Game 3: November 25

Game Overview
After dispatching the goblins in the first room, the party moved through the doors to the east. The rogue scouted ahead, after having her dagger lit with the Zath's light spell. As she moved through the second set of double doors, the stench of death hit her. Down the hall she clearly heard some groaning sounds, and possibly some scratchy whispering in goblin. She stealthily scouted ahead and verified that there were zombies behind a portcullis to the west and stone door to the east. The halfling returned to the party to warn them of the dangers ahead.

Hearing that there was something to destroy, Grahlok charged down the hallway, with the rest of the party close behind.


Dave responds to criticism of his "tactical plan".

Shortly after the melee begins, the party is attacked by a pair of goblins, a skullcleaver and a blackblade, from the eastern room. The skullcleaver deals some damage while the blackblade shifts into a more favorable position, dealing sneak attack damage.



Two different angles of about the same moment of combat. The goblins are to the right, zombies to the north.

The party took care of the treat with little difficulty and searched the zombie haven and the sanctuary. They discover a variety of coins in the zombie refuse. In the sanctuary, there is a large dirt covered statue, which is identified as the Ogre King. It appears to be recently unearthed. On the marble stand was a ruby and a potion of healing, left by the goblins as an offering.


Brad and Allen prepare for the next encounter.

Again the rogue takes the lead as the party passes through a few more doors. They come to another large room with 2 Hobgoblin Soldiers, 2 Hobgoblin Archers, and a Goblin Hexer. The hexer is concentrating a transportation circle located nearby. After the first round of combat 2 Goblin warriors appear from the circle.

The party takes a significant amount of damage, as the dice just didn't seem to be on their side. Various members of the party were blinded or held in place by the hexer's spells and the archers were able to lay down significant damage. Eventually the party is successful, and searches the area. The room to the south is filled with refuse, goblin excrement, dingy straw mattresses, and other garbage. Amongst the trash, the party discovers Fortification Scale Armor [+1], 2 gold rings inset with gems (30 gp each), 1 Silver Statuette (75 sp), 70 cp, 2 50' lengths of rope, 15 torches, + 1 moonstone (100 gp).


Before the Goblins warriors arrive!


The Archer's point of view.


The DM plotting the player's demise.

The party were able to hold off the threat, but decided it would be in their best interest to rest here, as most of were running out of healing surges. The hole up in the goblin den.




Some scatological humor in the goblin den at the expense of the the missing players.

After resting for the evening, the party embarks deep into the barrow. They descend through the ancients catacombs, most of which have been destroyed by the goblins, the dwarven remains ransacked. After descending about 100 feet, the party steps into the Tomb of the Ogre King. High Shaman Sancossug is standing over a large sarcophagus reciting prayers when the party enters. The mud covered goblin demands to know who they are and how they got there. He notices that the rogue is wielding the Horn Totem and insists on it's return.


The party enters the tomb of the Ogre King!

The party refuses and melee ensues. The odds are not good for the High Shaman, but he is able to lay down a significant amount of damage. Sancossug is a much more powerful version of the hexer.


View from behind the Shaman.

He is able to blind about half the party on his first attack. He also uses a stinging cloud attack and a fire attack on the members of the party that are still bunched together.


The Hexer is surrounded.


The party members expend most of their dailies and encounter powers and eventually drop the shaman.

The open the sarcophagus and discover the remains of a large ogre. The skull has been fashioned into a mace-like weapon known as the Skull Totem. It has similar properties to the Horn Totem. They also find 118 gp, 41 sp, 30 cp in a pouch on the corner of the room.

Commentary:
The party successfully beat their first major foe and found some fairly valuable treasure in the process. It seems that most of the players are getting more comfortable with the combat mechanics. Since this adventure was very light on the roleplaying and very heavy on combat, we were able to get through three encounters, which I felt was pretty good in just under 4 hours, considering one of them was a "boss battle".

XP: 370
Treasure: 163 gp, 98 sp, 120 cp, 2 gold rings inset with gems (60 gp), 1 Silver Statues (75 sp), 70 cp, 2 50' lengths of rope, 15 torches, 1 moonstone (100 gp), Potion of Healing (PHB 255); Ruby (100 gp), Fortification Scale Armor +1 (Adventurer's Vault, page 45 (Armor))

Game 2: Tuesday November 11

Game Overview
The party convened at the nearby inn, the Green Tankard Tavern, to wait for Loudwater's resident wizard, Curuvar the Brazen. Curuvar brought the Horn Totem to Garwan's Curiosities, and Garwan suggested that the party meet up with him to gather further information. Curuvar was not present when the party entered the tavern. There they met the proprietor, Marsh Laval, Sunsteen Urbeth, and the Dragonborn Paladin Shamash N'Gath.

Marsh Laval immediately offered the party some basic information about Curuvar and made small talk about the recent unexpected weather north of Loudwater. It is just past High Sun in the Faerun and it seems that the cold season may be coming quite early this year. There were even reports of blizzards from some hunters who passed through town recently.

Sunsteen Urbeth, a Loudwater citizen and assistant to the town's Magistrate (Caslin Gemnis), was in the South Square when the Goblin raid began. He is a balding man of about 30 and walks with a noticible limp. He considers the party heros, since their actions allowed him to escape the attack with his life. He is going to put in a good word with the Magistrate and mentions that should the party run afoul with the town guard, he may be of some assistance.

Samash N'Gath also happened to be in the tavern awaiting the arrival of Curuvar. He traveled to Loudwater after having a vision of his god, Kelemvor, where the diety told him to seek out the local wizard. Amduscias took an immediate interest in the paladin when he mentioned his story and invited the dragonborn to join him at a nearby table.

Shortly, Curuvar entered the tavern. The eccentric wizard was the spitting image of the fantasy book spell caster, with his long beard, robe stitched with stars and moons, pointed hat, and staff. Curevar paid little attention to the party of adventurers and sidled up to the bar. Marsh identified the man as Curuvar. The party approached and inquired about the horn totem and the goblin invasion. Curuvar instead gave them a test: If the party can retrieve the Skull Totem from the Goblin barrow, located in the Southwood in the ruins of the dwarven kingdom of Ammarimber, he will tell them the legend of the Ogre King.

The party sets out towards the Goblin barrow using directions from Curuvar. As the party approaches, the discover a walled courtyard. The entrance to the courtyard is marked by a gate in the shape of a large Dwarven head. As the party scans the courtyard looking for some sign of an entrance, Zath notices one of the rocks across area seems to be situated in an unnatural way. The party started across the courtyard to explore, but set off a false-floor pit trap. When Grahlok, Shamash, and Amduscius step into the area, the ground collapses. Ghalok is able to jump out of the way, but Shamash and Modryth both fall into the pit, sustaining some damage.

Combat begins, as the two have fallen into a room inhabited by a number of Goblin Skullcleavers, Warriors and a Hexer. The halfling rogue (still unnamed?!?!) and Modryth successfully use their acrobatics skills to avoid damage jumping into the hole. Grahlok thows himself down the hole and sustains damage. More sensibly, Shatmo and Zath explore the rocky area and find the secret entrance.

Here are some pictures of the combat:

The Party engages the goblins in hand to hand combat.


A view of the combat from the goblin hexer's point of view. He had just blinded Shamash.


Combat from above.


Zath sets off another pit trap and ends up surrounded by hungry dogs! He was able to use his Fey Step to teleport out of the pit before sustaining too much damage.

The party is able to take care of the goblins, even though the hexer tried to escape using the strange disk on the floor. He was only temporarily teleported and ended up in the same square. A few members of the party also attempted to use the magical device but with limited success.

Commentary
The role-playing section in the Tavern went well. The party was able to interact with some of the Loudwater locals and make some contacts. A few very minor seeds for possible future adventures were planted.

The combat encounter was SLOW! I think things will get better as the players become more familiar with their characters and I get more comfortable behind the DM screen. The challenge was fairly difficult (2 pit traps, 4 minions, 3 brutes, 3 skirmishers, and a controller), so it's expected that the party take a bit of a beating, I suppose.

XP: 196
Treasure: n/a

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