[3.5] My Wife Designed Her First Adventure

[Crow]

I ran it for her after we went over it together. This is the story of what happened. The group was made up of the following level 1 characters;

Wild Elf Warlock (Wife's character)
Human Favored Soul of Pelor set up for melee
Dwarf Cleric of Moradin set up to buff
Elf Ranger set up for ranged combat
Tiefling Paladin of St. Cuthbert set up for ranged combat

First Level: Where Nobody is Safe, and Anything Can Happen

The group met up on a garbage scow bound for the Lizardfolk-controlled city of Dralthi. Once the scow put into port, our heroes disembarked, where they were met by a pitiful human who picked them out of the crowd due to their obvious armor and plentiful weapons. He explains that he is a slave, and asks them if they are mercenaries, and if they could help his master, who was in dire need. The group tells the man that they are not mercenaries, but will help the man if his cause is good. A meeting is arranged, and the group does some business within the city before meeting in a tavern at the appointed time.

At the tavern, the group meets the master, a lizardfolk named Sark. He explains that his sister has gone missing, and he wants the group to find her and bring her back. She had purchased a scroll from a peddler detailing the location of a lost pirate's treasure. He told her not to go, and took the scroll from her to prevent her from pursuing it, but she disappeared shortly thereafter anyways. He provides the scroll, and the group decides to set out to find her after picking up some supplies. Except for the Ranger. He decides that since he is a ranger, he doesn't need supplies.

So the trip takes much longer as the Ranger, who is guiding the group moves at half-speed to forage food while they travel. They treck through the marshes, stumbling upon a dire rat nest along the way, and then a few nights later, being ambushed by lizardfolk bandits. They handle the encounters without much difficulty and press on.

When they reach the alleged location of the pirate's treasure (many days behind schedule!), they find the ruins of an old temple to Pelor, which has slowly been re-taken by the wilderness. The stone slabs which stand as doors are shut, and there is a font with a riddle carved in draconic on it's side. Basically, it is a "place the answer in the font" deal. The group is able to figure out the first riddle, after which the words on the side of the font shift and move, to reveal another riddle. There are three riddles in all, each solved using things easily available nearby, which the group solves.

Gaining entry into the temple, the group proceeds to lay waste to lizardfolk bandits and their dog/wolf halfbreed guard dogs. After about 3 encounters, the group decides that they cannot go on any further. They decide to strongroom one of the rooms which they had already passed through, and fend off the lizardfolk through the night, while the cleric and favored soul try to rest. They hold off the lizards, and push out against stiff resistance the next day.

Moving on, they fight through a decent number of lizardfolk bandits, until running into the leader. This guy gives the group a run for their money. The leader is wielding a longspear, and the Favored Soul foolishly moves into the leader's threatened area on his first turn, intending to 5-foot step in on his next turn. The leader then proceeds to take a stab at the Favored Soul, and luckily misses before retreating away from him. On the Favored Soul's next turn, he again moves into the leader's threatened area, intending to 5-foot step on hisnext turn and attack. So now, the leader gives it another go with the spear and one-shots the Favored Soul, who pouts. At this point, the group has done a smattering of damage against this guy, but not enough. The leader continues skirmishing in and out of rooms and hallways, using javelins, wittling away at the group until the Warlock and Ranger go down. At this point, the group has accidentally located the room where Sark's sister is being held while chasing this guy. Meanwhile, a slew of bad rolls has left the leader untouched. The good news is that the Ranger was luckily able to stabilize the Warlock before he went down, and even more luckily, stabilized naturally himself when he went down.

So now, the Cleric (out of spells) and Paladin decide to strongroom the room where Sark's sister is being held. The lizardfolk leader easily breaks through the door and bears down on the Cleric and Paladin. After a pretty vicious fight, the Cleric drops, and the Paladin charges the leader in melee. The lizard misses the attack of opportunity, and the Paladin misses as well. Next round, the lizard wacks the Paladin to near-death, but then, the Paladin scores a critical hit with his battleaxe!

But it isn't enough, the lizardfolk chief still has 3 hp left. He easily finishes off the Paladin. Miraculously, the Cleric and the Paladin both stabilize naturally.

They are brought back to conciousness by Sark's sister, the one they were here to rescue. She administers what first aid she can, but the group and Sark's sister are all shackled. She explains that when the rest of the clan returns, the lizardfolk bandits intend to eat them! To the group's surprise, the Paladin has concealed some thieve's tools, and furthermore knows how to use them! He is able to pick the locks on the group's shackles, but not his own. Hobbling to escape, wielding a bunch of improvised weapons, the Ranger scouts ahead to find a way out and stumbles upon the bandit chief, who is recuperating from the fight. The Ranger ambushes him, and kills him. With the way clear, the group escapes the temple and flees into the marsh towards the city.

They move fast for the first few days, eventually recuperating to full strength. As they get closer to the city, they run across a group of four uniformed lizardfolk. The Ranger confronts them well away from the party, and they explain that they have been sent by Sark to find his sister, as he had assumed the group's rescue attempt had failed. Satisfied, the Ranger leads the lizardfolk to the group, where Sark's sister recognizes the lizards as household guards from her family's estate. She leaves with them, and as they leave, one of the guards mentions something in Draconic to the rest of the guards, translating roughly to "Remember, no survivors.". He then kills the girl (she-lizard?), and the guards attack the group. Through the impressive exploits of the Warlock, the group is able to handle the guards, though just barely. Pissed off and confused, the Cleric and Paladin bury the sister, and the group continues to the city to locate Sark and find out what the hell is going on, one way or another...

The End...For Now.

[kjones]

Sounds like a lot of fun! I wonder if she had planned for the capture of the party... or was that something you came up with on your own?

Also, for the ranger who wouldn't buy supplies. There's one in every group.

[OverdrivePrime]

Wow! Sounds like an amazingly fun game. I look forward to the next installment!

[Coidzor]

Sounds like a fun time, and hopefully the whole party have learned about equipping properly before setting out on an expedition.

how long did it take you two to design and review it?

[Another_Poet]

Sounds cool, but I have a question for you.

You say your wife wrote the module - but then you say the warlock is "GF's character." Does GF = "girlfriend"? Do you have a wife and a girlfriend? Or is it someone else's girlfriend ??

Just curious.

[MisterSaturnine]

Sounds cool, but I have a question for you.

You say your wife wrote the module - but then you say the warlock is "GF's character." Does GF = "girlfriend"? Do you have a wife and a girlfriend? Or is it someone else's girlfriend ??

Just curious.

Don't be ridiculous. Gerald Ford is in Crow's gaming group.

[arguskos]

Don't be ridiculous. Gerald Ford is in Crow's gaming group.

MOST AWESOME GAMING GROUP EVER!!

Also, sounds really fun. Hope the Favored Soul learned his lesson though, since that was a BAAAAD series of moves on his part.

[Crow]

I wonder if she had planned for the capture of the party... or was that something you came up with on your own?

That was an impromptu twist. The group had such amazing luck with 3 characters stabilizing naturally, that I didn't want it to go to waste. I think I've seen like two characters stabilize like that (with the percentile). Everyone was anxious to see what happened, so I went with it.

how long did it take you two to design and review it?

It took her a couple hours over a couple days to come up with everything, and then we went over it on the car ride over to the game. She put together all her notes about important stuff I'd need to know for the adventure and printed it all out for me.

You say your wife wrote the module - but then you say the warlock is "GF's character." Does GF = "girlfriend"? Do you have a wife and a girlfriend? Or is it someone else's girlfriend ??

I'm big pimpin'

Just kidding. That was a mistake. The Warlock is my wife's character. She did a really good job not using her knowledge to affect the outcome of the adventure. I was proud of her. I will go edit that mis-print so other people don't get any crazy ideas about me.

[Coidzor]

Well, we forgive the newlywed's mistake. Let's just hope your wife feels the same way, Madame...

[Kol Korran]

sounds like a fun meeting. i was quite surprised at the paladin packing thieves tools and knowing how to use them! when ever did a palading take such skills? and one of st. cuthbert?

i also liked the fact that the dominant race in the area were lizardfolk. a nice change. i would have loved to see whether you've designed their city and how.

one last question- did arriving late at the location have any effect on the adventure? if so, what effect? if not, oh well, never mind..