So, week four of D&D Encounters and this one was a battle encounter.  We first met an Imp who, thanks to my Arcana skills and others’ skills checks got us some information from the Imp about the portal he was standing over and the Master’s Apprentice who lived therein.  After we got some more information from the Imp the earth shook and he awakened some stone sculptures and the battle began.

My wizard and our group’s psion stayed in the back while our attackers (all five of them, plus two animal companions) pressed forth in battle.  It was a pretty tough encounter and everyone but myself was at least bloodied (reduced to half or less of their hit points) and I was struck for some pretty good damage by a collapsing cavern ceiling as well.  It was only because of a lucky roll of the dice that I, myself, wasn’t bloodied by the collapse.  (For the record, my deftness spared me 10 damage and I took only five.)  Turns out, that was my only lucky roll and I spent the rest of the encounter causing minimal damage including an Encounter-level spell that took six of a possible 20.  (2 D8 +4, I rolled two ones)

That said, I did pretty well for myself and our group of brave adventurers emerged victorious, delving into the portal that opened due to the tremors leading us into the Apprentice’s lair.

I’m really looking forward to the next eight weeks’ worth of games but it’s another two at least until we can get an extended rest and recover spells, hit points and daily-level actions.

Stay tuned!

I’ve been wanting to get back into Dungeons & Dragons for a while now.  I even went so far as to buy the 4th Edition books when they came out.  I got the Player’s Handbooks I and II, the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual as well figuring I’d probably need to run a game since I didn’t know anyone locally who played.

Fast forward to two-plus years later and I found that Wizards of the Coast was trying to introduce the game to new players by having their Encounters delves hosted not just nationwide, but worldwide, every Wednesday at different locations.

I’d initially found a game in Newark, which is a good 45-60 minute drive from my house, and went last week to play the first level/encounter.  Well, it wasn’t a great fit for me (mostly for the drive involved) so I looked for a game closer to me here in Livermore.  As luck would have it, I was able to find a game hosted at the Barnes and Noble in Dublin, which is about a 10 minute drive.  I called the store to make sure that they were still accepting new players and wound up talking with Wes who wound up hosting/DMing the game I played this evening.  He let me know that I was more than welcome to join in the festivities and, WOW, what a difference!

The moment I walked into the store and met Wes I could tell it was going to be a great session and I was right.  There were four of us in the party, myself a Human Wizard (Gwenne Stefan I), a Ranger (didn’t catch the race) and his wolf companion played by Richard, a Cleric played by a young woman named Sam, and a Swordmage played by a young man named Elliott.

We picked up where we left off last week and took an “elevator” down from the main level to the dungeon where we ran into a Changeling, a Guard and his pet Scorpion and a smattering of Minions.  We made pretty short order of the minions and gave the Changeling and Guard a pretty solid whooping to end the encounter.

Again, it was thanks to Wes, the DM, for helping the group get going and really involving the group in the adventure.  I was able to get back into the swing of things after not playing for at least 15 years and was able to get up to speed without embarrassing myself too terribly.  I can’t wait until we pick up next week and hope that we can do some role playing as this session was entirely battle-filled.  I hear tell that next week’s session will be more skill and role playing-based.  Can’t wait!