Circuit Jerk

Until videogames pick up I’m going to update a 4^th Edition Dungeons and Dragons column either every week or every other week depending on when I get to play.

The third session of my campaign had a bit of a snag in it. Sallie and Kelson were unable to attend making the arena fight I had planned impossible. We delayed the arena and the remaining crew decided to head onto Vahn, but not before picking up some mercenary NPCs for about 1,000 gold. I figured this would even the odds for the missing players.

Vahn was priority in the campaign because the city supposedly still has contact with the banished dwarves, who in turn have a way to physically contact Rabidus, the god of this world. Since the mist cuts off James’ contact with Rabidus, this is their best chance at getting some devine umph in the fight against Azurel.

Andy, Doug, and James show up in Vahn to see a man screaming commands at about twelve soldiers in full armor and wrapped faces trying to pull the Vitas Tree down. After inquiring and trying to convince the foreman to not pull down the tree, the boys found out that the mayor ordered the destruction of the tree because he thought it was poisoning the townfolk. The boys wanted immediate court with the mayor, but he wouldn’t hold court until the next morning.

James went to the local pub with all the mercenaries and started asking around. The bar itself was filled with somber looking burly men, not really talking to each other. James asked the first burly man he saw “what’s up?” but after answering he was friendly with the mayor, the man took off.

Attempt 2: James successfully asked by far the drunkest guy at the bar what was happening. He told him that all the guards had been fired and the mayor brought in mercenaries to work for him. The economy in the town was sunk. James and the mercs left the bar, running into an inn owner that not only gave them an extremely discounted price on rooms, but said there was a person of interest waiting for them there. James met up with Doug and Andy.

An interesting plot development, Doug won’t let Andy out of his sights. Ever since Andy was revealed to be a Lamia, Doug has been gunning for him. So, being a shapeshifter, Andy turned into the foreman. Him and Doug infiltrated the mayor’s mansion. They expected to have him trapped in his room, but after making their way through several anti-social gaurds they found an empty room.They poked around a bit finding a secret passage under the mayor’s bed. They didn’t dare enter until they also had James.

After this they met up with James only to return and show him what was going on.They questioned the staff and at one point debated attacking and killing a lowly servant that was scrubbing pots to find out what the mayor looked like so Andy could immitate him.

Ultimately their plan succeeded when they found two portraits and on a dice roll Andy chose the right one to immitate. They found that the mayor’s bed dropped into the floor leading a mile outside the city to an empty stable. The mayor was gone.

The boys met a man at the local inn who was a former gaurd. He said some of the gaurds did leave the city and start legitimate farms, but most of them were hiding out building a resistance. He said none of the former gaurds are allowed in the kings court because they had all been charged with treason. If Andy, Doug, and James would go and talk the mayor out of ripping the tree down, the resistance would help with the larger battle with Azurel.

The boys went to speak with the mayor the next morning, found an old disfigured mayor unwilling to relent to tearing down the tree. I’ll admit, I sort of stole this plot point from Lord of the Rings. They were about to give up trying to convince him when something started shaking the ground at regular intervals. The mayor went to his room and the foreman ran outside excited. The boys ran outside to find a Hill Giant had been brought in by the mayor to try and tear the tree down.

Andy turned into the mayor and for several moments successfully convinced (or at least confused) the mercenary gaurds to not attack and to stop the deconstruction of the tree.

The foreman knew that Andy was an imposter, but didn’t want to reveal it afraid that the town would turn on him, thinking the mayor’s attitude change was all the imposter. He told Andy to leave and he would spare his life. Andy tried to turn the gaurds on the foreman and it seemed to be working. The foreman and giant started fighting with the boys. The gaurds largely stayed out of it until James, loyal follower of Rabidus, threw out some righteous radiant damage and revealed himself to be good.

The gaurds attacked the boys. The killed the first gaurd, knocking his helmet off revealing a skelton. All of the mayor’s new gaurds were minions of Azurel.

Since they were taking on a giant and I didn’t know how it would go, I gave them the option of using a catapult. This catapult followed simple rules. A strength check with a DC of 20 would determine if they could load and shoot in the same turn. If they could, their attack roll was determined by their dextarity modifier. Then the damage roll was a D20. That means they could do as much as 20 damage, or as little at 1. It was a risky move.

Doug nailed the foreman with the first rock, knocking him on his butt. The fight escalated leaving the boys almost dead by the end of it.

All three characters played an important role in the encounter.

Andy ran in with almost no hit points and saved their healer from being killed by the giant. By the time Andy got to him, the healer had less than 10 hit points.

Doug had his mercenaries collect five kegs worth of flamable liqour. He then rolled them at the giant and set them on fire with a lightning strike. One keg broke open on the ground when Doug rolled a one, but the other four found their mark and caused about 70 damage when all was set and done.

James probably helped the most. He targeted the foreman exclusively, found out that he was a controller, killed him, and then celebrated when all the skeleton gaurds dropped to the ground, leaving only the giant.

The next session: Its off to see the dwarves and if all goes to plan Rabidus, the god himself.