It Begins - Past Meet Present night 1

The first night of the game is now in the books.  There was a period of getting used to the new virtual table top as well as getting rolling on Vent, and there were some nerves from the GM who hasn't played in some time and then there was the fact that most of these people have never played together, but soon it was full steam ahead. 

The game has some great characters already and has already brought about a few laughs.  One young lad is overly enthusiastic expecting adventure behind every corner and believing there is more to everything than there is, then there is the young lady who really is more gruff than the dwarf, and speaking of the dwarf he and the other young man are both characters themselves with their own unique personalities.

Below is the recap of the evening...  (Note that this is not written as a story, just as a recap...)

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It was a rather nice spring morning as the party began to head East out of Ashabenford.  Having agreed the night before to escort Bastion's wagon the rest of the way to the town after meeting it on the road to Hillsfar, Crispin, a young man from Waterdeep, Karath, the dwarven bard with his faithful hound Howler from nearby Glen, and Temeris, the young man eager and expecting but who has guarded his past were all ready to set out as a trio.  However they found themselves with a fourth as a young un-refined woman who calls herself Shadow has joined their ranks after being hired by Bastion as well just before they all left the inn.

The first day was an uneventful day of travel for the group as they began to get to know each other and by evening they had found themselves in Glen where Karath was able to find shelter for the evening in the stables of a mining friend of years past.  During that evening the overly eager Temeris, thinking that the letter claiming them to be guards may actually be a map or a magical scroll broke the seal on the letter and was disappointed to find that it was indeed just a letter.

The next day of travel began fairly easy but as evening neared the group encountered their first challenge, a small group of orcs coming from the forest.  The orcs, however, having no ranged weapons either fell in their rush or barely reached the party before they were defeated entirely.  Crispin also revealed his secret that he has some magical talent during the battle, as did the dwarf, both acts giving the young Temeris great pleasure in their discovery.  Shadow had a little fun scaring the naive Temeris as they settled in for the night with a tale that orc blood if not washed off immediately gave humans terrible nightmares, and Temeris was oh so grateful that none of them had gotten any blood on them.

On their third day of travel the group first encountered a farmer and his son leading their wagon to town, then later in the day they found the wagon they sought out.  Despite the broken seal the wagon team accepted the escort and they continued on.

Late in the second day of travel Shadow, traveling ahead of the group, noticed a group of bandits set up in the woods and announced the ambush.  While moving to rejoin the group they were shot at with crossbows.  Battle ensued with just the two in the woods firing crossbows from their cover but as the party closed on them the "trap" of the ambush was sprung.  Crispin, first to reach the fighters in the trees saw ahead deeper in the woods another figure standing there.  However he didn't see the rogue hiding in the bushes who stepped out as he passed.  The rogue didn't have a chance to attack however as Shadow placed a perfectly placed shot on the rogue and dropped him in his tracks.  The wagon guard however was not as lucky however as the rogue that stepped out behind him struck true and fell the guard.

The fight raged on with the party eventually closing ranks with the bandits in the trees.  Shadow continued to hang back and show great precision striking bandit after bandit with arrows.  The sides traded shots back and forth and soon a ray of frost from the figure further into the trees struck Crispin and he fell to the ground.  The tide began to turn against the bandits however as yet another arrow fell the priest, then as the mage turned to run yet another took her.  The fighters were soon finished as well and the party was left with some wounds and one compatriot that lay upon the ground unconscious but they otherwise were in good shape and spirits.