Greetings. Welcome to the first session of /mlpol/'s first running of the classic third edition d&d campaign Red Hand Of Doom.
On this adventure, our heroes, currently three strong, will encounter dozens of trials that will test their strength, cunning, and friendship as they face an army of goblins.
If you'd like to join, there's still room for more in the party. Don't be shy to ask.
Our story begins in Elsir Vale, with our three heroes on the road to the town of Drellin’s Ferry. The three are seasoned adventurers, and exated heroes to boot. Having fought many battles together before, they are confident in their strength. Legend has it of a vast treasure in the Vault of Vraath Keep, hidden deep in the Witchwood; our heroes, have journeyed all this way to seize the vault for their own.
Despite that, they all have their own motivations to travel to Drellin's Ferry:
Sir Whiskers, a cunning and charismatic Tibbet Jester, is travelling to meet up with an old friend of his: Princess Princess Bagel Jennifurr Fluffykinz the fourth. He hasn't met his old friend since he was a kitten, and he's eager to meet with her again. She has arranged to meet up with him in Drellin's Ferry, and to accompany him on his adventure.
Sir Brozal, a mighty Orc Crusader of Pelor, has received a mission from a high-ranking Cleric of his order has received a powerful vision of war descending on Elsir Vale under the banner of a clawed red hand, and has sent Brolaz to the far reaches of Elsir Vale to avert impending disaster... Brozal isn't exactly sure if the vision was real, or if his master just wanted to get rid of him for the year, but he never turns down a good crusade.
Brother Chad, a wise and powerful Druid, has chosen to accompany his companions on their hunt for the lost treasure in the Witchwood. Sir Whiskers requested his aid because Chad is the most experienced woodsman he knows. Chad is wary of this region, for he's heard that it is ruled by a fierce and territorial Druid, but he embarks upon this jouney nonetheless, the secrets of the Witchwood too tempting to ignore.
...So tempting that he seems to have drifted off somewhere with his horse; probably fucking it again or something. Stupid hippie.
And so, let's begin:
>The afternoon sun beats down on you; the air is hot and still. The sparsely settled lands of Elsir Vale are starting to grow monotonous, with a seemingly endless line of dusty flyspecks of towns. The town of Drellin’s Ferry lies a few miles ahead of you. It’s a settlement hard on the borders of the Witchwood, and the best place from which to begin exploring the nearby forest.
This is the part where the players ask obvious questions that I thoughtlessly ignored in the first post, as well as implore about their surroundings.
1920 replies and 85 files omitted.
>>135509Currently speaking to him and I'll do total defense just to be safe.
>>135508Yeah, that's oing to need a diceroll.
>>135512Diplomacy, I would assume.
Doing it as a full round action would mean a -10 penalty though.
Rolled a nice 26 on diplomacy. 16 with the penalty.
>>135513I am doing that and I understand I can't use total defense while doing so.
>>135514Yeah, that's not going to fly.
But, i guess it's good enough for him to consider healing himself instead of killing you.
The seasoned goblinoid looks at the Orc with a sadistic grin.
"You'll speak with the master, but not standing!" He growls, uncapping and taking yet another potion.
The other wounded hobgoblin takes his own potion. The two Veterans on the walls fire more rays, one of them hitting.
Brozal takes another 2 strength damage, putting his score at 7.
Alright, diceroll says reinforcements are confident to sit and watch while the Veterans take care of you, for now.
That means it's Whisker's turn.
>>135520>>135521Yeah, I have no idea what to do, honestly.
Could you describe the battlefield for me once more?
>>135522Two hobgoblin warriors a wall 40 feet away, zapping Brozal. One on the worthwest corner who just took a potion. The voice of a hobgoblin out of sight yelling something at Brozal. A wall of smoke blocking off half the room. Chad some 20 feet in front of you conjuring lightning. Bagel Beside you. Jorr near kneeling over his dying dog. Two dead goblins and two dead worgs behind you.
Behind you, to the south, is the gatehouse. In front of you leads further into the courtyard. There are rooms around the courtyard, and stairs to your left (being blocked off by a hobgoblin).
And darn it, I have to step out again for 30 mins... Sorry.
Wait, nevermind. I was mistaken. Still here.
>>135523Whiskers moves the necessary amount of steps to cast Glitterdust on the two veterans to stop their incessant zapping.
Bagel, meanwhile, takes the tiny kitty's healing belt, going towards the dying dog in the hopes of either Jorr using it himself or applying it on the dog.
>>135525You could only blind two of them (the two on the ledge) with that attack.
it's a 10 ft radius spread.
>>135526If they're the two of them that keep zapping Brozal's Strength score, then it's worth it.
If there's more of them however...
>>135528I mean, it wouldn't hurt.
>>135529Well, it
is Glitterdust.
Sure, I'll go with it.
>>135530Alright, what's the save DC on that?
Both the hobgoblins are covered in golden dust.
However, neither appear to be Blinded.
Bagel's move?
>>135532Bagel, meanwhile, takes the tiny kitty's healing belt, going towards the dying dog in the hopes of either Jorr using it himself or applying it on the dog.
>>135533The Doggo gets up.
Jorr is very much pleased.
He promptly gets up and fires two arrows towards the Veteran in the northwest corner, the Veteran is staggered.
Brozal's turn.
Brozal attacks the goblin at the bottom of the staircase with his trident, jabbing it through with seemingly renewed vigor. Translation: I’m using Mountain Hammer on the goblin at the bottom of the staircase to get him out of the way.
“The body fails, but Pelor gives it new life!”
>>135514Rolled an 11. I assume that doesn't hit.
Shit. I skipped chad...
I'm going to assume he called down another bolt of lightning, dropping the hobgoblin
>>135537Nah...
The hobgoblin charges you, and lashes out with his katana. The chilling arcane blade further diminishes your strength, dropping it to 5.
You take 10 slashing damage.
Okay, the two golden-gobbos fire at Chad, only one of them hits. He takes 7 damage.
3 enemies remaining.
>>135539Sweat and blood dribble out of the cracks and freshly made openings in Brolaz's banded mail as his legs tremble and the grip on his trident begins to slip. He slumps over- using his trident's polearm for support. "Fire is coming! It will swallow us all! Gaze into the incandescent inferno! Give yourself to it!"
Jorr shoots back at one of the hobgoblins, both of his arrows connecting. It is wounded, but does not drop.
Whisker's turn.
Chad, I apologiz in advance, but I'm going to keep controlling Chad on auto-pilot, repeating his last action until you get back.
>>135542Fuck.
Back into the 'I dunno what to do' field.
Guess it's time to break the cat form, wield a crossbow and start firing.
Can he do it all in one turn?
>>135544Transformation is a standard action.
>>135545Eugh.
Don't got many choices, honestly. I gotta attack at a range for once to support our Pelor boi.
>>135546Done.
Bagel's action?
>>135547Reapply invisibility if applicable, then move towards Whiskers and give him the healing belt back.
Sounds Chad brings down another bolt of lightning on an archer, which wounds, but doesn't kill, the archer.
Wait, nevermind. It's she's dead. Forgot Jorr had those shots.
>>135552Brozal lunges at the goblin at the bottom of the stairs again. "Fire is coming!" He shouts once more as he thrusts shoddily at the goblin. I'm using Vanguard Strike on it.
Rolled 16 on attack. I heal 2 HP, and deal 8 damage.
>>135554i miss and don't heal
>>135554Jorr fires at the last archer, wounding it.
Leathery flapping resounds from the sky, and pic related
Rain of projectiles rain down from the tower and pierce into impaling her and dealing 36 piercing damage. She shrieks and writhes so hard that Chad with his 7 Dex slips off of her back.
>>135554That would have missed anyway.
Whisker's turn.
>>135555Based quads heal you 5 damage anyway.
>>135556Whiskers unslings his bow while looking for a suitable place to hide from another volley of arrows.
Bagel meanwhile takes the healing belt again and insert some healing on Misty.
>>135559That siant skeleton to the north looks like decent cover. I'd let you move and attack.
>>135559Misty is healed slightly.
>>135560Whiskers goes to it before attacking at one of the big Strength sapping bullies Brozal's facing.
>>135562[1d20+7 = 15]<Pew
YOu know, i said I would only be an hour. I really wish I knew where Chad was...
>>135563Miss.
Okay, I got one vote to wait for a while and see if Chad shows up.
I cannot DM tomorrow. The best I can do is go for a few more hours tonight.
I'm going to go for a 15 minute walk while I consider the monsters' next moves.
Okay. I'm going to just eat dinner while I hope Chad shows up. Iirc, it's actually pretty late in the UK, so I don't know if he's even awake right now.
One if these days I'm going to have to address our communication issues...
Whiskers has gone to bed.
It looks like I'm going to have to freeze time for this week, again.. Oh well.
I came to a realization that completely broke me last night, i was still reading the thread but i was really not in the mood to continue playing and i was going to post that i was going to give up this session but i felt like it was pointless to post anything so i didn't because i knew it would have disrupted our game, a lot of frustration was tormenting me yesterday.
I'll see how i am feeling by the next weekend.
We have a new player joining in as a melee wizard so that should help.
>>135586Gee, m8. Are you alright?
I'm not one to judge. If you have something you want to talk about, or another concern, feel free to share it.
>>135588>Gee, m8. Are you alright?Not sure at the moment.
>I'm not one to judge. If you have something you want to talk about, or another concern, feel free to share it.It was a reevaluation of my experiences that caused my views to be shaken, i have not found what i wanted and was let down on dumb expectations, i won't go into detail.
Thanks for asking.
>>135590Is this an issue with your personal life, or with this game?
>>135592Well, you have my condolences.
I won't blame you for taking a break if you're having meatspace troubles; we all have them.
I can probably DM this weekend.
How's Friday sound?
>>135695What time will we start at?
>>135696As early as possible, if you want stuff to happen.
I'm still waiting for the Wizard player to make his character though.
We don't need to play Friday. I just happen to have that day off.
Life kicked me in my shin. Gotta bail.
>>135708Alright. We'll play tomorrow
We can get started as soon as everyone is ready.
I lost my notes... Does anybody remember the initiative order?
Alright, upon closer inspection, I fucked up and didn't want realize that Ray Of Enfeeblement doesn't stack, since it's a penalty, rather than ability damage.
I'm going to put Brozal at 14 Str.
The initiative order was:
>Brozal
>Jorr
>Veterans (1 left)
>Whiskers/Bagel
>Chad
I'm just going to restart the initiative with Brozal. We'll start as soon as his player shows.
For the sake of simplicity, I'm leaving both Chad and Misty at half health. Chad, however, has fallen off of Misty's back and is prone beside her. Misty is visibly in pain; eight jagged spines jutting out of her flank, the spines seem to have rained down on her from above, from an unknown location.
Chad still has Call Lightning active. He can call down lightning as a standard action every round for another 5 minutes (protip: consider combining call lightning with Flaming Sphere and some summons, for maximum action efficiency.)
Brozal's Str is at 14, and he can move at full speed.
Whiskers is in his humanoid shape.
There are two goblins, two worgs, and three hobgoblins on the ground. One veteran remains standing, brandishing his katana.
Pretty sure that Chad's wall of smoke should be vanishing about now, revealing the other half of the courtyard.
>>135720Ah, there you are.
You saw the post about being at 14 Str?
It's your turn.
>>135721I’ll attack the one guy left with Crusader’s Strike.
Rolled a 28, then rolled 13 damage. Healing 5 HP.
>>135723Yep, that drops him.
The wounded veteran spits up blood and curses as he drops.
There are no enemies visible, for now.
Jorr seems to be the wiser though, after witnessing Misty lose half her hitpoints from that last volley.
"Blast it! That ain't the last o' them!" he shouts, ordering his dogs over towards the skeleton to the north of the courtyard, knocking an arrow.
I would like to remind everyone of the map I posted earlier.
Right now, you are all in the courtyard.
>This courtyard of hard-packed earth has an eerie air of desolation. Jagged boulders embedded in the ground seem to have been dropped here, or thrown from a great distance; many of the walls bear large dents and cracks where these boulders might have once struck. Two massive skeletons lie at opposite ends of the courtyard, one propped up by the watchtower and the other sprawled at the far end by a building that could be a stable. To the south, where a section of the keep’s outer wall has collapsed, a third giant skeleton lies partially buried in the rubble.
“We need to go through a door and barricade ourselves inside. It will be an easier point to defend from.”
>>135725>>135724Whiskers looks around for any sort of chokepoint the team could use to reduce the numbers' advantage.
He quickly points to the leftmost building before reading his crossbow to fire at any enemies he could see, not wanting to go in there first.
Bagel, for her part, ensured she had her invisibility on before going there herself to scout out said building.
Brozal enters the leftmost building’s door.
>>135729>>135728Do you guys mean the northwest room or the southwest room? There are two doors and a staircase to the west.
>>135731The one with the wall semi taken down in the map.
>>135732>>135731The one whiskers said
>>135732Northwest.
Alright, Whiskers scurries over to the northwest room, which takes a full round action at his speed.
I assume that Bagel goes there too?
Brozal can head there on his initiative.
>>135734I was planning on Bagel going while Whiskers readies an attack with his crossbow in order to scout it out safely
And Chad... Dammit, he's not here.
Anybody want to recommend an action for him? He's prone beside Misty, both of which are at half health.
>>135736Anything will do. I just want to control him without DM knowledge.
I had plans for Chad's character this session, dammit.
Alright, I'm going to step out for a lunch break, and hope that Chad's player shows up in the meantime.
Chad, if you see this, please stand by, and post to show that you're present.
If you'd rather not play today, or have other plans today, please say so.
>>135738I woke up about 15 minutes ago, where are we at the moment? Can i have rundown of where we are?
>>135739Whiskers has opted to take cover in the barracks to the northwest. Brozal and Jorr will follow him shortly.
You are in the courtyard, prone, on the ground beside Misty. The two of you are at half health. Misty took considerable damage last turn from a volley of unidentified projectiles. You were shot several times by goblins.
There are no conscious enemies visible. You still have call lightning active for the next five minutes.
>>135741It's also your turn. What do you do?