Quick and Painful

Welp, the new characters died.

*sigh*  It was unfortunate for them, but they were both smart and stupid (as PCs tend to be). Turns out the giant weasel was little problem at all: despite latching onto the cleric/ranger and sucking her blood, the enormous amount of hit points afforded by that class combo (we rolled HPs and she ended up with 15), allowed her to just survive long enough to deliver a killing blow (along with the assassin's arrows). The PC then decided to skin the thing for its pelt...after healing herself, of course.

[this was un-prompted by me, though I did make note that its fur was soft and luscious under all the blood. Had the two simply made off with the skin, they would have earned more than 10 times what the witch had offered to pay them for the kobold horns as, per the MM, giant weasel pelts fetch 1000-6000 gold pieces at the open market]

[if I had to guess, my daughter's thought to become a furrier was a holdover from UK2: The Sentinel, where they dealt with a fur trader and received giant beaver pelts as a reward. They ended up spending some of their hard-earned coin having a tailor line their armor with the stuff, as well as fashioning warm cloaks]

This image scared my son.

While the ranger was at work, the assassin decided to scout ahead (alone) and, attracted to the sounds of a general hubbub, blundered his way into the large cave that acted as the tribe's common chamber...said tribe preparing the evening meal. Rather than beat a hasty retreat, he decided to draw sword and engage the creatures, while calling for aid. Needless to say, this was just a Bad Idea, made worse by the ranger also deciding to press the attack even after the assassin had been downed. 

I have seen so many TPKs at the hands (claws?) of kobolds over the years. So underestimated. 

SOooo...once again starting over. Over breakfast this morning (and on our ride to school) the kids have decided to go a different way with their next characters: both are choosing humans this time, and they're going to try their hand at spell-casting. Diego says he's decided to make a cleric, and Sofia declared she wants a wizard, so we'll see how that goes. 

The alignment issue turned out to be a non-issue, and once again I think I'll just axe it from the campaign...or, rather, ignore it for the time being. I like the idea of "supernatural evil," whether we're talking demons, vampires, or gibbering hoards of subterranean humanoids with a taste for flesh, but the cosmic distinctions feel a poor fit. At least at this level of character (more on that in a later post). 

Right now, I've got to figure out what I'm going to do for the new re-boot. I'm averse to using the same scenario, even though circumstances could still apply (Larissa the fenwitch still has need of powdered kobold horn, and still is uninterested in obtaining it herself). But if the players really are intent on playing "squishier" types, they're going to need a place where they can obtain some stout fighting men for backup...the village on the fens isn't really the place for it (part of the reason Larissa was happy to give the PCs the job). Hmm...I've got some thinks to do...