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Tonight, we started our Cold Dawn game, and I think it went pretty well...
THE SOCIAL: We had four people out our five: Rachael, her partner Brian, Paul, and Sean. Joe couldn't make it. I know Sean from Eastern Expanse. Paul is an old friend from HS, who I was glad to see again. Rachael was in two earlier games of mine - an old 4E game and Burning Empires (which had the saddest scene involving a stuffed spaceship ever), and I hadn't met Brian. That gave us (respectively), Xyrlynn (Eladrin Invoker of the Razorgrass tribe), Brash (Revenant Ranger of the Bloodstone tribe), Peland (Half-Eladrin Ardent of the Razorgrass), and Rend (Shifter Druid of the Thornlash tribe). Joe would have brought Nalgfar (Dwarf fighter of the Bloodstone tribe).
THE GAME:
We began the game at the Festival of Awakening, when many tribes from the area meet at the Totem of the Thornlash tribe at the end of the bitter winter to see who's still alive and to trade. Officially, it's an invocation of Yanto, the God of Cycles to ensure that Spring comes again, but really it's a big party.
The PCs came to realize that the Split Crag tribe had not arrived, and it was feared that something had befallen them. Not only was their absence worrisome, it was causing friction among other tribes - the Bloodstones needed the coal that the Split Crag mined for their forges, and there was tension between the Razorgrass and the Deep Reach tribe over how the former were selling the latter's small stock of coal. Of course, the Thornlash were just trying to keep the peace. So, it was up to our heroes to investigate the disappearance.
After a tough and somewhat meandering trip through the mountains, the PCs found the village of the Split Crag - it had been destroyed. They discovered a survivor, Karenzi, who told them that there had been a disaster in the mine and they hadn't been able to get the coal out... and then the Maw tribe arrived, demanding tribute, and when they had nothing to give took the rest of the tribe as slaves. Karenzi was left for dead - until Peland healed him. Rend, meanwhile, found several heads on spears in the middle of the village, with pennants marked with three parallel red slashes - a symbol Xyrlynn confirmed was *not* associated with the Maw tribe.
Into the mines!
In the first section, the PCs manuevered carefully around collapsed sections, poisonous methane gas, and flammable coal dust. Rend realized that he could use his power to summon the primordial flood to wash the coal dust out of the air, which helped tremendously.
In the second section, the mine became mazelike and the PCs were beset by undead - strange mine wisps and spirits of dead miners who appeared as fleshless goliaths. The undead shifted through the walls of the mine, slamming our heroes against the walls, while the wisps lured them into deadly areas of black damp, where Brash nearly suffocated. But, in the end, they prevailed.
Finally, they confronted the horror of the mine. They were beset by black tentacles of coal that erupted from the walls and could move around the mine at will, creating huge clouds of coal dust around them when they appeared. These tentacles regenerated as long as the heart of the beast, a huge mouth of elemental chaos, lived. Xyrlynn figured out that she could ignite a cloud of coal dust to blast the beast's armor away, and after a tough fight, the PCs slew it. They returned triumphantly with a small but worthwhile load of coal and stories of their exploits got Xyrlynn a reputation as a Slayer of Horrors... of course, she should worry that others will look to her for her help...
THE SOCIAL: We had four people out our five: Rachael, her partner Brian, Paul, and Sean. Joe couldn't make it. I know Sean from Eastern Expanse. Paul is an old friend from HS, who I was glad to see again. Rachael was in two earlier games of mine - an old 4E game and Burning Empires (which had the saddest scene involving a stuffed spaceship ever), and I hadn't met Brian. That gave us (respectively), Xyrlynn (Eladrin Invoker of the Razorgrass tribe), Brash (Revenant Ranger of the Bloodstone tribe), Peland (Half-Eladrin Ardent of the Razorgrass), and Rend (Shifter Druid of the Thornlash tribe). Joe would have brought Nalgfar (Dwarf fighter of the Bloodstone tribe).
THE GAME:
We began the game at the Festival of Awakening, when many tribes from the area meet at the Totem of the Thornlash tribe at the end of the bitter winter to see who's still alive and to trade. Officially, it's an invocation of Yanto, the God of Cycles to ensure that Spring comes again, but really it's a big party.
The PCs came to realize that the Split Crag tribe had not arrived, and it was feared that something had befallen them. Not only was their absence worrisome, it was causing friction among other tribes - the Bloodstones needed the coal that the Split Crag mined for their forges, and there was tension between the Razorgrass and the Deep Reach tribe over how the former were selling the latter's small stock of coal. Of course, the Thornlash were just trying to keep the peace. So, it was up to our heroes to investigate the disappearance.
After a tough and somewhat meandering trip through the mountains, the PCs found the village of the Split Crag - it had been destroyed. They discovered a survivor, Karenzi, who told them that there had been a disaster in the mine and they hadn't been able to get the coal out... and then the Maw tribe arrived, demanding tribute, and when they had nothing to give took the rest of the tribe as slaves. Karenzi was left for dead - until Peland healed him. Rend, meanwhile, found several heads on spears in the middle of the village, with pennants marked with three parallel red slashes - a symbol Xyrlynn confirmed was *not* associated with the Maw tribe.
Into the mines!
In the first section, the PCs manuevered carefully around collapsed sections, poisonous methane gas, and flammable coal dust. Rend realized that he could use his power to summon the primordial flood to wash the coal dust out of the air, which helped tremendously.
In the second section, the mine became mazelike and the PCs were beset by undead - strange mine wisps and spirits of dead miners who appeared as fleshless goliaths. The undead shifted through the walls of the mine, slamming our heroes against the walls, while the wisps lured them into deadly areas of black damp, where Brash nearly suffocated. But, in the end, they prevailed.
Finally, they confronted the horror of the mine. They were beset by black tentacles of coal that erupted from the walls and could move around the mine at will, creating huge clouds of coal dust around them when they appeared. These tentacles regenerated as long as the heart of the beast, a huge mouth of elemental chaos, lived. Xyrlynn figured out that she could ignite a cloud of coal dust to blast the beast's armor away, and after a tough fight, the PCs slew it. They returned triumphantly with a small but worthwhile load of coal and stories of their exploits got Xyrlynn a reputation as a Slayer of Horrors... of course, she should worry that others will look to her for her help...
