When we last left our intrepid band of adventurers, they were in hiding while one of the half-orc barbarians was playing bait. The ruse ended up working! While the orc-creature kept its attention glued on the strange, "drunk" half-orc in the empty fields to the west, the others were able to quickly slay it using missile fire and spells. They called Ludo back over to the ruins once they stowed the body. Then, one of the half-orcs got the great idea to toss the corpse over the cliff!
Meanwhile, the rogue proceeded to climb to the top of the ruins to get a better look inside. They already could see that the roof was gone over most of the structure (destroyed in a fire long ago) and that the only enclosed area was the tower to the northeast. Nicky got to the top and saw a large courtyard with an open well and a ruined statue. She also noted there were two orcs ready with missile weapons in a corridor of arrow slits below her (they were unaware of her presence). The others started scrambling up the wall as Nicky and Kruhnk jumped down and into combat. Axel climbed to the wall and remained there. Meanwhile, Elania took off down the corridor, completely oblivious to the danger of the arrow slits. She figured that making a moving target would save her. She unfortunately didn't count on the arrow slits at the far end of the corridor, and the fact that it made a U-turn before entering into the courtyard. She managed to get plugged once by an orc before she ran out of his sight around the corner. Ludo, not wanting to leave Crommard behind by himself, remained to escort the old man down the corridor cautiously, trying to avoid getting shot.
After the others took out the two orcs in the "shooting gallery" they moved into the courtyard, except for Nicky who tried climbing back onto the wall, and Axel who liked the advantage of higher ground. Orcs emerged from the north and east to take up defensive positions at the fallen statue and the entrance to the tower. The party (minus Ludo and Crommard who were STILL moving cautiously around the entrance U-turn corridor) moved south to explore the rooms, only noticing the orcs when they got closer. Axel was using his sorcerer spells to good effect from the wall, but Nicky just kept getting hurt falling off the wall (really bad rolls). Kruhnk and Elania moved in for melee combat. A grand melee began in the courtyard and spanned not one, but two whole sessions! The party faced about 4 orcs, an orc lietenant, 2 ogrillons, and an orc shaman. The shaman kept two pet dire rats on leashes. It took a lot of effort to slay them, but they eventually succeeded.
In the tower they found some captive kobolds who were used to perform menial labor for the orcs. They were thankful for being freed and agreed to leave the place when darkness fell (the sunlight hurt their eyes). Ludo, feeling sorry for the little wretches, gave up his rations for them to eat. To the south of the kobold room was a secret door left open. Beyond in the darkness, Kruhnk was able to make out some stairs heading down.
The party was curious about the well and the rooms surrounding the courtyard. They investigated the rooms but found only ruined equipment, bad gear, or orcish supplies. Nicky investigated the well by climbing down with a rope. At the bottom she saw what looked to be a wooden door set in the floor. When she grabbed for it, yellow mold spores erupted and filled the well! She was pulled up by the others but the spores had already caused her to lose a lot of Constitution.
Wounded and out of spells, the party decided to rest in the archery guard room next to the tower. They would remain here to tend the wounded and regain spells. In the morning they would continue into the lower levels of the ruins. Unfortunately, other events have to happen in the module as written. Below, Sethus located the spear Alkarg, an orcish weapon created long ago to slay elves. The party was in for a nasty surprise!
In the morning, after the party had rested and regained spells, Sethus (actually Serga, a half-orc cleric/rogue of Gruumsh) emerged with the remaining orcs from below, victorious! They were surprised by their dead comrades and the presence of the party, but Serga immediately started combat with them, ordering his weakened orc brothers to engage them in combat. The weakened orcs (and the weakened party) exchanged blows for some time, and Serga managed to put up a great fight! The elves were wounded by the spear and it was determined that they would have to stay far away if they intended to live. That left the half-orcs to battle alongside the rogue. Axel provided some support with spells from the confines of the tower. Elania provided some healing support with her channel energy ability. In the end, the PCs prevailed and slew Serga. Unfortunately, Ludo picked up the spear....
Immediately he was filled with a loathing for elves and the spear was actually able to take him over! A short battle concluded with Krunhk unconscious and Ludo near death. The spear was grabbed by the rogue using broken weapon hafts. The spear was then unceremoniously tossed down the well, there to cause more yellow mold to erupt. The bodies of the orc and Serga were looted and items taken included a necklace of adaptation (Nicky), a +1 shield (Kruhnk), and +1 leather armor (Axel).
Seriously injured, the party had to waste ANOTHER day here resting. Nicky, physically uninjured but weakened by the spores, volunteered to head back to Awad for help. It would take the rest of the day to make it to Awad and back. She broke into the old chapel and found some holy water, healing potions, and other clerical goodies including a scroll with delay poison. She hurried back to the others who were convalescing (both Elania and Kruhnk were in bad shape; Ludo had no one to blame for his condition but himself).
When she got back they administered the potions and rested yet another day. By now they were almost out of rations. They finally decided to finish exploring. They entered the lower levels and Kruhnk fell afoul of a crossbow trap in a hall decorated by orc statues and elf skeletons. They then proceeded on to find a squirrely little man who yelled at them to get out of his home. They eventually obliged, then set about killing rats behind a moldy tapestry in the hall outside. Angered that they would attack his "friends", the little man started to attack them with spells (he was an illusionist). They eventually forced him to retreat. Then he transformed into his rat form (he was a wererat) and invisibly escaped down an old drain pipe, followed shortly after by his rat familiar. The party, fooled by his deception, instead located the rest of his friends (15 dire rats) in a room that also held his treasures. The party defeated the rats easily and looted his chest - gaining a spellbook and some coin.
They then investigated a dead-end corridor where they found a stuck secret door. Kruhnk the half-orc charged the door to force it open, and ended up in the bottom of the well with the spear and yellow mold. He too lost Constitution as he clawed his way back out of the well. The explosion of spores filled part of the hallway so no one else could help him!
The place beyond was mostly empty. They passed some collapsed areas and a large hall filled with dead orcs and some sort of altar. They descended to the lower level. Nicky found a tripwire trap on the stairs and successfully disarmed the trap! They proceeded down into the hall of dead orcs. Here they entered the altar area and Ludo was scared by an orc skeleton holding a spear in its lap. He fled, terrified, with the light source, up the stairs until he was tackled and restrained by Elania and Axel (good review of unarmed combat procedures!). When they all returned to the others, they decided to avoid the fear-inducing altar and check out the north door. Beyond they were alerted to a possible trap. Axel used detect magic to locate a magical trap on the floor between two skeletons, and some magic treasure on corpses in the room beyond. Nicky bounded across the trap, setting it off (but avoiding the blast herself). She was then in the room beyond with the corpses. She grabbed the items mentioned by Axel and leapt back through the wall of flames, taking some damage. The rooms were filling with smoke so they all decided to retreat upstairs after closing the door.
In the hall of dead orcs they located some magic rings (thanks to Axel's detect magic cantrip) and decided to leave the place for good. They had apparently found all they could here, and learned the fate of Sethus (Serga). They were a little concerned about leaving the spear behind, but the yellow mold would prevent anyone else from grabbing it!
They returned to Awad, then continued on to Sandspoint and ended the adventure.
* * * * *
I gave the players some time to talk about the system after we finished. For the most part, the players enjoyed the variety and playability of the Pathfinder rules. They thought it was great that they could take and dish out so much damage at 1st level. After the main battle in the courtyard, everyone actually made 2nd level! I used the "fast track" experience totals to do this, since we wanted experience with the system and did not intend on making this a lasting campaign.
We were able to locate just about every rule in the Core Rulebook. I rarely looked in the Bestiary, and only referenced sections of the Game Mastery Guide outside of the game. This is good, because lugging all three books around was beginning to hurt my shoulder! Those books are thick and heavy!
The characters did not gain a 3rd level at the end - most of the combat and encounters were meant to delay and wear down defenses for the main combat at the end. However, the time wasted above allowed the end encounter to find the party! So we ran the module backwards - not the first time for this group! They still enjoyed themselves, and I think that adding the 2 extra players to the mix was key. All the characters had their moments to shine, although I wish the two half-orcs had selected different classes....
All in all the Pathfinder rules seemed to be very consistent with a fun, fast, and exciting game. I enjoyed running the combats almost as much as the players! Since the system is still new to all of us, there were surprises for everyone. Having played 3rd edition previously helped me tremendously - although it also caused me to assume certain things about the rules. There are many subtle differences between 3rd edition D&D and Pathfinder, most of them for the better!
We played this version for about 7 sessions. The first session was character creation, the second was mostly entering the adventure and doing some role-playing, and the last 5 sessions were spent playing the adventure. All the characters were 2nd level and well on their way to 3rd level by the end of the adventure. A lot of game time was spent healing and recovering between combats. The use of Game Table, a third party mapping program, helped with the combats immensely. We've been using it throughout the versions and it really helps the party visualize combat. It was even more useful here due to the nature of Pathfinder combat.
I'm taking a DM break for the last version. One of the new players is a DM in the 5th edition rules and she has graciously allowed me to play for a change! The next post on this topic will likely list our new 5th edition characters and how character creation is accomplished in the latest D&D game.
