We had enough players at our FLGS to run two tables of five. At my table was a Human Fighter, Human Cleric (War Priest), Eladrin Avenger, Dwarf Slayer (Fargrim) and Drow Ranger (Belgos). Three of the players are veterans of many previous seasons of D&D Encounters. The two players using the pre-generated characters were new to Encounters and relatively new to 4e D&D, although they both had extensive experience playing previous editions.
Before play began I read the players the adventure background and the Neverwinter background to make sure they understood the setting and the political and social atmosphere of Neverwinter.
The adventure started when the PCs all arrived at a small market in the Protector’s Enclave. Although long-time friends, some of the PCs hadn’t seen each other in quite a while so we did introductions and explained what the character were doing since they’d last been together.
While the PCs spoke to each other they wandered around the market. Belgos offered to assist a merchant struggling to replace a broken wheel on his cart. He gracefully accepted the party’s aid and introduced himself as Clorde. The PC managed to get the cart in working order rather quickly. The Cleric suspected that the merchant might not have been all that eager to fix the cart himself as he seemed to be overlooking obvious and easy ways to fix it himself before the heroes intervened. Clorde spoke with the PCs for a while, talking of local politics and answering questions before heading off, his cart now in working order.
As he was about to leave he quietly asked Belgos if he was affiliated with any of the Drow in Neverwinter. Belgos explained that he was new in town but would be looking for more of his kin soon. Clorde suggested a few places where Belgos might find other Drow in Neverwinter.
Next the PCs visited the armorer’s stall where they met Aothir the Dwarf. He was happy to talk to the PCs, especially Fargrim. He shared with Fargrim the tale of his search for Gauntlgrym, explaining that he was not destined to find the fabled city, but instead equip other Dwarves who might take up the quest.
Aothir admitted that he wasn’t all that interested in local politics, he was just happy to see more customers arriving every day. When it became apparent that none of the PCs were actually shopping for armor, Aothir politely excused himself and helped other customers.
The PCs moved on to the weaponsmith’s stall where a no-nonsense Half-orc named Nagda was all business. She initially seemed a bit standoffish when she first spotted the Cleric and Avenger, but once she realized that they both carried weapons of the finest quality with signs of repeated use and wear, she opened up a little bit. She was not very talkative and when the PCs realized that she didn’t have magic weapons for sale they moved on.
The heroes made their way across the market to the food cart. A Halfling named Jarvy was humming a tune and called out to the heroes when he spotted them approaching. He hawked his goods and talked the party’s ears off. When they actually agreed to purchase something to eat he was even willing to share a few saucy rumours he’d heard recently.
While the party ate their sweets and meat pies the Cleric heard strange noises coming from the nearby sewer. Before he could alert the rest of the party creatures began climbing up from the sewers and onto the streets.
The humanoids that emerged from the sewers were misshapen and their eyes were alight with blue fire. At the same time three Drakes, also misshapen with eyes glowing with blue fire, emerged from the nearby sewer grate. The people in the market began to flee in terror as these strange monsters started attacking.
The Cleric, assessing the situation and acting quickly charged Drake 1 before anyone else could act. Unfortunately he missed. Fargrim followed suit and charged, attacking Drake 2 and landing a solid hit. Before any of the other PCs could act, four of the eight Maniacs attacked. Two moved towards the PCs attacking Belgos and the Avenger, while two others attacked adjacent NPCs hitting one and knocking it prone.
The Fighter rushed over to the Drakes 1 and 2, intentionally putting himself between them in order to get them in his defender aura and draw attacks. He then attacked Drake 2 and bloodied it before it could even attack.
Belgos then shot the closest Maniac minions, killing three. He then used his action point to repeat the attack and shot and killed two more minions threatening the innocent bystanders. Five kills in one round; not bad for the player’s first round of 4e combat.
The Avenger then designated the Maniac threatening innocent bystanders as his Oath of Enmity, charged and destroyed him. The remaining two Maniacs attacked, both rushing Belgos.
The Drakes, still grouped tightly together attacked. Drakes 1 and 2, both in the defender aura, attacked the Fighter. One scored a crit for 19 points. The other did minimum damage and only dealt 10 points. The Fighter remained standing with only 6 hit points. Drake 3 moved away from the others and attacked the Avenger.
The Cleric healed the wounded Fighter and then joined the battle against Drakes 1 and 2. Fargrim moved, drawing one opportunity attack for his trouble and charged Drake 3. Fargrim drew one opportunity attack, but the attacking Drake also drew an opportunity attack because he was inside the defender aura. The Avenger used his action point and took two attacks on the Drake 3 hitting both times. Drake 3 then returned the favour and bit the Avenger.
The Fighter laid into the wounded Drake 1 but couldn’t kill it. He used his action point to attack again, hitting and finally killing it. Drake 2 attacked the Fighter but missed. The Cleric worked together with the Fighter and continued attacking Drake 2 as well.
Suddenly, from amidst the shadows emerged a lone figure dressed in plate armor, a purple cloak swaying behind him and a gleaming mithral crown adorned with sapphires atop his head. “For Neverwinter!” he cried as he joined the battle.
The Fighter attacked and hit Drake 2, killing it. He then moved next to Drake 3 to get it in his defender aura. Fargrim, now flanking with the Neverwinter champion, attacked and hit Drake 3, but couldn’t inflict enough damage to kill it. The Avenger attacked and hit, but Drake 3 was still standing. It attacked the Fighter but missed before the Cleric moved into the melee and finally killed Drake 3.
Meanwhile Belgos was unable to hit either of the two minions threatening him, but they both connected on their attacks against him. He kept shifting back and they kept following him. He dropped one, but the other pinned him against the cart. He switched to his sword but couldn’t hit.
When the Drakes were all defeated the Neverwinter champion pointed to Belgos and the one remaining Maniac. “We must help him,” he cried out as he moved closer to the melee. Fargrim ran and then charged. He jumped up on the cart and then took a might swing down on top of the Maniac. He rolled a 1.
Belgos, now surrounded by his allies, shifted back, drew his bow again, fired and killed the remaining minion. Cheers erupted from onlookers as the monsters were defeated. They began chanting “The king! The king!”
“The master comes,” says the Neverwinter champion as he points to the sky. “Make ready.” A great white dragon wreathed in blue fire descends upon the market and landed with a deafening roar.
Week 1 ended with this cliffhanger. Will the PCs survive the next battle against the dragon? Who is this mysterious warrior who the people call the king? Is he friend or foe?
After just one encounter what are your thoughts on this season of D&D Encounters? Did anyone suffer any fatalities this week? Are people excited that D&D Encounters is once again set in the Forgotten Realms? Is anyone playing this adventure at any level above level 1?
As an added bonus this season we’re recording our D&D Encounters experiences and making them available to you as downloadable podcasts. Listen to the Week 1 Encounter. Bear in mind that these recordings are made in a loud, crowded game store so at time it may be difficult to hear everyone.
Visit the Dungeon’s Master D&D Encounters Archive for all of our ongoing weekly coverage as well as other great D&D Encounters articles and resources.
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1 2 Next »Sounds like you and your party did well and had fun with the new season's opening episode!
After a rough end to this past Saturday's gameday prologue episode for my character and his companions I wasn't quite sure what to expect for this opening episode, but it turned out to be a fun little romp, with no PKs (though a couple of us came close to 0 HP), and plenty of excitement. The opportunity for roleplay with the NPCs before the combat encounter commenced was just what everyone needed to get immersed into the setting, and teh combat helped us establish our party's dynamic and develop some initial tactical strategies for the rest of the season.
A blow-by-blow of our episode can be found at
http://phantasmavore.blogspot.com/2011/08/dungeons-dragons-encounters-lost-crown.html
I'm glad to be back in the Forgotten Realms, and happy to see that its just as fun under 4e as it was under AD&D!
We had a hunter at our table with pretty good dice. He had the first Intiative and with his action point he killed every maniac on turn one. I had a table of 6 people so very very quickly the party delt with the Drakes. I added 3 more to the "second wave" so that it would actually be a challenge. Truth be told, I'm a little worried as next week's encounter is hard, but my party is 4/6 strikers. I'm wondering if anyone else feels like the White Dragon for next week needs a little bit of a buff?
I ran a table at our D&D game day for our store. I instantly fell in love with the Neverwinter setting, the political intrigue and the character themes and had a blast with the game day. I don't get to DM the encounters sessions this season, but it was still a lot of fun being a player this week.
I played a dwarf slayer, Heir of Delzoun, and got a discount on a fancy +1 magic armor from Aothir before the fighting started. The wizard in our party got crit by a drake and taken down to 2 hit points, and then was killed on the next round. Thankfully we had a cleric there to help him get back on his feet. Once the Lost Heir showed up he caught a couple of minions in his aura and they went down. The fight ended pretty quickly after that.
My crowning achievement was a natural 20 roll on the last drake to finish him off. Too bad he was down to just 1 hit point when I did it.
We're all starting at level 1. I think Encounters works best when you do so. I understand wanting to experience play at higher levels, but I also think the story is the most important aspect of the program and level doesn't matter as much in that sense. I very much enjoyed the chance to role play in the marketplace before the fight started. That's something that's not always possible with the other encounters seasons.
@William - I hadn't even thought of using skill checks like Bluff or Diplomacy on the dragon, but it makes good sense. Looks like I might get to use my SUggestion cantrip! There's no way that a party of 1st levels is equipped to even briefly tangle with a dragon, mysterious crowned NPC in full plate or no. Now I'm looking forward to some roleplay with the dragon, and hopefully no one in the party screws the pooch by pissing it off with a potshot and getting us wiped for no reason.
@William - I'm thinking about that too. To not get very ***SPOILERY*** for those who are going to play in the encounter, I'm thinking of adjusting up his HP relative to the number of players (I might have a table or 8+ so will increase HP around 30-40%). I'm also thinking of his off turn action and buffing it a bit. Other options might be to increase the damage of his Encounter powers by 1 die which would certainly make him more brutal to the party (they can take it) or giving him a minor action attack (which I might have to do given the number of PCs I might have).
I know I had a lot of fun with this encounter. I was playing a Binder Warlock with the "Devil's Pawn" theme. When the monsters popped out of the sewer grates (4 from each grate), I happened to be standing next to one of the grates, and beat the maniacs on initiative. I immediately used "Hellfire and Brimstone", my close burst 2 theme power to automatically kill them all, then used the "Web of Shadows" daily power centered on the other sewer grate and killed all the other four. It also created a zone centered on the grate that immobilized anything that willingly entered it, which was hilarious when more minions climbed out later in the battle. I managed to clear all the minions off the map in one turn. I was rather pleased with myself.
My FLGS had six tables running last nite. I kept my character from Saturday's Gates of Neverdeath session, as did another guy at my table. We had a pretty good session, as only our Paladin got hurt badly (same thing that happened to your fighter, plaguechanged drake pile-up). The table across from us, however, had a total party and townsfolk kill. It was brutal. Fun night though!
I played on the game day and had enough money to by a magic weapon and figured that it was going to be a great day. The DM had us wandering around and talking to the different merchants and this spread us out. When we noticed baddies coming we were in three clumps and we all but one rolled poorly (less than 5) except one who rolled 21. There were 6 of us at the table and the DM added another drake (big mistake) given the layout of the battlefield there were only two of us in the range of the drakes to begin with. 4 hits later both I (A Blackguard) and the Druid were well bloodied and a few HP away from falling. Oh I didn't mention that our table had no leader character, ugh! My first round was a swing and a miss, a shift a use of my concealment power, and an action point to second wind because otherwise I was going to die. This pushed by AC up to 22 for the next round and should have saved me, right? Not really, as the other side of the battlefield was raging I was left fight 2 drakes and there really was no way to retreat. They shifted after me and the first one hit AC 27 and the second one crit. The DM jumped in with the savior figure in plate showed up to block the blow and save the day. I was down to 4 HP with no way to heal myself in the 2 round of combat. I rolled a good attack and killed one of the drake that the savior had damaged and used my racial power to shift 6 squares away. The next round I moved into a flank and killed another of the drakes but I knew that I could risk the huge amount of minions. The rest of the group managed and though I survived I was left with a WTH moment. At the end when we saw the dragon coming we were left without a short rest?!? The DM allowed the party to use a healing surge +5 given by the armored guy which left me bloodied and out of encounter powers for a battle that involves a dragon?!? Can anyone confirm that the players were not allowed to take a short rest between session 1 and 2? Oh and I forgot to throw in that I have no action point nor second wind. I mean, if this is truely how they designed the encounter with two tough battles back to back with no short rest I have my doubts about this season. Sorry I seem so put off but I'm thinking of sitting out this next week in protest.
--Bobby
@Phantasmavore
Thanks for the link. I’m always interested in reading about how other groups made out with their encounter.
@William
I actually forgot to bring on the second wave of minions, but I think the PCs had a good time nonetheless. They certainly had the hit pints to defeat a few more minions so it wouldn’t have meant life or death if more monsters had appeared.
We actually played encounters 1 and 2 back-to-back last night. I didn’t think that the week 2 encounter against the dragon was robust enough to warrant a full session. We blew through it in about 30 minutes. The way the two encounters rolled into one another it seemed better to play them in one sitting.
My group did very well against the dragon. They were fortunate that I rolled poorly after he was bloodied, but with 5 PCs and the Heir of Neverwinter on their side it was a balanced encounter. If anything I was tempted to give the monsters +50% more hit points to make the situation really dire.
If your party is striker-heavy, especially ranged strikers, then I’d defiantly give the dragon more hit points. Belgos took exactly 0 damage in the fight because he was able to move away and then attack from range.
@Ted
Players that participated in Game Day should have earned enough gp that they could afford to purchase magic items. Introducing the merchants and allowing for characters with themes to get discounts was a really good addition to the adventure. Unfortunately none of my players did the Game Day adventure so they couldn’t afford any magic loot at this time.
I agree that the interaction at the beginning was a good introduction to the adventure and the campaign setting. The players really seemed to enjoy that part of it. I was especially glad that it was casual and not a skill challenge. After all there wasn’t rally a goal or objective, it was just getting to know the NPCs.
@Phantasmavore
There are notes for the DM on how to role-play the dragon but in the end you know that you’re going to have to fight it so be ready. Good luck!
@QuackTape
I agree with upping the hit points, but I’d leave the damage exactly where it is. The output was perfect for my table of five. If you increase his speed then the dragon can pose a greater danger to the ranged attackers. Even just bumping it from 6 to 8 would really make a big difference.
@Astrolounge
Sometimes lucky positioning, good initiative, and quick thinking make for very memorable encounters. Excellent job.
@Sully
Outch! It’s unfortunate, but sometimes it does happen. Better luck next week against the spellscarred white dragon.
@Bobbydrake75
It sounds like your table did pretty well, all things considered. I ran a table at Game Day for a party without a leader and it was ugly. TPK in the second encounter.
There is nothing in the adventure that says players should be denied their short rest. Now it doesn’t specifically say that you should get a short rest, but then again none of the other encounters say one way or the other either.
Although the story seems to demand immediate action there is a brief reprieve between this week’s ending and combat beginning next week. Without giving too much away, the Neverwinter Heir is able to mesmerize the dragon briefly at the beginning. This is when I gave my players a short rest. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect a level 1 party to take on a level 2 encounter (week 1) and then go right into a level 3 encounter (week 2) without a short rest.
Thanks for the info Ameron. I hope that our DM gives us that chance otherwise I guarentee that it will be a TPK at our table. I guess that I'll give it a chance and hope that Walt is reasonable. I agree about the encounters, I'll hope for the best. It one of those weird situations that I know that I would trust our DMs in my close group of friends but I don't trust modules. At gameday my table had a leader. Just not last night. Fighting a dragon will be fun if we stand a chance.