Editing User:Bill/Thunderspire Mountain Enhanced (section)

===Session 7 - July 20, 2011===
Due to other commitments, Dylan was unable to sub for me last week. I am told that Bruce filled in with something. On the up side, the last few monsters in the Chamber of Eyes wouldn't present enough material to occupy an entire session and I didn't give him enough details to proceed beyond the combat. 

This week eight players were in attendance, three of them new. Connor played Auden, Tory took on the role of Dyzan, and Andrew J used Croesus. All three of them are new to fourth edition, Tory and Andrew are new to RPGs in general. Returning this week were Bruce, David, Dylan, Paul, and Rachel. Paul arrived after the new players had selected characters and as a result wound up playing Volistis. The others continued with their previous characters. 

In relatively short order, about an hour and a half, the group managed to finish off two hobgoblin archers, two hobgoblin soldiers, and a dire wolf. The tightness of the corridors made the encounter a little more challenging than it would have been if the players had encountered these threats in the open, but they were still no match for the combined power of the player characters. The most challenging portion of the the encounter was probably chasing down the last hobgoblin and even that really only took an extra round due to the firepower that the group is able to bring to bear. 

After killing off the last of the opposition, the group searched the Chamber of Eyes for clues as to the whereabouts of the captured humans. There was ample evidence that the captives had been held in the main temple area, and after some effort a letter relating their sale to a person calling himself Murkelmor was uncovered. I always find searching areas like this to be awkward because not every room in the complex has something to be found. New players especially are frustrated by rolling for nothing. 

The session continued after the group had returned to town. I offered everyone an opportunity to gather some information, which led the group to probe the Grimmerzhul trading post for clues as to the whereabouts of the missing slaves. This presented a small opportunity for folks to get in some actual role play, which has been sorely lacking the last several weeks while we've been working our way through the Hall of Eyes. The scene culminated with Seleme using both of her utility spells to mystically squeeze the desired information out of the duergar. The party then retired to the inn for a well deserved rest.

This session featured the first real screwing over of the party by a single player. Jason, playing Sarsariel, elected to conceal the substantial amount of treasure that was uncovered and keep it for himself. He made the necessary rolls to do so and until such time as Sarsariel starts throwing cash around it will be considered out of character knowledge that anything untoward has occurred. To be honest, I applaud Jason for taking the initiative to do something in character that has no direct, negative, impact on the party. The only one of these characters that might pass up such a chance based on alignment would be Seleme.

This was also the first time while running Encounters that I had to explain logical consequence to a player. One of the newcomers asked if he could go on a killing spree in the Seven Pillared Hall. I informed him that while he can choose to declare that course of action, it wouldn't go quite the way he imagined. Much like real life, actions have consequences. When you choose to assault innocent people on the street, law enforcement gets involved. Well armed law enforcement. Now, if the entire group were to go rogue and try to wipe out the town, that could get interesting. They might even be able to pull it off. It would however be an endless single encounter with no chance to rest that would probably drag on for the remaining sessions that we have; not fun.

If the group can avoid getting too hung up at the Horned Hold, they might actually finish the adventure in the next three weeks. I won't hold my breath though. One misstep and the group will be in a pitched battle the entire time. I have made some progress on my Rifts materials. Anyone interested in trying that game out should [[User:Bill/Rifts_Week_by_Week|visit the page]] I've set up for it.