Its been a month since we last played D&D together. I’ve had to wait on everyone returning for the upcoming session which I’ve been eagerly anticipating for 2 months now.

I’ve had Nena’s character Nyaphelia (which I understand translates to lover of Nothing) return as a Star Pact Warlock affiliated with the mad cult of Zargon.

Zargon the Returner is one of those D&D figures from the old modules, specifically B4 the Lost City. You know, the OLD modules. A curious figure of chaos and destruction, an otherworldly nearly unkillable beast, which I’ve recast as a Far Realm entity on the same level as Gozer the Gozarian from Ghostbusters.

So, Nyaphelia heads a cult of Zargon worshipers that have successfully summoned his herald to the world, it arrived by falling star about the time that the PCs emerged victorious from Rivenroar Castle.

Anyway, in other news

Read Will Wheaton discuss his character’s recent death in the Penny Arcade D&D game

Our newest player, who had been playing a Tiefling Warlock has to return to Utah and so, played with us one final time. Her highly mobile Fey-pact warlock character aided in the rescue of Mirtala but alas I had work in the morning at 4 a.m. and so called the game at 8 p.m. after a short encounter with Gnomes and Rats in the Fresco room of Castle Rivenroar.

Jett and Mialee were savaged by dire rats, a fitting fate for low level D&D characters in most any editions, and they contracted Filth Fever from the bites. Jett frantically tried to concoct a potion to relieve the fever but it was beyond his skill as an alchemist, however they did coax Mirtala out of her catatonia and she revealed the location of the kidnapped dwarven Alchemist Adronsius west of the Fresco room on the upper level of the catacombs.

Perhaps he can be of assistance to our heroes?

EDIT: I did discover I handled the disease wrong, the rat’s bite power clearly reads that the target contracts filth fever and to see below. Below it lists what happens when you contract filth fever. The monster manual however lists how diseases work.

I forgot to mention that the characters reached Level 2, two sessions back and that last session we played around with Utility powers. Mialee the Druid spontaneously discovered her vampiric heritage awakening within her.

Therai gained the services of a tiny bound demon familiar which gives her access to the dreaded Abyssal tongue.

While the swordmage, Jett increased the protective wards on his blade to further shield his allies from harm.

After destroying a patrol of annoying Undead, including one zombie that refused to die, the company finds itself ready to rescue another victim of the Hobgoblin raid. Mirtala the cook, who is expected to be in the Fresco room.

Well, I learned a little more about Skill Challenges, running one that I created. The main complaint was the time limit which added tension which was fun however more time would probably have been better. The players felt cheated by the challenge.

The main issue was that two players were unable to make it and the BBQ ate up a lot of time. The food was awesome though.

We ended up with less that two hours of game and so got through the Evade the Patrol SC (which was failed) and fought the patrol of undead.

Things learned…

1. Don’t try to game on holidays, it seldom never works.
2. Time limits on Skill Challenges are bad.

Last night, my players defeating six consecutive encounters without taking an extended rest, this after beating another encounter the session before. So seven total before they ended up taking an extended rest, and this was mostly because half the party was nearly dead and the other two members wanted to level up.

They strugged to defeat several encounters, blundering through some of them, pulling victory out of thin air in others. Jett and Therai got the drop on two specters but decided to move in close between the two where the Specters were most effective and nearly were killed, and so barely alive when the swamp Slime engulfed the strikers and controller.

They faced two Gnome skulks who nearly slew two of the squishy characters before getting marked to death by the Defender who was busy with Magmaclaws that were being summoned by a doorway one Skulk opened.

Therai got repeatedly frustated when she’d expend an encounter power to slay something that everyone had focused fired on for the whole round, when she could have probably killed it with a basic attack.

In the Ettercap fight, Fizkoa slammed on Fanged Guard out of a flanking position that would have seriously f—-ed up Jett the Defender. Therai demonstrated it was a bad idea to set fire to the webs. Mialee the Druid after witnessing that it was a bad idea, set fire to the room that most of the PCs were bunched up in, just before the Ettercap entanged them all in burning slimy webs.

They rescued Sertanian, the castellan who gave them information that I found confusing and they didn’t find useful. I realize now that since the info was basically “Mirtala is being held in the room with the frescos on the lower level near a spiral stair case but I when I was moved they blindfolded me,” and when they reached the spiral staircase I got confused where the hostage should be and Redfox shouted out something about Sertanian telling us that the hostage is in the room with the staircase which she wasn’t. I’ve decided to add a skill challenge that the rescued hostages provide tangible benefits to. But that was a blunder.

We are still iffy on the rules for stuff. I butchered how movement works.

Next adventure I think I will push to switch to the Ars Lundi Initiative system. Hopefully that will help them function more like a team rather than a loose collection of very chaotic individuals.

Recovering the following items and returning them to Brindol completes the quest.

Ornate, gilded dragoncrest helm

Three shields emblazoned with Red Hand insignia, each with a charred hole near the center

Ceremonial Platinum Broadsword

Set of iron gauntlets with extensive filigree

Heraldic battle standard depicting two hands clasped in a handshake

Rescuing the prisoners from Rivenroar amounts to a major quest. The PCs don’t earn the quest XP until the prisoners’ fate has been determined, and those still living returned to Brindol.

Adronsius, the alchemist

Jalissa, acolyte of Ioun

Kartenix, the guard captain

Mirtala

Sertanian, the castellan

Thurann

Zerriksa, the witch

Didn’t we pass a castle?

I began the Adventure Path with Rescue at Rivenroar. An adventure that I’ve heard high praise for, mostly for the Skill Challenge elements of the rescue at Castle Rivenroar in the middle of the adventure. Now two sessions in, we’ve finally reached the castle.’

• Dark Galaxy is playing Mialee, an elven Druid and a member of the Lions of the Ghostlord, her wildshape is that of a green furred lion.

• Ghostman is playing a human Swordmage, who has become a mercenary for hire.

• Nena is playing Nya, a tiefling Warlock, she met the group in the forest near Castle Rivenroar as she investigated the kidnapping, torture, and subsequent death of her half-elf companion Tinak by goblins affiliated with the Red Hand.

• Physkoa is playing Fizzkoa, a laconic dragonborn Barbarian from the north who has been cast out of the Scale Hammer tribe for reasons she has yet to discuss.

• Redfox is playing Therai, a tiefling Warlord that has returned to the world after fighting in the Blood War, haunted by her experiences in the Nine Hells of the Elemental Chaos.

Every campaign gets an Adventure Log, a blog for your adventures!

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.