Finally(!) the party entered the hill. They quickly noticed some nice wind-chimes dangling from the ceiling. Nice, tacky, made of the bones of small animals, available at Crate & Barrel wind-chimes. This was my first clumsy attempt at a trap, preplanned, to test how cautious the group would be...and to offer some (minor) repercussions for not watching where they were about to step.
You see these chimes happened to be hung at roughly head level, so had they not decided to perception check they'd have bumped them and set off a dull clanking subtle alarm. Fortunately for the party they did notice, and managed to avoid the chimes. Unfortunately they didn't take the next logical step and decide to proceed cautiously (after all, if someone is listening for this none-too-subtle alarm system, someone is probably going to be listening for the sounds of a heavily armed party). If nothing else, Peredu's clanking and rattling tipped off everyone for three counties that they were heading down.
I filled the journey down into the hill with some filler text that at the time was totally random. I must stress that at this point the dungeon itself was pretty much lifted straight from the back of the dungeons masters guide. This is still just an hour into my first session/adventure ever...much less as a DM. I had only a rough understanding of the rules, much less how to create encounters that would challenge and entertain the party. The natural fissure they entered turned into a crudely widened path, then a well carved entry until finally after a hundred yards or so into the belly of the hill the sides showed signs of masonry. Blocks had been carved from the inner hill and placed to support and decorate the walls and ceilings of this clearly unnatural series of chambers. In an arbitrary decision I decided that these had been carved by the Dragonborn, and a couple of history checks later the party had come to that conclusion. I apologize to my party...yes, the plot you've become embroiled in began with these totally random decisions. I'm sorry...you see, I was scared! And I had to answer your questions with something besides "Uhm...I dunno...old?"
Anyhow, they entered the first chamber, a low square room, with a pillar supporting the vaulted ceiling. A series of tapestries lined the walls, and some torches guttered and flickered in the draft of air seeping in from the plains outside.
Avyx, perhaps overcome with the novelty of this situation, immediately began demanding the halfling warlock arcana check the room. Nothing. Then, arcana check the tapestry...and was getting ready to check each square and each wall tile. I had to pause for a moment and collect myself...how could I stop this? I finally responded with "is there something specifically you're looking for?" And told her that I wasn't going to run the game like Doom...I recall strafing down hallways repeatedly tapping the spacebar looking for those damn hidden doors.
Satisfied Avyx approached one of the rotten moldering tapestries and poked it with her sword.
This (of course) triggered the swarm of spiders that had been happily nesting within to attack whoever had been foolish enough to disturb their reverie. I was rewarded with squeals of terror and remarks that can be summed up as "ooh...icky" First combat had begun.
Norge, the only seasoned hand, turned to one of the two doors, knowing that something bad lay beyond one or both of the hallways. The others scattered, flinging their powers in every direction trying to smoosh the spiders (I'd just re-skinned the rat swarm creature...because god DAMN do I hate spiders. I think they're scarier. I know there's already a spider swarm, but concerned with proper levels of difficulty, etc. I kept it simple). Ember and Mairwen fled to the opposite side of the room and tried to pick individual spiders off with their crossbows.
Oh, you know those 3 peasants that had been tagging along, Tom, Dick, and Harry? One look at the fist sized spiders crawling over an enraged and terrified Tiefling warlord was enough for them, and they fled in the direction they came from. I made a pretense at rolling to see if they stayed, muttering something about "a roll for courage" luckily I rolled poorly, and they wet themselves and fled. Of course...even had I rolled well their courage would have failed. I'm not sure if this is the proper etiquette, but I felt that it gave my players the illusion of the events being random and open to their intervening actions, even though their flight was preplanned (I had plans for them). Peredu started to go after the peasants, his sense of honor damaged after all of the pep talks he had wasted on them...but Avyx got a little shrill with spiders all over her, and he swooped in to engage.
I have to admit, that even though I described the spiders as fist sized, the image I have in my mind for this scene is Peredu on his hands and knees smashing the spiders with the hilt of his sword, while Avyx keeps jumping up and down trying to shake them off.
Peredu, after smashing a couple of spiders suddenly felt a sharp pang in his arm, and then another. The spiders didn't take to kindly to being smushed, and had swarmed on him. Norge, having had enough of that turned to engage the spiders.
And then, exactly as predicted...a kobold came flying around the corner to sink a spear directly in the Dwarf's back. Yes, it was cliche, and hell, Norge knew it was coming. But hey, I have to uphold my end of the bargain, right? So Norge dealt with the kobold, while Avyx and Peredu kept smashing away at the spiders. Mairwen decided to start shooting crossbow bolts at the kobold while Ember ran into the corner, away from the spiders and alternating between (trying) to scorch them with her eldritch blasts and picking them off with her mini crossbow.
Through a quirk in her character creation it turns out our warlock was better equipped to hit things with her crossbow...and not so much with her spells. That would need fixing. The party was giving away massive damage in favor of her ability to hit the broad side of a barn.
Anyhow, each turn Avyx would step away from the spiders...and the spiders would follow. And each time they followed Avyx they drew closer to the now shrill halfling. "No, no no no! Don't bring them over here!"
Ah, these are the moments I live for.
Of course, it wasn't long before the party gooshed all my lovely spiders, and crushed the skull of the kobold skirmisher. The party had passed their first encounter, with flying colors. Peredu and Norge figured out pretty quickly how to hack and smash everything in sight. Avyx had a little trouble remembering which power did what, and really spent the whole encounter unfortunately missing her attacks. Ember, as mentioned above, failed any attempts to use magic, and resorted rather quickly to her crossbow...probably not the best use of a warlock. The rogue, Mairwen, caused some problems as we realized we didn't totally understand the combat advantage rules. I think we screwed them up...oh well. The concept was driven established: yeah you can pick them off with a crossbow, but "meh." The real role of the rogue is to get all backstabby. Or as she put it "all up in their grill." Only by "grill" she means their kidneys, and by "up in" she means "with my daggers". We'll see if these lessons stick.
The party immediately went on a looting spree, uncovering a hoard of rusted weaponry and a trivial amount of gold. I'm not going to count the loot every step of the way unless it's significant I think. Bolstered with confidence, and fearful of the other tapestries they continued down into the dungeon halls, to the next room that surely awaited them.
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