Session 1 Recap

So I had the first session of the 4th edition D&D game I'm running yesterday. It went alright for a first session. I certainly learned a lot about running a game in this edition and I am very excited to make some minor changes to accomodate what I've learned. I've include a story version recap of the session in the Read More section. Fair warning, it's close to 3 pages long. This one had to cover a lot of intro material, so I skimped a bit on the combats. Enjoy!

Auron settles slowly onto his bar stool. Even sitting, he towers over the rest of the bar’s patrons. He muses on how unusual a Goliath like him looks to these people. A tall, muscular build covered by a thick coat of hair makes him resemble a gnoll, those vicious humanoid hyenas of the wild. Auron came to this town, Westermeadow, because he had heard it was a good place to find fellow adventurers. It is a dark time in the country of Eanda, and across the world if the stories were true. He is a skilled warden, looking for similar minded people to join him in pursuit of treasure and glory. To that end, he calls the barkeep over, a venerable old man by the name of Otto and asks

            “May I purchase some paper and a quill? I seek fellow adventurers in town and would like to advertise my presence. If you don’t mind, I would like to post it your tavern.”

            “An adventuring company is a fine goal, one that brings me back to my old days of traveling and questing. For such a noble cause, I will donate the quill and paper.” Otto replies, reaching under the bar and handing him a long sheet of parchment and an equally long quill. Otto slides his inkwell down the bar and leaves it in front of Auron.

           

While Auron writes in Otto’s tavern, the Pony and Dog, the elven lumberjack druid Nieriel brings in his latest cut to the town’s lumberyard. Nieriel had been a lumberjack for many years and it had worn him down. He had started working on his own quite some time ago, finding it difficult to work with the mostly human lumberjacks who hacked and slashed their way through anything wood, with little respect to nature. Nieriel’s lumbering was a more precise culling of weak trees and overgrown areas. Nieriel placed the small sapling he brought down in front of the clerk. With a quick look, the clerk announces,

            “I’ll pay 3 silver for it.”

            Nieriel sighs and holds out his hand. He just didn’t have it in him to do this much longer. The clerk counts out the three silver and Nierel walks over to his friend Otto’s tavern.

             Auron looks at the finished work, and admits to himself it may be his best yet. He puts it up and orders a barrel of mead. While he waits, a small Halfling, dressed in fine clothes walks up.

            “My name is Meriadoc, and I am a talented and charming wild mage sorcerer. I see by your posting that you are looking for cool people and there will be mead. May I join your endeavor?” the Halfling says. Auron almost sighs, Halflings are typically a hassle, but there is something in his demeanor that suggests he might not be completely useless.

            “Welcome aboard Meriadoc. You may sign on, right here under my name, the second slot.” Auron replies. Meriadoc nods gratefully, takes up the quill and signs on the third slot. Auron opens his mouth to say something, but realizes that Meriadoc has no idea of his mistake. While he watches as Meriadoc tries to climb onto the bar stool, a shifty looking human approaches.

            “What’s the pay?” he asks gruffly.

            “All treasure split equally between party members.” Auron replies, sizing up the human.

            “Can I join?” the human asks.

            “Are you good at anything? Do you even have a name?” Auron asks.

            “Name’s Colvin. I’m good at many things, mainly discretion.” Colvin replies. Auron recognizes the language of a thief and sees the advantage of such an individual.

            “Welcome aboard Colvin, go ahead and sign on.” Auron says. Colvin signs his name in the vacant second slot. Another Goliath enters the bar and approaches Auron. This Goliath is around the same build but lacking much of Auron’s hair and is in fact, a female.

            “You need help killing stuff?” the Goliath asks, pointing at the sign. Auron almost sighes again, barbarians were the main reason he left home in the first place.

            “Yeah, sign on, whatever your name is.” Auron says slowly, making sure the barbarian understands. The stranger nods, takes the quill and draws a straight line on the fourth slot.

            “Me Torg.” She says.

            “Sure you are.” Auron replies.

            “Gentlemen, you know my rules, take it outside.” Otto says, slamming his book shut on the bar. The four adventurers look around in confusion until they realize Otto wasn’t looking at them. A human paladin, with three other human tough looking guys stands up from their table and exit. On the other side of the bar, an elven mage, a dragonborn fighter, a tiefling warlock and a human fighter stand up from their table and exit as well.

The adventurers follow them outside and see the two groups squaring off to fight. Colvin, never failing to seize an opportunity calls out, “Place your bets here! 2-1 odds on the paladin! Place your bets now before the fighting starts!.”

Nieriel, the lumberjack, passing by, can’t help but approach the Colvin and say,

“I’ll take the paladin for 5 gold. Here you go.”

“Excellent, just give your name to my associate and we’ll register your wager.” Colvin replies with a grin. Auron shakes his head, but having nothing else to write with, hands Nieriel the adventuring poster. Without much of a glance, Nieriel signs his name in the fifth slot. Auron never understood druids, but the more the merrier.

Speaking of druids, Autumn makes her way towards the commotion outside the bar. She is a shifter, a race of humans with more animalistic qualities, often confused with werewolves. Autumn watches the two groups posturing and calling each other out. Auron approaches her and asks,

“I’m Auron and I’m forming an adventuring group of people looking for treasure. Would you be interested?”

“Certainly.” Autumn replies. She signs her name in the sixth slot. Auron looks over the motley crew he’s assembled and realizes they have no one skilled in the art of combat healing. The fight between the groups breaks out but the town guards step in and break it off. The captain of guard stands nearby, looking at the fight and shaking his head.

“Sir! My name is Auron and I’ve assembled a group of adventurers. Do you happen to know of any work that needs to be done?” Auron says as he addresses the captain.

“I’m paying a bounty of 5 silver per kobold head and 1 gold per goblin head. I’d be much obliged since it would help deter some of the attacks we’ve had lately.”

“Sounds perfect. We’ll be back with a cart full of goblin heads.” Auron answers. He turns and addresses the group,

“I am going to find a healer to join our party. You lot should head over to the merchants and find a cart and mule for our journey. I’ll join you shortly.” Meriadoc nods and marches off exuberantly, in the wrong direction. Half the group follows him before realizing they’re heading the wrong way. After regrouping they make their way to the merchants. Auron shakes his head and walks over to the temple.

He enters the temple and looks for a travelling cleric that might be interested in joining the group. He spots a human deep in prayer and walks over.

“Excuse me. My name is Auron I’m forming an adventuring group and I need a healer of some kind to accompany us. We are off to collect the bounty on goblins and kobolds. Your pay would be a share of all treasure we find along the way. Would that interest you?” Auron says. The cleric pauses a moment and replies,

“I have seen firsthand the trouble the goblins and kobolds are causing for this town. I suppose joining your group would be in the best interests of the people. My name is Loche, I am a cleric of Pelor, god of the sun.”

“It is a pleasure. The rest of the group are purchasing a mule and cart so we can begin our journey.” Auron says and they exit the temple.

Upon rejoining the group, they purchase a mule and cart for the group and set out. It is a short distance outside of town that they find kobold tracks. Both druids, Autumn and Nieriel spend a few minutes analyzing the tracks and find they originate from the north of town. As the rest of the group prepares to move north, the druids spot some strange burn marks nearby. They investigate and find a path of haphazard fire burn marks, accompanied by acid burns in the area. They identify a pair of tracks, a penguin and a small bear, that seemed to be heading west. Nieriel senses a magical presence and identifies it from the Feywild, an echo of reality infused with magical energy, but whatever caused the fire and acid burns is some unstable fey magic.

The group decides to move north, in pursuit of the kobolds. After a two hour journey, they reach a small rest area where a small caravan wagon lies smoldering. Torg walks over to the cart to investigate. As she peers into the ruined wagon, a crossbow bolt narrowly misses her. The shooter escapes out the back, unseen. Angered by this attack, Torg slams her greatsword into the wagon, splitting it in two. This flushes out the two goblins hiding underneath.

The group draws weapons and engages their quarry. Torg and Nierel take up the offensive against the goblins near the carriage when six more goblins enter from the other side of the clearing. The adventurers make fairly short work of the disorganized goblin ambush, quickly bringing down most of the goblins and causing the leader of the ambush to flee into the woods. The last goblin to go down, a raging berserker holds out long enough for a tunnel to open up in the middle of the clearing.

The adventurers catch their breath and move the cart away from the newly discovered hole. Peering down into the hole, they hear a scurrying of a large group of rats. Torg, seeking to plug the hole, grabs half of the ruined wagon and throws it over the hole, squishing some of the initial vermin intruders. More rats pour of the hole and immediately start attacking the adventurers. Most of them are giant rats, which pose little threat to the group, but two larger dire rats emerge. The dire rats viciously attack the characters, trying to bite and infect them with the disease known as filth fever. As the group finishes off exterminating the giant rats, three swarms of rats emerge from the hole. The group continues blasting and mashing the rat problem, finding most of their attacks are ineffective against a swarm of rats.

One of the dire rats manages to take a bit out of Colvin and Nieriel, contaminating them with filth fever before it is taken down, The group’s staunch defense and stalwart courage pull through and they eliminate all of the rats. Taking a minute to catch their breath, Loche discovers one dose of filth fever antidote on a goblin body and they cure Nieriel. Colvin decides to return to Westermeadow to seek healing but will probably seek the group out after he’s healed. The adventurers catch their breath and relax for the moment, but warily keep watch on the woods in case the goblins return in force, and the mysterious hole in the ground that opened up.