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.
>>135942Is this in the tower or above it?
If it's above the tower should i do a spot roll?
>>135944Negative energy crackles from the bugbear's claws and strikes you in the face.
You are blinded.
Brozal's turn.
Chad and Misty kept healing. If they do something please say so.
>>135945Sure, roll.
>>135946Where am I and can I reach the bugbear?
>>135948You don't see anything because you're a human and don't have any kind of nightvision.
Misty, however, describes something "like a winged lion" perched upon the tower.
>>135947You could reach the bugbear if you charged, but standing up is a move action, and you'd also need to make a Balance check.
>>135953Fail.
Jorr boldly advances through the door and shoots from concealment.
The shots strike true, one of the arrows badly wounding the goblinoid. He roars in rage.
Whisker's turn.
>>135954Is the barricade still up?
>>135955Nah, the minotaur pushed it over with his nat20 Str check
>>135954Seeing how the humanoid is currently blinded, Whiskers backpedals away while rubbing his eyes, hoping to get away from any bugbear or its ally's attacks, essentially retreating after doing his job of freeing the waifu.
Speaking of, Bagel runs back into the building they've secured, trying to assist Whiskers into said building.
>>135957The bugbear manages to swipe at you as you back away, dealing 5 damage.
Bagel is able to lead you up to the hole in the wall, with your reduced speed.
The bugbear follows up with a bolt of lightning, hitting Whiskers, Brozal, and Jorr at once.
I'm going to need both Brozal and Whiskers to roll Reflex saves.
>>135959You save, taking only 15 damage.
Jorr takes a considerable amount of lightning and nearly drops.
Brozal saves as well, taking 8 electricity damage.
It is now Brozal's turn.
>>135965You are able to stand.
However, unless you throw something, you cannot hit the bugbear on this turn.
>>135966I toss an alchemist’s fire
>>135967Tossing it at the bugbear
Okay, whatever the attack roll is, a set of translucent wings appear and shield the bugbear.
Whiskers's turn.
>>135970Whisker lets off a cautious bolt before diving into cover, out of the bugbear's vision.
>>135971You can enter the courtyard, cast a spell, attack, do anything.
You would need to enter the courtyard first though.
>>135973It doesn't matter. The bugbear used a spell to block it.
>>135972Done.
>>135975I use wild shape to transform into a black bear then head into the courtyard with Misty.
Can i ride Misty in wild shape?
Okay, whatever Chad is doing, it shouldn't affect the Bugbear's next move.
The bugbear, with his last ally dead and a monster seemingly unwilling to interfere, seems to figure it's time to abandon ship.
"You'll never stop the Red Hand!" He roars
"It will be your Doom! There are too many of us!"
And with that, he quafs a potion, and flies 60 ft over the eastern wall.
>>135976No, you cannot ride her in wildshape.
Jorr shoots towards the bugbear as he flies away, but misses both
"Dammit!" He shouts, coughing up blood
Brozal, Chad, if you wanna try something, go ahead.
>>135977Okay then i walk into the courtyard with Misty following me.
>>135978Can i cast flaming sphere on him?
>>135978Brozal is going to try to challenge the bugbear to come back down and finish what it started. “You are not a true warrior, for you fear death! Come down and finish your battle!”
>>135980Nah, too far. You couldn't move the active sphere that far.
>>135981The bugbear runs like a bitch.
"Blasted goblins!" Jorr mumbles
And with that, it looks like he got away, descending over the wall and flying down towards the road on the east.
..Well... I guess there could be an opportunity to pursue him, with Misty's speed, but that's going to have to wait.
Okay, I am sorry to end it rough, but I am absolutely exhausted. I'll have you guys loot the Vault of Vraath Keep and uncover all of the other major plot devices next session, but for now I am kaput.
>>135982The next session could be tomorrow, if everyone is free.
>>135983Yeah that would be alright.
I have some chores to finish, but I should be ready to DM by the time everyone is ready.
Combat is pretty much over (for now), so initiative won't matter. We don't necessarily need everyone at once.
Okay, so far nobody has said anything, so I'm going to go eat lunch.
I don't know why mi ID changed.
>>136011Well, so far you're the only one who's responded.
Is there anything you want to do/try?
>>136013Can i use lessor vigor and heal everyone?
>>136014You could do so using charges from your wand, but you would have to ride into the courtyard first (it would take less than a round, with Misty's speed).
Although, I'm not sure what the party's HP is right now...
Jorr takes his potion.
>>136015I go into the courtyard with Misty, i'm in wild shape so can i still use the wand?
Okay, I've gotten a message on the server, and it seems as though Bro and Whisker's player would rather wait until the new player's character is ready before doing anything else...
So if they're not game to play, I think I might as well call it off for the day and do my work instead.
Sorry, Chad. Maybe next week.
Sometime during the week I'm going to have to do something to address some of the communication issues we've been having..
This game has taken ten times as long as I expected it to. We're only three quarters of the way through the first part of a multi-part campaign.
>>136017I need to check and see if the pearl of speech lets you activate spell trigger items. Wildshape says no items though.
Btw, you healed 6 HP when you Wildshaped.
In the meantime, is there anything else you'd like to do here? You could explore the keep yourself, but I can't guarantee all the monsters are gone.
>>136018>To activate a wand, a character must hold it in hand (or whatever passes for a hand, for nonhumanoid creatures) and point it in the general direction of the target or area.I don't think a bears paw constitutes as a hand. I'm going to say no.
>>136018Can i explore the tower that the Minotaur came from?
>>136019Alright then, can i use lessor vigor on myself and Misty?
>>136020You only had one casting of Lesser Vigor prepared, so you would have to use the wand to cast it again (in humanoid shape).
The minotaur came from the stairwell. I guess you could explore it on your own if you wanted to, but idk if it's appropriate to carry on without any other party members participating...
If you went up the stairwell, you would need to leave Misty in the coutyard, or otherwise I would have to roll a bunch of steps to see how well a horse climbs stairs.
>>136021Could i do a balance check for Misty to see if she can get up the stairs?
>>136023First roll a Handle Animal check to push her to do it, then roll a one Balance and one climb check to see if she's able to make it up.
>>136025You easily push her to move up the stairs, despite her instincts and lack of training in the matter.
She balances well on the first few steps, and doesn't hurt herself.
Buuuut, when it comes to actually climbing the steps, she just can't keep her hooves in synch, slipping falling back on her bum.
She whines in frustration.
Oh, and your passive perception indicates that you hear a low growl and some scraping noises emanating from the room to the southwest as you passed it.
>>136026Should i do a listen check?
>>136027I rolled the check for you.
The growling sounds feline, but also vaguely humanoid.
>>136028Should i do a move silently check and see what it is?
>>136029I mean, you could
try to sneak up on whatever's lurking there, if you really wanted to.
However, if a fight broke out, you'd have to face it alone.
>>136030Could i get Misty to come with me? Or would i need to make 2 checks then?
>>136031Nah, she's already trained to follow you. No check necessary.
But to add some logic to the situation: Whatever's there is sitting in the building directly beside the tower that the spines that nearly-killed you were raining down from, and directly beneath the tower were Misty saw the "winged lion" perched on earlier.
>>136032Yeah i don't think i wanna take the risk, can i search upstairs instead?
>>136033Sure, but you'd have to leave Misty downstairs.
>>136034Yeah if anything happened i would probably run back downstairs.
Or fight it if it's not very threatening.
>>136035Okay.
The stairwell is completely dark (it's only 3:30-ish AM). You are unable to see as of now.
What do you do?
Also if i am a black bear do i have better night vision?
>>136039You have low-light vision, but it's not really enough in the stairwell.
You are able to make it up the stairs, but you can't see very much in the room ahead. You don't sense any sort of movement.
Okay, Chad, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to be straight with you and say that I'd really rather wait until the other players are ready to proceed. I just realized I made a huge mistake with my maps right about now..
Light shouldn't be an issue because you have the Light spell prepared.
>>136040Should i do a search check?
>>136041When would the next time we would be able to play? If it's next weekend then i would prefer to do this now instead of waiting until then as there is nothing really stopping us from doing this unless you have other issues.
>>136042I'm just really, really tired, and I have some college work to finish (I expected this to be done in the morning, but i didn't hear from anybody). I'm just finding it kind of hard to motivate myself to DM this for just one person, ngl.
Would you be open to wrap this up during the week? I have Monday and Wednesday afternoons available. I might even be able to convince the other players to join then too.
>>136043Alright, i guess i can do it some other time.
>>136044Thanks for your consideration.
Sorry to delay it, but I'm really not feeling it right now. I appreciate your continued enthusiasm though, and I'll make sure you're able to do something interesting next time.
I'm currently trying to reconsider the format/medium/style for which I want to run this game. Combat has been
much slower than I deem to be acceptable... I might try to cut some parts down to adapt the story to a PbP format.
>>136045How about making larger posts more often that cover multiple things?
That could make things faster.
>>136046Yeah, that could help. I try.
I was hoping to do most of combat through voice chat, but I'm still working on it.
Okay, we should be able to play tomorrow afternoon, if the other players are ready by then.
I need to say that I made a big mistake last encounter concerning the battle map: The bugbear and minotaur came down the wrong stairwell. It's actually a really embarrassing mistake for me, because that should have been an obvious fuck-up...
Because of that, I'm going to retcon some of the damages of the last encounter (blindness, expended wand charges, etc). I will explain tomorrow.
I'll be able to play in about 7 hours from now.
I will put a reply in the thread when i'm back.
Okay, I guess I owe you guys an explanation.
Last encounter, I got so caught up in the nitty gritty details of combat, that I royally messed up with the battle map. Truth be told, the bugbear and minotaur coming down the wrong stairwell was a big mess-up, because the stairwell they were supposed to come from was
inside the barracks... That messes things up because that means that they never would have entered the courtyard while most of the party was in the barracks, and Chad should have never been able to see them.
It also means that the minotaur didn't get the surprise attack he was supposed to, and that the bugbear wouldn't have been able to attack Chad or vice versa because they would have never seen each other.
I'm not about to retcon the combat scene, because I did cut the minotaur's HP in half to account for a smaller party, and the Bugbear was predisposed to fly out of a hole on the opposite side of the tower when none of his allies remained (he had plenty of spell slots and HP left; he's just a cowardly goblin). However, it's possible that combat might have resolved differently: Chad used up wand charges to recover damage, and Whiskers was permanently blinded. For that, I'm going to decide that Whiskers is no longer blinded, and Chad retains that expended wand charge.
Whiskers and Brozal are free to explore the door on the opposite side of the barracks now.
>>136101Chad, I owe you an apology. I've been avoiding DMing for Chad during the week because I didn't want to admit that it shouldn't have been possible because Chad should have never seen the other stairwell; the stairwell you started climbing is actually the one that led to the tower where you saw the monster.
To be clear, there are two wooden doors on the inside of the barracks, one leading to the north-western tower, another to the east.
It's meta, knowledge, but the Bugbear was supposed to come out of the western door...
A large table fills this room, barely leaving enough room for the halfdozen chairs arrayed around its edge. Pinned to the table’s surface by daggers is a massive map of the region.
>>136108How many daggers are there?
>>136109Four.
Bits of paper remain where the corners of the the map stood.
On the table, you can see little tokens and figurines.
>>136110Are there any loose bricks nearby?
>>136113No loose bricks in this room.
>>136114Anything that could function as a hammer in a pinch? I could use a table leg, but I’d prefer something sturdier.
>>136104To be completely fair, Whiskers and Bagel were still scared of really exploring ahead, mostly stuck in a small trek of the Cheshire stroking the tibbit's ego while the small humanoid took a tentative step forward.