Memorable Moments: "Straight in the eyes"

Taking a small pause from our adventures on Wizard of the Coast's Keep on the Shadowfell, i will now share with you another one of our favorite moments in our DnD history. This one happened with the same party from the previous installment of Memorable Moments and in the same adventure. You''ll be surprised to know that i have still another funny story from this adventure to tell you. This is because at the time we were more careless than we are now and also we had a party-killer DM, who is now playing Kralho, the Rogue, in Keep on the Shadowfell.

On with the story. So, after reviving the Cleric who had died casting Create Water at the fire Elemental, we resume investigating the mountainous area for reasons i can no longer remember. After some time we arrive at a clearing and notice a lizardlike beast resting in the sun. This was no ordinary beast however... Performing some Knowledge checks, we immediately recognized it as a Basilisk, a fearsome beast whose gaze can turn flesh to stone, much like the mythological Medusa. The DM informs us that we are aware that staring into the beast's eyes would expose us to it's petrifying gaze and that if we choose to avert our eyes we would have only 50% chance of becoming exposed. Either way, we all knew that a failed saving throw against the Basilisk's gaze would mean instant petrification. Initiative is called and the Rogue goes first. 

Dm: "So, what do you do? Do you avert your eyes from the beast?"

Rogue: "I look at it straight in the eyes."

Dm, me and the Cleric: "What??", screaming in disbelief.

Rogue: "Straight in the eyes!!", he screams full of confidance.

Monk: "Me too!", pounding his fist on the table, while the rest shook their heads...

Well, you can probably figure out the outcome of this battle on your own, but it turned out a little different than you would expect. Both the rogue and the monk decided to meet the beast's gaze eye to eye, while myself as the Bladesinger, and the Cleric decided to avert our eyes from it. The funny thing is, that despite our efforts to not become exposed to the Basilisk's gaze, most of us got petrified really fast. Myself, the Monk and the Cleric were all petrified, having amazingly rolled 3 consecutive savings throws with a natural 1... What are the odds of that? Meanwhile, the Rogue, who had dared to face the creature head on, not only succeeded in saving against the gaze several times, he still managed to flee the scene and head back to town. 

Luckily for us, the travelling higher level Cleric that had raised our own Cleric from the dead was still in town and agreed to return with the Rogue to the battle scene and cure our petrification, if the Basilisk hadn't made a meal of us yet... There were other risks though... The process of turning us back into flesh was dangerous and we had to make a saving throw to avoid death. When they arrive at the clearing the Basilisk was nowhere to be seen and our petrified corpses were intact. Myself and the Cleric managed to make the save to avoid dying, but the Monk, who had the best saves of us all, manages to roll another natural 1 and dies... Fortunately, the travelling Cleric was at hand to revive him...

Well, after this, we never looked at Basilisk's  the same way again...

Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 5 - Assaulting the Waterfall

We arrive to the gates of Winterhaven late in the day and are met by the gate's guardsmen, Bob and Noddy, who asks us if we had managed to destroy the raider's blocking the passage to Bort. Not one to show weakness in front of shabby militia members, i bluff them and say that we had easily vanquished the blockade in a glorious battle, but that during the confusion of the fight, someone had kidnapped Daniel and stolen our mules. Somehow they believe me, the fools, despite obvious signs of a much tougher battle than i led them to believe, and go around town spreading the news of our victory. 

We return to the inn for some much needed rest. The news of the Kobolds defeat had spread like wildfire and soon the inn was full of people trying to know more about the battle. Meanwhile, while the rest of the party was busy eating, drinking and boasting about our "glorious" victory, Chuck approaches Salvanna in private with obviously shady intentions. Still smitten with the voluptuous innkeeper, he continues his advances. Salvanna tells him that she is married and that her husband was one of the men who had disappeared after the raiders had come to the region. Not shaken by her marital status, Chuck sees this as an opportunity and makes her a rather indecent proposition: he would do his best to find her husband if she slept with him. Surprisingly, she did not become outraged by this, and after some convincing, they agreed to meet in the stable to consume her part of the agreement... And so, later in the evening, as we all were sleeping confortably in our own bedrooms and confortable beds, Chuck was having his way with the innkeeper down in the stables... We were all secretly hoping he would catch a diseases...

Next morning, we were surprised to find that all the doors to our bedrooms had been marked with a red cross. As we descend to the inn's common room, intent on asking Salvanna what were those marks, we find an even greater surprise. Daniel had returned, looking rather shabby, and was at a table eating some bread, as if he hadn't eaten for days. When we asked what had happened to him, he replied that seeing that the battle was going poorly, he had decided to follow a group of Kobold scouts who were moving away from the battle to try and discover their base and find out what had happened to his father on his own. We were preparing to chastise him for his foolishness, especially since he had returned without our mules, when he revealed that he had managed to go undetected after the Kobolds into their base behind a waterfall and to a dig site nearby, where he had found the missing townspeople and his father working as slaves. This camp was guarded by mostly humans and some kind of draconic beasts. Damn, the kid is definitely a pretty good scout in the making...

Daniel's revelations made clear our next objectives: we should attack both raider camps as soon as possible, releasing the hostages, vanquishing that threat to Winterhaven, and hopefully find out what connections, if any, exist behind the raider attacks and the Death cult's activities in the region. The presence of humans forcing the townspeople to work as slaves was a definite sign that we were dealing with more than just plain old Kobolds on rampage. Before we left though, we asked Salvanna what were those marks on our doors and who had made them. At this news, she became terribly alarmed and kept muttering that we had been cursed by the ghosts that haunt Winterhaven. When we realized we could get no more from her than desperate ramblings, we decided to dismiss the matter for now and head out to the raider's camps. 

We decide to hit the camp at the waterfalls first since it is the closest to town. On the way, we ocasionally catch glimpses of kobold scout groups tracking our movements but we can never get close enough to engage. Anyway, they seemed to be heading the same direction as we did, so we would probably battle them at or near the camp. The problem would be that the camp would be alert to our arrival. And so it was.. We arrive at the camp with a large Kobold force already in position at the entrance to a cave. Though it had a fair number of strong Kobold fighters, it was mostly composed of weak and poorly armed Kobolds. The fight was rapidly over in our favor and after looting the corpses we entered the cave. 

As we advance, we are met by a smaller force who seemed surprised to see us. Apparently the Kobolds had thought that we would not be able to get past the defenses at the entrance. Battle ensues and things go well, but a few moments later a second wave appears, commanded by a Kobold Wyrmpriest and a burly Goblin named Irontooth. Kobolds commanded by a Goblin? Definitely something strange there... He comes at us spewing threats and curses, but by the time he closes in melee with our frontline, we had already vanquished most of his minions. Realizing this was a much bigger threat than we had yet faced, we immediately focus fire on Irontooth, using our most powerful powers, which much to the Dm's misfortune, all hit and turn the Goblin into a bloody pulp. With his last breath he screams "Kalarel and Lord Orcus, prepare my way!". 

Defeating the remaining Kobolds, we proceeded to looting the corpses. In the body of Irontooth we found a small pouch containing a silver key and a message scroll adressed to him and signed by Kalarel. The message revealed that Kalarel had a spy in Winterhaven that had warned him about our presence in the area, but that we probably wouldn't matter because in a few day he would have opened the rift and that the people of Winterhaven would serve as the first victims for Lord Orcus's minions. This was the definite proof that something much bigger was happening in the area. Apparently Kalarel and his Death cult were intent in opening the rift to Hell that we had heard of and were using the raiders as distractions so they could proceed with their plans unhindered. It became apparent that time is short and that we must deal with this soon. 

Further investigation of the Kobold lair led us to a treasure chamber where we discovered a locked chest. Kralho could not open it, but when we tried Irontooth's key, it fitted and the lock opened. Inside was a large sum of gold and a magical Dwarven Chainmail. Finally, something of value! Grabbing the spoils, we left the cave and headed for the ruins where Doven and the missing townspeople were being held. More on that, in the next installment. 

Adventures Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 4 - The Raider blockade.

So, after leaving the home of the town's Lord, we decided it was a good time to look up Elian the Old, so we head out back to the inn, to see if he lives up to his reputation. And there he was, bending over a pint of beer. We approach him and present ourselves as being Doven's friends, sent by Rebecca to try and find out about his whereabouts. He seemed a little suspicious until i showed him the old compass Rebecca had entrusted me, at which point he warmed up to us immediately.

However, he was not the fountain of information we had expected, being already rather old and overly fond of beer. He could not account as to why we should be suspicious of the townspeople, but he did inform us that Doven had indeed been in Winterhaven and had disappeared about a month ago. Apparently, he had been looking for some old ruins where a dragon was said to be buried on the way to Bort and hadn't been seen since. When asked about Wilf's Fair and the Old Keep, he tells us that it had been the locale of a fierce battle a very long time ago between the old Empire and cultists of an Evil God who had tried to open a rift into Hell, and that the souls of the dead still haunt that general area. None who had ever gone there had ever returned... 

Having already heard of activitivies of an evil cult in the area from the cleric in Scart, we head to the local temple to see if Sister Leonora could shed some light on the matter. Apparently she had been tracking the cult's activities for some time and believed that the sudden appearance of the raiders was connected with them. She  believed that the raider's presence in the region had been engineered by the cult as a means to keep the town aghast and allow them to pursue their agenda. Regretably, she couldn't provide any information as to what were their intentions, but she has had information that the cult may have a base in a cavern behind a waterfall southwest of the road to Bort, near some old ruins. Things were definitely starting to look entwined.. Perhaps Doven, while investigating the ruins had stumbled on something and had paid the price for his discovery... Definitely a place to check later on.

We leave Sister Leonora's temple and head out to the scholar Valtrum's house, in what turned out to be a waste of time. He did indeed know about the history of the Old Keep and Wilf's Fair, but what he told us was no more than what Elian the Old had already done. However, we couldn't help but feel that he was holding out on us, and that he knew more than he had shared. At this point, we believed we knew enough to go on and decided to go back to the inn for some lunch, afterwhich we would leave town to engage the raider blockade on the way to Bort. 

When we were getting ready to leave, Doven's son Daniel, who we had decided to leave at the inn for safekeeping, insisted on tagging along. We ended up accepting the annoying brat's demands, as long as he behaved and stayed well away from the coming fight. And so we left, collecting our weapons at the gates, with Chuck at the head and Sora, Daniel, and the mules at the rear. After some time, we start noticing movement on both sides of the road, following our footsteps. Some of us manage to glimpse the figures of Kobolds, but whenever we tried to approach them to engage they would escape swiftly into the tangled woods. Thinking they were just small scouting parties, we moved forward until we finally reached our destination. 

At one point of the road, we notice a large group of Kobolds who were securing positions using the large trees that grow in these parts of the woods as cover. Unlike the other groups we encountered on the way, this was a much larger group and did not seem intent on running, so we ordered Daniel to stay back and decided to attack them head on. Battle ensues as we advance towards their positions amidst a shower of javelins thrown by Kobold Skirmishers and Dragonshields. As we get closer, we are suddenly surrounded by smaller kobolds hiding between the trees, but they are quickly dealt with, while Chuck and Sora attempt to close into melee with the Kobold backline. With their smaller kin dead, we started pummeling on the Skirmishers and Dragonshields. At this point, the leader of this group makes his appearance, a Kobold Wyrmpriest, who starts flinging Energy Orbs everywhere. 

At first the battle was going in our favor. We took down all except a few Dragonshields and the Wyrmpriest, but we had taken heavy damage in return. Suddenly though, things start to turn from tough to downright desperate as the Wyrmpriest calls for reinforcements. Sora and Ceteribus start to run low on healing and Chuck goes down, bleeding profusely on the floor, thanks to some vicious attacks from the Kobolds. Ceteribus uses his last healing on Chuck who is up again but in very poor condition to fight. In a matter of instants the whole party, except for myself, who was blasting from a safe distance, was on single digit hit points. Kralho was running around with 2 hit points, trying to sneak attack what he could, at a moment where both Sora and Ceteribus could no longer provide healing for the party. But finally, we were only up against the Wyrmpriest, who possessed of uncanny luck, had avoided most of our most efective attacks. Five against one, against an already wounded opponent, we finally managed to kill the bastard and win the battle. 

Fearing further reinforcements, we collected the loot rapidly, finding on the corpse of the Wyrmpriest a curious amulet. Ceteribus examined it and determined it had the symbol of Orcus, the Demon Prince of Undead, one of the most powerful demons of the Abyss, a threat even to gods. Certainly something worthy of investigation. With all the relevant loot collected, we return to the place where we had left Daniel and the mules, only to see that they were nowhere to be found! Damn, somebody had kidnapped the kid and stolen our mules! Investigating the area, all we could find were tracks leading further into the woods in the direction of the waterfalls. In no condition to continue due to the previous battle, we decided to leave for town and come back next day to investigate that area. More on that, in the next installment.

Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 3 - Winterhaven at last.

Having defeated the Kobold ambush blocking our way into the town of Winterhaven, we finally arrive at it's gates already late into the night. At first sight, it doesn't seem like a very large town, although it looks a lot better than Scart. At least it has some proper walls guarded by militia all around the perimeter, although it seems the walls have seen better days and the guards lights patrolling the edges of town seem a little too few. 

Due to the lateness of the hour, we find the gates already closed. After summoning for the guard, we are met by 2 very shabby looking guardsmen giving us rather suspicious looks... They immediately demand us to state our business in not so friendly terms. Alerted by Rebecca's warnings against trusting the people of Winterhaven, i decide it's probably for the best not to tell them our real purpose, and attempt to bluff our way in.

Using my bluff skills, I tell them that we are a travelling group of mercenaries looking for some honest guard work and that we had heard that Winterhaven was under some kind of trouble and could use some muscle to sort it out. They seemed to believe me, but proceeded in asking us how we had gotten through the Kobold barricade in the King's Road, to which i responded that we had easily vanquished them. Then i pointed to the mules, showing them the spoils of that encounter.

After this, they seemed much more at ease, but noticing the child Daniel, they inquired why we were travelling with a child. Using my diplomacy, i told them that the child was our apprentice, a poor orphan we had taken in and were training in the arts of combat. I also pleaded with the guards to let us pass so we could rest and that it was cruel to deny shelter to a tired child. Finally convinced we could be trusted, they opened the gates and presented themselves as Bob and Noddy, members of the local militia. They would allow us passage and shows us the way to the local inn, but our weapons would have to stay in their custody at the gates. Despite much grumbling from most of the party, we accepted and departed for the Inn. 

As we arrive to the Inn, we find the establishment already closed, but in dire need of food and rest we knock at the door. Moments later the door opens revealing a mid 40's woman with voluptuous curves, very large breasts and a rather revealing cleavage, named Salvanna. After putting the mules away in the stable, she serves us some cold meats and pints of mead. Chuck, who seemed more taken by the voluptuous and remarkably well-preserved innkeeper than the rest of us, immediately begins to flirt with Salvanna, which much to our surprise seems to welcome his advances. With our stomachs saciated, it was now time for bed. The next day promised to be a busy one...

We wake up early the next day, intent in scouring the town for information. As we attempt to speak with the townspeople, we realize that most of the town was rather suspicious of us and weren't very keen on forking over some useful knowledge. We do manage to discover that in it's better days Winterhaven had been a prosperous trade town, a place of passage for merchants who traveled either from the King's Road or from the near town of Bort. It was now going through some serious difficulties, mostly because of raider attacks. The few who spoke with us also told us that if we wanted more information we should speak either with the town's leader, Lord Ernest, or the resident cleric, Sister Leonora. We also find that our contact Elian the Old is known to spend most of his day at the inn, drinking and telling crazy tales and legends. 

We head out to the Lord's residence ann when we arrive we find that we are expected. We are quickly received by Lord Ernest who had already heard about our arrival, and had a business proposition to present us with. He explains that his town had been prosperous before, but that ever since Kobold raiders had arrived at the area, it's destruction seemed imminent and likely. The raiders seemed to have great numbers at their disposal and had totally cut off all the paths into Winterhaven, attacking all travelers. All he could do with the few militia he had at his disposal was guard the city walls and hope to endure for as long as they could, hoping for external rescue. He then asks us if we could deal with the raiders and offer to pay us 5 gold each per day plus expenses and the right to keep all the loot we could find from the raiders. We accept, despite having some reservations regarding the Lord's cheapness with the daily fees... 

He then informs us that his spies had confirmed the existence of blockades in the King's Road and in the road leading to Bort, and none on the road leading to the Old Keep in Wilf's Fair. We asked him why they weren't blocking thar particular road and he aswered that it was probably because noone is fool enough to follow the road to such a cursed place. Noone who ever went that way had returned. We press him for more information on that and he directs us to speak with his scholar, Valtrum. Back on the raider subject he informs us that there are suspicions that they have a base somewhere in the direction of Bort. Also, there have been reports of several townsfolk missing, presumably kidnapped by the raiders, while outside the walls. Having already dealt with the blockade in the King's Road, we leave the Lord's home with the promise of dealing with the other blockade soon. 

But first, there are still many people to see and many questions to be answered. Stay tuned as we milk the town for more intel and set out to meet the raiders in the next installment of Keep on the Shadowfell.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 2 - The road to Winterhaven

In the previous installment of Adventure Logs, our party was getting ready to hit the road towards the town of Winterhaven. Since all we could find in the very small village os Scart were a couple of old mules, we would be walking there... Sigh.. Well, at least all we had to do was follow the relatively safe length of the old King's Road. Too bad it would take around 3 days of travel by foot.. 

And so we walked for almost two days, stopping only for much necessary breaks for sleeping, eating and doing our nasty business behind bushes, until we reach a fork on the road, where the King's Road was intersected by a more rugged path. Noticing two wooden signs in the interecession we decided to investigate and consider our options. One sign, pointed towards the main road, read Winterhaven, while the other sign, pointing to the rugged path, fell off when examined and whatever was written there in other times, was no longer recognizable. Further examination of the roads left us with the distinct impression that there hadn't been any travelling going towards the rugged path for a very long time. 

Meanwhile, while we were blissfully considering our options, we suddenly heard a noise behind us, somewhere within some bushes. Counting our numbers and noticing nobody had gone on a bathroom break, we assumed we were going to be attacked and sent Chuck, the Fighter, to check it out.

Surprise, surprise... Who was hiding in the bushes and had been following us the whole way but our mentors 12 year old son, Daniel. When we asked him why he was doing this, he said that he really wanted to find his father and begged us to let him come with us. He then reveals that he had seen the map that his father had found and that armed with that knowledge he could be of great use to our search. Annoyed though we were at the thought of babysitting a 12 year old, smart or not, none of us wanted to return back to Scart and deliver him to his mother, now that we were already more than half way towards Winterhaven. At least now we would have someone to take care of the mules, while we were otherwise engaged. Sora, the Warlord, said "she" would look after the boy. 

Forsaking the rugged path, we continued onwards toward Winterhaven. A very long walk later, we were nearing the town, already longing for a few pints of beer, comely lasses, and a better bed than our sleeping bags.. It was already darkening when we started to see our destination in the distance. Suddenly, we are beset on all sides by a bunch of Kobolds. No real surprises in being ambushed, since if we couldn't notice a small boy following us for almost 2 days, certainly we wouldn't notice sneaking Kobolds hidden amidst the trees, in the dark...

Nonetheless, despite being caught off guard, these small relatives of the mighty Dragons were no match for us, and we plowed through them easily. Not too bad for our first battle. The only difficulty was dealing with the new Kobold Dragonshields, sturdy opponents who can take a beating and keep on fighting. After collecting the crappy loot they were carrying, we decided to continue on and make it into town as soon as possible. More on that, on the next installment of Adventure Logs. 

Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 1 - The beginning

With the 4th Edition of DnD coming out, we decided to convert to the new rules and start adventuring with the first adventure Wizards of the Coast released. For this adventure we are using a 5 man party with a 1st time Dungeon Master (DM), who has been the rogue in almost all adventures we played before. He decided he wanted to be DM because that would prevent him from sleeping during game sessions which very often go well into the night. Since he has the ability to sleep anywhere, especially in movie theaters, often we would have to attempt to wake him up, when we needed a trap disarmed or a chest opened... We have all dabbled in DMing before, except him, so it was time he gave it a shot. 

For some of you who may also be doing Keep on the Shadowfell, you may find that our experience is very different than yours. That is because we tend to improvise, especially in regards to names of people and locations (which often end up totally changed), since English is not our primary language. 

Without further delay, presenting the party:

Adeon Brightstar, male half-elf Warlock (me); Sora, female dragonborn Warlord; Kralho, male halfling Rogue; Ceteribus Paribus, male eladrin Cleric; Chuck Norris, human Fighter. 

In the beginning of the adventure, the DM tells that none of us knows each other before, but that we all end up on the small village of Scart for the same reason. We had all received word that an old friend and mentor Doven had gone missing and were called to his home by his wife, who required our assistance in finding him. Why and how we knew him was left to our creative freedom. Doven being a known adventurer and explorer, most of us decided that we had met whilst training under him or during one of his adventures. At some point, someone around the table also suggested that Chuck Norris knew him because he had been molested by Doven as a child. Despite his attempts to deny it, it kind of stuck... :). 

Doven's wife Rebecca informs us that Doven has been missing for 3 months and that he left with 2 companions in the direction of Winterhaven, a larger city a few days away on horseback. Apparently, during his travels he had found a map detailing the location of an old dragon's lair where it was said to exist great treasures, and had left to attempt to retrieve it. At Doven's house we also met his 12 year old son, Daniel, a child prodigy, showing a remarkable intelligence at his young age. With the promise of treasure and the rescue of an old friend ahead of us, we immediately accept to head to Winterhaven and search for him. 

But first, a little information gathering and preparations had to be made. Regretably, the village was very small and had little to offer our adventurous types. Most annoying was the lack of taverns where we could get wasted, or of a decent stable where we could get some horses. However, we are still able to find some people to pester for information. We come across an old scholar named Barley, who tells us about an Old Keep located near Winterhaven, where precious documents and treasure might still be kept. He offers to pays us 250 gold if we return to him with more information about this keep, a veritable fortune, considering our current poverty. 

We also find the resident Cleric, Marla, who speaks to us about the rise of an evil Death cult around Winterhaven, lead by a former Cleric named Kalarel who had lost his way. She offers us 250 gold for proof of the destruction of this evil cult. Winterhaven starts to feel like our kind of place: dragon's lairs, old dungeons and evil cults on the move... Yummy. Meanwhile, Chuck, who had gone off wandering alone, manages to find a farmer who sells him a couple of mules for 50 gold. Considering there are five of us, at least we'll have something to carry all the fat loot we can find. 

We stay the night at Doven's house, and get ready to leave at first light. Before we leave though, Rebecca hands me an old ornate compass. According to her, we shouldn't trust anyone in Winterhaven, except an old farmer and storyteller named Elian the Old who might help us. If we show him the compass, he will know we have come from her.

And off we go, already salivating over future treasure. Next stop, Winterhaven. 

Memorable Moments: Create Water...

Memorable Moments will be a regular installment in this blog. Basically, it's all about retelling some of our more interesting experiences as Dnd players. And what a better way to start than with one moment in particular that we often remember...

For some reason i can't remember, our party is tasked with investigating a mountainous area near a town which was experiencing some sort of difficulty. At the time we were using 3rd Edition rules and our party was composed of a Bladesinger (myself), a Monk, a Rogue and a Cleric. Not the most balanced of parties but it worked well, mostly because of the Bladesinger's lack of respect of monsters ability to hit him. Back then, a well built Bladesinger could tank like nothing else. My own at the time was reaching between 30 to 35 Armor Class in combat. Most monsters at our level couldn't scratch his supreme armor and dodging skills <--- shameless self-promotion... 

And off we went, strolling through the mountains when suddenly we are beset by a very large  Fire Elemental. All busy appreciating the view, we couldn't see the beast in time and it caught us by surprise. First thing he does is approach the Cleric who was for some reason at the head of the party and starts pummeling him to oblivion... Initiative is called and the Cleric goes first. Time to get some payback, he thinks..

Cleric: "Ok, my turn.. I take a 5ft step backwards and cast Create Water" (starts looking up the description of the spell in the Players Handbook)

His idea was clear. He was going to attempt to drowse the Fire Elememental. Some discussion ensues, because some of us don't think that a low level spell like Create Water could do any more than create a lot of steam against such a large Fire Elemental. He sticks with it though...

Dungeon Master: "Ok, as you start muttering incantantions the Fire Elemental gets an attack of opportunity against you..."

Cleric: "What? But i took a 5ft step, i am out of his reach.."

Dungeon Master: "Actually no. Because of his size and height he can reach up to 10ft, so your casting a spell gets him a free attack. Ok, rolling dice... Oh look, a 20."

Back on 3rd Edition Dnd , rolling a natural 20 on the 20 sided die is an automatic hit and a critical hit, if a secondary roll confirms that the hit can penetrate the target's armor.

Dungeon Master: "Ok, critical confirmed. Rolling damage dice..."

Having already been badly hit by the Elemental's previous attacks, the critical damage is enough to kill the Cleric outright, to the sound of laughter all around the table. The Dungeon Master also ruled that the Create Water plan was definitely not going to work. 

We still managed to kill the elemental, mostly because he couldn't hit my Bladesinger, and we managed to revive the Cleric thanks to a travelling higher level Cleric who just happened to be in town. So remember kids, don't cast Create Water at Fire Elementals, especially if your still within their grasp. You just might end up splat on the floor. 

In the beginning..

Hi there, Internet People. So, while you were peacefully browsing the Web while at home, school, or while your boss was nowhere to be seen, and probably looking to score yourself some hardcore porn, you found yourself here, of all places...

Well, while you wont find porn here, at least i hope so, if you are a geek, a nerd or whatever other people call gamers these days, perhaps your time spent here will not be a total waste. If you know what Dungeons and Dragons is, and have been known to roll a D20 a few times, you probably fall into one or more of these categories. The funny thing is, whilst most gaming groups are like that, you can't really say that about my own. In fact, some of us could actually be considered jocks... For the sake of our own privacy, i won't get into details. 

Well, if you don't know what Dungeons and Dragons is, you may want to check Wikipedia's entry on the game at "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons", so we can go on. 

So what can you expect from this blog? Well, while the title description pretty much sums it up, what you'll find here will be mostly adventure logs as our gaming group advances through whichever quests or adventures they are working on, reports of memorable moments of our DnD experience (mostly amusing deaths) and our opinions on current or past Dnd products. 

We'll try our best to keep this entertaining, so, read on, and perhaps you'll be able to share some laughs with us. Let the games begin...