This week the group was missing three of its members so the remainder attempted a one-night dungeon delve. Each delve player was allowed to role-up an 11th level character, an appropriate level dungeon from the Wizards book Dungeon Delve was prepared, and a night of fun ensued. The characters played were:
Zocatrin, 11th :Level Eladrin Wizard (Mark)
Berrian, 11th Level Eladrin Rogue (Leo)
Elkantar, 11th Level Drow Fighter (Brian)
DM note: The players were informed that they would start with one action point, but for the sake of play tonight they would earn one Action Point after each encounter.
The adventure started when the party members found themselves in a town that had recently found that a nest of vampires had moved into an abandoned catacombs on the outskirts of town. Most of the townspeople were terrified, but some of the townspeople had eagerly taken jobs as guards, spies, and precinct captains. Those that were terrified had scraped their meager funds together and implored our adventurers to please remove the danger from their little town. Oh, and by the way, apparently the vampire lord had recently been supplanted by someone worse, an individual going by the name of Borrit Crowfinger, a/k/a “The Bonemaster.”
With the promise of some gold and a set of directions the party soon found themselves n some thick brush outside the entrance to the catacombs. From their vantage point they could a several village townspeople milling about in a torch lit room, likely guardians for who or whatever lay beyond. The flickering torch light was not all that bright and several pillars made the room seem even murkier.
The adventurers struck first, quickly taking out several of the guards. The guards each wore simple leather armor and carried a club and responded to the attack by eagerly attempting to swarm the party members. It was then that the party saw the three large blue snakes at the back of the room. Two of them swiftly moved forward and attempted to poison and daze the party members.
DM note: As was to be expected it took the players awhile to learn to utilize their new characters capabilities. However, it is a safe assumption that attempting to do poison damage to a snake is generally not going to have much affect. The specific offender here shall remain nameless to protect the guilty.
The party was temporarily held up, and of course there was one minion that refused to be hit and die, but soon the party got the upper-hand and finished off the guards and the three blue snakes. The snakes had originally been near some alcoves in the back of the room and were stationed in front of a pair of doors. The party found no secrets or anything of value, but was surprised to see the snakes were actually mechanical in nature. As the party looked around they saw:
10 Human Blood Cultists, wearing leather armor and wielding clubs.
3 Cobalt Serpents
Each party members earned 690 XP for the encounter.
DM Note: Dave’s wife and daughter, Sherry and Jen, joined us about this time. Jen was home from school, and since both her and Sherry game or have gamed they wanted to see from 4E in action and had a good time watching and kibitzing with us.
With the first encounter resolved, the party members opened the doors and moved into a long hallway that angled in a northeasterly direction. There was no light coming from ahead, but the smell of death greeted them. They four party members moved down the hallway quietly, until they stood in the entrance to a large dark room, filled with cobwebs that helped to distort their light and hinder their view.
Mark put a magic light further into the room – an altar and two sarcophagi could be seen, as well as a few human Vampire Spawn and two Zombie Hulks, and the battle was on. The Vampire Spawn tried to crowd the party members and the hulks attempted to wade in and do their damage also. Each of the two hulks received beau-coup damage from critical hits from party members and one was soon down, followed by the other.
Mark's character teleported into the south end of the room to get behind the combatants when Nexull, the vampire appeared from out of the darkness. The vampire attempted to use his Dominating Gaze on Mark's character but the DM rolled a 4 on his to-hit. The DM was able to successfully recharge the affect, so he used his action point and rolled a 3 on the to-hit.
DM note: I finally get the high powered vampire onto the playing field and I apparently have a vampire who couldn't find his own ass in the dark.
With the Vampire Spawn all gone (except, of course, for the one who won't die) and two dead Zombie Hulks ... uh oh ... the first Zombie Hulk got back to his feet and started attacking again, followed by the other. The party was concentrating on the vampire at this point and with the entire party in range the vampire ... oh nevermind, the DM rolled a 1 on the to-hit ... see the previous DM note.
The party soon reduced the vampire to dust as well as the Zombie Hulks, and even that last minion finally died. The party looked around and saw:
8 Vampire Spawn Bloodhunters
2 Zombie Hulks
1 Vampire Lord (Nexull), wearing leather armor and wielding a short sword.
Each party member earned 725 XP for the encounter.
There was still more to inspect in this room, plus there was still a third encounter yet to complete, but it was late so we called it a night at this point. The DM still has the map and has collected all of the character files, so should we have an opportunity to finish this we might yet.
It will be interesting to hear the comments from the delve players at our regular session this coming week. Everyone had a good time ... who wouldn't when facing the most incompetent vampire of all time? The characters hadn't been together before so there was a certain amount of clumsiness with coordinating actions, and the players certainly had a lot of new and unpracticed powers to try and sort through. Regardless, a good time was held by all.
Mark's character teleported into the south end of the room to get behind the combatants when Nexull, the vampire appeared from out of the darkness. The vampire attempted to use his Dominating Gaze on Mark's character but the DM rolled a 4 on his to-hit. The DM was able to successfully recharge the affect, so he used his action point and rolled a 3 on the to-hit.
DM note: I finally get the high powered vampire onto the playing field and I apparently have a vampire who couldn't find his own ass in the dark.
With the Vampire Spawn all gone (except, of course, for the one who won't die) and two dead Zombie Hulks ... uh oh ... the first Zombie Hulk got back to his feet and started attacking again, followed by the other. The party was concentrating on the vampire at this point and with the entire party in range the vampire ... oh nevermind, the DM rolled a 1 on the to-hit ... see the previous DM note.
The party soon reduced the vampire to dust as well as the Zombie Hulks, and even that last minion finally died. The party looked around and saw:
8 Vampire Spawn Bloodhunters
2 Zombie Hulks
1 Vampire Lord (Nexull), wearing leather armor and wielding a short sword.
Each party member earned 725 XP for the encounter.
There was still more to inspect in this room, plus there was still a third encounter yet to complete, but it was late so we called it a night at this point. The DM still has the map and has collected all of the character files, so should we have an opportunity to finish this we might yet.
It will be interesting to hear the comments from the delve players at our regular session this coming week. Everyone had a good time ... who wouldn't when facing the most incompetent vampire of all time? The characters hadn't been together before so there was a certain amount of clumsiness with coordinating actions, and the players certainly had a lot of new and unpracticed powers to try and sort through. Regardless, a good time was held by all.
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