dsmiles
2010-10-30, 06:42 AM
So we started playing Expedition to Castle Ravenloft last week, and I just wanted to post the story as it goes (from my character's point of view, of course).
Week 1:
Party Composition:
Me: Iosan Gun Mage
DM's Son: 1/2 Orc Barbarian, Caspian Battleglaive Wielder (2H, EWP, 3d4, 19-20/x3)
DMPC: (Some sort of incorporeal thing from Ghostwalk) Archivist.
Keep in Mind: We use a lot of 'Tippy'-like logic in our magic, the DM rolls in the open, and keeps his notes on a side table behind a screen.
Enough about me, though. On with the (spoilered for length)adventure:
We enter the village. (Easy enough, right?) It seems deserted, so we investigate a few buildings. Completely ransacked, like somebody was looking for something. Every single building was like that, so we stopped looking in them. I catch some movement out of the corner of my eye, down a side street. I tell the barbarian, and we choose to ignore it, for now. We continue down the main street towards the town center, and we can make out some faint groaning (sounded like, "braaaaiiiiiiinnnnnns" to me). As we get closer to the center of town, the barbarian catches some movement off in the fog. Unfortunately, he gives chase, which means I have to follow him to save his butt (he's only 8 or 9, I think).
He runs dead smack into the middle of a zombie apocalypse. "Great," I think to myself, "another zombie apocalypse." It seems like the zombies are pretty focused on breaking into the inn. I hear shouts from inside. "HELP US!" they yell. I guess there's no point in arguing, now. I'll save their butts and argue with them later. Two more zombies march in from another side street, and spot us. "Wonderful," I say.
Fortunately, the barbarian and I get the drop on the zombies. (Real hard, eh?) Just to start things off with a twist, I grease a couple of the zombies in the crowd. One of 'em goes down, and starts to flop around in the puddle. The barbarian charges the two zombies that came from the side street, and nails one. Hard. REALLY hard. It doesn't go down. "These sure ain't your mama's zombies," I yell to him. "Yeah, these buggers'r tough," he shouts back, "how many do think we got?" After I make a quick count, "More than one, less than a hundred." Then, out of nowhere, this translucent guy with a mace charges in off of yet another side street and wollops a zombie in its rotten head. The two zombies try to gnaw on the barbarian, and the third turns to attack the ghost-guy. "Well, at least he's on our side, for now," I think to myself. The rest kind of mill about pounding ineffectually on the walls and barricaded door of the inn. A couple of crossbow bolts come from the second floor, and a zombie goes down for the count.
I toss a vial of Alchemist's Fire into the puddle of grease. FOOSH! Apparently, fire and greasy zombies don't mix. Both of 'em go up in flames, but keep coming. "Crap," I say as I ready my Magelock. The barbarian takes another swing at the zombies, and misses horribly, losing his balance in the process. Ghost guy smacks around his zombie again, but doesn't seem very effective. The zombies mill around a bit, and another one's rotting clothes catch fire. One of the zombies manages to bite the barbarian, and another breaks off from the pack to start towards me. A couple more bolts come from the second story, and disappear into the crowd of zombies.
I back off a little, and drop another grease spell, overlapping the first. FOOSH! More flaming zombies. "Are we having fun yet?" I yell to the barbarian. He splits a zombie in two, and yells back, "I dunno, I don't feel so good." Great, I'm probably going to have to put him down after this fight. Ghost-guy over there disappears INTO a zombie, which proceeds to explode in a flash of pure white light and a explosion of rotten guts. Gross. The zombie on the barbarian takes a swing, and misses. The one on me hits me with its filthy, rotten claws. "OW! Quit it!" I yell at it. A couple more bolts come from the windows, and another zombie goes down.
I back off again, and level my double-barreled Magelock dead at it's face. Firing both barrels nearly takes its head clean off, but it's still standing. Mr. I'm-so-big-and-bad barbarian is starting to look a little green around the gills, so to speak, but he takes another swing at the nearest zombie and lops off an arm. The ghost-guy looks at me, winks, and wades off into the mass of milling zombies, who don't seem to notice. The zombie in front of me steps in and gnashes its claws ineffectually, and it looks like the others have managed to weaken the barricade. Another volley from the building takes out another two zombies. By now, almost half of the zombies are on fire. Yay, me!
Taking a quick step back while I focus on my Magelock, I blast the zombie in front of me with a shocking grasp. Good-bye, zombie! The barbarian smacks around his zombie a little, but it looks like his battleglave isn't working so well against these things. Ghost-guy reaches out an touches a zombie in another flash of light. That zombie turns to attack him, and misses. The zombie on the barbarian manages to bite him again, and the barbarian staggers a little. All but one of the zombies are on fire now, and the barricade is getting weaker. "Great," I say, "what's next?" A small chest of drawers comes from an open window and squishes a zombie flat. "Oh," I say. I guess the crossbows weren't fast enough.
I drop another overlapping grease puddle for good measure, and four zombies fall and wriggle around in it. FOOSH! The barbarian finishes off the second one with a flick of his sword, and moves towards the mass. Ghost-guy just stands there, and whacks one with his mace. A couple of zombies break off from the pack and head in our direction. Another heavy piece of furniture comes out the window, followed by a couple of crossbow bolts. I guess the furniture isn't fast enough, either.
I pull another Magelock, and blast a zombie in the face. This one goes down, first shot. The barbarian whacks a flaming zombie, and hopes for the best, while ghost-guy touches another zombie, with another flash, followed by falling zombie. More bolts from the windows. They must be out of furniture already.
I take time to reload both Magelocks, while the barbarian hits a zombie so hard his sword goes right through it and into the next. They both go down. He must be mad at them, or something. He's also foaming at the mouth a little. Ew. Ghost-guy over there, takes one out with his mace. The zombies are almost through the barrier, and we need to act fast. Another volley into the crowd, another zombie down.
I fire, and the shot goes wide, whilst my companion decides that pushing the zombies into the fire is a good idea. I wish he had thought of that earlier. He charges one and knocks it into the fire. Ghost-guy takes out another one, and now the barrier is on fire, too. "Wonderful," I mutter as another zombie turns towards me.
This time, I take more careful aim, and blast the zombie. Once in the guts, and once in the face, for the finish. The barbarian takes out another flaming zombie with his sword. That fire must be wearing them down. FOOSH! Wait, WHAT? Now the building is on fire too! Oops, my bad. Volley from the windows, two more zombies go down.
Ok, I drop a ray of frost to help put out the building, a little, and reload one of my single-shot Magelocks. The barbarian and ghost-guy both manage to take one out, but now the zombies have broken down the barricade and waltzed right into the building. CLANG! The zombie that was inside, falls back, with it's head smashed straight down into its neck.
I blast the last zombie, with my pistol, and the barbarian manages to finish it off. Whew!
I help to put out the fire, while the barbarian throws up all over. The ghost-guy waves his hands over the barbarian, and he starts to look a little better. We all have a little chat with the people in the inn, and learn that the mysterious Strahd vonZarovich has taken a fancy to one of the villagers. What's next? Cthulhu wants to marry the mayor? How crazy is this guy, sending a horde of zombies to kidnap one frightened girl? There's a human paladin here, and she asks us to accompany her to the temple. She believes that it's the place all the zombies came from, and her companions got separated from her two days ago. I tell her that it may just be best to let them go, if they went behind enemy lines. She's mighty insistent that we help her. Her companions can help us against Strahd, she says. I give up, at this point, we'll help her, but only so long as it doesn't interfere with me saving the village. Needs of the many, and all that.
To be continued...
We only managed to get through one encounter. One encounter with something in the neighborhood of 22 zombies. (I may not have accounted for all of the ones killed by the fire.)
Week 1:
Party Composition:
Me: Iosan Gun Mage
DM's Son: 1/2 Orc Barbarian, Caspian Battleglaive Wielder (2H, EWP, 3d4, 19-20/x3)
DMPC: (Some sort of incorporeal thing from Ghostwalk) Archivist.
Keep in Mind: We use a lot of 'Tippy'-like logic in our magic, the DM rolls in the open, and keeps his notes on a side table behind a screen.
Enough about me, though. On with the (spoilered for length)adventure:
We enter the village. (Easy enough, right?) It seems deserted, so we investigate a few buildings. Completely ransacked, like somebody was looking for something. Every single building was like that, so we stopped looking in them. I catch some movement out of the corner of my eye, down a side street. I tell the barbarian, and we choose to ignore it, for now. We continue down the main street towards the town center, and we can make out some faint groaning (sounded like, "braaaaiiiiiiinnnnnns" to me). As we get closer to the center of town, the barbarian catches some movement off in the fog. Unfortunately, he gives chase, which means I have to follow him to save his butt (he's only 8 or 9, I think).
He runs dead smack into the middle of a zombie apocalypse. "Great," I think to myself, "another zombie apocalypse." It seems like the zombies are pretty focused on breaking into the inn. I hear shouts from inside. "HELP US!" they yell. I guess there's no point in arguing, now. I'll save their butts and argue with them later. Two more zombies march in from another side street, and spot us. "Wonderful," I say.
Fortunately, the barbarian and I get the drop on the zombies. (Real hard, eh?) Just to start things off with a twist, I grease a couple of the zombies in the crowd. One of 'em goes down, and starts to flop around in the puddle. The barbarian charges the two zombies that came from the side street, and nails one. Hard. REALLY hard. It doesn't go down. "These sure ain't your mama's zombies," I yell to him. "Yeah, these buggers'r tough," he shouts back, "how many do think we got?" After I make a quick count, "More than one, less than a hundred." Then, out of nowhere, this translucent guy with a mace charges in off of yet another side street and wollops a zombie in its rotten head. The two zombies try to gnaw on the barbarian, and the third turns to attack the ghost-guy. "Well, at least he's on our side, for now," I think to myself. The rest kind of mill about pounding ineffectually on the walls and barricaded door of the inn. A couple of crossbow bolts come from the second floor, and a zombie goes down for the count.
I toss a vial of Alchemist's Fire into the puddle of grease. FOOSH! Apparently, fire and greasy zombies don't mix. Both of 'em go up in flames, but keep coming. "Crap," I say as I ready my Magelock. The barbarian takes another swing at the zombies, and misses horribly, losing his balance in the process. Ghost guy smacks around his zombie again, but doesn't seem very effective. The zombies mill around a bit, and another one's rotting clothes catch fire. One of the zombies manages to bite the barbarian, and another breaks off from the pack to start towards me. A couple more bolts come from the second story, and disappear into the crowd of zombies.
I back off a little, and drop another grease spell, overlapping the first. FOOSH! More flaming zombies. "Are we having fun yet?" I yell to the barbarian. He splits a zombie in two, and yells back, "I dunno, I don't feel so good." Great, I'm probably going to have to put him down after this fight. Ghost-guy over there disappears INTO a zombie, which proceeds to explode in a flash of pure white light and a explosion of rotten guts. Gross. The zombie on the barbarian takes a swing, and misses. The one on me hits me with its filthy, rotten claws. "OW! Quit it!" I yell at it. A couple more bolts come from the windows, and another zombie goes down.
I back off again, and level my double-barreled Magelock dead at it's face. Firing both barrels nearly takes its head clean off, but it's still standing. Mr. I'm-so-big-and-bad barbarian is starting to look a little green around the gills, so to speak, but he takes another swing at the nearest zombie and lops off an arm. The ghost-guy looks at me, winks, and wades off into the mass of milling zombies, who don't seem to notice. The zombie in front of me steps in and gnashes its claws ineffectually, and it looks like the others have managed to weaken the barricade. Another volley from the building takes out another two zombies. By now, almost half of the zombies are on fire. Yay, me!
Taking a quick step back while I focus on my Magelock, I blast the zombie in front of me with a shocking grasp. Good-bye, zombie! The barbarian smacks around his zombie a little, but it looks like his battleglave isn't working so well against these things. Ghost-guy reaches out an touches a zombie in another flash of light. That zombie turns to attack him, and misses. The zombie on the barbarian manages to bite him again, and the barbarian staggers a little. All but one of the zombies are on fire now, and the barricade is getting weaker. "Great," I say, "what's next?" A small chest of drawers comes from an open window and squishes a zombie flat. "Oh," I say. I guess the crossbows weren't fast enough.
I drop another overlapping grease puddle for good measure, and four zombies fall and wriggle around in it. FOOSH! The barbarian finishes off the second one with a flick of his sword, and moves towards the mass. Ghost-guy just stands there, and whacks one with his mace. A couple of zombies break off from the pack and head in our direction. Another heavy piece of furniture comes out the window, followed by a couple of crossbow bolts. I guess the furniture isn't fast enough, either.
I pull another Magelock, and blast a zombie in the face. This one goes down, first shot. The barbarian whacks a flaming zombie, and hopes for the best, while ghost-guy touches another zombie, with another flash, followed by falling zombie. More bolts from the windows. They must be out of furniture already.
I take time to reload both Magelocks, while the barbarian hits a zombie so hard his sword goes right through it and into the next. They both go down. He must be mad at them, or something. He's also foaming at the mouth a little. Ew. Ghost-guy over there, takes one out with his mace. The zombies are almost through the barrier, and we need to act fast. Another volley into the crowd, another zombie down.
I fire, and the shot goes wide, whilst my companion decides that pushing the zombies into the fire is a good idea. I wish he had thought of that earlier. He charges one and knocks it into the fire. Ghost-guy takes out another one, and now the barrier is on fire, too. "Wonderful," I mutter as another zombie turns towards me.
This time, I take more careful aim, and blast the zombie. Once in the guts, and once in the face, for the finish. The barbarian takes out another flaming zombie with his sword. That fire must be wearing them down. FOOSH! Wait, WHAT? Now the building is on fire too! Oops, my bad. Volley from the windows, two more zombies go down.
Ok, I drop a ray of frost to help put out the building, a little, and reload one of my single-shot Magelocks. The barbarian and ghost-guy both manage to take one out, but now the zombies have broken down the barricade and waltzed right into the building. CLANG! The zombie that was inside, falls back, with it's head smashed straight down into its neck.
I blast the last zombie, with my pistol, and the barbarian manages to finish it off. Whew!
I help to put out the fire, while the barbarian throws up all over. The ghost-guy waves his hands over the barbarian, and he starts to look a little better. We all have a little chat with the people in the inn, and learn that the mysterious Strahd vonZarovich has taken a fancy to one of the villagers. What's next? Cthulhu wants to marry the mayor? How crazy is this guy, sending a horde of zombies to kidnap one frightened girl? There's a human paladin here, and she asks us to accompany her to the temple. She believes that it's the place all the zombies came from, and her companions got separated from her two days ago. I tell her that it may just be best to let them go, if they went behind enemy lines. She's mighty insistent that we help her. Her companions can help us against Strahd, she says. I give up, at this point, we'll help her, but only so long as it doesn't interfere with me saving the village. Needs of the many, and all that.
To be continued...
We only managed to get through one encounter. One encounter with something in the neighborhood of 22 zombies. (I may not have accounted for all of the ones killed by the fire.)