and if the ending notes of each sessions are something to go along with, you are a top notch story teller.

seriously I am so jealous:smallannoyed:

Elfin
2010-12-15, 01:09 AM
It seems like there are endless things I forget to mention, but if it matters, I did put two razorfiends in the hatchery. One stayed back, and the other joined the fight - I realize I mention both without explaining that.

Elfin
2010-12-26, 01:29 PM
There was no session yesterday, with Christmas and all that. But we had a long session last time, which I hope makes up for it.

Session Eight:

Day 24 (continued):

It was only a little past noon, but you’d be hard pressed to tell in the Thornwaste. The iron-grey skies were roiling, claps of thunder shaking the dry, cracked wasteland; cold winds howled and chased each other across the ground.
And the heroes were alone.
For all the tedium of the Thornwaste’s desert landscape, it proved harder to traverse than might be expected; hedges of eponymous thorns bristled up frequently, and at intervals bluffs and gorges rose from the baked earth. Atop one of the former, the PCs fought off a random encounter – a hieracosphinx – and amongst the pile of bleached animal bones in its lair, they gathered a smattering of old, battered coins.
As the afternoon drew on, the storm’s fury only increased; but in the distance, a new shadow arose – the blue silhouette of a large knoll.
It was evening by the time they realized that it was the Ghostlord’s stone lion. Gods, that thing is awesome.
Now they were close; the PCs watched as the lion breathed out its tide of lion ghosts, then closed. Once they were only a few hundred feet away, they passed around the customary buffs – and charged.
A jaw-shattering fight with Varanthian ensued, a brutal whirlwind of swords and lightning and spells. At the end, the fiendish behir lay dead upon the ground, black blood seeping into the dust.
And speaking of dust, that was what the PCs left her in, rushing into the lion. The Doom Fist monks (now unarmed swordsages) sprung upon them, but they bashed through both them and the spectral dire lions, dashing through the fortress.
They soon reached the room that contained Ulwai’s personal vanguard. Her forces ganged up on them, Ulwai cloaking herself in invisibility and weighing in with bardic music and some blasts of lightning, and the clerics buffing themselves and wading into the melee. But it wasn’t long before the wizard slung a glitterdust Ulwai’s way, revealing her – and then it was just a matter of time.
Once Ulwai’s forces were dead, the PC cleric targeted her with a hold person. This done, the heroes bound her with trollgut rope (I hate that stuff) and (sigh) gagged her, and had a lengthy discussion about what to do with their prisoner (and healed up, as they were pretty wounded by now).
Finally, they settled on interrogation. The wizard expended a casting of dispel magic to make sure the Wyrmlord had no ongoing buffs, and the cleric broke out a scroll of zone of truth – which Ulwai failed her save against.
And then the questioning began. I’ll keep things short by listing what the PCs learned.
- That she was, in fact, Wyrmlord Ulwai Stormcaller.
- About Azarr Kul: who he was, what his goals were.
- About Abithriax and Tyrgarun, the remaining Horde dragons.
- About Wyrmlord Kharn.
- About the makeup of the Horde, and the army’s relative size.


Once the interrogation ended, the real argument began, over what was to be done with her. She’d managed to convince the PCs that she was mostly innocent, a victim of circumstance tricked into Azarr Kul’s army; there was a big divide over whether they should execute her or find some way to bring her back to Brindol for imprisonment. I’ve shied from telling you exactly who was on which side in any particular argument, but this time the players were split thusly:
Barbarian, crusader, and rogue in favor of execution; cleric, druid, ranger, warblade, and wizard in favor of imprisonment.
The former group was of the mind that bringing her to the authorities was simply too much of a tax on the party’s resources. And, in keeping with this point of view, the rogue eventually, without any permission from the others, CDG’ed Ulwai on the spot.
Oh, gods. Drama time.
I’ll gloss over the OOC fight that occurred afterwards, but I will say this: it was not pleasant. I really don’t think I’ve ever seen such hostility in the group before…but eventually I managed to calm everything down. But I did (and I might have been out of line here) give the rogue something of a lecture about working with the group.

But, as always, we moved on. The dungeon crawl continued, foes falling like dominoes. But I won’t bore you with details, because I know what you’re really here for.
The Ghostlord.

Swords glinting and fists alight with fire, the heroes burst into the lich’s sanctum.

Following Saph’s advice, I tried to roleplay him like ‘a combination of Gollum and Palpatine’: in other words, pretty darn insane. Any remaining hostility from the Ulwai encounter seemed to fade away here, and it wad honestly one of my favorite roleplay encounters to date. ‘Twas loads of fun playing the paranoid Ghostlord (especially with the Gollum voice, which I broke out just for the occasion – without the weird pronouns, though).
After a lot of wheeling and dealing, the players reached the Ghostlord’s deal: in exchange for the phylactery, he’ll abandon the Horde. They finally agreed, and cautiously handed the thing over, ready for a betrayal at any moment.
But the Ghostlord, while an undead psychopath, was true to his word. As petted and crooned over his returned phylactery, the heroes backed out of the room…and, with all the haste they could muster, ran the heck out of the stone lion.
They hurried all night through the stormy Thornwaste, putting as much distance between them and the Ghostlord as they could.
As morning came, the howling winds and crackling lightning died down to a warm summer rain, and the parched desert drank. Exhausted, the heroes collapsed upon the ground as it quenched its thirst and turned to mud. And they slept.

Day 25:

It wasn’t until the afternoon that the PCs woke; as they ate and packed up their camp, they talked and planned for a long while.
Then I got the thrust of their conversation.
They were going to kill Kharn.
Crap.

And as the heroes set off, the Red Hand Horde swarmed over Terrelton.
They left none alive.

mangosta71
2010-12-27, 09:36 AM
We don't have enough information to say whether the lecture you gave the rogue was justified or not. Did it fit the character? If so, even though it's done without the group's consent, it's good RP (I've actually been given bonus RP XP for doing pretty much the same thing, including the OOC argument after - it was perfectly in line with how I'd been playing my character all along).

Elfin
2010-12-27, 01:49 PM
Yeah, the reason I hesitate to say that it was justified is because that really was in line with how he plays the character. At the same time, it was against the grain of the group; it can a tricky line, that between good roleplaying and fun-spoiling.

mangosta71
2010-12-27, 03:21 PM
So the issue is that the IC argument spilled into OOC-land? Sometimes you have to wade in and remind everyone that it's just a game. It's perfectly fine and understandable for characters to get upset, but as players they should remain in control so that everyone can still have fun even while their characters are arguing. Granted, practically no group ever achieves that, but it's an ideal that we should all strive for in our gaming.

Myshlaevsky
2011-01-04, 06:03 AM
I just wanted to chime in and say I'm pleased you began updating this again, and look forward to further updates.

Elfin
2011-01-04, 07:51 PM
There was no session last Saturday, as it was New Year's Day, but we've another scheduled for this week.

AslanCross
2011-01-04, 11:55 PM
Ooh, looking forward to how you're going to handle the decapitation attack on the Red Hand. That's honestly one of the things I'm glad my PCs didn't try to plan.

Hiro Protagonest
2011-02-11, 08:52 PM
Keeping this alive.

Saintheart
2011-02-12, 07:14 AM
Noting the last concern, which was the party's intent to try and kill Kharn: from memory Saph's campaign journal that came up with a couple of solutions - chiefly, resurrection of Kharn if the party succeeds. From memory I think the party in that journal also pulled the assassination attempt while waiting for the Horde to get to Brindol.

Basically it was a scry-and-die exercise, which makes getting into Kharn's encampment pretty straightforward. If they don't have teleport capabilities it'll make it a lot harder for them, though. The "Into the Horde" encounter (sort of) covers this eventuality. And there is a fanbuilt map of the immediate surrounds of Kharn's tent out on the net, I just haven't got round to linking it. :smallcool:

EDIT: In fact, I'll have to give some thought to adding that as a section of the Handbook. Needs some guidance, perhaps...

Envyus
2013-09-03, 03:20 AM
Your really bad at letting the Wrymlords and Dragons escape.