I'd like to take a moment to honor the memory of Leonerd Nimoy, who passed on February 27, 2015. Whether he was Mr. Spock or not, he was a great actor and a good man whose work touched various and sundry nerds, freaks and geeks. He will be missed.
Censura leveled up to 5th at the beginning of a session. In addition to learning a new Warlock spell (the classic fireball), he also learned darkness as a tiefling trait. He would get a chance to use his new spell later in the session.
We started off with a fight against a pair of rat swarms. Despite having only four players (myself, Paul, Joseph, and Nathan) we managed to dispatch them without taking any damage. Quite a reversal from a rat swarm battle in the first session that nearly resulted in a total party kill. Still, the swarms demonstrated the ability to move freely through occupied spaces, a benefit for them in the tight quarters of the 5-foot wide tunnel we were battling in.
Jamna showed up after the fight, commenting on Corrin running back to the strong room, afraid of the rats (the in-game excuse for Corrin's absence since his player was not present). It gave us a chance to mend some bridges before proceeding.
A few skill rolls gave us a little background on our location. Castle Naerytar, which we had learned about before, lies about 15 miles to the north. The ruin had once been used an observatory before being overtaken by the Mere of Dead Men. More importantly, Sandi let us know that a black dragon called Voharaghamanthor ruled the swamp. It was rumored to fast, faster even that a black dragon should be.
We spotted orange trail markers outside the entrance of the cave. After noting that the trail headed north, we camped a little off the trail to recover. We were unable to complete a long rest, however, as we heard guttural arguing on the trail. It was argument between creatures speaking draconic, and creatures speaking in croaking, frog-like language. Sandi let us know that the draconic voice sounded like its companions had abandoned it and it was being over-whelmed. So, doing our adventurer thing, we investigated.
We found that a group of bullywugs, humanoid frogs, had tied up and were torturing a lizardfolk (which is exactly what it sounds like; a humanoid lizard) by dumping him head first into a pool of water.. We saw baskets and crates scattered on the trail, so we assumed the bullywugs had ambushed the lizardfolk, and decided to help the survivor.
There were 8 of the things altogether. The fight wasn't terribly challenging. Although the muddy swamp made every space on the map difficult terrain, and while bullywugs can jump good, it still made maneuvering in the battle challenging.
Both Censura and Alek had opportunities to use new third level spells: Censura used fireball twice to take out clusters of bullwugs. Alek used spirit guardians to kill bullywugs approaching the front lines. Thok also used his new feat to leap around the battlefield to minimize the effect of the mud. It lead to some questions on using Strength (athletics) to jump. Ultimately, the bullywugs were no match for us. While easy battles can get dull, every once in a while they help remind the players that yes, their characters are in fact bad-asses.
After the fight, we freed the lizardfolk. With lizard serving as a translator, we spoke with it, learning that its name was Snapjaw. We learned that his tribe had been hired to the Cult of the Dragon by Voharaghamanthor, but the Cult saw fit to use them only as porters. We learned that Rezmir had been seen at the castle, but her lieutenant there was Dralmora Borngray. Apparently Voharaghamanthor only tolerated the Cult and the lizardfolk were chafing under their rule. Using our performance in the battle as proof of our qualifications, we offered to help Snapjaw and his people with that. Snapjaw agreed, and we began discussing a plan to slip into the castle with next supply of lizardfolk treasure porters.
That's where we'll pick up next time.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Saturday, February 21, 2015
A Little Bit of Intrigue
Before we get into the game itself, my friend Joseph and I finally bothered to give the Adventure's League Players Guide a proper read. We discovered that 4th level character can spend downtime days to "catch up" to level 5. So Joseph and Sean opted to spend 20 downtime days to train Thok and Corrin up to level 5. Nathan decided not to take the same option with Censura.
So most of the party is now level 5. What does that mean? First, fifth level marks the start of the "Second Tier" of play. In a more practical sense, our proficiency bonus has gone from +2 to +3. Dedicated warrior classes, such as Sandi, Thok, and (now) Corrin gain a second attack. Dedicated spell casters, such as Alek gain access to third level spells. If I were an arcane caster, that would mean the classic offensive spells lightning bolt and fireball. For Alek, that means spirit guardians, a handy AOE that slows foes near me and deals damage if they move into or start their turn there. I also have access to revivify. It costs 300gp, but it can raise someone if they've been dead less than a minute. I don't have the money for it now, so its not prepared. But I intend to prepare it once I have the money set aside. The last practical effect of fifth level? It's the cap for changing your character in Adventure's League. So Corrin is now set in stone.
We arrived in Waterdeep after two months on the road, and we earned our salaries and a bonus. Plus, I got a bonus for chatting up Edhelri and helping her sell her goods. We tracked down rumor regarding a half-black dragon that had set off from Waterdeep a tenday ago for a road construction site in the Mere of Dead Men to the north. The fact that rumors like this still act as adventure hooks and clues is making the absence of the Streetwise skill (remember, Intelligence (investigate) is more of a Search check, now) noticeable. I don't know if this means the designers were assuming the players would adapt the Gumshoe model, where if a clue is needed the advance the plot, the PCs just find it, no rolling or using resources. However, part of class-based systems like D&D is that each character has a niche, so rolling the skill helps make that player feel their character is being useful. As a general rule, though, I tend to follow the Gumshoe model in my own games, though.
In addition to that rumor, we learned a bit of background information. Apparently the geothermal activity in Neverwinter became critical, a volcano erupted and destroyed the city. It is being rebuilt, and the High Road, which use to run past the Mere of Dead Men now runs through the ever-expanding swamp. So there is constant road work to help supplies reach Neverwinter for the rebuilding project. Naturally, it seems like constant streams of supply caravans are good cover for the treasure the Cult if smuggling.
Being the table's resident Realmslore expert (though I am neither from Canada nor have a beard as magnificent as Ed Greenwood's), I decided that we would spend our free time at the Yawning Portal Inn and wish fellow adventurers luck on their way into Undermountain. There we were contacted by a man named Carlon Amofel, who had the word "Oathbreaker" scarred onto his forehead. He offered us a letter from Leosin, the half-elf monk who sent us north in the first place, with a payment: a 1200gp ruby, and a new mission: track the Cult's smuggling to the Carnath Roadhouse north of Waterdeep in the Mere of Dead Men. Carlon had even secured positions for us as caravan guards on the next caravan out.
Before we left, we learned that several of the travelers from our past caravan were raising money to raise the slain mother and son. We each contributed some money towards the cost of raising the murdered pair, and it was hinted that even if the mother could not be raised, her son, Egan, might prove a valuable NPC if brought back from the dead.
We left with a caravan owned by Ardred Briferhew, and had several small adventures over the Tenday journey to the roadhouse. Also traveling with us were the Cultists themselves, Azbara Jos, the suspected Red Wizard, and Jamna Gleamsilver, the murderous and mischievous gnome. We glossed over these; the group had decided they were tired of random encounters and wanted to move the story along. The only detail was a short conversation between Jamna and Alek where I tried, and failed, to convince her to help raise the murdered family, letting her know they were witnesses who could help her. On day seven, we reached the Mere of Dead Men, a cold weather bayou.
We reached the Karnath Roadhouse, a two story inn around a courtyard. The owner, a half-orc named Bog Luck, did not keep locks on all the doors, claiming that they froze in the cold weather. Instead, he offered us the use of a strong room for our valuables. Like the paranoid people most adventurers are, we opted to keep our valuables with us.
After an uneventful night, Sandi was approached by one of the cultists in the morning. They were still sore about the guards Jamna had murdered and still considered Sandi guilty, and demanded trial by combat. Without any way out, Sandi agreed and chose Thok as his second for the duel. The challenging cultist was a Veteran, and she was joined by a Dragonclaw.
The fight wasn't long, and it demonstrated some of the higher level abilities available to those two characters and how they really make characters more effective. The Dragonclaw, which you may remember as the NPC types guarding the entrance to dragon hatchery, wield two scimitars, have pack tactics, multiattack, and an ability that adds extra dice of damage on attacks that have advantage. In short, they are rocket-tag combat personified.
Thok first used goading strike, one of his favored Battlemaster features, to take away the Dragonclaw's advantage when it first attacked Sandi. Despite this, the first hit was a critical, but it only dealt 11 damage. Even though Sandi had to take a turn to disengage, Thok used another feature from Battlemaster, commander' strike to grant Sandi an extra attack during Thok's turn. Between Thok's and Sandi's attacks, both the not terribly hard to hit Dragonclaw and the tougher to hit Veteran soon fell. Thok was opting to keep the Veteran, who initiated the challenge, alive and dishonored. The (nominally) neutral good Sandi, however, gave in to the cultists egging and murdered the unconscious NPC.
After the duel, Azbara Jos showed up and told the cultists to clear out and get back to work. At that point, several members of the party noticed that Bog Luck had a sword scabbard similar to ones we had seen in the treasure troves at the dragon hatchery back near Greenest. I opted to watch the work crews, and noticed that as they unloaded, Bog Luck would mark certain crates with a red dragon's head and store them in his strong room.
Later that afternoon, Jamna Gleamsilver approached Arranis, whose player, Ethan, had missed the past couple of sessions. She offered the drow the same deal she had offered us: information and assistance. She wanted to meet him in the stables. Arannis consulted with the rest of the party, and we agreed. But first, we had to chase out the stable boys.
We ended up dealing with the youngest stable boy, called Wump, who apparently wanted to join our adventures. We grudgingly agreed, and he chased the other stable boys out. We rewarded Wump with a dagger with the advice that "the pointy end goes in the other guy," and "try not let the other guy put his pointy things into you."
Jamna let us know that she had been into Bog Luck's strong room and found a trap door hidden under a crate. She discovered that during the night, reptilian creatures would emerge from the trap door and remove the marked crates. She let us know that crates were removed during the night, and suggested we investigate the trap door around midnight.
As we were resting, Thok decided to sample some of the "healing" potions Corrin had bought from the old hag. Thok took damage from the first one and belched. So he asked for another. He took even more damage and belched and farted. Corrin decided that it was probably not a good idea to keep those potions.
That night, I used the silence spell to cover our entry into the strong room. We two of the characters in your party where clunky metal armor, it helps to make no noise. We made it in without incident, and Jamna showed us the crate. Beneath was a short shaft that led to a tunnel lined with unlit torched and with reptilian tracks in the ground. We also saw small rodents around.
Jamna offered to watch our backs as we investigated. I commented that she shouldn't strain herself. In retrospect, it was probably not a good idea to make her mad, but even with a possible Zhentarim member as an ally, they're still not terribly trustworthy. As she closed the trap door behind us, we saw the rodents gathering into swarms. While I wasn't there, a rat swarm nearly caused a TPK for the team at first level. So, when we return, we'll see how a higher level party fairs against a swarm.
As I close out, I'm planning to do some expanding on this blog. I'm hoping I can find the time to play and maybe review other RPGs, and maybe even other tabletop games. My preference will be for indie games, especially games from companies based out of Arizona. I'm also planning on featuring some of my fiction.
So most of the party is now level 5. What does that mean? First, fifth level marks the start of the "Second Tier" of play. In a more practical sense, our proficiency bonus has gone from +2 to +3. Dedicated warrior classes, such as Sandi, Thok, and (now) Corrin gain a second attack. Dedicated spell casters, such as Alek gain access to third level spells. If I were an arcane caster, that would mean the classic offensive spells lightning bolt and fireball. For Alek, that means spirit guardians, a handy AOE that slows foes near me and deals damage if they move into or start their turn there. I also have access to revivify. It costs 300gp, but it can raise someone if they've been dead less than a minute. I don't have the money for it now, so its not prepared. But I intend to prepare it once I have the money set aside. The last practical effect of fifth level? It's the cap for changing your character in Adventure's League. So Corrin is now set in stone.
We arrived in Waterdeep after two months on the road, and we earned our salaries and a bonus. Plus, I got a bonus for chatting up Edhelri and helping her sell her goods. We tracked down rumor regarding a half-black dragon that had set off from Waterdeep a tenday ago for a road construction site in the Mere of Dead Men to the north. The fact that rumors like this still act as adventure hooks and clues is making the absence of the Streetwise skill (remember, Intelligence (investigate) is more of a Search check, now) noticeable. I don't know if this means the designers were assuming the players would adapt the Gumshoe model, where if a clue is needed the advance the plot, the PCs just find it, no rolling or using resources. However, part of class-based systems like D&D is that each character has a niche, so rolling the skill helps make that player feel their character is being useful. As a general rule, though, I tend to follow the Gumshoe model in my own games, though.
In addition to that rumor, we learned a bit of background information. Apparently the geothermal activity in Neverwinter became critical, a volcano erupted and destroyed the city. It is being rebuilt, and the High Road, which use to run past the Mere of Dead Men now runs through the ever-expanding swamp. So there is constant road work to help supplies reach Neverwinter for the rebuilding project. Naturally, it seems like constant streams of supply caravans are good cover for the treasure the Cult if smuggling.
Being the table's resident Realmslore expert (though I am neither from Canada nor have a beard as magnificent as Ed Greenwood's), I decided that we would spend our free time at the Yawning Portal Inn and wish fellow adventurers luck on their way into Undermountain. There we were contacted by a man named Carlon Amofel, who had the word "Oathbreaker" scarred onto his forehead. He offered us a letter from Leosin, the half-elf monk who sent us north in the first place, with a payment: a 1200gp ruby, and a new mission: track the Cult's smuggling to the Carnath Roadhouse north of Waterdeep in the Mere of Dead Men. Carlon had even secured positions for us as caravan guards on the next caravan out.
Before we left, we learned that several of the travelers from our past caravan were raising money to raise the slain mother and son. We each contributed some money towards the cost of raising the murdered pair, and it was hinted that even if the mother could not be raised, her son, Egan, might prove a valuable NPC if brought back from the dead.
We left with a caravan owned by Ardred Briferhew, and had several small adventures over the Tenday journey to the roadhouse. Also traveling with us were the Cultists themselves, Azbara Jos, the suspected Red Wizard, and Jamna Gleamsilver, the murderous and mischievous gnome. We glossed over these; the group had decided they were tired of random encounters and wanted to move the story along. The only detail was a short conversation between Jamna and Alek where I tried, and failed, to convince her to help raise the murdered family, letting her know they were witnesses who could help her. On day seven, we reached the Mere of Dead Men, a cold weather bayou.
We reached the Karnath Roadhouse, a two story inn around a courtyard. The owner, a half-orc named Bog Luck, did not keep locks on all the doors, claiming that they froze in the cold weather. Instead, he offered us the use of a strong room for our valuables. Like the paranoid people most adventurers are, we opted to keep our valuables with us.
After an uneventful night, Sandi was approached by one of the cultists in the morning. They were still sore about the guards Jamna had murdered and still considered Sandi guilty, and demanded trial by combat. Without any way out, Sandi agreed and chose Thok as his second for the duel. The challenging cultist was a Veteran, and she was joined by a Dragonclaw.
The fight wasn't long, and it demonstrated some of the higher level abilities available to those two characters and how they really make characters more effective. The Dragonclaw, which you may remember as the NPC types guarding the entrance to dragon hatchery, wield two scimitars, have pack tactics, multiattack, and an ability that adds extra dice of damage on attacks that have advantage. In short, they are rocket-tag combat personified.
Thok first used goading strike, one of his favored Battlemaster features, to take away the Dragonclaw's advantage when it first attacked Sandi. Despite this, the first hit was a critical, but it only dealt 11 damage. Even though Sandi had to take a turn to disengage, Thok used another feature from Battlemaster, commander' strike to grant Sandi an extra attack during Thok's turn. Between Thok's and Sandi's attacks, both the not terribly hard to hit Dragonclaw and the tougher to hit Veteran soon fell. Thok was opting to keep the Veteran, who initiated the challenge, alive and dishonored. The (nominally) neutral good Sandi, however, gave in to the cultists egging and murdered the unconscious NPC.
After the duel, Azbara Jos showed up and told the cultists to clear out and get back to work. At that point, several members of the party noticed that Bog Luck had a sword scabbard similar to ones we had seen in the treasure troves at the dragon hatchery back near Greenest. I opted to watch the work crews, and noticed that as they unloaded, Bog Luck would mark certain crates with a red dragon's head and store them in his strong room.
Later that afternoon, Jamna Gleamsilver approached Arranis, whose player, Ethan, had missed the past couple of sessions. She offered the drow the same deal she had offered us: information and assistance. She wanted to meet him in the stables. Arannis consulted with the rest of the party, and we agreed. But first, we had to chase out the stable boys.
We ended up dealing with the youngest stable boy, called Wump, who apparently wanted to join our adventures. We grudgingly agreed, and he chased the other stable boys out. We rewarded Wump with a dagger with the advice that "the pointy end goes in the other guy," and "try not let the other guy put his pointy things into you."
Jamna let us know that she had been into Bog Luck's strong room and found a trap door hidden under a crate. She discovered that during the night, reptilian creatures would emerge from the trap door and remove the marked crates. She let us know that crates were removed during the night, and suggested we investigate the trap door around midnight.
As we were resting, Thok decided to sample some of the "healing" potions Corrin had bought from the old hag. Thok took damage from the first one and belched. So he asked for another. He took even more damage and belched and farted. Corrin decided that it was probably not a good idea to keep those potions.
That night, I used the silence spell to cover our entry into the strong room. We two of the characters in your party where clunky metal armor, it helps to make no noise. We made it in without incident, and Jamna showed us the crate. Beneath was a short shaft that led to a tunnel lined with unlit torched and with reptilian tracks in the ground. We also saw small rodents around.
Jamna offered to watch our backs as we investigated. I commented that she shouldn't strain herself. In retrospect, it was probably not a good idea to make her mad, but even with a possible Zhentarim member as an ally, they're still not terribly trustworthy. As she closed the trap door behind us, we saw the rodents gathering into swarms. While I wasn't there, a rat swarm nearly caused a TPK for the team at first level. So, when we return, we'll see how a higher level party fairs against a swarm.
As I close out, I'm planning to do some expanding on this blog. I'm hoping I can find the time to play and maybe review other RPGs, and maybe even other tabletop games. My preference will be for indie games, especially games from companies based out of Arizona. I'm also planning on featuring some of my fiction.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Spiders and Flies
Some changes had been made. As of last session, Lakeo was a high elf, and he chose to take a feat at 4th level: Lucky, which allows him to spend "Luck Points" to get re-rolls. There was some discussion on how it interacted Advantage and Disadvantage. The ultimate conclusion was that it would resolve afterwards. We also found out that instead of being a neutral Assassin archetype rogue, he was now lawful good monk of the Open Palm tradition. He also retrained one of his feats, taking a Mobility in place of Dual Wielding. According to Adventurer's League rules, they'll have until level 5 to finalize these changes. As Sandi and Alek just reached 5th, those two won't be far behind.
Our first encounters were dealing with the two dead guards. Jamna Gleamsilver approached Lakeo and gave him a little "wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more." She offered a little tit-for-tat, but Lakeo wasn't interested.
Of course, us well armed and capable adventurers were on the suspect list of murderers. Sandi got singled out. Apparently the guards were killed with a short sword, so the cultists demanded to examine the weapon and compare it to the wounds. As we were led to scene, Sandi spotted Jamna hiding her own short sword. An argument ensued as to whether the wounds were inflicted with Sandi's weapon or the hidden weapon. Ultimately, the suspected Thayan took charge and told everyone to back down so we could get the caravan moving again.
Then, on day 53, Jamna interrupted us while we were eating, pulling an object out of Sandi's porridge. She claimed that the cultists had put it in there, and that after being ingested it would expand, revealing hooks and spikes that would tear the eater's insides apart. Alek spotted one lie; Jamna had planted it herself to claim she had saved one of our lives. Despite some hard bargaining, she remained silent about who she worked for. Alek made some guesses, and Zhentarim seemed to be the correct one. Ultimately, I let her know that the wagons were filled with treasure meant for the dragon queen and bound for Castle Naerytar.
On day 57, there was a ruckus at the back of the caravan. We investigated, and found that their guards were dead or injured and poisoned. Spiders and spider-like humanoids had attacked and stolen the horses and fled into the nearby woods. We tracked them do a pit and fought two ettercaps and six wolf spiders. Corrin used his newly minted monk abilities to move around the battlefield and gain extra attacks by spending ki points. This time I was able to use protection from poison on Thok, making sure the spider poison didn't take him out while he was tanking. Sandi also managed to finish the fight with a bang, rolling a critical and scoring 36 damage against an already injured ettercap, bringing it to -22 hit points.
Ultimately, Thok and Lakeo were able to get jobs as guards on those rear wagons, and managed to earn a little money from the journey. We got to Waterdeep.
We had one last round "Get to Know You," for an extra 500 experience. It was rather tense; the group needed to score three of six successes on Charisma rolls. The first three were failures, but Alek, Thok, and Censura came through in a clinch.
Sandi and Alek had reached level 5 from the experience for that session.
Our first encounters were dealing with the two dead guards. Jamna Gleamsilver approached Lakeo and gave him a little "wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more." She offered a little tit-for-tat, but Lakeo wasn't interested.
Of course, us well armed and capable adventurers were on the suspect list of murderers. Sandi got singled out. Apparently the guards were killed with a short sword, so the cultists demanded to examine the weapon and compare it to the wounds. As we were led to scene, Sandi spotted Jamna hiding her own short sword. An argument ensued as to whether the wounds were inflicted with Sandi's weapon or the hidden weapon. Ultimately, the suspected Thayan took charge and told everyone to back down so we could get the caravan moving again.
Then, on day 53, Jamna interrupted us while we were eating, pulling an object out of Sandi's porridge. She claimed that the cultists had put it in there, and that after being ingested it would expand, revealing hooks and spikes that would tear the eater's insides apart. Alek spotted one lie; Jamna had planted it herself to claim she had saved one of our lives. Despite some hard bargaining, she remained silent about who she worked for. Alek made some guesses, and Zhentarim seemed to be the correct one. Ultimately, I let her know that the wagons were filled with treasure meant for the dragon queen and bound for Castle Naerytar.
On day 57, there was a ruckus at the back of the caravan. We investigated, and found that their guards were dead or injured and poisoned. Spiders and spider-like humanoids had attacked and stolen the horses and fled into the nearby woods. We tracked them do a pit and fought two ettercaps and six wolf spiders. Corrin used his newly minted monk abilities to move around the battlefield and gain extra attacks by spending ki points. This time I was able to use protection from poison on Thok, making sure the spider poison didn't take him out while he was tanking. Sandi also managed to finish the fight with a bang, rolling a critical and scoring 36 damage against an already injured ettercap, bringing it to -22 hit points.
Ultimately, Thok and Lakeo were able to get jobs as guards on those rear wagons, and managed to earn a little money from the journey. We got to Waterdeep.
We had one last round "Get to Know You," for an extra 500 experience. It was rather tense; the group needed to score three of six successes on Charisma rolls. The first three were failures, but Alek, Thok, and Censura came through in a clinch.
Sandi and Alek had reached level 5 from the experience for that session.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
The Journey Continues
We had last left our heroes on day 28 of a 60 day journey. We reached the next way point on our journey: the town near the ruins of Dragonspear Castle on 29 with no further incidents. It was a cold and rainy night, and all the inns in Dragonspear were full. I did some information gathering (in this case, a straight Charisma check), and learned that the Way Inn, further up the road would have vacancies.
We traveled out to the Way Inn, and found the tap room empty except for a lord and three dilettantes. According to the Innkeeper and Barkeeper, these four had booked out all the rooms and the stables for the night. We tried, unsuccessfully, to bargain with them for rooms for the travelers and stable space for the horses. When bargains and intimidation failed, we tried a little violence. The first round revealed that they were wielding poisoned weapons, which added a little extra damage, but nothing unmanageable.
The second round, however, they revealed that they had much more potent poisons on their weapons, and more than enough hit points to soak up a round of focused attacks. We ended up having to retreat. While Thok, Alek, and Corrin opted for peaceful retreat, Sandi and Lokeo took pot shots before running. Ultimately, the whole thing cost us 900 gold to get Censura's and Corrin's unconscious forms out of there. Sandi and Lokeo have, of course, committed the sin of angering the healer and the tank.
Ultimately, two horses died in the freezing rain without proper shelter that night, while the "dilettantes" with poisoned weapons jibed at us. They were actually 4 assassins, CR 8 NPCs. This turned out to be an unwinnable scenario, something I dislike in the extreme (probably because I feel I get enough of that in my real life without the need for it in the games I use to entertain myself), so I kind of had a sour taste in my mouth the rest of the night.
We started the fourth Tenday of travel with another round of DJ's Getting to Know You mini-game. This time, rather than roll, we would pick one of our background details: Personality Traits, Ideal, Bond, or Flaw, and use that to describe our interaction with one of the NPCs. Sean and Reese had yet to fill these in for Corrin and Lokeo, so the rest of us interacted with the NPCs while they worked out those details. We learned that Tyjit fights with a pair of daggers and hates bullies. We were unable to learn more about Oyn when Sandi tried to turn him against his new arguing partner, Censura. Thok shared a story about otyugh's (like non-aquatic versions of dianogas (the tentacle monster from the trash compactor in Star Wars)) with Leda Widris, one of the guards on the second wagons, who proved to be honest and courageous. Orvustia Esseren, another guard on the second wagon, was raised on a farm, too, and that this was her first adventure. I ended up talking to Edhelri, praising her leadership and while using Alek's ideal: responsibility and following reasonable authority. Rather than learning anything new, she offered me a side quest: find a buyer for her wood in Waterdeep, and I would get a 10% commission on the sale.
Otherwise, the 4th Tenday passed uneventfully. We reached the next settlement on the road, Daggerford, on Day 50. We made a 5th Getting to Know You roll. This one was done as a group Charisma check to learn more about the 7'5" Sulesdeg the Pole. While we did not manage to get him talking, he made an observation for us about a newcomer.
There were two newcomers that joined the caravan at Daggerford, actually. The first was a man dressed in woolen clothes and a hat. Sulesdeg said he spotted tattoos under the man's clothes and mentioned the wizards of Thay. This alleged red wizard was welcomed among the cultists immediately. Thay is ruled by a lich, an undead spellcaster, named Szass Tam, and if they're working with the Cult of the Dragon, that is Bad News.
The other traveler was a gnome woman named Jamna Gleamsilver. She was inquisitive, especially about the cultist wagons. I opted to share information about our suspicions, including the incident with the spilled treasure and the murdered family. I let her know about the corpses and suggested speak with dead, if she could make it available.
The final event involved two of the cultist guards apparently recognizing Lokeo. Lokeo used a spell called friends, which grants him advantage on a Charisma check, but the target becomes hostile towards him at some future time. While Lokeo also used it on his Getting to Know You roll, overall I would say it isn't a very good utility spell for an Eldritch Knight. Detect magic is definitely a better choice. Lokeo won't have to worry about those guards turning, hostile, however. Those two guards were found murdered the next morning.
More mysteries on our journey. Hopefully next time we'll make it to Waterdeep, the City of Splendors.
We traveled out to the Way Inn, and found the tap room empty except for a lord and three dilettantes. According to the Innkeeper and Barkeeper, these four had booked out all the rooms and the stables for the night. We tried, unsuccessfully, to bargain with them for rooms for the travelers and stable space for the horses. When bargains and intimidation failed, we tried a little violence. The first round revealed that they were wielding poisoned weapons, which added a little extra damage, but nothing unmanageable.
The second round, however, they revealed that they had much more potent poisons on their weapons, and more than enough hit points to soak up a round of focused attacks. We ended up having to retreat. While Thok, Alek, and Corrin opted for peaceful retreat, Sandi and Lokeo took pot shots before running. Ultimately, the whole thing cost us 900 gold to get Censura's and Corrin's unconscious forms out of there. Sandi and Lokeo have, of course, committed the sin of angering the healer and the tank.
Ultimately, two horses died in the freezing rain without proper shelter that night, while the "dilettantes" with poisoned weapons jibed at us. They were actually 4 assassins, CR 8 NPCs. This turned out to be an unwinnable scenario, something I dislike in the extreme (probably because I feel I get enough of that in my real life without the need for it in the games I use to entertain myself), so I kind of had a sour taste in my mouth the rest of the night.
We started the fourth Tenday of travel with another round of DJ's Getting to Know You mini-game. This time, rather than roll, we would pick one of our background details: Personality Traits, Ideal, Bond, or Flaw, and use that to describe our interaction with one of the NPCs. Sean and Reese had yet to fill these in for Corrin and Lokeo, so the rest of us interacted with the NPCs while they worked out those details. We learned that Tyjit fights with a pair of daggers and hates bullies. We were unable to learn more about Oyn when Sandi tried to turn him against his new arguing partner, Censura. Thok shared a story about otyugh's (like non-aquatic versions of dianogas (the tentacle monster from the trash compactor in Star Wars)) with Leda Widris, one of the guards on the second wagons, who proved to be honest and courageous. Orvustia Esseren, another guard on the second wagon, was raised on a farm, too, and that this was her first adventure. I ended up talking to Edhelri, praising her leadership and while using Alek's ideal: responsibility and following reasonable authority. Rather than learning anything new, she offered me a side quest: find a buyer for her wood in Waterdeep, and I would get a 10% commission on the sale.
Otherwise, the 4th Tenday passed uneventfully. We reached the next settlement on the road, Daggerford, on Day 50. We made a 5th Getting to Know You roll. This one was done as a group Charisma check to learn more about the 7'5" Sulesdeg the Pole. While we did not manage to get him talking, he made an observation for us about a newcomer.
There were two newcomers that joined the caravan at Daggerford, actually. The first was a man dressed in woolen clothes and a hat. Sulesdeg said he spotted tattoos under the man's clothes and mentioned the wizards of Thay. This alleged red wizard was welcomed among the cultists immediately. Thay is ruled by a lich, an undead spellcaster, named Szass Tam, and if they're working with the Cult of the Dragon, that is Bad News.
The other traveler was a gnome woman named Jamna Gleamsilver. She was inquisitive, especially about the cultist wagons. I opted to share information about our suspicions, including the incident with the spilled treasure and the murdered family. I let her know about the corpses and suggested speak with dead, if she could make it available.
The final event involved two of the cultist guards apparently recognizing Lokeo. Lokeo used a spell called friends, which grants him advantage on a Charisma check, but the target becomes hostile towards him at some future time. While Lokeo also used it on his Getting to Know You roll, overall I would say it isn't a very good utility spell for an Eldritch Knight. Detect magic is definitely a better choice. Lokeo won't have to worry about those guards turning, hostile, however. Those two guards were found murdered the next morning.
More mysteries on our journey. Hopefully next time we'll make it to Waterdeep, the City of Splendors.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
More Role-playing (Continued)!
From where we left off, we continued our journey north. In the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, weeks are called Tendays, and they consist (surprise!) of ten days. Our journey was going to last 60 days, so DJ chose to break up the journey into these weeks.
Two events occurred during the second Tenday. The first happened on day 13, when Beyd's wagon, the third in line, overturned, and its contents spilled out. The cultists quickly had their guards circle the wagon and kept everyone else out. Corrin failed to sneak past the guards, and Censura failed to bargain his way through. Thok, however, was let through to assist with the beer. Fortunately, all of Beyd's kegs of beer made their saving throws and survived the crash. While re-stacking the kegs, Thok managed to spot some of the treasure as the cultists re-packed it.
A small family, a mother and her son, also emerged from the wagon. Beyd had allowed them to ride against the wishes of the Cult. The Cult chased them out. I tended to their wounds and allowed them the use of my horse. Unfortunately, the next morning, they were found dead. Examing the bodies, I found that they had been murdered by poison. I then used gentle repose to preserve the .bodies, hopefully for later use with a speak with dead or a similar spell.
The next event occurred on day 19, as we were rounding the Trollclaws. We came upon a gathering of 200 hundred people led by a trio of priests. They were blocking the road, and were on their knees whipping themselves. We eventually learned that they were followers of Loviatar, the Forgotten Realms god of torture, and they were honoring a high holy day with their actions. They offered us a chance to join them. Ultimately, we bribed them into wallowing in thorn bushes at the roadside instead. D.J. had learned that one of the adventure's writers, Steve Winter, had written this encounter, but it had been edited out of the final draft of the adventure. However, it still has an entry on the random encounter table for the journey. As I've mentioned before, the editing on these adventures books leaves something to be desired. As a Realms fan, I was expecting them to be followers of Ilmater, the god of endurance and suffering. Loviatar worshippers generally fill more of a dominatrix role with Ilmater worshipers more interested in self-flagellation.
As the second Tenday ended, we made another round of "getting to know you" rolls. This time around we learned a bit more about Edhelri, two of the shield dwarves also acting as guards, a rock gnome travelling with us, a lawyer travelling with us, and Werond. Edhelri seems to prefer the company of her animals and her wagon to the company of people, and Werond is secretly a romantic. She regaled Censura with a Romeo-and-Juliet-esque tale that brought them to tears. The rock gnome, Radecere, turns out to like games of chance, and played some with Lokeo. One of the shield dwarves, Eldkin, brags about having made this journey many times and was very nit-picky of supposed mistakes the other travelers were making. The other shield dwarf, Tyjit, is an honest, but temperamental person. Aldor, the lawyer, wouldn't talk to us, but a fellow traveler had learned that he was fleeing a scandal of some sort in Baldur's Gate.
The third Tenday was quiet, with the major event occurring on day 28. A herd of deer was spotted near the wagon train, so we went on a hunting expedition. A large buck was spotted among the deer. A buck with a coat of gold and antlers of platinum. Not surprisingly, some of the hunters wanted to chase down the deer. Sandi, Corrin, and Censura opted to follow them. Sandi suspected that the buck was a powerful fae creature, so they wanted to make sure nothing happened to the other guards or the buck. The buck led the party to a crumbling ruin. There, it turned into a moon elf male with a tiny pair of gold horns. He begged the others to put their weapons away. All but one of the guards did.
A short battle ensued. Corrin used Disarm, an optional action found in the DMG to knock the bow out of the guard's hand. Once he was disarmed, the other guards restrained him. The moon elf explained that he was a noble of a now forgotten kingdom (there are lots of those in Faerun), who was cursed to turn into the stag whenever he left his castle. He was cursed because of the father of the woman he loved did not approve of the union. He was hoping to get to Waterdeep to find a cure for his curse.
While three of the four guards were on board with hiding the game animal made of wealth, the fourth, the one Corrin had to disarm, seemed very shifty about it. He had been spending an awful lot of time with the cultists, too. They disguised the nameless prince (yes, he had even forgotten his name) with a saddle blanket and some ample mud. Alek and Thok were informed of the situation when the party returned, and agreed to help protect the prince on the way to Waterdeep.
Once again, a nearly combat free session in which a great deal of actual plot was covered.
Two events occurred during the second Tenday. The first happened on day 13, when Beyd's wagon, the third in line, overturned, and its contents spilled out. The cultists quickly had their guards circle the wagon and kept everyone else out. Corrin failed to sneak past the guards, and Censura failed to bargain his way through. Thok, however, was let through to assist with the beer. Fortunately, all of Beyd's kegs of beer made their saving throws and survived the crash. While re-stacking the kegs, Thok managed to spot some of the treasure as the cultists re-packed it.
A small family, a mother and her son, also emerged from the wagon. Beyd had allowed them to ride against the wishes of the Cult. The Cult chased them out. I tended to their wounds and allowed them the use of my horse. Unfortunately, the next morning, they were found dead. Examing the bodies, I found that they had been murdered by poison. I then used gentle repose to preserve the .bodies, hopefully for later use with a speak with dead or a similar spell.
The next event occurred on day 19, as we were rounding the Trollclaws. We came upon a gathering of 200 hundred people led by a trio of priests. They were blocking the road, and were on their knees whipping themselves. We eventually learned that they were followers of Loviatar, the Forgotten Realms god of torture, and they were honoring a high holy day with their actions. They offered us a chance to join them. Ultimately, we bribed them into wallowing in thorn bushes at the roadside instead. D.J. had learned that one of the adventure's writers, Steve Winter, had written this encounter, but it had been edited out of the final draft of the adventure. However, it still has an entry on the random encounter table for the journey. As I've mentioned before, the editing on these adventures books leaves something to be desired. As a Realms fan, I was expecting them to be followers of Ilmater, the god of endurance and suffering. Loviatar worshippers generally fill more of a dominatrix role with Ilmater worshipers more interested in self-flagellation.
As the second Tenday ended, we made another round of "getting to know you" rolls. This time around we learned a bit more about Edhelri, two of the shield dwarves also acting as guards, a rock gnome travelling with us, a lawyer travelling with us, and Werond. Edhelri seems to prefer the company of her animals and her wagon to the company of people, and Werond is secretly a romantic. She regaled Censura with a Romeo-and-Juliet-esque tale that brought them to tears. The rock gnome, Radecere, turns out to like games of chance, and played some with Lokeo. One of the shield dwarves, Eldkin, brags about having made this journey many times and was very nit-picky of supposed mistakes the other travelers were making. The other shield dwarf, Tyjit, is an honest, but temperamental person. Aldor, the lawyer, wouldn't talk to us, but a fellow traveler had learned that he was fleeing a scandal of some sort in Baldur's Gate.
The third Tenday was quiet, with the major event occurring on day 28. A herd of deer was spotted near the wagon train, so we went on a hunting expedition. A large buck was spotted among the deer. A buck with a coat of gold and antlers of platinum. Not surprisingly, some of the hunters wanted to chase down the deer. Sandi, Corrin, and Censura opted to follow them. Sandi suspected that the buck was a powerful fae creature, so they wanted to make sure nothing happened to the other guards or the buck. The buck led the party to a crumbling ruin. There, it turned into a moon elf male with a tiny pair of gold horns. He begged the others to put their weapons away. All but one of the guards did.
A short battle ensued. Corrin used Disarm, an optional action found in the DMG to knock the bow out of the guard's hand. Once he was disarmed, the other guards restrained him. The moon elf explained that he was a noble of a now forgotten kingdom (there are lots of those in Faerun), who was cursed to turn into the stag whenever he left his castle. He was cursed because of the father of the woman he loved did not approve of the union. He was hoping to get to Waterdeep to find a cure for his curse.
While three of the four guards were on board with hiding the game animal made of wealth, the fourth, the one Corrin had to disarm, seemed very shifty about it. He had been spending an awful lot of time with the cultists, too. They disguised the nameless prince (yes, he had even forgotten his name) with a saddle blanket and some ample mud. Alek and Thok were informed of the situation when the party returned, and agreed to help protect the prince on the way to Waterdeep.
Once again, a nearly combat free session in which a great deal of actual plot was covered.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
More Role-Playing!
We had some pleasant surprises at the start of the game, Reese was able to return with Lokeo. And Sean had gone through and rebuilt Corrin. Now, instead of being tall for a halfling, he's short for a human. Also, he's Feat human, so he took a couple of feats: Alertness and Dual Wielding. He also changed his archetype to Assassin. Plus, Arannis reached third level, and Ethan chose some new Sorcerer features for him: Metamagic, which uses his Sorcery Points. He chose Twinned Spell, which also a single target spell to affect another target, and Careful Spell, which allows some targets in a spell's area to automatically make a saving throw against its effects. Ethan also settled on Arannis's sorcerous origin: Draconic Bloodline, specifically red dragon.
We picked up where we left off, with the merchants trapped under the over-turned burning wagon. The owner asked us to save his wares from the fire: fine wooden carvings from the elves of Cormyr. Everyone but Corrin and Arannis opted to take chance to rescue items from the fire. This was resolved through Constitution saves. Success meant taking reduced fire damage and saving 20% of the merchant's wares. Everyone but Thok and Alek, the ones with two best Constitution scores, failed.
Then we met the merchants: a moon elf named Noohar Serelim, his deaf and mute brother, Selvek, his teamster Werond Torohar, and their guards Victor and Hugo, aspiring novelists. Later, as we were making our "Getting to know you" rolls, I noticed that Wagon #2 already had a teamster named Werond Torohar. DJ retconned the new comer to be Enom Tobun, a lightfoot halfling male. Despite having ample horses and wagon space, the middle wagons, largely controlled by the dragon cultists, refused to let the newcomers have room. Fortunately, Censura was able to get Oyn to agree to allow them to stow their cargo on his wagon. They stacked it near a large collection of exotic birds that Oyn was hauling. Thok also offered them the use of his horse. Lokeo tried to get payment for a similar service, but his bargaining only scored him a somewhat scorched carving. Censura ended up taking the offer instead.
This concluded with Arannis being offered a job as a night guard to allow for his sunlight sensitivity. Then Edhelri and Oyn, ther merchants that had hired the party, encouraged us to to not skimp on our resources during battles. Edhelri even added the slightly meta comment of "This is not a game!" The remainder of the first Tenday was uneventful, and we took our first round of "getting to know you" with our fellow travelers. We learned more about Edhelri, Oyn, Werond, a traveller named Green Imsa (a human female who is completely green), and Selvek. We learned that Edhelri is hauling exotic wood from the jungles of Chult to be sold in Waterdeep. Oyn likes to have arguing partners, and ended up with Censura as his newest one. Werond is quiet, but very skilled with handling animals. We learned that Imsa was travelling to Waterdeep to ask the wizards there for a cure. And Selvek collects butterflies.
This post is beginning to run a little long. We'll find out what happened over the course of the next Tenday when I return.
We picked up where we left off, with the merchants trapped under the over-turned burning wagon. The owner asked us to save his wares from the fire: fine wooden carvings from the elves of Cormyr. Everyone but Corrin and Arannis opted to take chance to rescue items from the fire. This was resolved through Constitution saves. Success meant taking reduced fire damage and saving 20% of the merchant's wares. Everyone but Thok and Alek, the ones with two best Constitution scores, failed.
Then we met the merchants: a moon elf named Noohar Serelim, his deaf and mute brother, Selvek, his teamster Werond Torohar, and their guards Victor and Hugo, aspiring novelists. Later, as we were making our "Getting to know you" rolls, I noticed that Wagon #2 already had a teamster named Werond Torohar. DJ retconned the new comer to be Enom Tobun, a lightfoot halfling male. Despite having ample horses and wagon space, the middle wagons, largely controlled by the dragon cultists, refused to let the newcomers have room. Fortunately, Censura was able to get Oyn to agree to allow them to stow their cargo on his wagon. They stacked it near a large collection of exotic birds that Oyn was hauling. Thok also offered them the use of his horse. Lokeo tried to get payment for a similar service, but his bargaining only scored him a somewhat scorched carving. Censura ended up taking the offer instead.
This concluded with Arannis being offered a job as a night guard to allow for his sunlight sensitivity. Then Edhelri and Oyn, ther merchants that had hired the party, encouraged us to to not skimp on our resources during battles. Edhelri even added the slightly meta comment of "This is not a game!" The remainder of the first Tenday was uneventful, and we took our first round of "getting to know you" with our fellow travelers. We learned more about Edhelri, Oyn, Werond, a traveller named Green Imsa (a human female who is completely green), and Selvek. We learned that Edhelri is hauling exotic wood from the jungles of Chult to be sold in Waterdeep. Oyn likes to have arguing partners, and ended up with Censura as his newest one. Werond is quiet, but very skilled with handling animals. We learned that Imsa was travelling to Waterdeep to ask the wizards there for a cure. And Selvek collects butterflies.
This post is beginning to run a little long. We'll find out what happened over the course of the next Tenday when I return.
Saturday, January 24, 2015
On the Road Again
We gathered around the table for another session. At this point, Sandi and Alek have both reached fourth level. So it's probably a good time to talk about feats.
In Fifth, Feats are optional. You can take them at levels you would normally gain a bonus to your attributes. Like in 4th, you either add +1 to two ability scores, or +2 to one. More like 3rd, however, you raise ability scores at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level. However, in 5th edition, your scores are capped at 20. In the theoretical world where Alek makes it all the way to 20th, the plan is to raise Wisdom by 2 at 4th and 8th, raise Strength and Dexterity by 1 at 12th, then raise Strength by 2 at 16th and 19th.
You can forego an increase to your ability scores, however, to take a feat. In the book, they are listed as an optional rule. Since the rules for Adventurer's League are mute on them, D.J. opted to allow them. This is a decision he should have made earlier, since it affects how a human character is built. Since I did not feel like rebuilding Alek, I opted not to use feats.
Sandi has chosen a Feat called Sharpshooter. It provides a rather hefty list of benefits. First, he no longer has disadvantage on ranged attack rolls at long range. Second, he ignores half cover and three quarters cover on ranged attacks. And last, but not least, he can choose to take a -5 on his attack roll in exchange for +10 to damage. While many feats also increase an ability score by +1, Sharpshooter does not.
Joseph is planning on taking a Feat for Thok at 4th level, as is Sean for Corrin. Sandi has had the Feat for a few sessions now, and it has drastically altered his play. Since he ignores cover and long range penalties, there is almost no need for him to reposition in a battle. While I can't really say whether or not this counts as broken, I can say that it changes the dynamic.
D.J. started us off by giving us a hand out with a list of the other NPCs in the wagons with us and gave us a side quest to learn about the NPCs we would be travelling with. As this will be a 60 day journey, the distraction will be welcome, and it will give us some opportunity to some role-playing and creativity.
We then met with the merchants to discuss the planned travel route: along the Coast Way through the Fields of the Dead and the Trollclaws and over the Winding Water to the ruins of Dragonspear Castle, where the Coast Way meets the Trade Way. Then we would follow the Trade Way past the Troll Hills and Trollbark and Misty Forests to Daggerford. Then, after Daggerford, up to the Dessarin River and on to Waterdeep.
While Corrin was on his way to meet back up with us, he encountered a wandering old herbalist who sold him "healing potions" for a deep discount. The seller claimed they were all natural. But whether or not the work as advertised has yet to be seen.
The first day was uneventful, but that night a group of "adventurers" wandered into camp and put on a theatrical display. This ended with Alek had Thok being fired. Thinking something was amiss, I questioned these "adventurers," and found that they were taking credit for our triumphs back at Greenest. Worse, they were not very good liars and had done no research. I took this evidence back to the merchant that hired us, Edheiri, but failed to convince her. I ended up biding my time until the "adventurers" revealed their true colors. I didn't have to wait to long.
In the mean times, Thok befriended the merchant in another wagon, a seller of wine and beer named Beyd. Thok decided to help Beyd ply his wares among the other members of the wagon train.
By day 4, we had reached the Fields of the Dead, and Sandi warned people that it wasn't safe to light fires at night.
On day 5, we came across an overturned freight wagon. The wagon was on fire and surrounded by hobgoblins. This was our big fight for the session.
At this point, those "adventurers," which turned out to be a troupe of actors, turned tail and ran. Edheiri ended up needing our services again. Ever the negotiator, Alek got his job back, with pay missed, a 20% raise, Thok's job back, and a position for Corrin. But not for Sandi (sorry, Sandi).
The hobgoblins ended up being among the first hard targets we've encountered, with the troops having ACs of 18 (using chain mail and shields), and the captain having a 17 (wearing half plate and with a bonus to AC from Dex). The Captain used an ability called Leadership that allowed its troops to add d4s to their attack rolls and saving throws. While an effective booster, it wasn't nearly as effective as Pack Tactics. My current thought on Pack Tactic, when I run a game, it to errata it to only apply to melee attacks. Aside from kobolds, most other monsters that have it only have melee attacks anyway, and I think it holds better with the spirit of the feature.
Once we had cleared the hobgoblins, it was time to end the session. Next time, we'll meet the unlucky travelers that had been hiding under that wagon.
In Fifth, Feats are optional. You can take them at levels you would normally gain a bonus to your attributes. Like in 4th, you either add +1 to two ability scores, or +2 to one. More like 3rd, however, you raise ability scores at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level. However, in 5th edition, your scores are capped at 20. In the theoretical world where Alek makes it all the way to 20th, the plan is to raise Wisdom by 2 at 4th and 8th, raise Strength and Dexterity by 1 at 12th, then raise Strength by 2 at 16th and 19th.
You can forego an increase to your ability scores, however, to take a feat. In the book, they are listed as an optional rule. Since the rules for Adventurer's League are mute on them, D.J. opted to allow them. This is a decision he should have made earlier, since it affects how a human character is built. Since I did not feel like rebuilding Alek, I opted not to use feats.
Sandi has chosen a Feat called Sharpshooter. It provides a rather hefty list of benefits. First, he no longer has disadvantage on ranged attack rolls at long range. Second, he ignores half cover and three quarters cover on ranged attacks. And last, but not least, he can choose to take a -5 on his attack roll in exchange for +10 to damage. While many feats also increase an ability score by +1, Sharpshooter does not.
Joseph is planning on taking a Feat for Thok at 4th level, as is Sean for Corrin. Sandi has had the Feat for a few sessions now, and it has drastically altered his play. Since he ignores cover and long range penalties, there is almost no need for him to reposition in a battle. While I can't really say whether or not this counts as broken, I can say that it changes the dynamic.
D.J. started us off by giving us a hand out with a list of the other NPCs in the wagons with us and gave us a side quest to learn about the NPCs we would be travelling with. As this will be a 60 day journey, the distraction will be welcome, and it will give us some opportunity to some role-playing and creativity.
We then met with the merchants to discuss the planned travel route: along the Coast Way through the Fields of the Dead and the Trollclaws and over the Winding Water to the ruins of Dragonspear Castle, where the Coast Way meets the Trade Way. Then we would follow the Trade Way past the Troll Hills and Trollbark and Misty Forests to Daggerford. Then, after Daggerford, up to the Dessarin River and on to Waterdeep.
While Corrin was on his way to meet back up with us, he encountered a wandering old herbalist who sold him "healing potions" for a deep discount. The seller claimed they were all natural. But whether or not the work as advertised has yet to be seen.
The first day was uneventful, but that night a group of "adventurers" wandered into camp and put on a theatrical display. This ended with Alek had Thok being fired. Thinking something was amiss, I questioned these "adventurers," and found that they were taking credit for our triumphs back at Greenest. Worse, they were not very good liars and had done no research. I took this evidence back to the merchant that hired us, Edheiri, but failed to convince her. I ended up biding my time until the "adventurers" revealed their true colors. I didn't have to wait to long.
In the mean times, Thok befriended the merchant in another wagon, a seller of wine and beer named Beyd. Thok decided to help Beyd ply his wares among the other members of the wagon train.
By day 4, we had reached the Fields of the Dead, and Sandi warned people that it wasn't safe to light fires at night.
On day 5, we came across an overturned freight wagon. The wagon was on fire and surrounded by hobgoblins. This was our big fight for the session.
At this point, those "adventurers," which turned out to be a troupe of actors, turned tail and ran. Edheiri ended up needing our services again. Ever the negotiator, Alek got his job back, with pay missed, a 20% raise, Thok's job back, and a position for Corrin. But not for Sandi (sorry, Sandi).
The hobgoblins ended up being among the first hard targets we've encountered, with the troops having ACs of 18 (using chain mail and shields), and the captain having a 17 (wearing half plate and with a bonus to AC from Dex). The Captain used an ability called Leadership that allowed its troops to add d4s to their attack rolls and saving throws. While an effective booster, it wasn't nearly as effective as Pack Tactics. My current thought on Pack Tactic, when I run a game, it to errata it to only apply to melee attacks. Aside from kobolds, most other monsters that have it only have melee attacks anyway, and I think it holds better with the spirit of the feature.
Once we had cleared the hobgoblins, it was time to end the session. Next time, we'll meet the unlucky travelers that had been hiding under that wagon.
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