Calfgrit11 asked a few weeks ago if I’d run another session of Dungeons & Dragons for him and his friends. So I sent out emails to all the boys and dads from the previous game session, and to a couple of boys who hadn’t played last time. This past Saturday was the adventure day.

There were six boys again, (including Calfgrit7 this time), but only one other dad. Two of the boys had never played before, so I explained how the game works as I passed out their character sheets. All the boys had the same human fighters from last time, but I bumped them all up to level 2, (even the ones who hadn’t played before). The dad who was playing again, had played the 3rd-level cleric last time, so I bumped him up to level 4 for this game.

I used the same classic adventure module and premise as last time, for a continuation of the previous quest:
The cleric was wanting to explore the dungeon to find a lost magic stone, and he needed the fighters as bodyguards. The dungeon was an old, abandoned fortress built into and under a hill in the wilderness. The original owners were long gone, and what might be left in the place was unknown. Monsters, treasure, magic, traps? All to be expected.

The group entered the dungeon through a 10′ high and wide tunnel carved into the hillside. They opened the first door, lit a torch for light, and marched in.

Down that entrance hall, (moving north, up on the map below), they came to a pair of alcoves on either side of the hall. They took time for a couple of the fighter-boys to search them, but they found nothing. One boy came up with the idea to use a hammer to tap on the walls to see if they sounded different. Calfgrit7 was excited to find a hammer listed in the equipment section on his character sheet, so he did the honor of tapping. But the walls all sounded like solid stone. So they marched further down the corridor until they came to another pair of alcoves on either side.

Tapping with a hammer on the walls in this second set of alcoves revealed the wall to be thinner than solid rock. So one of the boys began searching the wall while the others stood guard. They didn’t remember it, (from a year ago), but this was the same secret door they discovered and went through the last time they invaded this dungeon.

A couple of the fighter-boys moved forward, further north, stretching the group out over about 60 feet of the corridor. And the whole group was making such a racket with talking and shouting that they attracted the attention of some nearby goblins and hobgoblins. These viscous creatures came out of the dark to the north and immediately engaged the separated fighters. During the turns of fighting, most of the fighters had moved north to enter the fight at the front. One of the fighters, though, had continued his searching of the alcove, and much to his surprise, the secret door opened. Beyond were several goblins prepared to rush through.

Yes, the goblins were better prepared for these invaders this time. The adventurers suddenly found themselves being attacked from front and back, and the back was just a lone fighter. It didn’t look good for that rear guard.

The fighters up front were doing well holding off the first goblin attackers, and the rear fighter was managing to survive despite being badly outnumbered. Some goblins were getting around the rear fighter, and closing in on the cleric. Then some of the front fighters broke away and charged the rear enemy force. All in all, it was a grand battle, with a total of about a dozen goblins and three hobgoblins, all slain. No fighter was killed, though a couple were badly injured. The rear fighter managed to slay three goblins before he fell unconscious, mortally wounded. But his allies made a path through the enemies between the party cleric and their friend, so the cleric was able to heal him just in time. The rear fighter recovered after a few minutes of magical administrations.

After gathering themselves from the massive fight, the party moved north to the crossroads and the couple of doors. One of the hobgoblins had tried to escape the battle by going through the left door, but one of the fighters had stopped him with a spear throw.

At this point, the group began debating what to do and where to go. Some wanted to go through the left door, some wanted to go down the right hall. After a while, they decided to split the group. Most went through the door, but two went off by themselves down the right hall.

The group going through the door found that room was a kitchen of sorts. They looked around in it a bit, until a couple of small gargoyle-like creatures came to the door and snarled at them. The fighters charged up and attacked, and drove the creatures away. The fighters followed the creatures around the corner and to the back door of the kitchen, where they found a total of four of the creatures. The battle was short and relatively easy. So the main group moved further north into the dungeon.

The two fighters who separated from the main group found a crossroads of corridors, and had to choose a direction . . .

To be continued.

Bullgrit

Calfgrit7 made a tower out of his blocks, and then kicked it to tear it down. After his first kick, this was left:

Notice how that bottom block on the right is touching that flat block on the left only on its corner. We couldn’t have made those blocks balance that perfectly if we had tried.

Bullgrit

By Wifegrit

Last week my oldest son came home from school early because he was sick. Later that afternoon we remembered he had a science quiz the next day, so we went online to his school’s website to look at the words he needed to review. We were so busy that I lost track of time. When I looked up at the clock, it was 3:45!!! Eeek! It was time to pick up my youngest son. He gets out of school at 3:45!!!

Our neighborhood is located next to the school so we usually walk to and from school. I jumped up and ran outside. I grabbed one of the boys’ Razor scooters and took off for school! Yes I rode my son’s scooter to school. I was there in less then 3 minutes. It was actually a lot of fun. When I arrived, I put the scooter down and walked down the hill where we pick up the boys. My youngest was waiting patiently. I told him the story of how I had forgotten to keep up with the time and so had to rush out fast. He then looked up at me and said, ”Mom, that’s kind of embarrassing that you rode my scooter.”

A neighbor down the street has a basketball goal beside their driveway, and our boys have been going down there to shoot hoops for a couple of weeks. Even before this, Wifegrit has been saying we should get a basketball goal for our yard for a while. I’m not a sportsy kind of guy, so a basketball goal in my yard just sounds weird. But it would give the boys some fun, so, at last, we went shopping for a goal.

We just wanted a portable goal — the kind with a base to fill with water or sand — that could adjust from lower to full height as the boys grew. We went to Dick’s sporting goods first. It seemed the logical place to start for sports equipment.

Holy crap! Their goals are expensive! Even ignoring the $1600 permanent posts and goals, their temp stuff runs up to $600. Come on, we’re getting this so the boys can play outside, not start a basketball all stars game. So we left Dick’s.

We then went to our regular everything-we-need store, Target. We quickly found several goals for less than $200. Yay! Thank you, Target. We ended up choosing one for $160, and took it home.

I was intending to set up the goal on Saturday, but it rained all day long. So I got out there Sunday after lunch, and with Calfgrit7′s help, (and a little assistance from Calfgrit11), it only took 3 hours to assemble.

The instructions say it requires “2 competent adults” to build, but we only had one semi-competent adult and a 7 year old. But I think we did a decent enough job that it won’t fall apart tomorrow.

Bullgrit