An Ambush Attempt

March 18, 2008

The group has now figured out they have to go against an ancient race of beings from Faerun's distant past, the Sarrukh. However, they find out in their research that besides not much being known about this progenitor race, they are also quite tough. It is only through the help of their new friend, the outcast Sarrukh, that they learn this much.

The group decides that they need to find some more items. They do some research and find out that an abandoned tower in the Woods of Sharp Teeth is supposed to house some magical treasure. If nothing else, they might be able to bartar for what they need with new items they have found. They talk about going to Undermountain, since they need to go there eventually, but Nail refuses to go there. So, they had to the woods instead.

Nail gets them within a mile of the forest and they walk the rest of the way. Deuce gets back to nature fairly quickly, taking point and leading the group. However, the rest of them are city folk, as Reece hasn't used the outdoor skills he learned years ago in years, so they follow Deuce's lead. All of them are comforted with the knowledge that they don't have to sleep outside! Home, and nice beds, are just a teleport away.

Entering the woods starts to bring back a few memories and skills to Reece but he quickly dismisses them and still follows Deuce's lead. They walk through the forest, mindful of every noise and every shadow. Deuce casts a spell to give himself wings and he and Nail fly above the party. Notch climbs up into the trees and uses them as a path.

They haven't gone in more than fifty paces when Notch notices the tree and the path. It's obvious that this is a lookout post for something or someone. Searching the tree reveals a stool but made for someone with a tail to use it properly. A Detect Magic spells reveals there is magic and they find two wands hidden in the tree. One is Web and the other is Entangle. They take the wands and keep going.

Several hours pass. They are buzzed by flies and insects. The woods around them always seems strange. However, it isn't so strange that Finn can't see the signs of an ambush ahead. They felt as if they were being watched but could never see by what. Using intuition and stealth, they see an ambush has been prepared by a score of lizard men. They were on the exact path the group was taking and would have had a good ambush set up. The group decides to attack them first.

The group thought the lizard men would be easy but it turned out to be a bit more tough than they thought. The lizard men are tough and it was well prepared. However, Nail, Finn and Notch are very capable fighters and with the spells of Deuce and Jaden, they defeat the lizard men. On them, they find many powerful items! They grab what they can and then discuss what they should do. Several are ready to head back since several items were what they needed. However, most of them want to keep going. So, they keep heading foward.

Notes

This was an interesting session. I think it really showed the weakness of d20 games. Essentially, for any defense, there is an offense. Then, for any offense, there is a defense. It's more about knowing what your enemy will do or what resources they have, especially at high levels. It's also very tough for players to plan for every contingency that the bad guys might have or use. Even from the core books, there are too many things that are tough to get past easily.
This also really made me decide between what's fun and the game rules. According to the game rules, items fit in certain "slots" on the character, and they should only do one thing. However, when they found some of the items they wanted and needed, the player's decided that their characters wouldn't wear them because they need what they already have in that slot. My choice was then this. Do I let the mages combine slots easily because it's fun? Or do I force the players to make the tough decision about which item they use? In the latter case, I need to have consequences for them not having the items. Again, is it fun? I decided that because the one player was having fun making items and figuring out how to do it that I would go that route. It will throw "balance" of the game out, and it's already tough to figure some things so it works out. I think that fun is more important, though, so I went with that.
It was very tough describing the forest! I kept trying to give descriptions for all of the senses. However, it's been so long since I camped or even took a walk through wilderness that I really struggled! It was kinda funny. Eventually, I had to make generic references to the "sights and smells" of the forest and let the players fill in the gaps.
After finding the wands, there was a large digression and reading of some passages of Harry Potter with the word wang instead of wand.
We did find a really fun thing for the bard to do. In the past, he has been a buff for the party and I think the player found that boring even if it was needed. Well, he finally remembered that he had a singing sword and used that to attack! That allowed him to roll some dice for attacks and also do his buffing. It worked out well!