So the party continued it's slugfest through walls of goblins. They managed to get to a place that allowed a short rest, burned all their HD to recover, and continued. As the emerged into the starlight (daylight would be too easy, goblins don't like daylight), the sound of wolves and goblin drums sounded ominous.
For the next encounter they were presented with a series of natural obstacles that they had to cross via a Athletics or CON check, whilst a series of wolves attacked them from various angles. It was pretty straight forward, but the thing it was meant to highlight was how the group would handle the mix of characters who could pass the tests, compared to those who couldn't.
The rogue and the warriors were easily able to pass the obstacle tests, but the scholar and the warden both had problems. At one point the rogue was two obstacles ahead of the main party and the scholar was left alone at the back. Fortunately the fighters were clearing out most of the wolves as they went along, but it was becoming an issue at one point.
Eventually they regrouped and passed through the obstacles. They travelled onward to Rhosgobel where my lack of reading of the audience rules was highlighted, need to work on that. They got through this and meet with Radigast, who asked them to escort him to Dol Goldur, leaving the very next day. That night a small feast was held by the town for the 'friends of Lord Elrond'.
The journey to Dol Goldur was an attempt to explain to the players the journey mechanic of the game system, only it again highlighted my lack of reading... so we moved on. Part of the problem, from my point of view, was the transition from a purely encounter based system that D&D uses, to the 'Journey' system that AiME uses. I hadn't made the transition fully as I was simply comfortable with the old way.
To that end the party was attacked by spiders, big ones. The encounter was 3 waves of 5 spiders (Attercaps), which proved to be woefully weak compared to the power of the 11th level players, even taking into account that I beefed them up a bit. Need to adjust for that in future.
The session ended with the party making camp near to Dol Guldor. Radigast has told them to remain here whilst he goes in to have a look. He has cast a protective spell around the camp. My plans are for a stranger to burst into their camp, an escapee from the dungeons of Dol Guldor, and he will be followed by a bunch of undead Bog Soldiers and their Masters. If things get dangerous than Radigast will return to save them, if they appear too weak then a bunch of orcs can appear looking for the prisoner, or more Bog Soldiers can arrive.
The things to learn from this session, for me, was that 11th level characters are pretty tough and need good tactics to defeat, not just numbers. Making the encounter challenging for the players, getting a level of tension and maintaining their interest are important. Easy encounters are boring and mostly meaningless, so I need to put a bit more thought into my preparation, and better ambience. I also need to get the Audience and Journey rules into my mindset a bit better, so I sound like I know what I am doing. The GM flicking through rules and notes trying to work out what to do is not useful to the experience.
