Goodman Games

Castle Whiterock gamereport

We started the Castle Whiterock campaign on June 22nd and have cleared by now the first 8 levels. Our group consists of three women who have never played before and five experienced men. Furthermore we have two men who participate only very seldom. I master this campaign. This huge number of players allows us to play once or twice every week! Usually we are somewhere between 4 and 6 Characters plus myself the DM.

Before we started with Catsle Whiterock, we played DCC 11 The Dragonfiend pact. I will only report briefly what happend in this adventure. The party consisted of:

Lexi (female halfling rogue Lv2)
Con (male halfling rogue Lv2)( Lexi´s brother)
Raknasch(orc barbarian Lv2)
Fiea( Elf ranger Lv2)
Fulgore( human sorcerer Lv2)
Sir Paran (human Cleric Lv2)

The characters expected the wererats attempt of burglarizing and stayed awake the first night. He entered their room but dropped a vase the characters had placed on the sill, but before the characters were able to catch him, he jumped out of the window (making his jump check). The characters decided to split up. Sir Paran was the first to jump out of the window(failing his jump check). Soon after Lexi and Con followed him. Fiea decided to take the stairs, while Raknasch and Fulgore stayed at the room to watch over their stuff.
They chased the wererat through the city. Sir Paran lead and the halflings tried to keep the pace while Fiea tried to catch up, but lost their track. They lost the wererat in the marketplace. Sir Paran identified the well as the wererat´s only possible escape route. He threw a stone into the well and the splashing sound confirmed his assumption that the well is filled with water. So he jumped into the well. Let me correct this statement he fell into the well (failed his jump check) and dropped 80 feet which knocked him out! Lexi and Con had to hurry to help him. Lexi had serious problems climbing down the well, so that she decided to let her brother climb down instead. Since he knew he had to hurry he climbed fast. ( increasing the climb DC to 20) He made it half way until he fell down and had only 6 Hp left. I decided not to attack instantaneously with the watersnake. I gave Con time to bind Sir Paran to the rope of the well. Then I attacked Con dropping his Hp to 1. He decided to climb up and Lexi tried to pull Sir Paran up, but she was not strong enough. But she had the fantastic idea of using a counterweight. So she searched for a big stone, which she could through down the well. Meanwhile Con had already climbed 30 feet. But then he lost his hold and fell down again ( rolled 1) and was immediately attacked, but not hit by the snake. He climbed up again. Finally Lexi found a fitting stone and tried to throw it down the well, but the stone was too heavy for her, so that she just let it fall down the well (rolled 1). At this moment she realized that her plan had a flaw. Of course the stone which was tied to the rope holding Sir Paran would lift Sir Paran as it dropped down the well, but she did not consider, that the stone might hit Sir Paran or Con. The stone missed Sir Paran, but Con had to make a Reflex save. Luckily he made it (otherwise he would have died), but he did not make his climb check afterwards and fell down and was attacked again. The snake missed again and finally he made it to the top.

Our first Castle Whiterock session was a huge success! The party consisted of

Lexi (Halfling Rogue lv3)
Raknasch (Orc Barbarian lv3)
Sir Paran (Human Cleric lv 3)
Fulgore ( Human Sorcerer lv3)

The characters entered the third floor of Castle Whiterock via the secret door of area 3.1. Wisely they let the Barbarian enter first. Of course he triggered the „falling net of armor pieces trap“. Since there is no obvious exit of this room the party searched for one. The frail sorcerer looked behind the canvas and triggered the „swinging huge morningstar trap“ which dropped him to -8 Hp. What a start!
I already warnt the party that unlike other campaigns we´ve played so far, it is quite probable that they are going to die in Castle Whiterock, but they did not take my warnings seriously. Not yet!
They dispatched the Bugbears without problems and went into the alchemist lab (3.2) There they met orcs and decided not to kill the orcs, since they had an Orc in their party. Instead they wanted Raknasch to fight their leader in a one on one battle. Robgrut the orc alchemist told them that their leader might be in one of two places and that he is going to send two messengers to bring their leader to the lab. I won the bluff check and decided to send a message to the six orcs from the barracks in area 3.8 . The other messenger went to the giant touched orc leader Drugila. I let the characters make a listen check and they heard that more than one person was approaching them. They had two rounds to fight the three orcs in this room, before the other orcs arrived, but decided to wait although it became quite obvious that I had tricked them. So they had to fight eleven orcs at once. Sir Paran and Raknasch fought the seven orcs arriving from area 3.8 while Lexi and Fulgore fought the orcs in area 3.2. Although Raknasch and Sir Paran were able to drop some orcs, they were wounded as well and Raknasch lost consciousness. Sir Paran healed him taking the attack of oppotunity. Soon after a critical hit killed Sir Paran and Raknasch lost consciousness again, while two orcs survived. Inside room 3.2 Lexi and Fulgore were hard pressed but were able to kill the orcs, but the two orcs who had fought Sir Paran and Raknasch remained. One of them attacked Fulgore and dropped him to -7 Hp. Lexi was able to kill this orc but was attcked by the other one. He hit her and she had only 2 Hp left. I could already taste the blood of my first wipe in the first session. But Lexi was able two hide between the bookshelfs and killed the last orc with her sneak attack. Thus Lexi, Raknasch and Fulgore survived, while Sir Paran died!
I really would have liked to see Raknasch´s face at the arrival of Drugila with her gargantuan mornigstar. This would have been a nice one on one battle, but I decided to let the party return to Cillamar without any further battles since they were still shocked by the death of their comrade Sir Paran!
The session was not yet over. Sir Paran´s Player decided to play a dwarven druid lv3 with the name of Moradin´s fist. The party went to the ruins of the cloud giant tower and fought Drugila. Since I did not use her weapon in the beginning of the encounter, it was not as deadly as it could have been.
The druid summoned a flying beetle and the party used ranged weapons. It took me only one hit to kill the beetle with my gargantuan morningstar, but before I could approach the party in melee, they killed Drugila. Next they had to face the Cloud giant skeleton. Raknasch and Moradin´s fist charged the skeleton. My attack of opportunity reduced Raknasch´s Hp dramatically, but did not drop him. Raknasch and Moradin´s fist scored a hit, but then it was the Skeletons turn and his Full attack was sufficient to kill Moradin´s fist. The party decided to retreat, since their Barbarian was seriously wounded and their healer was killed again. At this point our first session ended.

Although I was able to kill one player twice in a session, the party did not become more cautious as you will find out soon.

Castle Whiterock kills this session: 2
Castle Whiterock kills so far: 2

Great recap! I love the lethality of how you're GMing things. Reminds me of my younger days playing D&D and having to roll up a new character every couple hours.

Agreed...it sounds like a lot of fun!

As I promised last time, the characters did not really learn from their mistakes. The player whose characters I killed last Session was forced to play a healer once again. Once a healer always a healer! He chose a halfling druid with a riding dog. He was able to charge with his riding dog using his weapon as a lance for 2d6 +Str. Good melee damage for a third level spellcaster. Furthermore he could make a ridecheck to avoid the first damage in a round. Nice concept! What he did not take into account, was that he had only few HP and a low AC. Quite soon this turned out to be his doom.

Since the party had serious problems defeating the Skeleton in area 3A3 they decided to clear the rest of this level before fighting it again. They entered room 3-9. The druid had the highest initiative and charged while riding on his dog. He hit the orc and dealt some damage, but did not kill him. We all were surprised how much damage the druid could deal in melee, but the group was also surprised when the next turn was mine and all 4 orcs attacked their closest target which was the druid. While he was able to evade the first attack with his ridecheck, the other attacks hit him right in the face and dealt enough damage to kill him.
I killed the same player 3 times in 2 sessions! Oh yes! Finally he realized that he being a spellcaster should not always be the first to enter melee combat. From this point on his way of playing his character changed.Once again he chose a druid as character and this time he became the most powerful character of this group. So powerful that he became a pain in the neck of his dungeon master. But I´ll come to that later.
Next they went to area 3.8. Of course they did enter this room only after triggering the trap. So far they have triggered every trap they have encountered! This alerted the orcs in area 3-9 who dropped their barrels, but got killed soon after.
They found the silver in area 3.10 as well as the secret compartment in the stone altar of area 3.5, but missed the secret compartment in Drugila´s chest. Then they helped Nemoura and received the ring Aquil´iya as a reward.
Their next encounter was once again a more critical one. They went into area 3.11 and did not spot the rasthnum on the ceiling who dropped on Raknasch (Barbarian lv3) and Fenk (fighter lv3), who failed their Fortitude saves and were paralysed. Furthermore Fenk´s Hp dropped to -1 and he was dying. Only Lexi(rogue lv3) and Bubu (druid lv3) were left and had serious problems hitting the Rasthnum, because of their high AC. Lexi and Bubu´s wolf were in melee with the two Rasthnum who blocked the tunnel. Since the Rasthnum occupied the same field as Fenk Bubu could not heal him until the Rasthnum was defeated. Time was running out and they were only able to score minor hits. Especially Lexi who was not able to flank the Rasthnum in order to use her sneak attack could only deal 1d3 points of damage if she hit at all. But she made her fortitude save when she got hit and kept on fighting while Bubu healed her and his Wolf. They would have liked to leave, but their friends were still püaralysed and they did not want to leave them behind. Still they would lose this battle sooner or later, since it was only a matter of time until either Lexi or Bubu´s wolf would fail their save.
Bubu turned the tide by summoning two wolfs on the other side of the Rasthnum. Now they were flanking the Rasthnum which facilitated hitting them and enabled Lexi to use her sneak attack. Two rounds later the Rasthnum drew their last breaths and Fenk who had dropped to -8 Hp by then could be healed just in time.
At the end of this session they faced the skeleton in area 3A3 once again. This time they were better prepared. Bubu produced some magic stones which dealt 2d6+2 damage. These stones were very useful. Especially Lexi who dealt no damage against the skeleton with her melee attack since she could not use her sneak attack and her d3 could not overcome the skeleton´s damage reduction was now able to do some damage. The first round all characters threw their stones at the skeleton then Raknasch approached it in melee and soon after it was defeated.

Finally the characters had cleared the third floor. All players advanced to the fourth level. All in all I had three kills and two charcaters with -8 HP and two more below 0 HP on this floor. We all enjoyed this level a lot., because the encounters were really challenging. The orcs on this level deal 1d10+6 damage which is a lot for third level characters and furthermore they have a good chance of hitting the players which makes every encounter on this floor lethal.

Castle Whiterock kills this session: 1
Castle Whiterock kills so far: 3

Today we played again for 10 hours. We finished the eighth floor and yes of course did some characters die again, but since I´m going to deliver my reports in chronological order, you´ll still have to wait for this report.
Nevertheless I want to give a brief report about something that happened tonight in the Slumbering Drake. The players know that I have a fable for dragons and already considered Lady Chauntessa to be a dragon. They saw her picture on the cover and drew the conclusion, that she plays a major role in this campaign. Although she helped them a lot they are still suspicious of her. I decided to use this suspicion. So I let Lexi (Rogue 5, Assasin 5) play once again dragon darts which she enjoys a lot. This time she played against Rolad of ´The Pack of the Night-wolf´. She won and in the end he told her that Lady Chauntessa is an evil dragon which enhanced their suspicion even more. I don´t know what happens next, I don´t think that they will attack her, but the tension is definitely rising!

By the way did anyone already finish this campaign?

Wow. That's a great move.
I'm glad you're using the Pack...they were something we through in as a tool for the GM to use (or not).
Incidentally, each member of the Pack is based off someone from my SCA group...and what you describe is EXACTLY in-character for the real-life "Rolad."

I can't wait to read more about how the game develops!

Since the party has reached already the 9th floor I need to catch up with my report. So here it comes.
After clearing the third floor, the characters went down to the fourth floor via the secret door in area 3-7 which they had located without any problems. They entered Area 4-1 (piercer trap). Guess what happened? Yes you are right! Of course they did not detect the piercers.

Traps encountered so far: 5
Traps triggered so far: 5

I was able to deal some damage in this first round of battle. What happenend next is a typical reaction of this group. Instead of fleeing the area, they fought the piercers and did not bother that every round more and more piercers dropped from the ceiling and dealt damage. Raknasch and Lexi fought the Piercers on the ground while Fiea shot her arrows and Fulgore cast his spells at the piercers on the ceiling. In the end they killed all of them, but they were wounded as well and Bubu had to heal them all.
Next they went to area 4-3 and found the secret passage to area 4.5. They did not move the rocks and therefore did not find area 4.4 and the entrance to the Clockwork Academy. By now they have collected all the instruments needed to free Aeraelith, but have not yet found him. I am thinking about giving them a clue. Maybe I let them make a listen check in order to hear his desperate plea (DC 30), but I am not sure about that, since they are still thinking about going to ´The Halls of Hidden Lore´ in order to search for the entrance of the Clockwork Academy at which I had hinted already by a Gnome in search of this academy.
They killed the Troglodytes in area 4-5 without any problems. To be honest the Trogs were quite a disappointment. In comparisson to the orcs of the third floor they have a worse chance of hitting the characters and even if they score a hit they deal less damage. I would recommend to enhance all their attacks by five, but leave the damage as it is to make this encounter more lethal.
Area 4-6 and 4-7 were more intresting since the characters had a heated argument whether they should kill the noncombatants or not. Bubu the lawful good druid wanted to kill them, since he considered them to be evil creatures. The rest of the group, even our evil rogue Lexi who had already comitted murder in order to become a member of an assassin´s guild, was against killing them. In the end they let them survive. Luckily for Bubu who would have been the only one to receive an experience point penalty!
Next they went to area 4-13. This could have been a very interesting encounter, but since Benthoc behaves randomly and I did not roll very well, the group had no problems. Bubu summoned four wolves who fought Benthoc in melee while Fiea shot her arrows. This was the first encounter that lost its lethality, because of Bubu summoning some animals. Many more were to come and with every encounter my desire to kill him grew.The rest of the group focused on the Troglodyte zombies. Later on they approached Benthoc in melee and I was even able to knock one character out, but soon after they killed Benthoc. I could not even once use his breath weapon. What a pity. At least I was able to keep the fighter Carlo out of combat with my wand of hold person. Afterwards they found the secret doors to areas 4-14 and 4-15, but did not climb down the pit. At this point we finished the session.

Castle Whiterock kills this session: 0
Castle Whiterock kills so far: 3

I had a good chuckle at the trap counter. Ah, heroes. When will they learn?

They did learn, but not yet!

At the beginning of the next session we were only three charcters. Fulgore (Sorcerer lv 3), Con (Rogue lv3) and Fiea (Ranger lv4), so that I decided to let one of them play a second character (orcish fighter lv3). They went to area 4-14 and released the „pitiable red dragon“ Cinder from his cage. How stupid can one be! The worst of it is that they did not even receive the punishment they deserved. I used my breath weapon for some serious damage and killed the orcish fighter with a full attack in the following round, but in the next round they had already dealt enough damage to kill the dragon.
Next they killed the spider in area 4-15. Afterwards they went back to Cillamar. Where their friend Fimble a member of the city watch, whom they met long ago (he did not allow the orc Raknasch to enter the city on their first meeting) told them about slavers in a mine(second floor). He told them that his sister was missing and that he believes her to be held prisoner in a mine. I use Fimble quite often to develop the story. Next time I might use Rolad in disguise of Fimble to lure them into a deadly trap! But I´m once again ahead of my report.
Raknasch (orcisch barbarian lv3), Fulgore (human sorcerer lv3), Fiea (elven ranger lv4) and Con (halfling rogue lv3) went to the mines(level 2). Fulgore cast a spell on the gnomish guards in front of the mine and they fell asleep. Raknasch had to take the lead and surprise surprise, he did not detect the tripwire traps and fell down the stairs.

Traps encountered so far: 6
Traps triggered so far: 6

I doubled the orcs in area 2-1 so that 12 orcs closed in on Raknasch. Raknasch had to face three orcs at the same time. Furthermore he was lying on the ground and had to stand up which provoked three attacks of opportunity. In the first round of battle he was seriously damaged (he lost more than half of his HP). His friends could not help him since the entry to this area was blocked by Raknasch who was surrounded by 12 orcs. Con decided to tumble through one of the orcs who already had his attack of opportunity. He made it and this orc was now hard pressed, being flanked by Raknasch and Con. Con spotted a vulnerable spot and in came his sneak attack killing the orc. Next Raknasch killed another orc and used his Cleave feat to kill a second one. But still 9 orcs remained. Fiea joined melee and dropped another one, but then it was once again the orcs turn. Fiea, Con and Raknasch were hit. Con almost lost consciousness. Then it was time for Fulgore´s great entrance. He positioned himself in front of a group of orcs and a vivid cone of clashing colors sprung forth from his hand knocking four orcs unconscious. Then it was again Cons turn and once again he found a weak spot and in came his sneak attack killing another orc. Raknasch killed two more orcs and Fiea killed the last one. Afterwards they killed the unconscious orcs lying on the ground.
I converted Minus in area 2-2 to a normal-seized minotaur, but it did not matter. The characters surprised him and killed him before he could attack. Next they went to area 2-3 and were heard in the first round. Soon after 16 orcs arrived from area 2-5 shooting at the characters with their heavy crossbows, but their attack bonus of 1 was not enough, so they had a hard time hitting the characters, while Fiea shot at least one of them down in every round. They did not find the lever in area 2-2 so that Raknasch had to break the portcullis bars. Already with his second try he was able to bend the first bars so that they could pass them. They did not bother with breaking the second portcullis bars but jumped from the access corridor to the floor were the orcs were positioned. Con sneaked up on his enemies, while Raknasch cleaved one orc after another and Fiea shot with deadly aim as did Fulgore with his magic missiles. It all went so fast. Too fast for the orcs who died one after another.
Next they freed the prisoners and Fiea went with them to Cillamar while the rest of the group proceeded deeper into the dungeon. Now they were only three characters of third and fourth level, so that I did not have to buff the monsters anymore.
They went to area 2-7, but Garesch was not there, because he heard them before and went to area 2-8. I do not know why, but somehow the characters agreed that this must have been the room of a wizard and were preparing for battle against a wizard?Don´t ask me why? Next they went to area 2-8 and had to fight Goresh and the four trollhounds. Raknasch killed one of the trollhounds. The characters were quite impressed by Goresh´s weapon, so that Fulgore cast a spell and Goresh fell prone and dropped his weapon. Con saw his chance and tumbled between the trollhounds into the field where Goresh had dropped his weapon and picked it up. Then it was the trollhounds turn One attack Raknasch and the other two attacked Con who was reduced to 0 HP and lost Consciousness. By now the trollhounds had seperated Con from the rest of the group, so that they could not heal him. Raknasch attacked a trollhound, but was not able to kill him. Goresh picked up his weapon and threatend to kill Con if the characters continued to kill his pets. A really funny parley began. It was quite obvious to both groups that they wanted to trick eachother. Furthermore the room is quite small so that it is almost impossible to leave the room without passing through a threatened field. This made the parley even more difficult, because both groups expected attacks of opportunity. If I were to leave the room, I would no longer be able to threaten killing Con and the characters would attack me. In the end the characters had to pay 1000 GM and Goresh and his trollhounds left the mine. He realized that the characters would defeat Kaernga and all other orcs on this level, so that he decided to leave the mine. They never met him again and their gold which was quite a lot at this point of the game was lost.
Next they went to area 2-10 and killed Chu-thuk before he could cast a spell. Then they went to area 2-11 where they had to fight Kaernga, four female orc warriors and the armored trollhound. I rolled very good in this encounter. Already in the first round of battle the female orc warriors knocked Fulgore out and the armored trollhound and Kaernga knocked Raknasch out after he had killed one of the orc warriors. Only Con was left and he decided to run away and leave his friends behind. After tieing and healing Fulgore and Raknasch Kaernga sold them to Ulrik. Meanwhile Con ran to the Slumbering Drake and asked for help. Cookie (Lady Chauntessa´s Ogre) joined Con as well as the city watch Fimble (gnomish fighter level 2). Half an hour later they were again in area 2-11 and fought once again against Kaernga and his minions. They were able to defeat him, but Raknasch and Fulgore were gone. So Cookie had to intimidate one of the orcs in order to receive information about the whereabouts of Raknasch and Fulgore. They fought the orcs in area 2-12 and 2-13 and found the secret passage to area 2-17. Raknasch and Fulgore were still bound to the slave platform. Ulrik was in no mood to fight the characters and tried his trick with the smoking sticks and the platform and left the room via the secret door, but Con was able to locate the lever and could free his friends. He did even find the secret door to area 2-18. Having freed Raknasch and Fulgore Fimble and Cookie returned to Cillamar, while the party went to area 2-18. They did not believe in the ogres bluff that he was really chained, but did not let him know that they did not believe him. Con went to the wall and picked up the ogres greathammer before the ogre could grab it himself. Rakansch hit the ogre hard and Fulgore cast one of his spells. The ogre grabbed the greathammer out of Con´s hands, but was not able to attack in this round. Con and Fulgore attacked the Ogre and Raknasch finished him with a critical hit. I really would have liked to attack with this weapon which deals a lot of damage. Especially second level chracters should be hard pressed against the ogre, but the characters were not fooled this time. Afterwards they cleared the rest of the mine. The dust mephit Grime was able to escape after he realized that he was outmatched.
I really enjoyed this level. The monsters are able to deal a lot of damage and the characters were hard pressed. Three of them were knocked out on this floor although they had already reached level 3. Doubling the orcs against four third level characters worked out well in area 2-1, but not in area 2-3, because the orcs in 2-3 were not able to hit with their crossbows. Con tried to steal an enemy´s weapon twice in this session. On one occasion he almost got killed and could only be rescued by paying a ransom, but against the ogre he succeeded. The parley between Kaernga and the characters was also fun to play and especially the rogue Con who was almost killed by Kaernga promised to hunt Kaernga and retrieve the money Kaernga has stollen from the rogue Con. All in all I am glad that I decided to play this level although the characters had already reached level 3, because it was still a real challenge.


Castle Whiterock kills this session: 1
Castle Whiterock kills so far: 4

Sounds like you and your group are having a good time.

Thanks for posting these.

Funny enough, the characters in my CW campaign have been hired by a company called 'The Pack of the White Wolf'. If seems that a mercenary company had some trouble and and a split. Of course, for now, the company knows nothing about a Black Pack. But in one of my PC's background, it is mentioned mercenary companies invading lands and castles in a place close from here... The player have no idea what ideas his writing have given me

Nice report by the way!

Hyb'

Excellent. That's a great twist!

It was mainly to have a good reason to have all the characters here and not wandering around

Hyb'

I just realized that I did not even report how we started this campaign. I allowed my players to develop their own background story and wanted to fit their story into the campaign as good as possible. Lexi wanted to become an assassin and so she went with her brother Con to Cillamar to find the assassins guild. The Cleric Sir Paran von Liefenstein is a wealthy landowner and started his education in an abbey some years ago. Soon after he dedicated himself to the hunt of an evil red dragon with the name Risigor the dragonlord (which is in fact Benthosruthsa). He and his bodyguard Raknasch the orc travelled to many places in order to hear some news concerning Risigor. Sir Paran´s background story was the perfect hook up for introducing them to the campaign. When they met Lady Chauntessa, she hinted at Risigor´s presence in Castle Whiterock. In return the players should bring her all magic books they could find in Castle Whiterock.
This is how it all began. Unfortunately Sir Paran died in our first session and although his second character was also hunting Risigor, he died as well in the first session, so that this hook up no longer exists. But the rest of the group decided to search for Risigor to pay their last respects to their fellow Sir Paran.
Concerning the pack of the Night Wolf I decided against luring them all into a deadly trap. Instead I decided to lure one of them into a trap and kidnap him/her, in order to bring this character to the Bleak Theatre. I wil not tell you more about it since one of the players might be reading what I am posting here and I don´t want to give them too many informations. But it is going to happen in the next session or the one after.

Here comes the next report. By now the characters cleared the 2nd , 3rd and a big part of the 4th floor.
The characters participating were:

Fulgore (sorcerer lv 4)
Bubu (druid lv 4)
Raknasch (barbarian lv 4)
Fenk (fighter lv 3)
Fiea (ranger lv 5)
Lexi (rogue lv 4)

Only areas 4-10, 4-11, 4-12 and 4-9 the cave morrays warrens remained. Before they could enter the fourth floor I led them fight against the skeletal wyrmling from the wandering monster list, but they defeated it without any problems.
Then they went straight to area 4-11 and 4-12 and missed area 4-10. I decided that Grizzlisk would enter combat in area 4-11 and 4-12 after 1d4 rounds and so he arrived in the third round. This time I did not forget to let the characters make their fortitude saves against the troglodyte´s stench. The encounter began with the party´s succesful spot check, but they thought that the net on the ceiling indicated another fight against a spider and did not realize that they were running into a trap. Down came the net and while Lexi could eveade being captured by the net Raknasch was not quick enough to react. Next the Troglodytes threw their nets capturing Fenk as well as Raknasch and combat started. Raknasch and Fenk did not bother freeing themselves from the net and attacked instead taking the penalties. At the beginning the party was hard pressed, but the longer combat lasted the more they got the upper hand, until Grizzlisk arrived behind Fulgore. I told them that Grizzlisk´s armor was shining and that he looked more powerful than the other Trogs. By now Raknasch and Lexi fought against the 4 Troglodytes in area 4-11 while Fenk, Bubu and Fiea fought the 6 Troglodytes in area 4-12. Fulgore remained between the two rooms and supported both groups with his magic. Grizzlisk could not attack in the first round, so that Fulgore had at least a chance to react. He decided to shoot some magic missles and eneter area 4-11. Then it was agian Grizzlisk´s turn and attacking Fulgore he knocked him out. Raknasch and Lexi had by now defeated 3 of 4 Trogs in area 4-12 so that he entered melee with Grizzlisk. They fought a duel while the rest of the group attacked the remaining trogs. Bubu´s wolf went to area 4-12 and flanked the remaining trog. His attack did not knock the trog out, but once again Lexi found a weak spot and in came her sneak attack killing the trog. In the meantime Bubu went to Fulgore in order to heal him. The rest of the group dispatched the remaining trogs in area 4-11 and although Grizzlisk was able to hit Raknasch once he was hit as well and the rest of the group attacked him in the following round which was to much for him.
Next they went to area 4-9 where Raknasch after being attacked killed one of the cave morray. As soon as they spotted another cyst Fenk positioned himself in front of the cyst blocking the cyst with his towershield so that the rest of the group could pass savely. He won the opposed strength check against the moray and blocked the cyst. Since the group only killed one moray they did not find the platinum necklace.
They entered area 6-1 and although it took them some time to kill all of the enemies in this area they were never in serious trouble. After this battle Bubu and Lexi decided to go home so that only Fulgore, Raknasch, Fiea and Fenk remained. They decided to climb up to area 6-2( I mixed it up, they would have to climb down usually, but it turned out to be even more funny like this). All of them failed their spot checks, so that they did not see the troglodyte hunters hiding in this area. The trogs were able to surround the party and even Fulgore and Fiea had to fight in melee, so that Fiea could not shoot her arrows and Fulgore could not cast his spells without provoking an attack of opportunity. Therefore Fulgore resigned casting spells and fought with his staff and Fiea dropped her bow and drew her short sword. The enemy in front of them and a 25 feet drop behind them, they decided to fight the trogs, but they underrestimated them. The trogs they met on the 4th floor as well as the trogs in area 6-1 were not really strong and so the group began to think once again that they were invincible. After the first round their attitude changed and they were afraid that I might kill them all. All of them had taken some damage and none of the trogs was even bloodied. Furthermore they had no one to heal them and Fulgore and Fiea would be knocked out soon. Even Raknasch had already lost half of his Hp. Only Fenk was still allright, because the trogs did not hit him with every attack. They decided to retreat which was not so easy since they had to jump down 25 feet in order to get to area 6-1. Fulgore was the first to jump and made his check so that he took only 3 points of damage and was still conscious. Fiea grapped her bow received an attack of opportunity and jumped down as well. Soon after Fenk and Raknasch followed, but not before the trogs could attack them once more. One of them hit Raknasch and one missed him while two missed Fenk and only one hit him. Finally they made it to area 6-1, the trogs did not pursue them, but threw their javelins after them without success. At this point our session ended.
By now the group has finished the fourth floor, although they missed the Clockwork Academy. It was a good idea to let the group fight the trogs of 4-10, 4-11 and 4-12 at the same time. This made the encounter more challenging, but did not overstrain them. The battle in area 6-2 was also very good, since the group had a very bad position and would have died if they did not retreat.

Castle Whiterock kills this session: 0
Castle Whiterock kills so far: 4

Aw yeah! I love tower shields, and it seems like nobody ever uses them.
Did you let the heroes take the Tower Shield Mastery feat from Castle Whiterock?



It's a rare party that actually knows when to retreat. I applaud your group.

Chris Doyle wrote level 4 (the first trog level) and I wrote level 6 (the frog-trog level), so we had to come up with a way to make them different.

Since I had the deeper level (presumably for more experienced heroes), I threw in some NPC class levels and made the terrain different, with the looping, connected ant tunnels.



That was exactly what I hoped would happen. "More trogs? Pshaw!"

I am late for my next report. I am quite busy at the moment. Hence you will have to wait a little longer for my next report.
Still I have a question. What is an awesome blow? I think it is a feat, but I couldn´t find it in the DnD rulebooks nor in Catslewhiterock appendix.

I am late for my next report. I am quite busy at the moment. Hence you will have to wait a little longer for my next report.
Still I have a question. What is an awesome blow? I think it is a feat, but I couldn´t find it in the DnD rulebooks nor in Catslewhiterock appendix.

Awesome Blow is a monster feat in the Monster Manual. Heheh, enjoy!

I do not tell the party on which floor they actually are, nor do I adapt the encounters if the party is weaker than it is supposed to be. In fact I only adapt the encounters if tzhe players are too strong. The players know of this and are therefore quite uneasy when they descend to a lower level. After they barely escaped from being killed in area 6-2 in the last session, they decided to go down the well in area 3-10. The party had to buy some spells in addition to Bubu´s spells. All of them had waterbreathing cast on themselves and Lexi and Fulgore had freedom of movement. Bubu shifted his shape into a shark.

Fiea (ranger lv 5)
Lexi (rogue lv 4)
Bubu (druid lv 4)
Raknasch (barbarian lv 4)
Fulgore (sorcerer lv 4)

The party entered area 5-1 and spotted the Crystal Oozes. Nevertheless they were hard pressed since Lexi was paralysed in the first round of combat and constricted afterwards. Although Raknasch was able to deal some damage with his greatsword, he was not able to deal as much damage under water as he usually does and Fiea´s arrows were more or less useless under water. Bubu´s crocodile dealt as much damage as the rest of the party together and helped to rescue Lexi who had already dropped to -5 HP. After Lexi had been healed they went to area 5-2 where they were attacked after they did not feed the diving beetles. Again Bubu´s crocodile proofed to be very valuable in under water combat. They killed the diving beetles one after another. Next they went to area 5-5 via area 5-3. They located the secret door to area 5-6. The fight against Trosk was a tough one. His electric eel used his electricity. Raknasch and Fiea received 3d8 damage and the rest received 2d8. While Bubu, Fiea and Fulgore focused on the electric eel in the first round, Raknasch and the crocodile fought Trosk who scored one hit after another and Raknaschs HP dropped rapidly. Bubu had to heal him. The fight went on for some rounds, but in the end Trosk was defeated. After the fight Lexi triggered the poisoned barbed large spear trap in area 5-5, but made her fortitude save.

Traps encountered so far: 7
Traps triggered so far: 7

They were a little bit afraid of entering the courtyard, so that Bubu decided to scout the area in shark form. He went straight to the ruined gatehouse. I decided that the hydra was not there at the moment, but would return very soon. Bubu detected magic and I allowed him to put the magical arrow as well as the +1 thundering greatsword into his mouth, but then I decided that the hydra returned. I let him make a spot check and he succeeded. One round later she would have reached him and probably killed him, but he was lucky. Since he was much faster than the hydra he could escape. The party decided that the hydra was too strong and so they left this level and decided to gather some information concerning hydras. They went to Cillamar.
Lady Chauntessa could not help them with the hydra, but Quintus told them that they had to use lightning to defeat the hydra. They sold the +1 thundering greatsword for 4000 Gm which they used to improve Raknasch´s greatsword and Lexi´s dagger to +1.
Movement and damage were reduced under water, but the party handled this problem quite good. The halfling Lexi had freedom of movement cast on her so that she was able to move 20 feet under water. Raknasch dealt less damage and so did Fiea, but Bubu and especially his crocodile proofed to be very powerful.


Castle Whiterock kills this session: 0
Castle Whiterock kills so far: 4