Passage to Kuldahar began simply enough, as their small caravan made its way through the mountain pass. But then disaster struck…
Giant appeared in the hills above, threw boulders, and started an avalanche!Angus tried desperately to anchor a cart to trees to protect anyone he could gather.Victor tried to lead others to safety, but to no avail. Soon they were all but buried, but one mighty hand stretched out.Big Jim freed himself first, and then worked desperately to dig free anyone else he could.
Once they freed themselves, they took stock of the situation to recover. None but Victor and his band had survived. They resignedly set out to explore the pass beyond and find their way to Kuldahar.
They stumbled into what appeared to be an entire goblin raiding band in a nearby valley out-cropping, but Rose was able to tie them down. And this time she made it work properly despite Angus’ presence.They stumbled upon a relatively harmless Ogre with a massive headache in an old tower, and Maura proscribed him some herbs.
They came upon an windmill overrun by goblins, with the inhabitants seemingly slaughtered. They cleared out the goblins, but as they were turning to leave Basil “sensed a disturbance”. He waved his hands, concentrated, and seemingly darted around aimlessly for a bit;then suddenly cried out, tapped a panel, and found a hidden door…
Inside he found a small, frightened boy – the sole survivor. Basil comforted him, and they took him with them to Kuldahar.After another day’s travel, finally the mighty Oak of Kuldahar was in sight…
15 responses to “Victorians on Ice: Kuldahar Pass”
atcDave
I like the view of Kuldahar! That’s really gorgeous.
that really made the avalanche into a dramatic moment.
I like some of your narrative changes, very fitting to escort the child (something that should have always been).
Always felt there was a bit of a missed opportunity here. The avalanche sets the stage and tone for the whole adventure. Imagine starting with one character and having to find and gather the others trapped in the snow, dodging the occasional goblin. Getting your team back together. Could have made it more dramatic in play as well as narrative.
Its also occurred to me, in writing a party intro, I could do a curve ball with not all of the “starting party” surviving and “finding” a few surviving expedition members to join you.
It wouldn’t really involve anything different in party creation (or it could, depending on how far you want to take it), but just a change-up in how the introduction is framed. Like a couple new party members the others don’t know while mourning someone lost.
That would be an interesting bait-and-switch. Could take one of my established parties, have them lose several companions in the avalanche, and gain a few from other survivors. Would definitely lend a different feel to the beginning.
atcDave
For the record, I have no current plans to do such a thing!
atcDave
It sure could change the mood! I have a couple more parties planned, that are all framed around the idea of a team that knows each other. Gee, now I’m thinking of yet another IWD run…
The current one is definitely making me approach things differently. Its amazing how much building around RP rather than optimizing yoiur squad can force you to stretch. Right now struggling a bit with low-level Monk issues. Pathetic AC because its typical PnP stats and not power stats – so he’s got a 13 dex. And he can’t hit Mummies, Wights, and Shadows with his fists until L9… so he’s dragging around a club as backup. Monk level progression is not well matched to IWD enemy progression.
Actually, the defense side is sorting itself out. Just not the way I’m used to. He’s using the Brawler kit from Artemis kit pack – without Monk revisions or any other stuff from there. Which essentially means he trades thief skills, priest scrolls, and the more mystical stuff for Barbadian hit dice, low level damage resistance, and to hit/dog bonuses equivalent to fighter specialization progression. Which means on the defense side although his AC is still lame his sporting twice the HP of anybody else in the party. Takes a beating but just keeps truckingZ. Rather suits him.
atcDave
A character who can take a hit does still help the party! I’ve had a few of those.
I know I’ve said for my current BG run, I expect into BG2 I’ll be down to only two melee types. Mostly for role playing reasons, which sometimes is a nice way of saying I want a team I like (I’ll need a cleric, but I dislike Anomen and I don’t want him on Psyche’s team. So Aerie it is!). And I want Skie on the team, I plan on rebuilding her a bit too. She’ll be viable but not powerful.
But I never run a team that light on melee. I like hard hitters. So I expect I’ll be getting getting creative.
Not sure anyone likes Anomen. I tried him once, back in the day. But I can’t think of any character in my roster he wouldn’t ditch him at best, or belt him at worst. He’s just such a prick. Evil Viconia is more tolerable than he is.
Yeah. In my original conception only Angus and Jim were really melee focused. Victor is transitioning from crossbow to mace to relive the pressure up front. And Maura is moving from slinger to up front with staff for the same reason. I still use them as switch hitters, but it’s just so much easier to manage numbers when everyone is competent up close (except Rose).
atcDave
Yeah I had to try the romance once. Never again!
atcDave
IWD you really need a melee capable party. Its just so many big mobs, in your face, they’ll overwhelm a weak front line. At least the way I like to play it makes sense. I know there’s guys convinced they can do it all with a mage or thief. But it wears me out just watching my character(s) run that much!
Definitely! It’s still going to be a it weird as the only character in the party who uses swords of any kind is Basil. So I’ll be passing on a lot of the normal equipment. But that was part of the point of the exercise. Shaking things up.
Zeno
Thanks. Kildahar took some doing, but was definitely worth it. One of my favorite images. Agree 100% on the boy. After all a party has seen by the time you find him, and what he’s been thru, waving as he runs off to make the 8 hour trek thru frozen wastes on his own to Kuldahar seems ludicrous!
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