Tower of Zenopus

Our Heroes (now 7th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan - that's EEE-VAHN)
Zarra, Drow Vampire
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
~~Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin~~ (passed out on a floor somewhere)
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
Sir Abel Primies, Human Paladin of Torm

We open at the now-defunct fort/tollgate constructed by the Red Hand on the Old North Road. Presumably this was part of their invasion plans, but the party isn't sure what role it was to play.

(Also, my players had a heck of a time remembering some of the details from the previous session. This is odd, because we only had the usual two-week gap here but they were pretty fuzzy about some of the decisions/findings/conclusions from last time. We got it all sorted out and moved on.)

Having learned something of the local lore while in Drellin's Ferry the party knows that the ancient city of Rhest was the center of some long-lost realm that was destroyed before the war captain Imphras founded Impiltur in 1095 DR. Now it is a ruin in the middle of the Blackfens. This seems the most likely place to find this "Saarvith" noted on the captured map. With the ranger leading the way, they head into the marsh.

After a few hours the ranger notices an unusual set of tracks and the party notices a hill with some trees (it's been pretty sparse so far) rising out of the muck. They approach cautiously and soon spot a giant owl, dead (recently killed) at the base of one of the trees. Deciding to investigate they draw the attention of a large green draconic beast that stands up, hissing as they approach. The paladin moves to stand between it and the party and as he does so the thing charges.

Sir Abel and the dragonspawn clash, sword and shield against blade-like wings and acid spit. The ranger begins firing on the creature as well. Quickly, a second beast rises out of the murky water an charges the vampire, who is all too ready to mix it up blade-to-claw. The warlord and friend move in to help as does the warden but Zarra takes a serious beating from the second dragonspawn. Sir Abel is also in bad shape, bearing the brunt of the beast's blows on his side of the battle. He calls upon the power of Torm and manages to finish the thing off in a flurry of blows. Gravis rallies Zarra enough to let her loose one last burst of fury that rips the other beast apart, then uses its essence to heal her wounds.

After the battle, the group's best guess is that these monsters are some kind of mutated green dragon and that they are not native to the area. Investigating the dead owl it looks like a pet or companion and based on the clues they end up cutting the greenspawn open to see if there's any sign of the owner. They find nothing recognizable other than a ring. Some other gear scattered around the area (along with other scattered remains) does prove to be useful and some of it even magical.

As they gather up these things and search the area an elf riding on the back of another giant owl drops down out of the sky and holds them at swordpoint, demanding to know what they are doing in the marsh and how that other owl ended up dead. The party explains and Killiar Arrowswift relents enough to realize they did not kill the owl or his missing friend, Lanikar. As more elves and owls descend, the leader decides to take the whole party back to their village to try and make sense of what happened. The team agrees.

Our heroes are led to Starsong Hill, the largest encampment of the Tiri-Kotor elves, a rustic group who dwell in the Blackfens. This is a large area of solid ground, heavily wooded, and topped by the hill it was named for. Lit by lanterns, many elves appear to live in tents on the ground though there are some larger constructs in the trees. As the patrol splits up, Killiar takes the newcomers to meet the leaders of the tribe and to share the hard news that one of their own was killed. The party does well in these meetings and is invited to watch the funeral for Lanikar the next day.

DM Notes: Another multifaceted session with some thinking by the players (both in and out of character), a fight, and interaction with some unexpected allies. Having a pair of nature-oriented characters like the ranger and the warden is a real help in this adventure as there has been a lot of cross-country travel, tracking, and just dealing with the wilderness. Having two means the game is unlikely to get bogged down in basic travel/survival issues.

The fight was with a pair of Greenspawn Razorfangs, down-leveled to be a decent challenge:

Elites with a ranged attack for ongoing damage and a melee attack for ongoing untyped damage makes them pretty nasty. This was not their last appearance.

Magic Items here were filling in some lower level gaps so lots of utility if nothing spectacular: Iron Armbands of Power (lv6), Boots of the Fencing Master (lv7), Amulet of Physical Resolve (lv7), Flagon of Ale Procurement (lv5), Bag of Holding (lv5)

The interaction with the elves was a skill challenge drawn out over several locations and with multiple parts.

24 – Blackfens Starsong Hill – Level 7 Encounter, 1500 xp
Killiar Arrowswift (600)4 Tiri Kotor Hunters (800)5 Giant Owls (1000)

This is a Skill Challenge to successfully work things out with the Tiri Kotor elves.
Complexity 5, Level 7 – Moderate = DC 16, Hard = DC 23

Primaries: Diplomacy, History, Nature (Perception counts as a Primary here)
Secondary: Religion, Insight, Heal

Stage 1 is convincing Killiar (Ranger) that the PC's are friendly – 3 Moderate, 1 Hard

(Killing the fiend counts as an automatic moderate, turning over the owl band counts as an automatic moderate, turning over the ring counts as an automatic Hard)

Stage 2 - After flying to Starsong Hill,
convincing Sellyria (Druid) takes 3 Moderate and 1 Hard (Nature)convincing Trellara (Bard) takes 3 Moderate and 1 Hard (History)funeral and convincing Illian (Cleric) takes 3 Moderate and 1 Hard (Religion)

They did very well with this one and set things up well for the future. This was a part of painting the picture of the Vale as not just being full of monsters and farmers but keeping some of the "fantasy" alive in it for the good guys too. I will admit that when I first read it elves living in a marsh riding giant owls did not impress me. They come across as a flavor of "wood elf" and I seriously considered making them much more barbaric "wild elf" from old school Greyhawk lore. I ended up not doing it, mostly because they are just not remote enough to justify it. As I spent more time with them I came around on the original description and decided it was OK. Hopefully the players did too.

Over the last month I have acquired just about all of the parts I need for my Dark Angels army. That's a new thing for me - I tend to start small, building and painting and playing as I go and building an army up over years. For this one while I sort of started out with the Dark Vengeance set in the fall of 2012 I never really had a desire or a vision of a full DA army until the end of 2013. Once I knew what I wanted to do with it, I decided to go ahead and put it together all at once.

So, a month into this, how does it look?

Well, everything is basecoated in a nice flat black. That pile includes a razorback and two rhinos. Yes I spray coat things still on the sprue - it's easier in some situations.

HQs are still in their baggy. Work on them comes later. I need to get the paint scheme completely finalized before I finish them.

Predators actually were painted with some yellow when I acquired them. I am carefully converting them to something that matches this army. Still experimenting a little here as it's going to take some false starts to get the exact mix of red and white details that I think looks good. Not there yet.

I'm still experimenting with the dreadnoughts too but they tend to be easier for me as they mostly follow the infantry paint scheme. That's one classic metal "Dark Angels Dreadnought" - first Hellfire type - and one current plastic version that's probably going for the classic assault cannon + powerfist combo.

That's two ravenwing bike squads in bags. Basecoated, saving for later. THinking about getting a command squad for them too for a more bike-heavy version of this army.

Command squad! These guys will be carrying the banner of devastation and are a key part of my infantry force. I am still trying to decide on whether I need to make one of them a medic - a few more points, but it does give the squad Feel No Pain. To keep the banner alive it's probably worth it but I may have to make him an extra figure. No special gear for these guys, just bolters. While their 2 attacks make it tempting to load them up with power weapons and stormshields it would make them stupidly expensive. That banner makes bolters pretty special and that needs to be the focus. They will be riding in the razorback.

The harassment/trolling assault squad. Five guys, two flamers, melta bombs and krak grenades - look out cheap objective holders and lonely vehicles. While I don't think of Dark Angels as an assault force, I'm not really planning to use these guys as a typical assault squad.

The all-plasma devastator squad. Yes it may be overkill, and yes, the odds are one of them will blow himself up during a typical game, but this is a plasma-themed army. Plus they make people nervous, which is good.

Tac squad number one - this is where most of my attention is going right now. The two tac squads along with the command squad make up the core of my initial force. Two rhinos and the razorback move up, dump out the troops, who then start unloading on anything in range with quadruple-normal bolter fire.

The main challenge is getting the basic paint scheme right - everything else in the army will be a variation of what goes here. The red helmet top is almost too mohawk-like but it looks alright on the table. The unit type insignia on the right is red, the chapter insignia on the left is white, the chest eagle is white, and the weapon will be largely silver. Right now I think the robes will be white/off white but I'm not sure - have to see how it looks with the rest of the scheme.

The other issue is the visually cool but tactically stupid weapon choice on the sergeants. The DA codex has sergeants starting with a bolt gun and a bolt pistol. That makes perfect sense for a squad whose main job is shooting things. In the Dark Vengeance tac squad the sergeant comes with a plasma pistol and a chain sword! To do this he has traded in both of his starting weapons for two shorter-ranged weapons and paid 15 points for the privilege! That's terrible! He's now an assault sergeant in a shooting squad - and he's not particularly effective in HTH! A power weapon I could understand, but the plasma pistol is the single most overpriced weapon upgrade in the game and all it does in close combat is open up the two-melee-weapon bonus attack - for 15 points on a one-wound model!

That configuration was just not going to work for me. Getting rid of the bolter in a squad I intend to park next to the banner of devastation is not going to happen, but it would be nice to have another special shot in the squad. So I picked up some combi-weapons and started cutting. I agonized over choices here and ended up going with "more plasma". The flamer is nice defensively but I'll take a 4-shot bolter (or specialty shots) if I get charged and I just don't see this squad making an assault, limiting the flamer's usefulness. I seriously considered melta but it's only 1 short-ranged shot, it's really only contributing against vehicles, and I don't want to rely on a single shot in those situations. I like stormbolters but they don't qualify for the banner bonus so they were out. So, comi-plasma it was and it keeps the "plasma plasma plasma" theme of the army alive too.

I went ahead and kept the chainsword - it does look cool.

That's where things stand now. I also have a land raider crusader and some deathwing knights on the way - more about those next time.

Our Heroes (7th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, experienced professional Owlbear)
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~~ (talking theology with the elves back at Starsong Hill)

In the village of Starsong Hill the party's old friend Izenheim catches up to them, muttering something about "chases" and "swamps" and " ...cleric, not a ranger".

One of the Elven leaders

After the funeral a council is called. The elves noticed a new presence in the ruins of Rhest a few months back but have steered clear of it until now. Most of the old city is underwater except for a few of the taller buildings in the center, and that seems to be where the new forces are concentrated. They do share that the lake is inhabited by lizardmen who have been co-opted by the invaders. They have seen a black dragon flying in the area as well. The elves are all for the party's expedition and will help with food and healing but will not send warriors or owls into the ruins. With a hearty thanks, the rested and resupplied band heads out into the marsh once again.

The ruined city is surrounded by a lake, so the first task is to get past the lizardman patrols in the nearby marsh and the villages around the shore. Led by the ranger, the party does this with astounding ease - clearly lizardfolk are not the most alert of guards. Stealing a boat, the heroes advance to the outer ruins of ancient Rhest.

The next challenge is to figure out which area the Red Hand is using. Some time spent observing the central ruins leads them to one building in particular, where large humanoids can be seen moving around on the roof. The first floor of the buildings is underwater, but some appear to have wooden decking built around them. This is where the party aims to land and where they first encounter opposition, as on the landing a pair of armored ogres stand guard. Paddling quietly, the infiltrating heroes manage to pull right up to the dock without being detected. Then all hell breaks loose as they leap from their boats and the ogres snarl and charge.

The armored ogres guard the stairs - apparently the only entrance is on the roof - while the others rain spears down on the party. From a nearby building connected by a bridge a green razorwing charges in as well. A nasty fight develops as the walkways are so narrow it's almost impossible to make any headway. The warden stands firm as the ogres close in. The cleric chants and swings his axe on one side as the vampire tears into an ogre on the other. The warlord directs traffic and looks for an opening as the ranger starts feathering targets on the roof.

This is a long fight. Zarra, aided by Gravis, bloodies one ogre in her opening storm of fang and claw and it is slain soon after. The ranger drops another ogre from the rooftop with his amazing arrow fire. These small victories open things up a bit and allow the heroes to begin fighting their way up to the roof. As the fight hangs in the balance, the razorfiend is finally slain, one ogre is knocked into a hole in the roof (THUMP - ARGH! - SPLASH!) then the warlord is knocked off of the roof and into the water! The dwarves back the last armored ogre into the adjacent building over the bridge and there they finally bring him down.

As the battle ends, half the party looks down a hole into the darkness inside the big ruin. The dwarven half looks around and realizes they are in a hatchery ... full of strange green eggs.

DM Notes: After the initial war-council, this was pretty much a full-session commando raid and it was a blast. I was worried, because they breezed right through the stealthy sneaking part - not having the paladin along may have helped here. It was a skill challenge and I don;t think they failed anything.

The fight, however, made up for it - ten rounds of intense melee with every attack leading to a small gain or loss of ground or a potential fall from a height! This is one where 4E's push/pull/slide and lockdown attacks really felt especially cinematic. The ironclads had marking and the ability to push a target when it violated their mark. The skirmishers had a close burst 2 that let them push targets up to 2 squares and then move themselves! There was a lot of tension around the table whenever one of those went off. Of course the characters have those kinds of powers too and one of them managed to knock one of those ogres into the big hole on the roof, which is exactly what the ogres had been trying to do to them! It was great and I'm glad I had some pictures to help recapture that night.

Our Heroes (7th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, Owlbear Extraordinaire!)
Zarra, Drow Vampire
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
~~Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin~~ (gone catatonic!)
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
~~Sir Abel Primies, Human Paladin of Torm~~ (spending some "personal time" with one of the elves back at Starsong Hill)

We begin on the roof of the largest building in the ruins of Rhest in the Blackfens of the Elsir Vale. It is Flamerule, 1450 DR.

After defeating the outer guards the party stands around a hole in the roof debating how to proceed. Finally the vampire drops in gracefully as the rest climb down. Seeing nothing but a hole in the floor (explaining the splash sound when the ogre fell in) they advance to the double doors and kick them in - Plan A once again!

They are met by a still dripping ogre and an even bigger humanoid with two heads - an ettin! As the big brute charges in the ogre moves into flank the party. In response the warden takes on the ettin while the vampire lays into the ogre. The warlord and his pet do what they can to assist both while the ranger shoots into the fight from the rooftop.

As this fight continues the noise draws in others from the adjacent rooms. First, a hobgoblin mage of some kind emerges and begins attempting to dominate the party while throwing the occasional bolt of frost. Then a weathered-looking goblin with a fairly elaborate bow, evaluating the scene. He shrieks and points to the hole in the roof as a good-sized hawk flies up and out. The ranger devotes a notable amount of firepower at the bird but is unable to bring it down before it vanishes into the sky.

With the two brutes keeping the team busy in melee and two ranged attackers out of reach, the party has a bit of trouble dealing with the situation. Then the ogre topples over. The vampire jumps into the ettin fight and it falls over as well. Things are not looking so good for the goblin ranger and the hobgoblin mage as they become the focus of the fight. The hawk returns unexpectedly and the party wonders why - for about 5 seconds. Then with a whoosh a black dragon flies into the room and things change again as it blasts the party with its acid breath.

Annoyed, the vampire finishes off the mage and then leaps onto the dragon. The ranger turns his attention to the wyrm as well while the warlord and warden finish off the bow goblin. The dragon is quite confident he can destroy these interlopers but seeing his allies slain as he arrives is not good. He then finds himself caught in a terrible situation as the warden ties him to the ground with roots and frost, making it difficult to move, and the warlord takes it up a notch, re positioning the party to the dragon's extreme disadvantage. Suddenly surrounded, flanked, marked, and just in multiple bad ways the beast shifts to one objective- escape!

The dragon desperately tries to pull away but Gartok is not letting go, calling out to the spirits of the earth and channeling their power in new, powerful ways. At a distance the ranger keeps the beast under a steady barrage of arrows, many striking home as the wyrm twists and turns and tries to fly off. Even Ivan plays a part, blocking its path and landing the occasional paw swipe. Finally, as the ranger sinks an arrow into one eye the dwarf lays the smack down with a massive hammer strike and Regiarix the Black falls for good.

Then, for spite, Zarra slashes the goblin's hawk out of the air, killing it as well.

After a short rest and the usual looting, the party realizes that the goblin bowman was actually a Wyrmlord - the "Saarvath" mentioned on the map. Realizing they've killed the leader, the dragon, the mage, and the big muscle of the invaders, the group packs up, heads to their boat, and evacuates back to the friendly confines of Starsong Hill.

DM Notes: This was not quite a dynamic a fight as the last one but it went 15 rounds (as it was one continuous fight) and had a sense of escalation through the early part that I thought worked pretty well.

The massive lockdown capabilities of a motivated warden are quite impressive. Sometimes with another defender in the group neither he nor the paladin have to work too hard to hold things in place. This time there was no paladin and he rose to the occasion and then some. Meanwhile, pushing the gap even wider, the warlord is moving the rest of the party all over the place to ensure they have flanking bonuses on the extra attacks he hands out and to ensure maximum opportunity attacks if the poor dragon does manage to move more than 5' on its turn. The doomed beastie spent the last 5 rounds of the battle just trying to get away and it was never even close to doing so.

Our Heroes (now 8th level!):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, Millionaire Owlbear Playboy)
Zarra, Drow Vampire
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
~~Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin~~ (working the forge)
~~No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger~~ (patrolling the swamp and trolling for lizardmen)
Sir Abel Primies, Human Paladin of Torm

The party is back at Starsong Hill in the Blackfens, having successfully evaded the lizardfolk around the ruins of Rhest. As they and the elves celebrate their victory in the ruins a good time is had by all and the heroes end up with some new magical tattoos as a thank you from the Tiri-Kotor.

During this time they are also working through their loot from the ruins. Soon, they realize that in addition to magical weapons and armor and quite a bit of gold they have also recovered the phylactery of the lich known as the Ghostlord, a semi-legendary regional figure.

After a brief discussion they decide to smash it. The paladin rears back and cleaves into the thing as the vampire pulls it apart with all of her strength. The phylactery shatters and dark power is released. They know they have drawn the attention and wrath of a deadly foe, but they are confident they have done the right thing and will deal with the consequences later.

Based on a letter recovered with the loot it is clear that the Ghostlord is allied with the Red Hand. Though this may have been based on their possession of the lich's phylactery, the team is unwilling to assume that he will just drop out of things now that the object has been destroyed. In fact, they are concerned that he might turn his undivided attention to them now for destroying it. They choose to take the challenge head on by attacking him first.

Discussion of the legends brings up that the lich lives somewhere in the wastelands outside of the vale proper. His dwelling there is a great stone lion (think Egyptian Sphinx-ish). It should be easy to spot from the air, so on some loaned giant owl mounts the party heads out to solve one more problem.

After 3 days of travel they finally reach the area and spot the great lion. Not wanting to risk the owls they dismount at some distance and walk to the structure. As they approach, they see ghostly lion shapes swirling about the place, but they take no direct action against the party and seem to be harmless enough for now. The archway in the lion's chest is the obvious way in, so that is the way they go - it's a "Plan A" kind of group.

Through the arch is a roughly 50' circumference oval room. Inside it waits a huge, winged blue-scaled behir and their lack of stealth has left it no doubt as to what is coming and it is ready for them. It opens with a blast of lightning breath, and as the party tries to close in it responds with a thunderous leap and stomp that rattles the earth, knocking over half of the team. The thing swallows Gartok whole and keeps attacking the rest of the heroes. The dwarf warden pushes his way back out of the behir's mouth as the paladin and vampire rip into the beast. The monster spits lightning again and swallows Zarra, crunching into her as it does so - she does not re-emerge. The heroes are on their back foot from the beginning and cannot recover the initiative. As a retreat is considered, Sir Primies falls to the beast's claws and teeth and the rest of the group retreats out of the lion and into the distance, distraught, mourning their losses and vowing revenge.

DM Notes: This was one of the most shocking sessions we have had in a long time.

First, the party's decision to smash the phylactery was unexpected at best. This adventure is pretty good as-written about avoiding the one-right-answer syndrome you sometimes see in published adventures. It does make some assumptions, but even then it typically has sidebars or text boxes covering what happens if the party takes another approach. Even scenarios like "what if the party takes prisoners" and "what if the party is taken prisoner" are addressed in the text. It's one of the things that puts this adventure on another level from most and it's quite useful.

The Ghostlord, however, does not benefit from any of this. The adventure assumes that

The PC's end up with the phylactery - easy enough, it's in a dragon's treasure pile
The PC's know it belongs to the Ghostlord - a letter on the leader in the swamp tells them this
The PC's know the Red Hand is holding it hostage to force the lich to aid them - also in the letter

Besides the obvious clues there are a lot of notes about how various divination spells can confirm all this and tell the party where the lich lives. Then the killer sentence:

"Simply destroying the phylactery would earn the characters the lich's eternal enmity, but if they were to return it to him, perhaps they could undo the alliance threatening the vale."

Now nowhere is there any clue that this lich is interested in having a conversation with the player characters.

More importantly, there is the massive assumption that a party is going to be willing to negotiate with an evil undead magical being. He's a druid lich (odd) but he's still evil! I think that's a terrible assumption to make in a published adventure, especially one that's all about fighting off an evil invading horde. With a Paladin in the group there was absolutely no way this was going to happen.

Now if there was more setup, if we had been playing in this area from 1st level and I had the time to show that the Ghostlord didn't like dragons or hobgoblins (not that there's anything about that in the adventure) to lay the groundwork for later - "Hey, why would lion-lich guy work with a bunch of hobgoblins and dragons? He hates those guys!" then I might have been able make it work. Or if he had a reputation as being neutral, not evil. Or, if he was just a neutral to evil druid and not a lich at all. Regardless, there's not much in the adventure covering any other option here. The adventure assumes the party will head to the lair to return the lich's phylactery and make a deal tha the drops out of the fight. It's the biggest hole in the book. If a paladin gets his hands on a lich's phylactery, he's a lot more likely to destroy it than use it as a bargaining chip.

All that said I was a little surprised they went that way. I knew the paladin would have trouble with it but I thought they might talk it out. Nope, I was wrong on that. They wanted to smash it.

Now mechanically, I had to see how this worked too. It's pretty damn unusual to get a hold of a lich's soul object before you've ever met the lich. What happens when you destroy a lich's phylactery? I figured it was worth some time to find out. I looked back through four editions of D&D monster manuals and they are pretty consistent - it makes him killable. It doesn't do any damage, it doesn't kill him outright, it just means he doesn't have a place to hide out when he does get taken below 0 HP. I looked through various other books and came up with DR20 and 40HP. The paladin and vampire blew through that in one attack each - phylactery gone.

The second shock of the night: In the big fight of the session, that behir just ate my party's lunch. I admit, I did not see this coming either. I mean, sure, he's a Level 10 Solo against a Level 8 party so it should be a good fight ... but they have mulched everything they have fought up until now, solo or not, higher level or not, so I assumed this would go the same way.

Now this is a later 4th edition solo so he is much more interesting than the MM1 era solos. He is also a downleveled higher level beast but not all that much and there are similar lower level versions with slightly different powers. The numbers are right regardless. In the after-action discussion, here is what really hurt my party:

Those 3 actions per round spread evenly through the round make him much more potent against a party than earlier solo designs. Also note that the most devastating attacks are all at-wills so they're going to get used a lot.
Any damaging aura hurts a melee-heavy party
Close blasts hurt melee parties too.
Thundering Stomp really hurts a melee-heavy party - a decently-damaging close burst that also knocks them prone is rough.

So my party was getting blasted, zapped, and bounced around the room while trying to make their attacks and had a really hard time of it. Even with 2 defenders there's really no way to lock him down, and the melee members have to get next to him anyway and that's where he does the most damage. When several of his attacks hit multiple party members, marks don't make much difference either. Notably he also has attacks vs. AC, Reflex, and Fortitude, so he's not blocked by one high defense. The behir is just nasty.

Also to be fair there's no warning that you're about to encounter a behir. It doesn't actually live here. It's only visiting to keep an eye on things as one of the Wyrmlords supervises the Ghostlord's activities. A little recon might have helped prepare some anti-lightning defenses, but the sneaky elf was gone and the vampire doesn't really operate that way.

Having the bow ranger present would have made a difference in hurting him faster. Having the cleric present to add more healing and another melee combatant might have helped as well. As it was, the slightly understrength party took on an especially nasty monster and the vamp and the paladin bought the farm. My players hate when their characters get killed so there was some heat at the end. We got past it though.

Next time: recovery and revenge

I screwed up the timing so in honor of today's earlier post:

Hey, I'm a player again - a Pathfinder player this time. One of my players who occasionally DM's has started up a Pathfinder game where he's running the Kingmaker Adventure Path and I am playing in it this time. It's been quite a while since I sat on the other side of the table but I had a lot of fun figuring out what kind of character to make and then even more fun actually playing it. For those interested I am playing a Cavalier in this and I'm going full-on knight when it comes to abilities and attitudes.

The part of "Sir Ivan Zhukov" will be played by Robert Taylor

I won't go into tons of detail - I am not documenting another campaign right now - but I will talk about the campaign in general.

It's obvious from the online activity that it's one of their most popular campaigns, maybe second only to their original Rise of the Runelords, and it's funny to me because Kingmaker's selling point is pretty much what AD&D was about. The idea at high levels was to carve out a place for your character in the world, recruit some followers, and build a keep/base/tower/lair. The idea back then of being a perpetual dungeon-crawler was certainly around, but it was not the primary goal of most of the people I knew and it was not really what was shown in the books. Somewhere along about 3rd edition that difference in "higher level play" was lost and the standard expectation became 20 levels of dungeon hacking and I'm still not sure why they changed that.

The capabilities of a character in the double digit levels are so much more than loot-grabbing and fighting bigger monsters. What kept fighters and wizards more on par at higher levels in the old days? Well, among other tings was that the fighter often had an army!

Also, as much as people talk about becoming invested in a setting,well, there's not much more "investing" than trying to carve out a realm in said setting. One of the many things Pathfinder has done right is bring back some emphasis on that , first in Kingmaker and then later in Ultimate Campaign.

That's enough for now - I'll have more to say as we get farther into the campaign, but for now it's fun just to roll from the player side for a change.

Our Heroes (8th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, vengeance-seeking owlbear of the night )
~~Zarra, Drow Vampire~~ DECEASED (moreso than usual for her)
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
~~Sir Abel Primies, Human Paladin of Torm~~ DECEASED

The surviving heroes, downcast, spend 3 days flying back to the home of the Tiri-Kotor elves and reuniting with Izenheim and the ranger. There, they share the news of their defeat and realize they need reinforcements to take out the behir and probably the lich as well, and the best place to find that help will be in Brindol, largest city in the vale. The elves mourn with them and agree to let the party continue using the owls for faster travel. The group thanks them and parts ways, headed for the city.

In Brindol the team keeps a low profile, not wanting to panic the city. There they unexpectedly meet the mysteriuos Xyla, another hooded and cloaked member of House Bauer. She seems very interested in the whereabouts of Zarra and reacts emotionally to news of her death, though it is difficult to gauge her feelings on the matter.

The warlord also puts out feelers to the wandering professional harm-giver network looking for an experienced combat expert. The best candidate for his purposes is one Torin Tsai, experienced half orc fighting man.

Also during this time the team searches various shops and contacts around the city for some special equipment. Potions, weapons, armor - there is a ton of wheeling and dealing.

Finally the heroes spend some time getting a feel for the city and the people, especially those who defend it, as they know that the fate of any invasion will be decided here. An invader has to deal with Brindol one way or another, and the city seems adequately defended, if not yet on high alert.

Coincidentally the party's second night in the city is the night of a lunar eclipse. This would not be especially noteworthy but there is a strange feel in the air as the darkness grows. Then, as the moon becomes visible again, there is an outcry at the main gate to Brindol -on a hill outside the city a huge stone lion has appeared and strange green vapors are rolling down a slope towards the city as ghostly lion shapes begin swooping down and through the city streets. Our heroes realize that somehow, through some mighty feat of magic, the Ghostlord has come to them!

This guy again!

Running for the gate the team catches as many details as they can, informs the knight on watch and the gate commander what they are facing, then charge up the hill to deal with the threat. Xyla recognizes the lion from what she heard earlier, and Torin gets a quick briefing on the run as to what they face. They stay clear of the vapors, as billowing green gas has never really been a good thing in their experience. It appears to be flowing out of the lion's mouth, sinking to the ground, and rolling down towards the city gate. They deduce that the mouth might be a way in, but not while it's spewing out that nastiness, and they're going to need to deal with the behir regardless, partly so they can find an entrance, partly for revenge.

Before they can deal with the dracoform though, the spirits that were harmless last time prove to be hostile and dangerous this time. As the heroes approach the great stone lion the spirits attack, gliding in and tearing into them with ethereal claws and teeth. When the defenders strike back, rather than dissipate as their wispy appearance would indicate, the lion spirits seem to solidify and intensify their attacks - instead of a skirmish with vaporous nuisances, the group finds itself in a real fight against serious opposition.

New companion Torin proves to be a devastating combatant, one of the feared Slayers, wielding a massive fullblade like some wield a rapier, spinning a wall of shining death about himself and tearing through the spirits as if they were any other mortal opponent.

Xyla too reveals herself in the battle, unleashing her rage in a very familiar style of claws, fangs, and a swarm of shadows, fighting the spirits on their own level - apparently Zarra had a sister, and her sister is also Vampire.

Gravis adapts his tactics to these new enemies and new allies. With the old familiar core of the elf in back, himself and Ivan in the center, and the two dwarves up front holding a line, the two new heroes find a place weaving their way through this formation, dancing in between the others, striking where needed.

The new team fights their way to the lion and begins looking for a hidden entrance as the swarm of spirits is thinned by their efforts. Though others continue to head for the city, the last of the guardian spirits eventually falls and no new ones appear to take their place. A quick search of the base reveals no secret doors into the edifice so the party prepares to assault the one entrance they do know about - the arch at the front of the lion, home of the behir that defeated them last time.

DM Notes: There was a lot of RP and administrative detail in this one and just the one fight at the end. We had some overland travel, a gathering of the remaining party members as we had full attendance this time, working in two new characters, a trip to a new city that will figure prominently in the campaign from here on out, and the unexpected appearance of their current enemy in their own back yard.

The paladin's player prefers fighter type characters, but having played two paladins in this campaign he wanted to change it up slightly. The Slayer is an Essentials class that is very much like an AD&D fighter - high AC, high HP, and deals a bunch of damage in melee. He doesn't have a bunch of flashy powers but he can throw pretty serious hurt out every round. I think he was pretty pleased with his choice.

Lady Blacksteel was perfectly happy playing a vampire and wanted to continue that. So, she took this as an opportunity to tune up her choices at each level and came up with an even meaner melee striker than she had before. Sure, Drow Vampires are probably fairly rare on the surface, but if you are going to have two then it makes perfect sense that they would be sisters!

Given the rest of the party - two leaders, a ranged striker, and a very solid defender, adding two more melee strikers should turn them into an absolute blender in combat, and down the road this proved to be true.

I let the new characters come in at level 8, the same as the rest of the party. I used to say one level lower but given the way 4E is structured and the way they went out I don't really see a need for a "death penalty" - they hate dying enough as it is. So we had a six character 8th level party ready to roll by about halfway through the session. My reasoning here s that though the characters are the highest level adventurers active in the vale, others might have been drawn here by reports of the invasion activity and that's where Torin came from. Xyla was sent by House Bauer to help Zarra and watch Brindol - when informed of her death Xyla became her house's next top agent on the scene and joined the group - duty and revenge lined up nicely in this case.

The teleporting lion is absolutely not a part of the original adventure. With the breaking of the phylactery we are way off script as far as the adventure is concerned anyway so I decided to embrace that. I presumed a powerful ritual performed on the night of a lunar eclipse as a plausible enough means of moving the thing. This also eliminated the long distance travel between the vale and the Ghostlord, made him a direct threat to the vale itself, and showed some initiative on his part, instead of being a good monster and waiting for the adventurers to come back and finish him off. It also allowed me to work in some additional history of the knights, the lion thing, and do some more setup for later in the campaign. I think it surprised the players and that's always good too.

Short version: The Lion Knights of Brindol were founded by a former Knight of Argent, a legendary order that faded out long ago. The stone lion was a part of the founding of the successor order and some of that backstory will come out later. Those of you who recognize "Argent" in its 4E context probably know where I'm going but don't spoil it for now.

The lion spirits are all over the Ghostlord lair description so I decided to give them a spotlight moment and give the party something to fight besides dragons and humanoids. With Big Solo Round Two coming up I thought they might enjoy taking on some other opposition first and it would give them a chance to figure out their roles and tactics in combat prior to that big fight too.

There's another article by Mike Mearls on D&D Next, this time on XP. The main point is this:

From the perspective of game design, the difference between these approaches becomes important when we think about how best to implement rewards in published adventures. In the past, we've always defaulted to using experience point rewards for everything. However, for narrative-driven adventures like adventure paths, that approach can prove troublesome. Designers have to jam in the "correct" number of combat encounters to make sure the PCs level up at the right pace. Adventure design thus becomes a process of matching up the right flow of XP to the correct tempo of the plot. Otherwise, if characters don't level up at the expected rate, subsequent chapters in an adventure path become too difficult or too easy.

Rather than force the issue, a much better approach is to allow designers to present both options, and let DMs decide how best to run any adventure. This simple change to an experience point mechanic that's been in place since the earliest days of D&D helps to illustrate one of our critical guiding principles in the design of D&D Next. The game must provide options to support different styles of play—especially when it's clear that the default way of doing things no longer matches the way so many DMs run their games.

I really don't like this one. D&D has always been about experience and treasure as the main reward. You may or may not have some narrative thing going on as well but 4th Edition laid out a "Quest Experience" system to accommodate that. "Allowing designers to present both options" sounds fine but I suspect what that means is not sticking to our own rules for experience and encounter design - which is ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong in my current 4E campaign I have not always followed the number of encounters per level, and the resulting XP, by the book. There have been times I have told the players to level up for next time, regardless of the amount of XP they have actually gathered. The point is exactly that: I made that call.

The whole point of having a system is to show everyone how it is supposed to work. Individual DM's will vary their approach, but with a solid baseline out there everyone has a common reference point to use. Is D&D really going to have two experience systems, one showing XP/monster per encounter per level and one that says "wing it"? Why bother?

In the mechanics of the game there should be a solid system for XP's and progression. In the DM Advice chapter when discussing a narrative campaign there should be a section on the narrative level up approach. One is rules, one is advice. Everyone has a common reference point and (theoretically) everyone is happy.

Suppose some people decide to ignore initiative too and just start going in Dex order. Do we need to "support" that too? Within the rules. you cannot mechanically support not using certain sections of the rules! Leave that up to the DM's and playing groups.

There are lots of narrative style adventures and even campaigns out there. Typically they are for games that don't use levels and that's where they belong. In a level based game, a published adventure should stick to the system described for that game and leave it up to the DM's to improvise if they choose. Ignoring their own experience system would be a mistake in my opinion for standard D&D adventures.

This doesn't seem to be a difficult concept to execute - Pathfinder's been doing it for about 5 years now and is doing quite well by all reports. Maybe someone there could help WOTC out on this.

Plenty of other games do this just fine and I like a lot of those games. Having experience points and leveling up is one of the signature features of D&D and should stay that way. Sure, you can do it other ways, that's one of the fun things about the game. Let's not rush off and change it just because that seems cooler today.

There's a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy here too. If they would publish some sandbox adventures for this new edition, maybe the narrative style adventure wouldn't seem so dominant. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Our Heroes (8th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, fist of the North Star! )
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
~~Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin~~ ("tending the wounded")
~~No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger~~ (covering the cleric while he "tends the wounded")
Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
Xyla, Drow Vampire

Special Guest Stars (also 8th level):

Dragonborn Elemental Sorcerer, played by Apprentice Red
Elf Bow Ranger, played by Apprentice Blaster

In Memoriam:

~~Zarra, Drow Vampire~~ Slain by a Behir
~~Sir Abel Primies, Human Paladin of Torm~~ Slain by a Behir

In front of the newly-arrived stone lion outside the city of Brindol - Izenheim discovers a party of wounded guardsmen and leads them back into the city. As he does so, he passes a wizard of some kind on gate duty and shouts to him to "get up there and help them with ye magic". Soon enough, as the party begins taunting the great behir to come out and fight, a dragonborn sorcerer hurries up to assist them, looking around nervously as he has no idea what is inside the structure.

Annoyed at being teleported,spirit-brushed, nearly gassed, and now taunted by a bunch of humans, the behir emerges and spits lightning at the group. The dragonborn takes the brunt of this and grunts in pain. In return, the wyrm takes an arrow to the face (from the ranger) and an owlbear to the chest (from the warlord) as Gravis launches Ivan into direct combat in a new way. Gartok charges in now that thing is out of it's hidey-hole and locks it down with roots of stone. In a flurry of action the warlord, warden, and vampire all launch acoordinated series of attacks that has the 8-legged beast back on it's heels, and the sorcerer recovers enough to launch a spellblast of his own.

Watching for an opening, Torin sees one after this offensive outburst and launches his own attack, getting up under the beast and knocking it on it's side, screaming as he does so that he has the thing in "THE WORLD SERPENT GRASP!"

Shocked, stunned, possibly even embarrassed at being turned upside down by a mere two-legged half-orc, the behir manages to right itself, shaking Torin off, crackling with rage and lightning, and swallows the warden!

The vampire gives in to the fury and rips into the beast and the owlbear joins her in the same furious spirit. From inside Gartok can be heard calling on the spirits as he fights on in darkness. From behind, Torin launches his devastating offensive once more and again the beast finds itself caught in the terrifying grip of the WORLD SERPENT GRASP!

Overwhelmed, pinned, and down for the count, the behir is slain within a few feat of it's lair, between the paws of the great stone lion. Gartok smashes his way out of its gullet and the entire group pauses for moment before heading inside the lion.

Climbing up inside the lion, the party finds itself in an empty room inside what they think is the head. Picking up some sounds from behind one closed door they kick it in and find themselves facing a group of red-robed hobgoblins with the red hand tattooed on their bodies. Are they wizards? Closing in might keep them from using certain blasting spells! As the first leaping kick takes one across the room and into the dwarf it becomes apparent they are actually monks. A melee in very cramped quarters breaks out as both sides move to engage. Torin displays another hidden talent, or at least his sword does, as he smites the ground and a trench opens up, dividing the room and providing one more way to hurt people - by pushing them into the hole.

From another door an armored figure emerges, chanting litanies to Tiamat. "Well, that explains the dragons."

One more figure comes into the room as well, this time a female hobgoblin, strangely attractive, and begins shouting encouragement to the others.

The sorcerer spits lightning on the closely-packed group and then follows up with another blast. The vampire and slayer tear into the fight and two of the monks are taken down quickly. Wyrmlord Ulwai Stormcaller attempts to overawe the party. Despite her good looks ("that's a ... hobgoblin?") charm, and the whip she is holding the vampire is having none of it and the slayer is already in a sort of battle frenzy and doesn't care. She has some hope of pulling people into the trench with her whip but she's on the losing side and the warlord ends up shoving her into the pit - with a sword - and that's the end for her. The evil priest of Tiamat becomes a special focus of the dragonborn sorcerer and is shocked, scorched and frozen until he drops too.

Pausing for breath the heroes look around. find some interesting treasure, notes, and also destroy an idol of Tiamat. It's a productive few minutes.

DM Notes: No tourist business or travel this time - straight to the action! We knew the players for the cleric and bow ranger were not going to make it to this session so we recruited Apprentices Blaster and Red to fill in with some new characters at the appropriate level. "Defense of the city" seemed like a perfectly legitimate excuse for strangers rushing into combat together without much more than a handshake. Red had been wanting to try out a sorcerer - a fairly short-ranged sorcerer as it turned out, putting him in harm's way repeatedly and becoming the warlord's best customer for healing. Blaster made an elven ... bow ... ranger. We pretty much treated him as a stand-in for no-name - it's not like he's close enough to the party for anyone to notice! Onward!

This Behir fight went 180 degrees from the first encounter with the mighty Varanthian (yes he has a name though he never really had a conversation with the party). Knowing the enemy, preparing for it specifically, changing the conditions of the fight, and learning from a bad experience completely changed the outcome.

The first time, the fight lasted 6 rounds, the party was taking a beating the entire time, and the behir never went below 40% of his hit points.

This time they bloodied him on round 2 and killed him on round 3. Having two more party members makes a noticeable difference, and ending up with a leader, a defender, and four strikers certainly shortens a fight. My notes show 3 hits on round 1 then this for round 2: the bow ranger does about 20, the warden does about 20 with a bonus attack from the warlord, then the warlord does about 20 from an action point, then the warden does about 20 more from the warlord's action point, then the vampire does around 20, then the warden does around 20 on his own turn, then he does about 30 on his own action point, then the sorcerer finishes the round with 10 more. Then the slayer WSG's him! The poor behir started that round at 369 HP and ended it barely above 100! That's 9 hits in one round, plus various mark punishments and lingering area effect damage. That's cool but it also illustrates why one round in 4E can take f-o-r-e-v-e-r!

The second fight went all of 5 rounds and featured the party jelling even more as a team. In one round Vampire 2.0 landed a 59 point hit on one swing from the warlord, then followed it up with a 37-pointer on her own turn. That's a lot of damage in one round from one character, and the slayer is just about as bad. We also discovered that fighting in smaller rooms is a sweet spot for a dragonborn dragon sorcerer as he can cause mass devastation too. The scarblade became another of Torin's signature moves and has been used several times since to change up the battlefield.

The group was very happy to trash the behir the way they did and the second fight was just a dessert. The new characters are fitting in well and I expect them to only become more formidable.

Our Heroes (8th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, a released, furry little kraken )
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
~~Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin~~ ("Temple of Sune? Here? Really?" ... "What stone lion?")
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
Xyla, Drow Vampire

The sorcerer decided that having helped force an entrance into the lion and with the greenish gas stopped it was time for him to report back and get some help. The rest of the party would press on, hoping to find the Ghostlord and put an end to him before anything else happened.

Moving into an adjacent room the team doesn't see much, but there is an open pit on one side of the room. Of more interest though are the blue and green lights hovering near the ceiling. These glowing, vaporous froms slowly drift about the upper part of the chamber. As the party observes them, some drift lower, moving in closer to our heroes. For some, feelings of despair begin to creep into their minds as they watch the fascinating display. Others feel their minds being pushed in starnge directions, as if they were going mad. There's no doubt as to the source of these disruptions and out come the weapons, striking back at these strange spirits. As the party determines the best way to attack the things, a scuttling horror emerges from the pit, antennae twitching.

The monstrosity resembles an enormous centipede made up of skeletal remains of different creatures. The undead abomination slashes into combat, with bony claws and whip-like appendages made of sharpened bone. The thing moves across floor and walls with equal ease, slicing at the party and making a horrible clicking noise.

While the rest of the team handles the wisps, the slayer and the vampire attack the bone horror, striking back as it scuttles around the room. As the last wisp is destroyed they hammer the skeletal beast into a shattered ruin.

Catching their breath the party realizes this room is a hell hole of butchery, with the bones of numerous animals down in the pit. The horrors that happened here are likely the source of the things that attacked them. Ready to leave the disturbing place, they do discover a strange thing amidst the broken frame of the osteopede - a pair of bone dice with the symbol of Tymora where the 1's should be. The slayer pockets them, a trophy of the kill.

DM Notes: The battle in the butcher room was fun. There were 2 types of wisps but all of them were minions, and the osteopede is a new monster (as far as I know) from Open Grave that's an elite. It was very mobile (until it got too close to the warden and got locked down) and has some nasty attacks but the vampire and slayer combined are just about unstoppable. It was bloodied on the 4th hit and dead on the 7th, which took all of 4 rounds to happen. The vampire opened with a 50+ point slam (POW!) and the slayer finished it with a 70+ point critical (BAM!).

The dice are a nifty magic item that lets a player roll 3 d20's and store them for the day, using them (one at a time) in place of any normal d20 roll. This has to be decided before rolling, but if you're winding up for a big hit and have an 18 stored away, it's nice to know you're not going to miss. It's a nifty little item and this its first appearance in one of my campaigns.

Advancing through the interior of the great stone lion they come to a large room with a glowing green pit in the center. Standing near it is what can only be the Ghostlord, feared lich and their new nemesis. Flanking him are a pair of undead knights - lion knights by the heraldry they display. Also swirling through the room are a half-dozen wraithlike forms who turn hostile eyes towards the intruders.

After a brief exchange of words the party knows that there will be no negotiation, no deal-making - only a final death will stop the twisted lich from destroying them and the city. Fortunately that is possible since they have already destroyed his phylactery. Unfortunately, the lich appears to be a formidable foe, with allies aplenty. The lich begins a spell and the ranger's bowstring twangs as the undead knights move to block the walkways around the pit. Undaunted by the vast chasm, the wraiths stream across and engage the heroes first. This part of the fight is short but savage, as the ghostly knights are destroyed by the team but manage to inflict some harm with their spectral blades. A new danger is revealed as some of the wraiths manage to ...beckon ... some of the heroes towards the pit. A fall into the glowing green hell is not something the heroes want to experience, and they resist as best they can.

As the ghosts are torn apart, attention turns to the two undead knights who silently block the direct way to the lich. Clearly mighty knights in life, their power is no less great in death, reborn through the rites of the Ghostlord. They prove to be staunch guardians of the foul thing. Stymied, the team shifts its tactics as the vampire, slayer and ranger all focus on one knight as the warlord and warden occupy the other. As powerful as he is, the unliving knight crumbles under their assault.

As the focus turns to the second knight, he looses a blast of flame while the lich strikes from across the pit with attacks of cold and with eruptions of dark tentacles that try to drag the heroes into the pit. The group divides its efforts as two powerful enemies remain and leaving either unengaged could prove to be deadly.In a mobile battle around the edges of the pit, the vampire and slayer strike. The warden attempts to lock down the Ghostlord but the lich teleports across the gaping hole, standing side by side with the knight. The ranger stands and delivers shot after shot, regardless of location, as the warlord recalculates his strategy to bring down these foul remnants.

Red Ring = Bloodied. This is a good fight.

In the end, the battered and bloodied heroes stand victorious. The slayer slams into the Ghostlord with vicious blows, and the ranger delivers the killing shot. The last knight, tied up with the warden, survives long enough to see his undead master fall - then the vampire finishes him with her customary viciousness, ending the battle.

In an adjacent room the heroes find a black orb, obviously magical and radiating necromantic power. Worn out and with all patience gone, the options seem limited. Sticking with Plan A they smash it.

Exhausted and bleeding, the heroes stagger back out into the now clear air of the night.

DM Notes - This is what a serious D&D fight should be! All 3 types of opponents had some kind of forced movement power and there was a nice big pit of magical nastiness right there in the center of the room. This made things much more tense, as no one wanted to go into the pit. There is only so much room to get around it, so the death knights ability to act like a defender (marking) and their ability to slow a target (the Ghostlord could do this too) made it very difficult to get past them. The fight went 7 rounds, and by the end of round 5 the Ghostlord and every PC except the bow ranger were bloodied. At one point one of the knights was marked, quarried, slowed, weakened, bloodied, and taking ongoing 5 damage! I would call it "appropriately climactic".

Originally I had the Ghostlord designed as a solo, but after fighting the behir twice I thought yet another solo fight would be too much, so I redid him as an elite controller, added in the death knights (down-leveled a bit) as elite soldiers, and topped it off with the wraith knight minion soldiers. This gave me some expendables to tie the party up for a round or two with the three main opponents behind them being tough customers. With the terrain situation and the powers, I thought it felt pretty cinematic and pretty balanced given the outcome.

Structurally this is the end of part 4 of Red Hand of Doom. With parts 5 and 6 left to go I changed up the flow of the adventure and we will kick that off next time.

Our Heroes (now 9th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear commando)
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
Xyla, Drow Vampire

Gone But Not Forgotten:

Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin

(Our friend Marc announced somewhere in between these last few sessions that he just could not make the scheduling work consistently and so he would be dropping for good. One of these days I hope things sync up and he can rejoin us. He didn't come from a background of tabletop play, most of his experience was from games like World of Warcraft. It was a lot of fun having someone with some game experience, plus the new player enthusiasm, plus the "what do those do again?" factor at the table once more. Hopefully we can drag him back in down the road.)

Our heroes, escorted by Lion Knights and the city guard, stagger back into town and take a well-deserved rest. Afterwards, A pair of knights bring them to an open square which seems to have been blocked off from other traffic. A regal looking knight, a wizard in red robes, and a strangely attired man wearing a helmet topped with ram's horns all wait for them.

The knight introduces himself as Sir Brandis Brightblade, leader of the Lion Knights. He has been receiving reports of the invading horde and knows the decisive battle will take place here at Brindol. He also knows that the army is large and formidable. Sura, the Lion Knight who they met back in Drellin's Ferry has also reported their efforts to stop the horde and combining that with what he saw last night he has a plan to decapitate the army. Brandis explains (with a grimace) that Kurgan here, a local priest, has provided a map and guidance to an old portal near an old temple of Tiamat. This is believed to be the Red Hand's secret home base. Agents of House Bauer have provided information that the leader of the army, Azarr Kul, has returned there to perform some magical ritual. With the heroes proving to be a powerful yet small team, Brandis believes that they could be teleported to the temple, enter it, and have a chance to slay Azarr Kul. With their leader gone, the army should be much easier to defeat. Additionally, whatever ritual he is planning can't be good and stopping it is a worthwhile goal as well.

After a brief consultation, our heroes agree. Immerstal the Red, foremost wizard of Brindol, begins casting the ritual of opening. Kurgan snarls "you're welcome" and stalks away. The party marks him as a potential troublemaker, and turns their attention back to the portal. The wizard completes his chanting and arm-waving and gestures for them to step through.

They find themselves stepping out into an old stone circle, half-tumbled but still recognizable. It rests in a small rocky valley with mountains all around. A narrow path leads up the side of the nearest slope and that's the way they go. Soon enough the path turns a corner and their goal is before them.

The path opens up into a shelf about 20' wide and 100' long. At the end is a large double door with a massive sculpture of a 5-headed dragon looming over it. Near it is the mouth of a large cave and that's where the trouble comes from, in the form of a blue dragon.

As the party re-positions to face this newest threat, the dragon spits lightning and the fight is on. This one is a bit more talkative and mentions that his name is Tyrgarun, and he's going to enjoy slaying them and offering them up to Tiamat. Gartok and Torin charge while Gravis and Xyla work from a little farther back and No-Name works from very far back. It's ugly up close, and both the half-orc and the dwarf take a beating.

Xyla briefly manages to hypnotize the beast but Torin is having none of that - he tears into the dragon with a fury, aided by Gartok and Gravis. With a sigh Xyla joins the fray as well, all fang and claw. In a matter of minutes it's over as Gravis directs a simultaneous strike from the dwarf, vampire, and slayer and the big blue staggers back and falls for the final time. The group pauses to rest and recover as they keep a watch on the door and loot the dragon's lair.

In better shape they force open the door (setting off a trap in the process) and push their way inside the Fane of Tiamat.Only a long, empty stone hallway greets them, but they are on guard as their entrance has not been quiet. Advancing, they come to a large room lit by another sculpture of a five headed dragon, with the appropriately colored light coming from a flame in each one's mouth. As they survey the room they notice some balconies above them especially when five bearded devils swoop down from them and attack!

There are duels all over the room as our heroes take on the things in pairs or solo, though with the warlord and the bow ranger one is never truly fighting alone. These new foes have dangerous powers, as Xyla and Torin are both blinded, dazed, and thrown back from the fight by their opponents. The creatures also fade in and out of the shadows, striking without warning. The warden holds his ground and forms the core of their defense with supporting fire from the ranger as the warlord reestablishes control and the devils begin to fall. The last one attempts to flee but is slain by a shot from No-Name.

The group pauses and pokes at the bodies. "Hmm, Abishai." They realize there may be devils all through this place, making it a tougher mission than just killing on warlord.

DM Notes: There was a lot of in and out of character talk at the beginning. Everyone leveled up to 9th at the end of the Ghostlord adventure, there was some shopping in town, and some NPC interaction. There may have been an extra day of game time in there but the next happening was the meeting described above.

People who have run or played this adventure may wonder what the heck just happened. In the module, part 5 is the siege of Brindol, while part 6 is the fane of Tiamat. The fane always felt anticlimactic to me after the big siege, and I saw some ideas for changing that up online so I switched them. The attack on the fane comes first, then we end with the big attack on the city, which can be greatly altered by how the fane episode goes. I'm still happy with this change even as we approach the end.

The fight with the big blue lasted all of 4 rounds. The slayer, aided by the warden, had inflicted almost 200 points of damage on him in round 1 between his normal action, his action point, the warlord's action, and the warlord's action point. The vampire hypnotized him on round 2, which was a lot of fun for her. Then the bow ranger bloodied him from his usual distance, triggering the breath weapon which blasted the slayer, the warden, and the warlord and was the cause of some discussion about timing, positioning, and damage. The vampire gets in 3 shots in round 4 (normal action, action point, warlord) so she wasn't too far behind the other melee monster.

The abishai actually lasted 5 rounds and had some fun powers as noted above, but one-on-one they could not stop the characters. This was their first real encounter with devils so hopefully it gave them some warning about the kinds of things they can do as someone finally remembered that Tiamat lives on the first plane of Hell. There are plenty more infernal things to come, and not a paladin or cleric in sight.

Our Heroes (9th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear and guardian of the forest)
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
Xyla, Drow Vampire

Finding the foyer somewhat quiet, the party begins exploring the fane of Tiamat.

For the first time in a while, there are a lot of doors to be dealt with. This leads to a discussion of the true roles in a D&D party. There is the Door Decider, the Door Checker, the Door Unlocker, and the Door Opener. This also leads to the dubbing of Gravis as the "Doorlord".

Checking as quietly as they can the team finds several empty rooms.

After finding a storeroom and four guest rooms someone exclaims "It's a Comfort Evil Inn!"

After some time though they hear sounds coming from another room and so kick in the door - it's a kitchen! With a remarkably attractive woman, a pair of devilish looking cooks, and some hobgoblins all at work. At first the woman screeches at the party, ordering them to work. Then she realizes they are not her lackeys and she screeches even more loudly to get the intruders!

This fight is over almost before it starts. In a matter of seconds the ranger drops 3 of the hobgoblins while the slayer and the warden kill the other 3 while also engaging the devils. The vampire rips the woman, leaps past her, finishes off one devil, the kills the other for good measure! The warlord and Ivan drop the woman - who changes in death to reveal herself to be a hag - to finish the fight.

DM Notes: Three rounds! They wiped out 3 normal opponents and 6 minions in 3 rounds! Also, in round 1 of the combat I rolled four 3's in a row for monster attacks - not a good showing for Team Evil. Standard procedure now is that the warden locks the enemies down all around him, the ranger shoots one or more targets, the vampire and slayer bloody an enemy each, then the warlord lets one or more of them strike again! They are just ripping through most fights now.

Poking around the kitchen reveals nothing of particular interest. The slayer decides to foul the bubbling pot of nastiness a bit further as the rest of the group moves on. Grinning, he runs to catch up.

Heading back down a different corridor the team opens up another door and finds a very large room. A group of dragonborn are pushing their chairs back and flipping the table over as the party bursts in.

The dragonborn are clearly seasoned soldiers as they form a line and restrict the invaders to the corner of the room, a cramped area that makes it difficult to fight. One of the soldiers falls to combined strikes from the ranger, vampire, and slayer, but in the confined space various blasting spells and breath weapon attacks are taking their toll on our heroes. The slayer tries to leap to assault the wizard but a summoned gust of wind blows him back over the barricade. They pull back and jam the door shut - retreat? Never! Going with plan B they race around to another door they now are sure opens into the same room, planning to come in behind the defenders.

Bursting in again the heroes find that the scaled soldiers have flipped an even larger table over and are quickly moving into defensive positions. This isn't going to be easy either, but there is more room to maneuver than in the corner. Removing one target in particular though will make this much easier, and he is the slayer's prey. Pushing himself to the limit Torin leaps over the barricade and with some guidance from Gravis he kills the elemental mage with two swings of his blade! As the rest of the party surges over and around the makeshift defenses another soldier falls leaving only one more wounded grunt and the dragonborn commander.

The entire group assaults the leader and though he is a canny, experienced, and mighty warrior even he can't withstand this and falls to their attacks. The final soldier prepares to sell his life dearly and he does - to the vampire's claws and the rangers bow.

Searching the room yields gold, gear, healing potions, ...and a magical ring, from the body of the commander. The victorious heroes rest for a few minutes, then prepare to push on in search of their true enemy.

DM Notes: While the kitchen encounter was pretty close to the original this one was a little different. The module has a group of blackspawn raiders which are big minotaur-like dragonspawn. All of those MM IV monsters are not included in 4th edition and I wanted something a little more interesting anyway. This ended up being a nod to the old "rival adventuring party" we used to see in AD&D adventures, with a more military theme. We had a leader, some grunts, and a wizard, who use some tactical sense and have some complimentary abilities. They are pretty nasty in melee and the wizard gives them both some decent ranged area capabilities and some close blasts, on top of every single one of them having a small breath attack. It worked, as it was a fun group for me to run and a challenging encounter for the players, which was especially nice after they steamrolled the kitchen crew.

One of the advantages of converting and adapting the adventure is that I get to rework it so that it still makes sense but it's more fun for me - and hopefully the players. After all, if we're going to spend 2 hours on one fight then I'd better enjoy it too.

Our Heroes (9th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear striker/defender/leader)
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
Xyla, Drow Vampire

Gathering up their gear the party leaves the guardroom and wanders through largely empty halls until they find a new door and kick it in. Some kind of ritual is happening here involving blood and chanting. A figure in robes turns to the door and takes hold of the ranger's mind. Not waiting for further developments, Gravis shouts "Torin stop him!" as the slayer charges in and destroys the robed hobgoblin standing in a circle who is cutting himself with a dagger while glaring at the rest of the party and chanting. The twelve cultists standing on the outer perimeter of the circle take issue with this and their leader, an obvious cleric of Tiamat orders them to attack.

From the door the ranger begins mowing down cultists as Gartok, Gravis, and Xyla charge in. The dragon worshipers stand little chance and are cut down unceremoniously along with their leader. Barely winded, our heroes move on.

Realizing they left a door unopened, the team doubles back, forces the door in question, and emerges into a grim scene - a torture chamber run by devils.

A Vizier Devil, her Pain Devil second, and a trio of Pain Devils seem almost happy to have something to fight as they move to defend their lair. The party charges in and are met with waves of pain as they close - apparently the devils radiate pain! The devil captain utters a word and his crew's scourges burst into greenish flame. The vizier devil stands safely behind her subordinates, throwing blasts of flame into the enemy ranks. One devil falls to the heroes' assault but Torin staggers and falls under the devils' defense and Xyla is battered and bloodied as well.

Safely beyond the range of the auras of pain, the ranger drops one of the foul devils. Hurting, the vampire rips the last pain devil apart and then teams up with Gartok to slay the lead pain devil as well. The slayer climbs back to his feet as Gravis shouts encouragement, lashes out, kills the vizier devil but he falls to blood loss at the same time.

Triumphant but having suffered serious wounds and running low on ways to heal them, the heroes make a hasty retreat to one of the empty guest rooms they discovered earlier. Holing up and resting up, their mission will have to wait for now.

DM Notes: This was another session with some exploration, a very short combat, then a better combat.

The first fight was over before it started with the robed Talon of Tiamat dominating the ranger and then not living long enough to command him later in that round! The rest of those enemies was unable to even slow down the group with the cleric croaking on round 2 and the last of the minions dying on round 3.

The original adventure has a group of clerics in this room - I stayed pretty close to that, just using some of 4E's new options to make a more mixed set of bad guys.

The second fight was much more even with overlapping pain auras dropping the slayer and hurting the vampire and the warden. Flaming melee weapons with reach are pretty nice too. Combined with the vizier's ranged abilities this was a much tougher group of opponents. They still pulled it out in 5 rounds but they were drained and feeling the pressure as they retreated for a long rest.

The original module has a single bone devil as the occupant of the torture chamber. I wasn't looking for a solo monster here and the pain devils seemed especially thematic.

Our Heroes (9th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear denture-wearer)
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
Xyla, Drow Vampire

The party passes a tense but uneventful night in a guest room in the Fane of Tiamat.

(They don't know it but it's uneventful because they have killed everything that lives in the upper level of the fane. Most of the things that live in the lower level tend to stay there, and right now, the things that don't are in the middle of a huge ceremony and won't be leaving for some time. So they picked a pretty safe time to camp without really realizing it.)

After regathering themselves the team heads down an unexplored flight of stairs and comes to a large open temple chamber with a huge statue of a five-headed dragon. As they enter and explore, they hear noises from the balconies, and five winged draconian forms swoop down on them - wyverns! One of each color!

Melees break out in several locations around the room. The bow ranger contributes to all of them from some distance back but the rest of the party is in the thick of it with no "safe" area at all. Somehow, the slayer manages to land the finishing blow on all five of the things. Pleased with himself, Torin collects the five heads and stacks them up to gather on the way back out.

Xyla, nosing around after the fight, discovers a secret door and opens it. The heroes file through and come out in a large natural cavern - and not an unoccupied one! Two of the now-familiar greenspawn razorfangs await, along with a pack of hell hounds. The keenly sensitive beasts are already charging as the party spreads out on the upper terrace.

The first razorfiend to reach the group is brutalized by the waiting fighters, Gartok in particular showing his skill. Then the hell hounds close in and unleash their fiery breath, demonstrating the downside of a close formation. After only a short time three of the hounds are down but the fourth proves to be a wily opponent, as does the final spawn. The hound finally falls to a shot from the ranger. Torin is once again forced to resort to the WORLD SERPENT GRASP to tie down the spawn, calling for Xyla and Gartok to aid him and they do, finishing off the razorfang together.

After resting briefly the team scouts ahead and finds a large passage of worked stone at the end of the cavern - they are not yet at the end of their quest, but judging from the chanting they are getting close.

DM Notes: Lots of combat in this one but they were being fairly cautious as they advanced - lots of old-school exploration and general testing/touching of things in the big temple. The 5 wyverns were not all that tough and the party killed 1/round. It was cool that the slayer landed the killing blow five times in a row. We're not obsessive about that kind of thing but it was a fun character note. And no, wyverns don;t have powers based on their color like dragons, I just thought it was a nice touch. The original adventure had 5 wyverns here and that fit perfectly as a single encounter in 4E's system.

In the other bigger-than-you'd-expect underground room the original adventure had greenspawn razorfangs but I didn't want an encounter solely with those - we've had that before. So I added the hell hounds that were pretty common with the hobgoblin raiders early on and we had a nice mix of ranged, close blast, and melee options. This fight lasted 7 rounds and was wildly swingy. Round 1 the wardne crit twice, the warlord once, and the slayer did as well. The bow ranger had 2 rounds where he missed completely, even after a reroll courtesy of elven accuracy on one of them. The vampire had a coupleof 2's in there too. Using the same creatures lets the party show off how far they've come - two of the spawn was a tough fight the first time, as were the hell hounds. Now a larger group with both is merely an even fight.

Next time: The big confrontation

Our Heroes (9th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear denture-wearer)
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
Xyla, Drow Vampire

After a short rest the party advances into the finished area at the end of the cavern they see a group of robed hobgoblins, arms upraised, chanting something in Infernal. A red dragonborn in more elaborate robes leads them as two blue abishai, lightning crackling about them, watch. Energy streams from the five upraised dragon heads to the top of the high-ceiling-ed room The incoming group is immediately spotted, and the devils prepare to engage them.

Thinking that interrupting whatever is going on here is a good idea, Torin leaps onto the platform, ready to lay about with the fullblade. He swings at one of the devils but is blasted by lightning and blown back off of the platform. Warned by the example, the rest of the party engages more carefully and it's an absolute slaughter. The cultists, their leader, and their guardians are hammered into oblivion in almost no time at all. The energy coruscating from the dragon heads to the top of the shaft flickers and diminishes but does not stop - they have had an impact, but more work remains.

DM Notes: This one is over in 4 rounds. By the end of round 2 all of the minions, the priest, and one abishai are all dead. It was pretty funny when the slayer took the backlash though. Here's the power:

A shaft leads up from this chamber and is clearly a place they need to go but the group is concerned about leaving an enemy behind them. The secret door (see above) is quickly located and through it they locate a summoning room, a treasure room, and what they suspect is Azarr Kul's personal quarters. They find no opposition other than some nasty traps, loot them thoroughly, and then come back to the round chamber with the shaft leading up into what they suspect will be their final confrontation with the high wyrmlord.

Xyla flies up the 100' shaft, carrying a rope and secures it so the rest can climb. Some other magical aid is used in this endeavor too so the whole party manages to gather at the edge, armed, armored, and ready.

In the center stands a figure that can only be Azarr Kul, leader of the Red Hand and the cause of the invasion. Arms raised and eyes closed he chants something in Infernal, clearly concentrating on whatever evil ritual he is performing, Hovering near him are two winged, female, angelic figures. The five stone dragon heads spew energy towards the domed ceiling of the room where a swirling ... something ... is taking shape. A single green abishai stands between the shaft and the platform where this mighty figure stands.

Around the rest of the room are five dragon statues, one of each of the chromatic types that Tiamat rules. A female wrapped in chains is bound to each of the dragon statues, and a devil of some kind stands next to each one, holding a flaming sword.

Our heroes peek over the edge of the pit and take all this in, trying to decipher what's happening.

DM Notes: This is a large, complex encounter. It's their first direct confrontation with the chief enemy villain and he's in the middle of a massive ritual. There are some puzzle elements here too and there is a real payoff: there is a chance the party can stop the ritual from succeeding and what they do will have a big impact on how the coming siege goes.. It's going to be tough, but it is possible. The players have no advance knowledge of what's going on though they do have some suspicions. The winged females are succubi, consorts of the leader. They and the abishai will try to stop any interference while the rest of the participants complete the ceremony.

The plan: The hostages will be killed, one per round after the first, and if five sacrifices are made then the ritual is complete. If the heroes manage to save one hostage Azarr Kul will kill himself - if left unmolested for a round. It's that important to him. If that happens he may show up as some kind of death knight later.

Though it's not obvious, the chains wrapping each victim are in fact a chain devil, adding an element of surprise to the fight. If the legion devils are killed (they are only minions) then the chain devils can complete the sacrifice. It's not completely hopeless as the victims are considered to be "grabbed" and forced movement breaks a grab, so many of the party's attacks can be extra useful here.

Azarr Kul will take no part in the initial fight, even if someone moves up on him. If he is struck then he will come out of his ritual pose. Once the ritual succeeds he will come out of his pose and fight if necessary.

This is way more complex than I typically make one encounter but I wanted this one to stand out and to give the players a chance to discover some of these things and a chance to affect the rest of the campaign. Hopefully this explanation makes it easier to follow.

With only a loose plan in place the slayer leaps onto the platform, slices through one of the angelic beings, then as she screams in pain and rage, his sword flashes again, cutting her down for good. Feeling a little competitive, the vampire launches herself at the abishai and tears into him. The rest of the party goes after the legion devils, correctly surmising that they are up to no good, and several of them fall. Then they watch in horror as the first sacrifice is made.

Cursing and raging, the other winged female flies up out of reach and begins sweet-talking various male members of the team into helping her out. Gravis directs his companions to finish off the legion devils, then realizes that may not be enough as they very chains that bind one of them move and slide and kill the second victim before shifting into a more humanoid form, blood-drenched links rattling as the thing shifts its shape.

The slayer and the warlord free one victim, slaying the chain devil in a flurry of attacks. Gravis notices that the blue half-dragon has not moved during all of this action and warns the rest of the group not to attack him, but to focus on freeing the victims. The vampire, the warden, and the warlord tear into the chain devils with a fury, ignoring the abishai and the bewitching female for the time being. The ranger and the slayer though are having a much tougher time ignoring her and their loyalties hang in the balance. The heroes are expending all of their energies to stop this terrible ceremony and it's going to be a near thing.

Soon all of the legion devils are slain as are all of the chain devils, but four of the victims are dead. Having freed the fifth sacrifice, the team tries to hustle her out of the room and back down the shaft as the second succubus dies screaming (revenge of the slayer, with help from the bow ranger!) but the green abishai takes to the air himself and kills her, completing the ritual.

Azarr Kul has not taken part in the fight at all, letting it pass all around him as he concentrates on the ceremony. As the group looks on the rock dome of the room changes to a starry sky - but not the starry sky of our world. Clouds gather and lightning clashes as time seems to stop. Then the top of the room explodes outward, and a titanic five-headed, multi-colored draconic form hovers in mid-air. One claw reaches down and snatches up the chosen of Tiamat as the armored figure roars in triumph. They fly off into the night sky, leaving the heroes battered, bleeding, and defeated - but alive.

DM Notes: This was an epic battle that lasted 11 rounds and took several hours to complete. It's effectively a multi-stage encounter as there is the initial group of occupants and the sacrifices to stop, then the reveal of the chain-devils the running clock of the sacrifices, then a battle with Azarr Kul and/or an aspect of Tiamat - or both!

My players pushed their characters to the limit. They figured out the sacrifice plan pretty quickly and had all the legion devils down by round 3, but could not kill the chain devils fast enough as the ranger and the slayer kept getting pulled off track by the succubus' powers. With one or two of the strikers out of the fight for several rounds, there were just too many targets for them to stop them all. They left it all on the table though - they were out of daily powers, encounter powers, action points, healing, and magic item powers by the end, and most of them were bloodied too. They came very close, with the last victim descending down the shaft with the vampire when the abishai managed to line up a shot and blast her for the final kill.

I had no plans for them to fight Tiamat right here. If she shows up it means the bad guys have won this fight, one way or another. She has other business on this plane so she's simply going to fly off, regardless of what they do - by the end of a combat like this it's unlikely they will be able to hurt her anyway.

Now they could fight Azarr Kul if they had chosen to attack him but it's debatable how that would have turned out for them as it was a tough fight already with almost two encounters worth of opponents. Adding a third (he's a solo) might have pushed it into a TPK, but it is a choice they have to make. Theoretically, if they kill him AND save at least one victim, then the ritual fails. It's a tall order, but that's the best possible outcome.

I'll be honest - they were not happy at the end of this one. It was very quiet as everyone packed up and left. I think they felt like they had failed in the biggest fight of the campaign and who would like that? There might even have been some grumbling about what the DM threw at them in one encounter and I understand - it was pretty damn tough. By the time the next session rolled around everything was fine and it's been fine since. Could I have changed up the encounter? Sure, and if I ran it again I would probably tweak it at least - but I'd do that with any of them. I'd probably at least give them an action point (and maybe a healing surge or encounter power recharge) after the chain devils are slain as that's effectively two encounters right there. I might weaken the chain devils too, as they turned out to be fairly tough for a Skirmisher type, or maybe Kul only needs one consort. The encounter before this one might have been easier too. Regardless, I don't think it was drastically overpowered for a group that's been powering through everything I've thrown at them.

The original adventure has some environmental effects in the room but only Azarr Kul and 4 abishai are in it. Once he gets killed Tiamat automatically comes through and fights the party or flies off to be fought later. That seemed underwhelming to me, and it's supposed to be the big finale of the whole campaign! I wanted to have more going on and to have some potential impact from the players actions so I redid the whole thing.

So now the party gets to deal with an army, it's divinely sanctioned warleader, and an avatar of an evil dragon god - it's going to be a lot of fun.

Our Heroes (now 10th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear linebacker)
~~Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden~~ (performing the ritual washing-of-the-beard after a defeat)
~~No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger~~ (tracking the flying queen of dragons)
Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
Xyla, Drow Vampire

As Gartok and The Elf with no Name were both out for this session, Apprentice Blaster filled in with Maximus, Human Fighter (Gladiator).

We begin in the city of Brindol, Impiltur, Faerun. Still stinging from their failure to stop the summoning ritual that allowed an aspect of Tiamat into the world, our heroes stagger back out of the fane, down the mountain path, and use the old portal once again to return to the city. They are greeted by Lord Cartwright and his aide who are relieved to see them alive but have an urgent problem: the Lion Knights of Brindol are battling the encroaching Red Hand army to try and stave off a siege. Unfortunately a group of hill giants has separated from the main army. One mob is attacking one of the gates while others bombard a section of the city wall with boulders. The city watch is being overwhelmed and the rest of the defenses are still being organized - can the heroes help? With barely the time to catch their breath, the party agrees to check the raid with the aid of a well-known champion of the city - Maximus!

Gravis wants a tactical advantage if they are going to be fighting giants and requests the aid of the Tiri-Kotor elves who have forces in the city. They agree and soon the team is mounted up and airmobile. they sweep over the wall and swoop in behind the giants attacking the gate. It's a small force of four brawny giants swinging a battering ram, a shaman-looking leader, and his pet - a monstrous scorpion beast.

Cue 'Ride of the Valkyries'

The defenders of Brindol dismount and charge! Torin, Gravis, and Maximus cut down the shaman almost immediately while Zarra uses her uncanny charms to dominate the giant scorpion pet, turning it against the other giants before leaping into the fray herself! Not the brightest of beings, and befuddled at the sudden assault and their turncoat pet the giants die to a man in front of the gate. The heroes are battered but driven to carry on, so they whistle for the owls and remount to extinguish the second assault.

The second group of hill giants is gathered in the ruins of an ancient shrine outside the city walls. They are picking up everything from fallen masonry to grave stones and hurling them at the wall and seem to be having quite the time doing so - it's possible alcohol is involved. The party is soon over though as the owls drop down out of the sky and five deadly warriors close in around them like the fingers of a deadly fist! under Gravis' direction Maximus leaps in and draws their attention (gladiators!) while Zarra and Torin rip into the behemoths with no mercy. The giants fight back with clubs and boulders, knocking some of the heroes for considerable distances but the counteroffensive is unstoppable and this fight can only end in one way. Soon enough the giants are down while the party rests for a moment. Soon enough they call the owls down and take flight back to the city, mission accomplished - for now.

DM Notes: This was a get-things-going-again session after schedule issues caused us to miss most of the summer. I normally want a minimum of four players to run (I build the crunchy stuff for 5 players - bring 4 and I have an advantage, bring 6 and they have an advantage) and that's been the rule since very early on. After losing one of our regulars though it got a little tougher to keep the schedule going if more than one person couldn't make it. Three were available so I drafted Apprentice Blaster to fill in with a new character and he did really well as 4E fighters are fairly complex in play with the whole marking thing.

The session before this was a really tough marathon fight that ended with mixed results but the players felt like they had not succeeded. I wanted to keep it fairly simple with a straight-up (and more level-appropriate) fight to let us all get back in the groove again and that's exactly how it went. No time for dilly-dallying around with social interaction or skill challenges - we're under attack! Help us!

(That other stuff will come next time)

One technical note: adding decent mobility to this all-melee party made it incredibly vicious when it came to inflicting harm. A fighter, plus a tac warlord and two nasty melee strikers meant they were not at all afraid to mix it up in close and they were easily peeling triple digit hit points off of the poor giants every round. Nasty. They are truly Savage.

So in the end the city is being surrounded but the heroes have returned and quite directly and visibly established themselves as the top defenders of Brindol. The siege is just getting started and it's going to be good.

Our Heroes (still 10th level):

Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and starting second base-bear Ivan!)
Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger
Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
~~Zarra, Drow Vampire~~ (in a torpor for this session after gorging herself on hill giant "juice")

Returning to Brindol after their emergency expedition the heroes realize that much of the city has been evacuated, presumably during their expedition to the Fane of Tiamat. They are invited to a council of war to share their advice and help plan a strategy for the defense of the city. As the most powerful adventurers in the city they are an important resource, and the city leaders know it.

Mechanically this is a 3-part skill challenge that will help frame the rest of the climax of the adventure.

Part 1: Formal Introductions

In this opening discussion the party meets the city leaders and makes their first impression on each.

Success or failure here will affect how difficult the targets for the subsequent skill challenges are, initial attitudes of some of the NPC's, and some of the offers that might be made by some of the individual NPC's.

This goes extremely well. The major players are:

Lord Cartwright, ruler of the city
Lady Kaal, leader of a powerful trading house
Marshal Ulverth, head of the city watch
Lady Goldenbrow, high priestess of Lathander
Immerstal the Red, leading wizard of Brindol

Also Appearing:

Sorana and Speaker Wiston from Drellin's Ferry
Sellyria Starsinger representing the Tiri-Kotor elves
Captain Helmbreaker, leader of a dwarf mercenary company

This was a Level 10 Complexity 2 skill challenge to make a good impression on the town leaders. Previous successful efforts in the adventure drop this to a level 8. Primaries are Diplomacy, Religion, and Insight. Secondaries are History, Arcana, Streetwise, and Perception.

The party blew right through this one. They are very good at some of those skills, had good references from Drellin's Ferry and the elves, and handled themselves perfectly.

Part 2: Strategy Session

With the introductions out of the way the talk turns to a debate on how to use the forces available to best defend the city.

This counts as one of the "battles" in the defense of the city. There are definite wise and unwise options on the table and choosing the bad ones will count as a defeat and remove some of the assets available to defend the city. This, combined with the results of our played encounters will determine the "finale" scenarios and the fate of Brindol - a successful, heroic defense and breaking of the Red Hand's siege, or a desperate rear guard action as the horde overwhelms the city's defenses and the remaining defenders flee for their lives.

This goes well too. It's a Level 10 Complexity 5 challenge. Primaries are Diplomacy, History, and Religion, Secondaries are Arcana, Bluff, Insight, Nature, and Streetwise. The basic debate is whether to meet the enemy in the field with the Lion Knights leading the way, or to hold the walls, giving up the initiative but maintaining a stronger defensive posture. Lord Cartwright and the knights are in favor of the field battle while the marshal favors holding the walls. The others hold varying positions or are undecided.

Gravis the warlord quickly realizes the army is not large enough to take the Red Hand on straight up ad argues forcefully and persuasively for holding the walls. Aided by his companions, they convince the lords of the city to play defense instead of a glorious but foolhardy charge into a stronger foe.

Part 3: Defending the City

Having decided on defense, the question arises as to what happens if they get inside the walls.

This affects some of the possible scenarios later in the campaign and there are advantages and disadvantages to both sides. This isn't a win/lose so much as it is a way for the players to decide how they want to handle things later.

One option is to run a resistance cell type of defense - small groups of snipers with makeshift barricades spread throughout the city making the entire area dangerous for invaders. The danger is that healing and power may be spread too thin. The alternative is a centralized defense stationed around the High Cathedral of Lathander. Clerics and elite defenders would be staged there to provide centralized healing and a rally point for any retreating defenders and to act a dispatch-able fire brigade if things are going wrong at any point on the walls. The danger here is that if this group/location falls, the whole city may fall. Lord Cartwright, Immerstal, and the high priestess favor the centralized defense while the rest favor a distributed defense as they are unwilling to abandon their individual holdings.

This is a level 10 complexity 2 challenge and the party once again blows it away with Torin setting Gravis up for an intense but diplomatic illustration of the perils of the distributed defense. Success here = the players get to choose how this goes, failure = a distributed defense regardless as the disunited leaders refuse to pool their resources and only defend their own holdings

After this the party is made the leading edge of the city's defense. To ensure communications the wizard uses a scroll of telepathic Bond to link Lord Cartwright to Gravis so they can communicate from anywhere in the city. Then word comes that giants are making another push for one gate, siege engines are bombarding the north wall ... and a red dragon has just landed inside the city and is setting that quarter ablaze. Our heroes mount up on giant owls and head out to deal with the dragon.

Abrithiax, the red dragon, has driven off the gate guards, smashed some smaller buildings, and set others on fire. He shows no fear as the party rushes in. In fact, though they have faced several dragons, none were as large and powerful as this one and his magnificence has an effect on them - briefly. All of them charge in (except for the ranger, though he does open fire). They wound the dragon but he repsonds with fiery breath and furious claws leaving Gartok bloodied. The warden stays in the fight, and the slayer keeps swinging, but a tail slap knocks the warlord across the street!

Continuing hits from the others are beginning to hurt the great beast and it unloads more flame on Torin and Ivan but Gravis gets back in the fight and shots encouragement to everyone. As the dwarf holds the red's attention, the slayer unloads a series of punishing slashes with his fullblade, and the ranger plants a final arrow in the thing's head as it staggers and falls.

After the dragon is slain it's a Level 10 Complexity 3 skill challenge to put out the fires. This was a little more freeform as to skill relevance so I let the players justify their skill choices. It was a lot of fun and a nice way to wrap up this session.

DM Notes: Most of my notes are above but I wanted to give the players some say in the defense of the city and the skill challenges worked very well. Their characters are the highest level beings in the valley other than the enemy leaders, and given their track record so far it makes sense that the town leaders would listen to their counsel. Note they are not just turning it all over to the PC's, but they are treating them as valuable partners, maybe even equals. I had notes on each leader's position on each of these questions and let the player's direction drive whose opinions were swayed. Skill challenges play much faster than a typical combat, so it's easy to include a few, make them feel fairly important to what's going on, and then wrap it all up with a fight against a big dragon I was very happy with the way this one went and I think the players were too. The decisions made here will shape a lot of the remainder of the adventure when it comes to encounters and the opposition.

Very sad to see that Aaron Allston has left this world. There are only a few people in our hobby who's name on something means to me that it's worth a look, even if it's something I might not otherwise care about. His was one of those few names.

Champions is where I first ran across his name but he did good work on other games too. The book above turned a hexmap and a few paragraphs of text from the Expert Set into a full-on campaign setting with a really nice balance of detail and breathing room for a DM to use.

Heck, I even liked Wraith Squadron.

This was the first and most useful of the 2E brown books for me. His name's on it.

A lot of people think this is the finest version of D&D published yet, and he was the lead guy on it too.

He was a Texas guy too which made a little more of a connection for me. At a time when most of the gaming "names" seemed to come from the midwest, here was a guy right down I-35 that was putting out stuff with the best of them.

Anyway, so long Mr. Allston. I appreciate your fine work.

SSoI - Session 14: Red Hand of Doom - Swamp Lovin

40K Friday - Dark Angels 2014: Progress!

SSoI - Session 15: Red Hand of Doom - The Ruins of Rhest

SSoI - Session 16:The One With the Black Dragon

SSoI - Session 17: Death of a Paladin - and a Vampire

Motivational Monday

Kingmaker!

SSoI - Session 18: Blurred Lions

Overreaction Wednesday

SSoI - Session 19: Revenge of the Fallen

SSoI - Session 20:Fall of the Ghostlord

SSoI - Session 21: To the Wyrmsmoke Mountains!

SSoI -Session 22: The Fane of Tiamat

SSoI - Session 23: Chamber of Horrors

Motivational Monday (later than usual edition)

SSoI - Session 24: Temple of Death

SSoI - Session 25: The Inner Sanctum

SSoI - Session 26: Red Hand Rising

SSoI - Session 27 - Red Dragon Fight

R.I.P. Aaron Allston