Fourscore & Nevermore

A: First contact.

This is the first room given in the module, and it's fairly scripted: this is the entrance you're pointed at, the only one signposted by a prominent structure on the outside. Inside, the DM is directed to have the kobolds give a warning, then attack. The events of the session were slightly different, but basically followed that pattern. The players went in and encountered the kobold guards, who identified themselves as members of the Monster Alliance. The players asked for passage, and were refused, so they made a brief attempt to identify themselves as other members of the Alliance. I used that an opportunity to introduce the idea that there's an internal conflict within the alliance, and to encourage hostility with the Kobolds. Really, the players have got to be hostile with at least one faction. The module's about killing people in a dungeon.

"Are you working for the goblins? Die, traitor!"

The combat with the guards was short and one-sided. They were defeated, the players stole their faction shields, and hid their corpses behind the statue on the North wall. They didn't even have a chance to flee to their pit trap.

Immediately after the combat, I actually rolled a goblin encounter. They were nonhostile and pleasantly surprised when the players told them that they'd just killed the kobolds the goblins came to attack, so they quickly retreated to tell their captain and take credit for the victory. I had them drop some info about their thoughts on the faction conflict: to be honest I think it was probably quite confusing for the players, to be given so much info about the opinions of these different dungeon groups on session 1. Ideally you want to leave that for a few session in, once everyone's committed to the game. However, one issue that I've experienced in the past is that, if an NPC withholds information because the DM considers it potentially boring or confusing, it can make the NPC come off as hostile and evasive, so these days I try to make everyone quite forthcoming with facts.

B: Big Fight.

In this next room, the players continued to impersonate members of the Monster Alliance, staying out of view of the guards. This involved some light stealth, handled through surprise rolls. Quite different from what I'm used to, not sure if I'm a fan: odds of success are a little low for my liking.

Wulf tricked the kobolds into thinking that they were under attack by goblins, and one guard left to inform the kobold captain about the attack. Well, I suppose they really were under attack! The poor other guard was left alone and deathmogged in short order. The players detoured to explore a side passage, and unfortunately got an encounter. I interpreted this as the kobolds returning. A big combat broke out, six whole kobolds! Terrifying stuff. Lee the Daring threatened them by brandishing a magic rod: several fled deeper into the dungeon. Still, the bodies piled up, and Wulf – having split off earlier to speak to the guards – took the brunt of the assault. We were precariously close to a death here.

C: Side Passages.

The players spent a bit of time investigting the glint of javelins by torchlight (in area 5), and looking for secret doors. They saw and ignored the poo pile (which didn't contain anything useful, very wise).

D: Second Wave.

Here, I rolled another kobold encounter, and the players did some listening to determine which path to take. They switched up their marching order to put Wulf at the center, moved north, away from the kobold shouts. This choice allowed them to avoid another group of six guards. Phew-

E: Pit Shenanigans & Hard Choices.

Here, there are two pre-placed guards. They were surprised, and I interpreted this as them sitting on the edge of the pit with their backs to the door. In combat, they were quickly pushed in and died.

Ahead, this junction is sort of poorly signalled as both passages just lead to similar caves full of mushrooms. There isn't really any motivation to prefer either one (I suppose the enemies in room 25a could potentially give sound cues). My map changes did ameliorate this somewhat, as 25a now has a light shining in due to its connection to the outside.

The players, now trapped by the kobold response, decided to push deeper into the caves in hopes of finding another exit.

F: Press to Pay Respects