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JohnLynch
Learned Scribe
Australia
243 Posts |
 Posted - 31 Oct 2015 : 11:33:11
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I recently moved back to my home city this month after living on the opposite side of the country for 2 years. My old 4th edition gaming group were excited to have me back so I ran a 5th edition one-shot set in 1489 DR of the Forgotten Realms. Everyone played pregens.
The Cast
Ned the Moon Elf Warlock
"Joe Public" the Cormyrean Spy
Tordek of Clan Frostsilver (Shield Dwarf Ranger)
Nara the Chondathan Priest of Amaunator
Lady Sthavar the Wizard
Highway Robbery (Session #-1)
This group each had this reasons to travel to Arabel and so the group were heading there as part of Merchant Darthlann's caravan. They made a leisurely pace as there were farms on either side of the main road and stopped in Hilp for lunch and then at Immersea for dinner. In return for the group guarding Darthlann's wagons they had their traveling expenses covered.
They were only a couple of hours from Arabel, travelling through a portion of the King's Forest that had creeped over the road. As they were midway through Nara spotted a couple of kobolds moving off to the side of the road around the trees. She cried out and the wagons stopped just as two tree trunks came crashing together in front of the horses nose. Had Nara not spotted the kobolds the horse would have certainly died.
Kobolds came streaming out of the forest. Ned charmed one while "Joe" tackled one to the ground and Lady Sthavar put two of them two sleep. Speaking Aragrakh, Tordek tried to convince the charmed kobold to flee. However the kobold pointed out that they outnumbered the others and there would be no fight. Four of the kobolds pointed loaded crossbows at everyone and told them to stand still or else they would be shot. The other 6 kobolds climbed onto the wagons and started stealing the broadsheet wrapped jars (the broadsheets had been wrapped up in twine). Fortunately Lady Sthavar spoke Aragrakh (as it is the language of magic) and so was able to cow a couple of them into submission. Fortunately they already had jars and so were able to flee with the jars. After the jars were taken the other kobolds withdrew. However 3 were left behind. The remaining kobolds were quickly tied up.
The merchant was quite distressed that his goods be brought back exactly as they were. He offered the group 200 gp. They tried haggling over the price and wanted payment up front but eventually relented. Rather than go to Arabel and get any supplies they decided to trek north. They awoke the kobolds and forced them to lead the group back to the layout. Tordek the Ranger scouted ahead and (due to some rather poor rolls) fell into a kobold pit trap. The kobolds led the way for the rest of the trip. It took a couple of hours but the kobolds led them into the Redwood Forest and into the kobold lair.
The group tied up the kobolds out of sight of the cave, dangling them from their feet. Tordek started sneaking forward when he stepped on a branch. This alerted the guards at the kobold cave. One guard went further into the cave while the other snuck forward. Upon the dwarf and kobold seeing each other they froze for a brief moment and combat broke out.
Everyone's weapons were peacebound and they knew that if they were to be found with unbound weapons they would get in trouble with the law. "Joe" had thought to grab the captive kobolds' daggers and pocketed them. He handed one to Tordek. After the kobold guard was defeated Tordek grabbed one of the captive kobolds and forced it to walk in front of him. While he was doing this the others follows behind while Ned the Elven Warlock (who was played by my wife who has never before played D&D) stayed behind and tried to slit one of the hanging kobold's throats. She failed to kill him and so quickly followed the rest.
The second Tordek stepped in front of the cave he was shot by a kobold and fell unconscious. "Joe" grabbed his body and pulled it out of the cave. The kobolds swapped places and new kobolds stepped into the end of the cave from side tunnels. They had fresh crossbows loaded. Lady Sthavar stepped forward and was shot at twice. She summoned a silent image of Tiamat. The kobolds fell to the ground and others peered around and also fell down in prostration. Lady Sthavar called out in Draconic that Tiamat ordered them to bring these people all of their treasure and that Tiamat was pleased with the kobolds. One kobold spotted what was going on and shot Tiamat and the bolt flew straight through the image. However the smart kobold was outnumbered (even with new saving throws by his crossbow bolt routine). Tiamat's servant (Lady Sthavar) ordered the other kobolds to kill the traitor in Tiamat's name. They didn't hesitate.
For the next 20 minutes Tiamat oversaw the kobolds and ordered them to give these adventurers all the treasure. They carefully and slowly carried the treasure out of the cave. It seemed odd how careful they were being but Nara and Tordek spotted that there was a trapdoor that was weight sensitive. It allowed kobolds (with limited treasure) to walk over freely while anything heavier (such as a dwarf or human carrying adventuring gear) would cause the trap to trigger.
The elder kobold (of the 40 kobolds, including children and elderly) asked if they should keep following Tiamat's servant. Tiamat told them to and to also not leave the cave for 24 hours. Upon her departure the kobolds trudged back into the cavern.
The group picked over the treasure. 74 copper pieces, 3 gold pieces, a banged up breastplate, a longsword with the hilt wrapped in leather and a valuable locket with a unicorn etched onto the outside and a picture of a woman in her late twenties or early thirties inside. It's estimated to be at most 50 years old (based on the quality of the painted picture) and is roughly worth 100 gp. The group took the items, picked up their two kobold prisoners and started returning.
The group made it as far as Slingdyke when it became clear they wouldn't reach Arabel. There were a couple of farms nearby or the ruins. Everyone rolled their eyes and sarcastically said "ooh. Let's go to the dangerous ruins. That's a good idea." Ned the Warlock gave a stirring speech about how they were adventurers and should look for excitement and adventure. She convinced the rest to sleep in the ruins.
They needed some firewood and "Joe Public" said to send the kobolds. Ned volunteered to go with them and so the kobolds were hobbled. Ned suddenly pushed one of the kobolds over and then stabbed it to death. At this point Ned's player (my wife who had never played before) asked what temporary hit points means and what it would do. One of the other players realised she was a warlock and suddenly everyone understood why Ned was behaving this way.
Ned left the kobold behind and claimed it had attacked her and everyone believed her. They had the bright idea of tying the kobold up and making the kobold sit watch (logic used was that the kobold would be killed by anything attacking the group). The night was uneventful and the group woke up with Purple Dragon Knights coming to see what was going on. They took the kobold and the kobold daggers that the group had successfully confiscated. With a Suzailan noble the group were told to move along.
They reached Arabel and walked through the shanty town to the gates. The mages were required to register their location upon finding accommodation. Ned complained that she would have to register her location in person while the noble would only have to send a messenger. She was told to move along. They were briefly inspected for any broken peacebonds on their weapons before being allowed through. An urchin took them through the sights of Arabel (showing them some very nice stores along the way) before they finally reached the High Moon Inn where merchant Darthlann was staying. He gave them the money after examining the jars and told them if they were looking for work to return the next day and he would have some people to introduce the group to.
That was the end of the adventure. It was my wife's first game of D&D ever (after hearing about me talk about it for two years she wanted to see what it was like). While as DM I talked the rules through with her whenever she needed to do something in combat, she was able to keep up fairly well and liked it.
Everyone else quite liked it, particularly the pregens I put together for them. I each gave them a "bond" which provided them with a reason to be in Arabel and also gave them a brief background. With the suggested roleplay tips they had more than enough of a framework to play the character, and they all seemed to like that there was more to these character's stories than just this one adventure.
I'm going to be running an ongoing campaign set in 1489 DR Arabel and the seeds that I planted today (kobolds serving a "servant" of Tiamat, a missing dwarf, non descript pieces of treasure which are far more important than initially meets the eye) in the ongoing campaign as well. Everyone will be making their own characters.
Today's bonds were:
- Your fellow clansman Orsik has gone missing after joining an adventuring company in Arabel.
- Your working for a devil who wants you to work out of Arabel as an adventurer.
- I have come to establish a church in Arabel and do good in the community.
- You have been sent to Arabel to determine why the Queen's Lord is having so much difficulty running the city.
- An old friend of yours has asked you to come to Arabel to help him with a matter for not an insignificant reward.
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DM of the Realms: A blog for my Forgotten Realms adventures. |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 06 Nov 2015 : 07:58:30
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Glad to see a dwarf named Tordek is in the group. 
The last campaign I ran, my wife played for the first time too. Everyone was surprised when her character died (they didn't think I'd to it), but her character was resurrected and went on to some pretty memorable things with her fighter/wizard.
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Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Adventurers of Arabel
