1/24 Actual Play: Scooby Doo

Bit of a change this session:

Jesse DMed and did not play much of Halma, as will be seen in the write up.
Chelsea playing Ana the Half Elf Cleric
Colin playing Lucan the Elf Fighter
Dan playing Arlarond the Human Wizard
Josh playing Kithieren the Eladrin Swordmage
Jay playing Therryk the Dragonborn Paladin

We picked up right where we left off last session. The party had just defeated the Eladrin in combat and we moved to check for survivors. We were able to subdue 5 of them, and 2 died. The mage who got a thrown axe to the head and the rogue who burned to death both did not make it. Three keep guards were killed as well. Kerlos was obviously disturbed, but resumed his conversation with Lord Markelhay and ordered his guards to keep this quiet for now. The dwarven steward of the keep and one trusted guard moved the fallen out of sight for now and kept watch on the upper level.

Lucan arranged a barricade of the top floor. The talk of goblins in the area had him a bit paranoid, and he clued the rest of the group in on what he was told just prior to the fight. The goblin attack would also make a good scapegoat for the three dead guards. Arlarond went back home to let his master know what happened, and found out that several goblins had attacked the tower, as well. It was clear now that something else was going on besides regular demihuman aggression. Halma suggested that perhaps the goblins were getting in through some old smuggling tunnels in the bluffs.

After a group meeting it was decided to meet back at the keep in the morning to be present for the interrogation of the surviving Eladrin. Therryk returned to his quarters in the temple of Erathis. Ana stayed in the keep. Halma returned to his rented room at the Lucky Gnome. Arlarond went to his tower for the night. Lucan, however, was feeling the effects of the recent goblin attacks. He decided to wander the streets for a few hours and keep an eye out for suspicious things.

After it got dark, he found something suspicious. He saw a figure trying to hide in the bushes. He called out and it tried to flee. He easily caught up to the cloaked figure, and discovered it was a young human woman. She claimed she was in the bushes looking for a place to pee. Lucan believed her, but still took her in, since she was out late and that was suspicious and all. He arrived at the prison and was not happy to see that Constable Blackshield was the one on duty that night. He locked her in a cell and took the keys with him when he left.

The next morning we all met at the keep. All except Halma. He left us a note. Something came up and he would be in Hammerfast for at least a few weeks. We descended a few floors into the dungeon into a part of the keep seemingly dating from the war. We glimpsed a torture chamber, and had to be let through a double set of curtains to get to the Eladrin part of the prison. Kerlos and Lord Markelhay had reached an agreement the previous evening. Kerlos told his men that they had the option of returning to his service or leaving now and going home. Three of them decided to stay here under Kerlos. One remained silent and refused to answer. The last one just wanted to be free. He didn't want to return home or to stay as a vassal of Kerlos. He was granted his freedom.

Arlarond spoke to this Eladrin, whose name was Kithieren, and proposed that he might enjoy adventuring with us. He had no interest at first, but after several minutes of discussion capped off with a sparring match with Therryk he decided to remain with us for a share of the treasure.

Arlarond has a ritual he thinks will help us find the goblins. We go the the map room and he spends several minutes summoning a ghostly hand. The hand points to a spot in the back of the keep near the wall. We search the area, but only find the broken bones and equipment of the defeated goblin invaders. We determine that the ritual failed.

Our next bright idea is to ask the girl that Lucan found the night before. Ana recognized her as a small time entertainer who always seems to be living beyond her means. It doesn't take much to convince her to help us, and she gives us the entrance to a smugglers cave readily. We leave her locked up while we go and investigate.

The old warehouse near the falls does indeed hold a secret, a false wall that leads to some caves under the city. Arlarond sends the key back with a messenger, and we delve under the city, hoping to find some sign of the goblins. We find none.

The path we chose leads us underneath the upper quays and emerges outside the city walls, in an orchard to the north east. We trek back into the city to try the other tunnel we found. It is another fruitless search, this time coming to a dead end.

We decide to try the old catacombs under the city. Therryk knew of them from attending funeral rites for patrons of his church. No goblins were found there either.

Frustrated, after almost an entire day searching, we decide to let Arlarond try the ritual again. This time he asks and the hand points to an abandoned keep about an hour's walk north of town.

Kithieren thinks that our idea of adventuring is tame and boring. As the day comes to a close we might be inclined to believe him. We approach the keep from the west. The sun is setting behind our heads when we finally see signs of goblins. There are some figures moving on the towers of the keep.

As we get closer we realize that this is not just an abandoned keep, it is a ruined keep. The upper floor has fallen into the ground floor, leaving it inaccessible. Goblins are everywhere on the top of this keep, which is now only about 5 feet off of the ground. The towers are still standing, but that is about all. We get as close as we can get under cover of an overgrown orchard, and then rush the building:

The tree line is to the left, with the goblins all massed on the roof of the building to the right. The square is a tower, 30 feet high. Kithieren is the one in front, he just ran to the corner there. Therryk was only able to get partway across in the surprise round. The rest of the PC's have yet to act:
- Kithieren shows off his fey heritage by teleporting to the top of the tower and attacking the goblins there.
- Lucan uses his trident to vault himself up onto the crumbling structure. He is such a badass.
- Arlarond shows off his shiny new spell and fireballs the sleeping goblins. They are now awake and crispy on one side.
- Angry goblins swarm Lucan, surrounding him almost completely. He is delighted, since now he can use *his* brand new daily, one that pokes all the adjacent enemies with his trident.
- Ana keeps to the rear, healing and calling her god's favor down on the increasingly overextended heroes
- Therryk misses pretty much entirely, with both encounter powers and one daily, plus most at-wills. He is a non issue this fight.
- Gnolls appear behind the goblins from their concealment in the rubble. Two gnolls with bows begin shooting arrows at the closest members of the party, who also happen to be the surrounded members of the party, Lucan and Kithieren.
- Kithieren displays his teleportation and elemental mastery by pretty much going where he pleases and attacking multiple enemies.
- One such attack vaporized a goblin and damaged several others, allowing him to teleport to a more advantageous position.
- Ana consecrated a patch of ground and began moving it around the battlefield. Enemies that stayed too long began to get hurt, and hurt allies recovered their strength.
- Arlarond put a sheet of ice on the tower and the stairs, causing two goblins to fall to their deaths when they lost their footing.
- We began to turn the tide, despite Lucan falling and Kithieren becoming close to falling himself. Arlarond's impressive damage and Lucan's deadly aura made it an inevitable win for us.

- Blue rings are Lucan's mark, Orange is Kithieren's, and Pink would be Therryk's, if he had any. Red are bloodied.
- The last goblin bolted, and Lucan and Therryk chased him down. The two gnolls in the tower shooting arrows kept it up, but Arlarond conjured his flaming sphere in the room, and Ana moved her consecrated ground to cover the same area, and the arrows soon stopped.

The only gnolls to survive were the last two. We tied them up and set up camp to rest for the night. During the night one of them woke up and began howling and yelping, waking us up. He was stubborn, but we were able to reach an agreement. He told us all we wanted to know, and we let him go. He was upset with us for killing their goblin slaves. They had come here and sent their slaves into the city to steal some kind of book of prophecy. We discovered that his tribe was working with other tribes who call the Wichlight Fens their home. They made up something called the legion. We went back to sleep, anticipating a trip to the Fens first thing in the morning.

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It is rougher than I thought to do these as a player, coming from a few sessions as a DM. I didn't take the notes I should have...but I got pictures?

So these little notes might be shorter, since I don't have DMing feelings to share. I was disappointed in my character though. Utter fail as a *defender*. He would be a sub-par striker if he could hit with any sort of regularity. I do blame the dice. By the numbers, I should be more effective.

Having seen a swordmage in play for the first time, I am pretty impressed. Very high magic flavor and an effective suite of powers. Like, the opposite of a paladin. Okay, enough sour grapes, I promise. Eladrin seem to be destined to be swordmages, it seemed like Josh had a good time, too. Hope he is able to keep playing with us.

With no DMing in the near future for me, I have been thinking a lot about other aspects of roleplaying. Perhaps if I feel like any of those thoughts are in any way profound I'll post one or two. Perhaps.

Jay