At the Antler and Thistle....

So, we had some computer problems here, as well as some pregnant wife problems... etc. etc.

But enough excuses! Right to the recap of our first two weeks at this thing they call "D&D".

We open our scene at the Antler and Thistle Tavern, a barely described bar in an indefinite section of the Town of Brindol. Brindol is the largest city in the Elsir Vale, and was the site of the defeat of the "Band of the Red Hand", a HUGE goblinoid hoard.

Our PC's are scattered about the bar area. Kain Rynwulf is in the back corner playing cards. Daisy is trying to get a white wine spritzer from the bartender. Loufa Falafel (who we have decided is a local) is sitting at the bar grousing about how low the bars standards have become. Nik is hitting on Daisy. Jo-Fang Tremendous is sleeping in the back room. ( Karl was late that evening, he missed the first two rounds).

Suddenly, the calm of the early evening is shattered as the front door is kicked in and hobgoblins stream into the room and start offing civilians!
In the surprise round 4 hobgoblin minions burst in and slay the nearest civilians. Then more each round, as well as a couple of goblin blackblades who toss bitumen torches around trying to start fires!

Unfortunately for them, this bar came equipped with adventurers! And like all good fantasy bar patrons of sufficiently high level, these adventurers were armed! The ranger immediately took down two with his bow (Twin Strike is hell on minions). Nik the Paladin and Loufa quickly formed up a line to screen the patrons from the onrushing Hobbos. Daisy spent most of the fight containing the fires with her frost ray, and Jo-Fang finally woke up and rushed into the fray, sending Nik, Paladin of Bahamut, into paroxisms of exstacy.

After the last bad guy is slain and the city guard arrive, and so does our next encounter.
Shambling down the street hauling a cart of pitch filled barrels is a full grown OGRE!
With two Hobgoblin Archers covering for him and handing him lit barrels of pitch to fling, the Ogre is a frightening sight! But our heroes have no fear! Especially Kain, who wins initiative, sprints into bow range and plants a solid yard of wood into the Ogres chest! Yay...
Then he takes an exploding barrel of pitch off his noggin. I'm sure his eyebrows will grow back eventually.

I'll admit, this looked like a nasty fight on paper. I figured the Ogre gets off at least three shots with the barrels of pitch. No such luck for our heroes (our heroes are the bad guys). Daisy the Wizard busts out the old standby, Sleep! Even though the Ogre and one of the Hobbos makes their save, the spell slows them down, disrupts the handoff of lit barrels and allows the fighters to close. While Kain and Daisy send ranged attacks down on them, the melee fighters close with the ogre and suck up a lot of dmg. Eventually the Ogre goes down, along with one of his goblinoid escorts, and the remaining Hobbo tries to escape out the back of the cart, but only after lighting a fuse!. The scene ended cinematically, with Nik, Jo-Fang, and Loufa diving from the explosion at the last second Bruce Willis style.

The party was actually able to beat this fight. Which surprised me. I fully expected to script in a squad of city watch archers to help mop up once the Hobgoblins were wasted. A full grown Ogre has a LOT of hps. Looking at what happens next, this may be the high point of the campaign.

More later. Plus some random 4e thoughts.