The Shadow Rift of Umbraforge - Night 1

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Active members of the "Deathbringers" adventuring party:

Lucas - Goliath Barbarian
Untiln Ow - Kalashtar Cleric
Zah'rie - Human Warlock
Zephel - Shadar-kai Swordmage


Guest members:

Harann - Dragonborn Fighter

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Active Quests:

None at the moment.

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The Deathbringers enjoyed no more than a week's rest before returning to adventuring. It was the presence of a dark creeper in The Nexus complex that was most troubling. Left behind when the dark creeper was killed was a magical brass key, disguised to appear mundane, it's purpose unknown. Found nearby clenched tightly in the hand of Jen, the Farstriders' warlock, was a sending stone; it appeared to be magically restricted from functioning normally.

The party first tried the priests of Moradin who suggested it be destroyed. A few mages in Overlook expressed disinterest in bothering with a simple sending stone. After asking around a little, the adventurers were directed to one Rufus Crumley, who lived in a small tower of grey and black stone located in the Shantytown district. It was commonly believed that Rufus dabbled in magics that few others in Overlook would dare to; it was even believed by some that he was a powerful necromancer and that his tower was guarded by undead horrors.

Though only tall by comparison to the other buildings in Shantytown, Rufus Crumley's Grey Redoubt had an eerie air about it. One knock, two moments, and the sound of some shuffling feet later, the door opened revealing a disheveled, middle-aged man.

"What do you want?" said the man. Zephel replied, "We're looking for Rufus Crumley; we have a peculiar enchantment we were told would he would be interested to inspect." The man's brows furrowed as he opened his mouth to reply, "I'm Rufus - what do you have for me th...?". Zah'rie interjected, "A sending stone that appears to have been rendered inoperable by a magic that none of the priests can identify". Rufus held out his hand into which the party deposited the sending stone; Rufus' gruff expression immediately softened. "Interesting", said Rufus, "it'll take me a few hours; can you return in the morning?"

The party hesitated a moment but agreed to check back with Rufus about the sending stone. Both Zah'rie and Zephel (2 Z names? seriously, guys...) expressed interest in waiting and attending to the investigation. Rufus allowed Zah'rie to join him inside due to their "compatible moral flexibilities"; Zephel chose to wait outside in case anything were to arise. The rest of the party went off to where every party should go when it's getting dark: the tavern.

The next morning, Untiln, Harann, and Lucas made their way back toward Shantytown and the Grey Redoubt. About halfway through Shantytown, a mage and some thugs ambushed them. Confident they could not fail, these thugs immediately identified themselves as having come to avenge their fallen comrades of the Lost Ones gang. Blood was spilled, but again it was mostly that of the Lost Ones; the mage, who identified himself two times in the third person as Szagyn, fled the scene shouting promises to have his revenge on the Deathbringers.

Having successfully thwarted the Lost Ones once again, the party was reunited at Rufus' tower. Thoroughly satisfied at his investigation of the hexed sending stone, Rufus did not charge for his services in restoring it to full functionality. Zephel took the stone in his hand and willed it to activate; the stone began to hum in his hand. "Hello, is there anyone there?", he spoke to the stone. After a moment of silence, the voice of a woman replied saying "Yes, there is; who is this?". The sending stone had been restored and the adventure could now continue.

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Can we do it in two or three more nights?
Officially sanctioned private D&D games, I hope you guys are ready!

Skill Challenge for Mass Combat - Bordrin's Watch

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The Siege of Bordrin's Watch had a massive combat that the campaign file left as just a mentioned event during the wrap-up of the campaign. It seemed silly that the campaign would leave its namesake mass combat that way, so I turned it into a skill challenge that would hopefully make the end of the campaign a little more epic.

Ultimately, it was an exercise in creativity to see how the players could adapt their skills to help the siege go better for the defenders. Which skills were applicable were directly related to what was happening during the given siege phase. I tried to think up as many different contingencies for the different phases, knowing that the players would probably come up with some good ones themselves (and they did). I tried to follow the general rule of "don't say no"; if a skill that a player was trying to use just couldn't work, I would help make suggestions or come up with a way for them to be involved.

Purposely, I made Perception and Insight juxtaposed across the halfway point in the skill challenge; conceivably you could use those skills during all the phases, but it made for a little more concise skill challenge, at least when I was setting it up. Similarly juxtaposed, are Intimidate and Bluff. During the first half of the skill challenge they inspire allies; during the second half they demoralize the enemy. Stealth and Dungeoneering only found contingencies in phase 4, and I could not find any reasonable way to include Streetwise or Thievery in the challenge.

I read a PDF file called "Obsidian Skill Challenge System v. 1.2", which gave some interesting ideas about how to run skill challenges and appropriate DCs for various levels. In addition to that, I read about another mass combat skill challenge here(requires DDI subscription), and took some direction from it as well. Pulling from both sources, I came up with a skill challenge that highlighted the culmination of the campaign well, and was (I hope) a lot of fun for our players.

The base DC for all skill checks was set to 20; a number I figured would be appropriate for a party at level 4. From this base DC, certain checks become easier depending on the current state of the keep. Example: using a heal check in phase 2 would be easier than in phase 4; phase 2 had a flexible DC where a 17 or 16 would be sufficient where in phase 4 that skill check would require the full 20 to pass. The decreasing flexibility of the DC as you move phase to phase is kept in check by the decreasing complexity of the skill challenges.

Our group failed the first challenge, passed the second, then achieved victory on the third phase. Probably the hardest part of all this for our group, and I suppose this would vary by group, was applying creativity to the situation and coming up with personal ways to interact during the skill challenge. Phase 1 was particularly rough as, despite an explanation, no one was very sure what to do. By phase 2, however, everything was flowing well; phase 3 was a breeze. I think if we ever do a skill challenge like this again that it will go much better. Having the contingencies written out was a big help in making it through phase 1.

Try to be very clear about the conditions of the keep during each phase. Not only are each of these moments a great moment for some brief narrative, this is how your players know what is appropriate during that phase. I had Durkik assign each adventurer as one of his lieutenants, and to each of them was assigned a small squad of individuals with similar skills. When the goliath barbarian rolled athletics to move supplies into position, it represented his whole squad rolling on his skill, and doing it as a group. When the shadar-kai swordmage rolled arcana to recharge the wards, it represented his whole squad rolling on his skill, and doing it as a group. I liked this a lot as it gave a sense of plurality to the mass combat.

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Phase 1: "All Along The Watchtowers" - Enemy troops are on the move, but still out of artillery range

Complexity 4 (10 successes before 3 failures)
Success: +1 to all rolls in following phases; move onto phase 2
Failure: Move onto phase 2

Primary Skills:
Arcana - Recharge/bolster wards
Athletics - Move supplies/weapons into key positions
Bluff - Inspire troops
Diplomacy - Inspire troops
History - Inspire troops
Intimidate - Inspire troops
Nature - Predict strong/weak spots in the land, predict enemy movement
Perception - check supplies/weapons for defects
Religion - Inspire troops

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Phase 2: "The enemy cometh!" - Friendly artillery is firing and both sides are exchanging arrow fire

Complexity 3 (8 successes before 3 failures)
Success: +1 to all rolls in following phases(this is cumulative with phase 1's bonus); move onto phase 3
Failure: Move onto phase 3

Primary Skills:
Acrobatics - Dogde incoming arrow
Arcana - Enchant projectile
Athletics - Artillery crew duty
Endurance - Artillery crew duty
Heal - Heal arrow wounds
Perception - spot and communicate enemy troop movement

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Phase 3: "Buttress The Door!" - Orcish forces have a battering ram at the main gate and all manner of fire, magic and mundane, is being exchanged at the walls

Complexity 2 (6 successes before 3 failures)
Success: Orcish forces are routed; dwarfs are victorious
Failure: Main door/gate is broken open; fighting moves into the watch; move onto phase 4

Primary Skills:
Acrobatics - Dodge arrow/bolt/spell
Arcana - Amplify spell
Athletics - Buttress door
Bluff - Demoralize enemies
Endurance - Buttress door
Heal - Heal crossbow/magic wounds
Insight - Spot enemy leadership and relay that info to snipers
Intimidate - Demoralize enemies

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Phase 4: "Fighting In The Watch!" - Open fighting inside the watch

Complexity 1 (4 successes before 3 failures)
Success: Orcish forces are routed; dwarfs are victorious
Failure: This is up to the DM, really. I personally would have just narrated that the watch was lost, many allies were killed, and that a surge of reinforcement from Overlook eventually beat most of them back. Of course, no XP for a failure here, a sad ending to the campaign, and no watch in future campaigns should be consequence enough.

Primary Skills:
Acrobatics - Dodge a melee blow
Athletics - Escape a grab
Bluff - Demoralize enemies
Dungeoneering - Navigate the passageways of the watch to lose your pursuers
Heal - Heal melee wounds
Insight - Spot enemy leadership and relay that info to snipers
Intimidate - Demoralize enemies
Stealth - Find a place to hide in order to lose your pursuers

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Feel free to leave comments or questions. If you try out this skill challenge, please let me know how it goes for your group.