Borris' Big Day

So, what did Borris do while the party was slaying gnolls?

I had read that the skill challenge with the ghosts in the Well of Demons wasn’t very fun, and had decided before that I was going to skip it. Borris’ absence allowed for something more interesting, though. I had him encounter the ghosts and be possessed by them, allowing him to play out a couple encounters leading to them finding the Well of Demons. It also allowed me to give the players some hints about the challenges to come, and even a hint or two about a fabulous treasure they could seek out.

Jacque wanted to be a burly dude, so I made her a goliath cleric of Kord. Katrina didn’t care, but I know how much she hates missing, so I made her an elven avenger (basically Buffy the Demon Slayer). I wanted to give Brian something different to try, so I made him a Deva Invoker. Stu just got to play Borris, since he was inhabiting the body of a dwarven fighter. This way he could reasonably get experience to catch up with the group and the others could glean info or even treasure.

Since I was fairly sure that our group could not do more than two encounters (at least not the way we do them now) in one night, I planned:

1. The gelatinous cube random encounter from the Thunderspire Labyrinth book. I like making the gelatinous cube out of jello, and I really liked the hook of the tablet inside the cube protected by wraiths. This would have worked great if I hadn’t created a party of divine characters that immediately annihilated the wraiths. Whoops. I think they had fun though!

2. An encounter with an iron dragon and her vampire minions on the face of thunderspire mountain. I used Heroscape tiles to make this encounter, and that was really cool. Running a solo was a learning experience though. I’ll have to think a lot more about how to that next time. Here I gave more hints to the “fabulous treasure” from the cube’s tablet, and Brian’s Deva ripped a vial containing blood of an immortal from the chest of the slain dragon. Why did she keep it there? Dragons don’t have pockets, silly.

After those fights Borris flashed in and out of consciousness, and caught some glimpses of the challenges that lay ahead. Katrina’s avenger walking blindfolded through a room of mirrors and holding a black mask. Jacque’s cleric covered in blood fighting a demon, and then holding a huge dagger. Brian’s Deva crying out a warning as he was grabbed by a column of bodies and then holding a bell, grimacing. Finally I had him regain consciousness in his own time, with the bodies of his temporary adventuring companions strewn about him. I had each player pick a piece of treasure from the bodies for Borris to bring back to them.

It was pretty fun, I think. J