Remember That Time in Neverwinter?

I did a whole lot of research into the lore and history of Neverwinter. If you’re looking for a good collection of information about Neverwinter, Inchoate Thoughts has a section with detail, history, lore and maps to help you plan. I found information about the inns and taverns and liked the history of The Beached Leviathan. So, I had them all meet there. My son and his cousin included in their backstories that they knew each other, so they were seated at one table. The rest of the party was disbursed about the tavern, keeping to themselves.

My son and I had come up with the idea to have him start a fight, so we came up with the idea that a drunken orc and his gnoll crony would approach his character and accuse him of stealing the orc’s lucky dice. Larn looks at the orc, surprised and offended, denying all knowledge of the missing dice. This incenses the orc, and he swings out at him. Two of the other characters step in between the orc and the eladrin. The encounter is quick, and they knock the ogre out quickly.

After the fight, I had the characters do introductions. Mid introduction, the door to the tavern bursts open and Gundren Rockseeker makes his way to the bar loudly, dropping the biggest emerald anyone in the tavern has ever seen on the bar top. He buys a round for everyone and asks for volunteers to escort a wagonload of supplies to his partner in the town of Phandalin, a couple days ride south.

The three characters involved in the fight along with two other characters step up and volunteer. Gundren smiles and tells them to head to the stables when they are ready.

The party consists of:

Larn, an Eladrin Wild Magic Sorcerer, played by my son,

Akkira, a Tiefling Circle of the Moon Druid, played by his cousin,

Lazmr, a Water Genasi Paladin, played by my adult niece’s husband,

Sagora, an Elf Draconic Sorcerer, played by my adult niece,

Zend, a Bugbear Swarmkeeper Ranger, played by my adult nephew,

Merlan to the Horses

When the party leaves the Beached Leviathan, they are met by a strange, dark figure and Sagora hears a voice in her head saying, “I am Merlan. I will be escorting you to the stables to begin your journey.” Merlan then signals with his hands that they should follow, and they do.

I originally had a much larger part for Merlan. I thought that the first several sessions would be a tutorial for everyone. Even though they said they’d played before, most of the party had not. Merlan was intended to be a tutor. He was going to be a DMPC, so I made him a mute and gave him a feat that I called Ki Whisper (it’s essentially Sending nerfed down to a cantrip – 15 words, 120-foot range) enough so he could talk to the party but limited enough so that they can’t prod me for details. In the end I decided that I didn’t want to play a DMPC because I had enough on my plate already. So, Merlan became their escort. Maybe he’ll come back somewhere as an NPC or something, who knows?

The High Road

The party sets out heading south along the High Road. I had them roll for random encounters. Nothing. I managed to scare them a bit when I had a caravan charging south along the High Road toward them, but they passed them by, paying them no mind.

I had originally thought to put an encounter here that could draw them into the Minecraft world, Aetheria, so they could play out an adventure there, but thought better of it; we just got started. No need to go off the rails so fast. Little did I know what was in store for me.

Bandit Attack

As dusk nears, a wild boar wanders onto the road and then wanders off again, there just long enough to raise tension. They continue and, suddenly, the boar charges out from the brush along the side of the road toward the wagon. Three skeletons and two bandits join the fray. This is our first combat encounter.

Everybody, roll for initiative, please!

It was thrilling! They were sloppy. It was exciting! I was sloppy. It was fun! They survived, my guys didn’t. Successful combat.

Time for a Break

They may have survived, but they were not unscathed. They decided to make camp for the night. My son’s character, Larn walked around the perimeter of the campsite picking up random stones, sneezing on them and putting them back down. He didn’t tell anyone why, he just said he was doing it and asked if anybody else wanted to join him. A couple did.

An Unexpected Tribute

A few weeks earlier I had told him a story about my late father. He was a prankster. He was also a Boy Scout Scoutmaster. The story I told my son was about the time that my dad got a group of first-time camper Boy Scouts to walk around their campsite sneezing on stones. He told them it was a way to ward off an invasion of Gnomes in the middle of the night. It was one of the quirky, cute, harmless pranks my dad used to play on people, and I wanted him to know that about his grandfather. He used it in the game, paying tribute to his Grampy’s legacy. Well done, son. Well done.