D&D session 4

So it is now official that the group is now just down to me, Ky, and Kami. This would not bug me as much if that did not mean that there is an equal amount of players and NPCs in the adventuring group, and for a short time more NPCs. But the game must go on. Now, where were we?


When we had last seen our heroes, they had just defeated a kobold ambush and were recovering from the battle. Amongst the kobold's possessions, a necklace with an obsidian dragon figurine that had a skull with ram's horns etched into it. Despite their religious training, Nieen and Aiur did not know the significance of the symbol, Luckily, Rameus recognized it as an abstract symbol for the demon god Orcus. About that time, another kobold walked up to them and casually attempted to make conversation.


Lol, religion checks. Its pretty bad when the wizard has to tell the cleric and paladin the religious significance of something. Enter new character.


The kobold, who had gold colored scales, introduced himself as Firebeard, the dwarf sorcerer.

The party stared for a while, then Aiur stated, "But you are a kobold."

Firebeard, somewhat flustered, mumbled something about people thinking he was a kobold a lot lately, and then replied that he was, in fact, a dwarf. Aiur quickly devised a test to see if he truly was a dwarf, and asked him what his favorite drink was, to which Firebeard quickly replied that it was Ale. Nieen realized that this was a somewhat silly way to check if someone was a dwarf, and remained unconvinced. The arguing continued for some time, and tempers flared, but Firebeard convinced them that he wanted to help them eradicate the kobolds and that he knew where the kobold camp was. After they finished their resting, they continued on towards the kobold camp.

Ugh... When I had my other players (they had one, quick session separate from these characters) met Firebeard, the accepted him quickly. These players, on the other hand, would not accept him, Aiur called him a faker. FIREBEARD BELIEVES HE IS A DWARF! Firebeard was my masterpiece! A truly interesting character, with a complex background, and they couldn't get over the fact that he was a kobold, sure they have fought nothing but kobolds up to this point, but he had gold scales... maybe i did not stress that enough... Bah, I'll just kill them next session... Heh, heh, heh... By a gnome no less! XD

Once they reached the camp they found that the kobolds had set up their camp next to a waterfall, and quickly made plans for their attack. They jumped out of the bushes surrounding the camp, catching the kobolds off guard. The party began to slaughter the kobolds, first going after a larger one that stood inside a magic circle. Reinforcements quickly came to the aid of the fighting kobolds, but were quickly cooked to a crisp by Firebeard and drunken Rameus, who found that drinking seemed to help his magical abilities. When he realized that they were losing, one of the kobolds screamed that 'Irontooth' needed to be warned, and began to flee towards the waterfall. Firebeard shot a frostbolt at the kobold, freezing him in place, giving Marric a chance to finish him off.

Wow, it seems like I am only talking about the NPCs... XD The PCs are pulling their weight, but to be honest, they just aren't as interesting to write about. Although Nieen learned to use her ranged attack, its much more entertaining to note that Rameus had somehow become the drunken master of wizardry. In case you are wondering how I have a character with the sorcerer class (I know you aren't) I'll put it in later in this post.

After the last of the kobolds were defeated, they peeked behind the waterfall to find that the kobold's base continued inside. Once again they got the jump on the kobolds, catching them off guard and killing some before they had a chance to react. Once they took to the fight, they fought hard, knowing that failure meant death. Our heroes fought back harder, quickly wearing down the kobolds, who were calling into the shadows of the cave for help. And they got it. More kobolds appeared, lead by a tough looking, battle scarred goblin who taunts the party, calling himself Irontooth. Aiur challenges Irontooth, and instructs the rest of the party to take care of the rest of the kobolds. Marric has a knife fight with one of the kobolds, Rameus takes care to not torch his teammates while doing as much damage as possible, and Nieen hits whatever kobold she can while keeping her team in top condition. Nieen manages to notice that one of the reinforcement kobolds is none other than Dak Ness, the black scaled kobold.

Ah, the plot thickens! The boss emerges and Dak Ness returns! I don't even think that my players even though much about the fact that the kobolds were being lead by a gob... (which may be why I am ever so subtly putting it here) The whole idea of Dak Ness was further embraced when I came up with the idea for Firebeard (you will see why soon) but the heroes were not really trusting the 'dwarf' sorcerer, so it kinda put a dent into those plans... We'll see what becomes of ol' Dak.

While the battle raged on, Dak Ness noticed Firebeard, and called out to him, calling him Bryt. This seemed to confuse Firebeard, who decided that the best coarse of action would be to fireball Dak, causing the two of them to battle, ignoring all else, except for one occasion where Nieen yelled at him to attack another one of the kobolds. Eventually most of the kobolds were felled, and while nearing death, Firebeard realized that he was Bryt Ness, a member of the kobold tribe they were attacking. The very powers he had mastered to protect his tribe had scarred his brain, making him forget who he was... He apologized to his brother Dak, and the party, telling them to tell his sweet heart that he loved her. He then ran to the far side of the room, and took his own life. In death, the magical energies consumed his body, erupting in an explosion that burned Irontooth, and pushed Dak back into the shadows of the cave.

*sniff* He had the heart of a champion... *sniff* and the worst part is... he never actually told them who his sweet heart was... Her name is Bonnie, she is one of the local dwarf farmers, and had found Firebeard, starving and having forgotten who he was. She felt sympathy for him and nursed him back to health, and told him he was a dwarf named Firebeard. He worked on her farm for a while, eventually learning how to control his powers, which Bonnie figured must be sorcery. Eventually the two fell in love. When the kobolds started attacking the farms in the area, he decided that his powers needed to be used to stop the kobolds before Bonnie's farm got attacked. More on Firebeard's elaborate back story later, back to the story!

The party finished off the last of the kobolds, and focused their attacks at Irontooth. He got in a few good hits, but eventually he fell to our heroes. After the final blow was dealt, Irontooth cries out, "Kalarel! Lord Orcus! Prepare my way!" The party was so weakened by the battle, that they had to camp in the cave after making sure it was safe.

We ended the session there, and called it a night.



Anyway, the rest of Firebeard's back story-

It was prophesied that when two kobolds were born from the same egg, one with golden scales and one with pure black scales, the two would eventually fight, and the winner would determine the fate of the tribe. if the golden one survived, then the tribe would flourish, if the black one lived, the tribe would fall into ruin. when the twin kobolds were born, Never being told of the prophesy. The golden one was taught the ways of kobold magic, powerful but unstable at best, and the black scaled one was made a lowly servant. One day, the magic backfired on the golden scaled one and erased his memories, causing him to wander until he was found starving by a local dwarf farmer.

Nobody ever said that the prophesy would not be fulfilled when the battle between the brothers was happening.


Firebeard was mostly based on the kobold wild mage from dragon magazine 364 with a few changes- I never actually used wild surge, just wild magic, as an attack, and I never had him use wild teleport. I lowered his stats, hp, and defenses, I don't recall why, maybe I was trying to use the normal character rules or make him level one.

HP- 31 bloodied- 15
surges - 6 surge value - 7
INIT- +1 Speed- 6
AC- 14, FORT-10, REF-12, WILL-15
STR- 8 (-1), CON-10 (0), DEX-12 (+1)
INT- 10 (0), WIS-12 (+1), CHA- 16 (+3)

melee attack- dagger- standard, at will, weapon
STR vs AC; 1d4 + STR damage

ranged attack- wild magic- standard, at will, implement and fire, cold, lightning, or poison
ranged 10 CHA vs REF; on hit roll 1d4 for effect-
1- flame bolt; 1d6 + CHA fire damage and ongoing 3 fire (save ends)
2- frost bolt; 1d4 + CHA cold damage and immobolized (save ends)
1- lightning arc; 1d6 + CHA lightning damage and dazed (save ends)
2- venom bolt; 1d4 + CHA poison damage and ongoing 3 poison and slowed (save ends)

wild blast (when brought to 0 hp)
when slain, explode- close burst 2; +10 vs REF 2d6 + CHA fire, cold, and lightning damage

shifty- minor, at will
shift one square

RIP, Firebeard...