Last Wednesday's Meetup one-shot only had two plays (#3 was a missed connection). One was a Repeat Offender, and spoke well of my GM skills, so that was a boost.
With just a pair of players, I had each make up a pair of Deathbringer PCs to run through the wringer.
- Player 1: Ferris Mantlefall, Witchhunter and Niles, Plague Doctor
- Player 2: Amberlin, Scoundrel and Pentaxin, Grimscribe
Finally a Witchhunter! So no undead this week.
I kid.
I pulled up "Four Visits to Wyvernseeker Rock," a collection I put together some time ago, but haven't run through. Of the four scenarios, I selected "Wraithful River" (spoilers, of course).
The PCs were tempted into the scenario by word that the river upstream of their village had become poisoned, with a fishkill and dead wildlife. Coincidentally, the old mausoleum of Wyvernseeker Rock had been disturbed, with unknown things moving about.
So be it. Let's go test the waters.
The party found the locale, and sussed out the main entrance behind a waterfall. They were immediately set upon be a Tumorous Spider:
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| Hi! |
The four PCs managed to take the spider down with minimal damage. The Plague Doctor split its head open with their meat cleaver, and although sprayed with spider effluvia, they managed to avoid poisoning. Probably due to their snazzy mask.
The Scoundrel found the entrance door and kicked it open (very un-thiefly, I know). They took an electrical shock for their efforts. Oops. I accidentally turned to the wrong scenario. A challenge of having a four-in-one adventure. Never mind. The damage stays.
The PCs made their way into the first few rooms, finding a few items, one useful for later. In room three, they were surprised by a wraith. Finally, we can do a turn undead attempt!
Sidebar: One small missing detail in the Deathbringer rules is a mechanism for turning undead. The Witchfinder can turn on-demand, similar to our classic cleric (I interpret as once per encounter, consistent with the general consensus for turning). But a DC or other test for turning isn't included. I just use a DC10 (same as spellcasting) plus the undead's HD for target DC, offset by any PC attribute bonus.
ex: DC10 + 4(HD) - 2 (INT bonus) = DC12
INT is used for spellcasting bonuses in Deathbringer, but to give flavor consistent with Ye Olde Game, I'll likely swap in the WIS bonus into future turning.
Anyway, Ferris brandished his holy symbol (a silver sphere), and successfully backed off the wraith. The remaining PCs bum-rushed it and were able to get in a couple of hits (these were first level mooks, so I waved off the silver/magic requirement for this fight). The wraith cast Darkness over the room, which the Grimscribe partially countered with Dancing Lights. Again, the Plague Doctor put them down with the killing cleaver-blow.
The party unlocked the wraith's coffer, finding some coin, gems, and a snazzy cape.
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| Not quite this snazzy, but close. |
Of course the Grimscribe snagged it. The Witchhunter summarily bashed the wraith's reliquary with their holy symbol.
Back to the adventure. The party deftly defeated a pair of guardian skeletons and poked around in the dust for some more loose change.
The party found the chamber containing the sacred pool and its poisoned spring. With a few proffered clues, they experimented with some aromatic wax in a container with a rune for "pure water" found in another chamber. Melting the wax into the pool purified the water and lifted the curse. The Scoundrel tested the waters by diving in and grabbing some offering coins from the bottom. All good.
The PCs escaped the complex via a rough tunnel, and returned to town, slightly battered, but enriched, purified, and otherwise heroes.
DM Notes:
As always, run for whoever shows. I always carry a selection of scenarios, and things can be modded on the fly to adjust for different parties. Thankfully, even though I hadn't closely read my scenario, it was familiar enough to flex things around (accidentally reading the wrong page notwithstanding).
Fortunately, DB is light enough that playing two PCs doesn't cause much complexity for reasonably experienced players. Both the players embraced their multiple roles, and each of the four PCs had their own personalities and behaviors through the play. So it was another successful session. I'm looking through my shelves to try out something else, so we'll see what I grab.
Regarding the adventure. Playtest is always good, something I unfortunately haven't done enough with my various scenarios. And it gave me a chance to read my own work and illuminated some rough patches, missing information, and typos. I'm revising the four scenarios, both for content, and to make the presentation a bit more consistent with my current formatting. These scenarios have some good bones, and I can definitely make them a bit better and more useable. The map is fairly linear, something that challenged me to make 'interesting' during the original writing. I feel that the three exploration/combat scenarios came out pretty well. Scenario 4 is a social/resource scenario, where the PCs may explore more for getting information or a patron.
More to come... Putting together another D66 list. The Usual Suspects did some serious negotiation on Sunday night. And the local game convention has the call out for more gamerunners, which reminds me that I am tardy in setting up a few sessions.
Yes, I use the word "snazzy" three times.
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