5E at the Citadel: The Story Begins With...These Guys...

Adventurers Needed!

I fear the wards have broken in the latest avalanche.  A sudden warm snap has caused the Icefang Mountains to dump their prodigious snow that their peaks have collected down to the lowlands, and the wards that keep the mountain denizens at bay have been buried or worse.  I pray it’s just the wards being covered.  Otherwise, the two frost giants who came down from the hills and took our town three nights past have discovered a way to circumvent our ancient protective magic.  That is far more disturbing a thought. 

For now, though, our plight is dire.  Griffombul and Jontara, the giant and his giantess, have frozen our bay, leaving our ships trapped in shackles of ice, and a deep frost creeps over the town.  They started their reign of terror by ripping our guards to shreds along with any the giants deemed strong enough to oppose them.  Now they sit on our keep as if it were a throne, demanding our goods for their hoard and our children to slake their hunger. 

Those of us remaining in the Anchorheim Council have given gold to some hale souls who had decided to winter in Anchorheim so that they may slip from the city through our sewers with a letter to our allies across the mountains in Salas and at the Library at Howell to implore them for aid.  Even if they do make it through Saltmarch to the south and through the forests on the mountains’ eastern faces, I fear any help they reach will not find us in time.  I shiver not just from the bone aching cold the giants have brought, but from the fear that hangs in the air as palpably as our breath does. 

-Excerpt from the diary of Justice Claybones, Interim Mayor of Anchorheim

David Gardner will be running a 5^th Edition D&D game fo3r new and old players alike.  We will run bi-weekly.  We will be using all 5^th Edition material printed by Wizards of the Coast, and we will be starting at level 1.

That was the add I had my local gaming store put on their Facebook page.  Below is the party I ended up with (note that I ended up letting a player use a race from an Unearthed Arcana article):

This may or may not be the image that inspired the intro to this game...

Keeri Lo, the Zendikar Merfolk Druid Criminal. 

• ·         Has great abs
• ·         Druidic focus is a conch shell horn
• ·         Wildshapes into crabs ‘n stuff
• ·         Think slightly sleazy information broker with seaweedy tide pool magic
• ·         Makes cutting comments using Vicious Mockery #throwingshade

Julius, the High Elf Bard Noble

• ·         Commanding and in charge
• ·         Has a lute
• ·         Also makes cutting comments using Vicious Mockery #throwingshade
• ·         Trusts almost no-one
• ·         Battle bros with Keeri Lo

Charmagnus, the Human Sorceror (Wild Mage) Wanderer

• ·         Super germophobe
• ·         Casts Prestidigitation constsantly to clean everything
• ·         Doesn’t use anything but cantrips unless he can help it because he’s afraid of his wild magic

Fechedette, the Forest Gnome Wizard (Illusionist) Sage

• ·         Gets very excited
• ·         Has “creative” uses for illusions
• ·         Rides on Gilroy or Keeri Lo if he is a crab
• ·         Has a chipmunk familiar
•       Her name was randomly generate off of the 5e DM Screen

Gilroy, the Firbolg Barbarian Folk Hero

• ·         Has a really comfortable coat
• ·         No, really guys, it’s super comfortable
• ·         Always down with trying new things
• ·         Big, congenial bro

And coming late to the party (in session 2)…

Valen, the Aasimar (Protector) Fighter/Rogue (Swashbuckler) Pirate

• ·         Cinnamon roll
• ·         Loves everyone
• ·         Likes booze
• ·         Total go getter
• ·         Just is happy to have friends

Our first session started with five characters (Valen's player couldn't make it to the first session) being hidden in a basement by Justice Claybones.  The old Mayor offered them 1,000 GP each if they managed to get a letter across (around, rather, but eh) to the city of Salas and to the Library at Howell.  It was a sweet deal for a bunch of first level adventurers, so they took it.

The Mayor moved a table, revealed a secret tunnel, and shipped the gang down it into a dark little  access tunnel.  They were ticked that he pushed a table back over the tunnel, sealing them down there, but quickly overcame their annoyance and forged on.  Eventually, they emerged several miles outside the town.  Quickly, they hightailed it to the nearby tree line to avoid any giant eyes.

After a brief bit of introduction and reveling in the musical instruments they had, they realized they were probably too close to town to make too much noise, and slunk off.  Near night, they discovered a farmhouse that looked like it had been trodden on by a giant, and found a squashed mother and child (both deceased) inside.  They also found some bread and potatoes.  The potatoes, coupled with the fact that Charmagnus had bought cheese at character creation, started a joke about how the party needed to make pierogis.

Mmmm, pierogis

They decided not to spend the night in a squashed farmhouse since there was still a little daylight left, and forged on.  As darkness fell, they saw a fire in the trees up ahead, and Julius, Keeri Lo, and Gilroy decided to investigate.  Charmagnus and Fechedette hid in the trees but stayed close. 

The fire was owned by half a dozen goblins and a pair of goblin dogs.  Two of the goblins were robed, the dogs were tied up, and none of them expected a Firbog, a Merfolk, and an Elf to wander into the middle of their camp.  This led to a few blades (goblin blades are basically sharp junk tied to sticks) being drawn but some talk happened where the goblins demanded the party’s stuff and the party tried to barter potatoes.

As a shock to nobody, these relations broke down, and the goblins in robes opened their mouths, their crab familiars scuttled out to safety, and the dogs were loosed.  A goblin rolled a natural 1 against Keeri Lo, and my description of how the goblin’s steak knife tied to the end of a stick broke when he shoved the knife at Keeri Lo’s stomach spawned Keeri Lo lifting his shirt, declaring his abs were steel, and then getting promptly dropped to zero by a goblin dog. 

One goblin ran away, but in a barrage of spells and steel (the wizard and sorcerer did good work with Firebolt from the trees), the rest of the goblins and the goblin dogs were dropped.  The party settled in for the night in the ruined campsite, and we finished the first session.  It was short because a large portion of it was spent in character creation, but laughs and fun were had.