Stupid Fat Fingers

GM Notes:

1. Welcome Narf the Mouse to the game. Narf's concept is of a rather worrisome chef named Dugan.
2. There was some missed communication between myself and one of the players for this last session. As a result, I believed that the player did not wish to continue. I had overtures from Narf to join in, so I opened up the slot for him. As it turned out, I was mistaken (and more than a little "hasty"). The player and I worked out our differences and he shall continue playing with the group. The group, of course, knows the player in question but I am not going to mention names. If one of my players comments here, let's please keep this among ourselves. I only mention it because I had previously limited the group to four players and now I have five. It also serves as a reminder to all of us not to jump to conclusions. There was a time when a missing player elicited concern, not the desire to dismiss the player from the group. I feel more than a little shame over that.
3. This post encompasses sessions 3-4.

Summary of Events
Morning came and with it, the addition of a new survivor. Arriving in much the same way that the original trio arrived, Devlon came in with the tide. Unlike the others, he was pursued by a great shark. The others, seeing his danger, urged him forward. It was a race to see if Devlon could make it to shore before the shark overtook Devlon. ***

Magni thought to tip the balance with a well-placed rune. Whether that was the cause, or another, the shark diverted its attack and dove under the waves. Moments later it burst from the water with some sort of horrific beast caught in its jaws. That would have been the end to it, had not the shark crashed down upon the raft, sundering it into driftwood. ***

Undeterred, Devlon swam to shore. The cold water and fatigue took its toll however, exhausting the new arrival. The original trio was kind enough to lend some food and the remaining warmth of their little hut to the stranger. Once he had regained his strength, the very real necessity to explore the island for food became apparent. With the hand drawn map as a guide, the group elected to search out the one landmark that indicated civilization.

For most of the day they hiked. They took some time after catching some hares, to eat lunch and improvise further weapons. A wise choice as it turned out.

Varick had spotted the spore of wild boar. Carefully the hunters followed their quarry to a lightly forested area. There, they heard the tell-tale thrashing of bushes; a sign that a meal of roast pig was just on the horizon. After careful planning, they attempted to scare the pig into a trap. Only the boar turned out to be a troll! The stupid creature charged the party and engaged. It was young, though, and lacked experience. Despite its powerful swings, the troll was not able to land a single blow. Varick finally dispatched the foul beast with a mighty thrust of his spear.

The survivors barely had time to savior their victory when the earth started shaking mightily and the sky darkened. The smell of smoke and sulfur drifted in on the breeze and soon cinders and burning ash started to fall from the sky. The group fled the scene of the troll fight amidst the falling ash and cinders. They rushed to the shelter of the temple, even as small, flaming rocks joined the ashes. Inside the temple, they found another newcomer, Dugan. After some tense moments where the survivors sized up this new person (and vice versa) they all sat down in the shelter of the temple to become acquainted.

Outside, another storm blew in. Though the breeze blew away the worst of the stench from the falling ashes, it brought with it a cold wind. The group was able to get some braziers lit to fend off the growing cold and the last of the rations were shared by the group. True to his word, Dugan, managed to turn basic ship rations into a surprisingly tasty meal.

After dinner, the survivors had time to explore the temple further. Though large, it was a fairly simple affair. It was a built as a circle with several pillars supporting an old dome. In the center of the room was a large fountain, large enough for somebody to wade in if they had a mind, but shallow. Upon further inspection, several symbols were carved into the pillars. Each pillar had a different symbols and there was a distinct one on the fountain. These symbols were no more than a curiosity, but it did give the survivors something to talk about and perhaps mull over in their own thoughts.

The events of the day eventually caught up with the survivors and they drifted off to sleep, one by one. Dreams greeted them. Dark dreams of ancient evils chained under a mountain turned black from corruption; dreams of being chased; dreams of combat and dreams of murder all troubled the sleep of the survivors. It was the last dream that was remembered most. In that dream, shared by all of the survivors, the party met Mattilde. As it turns out, Mattilde was a messenger and perhaps a ghost that haunted the ruins of the ancient temple. She told them that they were in the house of Melora (1) and gave them a message from Melora for them;

Seek your destiny with the setting sun. There will be dangers to overcome. Look for friends amidst enemies and enemies from those you once called friend.

Then as the dream was fading, Mattilde passed on one more warning about the dogs on the island. The companions woke refreshed and completely healed of hurt. The fountain contained juice from apples instead of water. The group drank their fill before departing, and Varick filled some water bottles with the juice.

Outside, Devlon spotted some movement in the brush. Thinking it game, the survivors gave chase. After being led for some time, it occurred to Dugan that something was amiss. Their quarry was leading them in the opposite direction that Mattilde's message said they should go. Then Varick confirmed that they were chasing one of the dogs. Too late to retreat, the dogs burst from the underbrush and attacked. In the first few moments, they scored a hits on several of the survivors and actually bore Dugan to the ground.

Behind the Scenes
There was some issues with players getting comfortable with the macros again. I can only say that time and patience will win this battle and soon we will have the methodology down. To add to the mess, the tokens were built before I added some options to the Attack macro/routine. After the game, I was able to go back over the tokens and make sure they are up to date. Being that all of that is sorted out now, I am willing to bet things will be smoother next time. Just remember that facing is important.

Session 4 came after two missed sessions. We added a player, who needed to build a character on the spot. As a result, session 4 was only about 2 hours of actual play. We ended the session with Post-12 Recovery after the first Phase of combat. Talk about a cliffhanger.

Footnotes
Spoilered for the players. Not a huge deal if you peek, but little details like this are sometimes fun not to know.
Spoiler:

show spoiler

Yes, I am using 4th Edition D&D deities.

Experience
For session 3, everybody that was involved gets 1 for showing up. There has been consistently good role-playing so I am adding a +1 bonus for that. Same for session 4. Remember that you have to actually be at the session in order to earn XP awards. Note that these points are just the ones earned so far. I will actually "award" (allow you to spend) these points after session 5 (probably) or 6 (absolute latest).