Game 5: Into the Cave

With all of the guards defeated, the Ghost Night, Ninja Dog, and Willow Elf cautiously entered the cave. Inside, they found four of Galeron's guards: two orks, that looked like pigs walking on their hind legs, carrying swords and two more lizard men. They also noticed a large metal chest at the far end of the cave behind a crushed, headless skeleton. When these guards sensed that there was someone entering the cave, one of them said, "you'll never stop Galeron from turning all of the residents of your town into frogs!"

Ninja Dog considered these to be fighting words, and he immediately attacked one of the lizard guys and hit him twice with arrows. Ghost Night used his ability to detect magic and found that there was powerful magic hidden in the cave, but that it wasn't there to hurt the three characters. Then Ghost Night moved into the cave. Assuming that Ghost Night was alone and that he was the source of Ninja Dog's arrows, one of the guards attacked Ghost Night. Then Ninja Dog shot the lizard he'd already hit with another arrow and knocked him out, and he tried to shoot another guard but missed.

Ghost Night became intangible and then attacked an ork with magic, but he only rolled a 3, and because he was injured, his roll was minus 1, and the ork rolled a 1, so he only managed to stun him.

The one remaining lizard guard realized that there were more fighters outside the cave entrance, and fired an arrow in that direction, hitting Ninja Dog. The ork attacked Ghost Night with his sword, but because he was intangible, it passed right through him.

Willow Elf sized up the situation and realized that her friends would not last long in their current condition, so she rolled a 12 and healed Ghost Knight. Then she moved into the cave.

Ninja Dog followed Willow Elf into the cave, and used a throwing star to attack an ork, but sadly Ninja Dog rolled a 7 and the ork rolled an 8, so Ninja Dog missed. Then he threw one at the lizard, and he stunned him with a high roll (11 vs. 3). Inspired by Ninja Dog's success, Ghost Night became tangible again and attacked the ork with his sword. His first attack failed (11 vs. 11), but his second attack met its mark (9 vs. 6).

After Ghost Night's attack, the lizard and the remaining orks brutally attacked Ghost Night, Ninja Dog, and Willow Elf. They inflicted some damage, but not enough to win the battle. Finally hitting their stride, Willow Elf knocked out the lizard guy and an ork, and Ghost Knight knocked out the other ork.

After the guards had been defeated, Ghost Knight went to the magic chest and opened it with his super strength. Inside, he found 3 vials of medicine and 1 magical sword. Although Willow Elf tried to suggest that the sword should go to the character who would benefit from it the most, Ghost Knight insisted that the three characters roll for it. Ninja Dog rolled a 7, Willow Elf rolled a 3, and Ghost Knight rolled an 11, so the sword went to Ghost Knight. Sadly, however, Ghost Knight's insistence on dueling for the sword left Ninja Dog and Willow Elf angry and uncertain of their new friendship.

Game 4: A Battle with the Wizard's Guards

As the characters approached the cave, they saw a spooky glow emanating from the entrance, and in front of the entrance, they were terrified to see a stone lion that walked like a man, guarding the cave. In addition to the lion, there were two lizards with cross-bows flanking the entrance, and there was a roving swordsman.

The wizard's guards attacked the characters. Ghost Knight used his turn to detect magic, and he found that there was no magic in the swordsman or the lizards - they were just kind of dumb and very loyal to Galeron. However, the lion was protected by magic that made it so it took 4 hits to defeat him.

Luckily, Ninja Dog decided to shoot 4 arrows at the lion, and he rolled an 11, so he defeated the lion by hitting him 4 times, right in the mouth. Immediately, the lion's magical protection was shattered, and the lion crumbled to a pile of dust in front of the cave's entrance.

After the lion was defeated, the characters battled the lizards and the swordsmen. Willow Elf used most of her turns to confuse the guards and to heal herself and other injured characters. Ghost Night became intangible for most of the fight, but after he was injured, he became tangible again and attacked with his two-handed sword, and Ninja Dog took down two other guards with his pulse arrows.

Game 3: Guests and a Battle with Ghosts

We played game 3 while on a camping trip with friends, and two of our friends joined the game as guest characters. Here are pictures of them:

Sam the Great went rogue, and his character's adventures didn't impact our main story line, but one of the guests, a tree nimph, helped our three characters to cross the forrest.

When our characters entered the forrest, they met a tree nimf who said that she wanted to help them get to the wizard's cave because she hoped that the adventurers could help her rid the forrest of the scary ghosts. Soon after she began leading them toward the cave, the characters were attacked by ghosts. A long battle ensued in which many injuries were inflicted on both sides, but in the end, the main characters prevailed. When all of the ghosts were gone, the nimf thanked the characters for helping rid the forrest of the ghosts, and then she stayed in the forrest as the characters left to find the cave.

Game 2: The Frog Village

In between the first and second games, our characters found a place to sleep for the night. The second game began when our characters woke up and started to walk to the village. When they arrived at the village, they found a pub, a magic shop, and a sheriff's office, which was the source of the column of smoke they had seen from the beach. The town seemed very normal, except that there were no people. Instead, the town was populated with hundreds of frogs!

Ghost Night used his turn to detect magic, and he discovered that there was magic everywhere but none that would cause him and his friends harm. Then Willow Elf tried to connect with the town's collective memory, but she only rolled a 2, so she couldn't get a clear picture.

Ninja Dog tried to communicate with the frogs, but he only rolled a 5, so he had a hard time. He only managed to connect with one big, black frog who was surprised to find that Ninja Dog thought he was a frog.

Ghost Night decided to go to the magic shop, but it was closed, so he rolled to kick the door down using his extreme strength. He rolled an 11, so he used a little too much strength, and when he kicked the door down, he broke all of the vials that were on the shelves of the shop. With the vials broken, all that remained was 3 books, high up on a shelf, and since he only rolled a 3, all they contained were recipes for brownies.

Willow Elf chose to go to the Sheriff's office on her turn. No one was there, but they could hear a soft "ribbit" coming from inside an iron chest. Willow Elf opened the chest with a loud creeek, and a quick, little, green frog jumped out and landed on Willow Elf's face. Willow Elf didn't move, but Ninja Dog howled, at which point, someone bursted out of a closet with a crossbow in hand, and said, "I've got you now!"

Ghost Night pulled out his two handed sword and intimidated the guy. Then Ghost Night asked who he was. The guy said that he was the Sheriff of the town, and that two days ago, when he was out camping in the woods, all of the residents of the town were turned into frogs by the evil wizard Galeron.

Willow Elf, Ghost Night, and Ninja Dog agreed that they wanted to help, so the Sheriff took them to the edge of the Forbidden Forrest, and told them that the wizard's cave was on the other side. However,  when they started to enter the forrest, some wolves came and warned Ninja Dog that the forrest was full of scary ghosts. To help the group on their way, the wolves taught Ninja Dog and Willow Elf a howl that would frighten the ghosts.

Game 1: The Characters Meet

In our first game, our characters woke up on a beach surrounded by debris. None of them remembered their own identities or the identities of the other characters. After the characters woke up, they slowly started to discover their own abilities and skills. Willow Elf used her ability to feel animals nearby to discover that she was not alone, and to discover that there was something that howls in the mountains. She also reached into the collective memory and saw images of a shipwreck.

Ghost Night explored the beach and found an old rusty anchor. Ninja Dog realized that he was hungry and then ran around the beach. After his run, he started a fire to keep the characters warm and to cook dinner on. When the fire was lit, Willow Elf discovered that she is terrified of fire (her main weakness), but she also realized that she could make plants grow and thereby feed her new friends on the beach. Ghost Night contributed to the communal dinner by catching some fish that were flapping around on the beach.

After the characters ate, they decided that they should leave the beach, so they looked around to get a sense of their surroundings. The first thing they saw was a town in the distance that had a single column of smoke rising above it. They also saw a cliff with a cave in its side, and emanating from the the cave, they saw a soft glow.

The Characters

Here are our character sheets. I am Willow Elf, and my children are Ninja Dog and Ghost Night.

Note: The launching point for our game is "The Lair of the Frog Wizard" by Enrique Bertran, which can be purchased at www.newbiedm.com.