The party has found its way to the Caves of Chaos, tracking down a legendary gem that was stolen from a king.
(I realized in preparing for this blog posts I should have ramped this up more. Suggested who might have the gem, for example, to guide them towards the cultists.)
I'm going to break this up in to sections, and label what is and isn't spoilerrific.
Who is Playing What (No Spoilers)
W., my wife, playing the Cleric of Pelor (CoP). She's 4th edition focused; generally hasn't liked most of the earlier stuff we has played. She plays a bit of computer games; not as much as I have/did, but a fair bit. She got in to fantasy through me, in a way. It became something we shared.
G., playing the Cleric of Moradin (CoM). He's a soldiery guy; he likes to fight, likes to do well in fights, can get creative when the chips are down. Digs 4e.
E., playing the Rogue. She's more 3e focused, although we play 4e together. She's more of a quiet thinker, liking to puzzle through problems.
T., playing both the fighter and the wizard. He's the tactical guy; bright, putting together combos, and saving the party's collective bacon with his cool ideas. Plays a lot of magic users, who have a good background, and then just executes on his archtype very well.
So here is how it all went down (Spoilers for CoC):
What Happened?
They stood around for a bit trying to get their bearings, working out powers and preparing spells. It was kind of a "whoah, lets get used to this edition." The clerics hit some confusion about spells, then were happy with the results
The wizard figured that the gem would be magic, and at the very least it would give them something to go on. He tried Detect Magic around the entrances he could see. He pinged off of the stuff in the Ogre's room.
The rogue went out and scouted, finding the ogres cave and exploring it. Did a great job on the checks, found the ogre white trashing it on his coin filled bean bag chair, and then went back to the party.
They planned to ambush it. Wizard and CoP readied the lasers. Fighter and CoM stood by the door. The fighter wanted to do a trip with a strength contest.
Rogue got in, bopped the ogre on the head with a rock. Then ran. Ogre tore after.
Lasers were fired, Fighter failed his trip.
The ogre kept chasing after the rogue, then the CoP, as damage wracked up. It was like a train; ogre moved, then fighter moved, then CoM moved. Once the Ogre got to the rogue and got the smack on, the rogue then ducked behind the dwarves. The ogre then went after the CoP.
After that, they searched, got the magic gear, and then found the secret door in to the goblin lair.
Grindfest errupts.
The Fighter gets to the barrel of spears to prevent 3 of the goblins from arming (he asked if he could so I said sure).
Wizard lays down sleep, takes out 3.
Others start blasting. Fighter is kind of meh at this point; doing ok damage, but doing the same thing every round.
The rogue switches from hiding/attacking to just straight up slinging. One of the goblins gets away to warn the others; this pulls a big group in. The CoP and the CoM clean up; the goblin archers take position at the end of the hallway, the retreating goblins moving up close to them.
The fighter pulls out a crossbow and starts firing. CoM rushes in, draws a huge number of readied action attacks. Most miss. Then starts swinging. CoP busts in, gets the next init count of actions leveled at her; but then she starts blasting.
The wizard and rogue join in with attacks. There is a lot of "I move 10 feet to fire around the corner, then 10 feet back." Started to feel like a grindy trench warfare.
Nobody was severely hurt; the CoM did use his healing word on occasion.
They got done with that fight, headed out, and that was how we ended the session.
Basically 2.5 hours, with roughly 4 combat "waves."
