D&D 4e

By sunrise, the river had done the hard work of clearing away yesterday’s battle with the kobold frolickers. Some kobold corpses were partially damming the river somewhat downstream, but the owlbears and dire wolves would soon have those cleared away. While any kobolds yet lived, though, the residents of Winterhaven would still be unable to safely trade with their brethren in Fallcrest. That’s little to no concern of ours. The kobolds made it our problem when they ambushed Wenner on the road. Perhaps we could come to terms with this leader of theirs, this “Irontooth”. Winterhaven would surely welcome such an industrious people into their fair city with open arms. Kobolds are tireless workers, after all, and take orders well. They do prefer the eating of living flesh, but then again, who doesn’t? ...

Swimming a river of death Curious about the blog title? You know that wizards get a spell called sleep, but did you know it can hit friendly targets, too? Anyway, we’ll get back to that. After skipping a week for the holidays, the Adventure Company convened again where we left off – having finished a pitched battle along the road from Winterhaven, we pursued a kobold to a waterfall-fed river, with excited barking noises coming from the direction of a stone circle we could see looming past a thin line of trees. ...

Wenner Takes a Short Cut Our time in Winterhaven passed all too quickly. Soon the innkeeper, the Lord Warden and most of the random townsfolk were all too ready to see us go. We’d come for a night and stayed for a fortnight. Even the street sweepers began wondering loudly and openly beneath our windows if there wasn’t some adventuring to be done. Somewhere. Else. Bryn is a mean drunk. It has to be said. ...

Kobold ambush A dragonborn and a halfling were walking together along a worn and aged road. “Tipa,” said the halfling, “our footprints are mingled with signs of dozens of kobolds. Yet where the kobolds are thickest, I only see one set of footprints. Where were you then?” “Dearest Wenner,” replied the dragonborn. “Those were the times I picked you up and threw you.” The Adventure Company, having spent a couple weeks resting and training after the adventure in the kobold tower, gathered on the outskirts of Fallcrest. Our destination: the town of Winterhaven, site of some newly-discovered ruins. ...

Of scales and slime pits... After last week’s epic battle against an Indiana Jones-style boulder trap and various drakes and kobold lords, what could possibly await us in the cavern below the tower ruins, from whence came the acrid stink of dragonbreath and fear? Could it be……? We sent Wenner, the halfling thief, to check it out. He crept around turn after turn, beckoning the rest of us after him. We cautiously followed. At the entrance to a room we could not see the end of, Wenner went bouncing through like a maniac, alerting everything inside to our presence. ...

The Skull Skull Arena There was probably a way to get through this without fighting… but we’re all experts. We’re all MMO vets. See a monster, kill a monster. Halfling thief Wenner crept down the stairs to another room, furnished with the requisite sarcophagi (and sarcophagals). The coffins and coffers each had small animal skulls piled upon them, and between them, another sludge-filled pit. At the far end of the room, closed, thick wooden doors barred further progress. On either side, 10’ stone platforms stretching to both walls held two kobolds, who passed around a sludge covered boulder that was tied by a rope to the ceiling. They would, tetherball-like, swing the stone out, catch some of the animal skulls on it, and the other would catch it. ...

Floor 2 If this doesn’t look like a tense situation to you, let me describe it better. We’re in the basement of a ruined tower; after a pitched battle on the floor above, we descend warily to the floor below, and in the flickering light of some braziers (NOT BRASSIERES, WENNER), see four sarcophagi and three kobold skirmishers guarding an altar to Tiamat, the Ender of Worlds. I, dragonborn paladin Tipa, roll dead last on initiative, and stand frozen in fear of the crudely-hewn icon of Tiamat as the rest of the Adventure Co spring into action. Halfling thief Wenner and human wizard Bryn do some damage to one of the three kobolds. Elf cleric Sheeoil (whom we’d found unconscious on the stairs) discovers a trap – click. Sproing. Those braziers are armed. ...

A tense encounter... We’d been framed for crimes we did not commit, were thrown into jail, broke out, tracked down a crime boss to a tavern and beat the crap out of a halfling. The day was starting off swell. While our elven cleric, Sheeoil, was off dealing with some ecclesiastical emergency, the rest of us were asked by the local lord to see about a minor kobold problem… he’s sent the guard, but they apparently don’t return. There seems to be some darker power behind the kobolds… and wouldn’t we really be having more fun AWAY from the local tavernry? Of course we would! ...

Hanging out on Google+ Last night was the second meeting of our intrepid crew of D&D 4th Edition (D&D 4E) adventurers. If the internet was made for porn, surely social networking sites were made to play D&D. One of the first ideas anyone gets is, hey, I can’t find folks to play D&D with locally, but all my online friends want to play… maybe I could use MySpace/LiveJournal/message boards/forums/Google Wave OR WHATEVER. ...