The Nentir Vale is a campaign setting provided to new players of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. It’s present in the Red Box and most of the starting materials. For a party almost all completely new to D&D and a DM re-familiarizing himself with the latest edition, it’s a great place to start a campaign. This will be an ongoing recollection of what happens to the party as they make their way through the Nentir Vale. Enjoy.

As the party took stock of themselves and made sure none of them were badly wounded, a loud croak was heard from outside the caverns. Recognizing it as the call of bullywugs not unlike those they’d just slain, the party readied itself.

“I draw my axe!” “I draw my sword.” “I draw my… boobs?” – Mike, Ben and Eric preparing for battle

The bullywugs outside were accompanied by a pair of giant frogs and a halfling bow at the end of the rope. The bullywug champion Uggloor had captured the boy when his friends had fled and he’d unfortunately slipped and fallen in the mud. As the party moved to take on the raiders, Lyria tumbled down the ledge behind Uggloor and her daggers found their mark. His minions tried to skewer the party with their javelins, and the frogs attempted to grab hold of one of the intruders with their sticky tongues.

“It tries to tongue you, and misses.” At this description, Ben died of laughter.

At the first sign of trouble, the halfing boy fled. Lyria kept Uggloor occupied to prevent him from giving chase. Be it from this focus or the notion of the abuse of a kinsman, she didn’t stop until the champion had croaked his last.

“She hit him so hard he leapt off the board!” – Ben

Meanwhile, the rest of the party resolved to deal with the remaining pair of bullywugs and their pet frogs. The tendency of their foes to leap about made bringing them down somewhat difficult. Keeping the bullywugs rooted to one location and dealing enough damage to prevent them leaping away became a top priority.

“I’m moving off the map.” “You can move off the map?” “Why do we even have a map?” – Danielle, Eric and Mike discussion spatial positioning in combat.

Eventually, one of the frogs grabbed hold of Andrasian and drew him into its gullet. The party laid into the frog, moving quickly to cut their friend free. The remaining frog didn’t stay around long enough to get carved up.

The halfling youth, a member of the Reedfoot clan, was very grateful for the rescue. He told the party that his uncle ran one of the many flatboats that traversed up and down the White River through the Harkenwold, trading with towns like Albridge and the farms in between. Before taking him home, the party returned to Tor’s Hold to report their success.

Bran Torsson was very happy with the news, and agreed to send warriors from Tor’s Hold in the fight to come. he also asked Krillorien, on the sly, to bless his house in which many of the soldiers were training, dining and sleeping. He felt Pelor’s blessing would inspire the troops, and it’d also piss off his shrill wife. Krillorien happily agreed.

From there, the party traveled towards the river. They found several halfling flatboats heading towards Albridge. One of them was captained by the youth’s uncle, Willet. He gently chastised the lad for losing his footing, and recognized Lyria as a Thorngauge, knowing her uncle Bobbin very well. The Thorngauges ran a caravan similar to the Reedfoot’s flatboats, only on wagons between Stormwatch and Erathgate to the south. Puffing on his pipe and concealing a brace of knives under his waistcoat, he had no trouble sneaking the party into Albridge.

On their way to the livery where Dar Gramath was organizing the resistance to the Iron Circle, the party stopped at a tavern. Inside, members of the selfsame Iron Circle were carousing and carrying on, drinking their fill without paying and harassing the staff and locals. Andrasian admonished them to stop. The head brigand responded by saying that the newcomwers needed to surrender their weapons, as only Iron Circle members could carry arms. Andrasian chellenged the mercenaries to take their arms.

“Now now, boys,” Melanie said as she swept into the tavern. “There’s no need to fight.”

There was a pause.

“Kill the elf-men and the shortstack,” the Iron Circle brigand replied. “Leave the woman for me.”

“Oh, balls. CHEESE IT!” – Eric’s reaction to the Brigand’s orders.

A tavern brawl naturally ensued…

All locations, NPCs, spells and equipment copyright Wizards of the Coast unless otherwise noted.

The Nentir Vale is a campaign setting provided to new players of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. It’s present in the Red Box and most of the starting materials. For a party almost all completely new to D&D and a DM re-familiarizing himself with the latest edition, it’s a great place to start a campaign. This will be an ongoing recollection of what happens to the party as they make their way through the Nentir Vale. Enjoy.

Ben: *makes Wayne’s World flashback noises*

On the road to the druid’s grove, Krillorien recalled a conversation he’d had with Bensun Stonecarver, the dwarven majordomo of the house his father had given him. Despite having won the manse in a game of Three Dragon Ante with a compatriot, Krillorien’s father had never lived there, opting instead to remain with his people in Meloravia. Now that the manse was repaired and the threat of kobold or goblin invasion ended, Krillorien asked Bensun if he’d be willing to shut up the house and take his dwarves north past Winterhaven, to work on restoring the Keep on the Shadowfell. Bensun agreed, then told Krillorien to think up a new name for the place while he and his friends were out adventuring.

Krillorien and his friends were soon in the grove of the druid. The Iron Circle had, so far, left the grove of ancient trees untouched. A small cottage sat near the grove’s central menhir, tended to by a halfling woman and a young male human. Emerging from the cottage was Reithann, spry and bright-eyed despite her advanced human years. She told the adventurers that many potential warriors could come from Tor’s Hold to uproot the Iron Circle from the Harkenwold, if they could be freed from protecting their hamlet from bullywug attacks. Frog-like humanoids, the druid called them unnatural and said that by harassing the people of western Harkenwold, they were preventing Tor’s Hold from joining Albridge in open resistance. The party elected to deal with them first.

“Go, but be careful,” Reithann advised them. “On a cloudy day, the mouse does not see the hawk’s shadow.”

The party went to head west down the road, but Lyria stopped. “Wait… what?”

“Is it going to be an indoor or outdoor encounter?” – Mike
“Both.” – me
“*gasp* YOU JUST BLEW MY EVERYTHING!” – Eric
“I’m so excited I rolled!” – Mike

They moved down the road at speed. Without mounts, they kept to a brisk jog.

“She’s going to end up with two black eyes if we jog at 10 miles an hour.” – Ben, referring to Eric’s character

The elder of Tor’s Hold, Bran Torsson, was happy to see help arrive in dealing with the “damn croakers.” His wife, however, was feeling less than hospitable, especially when Krillorien offered to help with the wounded. A few jabs and insults later, Bran explained that she had run afoul of a priest peddling the blessings of Pelor for coin. He apologized for her behavior and for the fact that he could not send help with them to deal with the bullywugs.

The hideout known as the Toadwallow Caverns was a thoroughly unpleasant hole in a hillside overlooking the White River. A small waterfall spilled from the cavern entrance, feeding a stream that flowed south to the river. Lyria climbed up the 10-foot ledge first, on the lookout for patrols or traps.

“So if there are any traps there, you want to do them?” – Eric
“Maybe I like traps.” – Danielle

There was a small guard posted just within the cavern, but once the party was up on the rocks they took the bullywugs by surprise. Amongst the colorful mushrooms they did battle with the humanoid toads. As they fought, stirges swept in from above a nearby pool to assault the intruders. Even with the large insects seeking blood, the party managed to make short work of the guard.

Walking deeper into the cavern, they found a large central chamber dominated by a dragon skull. Beady eyes watched their approach and a croak carried a command. Minions emerged from the shadows to fall upon the party… …and were quickly dispatched. Oozes slid towards the newcomers, and Andrasian occupied them for the most part as the others tried to draw the bullywug chieftain out of his hiding place. Out of the protection of the ancient skull, he did not last long.

The party checked over their loot, took a moment to rest, and then gathered their belongings to leave the cavern…

All locations, NPCs, spells and equipment copyright Wizards of the Coast unless otherwise noted.