D&D Encounters: The Elder Elemental Eye Session 3 These Hills Have Eyes

This week is session 3 and most of the stores should have played the third session of this season of D&D Encounters.  I've finally got our group caught up to the third session (we have been playing catch up since Christmas season.).

I will now be briefly recapping our sessions in the following weeks.

Here is the recap of week two:

- The Merchant Council and Lady Bron of Iriaebor hired the characters to investigate rumours of an outbreak of the abyssal plague in Easting.

- A cult of Ghaunadaur, greater god of oozes and aberrant creatures, seems to be responsible for the plague in Easting.

- Characters might have contracted the plague after a battle in the village.

- Jakairn, a cultist captured in the same battle, revealed the location of the cult's temple, the Sunset Shrine, in the badlands south of Easting.

- Insane dwarven cultists attacked the characters in the badlands.
Roleplaying Session 3

When the players take their short rests from last weeks' battle, the characters are faced with a skill challenge of having to navigate the badlands on their way to the Sunset Shrine.

I was a complexity 2 skill challenge and require interaction with 4 scenes.  Characters were required to make group endurance checks at the beginning of every scene.  Success either counts as a success to the challenge, or negates on failure from the challenge.

1. Scene 1 - Broken path was nature based, helping with the acrobatic and athletics checks, assuming the players are navigating treacherous territory, choosing the proper path through a ravine.
2. Scene 2 - Keeping the trail was also nature based, helping with perception check to be able to pickup the trail of the cultists.
3. Scene 3 - High view is a history based check, helping the nature check if successful.  The party has crested a ridge and sees a mountain that looks like the Teeth of Ghaunadaur(it is). The characters also come across a vacant campsite littered with empty whiskey bottles(dwarven)
4. Scene 4 - Odd hermit puts the party into contact with a galeb duhr.  If the party converses with the hermit, they learn that a drow raiding party has been scouting the area and the party is alerted and can move stealthily to approach the drow camp.  Successful group check with stealth gives the party successes and failure for group failure.

The characters are then thrown into combat with the drow and their spider allies. The enemies the party fights is the following:

1. Chalindra - Level 3 Elite Controller, drow
2. Tebrizz, Drow Scout - Level 2 Elite Skirmisher, drow
3. 2 Ambush Spiders - Level 2 Lurker

If the drow are defeated, they tell the party that they are here because of the cult.  The drow announce that they hate the followers of Ghaunadaur and wish to know what is happening.  Character rolling an insight can tell they are not telling the whole truth.  They further reveal that the they are sent here as scouts if pressed to get intelligence on the strength of the area.

The drow gladly  tell the party how to get to the entrance to the temple, and about the elemental goblins (norkers). They have not been able to get inside as of yet.  

Sights and Sounds Recap

We have finally caught up to the regular session from having fallen behind during the holidays at our FLGS called Sights and . Our party consisted of a warforged barbarian, a changeling skald bard, an elf wizard, a human paladin, and a human sorcerer.

They were surprise at the start of combat.  The paladin was taken down within the second round by the drow skirmisher with some serious rolling.  After doing some knowledge checks, and the paladin being out cold, the barbarian knew that the drow especially hated elves and offered to hand the drow the elf wizard in return for their freedom to continue on their way.

The changeling, knowing ahead of time that he may face drow, took the form of one. Throughout combat, the drow were trying to signal him on his reasons for not fighting for them. He rolled really high bluff checks, enough to make them think he did not see the signs of their hands.  

The elf wizard was brought down by Chalindra, and Tebrizz agreed to the barbarian's demands. Combat ended as the male drow went up to the elf and stabbed him twice in the heart, killing him. 

The rest of the party was free to go.

This was probably the most unpredictable moment I have been placed in as a DM.  I allowed it because the party was seriously outmatched with the damages they took in the surprise round.  Players were quick thinking and sacrificed (who is coming back next week with the same characters anyways) for the good of the rest of the party.

It was a great session.

How did your session fare?  Tell me about it. Innocent elves want to know.