Well, a while back, when the first Waterdeep Supplement in the blue trifold envelope came out, there was an adventure in it entitled "The Unmourned Passing of Roungouze Haballanter." I fell in love with it. It was brief, short, and entirely a "go get the treasure adventure."
The adventure started with the PC's hanging out in a tavern, and I chose the Yawning Portal because the PC's liked to hang out there. Across the way was a wizard seated in a chair. His staff was behind him, with his hat hanging on it. He was a typical, middle aged, bearded wizard. (You can read about all this in the Waterdeep Supplement, but I'm summarizing it for your benefit.)
One of the bartenders comes over to the wizard, carrying a large brass lamp, and says "Be ye Roungouze Haballanter? A man left this for you, he said ye'd be wantin' it when you came." Shortly thereafter, the lamp turns into a one foot high wizard, desintegrates Roungouze, the wizard twists a ring on his finger, and disappears. There were clues in the Wizard's notes to a Rod of Lordly Might, which the PC's tracked down, fought some Zhents for, and acquired. And the adventure ended there. And I was like...darn...they didn't ask any questions. Oh, well. Maybe they'll remember one day.
They didn't.
Eleven years in game have passed since then. So I am now running a very interesting game. All of the PCs were summoned to Silverymoon at the Inn of the Bright Blade Brandished, and were chosen from a hat with a limited background. Each of them is a child of Roungouze Haballanter. (And yes, some of them are very unusual or strange races)
The PC's must discover who killed Roungouze Haballanter, or they will inherit nothing.
One of the characters was from Silverymoon (Though he was not drawn from the hat), and his mother was strangely kidnapped by Goblins and Bugbears (Yes, in Silverymoon, don't ask how I pulled that off yet) and taken from the city. The PC's, in hot pursuit, followed them into the Lurkwood, and a wooden fortress called Goblinkeep after some decidedly brutal battles in the woods. (Bugbears and Goblins are not very bright)
Wisely, they decided to sneak around and look for a secret entrance, which they discovered (At the expense of the party's mule, who was slain and eaten by the goblins), which had an Owlbear in it. None of the PC's were particulary optimized or tough, and they were scared out of their minds. They fought the Owlbear somehow and killed it, and this was when things began to go a little bad.
They decided to wait for creatures to come and feed the owlbear, assuming that everyone else thought the Owlbear was as tough as they did. So some goblins come to feed the owlbear, and the PC's kill them. They see an ogre in the hallway, sitting in a chair. The fight goes on for a while, and the Ogre does nothing, he just keeps sitting in his chair. The PC's kill the goblins and drag them inside...
So some orcs come to feed the owlbear. They die. The Ogre sits in his chair. One orc is interrogated, they find out some information about the fortress. They keep him down there with the dead goblins and orcs. So some bugbears come, lather, rinse, repeat, they kill them too. At this point, the PC's figure the ruse is wearing thin. So they go out and they have a conversation with the Ogre.
This is pretty much how the conversation went:
PC's: Who are you?
Ogre: I am Meatlock.
PC's: What are you doing here?
Ogre: Meatlock guard door. Meatlock not leave post. Meatlock being punished.
PC's: What did you do, Meatlock?
Ogre: Meatlock eat three orcs, two Bugbears. Meatlock very angry. Zugna (The Bugbear Chieftain) punish Meatlock. Make him guard door.
At this point, one of the PC's gets an idea.
PC: Meatlock, are you hungry?
Ogre: Meatlock always hungry. Zugna not feed Meatlock. Smeglock very smart, him my brother, much smarter. Zugna feed Smeglock lots.
PC: Well, if you don't tell them we're here, we'll give you lots of food. (Gives the Ogre the dead bodies, feeds them to the ogre...)
(Note: This was NOT what I expected.)
Ogre: Meatlock happy. You go now. Meatlock not leave post.
As the PC's repeatedly cleared the bones out of the area around the ogre, Smeglock came downstairs to check on his brother. Smelling the odor of recently eaten flesh, and noting the missing patrols, he began to beat up his brother. Deciding they could not risk discovery, the PC's charged up into the corridor, and in a devastating attack, they killed Smeglock in a round and a half somehow.
PC's: Sorry, Meatlock, we didn't mean to kill your brother.
Ogre: Is okay. Smeglock beat Meatlock up a lot.
One of the PC's, kind of suggestively...
PC: You wouldn't eat your own brother, would you?
Meatlock (Looking sad): Mmm...me not know...me not sure...oh, well...him no need anymore...
(It was at this point that I disqualified everyone in the group from taking any exalted feats or exalted PRCs EVER)
Shortly after this, an orc came around the corner, to see Meatlock chowing down on his brother, and there was a really big fight between the PC's, Meatlock, and a horde of Orcs, goblins, and bugbears. A brilliant move casting alter self and changing into the recently killed Bugbear shaman saved the PC's from death, and they are now holed up in the temple to Hruggek in the basement of the Goblin Fortress, where the supposedly invincible Bugbear Shaman now resides. :)
The PC's, desperate for a plan, decided that the best thing to do was to impersonate the Bugbear Shaman, and try and trick the Bugbears into offering up a few sacrifices in a bogus ritual to Hruggek.
Amazingly enough, this trick worked, the half-lit temple and the blood covered "Bugbear Shaman" sacrificed a few of the minions with the leaders watching, demanded time to determine what Hruggek wanted, and bought the group an extra day to heal.
The following day, the heroes ambushed them with a web spell, the half-dragon's dragon breath, and much stabbing. Everything was killed except for one fighter who escaped.
The PC's have reached chapter two. (For all the good that will do them...)
This week, the PC's left the goblin fortress and headed back to Nesme, where they trained for over a month and a half, got items made, sold their booty, and sent the rescued parties back to their respective locations.
There was a lot of drinking at a dwarven weaponsmith's home, and they decided to return the stolen wardtokens to Silverymoon before proceeding to Yartar to interview Taulantyr Oromskar, who was listed among the people one of the bad guys in the fort wanted to interrogate.
They did not speak of Meatlock to anyone in Nesme. Though they DID tell a friendly druid who had reincarnated one of the PC's. :)
Well, the journey back to Silverymoon turned sour. The PC's encountered two ettins, arguing over which race tasted best. Having disturbed them, one of the Ettin heads declared "Human! My Favorite!" Combat swiftly ensued.
Amazingly, the 5 ECL 4 PC's kllled the two ettins in record time.
No one should have died, but someone attacked with the other four characters screaming retreat at him. While the Half Dragon screamed "Laucian...Nooooooooooooooooooo!" and looked very sad, one of the characters declared the following:
"Being of a more practical bent, while the cleric is busy mourning, I loot the bodies and rifle them to see what they have."
He got reincarnated in Silverymoon a second time, after they successfully returned the Ward Tokens. So far, his progression is Moon Elf>Human>Wood Elf.
After leaving Silverymoon, and journeying for two and a half days, they were attacked by Barthok the hobgoblin and his goblin minions, who originally had planned to ambush them on their way TO Goblinkeep. Instead, he ambushed them on their way to Yartar.
Well...it wasn't much of an ambush. He walked out into the middle of the road and demanded satisfaction from them. This did not work. There was an extremely brief battle, and Barthok the Hobgoblin was slain.
The journey to Yartar continued, where they fought some Worgs and a Winter Wolf. Slowly, they made their way along the trail over the next few days, and encountered a Frost Giant, close to Yartar, whose attack along with his comrades had just been repelled. The PC's agreed to escort him safely from the area, to protect other travellers from him.
They are now the Friends of Giants. (Oh, hooray. :))
While they were camping after removing the Frost Giant from the area, they were ambushed by a rather nasty Rock Wyrm. In a flurry of magical assaults, breath weapons, and other violence, the Rock Wyrm was reduced to one hit point and fled. He will now be seeking out the Cult of the Dragon, who are already looking for Haballanter's vault. Oh, well. This should be an interesting surprise.
Well, the PC's reached the next adventure, wherein they found a retired Purple Dragon Knight in Yartar whose shield had been stolen from him by members of the Kraken Society.
Bursting in on the theft, one of the agents escaped while the PC's and the Knight battled the other two agents. Thanks to good tactics, the agents of the Kraken Society were slain.
Bypassing some zombies, they triggered a lightning bolt trap and fought a fighter with a greataxe and a monk, sustaining some extremely serious injuries in the process.
Unfortunately, the local cleric who is an agent of the Cult of the Dragon is currently trying to work out a deal with the Kraken Society, and the PC's have tracked the members of the society to one of their hidden bases around Yartar, where the Rock Wyrm who they nearly killed is spoiling for a fight.
Well, the heroes made their way into the chamber of the Rock Wyrm and the Cult of the Dragon cleric who was trying to make a deal with the Kraken Society.
The rock wyrm looked up, let out a shocked cry of "It's THEM!" and combat ensued immediately. They were the Rock Wyrm's last words. (OOC: I've never seen anything quite like this in my life) The Half Orc monk charged, stunned the creature after the Half Dragon breathed on it, and they made short work of it while chasing the cleric down the hallway. Things bottlenecked up and there was a mighty battle between the PC's and some orcs.
A mind flayer opened a door, saw part of the combat, and in grand illithid fashion, promptly ran away. After the Pc's killed the cleric, the four guest orcs, and the rock wyrm, they hid in the orcs bedroom.
(Yeah, that's right, they could have slept in the nice Mind Flayer Throne Room, which was comfy and had soft pillows, but no, they slept on the hard orc straw beds.)
In the morning, they located a well, and lowered themselves down into it, only to find a secret smuggling platform belonging to the Kraken society, and guarded by a Kopru. The battle with the Kopru was brutal and swift, and they managed to defeat it and retrieve the shield, along with some priceless treasures...
The characters returned to Yartar, returning the shield to Taulantyr Oromskar, and had a wild celebration at one of the local "festhalls." (Can we say Brothel here? I'm not sure)
After their little party, the group resolved to eat much fried squid in Waterdeep in honor of their resounding blow to the Kraken Society. It is likely that the Kraken society will NOT be amused.
After purchasing Rock Wyrm boots and gloves for everyone except the Half Dragon, who whiningly declared it was like wearing a relative, Oromskar gave them a metal knob similar to the knob that the baker's wife gave them earlier, and said that one of Haballanter's adventuring companions, Taubrynnath Woodmight, located only two or three days away, in Red Larch, might know more. The heroes prepared to go to Red Larch on the morrow, while the Kraken Society and other sinister forces continued to gather around them...
On their journey to Red Larch, just outside of Triboar, a bulette burst forth from the ground and attacked their little adventuring band, slaying the Half-Orc Monk. That was when the troubles began...
The rogue/wizard, ever the sarcastic wit, when asked "Why didn't the bulette eat me instead?" by the half-dragon, responded with...
"You bathed with scented soaps, and he bathed with herbs this morning. He was already marinated before the battle started."
The half-dragon was unamused...
After cutting what was left of the half-orc after the bulette had been chewing and digesting for two rounds, the PC's threw what was left of his remains into a large leather sack. When they arrived in Triboar, after explaining to the local guards that they had not hacked an innocent man to death, they split up, two to find lodging, one to visit Gwaeron's glade, and one to...well...get a large glass jar and some vinegar to preserve what was left of their dead friend.
As the characters found their lodging, they engaged in cheerful conversation with the innkeeper, and with two half-orcs fooling around by tossing halflings about the room, which the halflings seemed to be having a good time with. Just after that, the wizard carrying the large jar walked in, and the two half orcs stared. One said "Hey...isn't that Korag? He used to beat us up in Waterdeep! I'd know that shocked expression anywhere!" (Keep in mind, Korag is the dead guy floating in the jar of vinegar in various states of decay)
Two of the PC's went out to dinner while the third stayed in the room with...umm..."Korag..." He placed Korag's hat and coat on the large glass jar. Later, the two half-orcs tried to break in, and won the initiative roll. They lost surprise, they were too busy staring at the jar with the hat and coat on it, they just weren't prepared for that level of disturbing behavior. One rushed in, grabbed the jar and hurled it to the other, who barely caught it. The wizard rushed to the door as the half-orc ran away, and cast web into the hallway. Meanwhile, the other failed to grab the wizard, and the wizard magic missiled him, dropping the hapless conspirator. Seeing that the remaining half-orc was almost free of the web and he couldn't follow, the wizard leaped to the ground, chased around the house after taking a little falling damage, and waited for the half-orc to come out. The half orc evaded the burning hands spell, and ran for his horse, mounting up.
The wizard chased the fleeing Half-orc out into the street, and shouted "I warned you! Now face the wrath of...Tolrin the Lazy..." (He finally got up enough courage to be angry at something) He then cast lightning bolt at the horse and rider, his last remaining spell. The half-orc died, and the horse was wounded, and the jar sailed into the air, as the wizard howled...
"KOOOORAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The glass jar shattered on the ground and was replaced by a hand keg later on, which the PC's filled with whiskey and cheap rotgut named "Old Dragon Sweat!"
The PC's and their burden of Half-Orc parts then went on their way to Red Larch, where the next step of their quest, and possibly someone who could return the half-orc chunks to life, lived....
The little group of heroes made their way to Red Larch, where an old player character (Princess Raisha Djenispol in-exile) who had been on the original adventure made her home, along with the ubiquitous Taubrynnath Woodmight, who the characters had been told to seek out.
The heroes were told that Raisha had a cleric on the premises, and so they rolled the barrel up past the Quarry to where the small keep had been built, to have a conversation with the priestess and the lady adventurer.
Identifying themselves as the children of Roungouze Haballanter, the heroes managed to trigger Raisha's memories of the incident, and she told them what had happened to their father, and some of the results thereof. She was, however, very surprised to find that they had pickled one of their own...
Due to the presence of a half dragon in the party, she told them they would have to get a wardtoken to bypass Aghairon's dragonward so that they could continue their investigation, and that she would procure this for them in exchange for a service, once their business in town with Taubrynnath Woodmight was concluded.
She called her cleric cohort out to return the Half Orc to life, and the cleric did so, after which time the heroes headed out to Taubrynnath Woodmight's chicken farm. The two farmers outside the home were excessively rude to the PC's in an attempt to drive them off. (This delayed the entire group for an hour as the characters tried to end around the rude farmers.) Finally, they intimidated them with a Toothed Tentacle spell, and headed towards the house.
Discovering that Zhentish assassins were after Taubrynnath, presumably for something of hers related to Roungouze Haballanter, the PC's resolved to handle the situation themselves, and took up positions in the house, waiting for the assassins to arrive....
The heroes fought a long and desperate battle with the assassins under the cover of many widened silence spells.
They did manage to win, but that was all they succeeded in doing. They resolved to get the wardtoken from Raisha the following morning, though they did realize that the older hero clearly had a quest for them in mind...
The heroes discovered that Raisha had ordered some specially engineered seeds from the Druids of the High Forest, to regrow the Red Larches of the aforementioned town.
Unfortunately, the half-elven deliveryman was a little late, so in order to get their wardtoken, the PC's had to track down the seeds. They encountered a collective group of priests of Auril and Talona, who had banded together in order to wreak misery upon Red Larch with modified trees that would grow poisonous thorns in the winter and radiate cold in the summer.
After slaying the pet cryohydra that one of the Priests of Auril had trained to terrorize the locals, and duping the priest of Auril into believing that there was an illusionary cryohydra there, the PC's charged in and killed him in a bloody display of overkill violence that would have made Alexander the Great proud.
The PC's then descended upon the sinister lair of the villains, and another brutal attack ensued, during which time the villains mostly failed to be effective and the PC's brutally slaughtered them.
The PC's successfully returned the seeds to Raisha, who rewarded them with a wardtoken and magic items to be crafted by her cohort.
After the items were completed and the characters had finished training, the PC's arrived in Waterdeep, none the worse for wear, to pay a visit to the mother of the Half-Orc monk...
Needless to say, this visit did not go as planned. In one of the seedier Waterdhavian Taverns, the PC's encountered Korag's mother, waiting tables and plying her trade. In the center of the room was a grate, and a writhing, cranky looking giant octopus lurked below.
After an exchange of pleasantries where the Half-orc foolishly tapped his excessively full purse in front of his mother, and the PC's insulted the tavern keeper, they decided to leave and seek lodging elsewhere. This did not happen immediately. Instead, the bartender pulled a lever as the PC's exited, almost no one made their reflex save, and they were summarily dumped from 'The wooden planks just outside the bar" to "The lair of the hungry and vicious giant octopus." While they DID slay the octopus and the bartender, it should be noted at this time that the ancient adventuring maxim still applies. "Don't look forward until you're sure of what's behind you."
After spending 36 days training for their next couple levels, participating in wizardly experiments in exchange for lodging, and eating much of the finest foods in Waterdeep, the PC's went to the Yawning Portal (Where Haballanter was killed) and interviewed Durnan, who didn't remember much about the incident, as he was not there that day. After consulting with the watch, they discovered the name of the bartender who was on duty, Gorash Sansivver, but not where to find him, as he did not work at the Portal anymore, and Sansivver had no next of kin.
The heroes then went to Rhinghaudles, a newer flash in the pan tavern that replaced the tavern that the bard told them about. After discovering a magical fresco in front of some booths, they decided to come back the following day and play with it. One by one, they were transported into the sewers somewhere, with light coming up ahead. The PC's scout managed to sneak up to the area, and he saw two Zhentarim guarding a door, along with a large burly man and a dire ape, standing in a gigantic steel latticework near a pile of barrels. The battle was quick, but necessary. (The Half-Dragon had selected the Goliath Great Hammer as her weapon, so it is essentially mandatory that I run an adventure where many of the opponents are apes who throw barrels at people. :)) The Zhentish base is recently established, and runs a tidy scam whereby they buy up harbor moons in Crimmor and smuggle them into Waterdeep and sell them off for a tidy profit, thus devaluing Waterdeep's currency...
Well...
The PC's decided to kick down the door to the Zhentish "Offices' and were confronted by a phalanx of Zhentarim soldiers. Combat ensued immediately, as the PC's hurled a web spell into the room and began the extremely slow process of killing the twenty four men. While the battle raged, and the PC's pressed forward, a door opened and a hobgoblin druid and his pet Dire Ape showed up. The battle grew long, and the PC's managed to kill everything. They were almost out of spells. The Half Dragon cleric, run by the GM, suggested that the PC's retreat and regroup. However, instead, outvoted, the PC's decided to barricade themselves in the Ape Training Room.
Thirty minutes later, the Zhents attacked again...
In a brilliant use of the Major Image spell, the PC's managed to create the illusion that the door was still up even after it had been knocked down, causing the villainous Zhents to come into the room piecemeal.
From the other door, the first Zhent was caught in the chest with an arrow and killed after marbles had been placed in front of the door. Hilarity and pain ensued as all five Zhents from the flanking force failed their reflex saves, including cumulative circumstance bonuses for standing on each other. A flask of alchemist's fire was swiftly lobbed therein.
Meanwhile, widened silence was hurled outside, negating the advantage the Zhentish wizard had. Realizing that he could not cast anything or aid his troops, he prepared to leave if things went bad.
They did. The PC's cornered him as he was about to leave through a portal. They were ambushed by his last remaining ally, a human rogue, and the rogue was slain while the Wizard escaped. The PC's gave chase through the portal, only to find themselves in Athkatla, a place which did not like wizards very much
Burning a lot of money, as all of their gear was still in Waterdeep, they resolved to retrieve their gear by having Air Walk cast on them, followed by visiting Tolrin the Lazy's mother in Baldur's Gate. After the single unwed wizard rapaciously and lasciviously fooled around with the party's elf, she teleported them back to Waterdeep in the morning.
While the party spent time digging up information and having magic items crafted, they decided to pay a visit to the local crime boss who had tried to collect Korag while he was dead. Rather than kill him, or start a fight, they cut a deal with him to look for information about the Harbor Moon swapout scam that the PC's had discovered.
The PC's achieved this by acting like a bunch of gangsters themselves. It was very strange. :)
Returning to Crimmor, the little group of heroes found their way into the secret entrance of the Zhentish base located there, which was underneath a manse on top of a hill that belonged to the adopted father of one of Haballanter's other children.
They snuck their way through the ghast infested tunnels, and up into the Zhentish base, where they ruled the day with silence spells and smashing their opponents to bloody pulps. Making their way up into the manse, and saving the looting for later, they bribed the house mercenaries to leave for a substantial sum of money.
Making their way upstairs, they battled their own half brother, a human with a shovel who beat them mercilessly on the stairs. Subduing him, they then battled his father and a zhentish wizard. The wizard died, but they captured the adoptive father, coercing from him a promise to become a monk of Illmater...
In the morning, they found his dead body hanging from the rafters...
Returning to Waterdeep with the loot from the manse, the diary of Haballanter's paramour, and a lot of misgivings, the heroes proceeded to train in Waterdeep, and read the diary, which mentioned a ship called the Spelldance that Haballanter had sailed on with one of his other paramours.
Deciding to investigate the ship, as it was their only real lead other than a missing bartender in Waterdeep, the heroes set sail for Rauthym, only to encounter a terrible storm of Wizard Weather, where they and their boat, stove in at the side, were washed ashore...
The little band of heroes swam and water walked their way out to the boat, battling numerous aquatic ghasts along the way. They fought a drowned on board, and explored the boat for a while, looting his chambers.
Proceeding to another cabin, they opened the door, finding a room with a large water elemental that called out to them, begging to be freed. The little band of heroes inched their way around the outside of the vessel, hanging to the ledge, and hacked through the rotting timbers of the boat, hoping to break through the wards and free the creature.
Well, it was at this point that the Bone Devil dropped the illusion, chuckled and began to gloat, so the epic battle with this creature will begin the next post...
Well, the Bone Devil didn't win initiative, so he was promptly surrounded, unfortunately, this did not prevent him from doing a great deal of damage to the party. The bone devil was slain by a massive expenditure of spells and magic, and a lucky thwack from the warhammer wielding Half-Dragon.
Looting the bone devil, and searching the remainder of the boat, the heroes discovered a room with an unusual portal set into the back, along with a strange enchantment that kept the room from being filled with water when the boat was fully submerged. They rested, and proceeded to step through the portal in the morning...
Onto the Elemental plane of air...
The heroes found themselves standing on a series of floating rock chunks with the other portal visible in the far distance. The rock chunks were fairly large, and on one of them was a sizable wizard's tower. The heroes approached the tower, only to discover that within the fog was a highly stupid ogre...
The ogre was guarding the tower, and refused to let them in, however, they managed to convince his dull witted brain that he should go speak to his master, and they managed to find an air genasi wizard. (What a surprise...) The Air Genasi wanted the little group of heroes to retrieve his wand from the Harpy who stole it. This didn't go so well...
The heroes battled the Harpy Archer and almost all got killed. The poor half dragon cleric couldn't close distances enough to keep up with the healing chores. Several people were reduced to single digit hit points. The Harpy Archer simply flew around in the foggy mist and popped out every so often and shot someone. The harpy archer was finally slain, and the wand stolen from the wizard recaptured...
Returning the wand to the wizard, the heroes ventured forward towards the portal on the other side of the air pocket, only to discover that it was guarded by Thayan Knights.
Choosing to negotiate rather than fighting the Thayan Knights (This would probably have been fatal), the heroes were led into the other half of the boat, which floated in it's own demiplane, and met it's resident Red Wizard, Seltabbic Tan, who had been trapped in the demiplane for over a hundred years. Seltabbic Tan was fascinated by the PCs, and even showed them the chunk of Rod of Lordly Might that he could not remove from his boat.
A conversation then ensued, where it was revealed that Seltabbic Tan thought he could activate the portal floating in front of him with the blood of one of the PC's. Activating it, one of the heroes immediately stepped through, grabbing the Rod chunk on the way.
Seltabbic Tan took this badly, and howled "Kill them!" as the PC's fled through the portal. Barely surviving the massive number of attacks of opportunity, the heroes found themselves piled up in a heap in Evereska as the portal slowly condensed behind them....
Half a continent away, Seltabbic Tan and his Thayvian knights found themselves buried in two feet of muck, with the tide slowly coming in. He vowed revenge at once...
Coming to, the heroes found themselves surrounded by a horde of angry Elves, who were all too happy to "escort" them to the Temple of Corellon Larethian, where the elf in the party had been raised, even if he was no longer the same elf...
There was an incident at this point where one of the lesser priests of Corellon mocked the elf and got punched for it, in full view of the other members of the temple.
After much negotiation, the Pc's managed to get themselves rooms in the Temple while irritating the high priest, who made the priest-decking elf and his compatriots clean the stables in the morning. The heroes agreed to go see the elf's mother, and inform her of his reincarnation.
Things didn't go as planned. As the PC's approached his mother's hovel, they found a mysterious elf in brown stealing his mother's adamantine chunk, and managed to drive him off, giving chase with a locate object spell after he dimension doored away with a Cape of the Mountebank.
The PC's successfully found him and killed him. Reassuring the elf's mother, and stuffing the body into the portable hole, they brought his mother with them to the temple of Corellon.
That's when things started to go sour. First, the PC's brought the body to the high priest, who offered his personal chambers to the elf's mother, and said he would take the room reserved for her. Then he ordered the elf to bring the corpse to the preparation room, such that a speak with dead spell might be prepared.
At this point, the elf decided to ignore the orders of the high priest, and fearing that someone might undermine the casting, snuck into his own room with the dead Justice of Weald and Woe, and hid the body under his bed. Returning to the High Priest's office, a second conversation ensued over what to do, during which the High Priest ordered one of his servants to bring food to the rooms, completely unaware of the dead body under the elf's bed...
Well, when the food was delivered, there was a loud scream, and elves and the PC's all raced to the room to see what was wrong. The elf wound up being forced to clean the stables alone. The other PC's were exonerated from the onerous task.
And while the PC's sleep, the Eldreth Veluuthra will be planning to murder Laucian Xilosent's poor mother, unaware that the high priest sleeps in the room within....
Needless to say, this didn't go as planned, either.
The Eldreth Veluuthra assassain easily bypassed the traps on the door and drove the dagger into the sleeping high priest. Who promptly made his coup de grace fort save and then woke up.
He then lost initiative. By the time the PC's got there, there was a small heap of ash (Destruction) and a pile of gear where the assassin was supposed to be.
The heroes and the high priest resolved to use this situation to their advantage. Pretending the assassination attempt had failed at the cost of the life of one of the PCs, the heroes made their way out to the mother of the Elf's hut, hoping to fool the bad guys.
Well, the next cleanup team that came consisted of an Elf Druid, two Elf fighters, an Elf Wizard, and an Elf Arcane Archer. They didn't like this very much, and the half dragon died.
Well, the heroes smuggled her corpse back to the temple, pretended that Laucian's mother was being ressurrected instead, and brought the half dragon back to life. The half-dragon cried all night, knowing that other people had been hurt because she died.
The cynical half-elf, who had been waiting for almost a year to see the Half-Dragon be sad, was ashamed when she discovered that seeing the half-dragon be sad wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.
It was magnificent....
Now the heroes have five people to cast speak with dead on, and this adventure will likely come to a messy conclusion in the manse of Laucian Xilosent's adoptive father...
Well, the PC's decided that they were going to sneak in to the home of Laucian's father by summoning badgers and tunnelling in from underneath.
This didn't go so well. They hacked their way up into the kitchen of Lord Xilosent's tree-house, and attacked his guards, friends, and guests while Lord Xilosent, not being deaf, cast preperatory spells on himself.
Poor Laucien, in defiance of every law of drama, had confusion cast on him by his adoptive parent, and other PC's battled his father while Laucien drooled in a corner. They defeated him, and brought him before the elven council of Evereska.
This did not go so well either. He was a lord, and they weren't, so the Elves, having no proof that he was actually a member of the Eldreth Veluuthra, chose to settle things in the time honored manner of trial by combat. In a fantastic turn of events, Laucian won the duel, in an extremely heroic manner, and the Elves judged his point of view correct.
Laucian's "father" was exiled from Evereska for a period of 200 years. It was suggested by the High Priest of Corellon Larethian that the heroes beat a hasty retreat from Evereska, and return to Waterdeep, which they then did....
Returning to Waterdeep led to a long period of training, during which time the wizard's selling of salt via the Wall of Salt Spellcaught up with him.
A disgruntled noble hired the hired horrors, who discovered that he was going to buy a server monkey.
The Hired Horrors, in grand Hired Horrors fashion, replaced the server monkey with a Julajimus. So, that evening, Tolrin the Lazy went to bed and there was a loud thudding noise and a deep bellow!
A battle ensued, during which time they slew the Julajimus squeezed into the small inn room. So, the PC's decided to see if the man who he bought the monkey from was selling any other Julajimi...
Well, that didn't go so well. They slew the Julajimus fairly quickly, however at this point the Half Dragon succumbed to the Dragonrage. Their solution was, after she finally recovered from it, to chain her to a bed for a month while a wizard crafted a ring of Mind Blank for her. Now the Rage can't affect her, but her own enchantment morale boosting spells can't either. Oh, well...
Once that disaster was over, the heroes went back to the Portal to interview Durnan personally about the bartender, and were attacked by...you guessed it! A one foot high wizard!
Well, actually, it was a Kobold Sorcerer with the reduce spell. He desintegrated the Monk right away, and the battle was largely won because casting spells of this nature in front of an 18th level Fighter (Durnan) is usually fatal when he owns the place. Plus, he couldn't make a reflex save and got cone of colded. Twice.
The heroes took the items that Durnan didn't take, and the Kobold's loot, paid Durnan for the damages, and turned the body of the Kobold over to the Watch. The Half Dragon cast Speak with Dead on the Kobold for the watch. I was like...ha...hah...he's a kobold sorcerer. His will save is phenomenal. Here comes a four week investiga...shu...That's a one on the will save. !@#$%^$$%!...
The heroes easily traced the villains back to the Shadow Thief training house, which looked like an ordinary dwelling in trades ward. Unfortunately, inside was a sinister training facility for goblins, kobolds, halflings, and other infiltrators of small size.
In a spectacular display of cunning, the wizard teleported into the building disguised as a gnome, and gave the Shadow Thief in charge a scroll which was a message from his superiors. Unfortunately, the wizard did not make his reflex save. So...combat ensued, in which the wizard died (He left the game thereafter), and the other PC's stormed the house. One of the PC's, a monk, chased the Shadow Thief through deadly corridors filled with traps while the other heroes navigated the rest of the dungeon more slowly. This led to an amusing situation whereby the watch and the heroes battled Kobold guardsmen together, followed by the monk setting off virtually every trap in the dungeon before randomly dimension dooring and picking a direction. He picked the right one, and landed in the sewers not fifty feet from the escaping rogue.
After a spectacular battle in the mulch (Don't ask), the monk subdued the rogue and began dragging him through the street. Keep in mind, they're both COVERED in sewage and dung. And he drags the guy BACK to the house where the battle took place. So the watch arrested BOTH of them. More next time.
Well, under the influence of harsh interrogations and investigating information found in the Shadow-Thief safehouse, the heroes headed for the Calim Desert to rescue the Half-Dragon's mother, convinced that a sinister fate awaited her at the hands of the Shadow Thieves.
The journey across the desert was awful. They fought harsaafs (Who escaped and vowed revenge), an itinerant blue dragon (More on him later, and an undead sand squid. (The Undead Sand Squid came the closest to getting a TPK of any monster I've ever seen. That creature is absurd!)
Unfortunately, the Shadow Thieves and the Cult of the Dragon have been spying on each other for decades, and the Cult of the Dragon, having the same information, had been spying on the half-dragon's mother for years.
The cleric of gond who trained the half-dragon had given Lashakara's copper dragon mother a potion that subjected her to uncontrollable weeping, a horrific curse that could only be ended by Dracolichdom. Determined to break the curse, the heroes set out for the lair of the cultists, only to be set upon them when exiting the lair. The cultists were joined by the two Harsaafs. Unsurprisingly, one Harsaaf escaped, and vowed revenge. Unfortunately, the itinerant blue dragon and the evil Gondsman await the PC's, along with more cultists, Harsaafs, and other strange creatures of the desert....and the same Harsaaf escaped again, vowing even more revenge...
Next time...An awesome showdown in the Desert!
After that...only four adventures remain...The Sage Who Never Was, The Efreet Queen's Veil, Dassalar's Tower, and the Demiplanar Vault of Roungouze Haballanter.
The heroes opted for a rapid assault strategy, and hacked their way past the Harsaaf guards, Half Orc Blue Dragons, Cult of the Dragon Necromancers, the cleric, and the blue dragon.
There were several extremely evil moments, like cutting off a group of archers and low level wizards with a wall of iron and then ice storming them to death because they couldn't climb it.
The PC's emerged triumphant, but Laucian Xilosent, the group's reincarnated elf, died. The next session will open with the dragon rewarding the PC's and beginning to look for Phloid Shaustrayt.
Soon, the killer of Roungouze Haballanter will be revealed.
Could it be one of the PC's?
Could it be Taulantyr Oromskar?
The Shadow Thieves?
The Cult of the Dragon?
The Red Wizards of Thay?
The Kraken Society?
The Zhentarim?
Someone they haven't met yet?
For those who have the old supplement, it's an easy solve if you think about it for a few seconds....:)
Feel free to guess.
The heroes spent three months training and recuperating, enchanting magic items for themselves and casting divination spells. The trail led to the catacombs of Baldur's Gate. (Anyone remember that old adventure game?)
The heroes paid their way into the Shadow Theives reconstructed evil maze filled with oozes and Skeleton warriors, and beat down a large number of them. Skeleton Warriors are really tough, tougher perhaps, than the Tomb Tainted Soul Priest of Mask who was healing them.
They opted to negotiate with this man, and gave donations to his temple in exchange for a trip into the catacombs. Under the large crypt where Sarevok once died, the heroes would supposedly find the magic item smuggling operation of Phoid Shaustrayt, who was Roungouze Haballanter's confidant, and unfortunately for the PC's, an alias for a large group of Shadow Thief operators.
However...when the PC's reached there, the first thing they encountered on the upper level of the dungeon were a powerful group of adventurers impersonating Sarevok and his minions. No wonder no one wanted to go down there...:) That fight was very nasty, only it was Korag the Undisciplined, Monk/Paladin of Illmater, who took virtually every single point of damage in the battle. It was a complete miracle he didn't die.
Now the heroes have made their way into the base of "Phloid Shaustrayt" and are closing in on the last couple pieces of Roungouze Haballanter's Rod of Lordly Might.
The heroes fought their way through dozens of Shadow Thieves, only to discover that they had uncovered one of the many operations where the Shadow Thieves provided magic items to people of evil alignments and dispositions.
In the final battle with a Shadow Thief Wizard, Ordonothir, and his minions, the heroes managed to win, and pluck information from Ordonothir's desk and Leomund's Secret Chest that led them to two conclusions.
One) The next piece of the Rod of Lordly Might was located in or around the City of Brass, home of thousands of unruly efreet and one, a Pasha of the desert wastes, Pasha Fawoud Al-Aaziir.
Two) There was one more piece yet to be located, but as their father apparently wrote a book detailing the construction of demiplanes, it is likely that they could only get to the place by assembling the entire rod.
The heroes planned for close to two months. They bought gifts of bribes, gifts of water, and gifts of carpets and jewels.
Their strategy? The two women would pretend to be the wives of the elf, and the former Half Orc now Aasimar would pretend to be a eunuch.
Then at long last, they stepped through the gateway, only to realize that maps of the City of Brass were generally unavailable, and they would have to speak to locals who might know.
In an attempt to find an inn, one of the PCs, Laucian Xilosent, walked up to an Efreet guard to ask for directions to an inn.
Efreet: What do you wish?
Laucian: Never mind....
Fortunately, wish granting without self defense or just writ in the City of Brass is highly illegal, or he would have been making a will save.
They found an Inn, and it's innkeeper, Serglut Brokenboneshield, the scurviest, sleaziest dwarf ever. Serglut successfully bilked the party of almost 3,000 gp by charging outrageous prices for water, and feeding each other the information each had given him (Which was all completely fake) for money the party had to give him to maintain their ruse, even though he KNEW they were lying to him. He even tried to get Laucian to murder his wife,in exchange, he would take the "shrewish wife' off his hands.
Then they ventured boldly into the desert, towards the encampment of Pasha Fawoud Al-Aziir. I think you know how the next episode will be written...:)