Last night I was finally able to begin running the Age of Worms Adventure Path. I have been reading the adventures, articles and what not all last semester but I just didn't have the time to run with school. This semester I can actually manage to run so here was our first session:
Set in Faerun's Daggerford, a small town in the Forlorn Hills on the 13th day of Mirtul (Ander's birthday).
Sylf Stormwind (Female Air Genasi Sorcerer 1) and Ander Stormwind (Male Human Fighter 1) are brother and sister. They are natives of the town. Ander is a new recruit into the Town Guard who just completed his training and has been allowed a week off. Sylf Stormwind is a sorceress looking for some adventure. She is very obnoxious and doesn't get along well with her brother.
After getting off of duty, Sylf and Ander head over to Lazare's House to celebrate his birthday. On the way over to Lazare's Ander bumps into a Cleric of Selune. He had seen her a few days before at one of the mines in town healing the wounds of a guard. She just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He invites the Cleric, Miri (Human Cleric 1, Lycanthrope Wolf), to Lazare's. Miri is a shy and quiet person who mostly keeps to herself (the PC's don't know she is a lycanthrope and she also has a multiple personality (teenage male) that occurs randomly and when she changes into hybrid form). She observes more than she talks. All of their friends turn out for the event, Ander is now 21!
Lazare is a friend of the family and gives a complementary meade to Ander and discounts the rest of the group's prices.
Sylf, who doesn't drink, looks around at the gambling going on and notices a very sad Rock Gnome sitting in the corner with Chaum Gansworth. The Gnome (Neville, Rogue 1) has a gambling addiction. He had just come across 44gp and wanted to test his luck at Dragonchess. The only person willing to play him was Chaum. Neville, not realizing he was outmatched at the beginning, sits down for several games of dragonchess, betting only small amounts in the first two games. The 3rd game he bet everything and lost, Chaum took him to the cleaners. The last game desperate Neville bets his mundane dagger. Again, Chaum wins the match and Neville, realizing he doesn't have anything else to bet stops gambling. Chaum invites him to play again sometime when he has more money. Sylf goes up to the gnome, whom she has seen around before and knows to be an addict, and starts giving him a hard time. Reprimanding him for gambling so much but invites him to the table to join in Ander's birthday party.
While at Lazare's, the friends over hear the Waterdeep Adventurers talk about the Stirgenest Cairn in the Forlorn Hills and that they want to investigate it. Ander, Sylf and Neville all know that there isn't anything left in it. It has been pretty well investigated over the years. They also know of another Cairn a days walk from town that kids dare each other to spend the night in. The last two people they have heard of going into that Cairn haven't come back out. They decide it would be fun to investigate it and agree to leave in mid morning the next day but they need a map.
Ander, being a member of the cityguard, has access to the cartographer and wants to see if there is a map marking the location of the Cairn. Both his Captain and the Cartographer are very busy today with paperwork, requests, and other town issues that they allow Ander full access to the map room. Ander finds what he is looking for, makes a few quick notes and heads off to meet the rest of the party.
They have an easy trek up to the location of the Cairn, which they spot easily. After taking the time to clear away the brush from the entrace they slowly and VERY quietly start investigating the main hall. They look for traps, none to be found, and they come across the broken mirror. Both the sorcerer and rogue take an interest in it. The rogue however seems to be better versed in ancient scripts and is able to tell that the glyphs on the mirror look like symbols relating to transportation, they also resemble glyphs relating to air elementals and the gnome tries to haul off with it (the player didn't realize the part of the mirror was probably as big as his character). Realizing that the mirror is too big, too heavy and has been untouched for a while he decides its an ok idea to leave it where it is and continue to investigate.
All of the party members notice the faint flickering green light and slowly move towards the north. Slightly distracted they fail to move silently alarm the wolves nearby. Ander, still pretty much on his toes, initiates combat. While Ander, Neville, and Sylf are fighting the wolves Miri has changed into her wolf form (she was born with lycanthropy) and starts growling at the other members.
After Ander has killed the first wolf, Miri (still in wolf form) attempts to grapple Ander without doing damage. This attempt fails but now leads the others to believe that Miri is also an enemy. She is not well known to any of the other members and is not a local of Daggerford. Ander falls unconscious after getting attacked repeatedly by all three wolves and Miri. Neville and Sylf are still focused on the wolves but Miri moves back and changes back into human form so she can cure Ander. She cures Ander but then takes so much damage from the wolves that she falls unconscious. Then Ander again after a few more bites falls again. Sylf and Neville manage to finish off the wolves. Neville, believing that Miri is a foe, coup de grace's Miri before Sylf can stop him.
They decide to return to town, walking all through the evening, to heal and tell of the traiterous she-wolf cleric who tried to kill them. They hope to find a Ranger or Druid at the Bronzewood lodge to help them on their journey. Neville, feeling somewhat bad about killing Miri decides to seek out a temple of Selune to return the corpse, the holy symbol and see if any additional info can be gathered. He has to journey to Waterdeep.
That was where we ended.
It sounds interesting. I would very much like to see how the party handles the lycanthrope in their midst - in my experience it ends badly. =)
It sounds interesting. I would very much like to see how the party handles the lycanthrope in their midst - in my experience it ends badly. =)
It did end badly, she was the one who was killed at the end of the session. The gnome coup de graced her when she was unconscious. She is not coming back either it will take to long to find a temple of Selune (they only have 6 days to resurrect her) and they don't have the gold to pay for it either. The gnome is taking the remains of the Lycanthrope to Waterdeep searching for a Temple of Selune hoping that he will get a reward by turning in an imposter of the faith (he believes the lycanthrope used the cleric role in order to trick them and kill the party members).
So last night was our second session in the Whispering Cairn. I left off with the party, all nice and bloodied up with a headless naked female human corpse slung over the shoulder of Ander (fighter). They travel to the Bronzewood Lodge on their way back to town where they meet a Moon Elf Ranger who is interested in joining them in their adventuring but has a previous engagement. He will meet them back at the lodge on the 24 of Mirtul.
While at the Bronzewood Lodge the Ander and Sylf convince Neville that returning the body to a temple of Selune is insane! Not only did this werewolf posing as a cleric attack them but there isn't a temple of Selne around for miles and miles. Neville agrees and they bury her outside of the lodge.
The trio, still nice a bloody, continues the long walk back to town. Along the way Ander finds a stream to clean off in but unfortunately for Neville and Sylf their clothes are bloodstained and therefore ruined.
They enter in town during the late afternoon and Ander goes to the Barracks to recieve free healing from the Chapel of Tyr. He gets this service for free because he is part of the town guard.
Sylf goes to the Church of Lathander in order to buy some healing potions and gets slightly annoyed with Hamaneezer. He keeps asking her questions concerned about her state when she walks in with blood stains on her clothing. She doesn't reveal anything and leaves as quickly as she can. She goes back home to change into fresh clothes and also to feed her familiar, a Tressym (flying cat).
Neville goes back to his house, changes into fresh clothes and then hits the gambling scene with his new found gold . . . found on the clerics body that is.
While the three friends separate to do their business a half-drow, Talindra, cleric of Selune comes to town. She is the best friend of Mirri, the now dead cleric of Selune that was adventuring with Neville, Ander and Sylf. Talindra has a beautiful body, very petit but with curves in all the right places. She is also a very wise person but VERY slow on the up-take (Int 9!). Weary from travel and trying to save her coin she saunters into the Happy Cow. Upon entering the door the giant (well to her anyway) Half-Orc, Kullen, blocks her way. He inquires as to who she is and what she wants. Kullen recognizes that she has drow blood and therefore is not trustworthy. He wants no trouble on his stomping ground from a Drow!
After several questions Kullen sees that Talindra is not the brightest crayon in the box and sends her over to Tirra for a round of dagger throwing. Of course he presents this as being an initiation right to come back to the Happy Cow if you are a new person. Kullen throws Tirra a signal hinting that this drow isn't very smart and to take advantage of that. Tirra explains the game in very small terms.
"There is one big circle, it's white. There are three smaller circles in that one big white circle. The first round of throwing you want to hit the biggest circle. The second round you want to hit the medium sized circle and the third round you want to hit the smallest circle on the white circle. You got it?"
Talindra understands the game. Tirra then asks how much she is willing to wager. After careful thought Talindra lays 8 gold on the table. Tirra wins on the second round and thanks Talindra for the gold encouraging her to come back later.
Now that she has passed the "test", Talindra starts asking after her friend. "I am looking for my friend. Have you seen her?"
Tirra replies, "What does she look like?"
With hand gestures grossly overstating Mirri's size Talindra says, "About this tall and yay big."
Tirra realizes that she will need to pry info about who she is looking for. She asks a series of questions until Tirra finally remembers that yes she had seen a Female Cleric of Selune with brown hair who had a multiple personality disorder. She had last seen the cleric three days ago with a member of the city guard and his friends at Lazare's. She guesses it was a birthday party of some sort. She sends Talindra to the Barracks to see if she can hunt down the guard.
Talindra gets to the gate and 4 guards greet her. She gives the guards the same description of Mirri that she gave Tirra. The guards all look at each other with looks of puzzlement . . . thinking to themselves 'how can anyone be this slow, but hey she's cute with a nice rack too!'. One of the guards, after listening to Talindra's description, decideds to go around the barracks asking if anyone had seen a female cleric of Selune recently.
Ander at this point is in the process of getting healed by Melinde. She loves hearing stories of adventuring and is willing to heal those with good stories. Ander, having a crush on Melinde, milks his story for anything he's got. As long as he tells stories she will continue to "lay hands" on him (read between the lines here). The guard comes into the chapel and tells Ander that there is a half-drow looking for her friend, a Human cleric of Selune. Ander clearly busy with Melinde tells the guard to send her to his house where she can find Ander's sister, Sylf.
Talindra is sent to Sylf and Sylf being the obnoxious b*!%~ she is keeps dropping hints that they had to kill Mirri but Talindra is too slow for this. Sylf comes out and says that they had to kill her and they burried her outside of town and goes on to insult Mirri's character. Talindra becomes very sad and slightly angered by this. She asks why they had to kill her. She wasn't evil, she was good. What could she have possibly done to be killed. Sylf explains to her what happened in a calious manner. Talindra asks to be taken to her grave and also asks if Sylf has any milk. Sylf gives a quizzical look but gives her a glass of milk.
Sylf takes Talindra with her to round up the rest of the group just to let them know that they have an unexpected visitor from Waterdeep. She first goes to hunt down Ander. Getting to the Chapel and seeing Melinde and Ander obviously diggin' on each other she makes several nasty comments about Melinde being less than honorable and Ander just being a stupid older brother. The siblings squabble for a minute and then Sylf asks Talindra to wait outside. Talindra taking this literally proceeds to head back out of the entire Barracks complex, getting lost along the way but being escorted to the front gate by a guard.
With Talindra gone, Sylf explains to Ander who she is and what the situation is. Ander agrees to take her to the grave of Mirri but first they must hunt down Neville. They figure he is probably at a gambling den and go to the Happy Cow first.
The three venture on to the Happy Cow and sure enough there is Neville looking slightly disappointed with a pint of ale in front of him and Tirra counting 10 gp. He just lost at the dagger throwing contest but with evening approaching the Dog Fights are going to begin. He wants to stick around to bet on his dog, Ol' Grey Tooth.
Ander and Talindra walk into the Happy Cow with no problems but Kullen is still there and Sylf has an aversion to half-orcs and cowers in the corner and stays as far away from Kullen as possible.
Neville bets on his dog and wins his 10 gp back that he had lost earlier. Very happy he gladly sits down with the group and is told about the situation with the half-drow. He agrees that in the morning they will venture back up to the tomb and on the way stop at the grave site.
So the 20th of Mirtul dawns and the 4 adventurers start on the road. By the afternoon they get to the grave of Mirri and Talindra asks for a moment alone. She blesses the grave with the milk she had asked for the day before. (It is a liquid used in the rituals of the clerics of selune).
Neville mentions to Ander and Sylf that they should ask Talindra to join them in robbing the grave. She is a cleric so she has healing power. They agree that it would be good to have someone with her talents along and they ask. She agrees and they head back up to the tomb (I have located Bronzewood Lodge an hour away from the Cairn's entrance. I couldn't remember where it was supposed to be located so I put it in an arbitrary place making it easy to get to).
They get back to the entrace and the hallway where they were attacked by the wolves. Neville goes into the wolf den to search for stuff and finds an armband with a leaf motif on it along with an indigo lantern. He goes into the easter alcove and looks at the fresco with the rest of the party. Pretty but don't really know what it means.
Then they come to the staircase with the hallway covered in cobwebs. They go through, clearing the webs away with a quarterstaff and survey the room.
Neville checks for traps leading up to the sarcophagus but doesn't find any. He gets to the sarcophagus and checks for traps. He doesn't find any traps and is really confident that there aren't any. So, taking the crowbar out of his pack proceeds to open it. The rest of the party stays out of this and moves back from the area. As soon as Neville puts any pressure on the lid flames come bursting out but only singe the rogue. He looks inside hoping to find something big but all he finds is dust and a few dead spiders. They light all of the lanterns in the room save the red one because it's not there.
Ander looks at the sarcophagus and tells the group that he thinks it might move. He tries to move it but can't. The 85 pound half drow cleric comes over to it and gives it a light push and it moves to the hallway with the yellow lantern. An elevator device comes up and the doors open. The party leaves it alone thinking it not a good idea to get split up. They push it again towards the green lanterned corridor and they hear the same noises that the elevator made but then an awful grinding noise and a crash. The elevator falls to the lower floor. The party stands still for a moment listening to see if they disturbed anything. They hear scuttling noises and prepare for battle. Seconds later a mad slasher, giant bombardier beetle and acid beetle swarm come out of the hole in the floor.
Combat ensues and the rogue and sorcerer go down during the fight, just unconscious and bleeding but not dead. At this point half the monsters are gone and the fighter and cleric finish off the bugs. They heal Neville and Sylf and need to rest.
This is where we ended the game for the evening. So they got through a trap and a fairly large combat session. It was a good game but this one was more focused on roleplaying with just a little bit of combat.
The elven ranger they met will be played by my friend but he had a hockey game later in the evening couldn't stay for the whole session. That is why we introduced him but he didn't join the group yet.
That Melinde is one hot paladin - whoa momma!
You are all so nice
<img src=http://www.rod.org/guilds/images/cleric.jpg>
Of course!
I love the fact that you used your character names as your SN! That rocks!
FYI Tatyanna LePierre was my first character, Female human fighter/wizard 14th level (yes that was the level I STARTED at in my FIRST game!).
I liked the idea of it too so... (raises voice) so , now im a girl.... and im HOT
http://www.rod.org/guilds/images/cleric.jpg LIKE WAY HOT
{The story as told by Ander to Mélinde: Those who have played in the game so far will probably realize that it took a lot of effort for me to avoid inserting numerous “suggestive” parenthetical comments}
The whole thing started out a couple of nights back when me and Sis were over at Lazere's collecting my birthday ale – too bad you have all those paladin things you have to do; I'd have bought you one, too, now that I've got a somewhat steady income from the city guard. Anyways, while we were there these adventurers from Waterdeep – what a bunch of ignorant, arrogant asses. Sorry for the harsh language, my dear paladin, but there are people in this world for whom gentle words are simply inappropriate. Anyway, they were going on and on about how they were going to go “clear out” the Stirgenest Cairn up in the Hills. If they'd bothered asking anyone here, they'd have found out that it'd been “cleared out” for a long, long time now. You know that, and how many times have you strayed that far from the temple here?
Maybe it was a bit of... shall we say... alcoholic inspiration, but I started thinking (we both know that's a dangerous thing) – what about that other Cairn... the one we used to dare each other to go in when we were kids? I know you didn't, but you know the one I'm talking about, right? Yeah, the Whispering Cairn. So, I began thinking that's probably one only we locals know much about... and what if there's something there worth investigating... I knew I could talk Sis into going along – she's 18, after all, and with her magic and stuff she's probably pretty bored with Daggerford.
So, I went to go talk to her, but she was busy watching Neville lose at Dragonchess yet again (he's getting better, though). And I thought, yeah, he's a sneaky little.... guy. Plus he's a gnome so he must know all about locks and traps and things, so he could help us out with that sort of thing should there be anything of that sort down in the Cairn. Turns out that Neville had lost quite a bit at Dragonchess – will he ever learn? - and was surprisingly easy to talk into exploring ancient ruins and plunder them for fame and, more importantly, riches.
So, I went to talk to Captain Sheri... she doesn't mind that I call her that! I went to ask her for a leave of a week or so so that we could go check the Cairn out. She suggested that since adventuring is dangerous, it might be a good idea to find someone good at healing. So I thought of this wondering cleric I met when Balan got hurt at that cave-in up in the mines. We're still not sure exactly where she came from or what she was doing there, but she patched him up good. I ran into her again – yes, by “she” and “her” I mean she is a woman... or was a woman... hrphmm... I'll get to that – don't rush the story! Yes she is... was... fairly attractive, but she doesn't have your eyes, okay? Anyway she – her name is... was... Miri – agreed to go along with us, so the only thing left to do is make sure we knew where we were going. So I go talk to Edgar in the cartography office and he let me copy out a map... want to see it? I took my time, that's why it came out good.
We headed out the next morning. It took us most of the morning to get there, and when we did, Miri was real quick at finding the entrance. I wonder now if maybe she already knew where it was. Anyway, we go in carefully, so as not to disturb anything dangerous. We go in and find a set of alcoves where we find this big, glyph covered mirror... which is broken all to pieces. That didn't stop Neville from goggling all over it. You could see his brain trying to calculate exactly how he should try to lift it so he could haul the whole thing off. Not that it would have done him any good. The thing must have been at least 10 times my weight – I'd have had trouble simply trying to get it off the platform where it was. After Neville convinced himself that there's no real way to get the thing back to town, he actually takes a closer look at it (Sis looked at it, but wasn't able to understand much about it), and discovers that the glyphs all over it indicate that the mirror would have had some transportation purpose or something like that. If the mirror was whole it would probably have been quite magical. What? Oh, you'd have to ask Sis about that. She might talk to you, but she's still annoying, the slut... oh, sorry. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, there was a strange green light that came from the far end of the cave... we don't know. We'll need to go back and find out. Well, we tried, but...
When we started to go further in, a pack of wolves came out of the next set of alcoves – three huge wolves. You'd be amazed at how much of your training comes back to you when you really need it! I drew my swords and moved forward. It was a fierce fight, let me tell you. Teeth and claws, swords and strength – it was a thing of beauty! It wasn't until I'd felled the first one that I noticed something was wrong – even though I'd killed one, there were still three wolves, and if I thought the first three were big, the new one was even bigger... and Miri was missing. Well, I didn't have time to think, so I just kept on fighting.
The next bit was a little unclear to me. The wolves were making dog food out of me, and I'd lost a lot of blood in the fight and passed out. I came to shortly and tried to fight some more, but was quickly overwhelmed again. Yep, that wound over there was a wolf's claw. I'd like to see you do better! I know, I know... When I came to the second time, Sis was forcing a healing potion down my throat... isn't there something you guys can do to make them taste any better?
It turns out that Miri had been a werewolf, and Neville had... well, I won't disgust you with the details, but he... er... made sure she was dead. Poor guy. Kept babbling about taking the body to the Seluné temple up in Waterdeep. I sure hope he doesn't end up with some sort of port-traumatic stress syndrome or something over this. Anyway, about the time we passed the Bronzewood lodge, we finally convinced him that we should just bury her and be done with it. Then we came here. Well, back to town, then I came here. How could I possibly not? Well, there's no more yet, but I'll be sure to drop by when I can.
Oh... hi Sis!....
To be continued....
I encourage all of the players to post their own experiences in the form a journal on here. The character's perspective gives a little more flavor to the journal entries. There is only so much the DM can remember, ya know?
Talindra you are HOT! Nice portrait, when did you have that done?
Hey, where do you guys get all these portraits? any chance there's a monocle-wearing gnome out there?
Go to "My Account" - look in Messageboard settings
I encourage all of the players to post their own experiences in the form a journal on here. The character's perspective gives a little more flavor to the journal entries. There is only so much the DM can remember, ya know?
Talindra you are HOT! Nice portrait, when did you have that done?
Why thank you, *curtsey*
My brother made it for me
*takes 10 of the ceramic balls* These could come in handy sometime maybe, I hope, possibly.
(9 INT - 17 WIS)
Would one of the characters like to write the summary of our last session? I have a ton to do and don't know when I will be able to post the summary. Aside from that, I would like to see what happened according to the character's POV.
I would if i werent so bad at writing. I would leave so much out and I dont want to take away from what this is and could be. It would be a shame.
After defeating the insects that crawled out of the elevator hole in the green lanterns corridor everyone healed up and decided they should take a look downstairs. They manage to get down there and decide it would be a good idea to rest. But not before checking out the nearby rooms. They go into the beetle nest where they find a tub of orangey goo. Neville decides to take a look at it. He sticks his dagger in there . . . nothing happens. He sticks his toe in there nothing happens. He then thinks really hard, scratches his brain and decides the best way to figure out what it is is to taste it.
He sticks his finger in and licks it. Right after he swallows he is sickened but is still able to identify that it was once a nutritious substance that would nourish a person by eating just a little bit. Clearly, it has been contaminated with beetle refuse and acid over the years.
He checks out the opposing room and sees beds in it, a statue and a corpse in red leather armor. Sylf comes in behind him searching the room for magic. She notices that everything in the room glows except for the floors, walls, and ceiling. Neville then tries to slight of hand the possessions on the corpse but the Ranger sees him. He asks Neville if he can take the red armor. Once he cleans it off it would be great to use.
They go back to the southern room where they rest for the evening. Once everything is silent they notice the ripple of water down the hallway. They decide to check it out after everyone has had ample time to rest.
Once refreshed they make their way down the corridor. They find the empty alcoves along the way, Neville looking for traps every so often. Then they come to the water realizing that if they go down the stairs that Neville will be completely immersed and the rest of the party will be as well once they reach the bottom of the stairs. Sylf, not needing to breathe, decides to go in first and check things out. As soon as she enters the water she is attacked by the insane water elemental . . .
To Be Continued (I have to get back to work will write more later).
Thank you Neville, I deeply appreciate you honoring Miri. She was truly a great and gifted soul. *PRAYS*
AS far as your chosen "Career", have you given any thought to the ministry? Selune is a very rewarding Goddess. She is very welcoming. If you elect not, then why is it that you stray from who you are now?
Neville . . . anyone home? I thought Neville was going to post this weeks Campaign summary . . . and didn't Ander visit Melinde again? I thought he had a story for her too?
After defeating the insects that crawled out of the elevator hole in the green lanterns corridor everyone healed up and decided they should take a look downstairs. They manage to get down there and decide it would be a good idea to rest. But not before checking out the nearby rooms. They go into the beetle nest where they find a tub of orangey goo. Neville decides to take a look at it. He sticks his dagger in there . . . nothing happens. He sticks his toe in there nothing happens. He then thinks really hard, scratches his brain and decides the best way to figure out what it is is to taste it.
He sticks his finger in and licks it. Right after he swallows he is sickened but is still able to identify that it was once a nutritious substance that would nourish a person by eating just a little bit. Clearly, it has been contaminated with beetle refuse and acid over the years.
He checks out the opposing room and sees beds in it, a statue and a corpse in red leather armor. Sylf comes in behind him searching the room for magic. She notices that everything in the room glows except for the floors, walls, and ceiling. Neville then tries to slight of hand the possessions on the corpse but the Ranger sees him. He asks Neville if he can take the red armor. Once he cleans it off it would be great to use.
They go back to the southern room where they rest for the evening. Once everything is silent they notice the ripple of water down the hallway. They decide to check it out after everyone has had ample time to rest.
Once refreshed they make their way down the corridor. They find the empty alcoves along the way, Neville looking for traps every so often. Then they come to the water realizing that if they go down the stairs that Neville will be completely immersed and the rest of the party will be as well once they reach the bottom of the stairs. Sylf, not needing to breathe, decides to go in first and check things out. As soon as she enters the water she is attacked by the insane water elemental . . .Shortly after the water elemental a ghoul enters the combat.
After several rounds of combat and trying not to drown, the party defeats the water elemental and the ghoul. Sylf looks for a way to drain the water from the room but notices that the drains are blocked with too much heavy stuff. She checks out the side rooms.
Once done in the lower level they go back up to the main level. They decide to light all of the lanterns but the cleric being too dazzled by the dancing lights blows out one of the lanterns.
They do a brief search of the area and notice that there is a corridor about 20 feet off the ground. After considerable thought the party climbs up the chain. Neville unfortunately has a little bit of trouble getting up but finally manages to make his way up the chain and into the hallway. At the end of the hallway the group sees a face carved in stone. Neville starts checking for traps and successfully makes it to the end of the hallway. The rest of the party follows but as soon as Ander gets 60 feet down the hall the pressure plate is triggered. Several rounds later the party is very windblown and startled but made it safely to the main floor again.
They think really hard for a minute and start wandering around the main floor of the tomb looking for clues. They get back to the corridor off the main entrance that has the frescoe of the false tomb chamber and notice that all of the torches are lit. They go back and light all of the torches then make their way back up the chain. This time the mouth is open and the trap disabled.
They enter into the room filled with ceramic balls. Neville looking for traps spots a mechanism but can't disable it. The trap triggers and knocks him from the walkway into the pit. The rest of the party follows and they are attacked by a Grick!
The Grick proved a difficult challenge for the party and several of the members came close to death. Eventually, after persisting attacks the grick is killed. The cleric goes around and heals everyone and just when the party thought they were okay a ghost forms right in front of them. Alastor tries to take over one of the PCs but fails. The group on their guard are ready to attack. Alastor starts speaking to them though and asks for their help. He tells them of his death and that he cannot rest until his bones are buried beside his family. He promises that if the party does this for him he will open the chamber at the end of the room. The Party agrees and then waits for Alastor to open the door. Alastor tells them that they have to bury him first then right before he crosses over he will push the lever on the other side of the door leaving it open for the party. The group agrees to do this and leaves the Cairn.
End of session
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So, You want to know how Ah got me start, do ya? Well, Ah guess if yeh stand a few rounds Ah'll tell yeh. T'ere we were, Confronted with an unopenable door in the Dungeon. We'd just got past t'at friggin' worm beastie and all of a sudden t'is Ghost pops out of tha wall! Weel, Ah was ready to scrap, but it turns out he t'wasn't dangerous, jest annoyin'. This Alistare fella had run off from his da's some t'irty years ago, and gotten himself gacked in th' dungeon. Damned fool, If yeh ask me. Anyroad, He gabs a bit, and says he'll make a deal: if we cart his bones back to the farm and lay him ta rest with his kin, He'll open the door from the other side. So, Talindra was all fer it, and everyone else t'ought it a good deal, plus we needed to hit the town and resupply anyroad. Weel, I t'ought we'd do better to have some insurance, but e'en iffen he crossed us, we'd have done a good bit fer a lost soul, and Ah'd git th' door open someways else.
So, We all trooped back to the entrance, with th' loot and th' boy's bones in a sack. At t'at point, Ander had to head straightaway back to report fer duty, and the Rest of us, weel, we decided to pay a trip to th' family farm, so ta speak. Weel once we'd got t'ere, we found th' plot all right, wiht fresh dug holes an' all. Seein' as his kin had died gone back t'irty years, t'was a mite disconcerting! Seeing fresh tracks an' blud inside th' ruined croft, I was betting on the Undead. "Well," says I, "Burn the Cottage with them inside! when the fire dies down, we'll just rebury the lot of'em." But, there t'wasent enought thatch left to catch, as would trun out to be lucky later. We made our way inside, And there we found the cause of all th' gore; an enraged Owlbar!
So, our ranger comrade, Whos name escapes me just now, Rushed forward to meet the threat, and was promptly smote by the owlbar's mightey paw, quick as yeh blink! Sparky, the blue lassie Cast mage armor first thing, which I might take umbrage at iff'en I hadn't been jumpin' out the windah at th' time. Talindra, gods bless her heart went toe to toe wit' th' Great Huge Beastie, Pertecting tha' Poor Ranger. (What was his name...?) Th' poor man was in no condition fer anyt'ing, let alone a great ruckus such as that, but as yeh cin see, I'm but a wee man, and I t'wasnt aboot to go anywhere near the creature. I thought aboot them bottles I picked up in th' tomb, but not kenning what they were, i didn't feel 'twas worth the risk to run up into it and pour 'em down 'is gullet. Instead, I commenced to shooting at the Owlbar wit' me arquebus. Ahh, yeh downt ken what that is? Weeel, seein' as this is Waterdeep, mayhap t'at's best. The brawl was ragin' apace, with the 'Bar givin' Tallie a right thrashin. Then Sparky Did me proud, and used that static cling trick of her's to good effect. I got in a shot, and on me second firing, slew the Great huge Beastie with a shot through its eye, cleverly avoidin' it's great thick skull.
So after the fight, we took stock, and Tallie revivified the ranger,who's name I still mis remember. Shadowleaf? Heartbark? Mightytwig? It's always one of those nature names, s'never got any thing to do with the tangible world. Bah... Now then... Oh yes! So we were standing aroud after the' brawl, and we hear this noise in the corner from behind the Owlbar. The ranger moved towards it, but me innate curiosity got the better of me and I darted forward. You'll never guess what I found: a wee bairn of an Owlbar! All round and covvered wit' down, wit' big glassy eyes and about the size of a cat. Weel, I'm nae afraid to say it; I was gone. He made t'ese little cooin' purrs, like, and that was that. I named him Georje, which was mah great-da's name, and decided to raise 'im up as me own. The others want'ed to sell 'im but I wouldn't 'ear of it.
After the happy discovery, I believe Tallie made a find among the carnage. One of the leftover arms had a brand from the local mines on it, so we went back to town To take care of business and track down the lead. We had to find Alestir's kin, y'see, so's as we could compleat th' bargin. After doin' some shoppin' and preparing a place for Georje, We went down to Cullen's, 'im bein' the only other bloke we knew with the mark. 'E was in a foul drunk, but Tallie used her feminine wiles on the sot, and convinced him to tell us who'd been playing at bodysnatchin'. Unfortunately, THe Damned Orc wanted 200 gold for the information! Not ta be thawrted, The lass and me quickly ginned up about half the cash, and, well... so did the ranger, even if he didn't know it! We got the information, some fella by the name of Skudge or some soch, and were about to leave when I decided we'd overpaid. I filched back Tallie's gold, and mine as well, But left Cullen the ranger's half. T'was only fair, he did tell us what we needed to know, after all!
<All told years later in an inn in Waterdeep>
Thanks for posting Neville. That was definately a good recounting. The Rangers name is Aerelius (sp?) but it sounds like Aurelius as in Marcus Aurelius.
And is the baby's name George or Georje?
*tee hee* Neville talks funny.
(out of character) wouldnt Jorg be more gnomish?
(in character) I am SO grossed out. Nasty halforc hands all over my butt. Ugh. I feel so.... Dirty.
Hey Neville, what did we do last? I forgot.
Anyone else feel free to post a summary of what we did last week. I would like to hear from all of the players, even Tally. She may be unintelligent but she can still remember things.
Anyone else feel free to post a summary of what we did last week. I would like to hear from all of the players, even Tally. She may be unintelligent but she can still remember things.
I will do the next session.
{The story as told by Ander to Mélinde: Those who have played in the game so far will probably realize that it took a lot of effort for me to avoid inserting numerous “suggestive” parenthetical comments}
Hi Mélinde! I'm back! It's been a while, but the story should be worth the wait... assuming I can tell it well! That? Yeah, it hurts a little. Now then, where did I leave off last time? Oh yes, the werewolf who had tagged along with us posing as a cleric just long enough to betray us to more of her kind. Which is what brought me in here last time. I do not only come here when I'm hurt! Besides, you like the story; it isn't as if you don't get anything out of it.
So, as you recall, my sister came here looking for me when I finished the story last time, right? Well it turns out that the best friend of the ex-werewolf came here looking for her. She's also a cleric, but not very bright... even as far as clerics go! Don't look at me in that tone of voice; you know what I mean. She's also rather strange. First of all, she's half drow... settle down! Not even all the full-blood drow are evil... yeah? What about the stories of what's his name... Drizzle-something-or-other. Yeah, that's the one. I suppose so. Anyway, her name is Talindra and she accepted our version of what happened with almost no questions asked. I'm still not a hundred percent exactly what that means, but she's had numerous opportunities for revenge if she wanted, but didn't choose to. All she felt the need to do was visit the grave where we'd buried Miri, and do something where she'd poured milk all over it. Maybe – you'd more about that sort of thing than I would. Anyway, we searched the area where the fight had been and found only some miscellaneous junk and Neville found this blue lantern-looking thing.
Going further in we found found an alcove with a fresco on the wall that looks like a map of a large rooms with alcoves which contain little colored lanterns – all the colors of the rainbow! After scratching our heads for a bit, we decide to go further into the cave... or perhaps I should says ruins, since that's certainly what it looks like they are. So, at the end of the entry hall we find a large chamber with... can you guess? Seven alcoves with colored lanterns – all the colors of the rainbow! The green one was the only one lit, which showed us two things. One, that the blue lantern was missing... well, almost missing, since as you recall, Neville had found the blue one outside... so we mount it and then figure out what to do with it. And second, that there was a large sarcophagus in the center of the room. Neville, being his typical self, immediately goes to fiddle with the sarcophagus. Suspecting that these things are often trapped – and seeing that this one apparently hadn't been opened since the poor androgynous looking guy carved into the top had been put inside – I decide to back out... along with everyone but Neville, who is almost instantly drenched in flame. Fortunately, he's one lucky little gnome and didn't end up getting too hurt. But, anything that might have been in the sarcophagus wasn't as lucky... either that or only ash had been interred there.
While investigating the sarcophagus, your's truly noticed that it's mounted on a pivoting base which is oddly shaped like an arrow. With a great deal of effort we were able to push it. It got easier each time we tried, so the hinges just must have been old. So, we get it pushed to point at the alcove with the yellow lantern, and as soon at it get there, a cylinder pops up out of the under the lantern... the yellow one. It had a door in it. I think it is some sort of a lift down to a lower level, but it didn't seem to make much sense to go rushing off until we had a better idea of what was really going on, so we pushed the arrow again – this time to the green lantern. This time, the cylinder there almost comes up but gets stuck. We work at loosening it, but do the job too good, because it the fell with a crash down to the bottom of its shaft.... which attracted the attention of the critters living down there.... let's see there was a swarm of these really nasty beetles... this thing that looks like a giant eyeball on spiders legs, and this really, really nasty giant beetle. It was the strangest fight I've been in yet. I mean, they're just bugs! Big bugs, it's true, but they really put up a fight, and Talindra did real well, when she could have just left us to certain death. She healed our wounds and then we rested for the night.
Wow... this storytelling is thirsty work! I'll go get an ale, then come back and finish it! Do you want one? Well... one of these days....
So, Ander is s'posta talk about the previous section of our adventure. It was very very sad. Either way, I will tell you about what just happened and you can read the earlier stuff when Ander stops getting perverted with Melinde.
Anyway, We headed back to town and Sylf detected magic on the loot we got and took them to Delfin's house. Ander went to see Melinde, go figure. So, Delfin said he could get the lot identified in a day. We then showed him the note we found. He lod us that it was most likely from Balabar Smank. Neville hended him the dead worms and we gave him the rubbings we took of the glyphs and said he would look them over. Delfin said Colon might know more.
From there Neville went to see Georje, then went to do some recon on Smenks place. Valmacar went to the Temple of Tyr. Sylf and I went to our new home sweet home in the observatory. Then everyone finally came back to the observatory and we went to the Happy Cow at dusk to see Colon. At first we played 3 Dragon Ante because nobody was gambling. Know what I think? I think Neville suggested it to get a gambling fix. So, we all wagered 50 copper and played and Bob from the bar joined us making a game of 6. Ander won a round. I think 'twas the second. I beleive Neville won the first. But in the third, Valmacar went broke and was out. The last card played was form Neville who thougth for sure he had the lowest hand. So he played the Druid. But I think he forgot about me because my had was lower and I WON!. It was fun. In the end I was up 61 copper, Val was down 50, Neville was up 30, Ander was up 44, Sylf was down 28 and bob was down 43. I think that is right. So, Neville, Ander and I went to see Colon. He is being nice to us ever since Nevill gave those gross eyeballs to him. Colon told us about the Eban Triad, some hubub about 3 dead ancient Gods. I think its the same stuff Delfin was talking about.
We went home and rested, I prayed like i have never prayed before. And the moon looked so beautiful. Selune is so wonderful. In the morning we went back to Delfins house and he told us some horrible things about the worms and the same Eban Triad Cult Colon was talking about. Bane, Myrkul and Bahl I think. They wish to bring upon the world a global catastrophe. These worms are s'posta Embed themselves into zombies making the zombies unkillable. The Triad call this Catastrophe 'The Age of Worms'. Delfin told us the Glyphs were all about these 3 ancient Gods. It was all very interesting but honestly, I didnt get it. Everyone else seemed to so I will just go with it. Delfin gave us back all of our stuff and ID'ed it all. Then asked a favor of us, to investigate what may or may not be suspiciously happening in the Dourstone Mines He warned us of the mine manager Derwin's unsavory dispodition. So we happily accepted as Delfin has kind of grown on us all. I know I am quite fond of the man. He handed a note to ander to give to Ander's boss, Captian Sherlyn Spearslayer. It was a request from Delfin to deploy Ander, with our assistance, to the mines to investigate.
So we went and say Sherlyn and then went off to the mines. By the time we got there it was too late but i realized that we didnt stock up on potions and stuff. We went into the mine offices and asked for jobs and aquired them. But after we were told we needed to supply our own mining equipment, we decided to bribe our way in. Neville, being the stealthy little gnome he is, just snuck in without us and bribed the miners to distract the guards long enough for us to go in. They did a good job and we all entered safely. Ender tipped them all 10GP and they all seemed so happy and thankful. They even told us how to get to the barricaded corridor. Neville and I as well as Val tried to move the barricade and couldnt. Sylf and Ander smashed it to bits. I am shocked nobody heard. We found our way to an elevator and val lowered Neville and Ander down. Then came back for Sylf and I. By the time we got down Neville and Ander were already engaged in combat with 2 Tieflings. We slew them and as soon as the second one fell, 2 more came in and engaged us. Val fought valiantly but was taken down by one of the teiflings with a single mighty blow from a greataxe. I disengaged form combat and healed him just in time. As he came to he looked up and watched the final tiefling meet his end. I further healed Val and touched up Anders wounds. I think Val is going to make a great addition to our group... Once he learns how to take a hit without falling. He is a bit.... Lawly... but I think he means well. Sylf is finally done shooting sparks at people and really making a difference in ranged combat support with those magic missiles. Ander.... he is just a big oaf who likes to smash things. And Neville. He is a silly Gnome. Always getting into mischeif. But I think he needs to make more of those metal balls. What does he call them.... Oh yes, Bullets. Such the strange little ROCK GNOME!
:SINGS: Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Ander Post the previous session. LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA
After defeating the Teefs, we decided to continue on. We tried to pass through the door but we couldnt bash it and neville couldnt pick the lock. Just then I remembered that Neville just picked up a set of keys. He tried them and, guess what, they worked! We pressed on through the door and there were a bunch of skeletons. I turned them all, so i thought. Ander stepped forward into the room and there was still one left back in the corner. It didn't take much to put the last one down. We explored the two rooms to the east and west, with Val standing guard down the unexplored cooridor, and met no resistance. Upon our return to the main chamber Val was nowhere to be found. He simply disappeared, All of the doors were closed and nobody heard a door open or close. It is times like these where the Ranger would have been useful. We then went forward and explored a room that looked like an animal's den, but there was nothing in it and no sign of Val. Acorss the hall was a door that led down a corridor to another door. Neville opened that door and immediately swung his hook hammer andblood went splattering everywhere. It was horrificly gruesome. Ander then went headlong through the door. By the time Sylf and I got to the door everything instantly turned pitch black. Sylf turned and backed out. Suddenly something pushed past me so I thought to myself that it was Neville running so I followed. But I came out of the darkness and it was a tiefling. Ander came shortly thereafter and between him and Sylf along with myself, we smote it. But then, Neville now too was gone. But as we turned around he came running out of the darkness and warned us of a large force that was likely in the chamber through the doors just to the north of us. Which then mysteriously opened. There was a dire boar, a half orc, a female human and a pair of Troglogyte Zombies on the lower level. On the balcony there were 7 tiefling archers, 7 human archers, a human cleric with a teifling and Val was bound up next to them. The half orc, dire boar and undead came at us as someone in the room called out for us to come and face them like men. Now I am not brilliant but I am not that stupid. Instead we fell back to a more defensible position. Once in position the Male Cleric on the balcony cast a spell the caused a storm to form above us and started to wound us. At this point I panicked and screamed out "RUN!" at the top of my lungs and ran back out the door. The rest of the arty just fell back further out of the reach of the storm. Once I got out the the main chamber I saw 7 big nasty monsters. Not having any clue as to what they were I panicked yet again and ran back into the room warning the party not to go out there. Fortunatly i do not beleive the big monsters did not see nor hear me, I hope. With all of us back in combat, we withstood the attacks of the half orc and boar as the tieflings and humans came at us in waves, nearly falling in combat. Neville pulled out some healing potions (which he was assuming were healing potions) and we endured. The boar fell shortly before the half orc. And I turned the troglodyte zombies one at a time. We made short work of the humans and slew the Tieflings save one when the doors flung open. The Clerics threw out Val's lifeless body and taunted us saying "I see how much you really must care for your friend here!" The last Tiefling standing from the initial fray then was killed and we pressed forward. Neville and Ander Faced off against the Male and I faced the Female with ranged support from Sylf. The girls took care of their business by taking out the female but the men seemed to be having all sorts of trouble even making contact with the male. A few more of the supporting Tieflings perished leaving only the male Cleric and a few supporting Teefs......(this is where we leave off for now) More fracas to come.
If someone would be so kind as to update the board for the last couple of sessions that would be great. We are falling down on the job.