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[DnD 4e]: Encounters : Dark Sun season.
azith28
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
This thread is for talking about how your group handled the week. Keep the technical discussion in the other 4E threads, this is specifically about the pre-gen characters, there actions, and the events of the encounters.
Did something cool with your character? tell us about it. Many of the abilities are new to the people playing, so lets try and get the most out of them by sharing our experiences.
Links:
Downloads relating to this Seasons Encounters, renown point tracking sheets,
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Event.aspx?x=dnd/4new/event/rpgadownloads
pdf of all the characters :
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/DDEDark%20SunCharacters.pdf
Summary:
Week 1: The start of a really crappy day.
Our party was going along with a caravan across the desert, when a sandstorm laced with shards of obsidian swept the caravan. My party was quick enough to take shelter amidst the corpses and wagon and managed to survive, yet the wagon driver and all his guards who we tried to warn of danger due to the ill omens we had seen in the sky the previous night, had been ripped to shreds. As soon as the sandstorm expended its deadly obsidian, but still raged around us, we were set upon by swarming creatures of the desert.
Some more honorable members of the party began to defend the rest of us, while the less brave decided to flee. Most of the party members had the forsight to begin grabbing what supplies we could from the wagon as more of the enemies were approaching on the horizon wanting to steal the supplies for themselves. As we fought, we grabbed what we could from the doomed caravan. Weeks from any settlement, We could only hope the meager rations we grabbed would be enough to sustain us.
We managed to defeat the first wave of creatures, and seconds before the next arrived, we had secured 26 sets of supplies and fled. I would prefer to fight but they would have overwhelmed us eventually and the first wave exhausted most of our abilities. Barely more then 4 days of water and food for the party. As leader of the group, I can only hope it will be enough.
Week 2: Burning infestations.
My party regrouped away from the caravan and we took stock of food and took a short rest. By neccesity short due to the sandstorm that continued to whip around us with the worst of it not far behind. We did managed to get a good lead on the stormfront, and came across an interesting sight. A spirit of flame was dancing in an area in front of us. It waved to us and came forward. From what we knew of the spirit, we did not think it too dangerous and perhaphs we could discover a reason (possibly a nearby shelter) for it being in this barren place.
We spoke to the flame and it had no problem understanding us, as it responded by using fire to burn glass runes into a nearby sandy rock. It spoke of residing in the area for a long time, and when it spoke of remembering when the land was green, I knew it was old. The thing seemed more bored then anything, apparently bound to this spot for hundreds of years.
Before we could get much information from the creature, it suddenly dissapeared and we were set upon by several Kank bugs and spitters looking for a meal.
By chance I happen to be closest to a kank and it grabbed me in its pincers. Luckily Yuka remembered who healed everyone last fight and quickly caused it to drop me with a bloodcurdling warcry, attracting its ire. Shakkar leap into the fray as before (I'm beginning to sense quite alot of pent up bloodlust in him, however he seems to have no lack of bravery). My brother...my silly, sickly, brother who use to stare up at the stars lost in his own mind...His eyes glowed and a storm of fire in front of me, falling over the kank and spitter in front of me....and missed both of them. I sighed and smiled at how things havent changed all that much.
We concentrated most of our attacks on the kanks, its armor giving us a difficult time. Yuka was caught up in the fight but his attacks were undisciplined...he actually broke one of his bone knives on the kank, doing no damage, and the creature grabbed him. Oddly enough, Yuka grabbed it back, holding each other in a *very* strange embrace.
Shakkar was away from the group taking on the spitters, and I could see him take several hits, Jartax was trying to attack but either the sand was in his eyes or he had not recovered well from the previous fight. His attacks were going wide and he was taking several hits.
We managed to get a few lucky blows on one of the kanks and it rolled over on its back still hugging...erh...gripping..Yuka and lay still.
Wondering about the spirit, I tried to call it back, requesting that it answer an essay question about the ecology of the flame spirit by writing into the backside of one of the kanks (with fire)....but it did not reappear.
I used what heals i had on our most in dire need members, poison from the attacks was causing further damage. Concentrating most attacks on the second kank, it went down in a flurry of blows and we concentrated on the remaining spitters. A surge of errant energy swept through the party. Yuka attacked a spitter and his hit did extra damage and he got a surge of health from the hit. Shakkar had a similar effect on another spitter, and Barrkan explained to the party in a rushed loud voice that an arcane torrent was assisting them and that they should all attempt to strike the monsters with a weapon. Every member in the party used this advantage except jartax who was hurt but immobilized due to poison. Yuka grabbed Jartax by the leg and dragged him near the final spitter, then jartax managed to strike it with his weapon, getting a healing boost and finishing the last spitter.
Session 3: Strange Fruit.
Our party took a short rest, however with the sandstorm still dangerously close and the sun still beating down harshly rest may be the wrong word.
We moved on along what we hoped was the correct path, Luckily one of our members noticed some quicksand which we skirted around and another took us off our 'path' slightly as he swore he saw some birds which may mean an oasis. The oasis consisted of a lone tree with a single fat fruit hanging from its limbs. Identifying it as a healing food, we began to debate how to climb the tree and collect the prize when I noticed movement atop the nearby rocky rises around us. As i shouted a warning, a humaniod drake created a shadow over us and dropped one end of a rope around yuka's backpack. The rope began to pull tight as some other creatures atop the rocks began to yank at the prize.
The rocks were rather high, but did not seem too difficult a climb, so i took advantage of my lack of surprise and climbed the ledge the drake seemed to land on. When i pulled myself over the cliff edge, i was greeted with an archer, the drake and a heavily thorned vine that seemed to be everywhere atop these rocks. The vines prevented movement, but luckily my spear was in range of both enemies.
I missed the drake and the drake took the opportunity to grab one of my supply rations and cross over to the other side of the area again. I focused on the archer in front of me who managed to hit me with an arrow.
The rest of the party began to spread out. My brother rained fire atop three of the creatures that were trying to pull yukas backpack off him. and luckily this burned away the thorns atop that area of the rock, as well as dispaching 2 of the creatures pulling on yuka's backpack and injuring the drake that had just landed. Yuka decided to head to this rock looking for revenge. 2 of the creatures atop it held small wands that appears to be magical foci.
capri and shakkar each climbed seperate pillars of rock and engaged two more archers while my brother and jartex attacked as best they could. Jartax has not been impressing us unless you consider missing every single attack as impressive. Another rain of fire cleared more thorns and let yuka engage a creature holding a wand while the other one jumped off the rock to assist the archers. These creatures are strange. The Drake isnt anything special...but the others...They resemble the supposidly exterminated 'goblin' race from my ancient history lore.
We dealt with the attackers as before, my healing proving useful for capri and yuka and each of us taking out our archers then concentrating on the wanded enemies. After which, we collected the stolen supplies, added some to our total and collected the fruit from the tree, then moved on.
What is going on here? Is this typical of a day in the desert?
Did something cool with your character? tell us about it. Many of the abilities are new to the people playing, so lets try and get the most out of them by sharing our experiences.
Links:
Downloads relating to this Seasons Encounters, renown point tracking sheets,
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Event.aspx?x=dnd/4new/event/rpgadownloads
pdf of all the characters :
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/DDEDark%20SunCharacters.pdf
Summary:
Week 1: The start of a really crappy day.
Our party was going along with a caravan across the desert, when a sandstorm laced with shards of obsidian swept the caravan. My party was quick enough to take shelter amidst the corpses and wagon and managed to survive, yet the wagon driver and all his guards who we tried to warn of danger due to the ill omens we had seen in the sky the previous night, had been ripped to shreds. As soon as the sandstorm expended its deadly obsidian, but still raged around us, we were set upon by swarming creatures of the desert.
Some more honorable members of the party began to defend the rest of us, while the less brave decided to flee. Most of the party members had the forsight to begin grabbing what supplies we could from the wagon as more of the enemies were approaching on the horizon wanting to steal the supplies for themselves. As we fought, we grabbed what we could from the doomed caravan. Weeks from any settlement, We could only hope the meager rations we grabbed would be enough to sustain us.
We managed to defeat the first wave of creatures, and seconds before the next arrived, we had secured 26 sets of supplies and fled. I would prefer to fight but they would have overwhelmed us eventually and the first wave exhausted most of our abilities. Barely more then 4 days of water and food for the party. As leader of the group, I can only hope it will be enough.
Week 2: Burning infestations.
My party regrouped away from the caravan and we took stock of food and took a short rest. By neccesity short due to the sandstorm that continued to whip around us with the worst of it not far behind. We did managed to get a good lead on the stormfront, and came across an interesting sight. A spirit of flame was dancing in an area in front of us. It waved to us and came forward. From what we knew of the spirit, we did not think it too dangerous and perhaphs we could discover a reason (possibly a nearby shelter) for it being in this barren place.
We spoke to the flame and it had no problem understanding us, as it responded by using fire to burn glass runes into a nearby sandy rock. It spoke of residing in the area for a long time, and when it spoke of remembering when the land was green, I knew it was old. The thing seemed more bored then anything, apparently bound to this spot for hundreds of years.
Before we could get much information from the creature, it suddenly dissapeared and we were set upon by several Kank bugs and spitters looking for a meal.
By chance I happen to be closest to a kank and it grabbed me in its pincers. Luckily Yuka remembered who healed everyone last fight and quickly caused it to drop me with a bloodcurdling warcry, attracting its ire. Shakkar leap into the fray as before (I'm beginning to sense quite alot of pent up bloodlust in him, however he seems to have no lack of bravery). My brother...my silly, sickly, brother who use to stare up at the stars lost in his own mind...His eyes glowed and a storm of fire in front of me, falling over the kank and spitter in front of me....and missed both of them. I sighed and smiled at how things havent changed all that much.
We concentrated most of our attacks on the kanks, its armor giving us a difficult time. Yuka was caught up in the fight but his attacks were undisciplined...he actually broke one of his bone knives on the kank, doing no damage, and the creature grabbed him. Oddly enough, Yuka grabbed it back, holding each other in a *very* strange embrace.
Shakkar was away from the group taking on the spitters, and I could see him take several hits, Jartax was trying to attack but either the sand was in his eyes or he had not recovered well from the previous fight. His attacks were going wide and he was taking several hits.
We managed to get a few lucky blows on one of the kanks and it rolled over on its back still hugging...erh...gripping..Yuka and lay still.
Wondering about the spirit, I tried to call it back, requesting that it answer an essay question about the ecology of the flame spirit by writing into the backside of one of the kanks (with fire)....but it did not reappear.
I used what heals i had on our most in dire need members, poison from the attacks was causing further damage. Concentrating most attacks on the second kank, it went down in a flurry of blows and we concentrated on the remaining spitters. A surge of errant energy swept through the party. Yuka attacked a spitter and his hit did extra damage and he got a surge of health from the hit. Shakkar had a similar effect on another spitter, and Barrkan explained to the party in a rushed loud voice that an arcane torrent was assisting them and that they should all attempt to strike the monsters with a weapon. Every member in the party used this advantage except jartax who was hurt but immobilized due to poison. Yuka grabbed Jartax by the leg and dragged him near the final spitter, then jartax managed to strike it with his weapon, getting a healing boost and finishing the last spitter.
Session 3: Strange Fruit.
Our party took a short rest, however with the sandstorm still dangerously close and the sun still beating down harshly rest may be the wrong word.
We moved on along what we hoped was the correct path, Luckily one of our members noticed some quicksand which we skirted around and another took us off our 'path' slightly as he swore he saw some birds which may mean an oasis. The oasis consisted of a lone tree with a single fat fruit hanging from its limbs. Identifying it as a healing food, we began to debate how to climb the tree and collect the prize when I noticed movement atop the nearby rocky rises around us. As i shouted a warning, a humaniod drake created a shadow over us and dropped one end of a rope around yuka's backpack. The rope began to pull tight as some other creatures atop the rocks began to yank at the prize.
The rocks were rather high, but did not seem too difficult a climb, so i took advantage of my lack of surprise and climbed the ledge the drake seemed to land on. When i pulled myself over the cliff edge, i was greeted with an archer, the drake and a heavily thorned vine that seemed to be everywhere atop these rocks. The vines prevented movement, but luckily my spear was in range of both enemies.
I missed the drake and the drake took the opportunity to grab one of my supply rations and cross over to the other side of the area again. I focused on the archer in front of me who managed to hit me with an arrow.
The rest of the party began to spread out. My brother rained fire atop three of the creatures that were trying to pull yukas backpack off him. and luckily this burned away the thorns atop that area of the rock, as well as dispaching 2 of the creatures pulling on yuka's backpack and injuring the drake that had just landed. Yuka decided to head to this rock looking for revenge. 2 of the creatures atop it held small wands that appears to be magical foci.
capri and shakkar each climbed seperate pillars of rock and engaged two more archers while my brother and jartex attacked as best they could. Jartax has not been impressing us unless you consider missing every single attack as impressive. Another rain of fire cleared more thorns and let yuka engage a creature holding a wand while the other one jumped off the rock to assist the archers. These creatures are strange. The Drake isnt anything special...but the others...They resemble the supposidly exterminated 'goblin' race from my ancient history lore.
We dealt with the attackers as before, my healing proving useful for capri and yuka and each of us taking out our archers then concentrating on the wanded enemies. After which, we collected the stolen supplies, added some to our total and collected the fruit from the tree, then moved on.
What is going on here? Is this typical of a day in the desert?
Stercus, Stercus, Stercus, Morituri Sum
azith28 on
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Posts
My party contained a couple of DS vets and we ended up with doubles of a few classes (two Sorcerers, two Fighters, and a Battlemind). We were able to pin down the first wave of Runners pretty quickly, and burned them down with Sorcerer attacks and a lucky round of Claw attacks on my Kreen. We managed to get about four or five days of supplies each, though burned action points and move actions to do so.
Still, one party member went down, though was revived before his last death save.
I look forward to next week!
Our store will actually be mixing groups up at various intervals, assuming that there are other escaped slaves/surviving caravan residents just "off screen", so healer-less groups may not persist.
Heh...So far ive made it my duty to comment as much as i can about the wizards 'monthly cycle'. I also have to laugh at the 'healing fruit' instead of healing potions. In the middle of a fight your juggling your weapon and eating an apple while fighting.
Also the healer saw the storm coming and ran off the edge of the map right past the elf gladiator guy who was down for the count in the sand. In the end, I used some bug-strength and some lucky rolls to pick up the dying companion, put him on my shoulder and run off just before the obsidian shards shredded me for a second time/the new wave of looters pillaged my face. We are now wandering the desert with 11 days worth of survival rations between all of us.
Despite not being able to land any hits and having a bunch of us getting owned in the face, it ended up being a lot of fun. I have a feeling everyone will be comfortable with how fourth edition works and know to use their standard/move/minors on a regular basis.
Spaceships are better than relationships
Who would waste precious water making potions? Just enchant a fruit and you're good to go.
I thought it was funny in the PA podcasts when someone made a joke about the fruit being poisoned - the first potion fruits you come across in the old Dark Sun: Shattered Lands DOS game are mangoes that force a save versus death.
After narrowly escaping a second wave of marauders by running over the dunes with our unconscious ranger on my (Shikirr) back, we managed to rest for a bit and try to recover a bit of strength and take inventory of what we had escaped with. Between all of us we managed 16 days worth of rations...so three days worth for the party. They weren't laughing at me and the ardent any more for running to get rations at the first hint of the sandstorm. After stopping to eat and bind our wounds we noticed our pursuers had seen our tracks and followed them and were now in the distance coming our way.
We ran for a full day without gaining much distance from them, but encountered a field of low scrubby bushes with serrated, bladelike leaves. Luckily, the tiefling was able to spot a path through the dangerous bush and we covered our tracks in hope of losing our pursuers. We then came upon an expanse of purple plants. Our first thought was that we would be able to pull some of them up and extract water from them in some way, but the ranger examined them and realized they were poisonous and therefore probably not good to eat/drink. We cut a path through the dense brush, with our leader being kind enough to tend to any lesions caused by these plants caustic juices. Unfortunately for us, we had been spied by a bird-like scout from the pursuing marauders.
We continued our trek and came into a long canyon. Upon reaching the end of the canyon we found that our only way out was to either go back the way we came and fight the roughly 30 desert waste-walkers, or climb the rough cliff face. Luckily, my six appendages allowed me to climb up the surface and lower a rope down to my companions and get them up safely. The group of marauders was unable to climb the surface, and we had the chance to examine our pursuers with little fear of them attacking us. They appeared to be members of the Waste-walker cult, followers of a sorcerer who wandered the desert and had not yet established himself in a city-state. Yuka and the ranger took out some of their rage at being chased for days across the desert by rolling a large boulder down the cliff towards them, crushing 8 of them in the process. I rappelled back down the cliff and used my stone trikal to lever the boulder away and rummage through the corpses. I found 10 days worth of survival rations for my troubles and rejoined the group on top of the cliff.
We then came upon a fire spirit, and our party was split on how to approach it. All of the slaves were wary of this creature being already exhausted and hot from toiling in the sun for days, while the tiefling and the two noble siblings wanted to strike up a conversation with the creature. The tiefling was so overjoyed at the spirit's happy little face, he wanted to run up and give it a hug! He decided to be a bit more diplomatic and not make it uncomfortable right off the bat by striking up a conversation. Us slaves were warned that we would be flogged if we interfered. The tiefling asked for help in covering our tracks and keeping us out of sight and the spirit held out a hand made of flame as it to ask for an "offerring" to make it worth it for him to help us. The tiefling considered what he had available and decided his bronze dagger would be a fitting bribe. The rest of us couldn't believe ourselves as he gave up his weapon made of actual metal and watched it dissolve and be absorbed by the creature. He then proceeded to shake its hand and was refreshed by the experience. All traces of our passage through the desert were then immediately erased and we noticed as we walked on our tracks disappeared behind us. The spirit had disappeared upon shaking the tiefling's hand.
As night settled in on us we were just thinking about setting up a camp of some sort when the ranger spotted green eyes in the darkness. Next thing we knew we were surrounded by a swarm of nasty Kank beetles. We were already exhausted from our days of running through the desert, and it showed as the largest of the bugs grabbed hold of myself and our healer and proceeded to chew on our faces, immediately bloodying us. Meanwhile, the smaller bugs had spit sticky globs of acid on other members of the party. Our healer managed to escape the Kank's grasp, only to succumb to the acid stuck to the side of his face and it was only through the valiant effort of Yuka that he was eventually roused back into action. Yuka stuffed a strange fruit into the healers mouth and began to punch her in the throat until she chewed and swallowed it. This turned out to be surprisingly effective.
Meanwhile the ranger had leapt up onto a rock to attempt to deal with one of the spitting beetles from the high ground, only to have it crawl up onto the rock with him. It must have latched onto his foot, because he seemed to be having a hard time dealing with it, when he managed to attract the attention of one of the larger beetles. It trundled over and nearly toppled the ranger with one vicious snap of its mandibles, but luckily this only served to whip him into a pint-sized fury as he lashed out with his blades and laid the beetle low with several brutal thrusts. Unfortunately after this exertion he was on the brink and the small beetle still attached to his boot managed to get another nibble in, causing him to pass out. Meanwhile, Yuka and I had managed to deal with the other large beetle, but I was now covered in green goo and the sizzle of Thri-kreen carapace could be heard all around our make shift campsite. As I stood atop a rock outcropping and lashed out with my tri-kal in hopes of skewering the last of the beasts, I was overcome by the acid covering me and passed out as well. Luckily for me, Yuka was able to run in and smash the last of those terrible creatures with a mighty yell.
As our tired group tried to reassemble, we took stock of the situation. We realized that the large green eyes of the large beetles were looking pretty tasty, and managed to harvest four of them and made a tasty dinner and beetle's eye a la carte. We also managed to remove their mandibles which we plan to fashion into daggers should the chance arise. From the smaller beetles, we removed three acid sacs, which we plan to toss as bombs should any new enemies come upon us.
It was another exhaustive combat that nearly saw us laid low again, but in the end it was a great session. Lots of creativity and improv which really improved the experience. We are badly in need of an extended rest now, as many of us are out of healing surges and most of us have used our daily powers in hopes of surviving to see another turn.
Spaceships are better than relationships
but it's more pronounced in this world. you guys got your asses handed to you by the kanks, but prevailed and instead of dropping to your knees in despair, you get some food (saving your hard rations) and fashion some cruddy daggers and acid grenades from the cheeky bastards.
thumbs up.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
and the acid pouches woulda been pretty cool to find.
Spaceships are better than relationships
Now delicious kank honey on the other hand...
Eating them is completely out of the question, canonically.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Spaceships are better than relationships
Yeah, that seems fair. They do produce Abdomen-Honey that's farmed as a common source of food. Eye juice seems entirely in line.
To clarify, I asked the dm about barccan's falling stars attack and if it burned away the thorns. This was his call as he liked the idea. He said the thorns were suppose to also do 5 ongoing damage to whoever stood in them but decided to not implement that and instead the drake, who was suppose to fly away if attacked was added to the encounter for us to deal with and dispatch.
So far while the Dark sun environment certainly is a hostile one, I do have to say that there has not been alot of room for roleplay or exploration. I'm sure its not always going to be like this and i hope we eventually reach a dungeon of some sort where more things happen other then skill checks to see if we survive another day.
The drake started things off by stealing one of my rations and eating it, and in my frenzied rage to get it back I not only missed the drake, but broke my stone trikal in the process. Eventually we made it out alive, although I think 5/7 of us fell to the floor and made death saves thanks to those damn brambles. I replaced my trikal with a badass magical acid spear and all is right with the world again.
As to lack of RP, I think it just depends on the group. We've found quite a few chances to spice things up, but another table seems to just blast through each fight and then get up and leave. Doesn't sound very exciting to me, I like the creative interactions.
Spaceships are better than relationships
Encounter 4 was worse, when the dust devils simply sandblasted us to death, doing around 13 dmg a pop. Wipe.
3 wasnt too bad, you just needed to risk the brambles and climb.
Round 5 was interesting. It started out pretty easy, the initial monsters were taking some good damage (mostly cause everyone was blowing action points knowing an extended rest was near), then the big guy showed up and grabbed the healer (me). he acid sprayed us and tried to bite me again, but we managed to down everything, making good use of the healing fruits and any remaining dailies/action points.
Week 6:
After a nice rest in the shaded cave mouth, we decided...fuck sand...lets follow the cave. We fashioned a few crude torches for emergencies, not knowing how deep the cave went, and had not gone far when we found a rickety rope bridge. we decided to cross one at a time, not trusting the brittle ropes....and the glint of what appeared to be metal on the other side drew us to be a little less cautious.
After a few of us crossed, I had just taken the first step on the bridge when we heard shouts through the gloom. corpses littered the floor and began to rise on the far side of the bridge. I quickly broke into a run and charged one of the undead. Unfortunately my attack was disrupted when i got too close and I missed. The creatures did not, and I was struck hard. Behind me a strange slime creature dropped from the ceiling and also struck me hard. A grief mote joined the frey and ,weakened and bleeding, I awaited my chance to continue the fight. Jarvix was halfway across the bridge when barcaan decided to try and cross at the same time...foolish brother...the rope snapped.
My brother managed to grip the edge of the bridge and pull himself up, jarvix however fell, and narrowly avoided a sand trap. A healing aura in the chasm was providing relative sanctuary, and I was surrounded and near death. I used my dimension swap ability to change places with jarvix. I'm sure he will enjoy the friends hes now surrounded by, while i heal some wounds in the pit.
My brother, finally being useful began dropping fire on the creatures, and the battle started to go our way. Convincing Jarvix that the swap was a leadership decision, we searched the corpses and found a set of piecemeal chain armor, and a scrap of a map...mentioning something about an ancestrial treasure deeper in the cave and men being frightened off by curses.
We healed and pressed on.
The fights go easy for some of you, hard for others, pretty much depending on party makeup/luck.
Encounter 5 wiped one group (maybe a tad hard) but another group decimated it with only 2 players going bloodied.
Encounter 3 wasn't bad for one group who climbed through thorny brambles, another group without ranged players who picked up bows and used them without the skill to, it was much harder for.
etc. etc.
Except for the one wipe on encounter 5, you all seem to be surviving by the skin of your teeth.
Sounds like the type of D&D I enjoy.
My opinion is that the monsters had some pretty ridiculous bonuses to hit. The other day the DM rolled a 4 vs reflex and it hit. Granted my reflex save is only 11 (why a big insect isn't a bit more agile I'll never guess). But yeah between none of the enemies missing and then hitting for damage in the double digits, we nearly always come close to wiping. I think our group's DM alternates between using the enemy abilities extremely well, and then having to try and help us out a little bit with some number fudging so that we don't all immediately get raped.
That being said, after our extended rest, we mopped the floor with the last encounter. The only reason for this is that Shikirr and the healer chick both have reach weapons and didn't have to get in the -5 to attack aura. If it weren't for that we would have been screwed I think. Our barbarian did not connect on a single attack the entire encounter, and was quite sad. The fact that he can just soak up a few hits and do no damage and we destroyed this encounter makes it seem like something is a little bit off, but I definitely prefer all the close scrapes to just running through everything easily and it not being a challenge.
Spaceships are better than relationships
I was hoping to find more like the crazy first encounter.
Total. To the group.
Was rather sad really.
Very sad.
I mean, two encounter powers isn't nothing but that thing had horrible hit points to be the focus of the encounter.
Little did I know that the DM's at the store had gotten together and planned one mega Encounters session. One group had been so flustered at the encounter with the halflings that they ended up abandoning their Yuka and running for the hills. They were going to attempt to assault/sneak in to the halfling village in an attempt to get him back before he was eaten.
That's where the rest of us came in. The rest of the people who came last night took the role of the halfling villagers. We were able to right down the statblocks for the different halflings and then take control of four of them. So basically there was the adventuring party, and then about 10-15 of us controlling four villagers each and all spread around.
It was a pretty epic evening. We managed to take down one of their party that got separated and ended him permanently in retribution for killing some of the villagers and knocking a hole in the wall of a house. The rest of the village (once alerted to the intruders by village alarm bells) were busy planning an ambush to take the party by surprise once they reached the tower. Also, once enough brave villagers had fallen, we took retribution by killing the hostage Yuka, then tying ropes to his body so that we could dangle him from the tower roof and mock the party once we had them surrounded. Unfortunately for us, the party realized that things were not going their way and it was late. They didn't want to storm the gates of the fortress and instead hastily retreated back out the town gates.
It was a fun time and I'm glad the DM's took the extra time to pull this out of nowhere and give everyone a taste of a pretty epic battle with about 20 people in the room participating. It also wasn't quite as chaotic or slow moving as you might imagine. They simplified initiative a bit for everyones benefit, and combat went pretty quickly.
Spaceships are better than relationships