Geoffrey is Dead...
'Long live the Man in Red!', or so say his followers. A small group gathered at the table the other morning for our campaign. Max (monk) Throm (Sentinel) and Luusi (Bard) were in attendance. I had some fun, I tested a new monster build based on the Baaz Draconian from the Draconamicon, (see a few posts back) but this time he was not a minion and he worked really well as the main bad guy for this group.
I followed some good advice from some of the well known bloggers out there saying give smaller encounters. So I set about using a Level 3 budget for my players. They are level 5 and I think it went very well, while they Kobold's I used were mostly minions the Dragonshield's and the Wyrm Priest were no pushovers and it did turn into a good fight. More importantly Throm once again shined as the best dang Sentinel (Druid) I have seen. Critical Hits and rolling for close to max damage for almost every other attack made it fun even for me. I also spread the combat out and made the battlefield even larger than usual.
The kids loved it. We then went into some roleplaying, Throm's player kept wanting me to put them on a map but I told him there were no fights. Heh he is still 10 years old, he will learn yet that there is more to D&D than just combat.
To put the adventure on hold I want to talk about what we discussed before we started playing. Throm asked me, "why do we kill all the creatures we fight?" So I asked him back, "well why do you?" and his answer was pretty black and white. "Because they are evil.." So I smiled and asked "Are they?" and so I knew today I was going to reveal to them that Geoffrey, the once porter turned paladin was working for the Man in Red.
Geoffrey made up some story to the party that while in town he killed some guards who blamed them for a Dragons attack on Fallcrest. The group reacted in the fashion I thought they would they would rush to town and try to sort things out and correct any misunderstandings. During a break the group decided that Throm would stay with Geoffrey near the Inn where this incident supposedly took place. Once alone Geoffrey started talking about all the fun they have had together. Throm dove right in and they reminisced about the recent good times.
That is when Geoffrey told Throm about the Iron Circle trying to bring Tiamat into the world, and that he is doing the bidding of his brother. A war of words erupts and eventually Max and Luusi show up to make sure Throm is ok, that is when Throm pulled a dagger out and stabbed Geoffrey.
At some point during these past few weeks I decided someone in the group had a sword taken from one of the party who had died. It was an artifact weapon that can take your life essence (Healing Surges and give it to the wielder of the weapon.) It could also mimic other bladed weapons. It chose to hide itself as a simple dagger and fell into the hands of the one mostly likely to try and use it, the Sentinel, Throm.
So when the dagger struck Geoffrey, the Sword had chosen wisely. It took his life much to the surprise of the party. I really had fun yesterday because I got to run a lot of roleplaying with the part of the group that does not get much attention other than bits and pieces here or there. There were lots of talking and questioning about the choices I make as a DM and how it relates to my store, like how will the story work from this point on. Spoilers I smile and say.
I think what surprised Throm the most was that I winged most of yesterday, that it was not written down in some book, and that I had decided right then when he stabbed him Geoffrey to kill him, why not? He has a twin brother now. :)
We are taking a D&D break and will be doing Star Wars for the next few weeks while I recharge my D&D mojo.
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