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

This evening’s play included a welcome guest appearance from Canberra’s Meredith.

Play resumed with the party looking for somewhere to rest after the battle with the tower’s defenders the previous session. After some scouting they found a semi-sheltered area in the trees that offered some protection against the wind. With night falling they made camp. However barely an hour had gone by when a trio of frost beetles arrived. Despite their fatigue and battered status the party made very light work of these critters and the encounter was over swiftly.

As the battle ended the party heard the irate voice of an angry goblin shouting. A few moments later the chief of the frost goblin tribe came into view, holding two adolsecent goblins by the ear. The party listened in while the chief castigated the youngsters for disobeying him and for wasting trained beetles against a strong opponent. T

Soon the chief turned to address the party. Although the frost goblin chief was angry they party had invaded his lands and had slain a number of his warriors (session 2), he also appreciated the fact that the party had slain the white dragon that had been harassing them by demanding constant food and tribute (session 1). 

Hence the chief had a proposal – the party could choose to get rid of the so-called “blizzard bird” which had recently taken up residence nearby (and was demanding treasure and sacrifices), or they could face the goblin chief and the sixty or so warriors he had brought to the discussion. The party quickly saw the wisdom of tackling the beast. The goblins were required to deliver a sacrifice the following day, so the party took up the chief’s offer of shelter for the night.

With Timmy the Thief polymorphed to resemble a goblin female and seemingly tied to the sacrifial pole near the blizzard bird’s cave, the party took up an ambush position. When the beast (which resembled a horse-sized eagle made of ice), arrived they unleashed their attacks, however the beast soon retaliated with a vicious frost blast and the ability to teleport at will. A very tough battle ensued but the party was ultimately victorious. Treasure of 475 GP and 2 potions of healing was discovered, along with items sacred to the goblins (which they retrieved and took away). Finally there is a set of (cloth) Feedback Armor.

Feedback Armor - Crackling psychic energy cascades around you, flaring outward when you make a mental assault on a foe.
Level: 4 - Price: 840 gp - Armor: Cloth, Leather - Enhancement: +1 AC
Power (Daily * Augmentable, Psychic): Free Action. Trigger: You use a psychic power. Effect: Each creature adjacent to you takes 1d6 psychic damage and is pushed 1 square. Augment 2: The psychic damage increases to 2d6. Augment 4: The psychic damage increases to 3d6.
Published in Player's Handbook 3, page(s) 199.

Conclusion: The party had returned to the goblin cave and were restoring themselves (ie. extended rest) before going back to tackle the tower. 

________________________________________________________________
XP: Total XP for this encounter was 375+875 (combat), 250 (bonus) and 250 (story) Total 1750 or 350 for each of the five players.

• Chris: 925 (bumped to 1000)
• Pete: 1275
• Tina: 1275
• Adam: 1275
• Tom:  1085
• Xu: 190, Meredith 350

Renown points: Several players were able to cash in their bonus points, so the scores have jumped quite a bit in some cases. The vote for "Player of the Night" was inconclusive, so I gave it to Adam for good gameplay, although Tom was a close second (IMO).

• Chris - 7
• Pete - 18
• Tina - 12
• Adam - 17
• Tom - 8
• Xu - 2

The third session was the first with a replacement player, with Xu filling in for the (apparently deathly ill) Tom. Chris will be absent for the next 2-3 weeks so Xu will be probably also be filling in during that time.


Game mechanics issue: My treasure designs are geared towards the classes in PHB1 (eg the Rod of Reaving is optimal for a Warlock) and as far as I can tell no-one is playing a PHB1 character. Could all players send me (via email or via comment below) their class and race, along with a brief summary of powers being employed. This will influence my encounter and treasure design. I also expect that most players will be second level by the end of the next session, so please give some thought to levelling up.



Session summary: Things picked up right where the second session concluded, with the interrogation of the Goblin Hexer.  The Hexer's name was Grak and he revealed the following:

• There is a camp nearby with "many hands" of goblins living in it.
• The emblem around his neck was a prize taken from a dead "Red robe" (he did not disclose how the "red robe" died)

The party was able to identify the emblem as being the symbol of the Zhat Nation. 


Bliiy Blagg (Pete) insisted on releasing the goblin hexer, overruling to far more malevolent Lube (Chris) who advocated brutal extermination. Whether this will have consequences remains to be seen.


A short walk over a small hill brought the party to the entrance to the tower. The tower was encased in a cone of shimmering ice that was several feet thick. The cone rose all the way to beyond the top of the tower and resembled a "frost volcano". A plume of cold was erupting from the top of the cone - clearly the source of the bad weather affecting the region.


The party found the double doors that marked the entrance to the tower, located  near rows of many gargoyle statues. After hacking away at the ice for a few minutes they managed to get through the ice, however the moment they actually touched the tower a wave of arcane energy flowed around them, awakening the tower guardians. Four of the gargoyle statues transformed into Iron Defenders and two clay scouts emerged from the doors.


Despite a shaky start the party were able to despatch the magical defenders, with Tina being particularly effective. A quick check of the door indicated it was now magically locked, and the party has yet to investigate how to reopen it. However with Pete in pretty bad shape the party felt that an extended rest was in order, and the session concluded with the party starting to scout for somewhere to rest. The howling winds, constant snows and potentially a horde of angry goblins suggests that an extended rest might not be easily achieved...
______________________________________________________________________________________________


XP - total experience earned for the encounter was 750 combat, 100 skill challenge, 100 story. Total 950, or 190 each.

• Chris: 735 + 190 = 925
• Pete: 735 + 190 = 925
• Tina: 735 + 190 = 925
• Adam: 735 + 190 = 925
• Tom:  735
• Xu: 190

Renown points: Most people got their first card during this session. (You get a card for every 4 points). Just about every player has missed out on points they are entitled to, but it's not my job to remind them about how points are awarded. Thus far we have not had "Player of the Night" awards, but for tonight I gave it to Tina (2 points). TIna and Pete both get a new card at the start of the next session

• Chris - 7
• Pete - 9
• Tina - 8
• Adam - 6
• Tom - 6
• Xu - 2

After being interrupted by my trip to Turkey, the campaign resumed tonight with great success. Players are still arguing about which character they should play and have not yet finalised their party make-up. As a result I've make an amazingly generous ruling allowing each player until level 2 to alter their characters in any way without penalty. This won't be an ongoing thing for my campaign by the way.  However I'm sympathetic to the idea of wanting to find a character that the players can "bond" with in the long term, and we've been stuck with using pre-gens for so long that having all this freedom can be daunting at first. 

To the evening's play: After a recap we resumed at the conclusion of the battle with the White Dragon. The treasure was allocated (see previous session report) and Adam got the Amulet of Protection. Searching the cave turned up the stripped corpse of a messenger who carried a note reading "M. Keep your head down. I'll be there soon. C.M."

After camping in the shelter of the cave for the night the players awoke to find they had been joined by a bright yellow duck which refused any attempt to communicate and which could not be captured. An arcana check indicated the duck was magical in some way, but no other useful knowledge was obtained, despite the party spending a remarkable amount of time on the task.

After (eventually) giving up on duck-related investigations, the party set out eastwards, with the duck quietly waddling along behind them. After successfully negotiating a blizzard the party found their way to within sight of the tower. As they approached the tower they encountered a very large group of goblins, led by a robed goblin hexer. 

This encounter was made additionally challenging when the DM inadvertently printed out (and used) the monster stats for 8 Goblin Warriors (29 HP, 100 XP) instead of the 8 Goblin Cutters (1 HP minions, 25 XP) that he had originally designed the encounter with. This turned a basic level 2 encounter into a very hard level 6 encounter. Despite getting beaten up, the party was still victorious, and the encounter ended when they subdued the goblin leader. 

Wrap-up and Treasure: The session concluded immediately upon the subdual of the goblin leader and hence no questioning has taken place as of yet. Although not actually mentioned during gameplay, it can be reported that treasure was discovered on the goblin hexer, to the effect of 50GP, 2 potions of healing and a Rod of Reaving +1. None of the other goblins had any treasure or items of worth.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

XP - total experience earned for the encounter was 1500 combat, 400 skill challenge, 100 story and 150 bonus. Total 2150, or 430 each.

• Chris: 305 + 430 = 735
• Pete: 305 + 430 = 735
• Tina: 305 + 430 = 735
• Adam: 305 + 430 = 735
• Tom: 305 + 430 = 735

Renown points: In future the points for blog comments will be awarded in the next report. Hence Pete gets his point here (Tom doesn't as it was already awarded last time). I will actually have cards ready to hand out next week as everyone is entitled to one now.

• Chris - 5 (2 basic)
• Pete - 7 (2 basic, 1 for blog comment on previous report)
• Tina - 4
• Adam - 4
• Tom - 5 - (2 basic, 0 for a blog comment as was awarded last week.)