Our Characters

Just a quick reminder on who we have in Baldur’s Gate 3:

Nina the Tiefling Bard who generally just wants a great story. But she wants to hear about them and not be taking part in them so much. But she has gumption to deal with what comes up.

Kaerok a stoic half elf (I believe) monk who generally is pretty straightforward but not mean in who he is.

Shadowheart is the character who has caught Nina’s eye so she’s paired up with Nina in the adventuring group.

Karlach the character who now Kaerok is going to be taking an interest in.

Baldur’s Gate 3 and Board Game Streaming Schedule

So just a quick reminder of the streaming schedule:

• Monday around 8-8:30 PM Central Time a small solo game, that’s the current plan. This is also when I mix in things like Balatro and Slay the Spire as well.
• Wednesday at 9 PM Central is going to be for my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition right now. And I want to get back to campaign games, though TBD how that will be working or the day for sure. Might swap Monday and Wednesday streams when that happens.
• Friday at 9 PM Central my wife, Kristen, and I play Baldur’s Gate 3. So join us as we play a couple of hours each Friday night and tackle that big adventure.

Best way to know when I go live is just to subscribe and click that notification bell. Which you can do that here.

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Our Characters

Just a quick reminder on who we have in Baldur’s Gate 3:

Nina the Tiefling Bard who generally just wants a great story. But she wants to hear about them and not be taking part in them so much. But she has gumption to deal with what comes up.

Kaerok a stoic half elf (I believe) monk who generally is pretty straightforward but not mean in who he is.

Shadowheart is the character who has caught Nina’s eye so she’s paired up with Nina in the adventuring group.

Karlach the character who now Kaerok is going to be taking an interest in.

Streaming for Baldur’s Gate 3

We are going to be streaming every Friday (or most Fridays) at 9 PM Central for about two hours. So it is going to take a while but that is the fun of the game to explore everything, make new choices and see how the story unfolds. The best way to know when we go live is to subscribe to the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. You can find that here. And then click on that notification bell.

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Catch up with our characters over on YouTube by looking for Malts and Meeples and meet the characters and experience our early adventure.

Our Characters

Just a quick reminder on who we have:

Nina the Tiefling Bard who generally just wants a great story. But she wants to hear about them and not be taking part in them so much. But she has gumption to deal with what comes up.

Kaerok a stoic half elf (I believe) monk who generally is pretty straightforward but not mean in who he is.

Shadowheart is the character who has caught Nina’s eye so she’s paired up with Nina in the adventuring group.

Karlach the character who now Kaerok is going to be taking an interest in. But right now it’s been Laezel and Wyll who have been traveling with Kaerok, especially for the story points when we meet with Karlach.

Streaming for Baldur’s Gate 3

We are going to be streaming every Friday (or most Fridays) at 9 PM Central for about two hours. So it is going to take a while but that is the fun of the game to explore everything, make new choices and see how the story unfolds. The best way to know when we go live is to subscribe to the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. You can find that here. And then click on that notification bell.

Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Join us every Friday, or most Fridays, from 9 PM central time to 11 PM central. Actual hours may vary, but we’ll try and keep it around two hours. You can always find us over on the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. Subscribe to the channel and click that notification bell to know when we go live. You can do that here.

Meet the Characters

Nina – Nina is a tiefling bard who just want to enjoy life. She was on the road prior to getting snatched up in the Nautiloid. So not from Baldur’s Gate originally she’s travelled through there multiple times with a mentor or for a show or festival. She doesn’t really call anywhere home, but that’s okay because it’s more exciting to go on an adventure. She’s an optimist, but if push comes to shove, she’s going to side with the tieflings.

Kaerok – Kristen’s character so I’m going to write up less. But he’s a more stoic character who is focused on the business that needs to be taken care of. That serious nature serves him well with his disciplines.

If you’ve missed any of the previous videos, catch up here. Note that there are technological issues in this one. Mainly that it drops a few times and there are a few videos and once it drops once it keeps dropping. So those are cut-up and not that great. But we appreciate everyone who is checking out the stream. And I plan on trying to improve our audio so we’re a bit louder, so right now you just need to crank it.

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Streaming Schedule and Issues

The plan is to stream every Friday evening on this, generally starting around 9 PM Central, though that time is going to be flexible because it depends on our kid. And we might also stream other nights as well. So be aware that it’s just going to pop up when it pops up.

And you’ll also see that chunks are missing. Right now the computer that we’re using keeps on dropping wi-fi connection. When it’s connected it’s working great, when not, it happens randomly. And there is no good reason for it, as far as I can tell. I can reconnect no issues, it might just be the machine itself is going to struggle. We have another machine that we can try as well, and the possibility to hardwire that one into the internet to avoid the issue. So next stream might start even slightly later than normal but with that fix in place.

Meet the Baldur’s Gate 3 Adventuring Party

So let’s meet the party as it stands thus far. We might go back and tweak and replay some, TBD, because of a choice that we made. But let’s talk about the party.

I play Nina a Tiefling bard. We went with the two character classes who aren’t party members in Baldur’s Gate 3. Bard being one where if you play Durge it’ll be in the party so you can play with them. But there isn’t an option for it across the game even then. So let’s play around with that one.

My wife is playing Kaerok a half elf or elf, I forget which, monk. Another character that there is no companion who is a monk. This one there is no way to work in a character like that. So if you want to play with a monk, you need to play one on your own.

No plan to spoil who we are romancing. That will unfold as we play our characters. But we both have a plan/idea where we think it makes sense for our characters to go.

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The Games

Mask of the Pharaoh

Mask of the Pharaoh is an outlier compared to the other games that I have on the list for unboxing. It isn’t a big and epic game. In fact, the box is quite small. But there is one thing that made me want to buy it. And that is that it uses an app. But it isn’t just that it uses an app, but how it uses the app.

Originally a game called Mask of Anubis coming out in 2016, it was picked up by Hasbro as Mask of the Pharaoh. The game uses an app, not as something to assist the game but as a core piece to the game. One person is navigating and looking around a tomb via the app. They give directions to the other players how to set it up. This is just novel for a board game, so I wanted to try it. Chronicles of Crime uses an app in a similar way, and I want to try it as well.

ISS Vanguard

Now onto the bigger games. ISS Vanguard is certainly that. I didn’t get everything you could in wave one, and I’m okay with that. Everything I didn’t get is not as important for game play. I received the core box, the miniatures, which look cool but also not important and the Personnel Files.

ISS Vanguard is an epic space adventure game. That premise is a signal was sent to Eartha and hidden within the DNA of humanity. It is discovered and uncoded. That leads humanity on a mission using and alien ship to find these coordinates. There, well, that is where the game begins.

There is a lot going on in the game. From exploring planets, flying to different solar systems, and unraveling the mystery. I like that you don’t play as a specific character, but as a specific part of the crew. You might be recon or engineering or security, but you get to pick. I also enjoy that you encounter a planet, but you also encounter things as you maintain your ship or upgrade your landing vessels.

Chronicles of Drunagor

Final game getting unboxed is Chronicles of Drunagor. Chronicles of Drunagor didn’t show up as recently, it has been on my shelf for a little bit. But it is one that I’m going to be playing soon for Malts and Meeples. In fact, it should get started next week. I just need your help figuring out who to play. See the section below to vote.

But Chronicles of Drunagor is an epic fantasy game where you build out 3D maps, unlock doors, fight monsters, and level up the characters. Two things stand out to me as really interesting in this game. The first being darkness. The idea of the darkness is that it pushes you forward in the dungeon. As you explore and fight, darkness is filling in behind you. So you can’t take too long, because if you do, it catches you and bad things happen.

And then the character game play. The game uses a cube system for what you are doing. You play with certain powers, which certain color of cubes needed to activate those various powers. For example, I might have a healing power that needs a yellow cube. I can only activate that if there isn’t already a yellow cube on there and I have a yellow cube. So it is a puzzle of when to activate things, when to not, or when to spend a turn to pull back cubes. But when I do that, I lose access to an ability and I pick which. Seems like an amazing puzzle to me.

Picking a Chronicles of Drunagor Character

Like I said, this is the game I’m playing next on Malts and Meeples. There are 12 different classes and 23 different characters. Help me pick two classes.

Upcoming Streams

So, next week, I will not be streaming on Monday. A week off from my Top 100 games because, well, next Monday is Halloween. So I am going to be busy with that. And then probably relaxing or editing podcast after that. But the following Monday, November 7th, at 8:30 PM, join me for a stream of 40 through 31 in my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2022 Edition.

And then of course, on Wednesday, it is diving into the dungeons of the Chronicles of Drunagor. I likely will play the tutorial scenario first to learn the game. So that might be on camera, or I might try and play that myself so I can delve into the bigger campaign with you all. To be determined with that. But 8 PM on Wednesday for that stream.

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Just a quick reminder, I am going to talk about the episode in broader strokes, there might be some spoilers, but I don’t want to get too far into detail. I’ll have a spoiler section at the bottom. There will be spoilers for previous episodes in what I talk about though.

A Place of Safety Recap

After having been split up at Shadar Logoth, Egwene and Perrin need to set out on their own, not really knowing where they are going, or where in the wilderness is safe. Lan needs to find a way to work with Nyneave in order to help Moiraine who is still suffering from the affects of their quick travels and the wound she look from the trollocs in Emond’s Field. Meanwhile Rand and Mat struggle between wanting to go home and fear of the trollocs following them. And when they find a town to stay at for a little bit, they find two interesting characters there.

What Didn’t Work

I thought that this was another strong episode in that it gave me what I wanted. Again, it jumped around some in the story and we’re still waiting on certain characters to show up that have already in the book. We get one of them here, one of the two interesting characters. And I think that they do a solid job with the character, but they are a bit more rough around the edges seeming than they are in the book. They still have the charisma that I’d expect though, and another very solid casting.

I also want more time with Egwene and Perrin, this is where a character is really missing, and honestly, I like Egwene and Perrin’s characters a lot. So I’d not complain about seeing them spend more time on their character. I also think that Perrin’s character needs to be fleshed out more. While him killing his wife in the first episode, on accident, does give him some of his drive to hate a weapon, they could have done more with it. And the introduction of the wolves is great, they do matter, but I want to see what they are going to do with them.

So really it’s less of two things that didn’t work, it’s more things that I want more of. So probably the one thing that didn’t work as well for me was the pacing in the episode. It felt rushed at times and while they did a good job of dwelling on Mat and Rand, a slight slowdown in the Egwene and Perrin storyline would make it feel like we know them more as characters.

What Worked

The Mat and Rand storyline worked. It works for multiple reasons. The first being they show how Mat’s personality is shifting. We know in the show that Shadar Logoth is a bad place, but we’re starting to see what that might mean. And I like the character development for Rand, again with the dagger but also the depth that they’ve given him about being a gambler, a risk taker, and a bit shady, but really doing that for the sake of his sisters and his concern for them.

I think that change for Mat is needed from the books and this is comes from the characters being older. In the book he is very care free and free wheeling at the beginning. Life is a big adventure and that’s all he cares about. He’s older in the show, so I don’t think he’d have kept that feeling as much. Mat is still the most care free of the group but now there’s a bit of motivation for some of his darker side besides the ruby hilted dagger.

We also meet two interesting characters, I kind of talked about it already, how it’s not when that character is introduced, but they do a good job with the character. Want to know more about him, spoiler section.

A Place of Safety – Final Thoughts

This was another good episode, I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t so sure while I was watching it though. Pacing on the episodes, like I said, is a bit off. I want more time with Egwene and Perrin, but I will admit that what they are doing now isn’t the most interesting. Instead they focused on Mat and Rand, and that is probably the right spot to focus right now.

Is this better than Shadow’s Waiting, I’m hard pressed to say that, but some of why I like Shadow’s Waiting is that it feels better paced, and better choices in it compared to Leavetaking. This one, I think, arguably has some more interesting story moments for Rand and Mat as well as Lan, Moiraine, and Nyneave. I didn’t mention this but for Lan, Moiraine and Nyneave, the story is diverging in characters introduced. Needed drama, I don’t know, but I don’t dislike it.

If I were to grade this one, and let’s be fair, I am going to do, I’d say it’s an 8 to 8.5. It is very similar to what the previous episode was, but a new character I really like helps it.

What did you think of A Place of Safety?

Spoilers

So, we finally get to meet Thom Merrlin, and it’s another very good casting. I will say that Alexandre Willaume plays Thom maybe a bit more rough around the edges than he seems in the book, but the charisma is still there. A friend on Twitter says that Thom is what everyone wants to be as a Bard in Dungeons and Dragons, and I think that’s pretty accurate. He captivates the room and can stab you in the back.

I also like that they begin to form a tenuous connection between him, Rand, and Mat. He protects them from the dark friend in the town. But he also spends time with Mat, and you get to see his more caring side. I am assuming now that he’s killed a dark friend in the town, and the town killed an Aiel for possibly stealing or some possible crime, they won’t want him around even for his songs and stories.

The dark friend also worked in the show. I do think they maybe needed Moiraine to tell them not to trust anyone and more about dark friends in the previous episode, so we’d know what they are. But for me, I did, it makes Rand and Mat’s position on their own seem more perilous. And I want to be suspecting everyone as a potential dark friend when it comes to those two characters. Especially Mat with his ruby dagger and the taint of Shadar Logoth should be extremely suspicious now.

I also thought it was interesting they introduced Liandrin Sedai already. She is introduced in the first book but not this soon. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to bring her in early though. She is an important character, same with Alanna Sedai. We’ll see how they are used in the show, but two interesting characters to bring in at this point. Even in my spoilers, I’m not going to say how they are and why they matter. But to see them with Logain, specially Liandrin as part of the Red Ajah makes sense.

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Recap

After getting their first level and class by doing the test of the tower, or group joined up to a school to get more training and more access to the tower where they can level up. In the school there were two spies they were supposed to try and find, but it turned out one, Addruss was actually just a spy.

They managed to find both of them but then when Addruss’s cover was blown things went sideways. Since that happened the group has been tasked to try and figure out what is going on with these scarabs that attracts dragons and Addruss. They found his contact Nahzir and stumbled across an Arcane Stalker who was waiting for Nahzir to show back up.

This is the point where they then found the person who was keeping on eye on Nahzir’s apartment who led them down into the tunnel beneath the city that runs oddly enough from the Tower to a bar at the end of town.

The Session

The group decided to follow the person into the tunnel finding a few stops along the way. One was a bathhouse which they took note of, one was between two outhouses near Nahzir’s apartment and one led into the courtyard where they went after going into the tower. But there was another option as to where to go, they could go back into the tower.

What they found there was a way to shortcut into the training level of the tower. That is the level that when you go through it, you end up leaving with a class, or at least that is what it did before. They realized that this maybe wasn’t the best plan as they had to go through everything again. Now, at a higher level with their gear this level of the tower was nowhere near difficult. It was built to be a challenge for level 0 characters and they were level 5.

However, what was interesting, is at the end, they had to drink from one of six chalices again. And these chalices were something that influenced what class they went into. Now, the tower took into consideration what the players want to play, but also added in some randomness. And this time, with the players having levels, it begged the question, did the players remember what they had to drink from before.

One of the tricks of the tower is that you kind of forget what is going on. And that was the case, the players forgot that there had been a a fourth, named Steve, with them the first time. And then there was a question as to how to get past the monster in the last room which had them drinking tea or fighting. Could they have taken this monster in a fight, maybe, but tea was a safer bet.

I think that two of the players did end up drinking from the chalice that they did before, but this time, the chalice only went based off what was in the chalice. It didn’t take into consideration what they had gone into before. So Bokken drank from one that was white and fizzy and ended up getting a level of Paladin. Thrain drank from the same one as the first time, so just got another level of Warlock. Kip, whom hadn’t as a player gone through this process since he joined part way through drank the red smoky one and got a level of Sorcerer. And finally, Barrai drank from a clear and calm one and got a level of Cleric.

They got out of the tower, found themselves in the courtyard, and decided to head back to the school with their new abilities. Also to take a long rest. They find Castillia just waking up in their barracks and Bokken talks with her. He fills her in on some of the details because they’ve always been able to trust her before. So he doesn’t think it’s likely to have changed, and that’s where we ended the session for the night.

Behind the DM’s Screen

They had a couple of options here. Firstly, a bit of investigating would have told them that the person didn’t go into the tower. While the courtyard wasn’t obviously the route that he went, because there were tracks, recent, still leading into the tower, they could have checked it out more.

In the tower, I wasn’t completely sure what I wanted to do. So I decided to do a callback to what had happened the first time. There were opportunities for things to be different. There were rooms they hadn’t seen before they could have gone to. They also could have gone into different areas than before, but they don’t know how to do that yet, or what might be different with skipping the whole first room.

Then, I thought it’d be fun to give them the option to multiclass. Now, I say option, if they picked wrong they were going to multiclass. And three of them did, though Kips player correctly guessed what the two classes were for one of them, so he knew to avoid it.

So it was a weird session, but is it one that you’d want to play in?

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Easiest To Hardest

Fighter

The first two on the list are by far the easiest to rank. Fighter is not a difficult class to play, mainly because it’s the most common thing that we’d know of. We can think of fighters in basically any movie set in a fantasy setting or a medieval era. And the mechanics are pretty simple as well, most of what you will be doing is fighting with your main weapon. Now you can make it more interesting by adding in additional types of weapons or customizing your attack style in a different way, but mechanically it is a pretty straight forward class to play.

Barbarian

Next up is the Barbarian, much like the fighter they are basically all about fighting in their fairly basic way. The fact that they add in the rage, that makes it very slightly more complicated. Same with the natural defense that they have, but neither of those really make it more difficult to play, they just change is up from how most other classes handle your basic fighting. Once you have the concept of rage down, the Barbarian is as easy to play, or maybe even easier, than the fighter.

Rogue

Next up I went with the Rogue. Now, I do think that the Rogue is a slight step up in terms of complexity. But again it is still going to be more of a standard fighting class. The rogue, however, is shiftier and interacts with their adventuring party more in combat than other classes. They like to focus on enemies are already facing off against someone else to get that sneak attack damage. But they can also go and hide to get bonuses and get away from someone they are fighting easier. It if a little more to keep track of, and they aren’t going to be able to tank like a Fighter or a Barbarian can.

Cleric

Our first spell caster is on the list and it’s the Cleric. Mainly because the concept of a cleric is pretty simple to grasp. The cleric is going to be pass out some buffs, but really, they are going to keep the party on their feet. So slinging around healing spells and making sure if someone gets knocked out they can get back up again, that’s going to be the clerics main focus. There are types of clerics who can fight solidly as well, but most clerics will focus on healing.

Paladin

The Paladin is much like the cleric in that they are good at healing. The difference is they are a half-caster class versus a full caster and that means they have access to fewer spells. Adding in the fighting that a cleric can do, it is definitely a step up in complexity, but not that hard. The main thing to know is that Paladins can convert their spell slots into more damage, so there are two types of Paladins. The first is going to be the type that heals and the other is going to be the type that fights, and generally stick to one instead of trying to do both. But once you pick, then it becomes real easy.

Ranger

Next up we have the Ranger. The Ranger is another half-caster class and can be a bit trickier. There is the Beastmaster Ranger who can have an animal companion which gives them more to do. However, for the most part the Ranger will use a few standard spells, like Hunter’s Mark, and a bow and arrow to deal with their enemies. Some of what becomes trickier are their other abilities. The favorite terrain, how do you work that into a campaign or use that meaningfully. Those are the questions for the Ranger player and DM.

Monk

After the Ranger comes the Monk. These two and the next one are all really close in complexity if you ask me. The Monk is another fighting class. Like the Barbarian it has it’s own way to calculate defense. Where the complexity comes in is the chi that the Monk has. Basically it is a way to manipulate attacks and attackers. Some of the disciplines of the monk give you lots of ways to manipulate your chi so you really need to think about how you spend it.

Wizard

Now we are into caster territory, and the second easiest caster is the Wizard, in my opinion. The Wizard could even go higher, but I think that casters tend to be a bit trickier than some of the other classes. Why is it easier than some of the others, how it casts is very simple. Simple use of spell slots and not much else that a Wizard does besides cast. It just depends on what type of caster you want to be.

Bard

The Bard is also a pretty straight forward casting class. Again, like the Wizard it is just spending spell slots. Where it adds is Bardic inspiration. Bardic Inspiration is basically a way to help your party do better. It gives them a die to spend on a check and the Bard has a limited number. As you go, it can even do more depending on the college you went to as a Bard. Not too complex to play but adds in a little more to do, and a Bard can also get into the fray with combat more.

Druid

These last three could have gone in most any order, but I’m placing the Druid as my third most complex. The reason that it’s sitting here is that the Druid can go in two different ways. There are caster druids and there are wild shape druids, basically think shape shifting. While the caster has some wild shape, they will focus on casting. Whereas a wild shape Druid will cast, but the wild shape is a key to a lot of what they do. Definitely adds in complexity with what creatures you can turn into with your wild shape and when you do.

Warlock

Next is the Warlock, I think that the Warlock could be simpler than some of these, except that it’s casting works very differently than other classes. You have fewer spell slots, they are always as the higher level and you get them back on a short rest. Plus they have their pact and different benefits that they get from what. Once you can wade through how the class plays, there are some solid and simple combos out there, mainly with Eldritch Blast you can take advantage of.

Sorcerer

Finally we have the Sorcerer. I put this one as the most complex even though it’s base casting is simple. You spend a spell slot and cast it. The difference is they have meta magic with sorcery points. You can convert spell slots to points and back. And you pick which meta magics you want to use. So there are more choices to consistently make than other classes, in my opinion.

Are Any Too Complex For A Beginner?

To wrap this up, let’s talk about this question, are any of the classes too complex for a first time player? Yes, but it depends on the player. I wouldn’t give someone who is casually interested in Dungeons and Dragons any of the last three classes. The Druid, Warlock and Sorcerer are probably just a bit too much, and I would maybe shy away from the Ranger and the Monk as well.

However, a player who is really excited about Dungeons and Dragons, they can play any class. No class is too hard out of the box for a player to pick up. Some of them are just going to require a little bit more work to learn than others.

Now, I skipped the Wizard, I think the concepts of the Wizard a good for a new player. And I think that they are pretty easy to learn, they just have a lot of choices. For a new player that might be too many choices, or it might be just fine. But I think even a somewhat interested new player will be able to figure it out, leveling up just might take longer.

Which is your favorite class to play? Are there any that you avoid because they are too simple or too complex?

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Things pick up immediately with Assendial calling up everyone from the cellar. Dorin tries to sneak into that group, but Barrai spots him coming out of some bushes that he had been looking in last time and had been hiding in during the dragon attack. Barrai calls that to everyones attention and Dorin tries to convince everyone that he was trying to be helpful and out of the way, not just cowering in the corner, but Barrai calls him out on that.

Meanwhile, Addruss comes out of the basement where Bokken knew he hadn’t been before. They call out Addruss on that and he says that he had come in after that fact since he had been outside and with a second year student when the attack had occurred, he hadn’t realized he was supposed to go to the cellar until later. Barrai calls him out on that, but he says that Barrai was probably unconscious when he came in so he wouldn’t have known.

Assendial, having enough off all of this, sent the rest of the students to the mess hall. Parrag and Cordin help Castillia to the nurses station to get her leg treated. Once everyone else has left, she gets the truth from Dorin that he’d been looking for threatening messages in the bush like he’d found before and that he’d just gotten scared. Addruss says that he came in a side entrance which is why Barrai, Bokken, and Thrain wouldn’t have noticed him. Assendial doesn’t look fully convinced, but sends them all into the mess hall.

About half an hour later, Tormin comes in and informs the students that they are going to be sleeping in there for the next few nights just for their protection in case something comes to attack again. Barrai has a lot of questions about what they should and shouldn’t do if something attacks and what the biggest things to attack are from the tower and if they are as targeted as this one was. Tormin says that most attacks haven’t been targeted and that this was an adult dragon and he’s seen ancient dragons come out of the tower before, and if the players see any sort of dragon, to run to the cellar. Barrai asks a few more clarifying questions and they all decide to call it a night.

Once the lights are out, Barrai and Thrain sneak out through the kitchen and Bokken, after losing his plate armor exoskeleton sneaks poorly after them. They notice that there is something up in the watch tower on the campus that is glinting every thirty seconds and Barrai uses minor illusion to create an image of Addruss sneaking. The illusion is spotted and after a few seconds Tormin comes to the door and tells Addruss to get back inside and then mutters under his breath, which Bokken hears, that they wonder why they had recruited an idiot like Addruss. They decide not to sneak to the trapdoor that night.

So next morning, Bokken, to get sunlight to recharge, goes to the top of the tower and meets a flashy half-elf who is smoking a cigarette. They chat for a little bit and Bokken finds out that he is one of two adventurers hired by the school to keep watch just in case something else happens. They chat some about dueling and Bokken is able to get some lessons or sparring with the half-elf. He finds out from Barrai, later, that the half elf is likely Sanphire whom Barrain and Thrain had seen fight in the duels.

They go about their school day until they can get a hold of Parrag and have him join them in talking with Assendial. They tell her that they know that Addruss is one of the spies and that they had found that out from Tormin. Assendial is pissed off at Tormin for letting it slip, but generally keeps a pretty good poker face. Parrag, after the initial shock is pretty pleased that the group has brought him in on that for the credit. They ask him if he’s a spy and he tells them, unshockingly, that he is not.

Barrai interested when the watch shifts sees that there is a female dragonborn up in the tower and goes up to find out who it is. It is Esmelda from the duels whom he’s seen before. He has a brief conversation, and he gets the information that he needs for Bokken that Sanphire will be taking over the watch at midnight.

They wait until midnight and put together a plan where Bokken has grabbed some dried meats and beer during dinner and he’s going to take those out to Sanphire to chat more and learn some fighting skills. Meanwhile, Barrai and Thrain will sneak to the trapdoor and go and explore down there. The party decided to split themselves, not me. It works well, and Bokken goes out and is sent a message by Sanphire to hurry up to the watch tower before any of the teachers spot him. He goes up there and they start to talk about his past and about how he wants to learn skills with throwing knives. He shows off some good dexterity to Sanphire and he suggests that they throw at a target to practice their skills, the target happens to be the barely propped open trapdoor.

During this time, Thrain and Barrai sneak over to the trapdoor and get it open. Barrai stick a piton in to hold the trapdoor just barely open and they climb down the ladder in pitch dark. At the bottom Barrai lights a candle and they can see that there are three passages, one leading under the messhall, one leading away from the tower and one leading towards it. They start out heading down the one leading to the mess hall to see if they can find an easier access when there is a thud and an echo in the tunnel from something hitting the trapdoor.

Behind the DM’s Screen:

Life has been busy so I didn’t have much time to plan. This is a reason that I like to end my sessions on a cliffhanger or in the middle of a scene. It means that even if I don’t have the full session planned out that I can then have a few minutes as we wrap up what was previously going on.

Also, I think I rolled dice twice or maybe three times in the session, it wasn’t much. This was heavier role play and playing off of the role play from what happened in the previous session.

All role play sessions or heavier role play sessions are interesting because it gives the characters chances to interact more and develop what is going on and gives me a chance to see who they care to interact with and what they are thinking. Doing this allows you, as the DM, to figure out which characters they think are important and give them a bigger role in the story being told.

So what can you take away to add into your own game?

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