M.A.G.U.S. - The spider farm (2)

Introduction

The adventurers obviously hadn't come up with a usable plan to neutralize the attackers, so they decided to postpone the issue. First, they scouted the farm facilities using the psi powers of the knight, and decided to go treasure hunting instead of fighting. In Ulayah's bedchamber, under the bed, they found the buried profits of the spider farm. And yes, it's totally fine to start digging in an abandoned house in the middle of an enemy compound.

Battle... slaughter...

The knight and the barbarian were digging, while the assassin hid in the entrance room. Soon enough, a couple of armed men came over. It looked like Ulayah finally broke to the torture, and spilled his secrets. The adventurers successfully cornered the bandits.

The knight discovered how to effectively use an invisibility spell. I, on the other hand, had employed lots of armed opponents, and compensated for their number by making them relatively untrained, undisciplined thieves instead of hardened soldiers. The invisible knight thus proceeded to slaughter a bunch of unprepared, helpless men.

Shamil decided to drink an invincibility potion bought from an old gypsy woman. Mild side effects included the inability to speak. Any attempt to do so made bubbles burst from his mouth.

Invisible or invincible, the adventurers easily muscled their way through the attackers. None of them escaped, but the sounds of the fighting were soon heard in the courtyard...

And the adventurers were confronted by the full band of killers!

Of course, it barely took a couple of turns for them to see their own helplessness. They turned around, screaming wildly, and ran away. The boss tried to salvage the situation by keeping Heri as hostage... but that was no obstacle for the invisible knight!

He chopped off the arm holding a dagger. Just in time for the enraged barbarian to get there, and pulverize the remains of the man.

Besides the thieves who had ran away, there was a single survivor - a warlock captured during the first confrontation, in the living room. Shamil started torturing him. His defiance cost the captive his left arm, and soon he revealed all he knew about the situation - he was in the employ of the foreign thieves' guild known as the Cobras, and they tried to gain control of the spider farm. The adventurers let him escape, so as to deliver a message to his masters about the invincibility of their opponents.

Conclusion

After all that action, the adventurers were quick to turn the events in their favor. They kept the treasure, and let Ulayah believe that it was taken by the attackers. The cornered entrepreneur was then easily convinced to abandon his principles, and join whatever organisation offered him and his daughter protection. 

M.A.G.U.S. - Az oriaspokfarm (2)

Why is this post not in English?

Bevezető

A kalandozóknak természetesen nem volt épkézláb tervük a támadók semlegesítésére, úgyhogy megpróbálták elodázni a dolgot. Felderítették a farm épületeit (abszolút látás nagyon hasznos), majd úgy döntöttek, hogy támadás helyett inkább kincset keresnek. Ulayah hálószobájában ugyanis, az ágy alatt volt elásva a pókfarm eddigi profitja. És igen, ez volt a legésszerűbbnek tűnő ötlet: ellenséges tábor közepén belopakodni egy elhagyatott házba, és nekifogni ásni...

Csata a lakóházban

Miközben a barbár és a lovag ásott, Shamil megbújt az első szobában, és várt. Hamarosan jött is néhány fegyveres - úgy látszott, Ulayah megtört a kínzás közepette, és elárulta a titkait. A kalandozók sikeresen közrefogták őket.

A lovag rájött, hogy képes hatékonyan használni láthatatlanságát. Tekintve, hogy sok fegyverest vetettem be, relatív képzetlen, fegyelmezetlen tolvajgárdát állítottam össze tapasztalt katonák helyett. Az eredmény egy valóságos vérfürdő lett, ahogy a láthatatlan lovag állandóan meglepett, felkészületlen, tehetetlen ellenfelek egész sorát mészárolta le.
Shamil felhajtotta egy cigányasszonytól vásárolt sebezhetetlenség italát. A mellékhatást könnyen megúszta, bár egy ideig nem volt képes beszélni: olyankor buborékok ömlöttek ki a száján.

A kalandozók könnyedén áttörték magukat az ellenfeleken. Egyikük sem szabadult meg, ám az udvaron észrevehették a zajt...

Csata az udvaron

És a teljes megszállócsapat felvonult!

Persze néhány kör alatt felismerték saját tehetetlenségüket, és sarkon fordulva, rémülten üvöltözve futottak meg. A főnökük megpróbált kilábolni a helyzetből, és túszként maga előtt tolta Herit. Persze láthatatlan lovagnak ez nem akadály...

A tagnak könyökből lecsapta a tőrt tartó kezét. Éppen idejében, mert a harci lázban dühöngő barbár odaért, és porrá zúzta a teste maradékát,

A megfutamodott tolvajokon kívül egyetlen támadó élte túl a csatát - a boszorkánymester, akit még a lakóházban ütött ki a lovag. Shamil persze kezelésbe vette. Rövid kínzás után (ami a dühös fogolynak a bal kezébe került) sikerült kihúzni belőle, hogy a toroni kobrák alkalmazottai, akik szintén megpróbálták rátenni kezüket a pókfarmra. A kalandozók végül elengedték, hogy diadaluknak hírét vigye alkalmazóinak.

Végkifejlet

Akciódús este volt, és a kalandozók minden történést hasznukra fordítottak. A talált kincset megtartották - Ulayah hadd éljen abban a hitben, hogy a támadók rabolták el. A megszorult vállalkozót ezek után arra is könnyű volt rábeszélni, hogy minden elvét feladva, a lehető legkedvezőbb feltételek mellett álljon tetszőleges szervezet szolgálatába.

Imperials vs Rebels, 17.01.2017

Points limit:  100 points

Lists:

Imperials (100 points):

• Darth Vader, crack shot, stealth device, advanced homing missiles
• Howlrunner, crack shot
• 3x Black Squadron Pilot, crack shot

The plan was to have a straight jousting match, with enough firepower (with rerolls and discarding the enemy's dodges) to destroy a couple of ships on the first turn, then roll with whatever I can get.

Rebels (100 points):

• VCX-100: · "Chopper" (37) Enhanced Scopes (1) Anti Pursuit Laser (2) · "Zeb" Orrelios (1) 
• Y-Wing: Gold Squadron Pilot (18) Twin Laser Turret (6) · R3-A2 (2) BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0) 
• YT-2400: · Eaden Vrill (32) Smuggling Compartment (0) Black Market Slicer Tools (1)

A few large ships - exactly what I was unprepared for. The list, dubbed "the Stressinator" due to the signature Y-Wing build called "the Stressbot", was based on provoking as much stress in the enemy craft as possible, then getting bonuses because of it.

Deployment

I deployed tight, for the upcoming straight-up shooting. The enemy ships, slow but maneuverable, deployed sideways and started off with slight turns, so as to move the least possible distance in the first turn.

Turn 1

I moved up 2, while the enemy ships maneuvered into starting position.

Turn 2

We got into maximum weapons range and a few shots were fired, to no effect.

Turn 3

And then it got ugly. Real fast. I was blocked in by the huge ships, couldn't do any actions - the lifeblood of the small, agile Tie craft. The missiles on Darth Vader were useless, with no target lock to fire them.

Concentrated fire blew Howlrunner out of the sky. I concentrated all my firepower on the huge ship blocking me, and it took a lot of hits - but it had enough shields and hull points to soak it up.

Turn 4

I tried to escape, but only one ship made it out of firing arc. In the mean time, you can see the stress in actin, with already 4 tokens on Darth Vader.

Then all ships concentrated on Vader, with double turret shots from the Y-wing getting plenty bonuses from the stress, and he was gone.

And that's game

I managed to break through, losing one more ship.

And then I had a single Tie Fighter remaining, chasing down the brick. The enemy ships couldn't maneuver fast enough, and I ran it down, destroying it. Then conceded.

Eh, it was still fun.

Boss fight

Introduction

After last session's filler, the party - now with all members - went ahead to face the head of the evil cult.

Antechamber

The party entered a large, cavernous hall. On the large sacrificial altar on the far end (hidden beneath a character sheet), the corpses of several villagers. Blood flowed everywhere, landing in a gutter.

The adventurers were attacked by a mixed band of berserkers, shadow priests, vampire spawn and a shadowy figure. The clay golem, escaped from the last encounter, was also there.

Boss fight

After a tough fight, the adventurers descended into the gutter on rough iron chains, and landed in a puddle of blood. They were greeted by a gruesome sight.

Besides the undead moving in to attack them, a half-zombified woman - obviously a spellcaster - sat muttering at the altar, praying to Orcus, Demon Prince of the Undead. The magical circle in front of the portal glowed ominously. A dark shape was testing the limits of the portal - from the other side.

DM's note. This encounter was originally designed to be tough, but not very memorable. I changed that, by lowering the overall stats of the boss, but introducing a custom element. Upon landing, the adventurers each experienced hallucinations. Each of them was thrown back into a great moment of distress.

The rogue found himself accosted by city guard while exiting a brothel. He tried to bluff his way out of a fine, but the guards - in reality, the skeletons - assaulted him, with little chance of fighting back.

The wizard awoke in the dimensional prison, demons bearing down on her. She tried disbelieving it - gnomish traits to the rescue!

The druid was watching poachers in her native forest, and decided to attack - unwillingly striking the shaman.

The shaman was in his native village the night it was attacked by shadow. He saw his friends and family rise up as undead and claw at him - bearing the brunt of the druid's attack.

The paladin was tortured in a dungeon. He broke down and cried.

I took full advantage of the hapless state of the adventurers. When the hallucinations faded - slowly, due to bad rolling - the party was at last free to strike back. They were held back some by the thing in the portal, trying to catch and pull them in, but in the end, they managed to strike down the caster.

Enraged by the failure of his pawn, Orcus reached out from the portal to grab the woman, dragging her to an eternity of torture.

Collapse

The portal's magic exploded, causing an earthquake. The ruins began collapsing. Obviously, instead of running for safety, the adventurers decided to look around, looting scrolls and books from the altar. When they finally decided to make a run for it, it was already too late. They ran the gauntlet of falling debris well enough, but couldn't avoid the death of two of them.

Resolution

The adventurers returned to Winterhaven, bearing their dead friends. They spent most of their remaining money on resurrecting them. At the very least they were greeted as heroes, and Lord Padraig kept them well for a couple of days.

We didn't go further that day. After a pause and some research, we decided to expand the party with new players and start a new adventure with the rules for DnD 5th Edition. We established that the original party disbanded, each going their separate way. Of course, any abandoned character becomes the DM's intellectual property...

Dungeon crawl: filler, mopping up the second level

Introduction

Normally, I would have pressed the players to follow the clay golem. However, we were down to 4 players again, and I didn't want anyone to miss the big finale. I let them know that it was coming - and that they should leave it for next session. So they rounded up the surviving monsters on the second level of the dungeon.

Hobgoblin headquarters

At the ongoing sound of battle, the hobgoblin boss decided to barricade himself in his quarters and lay a trap. Needless to say, the party walked right into it. Some quick thinking had them roughly barricade a door with a huge table, so the goblins couldn't pour out immediately. 

The boss put up quite the fight, but was eventually slain and looted.

Corridors of the cube

The party entered neatly sweeped corridors. In a dungeon? That surely forebodes well, right? Cue perception critical roll from the druid and my nefarious plan to surprise them with a gelatinous cube was shattered.

Of course, the room had a backup plan. While the cube was dissolving the paladin, ghouls powered by dark magics got out of their sarcophagi and assaulted the adventurers.

Resolution

Next and final session: boss fight!

Dungeon crawl: pressing on

Introduction

After last session's mopping up, the party returned to exploring the second level of the dungeon.

It's a trap!

DM's note. This room taught me that it's very hard to design good traps. There were some interesting choices in the room - fire spewing dragon statues, a giant knight statue that swung its sword, and a magical water trap that was supposed to drown anybody caught inside. This looked good on paper and I was excited to see what happens. Well, the party blasted the knight statue away, the rogue danced around the dragons for several turns until he managed to hack the mechanisms... and the druid turned into a fish.

A bit of horror

The next room contained a large number of undead (see their discarded corpses down below). The party rummaged through half-chewed corpses and remains to find some magic items.

Resolution

The zombie room also contained a floating clay golem that ran away. The final doors protected a room that just emanated evil! Heads up - boss fight ahead.

Dungeon crawl: mopping up the first floor

Introduction

As any good RPG player knows, no rooms must be left unexplored in a dungeon. When returning to the ruins again, the players decided to explore the remainder of the first floor. This seemed a suitable task, as they were only 4 for this session.

The caverns

The only unexplored entrance was that of a huge, dark cavern. The adventurers immediately noticed movement at the edge of their vision, but nothing came out of the darkness. However, when the party was split when squeezing through some stalactites, the giant rats attacked!

Just when the rats were about to be exterminated... a yellow slime made its way from the darkness!

The slime way annoying, as it split into multiple smaller slimes when dropped to half health. Still, the adventurers prevailed and found a hidden room with some supplies inside.

The underground lake

From the caverns, the party descended on old stone stairs to the shores of a small, underground lake. They contemplated what to do, and whether they should swim to the small island in the lake, giving ample time for the blue slime to ambush them.

The kruthik lair

There was one more exit from the caverns. The corridors got narrower, and the party soon realized they were party dug by animals. They passed by a pit trap containing some unknown beast. The druid decided to climb down and examine it, revealing it to be a kruthik - a reptile-like, hive minded creature. Surely, that doesn't mean anything for the near future, right?

The creatures appeared suddenly, from barely visible tunnels dug into the walls. They used hit-and-run tactics, as well as shielded the larger creatures by sacrificing smaller ones. 

Ultimately, they were defeated, and the party went ahead to destroy their hive and eggs - to the druid's regret. She did manage to save an egg, though, keeping it for later.

Daemons of Chaos vs Empire, 10.01.2017

Warhammer Fantasy lives again! 

My opponent freshly got into collecting Empire, so I accommodated him by playing an 800 point game. It was, probably, my first ever game where all my miniatures were painted AND I didn't use any proxies! We were both rusty on the rules, so we went for the simplest mission and deployment type.

Deployment: Battleline

Lists:

Daemons of Chaos

• Herald of Slaanesh, lvl 1 wizard (lore of slaanesh), greater locus of swiftness (always strikes first), lesser gift (exchanged for magic weapon of +1 attack)
• 21 Daemonettes, full command
• 5 Flesh Hounds, ambushers
• 5 Chaos Furies, Daemons of Slaanesh
• 5 Seekers (no upgrades)

My Daemonettes were my hammer and anvil, with that 200 point Herald sitting inside the unit providing both buffs and killing power. Everything else was supposed to be chaff.

Empire

• Captain (3+ armor, magic weapon that ignores armor - very useful in this battle)
• Light Wizard, level 2
• 20-ish Halberdiers, full command
• detachment of 10 Handgunners
• detachment of 10 Archers
• 10 State troopers, sword & shield
• 5 Reiksguard, full command

A much more balanced list, providing infantry block, cavalry and ranged capabilities.

Deployment

No proxies on my side, just a unit filler in the Daemonette block. Ahead, we have the wizard all alone; state troopers; halberdiers, with archers in front; handgunners; and invisible Reiksguard knights.

Flesh Hounds coming in as Ambushers, everything else deployed. I also vanguarded the Seekers up the right flank, out of average charge range for the knights.

Daemons of Chaos, turn 1.

I sent the Seekers up the right flank to threaten the back lines. Fast Cavalry is awesome. Other than that, I bided my time, awaiting for the Flesh Hounds to arrive. Magic phase was underwhelming, at 4 dice (-1 ward save to top it off), the enemy wizard dispelled my attempt at a magic missile into the archers.

Empire, turn 1.

The knights took the bait and turned towards the Seekers. Some shots were fired, killing two Furies. I dispelled the enemy magic missile, so nothing else this turn.

Daemons of Chaos, turn 2.

The Flesh Hounds have arrived, so it was time to swing into action! The Seekers marched up, going around the knights, settling just outside their charge arc. I sent up the Furies to get in the way, and followed up with the unit of Daemonettes. 

This time, the magic phase was more successful, and I managed to snipe the enemy wizard. Sadly, I suffered a miscast, and took a wound with the herald.

Empire, turn 2.

The Empire had no good charges to declare, so here's the maneuvering: the knights turned around, keeping things in their front arc. The state troopers turned towards the Flesh Hounds. The archers moved to block the Seekers. Shooting was abysmal, killing only 1 Seeker.

Daemons, turn 3.

Time to declare all the charges! Good thing that Furies can fly, and could clear the way for the Daemonette unit.

I made the mistake of doing the combat with the archers first, thinking to overrun into the main combat. Alas, I beat them by only a couple, and they held the line. The Daemonettes, however, successfully routed the halberdiers, and I chased them down and killed them - leaving me open for a flank charge. The handgunners were, of course, annihilated. The Furies overran into the archers. I tried to reform the Hounds, but failed the Leadership.

Empire, turn 3.

The Empire strikes back! The knights beat the Hounds and they phased out due to instability. Then the knights overran into the other combat, again giving enough combat resolution to phase out most of my units. Where's a BSB when you need one?

At least I successfully beat back the state troopers, who ran away. I reformed to face the knights, not wanting to take a charge in the back.

Turn 4.

I charged into the knights, and managed to turn the combat around. Both units fled, with the Furies chasing down the archers and the Daemonettes not catching the knights. The knights then rallied.

Turn 5.

I again charged the knights, making them flee. They would have died in turn 6, leaving me with enough points on the table for a solid victory, even with the state troopers regrouping and sticking around.

Resolution

• I still love this game! Also great to see movement trays in action.
• Mistakes were made on both sides; I just managed to get lucky and capitalize more on my opponent's mistakes.
• The knights should have ignored the Seekers. (Although, maybe a lucky flank charged would have made them run? Who knows?)
• I shouldn't have chased after the Halberdiers. (Although I got lucky beating the swordsmen. Could have gone either way.)
• I think we didn't miss any rules; of course, we poured quite a lot over the rulebook for the duration of the game.
• Maneuvering in the movement phase is still the most important part of the game.

Dungeon crawl: part 2

Introduction

After a large set of corridors housing zombies as well as magical traps, the party descended to the second level of the dungeon, only to meet the bane of their existence: hobgoblin guards.

Hobgoblin phalanx

The hobgoblins, armed with shield and flails, were a lot tougher than the regular goblins on the first level. They were also supported by archers and a shaman. A tough nut to crack, they managed to kill the wizard in one turn.

There was also a highlight here. When first descending to this level, the party was hailed by the guards and asked for the password. The rogue decided to curse their mothers; funnily enough, they decided to attack.

Using the scenery

The room contained a couple of wells (as visible in the picture), so the adventurers did everything in their power to knock the goblins down the well. That was smart. They also stayed back, so the goblins had no choice but to charge in, and couldn't, in turn, knock the adventurers down. That was also smart. The wizard got impatient, and sneaked past the paladin, going for a thunderwave spell to knock several goblins down at once. A couple of successful saving throws later... not very smart.

They respawn in this room? Can we farm infinite XP?

The party returned to the village to resupply (and fight in the cemetery), then came back. I didn't want to leave the guard room empty - this was, after all, the main entry point to the villain's lair. So I had a similar group of goblins move here from a nearby room. Again, they asked for the password. Now, the elf archer in the cemetery carried a letter on her, which contained a false password. The rogue - this time trying to be smart - spoke the words, but only managed to let the goblins know that the elf had been defeated. I tried to run away with the last goblin, to let the boss know, but the adventurers chased him down. Oh well.

Meeting Sir K*

* Sir Keegan. But my players showed time and again that they are utterly incapable of remembering names. So we settled on referring to him as "Sir Kay".

The adventurers arrived at an isolated chamber, containing a single tomb. The inhabitant of the tomb was the once-commander of the keep, Sir Keegan. The legends were partly right. He did go mad due to the influence of the sealed portal, and did slaughter his family and many soldiers. Unable to put him down, his men locked him in the dungeons. Slowly, he came to his senses and realized what he had done. So he laid down in a tomb an ingested poison. Now, with the portal reactivating once more, he had reawakened along with the rest of the undead, but kept his sanity and his purpose.

The party recognized him as a potential ally (good thing too, with the stats and abilities on the guy) and had a long talk with him: a skill challenge, which, when succeeded, made Sir K look at them as friendlies. He gave them advice on how to proceed, told his story, and gave them his ancestral sword. The paladin was all too happy to receive the sacred blade.

M.A.G.U.S. - The Spider Farm

Introduction

The adventurers rested and healed up, bought potions and another horse for Shamil to replace his lame one, then took the road again.

The mission: near the village of Melford, a man named Ulayah Reyn started up a spider farm and is harvesting silk and... other products. The organization behind Valeria had already sent in men to strike a deal with Ulayah, but, for one reason or another, he wasn't keen on selling poison. The adventurers had to go there, investigate the issue, and strike a deal with Ulayah, no matter the cost.

The road to Melford

Nothing happened! Yeah, I'm keeping the wolves and bandits in check. No reason to attack a fully healed and prepared party, right?

The adventurers arrived, stayed a night at the inn, talked to the barkeep for any rumors and asked about the farm, then went to bed and took the road again the next day.

The spider farm

Just near the spider farm, the adventurers met Heri, Ulayah's daughter. She was amazed to meet adventurers of any kind, and swiftly took them to see her father. Ulayah received what he thought of as fellow businessmen kindly, and took them for a tour of the farm.

Buildings above the ground, caves underneath.

With quite a lot of workers on hand, Ulayah was leading a fairly prosperous business - although he complained about not having his investment returned. They processed everything on site - silk and poison - into rope, cloth, clothes, acid, ink etc. 

After some talk with Ulayah, and some investigations of their own (as the psychically gifted knight walked around, looking into the caves with his mind's eye), they thought to hammer out a reasonable business proposal. Ulayah agreed, but asked for time to look into his accounting and draft the contract. They were to meet again the day after. The adventurers left with the sense of a job well done.

They were in, of course, for a rude awakening.

The farm, attacked

The adventurers were happily eating breakfast when a commotion was heard from the town square. The town guard - and a horde of onlookers - were escorting a worker from the spider farm, his shirt all bloody. The worker let them know - before fainting - that the farm was attacked! Some of the workers were cut down, and he himself received an arrow in the back before escaping.

The party saddled up, rode hard, then approached the farm on foot. They managed to slip in undetected, approaching the main buildings - Ulayah's and the workers' quarters - from the rear. The knight again used his psychic vision to scout the buildings. To their dismay, there were quite a lot of men at arms, although they were lightly armed. Some were resting and sleeping, other were guarding tied-up workers; still others were torturing Ulayah.

After about 40 minutes of planning and no action by the players, I called the session.

To be continued...

M.A.G.U.S. - Az oriaspokfarm

Why is this post not in English?

Bevezető

A kalandozók kipihenték fáradalmaikat, majd sebeik gyógyultával útra keltek. Felszerelésük gazdagodott néhány bájitallal, Shamil sánta lovát pedig lecserélték.

A küldetésük egy Melford nevű falucska irányába vitte őket. A falu mellett egy Ulayah Reyn nevű vállalkozó óriáspókfarmot alapított. Valéria és a szervezete már küldött embereket a helyzet feltérképezésére, de Ulayah nem volt hajlandó pókmérget árusítani. A kalandozóknak fel kellett deríteni a helyzetet, és üzletet kötni Ulayahhal, bármi áron.

Az úton...

... semmi sem történt. Az útonállók és farkasok szabadságra mentek. Értelmetlen egy jól felkészült, pihent kalandozócsapatot megtámadni, nemdebár?

A kalandozók a fogadóban töltötték a nap maradékát. Kikérdezték a fogadóst, ettek, ittak, majd másnap útra keltek.

Az óriáspókfarm

A farmhoz vezető úton találkoztak Herivel, Ulayah lányával. Szájtátva hallgatta a kalandozókat, akik nem szégyelltek mindenféle kalandjaikról mesélni neki. Készségesen elkísérte őket az apjához. Ulayah barátságosan fogadta leendő üzletfeleit (főleg miután sörrel megkínálták), és körbevezette őket a farmon.

Természetesen csak a föld feletti részén. A föld alatti barlangokat ugyanis az óriáspókok lakják.

A farm számos munkást foglalkoztatott, akik mindent helyben dolgoztak fel. A pókselyem erős köteleket és bámulatos ruhákat, a méreg erős savat és tintát eredményezett.

A kalandozók hosszasan beszéltek Ulayahhal, majd körbenéztek a farmon saját szakállukra. A lovag pszi-képességeit felhasználva benézett a barlangokba is. Minden jól nézett ki, és a kalandozók alkudozni kezdtek. Egészen jó megegyezést sikerült kieszközölniük, ám Ulayah időt kért, hogy végignézhesse a könyvelést, és megírja a szerződést. A kalandozók visszalovagoltak a faluba, azzal, hogy másnap visszatérnek.

Nos, nem egészen úgy ment, ahogy az elgondolták.

A farmot megtámadták

A kalandozók éppen reggelijüket fogyasztották, amikor nagy zsivaj támadt a falu központjában. A városőrök (és egy nagy adag szájtátó) egy, a farmról érkezett munkást álltak körbe. A fickó közel állt a kivérzéshez, és mielőtt elájult, a kalandozók is megtudták tőle, hogy a farmot megtámadták.

Természetesen azonnal lóra ültek, de kemény hajsza után mégis csendesen, az erdő felől közelítették meg a farmot. A lovag ismét pszit használva belesett a főbb épületekbe. Ulayah házát feldúlták; a munkások ebédlőjében több fegyveres férfi pihent; a munkások szállásán pedig még több fegyveres őrzött foglyokat. Eközben Ulayaht éppen kínozták - úgy tűnt, még nem adta ki titkait.

A játékosok kb 40 percet töltöttek tervezgetéssel, amikor úgy döntöttem, hogy innen folytathatjuk legközelebb.

Folytatás következik...

Intermission: the cemetery

Introduction

Upon returning to Winterhaven for supplies and resurrection, the adventurers found the town under siege. The dead have risen in the cemetery and have conducted brutal attacks on the outlying farms. Moreover, the populace was shaken by evil dreams and visions. Lord Padraig asked the adventurers to rid them of the undead menace.

Every self-respecting adventure has a cemetery scene

In the cemetery, the adventurers were beset upon by risen skeletons and undead hounds. They also recognized other characters. The masters of the undead were none other but the gnome that had escaped from the excavation and an elf archer they have met in the town tavern, who did not prove neither friendly nor helpful, to their frustration.

DM's note. I have the impression that the elf, Ninaran, was placed in the tavern just to annoy the players, as she was unfriendly - hostile even, if pressed - and offered no helpful information. Needless to say, all of my adventuring parties tried to talk to her, to no effect.

The battle soon devolved into a desperate melee. 

The rogue was taken over by the armor, as he jumped up and over skeletons in a mad rush to kill the elf. 

Splug was already a somewhat trusted member of the party, and he was armed with the paladin's old hammer. He can be seen in the bottom right, dueling with a skeleton.

The gnome kept back and shot at the adventurers, then fled again when things got rough.

After the battle, the wizard examined the magic circle and realized that it could be disabled to destroy the undead. Oh well, maybe next time.

Resolution

The party was hailed by the villagers for defeating the undead. After resupplying, they again descended into the ruined keep.

Dungeon Crawl: part 1

Introduction

Solomon got back to the village with the adventurers, hired some lads to escort him home, then got on his way. 

The adventurers received unexpected help from Valthrun, the town sage. He told them about the history of the ruined keep near the town, how it was built to seal a rift to the Shadowfell, and how the resident paladin went mad due to the creeping influences of that evil realm. A villager let them know of goblins roaming around the ruins, so that seemed a good enough (indeed, the only available) lead.

A new party member

At this point, Thrall, the wilden shaman joined the party. He was sent by his master at the request of Solomon. The old man still had a trick up his sleeve!

Dungeon Crawling

The adventurers soon reached the ruined keep and descended into its halls. The adventure transitioned into an old-fashioned dungeon crawl. 

DM's note. A couple failed checks ensured that the wizard now had a crippling fear of enclosed stone chambers. When first descending into the ruins, she had a flashback of the dimensional prison, and perceived the paladin trying to shake her back to reality as a demon! He was rewarded with magic arrow to the face. (And no, I didn't just make it up. I asked the player in advance what her character would do in an enclosed space with a demon charging her. He he he.)

The adventurers first encountered a goblin guard room. The paladin and the warlord kept them back, while the druid tried a flanking maneuver. The rest of the party tried to help out the shaman, who fell into a pit trap enclosed by the four pillars (corks) and was being savagely attacked by a rat swarm.

The paladin expresses his viewpoint on how the party should proceed further on.

No more pictures about this level, although there were some highlights.

The adventurers came upon a torture chamber, where they were beset upon by a blood-crazed hobgoblin torturer. He just didn't seem to feel any pain. The rogue noticed that his armor drank his blood. One should obviously immediately put on any such armor, right? Of course! 

DM's note: This was a nice addition to the adventure. I had previously asked my players whether they want any special magic item for their character. The rogue gave me a picture of a black leather armor decorated with teeth. No matter what it does, his tiefling needs to wear that! So I adapted one of the items existing in the adventure for... dramatic purposes. Right up to the end of the adventure, the rogue was many times taken over by the malign intelligence of the armor, clouding his mind with bloodlust and forcing him to kill. Never did he truly figure out a way to control the armor.

Another interesting addition was a goblin found imprisoned in the torture chamber's cells. Splug, a cowardly cheater, was imprisoned for stealing food. He was very intimidated by the warlord, and had become her personal slave.

Further on, a part of the keep's floor was excavated by the goblins in search of treasure. The adventurers rushed onto the rickety planks (with the paladin obviously falling down) and quickly murdered them. The last one offered a trinket for his life, but the paladin struck him down, earning the wrath of his righteous god, Bahamut.

Finally, the party chanced upon the boss of the goblins. Splug uncovered a secret passage, leading straight to the sleeping quarters of the boss. The rogue neatly sneaked up to the snoring goblin, and cut open his throat, killing him instantly. The other goblins were then alerted, but the cramped corridors proved their undoing, as the druid's flaming seeds killed them in droves.

Resolution

The party soon discovered steps that descended down to the second level of the ruins and decided to explore further.