My homebrew takes place in the world of Allansia, from Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy books. I grew up playing in that world and have an affinity for it. I was just wondering what people thought of this.
Watching is the last month Winds is the first, you have to read it in reverse order but down through the individual months. The formatting on my website is a lot better.
Watching 285. A.C.
posted Nov 11, 2014, 11:00 AM by Rob Watts [ updated 2 minutes ago ]
1st of Watching
The party made their preparations for the next days travel back to Trollseine Isle.
2nd of Watching
The party met up with Granthar who told them he had dispatched a Bulette that had made it's home in the fields. Afterwards they moved on to the Northern Watchtower and discovered it was the base of operations of the Dark Stalker and Creepers that had attacked them previously. They gathered all the treasure and then went to the last two Standing stones to take a copy of their symbols.
Once they had copied them, the investigated the Temple of Gozreh and found a Cure Light Wounds trap on the doorway. The temple contained all manner of religious artifacts and the group decided to leave them there, for now.
Once they had left the temple, they headed to the beach and discovered a skeleton resting on a rock just offshore. It was holding a box and as Ash approached, he was attacked by a multitude of crabs which swarmed over him and then swarmed over Ardaran & Cynarious who needed rescuing from the creatures.
Once they had broken the swarms up, they found a Sapphire in the rusty box.
Shortly after, they headed south and went to the southern beach. There they met with and parleyed with several Skum who said that they were waiting for more humans to come back and carry on with their arrangement. As it turns out, the fishing village had a non-aggression pact with them as the Skum had escaped from their "Master" in the lake. After careful questioning, it turned out that their master had imprisoned Jakasta and taken control of the lake. Hence why the shores were poisoned and fishing was non-existent for the people living there. The shores around the isle however were clear of his influence as he couldn't approach for some reason.
The party returned to the Boar wood and rested for the evening.
3rd of Watching
As the party approached the Keep on the Eastern shores, they made plans to gain entry. In the end they decided against walking through the open gates and climbed the Northwest wall into the tower there. They discovered the towers and walls were covered in all manner of stone statues of creatures frozen in the moment of petrification. As it turned out however, four of the statues were in fact gargoyles, under the influence of illusion magic to be woodland creatures. The gargoyles attacked and the party managed to fend them off.
Once the fight was over, they searched the four buildings in the courtyard only to discover lots of dust and little else.
The main keep was forbidding and after searching their options, they knocked on the front door!
The door was opened by a creature made up of an amalgamation of other creatures and it groaned an inquiry as it opened the door, Ash's response was an arrow to the chest and the beast swiftly followed by pummeling Roland.
The fight was soon in full swing and it was then that the second Golem joined the first and the fight was going badly for some until Cynarious blasted them with a fireball. This seemed to slow them down and eventually the party managed to smash them apart, or at least loosen their stitching.
Inside the keep was eerily quiet, as they searched the once opulent rooms, they looked for the viewing room that Granthor had informed them of. It held a throne and a chair by it's side that were on a platform that could swivel around. The wall facing the ocean held a permanent illusion that allowed the people inside to see the see view outside without experiencing the weather.
As they made their way to that room, they discovered a lonely figure sat on a chair next to a throne. One slipped in, prepared his dagger and attacked without the figure moving, he slashed at it's throat only for it to not start bleeding to death. The figure then raised up and tried to slash him with a longsword. As the party then joined in, it became obvious that although he was talking, his lips were being pulled around by the words rather than vice versa. As his slumped to the floor (after only a few seconds of fighting), the party looked around for the source of the magical control. It quickly became evident however as the ghostly figure rose from his corpse.
The ghostly baron then tried to suck Roland's soul out and caused him to age in front of the troupe, but with a combination of well prepared spells and weapons, the group were able to subdue the baron and after searching the nearby rooms, found some books that detailed his dealings with Jacob and what exactly the baron needed to hear for his soul to rest peacefully, instead of coming back perpetually to haunt this spot.
The group then decided to take a well earned rest and return the Temple of Gozreh back to the church of Gozreh. They proposed Granthor as baron of the Isle but he refused politely and said he would take up Stewardship until such a time as a suitable candidate could be found.
(Edit post)
Fire 285A.C.
posted Oct 19, 2014, 10:01 PM by Rob Watts [ updated Nov 11, 2014, 10:53 AM ]
16th of Fire
The group returned from the temple, although they thought that only 4 days had gone past, in reality, 24 days had vanished. The people of New Kaad had erected a plaque in the groups honor as they thought them to be dead.
The troupe spent some time offloading their new found gains and purchasing new items.
18th of Fire
After much refreshment and making of plans, the troupe set sail to Trollseine Isle to see about returning the bridge to working order and getting the fishing village into working order again.
As they arrived, they were beset by zombies filled with some kind of plague. After dispatching them, they attracted lots more and made short work of them.
Afterwards they made their way to the Hungered Acre Woods and scouted it out, only to find Basilisk tracks. They set traps and bait but after waiting all evening, all they caught was a zombie bovine.
19th of Fire
Making their way into the woods, the troupe came across a gruesome scene. A werebear had it's battleaxe into the split skull of a basilisk and it's three bear companions had be turned to stone. The three basilisks were all dead from bite, claw and battleaxe marks. It was decided not to disturb the scene but to return if they could find a way to restore them.
As they made their way to the nearby lake, the group was attacked by a huge mud elemental. It quickly stuck fast Ash and One but a combination of fire and sword slashes took it down.
The party then investigated the center of the lake where a small mast could be seen.
It seemed that the captain of the boat, the only passenger, had tried to put the boat onto the lake to escape with all the treasure he could find. It was too much weight and the boat sank and wearing too much armor, he evidently drowned and was left with his now worthless treasure but safe from the zombie horde. It took a long time but they retrieved all the money and items.
Afterwards they headed to the Factory, entering through the large chimney, they encountered 5 Ghasts but were able to quickly dispatch them.
When they had finished clearing out the Fish Factory, they headed to the Southern Watchtower and had a close encounter with some light sensitive fungi in the basement.
Once they had disposed of the fungi, they crossed towards the Boar Woods and encountered a rather gruff, but not entirely unfriendly Wereboar and his three wives. With a combination of diplomacy and outright displays of disdain for One's enemies, the party managed to secure an alliance and passed the night under his watchful guard in the woods.
20th of Fire
In the safety of the woods, the party made Holy Water and spent some time gathering information from their new friend.
21st of Fire
The party spent the morning investigating the Folly nearby and found all manner of interesting runes and symbols. It seems that the standing stones around the isle would enable them to solve the riddle and find a way to control the bridges.
Realizing they couldn't do anymore here right now, they moved to the Mine and discovered that it was home to thousands and thousands of poisonous centipedes! After dispatching the bulk of them, they advanced further in and found all kinds of alchemical tools, potions, poisons and diseases. It seemed that whoever called this place home was brewing noxious substances. The most interesting thing however, was some preserved Basilisk Blood which the party used to reanimate the Werebear on the hill.
Granthar provided the party with all kinds of information about the island and they made their way to the nearby obelisk and read the symbols.
Seeing as night was falling, the party retired to the Fish Factory and decided to rest for the evening.
22nd of Fire
During the small hours of the night, the troupe were attacked by a Dark Stalker and numerous Dark Creepers. During the ensuing battle, One was killed by the Dark Stalker and the group was very down-heartened.
It was decided that the group would return to the Mainland seeing as the ship would be here in a few hours.
Once back in New Kaad, the group sold off as much as they could so that Ardara could buy a scroll of Raise Dead and have One brought back to life.
His experience with death had taken quite a lot out of him however and it was decided that the group would wait for ten days before returning to the Isle.
Over the next ten days, the group spent their time getting to know the council members better and even swayed a few votes as to where the town should put it's resources for expansion.
One even discovered a secret Gambling Hall under Nat Wyler's Bell.
(Edit post)
Warming 285A.C.
posted Oct 19, 2014, 9:51 PM by Rob Watts [ updated a minute ago ]
5th of Warming
At the request of Kyrasi and Philippe, the troupe set out to discover why the well & spring wasn't producing enough water to keep the town from going thirsty. They discovered a number of Duergar and eradicated them, at the same time finding a gold vein and making Philippe a more prominent figure on the council.
8th of Warming
The group traveled towards the lighthouse to investigate why the ships weren't making it to New Kaad. As they were about halfway there, a massive storm rolled in and they were forced to take shelter in an old Tor. The Tor turned out to be inhabited and after dealing with the occupants, they spent the rest of the night and rode out the storm.
10th of Warming
Once the storm had passed over, they continued to the lighthouse and discovered Goblins on the roof. After dispatching them, they moved into the lighthouse and found a Barghest and a Green Hag who seemed to have been working together to shipwreck the incoming ships by putting up a false light nearby. The group killed them and returned the control of the lighthouse to New Kaad.
14th of Warming
Kyrasi received word from Zander the ranger that undead were flooding into Dapplewood and killing all the woodsmen. The group volunteered to go into Dapplewood and investigate. Inside Dapplewood they found the old sanitarium and watched as undead flooded into the building. They followed and after cleaning out the upper floors, made their way into the basement where they narrowly escaped with their lives! An old inmate had returned as a particularly powerful Wraith and retained his sorcerous abilities. He had opened a rift to the plane of negative energy which the group were able to close after a little trial and error.
22nd of Warming
The troupe entered the ruined temple in town after undead began to spill out and attack innocent townsfolk.
Inside they found a desolate building that had once housed worshipers of Shelyn and Erastil. It now held a worshiper of Zon-Kuthon and her minions. In a lake deep undergound, they also came across a pair of lovers who were destined to remain apart due to a horrific curse. The troupe managed to free them from the curse and when they did so, the curse on the temple was lifted allowing them to once again rest without experiencing ghastly nightmares.
The nightmares did however impart knowledge about what happened to the lake and it's guardian.
All they need to do now is find the guardian and restore it to it's rightful place.
(Edit post)
Winds 285 A.C.
posted Jun 12, 2014, 7:06 AM by Rob Watts [ updated a minute ago ]
15th of Winds
A disparate band of travellers arrived at the town of Kaad, only to discover a town beset from all sides by evil. After looking around, they found themselves talking to Kyrasi Stonewell, the Half-Elven leader of the local militia. She informed them that Goblin bandits were responsible for food shipments going missing and that she would be grateful if the group could find and kill them.
21st of Winds
The troupe once again set out to kill some more bandits, this time almost biting off more than they could chew when the Orcs sent nearly the whole party into unconsciousness and near death. Luckily Fizzle managed to revive some people whilst the rest took a while to recover.
18th of Winds
After recovering from their trysts with the bandits, the group set out once more to get rid of some bandits that were plaguing the traders. This time they dispatched a troglodyte tribe that had made a home underneath a bridge.
26th of Winds
Yet another food shipment disappeared and the troupe managed to intercept the thieves but were too late to rescue the town errand boy or the guards. This group however, were being led by two human brothers, a sorcerer and a cleric. They had holed up in what looked like a cave but turned out to be the entrance to a Dwarven Outpost. Inside the Dwarven outpost was a temple to Shelyn and a rather powerful pool of magic. The group all felt physically better able to fight off infections etc after taking a dip in the pool.
