This last Sunday, we wrapped up Chapter 1 of the Kingmaker campaign, and brought to close the storyline. With our group, it was rather successful as a story, although we glossed over a bit of the ending to make it to the final battle – basically the group jumped ahead to the assault on the Stag Lord’s fort.
Overall, I would say the session ran rather well, despite the challenge of a large group, with at least 3 separate attack plans. The group separated rather early, and ended up in two groups, one with all our adult players, and one with all the young adult players (purely coincidently). While the parents attacked the main gate, the kids flanked the fort to try to break in from the unguarded back.
Unfortunately, the parent group rapidly fell apart after they were spotted approaching. Despite several attempts to close the distance, they ended up pinned down in cover, while the bandits shot arrows at them. For the most part, the group did reasonably fine – they managed to take out several guards, but the constant rain of sharp sticks just wore them down. In the end, with the rest of the group dead or dying, the paladin ran out of crossbow bolts, and was forced to surrender.
Meanwhile, the other group, after defeating a group of zombies protecting the outskirts, managed to find a hidden entrance into the fort, and were making good progress. Unfortunately, they did not have much in the way of stealth ability, having the priest, fighter, and barbarian with them, so were soon spotted by a look out – the frontal assault having been defeated by then. As the rest of the fort mobilized to defend, the group split up again, the monk taking the upper towers, with the rest tried to fight thru the bandits.
Bolstered by the cleric’s spells, the barbarian and fighter made it into the interior, just in time to see the rogue (who had previously been captured) go down fighting the Stag Lord. The barbarian charged, while the fighter got cut off by the bandits, and surrounded by rogues. Sadly, the barbarian in his wounded condition was no match for the Stag Lord, especially after the bandit’s druid released their caged Owlbear. The fighter lasted long enough to see the barbarian be devoured, before the rogue was able to finish him off with multiple back stabs.
Although the story ended in an ultimate party wipe, perhaps due to their overly hasty “full attack” plan, everyone had a good time, and there was much excitement as the tide of the battle swung back and forth several times. Given that we had planned to wrap up regardless, this seemed a fitting end to the campaign.
