(01) The Approach

[acodispo]

Witherun takes a look around the area for sources of danger, and places of safety in case the party has to camp in this place.

[sully]

Thanis looks at his companions. Time to look inside? We should be cautious. Still, it would be nice to sleep under a roof.

[waysoftheearth]

The moathouse is a simple structure. Essentially, it's a 30ft-ish square box with an archway under it controlling egress to the causeway. Within the arch there is a niche to either side. On one side is a bench to seat half a dozen men, and a winch to hoist the portcullis. On the other is a similar bench and a narrow, open stair that leads up to a second story. With a quick poke around, Tass and Thanis ascertain that the main room has hammocks and pallets where the guards must have slept, and a tiny, separate officer's room. The stair continues up to the roof top observatory.

Meanwhile, outside, Witherun sees stocks of firewood piled up behind the moathouse. Not far from the moathouse, the ground gets increasingly boggy, but for one clear pathway that winds its way across the marshlands toward another thicket of trees, 100 yards or so off. With a quick bit of scouting around, he sees that the path leads to a what must be the ruins of a long abandoned town, all swallowed up by the swamp and forest... the central building looks to have been a church...

[sully]

Thanis searches the officer's room for anything of interest.

He then posts himself atop the observatory and keeps an eye out for movement, especially coming from that pathway.

[rredmond]

Once everyone is inside, Garamon will winch down the portcullis, "for now."

[ehiker133]

WOTE, is there a mechanic for resting after a battle to recover HP?

[waysoftheearth]

Thanis rifles through the officer's quarters; there is neatly made up cot, a spare pair of worn boots, and a tiny writing desk. Upon the desk are various parchments which, at a glance, Thanis assumes are some kind of record of lumber deliveries and payments. If there was any store of gold and silver to make such payments with, someone has taken them.

Meanwhile, outside... Garamon clatters the portcullis back into the down position, so that noone else approaching from the forest side could cross the bridge. Passing all the slaughtered bodies left lying back at the other moathouse and on the bridge would deter any but the most motivated anyways, he muses...

Goldwen fusses over Stern and Flin's injuries which are, thankfully, mostly superficial; nothing a hero can't handle.

WOTE, is there a mechanic for resting after a battle to recover HP?

Sort of. The in-situ (i.e., during the adventure, not during town time) healing rule is: fighters will recover any normal hits that didn't kill them in the post-combat rest. Technically, they can recover one normal hit per HD they have, but if one is too lazy to track individual hits, it's effectively all normal damage that doesn't kill them outright. So both Stern and Flin can recover all their hp with a decent rest and a bit of fuss. I.e., take a drink, wash and wrap cuts and scratches etc.

The non-fighting classes do not enjoy this benefit, however.

[waysoftheearth]

Okay team, I'm going to call this encounter area a wrap.

It is dusk in game, so let's assume the party makes a camp in the (very convenient) moat house barracks, and readies for the next encounter area on the new day.

In the meanwhile, it's time for some OOC meta analysis to assist me in tweaking the material.

How do players feel about the challenge/difficulty of the Approach area (including the forest path and the moat-bridge areas)?
Was there enough interest?
Did you learn anything about what's coming next?
Or what questions are left hanging?

[mgtremaine]

Challenge/Difficulty - check.
I think it is about right. Clearly things could have gone very wrong with out the sleep scroll. We approached with caution and took out some of the guards with an ambush which helped a lot. There might have been something even better that we could have done but over all we had good teamwork and a plan. You want the first encounter to be challenging but not something that could quickly turn into a TPK.

Interest - check. Forest, guards, Moathouse what's not to like.

Learn Anything/Questions - Tatoo's and quasi-humans... The game is afoot.

[waysoftheearth]

Thanks for the feedback Mike; well appreciated.

A couple of other loose ends:
* Who was the yellow-cloaked figure, and where did he get to?
* What was the lumbering operation about?
* Was there a proper moat monster in the mire?

There was prolly a "gently goes" option to join the wood cutters and see what they see but, as it stands, the normal guards were no real combat threat to a bunch of heroes. Except, perhaps, firing crossbows down the causeway through the lowered portcullis gate. That could have gotten interesting

All that aside, the main objective is gaining access to the dungeon area (☑), ideally without alerting them you're coming (☒).

Happy to hear any other feedback. In the meanwhile, we'll push on to the next area...