Session 1 - June 10, 2012
Prologue
A long long time ago, about 60 years to be more precise, there were two terrible and powerful warlords. Drakus Coaltongue and Lord Shaaladel, one to the west in what would become Ragesia and one to the east, in Ycengled Phuurst, a forest in which two nations, the Shahalesti and the Taranesti bickered.
They formed an alliance, and the Shahalesti eladrin overpowered the Taranesti elves to become the predominant rulers of the east. During the course of this time, Coaltongue acquired the Torch of the Burning Skies, which was the cornerstone to his military and personal might
Fourty years ago, Lord Shaaladel waged terrible war against the Taranesti, war to the point of genocide. WIth very few exceptions, that race of elves disappeared from the waking world and elves as a whole cursed the ruler's name and fled his lands
At this time, the forest of Innenotdar was consumed by a never-ended flame, forcing the elves of that forest to perish or relocate, many refugees establishing themselves in a walled off ghetto of Gate Pass, which was only 30 miles away
It was fourty years ago that Coaltongue occupied Gate Pass, occupied the bitterly resisting town for two years before giving it up as a bad cause and brokering a deal with the citizens: Remain neutral, and be left alone
The resistance faded into the background, but was ever vigilant. Spies from Ragesia, from Shalalesti, from Dassen, from everywhere played their little games and the Resistance caught a fair number of them and kept Gate Pass neutral. It was a shining beacon of tolerance to all who live quietly, all races mingling together in mostly-harmony
And then....
The Sindaire 'nation' caught a case of the rebellions, and on the very eve of Coaltongue's victory over the rebelling nobles...
* November — Emperor Coaltongue disappears from Castle Korstull in Sindaire and is rumored dead. Teleportation becomes deadly. The first Ragesian army is left stranded under the command of General Magdus. He orders a retreat from the flaming storm over Castle Korstull.
-- The Black Horse arrives in Gate Pass. These bounty hunters assist city guard in maintaining order, enjoy marginally favorable reputation. Mages begin disappearing from Gate pass.
* December — Supreme Inquisitor Leska orders General Magdus to settle in for the winter and then join up with the Ragesian imperial navy when it begins a blockade of Turinn, the capital city of Sindaire, in March. Ragesia announces its intention to retaliate against the nations of Sindaire and Shahalesti for their involvement in the assassination of Emperor Coaltongue. In response to the announcement, Shahalesti sends out diplomatic envoys to nearby nations, seeking allies.
-- Mood in Gate Pass starts to turn grim, militia and army steps up training, people begin fleeing south and east. The Resistance increases tempo, preparing citizens for siege or evacuation.
- The second Ragesian army under command of General Danava moves to assault Gate Pass, while the fourth army marches through the mountains in the northlands, both attempting to press into Shahalesti. Gate Pass resists, and so Danava prepares to lay siege, demanding that the city open its gates to a contingent of Ragesian Inquisitors who will check whether the city is harboring enemies.
-- Public sentiment against arcane magic users reaches new heights, town guard begins slowly rounding up mages for detaining.
-- A wagon-train of children (youths under 13) and the old and infirm leaves Gate Pass for the small town of Owhe in Shahalesti for semi-permanent evacuation, after being checked for mages.
The city is torn by the current events. Many arcane casters of magic provide useful services to the community, helping defense and construction, and even presiding over religious services. However, when given the choice between being conquered and handing over their neighbors, most of Gate Pass is more interested in protecting the greater good, which as they see it means protecting themselves. Indeed, many in the city have grown to resent the city’s magic-users for being the cause of their problems, to the point that the city council has decreed that magic-users should turn themselves over to the city guard, and no one is being allowed to leave the city unless on official business.
Most citizens of Gate Pass are Unfriendly to arcane magic-users. Under orders from the city council, the city guard is to take any magic-user they find into custody, and deliver them to a temporary holding facility in a repurposed mansion in the city center. Most of the gate guards, however, are not eager to deal with spellcasters, and prefer to ignore anything not blatant.
Most of the city believes (or at least claims to believe) that the Inquisitors only intend to capture those responsible for killing the emperor, and that those who pose no threat to Ragesia will be left unharmed.
It is new year's eve, and the army lies a short march away.
Characters (Common knowledge)
Rizzak, possibly older than dirt kobold, 'retired' after decades of pounding the basics of dirty fighting into the heads of impressionable town guards and militia members. Longtime member of the resistance, and would remember the parties after Coaltongue retrated, had he not partied /quite/ so hard.
Sha-Korat, young blacksmith, recently of town militia, recently joined the resistance. Quite the tactical fighter, and shows great promise.
Kai, tough and scrappy orphan, one of "Uncle Ayro's Boys". Streetsmart, very recently joined the resistance, is at loose ends now that uncle Ayro has left town with the wagonload of kids and infoirm
These three are residents of the town and loosely know of each other through the resistance
Ekima, came to town a few months back, notable as one of the very few dragonborn any of you would have ever seen. Bard, picking up stories of glory from days gone by. Seen near the elven ghetto often. Rescued by the resistance, one of the many mages being sheltered by the resistance
Legius, not well known, scooped up by the resistance as a datasource because he's from Sindaire. Not particularly patriotic. Has already agreed to escort Torrent to Lyceum, acting as a bodyguard.
As far as tonight's meeting goes, each knows s/he is to meet up with Torrent, who is a water cleric from Lyceum, the mage school down south. She's a liaison sent by Lyceum to offer aid, and wants to get back to Lyceum and says she has a Very Important Mission for those who are brave and willing to leave the city soon.
The Story
The heroes cautiously approached the tavern from the rear alley and quickly entered by the side door. The meeting went well and the agreement struck. As discussion was winding down and people preparing to depart for the depository, the bells which had been ringing in celebration this whole time halted mid-song, a discordant ripple moving from west to east. In the sudden silence, creaking floorboards and a poorly muffled curse from above revealed they were not alone in the building.
The group quickly displayed both combat prowess and tactical skills as they were beset from all sides by ambushing Black Horse mercenaries and then again by the collapsing building itself, escaping with minimal damage to themselves. A few especially keen-eyed folks caught a glimpse of a man on horseback watching in the distance before wheeling around and disappearing into the darkness. Of the attackers, one scout kept his life -- hauled from the burning tavern and questioned extensively.
Amid the escape from the tavern:
Kai grabs onto the struggling scout, who seems more interested in fleeing than continuing the fight. "You aren't a mage, you can run away," the scout promises. Kai hisses, "You park your Orcus-stained arse right here. I'm not going to hurt you - regardless of what you and your idiot friends tried to do to some ordinary people enjoying an ordinary New Year's Eve... but we have a few questions." The monk looks around and calls out quietly, "Rizzak!" There's a muffled BOOM and the building shakes again as previously unexploded ordinance detonates upstairs. Kai re-secures his hold on the foe and drags him outside to join the nearer half of the party.
Overhead shapes fly through the sky, dropping bombs on buildings, and Kai moans, "Platinum Lord's grace, that is just wrong" to which Legius responds, "That'd be Ragesia. I can tell by the murder around the edges." Rizzak mutters, "Why do we even have city walls if they can just go and do that?"
Kai shakes the scout a little, "Whose brilliant idea was it to send you guys into a burning building just to come pester us? Did they even tell you you were being sent into a burning building?"
The scout replies, "We were tipped off that the water witch would be here, along with other freaks. We're just supposed to grab the freaks and turn them in for money. I got no beef with you, you're no freak." Kai prods, "Who's 'we'?" The scout shakes his shoulder at Kai, drawing attention to the red armband with black horsehead. "Black Horses! We bag'm and get money from the bear freaks"
Kai ponders, "Bear freaks, huh?" Scout sneers, but looks afraid, "Yeah. Freaky bear people. They ain't right in the head, but have money." Legius looks around nervously, "Fight's over, Run now, talk when not dead." Kai looks at Rizzak and Ekima expectantly. "That the consensus?" Rizzak nods, "Yup. meet up on the other side of the building, now go!" Ekima responds, "I think we have about all we will get without attracting more attention than we really desire at this time."
Kai says to Rizzak, "As you will." To the scout he scowls, "Fine. Go with the Platinum Lord's blessing... and while you're at it... reconsider your current line of work. Consider who it was saved you from a fiery death"
The scout tries shake himself free but fails. When Kai releases him, he nods briefly to Kai and repeats, "You are not a freak, you can run away" and he turns to go.
Kai says to the others, "Freaks.... Who decides who's a freak, and who is not?", and shakes his head. Rizzak responds, "I'm not the one to ask about that, kid." Ekima follows behind, "I would venture that the... 'freaks' would be the ones destroying buildings. Pelor's light...."
The group caught their breath, aghast and sombered by the attack on the city and the chaos being caused. Torrent seemed especially torn, but declared that the longterm good of the city requires they focus on their mission. The others agreed and they set off towards the depository.
The going was slow, and there where pauses along the way. Once to heal a man and his wife and escort their family to the nearby wine-god shrine where the man hopes the deepest cellars will shelter them. The group really called attention to themselves when the air genasi flew up to save the woman from the burning building, but the crowd was too concerned with their own safeties to do more than point and mutter fearfully. There was chaos when a dragon flew overhead, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Torrent's patience was strained, however, when the group took the time to track down a cat belonging to a tearstained young woman. Luckily, the cat was found in the basement of a nearby abandoned store, and Cora was so happy with them for retrieving Maya that she is willing to try talking her brother into letting them out through the small gate he's in charge of guarding -- if they come come through in the next 24 hours. It isn't a gate where they want it, but it's /a/ gate that leads south.
Changes to the adventure
I didn't change a whole lot for this session.
I've decided that I'm not limited to the deities in the PHB, those are just the main ones. So while you won't see a 'wine' deity in the book, there's one in my world. So far, I've not been explicitly naming deities, mainly because I'm lazy and this is an area the players don't need a lot of detail on just yet.
I put together a prologue for the players that dredges information from multiple sources to get them up to speed on what's going on and who the major players are. You may notice, there's no eladrin in the group, and I've decided to play the Shalaesti king as pretty evil, so I wanted to make sure they knew about the genocide right at the start of the game. This is where my insistance on having all the modules before I started the game came in handy, as some of this info was buried in module 7, and I only got the stuff from the intro as it was. I'll need to finish reading modules 7-12 so I can know all of the foreshadowing going on and apply it as needed.
I followed DM Magic's lead in encounter-changing. In fact, for the pub scene I copied him pretty much exactly. Not that it mattered much, the PCs were at the top of their game and knocked out my mobs left right and center. The burning building did more damage to my PCs than the mobs did, but that's ok. My group wants to feel heroic and awesome, and it WAS just the first fight in the saga :> I removed Kathor from the combat because, like DM Magic, I didn't want him in combat right away. He cameo'd at the end as a teaser for next time. I kept the dogs, but changed them into tracking dogs under the command of a 'tracker', and they never got into combat either. They were in reserve for if the PCs tried to run away.
Yes, I got rid of Kiki the ferret and replaced her with Maya the Cat. Sorry, I read entirely too much Sluggy Freelance and I know some of my players did as well, and I giggled every time I saw 'Kiki' and I knew /someone/ would comment... so I headed that off at the pass. Also, instead of chasing a ferret all over the place, we track the cat to the nearby store and then chase it down to the cellar. It worked out a lot better thematically that way. I changed the nature of the skill challenge and I'll post that separately.
The good and the bad
Good:
Everyone was engaged, despite the session stretching on forever and ever. I meant to break after the pub scene and forgot to, and no one reminded me or complained, soooo...
I kept combat chugging along by keeping on top of the initiative order, calling out, "X is up, Y is on-deck!" every time.
Gaming online is S L O W. So so SO slow. Having as much prepped ahead of time for copy and pasting data dumps into the chat program is ESSENTIAL. Being able to copy the PDFs into txt files and doing a little editing and a lot of formatting for data dumps is GREAT.
The Bad:
I should have axed the dragon fear scene and replaced it with flavor text. It was a lot of frustration because the players couldn't do anything to mitigate it. They agreed it did add some to the atmosphere, but I think I could have accomplished it with flavor text just as well.
I can't think of anything else to put down here. It was a really good first session!
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If you want to read the actual session log, or look over the wiki I'm slowly assembling:
http://www.dajagr.com/wiki/wotbs/index.php/Sessions/120610
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(Gaming online is like kissing your sister. It's kissing, but it's your /sister/!)
