Search Posts
As a recap, since it's been a month since we advanced the storyline, here's what we have so far.
After a night's rest, you prepare for the coming day. A message is dictated and sent out, describing the events that just transpired. Meanwhile, the late Sir Richmond's body is given to the church for safe keeping. The gold liquid is sampled and given to a local alchemist to be studied. As for the rumors of beasts near the lake, a few choices lie before you. You could always travel to the nearby Undine village, or you could scour the shores for clues. Lady Nithya had asked that you come to Saint-Ballard's aid.
Work has pulled me in again into an all weekend scuffle. My next big free moment is Sunday morning or Monday evening. Update will wait until then unfortunately.
Absence wearing off, the update will be in the next 48 hours!
Sorry for all the delays, I try and aim to update quicker than this. Hectic week all around and my head's not been in the right place these past few days. Campaign's definitely not dead, but the update will be delayed again a few days. Again, my apologies.
Got a weekend seminar so I'll be back Monday. We'll be heading straight to your next mission!
It doesn't take long for you all to find the materials for a simple but sturdy litter. The late knight is easily transported back to the town and no questions are asked. For the return trip you can easily find a driver willing to curve out back towards Shatterkeep. Unless there's anything you want to finish up in Saint Ballard.
As far as you all can tell, this area has nothing left for you here. For sure, the golden gleaming liquid is unique and further research should be conducted on it. You are free to either return to the town to continue investigations or return to Shatterkeep.
The body is recognizable as the late Sir Richmond Thews. The face is barely recognizable however under the mangled armor. The body looks preserved despite its broken appearance. The armor however, appears worn and rusted. Bent and twisted, a symbol of the Order of the Dragonsbane can be spotted on the rent chestpiece. Any attempt to remove the body from the armor fails, as the armor has mangled itself well into Richmond's flesh. The pool seems to have nothing else that you can see. Rennec:
The armor dates to origin Order members. The remaining markings aren't decipherable but there is a high likelihood that this armor belonged to a founding member. Nothing of note remains in the cavern as far as you can tell Re'Tulan.
It's a wonderful day when you aren't free to take a shift at work... BUT YOU GOT TO GO ANYWAYS :D Expect the update tomorrow morning mates.
The bottle is swigged. Does anyone attempt to search the remains for information? Or just push it back in the pool.
With an overwhelming final push, the adventurers manage to cut down the fiend where it stands. The numerous blows were enough to cleave through the warped armor. The creatures collapses to the ground, golden liquid still causing it to glow.
Combat Round 2: The Thing in the Armor Telthes maintains an advantageous flank but even this doesn't aid him in landing a solid hit. Cydfrid's arrow lands on the creature but fails to penetrate its defenses, lodging itself in twisted armor. Rennec's acid dart burns through the creature's defenses, searing its mottled flesh. The creature maintains its fixation on Telthes and it continues its assault.
Finally, the claws meet skin.
Celebnen lunges forward and his blade carves a vicious path through the creature's flesh. Re'Tulan's arrow finds its target and also lands a piercing hit. Slot 1: Telthes, Celebnen, The Thing in the Armor
Awesome! Working and then will update the next combat round when I get my butt home! I'll drink a beer in your honor!
Women and Wine! Good fun all around! Do female dragon broodmothers count as women xD?
For those interested, I've been working on fleshing out the next parts of the adventure and I'm wondering if there's any things you'd like to particularly do. This "opening act" has you gain favor with the Order, with the eventual goal being to confront Garagun once and for all at the "finale". At the same time, I plan on having you visit much more of the region and get to know the different locations of note, especially Splinterwood, Mount Kar and some nice places within Shatterkeep. I'm mulling over diplomatic aspects involving the current ruler of the region, visiting the Elemental-folk's homes (Telthes, this could be particular fun for you). Any favorite themes or adventure aspects you'd like to see incorporated? We've got 11 more levels of adventuring to go, so I might as well make sure we all find something we enjoy.
Combat Round 1: The Thing in the Armor Telthes charges forward into , drawing his longsword and swinging fiercely. Unfortunately, the swing meets only plated armor. Cydfrid quickly retrieves his crossbow and stands ready to fire. Rennec finishes his casting of Grease just as the creature moves.
The creature moves back to its feet as a move action and with sickly armor plated hands, attempts to tear at his throat.
However, the claws meet only air as Telthes shifts smartly to the side. Celebnen takes the opportunity to circle around and flank the creature, careful not to step into the grease spell. Re'Tulan, aghast at the horror before him focuses on killing it. The arrow unfortunately misses its target. : Telthes, Celebnen, The Thing in the Armor
Posting tomorrow morning.
Telthes' efforts lift Cydfrid clear of the water, sending him skittering next to the rest of the group. As you step back (or advanced forward foolishly), the gleaming, golden tinted body drags itself out of the pool, unnatural force aiding it to drag itself clear of the pool. Before you stands a middle aged man, or the corpse of one, encased in what appears to be an antique set of plate armor. The armor seems bent and twisted, the metal attached firmly to the cadaver within. Slowly, surely, it lumbers forward. Initiative As before, we're using the Slot System, with only 2 Slots. His and Yours for now. Roll Initiative and declare an action and I'll do a write up as normal. Cydfrid, you manage to get to your feet and untangle yourself quick enough to act!
Strength check.
Cydfrid leaps into the golden liquid but the rope tangles itself around his legs. He treads water in place, disturbing the calm and tranquil water but making no headway. As he stirs the golden pool, the shape beneath him seems to stir in the ripples. What was a barely visible body begins to drift upwards, hands reaching for Cydfrid's kicking limbs.
Posting this afternoon after work
Thanks for the tips! I'll check the cheese grinder out. And yeah, the older kids could become DMs. That's a good idea.
The answer is We Be Goblins. The answer is always We Be Goblins. Followed by We Be Goblins Too and We Be Goblins Free. Hey Bob, I have all of those but that hasn't worked out before. We're a group of 20 or so each week and I'm we're only 1 camp counselor (DM) per 10 kids. I don't see us running 10 goblins per adventure. But mini adventures could work in some way. That multi group idea is great. I just need to find a way to do that without needing a DM at each table. The wargaming idea was a potential way to solve it.
Hey wow, thanks for this. Great source for inspiration. It looks like the campers were quite a bit older but it's still a great resource! Thanks Marc!
So hey everyone, I'm a camp counselor at a day camp each summer and I'm in charge of the D&D program there. Each week we get a group of kids (2nd grade to about 7th grade) coming in to our group and we teach them how to play D&D, LARP, roleplay and play a ton of board games. It's been a blast doing this for the past four years. This summer however, the D&D group's been split into D&D Quest and D&D Adventure and I'm in charge of the former. Adventure is the LARP and sports side, while Quest is the tabletop aspect. We've tried a lot of different variants in the past but little by little the LARP and swordfighting took more and more space at the camp. Now that I've finally got a dedicated Quest only group, I'm looking for some advice. I'll be having anywhere between 15-25 campers I expect each week for 6 weeks and we throughout the week assume that we have about 8h of real, tabletop roleplaying time spread across 5 days. (No camp on the weekends) We've realized that getting right into playing actual D&D is long and actually rather tedious since character creation, rule explanation and set up takes quite some time. Furthermore, when we have so many players we simply can't play typical D&D since the campers get bored quite quickly when they need to wait their turn as 19+ players wait their turn. Now, I've thought that perhaps this summer we could try wargaming using the mass combat and kingdom building rules. Have them play together as a group, deciding where to send troops and what to defend. Give them a good classic story (Dragon invades their home and they need to defend their settlements from his attacks), dungeons to explore and a sense of challenge as they compete each week to beat the previous week's Victory Point totals. Something like that. I'm looking for some feedback, or any ideas on D&D at camp! Cheers!
If anyone wishes to descend down, it's only a DC5 Swim check to navigate these super calm "waters".
The large cavern spans roughly a hundred feet across, with the far end descending at a sloped angle. The rivulets of ghostly molten gold stream down the hall towards the recess at the far back. You have a good head above you, but the cavern isn't very tall. The ceiling has indeed been worked enough that no stalactites hang down. At the far end, the "pool" of ghost-gold shimmers. There seems to be an object at the bottom of the pool, but it's roughly twenty or so feet down and the liquid blurs your view of what it is. It does look roughly body shape however.
I prefer to be upfront and honest about my time schedule. No sense vanishing when you can just say you're busy.
"Day after day same monotonous routines
I'll have to postpone posting until midweek. My apologies friends.
At work for now but I'll make sure to post when I get back tonight. These night + morning shifts are killer. Hooray for two jobs with near conflicting time schedules.
Cydfrid touches the liquid and feels only the sensation of cool water running down his skin. The glow however sticks to his hand like a stain, casting a faint light even when he stops all contact with the liquid. The liquid itself radiates nothing magical. Cydfrid nevertheless now has a crawling sensation of being watched.
You come upon the light source, glowing rivulets of what seems to be molten gold, though the light emanating from it is clearly a much redder hue. Furthermore, it seems to not produce any heat. The rivulets spread across the passage, flowing down the wall and further down into the rest of the cave.
Peering into the darkness, you see that the tower basement breaks into a natural cavern of some sort. The walls nevertheless appear to have been worked and hewn and the floor is shaped enough that it is easy to walk around in. Further ahead in the cavern, you spy rivulets of red and orange light. Too far for you to make out anything, but enough to catch a glimpse of the luminescence. However, your quick eyesight spot that one of the stones is actually a clever man made trap. Now that it's spotted, it should be easy enough to circumvent this pressure point.
The room is small enough that you easily search the contents. It appears that the equipment strewn about here were being bundled up to be brought above, judging by the way they are placed. Apparently, they never did reach the defenders above. The equipment here is nevertheless in good condition. You can scrounge around and find a variety of weapons that may suit your tastes.
The footprints from above continue to a small stone door, barely large enough for someone to squeeze pass.
With trying not to burn out acknowledge, I have been called in to work today. Post will come this evening.
Celebnen and Rennec both approach the trapdoor. With dancing lights now cast, the straight stone staircase before them is revealed. From what you can tell, there are no traps. Further down, you can make out the interior of a room, what appears to be an armory of some kind, discarded weapons strewn about some wooden racks.
Telthes' inspection of the lantern reveals it to be partially filled, the jugs besides it filled with more oil. Whoever left it here probably fully expected to come back for it. Re'Tulan, the hairs taste horrible, like brackish mud. You don't succeed in determining how long they were there, but judging by how they're on top of all the dust, probably not that long ago.
This room seems to have no more secrets to share, the trapdoor at the back beckons you closer.
Sounds good. Re'Tulan, what's the Survival check attempting to do? Remember, there's an abandoned lantern outside if needed.
The watchtower interior is gripped in murky darkness. Some light filters in through the cracks and gashes in the stonework, just enough for most humans to still be able to see.
The interior has obviously been searched and ransacked, broken furniture being all that remains. A set of recent footprints mars the dust and grime, leading to the back of the watchtower ground floor, and leading to a partially closed trapdoor. No sounds comes from below however. Perception 20 (includes previously rolled Perception): Amid the dirt and dust, fine brown hairs speckle the area. No other footprints can be found however.
No one echoes back your calls. Rennec's historical knowledge bears fruit however. This was once a watchtower belonging to the order, destroyed a quarter century ago by one of Garagun's brood. The claw marks are telltales signs of a dragon attack and the charred, pitted rock and wood easily identifiable as having been melted. All in all, it's a fine testament to a magma dragon's potential. Furthermore, Rennec remembers that many such watchtowers were constructed downwards as well above. With the bottom level intact, chances are the understructure may still be unharmed... and perhaps that is where Sir Richmond has found himself trapped. Or worse.
As you set out on the trail, Re'Tulan easily guides your way through the area, picking up a boot trail without any trouble. It dates back to a day or two ago, so there's a fair chance that it belonged to Sir Richmond. An hour or so passes and the sun passes beyond its highest point as you find yourself in a small glade, amid the ruins of an old watch tower in the wood. The trail ends here for now. The watch tower is a crumbled affair of stone and burnt timber. Great molten gashes mar the sides of many of the fallen pieces scattered about the glade. A faint smell of sulfur and smoke lingers here. The watch tower's base floor seems to be the only one intact. The other floors have been smashed apart and many of the pieces lie scattered around and broken. A single unlit lantern has been placed beside the door leading into the watch tower's only floor, two jars placed beside it.
Kingmaker for sandbox, Rise of the Runelords otherwise. It's an excellent first adventure path.
Work's running me ragged, and I still have two more days of this stuff. I propose that rather than give short and "meh" responses, I postpone until Monday evening when my workshift for the weekend/week is over (for 48h). I'll do a larger, fuller update at that point. Apologies for the delays.
Sounds good! Sorry for the lag on my end, will update this evening when I get home from work.
The ransacked camp has seen some recent activity from the bandits, but by the state of things, you can assume that Sir Richmond hasn't used the tent in at least two or more days.
The gemstone radiates nonmagical but appears to be a valuable fragment of sunstone. Judging by its luster, you can safely assume it is worth upwards of 200 gp. A thorough search of the tent reveals the worse. The tent did indeed belong to Sir Richmond, a change of clothes and Order of the Dragon badge all but confirms this. There are no new notes or maps however. Nevertheless, your current map still has the route left to explore and you're apparently not far off from the labeled area. There is no sign of a struggle however, the men who attacked you were likely little more than haggard thugs, seeking to pilfer Sir Richmond's belongings. However, Celebnen does discover a recently dug hole. Within it, you discover a small wooden coffer. Do you open it?: The contents of the coffer consist of three labeled potions of cure light wounds and a vial of antidote. Most likely Sir Richmond kept this coffer buried as insurance when out in the field.
Group Initiative: 1d20 ⇒ 18
Actions
Summary
END OF COMBAT ROUND 2, END OF COMBAT A thorough search of the bodies or tent reveals that the men were obviously looters. Thugs and rogues such as these are rare around Order protected places but men and women of all types still live in the Vale. The contents of tent amount to little more than scraps of cloth, scattered coins (21 gp in all) and a small gemstone, amber in hue. The interior of the tent is likewise ransacked... except for swathes of brown fur. The same as that of the vial. |