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Session 1
June 22, 2008
The adventure starts out in Greenvale, where all of the characters have found themselves (check the pages in the 'characters' section for their back stories). Life in Greenvale is quiet and easy going with not too much excitement. One of the bigger events is when the caravans come through every three to four months. They travel up from Laric's Gate, stopping at Greenvale, and then continuing North to other places. Then in a few months they stop again when coming down the river and returning to Laric's Gate. Because of this regularity of the caravan visits, many of the merchants and guards are known to the people of Greenvale. Often the town turns out to meet the caravans and greet their friends as well as find out what exotic goods they have from the South.
One a nice sunny day in late Spring, that caravans coming from the South are spotted. As usual, the townsfolk gather to greet the merchants, but quickly it is noticed that something is wrong. The wagons approach slowly and there are noticeably less people aboard. The caravan master nearly collapses as they arrive and relays his tale. Goblins attacked them, throwing nets and capturing merchants and guards alike. Netted victims were immediately dragged off in to the woods, while other goblins fought. After a few of the green skins were killed, they fled, but they had already done their damage. Most unusual about the attack, the caravan master says, is that they never once tried to steal the goods. It was only people they were after.
Dillingham steps up and addresses the crowd. We must get these people back. Goblins take slaves so chances are they're still alive if we hurry!
Of course this is where the PCs (only Ugnar and Gumba really know each other) step forward and volunteer to go after the goblins. The caravan master offers them 200 gold for doing so, knowing they are worth more but it's all he has. Also, he tells Ugnar that his son, Finnley, was captain of the guard and also taken. Ugnar, like most people native Greenvale know Finnley and his father from their frequent visits.
Off they go to find the goblins and rescue the merchants. They follow the caravan path back to the bridge (Paddon's Crossing - an old stone bridge crossing the river) and find the scene of the attack, just on the other side. A few guards lay dead along with a few goblins and that seems to be all. They gather the bodies of the fallen caravan guards and Ugnar prepares to perform last rites for them (Gentle Repose ritual - house rule was made that giving these 'last rights' to 3 nobody/story fodder npc corpses would only take the time and resources of casting the ritual once. Good roleplaying to do it and they don't have to worry that it'll take them 3 hours to get back on the goblins' trail). Gumba helps Ugnar prepare the bodies and set up for the ritual, while Auronn and Evan examine the area. Of course, this is when the goblins attacked. Gumba was the only PC surprised by the ambush, as he was busy helping Ugnar (and had to use his passive perception score).
The first 4e combat got off to a crazy start. Eight goblins attack and the Warlock and Wizard are on the front lines, since they were closest due to Ugnar and Gumba's preparing the bodies for last rights off to the side. Intestingly the four minions go down first as they wind up being the first ones targeted. The goblin warriors throw javelins, using their 'good position' power to due extra damage. Ugnar and Gumba step up to the front lines and the battle rages. Everyone is getting used to using their powers and while the battle is tough, they get through it with flying colors. It was agreed that the cleric is essential to party survival. Gumba (named/modeled after his 3.5 character of the same name) fails to live up to his namesake's legacy. The original Gumba was known for rolling several criticals in just about every single encounter.... this new Gumba, not even close with the dice rolls (however, he was using his wife's dice and not his own).
After the combat, the last rites are finally performed they easily pick up the trails of the netted victims who were dragged through the woods. It doesn't take long before they come along a short cliff and see (and smell) the goblin cave up ahead. Fortunately, they notice a concealed entrance as they pass it, about fify feet from the cave mouth. The Dwarf Fighter goes first as they enter the narrow tunnel, and while scale mail does not have an armor check penalty, the Dwarf's complaints and explanation to the party of what he's going to do to the goblins ruins any chance of surprise. They find the tunnel lets out in to a guard room and there is no surprise round. A goblin sharpshooter sits in the back, while some goblin minions, a few giant rats, and pair of dire rats wait. Combat ensues and I have to say it was one of our more interesting battles in a long time. 4e is definitely better for making interesting combats, and even with the learning curve of this being only our second battle things went very smoothly.
Okay, I just lied a bit there.... it did not go smoothly for the PCs. Dire rats are TOUGH. The sharpshooter is hanging back riddling them with hand crossbow shots while the minions are supporting the dire rats and keeping the party pretty much pinned. Evan drops a sleep spell to open things up a bit. The sharpshooter and a dire rat make their saves, the other start to slumper. Gumba moves in after the sharpshooter who keeps backing up and Auronn moves in via his cool warlock ability that lets him shift when guys he curses drop to 0 or less hp. A cou de grace attack on a slumbering dire rat only seems to wake it up and make it angry, while one goblin in particular sleeps soundly for the better part of five rounds. Gumba winds up heading down a hallway as he and the sharpshooter keep shifting back and they find that other guards heard the melee and show up with their giant rat friends. It's a narrow hallway and they hang back waiting for the isolated Dwarf. Why is he isolated all of a sudden? Well, Evan has a goblin and giant rat attack him from behind in the tunnel (the guards at the cave mouth came to attack from the back) and I say again, DIRE RATS ARE TOUGH. Ugnar and Auronn battle this thing (with a lot of misses) for a while.
The sharpshooter falls and a giant rat engages Gumba while one of the warriors runs off yelling for more guards. Evan, having cast comprehend languages earlier understands the goblin's shouts and detects a level of laughter in its voice. Not good. Meanwhile the other goblin warrior behind the rats facing Gumba starts to smash some rickety wooden chairs. Back in the guard room, Evan defeats his attackers, the last dire rat finally drops, and when the goblin who ran for help returns with a torch.... we stopped for the night.
Good things
Meh things
That's all for now. Let's see what happens next week......
Players present:*
- Auronn - Half Elf Warlock (played by xmanowarx)
- Ugnar - Minotaur Cleric of Kord/Pelor (also played by xmanowarx)
- Gumba - Dwarf Fighter (played by dumdragon)
- Evan - Human Wizard (also played by dumdragon)
* note - Due to real life obligations we only had two of our regular players available and so they each played two characters. As this was our first 4e game/session they (wisely) sought to have a balanced party with all roles represented. Next session should have our full group.
The adventure starts out in Greenvale, where all of the characters have found themselves (check the pages in the 'characters' section for their back stories). Life in Greenvale is quiet and easy going with not too much excitement. One of the bigger events is when the caravans come through every three to four months. They travel up from Laric's Gate, stopping at Greenvale, and then continuing North to other places. Then in a few months they stop again when coming down the river and returning to Laric's Gate. Because of this regularity of the caravan visits, many of the merchants and guards are known to the people of Greenvale. Often the town turns out to meet the caravans and greet their friends as well as find out what exotic goods they have from the South.
One a nice sunny day in late Spring, that caravans coming from the South are spotted. As usual, the townsfolk gather to greet the merchants, but quickly it is noticed that something is wrong. The wagons approach slowly and there are noticeably less people aboard. The caravan master nearly collapses as they arrive and relays his tale. Goblins attacked them, throwing nets and capturing merchants and guards alike. Netted victims were immediately dragged off in to the woods, while other goblins fought. After a few of the green skins were killed, they fled, but they had already done their damage. Most unusual about the attack, the caravan master says, is that they never once tried to steal the goods. It was only people they were after.
Dillingham steps up and addresses the crowd. We must get these people back. Goblins take slaves so chances are they're still alive if we hurry!
Of course this is where the PCs (only Ugnar and Gumba really know each other) step forward and volunteer to go after the goblins. The caravan master offers them 200 gold for doing so, knowing they are worth more but it's all he has. Also, he tells Ugnar that his son, Finnley, was captain of the guard and also taken. Ugnar, like most people native Greenvale know Finnley and his father from their frequent visits.
Off they go to find the goblins and rescue the merchants. They follow the caravan path back to the bridge (Paddon's Crossing - an old stone bridge crossing the river) and find the scene of the attack, just on the other side. A few guards lay dead along with a few goblins and that seems to be all. They gather the bodies of the fallen caravan guards and Ugnar prepares to perform last rites for them (Gentle Repose ritual - house rule was made that giving these 'last rights' to 3 nobody/story fodder npc corpses would only take the time and resources of casting the ritual once. Good roleplaying to do it and they don't have to worry that it'll take them 3 hours to get back on the goblins' trail). Gumba helps Ugnar prepare the bodies and set up for the ritual, while Auronn and Evan examine the area. Of course, this is when the goblins attacked. Gumba was the only PC surprised by the ambush, as he was busy helping Ugnar (and had to use his passive perception score).
The first 4e combat got off to a crazy start. Eight goblins attack and the Warlock and Wizard are on the front lines, since they were closest due to Ugnar and Gumba's preparing the bodies for last rights off to the side. Intestingly the four minions go down first as they wind up being the first ones targeted. The goblin warriors throw javelins, using their 'good position' power to due extra damage. Ugnar and Gumba step up to the front lines and the battle rages. Everyone is getting used to using their powers and while the battle is tough, they get through it with flying colors. It was agreed that the cleric is essential to party survival. Gumba (named/modeled after his 3.5 character of the same name) fails to live up to his namesake's legacy. The original Gumba was known for rolling several criticals in just about every single encounter.... this new Gumba, not even close with the dice rolls (however, he was using his wife's dice and not his own).
After the combat, the last rites are finally performed they easily pick up the trails of the netted victims who were dragged through the woods. It doesn't take long before they come along a short cliff and see (and smell) the goblin cave up ahead. Fortunately, they notice a concealed entrance as they pass it, about fify feet from the cave mouth. The Dwarf Fighter goes first as they enter the narrow tunnel, and while scale mail does not have an armor check penalty, the Dwarf's complaints and explanation to the party of what he's going to do to the goblins ruins any chance of surprise. They find the tunnel lets out in to a guard room and there is no surprise round. A goblin sharpshooter sits in the back, while some goblin minions, a few giant rats, and pair of dire rats wait. Combat ensues and I have to say it was one of our more interesting battles in a long time. 4e is definitely better for making interesting combats, and even with the learning curve of this being only our second battle things went very smoothly.
Okay, I just lied a bit there.... it did not go smoothly for the PCs. Dire rats are TOUGH. The sharpshooter is hanging back riddling them with hand crossbow shots while the minions are supporting the dire rats and keeping the party pretty much pinned. Evan drops a sleep spell to open things up a bit. The sharpshooter and a dire rat make their saves, the other start to slumper. Gumba moves in after the sharpshooter who keeps backing up and Auronn moves in via his cool warlock ability that lets him shift when guys he curses drop to 0 or less hp. A cou de grace attack on a slumbering dire rat only seems to wake it up and make it angry, while one goblin in particular sleeps soundly for the better part of five rounds. Gumba winds up heading down a hallway as he and the sharpshooter keep shifting back and they find that other guards heard the melee and show up with their giant rat friends. It's a narrow hallway and they hang back waiting for the isolated Dwarf. Why is he isolated all of a sudden? Well, Evan has a goblin and giant rat attack him from behind in the tunnel (the guards at the cave mouth came to attack from the back) and I say again, DIRE RATS ARE TOUGH. Ugnar and Auronn battle this thing (with a lot of misses) for a while.
The sharpshooter falls and a giant rat engages Gumba while one of the warriors runs off yelling for more guards. Evan, having cast comprehend languages earlier understands the goblin's shouts and detects a level of laughter in its voice. Not good. Meanwhile the other goblin warrior behind the rats facing Gumba starts to smash some rickety wooden chairs. Back in the guard room, Evan defeats his attackers, the last dire rat finally drops, and when the goblin who ran for help returns with a torch.... we stopped for the night.
Good things
- 4e combat is fun. The combats take a lot longer (turn-wise) but they go a lot smoother - and that's with the learning curve.
- Combat is fun. So much so, that it warranted mentioning again.
- Wizard was a contributor through out the entire combat in both encounters, and that's without relying constantly on magic missle
Meh things
- Saving throws seem to be easy to make, but then again there is at least some effect from the spell (ie: the sleep spell slows the targets first and then they save to not fall asleep. They get a save each turn to wake up, but over all the spell certainly helped the PCs out).
- Standing from prone does not seem to provoke an opportunity attack. Need to read more on that.
- I'm not impressed (but not too bothered by) the armor of 4e. I don't think it needed to be changed, but it doesn't seem too bad either. Guess it'll just take some time getting used to a limited armor selection (and the prices being so low. Plate used to cost around 1500 GP, now it's actually affordable).
Crunch of the Adventure:
Ambush4 Goblin Cutters (MM 136) and 4 Goblin Warriors (MM 137) XP total: 500 (125 per PC)Goblin Cave
The Guard Room (that they entered from a secret tunnel) 1 Goblin Sharpshooter (MM 137), 3 Goblin Cutters, 4 Giant Rats (MM 219) and 2 Dire Rats (MM 219) XP total: 500 Additional Guards/Re-inforcements (these guys were alerted to the combat and joined in) 2 Goblin Warriors, 4 Giant Rats, as well as the 1 Giant Rat and 1 Goblin Cutter that came in behind the party XP total: 350 (when added to above encounter: 850 !! Not good for the PCs, cause there are more Goblins around the corner and they aren't going to be very friendly).
That's all for now. Let's see what happens next week......
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