NDT session 3: Release the bats, the vampire bats

Thaumont 8th evening, Sukiskyn, The Dymrak forest

Aimiir had been struck by sling-stone from the north but could not spot the attackers in the dark.

Pyotr’s mother Kuzma and his Daughter Irina overheard the party bemoaning the lack of light spells they had. Kuzma cast Light on the a sling stone which Irina launched towards the wood.

Aiamiir, Rurik and Glimmer were then able to kill the goblin snipers with the assistance of a lucky shot from Taras.

Under siege

Pyotr, kuzma and the party discussed where to place light spells to help spot goblins but none were spotted. However, some large bats were spotted flying towards the house.

Rurik lit them up with a moonbeam but they still managed to reach the top of the tower to surround Aiamiir, paralysing him.

Rurik and Glimmer moved to assist him. One bat flew in through a broken window in the house and badly wounded the elderly servant Stellios. The bats were tough but were soon defeated before they could cause more significant damage. Rurik repositioned his moonbeam in the woods and luckily managed to catch a couple of goblins.

More time passed while the defenders waited for the goblins next move.

To be continued…

DM notes: there were only 3 players this session so if you are familiar with scenario you will have noticed I have shifted some of the events around a bit.

I had the map printed out as a PVC poster - my original paper version has been held together by sellotape since the 80s. I still have the original tokens somewhere as well.

NDT session 2, A Warm Welcome

Thaumont 8th, Misha’s Ferry, The Dymrak Forest

The party was awoken by the sound of a slightly mechanical cockerel by Glimmer’s bedroll. It turned out Namfoodle had made her a surprise clockwork alarm clock as a gift.

After a quick breakfast, Rurik changed into wolf form to see if he could track down the scent of Misha, who had still not appeared. Unfortunately, his nose could mainly smell bear. It turned out that they used clearings as well as woods. He did get the scent of people but could not distinguish any in particular.

The party headed to Sukiskyn - they were expecting to reach it that day but dusk fell before they reached it. They were looking for a suitable place to camp when they heard shouting from up ahead and smelt smoke. The homestead came into view across a small river and parts were on fire. There was shouting and the sounds of frightened horses.

As the group approached the edge of the forest , they were surprised by a volley of spears as a group of goblins in wolf skins jumped out of the undergrowth. The party fought them off but the danger was not over as a large group of goblins on wargs were rapidly approaching from the rear.

The party ran to the homestead’s gatehouse where they were let in by a young man and woman. However, more goblins (dressed in red) were in the courtyard.

The party killed some of the goblins as they moved towards the house and the rest were finished off by arrows and sling-stones from defenders in the house. However, Snake had continued ignoring the threat and instead put out the fires using a couple of castings of Create Water. This saved the gatehouse but a large barn and some of the palisade were badly damaged.

Safely (for now) in the house, Pyotr welcomed the party and introduced his fellow clan members, mainly from two families. Unfortunately, the smith and his (adult) son had been killed by goblins leaving just the son’s wife Masha and her baby as survivors of the family. The rest of the clan was unharmed. Darya, Pyotr’s wife, made sure that the party fed and could take a breather whilst other clan members kept watch.

Pytor gave them the other bad news that the white horses had been stolen by another group of goblins (the viper tribe) who had run off with them. However, there were two tribes left besieging the farm.

The goblins appeared to have surrounded the homestead, lighting fires, and drumming and chanting. Snake and Rurik ran to retrieve the two dead bodies and the party took up positions around the main building to keep watch.

The were soon slightly perturbed when the chanting stopped but use of a fire arrow did not reveal any goblins moving towards the house and the chanting soon restarted.

Then Aiameir who was alone atop the tower attached to the house was struck by a slingstone from the north

To be continued…

NDT session 1: Misha and the Bear

Our Protagonists:

Glimmer, a Dragonborn ranger

Rurik 'Treehugger', a Dwarf Druid

Aengus, a Gnome Rogue

Aiamur, a Half-Elf Warlock (and bounty hunter) from Glantri

Namdoodle, a Gnome Wizard

'Snake', a mysterious Yuan-Ti cleric, from far off lands (The Serpent Penninsular)

Kelven, Grand Duchy of Karameikos, Early Spring:

The party met with Stephan who offered them a job helping to transport some horses from his families homestead Sukiskyn on the edges of the Dymrak forest to the Elven village of Rifflian.

They were original offered 100gp each but after some careful negotiation they settled on a figure of… 100pg each.

Stephan left to conduct unspecified other business but not before booking them on the first boat of the year upriver.

Thaumont 7th

After final prep the party board the boat, skippered by Kalanos. He would take them as far as Misha’s Ferry, a day's walk from Sukiskyn.

They made good progress until suddenly the boat jerked to a halt, causing a number of the characters to fall prone. The others who kept their footing were targeted by some archers who emerged from the undergrowth. Some other men dived into the icy water swimming towards the boat.

Attack on the riverboat

A short battle resulted in the defeat of the bandits whose leader quickly assessed that the best option was to run away.

The PCs debated whether to take the chain that had stopped the boat but Kalanos was keen to reach his final destination (a lumber camp upriver from the ferry) before nightfall. A quick search of the archers bodies reveal nothing of worth except a few arrows but they all had strange scars on their wrists and necks that looked like they had spent a long time in shackles.

The rest of the trip was without incident apart from some party bickering and Misha's Ferry was arrived at in late afternoon. 

Misha was not around but Kalanos told them she often went off hunting with her bear. Kalanos told them to make themselves at home until she came back and then bid them farewell.

Snake started cooking a meal while the rest rested up in the hut but were soon disturbed by a roaring sound and the largest bear they had ever seen emerged from the undergrowth.

Rurik turned themself invisible and attempted to talk with bear. It demanded the party tell it where Misha was and that it had not seen her since the day before. It was in no mood for chatting once it smelled the Dwarf's location so it attacked and wounded him. The party fought back, wounding the bear. Glimmer decided they should subdue the bear to find out more information but it was already badly hurt and scampered back into the woods.

Nanfoodle noted that there had been no sign of a struggle in the cabin. 

Misha did not return but the party wisely decided to stay in the hut overnight, barricading the door and shuttering the windows.

DM notes: 

I was a bit timid with the first encounter - the original had either 22 or 18 combatants depending which paragraph you read - decided to have 11 but an entangle spell dealt with most of the swimmers so I decided the leader was not suicidal and [redacted] would not happen.

Cave bears in 5e are much less formidable than in BECMI - only two attacks and no hug. So I’m not surprised that my group decided to attack instead of hiding in the hut. Again I decided it would run off when wounded.

Next time: a walk in the woods.

Night's Dark Terror, Session 0

You've not been in Kelven before a red-haired man approaches you with an offer of work...

So my group started rolling up PCs. Unless things change we've got 2 gnomes (rogue and wizard), a half-elf Hexblade from Glantri, a Dwarf Druid, a Gold Dragonborn Ranger (easily explained by Mystaran Gold Dragon's polymorph ability) and Yuan-ti cleric from the Serpent Penninsula...

I've given the group some background on Karameikos. I've decided to set it sometime around 980 so I can ignore all the gazetteer stuff I don't like. We all had a good laugh at the city of Specularum...

I've decided to give some extra incentives to the group beyond "I'll give you 100gp if you shift some horses". They've also been offered the use of Sukiskyn as a base of operations to complete their various tasks before heading off to Rifllian.

The Yuan-ti player suggested that they had been captured by slavers as an explanation for why they are so far from home. The half-elf has a bounty hunter background, so I've suggested that they've heard rumours of slavers in Karameikos but have lost the trail in Kelven.

The gnomes have something to deliver to some fellow clan members who have recently started a new mine.

There may also be rumours of an evil presence in the forest and on the moors that the ranger and druid may wish to investigate.

Next session: A river cruise

Painting part 1

 So I’ve decided to paint minis again.

Bear

This chap was mostly done with Vallejo xpress color- wasteland brown. It’s a song of ice and fire skin changer mini but I’m going to use it for a D&D cave bear.

New monsters

The newest inhabitants of my house

Sad news

Sadly, my cat died the other day from cancer.

Here is an excellent picture of him being absolutely livid because someone picked him up.