D&DEnc 16 – Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Session 12 Season Finale

Almost a full house down at Tabletop Tyrants for this finale, Tilly unfortunately had to work and so missed out. Only a couple of photo’s to accompany the session as the battery died on my phone. As Adam’s character had died last week, this time he was playing a human Barbarian from the tribe of the Elk that had been the Ice Witch’s prisoner when the heroes arrived.

• Sunyi – Tiefling Bard
• Tanis – Elf Mage
• Adam – Human Barbarian
• Richard – Half orc Druid
• Vipin – Gnome Paladin
• Hannah – Half orc Fighter
• Robert – Human Druid
• Shane – Human Mage

Despite having distrust for the Bard and Elf the heroes risked taking a breather to try and recover some of their health but were ever wary that the Ice Witch remained above. The paladin tried to get the pair to swear to support the party but his pleas fell on deaf ears. With no other recourse the party all stand upon the dais and the magical winds lifted them gently upwards. Once they were level with the upper chamber they gingerly stepped off onto the solid surface around the hole in the floor.

The Ice Witch calmly sat on a chair fashioned from the same black ice of the tower itself with her back to them, a male Barbarian crumpled on the floor nearby. She asked “Why do you resist the embrace of Auril?” and as the last word echoed around the room the heroes vision swam  and darkened.

The heroes began to experience visions where they seemed to be reliving key points of the Ice Witch’s own past, and when their vision finally returned they all looked exactly like the Ice Witch. Whenever any of them moved, all the figures moved correspondingly, until suddenly one of them cast a flaming sphere at another and Richard (the sphere’s target) realised the spell had come from his fellow druid.

This knowledge seemed to break whatever enchantment had been used and the heroes stood revealed, though Tanis  and Shane were suffering the effects of a Confusion spell, and Robert had been Dominated.

The four black ice statues of Auril also lumbered into action striking at members of the party with brutal fists while Sunyi backed up to the wall and began playing an inspiring tune – to the forces of Auril!

The fight was savage as both Adam and Richard were targeted repeatedly but the heroes quickly realised that a lucky strike on one of the statues could cause them to shatter. Robert and Shane managed to shrug off the confusion/domination but Tanis continued to stare bemusedly at the pretty colours on the ceiling.

Adam fell to repeated blows allowing the Ice Witch to move more freely, but he was quickly revived by his allies. The heroes realised that no amount of pleading was going to change Sunyi’s allegiance and so targeted him with their magics, first knocking him unconscious and then killing him with a magic missile while he was down. Unwilling to risk Tanis also turning on them, Adam used his grapnel and rope to pull the bemused mage into the open hole and the eighty foot drop to the icy dais below killed him.

Able to finally focus their attention solely on the Ice Witch the remaining heroes were able to pummel her to death, but as she died the tower began to collapse around them. Luckily they were able to escape without further harm only to find themselves out upon the floes of the Sea of Moving Ice and far from Ten Towns. They faced a hard and hazardous journey but the threat of the Frostmaiden had been successfully dealt with – at a cost.

We all had mixed feelings following this session, partly because of the PvP element that had crept in in the closing weeks, but also due to the sense that the adventure itself hadn’t really presented any real threatening villain. Kessel and his undead could be (and were) defeated, and the motivations of the Frostmaiden weren’t really over apparent until this final session. We felt that although the three factions thing had worked in the previous season, this time round it fell flat.

With regards to the “betrayal” and resulting PvP, as a group we had quite a late night discussion on the subject and have now agreed to adopt a similar credo to the Living Forgotten Realms Campaign Guidelines to prevent future occurences.

Having looked ahead to the new season it’s going to have more of a linear, old style dungeon adventure so should have more clear definition of who the good guys and bad guys are which is whats needed for Encounters, intrigue and subterfuge is great for ongoing home campaigns but can create problems in Public Play.

I must give a tip of the hat to Spykes from the Wizard forums for the “Trials of the Ice Witch” vision challenge, it turned what would have been a basic brawl into a much deeper encounter.

D&DEnc 16 – Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Session 11

This week at Tabletop Tyrants we had a very full table of 9 players, and even before arriving at the store the character to character banter had begun via our Facebook page. As usual we were running using the D&DNext playtest rules and the party consisted of :-

• Sunyi – Tiefling Bard
• Tanis – Elf Mage
• Adam – Tiefling Mage
• Hannah – Half orc Fighter
• Richard – Half orc Druid
• Vipin – Gnome Paladin
• Tilly – Elf Rogue
• Robert – Human Druid
• Shane – Human Mage

Knowing the amount of players we were expecting and as we have been running as levels 4-6 this season (the party are now 6th level) I adjusted the encounter accordingly.

The party ascended the stairs into a darkened chamber, the only light coming from Tanis’ staff revealing six thirty foot tall statues of Auril spaced around the room and all facing towards a low central dais shaped like a diamond and inlaid with the symbol of Auril. Looking up towards the eighty foot ceiling they could see a correspondingly shaped hole directly above the dais.

As they watched the air between the dais and the hole began to swirl and a pale figure descended midway towards the floor and then hovered there, the Ice Witch. She regarded the party with a cold stare a demanded to know what they were doing there. Vipin stepped forward and announced that he had beaten her champion below, at which she simply smiled and suggested they prove themselves (though she looked intently at Tanis and Sunyi, both sporting robes they had taken from the cultists). Without another word the winds lifted back up and out of the chamber and the heroes saw two swirls of air thicken and peel off from the central zephyr and forming into a pair of air elementals. They also noticed that while the Ice Witch had spoken to them, a layer of ice had formed over the stairway openings, blocking a return to  the lower level.

A couple of the heroes also noticed the dark form of Akar Kessel lurking behind one of the statues on the opposite side of the room, before most of the heroes could spread out the dead wizard launched a fireball into their midst and battle was joined.

The heroes quickly spread out, though it was quickly noticeable that Sunyi and Tanis were making no offensive moves. Shane sent a Flaming Sphere at Kessel but once Tilly got closer to get gain a clear shot (which missed) the wizard strode after her, striking her with his shrivelled claw of a hand and draining some of her life force away with his necromantic powers.

Vipin engaged on of the elementals smashing his mace into the airy body while its counterpart swept down at Hannah.

The elemental moved away from Vipin and began to target Adam, managing to drag the tiefling into its swirling vortex and quickly reducing the mage to unconsciousness. Thankfully the gnome paladin and half orc fighter were able to pull him free and revive him. Tilly continued to trade blows with Kessel, having switched to her Ice mace, while Shane brought his sphere of fire up to continue worrying the wizard. The two druids had taken advantage of the zephyrs presence to power their call lightning spells, but this attracted the attention of the second elemental and soon they found themselves fighting to avoid being pulled into it’s mealstrom.

As Kessel finally fell to their onslaught Tilly and Shane moved to help their colleagues, while Tanis used Spider Climb to ascend the walls and Sunyi calmly walked out onto the dais where the zephyr lifted him into the air.  The elemental had once again sucked Adam in and this time he was overcome, his lifeless body flung around within its whirling embrace while it continued to fight. Richard also suffered at the “hands” of the elemental but his companions were able to revive him.

Eventually the heroes dissipated the elementals and the zephyr slowed and lowered Sunyi to the dais. Tanis searched the remains of Kessel finding a Brooch of Shielding and his magical scepter while the others caught their breath and mourned the loss of the tiefling mage who was beyond their help.

Well the session overran by about a quarter-hour but it was too much fun to simply stop. With two of their number deciding not to battle the elementals there was definitely a chance that more than one of the heroes could have perished, but luckily it was just one.

With just a single session remaining I have offered the players the chance to attempt to take a short rest, but have advised that it doesn’t mean the Ice Witch will let them – or if she does it may mean that she’s preparing a “frosty” reception above for them.

D&DEnc 16 – Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Session 10

The players (should) have levelled up to 6th ready for this session and as with last time, I had “upped” the bad guys in advance too. Before the session started I drew out the Audience Hall on my battlemat, and then Tilly noticed that it looked a little like a Cyberman from Dr Who (and proceeded to draw the “handlebars” on the side).

As usual down at Tabletop Tyrants, we ran using the D&D Next playtest rules and the regular party were:

• Tanis – Elf Mage
• Sunyi – Tiefling Bard
• Tilly – Elf Rogue
• Adam – Tiefling Mage
• Shane – Human Mage
• Vipin – Gnome Paladin
• Hannah – Half orc Fighter
• Richard – Half orc Druid

Having taken their burial as an opportunity to rest and recuperate the heroes then turn their attentions to the ice wall that seemed to show an audience hall beyond it. Sunyi used his arcana knowledge to determine that it should act as some sort of portal to the place seen but still didn’t know how to activate it. Adam commanded his zombie to walk through the ice and the mindless beast simply bounced off. Vipin tried pushing on the ice but it wouldn’t give, but when Sunyi and Adam tried their arms passed through without resistance. Sunyi continued all the way through, disappearing from his companions sight. Keeping his arm “in” the portal Adam commanded the zombie through once more and the creature followed the bard. Realising they had little other choice the rest of the party followed suit.

They emerged in the audience hall they had seen, but could now see that it was built entirely of the strange black ice. Richard turned to make sure they could travel back through the portal if necessary only to find it wasnt there. Adam also realised that his zombie hadn’t survived the journey intact as it lay lifeless on the floor. The heroes realised they weren’t alone either. A pair or steep staircases circled the chamber leading to an upper floor and framing a dais with a large ornate throne. However these features weren’t what caught their attention.

Seated on the throne was a huge man dressed in the garb of the tundra tribes with a massive axe resting across his lap as he stared at his new arrivals. Half a dozen similarly dressed warriors stood around the room as well as another half-dozen hulking orc warriors interspersed amongst them. There was also a robed human tied to one of the pillars supporting the vaulted ceiling.

The figure on the throne turned out to be King Gunvald and he demanded to know who the new arrivals were and why they had come to the tower of the Frostmaiden. The heroes discerned that some form of ensorcellment was in effect which could explain why these usual enemies were apparently working side by side. Quick thinking Sunyi stepped forward in his robes of Auril and declared that he had brought new devotees to the goddess and it looked like they were going to get away with it until one of the guards noticed the paladins holy symbol of Yondalla and pointed it out to the king.

The plucky gnome stepped forward and challenged the king to trial by combat, and Sunyi surreptitiously cast Suggestion to convince the king to accept. Standing up to his full almost 7 foot height the mighty barbarian king accepted and charged at the diminutive figure before him.

While the two battled Sunyi used his performance skills to hide his use of a bardic tune to enhance Vipin’s combat prowess, and Tilly cut the ropes holding the human mage (Shane) free.

Unfortunately one of the warrior guards noticed the mage had been freed and fired his bow at the prisoner, but luckily Adam (still wearing a robe of Auril) stepped between them and convinced the warrior to watch his mighty king. Vipin proved mightier than his stature alluded and soon stood over the corpse of the fallen king and Sunyi was quick to declare “The goddess has spoken and shown the gnome is worthy” and despite a possible riot when Adam donned the dead kings bearskin cloak ( quickly removed by one of the half orcs by force) the heroes were allowed to ascend the stairways to present the new champion to the Frostmaiden.

Well, what could have been a bloody and brutal battle turned into one of the most entertaining RP heavy sessions of the entire season so far, indeed giving Sunyi’s bard and his silvery tongue a real chance to shine. I was surprised by their ingenuity and happy to let them try a non-combat solution to the encounter. The session ended a little earlier than usual but rather than start the following encounter I felt it better to cut it there.

In the instances where the players (Sunyi in particular) wanted to cast without startling the wary barbarians I had them roll performance or stealth checks to remain unnoticed and it worked quite nicely, something I find increasingly fun to do within the playtest rules especially on the fly.

D&DEnc 16 – Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Session 8

Prepping for this weeks session I was acutely aware that we only had 5 sessions left until the next season begins so I made a decision to pre-plan the sessions accordingly so that we don’t go over story and finish on schedule. I ran this by the group before the game and they were ok with plan.

As usual we were at Tabletop Tyrants and running the D&D Next playtest rules. The group consisted of our regulars:-

• Richard – Half orc Druid
• Hannah – Half orc Fighter
• Adam – Tiefling Mage
• Vipin – Gnome Paladin
• Sunyi – Tiefling Bard
• Tanis – Elven Mage
• Shane – Half orc Barbarian

The following morning the heroes met Helga and set off through the snows towards the dwarven valley. A few hours into the journey they can see an extremely large band of dwarves approaching, as they get nearer they can see they are led by Stokely Silverstream. Briefly he explains that after the heroes left he sent dwarves to recover the miners bodies but more undead swarmed out of the tunnels, dwarves, goblins, orcs and others, the dead of Akar Kessel’s minions from decades ago. Worst still, marching beside the undead were living dwarves clad in armour of black ice! Stokely had given the call to abandon the valley and was leading his people to Bryn Shander and make a stand with their allies of old. Helga turned her wagon around and paid the heroes for escorting her to her uncle as agreed and the party continued on their way to find Algonell the hunter.

Following the directions they had been given they came upon a group of goblins guarding a cave entrance on a ledge on the side  of Kelvin’s Cairn. The heroes took the guards out quickly and as Richard grabbed a goblin corpse to use as an improvised club, Shane and Vipin charged down the tunnel to find another group of goblins in what looked like an oversized canteen. The goblins started shouting “Biglip! Biglip!” as the rest of the part caught up and engaged them.

As the battle got underway Tanis decided to take no chances and launched a flaming sphere at the large side door just in time, as it opened and a pair of Verbeeg giants waded through the flames into the room, one of them throwing a ragged javelin at Rich’s druid.

Having thinned the goblin ranks, most of the heroes targeted the verbeeg and despite the large creatures strength and fortitude the massed attacks soon defeated them and the last goblin took off down the corridor deeper into the complex. He didn’t get far though as Rich hurled a handful of fiery berries after him, leaving a smoking corpse.

Their enemies defeated for the moment the heroes explored the room the verbeeg had come from, finding it to have been some form of leaders quarters. Vipin recalled tales of the heroes Drizzt and Wulfgar fighting verbeeg scouts of Kessel that were still told in the taverns of Icewind Dale and realised this must be the same location.

As they discovered what appeared to be a hidden door Shane still pumped up from the battle charged through into a curving tunnel that seemed to come to a dead-end. The half orc lowered his shoulder and charged at the wall ahead, bursting through the secret exit, unfortunately with too much momentum to stop on the very narrow ledge beyond and tumbled down the cairn’s side.

While he clambered back to them, the rest of the party were in a tense moment as Adam animated one of the dead goblins and Vipin began to charge at the tiefling mage. Luckily Sunyi’s bard used a suggestion to calm the paladin and he was placated. They used the goblin-zombie “scout” the corridor, leading to a store-room where they found several sacks of silver coins and a chest, which they commanded the zombie to open but it couldn’t. They were quickly able to overcome the lock and found it contained gold coins and five blue gems. Pausing only long enough to divvy up the treasure the heroes move on to explore the corridor the goblin had tried to flee down.

Moving down the corridor there were several doors leading off to either side and as they progressed they check each. The first four looked like storage rooms that hadn’t been used for some time, their contents rotted away long ago leaving little remains other than the smell. The next four rooms each had a set of bunk beds (sized for human occupants) but nothing else of interest. The corridor ended in a set of double doors but the final side door before it held a single bed and an armoire. Examining the room they found that the armoire was locked and Hannah smashed it open with her hammer, which was when she found the glyph of warding as electrical energy crackled around her. Inside the remains of the cabinet was a single robe of palest blue material which they determined had a magical aura of some sort. Vipin slipped it on and immediately began to feel a chill seeping into his very bones and quickly took it back off. As he did so they noticed very faint silvery diamond-shaped snowflakes around the edging which a couple of the heroes recognised as the symbol of Auril. Deciding to take the chance to catch their breath they barricade the door with the remains of the armoire and perform an identifying ritual upon the robe before exploring further.

And that’s where we left it for this week. Everyone seemed to have fun though we agreed a battle grid would have been useful in the dining area, I plan to make a grid for the next four sessions as needed (probably utilising my drywipe mat as I can pre-draw during my prep). The combat this week was interesting as the goblins proved little more than an annoyance but when the verbeeg appeared the players were definitely taken aback, though they still proved little trouble for the 7-strong group.

Next week we’ll see what lies beyond the door the at the end of the corridor and close Act 2 with a bang.

D&DEnc 16 – Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Session 7

Before you think your going mad and have missed session 5 & 6, they don’t exist. The sessions were scheduled for Christmas Day and New Years Day so rather than try and find other days to fit in we simply missed them out and continued with this weeks session. I’ve kept the session numbering in line so as to match up with the scheduling.

We had a full table once again at Tabletop Tyrants, indeed a player from several of our previous seasons popped down to see us and will hopefully be rejoining us from next week. We are continuing to use the last packet of D&D Next playtest rules and the characters leveled up to 5th level in preparation for this session.

• Tanis – Elf Mage
• Sunyi – Tiefling Bard
• Adam – Tiefling Mage
• Richard – Half-orc Druid
• Hannah – Half-orc Fighter
• Shane – Half-orc Barbarian
• Vipin – Gnome Paladin
• Tilly – Elf Rogue

Having informed Stokely of his miners fate (last session), the heroes buy a few items of equipment from the dwarves before hiring a guide to take them back to Brynn Shander. Once outside of the dwarven valley the biting winds and swirling snows show that the winter storms are taking a turn for the worse, but their guide plows onward undeterred.

A couple of hours into the journey and some of the heroes notice silhouettes of large dog-like creatures paralleling their course but the poor visibility hides any further chances of identifying them. Shortly they come upon the carcass of a large polar bear and as they examine the remains to determine the cause of its demise a deep snarl draws their attention to what looks like a wolf with white fur, but its the size of a pony! The heroes quickly realise that wounds on the bear were caused by the teeth and claws of the wolf.

While Shane, Hannah, Vipin and Richard surge forward to engage the wolf in melee, Tilly and Tanis provide covering fire and Sunyi strums a bolstering tune on his mandolin. Adam however take the opportunity to prank Tanis, using a prestidigitation spell to cause the elf’s underwear to become soiled!

Another pair of growls drew their attention as two more of the wolves move out of the concealing snow, blasting forth clouds of icy breath over Tilly, Tanis, Sunyi and Adam. Luckily the first wolf is quickly slain and the other heroes rush to their comrades aid. Vipin uses his Misty Step ability to drop onto one of the wolves backs before continuing to pound his mace into its head. Having taken a double dose of the icy breaths Sunyi decides to get some payback and fires his crossbow at Vipin’s unwilling mount but accidentally strikes the paladin.

With the aid of the half-orcs the remaining pair of winter wolves are quickly despatched (despite one taking an intense interest in the aroma coming from Tanis’s posterior) and the heroes take a break to bind their wounds and Tanis skin’s one of the wolves, albeit under the disapproving gaze of Richard’s druid. Once they’re ready, their guide urges them onward.

As they march across the rolling tundra they get a sudden feeling of dread as a huge shadow passes over them in the snow-laden clouds and Vipin senses a large undead presence, but it passes quickly though ominously heading in the direction of their destination.

As the crest the final hillock between themselves and Bryn Shander they behold a terrible sight. The city walls are besieged by a mixed force of yetis, barbarians and wolves; though at present the defenders atop the walls appear to be holding their own further waves of attackers are quickly approaching and threaten to overrun the defences. More worrying though are the pair of figures they see hanging back. What looks to be a pale skinned woman wearing a head-dress of elk antlers standing beside a huge skeletal dragon.

The heroes hadn’t been noticed as the pair stared intently at the battle at the city walls and so they hurried forward to get within striking distance. Tanis led with a mighty bolt of magical lightning as Hannah scooped Vipin up as she ran forward and used her momentum to throw the gnome forward. As he reached the zenith of his impromptu flying arc he enacted his misty step once again, reappearing right in front of the surprised woman and hitting her with his mace.

The pair quickly recovered from the surprise assault and the dragon-skeleton launched itself skyward, its tattered wings still capable of holding it aloft as hit swooped down at Richard with its blade-like talons extended. The half-orc druid looked dwarfed by the massive undead beast but held his ground stoically. Sunyi took the opportunity to examine the link between the two foes, his arcane training telling him that it was the power of the woman keeping the beast animated and he quickly passed this on to his companions who then concentrated their assault upon the female figure.

Up close they could see she was as pale as the snow around them and wore armour that seemed to be made from ice itself which absorbed some of the brunt of their attacks, cracks appearing in it as it did so. With a curse on her lips the witch conjured an icicle like spear in her hand and stabbed out at Vipin with surprising strength, but as she did so Hannah hurled her warhammer into her face distracting her somewhat and allowing Vipin to smite her with the power of his faith. As his mace smashed into her she seemed to explode in a shower of snow, as if she hadn’t even been there, and the bones of the dragon crumpled lifeless to the ground around a relieved Richard.

Without her influence driving them on, the forces besieging the town became disheartened and fled, much to the cheers of the defenders. As several of the heroes took a dragon bone as a trophy, Adam and Sunyi examined the “remains” of the women and realised she had been a simulacrum – the real Ice Witch was still out there somewhere and doubtless annoyed at this setback.

Returning to Bryn Shander they received much praise from those on the walls that had witnessed their battle, and when they asked for directions to Mithann the townsfolk eagerly told them where to find the priestess. The find her at her shrine and ask her about the note that led Aarun to his demise at the hands of Slim and his thugs. She revealed that she hadn’t sent the note but that Aarun had been bringing in silvered weapons to counter a suspected wererat problem (which the heroes then confirmed to her), when the heroes asked what had happened to the weapons Mithann sadly informed them that they were destroyed in an “accidental” fire at the warehouse they were stored in.

While the rest of the heroes talked to Mithann, Adam noticed a figure wrapped in a burial sheet at the rear of the shrine and investigated, finding it to be the young barbarian human that had been in the marketplace stocks, obviously he hadn’t survived the nights exposure. Before anyone could stop him he cast his Animate Dead spell on the corpse which began to struggle and writhe in an attempt to get out of its bag.

Shocked and appalled Mithann and Vipin put the animated corpse to rest (after several well placed mace hits to the head). Further talks with Mithann revealed rumours abounded of violence between the fisherman on the lakes and an increase in those venerating Auril in an attempt to appease the Frostmaiden. She also mentioned that a trapper known to her had reported several of his traps broken and destroyed by some sort of large humanoid, traps designed to take down tundra yetis. She said the trapper (Algonell) could be found around the west side of Kelvin’s Cairn close to Bremens Run. As the heroes intended to accompany Helga on her journey back to the dwarven valley they offered to check he was ok.

Searching for Helga proved easy and the friendly dwarf-maid was happy to bring her journey forward as trading had been good. It was agreed to leave the following morning and the heroes sought out rooms for the night.

We called it there as time had caught up with us, two hours had absolutely flown by. As we packed away Glenn said he’d be coming back to play so I arranged to send him the relevent updated documents (as they’re no longer available to download).

My only issues about this weeks session was the decidedly poor damage output of the skeletal dragon, if I had realised how low it was I’d probably have upped it myself, but hindsight and all that; and with the multiple possible threats it’s a bit too loose and unfocused for the players to follow a thread to completion, I think we’ll be focusing on one thread for the remainder of the season.

Looking ahead to next season, we have sanctioned the season and launch event as usual and it looks like we shall be back up to two tables/DM’s as Liam’s work commitments have relaxed and we’ll be back to smaller groups. Hopefully the adventure shall be a little more focused, I think we need a good old dungeon-crawl style quest.

The news that the new season will be a pdf only release isn’t a major issue as I hope this means delivery delays will be a thing of the past and DM’s can print off what they need for each session. There has also been word that stores that have sanctioned the season will receive codes for a free download, which would be nice though the $17.99 price tag isn’t too bad and I’d probably buy it anyway, we’ll see, February is still a little way away.

D&DEnc 16 – Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Session 4

This week saw a very full table down at Tabletop Tyrants for our last session of the year (we’ll be back on the 8th January 2014) as we were joined by a couple of old faces – Jodie, back from Uni for Xmas, and Robert, who actually had some time off from work. So this week’s team was:-

• Tanis – Elf Mage
• Richard – Half-orc Druid
• Hannah – Half-orc Fighter
• Sunyi – Tiefling Bard
• Adam – Tiefling Mage
• Robert – Human Cleric
• Vipin – Gnome Paladin
• Jodie – Tiefling Fighter
• Shane – Half-orc Barbarian

We continue to use the D&DNext playtest rules and also made use of a battle grid for this session too as I expected the planned battle to get very complicated.

As the paladin reached the junction Vipin noticed movement further up the original tunnel. Upon investigation he recognised a pair of figures going through dropped miners packs, a couple of former companions thought left behind in Baldur’s Gate. To bring them up to speed on the situation the paladin led them back the other heroes.

Once prepared to continue the whole group continues down the lower tunnel following Vipin’s detection of more undead. They encounter a pair of large spiders as well as more dwarven zombies which appear from behind a large wall of black ice.

The mysterious figure directing the zombies also appears and Adam identifies it as Akar Kessel, albeit in an undead form of some sort. Kessel unleashes another of his lightning bolts despite it taking one of his zombies down in the process, and Tanis and Richard “tactically withdraw” beyond the tunnel entrance.

Calling upon the power of Lathander Robert is able to turn the majority of the first wave of zombies as Kessel is forced to retreat behind the black ice wall by the attacks of Adam and Jodie.

The remaining heroes having despatched one spider begin to move forward while Shane continues to rage assault the other spider.

Vipin and Robert take up position in preparation of the second wave of zombies which are coming around the ice wall.

The zombies once again fled before the power of Roberts faith and the heroes spread out to make further lightning bolts less brutal.

As they gained a view behind the ice wall they were surprised to find no sign of Kessel, realising that the former wizard may well have turned himself invisible they positioned some of their members to block the entrances they had come in by while the rest of them followed the last of the fleeing zombies toward the back of the chamber and its tunnel exit.

Kessel reappeared in the mouth of the tunnel and raised what looked to be a wand or scepter toward the tunnel roof, a beam of power struck the stonework and caused it to cave in, blocking the tunnel as his hollow voice echoed “My plans may be delayed but you have not stopped Akar Kessel. I brought this Dale to its knees once before, and will do so again!”

The heroes were easily able to mop up the remaining dwarven zombies without the controlling influence of Kessel to organise them, before returning to Battlehammer Hold and informing Stokely of their discovery. Saddened by the loss of dwarven life, the dwarf leader paid them the agreed 200 gold.

This battle turned out a lot less brutal once the cleric began turning the zombies, personally I think there should be limit on how many undead can be affected (scaling up as the clerics level increases) as it seemed a little overpowered, though as we were running with 9 players a 6 round combat still took almost 2 full hours.

Over the Christmas break the players are going to level up to 5th level and we shall resume with the Interlude and Act 2 in the New Year.

D&DEnc 16 – Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Session 3

Firstly let me apologise for how late this post is but I’ve been a little busy. This weeks session was extra special for me as it was also my birthday (or as one of my friends said, my levelling up day) having reached the grand old age of 43, being at the game made me feel even older as most of the players are in their 20’s but that’s one of the wonderful aspects of this hobby – bringing all age groups together.

As usual down at Tabletop Tyrants we were running using the D&DNext playtest rules (if you haven’t already downloaded them then your too late as WotC have taken them down as they are now in the “endgame” of playtesting). This weeks party was:-

• Tanis – Elf Mage
• Sunyi – Tiefling Bard (I had previously listed him as an Elf in error)
• Adam – Tiefling Mage
• Richard – Half-orc Druid
• Hannah – Half-orc Fighter
• Vipin – Gnome Paladin
• Shane – Half-orc Barbarian

The heroes were still celebrating Vipin’s victory in the drinking contest when a silhouette appeared in the taverns doorway. An impressive looking dwarf entered, flanked by several large built dwarven warriors, as he passed other tables the patrons sat respectfully silent. He nodded to the barkeeper and approached the heroes table. He introduced himself as Stokely Silverstream and asked if he could join them.

While the barkeeper brought over a round of drinks Stokely explained the situation with Bearick and the splintered dwarven people, he’d been informed about how the heroes had handled the trio of surly dwarves earlier and had a proposition for them. A group of his miners had gone to open up some long unused tunnels but hadn’t come back as expected. When a second group had gone to find them, all they discovered were signs of a struggle and a sense of foreboding. Stokely offered the party 200 gold coins if they could discover what had happened to the missing dwarves. Before the party could discuss it, Vipin drunkenly agreed on their behalf. Stokely arranged lodgings at Selda’s and told the heroes a guide would take them to the mine entrance in the morning, before taking his leave. Most of the heroes took advantage of the free lodgings to rest and prepare for the search, however Vipin decided to continue drinking with several dwarves who were only to happy to keep celebrating with the cheery gnome.

In the morning Vipin was surprisingly conscious and joined the rest of the party as they were led up the cleft of the dwarven valley. As they arched along they noticed on a couple of occasions that small groups of dwarves were watching them pass from other tunnel entrances up and down the eastern wall. Their guide left them at the tunnel entrance and wished them luck. The tunnel felt cramped for the taller members of the group but after a short run it opened into a chamber strewn with packs and mining equipment with a granite altar against one wall.

The altar was dedicated to Moradin and a brief examination revealed that the miners had been in a fierce struggle. A couple of the party picked up mining picks, in case they needed them later. They followed the tunnel deeper until they saw what appeared to be an arm hanging down from behind a roof support. Investigating they found it to be a severed dwarf limb but no sign of the rest of the body. Moving deeper they came to a junction, the tunnel continued ahead while the left side branch seemed to slope downward as it curved out of sight and the right side branch rose as it to curved. As they pondered their route they heard movement from the right and Vipin (still full of liquid courage) ran to investigate. The tunnel led into a roughly circular chamber and Vipin saw half a dozen dwarven figures milling around. As he called to them they turned and he could see to his horror they were zombies!

Vipin was quickly joined by Hannah, Shane, Adam and Sunyi while Richard and Tanis hung halfway down the corridor in case of more zombies (or worse). The heroes were doing well until as they downed one of the undead, it stood back up and fought on, then another, and another did so. Richard and Tanis’s fears were well founded as another group of shambling dwarven corpses approached the tunnel entrance along with another dark figure they couldn’t quite make out. Richard quickly dropped a flaming sphere into the corridor entrance to hold them back but something drove the zombies onward despite the burning of their flesh as they passed through the flames. Tanis decided to attack the mysterious figure with an acid arrow spell, smiling as the scent of acid-singed flesh mingled with the air. His joy was short-lived though as his target responded with magic of its own, and a bolt of lightning careened up the corridor to blast the pair of heroes.

Meanwhile the others had managed to destroy all but one of the first group of zombies, but one tenaciously kept getting back up after each blow until Adam brought his staff down on it with a crack and it finally stayed down. By this time Richard and Tanis had retreated to the chamber entrance and Richard had controlled his sphere to bring it past the zombies and burn them again. Still undeterred they came on, through the repositioned flames and into the reach of the waiting heroes. The extra crispy zombies didn’t do as well as their predecessors and were quickly despatched. The mystery figure had disappeared by this time, and Vipin called upon his divine gifts to reach out with his senses. He was rewarded with the sense of a group of undead somewhere below his current position. Without waiting for his allies, who were tending their numerous bite, claw and scorch marks, the intoxicated gnome charged down the tunnel and into the opposite one ……

Oh the look on their faces when the lightning bolt hit! I think it took Richard down to almost single figure hp as he failed his saving throw. Although we didn’t use a battle-grid I did draw a simple line sketch of the situation (though for next week I’m thinking my drywipe mat will be of use). I had one zombie which seemed to be invincible, making its save to keep fighting time after time (I do like that trait).

I think the lightning bolt was one of the first times the pc’s have felt truly threatened this season, especially as they didn’t know who (or what) had cast it.

Next week is our last session for a couple of weeks as our store wont be open on Christmas Day or New Years Day (I know right, the inconvenience) so planning on making it one to remember as it will also see us close Act 1 and allow the players to level up to 5th level over the break.

D&DEnc 16 – Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Session 2

Another full table this week at Tabletop Tyrants with seven players and myself as DM (unfortunately Liam was unable to attend – feel better soon mate) and although Tilly had missed last week for the sake of brevity we just ignored that and continued from where we had finished last time. As usual we ran with the D&DNext playtest rules.

This weeks victims players:-

• Shane – Half-orc Barbarian
• Tanis – Elf Mage
• Sunyi – Elf Bard
• Hannah – Half-orc Fighter
• Adam – Tiefling Mage
• Richard – Half-Orc Druid
• Vipin – Gnome Paladin
• TIlly – Elf Rogue

After spending a cold night camping out on the tundra of the Dale, while the rest of the party prepared to break camp, Richard took the form of a hawk so as to get their bearings and the lay of the land. From his vantage point he could tell they were about an hour and a half from the dwarven valley and about six hours north of Bryn Shander. He also noticed a small group of figures heading in the general direction of his companions but before he could land they fired bows at him, one managing to hit him with what appeared to be an arrow made of an icicle! Quickly returning to camp he resumed his normal form and told the others what he had seen. Tilly, Tanis, Adam and Richard tried to hide among the snowbanks (though only Tanis and Tilly had any success) while the rest boldly prepared to engage the newcomers should they approach.

Having followed the path of the hawks flight the figures soon arrived, and they party could see that they looked like goblins though having a bluish-white tint to their skin rather than the usual green found in warmer climes. Tanis conjured a flaming sphere and managed to scorch two of the half-dozen frost goblins, receiving an icicle arrow for his trouble. Sunyi began playing his mandolin with a rousing call to battle as Hannah, Shane and Vipin closed with their foes. Realising his attempt at hiding was a failure (due to a n icicle arrow narrowly missing him) Adam hurled an acid arrow back at his opponent as Tilly returned bowfire.

The goblins gave up on their bows, drawing maces made of carved ice, half were already engaged in melee and the others charged towards Tanis, Adam and Tilly – though the one running towards Tanis managed to slip over and end up face first in the snow at the elf’s feet. The remainder of the fight was brutally brief and ended with Adam cracking the skull of the prone goblin at Tanis’s feet. Not wanting to wait and see if any more goblins were nearby the heroes followed Richard’s directions and set off towards the dwarven valley – or so they thought.

Their sense of direction was a little off and with the wind and falling snow they were already on the lower slopes of Kelvin’s Cairn before they realised their mistake. As they adjusted their course they heard the approach of a trio of dwarves, arguing amongst themselves. The leader of the trio seemed pleasant enough bit one of his companions bore an axe that looked as if made of a black crystalline substance and he took offence at being halted to talk to strangers, especially half-orcs! Luckily Vipin was able to smooth the situation and got directions to the entrance of the valley before bidding the dwarves farewell.

The valley entrance was guarded by a pair of sturdy stone towers manned by several dwarves armed with impressive crossbows while another pair of well-armed dwarves barred their way and asked why they were there. Again the heroes were able to talk their way in and even got one of the younger dwarves to act as a guide to show them to the dwarven settlement. Despite several sidelong glances, they encountered no hostility as they purchased some supplies before heading to a tavern.

While the rest of the party took a table and relaxed, Sunyi and Hannah decided to try and make a few extra coins and set up a game of “Find the Lady”, the dwarf they cajoled into playing won the first round and readily agreed to try double-or-nothing but when he lost, he asked for one more chance to make his coin back, Sunyi agreed but wanted to raise the stakes to a nice round ten gold pieces. The dwarf checked his purse, he couldn’t really afford to lose another ten gold but was pretty sure he knew how the game was worked now and so agreed. As Sunyi pulled the stack of his winnings towards him and shared them with Hannah, the dwarf glumly left the bar wondering to himself how he was going to explain it to his waiting wife.

Meanwhile a group of three dwarves sporting more of the black axes had entered the tavern and taken a table near the party. Drinks were flowing and they were steadily getting louder with comments such as “Stokely refuses to protect whats ours”, and “whats found by dwarves should be for dwarves”. They got rowdier and soon comments were coming aimed at the heroes “Stokely’ll let anything in here, its un-dwarf-like to drink with tree-hugging elves and their half-bred farm animals!”, Vipin tried to calm the situation by engaging one of the dwarfs in a drinking competition but before he could suggest it Tanis emptied his flagon over the nearest ones head and the trio exploded with anger.

One flipped the table over in rage as the beer drenched dwarf swung his meaty fist at the elf mage and his other companion decided to do the same to Hannah. Tilly and Sunyi busied themselves seeing if any other patrons wanted to place bets on the ruckus while Adam conjured a glowing sigil on the floor around the feet of the table-tossing dwarf. The dwarf’s eyes opened wide and with a shout of “the devil-spawn’s summoning demons!” he ran screaming out into the street.

As the brawler’s continued Richard and Tanis tried to use hold person magics to halt the dwarves, succeeding in forcing one to stop fighting and as the remaining heroes surrounded the last dwarf Sunyi’s silver tongue managed to force him to reconsider his position, with Vipin offering to settle thing with his drinking contest idea. The dwarf begrudgingly agreed on the terms that he face the gnome and loser left the tavern with his companions and no repercussions. The barkeeper brought over a tray loaded with glasses of some locally brewed spirit, setting down on the righted table with a muttered warning of “don’t spill it on the woodwork” before retreating to his bar. Having trained for a short time with the druids of his people, Tanis surreptitiously used his magic to bolster Vipin’s resistance to the liquour as the pair downed their first glasses. After the third glass the dwarf was breathing heavily, and following the fourth he could barely reach for the fifth, Vipin meanwhile looked to be thoroughly enjoying himself and none the worse for wear. Downing the fifth glass the dwarf put his empty glass on the table with a grin, and seconds later fell face first onto the table with a glazed face. Vipin calmly swallowed his fifth glass’ contents and placed his empty upturned on his opponents hairy head (though when he got to his feet it was a little unsteadily), the remaining dwarf pulled his inebriated ally roughly to his feet and dragged him out of the tavern.

Several of the remaining patrons congratulated Vipin on his “victory” and with the excitement over the tavern returned to normal.

Time had caught up with us, so that was where we left it for this week. Though it might have felt that we hadnt “achieved” much we had used all three of the “pillars of D&D” – Exploration, Interaction, Combat – so I feel that we had a successful session. As other DM’s on the forums have found, with the openness of the adventure and not knowing which way the players are going to go in advance the only prep you can do is to read up on whats likely to occur in the area their in  and be ready to “wing it” if needs be. Not an easy task, but thankfully after thirty-plus years of DMing, do-able.

Next week with word of the heroes bar-room exploits spreading there may be someone with a proposition for them.

D&DEnc 16 – Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Session 1

This week at Tabletop Tyrants we had just one table of 7 players running under the D&D Next playtest rules. The players are running 4th level pc’s and we have been increasing the difficulty of the encounters accordingly. The party consisted of:-

• Tanis – Elf Mage
• Hannah – Half orc Fighter
• Richard – Half orc Druid
• Adam – Tiefling Mage
• Sunyi – Elf Bard
• Shane – Half orc Barbarian
• Vipin – Gnome Paladin

We picked up the action straight in at the point following the events of the Launch Event….

As they heroes caught their breaths after the defeat of the Ancient Yeti the female dwarf that had accompanied them on the caravan, Helda Silverstream, approached them. She congratulated them on their defense of the gate and it was obvious that she too had been busy fending off yetis that had made it over the walls. She told the party that she would be carrying on her journey to her uncle in the dwarven valley of Kelvin’s Cairn shortly and asked if they would accompany her “This place has got a lot more dangerous since my last visit and I don’t rightly think I’d make it alone”. The heroes were happy to oblige Helda told them she wouldn’t be leaving for five days while she did some business in Bryn Shander.

While they were talking with the dwarf Shane overheard a pair of guards mumbling while they cleared away the corpses of yetis. “Its that bloody fool barbarians fault I tell ya, durned fool led the yetis right to our door so he did” said one. “He’ll pay the price though. Lets see how tough he is after a ‘night on the town’ eh?” replied his comrade with a snigger. Shane was a little curious at the mention of a fellow barbarian but his attention was pulled elsewhere as the party concluded their  talks with the dwarf and focused on a human shop owner nearby. His store had been all too close to the city wall and suffered significant damage from several yetis that had made it over the wall before being finally taken down by the defenders.

“Protection! Ha! Where were Slim and his boys for this? Slimy little sods probably sat in a nice warm tavern!” The heroes approached the man and discovered that his name was Rierdon and this was his apothecary store, well what was left of it. Apparently he (and several other businesses) paid an individual named Slim to “protect” their premises from accidents and such. The yeti raid had caused substantial damage to the outer walls of his store. Rierdon asked the heroes if they would get his money back from Slim, if they did so he would split it with them and use his share to repair his store, he’d also be able to give them a discount on future purchases. The heroes were happy to oblige and Vipin recalled hearing of this Slim during his time in Luskan. Slim was a member of Ship Rethnor and known as a particularly nasty piece of work. Rierdon told the heroes that Slim could usually be found at the Northlook tavern and off they went.

The tavern was a seedy looking place and Sunyi decided to try his luck earning a few coins with a musical performance but the journey north had de-tuned his lute and the resulting “tune” wasnt his best work. After making discrete enquiries they found out that Slim was upstairs in his room, having returned in the company of some of his associates and Aarun the weaponsmith (at this news Vipin’s little ears pricked up, Aarun was the person his harper contact had told him to seek out). Midway through Sunyi’s second tune there was an ominous thump from the room upstairs followed by a cry of pain. Still hyped up on adrenaline the heroes rushed upstairs and Vipin charged through the door.

The room had five burly looking guys in mismatched leathers standing around a body on the floor who’s throat had been cut and had bled out onto the dirty floor. Beyond them stood a wiry individual with a bloody dagger in hand. “Intruders! Kill them all!” hissed the dagger holder, who Vipin recognised as Slim.

Vipin, Hannah and Richard engaged Slim and his thugs in melee while Shane and Tanis supplied ranged support with spells and crossbow respectively, and Sunyi used his abilities to bolster his allies attacks. (Adam had arrived late and I had his mage join on the second round).

The fight was vicious and the heroes were taken aback when Slim morphed into a rat-man, but came to a head when Tanis used burning hands to torch the room, using his evocation training to protect his three allies from harm. As Richard created water to quench the remaining flames Adam used his staff to knock the last standing thug out. The other thugs and Slim were dead. They went through their pockets, including Aarun’s, finding a total of 125 gp, a pair of gems worth 50 gp each, and a note in Aarun’s pocket that read ““Aarun—Problems have arisen. Please meet me at the Northlook to discuss. Mithann.”, the heroes recognised the name Mithann as the local priest of Lathander they had heard about but she was obviously not here.

The heroes then came up with a cunning idea for Sunyi to use his disguise self spell to impersonate Slim and drag the surviving thug into the alleyway and convince him to lead them back to their hideout. Once he was conscious the thug proved to be none too bright and totally believed Sunyi was Slim. The rest of the heroes followed at a safe distance using  Tanis’s message cantrip to keep in touch. They were a little concerned when the thug led them out of Bryn Shander and north through the snowy landscape towards Kelvins Cairn. As Sunyi felt his spell begin to fade Tanis used message to distract the thug while “Slim” went to relieve himself (and Sunyi swapped places with Adam who had also cast disguise self). This continued for about 4 hours when they spotted a dwarven patrol set to cross their path, the groups passed with barely a nod of acknowledgement and the thug continued to lead “Slim” to safety.

A couple of hours later (approaching midnight) a large shape barreled out of the dark and snowy night and a polar bear attacked! With its first swipe of a claw it knocked the thug unconscious to the snow and its second claw laid Adam low too. Alerted to their comrades predicament by the message link the remaining heroes hustled to the rescue with Richard using his healing magic as soon as he was in range to bring Adam back to consciousness while the bear eviscerated the thug. As Adam got to his feet and ran toward his allies the bear gave chase, trying to pounce on the fleeing mage. Luckily his allies had caught up by then and were better suited to tackle the ferocious ursine.

Tanis wanted to skin the bear but due to the multiple hits of acid arrow spells its pelt was ruined. Richard realised that the bears behaviour was out of character and upon inspection discovered that its eyes had been covered in a layer of white ice. Both the druid and the mages concurred that the ice was not of natural origin and Vipin suggested it may be the work of Auril, the Frostmaiden, goddess of winter. Whatever its origin it had made the bear angrier and more hostile than usual.

The heroes had lost their guide and without knowing their destination decided to make camp on the tundra before heading back to Bryn Shander in the morning.

And so we left it there, though I did roll to see if their camp was disturbed (other than a worsening of the weather the night was uneventful). In a 2 hour session we’d had 2 good combats, some exploration and interaction with npc’s, we we’re amazed at the thugs total inability to discern the deception and as my rolls barely made it to double figures he proved to be very gullible. In fact the only decent die roll I had all evening was the bears initial attack on Adam coming up a crit (revenge for him crit rolling the staff to the face of the thug earlier).

D&DEnc 16 – Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Launch Event

This weekend saw our regular Wednesday evening D&D Encounters group descend upon our FLGS, Tabletop Tyrants, for the launch event of the latest installment in the Sundering – Season 16 of Encounters, Legacy of the Crystal Shard. Set in Icewind Dale, familiar to players of the pc games and readers of the Drizzt series of novels by R A Salvatore (indeed he was one of the co-authors of the adventure) our heroes begin escorting a caravan (for whatever reasons, known to themselves and shared only if they wish to do so) to the isolated community of Ten-Towns.

Although turn out wasnt as big as we originally hoped we still had enough to make two tables, both running using the D&D Next playtest rules as we have been doing for the past couple of seasons. One thing we had decided to do differently was to let players carry their characters over from the last adventure if they chose to (or create new level 4 ones) and this meant that myself and Liam (our other DM) would need to modify the adventure ourselves as its set (as usual) for 1st level pc’s.

The adventure begins with the caravan on the last stage of its journey and pushing hard to make the safety of Bryn Shander before nightfall. Unfortunately they are ambushed by a pair of crag cats, a species of sabre-toothed cat native to the Dale.

The players designated which of the half-dozen carts they were on (I had already rolled to see which the cats would be attacking) and rolled perception WIS checks to see if they had spotted the wily beasts as they approached. Two of the players spotted them and while one shouted a warning to everyone else, the other cast a Barkskin spell upon himself. The cats leapt at the carts, one slashing at the horses on the last cart while the other dragging the driver clean off his seat to the floor beyond.

Shane, Richard and Tanis (yes, his parents were Dragonlance fans) chose to attack the cat standing over the guard from a “safe” distance with missile fire but this didn’t deter the beast from biting the throat out of its stunned victim.

Tilly also chose to shoot her bow at the remaining cat, distracting it from savaging the horses any further (though they were panicking and quickly caused the cart to overturn with their thrashing in their harnesses), as the cat turned its attention to her she tried to hide with the aid of her Cloak of Elvenkind. Unfortunately the cat had her scent and pounced at her.

Richard and Shane both switched to their melee attacks and closed with their cat, while Tanis took up a “strategic position” under a cart and continued to provide covering bowfire. Their combined assaults quickly bloodied the animal and it managed to disengage before sprinting off into the snow.

Realising her cloak wasnt much help Tilly slashed ineffectually at the cat beside her before using her cunning action to dive beneath the cart. The cat followed, unwilling to let a tasty morsel get away, its huge furred paw reaching under the cart after her.

Shane ran between the carts to assist Tilly as Richard and Tanis supported and the heroes were able to bring the beast down. The caravan leader was eager to get back under way before further incidents befell them but the last cart was still overturned. Its owner unwilling to abandon his goods to the elements and any passing brigands. The caravan leader wouldn’t wait and left it up to the heroes as to whether they stayed or left with him. Tanis and Tilly accompanied the caravan while Shane and Richard remained to help the stricken cart.  They were quickly able to right the cart, and under the owners supervision repair the damaged wheel and calm the injured horse (Tanis had cast a Cure Wounds spell on it before leaving) and with a determined effort managed to catch up to the caravan shortly thereafter.

As the gates of Bryn Shander came into view the caravan cheered and surged ahead. Suddenly the  snowy terrain around the erupted as hairy figures lurched at both the caravan and the gateway – Yetis!

Thankfully Tanis and Richard were playing a ranger and druid respectively, and made Nature lore checks, realising that yetis has a vulnerability to fire, so Richard summoned a Flame Blade to fight with.

The battle was going well until some of the yetis were able to mount the walls, overcoming the guards atop (during the fight some of the yetis attempted to dive off the walls onto the heroes, but thankfully succeeded only in hitting the floor – hard!).

As further yetis swarmed the walls a huge one with obsidian black claws stormed the gate. Richard summoned a Flaming Sphere and used it to block the beasts way while Shane and Tanis tackled it in melee. The beast slashed Tanis heavily and the elf ranger withdrew so as to be able to heal himself.

As the heroes concentrated their attacks on the larger abomination, the lesser ones began to rip up the stones of the wall and tower and pelt them with them. But as the large yeti fell to the heroes blows it gave a mournful howl and the remaining smaller yetis fled back into the snowy wilderness.

And that was where we left it, ready to continue this Wednesday evening with our regular Encounters slot, fingers crossed the ordered copies of our adventures actually arrive in time (though we have contingency plans in place). The session had taken 3 hours to play out, despite the lauch packs giving an estimate of 2 plus time for character creation. Our players had all created their characters before hand (or carried them over as mentioned above). I think it was nice for the players to face monstrous foes as well, as the last adventure was mainly facing against townsfolk/guardsmen, and they didn’t feel they had to “hold back from killing”.

Being a huge fan of the setting myself I’m really looking forward to how this season pans out and reporting it here.