Game Date: 2/11/2012
DM: Rusty
The Party:
Dalia (Matt): Human Ardent
Keyanna (Chere): Half-Elf Sorcerer
Marrick (Greg): Dwarf Knight
Starr (Star): Eladrin Paladin
Teddi (Ted): Dwarf Warlock
The Session:
Last session we fought our way through a twisted carnival. After receiving direction from the Fey Queen, we set out to find the one responsible for this madness. As we passed through the ticket booth to re-enter the carnival, we were briefly stopped by a goblin ticket-taker, but we quickly dispatched him. We headed straight for the Modern Wonders tent, from which we'd heard screams earlier.
Outside the tent, we saw a big cyborg/golem monster called a Jhoruk, which was throwing carnival-goers into the machinery. We fought the Jhoruk and three goblins. These goblins had a powerful marking ability called the "Mark of Thorns", which really complicated the fight. Ordinarily it's a good strategy to have all players concentrate their attacks on the same enemy, taking them out one by one. But since each of us was marked by a different goblin, we each had to concentrate on our own foe, extending the battle. But we all survived. It would have been nice if our Bard had shown up for the session, though.
Inside the Modern Wonders tent, carnival-goers were being led into powerful machines designed to process lumber. We fought four goblins and destroyed the machines as we made our way through the tent. These battles were complicated by the fact that if we stood too close to any machine, it would damage us. Worse, an invisible fey kept taunting us and trying to push us into the various mechanical monstrosities. Ted and Dalia both got pulled into a machine called the "Blades of Doom", for large amounts of damage. It was tough getting through the tent, but we all survived. It would have been nice if our Bard had shown up for the session, though.
After the battle, we found a magic rod made of ice. When our resident arcanists were unable to figure out the nature of the magic, our less-than-subtle knight just smashed the rod. It turned out that the rod was a magical prison, which had contained Namdrin (the albino drow owner of the carnival) and his wife. Grateful to us for releasing them, Namdrin joined our party and helped us to locate the source of all this evil. As we left the tent, Teddi burned it down for good measure. The party was now very low on healing surges, but we were determined to finish this. It would have been nice if our Bard had shown up for the session, though.
Out on the ice, we saw the evil fey master we sought. The boss was a Cold Rider, mounted on the back of a Frost Beast. Early in the fight, he hit Dalia with a power that took away more than half her HP. With no remaining surges, she couldn't heal herself. Later in the battle she went down, and failed two death saves. Marrick managed to rescue her, using a type of healing potion that doesn't require surges. By this time the Frost Beast was dead, and the Cold Righter was bloodied. Dalia could have played it safe and let the rest of the party finish him off, but she had more guts than sense. She charged the Rider, but was quickly taken down once again. She failed her third death save and died for good. The rest of the party finished off the Cold Rider, with no further deaths to our party. It would have really been nice if our frikkin' Bard had shown up for the session, though.
Once the boss was dead, the evil aspects of the carnival faded. Having saved the day, the party got ready to relax. Next order of business - earlier in the night, Teddi and Starr had been asked to watch a boy named Justin, son of our nemesis, Thuldrin Kreed. During all the night's strange events, we sort of lost track of him. This could prove to be very bad for us. Oh well, if Kreed asks, we'll tell him it was all Derp's fault.
Afterthoughts:
This is the third character I've lost since I started playing pencil-and-paper RPGs (and all to the same DM). I consider myself lucky in that all three deaths were good ones, from bravely-fought battles against major enemies. Aria was killed by a massive brain, while Vex was killed by a giant bug. Much better than having to tell people I was killed by kobolds, or a pit trap, or my own party members.
As much as I'd like to blame Derp's absence for Dalia's death, I doubt the Bard could have done much for her. She was out of surges, so his healing words wouldn't have had any effect. Nope, all is forgiven. Now excuse me, I'm off to build my next character. I'm thinking of making a Minotaur Barbarian who despises music, and flies into uncontrollable fits of rage whenever he sees a musical instrument.
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