Ogre Attack (Gencon Report - Friday)

Gencon Report, part 3. A day with the RPGA.

Friday morning the whole family (at least those who play D&D regularly) had scheduled to play the Dungeons and Dragons Open Championship. Matt and I played last year, but didn't do well with the pick-up team we had. This year we planned our entire team: me, Kalen, Kathy, Matt, Ryan, and honorary Tjarks-for-a-day Dick Gilbert (who you may remember was mentioned as the father of the seventh on our True Dungeon team, Colin Gilbert. At Verbobonc Pre-Gencon Madness I'd given Dick an Adventure Hooks shirt so we could all be dressed as a team for the Open.

Friday was also the day we needed to move to a different hotel. Due to getting in a half-day late for hotel registration, I couldn't find a hotel that had a four-person room (yes, for the seven of us!) for the whole convention. At least not a hotel we were willing to stay in, mainly due to distance from the convention center. So, Friday we needed to move from the Hilton Garden Inn to the Courtyard by Marriott. The Courtyard was a lot closer to the convention center but, as it turned out, the room wasn't as comfy.

Anyway, we got up and got ready, then took many of the suitcases down to Ellen's car which could then be moved over to the Courtyard. Ellen and Narf would later move the rest of the bags and then Ellen would get checked-in, as I'd had most of the day scheduled.

I got Matt and Ryan down to the car and heading toward the convention center, then went to my car with Kalen and Kathy as they still had somethings there that they needed for the day. Then they were on their way to the convention center while I took Ellen's keys back to the room before I finally followed to get to our game.

When I came out of the hotel, I noticed for the first time that it was raining again -- this time a bit harder than Thursday. However, there was also a cab right at the door. A guy I rode down the elevator with grabbed the cab, but since I saw he also had a Gencon badge I figured he was going to the convention center, so I asked if we could shared the cab. He agreed, and we got over to the center quickly. I then told my ride-share that he got a free ride, as I picked up the whole fare and tip.

Outside the convention center I greeted Verbobonc triad-guy Rob Silva, who was grabbing a smoke. Then I went inside the center and ran into Dick, who was standing in the event ticket line. He said he couldn't find his Open ticket was he was going to grab another. What he'd forgotten was that we'd gotten the tickets for the whole team, so I saved him $4.50 by finding him before he got to the head of the line.

Dick and I found Matt and Ryan in the mustering area, and Kalen and Kathy got in shortly thereafter -- damp and surprised to find me there already.

We did alright at the beginning of the Open, although I was stupid and accidentally stepped into Dick's Stinking Cloud spell and took my rogue out of action for a few rounds. When we got to the second area, though, we didn't have a good strategy to deal with the opponents, four ogre scouts with spring-attack and way too much speed. They could move 100' in a round, get their attack (with reach), and not provoke any attacks of opportunity. We tried to ready attacks against them, but they were doing more damage per-round than we were, so we were going to lose the war of attrition. I figured out from something that the judge said that ogres had a small camp around the corner, and that they were reloading on spears there. I had an invisibility potion and hoped I could get over to their camp and destroy their extra spears (a nice bonfire of ammo). However, in the round that I was heading there the judge had an ogre come and start grabbing all the spears. I don't think he knew my plan, but he wound up ruining it anyway. I had nothing else I could really do at that point, so I tried to sneak-attack the ogre -- and missed. At that point we were done for. I was hit and knocked unconscious, but stabilized just short of death. Everyone else got hit in the same round, and I think we were all dead shortly thereafter. Kalen's warforged fighter fell down a deep pit that she couldn't get out of, and died from falling when trying futilely to climb out. My halfling rogue was the last to actually die -- as the ogres' breakfast. :-)

So, the Open didn't go so well. Needless to say, we did not advance to the semi-finals. :-)

I grabbed lunch at the food court with Ryan and Matt, meeting Ellen there. Then I went back to the RPGA hall and played the first part of "Well of Woe", the Xen'drick Expeditions cross-faction adventure -- in three parts. I enjoyed the guys that I played that part of the mod with, and since I hadn't actually scheduled the other two parts I decided to come back in the third slot on Friday to play "Well of Woe" part 2 with them. I couldn't get a ticket for that time, but I decided to chance it with generic tickets. It turned out that there was only one table of part 2 that formed, and I was able to get in as the sixth person at that table.

After that game I was interested in food again since once again I didn't get dinner between slots. I called Ellen, met her at the room at the Courtyard, and then we went down to the TGI Friday's that was part of the hotel, and I had dinner while she and Ryan and/or Narf and/or Matt had dessert. (I know it was more than just Ellen and I, I just can't rmemeber who). Finally that night I took a hotel room key over to Kalen and Kathy, who were working at True Dungeon.

Then I crashed for the night, sharing the sleeper-sofa with Ryan.