Icewind Dale Redux: Kicking it old school (B/X character creation) with a roleplay driven party (The Nightmare Company)

[JustKneller]

Greetings tavern patrons,

I'm planning a roleplay-driven run of Icewind Dale with an old school challenge on the gameplay side. I'll be posting as I go and I'm open to comments and suggestions.

We are about to head on an old school D&D adventure. An unknown evil threatens the good (and bad, and neutral, and chaotic, and lawful, but let's not split hairs) people of Icewind Dale! And the only force capable of stopping it, aside from just uninstalling the game, are six brave heroes who feel they are up to the task. Who are these courageous few? I have no idea.

As I type this, I will be randomly generating the characters B/X style. The old school way to play (and the way I first played in sixth grade) is that one rolls their stats first, in order, then figure out what kind of character they can run with that. One can make adjustments, though. This is where it gets a little convoluted, B/X functions differently in a lot of ways and getting it to carry over to 2e AD&D is tricky. However, to simplify, It boils down to this. A point can be added to (only) a prime requisite, at the cost of two points from an ability that is not one of the prime requisites. The two points have to come from the same ability (you can't take one point from two abilities), and no score can be reduced below 9.

The prime requisites (and attribute minimums) are as follows:

Fighter: Strength (9)
Ranger*: Strength (13), Dexterity (13), and Wisdom (14)
Paladin**: Strength (12), Wisdom (13), Charisma (17)
Cleric: Wisdom (9)
Druid: Wisdom (12), Charisma (15)
Mage: Intelligence (9) (specialists have an extra prime requisite)
---Abjurer: Wisdom (15)
---Conjurer: Constitution (15)
---Diviner: Wisdom (16)
---Enchanter: Charisma (16)
---Illusionist: Dexterity (16)
---Invoker: Constitution (16)
---Necromancy: Wisdom (16)
---Transmuter: Dexterity (16)
Thief: Dexterity (9)***
Bard: Dexterity (12), Intelligence (13), Charisma (15)

Some of these classes are not in B/X so I had to retrofit prime requisites on them based on the class requirements.

*Rangers also have a Constitution requirement of 14, but it's not a prime requisite so it can't be raised
**Paladins also have a Constitution requirement of 9, but it's not a prime requisite so it can't be raised
***A Dex below 13 results in a penalty to Thief skills (and possibly stealth for Rangers)

Race can adjust ability scores and make some classes possible or no longer viable. For example, with a Wis of 9, you can be a cleric, but not a Gnome cleric due to the Wis penalty. But, with a Dex of 12, an Elf could become a Ranger if they have the other ability requirements.

Also, a character can be scrapped if two abilities come up 5 or lower.

Multi-classing can get a little tricky. These characters generally have more prime requisites that they can and may need to increase, but fewer non-prime requisites from which to pull points. Dual classed characters have it even tougher, since not only will they have more prime requisites, but the requirements will be higher. However, I'm generally not a super fan of multis and duals from a character concept perspective so I doubt it will come into play.

Since the in game roller can't work with this method, I'm actually rolling up these characters the old fashioned way. I attempted three methods for this. The first was to grab a few d6s out of my dice bag and start rolling. The results were catastrophically terrible. The average character using this method should be 63 points and most of what I was rolling were 40- and 50-point characters. As any old school gamer knows, this clearly means there's something functionally wrong with the dice. So, I did another pass, this time using the dice from my Eldritch Horror board game. My win rate is pretty high there, so clearly those dice work. However, this had the opposite effect. I rolled way too many 75+ point characters (like, more than half), and even the rest were generally above average. Not to mention, using those dice for a game other than Eldritch Horror summoned Yog-Sothoth, so then I had to deal with that. My final method was to use the dice roller on calculator.net. It gave me a nice 3x6 grid of dice and even provided the totals. The results seemed pretty average on average and no extra-dimensional beings were summoned. A win-win if you ask me.

So this is what we have:

	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha	Sum
A	9	11	7	13	14	13	67
B	12	13	15	13	10	13	76
C	12	9	15	7	9	9	61
D	14	12	16	12	6	15	75
E	9	11	12	10	11	13	66
F	10	8	12	11	7	13	60
G	13	13	12	8	11	6	63
H	8	6	11	9	15	11	60
I	9	10	6	5	11	14	55
J	11	6	13	9	12	11	62
K	12	13	13	10	10	8	66
L	3	10	12	12	14	12	63

All in all slighter higher than average on average, but we're only at 64.5 pts, vs. 63.

I'll take a little break for now. I want to let these numbers marinate and see what characters jump out to me.

Anyone have any character thoughts they want to throw out?

 

[JustKneller]

Ok, I've done a little thinking on this one. I'm thinking I want to make sure I round the bases with a fighter, cleric, magic-user, and thief. However, I'd take a bard over a mage. Or, a mage/thief would check two of those boxes (you really only need half of both). The last two slots could be anything, but preferably one on the back line and another on the front line. A druid and paladin would be ideal, but getting the numbers for that is another story. Based on the above, here are some thoughts:

A: I can drop Int down to 9 to get the Cha I need for a druid. I can also drop the Dex down to 9 (11 isn't doing me any favors) to get Wis up to 15 for a bonus spell.

B: A solid bard option here. I can dip into Con for the needed Charisma. If I go as far as 9 for Con and Str, I also have an Int of 15, which gets me to 5th level spells.

C: Really basic fighter, but that's about it.

D: Definitely a fighter, and a pretty solid one. I can pull 3 points from Cha and another point from Int to get Str to 18/?? and have decent Con on top of that. I think I can pull it off with a Dwarf, too, and get a boost to Con plus shorty saves. The Dex loss has no impact.

E: Technically better than average stats, but not in great places. Not much to do with this one. I can drain everything for Int and make a mage, but only have up to level 5 spells. I could also drain everything to Wis and make a caster cleric. I can also make this character a Cleric/Thief to cover those bases and then make (K) a straight fighter. I'm also just one point shy of being able to pull a druid out of this one.

F: Just a worse version of (E)

G: Probably the best candidate for a cleric. Slightly better than average physical stats. Cat's Grace + DUHM (when needed) can provide a respectable defense. I would probably even make this a Halfling cleric to shore up Dex a little more (Cat's Grace then always has impact) and get a save bonus, whereas sacrificing the point of Str just loses flails and losing a point of Wis has no impact.

H: Another possible cleric, but more of a caster cleric. However, with these candidates, I need to think about the front line more.

I: If Con was one point lower, I could have just scrapped this character entirely. Can't see anything good here.

J: The problem with low Dex is that it means you suck in the front (poor AC) and back (poor w/ missile weapons). Wouldn't make a good mage and there are better cleric options here.

K: This is looking like my party thief, and probably a fighter/thief. I could go Dwarf and then dip into Con to avoid the Dex penalty to thief skills without hurting my shorty bonus. Or I can go Halfling and sacrifice an unnecessary point of Str for the Dex bonus plus shorty saves.

L: If I drain what I can and put it into Int, I have a mage that can cast up to 6th level spells. Look at that Str, though. A whopping 5 lbs. weight allowance. You'd need Bull's Strength just to pull up your pants. I can also make a caster cleric out of this one, but once again, Str of 3, so that would suck.

Giving this some thought, I think our winners are A, B, D, E, G, and K. All my arcane power will be in my bard who will, in all likelihood, only be able to cast up to 5th level spells. However, I have a druid for and offensive magic backup, so it should be fine. Meanwhile, two clerics (well, one and a half)? I've never done more than one, but this party probably could use the divine intervention. Here's the lot together, with attribute adjustments:

	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha	Sum	Class	Race
A	9	9	7	9	15	15	64	Druid	Half-Elf
B	10	13	9	15	10	15	72	Bard	Half-Elf
D	18/??	11	17	10	6	7	71	Fighter	Dwarf
E	9	13	13	10	9	9	64	Cleric/Thief	Dwarf
G	12	14	12	8	10	6	62	Cleric	Halfling
K	12	14	12	10	10	8	66	Fighter	Elf

The Halfling cleric (with hammers and slings to start, then building into maces) will likely be my point person, particularly after getting a certain helm. With buffs, they will be my best tank. However, the Dwarf fighter will be backing them up. I'm thinking axes and flails and going for GM in both. Right behind them will be the Elf fighter with bows and long swords. The Elf race bonus to bows plus mastery will make them a respectable archer that can back up with melee (and wear decent armor as well). In the back line, we have a solid Half-Elven druid (darts and staves) with some bonus spells. They'll be able to fill out offensive spellcasting gaps the Half-Elven bard (mostly singing, sometimes spell slinging, generally one handers for Lyre of Progression) will face being the only arcane caster. Finally there is the Dwarf cleric/thief with hammers and a sling to start. There's no point to a full thief and adding in the cleric will bring in more utility. I was originally going to make (K) a fighter/thief and then maybe H a caster cleric, but I think the party will be better off with a half-cleric on a half-thief and a full fighter than a half-thief on a half-fighter with a second full cleric.

However, as I said, this is a roleplay run, so we need concepts and backstory. I have something in mind. Stay tuned.

 

[JustKneller]

I just realized I screwed up. (E) can't be a Dwarf cleric/thief since only Gnomes have that class option. It doesn't change the concepts much, but will have a minor impact on the stats. For the sake of accuracy, this is the party with some additional details and (E) corrected:

Name	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha	Sum	Class	Race	AL	Pts. Dropped
(A)lflaug	9	9	7	9	15	15	64	Druid	Half-Elf	TN	16
(B)ragibodr	10	13	9	15	10	15	72	Bard	Half-Elf	CN	8
(D)eduk Dasgrom	18/63	11	17	10	6	7	71	Fighter	Dwarf	LN	6
(E)mbrek Glorimdirium	9	13	12	11	10	9	64	Cleric/Thief	Gnome	LN	12
(G)weilew Pangloss	12	14	12	8	10	6	62	Cleric	Halfling	NG	21
(K)orthios Silvadon	12	14	12	10	10	8	66	Fighter	Elf	CG	15

As you will soon see, none of our heroes initially set out to be heroes. They were living quite different lives before they happened to be thrust into this heroic adventure. This would certainly explain why they are all level 1 characters with absolute zero experience. And so, we should start with the story of how this band of unlikely characters came together.

Many of them had met for the first time in a cage at an encampment for the savage Black Raven Tribe. This tribe had an alliance with the Gray Wolf Tribe, who were a group of lycanthropes with a taste for fresh meat. The Black Ravens would send war parties on flying ravens to capture their enemies (which was almost everyone) from the surrounding areas, usually picking off the weakest of the bunch and running off. They were especially hostile towards the Tribe of the Snow Owl with whom they have had a long standing feud and only recently managed to permanently defeat. In any case, the prisoners they captured would be held at encampments and periodically offered as tribute to the Gray Wolf tribe where they would subsequently be eaten.

This particular encampment was relatively far from Raven Rock, their ancestral homeland. It was, in fact, within the territory previously occupied by the Tribe of the Snow Owl and even closer to the Ten Towns than to Raven Rock. This was quite brazen for even the Black Ravens, but as their defeat of the Tribe of the Snow Owl was recent and their confidences were riding high.

For our heroes, even though their presumed final destinations were nearly identical, their points of origin varied greatly.

 

[JustKneller]

Part 2, because I apparently exceed the character limit.

Spoiler

Alflaug was a part of the Tribe of the Snow Owl until they were recently defeated and scattered by the Black Ravens. Alflaug is somewhat unusual in that her father was an Elven ranger who fell in with the tribe. He fought beside them against the Black Ravens over the years. Eventually, he was taken in as one of their own and given the name Fugldanzleiker (Dances-with-Owls). He was then allowed to take a mate, with whom he had Alflaug. Growing up, Alflaug had an affinity towards the land itself and had only recently discovered her connection to the primal magics of the druids. Unfortunately, before she could develop these abilities, the Tribe of the Snow Owls met their demise and were either killed, scattered, or captured as slaves. Alflaug's parents were slain, she was taken as a slave, and has been serving as such for the last few months. The only reason she hasn't yet been given to the Grey Wolves is because the Black Ravens see enslaving their enemies as a fate worse than death.

Spoiler

Bragibodr is Alflaug's brother and was taken captive when she was. Much like Alflaug, he was only beginning to enter adulthood when the tribe fell. Had that not happen, he would have begun preparations for becoming his king's personal skald. He was chosen for this shortly after birth when the elders noticed that he would pound his chest when he cried. He was given a drum as a small child, for which he had a natural talent. Prior to reaching adulthood, he created Ukiah. This was a style of short poem that connected observations in nature with important acts and deeds. The poem would then be performed with interspersed drumming for dramatic effect. Much like Alflaug, the Black Ravens kept him around for what they perceive as humiliation. Additionally, they know of his talents as a bard, so he is required to write poems extolling the Black Ravens' “superiority” in order to keep him and his sister alive. It's driven him nearly mad to use his craft in such a profane way. He would prefer to die, but isn't willing to condemn his sister to the same fate.

Spoiler

Deduk Dasgrom was a guard in the halls of the Dwarven Valley. While many guards were assigned to posts where they had to contend with the hostile forces in the region, Deduk was fortunate enough to be posted at the hall's forge, far from the dangers in the area. Though trained in the axe and flail, both his armor and weapons were still in pristine condition, never having seen battle. On one hand, this slightly bothered him as he never really had a chance to prove his worth to his Dwarven brethren. On the other hand, guard duty at the forge was quite comfortable and warm. Deduk was picked up by the Black Ravens while escorting an engineer from the forge to Bryn Shandner. The engineer was to meet with a trader and inspect some supplies to be purchased for the forge. This was a run Deduk has made many times without incident. However, unbeknownst to the Dwarves, the Black Ravens had a contingent in the area that had started terrorizing the road in between the Dwarven Valley and Bryn Shander. Had they known, they would have sent a more capable guard. When the Black Ravens struck, Deduk was caught at a disadvantage over the initial surprise of actually needing to be in a fight. He was disarmed and captured within moments of the start of the attack.

Spoiler

Embrek Glorimdirium was a Gnome living amongst the Dwarves at the Dwarven Valley, though perhaps more of a Dwarf than some of his Dwarven cousins. His character sheet may say that he's (partly) a thief but this is far from accurate. Prior to his capture, he held a position of respect in the Dwarven Forge as an engineer and mechanic, and his thief class only indicates his mechanical inclination (locks and traps). Being called to the service of Moradin, he knew he had to join the Dwarves in the valley to aid them the best way he knew how. That is, constructing all manner of mechanical devices to better establish the Dwarven presence in the area and aid the Dwarves in defeating their evil enemies. As you have probably guessed by now, Embrek was the engineer Deduk was escorting to Bryn Shander.

Spoiler

Gweilew Pangloss was raised in Bryn Shander. After becoming an adult, she entered into service at the local Temple of Tymora. Her motto had always been, “Have but luck, and you shall have the rest," so becoming a cleric for The Smiling Lady just seemed like a natural fit. Her service mostly involved escorting travelers between the Ten Towns, with the idea being that she was the good luck charm keeping misfortune from meeting travelers on their journey. For countless trips, it seemed to have worked. In fact, Gweilew didn't even carry a weapon half the time. Unfortunately, luck, like most things, eventually runs out. On a trip between Bryn Shander and Caer-Dineval, Gweilew (unarmed) and company crossed paths with a band of Black Ravens where she was snatched and taken back to their camp as a prisoner. Gweilew still considers this to be good luck, as at least she was still alive (for the moment) whereas the rest of her company (who actually tried to fight the barbarians) were slaughtered.

Spoiler

Korthios Silvadon is certainly a stranger in a strange land. He originally hails from the far southern city of Evereska. But, the austere Elven life did not agree with him. Perhaps it was the tales he heard of his uncle Nivekios Quaustnyr who shed the stifling city life for the more unfettered life as a ranger in the wilds. When he couldn't bear it any longer, Korthios set out in a walkabout to track down his uncle who had left decades before. He fancied himself a ranger, but to be honest, he just didn't have the chops for it. But still, he steadfastly followed his uncle's path hoping to find him and be mentored in the ways of the wild. This trip took him much further than he imagined. He thought his uncle only made it as far as the South Wood, but that ended up being just a short sojourn for Uncle Nivekios. From there he went to the High Forest, then Neverwinter Wood, then ultimately to Icewind Dale. A fortnight ago, he was in Luskan where he had met an elf who apparently knew his uncle. The last this elf had heard, his uncle had taken up with the barbarians of the north and shed his beautiful elven name for something coarse, like Fugldanzleiker. Korthion, not being the ranger his uncle was, and not knowing about the Tribe of the Snow Owl's demise, unwittingly crossed paths with the Black Ravens looking for Uncle “Fugldanzleiker”. He has only been a captive of the Black Ravens, and learned of both his uncle's fate and his cousins existence, for a few days at this point.

Of course, this doesn't get our party to Easthaven huddled around a fire in the Winter's Cradle Tavern with nothing but their skivvies and a walking stick. For that we have to turn to our ill-fated hero, Hrothgar. One of the troubles he was investigating in the region was the increased presence of the less-friendly barbarian tribes. This took precedence over the troubles in Kuldahar due to it being a greater threat to the Ten Towns. The Black Raven encampment was even less than a day from Easthaven, and Hrothgar had known the Tribe of the Snow Owl fondly.

It was merely the day prior to now when our heroes were captives and slaves of the Black Ravens. Hrothgar, along with a troop of warriors, had found the Black Raven camp that had been a menace to the Ten Towns' roadways for the last couple months. The Black Ravens were overconfident and not expecting the civilized folk to strike. Hrothgar's forces were able to wipe them out handily, free the prisoners, and escort them safely back to Easthaven. Feeling for their plight, especially those of the fallen Snow Owls, he graciously gave them nearly 900 gold from his own coffers to help them get their footing and work out their next moves from there. Of course, if those next steps involved aiding in a certain expedition, he was not going to turn down the help...

 

[BelgarathMTH]

The numbers from the roller program made me suspicious of the quality of the RNG, until I looked up that 3 6-sided dice can produce 216 outcomes. Only 1 out the 216 is an 18. Only 3 out of the 216 are 17's. The highest probabilities are in fact concentrated to the middle numbers.

Check out a full table of possible outcomes here: https://www.thoughtco.com/probabili...es and Sums,generalizes further for more dice.

I guess a strict 3d6, one try per stat, character creation method might work in a DM-adjusted table top game, where no player is going to have any stat bonuses at all except in extreme good luck cases, which would probably just make the DM raise the CR of the encounters and throw extra enemies at the "lucky" player.

But it seems like a pretty awful method for a D&D video game. I'm not sure it would be great in a tabletop game, either, because players like to feel competent and powerful in their fantasies, and they also want to play the class they want to play. A DM being that strict with character creation is likely to wind up with players not having fun, who will abandon the game and not come back for a second session.

Does any D&D handbook across the editions actually recommend doing that? The strictest one I've seen is "4d6, drop the lowest". "Standard array" is an interesting idea from 5th edition, although that method is probably over-generous for the challenge run you're wanting to create.

 

[JustKneller]

I tried a few rollers before using this one. The others seemed "padded", especially those built for D&D. I was consistently getting results in the teens. I suspect some of them were rolling 4d6 keep 3, even though they said 3d6. The calculator.net one seemed like it was giving me a proper distribution of results and, sure enough, my party average was well within one standard deviation of the mean and even barely a point off. The characters I cherry picked out of the twelve generally had higher than average stats, but the cost of adjustments knocked that down to barely above average. If I stuck with the first six here, it actually wouldn't have been that much different. (C) would be a Dwarven cleric and (F) would be my Elven fighter/archer.

The 3d6 in order is actually the method from B/X D&D, which is essentially Basic D&D first edition. AD&D was (as you'd probably expect) a more developed ruleset based on Basic that came out thereafter. In AD&D, it did introduce the 4d6 drop the lowest method, but the standard method was still 3d6, just arranged how you like. I think there was even text to the effect of "if you your heroes more powerful than standard..." referring to that method. As you can imagine, paladins, rangers, and the like were quite rare, which I'm sure was intentional.

At the time, D&D didn't conform to the heroic power fantasy it became with 3rd edition forward. Characters were easy to create and could be quick to die if you weren't careful. What made them "heroes" was being willing to take on the challenge despite being so fragile.

I first played in sixth grade where we used 3d6 in order. In my high school group, it was AD&D using 3d6 arranged as you like. I guess our thought was that extreme (particularly high) scores should be quite rare and often require magical intervention. Was it grueling at times? Sure. But we appreciated what we had and especially valued finding something that let us exceed our normal capabilities.

I don't recall CRs being a thing back in the day as I didn't DM much. I do recall there being lots of tables to help figure challenges out, though. I don't think matching party level was as strong of a theme, as it (generally) wasn't power fantasy. If you were outmatched, running away was always an option.

Fun is a relative thing, for sure, but I definitely preferred the grittier style of play in the classics over my power fantasy experiences with 3e and later. The later editions just hit soft and I felt like I was just getting new superpowers at every turn. At that point, most groups I were in leaned into this. Those that tried to dial it down had trouble due to the system design.

 

[JustKneller]

Spoiler

So we begin at the beginning with six run-of-the-mill denizens of Frozenfar warming themselves up in front of the fire at the pub in Easthaven. They were still out of sorts from their rescue the day before and had not yet fully collected their wits. Nevertheless, they spoke amongst themselves about the current situation and their next steps. Gweilew was the first to speak up and announced that she would be bringing her good luck to Hrothgar's aid. She thought it was the least she could do to repay for the rescue. Besides, to her it was clear that Tymora was sending her on this path. The Snow Owls didn't have a long term plan. This was the first time they were free to consider the loss of their tribe. They presumed that the survivors had made it to some of the Ten Towns, and who knows from there, but they didn't believe that the Tribe of the Snow Owl would be restored. What was in store for them in the long term was anybody's guess. But, for now, they would aid Hrothgar, if only to return the favor.

That just left the Dwarf and Gnome. Before Deduk could even say anything, Embrek made a comment about the folly of getting lost in the moment and wanting to get back to the Dwarven Valley as soon as possible. Deduk cautioned him against this, though. He reminded Embrek that they were now indebted to Hrothgar. Embrek said he would be happy to give back the gold for a quick return to the Dwarven Valley. However, Deduk advised him that even if they gave back the gold, they still owed him their lives. In truth, Deduk was not being honorable. In fact, it was quite the opposite. If Deduk returned to the Dwarven Valley with only the story of being defeated by barbarians, and then rescued by humans, he would be the laughing stock of the clan for the rest of his days. They probably wouldn't even let him guard the forge. He had to do something to redeem himself, and he didn't want Embrek running his mouth off to the clan before Deduk could come out of this with a better look. So, knowing how much the Gnome hated the idea of debt, he used that as leverage.

And it worked! Embrek grumbled something to the effect of, “I'm an engineer, not an adventurer!" But, he was on board.

The next order of business was to figure out how to share the gold that Hrothgar's provided. Embrek suggested a six way split, 148 gold per person, with the 2 gold remaining being donated to the local temple. However, that irritated Korthios who thought the lion's share should go to his new found cousins since they lost so much more than the rest of them. Alflaug and Bragibodr were so despondent over the loss of their tribe, they didn't even care about the money. Gweilew suggest making a game of chance out of the whole thing, but nobody was listening to her at this point as the rest were well into bickering. Deduk was afraid this venture would end before it started and they would be heading back home imminently. He cut through the squabbling by slamming a thundering fist down on their table and everyone silenced.

“We'll temporarily form an adventuring company,” he sternly declared, “when the gold runs out, there will be nothing we need worry about splitting”. This seemed to be an agreeable compromise to the rest and the matter was settled.

Gweilew then asked, “oooh, but what shall we call ourselves?" And so the bickering resumed...

Eventually tired of the noise, it was Bragibodr who next silenced the party. Starting with a furious beating rhythm on his drum, he composed an improptu ukiah:

fighting everything
feathers blowing in the wind
sharing their nightmares

Korthios commented how it's their enemies who should be having the nightmares and everyone quietly agreed. And that is how they found their name: The Nightmare Company.

 

[JustKneller]

Note: I actually ended up restarting this run in Pomab's shop when trying to buy gear at the start. I used Dalekeeper to edit Embrek (previously Emrick) and Gweilew's (Furrboot to Pangloss) name and somehow it permanently borked their character models. I probably could have tinkered with it more to fix it, but it was easier to just start over. I didn't want to take advantage and I otherwise don't scum the RNG, so when it came to Deduk's exceptional strength I did a little rerolling until I could get within the same range of his original score of 18/68 and ended up with 18/63. I edited some of the previous tables to account for the reset, but there's no real impact overall.

I also added the portraits I used to the bios above.

Back to our heroes...

It was now time for the party to outfit themselves. They made their way to Pompous...I mean...Pomab's shop and perused his inventory of armor and weapons. Only Deduk and Korthios had any idea about these things, and even their knowledge was academic. They picked out of the heaviest armor for themselves and Gweilew. Embrek didn't want to be weighed down so he only took studded leather. Alflaug also only took studded leather, though this was due to the tenets of her faith. Bragibodr eschewed armor entirely, partially because he was feeling reckless.

When it came to weapons, the Dwarf and Elf took the lead again with the Dwarf just picking up an axe and the Elf choosing a long bow and long sword. Embrek stared at the weapons, dumbfounded. This was definitely outside his wheelhouse. He eventually picked out a hammer. He didn't expect he would be terribly good with it, but it was the only weapon resembling a tool he understood. Gweilew also picked up a similar hammer just because Embrek appeared to choose his with great discernment, so she reckoned he clearly knew what he was doing. Alflaug knew nothing of fighting, so she kept with her walking stick, but also picked up a sling and some darts as she might be able to help out from a distance. Bragibodr also was not combat hardy so he only picked up a club that looked like it would be good for drumming.

The Nightmares had some time to kill before meeting Hrothgar so they wandered about town a bit and mingled with the locals, helping out a few along the way. Gweilew was actually slain by a wolf in the scrimshander's store and it cost the party half their remaining funds to bring her back. When she returned, she remarked how lucky she was that they were penniless yesterday and now had the money to raise her and still some leftover!

When all was said and done, they met with Hrothgar to further discuss his expedition. There was trouble brewing in Kuldahar. This piqued Alflaug's interest as she had heard many things of the Great Tree of Kuldahar and of the druid who is its caretaker. But first, there was a missing caravan to track down. The Nightmares immediately offered their assistance.

Their journey took them a half-day's trek from Easthaven to a cave with a retched smell. Deduk immediately recognized it as orc, not because he's ever fought (or even seen) one, but because this is what his cousin Helfdane would smell like when he returned to the Dwarven hall after fighting them. Deduk commented that orcs usually travel in sizable numbers so they should be extra careful.

Before the orcs, though, there were wolves. A small pack had established a den outside of the cave proper and attacked the Nightmares on sight. They were dispatched, but Gweilew was nearly slain yet again (and the party could only afford one more raise at this point). Rather than rush the cave, they decided to camp out for the night to do some recon. The night was uneventful, so it would seem that the orcs were well set in their cave and didn't feel the need to leave. The party wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing. Nevertheless, they cautiously advanced with weapons drawn. There was a lookout posted outside the cave, but he was able to get away before the Nightmares could take it down. So much for the element of surprise.

They cut through the first two squads of orcs without incident. However, with the next pack, they were outnumbered. On top of that, there was one orc that was clearly stronger than the rest and a shaman that cursed Gweilew and Deduk. They paid for this encounter, nearly with their lives.

Spoiler

After they healed up, the Nightmares pressed on. When the path forked, they started on the rightmost path. “Whenever in doubt, right is right," Embrek advised. This led them to a dead end with a small band, including a shaman. The middle chamber had another small band guarding a chest. When they were taken care of, the party searched the chest and found a pair of magical boots. The final path seemed to go deeper into the cave. After facing another small band of orcs, Deduk scouted ahead and reached a cavern at the end of the tunnel.

Spoiler

The opposition was formidable. The Nightmares were only slightly outnumbered. However, the other side had many archers as well as an Ogre. Deduk beat feet to rejoin the party screaming “Ogre!” as he “tactically withdrew”. Alflaug knew what to do. She cast an Entangle spell in the passage. This would slow their advance so the Nightmares wouldn't have to deal with the entire gang at once. Additionally, slingers and Korthios could safely pick off the ones trapped by the vines. The ogre was fortunately one of the vines victims and the party was able to save it for near last. When the ogre did finally break free of the Entangle, Alflaug cast another spell, this time Sunscorch and it hit true. While the ogre tried to attack Deduk and Gweliew, it was blinded and swung too wildly to connect. By the time it would have recovered from Alflaug's spell, it was defeated. The party found a trade contract on the ogre that looked important. They would be sure to bring it back to Easthaven.

When the fight was finally over, the Nightmares looked at each other with amazement. The looks on their faces all said the same thing. They really could do this adventuring thing. Embrek was the only exception. He had the same ornery I'd-Rather-Be-Back-In-The-Dwarven-Valley look he always had. However, this didn't put a damper on the party and Bragibodr started to drum:

orcs die in the earth
the ogre falls beside them
and so it begins

The Nightmares returned to Easthaven victorious. It was near midnight upon their return so they purchased the finest room at the inn, which was actually quite plain, to rest for the night. In the morning, they turned the trade contract over to it's rightful owner, the fishmonger for Easthaven, resupplied, and reported to Hrothgar to leave on the expedition.

 

[JustKneller]

The next morning, Hrothgar's expedition departed for Kuldahar and the Nightmares were feeling pretty good. They were able to hold their own in the caves with the orcs. Even if they were to meet opposition on this journey, they had a veritable army at their side. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, if you've played this game before, you already know the answer to that.

Hrothgar's patchwork militia was making their way through a canyon in the Kuldahar Pass when they were ambushed by a gang of frost giants. The giants created a massive avalanche that buried the entire caravan. Eventually, a small group of survivors dug themselves out. As you might have guessed, the survivors were our heroes, The Nightmare Company. After dusting themselves off, they group was still quite stunned over the attack and took a moment to collect themselves. Everyone but Gweilew that is, who offered, “Well, isn't that lucky! A catastrophic avalanche and we managed to survive without a scratch! Tymora favors us today!” Embrek's glare could have melted all the snow in the pass, “It would have been nicer to survive it and still have an army with us.” But, Gweilew paid no mind to the Gnome's surliness. She even offered to take point as they all moved forward. Nobody had any objections whatsoever.

Our party soon discovered that they weren't alone in the pass. With them were a detachment of goblins and even a few orcs. While the goblins were a weaker enemy, their numbers were much greater and so the Nightmares were still wary in their engagements. Even then, Gweilew and Deduk often found themselves on the brink of death as they tried to hold the front line. The orcs were no real trouble, save for their chief, who broke through the front line and put a hurt on Korthios. The party overcame these challenges, though by the skin of their teeth in some places.

They also met another ogre, Ghereg, this one much less belligerent than the last they met. It seemed to be hiding out in a tower due to some kind of strange migraine. Alflaug was able to suggest a cure to the creature, who was grateful enough to leave and not harass the party. After Ghereg left, Deduk made a comment about how his axe could have been a headache cure, too. Nobody paid him any mind, though, as nobody wanted to fight an ogre in such close quarters. Deduk didn't even mean what he said, for that matter, he was just blustering.

After the ogre left, the tower became a suitable campsite for the Nightmares. Indeed, the goblins could not be dispatched in one fell swoop without the party putting themselves at grave risk. They rested and recovered between forays, learning a little more about each other as they went.

Spoiler

When the pass was peacefully silent, the Nightmares made their way down the road to Kuldahar. They arrived in the village at daybreak, just in time to see the sun rise over the Great Oak.

(end of prologue)

Aflaug (L2, 11/16hp, k 8%, FS: Cure Light Wounds) studded leather, helmet, quarterstaff, sling, dart
Bragibodr (L3, 12/18hp, k 0%, FS: None) - club
Deduk (L2 25/26hp, k 22%) - splint mail, medium shield, helmet, battle axe, throwing axe
Embrek (L2/2, 11/14hp, k 12%) - studded leather, helmet, war hammer, sling
Gweilew (L2, 17/24hp, k 4%) - splint mail, helmet, large shield, war hammer, sling
Korthios (L2, 14/20hp, k 51%) - splint mail, helmet, long bow, long sword

 

[JustKneller]

The party was astounded by the sight of the Great Oak. Alflaug knew it was a big tree, but didn't expect a tree that provided a canopy of warmth for an entire village. Even Embrek seemed to soften up a little as this was the first time he truly felt warm since leaving the Dwarven Valley. Bragibodr started tapping ominously on his drum:

seeing the great oak
we are blanketed by warmth
will it get hotter?

The Nightmares were greeted by a child as they entered the village proper who advised them to immediately seek out Arundel, the village elder and druid. While the party wanted to rest and get their bearings first, they obliged. They could hear out the druid and rest after.

Arundel informed them of a number of unusual events happening in the area. Strange weather, abductions, and an increased presence of monsters have caused the people of Kuldahar trouble. The source of these disturbances was a mystery. All the druid could recommend is that they investigate the Vale of Shadows, a previously quiet place for interring the deceased. An ominous gloom had recently taken over the valley and there are rumors that the dead had even started to rise. It seemed as good of a place to start as any.

The Nightmares were in no rush to head out to the Vale. Instead, they surveyed the town to get the lay of the land and work out their accommodations. In the process, the party was ambushed by two brave yetis that invaded the town. Apparently, many more made themselves comfortable in the Vale and (in all likelihood) have recently slain a villager who went out to pay their respects to an ancestor. The brother of the victim was with him at the time and barely made it back to Kuldahar with his life. A family heirloom was lost in the attack. Bragibodr offered to recover it if the party could. Something about losing family just struck a chord with him.

Aside from an incident with a shady innkeeper, not much was happening in the town itself. There was a mage from whom to buy spells, a gnome potion crafter, a blacksmith, and a general goods store. There was also a tavern to pick up the local gossip. Bragibodr picked up a Friends spell from the mage and gave it a quick skim. However, he wasn't feeling confident enough to start scribing a spellbook so he just held onto it. Before leaving town, the party resupplied at the blacksmith. They were able to harvest arrows for Korthios from the goblins in the pass, but their supply of sling stones was running low. The irony of having to buy rocks while in the largest mountain range in the world was not lost on anyone, except for Deduk (Wis 6) who grumbled about how of course they need to buy stones, they look just like all the other little stones around here, so how are you supposed to recover them. And he punctuated his complaint with a, “and that's how they get ya."

When they were restocked and rested, they made the day-long journey to the Vale of Shadows. Deduk took point as he was clearly the hardiest of the bunch (same AC as Gweilew, but Deduk has double the HP at this point) and Gweilew was probably better with her sling than a hammer. They would have liked to have someone scout ahead, but nobody was good for it. One could hear Deduk, Gweilew and Korthios' armor rattling a mile away, Bragibodr isn't exactly known for being quiet, and even though Alflaug was comfortable in nature, she was not that graceful. The only real contender was Embrek, with his small stature and relatively quiet leather armor, but he protested, “I'm an engineer, not a ranger!” So, the partied moved forth as one, with Deduk at the lead.

The Vale had a healthy population of yetis which the Nightmares culled handily. They eventually found what appeared to be the yeti chief guarding a cave. Alflaug used a Sunscorch on it to give Deduk and the rest an upper hand in the fight. On the chief, they found the lost heirloom as well as a magical morning star. Gweilew decided to switch over to that weapon as she only took the hammer because Embrek grabbed one and he wasn't even using his. There were other yetis in the cave, but it also looked like someone had set up camp here. Whoever did was clearly mad. The Nightmares acquired a few minor treasures from the crates in this cave before departing.

The Nightmares also spotted a number of crypts, three small, one large, and a final structure that was clearly something much bigger than a simple mausoleum. Near the entrance of each, they found shadows wandering. The shades were also dealt with without incident. The party considered exploring the crypts, but they also were stuffed to the gills with yeti pelts. So, they returned to Kuldahar to take stock and prepare for the next leg of this venture. While resting, Bragibodr took another look at the boots from the Easthaven cave and sussed out that the effect was to improve stealth. These were given to Embrek in hopes he would re-consider his position on being the party scout. He said he would think about it, but in a way that gave one the feeling he was just saying it to get the boots and really had no interest in putting himself at risk like that.

While they were in town, they also returned Mirek's family heirloom and were rewarded with a magical sling for their efforts. Since Embrek just received the boots, it was between Alflaug and Gweilew, the latter of which suggested a coin toss and the other agreed. Alflaug won the toss and Gweilew wasn't a sore sport about it. In fact, she commented, “that's the great thing about coin tosses, there's always a winner!”

Spoiler

 

[JustKneller]

(broke 10k characters again, part 2)

Back in the Vale, they started with the smallest crypt first, just to see what the opposition was like. They figured they could work their way up from there and pull back if it started to get to be too much. In the first crypt, they were easily outnumbered two-to-one (possibly three-to-one) by skeletons, zombies, and a carrion crawler. Both Gweilew and Embrek invoked their respective gods to keep the undead at bay. This allowed the rest of the party to deal with them, generally one at a time. Korthios was out of his element, however, since arrows would just bounce off of the skeletons and their bones could even turn his blade. Deduk also found his axe was coming up short, but then he snapped up a flail from a skeleton he shattered and that made a world of difference. It was also in this crypt that they found their first trap, which was revealed when Deduk tripped it. It was a poison gas trap that Deduk was able to escape before it could affect him. Gweilew started to say something about how lucky he was when Deduk coarsely hushed her.

Spoiler

In the second crypt, the situation was similar. Deduk was attacked upon entry by a ghast and managed to pick up some kind of disease that affected his flesh. It was apparently superficial and passed without any real effect. “Dwarf constitution gets them every time!” he boasted. Learning from the last crypt, Embrek was volunteered to scout for traps. Before he could belt out an “I'm an engineer, not a...”, Deduk stopped him short and said he would go with to cover him. This crypt was more laden with traps than the last, but every time they caught sight of an undead creature, the two of them would fall back to the group to fight it as a team. By the end of it, they party found the finest long sword Korthios had ever seen. Sadly, it wasn't magical, but it was far better than the battered blade he was using. He tossed his old blade aside and took the new one as his own.

In the third crypt, Deduk was attacked by a ghoul and paralyzed. The party quickly surrounded him for protection until it wore off. When the immediate threats were quelled, the party held position as Deduk was still immobile. It was then that Korthios pinched Deduk's cheek and japed, “How's that Dwarf constitution treating you now, buddy?” When the ghoul's paralysis finally wore off, the first thing Deduk did was growl at Korthios, “I'll be bringing that one back to you, Elf, just you wait”. Gweliew thought this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between the two of them.

At this point, the party needed to rest. They were tired, spent all of their spells, and Deduk was quite battered at this point. They considered camping out in the yeti cave, but then decided against it in case whoever else was camping there came back. Instead, the found a secluded spot, set up camp, and set watch. Fortunately, the night was uneventful.

The next day, they breached the fourth crypt. This one was definitely larger than the others. On top of that, it had a guardian that addressed the party. Apparently, only the undead were allowed to be there, and any trespassers that remained were to be eliminated. The party didn't get any more information out of the undead warden, but it was clear something sentient was behind the raising of the dead so the Nightmares had to press on to find out what it was. After the guardian fell, they slowly made their way through this crypt facing skeleton, zombie, shadow, ghoul, and ghast. This was the most varied of the crypts and they could only imagine what the next one had in store.

Spoiler

After they cleared out this crypt, they then needed to return to Kuldahar for one reason alone. In the last crypt, the Nightmares picked up a scroll of Invisibility. Even Embrek couldn't complain about scouting ahead if he was totally invisible, and the fact that he would have to stay out of combat to keep from breaking invisibility was gravy to him. They also found a couple Potions of Genius along the way. With these, Bragibodr could be more confident about putting a spellbook together. On top of that, he had accumulated a number of other useful scrolls that could help support the party. And so the Nightmares returned to Kuldahar. After a Potion of Genius, Bragibodr worked well into the evening putting a grimoire together. By the morning, the party was refreshed and ready for what they expected to be the final leg of this investigation.

The Nightmares returned to the Vale took a pause when they reached the last tomb. They took a moment to gaze upon the massive entrance to the crypt and consider what was in store for them. Gweilew broke the tense silence, "Wow, that's a pretty big entrance! I bet a frost giant could fit through there!"

It was clear the rest of the party was thinking the same thing when they said in unison, "Shut up, Gweilew!" and then made their way through the gate.

Spoiler

 

[JustKneller]

I'm working on the next installment still. I'm starting to see the folly of doing a log with this level of RP. Especially as the characters develop, you end up having more to write and could easily spend more time logging than playing. But, at the same time, this is the closest I've felt to playing classic D&D in a video game. I think it would be easier if I did a video LP with commentary/VO as I went, but that's not really an option for me.

 

[Antimatter]

What you're doing is amazingly cool. The effort you put into these reports makes this story very memorable and your thread definitely stands out. Hope this run inspires other people to try something like this in their own game.

 

[JustKneller]

Thanks, I appreciate that. There's got to be a way to abbreviate it a little, though.

 

[JustKneller]

I have an idea. If I limit myself to flash fiction (500 words, possibly per chapter)and haiku (the latter for Bragibodr's bits), it will be about a third of the writing but I can still tell their story. It's just a matter of deciding whether to retcon this for consistency of start anew.