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Game is still on

So, we're still playing, I've just been very lazy about blogging.

I've split the game into two groups of five PCs. All of the players under 18, including my son and daughter, play early on Saturday. All of the players over 18 play in the evening on Saturday.

Both PC groups are level 3 now. In the children's game (I need to find a better name for my groups), the characters have gone back up to Dalton's Camp. It seems that goblins of the Black Blade tribe have been more persistent in their raids on the mining operations and Kharas Fireaxe has asked for their help in dealing with the little bastards. While wandering in the area looking for goblins, they came on a green dragon that was digging up something near one of the mine sites. They tried to negotiate with the dragon to no avail. A long and grueling combat ensued. The heroes won the day relatively easily. They discovered the dragon's lair nearby where they recovered some well-earned treasure. They also dug about where they encountered the dragon and found what it was looking for . . . or so they think. An onyx statue of a dragon that is magical in nature, although they have not been able to determine its power. They plan to move forward against the goblins before investigating the dragon statue.

In the meantime the adult game (again, we need a better name) the PCs have made their way to Thunderspire Labyrinth where they delivered the Kharas's package to the drow merchant. They have asked about and founds some information on the Bloodreaver clan of hobgoblins and are likely to investigate their doings.

More later when I have time.

Session Discussion: Skill Challenges

So, we did a couple of more extended skill challenges. Here's my notes on these challenges:

Approach the Bloodreaver Lair

This skill challenge is necessary to find the Bloodreaver Lair quickly and quietly. It is assumed that the heroes are trying to reach the lair unmolested and undetected.

Difficulty: Moderate (DC 10)

6 Successes (150 xp)

At this level of success you manage to reach the Bloodreaver lair without alerting any patrols to your presence. All guards will be considered ready (but not alert) until such time as your activities dictate otherwise.

9 Successes (275 xp)

In addition to reaching the Bloodreaver lair undetected you also manage to find a good location near the lair to set up a defensible “base camp” to which you can retreat and avoid contact with goblins if you are careful about returning to the place without leading enemies to it.

12 Successes (400 xp)

You reach the Bloodreaver lair undetected, find a good base camp and capture a lone goblin who gives up information about the guard routines and patrols. This information grants a +2 bonus to any three skill checks during the next skill challenge. The skill check bonus must be declared before the roll.

3 Failures (0 xp)

If you get three failures before achieving at least six successes then each character loses one healing surge and the party has a combat encounter with a Bloodreaver patrol. The Bloodreaver guards will flee as soon as a single of their number falls. If any of the patrollers make it back to the lair alive then the entire lair will be considered alert for the next several hours. Apply a -2 penalty to all skill checks in the next skill challenge (Stalking the Bloodreaver lair) should you choose to attempt that challenge before the next sunrise. Additionally, all Bloodreaver guards are alert and ready for combat during this time.

Key Skills (DC 10)

• Athletics: you use your physical skills to help your party navigate the mountainous terrain.
• Dungeoneering: using knowledge of general dungeon construction and guard patterns, you help avoid patrols and get into best position near the lair.
• Endurance: stealthy movement through mountainous terrain is hard work. Your endurance helps ensures that you and your comrades do not flag during the trek.
• Nature: using knowledge of the natural world you help to avoid any dangerous flora or fauna. You help track previous patrols and see tell tale signs of recent goblin passage.
• Perception: you powers of perception help you to find the way to the goblin lair while avoiding patrolling enemies.
• Stealth: you and your friends sneak through the mountainous terrain drawing closer and closer to the enemy stronghold.

Secondary Skills (DC 15)

• Acrobatics: the difficult terrain presents no challenge to you as you leap over ravines and tumble through underbrush and move closer to the Bloodreaver lair.
• Heal: climbing through these rough mountains results in numerous cuts, scrapes and bruises. Your use of first aid helps keep the heroes on their feet.

Stalking the Bloodreaver Lair

After finding the Bloodreaver lair you have the option of observing and planning your assault which may make it your attack easier.

Difficulty: Hard (DC 15)

6 Successes (350 xp)

Each character gets a +1 bonus usable on any single d20 roll while inside the lair.

9 Successes (525 xp)

As above and gain one action point.

12 Successes (700 xp)

As above and find hidden treasure near the lair: buried chest with 250 gold and Gloves of Piercing.

3 Failures (0 xp)

While casing the Bloodreaver lair you alert guards to your presence. Each PC loses two healing surges immediately and the guards on duty outside attack. Additionally, the goblins inside the lair prepare for an attack. All goblins are alert and prepared for combat. Traps, cover and other preparations are fully in place.

Allow the PCs to use any reasonable skill that they can justify with role-play/explanation of use.

Session Report: Against the Bloodreavers

Far north of Dalton's Camp on the western face of the White Mist Mountains, the heroes have journeyed into the area where Jadonkos believes they will find the Bloodreaver tribe lair. The heroes spend time following trails, staying hidden from patrols and working their way towards the lair.

They eventually find a clearing in the woods near a shear cliff face. There is a large pit dug away from the cliff face and a few tents scattered around the area. A long hobgoblin stands guard near a crack in the cliff face that looks as if it might enter into a deeper cave.

The heroes stalk the place for a few hours. They watch patrol patterns and find a good place to hunker down in from which they will launch their attack. Mizuni and Dorrin scout forward to attack the lone guard. The heroes quickly cut down the guard before he can raise an alarm and kill the resting guards in the tents before they can enter the fray.

After a quick rest they charge into the cave. A pair of soldiers and several archers stand guard. The archers hold the high ground and pelt Bracken without mercy. After the dwarf falls unconscious they switch targets to Dorrin who has climbed up onto the ledge with him. Dorrin survives their attacks with a bit of luck and his friends, having cleared out the soldiers move in and finsih off the archers.

Pressing deeper into the lair the heroes follow worked stone hallways to another large natural cavern. Here they meet another band of hobgoblins. The hobgoblins fall quickly to the focused attacks of the heroes, but not before one races out of the place an into a crevasse heading deeper into the lair.

Dorrin creeps forward after the archer and finds a room packed with many goblins. He attacks one and the goblins move quickly to bottleneck the heroes in the entrance to their ground. It is a long and hard struggle, but eventually the dwarf protectors manage to get through to the front lines and control the flow of the battle while Dorrin and Muzuni strike down the enemies. Algea makes short work of many of the goblins with his blasts of fire. Eventually the battle is down to only an axe wielding goblin leader and a goblin hexer who has covered the battlefield with an obscuring fog. The heroes bring these two down and make ready to press onward to find the leader of the Bloodreavers.

Session Report: Rewards

The heroes received the following rewards in the foray into the Bloodreaver hideout:

XP: 588 (current total 1996)
Gold: 30 gold each
Magic Items: Battleforged Armor +1: Fargrim
Flaming Battleaxe +1: Drast
Battleaxe of Terror +1: Brackent

Session Discussion: Skill Challenge - Success?

So, I'm going to lay out all of my notes from the negotiation skill challenge with the dragon Jadonkos. I hope this will show you where I'm coming from and how I hope to see skill challenges work in the future.

Skill challenge vs. Jadonkos (Difficulty: Hard – DC 15)

Before resorting to fighting, the dragon Jadonkos offers to parley with the PCs. Should they accept the offer and succeed in a difficult skill challenge they may achieve victory without combat. They may also acquire a gift from Jadonkos and a quest.

Success (minimal): 6 successes – 525 xp
Jadonkos agrees to leave the heroes alone either because they managed to convince him that the Black Tablet is not of use to him or that they are more than he can handle.

Success (medium): 9 successes – 700 xp
As above and Jadonkos asks the heroes to help him with his problem with the Bloodreaver clan of hobgoblins. He offers a quest to them to track the Bloodreaver Clan of hobgoblins who recently attacked his lair and took many hostages.

Success (maximum): 12 successes – 875 xp
As above and Jadonkos gives a Holy Symbol of Bahamut +1 to the party if they accept the quest to root out the Bloodreavers.

Failure: 3 failures before 6 (or more) successes
Jadonkos attacks the party and calls his kobold allies to aid him in the fight.

Key skills (DC: 15)

Examples of usage of key skills in this encounter:

• Arcana: convince Jadonkos of your arcane knowledge and power and then explain that the Black Tablet is of no use to the dragon.
• Bluff: convince Jadonkos that you do not have the Black Tablet
• Diplomacy: sway Jadonkos to not fight and instead discuss the matter for mutual benefit
• Insight: realize Jadonkos’s true desire: to protect his kobold followers and himself from the Bloodreaver hobgoblins; required to achieve 9+ successes
• Intimidate: convince Jadonkos that he does not have the power to face down the party

Secondary Skills (DC: 20)

• History: weave a tale about the Black Tablet and how it cannot be used to protect the dragon or his allies
• Nature: this item is wholly unnatural, evil and dangerous. Its use will endanger the dragon and his minions.
• Religion: the nature of the Black Tablet is wholly evil and your knowledge of religion is such that you can prove it is of no use to the dragon.
• Any other skill the PCs can convingly employ.

If the PCs can convince the dragon not to fight (6 successes) then they may further convince him to offer a quest and possibly prepayment for the quest.

Session Report: Quests

So, you have three new quests:

Kill the leader of the Bloodreaver tribe
Major Quest: 125 xp per PC
Jadonkos, the white dragon, has offered to pay you 500 gold to kill the leader of the Bloodreaver tribe of goblins. He has also partially prepaid for this quest in the form of a Holy Symbol of Life +1 for this quest.

Rescue kobolds from the Bloodreavers
Major Quest: 125 xp per PC
Jadonkos, the white dragon, has offered to pay you 500 gold to resuce seventeen kobolds who were taken prisoner by goblins and hobgoblins of the Bloodreaver tribe.

Exchange the sealed cask for the drow fortune stones
Minor Quest: 25 xp per PC
Kharas Fireaxe has offered 500 gold for you to take a sealed cask to his contact named Gendar in the Seven Pillared Hall in Thunderspire Labyrinth and return with a set of drow fortune stones that Gendar has.

Session Report: Rewards

The heroes received the following rewards for last session:

XP: 409 (current total 1409)
Gold: hm, some amount of gold. Everyone should have about 150 gold less any spent.
Magic Items: Holy Symbol of Life +1: Varrin

Session Report: (Never?) Deal with a Dragon

Having returned with the Black Tablet to Dalton's Camp and managed to avoid its capture by goblins, kobolds and a white dragon, the heroes set out for Berador. They intend to speak there to Vardigas Asmos and determine next steps.

The intial trek back to Berador is mostly uneventful. They stay off the road and slip through the Greywood. An overnight encounter with some ettercaps and spiders is mostly uneventful and followed by a conversation with a patrol of elves from Greywatch Hold.

On the third day out from Dalton's Camp the white dragon, Jadonkos, tracks the heroes down in the woods. He lands some distance away and offers to parley. The dragon demands the Black Tablet from them in exchange for sparing their lives. He wants it to protect his kobold minions from the hobgoblin raiders of the Bloodreaver clan. The heroes refuse to give up the tablet, and in their discussions manage to convince Jadonkos that the Black Tablet will not protect his people as he believes.

More conversation leads to the revelation that the dragon sincerely cares for his people and he offers to pay the heroes to rid him of the hobgoblin menace. They manage to convince him to make partial payment in advance and he hands over a Holy Symbol of Life +1 in the image of the dragon god Bahamut.

The heroes accept the quest and the payment and set out to Berador with promises to seek the dragon in his lair within ten days.

In Berador they reveal the Black Tablet to Vardigas and explain that it cannot be used of the desired protective ritual. Vardigas endeavors to investigate the tablet and then help the heroes decide what to do.

In the meantime the dwarf warrior, Bracken, has become rather attached to the Black Tablet. He gains power from its presence, including the ability to speak Abyssal and other skills have increased. He is reluctant to give up the tablet. The other heroes manage to convince him to allow Vardigas to study it, but Bracken refuses to leave while the studies go on.

Vardigas reveals that the heroes are correct; the Black Tablet will not provide any protection to the village. It will reveal the location to one of the five shards of the key called Imkinrisraka which opens the so-called prison of Ashembelaldu. The information the heroes have is that the demon called Certiakinryn is imprisoned there. Vardigas says no such demon exists, but that Ashembelaldu actually guards a treasure of some sort. He cannot identify the treasure.

The heroes resolve to leave the Black Tablet with the eladrin elder, Chadadarya Lidastar in the Greywood. They convince Bracken to leave it behind and he can "get it back later" when they return.

They head out for the Jadonkos's lair north of Dalton's Camp. In Dalton's Camp they speak to Kharas Fireaxe. On hearing of their plans he asks them to take a cask for him to a contact of his in the Seven Pillared Hall in Thunderspire Labyrinth. In exchange he will pay them 500 gold when they return with a set of drow fortune stones.

They make an uneventful journey to Jadonkos's lair. While their they learn that the hogoblins have again attacked the kobolds and this time they have taken many of them prisoner. Jadonkos offers to increase the reward to the heroes if they will also rescue his people. He offers 500 gold for the head of the hobgoblin leader and another 500 gold for the return of his people.

The heroes make their way to the hobgoblin lair over a period of about a week. They encounter no trouble until they near the hobgolin lair. They find their several outbuildings near a cave. Now they must find a way in and rescue the kobold prisoners.

Session Report: Rewards

The heroes received the following rewards for last session:

XP: 365 (everyone is 2nd level now)
Gold: 75 gold each
Magic Items:

• Rod of Reaving +1: Katerin
• Staff of Winter +1: Algea
• Duelist's Dagger +1: Mizuni
• Frost Bastard Sword +1: Dorrin

Session Report: The Black Tablet Recovered

The heroes decide to take their chances with the Black Tablet and take it with them back to Berador. They discover that the Black Tablet cannot be handled by any "safe" means as any non-living material other than earth or stone passes through the tablet. They cannot lift it with a rope or drop it in a sack. Fargrim offers the clever idea of coating the tablet in mud and then dropping it into a backpack. This works out quite well.

In the coffin with the tablet the heroes find several magical items which they divvy up among themselves for later use.

Anyone handling the Black Tablet has a sense of forboding and dread. After a few moments dozens chittering voices mumble unintelligibly and maddeningly in the mind of anyone carrying the tablet. A single voice speaks once in Common, "Find the key," and the other voices continue.

After some experimentation they discover that the voices seem harmless enough, but unnerving. Later Algea uses Comprehend Languages and listens to the voices. They mumble a great deal about death, destruction and hatred in Abyssal. He hears a few words that he knows are proper nouns, but he has no way to place them: Ashembelaldu, Certiakinryn and Imkinrisraka.

Later study and investigation reveals that a forgotten demon lord by the name of Certiakinryn is locked in the Abyssal prison of Ashembelaldu. Imkinrisraka is the key to the prison. It is broken into five pieces and they were purposely scattered and obscured so as to ensure that the demon lord would never be released. The Black Tablet provides the material and the instruction to perform a ritual which will reveal the location of one of the five shards of Imkinrisraka.

The heroes leave the dwarf temple to Moradin and find kobolds and goblins fighting on the doorstep. They watch as a massive battle unfolds with some two dozen combatants on each side. As the kobolds give ground and appear on the verge of losing the battle another horde of goblins charges in. Several are mounted on worgs. They rush in and wantonly slaughter everything in their path, goblin and kobold alike. As the battle draws to a close the heroes rush in and ambush the ambushers. The goblins put up a great fight, but they are no match for the heroes of Berador. One goblin, the warchief of the party, manages to escape on his wolf after all of his comrades fall.

The party makes its way to Dalton's Camp en route to Berador. On the way they notice that a great band of hundreds of goblins is gathering in the hills and appears to be pursuing them. They reach Dalton's Camp safely, but not long before the goblin war party. The heroes collect their reward from Kharas Fireaxe for the dwarf statuettes and set to helping to defend the town from the goblins.

The goblins surround the town and send a marshal to parley. They demand that the Black Tablet be turned over to them or they will raze the town and kill all within. They give the townfolk two days to decide. The heroes are intent on keeping the Black Tablet out of the hands of any evil creatures and work on defenses for the town.

On the next day a white dragon appears. It circles the town for many minutes and finally lands among the goblins. For several minutes the dragon appears to speak with the goblin leaders and then suddenly it attacks them. The dragon disperses the goblin horde by flying well out of range of their attacks and diving in to breathe its icy breath on them every minute or so.

After the goblins disperse the dragon makes its way to the town. The dragon seeks out any who will parley with him. He demands the Black Tablet for himself. The heroes refuse and pepper the dragon with fire and oil. The dragon flees back towards the mountains.

With the threat of the goblins gone, the heroes make preparations to set out for Berador carrying their evil burden. What will they do with the Black Tablet now?

Session Report Running Late

The session report from this past week's game is coming, but I'm working my butt off right now and probably won't get to it until this weekend. Sorry.

New Monster: Stone Dwarf Statue

This monster is my first 4th edition monster creation. I made it in about 10 minutes following the guidelines in the DMG and lifting heavily from the Stone Golem in the MM.

Stone Dwarf Statue Large Natural Animate			Level 3 Solo Soldier 750 xp
Initiative: +3 HP:196; Bloodied: 98 AC: 20; Fortitude: 20; Reflex: 14; Will: 16 Immune: disease, sleep, poison Saving Throws: +5 Action Points: 2 Speed: 6; can’t shift; see also Rampage			Senses: Perception -2; darkvision
Axe Slam (basic melee; standard; at-will)
	+10 vs. AC; 1d12+5 damage.
Double Axe Slam (standard; at-will)
	Makes two Axe Slam attacks.
Rampage (standard; recharge 5,6)
	The stone dwarf statue moves up to its speed plus 2 and can move through enemies’ spaces, provoking opportunity attacks as normal. When it enters a creature’s space (ally or enemy) the statue makes an axe slam attack against the creature. On a successful hit the statue pushes the target one square. The statue must end its rampage in an unoccupied square.
Death Burst (when bloodied and again when reduced to zero hit points)
	The stone dwarf statue explodes in a burst of jagged stone. Close burst 1; +10 vs. AC; 1d8+3 damage and the space it occupied is difficult terrain until cleared.
Alignment: unaligned		Languages: none
Str 17 (+5) Con 17 (+5)		Dex 6 (-1) Int 3 (-4)	Wis 8 (-1) Cha 3 (-4)