My War of the Burning Sky campaign appears to be over after three sessions. As I have mentioned before I have a good case of Gamer’s ADD so as a DM I need to be kept focused on the task at hand in order for a campaign to last over an extended period.  That was the reason I had scheduled the campaign on a regular basis so it became routine and sought players who were dedicated to the schedule. Unfortunately things didn’t quite work out that way. Real life (i.e. work) issues came into play which have caused one of our players to no longer be available for our regular Friday nights. I grew tired of trying to herd everyone together to find an alternate time and none of the players have tried to take on the mantle of coordinator. It’s been a few weeks since we last played and since then my ADD has kicked in for the latest shiny objects (specifically the 4e Dark Sun Campaign Guide and 4th Edition L5R).

I never did have the chance to play Dark Sun back in the day, but it has always been one of my favorite settings. I love gritty and down to earth rpgs. The 4e version is pretty cool and for the most part makes me excited to play. There are some very nasty new game mechanics that are probably a little overpowered. I have a feeling people will start seeing a lot more Mul or Dwarven (more on that in a bit) Rangers dual wielding waraxes. At 1st level with a Str of 20, Twin Strike hits on +7 vs. AC and does d12+2 damage per hit plus the +1d6 hunter’s quarry damage. That’s a ton of damage in comparison to any other striker, especially if you consider the increased odds of getting a crit due to the increased number of attacks. At Paragon it gets worse with feats like Deadly Axe and Devastating Crit. Dark Sun pushes the envelope further if the character has the Wilder theme. The theme’s encounter power increases the crit range (to 18-20) of all attacks the character makes until the end of his next turn and a Paragon level feat increases the crit range to 16-20. Talk about a two round nova. Character uses theme power against target then moves into melee, uses minor action for Off-Hand Strike, action points and uses Twin Strike and uses Twin Strike again the following turn. All of those attacks get the increased crit range. Add in a leader that grants attacks (like the warlord) and you can have even more crit fishing fun. I can’t think of another build that has that kind of explosiveness.

Two other builds that have caught my eye from the Dark Sun book are the Thri-Kreen Monk and the new Sorcerer-King Pact Warlock. The latter simply because they have a feat that adds 1d6 psychic damage to their curse damage to go along with their fell scorn ability. Assuming they have said feat along with Killing Curse and spend their fell might they will do 3d8+1d6+ability modifier damage with their at-will against a cursed target. Now 1d8 of that is from fell might which they won’t be able to do every turn unless one of their cursed targets is killed each turn, but it’s still a good amount of damage. Puts the warlock more on par with the rogue’s sneak attack damage.

The Thri-Kreen monk has a feat which adds 2 damage to one target of their flurry of blows. This doesn’t sound like much, but added with the Crashing Tempest Style feat, a Dex of 20, and a Str of 16, you are looking at 1d10+15 damage against a single target with a d10 at-will. The flurry damage has a few other options in regards to multiple targets as well. Added with the Thri-Kreen’s racial power and you have a very interesting multi-target striker. Not overpowering, but very cool nonetheless.

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So apparently Wizards of the Coast has been actively denying that the new D&D Essentials line of products is not D&D 4.5. I find this concerted effort of denial interesting. Understandably from their perspective it is important to market the revisions as best as possible so sales do not lag, but I get this feeling I’m being lied to whenever I hear it. Now I’m sure that everyone has their own definition of what they would consider to be version 4.5, but the old adage is true: if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. I don’t recall the exact game mechanics that were changed when Wizards released 3.5, but there were some that were pretty different from 3.0. Enough so that they printed new core rulebooks. With 4.0 they are refusing to do that even though they are making some significant changes to the game and several rules have been errata’d since the core books came out. Instead they are printing new books that will overwrite some of the rules from the original books. To me that screams new edition, but to each his own I guess.

For the most part I am excited to see what changes they make to D&D in Essentials. One change they have confirmed that I fully endorse is Dwarves gaining +2 Con and either +2 Str or +2 Wis as their ability mods instead of strictly +2 Con and +2 Wis. This fixes the main problem I’ve had with D&D 4.0 dwarves since the game was released: dwarves are not great at their iconic classes (fighter, warlord, melee cleric, runepriest) since they lack a Str bonus. It does mean we will see a lot of dwarven rangers like the one I wrote about above, but that’s fine with me.

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I recently picked up the 4th edition of the Legend of Five Rings rpg and must say they have done a very good job of getting rid of the broken components of 3rd edition. I really like the setting and played in a wonderful, albeit short, campaign a few years back. My only real disappointment with the new edition is the lack of ronin techniques beyond rank 1. I understand that these will likely be in further books, but since my previous character was ronin I was very interested in them.

Also acquired a few other new games for my rpg collection:

• Dresden Files Volume One, Your Story by Evil Hat Productions. Wizards and the like in the modern world. Not my typical cup of tea, but interesting nonetheless. Made me watch a few of the episodes from the short-lived SyFy show. I still need to get Volume Two, Our World.
• Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. The generic version of the rules used in Pinnacle’s Deadlands rpg. I have been meaning to get this one for a while since two cool settings (Hellfrost and Sundered Skies) from Triple Ace Games use it.
• Reign Enchiridion by Greg Stoltze. I’ve always liked fantasy nation building from back in the days of CM1 Test of the Warlords to the Birthright setting to Last Unicorn’s Aria. Reign follows the same theme and I’ve been interested in the One Roll Engine the game uses for a while.

Anyway, that’s enough for now. Until next time…

Spoiler: This series of posts covers actual game play of the War of the Burning Sky campaign arc from EN Publishing.

The previous episode is here.

The heroes awoke early on the morning of the second day of the year to a moderate snowfall. The weather blanketed the city of Gate Pass with peace as it prevented the Ragesians from continuing their aerial assault on the city. While preparing for their confrontation with the eladrin mage Shealis, the party overheard conversations from the refugees indicating the Ragesians have given the city an ultimatum: let the Inquisitors into the city by nightfall or the army would attack in force the following day. The party quickly came to the conclusion they need to secure the case and get out of the city today.

The group headed west to the next district where Gabal’s School of War was located. Omicron knew its confines well having been a student there. He lead them to the main gates where a crowd had gathered clamoring for entrance. The heroes inquired about what was happening. When someone said the crowd was trying to get into the school to hand over the mages to the inquisitors the heroes quickly departed fearing the mob would identify Omicron or Athos. Omicron informed the group there was a back entrance. A hidden tunnel in a nearby stable. The heroes agreed that would be the best way to get into the school to find Shealis.

Upon arriving at the stables, the group found a scruffy man pitching hay into the stalls. He glanced over the heroes and said, “Ah Omicron. Long time no see. What brings you here this morning?” The group moved towards the man, who identified himself as Rufus, knowing that he was between them and the tunnel entrance at the rear of the stables. After a brief conversation where the party finally demanded entrance to the tunnel Rufus said, ” I can’t do that. Get ‘em boys!” His form shifted and morphed into the body of a very large rat with bony protrusions from his spine. Several other such rats emerged from hiding places in the hay and rafters above along with two large groups of dozens of smaller rats. Aukan and Vandalis quickly engaged Rufus and another large rat nearby. Athos, Thaikou and Omicron were swarmed by the remaining foes from the other side after moving in behind the warriors. The heroes did not have too much difficulty in slaying the myriad of rodents, especially after Omicron used his new found beastbane amulet to create some of the material beasts find so foul. He dropped it at the feet of Vandalin next to him causing several rats to scurry away from them and attack Athos near the stable door. He had flown over to the entrance to get away from the rats. Unfortunately that was their only escape route from the beastbane. But the heores proved to be too much for the rats and overcame them without difficulty. They found 10gp and a potion of healing hidden in the hay.

The tunnel was a hundred yards long and led to a small gardener’s shack on the grounds of the school. The door opened away from the school’s tower with a large expanse of open courtyard, now covered in snow, between it and the wall. Omicron knew the apartments where Shealis lived were to the south so the group headed in that direction. Athos attempted to sneak by low crawling through the snow (since there was no cover to be found), but his efforts were quickly neutralized by the twin goliath’s lumbering steps.

The apartments were numbered one through six with no names on their doors. Two of them (numbers three and five) had lights on inside. The heroes decided to try number three and listened at the door. Thaikou and Athos heard the sound of someone inside but could not see through the curtains. The front door was locked, which Omicron easily picked, but the heroes were wary of rushing into the home of a powerful mage uninvited. They noticed that the light coming from the window tot he right of the door was unnaturally bright. Omicron went to the window and used his arcane powers to push the curtain aside slightly so he could see inside. A familiar small floating sun was in the small room. The very same one they met the previous morning at the depository. After trying to converse with the solon through the window, he opened it, which was surprisingly unlocked, and asked the wisp if Shealis was home. It answered yes, said to come on in, and disappeared in a burst of flame. The door click and opened slightly.

The party entered Shealis’ home to find her arranged her belongings and packing. Her familiar, the wisp solon, was hovering nearby.

“Hello Omicron. Gabal will not be happy to see you. I take it you and your friends are here for the case. It is property of Shahalesti now. You will not convine me to turn it over to you,” she said.

Omicron and the group feebly (they’re not much of a talking bunch) attempted to change her mind, but Shealis was adamant about keeping the case for herself. Omicron even tried invoking some infernal powers to aid his efforts, but to no avail. Vandalin spoke to the solon, “pay it no mind, but we are going to have a little tussle with your boss here.”

To which Shealis replied, “Very well then.” most of the group was still near the front door when they saw her split into four and throw a small fireball in their direction. The Suicide Squad broke into action with Aukan and Vandalin charging the mage. They hacked at one of the quartet only to find it was not the real Shealis. Each swing destroyed one of the images and she was soon back to her solo self. The solon blasted a searing bright light at Athos dazing him. The woman disappeared and reappeared several feet away in bursts of flame. Aukan again engaged the mage and summoned all of his divine strength to impart a heavy blow with his maul to the eladrin. She was hit very hard, but barely stumbled from the blow. Thaikou and Vandalin also moved to engage, but the wizard put both hads up and used magical force to push all of them back. Vandalin had managed to knick the shifty mage once with his greataxe and Omicron shot her with an unerring magic missile, but the group was finding that her quickness and arcane power prevented most of their attacks from connecting. Uncharacteristically for the protective and loyal Vandalin, he left his new friends and ran out the door. Athos soon followed through the open window leaving only Aukan, Omicron, and Thaikou to face the mage.

Thaikou had been pushed by the wizard to the corner of the room near the mage’s desk at one point in the fight. He noticed a small map on the desk and grabbed it thinking it might be important. Nobody, including Shealis, seem to notice his filching the parchment.  Thaikou told the woman their fight was not with her and that they should leave, but Aukan, nearly unconscious from the mage’s attacks but full of Kord’s fury, tried to attack the her again. Before he coudl do so, his brother moved to his side and drew his throwing hammer swiping at him futilely in an effort to knock him unconscious. His backswing connected though and Aukan slumped to the floor. Shealis demanded that they depart her quarters to which Omicron immediaely complied. Thairkou hefted his brother’s large form and carried him outside. The heroes rendezvoused at the gardener’s shack where Thaikou revealed the map.

The map led the group to a walled house in the eladrin quarter of the next district to the west. The wall was about eight feet tall and covered with vines at the top. When Aukan grabbed the top of the wall to peer over, the vine began to move over his hands. He quickly let go. A single gate led into the property. On it was a bas relief carving of an eladrin hero fighting a demonic citadel with a leonal and solon assisting him. Omicron recognized this as depicting and old eladrin legend. He also saw that the pieces moved and after a misstep in moving the solon first, he realized they must be moved in a particular order to unlock the gate. Inside, they found the courtyard covered in trellises and vines. A narrow path led to the front door of the house.

On their way down the path, Aukan noticed something moving int he vines. It spoke to them in eleven, “You should not be here. Go now.”

Vandalin, the only party member who spoke elven, told the group what it said and replied, “We have been invited by Shealis.” The figured did not reply, but moved away from view towards the back of the house.

The front door was locked, but again another lock proved to not be beyond the efforts of Omicron and his handy picks. The heroes went inside to find four eladrin sitting around the room and jumping to attention when they entered. The group began to explain they were sent by Shealis to recover the case when Aukan, scorched, tried, and bruised from the fight with the mage, grew weary of talk and charged one of the eladrin. A fight ensued that did not last long. Two more eladrin joined the group from upstairs. One dressed in leather and wielding a glowing longsword and another carrying a longbow. The swordsman began dancing among the heroes slashing at them with his blade, but his armor and agility did little to protect him from the mighty blows of the Suicide Squad. The archer fared better unleashing flaming arrows and a forceful blast knocking several of the heroes down at one point. His fate was sealed when Omicron unleashed a flaming sphere next to the archer, but not before two flaming arrows felled Aukan.

Thaikou quickly revived his brother once the fight was over. Athos went upstairs while the rest of the heroes searched the bodies downstairs. When they went upstairs Athos was gone, but they found some boots of spider climbing, an amulet of protection, 290gp, and the case. They found it at last!

Now if only they can get out of Gate Pass before the Inquisitors get in.

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We took a week off due to one of the players having to work Friday night and I think that affected my abilities a bit. I was not as prepared and wasn’t on my “A” game this sessions so it wasn’t quite as good as I hoped. The confrontation with Shealis was kind of lame. I hate skill challenges and tried to go free form, but the players did not provide any enticing arguments and for the most part refused to try any skill checks to change her mind. Once the fight went a few rounds, math and metagaming led to a decision that I thought was way out of character for Vandalin. Erik confirmed that Shealis was at least 10th level because she had used Mirror Image and Ryan realized they would have a hard time hitting her and bolted without waiting or aiding his friends. I may have misunderstood Vandalin’s background, but I thought this was completely out of character for him and was disappointed. Tom (Aukan) on the other hand played his character very well, falling to the bloodlust of battle in his efforts to follow Kord, regardless of the outcome. If it wasn’t for Thaikou knocking him out and carrying him from the house, Aukan probably would have died there to save the rest of the group. I also forgot about an effect that should have taken place after the first encounter, but I should be able to throw that in after their next short rest. We have two weeks until our next session. Hopefully I will be more prepared and things go a little better.

Until next time…

Spoiler: This series of posts cover actual game play of the War of the Burning Sky campaign arc from EN Publishing.

Part 1 is here.

When we last left our heroes, they were resting at the Mercineum (a temple dedicated to Pelor and a headquarters of the Gate Pass resistance) before they set off to investigate the Eladrin mage Shealis at Gabal’s School of War later that morning. The main floor of the Mercineum was full of refugees when the heroes arrived so they, along with more incoming refugees, made their way downstairs into the temple’s crypt to rest. Buron Watcher and Torrent escorted the ailing Rivereye Badgerface to a side chamber off the crypt where an infirmary had been set up. All of the heroes except Athos made their beds to the right of the main door to the crypt. Athos decided he needed some distance from his new companions and laid his bed next to the sarcophagus on a dais at the far end of the room. Refugees scattered themselves around the dark chamber in small groups.

A few hours after the group laid to rest, Omicron and Aukan were awakened by the sound of chanting. coming from somewhere near the large statues in the center of the room. Omicron quickly realized it was some form of summoning ritual. They woke Thaikou and Vandalin and crept around the statue to locate the source of the chanting. They spotted a robed half-orc with a scroll who was just finishing the chant. He then yelled “For Ragesia!” and threw a pot of alchemist’s fire at his feet consuming several nearby refugees and himself in flames. The noise woke Athos and the other refugees. Clattering from the alcoves around the room revealed a dozen skeletons awakened by the ritual. The sarcophagus on the dais slid open and an undead horror dressed in armor pulled itself from the coffin. Refugees screamed in terror as Buron yelled from the infirmary doors, “Save the refugees!” He closed the doors sealing himself inside with the wounded and whatever horrors arose in that chamber.

The heroes immediately began to attack the skeletons, who seemed to be focused on the refugees. The armored creature that came from the sarcophagus was identified as a wight. Athos’ bed was nearly atop the wight and the creature began to hack at the warlock with his longsword, immobilizing him when he hit. Athos was in dire straights until Thaikou was able to make his way through to chaos to assist him. Following his brother’s lead with the massive maul attack Aukan hammered on the bandit at the Poison Apple Pub early that morning, Thaikou slammed his maul down on the wight crushing him into the stone floor. Omicron, Aukan, and Vandalin had all moved on to other skeletons at this point in the chaotic battle.

Free from the wight’s immobilization, Athos telekenetically flew atop the statues at the center of the chamber and began shooting at the remaining skeletons around the room. The remainder of the heroes engaged them in melee with Omicron sniping off several smaller skeletons that were waylaying the few remaining refugees. A few minutes later and the fight was over. The aftermath was dire. Out of 30 refugees sleeping in the crypt, only 6 remained. Buron was disappointed, but the survivors were grateful. An old man and his granddaughter who escaped from the crypt offered their savings, a small ruby and 200sp, to the party hoping it would help them protect the city from the oncoming army. Athos offered to give the valuables back, but the old man insisted and left before they could argue further.

Refugees and resistance members began the task of clearing the bodies from the room. The party noticed that the small infirmary held the piles of nearly a dozen skeletons, all of which Buron had destroyed single-handedly. Buron approached the heroes and offered a pair of healing potions to aide them. When asked about Torrent’s absence, he told the heroes that she had been sent out to meet an illusionist named Diogenes at Gabal’s. Diogenes was sympathetic to the resistance and Buron hoped he would have information on Shealis. The heroes, still tired from the morning’s activities, resumed their rest.

The morning of the first day of the Ragesian siege was cold and a heavy snowfall began. The harsh weather limited the aerial assault that had begun at midnight. Upon their awakening, Buron told the party that a few survivors of the morning’s terrorist attack identified the half-orc. They said he frequented a warehouse in the next city quarter. Torrent had not yet returned so Buron asked the heroes to investigate the warehouse in case there were other terrorists in Gate Pass.

The heroes decided they wanted to stop at a merchant on the way to the warehouse to purchase some other supplies. They located a decent sized shop that had an attached storeroom behind it. After haggling for a few minutes with the shopkeeper for a few items, the merchant’s assistant came running from the storeroom and fled out the front door screaming, “We’re under attack!” The Suicide Squad immediately went into action with Athos rushing into the storeroom to find that a scarab beetle had dug its way into the room through the dirt floor. The other party members followed and quickly surrounded the hole through which the beetle had emerged. A strange beast soon crept from the hole and immediately attacked Aukan, drawn to his plate armor like a moth to a flame. The creature attacked him, little feather-like tendrils sweeping over his armor. Rust spots followed in their wake. Vandalin swung his greataxe at the creature, but his weapon began to rust after connecting on a heavy blow. The beast was still drawn to Aukan’s armor and, after another attack, his plate rusted completely through and dropped from his immense frame. Aukan was now completely unprotected from the creatures attacks, but it turned its attention towards Vandalin and began to eat at his chainmail. Two ebon-skinned dwarves emerged from the hole during the fight. They were clad in hide armor and wielded greatclubs and shortbows. Their tactical options were limited since the party had them hedged in near the hole and after a few minutes the fight was finished. The beetle and rust beast had been slain along with the two dwarves. The merchant was jubilant that none of his goods were damaged in the fight. He accepted the weapons and armor of the dwarves in return for a new suit of plate armor for Aukan and a new suit of chain and new greataxe for Vandalin. The heroes found a magic amulet on one of the dwarves that protected the user and created the alchemical substance beastbane, which repels beasts. The merchant surmised that the amulet allowed the dwarves to push the beetle and rust beast to do their bidding. They also found a potion of healing, 110gp, and a small sapphire.

After leaving the merchant’s shop, the party continued through the snowy streets towards the warehouse of the reported terrorists. They found it without difficulty and before they could discuss tactics Vandalin kicked the doors in and rushed inside. The warehouse was long and narrow with a small office in the far right corner. Stacks of boxes, baskets, and crates left small walkways through to the rear of the room. Stores had been cleared from the left back corner were come form of summoning circle had been etched and outlined with candles. Four humans with clubs and three orcs clad in chainmail with halberds gawked at the intruders.

The heroes made their way through the aisles towards the back of the warehouse after Omicron quickly felled a thug with a magic missile fired from outside the doors. Two thugs rushed forward and kicked over a pair of baskets on either side of the room. Swarms of snakes slithered forth and attacked the nearest creatures. The halberdiers quickly engaged the three largest heroes, one each on Aukan, Thaikou and Vandalin. Athos scurried back and forth across the entrance of the room in a shadowy haze shooting eldritch blasts at the enemies. Omicron moved forward slightly in the center aisle so he could better see and dropped a few scorching bursts of fire on their foes.

Shortly after the fight began, the office door opened. A man clad in black and purple robes carrying a sickle emerged and maneuvered behind the line of halberdiers. Athos identified the man’s necklace as a holy symbol of the Raven Queen. Aukan hammered his way through his attacker with a massive slam invoking Kord’s name for divine strength and filling his blood with mighty power. He felled the man in a single blow and rushed the priest only to be teleported away to the side of the warehouse next to one of the snake swarms. Omicron responded by diabolically grasping the priest and yanking him towards the other snake swarm. The priest was unable to withstand their poisonous bites and soon died. The fight raged on for several minutes with a few of the party members hinging on death, but the Suicide Squad prevailed.

One of the halberdiers broke off from the melee and ran into the office closing the door behind him. Athos followed and barely listened to the orc’s pleas for mercy before slaying him with an eldritch blast of blue flame. The rest of the party was a little put out by Athos’ actions. The heroes searched the warehouse for other snakes and found none. The crates were filled with clothing and foodstuffs. They also located a small locked chest in the office. Omicron was easily able to pick the lock. Inside were a small opal, 350gp, and several letters that appeared to be orders to conduct terrorist attacks on the city from the inside while the army attacks the gates. More letters alluded to other cells within the city who were ordered to round up several mages, two names the party recognized: Diogenes and the city councilman Erdan Menash.

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This session consisted of a lot of combat and little roleplaying, but I think everyone had fun. After fairly easily completing the encounters in the first session, I think the players (other thank Erik who has played with me as DM before) were a little off guard by how difficult the first and last encounter were. Vandalin was unconscious by the end of the last encounter and Aukan went down in both (failing two death saves in the last one before being stabilized). However, they did survive and have proven themselves to be true heroes of Gate Pass.

Now if only they can find that case of Ragesian secrets…

Spoiler: This series of posts cover actual game play of the War of the Burning Sky campaign arc from EN Publishing.

This post covers the first session of the campaign in which the heroes meet and begin their quest to save the world from destruction. The heroes were introduced here.

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Our intrepid group of heroes find themselves outside the Poison Apple Pub in Gate Pass shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve. All of them, except one, have been asked by the resistance leadership to meet a woman named Torrent at the pub for a mission of vital importance.Shortly after the arrival of the last recruit, a woman opens the alley door of the pub and lets the men inside. Most of the furniture has been pushed to one side of the room and covered with a sheet, but a lone table with six chairs is still setup. Atop it sits a small keg of beer and several mugs.

“I am Torrent,” says the woman. “Thank you for coming.” She tells the men of a case of military intelligence that has been smuggled from the capital of the Ragesian Empire by a gnome named Rivereye Badgerface. He was to meet a contact within the resistance named Peppin Tallman, but Peppin was murdered several days before. Fortunately the resistance acquired his signet ring and locker key, as well as information regarding his planned meeting with Rivereye, through a speak with dead ritual.

One of the men asks Torrent, “Wait a minute, there’s an army coming towards Gate Pass?”

“Hey, aren’t you Vandin? Are the rumors true that you’re a drunk?” asks one of the large men.

“It’s Vandalin, and no. Not always. So what’s this about an army?”

The group fills Vandalin in on the recent events in the world, including the Ragesian army marching on Gate Pass. Torrent explains that the city council is considering letting Ragesian Inquisitors into the city so they can seek out arcane mages in an effort to appease the invaders. She outlines their need to acquire this case and get it to the Lyceum Academy far to the south in Seaquen. She has determined that the best route to get there is down the Old Elf Road south out of the city and through the Fire Forest of Innenotdar.

Several distant thumps and explosions are heard by the party followed by a commanding voice outside the Pub, “Front door, go!”

The front door to the pub comes crashing down. A halfling runs into the open doorway spinning a pair of bolas. He is followed by a man dressed in leather armor and wielding a mace. Four thugs with clubs come in after him. The intruders demand the party’ surrender. Our heroes, who have since come to call themselves the Suicide Squad, did not surrender. Instead they proceeded to lay into the thugs with reckless abandon. The halfling spun his bolas up and restrained Vandalin and Thaikou for a brief second during the fight. In return, Thaikou drew his throwing hammer and whipped it at the halfling’s head, causing a mortal wound. Aukan dropped his maul atop the head of another intruder completely smashing him into the floor. The party thought the reverberations of the impact shook the entire building, but it was actually a Ragesian bomb that hit the pub, causing flaming oil to seep down from the second floor and the ceiling to collapse on Thaikou. He made an attempt to exit the pub through the alley door, only to find it guarded from the outside. The rest of the party escaped thought he front door chasing after a fleeing intruder only to find another man outside with a pair of attack dogs and a formidable man atop a horse. Vandalin and Aukan proceeded to chase down the fleeing man along with his companion while Thaikou emerged from the collapsing pub to engage the horseman.

After a few minor blows and all of his companions slain or fled, the horse man said “It appears Renard underestimated your capabilities.” With that, he turned and galloped down the snowy street, but not before Thaikou took one last mighty swing with his maul. The horseman was almost thrown from his saddle by the impact, but managed to stay mounted and flee the scene. Omicron would later realize that these men wore the insignia of the Black Horse, a group of  mercenary bounty hunters native to Gate Pass.

The party quickly regrouped and moved on from the now completely collapsed Poison Apple Pub towards the next district to the east and their meeting with Rivereye at the depository. They almost ran over a frail man holding an unconscious woman with three children straggling behind. Their clothes smoldering from the fires in the building they just exited. “Help me please,” than man implores the party. Aukan, ever the guardian, immediately comes to the woman’s aide, administering healing as bet he can. After stabilizing her wounds, he asks if there is a place nearby they can take the family. Torrent suggests a small temple down a side street and the party takes the family there. The man, named Rensar, thanks the heroes and promises to return the favor in the future.

Further along the main street, a crowd is gathered near house aflame. A woman is standing in the upstairs window, flames licking at her heels. The twins immediately jump into action using their height (both are 7 feet tall) to overcome the challenge. Aukan climbs on his stronger brother’s shoulders and reaches up to grab the woman from the window. Thaikou loses his grip and they fall, but not before Athos and Vandalin help soften the blow with the ground. The crowd immediately converges on the woman to see to her wounds as they give thanks to our heroes.

Explosions and fires are creating chaos in the western districts of Gate Pass. Crowds of fleeing citizens make their way towards the gate to the next district to the east. The party joins to moving mass of people. A wave of fear spreads over the crowd as a flying creature, identified as a Wyvern by Aukan, passes overhead pursued by one of Gate Pass’ own griffon riders. As the crowd becomes more dense, Omicron feels someone bump into him, he turns and sees a young boy running off through the crowd. Quickly inspecting his belt, he discovers his coin purse is missing. The heroes immediately give chase through the crowd. Aukan’s superior height allows him to see the culprit’s moves while he yells at the crowd to make way. Athos conjures eldritch blue flames into his hands striking fear into many of the citizens causing them to back away from the party. Omicron catches a glimpse of the boy and uses mage hand to trip him so the pursuing heroes can catch up. The men successfully catch the boy after Omicron causes a ghost sound of a terrible monster in front of the boy who immediately curls up in the fetal position in fear. The party finds Omicron’s purse along with a nice gold ring and a potion of healing. The boy confesses to stealing the other two items. The men take them and let the boy go, threatening him that they will find him if he steals again.

The crowd of people is dispersing at this point since they have passed through the gates into the next district, but the screams of terror come back as the wyvern approaches the main street. His pursuer engages in combat in flight and causes the wyvern to crash down into a nearby house. After a few moments, the party hears a woman’s curdling scream cut short and the cries of a small child. Aukan and Vandalin immediately run towards the small building. Vandalin kicks in the door to find a half-orc Ragesian soldier dressed in nice black scale armor, wielding a battleaxe and large spiked shield. In his arms he holds a small boy with his battleaxe at the boy’s throat. “Move and let me go!” The half-orc demands.

The party engages the soldier. In response, he slits the boy’s throat and moves to defend himself. The battle lasts several minutes with the heroes laying into the Ragesian with all their might. Several times the soldier slammed Vandalin with his shield, knock him to the ground several feet away. Aukan summoned all of his strength for one attack, heedless of defending himself, but imparting a serious blow on the soldier with his mighty maul. The half-orc proceeded to hack his way through the men to reach the street outside, but his wounds began to take the best of him and the party slew him in the snowy street. The heroes discovered the soldier’s dead wyvern in a large pile of rubble int eh corner of the building. In his saddlebags were 70gp and a potion of healing. They removed the Ragesian’s armor after discovering it is magical and provides resistance to fire and necrotic damage. Thaikou replaced his own scale armor with the magical suit. It was snug, but seemed to morph itself to fit his immense frame. The party survived their first direct encounter with the Ragesian army, barely. Vandalin and Aukan were both severely hurt, but they pressed on to the depository and their quest to retrieve the case of military secrets.

Torrent imparted some healing to the young boy, barely saving his life. She instructed the men to continue their mission while she took the boy to the Mercineum nearby. She would meet them there once they retrieved the case. The party decided Omicron was best suited to impersonate Peppin since they were both human merchant/mage-types. With Tallman’s key and signet ring in hand, the group entered the depository to meet with the ugly gnome Rivereye Badgerface. The gnome approached the men at the base of the stairs asking for Peppin by name. Omicron replied he was Pepping and the two moved up to the second floor. Rivereye asked about the code phrase to which Omicron replied “Ramshorn.” Immediately after ofering this bit of information, Omicron got a feeling Rivereye was not who he pretended to be. The gnome’s legs were a little too long for his height even though he was stopped over like a hunchback. The gnome walked over to a door and on to a balcony. Omicron asked about the case to which the gnome said it was in the locker. The mage located locker 222 and opened it using Tallman’s key, but nothing was inside. He called to his companions downstairs and the party looked for the gnome, but he was nowhere to be seen.

A bright light on the third floor drew the party’s attention. They investigated to find it was a wisp solon, a small sun floating in the middle of the room. Omicron informed the party that solons were creations of the primordials to fight the angels of the immortals. They often aligned with good mages and sorcerers. The solon proved to be a very gregarious conversationalist with the party discovering that the imposter was an eladrin named Larion. His companions had taken the case to their master, a mage named Shealis at Gabal’s School of War in Gate Pass. The solon then teleported away in small bursts of flame leaving the heroes to discover the real Rivereye and several orc guards on the fourth floor. The gnome was sad to hear the news of Peppin’s murder and asked the men to take him to Torrent as he was ill and needed rest before they confronted Shealis. He offered them Larions’ cape and belt, which the eladrin had swapped out for the gnome’s own in order to better his disguise. The identified the cape as one that magically aides its wearer’s defense and has the ability to teleport him out of harm’s way. With the current fiery issues with teleportation, the party gives the cape to Thaikou who seems to have the ability to withstand the fires of telportation due to the black scale armor he is wearing. The belt magically imparts vigor to its wearer. Vandalin puts it on.

The heroes escort Rivereye to the Mercineum and Torrent. Buron Watcher, the priest of Pelor who runs the temple, takes the ill gnome downstairs to an infirmary the resistance has set up. After some deliberation with Torrent, teh heroes agree that they need time to rest before confronting Shealis later that morning.

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So ends part 1 of the Scouring of Gate Pass. The players were all very excited to continue and have decided to play every week rather than every other, at least until schedules dictate we change. Overall I thought the session went well. There were no rules arguments, every had fun, one or two players came very close to death each encounter, and each player had the chance to shine at different moments. As a DM, I like to make every encounter challenging enough to the point where player’s feel a sense of danger, but not so much that they are unable to progress. I think I accomplished that with these first few encounters. I was a little concerned the solo fight might be too much for the Suicide Squad, but they put out so much damage that I gave the solo his full 188hp rather than start him at bloodied. The two defenders came very close to dying, but the team manged to kill the solo just in time.

I am looking forward to this coming Friday’s session as two of the encounters we should get through are ones I really enjoyed changing from the published adventure. Hopefully the heroes prevail.

Until next time…

The time has come. The immortal emperor is dead and war is coming. Gate Pass, long a shining beacon between two great nations, is soon to be under siege by the armies of the Ragesian Empire. The resistance forces of old have renewed the pledge to protect their beloved free city and new recruits have been called to their ranks:

Athos (played by Chris) - A mysterious gaunt humanoid from another plane who wields arcane forces of a dark nature. Who he is, where he came from, and why he is protecting Gate Pass, only he knows.

Thaikou & Aukan (played by Jayson & Tom) - Twin goliath brothers found as infants and raised by their Uncle Osrik, the dwarven high priest of Moradin in Gate Pass. Thaikou has followed closely in his uncle’s footsteps honing his skills as a runepriest, while Aukan, elder by three minutes, is more protective and adheres to the path of the paladin. Their uncle was a member of the city’s resistance from 40 years ago and is one of its leaders today. The brothers heeded their uncle’s call to help defend Gate Pass.

Omicron (played by Erik) - A young mage and former student of Gabal’s famed School of War in Gate Pass. Omicron was expelled from the school after meddling in forbidden magic. Gate Pass is the only home he has ever known and he is set on seeing the Ragesian Scourge stopped at its gates.

Vandalin (played by Ryan) - A young warrior native to Gate Pass. He left the service of the city guard after his wife was brutally murdered to pursue the culprits, but has since become a drunk and embarrassment to his family.

Can these five men become heroes and save the world? Only time will tell.

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So begins my War of the Burning Sky Campaign. Every since reading about this when it first came out from E.N. Publishing a few years ago, I have wanted to either run or play the campaign. Since I’ve read way too much to play it now, I’m taking the reigns as DM every other Friday for this small group of intrepid heroes.

The party seems pretty strong and the players are all experienced with D&D 4th edition, so I will have to be on my toes. The PCs and their races/classes are: Athos (githyanki dark pact warlock), Thaikou (goliath wrathful runepriest), Aukan (goliath ardent paladin), Omicron (human wizard/infernal pact warlock), and Vandalin (human battlerager fighter).

Hopefully all goes well…