This week began Chapter Two of our Darksun encounters. While the first chapter was a race through the desert with the party being chased by their unknown attackers this second chapter is a more traditional dungeon crawl as the group delves into ancient catacombs beneath the desert sands.
We gained two new players this week, so the night started off with a crash course on the rules. Thankfully with this being the start of a new chapter everyone had just had a full rest and leveled up so things started out fresh.
After exploring a bit the party came to a rope bridge over deep chasm. As they began to cross it the bodies of previous adventurers that lay at its far end began to rise. A nice little zombie encounter with the added fun of an ooze and a little floating grimmote. It ended up being the easiest and quickest night of play I’ve seen. Only one character got bloodied before all the monsters were dispatched. They learned quickly to stay at range to avoid the zombie’s auras as well as the various burst attacks in play. As I think my players have proven throughout this series good tactics are key to survival in Darksun, and when you have an easier encounter like this one good tactics almost make it seem easy.
I’m really looking forward to the rest of this chapter, and I think my new players are as well so hopefully they’ll stick around. Next week’s encounter is looking especially interesting. And I’m sure my players are going to be cursing me by the time its done.