Galactic Coordinates Reference

Time really does fly, doesn't it?  Hard to believe I haven't posted anything in a month.  Been busy with non-gaming stuff, but I've also been pecking away at a little side project that I finally finished.  It's an Excel spreadsheet that lists every system, their coordinates, and any major hyperlanes that pass through them from the galactic map on pages 328-9 of the Edge of the Empire core rulebook.  By default it's sorted alphabetically by system so that you can locate any system easily on the map.  While you can sort by hyperlane as well, it's probably easier to just look at the map to see what systems are along the route.

GMs and players alike might find it useful.  Enjoy!

Group 2 Plays 13th Age

Last night I started my second 13th Age campaign, with a different group.  Like my other group, I'm running through the Dungeon World front The Great Wyrm Axtalrath.  I'm interested to find out how much the two campaigns diverge given the exact same open-ended, sandbox-y scenario.  While I'll comment on mechanical bits in future posts, I probably won't delve too deep into the narrative with proper session summaries.  Partially due to time constraints, partially because it could potentially get confusing, and partially because I'm likely to reuse stuff which would spoil things if my players from either group read them. 

That said, so far the two groups are taking things in very different directions, which I'm happy to see.

I guess one of the first orders of business should be to introduce the new group:

Iltisine
Wood Elf Cleric
Icons:  1 (neg) The Three, 1 (conf) High Druid, 1 (pos) Priestess
Backgrounds:  +4 Linguist, +4 Wanderer
OUT:  Pieces of metal sometimes speak to him, and he either destroys them or incorporates them into his mish-mash equipment.

Lowthesis
Dwarf Paladin
Icons:  2 (conf) Dwarf King, 1 (neg) The Three
Backgrounds:  +4 Bodyguard, +4 Diplomat
OUT:  He's a noble in exile; he abandoned his clan because he couldn't stand the dirty politics.

Argus
Human Fighter
Icons:  2 (pos) Great Gold Wyrm, 1 (conf) Emperor
Backgrounds:  +4 Soldier, +4 Blacksmith
OUT:  He's the only person known to have insulted the Emperor and survive to tell the tale.

Interesting Observations:

Iltisine was built as a melee Str Cleric, but the player purposefully gave him an 8 Con.  Yes, this is an experience D&D player who knew what he was getting into.  He also intentionally passed over most healing resources, having only his class feature and its associated feat.  Lowthesis grudgingly took Lay on Hands because of this.  Truth be told, I was interested in seeing how such a party would fare, but after the first session the player has asked to re-spec his Cleric into more of a spellcaster, and with more of a healing focus.  I'm allowing it, so I'll have to wait for another time to see a 13th Age party with no Cleric (or a non-healer Cleric) in action. 

While we're on the subject of Iltisine, Elven Grace is an extremely powerful racial feature.  In our first (short) fight he managed to get 1 extra standard action, and in the second he got 3, one on the d12.  I know that it's balanced around the fact that poor rolls could mean you don't get any extra standard actions in some combats, but given that most of the fights that I've run have seen the Escalation Die reach 6, the odds favor getting extra actions.  I might re-evaluate the power after we're a few sessions in, because as it stands it's hands-down the best race.

Both battles were against kobolds, and Evasive is a surprisingly nasty trait.  Granted, this group is used to the d4 HD kobolds of 3.x/Pathfinder, but these battles still ran a bit tougher than I'd expected based on my experience with the system.  But perhaps that also has something to do with the exploding clay pots that I gave them.  Still, the Paladin wasn't too happy when his Smite Evil, which normally does half damage on a miss, was essentially wasted because the shifty little buggers just refused to get pinned down. 

The highlight of the session (or lowlight, depending how you look at it) was a display of bad luck during the second battle that was worse than anything I'd seen in an RPG before.  It ran 9 rounds (I believe), and both Lowthesis and Argus both hit exactly twice.  It was pathetic, and made more pathetic by the lack of miss damage (kobolds).  Argus was getting to-hit buffs from Iltisine, and essentially got a permanent +2 bonus thanks to Two Weapon Pressure (that's not a maneuver you want to trigger almost every turn, lol).  His 2 hits both occurred in one round; he rolled a 19 which crit (thanks to Carve an Opening) and dropped his foe, and then he followed up with Cleave.  His one shining moment that battle.  At least Lowthesis was soaking up TONS of damage so his misses weren't quite as frustrating (Paladins being much more about tanking than dealing damage anyways). 

Iltisine ended up killing all but two of the kobolds (re: 3 extra standards thanks to Elven Grace).  He also demonstrated that even as a Standard Action, Hammer of the Gods isn't a bad spell (especially if you cast it when you have 2 standards that turn anyways!).  Another high point in the battle was when he took out 3 mooks with one attack (I think it was a crit with that sweet, sweet d12).  He was engaged with two of them, and I think it blew his mind when I moved the mini over to the third and said he took that one out as well.  Being used to gridded Pathfinder combat he was a bit incredulous at first, but when I explained what happened cinematically (he ran past the first two, sliced them clean through while on-the-run, and then stabbed the third) I think it made more sense to him.

This is what I LOVE about the mook rules - it helps free you from the restrictions of the Move/Standard/Quick turn structure.  Fourth Edition D&D had powers that allowed you to move and attack with one standard action, but the 13th Age rules go beyond even that.  It's a rule that instead of limiting what you can do, gives you even more flexibility.  The rule says "you kill an extra mook," and you do whatever you can with your character to make that mook die in a believable way, even if that means moving between two attacks.

Session Summary: The Old Forest Road

We finally got to play again two weeks after our big cliffhanger (sort of) during the last session.  I should note that this summary will contain some spoilers from Tales From Wilderland, so if your group is planning on playing through the adventures in that book then avoid reading the sections marked as spoilers.  Essentially what I've done is taken some elements from the first adventure, which is a journey down the Elf-path, and transplanted them onto the Old Forest Road.  Again, such spoilers will be clearly marked.

The Nazgul has been chased off, but the party is now on their own, without the talents of a Wizard to fall back on.  Lowthesis being the only member of the company to resist falling into a swoon from the Black Breath, he watched over everyone else around a small campfire until they recovered.  Even after regaining consciousness they were quite drained, and so decided to remain at this camp to recuperate a bit.  Two lookouts were now posted while the others rested.
Dreams
The company was plagued by nightmares while they slept.  The details are as follows:

Grimwine: Two bears, one of average size and one extremely large walk along the bank of a swiftly-flowing river under a clear night sky. A light frost crunches underfoot. At a fork in the path ahead the smaller bear without thinking about it heads down the path ahead toward a towering mountain. Upset, the larger bear cuffs him and turns down the other fork, to the left. When the smaller bear doesn't follow, the larger runs back and fights more violently with the smaller bear. Before the conflict is resolved the scene fades to darker thoughts of trees and spiders, and one nightmare after another bleeds into the next.

Ranulf: King Bard sits alone on his throne, a look of despair on his face. You call out his name but he doesn't answer. Hearing a clamor of angry voices outside you slowly walk over to an open window, when all of the sudden the shaft of sunlight disappears as the day turns instantly to night. South of the Royal Palace you see that some of Dale's buildings appear to be on fire, and Elves and Dwarves fight openly with each other in the streets while Bardings barricade themselves in the intact buildings. Your remaining dreams are dominated by frantic searching, though you cannot remember where.

Lowthesis: You can feel the oars you hold cut across the still water of Esgaroth, the Long Lake, and you admire your home, the Lonely Mountain, in the distance. You soon find your self inexplicably deep in the Mountain's winding halls, focused intently on the burning forge before you. This is a joy you've long been deprived of, but it's soon cut short. Your thoughts turn to a great jewel, skillfully carved, and you hear muffled shouts, curses, and threats. As the shouts become clearer your vision of the jewel becomes more and more blurred. You suddenly find yourself startled awake as the jewel fades to nothingness. Ranulf and Grimwine twitch uneasily in their sleep nearby. On the other side of the fire you can hear the four Dwarves all awake, softly arguing in the Dwarven tongue. The mood is tense and secretive.

Lowthesis decides to join the other Dwarves, not bothering to wake his human companions.  This sounds like Dwarven business, after all.  As he approaches he learns that Balin is eager to press on and search for the pony.  They still have a mission to accomplish, after all, and he doesn't want to return to his king as a coward.  Dwalin and Oin are both less sure of the wisdom of continuing onward, as they'd planned on having Gandalf's assistance and they've already encountered a Nazgul; who knows what other evil creatures lurk amongst these trees?  Ori is quiet, and seemingly undecided.  Lowthesis is eager to press on as well, not being one to back out of a challenge (Bold), and tries to Inspire the others.  He convinces Ori that Balin's is the better course of action, and while Dwalin and Oin still have their doubts, they will accept the majority vote and follow their leader.

Mirkwood's Western Eaves

The argument resumes in the morning when Ranulf and Grimwine wake up.  Grimwine is ready to go, but Ranulf voices his doubts and advocates strongly that they turn back.  Lowthesis ends the discussion by reminding him that this has already been decided last night, and that he can go back by himself if he so desires.  Ranulf grudgingly follows.

Ori and Grimwine scout out ahead to look for the pony.  After following his tracks to a point where the stop, with signs of a scuffle, Grimwine determines that the pony was eaten and that they should turn back and tell the others.  [LM note:  the pony was captured, yes, but was still alive wrapped up in a web nearby.  I never described any blood splatters or anything, and honestly I expected Grimwine to try a little harder.  Oh well, that's just fewer supplies that they have now, and they're suffering more Fatigue because of it].  The remaining week in the western eaves of Mirkwood are relatively uneventful, though several ruins are discovered and explored.  Low on water, the party is quite thrilled to discover and old well, though after lowering down a bucket it's obvious that something metallic is down there.  Ranulf lowers himself down to investigate, and finds an old skeleton covered in spider webs.  An elven dagger lies on the corpse's lap, with no webs around the dagger's perimeter.  Ranulf finds that the dagger cuts webs like butter, and cuts off a broach with an unfamiliar family crest from the tattered remains of clothing.  [LM note: There were some other goodies in this area, but nobody found them].  A larger ruin of a small village was discovered a few days later, and it appeared to be some kind of trade center based on the numbers of different coins present.  Some representatives included old Elven and Dwarven coins, as well as unfamiliar old coins with Dalish runes, and coins with horses on them.  More treasure points were acquired.  The first treasure found was a chest located by Ranulf, though he couldn't unlock it and called Lowthesis in to assist him.  Lowthesis easily opened the chest, but claimed all of the treasure inside for himself (earning a Shadow point since a cut of that loot was rightfully Ranulf's; he's definitely living up to his "Grasping" flaw).  The final ruins encountered was the wall of a large waystation, and atop it was a large boulder carved in the likeness of the Eye of Sauron.  Lowthesis and Grimwine devised a lever that they used to topple the abominable carving (incurring Shadow points for approaching it), and by doing so allowed everyone else to pass by without making Corruption tests.  Lowthesis may be greedy, but that doesn't mean he can't also be heroic.

The Mountains of Mirkwood
The players seemed to go out of their way to surprise me here.  As the elevation increased and the terrain became more rocky, the forest soon became dominated by dark, twisted fir trees.  Early on this leg of the journey a gorge was encountered with a 40 foot span, and a raging river 200 ft. below.  A ruined bridge crossed over the gorge along the road, but about halfway across a large chunk had fallen off so that by the far end it narrowed to only 3 feet wide.  [LM note:  I fully intended for the party to head upstream to find a way around this gorge].  Lowthesis wanted to make a rope bridge across the chasm, but it meant that someone had to cross on the bridge first (at least to test its stability).  The Adventurous Ranulf volunteered, and roped off though he was it was obvious that the bridge was unstable, and an unsuccessful Stealth roll made it obvious that he wasn't able to cross it.  Thinking he could do better, Grimwine roped himself up and got an extraordinary success on his Stealth roll (easily an AP thanks to his Bold trait).  I had him get nearly to the end, and then said that the only way further was to attempt a jump to the other side; I was quite clear that this was a one-shot deal, that a great roll was needed, and that a failure would most likely result in death.  [LM note: this is usually a good way of telling your players "I'm not going to stop you, but this isn't a very good idea.]  I think he had to blow a point of hope, but he ended up passing the daunting difficulty and made it safely to the other side, collapsing the ruined section of the bridge in the process. 

WARNING:  SPOILERS FOR DON'T LEAVE THE PATH!!!!

A few days after the incident at the bridge I had Balin go down to a stream to fetch water as the company was making camp.  They all heard a "yelp!" and Ranulf and Grimwine rushed down to see what happened (one of the two, I think Grimwine, noticed that Balin had left his axe at camp).  They found muddy Dwarf tracks followed by a set of spider tracks, both of which led to two trees with broken strands of webbing between them.  Grimwine shouted for everyone to follow him, and he proceeded to track for several hours in the dark.  Finally they came to a moonlit clearing, in the middle of which stood a ruined castle covered with spider webs.  The defensive walls and outbuildings had long since crumbled to the ground, but a single tower still stood, as well as two sections of the keep's wall which formed an L-shape, above which was suspended a wriggling mass of webbing (Balin).  Ranulf used his dagger to cut some webs off of the wall, noticing that the blade was glowing blue.  When he climbed higher to continue cutting webs, he failed his roll and fell to the ground, sustaining some endurance damage and cracking a rib (failed protection test resulted in a wound).  Grimwine tried next, but luck was against him and he too fell and was wounded.  Ranulf then proceeded to tie a large knot in the end of his rope and toss it up the wall to stick onto the webbing.  The impact caused the webs to vibrate, and Ranulf's dagger to glow brighter blue.  First one spider jumped down amongst them, though it was easily dispatched by Grimwine in one hit.  One of the players asked "do you think there'll be more of them?" to which Oin replied "there's always more."  Using the general guidelines in Tales from Wilderland I had an increasing number of spiders appear each round, though in rounds 4 and 5 I substituted an attercop for a great spider.  Several companions and Dwarves (I had each player running one of the Dwarves in combat) ended up ensnared by spider webs.  My misinterpretation of the poisoning rules almost resulted in an insta-death for Grimwine, until I went back through the rules and realized that a player needs to roll an Eye to trigger a called shot (I had the called shot trigger off of the monster's Eye roll).  The stalwart Beorning was still on the ground dying, even if he wasn't dead-dead, and Ori did get poisoned.  Again this group demonstrated its reluctance to back down from a fight, so after both great spiders were killed (even despite Holding Spells on Grimwine, which was moot now, and Lowthesis) I had the remaining attercops flee.  By the end of the fight 11 attercops and the 2 great spiders were dead, so I just had one of the survivors hiss "dinner isn't worth this!"  Aside from opening volleys Ranulf didn't really get a single attack in, spending all of his actions to either cut allies loose from the webbing with his spiffy new dagger, or singing his battle chants to restore their endurance.  The company quickly rescued Balin (and Ori, who had been dragged up the wall after succumbing to the poison's paralysis), constructed a quick stretcher for Grimwine, and then booked it out of there.

Two days after this a torrential thunderstorm appeared out of nowhere, and Ranulf after heading out to find shelter encountered a hollowed-out tree with a plume of smoke coming from it.  He called everyone else there, and after squeezing inside it became obvious that someone was living in here.  Grimwine took some pheasant meat (he'd bagged them the previous day) and started cooking it on the fire, and soon they heard a scratching outside and a head poked in.  The hermit was extremely surprised, and couldn't be quelled by Ranulf's botched attempt to courteously calm him down (too bad the Tolerance was only 1 here).  Refusing to listen to reason and shouting about how he wouldn't be taken back he started stabbing his spear at Grimwine.  Grimwine was starting to grow extremely angry, but a lucky hit (coupled with Grimwine's extremely low Endurance) knocked him out.  Lowthesis was the next target of the Hermit's ire, having previously tried to wrench the spear from his grasp, but it was ultimately Ranulf who was able to restrain him.  The hermit flung insults at Lowthesis, betraying his contempt for Dwarves by comparing them with orcs (though my personal favorite improvised insult was "may your beard become infested with insects!").  Lowthesis tried to offer him some treasure in exchange for letting them stay here, but he shouted about how the Shadow lives in things and would consume them all.  Finally the hermit was placated by a promise to leave his "house" if he didn't attack them when they untied him.  Grimwine's player admitted that if he'd been conscious he would have killed the hermit, Shadow be damned.  

END OF SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
The rain continued on for several days, and soon the company came upon a roaring stream, flooded by the recent downpours.  Ranulf constructed a boat (Boating and Woodright), but as he came close to the water he began to feel drowsy as the spray hit his skin.  The Dwarves warned the company to avoid the water, because they didn't want to carry anyone around like they had to for Bombur!  After plans to swing Tarzan-style across with rope didn't pan out (partially due to the extreme reluctance of Lowthesis to attempt such an insane maneuver), Grimwine concentrated on felling trees to make a bridge across.  He got some high enough to avoid the spray, but when Ranulf attempt the crossing he failed (despite help from a rope handrail), falling into the stream (as well as a deep, deep sleep).  Ultimately Grimwine conceded to go along with the plan that Lowthesis had advocated all along; to simply wait until the water levels went down.  After 4 days (2D6) they were able to boat across, and Ranulf woke up shortly afterwards.
The next few days were some of the worst of their entire journey.  I didn't go into specific detail, instead simply reading this short description:  

It's a dark section of the wood surrounded by knife-edged rocky ridges. The talus from these cliffs has carpeted the ground in razor-edged shards and gravel, and a slight thinning of the tree canopy has encouraged the growth of stiff shrubs covered in 3-inch thorns. The howling of wargs has become a regular occurrence, and the occasional giant spiderweb or troll track across the path has you on edge. Though you see no signs of orcs, their refuse is everywhere. Everything from grotesque stone carvings, to vast burnings and garbage piles, to the skeletons that betray their propensity for conflict. From the rare trickle of a stream you detect a faint tang of oil in the air. If the Forest Road is ever to be re-claimed, it will take a great cleansing to restore this section.

Nobody triggered any hazards so I simply left it at that, except for the 2 Fatigue tests at TN 20 and the 6 Corruption tests (only Ranulf passed some of these, and only 2).  So now everyone is good and miserable (as they should be after trekking across the Mountains of Mirkwood).  The players objected strongly to this many corruption tests, so I revealed that I was going easy on them, and that by the original (un-clarified) version of RAW (rules as written), a journey across Mirkwood would take 40 or 50 something corruption tests.  The Shadow's been banished (for now), so while there are still some strongly blighted places in the forest I figured the Road is as safe as it'll ever be until after the end of the War of the Ring.
And this is where we left off for now.  The company has made it through the worst of what Mirkwood has to offer, but the northeastern edge of the Heart of Mirkwood still remains, as well as the Long Marshes (where they're scheduled to meet Oin's nephew, Gimli).

Investigation: The Horseshoe Isle Settlement (Session 4)

Cast of Characters

Keyleth Arwyl:  Elven Protector Druid (Circle of Shelter, Beastwalker Circle)
Fen Silverfang:  Longtooth Shifter Berserker (Temperate Lands)
Sophia Vermillion:  Half-Elven Valorous Bard
Miyako "Mia" Sotoko:  Human Centered Breath Monk
Zeus:  Dwarven Wrathful Invoker

Summary

Wow, we finally finished this adventure after over 2 months of not playing!  Though it wasn't necessarily avoidable, this session felt really rushed.  The DM is leaving for Paraguay in a few days, and shortly after he gets back I'm moving out of state until around August for work.  So this was definitely destined to be our last session for quite some time, which meant that it had to be concluded.  The DM cut some stuff, but we still ended up cutting it really close, and we didn't even get a proper denouement. 

At the end of the last session the heroes were ambushed during their extended rest, and they decided to rest again after the fight to refresh all of their resources.  They saw smoke above the mountain the previous day, and so they headed in that direction.  Due to a miscommunication I was picturing a very different geography than the DM.  In my mind's eye, we were on an island of at least 50ish square miles with a relatively large volcanic peak that rose at least a thousand feet up, if not a bit more.  In truth the island was probably closer to 10ish square miles with a roughly 100 foot tall cliff "ridge" that ran down the middle of the island, and was probably only a few hundred meters wide at most.  Oops. 

Anyways, the party made their way up toward where the smoke was coming from, Mia and Keyleth stealthily scouting ahead.  They came to the cliff face and found a gate flanked by 2 trolls (chained up nearby) and 2 archers in protected battlements just above the gate.  Though their movement in the brush was spotted, Keyleth ran into the open as a wild boar, and then pretended to flee back in the direction they came when she saw the trolls.  Basically, the idea was to put the guards at ease, thinking the rustling was just wild animals.  Mia snuck further around, while Keyleth went back to the others.  She sent Fen to find Mia so the two of them could climb the cliff in secret beyond the line of sight of the guards.  They were to come at the gate from above.  They began by rolling large boulders over the edge on top of the unwitting trolls, but soon ran short on available rocks (and time).  As soon as they secured their rope and started rappelling down the ranged guys revealed their position by attacking.  One of the trolls was incredibly tough for a level 7 party (a level 12 Battle Troll from MV...I hate high-level soldiers).  Halfway through the battle I was convinced we'd have to flee from him even after defeating everyone else, but we prevailed in the end.  It was a long slog thanks to the fact that we only had 1 fire power at our disposal, and it was an encounter power (Sophie picked Burning Spray as her Dilettante!).  We decided the best course of action was to wait until any trolls in a given battle were all dropped, and then "finish them" with Burning Spray as a coup-de-grace.  So the troll's consistent regen was pretty annoying.

Zeus ended up taking quite a bit of damage (being bloodied 3 times!).  Though the plan was for Fen and Mia to take out the archers first, Fen ended up simply dropping off of the rope  and eating some minor falling damage (thanks to Acrobat Boots he was still able to move + charge next turn) because the trolls ended up being far more dangerous than expected.  This was because Keyleth and Zeus rolled horribly at the beginning of the encounter, making our attempts to control the trolls futile.  I'm convinced that a few lucky (big!) hits from Fen and consistent Vicious Mockery damage/debuff from Sophie (including 1 crit) were the only reasons we fared so well against the Battle Troll. 

In any case, the party triumphed and then Mia crit-picked the lock to the gate.  She then rolled a 1 to pick the lock of the next door inside, which was built into a cave-in.  The door shifted when Fen broke it open, but Zeus determined that the stones were stable enough for them to safely pass (from a metagame perspective, we were pretty nervous about this since we knew that his Dungeoneering role wasn't all that high).  The party was soon in a room filled with stacked crates, that led to a staircase outside of a rock ledge (we'd made it through the "mountain").  The stairs led to a lagoon where Fen saw 2 trolls and several pirates loading things onto schooners when he peeked around the corner.  There was also a child manacled to the wall of the cave, whom we freed and told to hide (though he was convinced that we were all pirates playing a cruel joke on him, and when he saw Keyleth use Wild Shape he accused her of being a demon). 

We were off to a great start in this battle, with Keyleth nonchalantly flying onto the roof of a building and off the other side in dodo-form to get to an advantageous position.  Mia then used Crane's Wings to jump off the rock ledge, over the staircase, and through the window of the building (to find herself surrounded by 5 thugs who ended up being minions).  Fen set himself up at a bottleneck at the bottom of the stairs, and Keyleth opened the battle with Vine Serpents, successfully hitting both trolls.  One troll would remain restrained for the entire combat, never making a single attack (very unlucky with the saves!), while the other was immediately barraged with other control attacks after making his second save (the first being Charm Beast, forcing him to attack the other troll).  Sophie and Zeus pretty much sniped from the rock ledge the entire time (at least until Sophie needed to come down to dish out some heals).  Because he tended not to get to use Longtooth Shifting very often, Fen elected not to heal himself after reaching just above his bloodied value from the racial power's regen in the previous encounter.  Starting the encounter almost bloodied, it would take only one hit before he could activate Longtooth Shifting again.  His high defenses actually prevented him from being hit for quite a while.  Perhaps my favorite "Fen moment," however, was when Mia was badly injured and way out of Sophie's healing range.  Fen instructed her to jump aboard the schooner that he was fighting pirates on (with his aura still up) and park herself next to him.  She soon went down, but he was able to bring her right back up with Swift Recovery.  Soooo glad I picked that skill power for him at level 6!  The defense bonus from having used her second wind also saved her butt during the next round of archer attacks.  Overall the battle was won fairly easily, in no small part thanks to Keyleth's luck with Vine Serpents.  That has been so effective at wrecking encounters that it's probably my favorite daily power now.

Further Comments

As I said before, this session was very rushed.  We called it immediately after this battle (during which there were a lot of distractions so it took longer than it probably had to), with the DM basically saying "congratulations, you have 2 schooners so you can get back now."  No roleplaying to find out who the kid was, no closure after dragging our pirate prisoner around for this whole adventure, nothing to resolve the fact that we destroyed Captain Jack's ship (or what we would do with our new surplus of ships), and perhaps most disappointing, no resolution for Sophie's case of herpes.  Keyleth had been collecting herbs for use as ritual components to reduce the cost of the Remove Affliction ritual, and we also never investigated that possibly corrupt Cleric in the next town over.  The DM had admitted that he's not great at improvising, but I still would have preferred going through with that little side quest (after all, improvisation is an absolutely critical skill for any GM, and the only way to become comfortable with it is to actually do it). 

I may follow this up with a longer post later, but lately I've been thinking about the weaknesses of 4E and tonight really highlighted some of those.  I like how free-form and flexible the system is out of combat, but combat lies on the complete opposite end of that spectrum which can create a bit of a disconnect.  It almost feels like you're playing 2 different games at times, with OoC being a sleek, streamlined RPG and combat being a highly involved tactical miniatures game.  The length of combat also tends to remove you from the main narrative for long periods of time.  I also dislike the way that the system scales with level, and despise the magic item and treasure system (which we've thankfully been largely ignoring in this campaign).  I really think that combat can be simplified and made more efficient while preserving most of the tactical depth, but it would be a tough thing to accomplish.  Finally, there's just something "off" about efficient use of resources (a combination of recovering everything after an extended rest, no long-term effects in general, and a lack of momentum-building mechanics that restrict flexibility in designing variable-length adventuring days). 

I think a lot of these thoughts are a direct result of having played The One Ring several times now.  Though it's a very different system than D&D 4E and I wouldn't want one to turn into the other, so to speak, I think I'm starting to prefer a lot of elements in a game like TOR.  I'm finding myself looking more and more forward to what the designers have in store for us with 5E/D&DN, hoping for something that plays a bit like 1E D&D but with the "polish" and some modern elements of 4E.  I'd like quick, exciting combats with an easily-accessible option for tactical depth on a system that above-all emphasizes narrative elements.  I'd like to avoid the restrictive, simulationist rules of 3E (particularly for OoC stuff) in favor of something streamlined and easy-to-use like some elements of 4E (replicating the "feel" of TOR with decidedly D&D mechanics).  Ultimately if the new game doesn't deliver I'm starting to feel confident that I'd be able to create a "hybrid" system that does more or less exactly what I want it to (especially since such modularity is one of the major design goals of D&DN anyways).

Words of the Wise Session Summary

Last night I introduced The One Ring to a second group of players, but instead of running The Marsh Bell again I thought I'd take Words of the Wise for a spin.  This was the short demo adventure from (I think) Gen-Con last year.  The session was fairly long (7 hours), which allowed ample time for both character creation and the entire adventure.  The members of the fellowship were as follows:  Lowthesis, Son of Dundin, is a bold and wrathful Dwarven treasure hunter, skilled at the forge (smith-craft) and selling his wares (trading).  He's decked out in a full coat of mail and helm, with a Reinforced Shield.  Grimwine, Son of Grimhelm is a Beorning orc-slayer extraordinaire; both bold and swift.  He's happily taken up the mantle of party Huntsman, and is already well-versed in beast-lore and cooking.  His Keen Greataxe is a troll-bane.  Finally there is the generous Ranulf, a Barding wanderer.  A former boat-maker (boating and woodwright) and an expert marksman, his adventurous spirit and military training (King's Men) serve him well as he explores Wilderland. 

I'll refrain from giving a traditional session summary because I have a lot of other things I'd like to discuss, and the lack of spoilers will be useful if I ever want to run this adventure with my other group.  Because the adventure begins in Rhosgobel, this was the fellowship's starting Sanctuary.  That's obviously a long way from home for 2 members of the company, but I'd prepared a mandatory "hook" for each of the cultures that explains what they're doing in Rhosgobel.  Normally I'd probably announce ahead of time where the party is starting and have the players justify what they're doing there, but seeing as this was the first time the group was playing and their familiarity with the setting and cultures was either low or rusty, I figured this would get us all into the game the quickest.  In any case, this predetermined business saw our company arriving in late fall, and at the request of the Woodmen everyone wintered there.  Perfect set-up for the opening scene of the adventure.

Observations

• This fellowship was a well-oiled machine in combat.  Whereas my last group of players tentatively experimented with stances based on their perceived level of danger, this group had a plan.  Grimwine would stay in forward stance most of the time, with Lowthesis in defensive taking hits for him when necessary.  Interestingly, Ranulf, not Grimwine, is Lowthesis' fellowship focus so he went through quite a bit of Hope this way.  Ranulf would either stick to rearward and shoot with his Great Bow, or move up to open and use the Rally Comrades action to sing a battle chant and keep his allies focused.  Though hope is lost on a failed song roll, because succeeding would directly benefit Grimwine (his fellowship focus) he was able to turn a lot of fails into successes by invoking his attribute, immediately regaining that lost Hope.
• This group burned through Hope a lot more than the other group.  In the other group everyone made sure that they used Hope as sustainably as possible, ending at maximum and only invoking it in the direst of circumstances.  Last night heroes were using Hope outside of combat quite regularly, including during the opening Hunt.  Ranulf actually ended up spending Hope on 2 different rolls in a row in the encounter with the Elvenking (which Lowthesis soured early on), and though he didn't know it at the time it was the difference between bringing back a small Elven patrol and an entire war party.  
• While the party was efficient in combat, that was mostly due to a fairly rough start.  In the first battle Grimwine stay in forward stance and Lowthesis was reluctant to spend too much Hope too early.  Grimwine managed to get himself wounded, but then proceeded to remain in forward stance until he dropped below 0 endurance.  Ranulf failed his Healing roll, but I had Radagast give him a second look when they dragged the wounded back.  I believe that by a strict reading of the rules, since another healing check couldn't be attempted until the next day and dying characters need to be successfully treated within 12 hours, Grimwine would have died if not for Radagast's intervention.  Moral of the story - don't fight recklessly while wounded!  The long journey afterwards ended up being pretty lucky for Grimwine, given the slow recovery time of a wounded character.
• First leg of the journey, and the fellowship already triggered a hazard.  I rolled randomly to determine who it affected (Grimwine was Hunstman, Lowthesis Guide, and Ranulf Scout), and Grimwine "lucked out."  He had stated previously that he was hunting every day to stretch the provisions out as long as possible, so a "hunter to prey" scenario seemed perfectly appropriate to me.  Something found the gut pile from one of his recent kills, and followed the scent back to their camp.  I rolled randomly for what that something was, and it ended up being a Hill Troll!  Grimwine was still wounded (though well on the road to recovery) by this point.  This was when Lowthesis really started to get generous with the Hope!  I notified the (then cocky) party when the troll hit 0 Endurance, saying that "he was moving a little more slowly, but unless you can pierce that thick hide he would keep on fighting."  Ranulf's great bow skill (2 ranks) wasn't reliable enough to get any piercing shots, and the party started looking really nervous.  Then, as luck would have it, Grimwine rolled a Gandalf rune with his Greataxe and the troll was unable to overcome the weapon's injury rating.  The axe sliced open the troll's midsection, spilling its stomach contents and revealing the rabbit guts.  
• I'll still avoid spoilers, but the party's new efficiency was definitely apparent in the final battle scene.  They rolled 2 Eyes in the first round (which triggered the arrival of more enemies), but they still handily dispatched their foes, and I ended up bringing in more (including a tougher one) later on just to preserve the sense that this was a big battle with foes flowing through the gates, since it was unlikely to overwhelm the party.  
• After some heavy role-playing investment into increasing Grimwine's reputation, his player was disappointed that it had no mechanical effect on his Standing.  While the rationale for standing as-is makes sense for most of the cultures, the Beornings are tougher to reconcile with the default, given that uniting to keep the lands safe is a large part of what defines the Beornings as a people.  Aside from paying it off later on in the narrative I'm not sure how to handle that.

Anyways, I could probably ramble on some more but I've already said my piece about what was most striking.  I'm definitely looking forward to continuing to run this system.  This group was more outwardly enthusiastic about all of the new mechanics than the other group, but hopefully I'll be able to keep both going (maybe someday someone else can even try their hand at LMing so I can play a character).  Interestingly, as we were packing up Ranulf's player randomly rolled a D20, saying "I miss it," which was a bit of a deja-vu because Bondi's player did the exact same thing in the other session (again, as we were packing up).  They both play Bardings, and Bondi has the Woeful Foresight virtue.  Talk about creepy.

The Marsh Bell

I got to run The One Ring (TOR) for the first time today, and overall I'd say it was pretty successful.  There were 3 PCs - Edrahil, an Elf (Warden), Lofar, a Dwarf (Treasure Hunter), and Bondi, a Barding (Scholar).  It took about 2 hours to explain the basics of the game and to create 3 characters (with 1 book).  Then we played through The Marsh Bell, which took about 4 1/2 hours.  I'm not used to running published adventures, but my players assured me that it ran pretty smoothly.

Overview (CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!!)


 Part 1 - Where Noisome Waters Pour

The Marsh Bell is the adventure in the back of the Loremaster's Book, and I particularly like it because it's based on one of Tolkien's poems, The Mewlips.  It begins with an encounter with Gloin in Esgaroth, so I had the players come up with a reason for why they were all in the city and how they knew each other.  Lofar is a procurer and trader of rare treasures, and he often comes to Bondi's small library in Lake-Town to do research and to get appraisals for his finds.  Edrahil is somewhat of a bodyguard-for-hire, and has accompanied Lofar on expeditions in the past.  Lofar's player was very intrigued with his "Dragon-sickness" Shadow Weakness, and started off the game trying to sell a worthless trinket to a shopkeeper as a valuable treasure (he failed, and got his first Shadow point right off the bat for lying and deceitful behavior).  Bondi was disapprovingly waiting outside of the shop, and when they got back to the library there was a messenger with a summons for Lofar (from Gloin).  I'd created a vague history between Lofar and Dain, and decided that Lofar owed "community service" to the kingdom of Erebor for "past deeds."  His service would be to find out what happened to Balin and Oin.  On the way to Gloin's, they ran into Edrahil, who had just come back to Lake-Town after a patrol in Mirkwood.

I'm not sure how I feel about the encounter rules.  The encounter with Gloin had a Tolerance of 3 (1 base + 1 since he's eager for help + 2 for Lofar's Valour -1 for the presence of Edrahil).  Strike 1 was that the PCs all decided to introduce themselves individually (which irks Gloin as written), and to boot they all failed their Courtesy rolls.  I believe that by strict reading of the rules that would be encounter over (failing 3 rolls), but I just counted it as 1 knock against the Tolerance.  Only Bondi passed his Insight check to determine that Gloin was more concerned that he was letting on, but he wasn't able to use that at all in his interaction with the Dwarf.  Lofar managed to annoy him some more with questions about the reward, and I had to shoot down the metagamey questions inquiring if Gloin had a son because the players were curious whether Gimli had been born yet.  I'd actually planned a remark regarding Gimli, but decided that Gloin was too put-off at this point to be even remotely friendly with the company (they went a few bad rolls and missteps below the Tolerance of the encounter).  But, this being their first try and all, I didn't deny them Gloin's patronage.  They got the free boat and everything.


Part 2 - A Long and Weary Way

Edrahil managed to score a great success while planning the route, so he reduced the TN for his own travel rolls and shortened the journey by a day (plus he invoked his Mirkwood-Lore trait for an AP).  The players then rowed to the Stairs of Girion in a light drizzle which abated by midday, and fared much better with the porters.  Edrahil wanted to row through the night, but Lofar and Bondi insisted that they needed sleep.  So they hung out with the porters, traded news, discussed the details of Balin's journey a week ago, and attempted to entertain the Lake-Men.  Bondi failed his Riddle roll, but I still had a few riddles exchanged.  Edrahil rolled a 12 for his Song attempt, and I ruled that it was good enough since the Lake-Men were eager for new blood (justifying the "easy" TN).  So he sang a song of Elvish adventure, and one of the porters brought out his father, who would "enjoy the song very much!"  This was Nerulf, and he yammered his gibberish until reciting the warning about the gallows-weed.  I had the players make song rolls to recall the relevant stanza of The Mewlips, and Bondi invoked Rhymes of Lore to get an AP.  They talked with the porters until they retired for the night, and then in the morning were escorted down the Stair of Girion.  Edrahil failed his Awareness roll to notice the place where Balin and Oin had camped below the stair.

It was during this day's travel that I had everyone roll Fatigue tests (I think everyone failed, but no hazards triggered).  I had Edrahil lead the company to a straight, swift-flowing channel through the marshes that bypassed the meanders of the main river (saving them an extra day from the successful Lore roll).  I had Lofar to use Travel to steer the boat instead of Athletics, since that just made more sense to me and that's the skill that the Guide tends to use.  Rolls to notice signs of the Dwarves all failed, and all Awareness rolls to notice Galion and the other Elves following them failed.  So the company was never aware of them, shaving off that whole encounter.  I ended up giving the Scout and Look-out a bonus roll in the evening as a last chance to find the camp, and they finally were successful.  Lofar was the one who searched the camp, and his regular success was enough to reveal the treasure box (since he's a Dwarf).  Another point of shadow, lol (I think he ended the session with 5, and his total Hope is only 8!).  I had the company automatically notice the swamp lights before deciding on watches, but they decided not to do anything about it during the night.  Edrahil investigated in the morning, and I'd decided that the forest canopy was dense enough to block the sunlight, allowing the Stone Troll to actually show up.  Edrahil succeeded in his Awareness roll to avoid being surprised, and got a free volley with his Woodland Bow.  The others immediately rushed in.  The Troll's hatred toward Dwarves was fun to play (especially with Lofar in the Forward Stance!), though eventually Bondi wounded the troll with his Longsword and attracted his attention.  Luckily for the troll, after being wounded and with his endurance nearly depleted he scored an extraordinary success against Bondi, knocking the wind out of him (he took knockback to reduce the 18 damage to 9).  Lofar finished him off with an arcing slash of his axe to the kneecaps.


Part 3 - Beside the Rotting River

The company had asked multiple times already if they noticed any plants that could be gallows-weed, and once they were forced to go on foot and I started describing the old, knotty willows they asked again (exactly when the plant would show up!).  So they got to avoid that hazard.  Bondi was able to find the wrecked boat after a little exploration, and soon they came to the first ruins (which Bondi invoked Old Lore to learn was a trading village of the northmen near the Old Forest Road).  I had everyone roll Awareness shortly after, and oddly enough Edrahil succeeded and the other two both got Gandalfs.  So all at once they looked up to notice the Gore-crows, and I revealed another Mewlips stanza by invoking Bondi's Rhymes of Lore trait.

When the bell started ringing, only Lofar passed his Wisdom test.  He tried to restrain Bondi, but was unsuccessful.  Bondi and Edrahil both disappeared into the pool, and Lofar dove right in after them.  He couldn't wake them from their enchanted sleep in the flooded chamber (to be fair I don't think Song was a terribly intuitive solution), and so decided to explore the rest of the ruins by himself.  He noted the claw marks on the wine cellar door but didn't attempt to get in, instead heading down the passage to the treasure chamber.  Given that he was the only character conscious, I ignored the Corruption test that could have dazed him into a stupor at the sight of the treasure.  The horde of mewlips was bad enough!  As he ran down the passage back to his companions, I eventually just had his stomping noises arouse the Dwarves in the cellar, causing them to make some noise that Lofar could notice without needing to roll Awareness.  He headed to the door, found the Dwarves, and then they all dragged Edrahil and Bondi into the cellar just as the mewlips were emerging into the main chamber.  I had Balin mention that he roused Oin with an old Dwarven dirge, and Lofar actually got a good roll with Song to waken his companions after that.

With the mewlips scratching at the door, the company and the Dwarves decided to wait them out despite extremely low food supplies and virtually no more water.  They spent a night barricaded in the wine cellar, and then carefully peeked out the next day.  At this point the players discussed possible options for a fairly long time, despite the fact that their only two choices were to head for the flooded chamber or the chimney.  Finally after wondering whether or not he should "waste it" Bondi's player invoked his Woeful Foresight virtue, and I provided his character with a vision of the company trying to escape through the chimney, but the rope only rang the bell and with as long as it took the first PC to escape that way, the others were devoured in short order (they hadn't even checked the chimney yet, so didn't know that the bell was up there).  So I went easier on them than I normally would have when they decided to make for the flooded chamber (and good thing, too!).

I had 8 mewlips set up in the main chamber, and Edrahil was the only one who succeeded his Athletics check to get across the chamber quickly and so faced the majority of the creatures (but also got his free volley).  The party divided up amongst their foes, with Balin and Oin cowering in the corner waiting for an opportunity to flee.  A few enemies were felled, but eventually Edrahil took a few nasty hits and was reduced to just 2 Endurance.  He fell back into rearward stance and fled the next round with the Dwarves.  Too bad, since he's the only one with Athletics ranks worth writing home about.  Lofar managed to get lucky and roll well enough to flee, but it took Bondi 3 or 4 attempts.  He was 1 attack away from falling (after reinforcements arrived from the treasure room), but managed to get away in the end.  Earned him an Advancement Point for his heroic rear-guarding.

Since we were short on time at this point, I fast-forwarded the return journey (didn't even bother with Fatigue tests since that would be cured in Esgaroth soon, but I did force another Corruption test on the way back through Mirkwood, and everyone failed).  I also gave a really hasty explanation of the Fellowship phase, and I don't think that the players really "got it."  Bondi was interested in raising his Standing but didn't have enough treasure by a long shot (Gloin gave them each 5 points).  Edrahil made 2 attempts (since Esgaroth is a sanctuary) to heal his Corruption through Song, but failed them both (unfortunately).  Lofar was interested in seeking a new Patron, but the player misunderstood the point of the undertaking and basically just wanted to get rid of some counterfeit goods (hello, Shadow point).  It didn't help matters that this whole adventure only lasted 1 session, so nobody could really do anything with XP or AP.  Oh well.  I'll probably start the next session with a "re-do" of this Fellowship Phase.

Investigation: The Horseshoe Isle Settlement (Session 3)

Cast

Keyleth Arwyl:  Elven Protector Druid (Circle of Shelter, Beastwalker Circle)
Fen Silverfang:  Longtooth Shifter Berserker (Temperate Lands)
Sophia Vermillion:  Half-Elven Valorous Bard
Miyako "Mia" Sotoko:  Human Centered Breath Monk
Zeus:  Dwarven Wrathful Invoker

The Crossing

The party began by waiting until cover of night to paddle over to the next island in the chain.  During this time Keyleth gathered some more ritual components to reduce the cost of Sophie's Remove Affliction ritual.  Under an overcast sky, they set out.  Zeus and Fen rowed, while the 3 girls acted as lookouts.  The pirate captive was gagged and tied up.  About halfway to the other island Sophie spotted 3 shark fins heading toward their small boat.  Mia wins initiative, but the best she can do is throw a dagger at one of the sharks.  Soon they're charging at the boat, attacking those on board.  At one point one of the sharks grabbed Fen, threatening to pull him under.  It wouldn't have gotten far, however, since Fen had been using Run Down to keep it slowed, and it was also in Keyleth's Nature's Growth zone (a tangle of seaweed).  Keyleth used Charm Beast on an adjacent shark, and then commanded it to attack the one grabbing Fen (which was a kill). 

A couple of rounds after the first shark is bloodied, 3 more sharks appear, attracted by the scent of blood.  They all attack the bottom of the boat, severely damaging it.  At first everyone tries to stay in the boat, but once the reinforcements arrived Mia jumped in the water to use her burst attacks more effectively (only 1 shark remained adjacent to the boat at the water's surface).  Shortly afterwards Fen jumped in to get as many of the sharks in his defender's aura as possible in an effort to keep them from attacking the boat.  Keyleth soon followed, using Wild Shape to turn into a sea turtle before using Predator's Flurry to daze 2 of the sharks (because sea turtles beating up sharks is awesome).  The one shark still above water wouldn't go down too easily with just Sophie and Zeus taking potshots at it, and it used one of its final actions to attack the boat, finally destroying it.  Under too much stress already, it fell apart and Sophie and Zeus fell prone in the water (both were wearing chainmail, and had Athletics scores of 2 and 1, respectively).  Fortunately, either Fen or Mia (I can't remember) killed the last shark, and Keyleth immediately rushed underwater to save the bound and gagged captive, who was sinking. 

Fen let Zeus use his large (wooden) shield as a paddleboard, and they swam the rest of the distance to the other island.  Fen propped the prisoner up onto some boat debris, and dragged her (him having the highest Athletics bonus).  Everyone ensured they would at least stay afloat by utilizing pieces of wreckage.  Only Sophie failed her Endurance check, slowing the others down and losing a healing surge in the process. 

The Ambush

The swim took quite a long time, and it was about 5 am by the time they reached the island.  They were exhausted, and Keyleth did a quick sweep of the beach to look for tracks (which she found), and they made camp in a densely vegetated spot away from the tracks.  Zeus took first watch, and it was during his watch that they were ambushed (he failed his Perception check).  During the surprise round, he was peppered with arrows and brought down to bloodied.  Initiative was rolled, with the PCs generally moving more quickly than the monsters (only Fen rolled low). 

The opposition consisted of 6 humans; 2 archers and 4 melee fighters, 2 of which were beefier than the others.  Keyleth summoned a Pack Wolf next to one of the weaker melee guys and an archer, and used an Action Point to Charm a nearby strong melee guy.  The wolf knocked the weaker guy prone.  Being prone (having been woken up), Mia was forced to simply chuck a dagger.  Zeus used his usual tactic of blasting guys with Hand of Radiance, as well as using his second wind.  On Fen's turn he stood up (minor action, thanks to Acrobat Boots) and charged the 2 enemies near the Pack Wolf, protecting it and keeping the enemies in his aura.  The archer didn't fare too well in this scenario. 

Mia's nova round consisted of a move+attack a bunch of guys encounter power, followed by Spinning Leopard Maneuver (a similar daily) via an AP.  She ended up hitting every single enemy on the field, ending near the guys tied up by Fen's aura.  Her total damage was 150 for that round (there was a crit in there).  Speaking of crits, Keyleth had some odd luck; she rolled two crits, but one was Charm Beast (no damage), and the other was with her Pack Wolf (no crit dice thanks to the lack of the Implement keyword on SNA).  She also crit-succeeded a saving throw.  Frustrating to see nothing special happen for all of those 20s!

Zeus, Fen, and Mia all got beaten up a fair amount, but nobody went down.  Keyleth's Pack Wolf was never hit (and only attacked once), so it got 4 or 5 attacks in.  To be fair, the DM thought it was like the Shaman's SC and so didn't attack it, but even so it was protected by Fen the majority of the time anyways.  Even though nobody was in much danger, a couple of dailies were used and almost everyone used an AP.  Certainly the most challenging encounter of the adventure so far, and it was fun as well.  Still, this DM tends to lean to the easy side when building encounters, and it's something I've mentioned before.  This was a good start (being a random encounter and all), and I hope the upcoming encounters are very challenging. 

For now, this was where we ended the session.  We played a little under 3 hours, and there was only a little bit of roleplaying with most of the session being the 2 encounters.  On average, that's a little over an hour for each encounter which is longer than I prefer.  It is worth noting that the cats provided a lot of distractions (from watching their antics, to cleaning up after they'd knock something over, to keeping them off the table) so we weren't running at full efficiency, and there seemed to be a lot of thinking over options when it came to a player's turn.  Even my turns took a little longer than usual, and I have my characters' powers pretty much memorized.  I guess I just wasn't thinking ahead as much before my turns came up (especially with Keyleth, who is more tactically complex than Fen being a controller and all).  While I really enjoy playing Druids, they really do require you to be on your game.  A good portion of their control comes from positioning enemies (and/or yourself) just right after dazing/proning them to deny actions and/or generate OAs.  While it's certainly engaging most of the time, sometimes I wish control consisted of more straightforward effects like stun, blind, and dominate as opposed to dazes and prones.  I can't wait until I pick up Repel Charge in Paragon, as this will make my positioning options more flexible. 

Anyways, that's all for now.  The DM hopes we'll be done in one more session, but I personally have my doubts, lol.

Investigation: The Horseshoe Isle Settlement (Session 2)

Cast of Characters

Keyleth Arwyl:  Elven Protector Druid (Circle of Shelter, Beastwalker Circle)
Fen Silverfang:  Longtooth Shifter Berserker (Temperate Lands)
Sophia Vermillion:  Half-Elven Valorous Bard
Miyako "Mia" Sotoko:  Human Centered Breath Monk
Zeus:  Dwarven Wrathful Invoker

Battle Aboard the Merry Jane

The previous session ended with The Spooner nearly destroyed, and the PCs raising a white flag in mock surrender to the pirate ship.  The idea was to wait until the ship got close enough that the crew could board them, and then the party would attack.  The Spooner being a small fishing vessel, the pirates shouldn't expect resistance.  As the ship (called The Merry Jane) pulled alongside the Spooner's port, the PCs could see 4 thuggish looking deckhands with grappling hooks nearest to them, clearly preparing to board.  There were also 2 buff looking pirates, 2 pirate archers, and 2 tough-looking pirates that appeared to be in charge.  Before the deckhands could toss their grappling hooks, the party attacked and initiative was rolled.

Zeus rolled highest, and blasted 3 pirates with Searing Orb (1 was a deckhand, which not surprisingly turned out to be a minion).  With 1 enemy down and the other 2 blinded, Mia used Crane's Wings to easily jump aboard the Merry Jane, and she went straight for the blinded pirates.  Keyleth was up next, using Vine Serpents to contain 3 different pirates and setting up her Nature's Growth zone nearby, the limit the mobility of the enemies around Mia.  Nobody else blew any dailies, and Sophie, Keyleth, and Zeus pretty much stayed aboard The Spooner as artillery.  Fen was able to just clear the jump (the distance between the 2 ships was 2 squares) as part of a charge toward one of the archers.  He used an AP to attack the archer again, bloodying him and knocking him prone.  This was the only AP spent during the encounter.

The following are some observations and highlights from the rest of the battle:

• In general, though we didn't plan for it our party is extremely AoE heavy and also happens to have a lot of forced movement at their disposal.  The fact that Zeus and Keyleth have Hand of Radiance and Magic Stones, respectively, is interesting, and regardless of what Mia is doing she can slide someone with Centered Flurry of Blows.  Though it didn't occur in this battle, I'm keeping an eye out for opportunities to use Magic Stones to group enemies in Fen's aura (MS is a push 2 for her).  Mia can then blast the crap out of them while protected by Fen, and if Fen gets overwhelmed Prescient Warning and Curtain of Steel are great retaliatory attacks (CoS will trigger Fen's Fury, which will score him 16 THP).
• Vine Serpents absolutely wrecked this encounter.  Most of the pirates in the zone didn't have ranged attacks, so while they were immobilized/restrained they couldn't do anything.  One of the archers was in the zone, but every time he shot out of it he took 9 auto-damage.  Mia (and eventually Fen) parked next to the zone just outside, so once enemies were no longer immobilized/restrained they still took damage for attacking outside of the zone.  Add in the party's proclivity for forced movement and you can see why the enemies went down quickly.
• Mia was the only combatant to knock someone overboard, using Crane's Wings (with FoB as a backup in case the pirate made her saving throw to avoid getting pushed off).  That pirate was the only one to survive the battle, as Keyleth threw a rope down to her afterwards so they could ask her about the settlement (and gather info on the area's pirates).
• Fen was never even bloodied, only taking a single hit.  The DM was rolling really badly for attacks most of the night.  Mia was the only PC to take any appreciable damage, but the only healing that had to be dished out was Revitalizing Incantation.  
• Keyleth rolled a 3 with her Charm Beast attack, and the Elven Accuracy roll was a 2.  Boo.  The DM wasn't too happy to learn that the pirate was dazed anyways, leaving Fen as his only viable target.  
• Fen went into a Fury late, getting to make only two attacks as a striker.  The first was a bad miss, the second was a charge that critted the last archer (who had only 3 HP left) for 40 damage.  As he sliced the head off of the pirate, he caught the head in mid-air as the body was thrown overboard by the force of the blow, then he slammed the head onto the deck. 

The Settlement

After the battle, the party went below deck of The Spooner and called the crew (and Captain Jack) over to The Merry Jane, their new ship.  Jack immediately went below deck, and the crew requested Mia's assistance as this was a bigger vessel and they were now shorthanded.  Keyleth went up to the crow's nest as lookout.  Sophie, Fen, and Zeus interrogated their captive.  They learned that this area is the territory of the Pirate League, and that they've made it a point to get rid of any settlements they find.  They also learn that Captain Jack was kicked out of the Pirate League, and their captive was responsible for him having only 1 eye.  They also questioned her about the "monstrous tracks" reported by the supply crew, and she informed them that many pirates in the area enslave various monstrous creatures to do their bidding.

It wasn't long before the ship got as close as it could get to the beach, at which point the PCs rowed to shore, taking their captive with them (you know, we never did catch her name...).  The settlement was very primitive with just a few thatched huts and some rudimentary buildings (a mill, shop, etc).  Bodies were indeed everywhere, and Fen (being trained in Heal) went over to them to determine cause of death.  He rolled a 19, which made for a 29 total, so the DM answered pretty much every question I had regarding the injuries.  They had died about a week ago, most of them with slash wounds inflicted by swords.  A few, however, were bludgeoned pretty badly and suffered from bite wounds that were inflicted while the victims were still alive.  Meanwhile, Keyleth decided to investigate the large tracks that were reported, aided by Zeus, Mia, and Sophie.  Keyleth critted her Nature check to ID the tracks, which combined with the +6 from the three aid rolls resulted in a total of 40.  She pretty much instantly recognized them as troll tracks.  The tracks were mixed with humanoid tracks, with a trail leading to the settlement from the woods, and then going back into the woods the way they came.  Knowing that trolls were difficult to take down without acid or fire damage, the party took stock of their resources.  Sophie's Dilettante was Burning Spray, and this was their only fire attack.  At least it was something.

The group (with their captive in tow and gagged now) followed the trail through the woods for about a mile.  At this point they reached a beach, where the tracks ended.  It looked like a small boat had been drug up on the beach, and had likely come from another island about a half mile across open water from this beach.  Using the spyglass that one of the crew members had lent her before the pirate attack, Sophie looked for anything of interest on the other island.  It appeared that there were some smoke plumes coming from the mountainside, and possibly some structures there as well.  They walked back to the settlement, portaged their rowboat through the woods to the second beach, and spent the rest of the day waiting for the cover of darkness, at which point they would row to the island. 

Our DM needed to get some sleep so we ended here.

Investigation: The Horseshoe Isle Settlement (Session 1)

Cast

Keyleth Arwyl:  Elven Protector Druid (Circle of Shelter, Beastwalker Circle)
Fen Silverfang:  Longtooth Shifter Berserker (Temperate Lands)
Sophia Vermillion:  Half-Elven Valorous Bard
Miyako "Mia" Sotoko:  Human Centered Breath Monk
Zeus:  Dwarven Wrathful Invoker

Introduction

The Red Frogs are finally back in action after a several-week hiatus!  The DM for this campaign decided to scrap the Prologue that we previously ran because of the time gap and changing ideas.  Worked out well though, because since then Heroes of the Feywild was released, and now I get to run some new builds from it (Keyleth and Fen) instead of being locked into playing Lyra and Berylis again.  Worth noting is that when Sophie was leveled, she took some new powers from that book as well (Revitalizing Incantation and Prescient Warning).  The combo I'm thinking about is that when Fen is getting clobbered by several enemies Sophie will use Prescient Warning, and then immediately afterwards I'll go into a Fury via Curtain of Steel.  Should prove to be a pretty devastating nova round, especially if I follow it up with an action point on Fen's next turn.

Another point worth noting is that this party is very AoE heavy.  All of Mia's encounter powers are bursts (even if they may not be the best power of that level), Zeus is very AoE heavy (actually, he often spams Hand of Radiance), and Keyleth and Sophie both have their fair share of area attacks (Keyleth has Magic Stones, which can be used to clump enemies to set up her burst/blast-happy allies).


The Village of Tarvarin

Our heroes begin in their headquarters (technically an unspecified satellite HQ, as the main headquarters in Fallcrest has established geography that conflicts with this adventure's needs).  They learn that the guild has been contracted by the Gold Coast Trading Co., which has been trying to establish settlements fairly heavily along the Strait of the Winds.  There is a heavy pirate presence in the area, and GCTC hopes to secure the location with a strong presence there.  They lost contact with a recent settlement on Horseshoe Isle about a month ago, and the latest re-supply ship found the village ravaged.  Material goods were looted and bodies were scattered about like confetti.  The supply ship's crew quickly retreated without further investigation, as they noticed large, monstrous tracks and feared for their lives.  GCTC wants the Red Frogs to investigate further.

The party heads south down the road to the village of Tarvarin, 3 days away, which sits across the Strait.  On the way there they encounter bandits who try to rob Fen.  Big mistake.  Keyleth, disguised as a dog, is the only one who notices and she barks a warning.  The party attacks and quickly dispatches the bandits.  Fen is the only one to specify a non-lethal "kill shot" on the bandit who robbed him, no less.  He takes her weapons and armor (and the party splits the gold that the bandits had) and dump them in a hidden spot down the road.  His way of teaching her a lesson.  Overall, the encounter was ridiculously easy and was over in just 2 rounds.  Keyleth and Mia were the only ones to even get hit (once each, Mia's being an OA she provoked), with Fen never getting the chance to Fury.

When the party reaches town they check into the first inn they see, the Upturned Mug.  At this point the player of Sophie and Mia went to pick up food, and he authorized me to control his characters.  Big mistake I guess.  I had Sophie go drink-for-drink with Zeus, and she ended up passing out after puking her guts out in the alley.  She woke up with a (female) Half-Orc and a fun new rash (which we all assumed was herpes...this was more the DM's fault than mine, I just wanted her to be hung over in the morning since she's the party face).  Quote of the night from Sophie's player:  "This was never supposed to happen." 

In the morning Keyleth and Zeus took point talking with Gils Brooks, GCTC's owner/manager.  He gave more details, and was unfortunately unable to spare a ship at the moment.  The party did get the name of one of his contacts at the docks; One-Eyed Captain Jack (those of you who remember the original prologue will see some similarities here).  They found him later, and Sophie was feeling well enough to haggle with him (Words of Friendship) on the price (including possible hazard pay) for passage on his fishing schooner.  He told them to be ready by morning, and Zeus and Fen invited him to have a drink with them later at the Upturned Mug (despite the fact that he was already cradling a bottle of rum). 

Disembarkment

With passage on a ship secured, Sophie, Keyleth, and Fen headed to a local temple to Melora to see if Sophie could get her rash cleared up (Keyleth's Senses of the Wild confirmed that it was indeed a disease, though she couldn't identify it specifically).  The Remove Affliction ritual proved pricier than expected, so Sophie tried to haggle to work out a deal.  Keyleth (who had spent much of her childhood/young adulthood professionally collecting herbs for an apothecary in the Feywild city of Shinaelestra) identified the requisite components (via a Nature check) and offered to reduce the cost by providing the components.  After a less successful nature check, she came back with a smaller bundle than expected barely putting a dent in the cost.  She offered to continue collecting on their journey so that when they returned she could provide the temple with a fairly large stock of components, knocking the price down as far as possible. 

While she was out collecting (with Fen's assistance) Sophie tried other negotiation tactics with Brother Gabriel, the priest.  He revealed that there may be one other thing she could do for him; in an adjacent town someone from one of the temples there (allegedly) stole a holy book from him.  It's rumored that they've gotten involved with some dark practices (necromancy), and Brother Gabriel wants Sophie to gather some intel on the situation and return the book.  This would earn her a major discount on the ritual.  Sophie tried to get him to perform the ritual first, but he insisted that if she wanted the discount, he needed his book first.

Afterwards they all met up at the Upturned Mug for drinks.  Sophie performed for tips (while being hit on by Captain Jack the whole time), Zeus drank everyone under the table, and Keyleth and Fen retired early enough to be the first up in the morning (needing to kick Jack awake, as he'd passed out in his booth).  They all followed Jack to his schooner (named The Spooner), and met his first mate (Levi) and the other 4 crew members. 

All seemed to be going well until they spotted a large ship in the distance.  The Spooner was fighting the current to get to Horseshoe Isle, while this new ship had the current on its side.  It soon became obvious that they were being pursued.  Levi was at the helm, Jack still being drunk.  Sophie got a spyglass from one of the crew members and noticed that the crew of the other ship were definitely moving around a lot on deck.  It soon became obvious that they were loading cannons.  Shortly afterward, The Spooner took a hit to the hull.  They were about 300 yards out from the island and only had a single dingy that could fit 5.  While desperately trying to think of a course of action and coming up with nothing particularly brilliant, the ship took another hit to the deck.  Sophie jumped away in time, but one of the crew members was tossed overboard, limp as a rag doll.  Keyleth ordered the remaining crew below deck to start lashing Jack's rum barrels together into a makeshift raft.  Jack dejectedly went below deck after muttering that "you (the PCs) might actually be kept alive for ransom, but they'll just kill me and the crew."

When they were still a couple hundred yards out from the isle and it was obvious that The Spooner couldn't take another direct hit, Keyleth ordered the party to quickly put together a makeshift white flag to signal that they surrender.  The party agreed that their only chance was to get close enough to allow the pirates to board.  They stood a much better chance against the crew than The Spooner did against those guns, and if successful they would have a new ship.

It was at this point that we called it a night, since there is a pretty large battle coming up.  Keyleth, Zeus, and Sophie all have forced movement powers so the best tactic is obviously going to be to try to knock the pirates overboard (while avoiding being knocked overboard themselves!).  Should be fun.

PC Profile: Fen Silverfang

Backstory

• Fen Silverfang was a respected berserker warrior of the Moonsilver tribe, an all-Shifter society whose territory included a Fey crossing to Brokenstone Vale. The crossing lies in a wide valley surrounded by tall mountains, one of the only productive winter hunting grounds for the tribe. Lycanthrope raids are common, and despite their ancestry the Moonsilver’s are their bitter enemies. The tribe relies heavily on its warrior caste, which includes the elite berserkers and bear warriors who have learned to channel the Primal Spirits to come to their aid in battle. Most members of the tribe (including Fen) fear the Feywild, and avoid the crossing.

• While escorting a party of the tribe’s best hunters over a high mountain pass, Fen and his allies were ambushed by werewolves. The fight was brutal, and several good warriors were slain. Fen was grievously injured, and only survived after being pushed over a small cliff and landing in an icy tarn. He slowly returned back to camp, noticing an unusually large amount of werewolf tracks. When he finally made it back he learned that attacks had grown much more frequent, and that the tribe was planning on abandoning their territory. Within days they had packed up what they could and left the valley.
• It didn’t surprise the Moonsilvers to learn that they were feared in most of the civilized lands. They ended up making a temporary camp in the foothills of the Dawnforge Mountains, relying on bundles of Wolfsbane hung outside of their huts and a few silvered weapons for protection against any werewolves that may have tracked them.
• After several months of relative safety, the Moonsilvers decided to try and improve their situation. About half of the warriors were left behind to guard the camp, and emissaries escorted by warriors were sent out to look for anyone friendly toward Shifters. They weren’t openly shunned in Fallcrest or Nenlast, and so several members of the tribe settled in these towns temporarily. A friendly Shifter tribe that patrolled the coast of Lake Nen proved worthy allies, and they also had dealings with an Elven village on the outskirts of the Harken Forest.
• Some of the warriors, including Fen, were sent out to seek the wealth necessary to amass more silvered weapons. The plan was eventually to increase their numbers and equip themselves better so that they could re-take their former territory. Each warrior went about this task in a different way, but Fen’s decision was to join up with the Red Frog’s mercenary guild...

Description

Though his disposition is generally amicable, people are often uneasy around Fen Silverfang. His lycanthropic bloodline shows with a thin, silky coat of dark salt-and-pepper hair, thickening to wolf-like fur on his shoulders and jaw (though this “beard” is nearly all black). His lips are thin and jet black, with a slight sag where his upper canines protrude slightly from his jaw. Most wolf-like, perhaps, are his long feet which are unshod and bear large claws halfway between a wolf's and a bear's. An efficient gait places his heel on the ground only when walking at very slow speeds. When you first meet Fen, his amber eyes often give the uncomfortable impression that he's sizing you up (and he is). If you shake his large, thickly padded hand (criss-crossed with scars) you're surprised by a light grip that brings to mind the gentleness of an alligator carrying her young in her mouth. Looking back up to his eyes you notice the sombre longing of a warrior who grew up too fast and simply wants to settle down in peace. But that's not to diminish his skills as a fighter. He's about the size of an average human, but far stronger than most warriors of that race (and far less visibly muscle-bound). His technique confirms that he's been fighting all his life, though by channeling the Primal Spirits in battle he can go from precise, opportunistic strikes and parries to a full-on, trance-like state wherein his brute force is fully realized. His worn hide armor and thick, wooden shield suggest a primitive upbringing far from civilization, and yet his gleaming sword resembles the finest burnished silver and appears to be a curiosity (until you learn that what he grew up fighting were lycanthropes).

Character Sheet
Longtooth Shifter, Temperate Lands Berserker

Trained Skills:  Athletics, Endurance, Perception
Languages:  Common, Elven

Feats:  Weapon Prof (Bastard Sword), Shield Prof (Heavy), Master at Arms, Berserk Vitality

Powers: 
A-W:  Run Down, Stalk and Strike
E:  Batter Down, Implacable Advance, Curtain of Steel
D:  Sweeping Cut, Rage of the Crimson Hurricane
U:  Feral Rejuvenation, Cull Weakness

Equipment:  Vanguard Bastard Sword +2 (silvered), Magic Handaxe +1, Magic Hide +2, Vanguard Shield, Acrobat Boots, Lesser Badge of the Berserker +2, Belt of Vigor, Wolfsbane (4 bundles), Potion of Healing (2), Grey Rain Cloak, Standard Adv. Kit (with extra rope).

PC Profile: Keyleth Arwyl

I thought I'd create a post for each of my PCs that I could link to from the "Cast of Characters" section of my session reviews.  For now I'll focus on my new adventurers, who get to see their first real play in the next adventure (which we should start up in the next week or so). 

Backstory
Note that I used the "Build Your Story" option from Heroes of the Feywild to jump start this (indeed, this was the character that I made when I first tried that chapter out!).  The link to that post is here.   Below is a somewhat abbreviated (and yet, expanded) version.

• Keyleth was orphaned at a young age, and grew up in the city of Shinaelestra in the Feywild where her foster parents moved after fleeing the Gnoll force that destroyed their village. They made a meager living as farmhands at one of the local vineyards, and when Keyleth was old enough she was hired by an apothecary to collect rare herbs (in the Feywild, and in the Mortal Realm after Shinaelestra's nightly worldfall).
• After learning that her parents were actually respected members of the Druidic Circle of Shelter and had left her in order to pursue a dangerous mission in search of a necromancer (Decius Derakh), she departed on a quest to learn what may have become of them. She suffered a mishap in the goblin-controlled Murkroot swamp, and was sold into Fomorian slavery for a time before escaping into Brokenstone Vale, the Valley of the Lycanthropes. There she befriended a werebear tribal elder, who advised her to seek out the Citadel Arcanum in Mithrendain. She was captured by the guards, but not before discovering records showing that Decius had attempted to get through the Maze of Fathaghn to steal a branch from the Mother Tree for some dark ritual. He was no match for the Dryad Queen that resided there, but perhaps she could be of help to Keyleth in locating him now.
• On her way to the Maze the Primal Spirits began whispering to her, starting her on the Druidic path. The Dryad Queen was sympathetic, pointing her to where she had banished Decius into the Mortal World (and giving her a magical fire box that showed his face in its smoke). She advised Keyleth to seek out members of her parents' Circle.
• Despite the Dryad Queen's warning, upon entering the Mortal Realm Keyleth became singularly obsessed with hunting down Decius. Though she slowly developed a mastery of Primal magics, they began to manifest her wild recklessness. After developing an unpleasant reputation, an elderly member of the Circle of Shelter (Bryce Calanor) sought her out and presented her with a task; he would train her in the ways of the Beastwalker Circle, and then she was to go on a personal quest. She was to remain in beast form with no outside contact “until her reflection acknowledged her.” This was the path to Wisdom.
• Unable to make sense of her end goal, she alternated between many different animal forms for nearly a year. Most other creatures were wary around her, and avoided her despite her guise. Then one evening, while foraging through the forest in the form of a black bear, Keyleth heard the mournful howl of a wolf. For no reason that she could explain, with a swift leap she took wolf form and bounded toward the sound. She encountered a litter of yearling pups that had struck out on their own, and they greeted her enthusiastically. She traveled with them for several days, hunting and lounging and frolicking. She let her concerns about Decius and her quest melt away. Then, one of the young wolves approached her, sat down, and turned into Bryce! By opening her mind to the influence of the Primal Beast she had learned to view the world from a new perspective, and to shed away her dangerous single-mindedness.
• Though he had no information about Decius or Keyleth's parents, Bryce advised Keyleth to live her life and to see the world, seeking out a variety of experiences and perspectives. The Dryad Queen's fire box would alert her when an opportunity to seek Decius arose. In the meantime, he pointed her to a treasure-seeking mercenary group that he had helped co-found years ago, the Red Frogs...
   

Description

In her elven form Keyleth's moss green eyes slowly scan the room, with a focused patience behind them. With just a momentary wolf-like glance, you can sense her connection with the Primal Beast. Her dark brown hair (which shows flecks of autumn-gold in the sunlight) is long but tame; a braid on each side corrals it in place down her back as they weave through to beautiful but practical effect. An elven technique, to be sure. Every movement of her lithe-but-field-tested limbs portrays a calculated grace, as if she is at home in any environment, which the slight semi-permanent curve of her mouth confirms, conveying a relaxed joviality. And yet her gear reveals that she's not to be underestimated. Worn over her finely-spun woolen tunic are plates of reinforced animal hide – the thick but supple tanned armor of woodland bison which bears the evidence of averted injury. Around her left forearm is tied a short length of wood adorned with various protective wards, including carved runes and talismans of bone and gemstone. In her right hand she carries a full-length staff carved with the shapes of sinuous vipers and wrapped in a snakeskin grip. Light, thinly padded moccasins and the sure footing of a mountain goat allow her to travel with speed across any terrain.  Her favored beast forms are the black bear, wolf, and dog (wolfhound mix, mostly for civilized areas), though her forms vary based on her mood.

Character Sheet

Elf, Circle of Shelter Protector

Trained Skills:  Athletics, Insight, Nature, Stealth 

Languages:  Common, Elven, Goblin

Primal Attunements:  Air Spirit, Senses of the Wild, Call the Spirits

Feats:  Superior Implement Training (Accurate Staff), Beastwalker Circle, Staff Expertise, Cunning Stalker

Powers:  

A-W:  Grasping Claws, Magic Stones

E:  Gust of Wind, Predator's Flurry, Charm Beast

D:  Summon Natural Ally, Vine Serpents

U:  Sudden Bite, Camouflage Cloak

Equipment:  Staff of the Serpent +2, Aversion Staff +1 (reflavored), Pouncing Beast Armor +2, Claw Gloves, Lesser Badge of the Berserker +1, Siberys Shard of the Mage, Hamanu's Terrible Roar (boon), standard adventurer's kit (with extra rope), Dryad Queen's fire box (story item)

 

Heroic Tier Sweet Spot

For this post I'll simply link to an article from Dungeon's Master, The Golden Level of Heroic Adventure.  Though I would disagree that level 12 is a sweet spot (there's a greater power jump at 11, which is when you finally get to experience Paragon tier), I think that the author is otherwise right on the money.  I'd add that the sweet spot starts at level 5 when you get your second daily, peaks at level 6 (which as the article mentions is an important feat level and you get a utility power, which is one of the most customizable elements in the game), and continues into level 7 (having three encounter powers increases your offensive capacity, particularly nova or alpha-strike in many cases, and boosts your overall versatility for many classes).  Level 8 gives those PCs who started with even abilities (which is probably most of them) their first numerical boost, and the feat is certainly nice, but this is where you start inching toward Paragon tier and the challenges become much more difficult before you're fully equipped to deal with them.  Status effects begin to creep up more often, and many fights pit you against Paragon level monsters (level + 3). 

I think the most important issue that the author touched upon, however, is that as a DM you should use these sweet spots as benchmarks for your campaign's pacing.  Something should culminate within the level 5-7 range, and after that a more difficult challenge should rear its ugly head.  I've found late Heroic (levels 8-10, but especially 10) to be almost as challenging as early Heroic precisely because of the Paragon level threats that the Heroic PCs will face regularly.  Using the same encounter design principles that you've been using (perhaps throwing a little more at the PCs since they're gaining power) will result in the PCs feeling slightly overwhelmed without much effort by you as a DM.  Make sure that the plot matches this increase in difficulty, and then have the PCs finally reach a major turning point at level 10 or 11.  At level 10 the PCs will be struggling by the skin of their teeth to defeat the final "boss" encounter.  At level 11 you have a couple of choices as the DM; either use the power boost as a narrative element corresponding to a major advantage that makes the boss fight easier (showcasing the new power of the PCs), or take advantage of the PC's newly-acquired power to go all out with the boss fight (something that the PCs would be unlikely to have survived in Heroic tier).  Either way, it pays to be aware of these sweet spots as you try to set your campaign's pacing.

Recovery: Viral's Diary (Session 3)

Cast of Characters (Level 6)

1. Lyra Cinderfield - Human Staff of Defense Wizard
2. Berylis Lindelenon - Elf Panther Shaman
3. Unit 27 - Warforged Weapon Talent Fighter
4. Rozzle - Elf Brutal Scoundrel Rogue
5. Zeus - Dwarf Wrathful Invoker

Approach to the Tomb

The PCs began this session continuing their journey down the river, eventually coming to a small clearing that led into a very old and overgrown cemetery.  As Nero had warned them, the party circles around the cemetery to find Midos' grave near the back.  Rozzle and Berylis scout ahead to keep an eye out for danger.  It's too bad they didn't have tremorsense; as they follow Nero's tracks skeletal hands burst out of the ground and knock Rozzle prone, as well as grabbing him.  The party is soon beset by several more skeletons, two of which can hurl fire from range.  Given the undead theme of this adventure, we'd really missed Zeus last session.  Unfortunately, his dice were extremely cold tonight (actually, he was borrowing mine, and that's usually one of my hottest D20s), and he missed with his first 4 attacks.  Disappointing to be sure.  Ultimately we were able to protect Rozzle (who had only 2 surges remaining) really well, but at a huge cost to both Berylis and Zeus (Zeus used 4 surges in that combat, and Berylis ended up down to only 2 as well). 

I continue to be impressed by the Shaman class (in the Heroic tier at least, Spirit Hunt and Twin Panthers end up being equivalent to optimized striker powers).  I'm finally starting to get used to the "splash heal" style of Healing Spirit, which was really useful for healing up what little damage Rozzle took without dipping into his two remaining surges.  Despite the fact that I don't normally like strikers, it's nice to have hefty damage in your back pocket, in addition to all of the fun positioning and control tactics that the spirit companion entails.  My trend of "not feeling" the Wizard recently continued tonight (at least in combat; she proved invaluable OoC later).  Missing with Charm of Misplaced Wrath sucks quite a bit, and it seems to happen quite a bit.  My multi-target control power (Icy Rays) has been serviceable, but unless I blow a daily it's usually the most interesting thing I have to do.  At-wills have tended to be underwhelming; I don't think I've used Beguiling Strands this whole level, and the best thing about Winged Horde has been its minion-sweeping utility (the Rogue is mobile enough to avoid OAs on his own most of the time).  I'll be glad to get back to playing a Druid again, though I'm sure I'll pick Lyra back up at some time during this campaign.


Into the Tomb


The PCs find the gravestone they're looking for, and Unit 27 unceremoniously picks it up and tosses it aside to expose the tunnel.  Berylis and Zeus notice that the tunnel was only dug within the last year or so.  It opens into a hole in the floor, which leads into the tomb's interior.  Lyra sends Helo, her Dragonling familiar, down to scout it out and make sure the room is safe (which it is).  It's a large room with an altar at the center.  The altar has a round well and a square well on it, with a round and square lantern on a nearby table.  A glass sphere (actually, it's more oblong) hangs from the ceiling above the altar.  Two pillars flank a sealed black door (which presumably is the front entrance that we were warned by Nero to avoid).  The pillars do not reach the ceiling, and dials on them cause gas to emanate from the tops.  Opposite the black door is a purple door with a symbol of the sun above it.  On the remaining walls are a door each; one red, and one blue.  After playing around with a pebble that had Light cast on it (carried around the sphere via Mage Hand) it became obvious that a light placed on the line between the glass sphere and either pillar caused a beam to focus on the sun symbol above the purple door.  Since the PCs were warned to beware the blue door, they started with the red one.  Behind it was a large room with a red flame burning on the opposite side.  Being paranoid, Lyra simply used Mage Hand to carry the lantern across the room and sweep it into the flame.  The lantern lit, and she placed it onto the pillar with the dial turned (focusing a red beam of light above the purple door).  It turns out that by using Mage Hand and not entering the room, the party was able to avoid a combat encounter altogether.  Sweet!


The blue door revealed a long (25 square) hallway, which was only 3 squares wide.  The floor was made of extremely slippery tile, with a pattern of blue tiles winding back and forth across a matrix of red tiles.  Lyra had her dragonling step on one of the red tiles, which triggered a dart trap (which missed the familiar, not that it would have mattered).  Crossing the hall without triggering red tiles looked to be extremely difficult, as evidenced by the body lying near the opposite end (at which a blue flame burned).  Though this flame was out of range for Mage Hand, Lyra simply cast the Familiar Mount ritual and flew across the hall on Helo (recovering the body, which turned out to be Nero).  The heroes lit the blue flame which unlocked the purple door, and placed Nero's body in their bag of holding.  Once they were finished here, they would give him a proper burial, including fare for the boatman.

Viral's Chamber

The purple door revealed a simple room with a long, stone bridge across a subterranean creek.  The bridge led to another door, which Lyra opened via Mage Hand and sent her (now large) Dragonling to scout out.  Helo poked his head it to find 3 women sitting on a large bed, and a man that looked to be in his 30s reading a book at a desk.  The man looked shocked to see Helo, who retreated.  Lyra used Ghost Sound to imitate the sound of a large army crossing the bridge toward the room (succeeding her Bluff check to fool the occupants), and the party entered.  The man seemed excited to see the PCs, exclaiming that it's not often that he receives visitors.  When questioned about his diary, he explains that Emaf (the PC's current employer), Gibs (the adventurer-turned-zombie, Athos (the farmer whose daughter the party rescued earlier), and himself were once an adventuring party themselves.  They discovered this very tomb, and within it woke the relic of a mysterious deity.  They were each granted 1 wish.  Emaf wished for fame and glory, which he was granted via knowledge of many ruins which he plundered for their artifacts.  The deity, it turned out, was not benevolent, and turned each wish against its recipient.  Emaf eventually looted all the ruins that he could find, and sought to once again find the tomb where they now stood.  He had lost knowledge of it, however, and it had driven an insane obsession (which eventually led to his hiring of the party).  Gibs just wanted to retire, settle down, and live a quiet life.  He was given a nice house in Deadwood Falls, but he never specified that where he settled down would need to remain forever safe (obviously he paid his price for that).  Athos wished for good health and longevity for his family.  While his daughter reaped this award, he himself was killed. 

When the party asked Viral what his wish was, he kept trying to evade the topic.  They worked out that he was trapped down here (had a lot of time to read), and he let slip an implication that perhaps he sought immortality.  The party asked why he couldn't just walk out, and whether the women were free to do so.  When he finally admitted that it was the creek that kept him in his chamber, the PCs knew that they were dealing with a vampire.  They suspected that he was feeding on the women, and so they kept questioning him without letting him know that they were on to him.  He kept pressing them to stay, but they wanted time to regroup and think things over.  They tried to let 27 (who has no blood for a vampire to feed off of) stall him with conversation while they went back into the hall to talk things over in private, but the door slammed shut.  Two invisible creatures (Pale Reavers) materialized near it, and the party immediately rolled initiative. 

The fight turned out to be fairly difficult, and quite appropriate for a final battle.  After 1 initial attack the party focused their status effects on Viral (the most effective which was Zeus' Silent Malediction).  The women turned out to be minion Pale Reavers who could take human form, and halfway through the battle more Pale Reaver reinforcements showed up.  Berylis, Rozzle, and Zeus all had a fairly typical encounter, with all of them performing their roles admirably.  Unit 27 and Lyra had a quirky fight.  First of all, it should be mentioned that the Pale Reavers could drain healing surges, which was extremely dangerous for Rozzle and Berylis, who each had only 2 left.  I was extremely surprised to learn halfway through the battle that Unit 27, in contrast, had TWELVE surges yet!  It hadn't occurred to me before this, but he really wasn't suffering very many hits at all before this, and this encounter was no different.  This was partially because he was being missed (there were many rounds where he dutifully protected Rozzle), but a lot of the time he was off on his own going toe-to-toe with a single enemy.  I think that the player controlling him was more focused on running Rozzle overall, and he often just got somewhat forgotten.  He was usually locking down minor enemies instead of the biggest, baddest target that a defender should be going after. 

After suffering a nasty blow, Lyra took her second wind early on (round 2 I believe) and then activated Fire Shield.  Her plan was to move away from the Pale Reaver that was causing her trouble, and park herself adjacent to one of the minions who happened to be backed into a corner.  She was going to provoke an OA to deal Fire Shield damage to it, and after all why not?  The Reaver was marked, she had her defense bonus from Second Wind, and she hadn't used Shield yet.  Her effective AC was 29 (at level 6), without accounting for the Mark (so it was actually 31).  Simply put, the Reaver could only hit her with a natural 20, and if it took a swing it would be sucking fire damage.  Well, it took the swing and it made that crit, leaving Lyra with a scant 10 HP.  Fortunately, the cornered minion tried attacking her, killing itself with Fire Shield damage (I think the DM felt sorry for Lyra's luck, lol).  But the shenanigans didn't stop there.  It was during this round that the Dark Reaver reinforcements arrived, and two set themselves up in a flank with Lyra.  I dared the DM to set them up that way, knowing that I still had my second wind bonus (and Shield was unused).  Before CA they could only hit me on a natural 20, and including CA into the equation doubled their odds (19-20 would be a hit).  The DM rolled ANOTHER FRICKIN' TWENTY!!!!!  Poor Lyra took 30 damage, while she only had 10 HP remaining.  This was two away from her negative bloodied value of 22.  Talk about a close call!  Sucks that my "fire tank" strategy backfired so badly, but who expects 2 crits in a row after becoming nearly untouchable thanks to second wind + shield? 

In any case, the party was mopping up by the time Lyra got an opportunity to act again.  It was pretty late by this point, and we all decided to call it a night immediately after the fight without RPing the conclusion.  We'll probably take care of that next session.  Overall, it seemed like we were all running a little slow, and there were a lot of distractions (the cats and dog were being quite rambunctious).  It was a fitting end to the adventure though; an unexpected plot twist (we figured Viral was dead, not undead) followed by a suitably challenging final encounter.  I'll certainly remember Lyra's terrible luck for a good, long while after this.