Two new house rules for you.

Magic Item Distribution
There was a minor issue about magic items last night, and after thinking about it I've created a new house rule.

As you all have noticed I tend to provide detailed treasure listings outside of the game session (via this blog and email), a system which is working quite well (IMHO).

Now, when there are multiple items, players have two options: they can either
(a) work out "who gets what" via an email or blog discussion, or
(b) "roll-off" for the items at the next session.

In the case of a "roll-off" the players who are present at the next session are the ones who get to roll off for the available magic items. Absent players get whatever is left.

Last night I cancelled the "roll-off" because two of the three players entitled to the items were absent. In hindsight I regret this decision - I am effectively failing to properly reward the players who did turn up.

So in light of this new decision, Chris now gets to choose his preferred item from the list I sent out last week, and TIna and Adam will get to roll off next session for what remains (assuming they are both present).

Accessing Town Services
Some players have asked if they would have had the opportunity to buy items in Nerris, despite the fact that I did not appear to allocate any time for this. The answer is yes,

So the second new house rule is this: 
Except when you are specifically told otherwise, all players can assume that all towns which are named on the nation maps (eg Deepwyn, Nerris, Taer Mun) are able to provide all standard services/purchases, and that the players will have time to take advantage of them. Hence as you recently passed through Nerris, you are free to go shopping and trade/buy items, etc. This means that you can do these activities out of session time (I appreciate being kept informed however).

For towns which are not identified on the maps (eg Sarvern, the home of Yoogart), you must ask me what services (if any) are available.

If there are any questions, leave a comment.

Well how to describe tonight's adventure... madcap would be a good term. This was the first session of the new adventure, currently codenamed Surf Nazis Must Die. It was a fun night, with my gorgeous wife (who had helped me playtest certain elements of the challenges) sitting in to watch.

The adventure started where the last one ended, at Margera Draidoch's house. Chastity sent the party off to visit the great sage Yoogart the Irritable, giving them a yellow ball with which to gain entry and instructions to learn more about these Hengis Forges. Yoogart lives just outside of Sarvern, a small village to the north along the Liffey River (a river barge can take them there).

Leaving Margera's cottage the party ventured north back to Nerris where they were celebrated as heroes for dispelling the arcane winter. Some money was received (dealt with via emails) and the party would be welcome back at anytime. Transport to Sarvern was easily arranged on a river barge.

The river barge journey passed uneventfully until two brigands accompanied by an evil wizard decided they were going to raid the party. A surprisingly tough fight transpired and included knocking a bad guy into the water, however the party reigned supreme. Upon arriving in Sarvern the delighted riverboat captain took them to the local alehouse where he sang their praises long into the night. As a result the party now has guaranteed free passage on any river boat on the Liffey River.

After a boisterous night in the alehouse, the party awoke the next morning and set of for Yoogart's residence. They found the house after heading a few miles east and up a trail. The house was built right on the cliff's edge overlooking the sea, but appeared to have no doors or windows. A small garden shed in front of the building had the only door they could see. Entering the shed they placed the yellow ball in a small marble receptacle, which immediately revealed a door on the north wall.

Entering this door they party found themselves in a huge entry chamber where a massive fire archon greeted them and gave them instructions. To see Yoogart they needed to pass a "challenge of the flesh" or a "challenge of the mind". They would have five tests and must pass three. If they passed and Yoogart answered their enquiry, then they would owe him a debt of service.

The party immediately selected the physical challenge. After pressing a button to select their opponent they found themselves confronted with a mind flayer, who killed them fairly quickly. However due to the magical enchantment of the arena, at the conclusion of the battle the party reappeared alive and at full strength. A second battle against a Guardian Naga went much better, and although the party still lost, they managed to bloody their much stronger opponent. The third test pitted them against a single kobold, who upon his defeat handed them a green ball, indicating they had passed.

The final encounter pitted them against Chastity Marblemill himself, who explained he was also fulfilling his debt of service. He explained that his debt did not require him to wait here when not needed, he was teleported to the arena whenever he had to face a challenge, and was returned immediately upon conclusion. He graciously forfeited his initiative roll to allow the players to go first, and they managed to inflict a little damage on the wizard. However some devastating arcane forces promptly concluded the battle in the first round. Ouch. As he departed Chastity observed the party had had the misfortune of drawing three of the four most difficult opponents, and to not be downhearted.

With this third defeat the party had failed the physical challenge, so they selected the mental challenge.

The first challenge was a word puzzle which they solved with some aplomb, determining the answer to be "deadlocked" and "opened". Hence they moved to the second challenge which required building a bridge to an island - a puzzle which Tom demolished with amazing speed.

Brimming with confidence they moved on to the third puzzle - a number sequence. This stumped them and they could not determine that the numbers were arranged in alphabetical order. So with two wins and a fail as their score they moved on to the next puzzle - to identify the "most unique" design. This puzzle was a paradox - every box had some unique feature except for one of them, which was thus unique as a result of not being unique in any way.

The session ended with the players having a tally of 2 and 2, and needing to to pass their third challenge or fail the testing. If they fail again they have the option of going back into the physical challenge (but with better odds than before, with only two of the top five and four of the bottom five opponents remaining).

XP - no XP awarded at this point in time. Divine Luck points will be updated later (it's my bedtime).

This is just a bit of housekeeping to conclude the Ice tower adventure (aka "Ostmount Screw's Up")

At the conclusion of play the PCs had spent the evening talking to Chastity Marblemill at the home of Margera Draidoch. 

MAGIC ITEMS:
At one point during the evening Chastity disappeared outside and returned with a swag of items. He explained that these were magic items for which he had no use, but that the party might benefit from.

In addition to any other items already noted, Chastity gave the party the following items:

Belt of Vigor
http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/item.aspx?id=541
Level: 2 
Price: 520 gp 
 Item Slot: Waist
Property: You gain a +1 item bonus to your healing surge value.
Published in Player's Handbook 1, page(s) 253.

Amulet of Resolution
http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/item.aspx?id=2925
Level: 2
Price: 520 gp
Item Slot: Neck
Enhancement: +1 Fortitude, Reflex, and Will
Power (Daily): No Action. Use this power when you fail a saving throw. Reroll the saving throw, using the second result even if it’s lower.Published in Adventurer's Vault 1, page(s) 149.

Reading Spectacles
http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/item.aspx?id=2872
Level: 2
Price: 520 gp
Item Slot: Head
Property: You can read any language while wearing this item.
Published in Adventurer's Vault 1, page(s) 14

Gold and treasure: 
Although the party has not yet returned to Nerris, to save hassle here is the tally of gold received as reward, (combined with treasure recovered from the adventure itself.):

Base - all players have a base of 520GP. Adam, Tina and Pete have an additional 100GP, comprising 30GP in coin and one of the 70GP vials of residuum. (This bonus is to compensate for the XP they effectively lost when I regraded everyone to the same XP level.)

Session Seven Report

Session Seven marked the conclusion of the adventure “Ostmount Screws Up”.

The session opened with the conclusion of the battle against the Winter Beast. Although two players were knocked unconscious, ultimately the party was victorious.

As soon as the beast fell, the crystal shattered and exploded. The arcane winter immediately began to subside, and the “volcano cone” of ice that had encased the tower collapsed (causing minor damage to a few players).

Before leaving the party took a few items of interest, including the cloak and emblem on the corpse of Zhatfer Ostmount, and some shards of the now destroyed crystal.

Upon leaving the tower, the duck began to insist the party follow it. The party did so and within a few hours ther duck had led the party to the cottage of Margera Draidoch, who had a large hearty meal already prepared for them. 

Shortly afterwards Chastity Marblemill arrived. Chastity was a white-haired wizard who resembled a cross between Gandlaf the Grey and a someone in a late 1960’s Pink Floyd video. He was dressed in a bizarre fashion with a bright patchwork cloak, unevenly braided hair, pink and green breeches and a pair of unmatched boots. Despite this eccentricity, he was clearly a man of considerable power (the party later learned he was a level 21 wizard).

Chastity talked with the party throughout the night. He reviewed the items and the documents retrieved by the party, and he was quite interested in the letter and notebook of Zhatfer Ostmount. He then revealed what he know about the strange goings-on.

• ·Fifteen years ago the nation of Zhat was little more than a loose-knit collection of fishing villages.
• ·In the intervening years they have transformed totally, and are now a martial nation with magically powered technology.
• ·Their power comes from “Hengis” crystals. These are crystals that can be “tuned” to a Hengis Forge. Once tuned the crystals can be used for a variety of magical effects. He has heard rumours of magical self-powered wagons made of Hengis glass
• ·Chastity has never seen a Hengis Forge and does not how they operate. However he believes they involve some sort of “large object or device” which is a conduit to the Plane of Chaos. This association with the Chaos plane is consistent with what happened at Draidoch’s Tower.
• ·He has heard that the Zhat are somehow connected with the war between Lor and Nuz, despite the fact that it makes no sense on the surface. The war with Nuz lasted five years, yet Chastity does not know anyone who can explain why it started, what it was about or why it ended.
• ·Chastity has spent much of the last ten years on the faraway continent of Meshia.

Before the night concluded, Chastity briefly disappeared, but shortly returned with a swag of magic items. He explained these were items he had “collected along the way” but which were of no real use to him.


The final activity of the night was when Chastity asked the party to tell him all about themselves. This turned into a great role-playing fest, with Pete and Chris taking honours for the best performances.

The session (and adventure) ended with the party taking an extended rest.

DM NOTES
I’m not awarding XP as such, but all players are now on 2250 XP (level 3). This is a little unfair to Pete, Adam and Tina (who were 500+ XP ahead of the others), so I will be tweaking the treasure a little to compensate.

I’ll be reviewing all treasure and magic item allocations, and Chastity might pull out an extra swag of goodies in the morning if needs be. I’ll be making a second blog post in a day or two called “Adventure wrap-up” which details all such things.

Session 6 was a packed evening featuring an exploration of the emptied tower and the discovery of the source of the abnormal winter. Prior to play there was some housekeeping, mainly to do with sorting out the magic items that have been gathered.


One change of interest - up until now I have been using the temporary title of "The Mighty Ducks". After this session the 'official adventure title' can now be revealed: "Ostmount's Screw-up".

The evening commenced at the conclusion of the previous week’s battle. After a short rest the party began to explore the tower. The lowest level included a room with two corpses, elderly people who had been frozen to death. A kitchen and storeroom were also found.

The second level was devoted to a large laboratory. Although there were numerous bookshelves there were no books of real interest to be found. Close examination of the laboratory benches turned up three vials of residuum worth 70GP each.

A strange levitating disk was discovered on the second floor. After considerable investigation the party determined that it was an elevator of some kind, responding to the commands “UP”, “DOWN”, “STOP” and “COME”. The party (accompanied by the duck) then made their way to the third floor.

The third floor appeared to be the living quarters. A corpse wearing an elegant red robe and carrying a symbol of Zhat was found on the floor. Although long since frozen solid, examination indicated the corpse had been bludgeoned to death, and the injuries matched the dimensions of the ice clubs used by the ice warriors the party recently defeated.

Nearby the corpse was a tapestry that concealed a door. This door appeared to have been originally  designed to be secret, but it had long since been broken and opened easily. Inside the room was a writing desk and another floating elevator disk.

The desk contained an unsent letter and a research journal, both authored by Zhatfer Ostmount. These documents (viewable here) describe how Zhatfer was engaged in research on how to “extend the range of Hengis Crystals”. This research went horribly wrong and apparently resulted in the arrival of the ice and ice warriors. The research journal entries ended after alluding to the arrival of ice elementals.

The party then ascended to the roof of the tower where they discovered a bright green triangular crystal floating in the air, which was shooting a stream of frost into the sky. After triggering the crystal the final guardian emerged.

In a dazzling stroke of ingenuity (which earned him the POTN award), Pete used a special powerand teleported the creature off the edge of the tower, and it took two further rounds for the (now enraged) beast to get back to the roof. In the interim the party did considerable damage to the crystal, which they had deduced was inextricably linked to the ice beast. In the interim the crystal kept firing off blasts of ice at the party.

The angry Ice Beast eventually made it back to the roof, and despite being blinded it engulfed the party in a blast of cold. This did considerable damage and knocked affected players prone. The beast fired off this attack again when bloodied and then managed to recharge and use it again, leaving the party considerably worse for wear. Pete was reduced to unconsciousness, but clever use of a divine luck card combined with a Potion of Living got him back into the fray.

In a first for this campaign, play was suspended mid-battle. The beast was recently bloodied and all of the players were conscious. Only Pete had used his second wind thus far, although a few action points had been burned.

XP – as the encounter had not concluded, no XP are being awarded at this time. XP scores are unchanged from last week. For renown points, Chris has acquired an impressive 17 points in one go (2 attendance, 5 miniature, 10 character background). Pete acquired 14 points (2 attendance, 2 POTN, 10 character background)

Pete/Tina/Adam - 1600
Chris/Tom/Xu - 1100

Renown 
Chris - 24 (+4, +B)
Pete - 34 (+3)
Tina - 16 (+1)
Adam - 22 (+B)
Tom - 8
Xu - 6

Session Five was a great reminder of how encounters can go in any direction. The party managed to combine two encounters into one, making the night quite a combat fest for both them and their companion duck.

The session started at the front door to the tower and the party using some brute force to bash their way in. They immediately found themselves in an entry hall. A large double staircase (leading up) was ahead of them and there were entryway at the left and right that led to a dining hall and a sitting room. All of the walls and floors were covered in a dusting of ice, and all of the furniture was frozen. The entire place was remarkably well preserved.

The side rooms each contained a curious fireplace where a cold blue flame “burned”. Arcana checks indicated that these were portals to an Elemental plane. Opting for more brute force the party began bashing the flames, which triggered the tower’s internal defences.

Within short order the party was doing battle with a large group of Elemental Ice humanoid creatures, including a leader, two warriors and two icicle hurlers who came down the staircase. Also joining the fray were some halfling-sized minions that emerged from the fireplaces. 

The battle was fierce, and the party soon discovered that as soon as a minion was killed another replacement could emerge from the fireplace (at a random interval). They also discovered that there were two more fireplaces on the ground level. Fortunately the party figured out they could eventually destroy the fireplaces by hammering them.

The minions guarding the upper level showed no signs of descending, and the party had an opportunity to take a short rest before tackling the second group of opponents. However this was not to be and the second level encounter was commenced when Pete ran up the stairs while the first battle was in its final stages. Here the party discovered four more fireplaces and a second Ice Warrior leader.  The Ice Warrior leader had emerged from a fist-sized triangular crystal located on a stand within a large pentagram. The crystal glowed with a sickly green light.

More battle and a bruised but unbeaten party eventually emerged victorious. The session concluded without any further investigation of the room.

Treasure – one of the Ice Warrior leaders was carrying a Point Blank Bow.
Point Blank Bow: The wielder of this weapon need not fear wading into melee.
Level: 3  -- Price: 680 gp -- Enhancement: +1 attack rolls and damage rolls -- Critical: +1d6 damage
Property: Gain a +2 item bonus to AC against opportunity attacks provoked by making a ranged attack with this weapon.
Power (Encounter): Free Action. Use this power when you make a ranged attack with this weapon; the attack does not provoke opportunity attacks.
XP - Total XP for the encounter was 1300 (all combat), or 325 each. Furthermore I have adjusted some other scores to ensure Chris and Xu are now at second level.

Pete/Tina/Adam - 1600
Chris/Tom/Xu - 1100

Renown - 
Chris - 7
Pete - 20
Tina - 14
Adam - 19
Tom - 8
Xu - 4