When we last left off the liveblog, our hero, Hugh Mann, was too much of a pussy to be handling shit on his own, so he goes back and drags along three other people, who I will consider mercenaries. So, shall we return?
We switch books to continue with the story, and now we’re following the Dungeon Master’s book, as it tells us just what a Dungeon Master is. Basically, if you’ve seen one “What a GM is” section, you seen them all. To sum up, you’re the guy who tells the story, points out the rules, and controls the baddies. They also explain how you can change the DM role every now and then and give someone else a chance to run the dungeons, though also tells them that being DM doesn’t mean being the antagonist to the heroes, or trying to win.
The book also explains that we’re picking up where we last left off for the Player’s Book. From here, it begins to play out like a classic Dungeons and Dragons game, with a DM and 3-4 players. It sums up what will happen, like the fact that your characters will go to the 2nd level by the end of the adventure. Provided they make it to the end, that is. Oh, and there’s also a setting detail at the end if you’re interested in the lore.
The book also explains a bit about how adventures could work, be it a Monster of the Week style story, or a story with a Myth Arc. And then the book proceeds to shill some other books for you to buy. And yet, the books are more cheaper than the Warhammer 40k Starter Set. There’s also some tips for the DM to have, but they’re basic. When in doubt, make it up. Don’t play favourites. Be fair. Pay attention. That sort of thing.
And so we begin with our first encounter... Outside of the Eskimo nut kick contest in the caves, that didn’t count, apparently. Anyways, our heroes are now on the road, and suddenly they get ambushed by goblins and wolves.
Initiative
- Darerris: 19
- Goblins: 18
- Hollyhana: 13
- Wolves: 9
- Adoamros: 7
- Hugh: 4
So Darerris goes first, and her first instinct is to go and try to get onto the rocks so as to have a good advantage against the wolves.
[Athletics DC: 10. Roll... 14]
She manages to get up there, and decides to plunge the knife into the wolf’s head, and since there’s probably no rule stating what happens when you have the high ground, I will rely on the DM’s Best Friend (basically +2 to any check with a favourable circumstance) to make the rolls.
[Attack Roll: Dagger (+6 and +2) Vs. AC (16). Roll... 18] [Damage: 8]
And does some good damage, for once. Though now the goblins have their go. The book actually gives the DM tactics and advice of what the monsters should be doing, for example, the goblins, for their first attack, they go up and attack the nearest person... Ooookay, that’s a little too general. But the wolves’ first move, as suggested by the tactics, try to flank their enemy (one attacks from the front, and the other at the back) to get combat advantages, then, upon attacking, they retreat four squares. Basically their tactics in total are to just Attack! Attack! Attack!.
So anyways, the goblins decide to go and throw their daggers at Hugh and Adoamros ...
[Attack Roll: Dagger (+6) Vs. AC (17). Roll... 19] [Damage: 9]
[Attack Roll: Dagger (+6) Vs. AC (15). Roll... 7]
And hit just Hugh. It’s Hollyhana’s turn now, and she’s not as risky as Darerris is, so she decides to stick around and heal Hugh, bringing him back to his perfect health... Yeah, pretty wasteful, Ms. Graveltoes, but okay. Now it’s the wolves’ turn. The wolf tries to pick at the ones that won’t be a pain to get at (coughdarerriscough) and try to kill someone they know would be a pain in the ass if they let him live (coughadoamroscough), unfortunately, one of the wolves couldn’t make it fast enough, so the first wolf decides to attack anyways. I presume he’s Courage Wolf, since he doesn’t seem to rely on his ally to fight the elf.
[Attack Roll: Bite(+7) Vs. AC (15). Roll... 21] [Damage: 6]
And in addition to hurting the elf, he also manages to make him fall prone and he gets to move four spaces to avoid counterattacks. Adoamros gets up and flings a Magic Missile to the fleeing wolf, giving him six damage back. Hugh finally gets to move, and so he goes to attack the goblin, assuming a battle fury stance.
[Attack Roll: Sword (+8) Vs. AC (15). Roll... 27] [Damage: 17, and since I might as well, throwing in a Power Strike, giving it an extra 9 damage, giving him a whopping 26]
Darerris, seeing no reason to hide up on the rocks like a scardy cat, climbs back down from the rocks.
[Athletics DC: 10. Roll... 10]
She just made it down. Oh, hey, she moved right to the wolf. I wonder what she’s gonna...
[Attack Roll: Dagger (+6) Vs. AC (16). Roll... 22] [Damage: 7]
Eeeeyup. Welp, that’s two monsters bloodied. We might actually end this encounter sooner than I thought. Goblins then make their move. They decide to flank Hugh instead because, well, he’s in point blank range and Adoamros would roast their ass like he did with the wolf. And thus we get combat advantage time.
[Attack Roll: Short Sword (+6 and +2) Vs. AC (17). Roll... 12]
[Attack Roll: Short Sword (+6 and +2) Vs. AC (15). Roll... 13]
Aaaaaand they miss. Welp, time to see what Holly can do.
[Attack Roll: Mace (+6) Vs. AC (16) Roll... 9]
Jack and shit it seems. The wolves move to perform some flank. That just sounded wrong.
[Attack Roll: Bite(+7 and +2) Vs. AC (18). Roll... 19] [Damage: 11]
[Attack Roll: Bite(+7 and +2) Vs. AC (18). Roll... 11]
And they wound her. Adoamros decides to put the hurt on the already hurt goblin by flinging a phantasmal force at him.
[Attack Roll: Spell (+4) Vs. AC (15). Roll... 6. Invoking Elven Accuracy. Reroll... 19] [Damage: 14]
And pretty much wastes him. Ah well, Goblin #2, at least you can always rely on the wolves to be your flanking buddy. Well, with one goblin dead, Hugh tries to massacre the second one.
[Attack Roll: Sword (+8) Vs. AC (15). Roll... 14]
A swing and a miss! Darerris tries to ambush the non-bloodied * wolf, lunging in for an attack.
[Attack Roll: (Deft Strike) Dagger (+6) Vs. AC (16) Roll... 22] [Damage: 9]
And hurts him for even more damage than she could for a normal dagger stab.
The remaining Goblin, now that his flanking buddy has gone, decides to leave to the woods. Holly has to get up, so she can’t be hurting anyone. One of the wolves rush to help the other wolf chow down on some dwarf stew. However, the other wolf just wants to eat.
[Attack Roll: Bite(+7 and +2) Vs. AC (16). Roll... 11]
And promptly misses. Because the goblin is running far away from them, Hugh and Adoamros decide to team up to help kill the wolf, and so they both move at the same time. Darerris realizes that another wolf is out to get her, so she decides to bump and run.
[Attack Roll: (Bump And Run) Dagger (+6) Vs. AC. (16) Roll... 12]
And botches. She then runs back to the others, who are now ready to kick major wolf ass. Oh, Gobby Gob ran away. Hollyhana runs behind Hugh and begins to give them some resistance. (She had no one to attack, so I changed up Blessing of Battle a bit to fit the situation) The wolves then march and ambush Darerris.
[Attack Roll: Bite(+7 and +2) Vs. AC (15). Roll... 24] [Damage: 10]
[Attack Roll: Bite(+7 and +2) Vs. AC (15). Roll... 10]
Though the blessing knocked the damage down to 8. And so I decided to merge all the heroes’ turns into one, since only two wolves remain. Adoamros (carrying Darerris) chases after the injured wolf and take him down...
[Attack Roll: Spell (+4) Vs. AC (16). Roll... 10]
[Attack Roll: Dagger (+6) Vs. AC (16). Roll... 12 (there was a negativity for her being prone)]
No. They miss. What about Hugh and Hana?
[Attack Roll: Sword (+8) Vs. AC (16) Roll... 18] [Damage: (Human Versatility + Battle Fury) 16]
Well, both wolves are dying. Can I call it a match and murder these guys already?
SUDDENLY MYTHIC ROLL!
[Odds: So So, Chaos Factor: 5. Roll... 67]
Damn it. So the wolves attack.
[Attack Roll: Bite(+7, +2, and +2 (for being prone)) Vs. AC (15). Roll... 28] [Damage: 13]
[Attack Roll: Bite(+7 and +2) Vs. AC (17). Roll... 17] [Damage: 10]
And both Hugh and Darerris go down. But Darerris gets up and the Wolf finally gets a taste of fluid karma as he gets flanked.
[Attack Roll: Spell (+4 and +2) Vs. AC (16). Roll... 25]
[Attack Roll: Dagger (+6 and +2) Vs. AC (16). Roll... 28 (this one gets special notice because it’s a natural twenty)]
And that wolf is dead. Nope, no need to check for damage, that was overkill.
And now for the coup de grace for the other wolf.
[Attack Roll: Sword (+8 and +2) Vs. AC (16) Roll... 20] [Damage: 9]
[Attack Roll: Mace (+6 and +2) Vs. AC (16) Roll... 15]
And that wolf’s dead too. Great! We killed all the monsters! Except for the goblin who ran away, but we killed them!
[350 EXP EARNED!]
And so I think our heroes need a well deserved rest before they go off to confront more goblins and wolves. Though that stray goblin still bugs me... Maybe he went to go warn the others... On the other hand, Darerris is hurt badly, and we need to heal her. Should I heal her?
SUDDENLY MYTHIC ROLL!
[Odds: So So, Chaos Factor: 5. Roll... 100]
Welp, I think that settles it. We’re heading for the dungeon in the next part (though along the way, they each use up a healing surge, just to make sure Darerris doesn’t downright die on the first dungeon level).
