You are currently browsing the daily archive for March 18th, 2009.
I was at work, and received an email from my wife stating the following:
“Oh, btw, your PHB2 came in today!”
I could barely think the rest of the day. I now hold it in my hands, and will be talking about it in the coming days. Hooray!
We got the group together for the game the other night, and I must say, it was a great one.
To begin, behind my GM screen, where normally you’d find adventure material, pencils, most of the 4e rulebooks, as well as my dice and wet-erase markers, instead was empty, save for my dice and wet-erase markers. That’s right, I winged it.
I knew where in general I wanted to go, but didn’t have anything set in stone. It worked out well for everyone, I think.
The group is currently Enemy #1 in Baldur’s Gate after a misunderstanding with the Town Guard which left three town guardsmen dead, and the heroes on the run. Last session involved leaping across rooftops while the town guard played target practice on the heroes with their crossbows.
This session had the heroes discover more of the deepening plot. The Servants of Mystra, an order of mages who still worship the dead goddess, have noted that one of their own went rogue a short while ago, and they believe him to be awakening the Ancient Guardians, enormous stone beings who have been in slumber for the past thousand years. The mages advised the heroes to venture to Candlekeep where they may find answers.
Instead of venturing down the road around the Cloak Wood, however, they decided to go through the wood, even though there’s been rumor of strange disappearances.
While the Water Genasi Infernal Warlock took up first watch, the Sword Coast Pirate and his pet Pseudodragon went off patrolling into the darkness. To add flavor and a little jump moment, I had a cave bear go lumbering through the forest nearby, not looking for a fight, just walking along.
Who knew random encounters could be so fun?
The pirate decided to pick a fight, attacking it outright, which drew the attention of the rest of the group, who ran into the forest to hear what the roaring and shouting was about.
This is where we discovered having THREE Strikers and a Defender in the group was pretty phenomenal.
All three strikers dealt massive amounts of damage, utterly destroying a 6th Level Elite Brute with a party of 2nd level heroes.
The next morning, the heroes arrived in Candlekeep, a massive, sprawling abbey-library, where they were informed that yes, a man in blue robes had been there, and were directed to the building he spent the most amount of time in. Once there, however, one of the buildings on the far end of the complex was on fire, leaving the heroes alone as the librarians rushed to put it out.
Whereas I expected them to pilfer and read over the books on their own, they instead decided to leave and go help. But off in the woods they noticed some men in black cloaks sneaking up on the building they had just been in. The fire was a distraction. The heroes leapt into action, blocking the door and threatening the men if they came any closer.
And… Scene!
It was a pretty great adventure, which got the heroes bumped up to 3rd level, and left a feeling of accomplishment. I too felt very accomplished and happy with the results.
Though I never intended the heroes to necessarily fight the bear, I decided that if they were rash enough to fight one, they were going to have to deal with whatever happened. I just didn’t realize how badly that bear was going to get owned.
