Game Report - Back in the Groove

That’s more like it. Nearly everyone is back, excepting A, who apparently is very busy, and we are able to make it through an evening without having to panic constantly. Exploration is in full effect, everyone is getting exciting about +1 weaponry, and some awesome ass power use is going down.

The gang goes to sleep in the temple that they found, only to be interrupted twice by two new players, J and M. They all showed up under some pretense (constructing an adventuring party is all pretense) and they were off to explore the temple.

They spend a few moments considering leaving, when there is a sudden earthquake, which reminds them that there’s probably a reason to stick around. 8 good reasons, in fact. They climb upstairs to find it infested by skeletons and zombies. How the hell they missed that when they went to bed is beyond me.

The battle sorted itself out well; the leaders and defenders rushed to the front, while the warlock and wizard hung back. Turn Undead was used, which happens to be a lot cooler than it’s ever been before, turning into a straight utility spell that offers a nice advantage rather than an encounter breaking skill. After having a ghost kick the hell out of the fighter for eight straight rounds, they discover an ancient map of the continent (included) and a fancy orb for the wizard.

Determining the upstairs was lootless, they head on down to the basement. There they find a conspicuous chest at the far side of a room, and for reasons unknown, crowd around it. It was, of course, trapped, and some spears popped out of the floor, as well as some flying clay homunculi. They get back in the groove, and the wizard gets in his head that he’s using his daily power, damnit. He puts the flying robots into a freezing cloud, making sure everyone was away first, and they eventually fell to pieces.

The loot was good, including this *snicker* rod for the warlock, that may be my first big mistake if I’m not too careful. It deals a point of damage whenever the warlock curses something. A point of damage being about all that a minion can take. So, I gave him a gatling gun, that will kill any cannon fodder without an attack roll and as a minor action. Must make sure I don’t use minions too, too often.

They then went on to kick some holy insect ass. A room full of baby underground chitinous things that, I believe, didn’t do a single point of damage to the heroic adventurers. Now this is D&D, innocent slaughter of underground creatures. It really helped morale though, now they were sure they could handle an encounter if need be.

Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to once again break their spirit, as they were a bit tired and it was time to break up the party. They headed back upstairs to sleep among the dead drakes, and will likely continue the trek through the caves on Saturday. Giving me plenty of time to prepare for more overarching stuff since I already have the next bit planned out.

Things I Learned: Once everyone knows how to play, it goes a bit faster, and a bit less dangerously. There are still plenty of ways to surprise them, however. I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever used a trap inside a combat, and I liked how it went. New and interesting encounters seems to be the name of the game, and I wholeheartedly accept it.