summary of session #1

It's a hot late summer day.

Gaius is working in Sihirbaz's magic shop. The old wizard tells him to expect a visit that afternoon from someone who's paid for some scrying.

Later a gnome called Darwicken comes by. Darwicken works for a nobleman named Jonas Steele. Steele owns some land that he thinks is worthless swamp. But a local trapper has found what he thinks is a collapsed old building there. The trapper returned with a piece of pottery that he found near the building. Darwicken has come to the magic shop to scry the site where the pottery was found.

Gaius uses a ritual scroll that Sihirbaz has prepared to scry the site. He explores the area for several minutes. He sees there a sleeping goblin. Along a path next to the site, he finds a large grove of trees. And in the trees, what appears to be the ruins of a small fortress from ancient times.

That evening the entire party gathers at Scarlett's, a public house in Redbank. The gathering is a regular poker game. Late in the night, Darwicken joins the game. The party persuades Darwicken to ask his boss if the party can search the swamp land for the ruins.

The next morning, the party learns that Steele has agreed to their proposal. He pays them 100GP to start, plus 2 healing potions. He agrees that they can keep up to 1000 GP from the ruins for themselves.

The party finds the old trapper, a rasta-like old man called "Rafter". Rafter agreess to lead them down river to the site where he found the pottery.

As the party journey's down the river, they are ambushed by a group of goblins. The party defeats the goblins with only minor injuries.

Experience points for session #1 (2009-08-20)

Skill Challenge #1 - Scry the site of the old ruins

Requires 4 successes before 3 failures
DC: Moderate

Use Arcana skill to sustain the scry long enough to gain meaningful information about the site

Success: party gains knowledge about the ruins
Failure: Party know there something in the swamp that Darwicken in interested in, but must find out more by other means

Gaius succeeded in this challenge.

Award - 125 XP to the party


Skill Challenge #2 - Poker with the gnome

Requires 4 successes before 3 failures
DC: Easy

Use social skills to gain permission from the gnome to search for the ruins

Success: Permission to search for the ruins, plus a treasure parcel to start the journey
Failure: Party must attain permission in some other manner OR search for the ruins without permission. No treasure parcel.

Party success achieved by Steady and Aldrin with Diplomacy and Bluff.

Award - 100 XP to the party

Combat Encounter #1 - Goblin ambush on the river

4 Goblin cutters (25 each)
2 goblin warriors (100 each)
2 goblin sharpshooters (125 each)
1 goblin blackblade (100)
---
total 650 XP.


Totals for the session
650+125+100= 875

175 XP each. Don't forget 115 for the "test" combat session as well.

A party begins to take shape

I don’t want to trump anyone’s bio or character concept, so if anything in this post runs counter to your thoughts on your character I can adjust it.

I’m starting to get a feel for why the characters know each other and might be found adventuring together.

Aldrin (John’s Warlord) has come to the colony to prove himself as a leader and adventurer. I’ll leave it to him to explain his bio. He’s been making his living by leading expeditions into the wilderness. A farmer might want to remove some dangerous creatures from his land, and he’d hire Aldrin to assemble and lead a party to do the job.

After leading several expeditions, Aldrin has established relationships with a dragonborn fighter (Brian) who can provide muscle, and a tiefling warlock (Doug) who’s good in a fight.

The wizard (Guy) has been working for an old mage called Sihirbaz. Sihirbaz will create ritual magic on demand for all sorts of practical things, like draining bogs, or purifying well water. He often prepares these rituals as scrolls and has underlings actually cast them in the field. Guy’s character is one of Sihirbaz’s ritual castors. On a few occasions he’s had work to do on expeditions led by Aldrin.

There’s a Halfling (Jim) who also works for Sihirbaz, running errands and doing odd jobs around his store front in the district called Alzarad.

Aldrin has made it known to many of his associates that he wishes to form a party to seek treasures in ancient ruins. He’s just waiting for the right opportunity to present itself.

Terre Malattia

Colonists collectively refer to all the "new world" areas as Terre Malattia. All previous references to "new world", "the west" etc are about Terre Malattia.