Last night saw the first of our “On Air” events which was a bit of a marathon session lasting over three hours of actual game time. I have embedded the video on this blog so if you do not want the hassle of finding it on YouTube you can simply watch it here. That said last night was a trial and the video will be made less interesting for one particular reason. You cannot see the Virtual Tabletop that all of the players are looking at and that I am running the game from. This will in effect make the video quite confusing to watch so when I describe things I will often refer to maps and things that are occurring on screen. Still, regardless of this you will get the idea of what is happening in game just the same.
I have done some research this morning to find out how to fix this problem and have come up with a solution so the next game (which will also be “On Air”) should have this setback fixed. I am fairly certain that this issue will actually mean more work for me as I will have to do all of my preparation and some extra work on top of it as i will have to blacken areas completely out which will make it a little more awkward to run the game but I really want people to be able to see this roll20.net system in action. It is a good tool for gaming on line in this format (that is tabletop Role Playing Games).
But to my brief for those that do not want to watch the video. Last night was good fun and saw seven players join in. Corbyn the sulis paladin run by +Cam Mcloughlin, Shun the halfling monk run by +Eric M, Alan Chemist the human alchemist run by +Reece Carter, Urgunn the dwarven fighter run by +libby furr, Ololamin the half elf rogue run by +Gordon Smith, Jack Churches the half elven Cleric of Erastil run by new player +Matt Guyder, Renesmee the elven combat mage run by +Angie Miyake and Amaron the elven utility mage (read necromancer after last night LOL) run by +Martin M. It made for an interesting game but as the party all wanted to split up and investigate various portions of the lodge it made for a challenging game as a GM.
The game started just after the fight of last week where the players had killed the initial group of bandits in the lodge and managed to get in the door. The paladin and thief (an unlikely pairing) decided to check out the door above the patio whilst the dwarven fighter headed to the northern doors in the lodge, the new cleric investigated the area surrounding the old battle with the elven mages. As the paladin reached the top of the patio the door underneath the patio opened and some rather ill looking bandits stepped up to the door and threatened the players. Amaron caused the first bandit to soil himself with an innovative use of prestidigitation and the battle was joined. It was really only a couple of rounds of combat though. Renesmee got hit with a short sword as the only damage to the “hero” team and little was done to the bandits. Jack Churches stepped up to the plate before the Paladin and ordered the bandits to stand down or be killed and got a great intimidation roll. Corbyn leapt from the patio down to the lower floor and emphasised the danger of the group and the players caused the bandits to surrender.
Amusingly, as the paladin landed to the ground floor Amaron finished his summon monster and brought into the conflict a bloody skeleton… Very necromantic of him, and with a paladin in the group. the skeleton then proceeded to grapple the poor old bandit that soiled himself. Corbyn of course demanded it be dismissed and then attempted to dismiss it himself with a hammer, failing utterly. The skeleton released the bandit the next round and lay prone, perhaps attempting to avoid attention. The bandits knew little under questioning and were ushered back into their room and locked in after Jack determined that whatever they had was catching.
The in essence the group splintered again and all started to search different areas of the lodge each. I handled them a little bit at a time but it was not long before Corbyn and Ololamin came across a half-orc rogue named Ten-Penny with a chip on her shoulder and a drive to look after her own skin. Corbyn however managed to calm her somewhat and get her to appear as no longer a threat although it was safe to say that paladins are not Ten-Penny’s favourite people. In the meantime Ololamin was sampling the broth the thief had been making and settled down beside the fire for some comfy time.
Alan in the meantime had found a trapdoor to a hidden cellar under a bear rug. He flexed his muscles and attempted to rip the lock from its clasp, failing utterly and embarrassing himself in front of Corbyn. he tried again immediately, this time ripping the lock to pieces and swinging the trapdoor open. At the same time Shun, Amaron and Renesmee opened the upstairs door finding two skeletons just itching to attack them and emanating a horrid chill at the same time. The battle joined as Shun ran in but the group completely missed the invisible bandit leader who snuck out the door, leapt off the balcony (Jack missed the sound also) and began to raise zombies with the use of a clerical scroll.
Everyone joined the combat. It was frenetic and extended. The clerical bandit leader managed to scare off Jack with a use of cause fear spell, but did fail to stab him with his poisoned blade. The zombies tied many combatants up however Corbyn, Alan, Renesmee and Urgunn combined to strike the cleric dead. Once this had succeeded the zombies quickly followed.
After this the remainder of the lodge (with a couple of exceptions) was searched they found a little bit of treasure, they found the noble woman who had been ambushed a little battered and bruised but her ego and sense of righteousness seemed well intact. Let us just say that she earned herself no friends in the party with her attitude apart from perhaps Corbyn (let’s face it to be a paladin you have to be self righteous) and Amaron who she initially insulted as a bit of a half wit and then he seemed to bend over backwards to make her comfortable.
So that is where the night ended. The group has decided to stay in the lodge overnight and perhaps help the Lady back a little way along the path until she could make it back safely. They will then push on and see what is causing this winter like weather. They know from judicial questioning that it is some kind of portal but can they do anything about it? It was good to see last night also that a couple of the players got so close to levelling to 2nd level. They can literally taste it, but of course they will have to wait until game 5 before they get to increase their abilities! Join us to find out what lies closer to the portal 🙂