Tobold's Blog
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
 
The Favorites of Selune campaign - Level 4 - Session 2

In the previous session of our D&D 4E campaign, the group had headed for The Keep on Shadowfell and fought ghouls and zombies in the graveyard in front of it. They had also freed Benji, a teenage boy and son of Darrin, leader of the Grim Dagger bandits, who had inhabited the keep before Jaazzpaa arose all the undead from the graveyard. After a short rest they now headed towards the ruined keep, where Benji promised to show them the cache of the bandits and the stairs leading to the dungeon.

Inside the ruined keep the group is being attacked by five wights, but they manage to not get surprised by the attack. Wight drain life energy from the characters they hit, but in 4E that life energy is represented by a loss of healing surges until the next rest. That is a lot less serious than in previous editions, where they drained levels. The fight is no pushover, but the group wins it without a problem.

Benji, who had run away when the wights turned up, then comes pack and as promised shows the group the cache of the bandits, where they find a magical leather armor and some gold. He pleads that the group take him with them into the dungeon, where he hopes to find his father Darrin. As some players still think Benji might be the demon in disguise, they devise a "test" for Benji, where he has to cut himself "to show his bravery". Being satisfied that his blood is red, they accept to take him with them. The group rests to recover from the wights' drain, and then heads toward the stairs to the dungeon.

The dungeon is closed by an oaken door bearing the seal of the old kings of Amn, with a warning that nobody should enter and disturb the evil within. But a careful examination reveals that a key has recently been used to unlock (and then re-lock) the door. And on questioning Benji remembers having seen a big, old key in the ruined keep, which is now gone. All the information the group has points towards Jaazzpaa the demon now being in that dungeon, trying to open the rift to the Shadowfell. So the thief opens the lock, and the party heads inside.

Now besides looking for the demon, the warrior of the group also looks for Aecris, an axe last seen in the possession of Sir Keegan, the last commander of the keep, before he went crazy and slaughtered his family and garrison, then retreating into the dungeon. A cryptic hint tells the seeker of the axe to "follow the silvery light". And when entering the dungeon a silvery light can in fact be made out coming from the south of a small labyrinth of corridors. But the thief wants to scout the labyrinth first, which turns out to not have been such a good idea: A glyph on the intersection sounds an alarm and zombies come shuffling towards the party from all sides.

Now this fight is deliberately easy, to show the players that they've grown in power over the last year. Ten of the zombies are minions. with the corridors giving the mage a good opportunity to kill up to five of them with a single area spell. The other six zombies are a bit tougher, but have relatively low armor class and other defenses. Thus the players nearly hit with every swing, and the fight is quickly over.

Setting off the alarm again produces no more zombies, but a failed save lets the warlord run towards the silvery light, ending up in what appears to be a temple of Bahamut. Sarcophagi with draconic inscriptions line the wall. The cleric, who knows the draconian language is trying to decipher these, when the sarcophagi all open at the same time, and skeletons step out. At this point we stopped for the night, so the skeleton fight and the temple of Bahamut are left for the next session.

Comments:
I don't usually comment on these posts, but I really enjoy reading them and am glad you're posting them.
 
+1 here

You almost make me want to return to dm'ing, if only i had the time.
 
How long have you been involved in DnD? I just found a website (http://www.thetangledweb.net) that holds table top games online with all kinds of add-on's that help/enhance. I haven't messed with it too much but I'd love to join a good group of RPers in some DnD online.
 
Energy drain ceased to drain level since 3e because frankly adjusting 3e character sheet for losing level (and possibly adjusting it again after restoration spell) is too much to handle.
I suppose that holds true for 4e too.
Imagine that you fight witghts on regular basis... the horror!
 
Previously on Favourates of Selune.
Mage: Hey kid. Help me desecrate this tomb.

This time on FoS.

Kid: Please find my dad. He is trapped by undead in that dungeon you are trying to loot
Party: Only after you cut yourself to proove that you are cool and we take you dad's stash.

Next time on FoS.
Party: Hey kid, jump on that flagstone and see it is a trap.

If Genre Savvy was an alignment, it would be Jerkass neutral.
 
Are your players going by the Supernatural TV show's thinking of Demon's blood is black? :P

Always fun to read about your sessions, please keep them coming! ^_^
 
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