Burning Plague 4e, Part 1

After our first 4th edition session, Laurel liked it enough to request that we do it again the next weekend. Jason was unable to attend, so on June 29th the girls made two new characters each and we started a second "campaign".

Laurel

• Kiro, eladrin warlord
  
• Mazzil, elf ranger

Jen

• Mardred Stonemaiden, dwarf paladin
  
• Pele Tempest, tiefling wizard

Last spring I downloaded the fan-created Return of the Burning Plague 4e adventure from enworld, so I used it for this session.


The first kobold encounter was unmemorable. The second elicited giggles about how all those minions fit in the pantry, and what they were doing in there anyway. Overall both were pretty straight fights involving lots of blasting from the fire-focused wizard and slashing/bashing from the ranger.

Analysis:
The rules noted in the encounter text about jumping up on tables to gain combat advantage went unused because the kobolds heard the party coming and flipped the tables to gain cover. This was a pointless maneuver in hindsight - none of the kobolds initially in the room had a ranged attack at all, and would have been better off getting on the tables to gain combat advantage. No doubt this is what the module author was expecting. In my defense, there is no explicit statement of this tactic being useful for the kobolds in the text.
Also, I really need to pay more attention to encounter text once fights start. The minions came out of the pantry and simply charged the party instead of throwing flour. Considering the presence of a fire-focused mage, the flammable flour would have made the encounter much more interesting.

The ranger succeeded at the Perception check to spot the boulder trap. The module text states that "It is so massive it cannot be disarmed however." I either missed or ignored this sentence, but the party didn't really disarm it so much as activate it and follow it down the passage into the big cave. The ranger stormed the ledge and chased down the kobold slingers with some fire support from the wizard. The nearby room with the wyrmpriest played out separately when the ranger stumbled into it. The wyrmpriest did an admirable job against the party, shifting away every round to use energy orb or into position to catch most of them in dragon breath.

Analysis:
Again, really need to pay attention to the encounter text. The ramp up to the ledge should have slowed the ranger down, but I missed that it was difficult terrain. The wyrmpriest and his minions should have appeared earlier instead of sitting in the adjoining room waiting to be slaughtered.

To be continued...