As this is a campaign report, expect significant spoilers. Also, this first post is from our prequel session, which is the We Be Goblins! module adapted to work as a prequel for Runelords. You have been warned.
Session 0: We Be Goblins!
Players:
Chandra- Mrs. Gogangles the Flamey, goblin sorcerer
Ben- Mogmurch, goblin alchemist
Lucas- Chuffy Lickwound, goblin rogue
Richard- Poog of Zarongel, goblin cleric
Erica- Reta Bigbad, goblin fighter
The adventure was run mostly as written, with some minor changes to the backstory and ending. The mention of the failed raid on Sandpoint was removed to make this a viable prequel to Burnt Offerings. An additional dare was also added so that every PC was able to participate in one.
The players read each other’s’ songs while I got set up. Once I was ready, I sang the Licktoad’s song, and read the adventure background to them, changing the bit about the failed raid on Sandpoint to rumors of an upcoming raid.
The PC’s met with the chief, were given their mission, and the feast began. Everyone partook in the fermented apples, and Chuffy failed his save, becoming very intoxicated (luckily due to his Pustular trait, he wasn’t actually sickened). Shortly after this, the party received their first dare, “dance with Squeely Nord”. Chuffy, in his drunkenness, was more than eager to oblige. He failed his first ride check, but rolled a natural 20 on his reflex save, so I ruled that he was not thrown from the piglet. He made the rest of his checks without any failures.
The next dare was my custom made one, “hop across the stumps”. I said there was a small bog lying immediately next to the village, and that there were several stumps jutting up out of it. There was green slime growing on the surface. I did not use the same slime in the CRB; this one would simply cause 1d6 damage per round if the participant fell in, and damage would stop if they escaped by making a DC 10 swim check. To make it across the stumps required a series of 3 DC 15 acrobatics checks. Mogmurch was the participant, and made all checks without fail thanks to downing his jump extract before attempting the challenge. He received a skyrocket from the chief as his reward. This was the same skyrocket that would usually be provided to the PCs before the journey’s start, but I decided to make it the final dare reward instead since there was an extra PC and I didn’t adjust the encounters accordingly.
The next dare was “eat a big bag of slugs real quick”, and Mrs. Gogangles was the participant. She had several failures, as she was attempting to spit out the poison bladders, and it came down to the last slug and the last attempt. She decided to just go ahead and swallow it whole, and was able to get it down. Unfortunately, she failed the save to resist the poison, ending up sickened. The other 2 challenges were completed with no failures, Reta participating in “hide or get clubbed”, and Poog partaking in “the rusty earbiter”.
The party headed out the next morning with Chuffy about 15 feet ahead of the party as a “scout”. He failed his perception check to see Lotslegs Eats Goblin Babies Many, and was nearly ambushed as a result. Luckily, Mogmurch, who was next in line, saw the spider. Mogmurch rolled 1st in initiative, and threw a bomb at the tree the spider was hiding in. He critted on his roll, causing the tree to fall, and nearly crushed Lotslegs in one attack. The spider was pinned, at 3 hp, and was quickly finished off by Reta.
When the party found Lotslegs nest, things got interesting. They split the gold evenly ( threw an extra gp in so this wouldn’t be an issue), and agreed that Reta could have the crossbow, but fought over the rest of the gear. Mogmurch successfully appraised the pearl, and attempted to bluff on how much it was worth. He failed.
Now, at this point, Chuffy was standing behind Mogmurch, and Mrs. Gogangles was behind Chuffy. Poog and Reta were about 10 feet in front of Mogmurch. Chuffy wanted to sneak attack Mogmurch, and Mrs. Gogangles wanted to cast burning hands. I had Mogmurch roll a perception check to see if he heard them about to attack (and therefore not be flat-footed), but he failed. I had everyone roll initiative, and Mrs. Gogangles came out on top, followed by Chuffy, Poog, Reta, and finally Mogmurch. She cast burning hands, and hurt Chuffy quite a bit thanks to him failing his reflex save. Mogmurch saved for half damage, but his pouch containing his fireworks and bombs caught fire. Chuffy ran over to where the as-of-yet unclaimed potions were lying on the ground, about 20 feet away. Poog and Reta spent their turns running as far away as they could from Mogmurch, as they saw that his pouch where he kept his explosives was on fire. Mogmurch threw his flaming pouch backwards towards Mrs. Gogangles, who kicked it back at him on her turn. Chuffy chugged a random potion, hoping for a cure potion, but instead got the bear’s endurance potion. Poog and Reta each rolled perception checks to see if they could spot the pearl that Mogmurch dropped, but failed. Mogmurch finally put out the flaming pouch before the explosives went off, but the pouch itself was ruined. At this point everyone agreed to stop attacking one in other, so I let them act in whatever order they wanted. Chuffy chugged another random potion, this time getting a cure moderate wounds which brought him up to full health, and held on to the 2 remaining potions. Reta and Mrs. Gogangles started searching for the dropped pearl, and spotted it at the same time. I had them roll initiative to see who got to it 1st and Mrs. Gogangles won. Mogmurch went over and claimed the bag of candy. Overall, this killed about 45 minutes of game time. An hour, adding in the time for me to set up the tiles for the next encounters (we use Heroscape tiles). Usually, I wouldn’t allow things to get this out of hand over treasure, but everyone was having fun with it. They all also assured me that this was because of their alignment being NE, so hopefully I won’t have these problems once we get the actual campaign rolling (this also makes it clear that I will definitely be banning evil alignments for this campaign).
Moving on, they came across the ship, and saw Stomp the horse at the same time as he saw them. Poog got 1st in initiative and threw a javelin. He critted, dropping Stomp to 1 hp. Reta finished the horse off with her crossbow. Chuffy was the first to go up the ramp, and saw the wasp nest trap. However, he jumped over the tripwire instead of disabling it. Everyone else did this as well, except for Mrs. Gogangles. She failed her perception check to see the trap, and also failed a sense motive check to determine why everyone else was jumping. She triggered the trap, but everyone made all saves, so no one was affected.
Minor note here: it seems I inadvertently mixed up the rooms of the ship. I had the galley as Vorka’s cabin, and vice versa.
Once they were all aboard the ship, Reta let everyone know that there were dogs about, thanks to her Dog-Sniff-Hate feat. Before they went any farther, Chuffy downed his Dragon Brew Gourd, and everyone prepared themselves for a fight. I went ahead and had them roll initiative, and Chuffy went first. He moved up a few feet, spotted Tickletooth near the railing on the second deck, and used his 1st breath attack, dropping the dog instantly. Poog was next, and he rounded the main cabin, saw Scabtongue, and used a fire bolt, dropping that dog as well. With the fight over, Poog’s player Richard had to stop to get some sleep. Poor guy had been up for 36 hours and was falling asleep while we were playing, so I took over as Poog.
At this point, the party decided to bypass the lower cabin, and move on to the upper deck. Mogmurch and Chuffy stopped to snack on the remains of Tickletooth, while Reta, Mrs. Gogangles, and Poog went to look in the upper cabin. There, they found Vorka in the middle of a meal (she was munching on Scribbleface’s arm). I don’t recall the exact details of the battle, but early on Mogmurch joined the fight, and Chuffy looked in the small room, saw how crowded it was, and went to explore the lower cabin, where he torched Cuddles with his breath weapon, dropping the pooch in one hit. At some point, Vorka was shrank via Mogmurch’s reduce person extract (it was getting late, and I didn’t want to take the time to explain extracts don’t work like that). Poog was eventually swallowed by Lord Licktongue, whom Poog fire bolted from the inside. Reta and Mrs. Gogangles finished off Vorka with their dogslicers (Mrs. Gogangles had the Gorge of Gluttons). Mogmurch lit his skyrocket, and shoved it into Lord Licktongue’s moutn, and the frog exploded with Poog still inside. Poog was amazingly still standing at 2 hp.
The group gathered the treasure, and headed back to the village. Upon arriving, they saw “a pointy-eared longshank” (Tsuto Kaijitsu) leaving the moot hut, escorted by Slorb. Slorb waved them on into the hut, where they gave the chief the fireworks. He gladly accepted them, and told the group he had a new mission for them. The longshank was asking for assistance in a raid on Sandpoint, which members from all the local goblin tribes were taking part in.
Edit: Almost forgot to thank _metz_ for Mrs. Gogangles the Flamey and Al Rigg for providing the download for her.
Ok, so we FINALLY got to play Thursday, and the first session went great! I am a little worried, but I’ll get to that in the report. Before I get started though, thanks to everyone who contributed to the Extra Events and Games at the Swallowtail Festival thread. I love the games you all came up with! Unfortunately, my players did not participate in most of the games. They thought the ideas were cool, but didn’t see their characters as being interested in them, or able to do well at them. Also thanks to smashthedean for his opening speeches from this thread. Anyways, here’s the report.
Session 1: Festival & Fire
Characters
Ellyjobelle Zanitar Sparklegem – Female Gnome Synthesist Summoner with flying frog eidolon “Big Sparkly Whatchamacallit” played by Chandra (my wife)
Anica Tol'Nivar – Female Tiefling Witch played by Erika (until after 1st combat…she wanted to try the class and didn’t like it)
Mari (last name unknown)– Female Human (Varisian) Rogue played by Erika (after 1st combat)
Morikov Graves – Male Tiefling Fighter played by Lucas
Vanhite – Male Half-Elf Bladebound Magus played by Ben
Before we started, I gave everyone a notebook to keep an in-character campaign journal with, and if they do they will receive something special. I’m still deciding what that “something special” will be, but I’m leaning towards them discovering they have a “legacy item” that will gain abilities as they level, sort of like in the 3.5 weapons of legacy book, but not using those rules. Like I said, I’m still mulling it over. So far, Ellyjobelle is the only one keeping a journal, but that may change. Chandra was writing as we played. I’ll post her journal entry in the next post.
As we got started, I gave a short description of the town, including the sign posted as you come in with the mirror. All the characters had arrived at different times with their separate caravans/ships/other modes of transport, save for Morikov who lives in Sandpoint. I described the various games that were set up, and Morikov took part in several, while Anica and Vanhite only took part in one each. Ellyjobelle just walked the town, enjoying the music, and waited for Father Zantus to give his speech (she’s a worshipper of Desna). After he grew tired of the games, Morikov headed over to the Rusty Dragon to see if Ameiko was there (Lucas brought it up to me before the game that he wanted Morikov to be courting her; how serious the relationship is has not been determined yet). Bethana told him that she had left for the Cathedral not long ago, as the speeches were about to begin. Sure enough, right after that a bell sounded, signaling everyone to make their way to the Cathedral. The mayor, Sheriff Hemlock, and Cyrdak gave their speeches, and Father Zantus took the stage. He began his speech, and then was interrupted by the sound of high pitched laughter and song as the goblins started the raid. At this point I played my recorded version of The Goblin Song, which can be found here.
Leading the first group of goblins was Reta Bigbad. The crowd panicked and scattered, with relatively few people remaining calm. Mayor Deverin, Sheriff Hemlock, Cyrdak, and Father Zantus managed to calmly get a large group of people to take refuge in the Cathedral, while Ameiko and Ilsoari (headmaster of the Turandarok Academy) tried to get the children to safety, as they were cut off from the Cathedral by the goblins. The fight went rather well, except for Anica, who was dropped into negative hp, and didn’t land a single attack. With the first group of goblins dispatched, Father Zantus rushed from the Cathedral to Anica’s aid, healing her. Although healed, Anica was so shaken from what had happened she decided to go to the relative safety provided by the Cathedral.
Deciding to do what they could to stop the attack, the rest of the group sought out more goblins. Continuing down the road a bit, they spotted Ameiko and Ilsoari protecting the children, and Ilsoari had the limp form of one child slung over one shoulder. Ilsoari lit a goblin on fire with a spell, and Ameiko finished it off, then they ushered the children in to the nearest building, and slammed the door behind them. The party was going to see if they needed help, but as they approached they saw bombs being thrown from the roof of another building towards the door Ameiko and Ilsoari had just ducked into. On the roof was Mogmurch, and several more goblins wielding torches were on the ground, including Mrs. Gogangles the Flamey. Morikov went somewhere near the top of initiative, and decided to attack Mogmurch with his longbow. He crit, dropping Mogmurch to 1 hp, who collapsed a round later due to bleed (we play with the Critical Hit Deck; this being the first time this particular group has ever used it, I’m sure this crit will be talked about for a while). During this combat is also when they met Mari, who managed to sneak attack one of the other goblins, “slitting his throat”, and dropping him into the negatives. She managed to do this to another goblin the very next round.
After that fight was over, we took a little break, and I tried to get the group to tell everyone a little about themselves, but they all had reasons not to. So, I’m a little worried about this. I have 2 characters who describe themselves as “loners” (Morikov and Vanhite), and one who doesn’t really know anything about her character yet (Erika as Mari). Mari is understandable, as Erika had Anica built, and a backstory and all, but didn’t like the class, so she took a character I had rolled-up as an NPC and made it a female instead of a male. I also understand Chandra’s reasoning with Ellyjobelle, as this is a character she has played before, just with a different class. She always plays Ellyjo as a little shy at first, especially around “big people”, but she warms up to the group quickly. Thankfully, everyone really was having a good time, it’s just I REALLY hope we get some more character interaction going in future sessions.
Anyways, after the brief rest, they heard shouts of , “SOMEBODY! HELP ME!” coming from in front of the White Deer Inn. They approached to see a group of goblins surrounding a man cowering behind a rain barrel, while a goblin dog was chewing on what appeared to be the man’s hunting dog. Among the group was Poog of Zarongel, and Chuffy Lickwound. The PCs got a surprise round, and Mari managed to slit another goblin’s throat. Ellyjobelle critted against Chuffy with a spell (can’t remember what), but in the end, he wound up prone due to reduced strength, and was seeing the illusion of a Shadow in front of him. Chuffy never managed to stand up again, as Mari finished him off. Poor Vanhite only managed to land 3 hits all night.
With his safety assured, the man came out from behind the barrel, introducing himself as Aldern Foxglove, a noble from Magnimar. He was quite impressed with Ellyjobelle’s combat ability and found her eidolon intriguing. He invited them on a boar hunt the following day, saying he would provide mounts. This caused a quite funny little interlude:
Mari: “Ooo, mountage!”
Aldern: “Perhaps later, my dear.”
Mari continued to flirt with Aldern, going back to the Rusty Dragon with him, and bought him drinks. I had him comment on Ellyjobelle’s combat ability, as I momentarily forgot that Erika changed characters, now playing a Varisian instead of a Tiefling. Ellyjobelle is excited about the boar hunt because Aldern complimented her on her frog. So, now I have 2 potential obsession targets for Skinsaw Murders. Anybody else have this sort of thing happen? If so, did you pick one, or did you have him become obsessed with both? Well, anyways, that’s where we left off. Probably going to do some in between sessions roleplay with everyone, which I will post here if it happens. In the next couple of days, I will get Ellyjobelle’s journal entry posted. Right now though, I’m gonna get some sleep.
Hey Ivan, sounds like you're all having a good time.
Personally, I wouldn't worry particularly about the lack of character interaction--so long as the players are having a good time that's really all that matters. I have a player or two in my group who don't enjoy the roleplaying side of things much, but they do enjoy smiting bad guys and getting to be Big Damn Heroes. (Or Underhanded Damn Turncoats, in one case.)
What I'm getting at is that if your players are enjoying themselves, you've done your job well. That's what the GM is there for, after all.
It will be interesting to see what happens between Morikov and Ameiko. Depending on your plans, you might want to slow the pace of Burnt Offerings down a little if you want to give the relationship an opportunity to blossom. Other than the mandated encounter(s), Ameiko doesn't feature much in Rise of the Runelords as written, and although once a relationship is established it's relatively easy to find a reason to return to it, when everything is new and shiny there's a chance the players will just move on from plot point to plot point without taking time to smell the roses (so to speak).
I'm not a 3.5 aficionado so I can't comment on the utility of legacy weapons/items as a reward for keeping a game journal, but in my experience the kinds of people who do keep those journals aren't in it for the in-game rewards anyway.
I have seen a couple of instances where in-game rewards for an out-of-game journal have backfired when the other players wound up feeling they were getting a raw deal--they showed up on time and everything just like everyone else, but because they worked full time/had kids/had to look after a sick relative they weren't able to write about the game on their own time. Things might work very differently for your group, but I've abandoned any thoughts of providing any in-game rewards for work done outside the hours we're together roleplaying. When we use either, we're more a 'bonus XP for best roleplayer of the night' or 'that was awesome, have a free benny/hero point' kind of group.
I look forward to reading more!
--Mike
Thanks for sharing. I confess I read this way back in July and have been eagerly awaiting for the start, proper. I love these campaign journals, and I especially love the transition from We Be Goblins to Burnt Offerings. I have just the very same thing in mind for my new group, who should be starting in a few weekends... Surely this time will go through... :P
Now, I'd decide who you want to target with Aldern's obsession relatively early. I was pretty hamhanded in this respect, and am rather glad to be finally sweeping this subplot under the mat.
Mari makes an excellent choice, as you can play up the death of Aldern's wife, another beautiful Varisian woman, and make note of the striking similarities in Skinsaw Murders. Just a thought. That said, do whatever will be most fun for your group. Only you're going to be able to guess how your players will react, here. You might be more comfortable (or just stay out of the dog house!) playing this out with your wife.
But if Mari is actively seeking a relationship with Aldern she might get a bit more than she bargained for. As for splitting the obsession between both of them... I tried this with two of my characters. It really cheapened the whole thing for me. Steer away!
Just my two cents. Hope it helps you, some.
Hey Ivan, sounds like you're all having a good time.
Personally, I wouldn't worry particularly about the lack of character interaction--so long as the players are having a good time that's really all that matters. I have a player or two in my group who don't enjoy the roleplaying side of things much, but they do enjoy smiting bad guys and getting to be Big Damn Heroes. (Or Underhanded Damn Turncoats, in one case.)
What I'm getting at is that if your players are enjoying themselves, you've done your job well. That's what the GM is there for, after all.
It will be interesting to see what happens between Morikov and Ameiko. Depending on your plans, you might want to slow the pace of Burnt Offerings down a little if you want to give the relationship an opportunity to blossom. Other than the mandated encounter(s), Ameiko doesn't feature much in Rise of the Runelords as written, and although once a relationship is established it's relatively easy to find a reason to return to it, when everything is new and shiny there's a chance the players will just move on from plot point to plot point without taking time to smell the roses (so to speak).
I'm not a 3.5 aficionado so I can't comment on the utility of legacy weapons/items as a reward for keeping a game journal, but in my experience the kinds of people who do keep those journals aren't in it for the in-game rewards anyway.
I have seen a couple of instances where in-game rewards for an out-of-game journal have backfired when the other players wound up feeling they were getting a raw deal--they showed up on time and everything just like everyone else, but because they worked full time/had kids/had to look after a sick relative they weren't able to write about the game on their own time. Things might work very differently for your group, but I've abandoned any thoughts of providing any in-game rewards for work done outside the hours we're together roleplaying. When we use either, we're more a 'bonus XP for best roleplayer of the night' or 'that was...
Thanks for your input!
I realize that as long as everyone is having a good time, then everything is fine. The little amount of interaction just kinda goes against the type of games I like when I'm a player. As GM though, I can and will accept it if that's how it goes. Talking to everyone, it seems that most of the roleplay aspects may wind up being handled between sessions via messaging, as the characters' personal motivations don't seem to intersect very much.
I will be injecting at least a couple of side quests in so that they spend some more time in Sandpoint. That should give some more time to play on the relationship between Morikov and Ameiko. I'm also going to try and get some of the NPCs to establish friendships with the characters. Brodert Quink and Vanhite should hit it off pretty well, as Vanhite is interested in ancient history. Still trying to figure out some others whose interests might mesh well with the group.
After thinking it over, I've decided the legacy item thing would be a bit overpowered. The hero point idea is good, but we haven't been using hero points. I do like the system, but in the past I've used 3.5's similar action point system, and most of the group constantly forgot they had them. And as far as extra xp, that has backfired on me in the past, with players who aren't very good roleplayers feeling cheated just because they aren't good at it. I may take your advice and ditch the in-game reward thing all-together. Chandra really enjoyed making the journal, so I don't think she'll mind. I've already promised that when we finish the campaign, I'm going to put together a campaign record from the journals and give them all a copy, so they'll be getting an out of game reward anyways.
Thanks for sharing. I confess I read this way back in July and have been eagerly awaiting for the start, proper. I love these campaign journals, and I especially love the transition from We Be Goblins to Burnt Offerings. I have just the very same thing in mind for my new group, who should be starting in a few weekends... Surely this time will go through... :P
Now, I'd decide who you want to target with Aldern's obsession relatively early. I was pretty hamhanded in this respect, and am rather glad to be finally sweeping this subplot under the mat.
Mari makes an excellent choice, as you can play up the death of Aldern's wife, another beautiful Varisian woman, and make note of the striking similarities in Skinsaw Murders. Just a thought. That said, do whatever will be most fun for your group. Only you're going to be able to guess how your players will react, here. You might be more comfortable (or just stay out of the dog house!) playing this out with your wife.
But if Mari is actively seeking a relationship with Aldern she might get a bit more than she bargained for. As for splitting the obsession between both of them... I tried this with two of my characters. It really cheapened the whole thing for me. Steer away!
Just my two cents. Hope it helps you, some.
You're quite welcome! I'm glad to hear somebody was looking forward to hearing about this. Ever since I first read the description of We Be Goblins, I've been wanting to do this. It was quite funny hearing players say, "Yay! We get to kill my character now!"
Thanks for the advice with the obsession target. I am most likely going to have it be Mari, due to the very reasons you stated. From the way Erika was talking, I don't think she intends for Mari to actually pursue a relationship with Aldern, just get him drunk and rip him off, which will make the obsession all the more creepy when he doesn't care.
Ellyjobelle's journal enrty will be posted soon. Have it sitting right in front of me, and am going to type it up after I make my rounds on the boards and get myself something to eat.
Ok, here's Ellyjobell's (apparently I was spelling it wrong) journal complete with spelling/grammar errors and run on sentences! Copied word for word as originally written:
Ellyjobell Sanitar Sparklegem’s Journal Day 1
Dear not so sparkle book,
Its ellyjobell again on another journey to find that not so sparkley people who killed my family first stop Sandpoint for the party of the year the swallowtail festival. Desna the great godess of them all celebrated one time a year. With games and festivities. Many people playing games and trying to win. Shinney Bells Ringing and small catapults flinging. Mini dragons Running (even though they are lizards) sounds of rocks getting knocked down music playing and oh the church bell is ringing. The Mayor is talking to the crowd of people and itroduces a very large man. Oh, the Sheriff (Note to Ellyjobell visit with Sheriff to see if he knows the info if any about the damage to my town) Father Zanis is now spakeing I better pay attention. OH NO Goblins
*undecipherable scribble* Sparkle on
Lets kick Butt
Goblins, Goblins, Goblins do they ever learn. Yes, I may not be able to pay attention when sparkly things are in sight but at least when I am fighting I pay attention to what I’m doing. Working with intresting people here to fight the goblins one deff looks like a tiefling I’m not sure if I like him yet. He is very tall!!! Another has all ted on and steel boots and chain shirt hes very tall also he seems very Quiet.
More Goblins must fight ok maybe I’ll stand here I don’t know theese tall people and if they might attack me thinking I am a goblin on accident. Hmm…….
Strange person just jumpped in to fight she is very sneaky.
Stupid Goblin caught itself on fire during fight was near me so being scared I hit it on the head to make it stop.
Chillin time oh wait great more Goblins now they killed a cute doggy so many of them HaHaHa made one sick fell down from wieght of the gear. Beating a man with a hammer to finish him sad but Goblin fun.
Yay killed them all.
Town is free we heard a few deaths one a child sad time
Met strange noble person who likes my frog. Wants us to go hunting. I said yes and Ill bring my frog. Back to the Rusty Dragon for the night.
Ok, so we haven't played another session yet, nor have I gotten to do any between session roleplay, but I did get one of the side quests I'm adding written. Created using the official Descent: Journeys in the Dark campaign editor, here is Something in the Attic.
Nice. This may just be what I was looking for to introduce my players to Ilsoari Gandethus, so thank you for sharing it.
You're welcome. I'd appreciate it if you let me know how it works out for you.
For those following the game, it looks like it's going to be at least another week or two before our next session, and I haven't had the time to do any of that between sessions stuff I talked about either. Everyone having conflicting schedules sucks. :\
Played last Thursday, but my internet is out until at least next week. Will post the play report after I get it turned back on.
Well, I no longer have internet, as evidenced by my 3 and a half month absence from the boards. Also, I've been quite busy in my personal life and haven't found much time to make it over to my in-laws to use their computer. We have played 4 sessions since the last report, added a new player, and will be playing another session next week. I have a portion of the play reports typed up and was set to post them today...until I couldn't find my USB drive. A quick summary would be as follows:
Session 2 & 3: The group explored the swamp, met a friendly halfling, Ellyjobelle's journal became sparkly, got information from the Licktoad's chieftain (via Mari ripping his earrings out one by one) claiming Tsuto Kaijitsu was behind the attack, and fought and killed a mysterious creature which they then took back to Brodert Quink for study (Vanhite is now serving as an apprentice of sorts to him). Oh, and Vanhite runs through the street naked.
Session 4: A new character joined the group; Xilas, Sheriff Hemlock's cousin with sticky fingers. The group was asked to maintain a presence in town while the Sheriff is away. Ilsoari Gandethus came to the group with a problem, Ameiko went missing, and the group stormed the glassworks to rescue her.
Session 5: The group, with some admittedly heavy-handed railroading, explored the Catacombs of Wrath. Erylium was captured.
Session 5 wore on my patience a bit. Erica has turned into a bit of a problem player. She doesn't pay attention to the game, constantly argues with my rulings, and is generally disruptive. The environment is also not the best to play in, as there is simply not enough room. Lucas and Erica host, but they have had another family move in with them, so there are now 8 people living in their house. It's a descent sized place, but when you have that many people there plus our group...*sigh*. Unfortunately, it's the only place we CAN play for the time being. Scott, our new player, has no furniture, save for his entertainment center (seriously, he doesn't even have a bed...the guy sleeps on the floor), Ben hasn't elaborated other than saying his place wouldn't work, and me and Chandra live 30 miles out of town. Not to mention that Lucas and Erica have kids who they have to be home for. All in all, it's just been frustrating. Hopefully, next week goes better.