Crow
2008-08-03, 05:40 PM
So we got together for another session. Once again, the four characters were;
Val, Eladrin Rogue
Clyde, Halfling Rogue
Broderick, Human Cleric
Kanan, Human Ranger
Making sure inventory is up to snuff
Before starting the session, I asked the players if their characters had "come accross" any new equipment in the unspecified time between this adventure and their last. If so, I had them pay for it, and also made them roll to see how much cash they had burned since the last adventure (D20 x10 gp).
Surrounded
We started with our heroes, minus Broderick (whose player was gone for the moment), fleeing from a hobgoblin army, as survivors from a crushed mercenary army which had marched north to sack one of the region's rich cities. Pursued through the desert, the group was attempting to reach a ruin (which they believed was a city, but one character misinterprited the map IRL) where they could take shelter and plan their next move. We opened in the remains of a circle of wagons from a long-dead caravan, with the group surrounded by a flurry of hobgoblin minions and two archers (encounter for 5 characters, we had three). The battle went well, but could have gone better. Kanan and Val were slaughtering minions. Clyde, who was nearest the archers could have closes to give the archers a tough time, but chose to go after minions instead. As a result, the archers nearly decimated the group. Clyde dropped first, as he has in each of our last two sessions. This left Kanan and Val to try and get near to the archers and finish them off. Maneuvering to utilize the old wagons for cover, the two finally converged on the archers and made short work of them once they were near. Val dropped near the end of the combat. Kanan managed to bring back both Val and Clyde (who had rolled really well on his death saving throws) with Heal checks. At this time, Broderick showed up riding a donkey. He had been searching for his friends, as he hadn't signed on with the mercenaries and been caught up in fleeing the hobgoblin army. After checking the bodies for supplies, the group set out for the ruins.
Ardith and it's treasures
So the group reached the ruins. A giant pile of boulders and a large natural cavern greeted our heroes. Outside the cavern were multiple rotted posts with bleached skulls to warn them away. Many of the posts had fallen or broken with time and many skulls were buried (fully or partially) in the sand. Wanting the use the ruins as shelter, the decision was made to explore the cavern first. Clyde volunteered.
Proceeding into the caven, Clyde was greeted by a very large pit that dropped straight down. From within, he could hear the faint sound of running water. Here it took a long time for the group to realize they could use rope to sclae their way down. Clyde was going to free-climb it, but when another character searched the cavern, I mentioned an outcropping that looked like it could be used as an anchor point of some sort, and they caught it. I also mentioned a chipped arrowhead that Val noticed. She must have thought that she was supposed to do something with it or something, because her player got upset when I kept telling her it appeared to be a normal chipped arrowhead.
So anyways, Clyde lights off a sunrod and Kanan slips it into the halfling's plumber's crack so he can descend into the pit. Reaching about halfway down, Clyde needs to secure more rope to reach the bottom, and finally hits bottom at about the 80-foot mark. A large cavern or sparkling gold greets him, as well as a huge pool that seems to flow from a gap in the far wall. The water is exceptionally clear, and another cavern can be seen through the gap in the far wall. Near the edges of the pool, there are many gold and silver coins in the water. Clyde examines the walls to discover that the gold is actually pyrite. He also notices that sections of the sides of the cavern are hewn, and that the cavern is some sort of crypt. Val, who is getting restless, descends to see what is going on, while Clyde begins looting the crypts. Once Val reaches the bottom, Clyde attempts to cover up the fact tht he is looting, to little avail. Val checks out the other burial sites and doesn't loot, but does see what kind of stuff there is. When Clyde attempts to loot the sites that Val is examining they argue for a moment, the echoes of which catch the attention of Broderick, who goes down to admonish Clyde for his looting ways. Clyde will hear none of it, and Val/Broderick leave Clyde to his looting. Eventually, Clyde gets all his loot up to the top of the pit, where Kanan, Val, and Broderick have built a small fire using old skull-posts.
Nobody bothered exploring the second cavern on the other side of the underwater passage. Interestingly enough, nobody bothered to ask why all this treasure, seemingly there for the taking, was still there for the taking after all these years.
The group stay the night, and Clyde has hallucinations of the others trying to steal his treasure while he sleeps. He roleplays it wonderfully, and ends up not resting that night. The group sets out the next day, and travels a few days through the desert, trying to reach a nearby town. Clyde's dreams continue and he still refuses to sleep. Here we notice that there are literally no penalties for not sleeping unless you've had an encounter at some point. You can not sleep for days, and as long as you havn't had an encounter, suffer no penalties. I was disappointed. On the third night out, the group starts to hear the sound of clacking bone. They all arise and keep and eye out, when skeletons emerge seemingly out of the thin air and shadows. I put in one skeleton for each of the burial sites looted, so 6 skeletons in all. I thought this would destroy the group, but this battle goes pretty well, and is very difficult, but the heroes emerge victorious, just barely. As they "die", the skeletons fade into a black mist and disappear. Shortly after, Clyde's dreams stop, and the group makes it to the town.
Here I had a few of them go shopping, and take care of some other business. Broderick (Cleric of Pelor) is disappointed when the only major temple is dedicated to the evil god Bane.
So that was pretty much it. Pretty fun, though in my opinion not as good as last session, but I had literally put this together in the minutes just before the game. Hopefully our next game will be better planned.
Val, Eladrin Rogue
Clyde, Halfling Rogue
Broderick, Human Cleric
Kanan, Human Ranger
Making sure inventory is up to snuff
Before starting the session, I asked the players if their characters had "come accross" any new equipment in the unspecified time between this adventure and their last. If so, I had them pay for it, and also made them roll to see how much cash they had burned since the last adventure (D20 x10 gp).
Surrounded
We started with our heroes, minus Broderick (whose player was gone for the moment), fleeing from a hobgoblin army, as survivors from a crushed mercenary army which had marched north to sack one of the region's rich cities. Pursued through the desert, the group was attempting to reach a ruin (which they believed was a city, but one character misinterprited the map IRL) where they could take shelter and plan their next move. We opened in the remains of a circle of wagons from a long-dead caravan, with the group surrounded by a flurry of hobgoblin minions and two archers (encounter for 5 characters, we had three). The battle went well, but could have gone better. Kanan and Val were slaughtering minions. Clyde, who was nearest the archers could have closes to give the archers a tough time, but chose to go after minions instead. As a result, the archers nearly decimated the group. Clyde dropped first, as he has in each of our last two sessions. This left Kanan and Val to try and get near to the archers and finish them off. Maneuvering to utilize the old wagons for cover, the two finally converged on the archers and made short work of them once they were near. Val dropped near the end of the combat. Kanan managed to bring back both Val and Clyde (who had rolled really well on his death saving throws) with Heal checks. At this time, Broderick showed up riding a donkey. He had been searching for his friends, as he hadn't signed on with the mercenaries and been caught up in fleeing the hobgoblin army. After checking the bodies for supplies, the group set out for the ruins.
Ardith and it's treasures
So the group reached the ruins. A giant pile of boulders and a large natural cavern greeted our heroes. Outside the cavern were multiple rotted posts with bleached skulls to warn them away. Many of the posts had fallen or broken with time and many skulls were buried (fully or partially) in the sand. Wanting the use the ruins as shelter, the decision was made to explore the cavern first. Clyde volunteered.
Proceeding into the caven, Clyde was greeted by a very large pit that dropped straight down. From within, he could hear the faint sound of running water. Here it took a long time for the group to realize they could use rope to sclae their way down. Clyde was going to free-climb it, but when another character searched the cavern, I mentioned an outcropping that looked like it could be used as an anchor point of some sort, and they caught it. I also mentioned a chipped arrowhead that Val noticed. She must have thought that she was supposed to do something with it or something, because her player got upset when I kept telling her it appeared to be a normal chipped arrowhead.
So anyways, Clyde lights off a sunrod and Kanan slips it into the halfling's plumber's crack so he can descend into the pit. Reaching about halfway down, Clyde needs to secure more rope to reach the bottom, and finally hits bottom at about the 80-foot mark. A large cavern or sparkling gold greets him, as well as a huge pool that seems to flow from a gap in the far wall. The water is exceptionally clear, and another cavern can be seen through the gap in the far wall. Near the edges of the pool, there are many gold and silver coins in the water. Clyde examines the walls to discover that the gold is actually pyrite. He also notices that sections of the sides of the cavern are hewn, and that the cavern is some sort of crypt. Val, who is getting restless, descends to see what is going on, while Clyde begins looting the crypts. Once Val reaches the bottom, Clyde attempts to cover up the fact tht he is looting, to little avail. Val checks out the other burial sites and doesn't loot, but does see what kind of stuff there is. When Clyde attempts to loot the sites that Val is examining they argue for a moment, the echoes of which catch the attention of Broderick, who goes down to admonish Clyde for his looting ways. Clyde will hear none of it, and Val/Broderick leave Clyde to his looting. Eventually, Clyde gets all his loot up to the top of the pit, where Kanan, Val, and Broderick have built a small fire using old skull-posts.
Nobody bothered exploring the second cavern on the other side of the underwater passage. Interestingly enough, nobody bothered to ask why all this treasure, seemingly there for the taking, was still there for the taking after all these years.
The group stay the night, and Clyde has hallucinations of the others trying to steal his treasure while he sleeps. He roleplays it wonderfully, and ends up not resting that night. The group sets out the next day, and travels a few days through the desert, trying to reach a nearby town. Clyde's dreams continue and he still refuses to sleep. Here we notice that there are literally no penalties for not sleeping unless you've had an encounter at some point. You can not sleep for days, and as long as you havn't had an encounter, suffer no penalties. I was disappointed. On the third night out, the group starts to hear the sound of clacking bone. They all arise and keep and eye out, when skeletons emerge seemingly out of the thin air and shadows. I put in one skeleton for each of the burial sites looted, so 6 skeletons in all. I thought this would destroy the group, but this battle goes pretty well, and is very difficult, but the heroes emerge victorious, just barely. As they "die", the skeletons fade into a black mist and disappear. Shortly after, Clyde's dreams stop, and the group makes it to the town.
Here I had a few of them go shopping, and take care of some other business. Broderick (Cleric of Pelor) is disappointed when the only major temple is dedicated to the evil god Bane.
So that was pretty much it. Pretty fun, though in my opinion not as good as last session, but I had literally put this together in the minutes just before the game. Hopefully our next game will be better planned.