Family Dnd Sessions 7 and 8

 Our heroes are amazed at this thriving world deep under a mountain. They head forward and hear a roaring sound. Out of the jungle leaps an Allosaurus! The adventurers battle and defeat the Allosaurus. They get to a cross roads and see a group of red coloured lizard folk dragging some blue coloured lizards. One of the blue lizards calls out for help. The adventurers attack, a hard battle occurs, Ragnum gets quite injured. Ianthe calls upon a moon beam which evens up the odds. One unlucky lizard gets vaporised by the Moon Beam. The red lizards are vanquished and blue lizards rescued. They take tthe adventurers to their settlement and explain that the red lizards hoard and worship treasure at their pryamid. They have the amulet the heroes seek, so the next day the party head out to retrieve the amulet.

They arrive to see the red lizards doing some kind of ritual but they spot the party and the leader of the red lizards runs off. A loud roar is heard and the leader of the red lizards appears riding a T-Rex!!!!! Azorak and Downhead move to the pryamid to try and stay out of the   T-Rexs reach while raining down arrows. Ianthe wildshapes into Utahraptor and charges at the T-Rex slashing it with claws. Ragnum charged the T-Rex eager to slay this mighty beast. A mighty battle erupted, the T-Rex snapped at Ianthe in animal form catching it and ending the wildshape due to damage. Ragnum dodges a tail swing. Azorak and Downhead hit the T-Rex with arrows and the Hail of thorns spell. Ianthe retreats and uses her produce flame to shoot at the T-Rex. Ragnum hits the dinosaur with several blows from his axe. The dinosaur bites Ragnum causing huge damage (thankfully he was raging). Ianthe thorn whipped the red lizard off the T-Rex and killed him. Just the T-Rex left then! More arrows and axe blows. Ragnum almost got eaten but held the giant Jaws from grappling him. Eventually the T-Rex was slain! The heroes retrieved the amulet and headed back to the wizard. They also learned that the monk who protects amulet mentioned leaving his friend the Bard at Dragons teeth Castle so that's where they need to head next. 

Family DnD session 5 and 6

 The heroes of Shireheath headed to Blackstone Fort. On the journey a group of bandits tried to extort a toll from the adventurers. Downhead the Halfling offered 20 gold but it was not accepted they demanded 500 gold. Ragnum offered a stone as payment but that to was refused. A fight erupted and the bandits were dispatched and their toll box looted. They arrived at the Fort and were sent to the commander who told them the Black Skull does not exist and they should speak  to the elf wizard who had arrived to investigate the black skull Ascal Felon. They find the elf and he tells then of a story from long ago. A death Knight called Altar tried to gather 4 items of immense power. Together they would give him the power to reshape the world and rule over it. 4 heroes stepped up to stop him. They destroyed Altar and vowed to keep the items safe and far apart. The heroes were a monk, a bard, a cleric and a wizard.  Ascal had information on the Monk, he had entered a monastery somewhere in the the Blackstone Mountains. Scouts had found a possible entrance but the Fort commander won't let any forces be sent. So will our adventurers go?  They agree and will meet a scout tomorrow.

In their down time they find a shop, Downhead and Azorak exchange their diamonds for magic weapons. Downhead buys a longsword that does radiant damage on a crit and Azorak buys a warhammer that strikes down with lighting damage. Ragnum offers 500 gold for a magic axe but is denied. They party settle down for the night with Downhead and Azorak gambling in a tavern called the Spotty frog.

They set out the next day and are shown the entrance to an abandoned monestery buried into the mountains. They head inside and are straight into a fight with skeletons. Ragnum takes most of the damage but they won and press on. They cross a hole in the tunnel on just a plank of wood even Ragnum manages it. They enter a room with chests and zombies! After the zombies were dispatched, Azorak investigates a chest, he opens it straight away and as he does poison is sprayed in his face! The lock melts shut. Downhead tries another chest, after he investigates it finding no traps he finds some treasure and gold. Ragnum helps Azorak out by smashing the chest revealing some gold and Rubies. They discover a room made out like a shrine and a Skelton on the bed. On the table next to the bed is a scroll which seems to be the Monks last words. He has left the amulet intrusted to the monks of the monestary. They continue thr search of the monestary and locate a large locked door with a puzzle and  claw holes  on it. They can't open this door so explore more. They locate another room filmed with zombies. These are harder to defeat but do fall eventually. No treasure here but a little room is off this room so that is explored. In it is a skeleton of a treasure hunter clutching a golden claw. The party take the claw to the pyzzle door and solve the puzzle opening the door. A giant Hall way opens up and they are attacked by  skeletons and  a Wight. Ragnum goes toe to toe with all 3, as the rangers rain arrow shots down. Ianthe the druid unleashes a sphere of flame which dnagaes the skeletons. Ragnum is hit with necrotic damage but the steady arrow fire is to much for the Wight and he falls. The room is searched will they find the amulet. A magic circlet and some gold are found. Also a journal of the monks. The last pages were about someone coming and attacking the monks stealing treasure refusing to listen to pleas of negotiation. Whoever they are, they have stolen the Amulet and retreated to "their" world.  Azorak finds a crack in the wall behind a Throne leading into a tunnel. The party go through and after a while come out into brilliant light. They can see a jungle, waterfall, plains, a settlement of some kind and a pryamid (Inca Mayan style). And that's where we ended! 

Family Dnd Session 4

 The heroes returned from their latest job eager to claim their reward for killing the goblin war party. When they got back they noticed (eventually after some terrible perception rolls) that the town was preparing for a fight. The mayor told them the Black Foot was coming to destroy the town and could they help defend the town. They said yes and manned a wall against the invaders. Goblins assaulted their position, climbing ladders they swarmed the party. Unable to use their area effect spells due to the close proximity to each other it came down to arrows and hand weapons. Ianthe used Shellahly on her quarter staff to deadly effect, Azarok and Downhead fired arrows before engaging with their hand weapons. Ragnum did what Ragnum does best. The walls of the town were battered and one fell to the goblins but eventually the party killed the goblins attacking their wall and the goblin horde retreated. A massive Orc War Chief could be seen in the distance. He had a painted black foot on his chest,he was trying to get the goblins to attack again but they wouldn't. He charged forward determined to take the town himself. He hacked down 3 town guards. Ragnum chraved forward and was hit twice and collapsed. Downhead and Azorak fired arrows, Ianthe changed into a Panther and leapt of the battlements onto the orc. Biting and clawing him, also sending him crashing to the floor.  He got back up and tried to hit the panther but missed. Downhead cast fog on the battle so no one could see. Azorak ran over to Ragnum and revived him. He jumped to life and started hitting the orc. Eventually an arrow from Downhead felled the orc and they were victorious. The town came out in celebration. The mayor  bestowed magic items onto the heroes and gave them a house in town as a rewared. Then some heavy cavalry arrived and a Paladin called Danse said he came with aid from the King. He also asked the adventurers to head to Fort Black Stone to find out what they know about the Black Skull as they watch the Blackstone pass and many an evil thing comes through there. 

Family Dnd Session #3

 Our brave heroes again ventured out on jobs for the town of Shireheath. The road to Mootville has been blocked by spiders. The party arrives to a track filled with spider webs. Downhead sneaks down the track. Ianthe used her druid skills to get an idea of the nature in the area and reveals 5 giant wolf spiders. She tries to talk to one but all it says is "Momma hungry!" and they attack!!

A nasty fight erupts with all  the party members but Ragnum getting poisoned. They overcome the spiders and press forward (some exceptional boomerang throwing by my barbarian i have to say) . Again Downhead sneaks forward but a giant spider senses him and attacks! The spider is eventually killed and Downhead finds 2 diamonds and a cloak. He passes one diamond to Azorak and puts the Cloak on. It grants him +1 AC. They return to Shireheath claim their reward. 

 They set out the next day to track a goblin war Party promised 10 GP for each goblin killed. Downhead locates the site of a fresh battle between city guards and goblins. He notices 3 goblins walking  away. Without waiting for the rest of the party to catch up he fires an arrow killing a goblin. The other goblins take some damage from a hail of thorns cast by Azorak and he finishes one off but the last one is a Goblin boss and attacks! He hits Downhead twice but is eventually killed. They fond some gold on these goblins and choose to press on.  They sneak up on a party of 6 goblins. Azorak launches an arrow followed by a hail of thorns killing one goblin and injuring all of the others. Ianthe stepped up and unleashed Moonbeam incinerating all the goblins!!! Job done they return to Shireheath and notice the town is super busy. People are carrying weapons to the wall. The mayor comes over and tells the adventurers that the Black Skull has sent the Black Foot to crush Shireheath and he needs them to help defend the town. They accept and get ready for the seige!! 

Family Dnd Session 2

 The kids wanted more DnD! So our party went to the towns notice board looking for work. A man called Herman has disappeared and his wife has offered a reward. Our heroes set out to willow Lake to find him. They discovered 2 thugs dipping a tied up man into a bucket of water demanding information on Shireheaths defences and saying the Black Skull had paid him good gold to give them the info and why has he changed his mind. Downhead the halfling snuck closer, Azarok tried to follow but he stepped on a very dry twig and it cracked alerting the Thugs. They charged forward and battle was joined. The Thugs were vanquished and the tired up man was Herman, he begged the party not to tell his wife or the town mayor that he had been paid to scout on the defences and offered them the 1000Gp he had been paid. They agreed and took the money. They took Herman back to town where he ran off to find his wife. The party then went straight to the town mayor and told them about Herman. They also handed over the money, they managed to persuade the mayor to reward them with the money which was a good bonus. They then settled into the tavern for the night, Azorak lost some money gambling and Downhead won some. The next day they went to the notice board for more work. Old Jacob has not been seen for a while and the mayor had offered a small reward to find out what has happened at Jacobs farm.  They headed out, when they got to the farm Ianthe the druid noticed there were no animals around at all.  Downhead crept forward and found everything quiet......... Maybe to quiet. Azorak crept up to the farm but tripped on a root and made a noise. A low moan was heard and out of the trees came a zombie Ogre. Ianthe cast a spell to create thorns all around to show the ogre down. Downhead scrambled onto the roof of the farm cottage and fitted arrows onto the zombie, Azorak also started shooting, Ragnum went into a rage and charged the ogre. Ianthe turned into a wolf and charged the ogre also.  The ogre smashed the wolf with a mighty blow turning Ianthe back to her normal self. The team felled the ogre but it was a zombie and got back up. It smashed Ragnum with a huge blow taking him out, thankfully Downhead died an arrow and finally stopped the ogre. Ragnum was brought back round and they investigated the cottage. A small thin man opened the door and greeted them happily. It was Jacob and he said he'd had a note from the Black Skull telling him to leave the farm to his forces and when he didn't the zombie ogre was unleashed. That's where we left it. The party went to level 3, the druid now had a few more solid spells for attacking and the rangers each have an animal companion. Downhead had a giant wolf spider and Azorak  has an Eagle.

Who is this Black Skull? And what does he want with Shireheath. 

Family Dnd Session. The First Adventure!

 I have wanted to try DnD with the family for ages but my kids are quite young. Now they are 5 and 7. So I thought I would try it. After talking with the wife she said maybe they would like it better if we had models to represent the characters in a fight etc. I knew of a company that made pre painted flat pack models out of laser cut MDF. These would be ideal for generic baddies and the price is awesome. £5 for a bunch of goblins

As you can see they are quite impressive. These will do brilliant as some bad guys for our heroes to fight. They do plenty more as well check out their website here  I'll definitely be picking more bits up.

The heroes, the wife wanted to be a druid (she's a hippy at heart) so she rolled up a Wood elf druid called Ianthe. My oldest wanted to be a Ranger. So a dwarf ranger called Azarok was rolled up.  The youngest always wanting to copy his brother had a ranger to. So he made a Halfing Ranger called Downhead (don't ask he's 5 lol). With a druid and 2 rangers I was worried the party wouldn't have enough muscle so I made up Ragnum the barbarian to provide a punch when the party needed it. The aim was not to use him unless needed.

Ianthe the druid

Donhead, Azorak and Ragnum 

Our Adventurers started by sitting in a tavern in the city of Queens Watch, when approached by a Bill Harley who wanted to hire them as guards for his cart as he travels to Shireheath. They agreed and the next day they met Bill and headed out. After a few days travelling they came across an abandoned cart and a body pierced with arrows. Ragnum was sleeping in the cart, Azarok decided to investigate stealthy and blended into the trees as he approached the cart. So did Ianthe, Downhead wanted none of this and headed straight to the cart where he was attacked by a goblin archer! The goblin missed and 2 more appeared! Azoraks longbow sang and killed the goblin archer. Downhead longbow fired taking out another goblin. Ianthe sent a ball of flame at the last goblin engulfing him in flames and killing him. They investigated the cart and found some health potions. The body was very dead but they found some gold and an Eagle medallion. Now to their right was a path through the woods or thry could carry on down the  track to Shireheath. The party decided to investigate the track. Azorak checked the track and found goblin footprints everywhere. Further up the track they spot a camp fire with 3 goblins and an orc arguing. Plus 2 humans tied up on the ground. Everyone stealths apart from Ragnum who hangs back. The party get quite close and Azorak fires an arrow at the orc, this displeases the orc and he charges forward with the goblins! A brawl erupts and Azorak takes a huge blow from a great axe, arrows and flames are flying. Ragnum charges in and with a mighty swing gets the first critical hit of the adventure causing 19 damage on one goblin!  The goblins and orc are vanguished. The 2 humans are rescued and reveal they were on their way to Shireheath to deliver a  family treasure, an Eagle medallion to their nephew for his birthday. The party agree to escort them to Shireheath.

That was out for now. It seems my boys really liked Dnd and have asked to play again and again. So it seems they like it!