Ok, I have to admit it. It felt good to sit around the table after a long break. In overall, the first session of our new campaign was good and hours were well spent. Since in our group almost everyone is still getting used to the “new” 4th edition, some time was spend to familiarize ourselves with the rules and what had changed. I remember having the same problems as my players had during the combat; forgetting their abilities i.e. warlock’s curse or those sneak attacks every time there is combat advantage (and that’s lot!). To a group where there are two and a half rogues it is quite important thing to remember! I’ll go through the session in general, not trying to cover tiny details what happened. If I have time, like I have said, I’ll do it more thoroughly when it is time for the Story Hour.
The characters of the following Campaign:
Mort Babcock – Human Rogue fond of Shar
Ilyas Pachera – Human Swordmage with hatred agains Red Wizards
Gildin Ironstar – Dward Fighter from the past accidently drifted to present.
Enok Markhorn – Human Rogue who has been living simple life and seeks something new.
Dabbil – Gnome wizard with past in slavery
Nexus – Young Tiefling Warlock running from her past.
As background information, there have been numerous strange murder cases recently in Athkatla. The city guard and even the Cowled wizards have not been able to identify or catch the killer. Fear strikes the residents and strange things continue occurring in the city and then, the campaign begins.
An old dwarf, a bard, known with several names and having strong connections everywhere and especially to every character individually, had gathered our heroes around the table. Knowing that every person here was unique and different, he let them to get to know each other for a while. A little tension between characters was strongly present, but eventually everyone opened up… at least a little. The point was that characters accepted each other and were ready to work together for the one who had gathered them here. When that had been settled the dwarf explained why exactly he had gathered them here.
He explained that Faded Ages, a memory tailoring service working in the city had something valuable to him. His memory sphere containing his own memories he had erased to protect himself and the information it contained; keys to the several hidden portals within the city, he believed from the hints he had left for himself. However there was a problem; He was not able to retrieve the sphere himself. Dwarf’s alias; Rolo Gemcutter had established strong position among the 42-Merchant families in Athkatla now had enemies wanting him harm. House Vymmarss where those enemies, and they were the current owners of Faded Ages. However, it was known to him that House Vymmarss was not aware, that Rolo Gemcutter’s memories where stored in Faded Ages, so it was imperative that the memories were retrieved in secret. So the heroes had a huge task. Investigate where the Memory Hold was located and retrieve Rolo Gemcutter’s memory sphere.
They began by searching knowledge about the previous owners; a Mercantile House owned by families Erahn and Sedarui. They quickly discovered that Sedarui family had gained big profits when the ownership had changed and thus they had moved to the South to establish new businesses of their own. However, the other family still lingered in town involved in spices and importing of northern clothes. Erahn estate was quickly under investigation; Nexus, disguised as member of one of the Waterdeep’s merchant families, arranged a visit with lady Odala Erahn at the estate. What followed was trouble: The bluff was too obvious and the whole party was quickly driven away from the estate. Cursing that heroes didn’t do their research well enough, they developed another plan. One with more direct solution:
Tiny Deaths, a local store specialized in poisons, was soon visited. They had the funding and full support of Rolo Gemcutter to use any means necessary to gain access to the Memory Hold. Expensive and sophisticated goodnight tincture should do the trick, and almost it did; when our heroes infiltrated the Erahn Estate (after bribing the kitchen’s chef to use the tincture and the collapsed people) someone noticed them. A half-orc mercenary hired to keep an eye on the estate from outside due the previous suspicious actions of the visitors. Big problems occurred as the patrolling city guards were nearby. What eventually happened was an incident where; Nexus killed the mercenary with powerful thrust of arcane power surely alerting the cowled wizards, Ilyas set the estate on fire to cover their escape and Enok and Dabbil searched the upstairs for clues as the smoke emerged and finally Mort distracted the guards away from the scene. As they fled they saw the arcs of light flashing in the sky. They made it just in time before the cowled wizards arrived.
Luckily for our heroes, their actions were not totally in vain since they found a page of a journal between one of the tomes they stole which talked about the deal with carriage service and especially hired guards on the last day of every month. The date of the diary was two years old, but it was at least something.
Dabbil, having a hunch on finding the actual location by examining the families other ownerships as well dated to near the contract. Suspicious thing was that family Erahn’s remote unprofitable silver-mine was also bought during the time of the ownership change of Faded Ages. It was possible that memory hold was hidden somewhere there. Meanwhile Enok was getting to know the people working for the specific carriage service mentioned in the journal. It came out that they were doing shady jobs as well, depending on the client and their needs. In addition, the carriage service did have business also on the Cloud Peak region’s mines. Our heroes decided that it was time to investigate the remote, unprofitable silver-mine.
All but Mort set out for the journey since he had personal matters in the city and promised to follow after it was done. When other members had waited more than a day, it was decided that Ilyas rode back to see what had happened. Ilyas found Mort standing stupefied without his horse and back bag next to the main road. Someone had stolen his gear while he slept. Refusing the ride Ilyas offered, they walked back to the camp and Mort was looking in the same time for potential tracks to follow. Hard pavement of the road made it impossible.
Once everybody was back together, they set out on their journey again. The long hours on the road were exhausting and eventually they had to rest. During their night rest, a small figure was noticed lingering around the camp. Once the figure noticed it had been seen, it escaped. Small footprints left behind. Being alert didn’t do enough and the heroes were ambushed. Band of goblins attacked, peppering arrows from both sides of the road and blocking the way with melee warriors. A fight emerged and after a long and exhausting battle, our heroes emerged victorious…
That wasn’t too hard. Now you have a budget and you know where you can and moreover where should you go with your campaign. Even the character creation helps dungeon masters to guide their campaign in the right direction. To the direction where the players and dungeon master together wants it to go. But this was only my requirement because it helps me as a DM to deliver the FUN!
As we agreed, we’re gonna start from Amn, include both butt-kicking and drama and also some butt-kicking drama. I’ll inform the address when I know it! Try to get familiar with the rules. See you on sunday.
