Tower of Zenopus

One of the main captains

Starz has a new original series about pirates called "Black Sails". Their take on it is here. It started up this weekend and after watching the first episode I thought I would share a few thoughts:

It's supposed to be a more historical take on pirates - I'm assuming that means no supernatural stuff like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I'm fine with that. There was none of that mentioned or shown in the pilot.
It's supposed to be a more "realistic" take on pirates too - so plenty of cussing, blood, and sex. This is a pay-cable series after all. Realistic or not everyone is very pretty on the show.
The pilot sets up the basic situation, the major players, and the conflicts between them. We don't get a lot of character depth but I assume motivations etc. will be explored in more depth the rest of the season.

I liked the pilot. Nothing struck me as horribly wrong (other than the prettiness of everyone but hey, it is a visual medium). We have a sea battle, a sword fight, some other conflicts, some betrayals and counter-betrayals - quite a few items on the "pirate story checklist" were crossed off. I'm going to give the full season a look and let you know if it hits any particular highs or lows.

Rivals

The timing was interesting because over the last week or two some of the kids have been watching the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and I started looking at my Savage Worlds pirate books trying to figure out how I would run a "mundane" or realistic pirate campaign. Most of the games I run have some kind of magic or supernatural or super-technological element that makes keeping interest that much easier. Running a pirate game with no spooky stuff, no magic items, and no magical healing had me a little lost. I suspect this show will give me some ideas.

Yeah ... there's some of that too ... hey it can't all be fighting!

Keeping a game going can be tricky. You settle into a routine where you're meeting on a regular schedule, things are going well, and then you miss one session, then a little bit later you have to cancel again, and then the holidays hit and a month goes by and suddenly the game is not a priority anymore.

We had a pretty steady twice-a-month thing for the first half of 2013 and then in the second half we had all of 3 sessions. Yep, Mr. DM Advice's main campaign slowed down to a bimonthly schedule. I did run some other games in there and started up a new and unrelated campaign, but the Big One almost died.

There were a lot of reasons for this.

One, the summer seemed to mean everyone took a turn not being available. It happens.
In the fall I had to switch from our traditional Friday nights to Saturdays because I have two kids tied into Friday night football stuff.
I also went from a rolling schedule where we decided the next session date at the end of the current session to a set schedule of 2nd and 4th weekends. That was partly because game night kept tripping over kid schedules, partly because it was impossible to plan any other game if this one took all of our open time and partly because it was tough to plan anything more than a week or two in advance. The lessening of flexibility really cut down on rescheduling options when someone had a conflict and pretty much guaranteed a 4-week gap if we had to cancel a session.

Besides my schedule challenges our current group consists of five players: we have one guy who's almost always available, another who has very few conflicts, two who have a few - more on that in a minute, and Lady Blacksteel, who is on pretty much the same schedule as me when it comes to availability, though not always.

Early on I set a cancellation policy. D&D 4th edition assumes a 5-man party, and unlike a game such as ICONS or Marvel Heroic the numbers do matter. I build my adventures assuming a 5-man party. As long as we have at least 4 players, I will run. If w have 3 or fewer then we call it and either do something else or just regroup the next time. Early on in the game we had 6 players so this worked well - at 6 the players have an advantage, at 5 they are even, and at 4 things will be more challenging but still possible. At 3 the system starts to get swingy and it gets to be really difficult to handwave why 2 or 3 characters disappeared in the middle of the dungeon. I really did not want to have to cut down encounters to accommodate 3 characters either and the XP gets off significantly if it continues.

This all worked well when we had 6 players as we rarely missed a session. Once we lost our 6th though, things got a little sticky. Two of my players are part of the same organization, and quite a bit of the time if one has to miss, so does the other for the same organizational activity or event. This absolutely destroyed our previously neat little system as now we typically went from "5 and fine" to "3 and a cancel" and it was only occasionally that we had a party of 4. Combine this with my limiting the game to two weekends a month (instead of "when can we play next" and we lost a lot of sessions. Moving game time to Saturdays also meant that if before they were able to delay their participation until Saturday to keep Friday open, well, that was out the window now too. Previously the only reason a game was cancelled (usually) was if the DM had a conflict. Now we had all of my conflicts AND a pair of players also impacting the schedule.

Now I don't hold this against them - that's been a thing for them for a long time and that's just how it is. It did reveal a serious weakness though, and I think the best way to shore it up is to pick up another player. We did use the Apprentices as fill-ins a few times and while that worked this is supposed to be the "grown-ups" game and it's hard to throttle back when we drop the kids in on short notice.

Other than adding another regular player the only workaround I see is to relax my "4 to roll" rule. If I build the encounters around a 4-man party then having all 5 gives them an up, 4 is even, and 3 goes back to challenging but not suicidal.

Also, I think going back to Fridays will help too.

So with the problems identified and some possible fixes in the works, it was time to see if anyone still wanted to play.

Having figured out where some of our structural problems were I decided I needed to find out if my players still cared - so I asked them. Things fell apart as we were coming to the grand finale of heroic tier D&D 4E with a city under siege depending on the PC's to pull off a miracle. I hate leaving things like that, over a year's worst of campaigning, unresolved. Don;t get me wrong - they could lose, die horribly, and expose the rest of Impiltur and the Bloodstone Lands to a horde of evil, but at least we would know how it ended!

So I sent an email asking if they

Wanted to finish the siege
Wanted to continue into paragon tier
Wanted to keep playing D&D4E in particular
Wanted to keep playing fantasy in general
Wanted me to keep DMing

I wasn't sure where things stood and there might be varying feelings on each of these within the group. I was hoping they would at least want to finish out the "arc" we're on and any more than that would be gravy. With WOTC putting 4E out to pasture 2 years ago this month there is not a lot of energy around 4E these days online or in the FLGS so if they wanted a change I would understand. If they were tired of D&D or fantasy or me being the DM I get that too since we've all been playing it together for a while and I felt I had to ask.

As it turned out the answers were yes to all of them so I am cracking open my notes once again, making sure I have what I need, and figuring out where things might go next. I figure it will take around 3 sessions to wrap up the siege and determine the fate of the Red Hand.

After that there is much interest in working through paragon tier and I have an outline for that too. I shared some of my thoughts with them. Here's a hint:

I expect it to be epic - well, you know what I mean. I can get on board with running 4th Edition for at least the rest of the year, likely longer. We may be the only ones playing it after Next comes out, but we don't care.

I haven't totally resolved the schedule issues but I'm working on it. It will still be on fixed weekends but we are moving back to Friday. If I can just find one more player it will feel like balance has been restored.

In the meantime the Wrath of the Righteous campaign will continue, the occasional superhero games will continue, and whaddya know I actually get to play in a friend's upcoming Pathfinder campaign! Things are shaping up pretty nicely as the new year gets rolling. I'll keep it up to date here.

In February I am cranking my lapsed campaign back up again. To help with this I will be posting one session recap every day of the month. This does mean that the first few will be re-posts as I did make an effort early in the campaign to do them but I didn't keep up and soon enough they disappeared. I am writing up the interim sessions in the meantime and will post them all in sequence, once per day. To get things started, here is an introductory post.

Introduction

This campaign kicked off in early 2012. It is a 4^th Edition game set in the 4^th edition Forgotten Realms. It begins in Impiltur in the spring of 1450 DR.

System

We went with 4^th Edition because we were coming out of a previous 4^th Edition campaign that ended in a TPK. That one never made it out of Heroic Tier but it was very close and the group wanted to keep playing the same system to see what Paragon felt like and eventually to get to Epic. As a compromise between starting completely over and just jumping ahead directly to Paragon Tier we began with 4^thlevel characters.

Setting

Everyone still liked the Forgotten Realms so we stayed in that world. We did move to a different region as we wanted a fresh start with no connection to the prior campaign. I set the game in Impiltur. This region is really not associated with any legendary NPC heroes and has not been all that thoroughly explored in the published setting material.

The geography is not widely known so I could alter it to my liking without provoking an attack of opportunity. I did this by placing the Nentir Vale (from 4^thedition core materials) and the Elsir Vale (from Red Hand of Doom) in Impiltur. I’ve left the overall map pretty vague for now as most of the campaign has been entirely contained within the Elsir Vale, but eventually I will detail it out.

The history of the region is interesting and ties into some things I expected would be a big part of the campaign. Namely demons in general and Orcus in particular, who figures prominently in some of the Epic Tier adventures for 4^thedition. Vaasa, a land to the northwest of Impiltur, is home to the Warlock knights, a new enemy group in the post-spellplague Realms. They could make for an interesting change of pace if I need one at some point.

Finally, after 4^th edition turns the Realms upside down Impiltur is wide-open with a power vacuum my players could fill if they chose to do so. I wanted to give them a chance to become the movers and shakers of the Bloodstone Lands.

I set the game a few decades earlier in the official timeline, post-spellplague but not as much as the standard starting time in the FR book. This has about zero impact on the game but it sets things up nicely if I decide to run a follow up campaign as much of the early part will be based on Red Hand of Doom, and one of the published 4^th edition adventure paths is a sequel to that adventure, the Scales of War. Given the amount of time these things can take we may never get there, but I like planting the seeds just I case.

Theme

My original vision of the campaign was tied in to Impiltur’s history as a center of Lawful Goodness, Paladins, and a general knightly atmosphere about the whole area. I assumed my players would be thinking along these same lines, traveling about the land, righting wrongs and looking to restore the king. Thus the “Shining Swords of Impiltur” campaign was born.

Unfortunately I did not really get into a deep discussion of this idea with my players so of course this meant I was on a completely wrong track. They created a Genasi Warlord, an Elf Ranger, a Shifter Paladin, a Dwarf Warden, a Dwarf Cleric, and a Drow Vampire, mostly hard-bitten survivors from other areas around the region rather than the high fantasy scions of Old Impiltur. Given the situation I changed the label to “Savage Swords of Impiltur” and decided to run with a slightly darker, nastier tone. It is a new age after all.

Some additional background posts are here and here.

Our story begins in Fallcrest, the Nentir Vale, Impiltur, Faerun, in Greengrass of the year 1480 D.R. (the year of Deep Water Drifting).

The party begins scattered about the city, but all are drawn to the riverside where a crowd has gathered. With heavy snows for the last month, food is growing scarce and the Lord Warden of Fallcrest is announcing a new program to collect and ration food in the city. Naturally this is met with some resistance amongst both rich and poor. A clan of river-trading halflings landed the day before and news has spread that the unnatural cold is affecting all the lands they travel, spurring the controversial decision from the city's lord. As freezing winds blow ever more snow into the town the fierce debate continues.

Lieutenant Gravis, a genasi refugee from Thay in service to House Reinhardt, is assisting the city watch in maintaining order, mainly though a connection with a dwarf friend of his. Interestingly, he has a young owlbear pet.

Isenheim, a dwarven Cleric of Moradin, is Chaplian for the dwarf members of the city watch and is on the scene working crowd control.

As the arguing continues the more alert citizens and visitors pick up a rhythmic sound. Slowly it clarifies into words in an unknown language - a war chant! Coming from the sky!

Down out of the blowing snowstorm dives a longship with a tattered black sail, crewed by skeletal figures. It lands in the river, glides up to the shore, and the chanting dies down as undead crewmen leap from the ship and attack!

The crowd scatters as do some of the watchmen. Isenheim and Gravis rally the few remaining guardsmen and several other people step forward to confront the raiders - Gartok, a dwarf warden of earth and stone; Dar Bloodmane, a paladin of Tempus; a mysterious elven ranger who wields a nasty greatbow; Zara, the mysterious exotic agent of House Bauer - unafraid they stand their ground as the undead sailors swarm the green.

Thanks Online DM for the maps!

Though unacquainted before this, the two dwarves stand shoulder to shoulder and form a strongpoint that cannot be broken. The Elf with No Name stands in the clear and fires arrows faster than the eye can see, dropping zombies left and right. Dar Bloodmane puts almost as much effort into fighting as he does reciting Tempusian Battle Chants giving glory to the war god as he struggles to make an impact on the fight. Lt. Gravis tries to order up a true battleline but several of his guards drop and he is forced to work with the mysterious and alluring Zara. The agent of House Bauer is doing fine on her own until a zombie bites into her shoulder and in response she loses control and bites it back, tearing into it with gleaming fangs! Hopefully no one noticed...

The fight is brutal but short, and thanks to the unknown heroes the undead are soon scattered about the snowy landscape in pieces. In the aftermath some approach the skyship and when they do its dragon figurehead speaks:

"Return the Ice Scepter to the Winter King or this winter shall never end and the dead will feast upon the living"

The oddity of the talking ship is quickly overtaken by the realization that someone must have stolen this "Ice Scepter" and unleashed a terrible curse - presumably someone now in Fallcrest! A halfling at the edge of the returning crowd tries to slink away but is caught by Gravis and Isenheim. They also find that he is carrying what could easily be described as an "Ice Scepter" wrapped in a cloth on his person. He spills out a tale of flight, mountain travel, and theft that confirms the origin of the current problem. As the tale winds down, an obvious solution to the problem also becomes apparent. The Lord Warden is quick to pounce - "Dear friends and mighty heroes ..." - and soon enough the group has agreed to undertake the journey to the Cairn of the Winter King, taking Marko (the halfling) along with them as "community service". They are promised a reward in the form of the ruined Tower of Waiting on an island in the river - should they end the unnatural winter and return alive then the tower will be theirs.

In a quiet moment, Gravis notices that the exotically beautiful Zara seems interested in his pet Owlbear and he hopes this is a connection he can explore in the future.

As this episode closes the team gathers their supplies and prepares to board the ship, contemplating both their short-term and long-term futures.

DM Notes: This was the kick-off for our new campaign and I decoded to use a published adventure, "Cairn of the Winter King", partly to see how more recent published adventures hold up, partly because I wanted to use Fallcrest and the vale in this campaign since I have not previously, and partly because I just liked it. The opening encounter is cool and makes for a memorable way to start things, I hope. It was only a 5-round fight but there was quite a bit of RP time and introductory time and connecting background time so it was a full session. Plus new characters take a little while to find the best ways to work together and we have a brand new party created without much metagame discussion so no one started out with a nice combo move ready to go.

Party composition mechanics note: We have 2 leaders, 2 defenders, and 2 strikers. That's going to be a very interesting mix, especially once they figure out all of the ways they can interact during combat. I can already tell they're going to be very tough to bring down and keep down. Perhaps it's a reaction to the last campaign's unexpected ending but regardless that's a lot of healing and some very tough characters.

The best thing was that the players were enthusiastic about starting the game up again and everyone was pretty good at coming up with an angle or a voice or some distinguishing feature about their character beyond just class/race/level/magic items, so it felt pretty good. I'm calling it a win for the group.

The Party:

Lieutenant Gravis, a genasi Warlord and refugee from Thay in service to House Reinhardt. Interestingly, he has a young owlbear pet.

Isenheim, a dwarven Cleric of Moradin, is Chaplian for the dwarf members of the city watch. He is tied to Clan Stormbull

Gartok, a dwarf warden of earth and stone, also from Clan Stormbull

Dar Bloodmane, a paladin of Tempus;

An unnamed elven ranger who wields a nasty greatbow;

Zara, the mysterious exotic agent of House Bauer

Our heroes board the flying ship along with the less enthusiastic Marko the Halfling. The ships' figurehead speaks again, ordering them to row as it guides them to the Winter King. As they begin to pull the oars, the ship rises into the cold gray sky. Soon enough the weather closes in and things get rough and the party is severely tested by the cold and the winds, but they pull through and eventually sight the presumed destination - a pillar of ice 40' tall filled with skulls.

Landing near the pillar the crew spots a tunnel into the mountain. Marko start babbling about being here before and never wanting to see this place again and freaking out in general. Gravis and Isenheim strongarm him along into the tunnel. Everyone gathers in front of a pair of big double doors, the party muscle pushes them open to find ...

... warm air, firelight, and the smell of cooking food. At a huge table sits a bearded man in furs, along with a woman and some hunting dogs. The man rises, greets them, and introduces himself as the Winter King - "I believe you have something for me."

Suspicious, the party does not partake and does not hand over the Ice Scepter. Marko does not remember any of this being here on his prior visit, and soon enough suspicions prove true and a fight breaks out.

The man goes into some kind of battle chant and whips out a greataxe, the woman begins casting spells, and as the illusions fall away around the room the dogs turn out to be dire wolves. Combat swirls all over the room. Things are dicey at first but Dar Bloodmane finally slays the barbaric would-be king, the rest begin to fall, and eventually Zara finishes off the last wolf.

Pausing to recover the party notes two sets of double doors on the north wall and begins discussing how to proceed...

DM Notes: This one was a lot of fun as we worked through our first skill challenge with this party in the skyship journey, then a bit of NPC interaction with the halfling and the barbarian host, and then a nice big fight to finish up. The party was still finding its feet but it only took 5 rounds to plow through these guys once the fight started. The 2 Defender, 2 Leader, 2 Striker mix does some interesting things to combat. Aside from the mechanics, personalities continue to develop amongst the characters and will only get better in the future.

We begin in the feasting hall of the Cairn of the Winter King, or what appeared to be a feasting hall anyway. Having dispatched the inhabitants the party now searches the room and opens doors, looking for loot and a way forward. There are two doors leading out.

Exploring the corridor behind one door, they come to a locked double door with a sign on it - "Do not open on pain of death by order of the Winter King" - and for the first time ever in the entire history of D&D they do not open the door that has a sign that says not to open it!

Moving further inward they find another set of double doors around a corner, fiddle with the locks. As they work on this a ghostly figure manifests partway through the door, gesturing and silently saying something. The party backs off, watches for a bit, decides they are not in immediate danger, and ponders. The "drow" tries to pick the lock and is blasted in the face with magical frost for her efforts*. The spirit appears to be a dwarf. The two dwarfs in the party confer and agree that he is mouthing the words "ice" and "key" in the dwarf tongue. Clearly a quest item! With renewed purpose the party moves back through the dungeon.

The group follows a new direction and comes to an empty banquet hall. They hear some noises coming from farther on, but decide to take the "quiet" exit out of the place, ending up back in the feasting hall they began in. Apparently the two exits from the room make an "H" and they will have to explore the farther ends of the "H" to find the keys and the King himself.

Deciding to take a more methodical approach they head back to the first door, the one with the sign on it. They smash it down, proceed inward, and briefly note a frosty room with a runic circle of some kind on the floor - then they are attacked by babbling wraith-like creatures! An ugly close-quarters fight breaks out where the Paladin takes a beating but dishes out some massive blows, the Vampire devastates one, and even Marko the halfling manages to strike out at the undead things.Finally the wraiths are destroyed and the party pauses to explore and catch their breath. The circle is a teleportation circle, apparently a receive-only type. Interesting, but useless to the group right now. Feeling better, they prepare to move down the hall.

A short way down the hall our heroes discover another door and after a listen and a search they take the traditional approach and smash it down, revealing a laboratory. Poking around the delicate glassware they discover some potions and tuck them away for later.

Exploring a bit further, the team discovers a huge room full of frozen figures, lined up like they are organized for some reason. Among them is a white dragon, hanging from the ceiling ... and around his neck is a key made of ice. There is clearly some thawing going on but the party goes straight for the key, grabbing it and heading for the ghost-door from earlier. Everyone that is but the Paladin, who notices that one of the nearer figures has a really nice sword. He tries to be gentle but the figure is frozen so there's really only one way this is going to go - SNAP! As he examines the sword he hears a noise ... and realizes the dragon is stirring. He runs out of the room to where the party has gathered in front of the door and mentions that they may have company in just a minute ...

DM Notes: This was still a "getting organized" type session in some ways as there was a lot of indecision on how to explore the dungeon. I was shocked that they walked away from the sign-door but they did come back to it eventually, restoring balance to the universe. They passed several other doors too, listening and looking them over, then moving on past, which was a little odd as not many groups have operated that way in my experience. Even in the banquet hall there were several passages leading out and some noises to investigate, but they circled back around to known territory instead. The ghost dwarf and the hint about the keys seemed to fire them up and things got organized after that.

There was only one combat this time and it was fun for the DM though perhaps not as much for the players. Behind the door is a short hall of 10' by 15' and then a larger 25' by 25' room. The wraiths are insubstantial and can move in and out of the stone while the PC"s can be pinned in a very tight area. The wraiths also have an Aura 3 that does damage and lets them slide characters 2 squares, enabling them to bottle up the PC's in that small area if they choose to do so. They also have powers that lower defenses and another that lets them force the target to attack an ally - lots of fun for the DM as I love those hit-your-buddy-powers, but the characters took a pretty good beating.

*This spurred a whole conversation about how vampires should be immune to cold, in her view. A discussion which has never really gone away. It came up just this past weekend, nearly a year later, as she takes damage from a dragonborn's icy breath - "I still think they should be immune" and the occasional snide comment from one of the other players as I rattle off the damage - "oh but you're immune to that". It's funny. Most of the time.

Oh, and the sword was a +2 Frostbrand, so Dar was a pretty happy paladin - until he realized the next big enemy was a White Dragon.

Next time: More Frozen (or Unfrozen?) Dungeon

We open in a hallway, near a set of double doors (with a particularly nasty lock on them) as the party hears the unmistakable sounds of a dragon bearing down on them. Our Heroes:

Dar Bloodmane, Shifter Paladin
Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord
Zarra, Drow Vampire
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of ~~Dumathoin~~ Marthammor Duin
The Elf With No Name, Elf Bow Ranger (who was waiting outside by the sky-boat since his player was absent)

The party braces as a large white dragon races around the corner. A surprisingly mobile fight - given the constricted terrain - breaks out as the dragon leaps into the middle of the group and lashes out at them, taking hits on the way in, and dishing them out in all directions. In a blizzard of blades, breath, claws, and tailslaps the "drow", the cleric, the paladin, and the dragon itself are all bloodied. Then Gravis gives a signal and Dar rears back and unleashes a devastating riposte with his sword that kills the beast outright*.

Resting a bit after this vicious skirmish, the dwarves use the ice key to unlock the doors. They are greeted with a solid sheet of ice, possibly filling the entire room beyond, but with a keyhole - and now the ghost dwarf mouths "fire" and "key". Realizing there is more work to be done the dwarfs are all fired up! The Paladin has used this time to sever the dragon's head and pack it in a bag - he wants a trophy.

Somewhat battered and needing to recharge even more, the group decides to return to the teleportation circle room and take an extended rest. All seems quiet until the man on watch hears voices outside the outer door - sounds like a patrol of some kind! Not wanting to fight in their less-than-fully-recovered state someone (I can't remember who started it) suggests getting the dragon head out and using it. A couple of skill rolls later and the guards - debating whether to open the do-not-open door "hey I know we're not supposed to go in there but it looks like someone's been messing with that door" - are confronted with a jerked-open door and a roaring floating dragon head! Surprised (and not all that eager to die for the cause in my opinion) they retreat back up the passage and the party has a quiet time the rest of the night though the paladin is troubled by strange dreams where a disembodied dragon head tells him he's not very nice.

That's Gartok and Dar holding up a white dragon head while the Vamp, the Warlord, and Ivan the pet owlbear watch.

After their rest the party explores farther up the main corridor and ends up discovering a forge - a forge with frozen flames! One also with a tiefling, an ogre, and some flaming skeletons! Battle begins!

Forge Fight! They left the white dragon head outside this time.

The flaming skeletons and the tiefling team up but the fiery bone things are quickly dispatched by the Paladin, as the Cleric and Vampire tear into the ogre while the Warden locks down the tiefling. The ogre manages to wound the Vamp by dipping a javelin into the frosty flames and then nailing her with it, prompting the vampire frost immunity discussion again (see session 3) as he is finally brought down by the paladin as he attempts to flee. Remarkably the dead tiefling appears to have a flaming key on a chain around his neck. This is scooped up quickly by the dwarfs as the party catches its breath.

DM Notes: This one was a lot of fun despite the anticlimactic dragon fight:

*He did 63 points of damage - in one hit, from a 4th level Paladin. It was amazing and this is where I started to realize the power of the Tactical Warlord. This fight lasted two whole rounds! I resolved to run my dragons better than this in the future.

The dragon head started talking in a kind of slow-guy voice (think Ord from Dragontales if you have kids of a certain age) about how they were mean and Dar wasn't a nice Paladin and how everyone was mean to him, spurred on by the use of the thing as a morale-breaker on the wandering guards. We were all laughing pretty hard after that happened so the head kind of turned into a borderline NPC for a while there.

"You're not a very nice Paladin are you?"

It also showed some thought on the part of the players outside of the stats/skills/powers structure and we handled it just like in any other version of the game - tell me what you're doing and let me think about what happens. Morale has not been much of a factor in most of our 4E games but this seemed like an obvious case for it. The lack of morale rules in the game doesn't mean it's not a factor - it means it's not a standard attack and defense mechanic - but is up to DM interpretation, and sometimes the monsters run!

I originally thought the key thing was kind of cliched but I realized that although it's pretty common in shooter games we haven't really done all that much of it in D&D, and the players seemed to like having these little sub-quests so if I ever work up my own mega-dungeon I will probably include stuff like this in moderation. Also, it helps that it was pretty obvious - there were no language rolls or special items needed, someone just needed to speak dwarf and they could figure it out. A more universal solution might be to have the imprisoned dwarf spirit show an image of the key rather than saying it - it's magic, right? This would remove all chance of not having the right asset in the party to solve the problem.

Next time: The Winter King!

Beginning in the forge room where they battled the tiefling and his friends our heroes start exploring, discovering a series of connected rooms with no obvious inhabitants. Guard rooms, a well, bedchambers, a secret staircase, and then, passing through a secret door, the party finds themselves in a large throne room, Atop a tall dais stands a massive throne, and upon it sits a skeletal figure, sheathed in ice, one hand outstretched as if reaching for something. The halfling Marko steps forward, unwrapping the Ice Scepter as he draws it from his pack and holding it out towards the Winter King. The frozen hand ... moves ...

Not so fast! Gravis steps up as well and begins speaking to the icy figure, trying to determine exactly what they are dealing with. The vampire and the ranger chime in as well in their own special ways. The ice falls away as the undead thing rises to its feet but his menace seems diminished as the party informs him of the vast amount of time that has passed since his day and of the many foes they have defeated ,,, his own followers! And right here in his own throne room!

The King has never dealt with this kind of arrogance! He lashes out with a blast of cold and the fight is on! The warden leaps into melee as the ranger unleashes a volley of shafts. The vampire unleashes her true nature and rips into the Winter King at the foot of his own throne and he staggers back! Then the warlord shouts instructions, moving the team into a perfect position and after another icy blast from the King the vampire strikes, tearing his frozen body asunder, ending the Winter King for all time.

Pausing to contemplate what just happened the adventuring band realizes that in addition to the Ice Scepter they possess there is an icy adornment on the King's head as well. They take it, adding the Crown of Winter to their growing list of magical items. Then the rumbling starts, and ice and water begin to fall from the ceiling - apparently the Winter King helped sustain this place and with his demise it is coming undone!

Urgently the party retraces their steps through a quaking, collapsing cavern, praying that their magical flying ship survives and still functions well enough to get them home. Emerging into the brilliant light of the snowy mountains, it takes a second for them to realize they are not alone - between them and the ship stand some rough-looking fur-clad humans and a monstrosity with two heads - an Ettin!

Our heroes now pause to consider their course of action. Aboard the ship stands Dar Bloodmane, "speechifying" and letting them know just how doomed they are if they dare lay a hand on his vessel while Izenheim loads a crossbow. Moving even more rapidly now, Gartok (the warden) charges the ettin with the intent of locking him down so that the rest of the party can reach the ship. Zarra (the vampire) charges the barbarians with the intent of taking them down before they can do any real damage. Gravis (the warlord) and No-Name (the ranger) move up to support.

One of the barbarians is already down and the dwarf has the ettin under control when an owlbear emerges from the rumbling Cairn, apparently fleeing the place. He rumbles right down the path towards the party, and as he does so, roaring and screeching and hooting, the party realizes this could be trouble.

Poster maps! Props! Pulling out all the stops here!

The vampire is ripping through the barbarians with a little help from the ranger as the dwarf and warlord keep the ettin tied up. Then the owlbear, moving faster than anticipated, thunders into the ranger, wounding him and forcing him to deal with something right up in his face - not his preferred scenario. Gravis gets too close in an attempt to lend his aid and takes a huge paw to the head for his troubles.

Look! A Bloodied Bow Ranger! This is an incredibly rare sight, so I wanted to memorialize it online!

Finally the ettin and then the last barbarian fall and Gartok and Zarra run back to their companions, leaping into the fray with the owlbear, which is wounded but still fighting mad. The great beast manages to grab the dwarf, nearly crushing him, and tearing into him with its beak, but the tough (and slippery) warden squirms free, just in time for the Zarra to tear into the beast and for No-Name to skewer the thing with twin arrows. As it falls lifeless to the hard-packed and red-stained snow our heroes spare it no further thought, running for the ship which Dar and Izenheim (and Marko - not at all interested in fighting, but very interested in leaving) have ordered to lift off. Leaping aboard and settling in, the band takes to the oars, pulling the ship through the sky, hoping to make it back to Fallcrest before the ship's icy magic fails completely.

DM Notes: This was another good run, a little more serious than last time. The WInter King encounter has an interesting mechanical setup where the party can cause damage to the king - who is a fairly nasty solo - by succeeding in a skill challenge, making him easier to defeat in combat. Surprisingly my players initiated this with no prompting from me (as they themselves say, they're usually a "Plan A" kind of group) and no knowledge of what this would do, and had some pretty creative uses of Diplomacy, History, Bluff, and Nature to back it up. Things did eventually come to blows but in his weakened (though not THAT weakened) state they took him out in two rounds!

The Warlord to Vampire connection was tremendous in this session, as she did something close to 100 points of damage in one round and killed the WInter King thanks to normal attack, warlord bonus attack, and warlord action point bonus attack. This was a hint of things to come. Mechanically the Tactical Warlord is extremely effective when paired with the more Essentials type classes that work mainly from a basic melee attack and can then stack damage boosting powers or attack boosting stances on top of it, and the Vamp is that style of character.

Once they killed the king I thought it would be really anticlimactic to have them clear out the last few rooms in this small dungeon, plus it was a pretty magical environment anyway, so I had the place start to collapse - this is not in the adventure as written. This is a DM sensing that it's time to close out the warmup adventure and move things along. That does not mean those unchecked room inhabitants go to waste though! The Ettin and Barbarians were part of an encounter that was not used, and the owlbear was form a different encounter and using the distance and his movement rate I determined he would still be moving out when the party emerged, which made for a more interesting encounter anyway. It made for an appropriately climactic 9-round fight that had everyone sweating but not complaining - not bad!

Now I normally try to stay away from too much of the whole dramatic embellishment and keep my dungeons more of a sandboxy environment, but I knew that it would probably take at least one more session to finish exploring the place completely. I also felt like walking out the door and getting on the ship like nothing had happened seemed wrong in this case as well. So I went for the big movie ending with the collapsing, melting dungeon and the fleeing monsters fighting for an escape and all of that, Part of having a preference or a style is knowing when to violate it, and that's what I did here. The mission was accomplished, the dungeon was largely explored and cleared, and after 5 sessions it was time to get their pats on the back and move on to the main focus of the campaign.

Next time: Back to Fallcrest, and the Red Hand of Doom invades 4th edition!

I mostly ignored the newly created anniversary date of D&D last week. What day should it be? The day the first draft was completed? The first day someone else saw it? The first time Gary ran a game? The first time Dave and Gary talked to each other about it? The day it was first published? One person chose a date and a lot of people agreed with it and that's fine but it doesn't mean much to me. I think it's enough to declare "1974" as the birth "date" of D&D and leave it at that.

That said it did spur some nice articles:

Here's a fairly nice retrospective on D&D's place in things.

Here's another nice little flashback from Tracy Hickman

Some additional thoughts from Wizards folks like Ed Greenwood.

On a different note here's an article on 4E that presents some strengths. I think there's more self-promoting in it than I like but it's not wrong in what it says in general.

This is a Next article on level advancement. It's fine in what it discusses except for a few points

In 1st and 2nd Edition AD&D, a goblin was worth around 15 XP. A fighter needed 2,000 XP to reach 2nd level. That's a lot of goblins—134 goblins would make the fighter 2nd level if you assume the fighter killed them all alone.

Except in 1st Edition AD&D most of your XP's came from gold, not monster XP's, and it was not even close. Comparing monster XP's directly is a waste of time when figuring the speed of level advancement for this edition. I'm a little surprised at this.

The 4th Edition DMG reveals some of the expectations that went into building the XP math for that game:

If you were to start a campaign with 1st-level characters on January 1st, play faithfully for four or five hours every week, and finish four encounters every session, your characters would enter the paragon tier during or after your session on June 24th, reach epic levels in December, and hit 30th level the next summer. Most campaigns don't move at this pace, however; you'll probably find that the natural rhythms of your campaign produce a slower rate of advancement that's easier to sustain.

At four encounters every weekly session, characters would reach a new level every other week, and we thought that felt about right. We also adjusted the scale so that you'd hit 2nd level pretty quickly—the first hit is free, so to speak.

Wait, what? Play 4-5 hours per week and finish 4 encounters every session? I know my group chit-chats a lot but I cannot see any group with the 4E standard of the five character party finishing 4 encounters in 4 hours - or 5 hours. We rarely finish 3 encounters in 5-6 hours. It's more than "pacing" it's just how the game is built.

They're going to set standard assumptions for Next that they feel are good, and as long as they tell us what those are then that's fine. I just don't like to see things I know are not accurate included like they're some scientific baseline for discussion. Maybe I'm being too nitpcky but if you're going to quote precedent, I'd like it to be right!

One other thing I missed in the run-up to Xmas:

When it comes to the outer planes, we're treating Planescape as our default assumption. It's a much-beloved setting and one that's fairly easy (by design) to integrate into existing campaigns. That means the return of the Great Wheel, the Blood War, and other classic elements of the D&D cosmos. The same process for the inner planes applies to the outer planes, with our intent to add elements to the cosmos to increase storytelling opportunities and make the Wheel as flexible as possible for different settings and different DMs.

(cranky gamer face) - One of the "fluff" elements of 4E that really liked was the revised cosmology. It was simple, made a lot of sense, and fit D&D very well. I'm not thrilled with dumping that. I know a lot of people like the old great wheel, and I know Planescape has its fans. I was just hoping that was one thing they would keep. Ah well.

Less critical: "Tyranny of Dragons" is the big Forgotten Realms event for ... this year? I thought it was The Sundering? Isn't that still going on? It says "later this year" - maybe it's for after Next releases while "The Sundering" is just the run-up to that.

The Good:

Using an established D&D big evil instead of some new thing
It puts dragons front and center - evil dragons in particular
It affects a big popular area of the Realms - good choice

The Bad:

Using Tiamat as a featured enemy after using her in Red Hand of Doom for 3.5 and Scales of War for 4E. She might be a little too familiar to some groups
Changing up the Cult of the Dragon - yeah the Dracolich guys are apparently not as interested in that part anymore. That's a pretty big change. I always liked that these guys weren't just a simple dragon-worshipping cult.
"Dragon Whisperers" - ugh. Can we skip that part? Dragons aren't animals you know. You can have a conversation with them.
What year is this again?

It'll probably be fine. Maybe I can work it into Paragon/Epic for 4E.

Fallcrest in 3D!

Returning in triumph - and in a hurry as their ship melts beneath them - our heroes land in Fallcrest and announce their success! After high fives and salutes and raised tankards all around, Marko sneaks off into the crowd, glad to be done with the whole business. The following day, Lord Markelhay appears - accompanied by Lord Reinhardt himself! He announces rewards for the whole party. First up, each receives a 1,000 gold piece bonus. Then, as retainers of the House, Dar and Gravis receive land grants!

Dar is awarded the Tower of Waiting, a ruined tower on an island in the river. He will be the town's Lord Marshall, and the tower will be rebuilt. This will help protect the northern approaches to the town and serve as a staging area for efforts to civilize some of the surrounding wilderness.

Gravis is awarded Vraath Keep, an old holding of House Reinhardt in the nearby Elsir Vale region. It was attacked and destroyed many years ago but the House is on the rise and looking to reclaim its old lands. Gravis will be a big part of this effort, and he is given both the royal decree that endorses his claim and an old map to help him locate his new domain.

Our Heroes (now 5th level):

Dar Bloodmane, Shifter Paladin
Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord
Zarra, Drow Vampire
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger

After several days of preparation most of the party heads out - Dar will remain behind to assume his new duties, while Izenheim has volunteered to help him survey the place to see just how bad it is. Traveling the Nentir Vale takes another few days - uneventful as it happens - and then they cross into the Elsir Vale. Heading for the closest village, Drellin's Ferry, trouble finds them almost immediately.

Moving along a sunken part of the trail, the group spots an abandoned farmhouse and quickly realizes they are in a prime spot for an ambush - the wrong end of an ambush. With a roar somethig throws a volley of javelins at the party, as a blast of flame reaches out from the foliage. Then a humanoid and a huge red hound appear at either end of the trail - hobgoblins! - and they appear to have some hell hounds.

In his element, the ranger with no name unloads a volley of his own, finding a target in the bushes and slaying one of the hobgoblins outright. The warlord, warden, and vampire charge the hidden mage who threw fire - they suspect he is the biggest threat. The hounds and other hobgoblins lope forward into a huge melee around the unfortunate spellcaster.

The warlord is caught in the fiery breath of both beasts as they rush in. The warmage goes on total defense as at least three people are trying to kill him, but is quickly overwhelmed. The ranger nails the hobgoblin commander with two arrows, seriously wounding him, then he scores with two more and slays the humanoid leader as well! The crispy warlord, deeming the hounds to be the next biggest threat lures one into a bad position and defends himself as the dwarf and the drow tear it apart.

Having turned the tide, the rest of the battle goes quickly. The ranger shoots down the hobgoblin spearmen while the melee trio of warlord-warden-vampire beat down the hobgoblin beast-trainer and the remaining hound. After the last enemy falls, the elf scouts the surrounding area and finds no other opposition. Our heroes inspect the farmhouse and decide to spend the night there. They will make for Drellin's ferry in the morning.

DM Notes - This session marked the end of the introductory adventure and the beginning of the meat of the campaign. Cairn of the WInter King is a perfect campaign starter as it has some interesting features but takes place in isolation and is a small 1-level dungeon. This allows the party to get a handle on how to work together and figure out their roles in the group. It also set up nicely to mark the PC"s as upcoming heroes in this part of the kingdom. The land grants served multiple purposes:

Steve was not thrilled with the way Dar was working out mechanically and was about to add a new baby to the family and was likely to be out for a while. So, we "retired" Dar to the Tower of Waiting where he could be brought back in if needed as a replacement, or he could set up to be the first member of a new party if we decided to "fork" the campaign or if we wanted a backup group - clearly the first adventure would be to explore and clear the tower! Also, in the long run, Dar and the rebuilt tower would make for a nice hook to a successor campaign if we ever ran one.

By granting Gravis a holding in the Elsir Vale I have both a reason for the party to go there AND a reason for them to care about the invasion that's about to happen. This is not subtle, but it makes sense within the campaign and the players liked it - plus it's fairly old school to have a keep at all and it's unusual to have one at 5th level in pretty much any version of D&D. Changing things up helps keep campaigns fresh and helps to distinguish them from one another. We had explored the idea of the party claiming an old keep in the previous campaign (at a higher level than this) but they were TPK'd in the process of doing it so we never saw the payoff for all of that setup. For this campaign I wanted it front and center and so here it was.

If you have played Red Hand of Doom then you probably recognize this first encounter. It starts a long road of adventure that we will be exploring all the way through the rest of that adventure and the rest of Heroic Tier play. We've had a lot of fun with it and writing up this first episode has me smiling as I write it. A lot of people thought it was one of the best 3rd edition D&D adventures - I can tell you it makes a pretty good 4th edition adventure too.

Our Heroes (now 5th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord
Zarra, Drow Vampire
~~Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden~~ - Player absent
Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger

Dar Bloodmane, Shifter Paladin has retired and been replaced by ...

Sir Abel Primies, Human Paladin of Torm. Abel meets the party in the village having come here to investigate reports of goblins moving through the area in small but growing numbers.

After a nasty ambush on the road, our heroes finally arrive in Drellin’s Ferry, last outpost of civilization in the western half of the Elsir Vale. It is the 2nd of Flamerule, 1450 DR. They decide to stay at the Old Bridge Inn then go look for the town’s Speaker.

The next day the party heads into the wilderness to locate old Vraath Keep. This fits with Abel's goal of patrolling through the local area in search of goblin troublemakers so he joins the group and all agree to work together.

Their map is clearly out of date so they decide to check the local roads and see if they can make sense of the lay of the land. Discovering an old causeway they discuss whether to follow it across a particularly swampy part of the woods. During the discussion they notice a wrecked wagon and something big moving in the water – something that bursts up out of the water and begins attacking them – with five heads!

As the hydra moves in the party spreads out to deal with it. The beast lashes out, tearing into Abel and Izenheim. As they hit back, the ranger manages to destroy one head, only to see another grow in its place! The warlord changes to his acid form and attacks, burning the creature and dampening its regeneration. Observing the effect the hydra is also on fire shortly thereafter. The vampire tears into the thing as well, doing it the old-fashioned way. Under a continuous rain of attacks up close and with non-stop fire from the bow ranger the hydra is down to three heads when it finally succumbs. The battered but victorious heroes take some time to rest and recover before pushing on. Among what’s left of some previous victims, presumably the wagon’s owners, the vampire finds a strange cloak – which she will forget about completely for several sessions.

Following the causeway soon leads to some recognizable landmarks marked on their old map and by the end of the day the ruins of Vraath Keep are in sight! The ranger discovers tracks in the area as the party observes the keep – how many abandoned ruins in the wilderness are truly abandoned – and near the crossing of a small stream the group discovers a pair of goblin worg riders. The fight is over quickly but the team is concerned about what might be living in “their” keep and decides to observe the place quietly for the night. They set up a hidden camp and keep watch through the night.

DM Notes: There was a fair amount of talk in the village so we actually had some nice in-character RP work here. This session could be summed up as “getting to know the village”, "working in the new PC" and “locating the keep” and that’s pretty much what it covered.

The Hydra was a nice outdoor fight against a big solo with lots of melee attacks, and some constricted terrain with the bridge and the water and the swampy areas. The melee team had to work a little harder to get in close as the beast had reach and could swim, making things more difficult for them than for the monster. None of this mattered to the bow ranger of course – this will be a recurring theme for quite some time. A hydra was partly responsible for the TPK that ended the last campaign so it was nice to bring one in again, run it correctly, and see that the new team could handle it without dying. In fact, it only took 5 rounds to complete. That 5 rounds though took over an hour to resolve. That’s the high and the low of 4the Edition combat. It’s 5 very cinematic, detailed, rounds but they do take some time.

The patrol ambush was one of the few times the party had a chance to get the drop on the monsters. It didn’t really work out that way, but they had a chance. It was a much easier fight than the hydra and only lasted 3 rounds. This neatly set up the next session which would be “exploring the keep”.

It is Flamerule 1450, outside Vraath Keep.

Our Heroes:

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord
Zarra, Drow Vampire
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
Sir Abel Primies, Human Paladin of Torm

Observation has not revealed a ton of activity but there is some noise and the ranger sees multiple hobgoblin and wolf/worg tracks in set patterns, clearly patrolling the area. Seeing nothing that causes concern and not being a particularly stealthy group they decide to walk in the ruins of the front gate. As they do so an alarm sounds and a formation of hobgoblin infantry takes a position in front of the gate – a leader, two lieutenants, and ten warriors. Battlecries ring out on both sides and battle is joined!

Within seconds the hobgoblin captain is slain and the humanoids’ line breaks. As the survivors fight a desperate retreat one of the lieutenants sounds a whistle and a winged lion beast swoops into the fight from above. The manticore flings some spikes and adds an unexpected 3rd dimension to the fight.
The heroes are unstoppable though and gradually force their way into the keep. Soon enough the leaders are all down, the last warrior drops, and then the manticore is slain by a shot from the ranger.

While some loot the bodies, others look around the interior of the keep. There’s not much left of the place. Noting a few giant skeletons around the ruins and numerous boulders and signs of impact it’s clear that hill giants played a role in the destruction of the fort. The dead hobgoblins all bear the symbol of the Red Hand, the same markings as the group that ambushed them on the way to Drellin’s Ferry.

Exploring further there is one largely intact structure remaining – and the door is barred.

Breaking down the door the party sees a single figure standing before them, weapons drawn. He tells them that he is Wyrmlord Koth, and having defeated his soldiers they can join him or die. Gravis presents his deed to the keep and informs Koth that he is the new lord of Vraath Keep and that he will need to answer some questions. Koth snarls and charges.

A vicious melee erupts in the room as Koth takes on an outraged warlord, a blood-hungry vampire, a motivated paladin, and a couple of dwarves looking for a “real” fight. Additionally the ranger stands across the room, calmly drawing and releasing his bow, never really in any immediate danger as he plants arrow after arrow into the Wyrmlord. He lands some mighty blows, but the numbers are against him and Zarra lands the final blow, tearing his head from his neck in an appropriately gory finish.

DM Notes: This was a fun session with the outdoor fight against the hobgoblins and the manticore. I should try to encourage more recon type activities but there was not a whole lot to learn other than those are the kinds of creatures camped in the keep now. I’m not sure what else the party was expecting to find out, and after one night of observation they got bored with it and attacked. They figured out the basics of the keep’s history pretty quickly. Then I hit a low spot as a DM.

The fight against Koth should have been a classic. Instead they find him alone and in a medium-sized room with no particularly interesting features other than some furniture. Once Team Beatdown surrounds him the fight is basically over – he has no way to push through them – bad monster design on my part – and as a solo he has no “encounter reset” abilities like a mass stun or summon or flight to give him a chance to reframe the fight on better terms for him. Instead it was just like a bad 3E fight – the melee characters close in and just pound the hit points out of him in a long boring number-crunching fight. Not every encounter has to be the opening sequence to an Indiana Jones movie, but this one could have been a lot better, especially considering the tools 4E gives you to liven up things up.

Here's his statblock for those of you who might be interested. He's pretty much a solo'd bugbear assassin. I like to adapt existing monsters as much as possible and this fit him pretty well - other than the lack of abilities mentioned above. Hopefully I will do better next time.

After resting in Koth's chamber the heroes look around for clues as to what's driving this goblin activity. Investigation reveals some notes and a map showing forces moving across the entire Elsir Vale. They also discover a secret trap door in one corner - one that does not appear to have been discovered by the invaders. Being adventurers, there is no question as to what happens next.

The trap door opens on to a long passage down into darkness. Descending, the party finds a single room deep underground. The chests visible behind a barred gate lead to the conclusion that this was the treasure vault for the keep. The bodies on the floor indicate that it was also the final retreat for someone. The shadowy forms drifting in towards the team say that it was not a pleasant end for those concerned ...

A desperate battle against the undead erupts as numerous wraithlike forms sweep in and attack. Some are easily dispersed while others are more stubborn opponents, striking again and again. drawing the very life force from our heroes. Gartok the warden seems to draw special attention from the shades and is having a hard time of it.

Eventually the group does prevail, dispersing the last of the evil spirits. Flashes of dreamlike memory - someone else's memory - have hit them with some of the more potent attacks and they now know the ultimate fate of the keep's previous ruler. It was not a pretty one.

After catching their breath the iron gate proves to be a temporary obstacle and they have the old baron's treasure - gold, gems, a magical hammer, and a set of gauntlets made from bulette hide and sized to fit a giant!. They gather up the hoard and return to the more pleasant surroundings of the surface, to recover from this battle in the darkness and plan their next move.

DM Notes: This was a shorter session but it accomplished several important things. First, it opened up the party's eyes to the scope of what was happening, as can be seen on the map above. This gave them some long term elements to think about as they decided what to do next. Second it gave them the history of Vraath Keep and some of the local relationships it had involved. These would come up in the next session and down the road too. Third it gave them their first decent-sized treasure haul in the adventure and that always makes a party feel good. The anti-giant magical hammer should prove to be particularly handy as giants figure prominently in my adaptation of this adventure and possibly beyond as well.

The fight was a good one and it was a tough challenge for them. The opponents were wraiths of various 4E types and because they were insubstantial they could sweep through the room, inn one wall and out the other, only to come back in from a different direction. Using a mix of minions and tougher types made it a bigger fight and this was one of our longer battles at 9 rounds. There was some sweating by the players as characters took their beatings but no one actually dropped so it was a tense fight but not a collapse.

The only other notable item from this part of the game was that the party was a little disappointed at the state of the keep. I think they were expecting a more immediately useful base and instead what they got was a pile of rocks that barely had a roof on it. The entire thing will have to be rebuilt but I reminded them that they had the full support of House Reinhardt which means that in time they will be able to construct a pretty nice castle. Right now there's an invasion coming and they're going to need to deal with that first.

We begin in Vraath Keep, newly claimed domain of Baron Gravis, vassal of House Reinhardt, in the Elsir Vale, Impiltur, in Flamerule of 1450 DR. Our heroes have cleansed the ruined keep of evil and in the process discovered plans for an invasion of the vale.

Our Heroes (all newly 6th level after clearing the keep):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and his young owlbear companion, Ivan)
Zarra, Drow Vampire
~~Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden~~ (out this week)
~~Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin~~ (out this week)
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
Sir Abel Primies, Human Paladin of Torm

Rested and recovered, the party decides to take the old forest road north to scout out Skull Gorge Bridge, marked on the invasion map.

Moving along the old road through forest the group is making good time when they come across a strange figure made out of wood, covered in moss. It's crudely humanoid and looks like it's been here some time. The ranger recognizes it as a territorial marker used by certain hill giant tribes in the region. An old track leads off of the road and into a hilly region of the woods. The party decides that it's worth a short side trip to see if the giants are still around and if they are part of the invasion plan. They head off into the woods attempting some measure of stealth.

Soon they come to a clearing where they can see smashed remains of a massive wooden fortress, built on a larger than human scale (think of the steading from G1 smashed apart for the proper visual). In one section of the ruins is a large firepit with a large wild boar turning on a spit over it. A gnarled old hill giant sits next to the thing, seemingly oblivious to the party. The team debates on how to approach this lone creature and eventually decides to parlay with him.

As they emerge from the woods the old giant assumes a defensive stance, raising his club and warning them off. Sir Primies takes the lead here and talks the giant down. As the rest of the group joins in things relax until the whole group is sitting around the fire sharing roasted boar and swapping stories. Here, the party learns of the rest of the history of this part of the vale, and that Old Warklegnaw is the last of his kind living here. The ruins are all that remains of the steading of the Twistusk tribe. He was there during the dispute with Vraath Keep and after the mutual devastation dealt to both dwellings his tribe moved up into the mountains under his leadership. Eventually though he decided he was too old to lead and returned to this place to live out his final years. He hasn't noticed the influx of goblins but he hasn't been travelling much as of late. As our heroes share what they have found, he decides to accompany them for a spell as he is familiar with Skull Gorge and the bridge and figures a walk would do him some good. The party is happy to have a hill giant companion, figuring even an older, somewhat worn giant is better than no giant if it comes to a fight. They all rest for the night and head out the next morning.

The party approaches from this end of the bridge

Arriving early in the afternoon, our heroes and their new friend discover that the Red Hand has already taken possession of the bridge. Banners over the encampment on the north side bear the sign of the red hand while hobgoblin troops man the towers, hell hounds watch the bridge, and a green dragon patrols above.

Not daunted for a minute the party decides that action is required as based on their information the army will be crossing here - better to stall them by taking out this advance guard than to wait for the entire army. Plus if they can figure out a way to destroy the bridge it will give them time to warn Drellin's Ferry and figure out a strategy for defending the vale. There's not much point in stealth with hell hounds guarding the place and frankly they prefer a straight-up fight anyway so with a mix of battlecries they charge the southern end of the bridge, Warklegnaw right alongside them - "it's been a long time since I've fought a dragon".

Notably the ranger does not charge. Instead, he draws back his bow and begins shooting death into the opposition, first the hell hounds and then the hobgoblin archers on top of the towers. Zarra rips into one hound and slays it single-handedly while the giant, the paladin, and the warlord (and Ivan!) tear up the other.

As the hounds expire (and more hobgoblins fall from the towers with elf-arrows in their hides) the dragon swoops into the cluster of heroes on the bridge and unloads his poison breath followed by a flurry of claws and teeth. Hurt but not dismayed the team tears into Ozyrrandion the -probably-too-overconfident-dragon, with Gravis shouting commands, Ivan watching his back, Sir Primies holding the thing's attention with sword and shield high, while Warklegnaw and Zarra rip into the beast with fang, claw, and club. As the last of the hobgoblins falls, the ranger adds his arrows to the fight and the dragon falls to a final flourish by the warlord and his little owlbear friend.

He's just a level-adjusted green dragon

With the garrison handled, the party pauses to recover from the fight (and the massive amounts of poison gas spewed out by the dragon) and realizes they're going to have to figure out how to drop this bridge if they are going to delay the army of the red hand. That's going to take a little thinking ...

DM Notes: There was a fair amount of discussion at the beginning of this session about how to proceed. Should they go back and warn the village? Should they use the map to head out and attack the invaders? They eventually decided to go as far as the bridge and see what was happening there before returning to Drellin's Ferry.

Warklegnaw is a part of the original adventure and I wanted to keep him in there. I did change him from a forest giant to a hill giant as there aren't any forest giants in 4E and I don;t really see the need for yet another type of giant when we already have one that fits just fine. I turned the whole thing into a skill challenge once they got to him and it worked out very well. While we played without this kind of thing for decades I will say that it's nice to have a mechanic for handling non-combat situations beyond "make a skill roll" and it's really nice to have a system for them that actually awards XP and is built into the game. Plus, skill challenges play out much faster than combat usually does in 4E and help make balance out the time played to XP ratios if you're trying to plan this stuff out. The players did really well befriending him and learning more about the vale. Beginning here he ends up tagging along for the rest of the campaign! I gave the players his statblock and let them run him after this if he was present for a fight.

Once that was handled we had the big set-piece of the Skull Gorge Bridge. This is the big climactic battle of this part of the adventure and I tried to stick to it as closely as I could. My general rule in this has been to keep the flavor of each encounter as much as possible. If the big bridge fight has hobgoblins, hell hounds, and a green dragon, then my version should have those same elements, and it did. Around this time is where I finally broke down and started subscribing to DDI for the monster catalog/tool. With 4th edition's monster level system it's a snap to add or remove a few levels to make something level-appropriate to the adventure, even if it's not "by the book". In this fight the hobgoblins were a mix of minions and regular monsters, the hounds were normal monsters, and the dragon was a solo but he was only level 5 which made him tough and gave him some interesting options in a fight but meant he was not overpowered when combined with the other creatures.

So, some planning, some RP and a skill challenge, followed by a big fight - this was another really good session.

Having defeated the advance guard of the Red Hand our heroes take on the puzzle of how to destroy the bridge over Skull Gorge - after some basic looting and treasure-sorting of course.

Our Heroes (6th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan!)
Zarra, Drow Vampire
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin
~~No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger~~ (out this week, off scouting for more goblins)
Sir Abel Primies, Human Paladin of Torm

The party is also accompanied by Warklegnaw, aged chieftain of the Twistusk hill giants

The bridge is a tough one. Thankfully with the return of the dwarves there are some experts on stonework present and they begin inspecting the structure. Soon enough some weak spots are located and the hard work begins. With the aid of some magic - and a friendly hill giant - the bridge is weakened to the point that breaking one final, critical stone will being the span down. SMASH! The paladin is the last one off of the bridge as it collapses but he makes it - barely.

After this the group decides to head back to Drellin's Ferry to warn them of the invasion and to begin getting the cities of the vale organized for defense. There is a little more urgency in their travel now so there is even less of an attempt at stealth than there was before. After all, the bridge is down, what could possibly be left in the area? Warklegnaw announces that he's going to head into the mountains to find his tribe and bring them to the aid of the vale. Goodbyes are said and then the aged giant heads out alone.

This rhetorical question is soon answered by the howling of worgs as the party crosses paths with a team of goblin scouts - worg riders! The riders charge and the party is forced into melee as their ranger is not with the team! A somewhat spread-out fight develops as the heroes charge downed riders or move to intercept riderless beasts. Soon enough the red hand riders are slain and the mission to Drellin's Ferry can continue.

As the party emerges from the Withchwood ("which wood?" - gamer humor) they see smoke -from fires burning in the very village they have come to warn. Drellin's Ferry is already under attack - are they too late?

DM Notes: This was largely a free-form problem solving exercise in dropping the bridge without time, tools, and magic that would normally make that easier. I didn't even use the skill challenge system as the adventure has a lot of notes on how this can be done. Some skills do come into play but it really depends on the players reasoning things out and doing the best they can with what they have on hand. So it's a lot like old AD&D modules in that respect. They did fine.

Once that was solved, the option to go and scout out the army encampment at Cinder Hill is pretty much gone. They were perfectly willing to accept Koth's war plan at face value and decided it was more important to warn the village so off they went. The worg riders were advance scouts who had been patrolling between the keep and the bridge and livened things up considerably with 12 combatants - 6 riders, 6 worgs.

The burning village was a nice twist and led into another good session.

Our Heroes (6th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, teenage owlbear sidekick!)
Zarra, Drow Vampire
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
~~Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin~~ (making a pilgrimage to some dwarf mine, no doubt)
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
Sir Abel Primies, Human Paladin of Torm

We begin on the outskirts of Drellin's Ferry, where the team has returned with news of an invasion only to find the village under some kind of attack...

Somewhat dismayed by the smoke rising over their safe haven, the party rests briefly and then pushes on into the burning section of the village. As they move in they hear some unusual noises, then finally confront the source of the fires - a chimera! Concerned about taking on a beast like that, but unwilling to let it burn its way through the entire town our heroes move in - Gravis shouting commands, Gartok calling on the spirits of the earth, Sir Primies chanting the battle hymns of Torm, Zarra showing her fangs, and the elf silently drawing his bow.

There is, of course, a breath weapon in play here and despite their best efforts it does catch a few of our heroes but they press on. The ranger is fairly safe at his firing position but the rest of the party is under heavy threat as each of the thing's heads is a vicious opponent up close. Quickly, although they are inflicting some harm, Zarra is down and in bad shape. In response the paladin calls out and strikes with a radiant blade, infused with the divine. The blow lands but brings mixed results as the dragon head responds with another blast of fire The warden summons his strongest spirits, taking blow after blow to almost no effect while the warlord tries to think of a plan to salvage this situation. In a brutal half-minute of redoubled action, the swords, arrows, and hammer of the heroes put an end to the beast right there in the western village square, though they take a serious beating to do so - except for the bow ranger. Sometimes, there's no secret weapon other than force against force. The vampire is saved, but as her wounds heal her pride does not and she is in a furious bloodlust, looking to avenge her fall.

Fortunately a pair of winged shapes sweep over the rooftops and the riders on their back throw javelins as the leonine forms fling tail spikes - Manticores! With goblins riding on their backs! The vampire however has very few ways to attack an airborne target, pushing her rage even further! In fact the entire party (other than No-Name) is having some difficulty reaching these airborne enemies but eventually one of the riders becomes a little too confident and swoops in for close combat. With an evil, anticipatory grin she tears into the manticore who is going nowhere now. Gravis leads Ivan into melee as well and the owlbear lands a telling blow The rider is knocked off of his mount and rather quickly slain, even as the other rider drops in to try and extricate him. In a tremendous terrestrial tussle both riders and the first manticore are killed. The second manticore struggles out of this furious furball and flies off, wounded repeatedly by the bow ranger. The creature finally passes out of range. As the elf finally lowers his bow, Gravis, Gartok, and Abel realize they still have news to deliver, and the vampire wipes the blood from her lips - and smiles.

DM Notes: This was a combat-heavy session and it was a lot of fun. I dug out the old Mordheim buildings for some 3D terrain and spent a little more time on the map. I thought I had some pictures of the fight but I cannot find them.

A chimera, manticores, goblins, and hobgoblins are all part of the forces that can attack the village depending on what the players do and how much time they take. I wanted to keep the flavor true to the source so that's what appeared here, adjusted to fit 4E's encounter system.

The chimera fight was tough - a level 9 solo going against a 5-man party of level 6 characters. They beat it in 5 rounds (with one casualty) but it was a fairly tense 5 rounds. The vampire was hit in each of the first 3 rounds and was down and dying in round 4 - even with marking it's hard to lock down something with 3 heads. A party member dropping is usually the signal to take it up a notch and as powers were fired off the warden hit AC34 at one point and that's a tall order even for a chimera.

The manticores & riders fight went 10 rounds, mainly due to the party's lesser abilities in ranged combat - at least compared to their melee prowess. Early on the vampire landed a 45 point hit, somewhat making up for her KO in the last fight. The bow ranger burned an action point to finish off one target and managed to miss with both shots from a twin strike but yet another attack from the warlord finally let him grab some glory.

This fight is one where a controller could have made a big difference. Partly because they usually have a fair amount of ranged capability, and partly because they might have been able to tangle up or knock down the flying targets to get them in range of the meat grinders. The bow ranger is a very potent ranged combatant, but when he's (effectively) the only one making attacks compared to all 5 when in melee, well, it's not great.

Regardless, it was a successful defense against aerial scouts and raiders from the Red Hand and set up the next session quite well.

Our Heroes (6th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, teenage owlbear sidekick!)
Zarra, Drow Vampire
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
~~Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin~~ (off frolicking in the mountanis)
~~No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger~~ (off frolicking in the woods)
Sir Abel Primies, Human Paladin of Torm

(It is the 9th of Flamerule, 1450 DR, in Drellin's Ferry, in the Elsir Vale, Impiltur)

After saving the village the heroes rush to deliver their news. Speaking to the town leadership, the party recommends an evacuation of the village without delay.

Iormel, speaking for the wealthy landowners & merchants, is completely against that, and isn't too happy that they destroyed Skull Gorge Bridge when that little tidbit comes out. He proposes fighting ("we have property here!"), dismissing the invaders as just a larger than average bunch of marauding bandit goblin trash.

Kellin, the halfling innkeeper suggests buying off the horde if they cannot stand against it militarily.

Soranna, captain of the militia, is in a hard place. She doesn't want to appear cowardly but she knows that the village militia cannot beat the things that are scouting for the invaders, much less the actual army. She proposes a rearguard action while evacuating the area.

A new arrival, one of the (locally) famous Knights of the Lion informs the group that her patrol was ambushed to the north on the Old Rhest Trail and that it is possible the invasion force is maneuvering to cut off any retreat from the western parts of the vale.

Speaker Wiston, the leader of the village, waffles and appears to be leaning towards sending emissaries to the invaders to determine their intent.

At this, Sir Primies stands and delivers an impassioned plea for realism and compassion, that there is no way to stop the army with the forces available and that attempting to do so will only get the militia killed, along with the entire population of the village shortly thereafter.

Gravis chimes in citing numerous historical accounts of successful retreats - and heroic defenses that ended in massacres.

Gartok shares stories handed down from the primal spirits of the world, imploring the elders to take a larger view of things.

Finally, Zarra glares at the assembled leaders and very loudly whispers - "LISTEN ... TO ... THEM"

Amid hushed whispers a decision is made to evacuate the village, retreating east down the Dawn Way with an ultimate goal of Brindol, the largest city in the vale, fortified, and home to the Knights of the Lion. The militia will defend their people on the road. Sura the Lion Knight has to get word to her order in Brindol, but will meet the evacuees on the road with more knights.

The heroes, satisfied that the village's plan is sound, plan to investigate the Old Rhest Trail and root out any forces the invasion has in the area. This will both serve notice that the vale is not defenseless and will help shield the evacuation. Gravis also wants to investigate the cryptic "Saarvath" note in the area on Koth's map. They requisition/borrow some horses, transcribe the notes from the captured map for Sura to take back east, and then head out on their next adventure.

The ride north is uneventful until they are just west of the southern section of Lake Rhestin. Here they come across a large timber ... fortification ... blocking the road. This is no ambush - it's a roadblock! A pretty stout one too, built like a castle's gatehouse with the road passing right through it. It also appears to be manned by the by-now-expected hobgoblins plus some large, brutish humanoids - ogres.

As they come under bow and javelin (large javelin) fire, our heroes once again go with "Plan A" and smash open the wooden gate. As the warden, paladin, and warlord rush in to attack the ogres on the ground, the vampire floats up over the "battlements" and tears into the archers up on top. One of the hobgoblins turns out to be a spellcaster as lightning flashes out and into Sir Primies. He engages the warcaster as Gartok and Gravis (and Ivan!) tackle the ogres. Fresh out of archers to massacre, Zarra joins in on the ogres as well. As Gartok locks them down, Zarra tears them up, both assisted by Gravis. As soon as he finishes off the caster, the paladin turns back to help against the last ogre. In a very workmanlike display the party rips through the roadblock and the garrison, setting things right once again.

DM Notes: Lots of out-of-character party debate, lots of in-character speechifying, lots of NPC interaction, then a nice little combat to round things out - it's another good run. If you're interested, here are my notes on the debate:

Conclusion of Part 2 – The Great Debate
Fight, Talk, or Run

Speaker Wiston
Captain Soranna – Reluctant but Run – suicide, can't fight off thousands
Innkeeper Kellin (halfling) – Talk (buy them off with gold and prepare to fight later)
Stablekeeper Delora Zann - Run
Wealthy Landowner Iormel - Fight

Level 6 Complexity 3 Skill Challenge – 7 Moderate (DC 15), 3 Hard (DC 23)
Primary: Diplomacy, History, Intimidate, Streetwise
Secondary: Arcana, Nature, Religion, Insight
Raids repelled = 1 automatic success each
Using Koth's map = 1 hard success

The paladin kicked things off with diplomacy, the warlord went with history, the warden went with nature, and the vampire wrapped it all up with intimidate and it went very well. I think everyone appreciated the change of pace after the fight-heavy sessions before this one. Our last talk-heavy session was with Warklegnaw back in Session #10.

There are various ways this fight can go and the adventure is pretty good at covering the implications of all of them, including a pretty detailed description of what happens if the decision is made to fight. I kept the main parts of this and built it into a skill challenge to give it a mechanical framework - thank you 4E, this is exactly the kind of thing they were made to handle.

This concluded "Part 2" of the adventure and after this they leveled up! I told them ahead of time that they would jump to 7th in this session and to bring sheets for both. We all use a character builder so it's easy enough to do.

The roadblock is another set encounter in the adventure and I stayed pretty close to it, from map to garrison. There were some nuances to this one, from breaking things to climbing to levitating to dealing with their first enemy spellcaster in some time. It lasted 11 rounds which was quite a bit longer than I expected but it was a cool fight, and only having 4 players probably made it a little tougher than it would have been normally.

Black Sails Ho!

Campaign Troubles - Sorting Out the Train Wreck

Campaign Troubles - Getting Back on Track

February: The Red Hand of Doom Recap month

SSoI - Session 1 - Cairn of the Winter King

SSoI - Session 2 - Cairn of the Winter King

Motivational Monday

SSoI - Session 3 - Cairn of the WInter King Part 3

SSoI - Session 4 - Cairn of the Winter King Part 4

SSoI - Session 5 - Cairn of the Winter King Part 5

Overreaction Wednesday

SSoI - Session 6 - Interlude in Fallcrest and a Journey to the Elsir Vale

SSoI - Session 7: The Red Hand of Doom Begins!

SSoI - Session 8: Red Hand of Doom - The Retaking of Vraath Keep

SSoI - Session 9: Red Hand of Doom - The Secret of Vraath Keep

Motivational Monday

SSoI - Session 10: Red Hand of Doom - The Battle of Skull Gorge

SSoI - Session 11: Red Hand of Doom - Retreat to Drellin's Ferry

SSoI - Session 12: Red Hand of Doom - The Defense of Drellin's Ferry

SSoI - Session 13: Red Hand of Doom - The Great Debate