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Sole 9th, 1007 A3 (continued)

The party, along with some crewmen, rowed a longboat to the island. North, Hyarion, Ambrose, and Rugan went over to the ship to examine it. After making their way onto the deck, the heroes lifted the hatch leading below deck. The ship’s hold was flooded, leaving about one foot of air at the top. Next, they went to the captain’s cabin. The place had been mostly cleaned out of anything useful. The ship had likely been abandoned by any survivors after it came to rest there. The heroes did come across a journal written in Kellsh. Rugan read the last few entries. From what he could gather, Capt. Fulcairn had died by the time the ship arrived at the island. The crew gathered him up with his possessions and anything else that might be useful and headed inland. There was no mention of the spellcoin press in those entries.

It was decided that the adventurers would seek out a likely path and head inland looking for more clues. It wasn’t long before the discovered some old ruins. Most of the walls had either been knocked down or tumbled down over time. It was decided that they would go examine the ruins closer. As the heroes poked around the front of the ruins, Ambrose slipped off to the side, seeing what he could find. Suddenly a skeleton stood up and came after him. He shouted and tried to stab the skeleton with a dagger. The blade found its way right between two ribs, which had no effect on the undead monster. North charged over to Ambrose to help him. Hyarion and Rugan followed after at a much slower pace. While North engaged the skeleton, Ambrose made his escape. Unfortunately, by the time he made it around to Hyarion and Rugan, they were battling five more skeletons. The heroes fought hard and one the fight. After searching amongst the rubble, they found stairs leading down into a basement. It was decided that they would descend the steps and hopefully find clues to the whereabouts of Fulcairn and the spellcoin press.

Spellcoin is a homebrew campaign setting. I started it up a few months ago. Instead of throwing out everything that has happened thus far, I'm going to start out with the basic premise and some of the early happenings. I've had enough people want to join in that they split into two groups, so at some point I will start up another journal for the second party.

Spellcoin takes place on the world Korrun. About 1020 years prior to the start of the game, some wizards discovered a way to lock arcane energy into large coins inscribed with a short-hand form of the spell desired. The technology spread, mostly amongst humans. Spells could be cast directly from the coins burning MP just like regular casting does (I'm using a variant of the magic point system from Unearthed Arcana).

Casting directly from the coin was inefficient, requiring more mana per casting than a normal spell would take. The arcane community found that if they created items such as staffs, amulets, weapons, and so on, with sockets lined with precious metals, these could be used to more efficiently cast from spellcoins. This process revealed two basic types of sockets. Sockets made with silver, gold, or the like could hold coins of any spell level and allow them to be cast. Sockets made with mithral, adamantine, or the like could only hold 0th-4th level spell coins, but would convey special properties to the socketed item. A fireball coin in a socketed sword would allow it to burn those it struck. A cone of cold coin in a socketed breastplate would protect the wearer from all but the coldest of colds.

The spellcoins grew in popularity and more coin presses were made. The gods took notice, seeing that the production of these coins had a negative effect on the multi-verse. A great deal of magic was being permanently locked into the coins. The gods decided that the only thing to do was to sever the people of Korrun's ability to manipulate the arcane. About 1000 years prior to the start of the game, the deities of magic from all three of Korrun's pantheons sacrificed themselves in a ritual to make this happen. The cataclysm that occurred in the wake of the ritual is know as The Sundering. The city where the first spellcoin press was built got crushed by a mountain. Many of the wizardly institutions were destroyed. The Sundering marked the end of the second age of Korrun.

After The Sundering, clerics became scarcer as the gods became more wary of who could call on their power. Technology and alchemy began to grow in the absence of arcane magic. Then in the year 908 of the 3rd Age, spellcoins were found in some ruins. Soon others would follow and scholars would unlock their secrets. Now there are schools where people can go to learn how to cast from coins. These coincasters attract adventurers to them as they set out to find more ruins and uncover more spellcoins.

Fiore 28th, 1007 A3
Starting party: Jared Bravo (human coincaster), Dax (human fighter), Taliesin (elf bard), Tyr Blackwynd (human rogue)
The party starts out on the continent Eiropa, the country Cadlaron, in the city of Port Leaven. The coincaster Jared Bravo is about to graduate from the Beckhardt Academy. All that is left is his final exam. Near the school is the former Beckhardt College of Wizardry... underwater. All that can be seen of it in the bay is a pair of towers that extend above sea level about six stories. Bridges extend from the cliffs to the tops of the towers. The school arranges for adventures to escort Jared into the tower of his choice (though he doesn't know what will be in either). This arrangement, conveniently enough is made with the Adventurers' Guild.
To graduate, Jared merely has to make it out alive and with a new spellcoin.

1st Floor: Bedchamber. Party battles a few dire rats. They find a closet with some loot and a hidden room with some more.
2nd Floor: Personal Library. Party battles small air elemental.
3rd Floor: Gallery. Party examines statues. Rogue sets off Burning Hands trap walking to the stairs. Jared gains a Burning Hands coin from the trap.
4th Floor: Lab and Forge. Party fights fire elemental. Plenty of loot, including a Prestidigitation coin in the false bottom of a chest.
5th Floor: Ambush! The party is immediately attacked by crossbow wielding kobolds that are hiding behind barricades on the opposite side of the room. Dax charges to a gap in the barricade. The carpet in the center of the room gives way as the fighter falls down a hole to the floor below. He as to fight a snake while ankle-deep in water. Snake dies. The rest of the party has less luck with the kobolds. They cast a rope down the hole for Dax to climb up. Jared gets taken out but stabilizes. Tyr takes two to the chest, but stabilizes. Dax and Taliesin finish off the kobolds, grab the others, and climb back to the top of the tower. Jared is revived and passed... barely.

More to come later as I get this journal caught up to present.

I am curious to hear about any interesting and creative ways to combine spell effects that any of you have used/observed.

For example, I was playing a pacifist bard in a group of low-level pcs. I tried to get the party to avoid any fight possible (not easy) and avoid killing when we did have to fight.

We came across a room full of goblins that we needed to clear out. The party wizard and myself came up with an idea. One of us cast Dancing Lights and formed it into a humanoid shape in the midst of the goblins. The other cast Ghost Sounds to give it a bit of voice. Needless to say, many of the goblins bolted for the nearest escape. It made the encounter a lot easier, and we didn't have to kill all of the goblins. And of course, bonus xp for creativity.

So does anyone have a fun little story like that? Or even if it is something as utilitarian as Vanish/Doom from FFVI, please share.