tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1769685386933352671.post7485079853203521106..comments2024-03-04T03:10:18.986-05:00Comments on Tales from the Tower: Averlorn Campaign - Dungeon Module B2 Of Hobgoblins, Bugbears, and a Fatal ForayDanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04473393141669242603noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1769685386933352671.post-45872294855153133832021-11-24T10:52:06.776-05:002021-11-24T10:52:06.776-05:00Appreciate your bloog postAppreciate your bloog postNorahhttps://www.norahashley.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1769685386933352671.post-43483907208894348322020-04-18T17:17:16.419-04:002020-04-18T17:17:16.419-04:00The entrance through the stairs from the Goblins i...The entrance through the stairs from the Goblins is a pretty organic way. Sleep is pretty overpowering. In fact, it's *the* way a Magic-User can turn the tide.<br /><br />It was fortuitous that the Sleep spell prevented any of the Hobgoblins from running down the hall and raising the alarum. That allowed the push over to the torture room and the rescue of the merchant, his wife, and the men at arms. Were there other prisoners--a gnoll and an orc? I would have thought they would have raised a ruckus if they weren't released.<br /><br />What's interesting is your party ended their initial foray against the Hobgoblins at the same point that mine did, with the rescue. But since they already had two men at arms, they didn't use the men at arms from the rescue.<br /><br />Nice that Amul looked at the door and found the catch when they approached the main door. My players, having an 18/XX strength Fighter, decided to just use brute force, and by the time they bashed the door in, the whole lot of them were waiting for them. Then the cleric from the keep and his silent acolytes sprung their betrayal. That was about the end of it, because the cleric popped Silence 15' radius and the Magic-User didn't think to step back and cast Sleep on him, but they fought their way out of it.<br /><br />Looks like your party did pretty well, because they were able to avoid having to deal with all of the Hobgoblins at once, and then they used that room as a defensive position--it kinda worked, and then of course Sleep, the silver bullet. The only thing that saved my players was the fact that they'd dealt out such a winnowing to the Hobgoblins on the first foray.<br /><br />My party pressed on and finished the Hobgoblin Lair, but the Dwarven Fighter/Thief took a bad blow and they had to return to the keep. They had to wait a while to recover. This was pretty handy, because they had that wand, and they identified it. It came in very handy at the Bugbear cave, which in another weird coincidence, was the next cave they tried. <br /><br />Whereas your party encountered the initial three, then fell back toward the entrance, my players encountered the initial three, and they had the presence of mind to immediately say "WE ATTACK!" so I couldn't really say that the Bugbears surprised the party. When they banged the gong, the party turned around and defended the room, which limited the front.<br /><br />The Bugbear Chief, in reaction to the incursions against the goblins and the hobgoblins, had cut a deal with the Minotaur, and when the gong rang, he went through the secret door and got the Minotaur and they started moving to the front entrance. Would have worked, but in the meantime, my players had dealt with the Bugbear attack. Sleep was the mechanism that decided that engagement.<br /><br />By the time the Bugbear Leader and the Minotaur showed up, the Bugbear Males were done in and the party was looting the bodies while the men at arms were watching the entrance--they ran in and gave warning. The Magic-User used the Wand of Paralyzation on the Minotaur and the Fighter/Thief attacked the Bugbear from behind.<br /><br />Check and mate. Interestingly, they didn't clear the Bugbear Lair immediately, so the females and the young slipped away.<br /><br />It appears that your party had some bad fortune. The losing of the initiative, especially when it's an all or nothing thing, so many times in a row is just brutal. That's why I do individual initiative with a d10 and count down segments from the top of a ten second round--it gentles that out considerably. Sure the monsters can roll a 10, but them's the breaks... Then the Bugbears maintained their morale after their leader went down, and got some lucky hits. And then that getting attacked from two sides is a killer.<br /><br />But man, talk about some heroic escapes! I like the use of Stinking Cloud. I also love the flavor of the Death and Dismemberment rules. I have to integrate that into my campaign.LMcFarlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16440670616392415062noreply@blogger.com