This is the GM’s journal for a campaign I am currently running every Saturday. The journals Serine is Queen and A Heroic Epoch are both based on this campaign. It is set in a version of Greyhawk that has been drastically changed by previous campaigns. Among other things a meteor annihilated Greyhawk city itself.
The original alterations to the setting came from a game that Turin ran, along with his story of old campaigns and a beloved character or two of my own. It was then further modified when I ran my first long term D&D campaign. The campaign played every week for roughly two and a half years, going all the way from level 3 to as high as level 29. Mind you that’s character levels, some character picked up a few templates as they went that would put them as high as 34-35 ecl possibly. The current campaign is around level 12 and has been going on for a bit more than a year now. Most of the time it has run every other week, but we have switched to weekly. So a run down of characters:
Serine (female human paladin)
This character has been the focus of much attention recently as it was revealed that she is the daughter of the King and Queen of Furyondy. Since Furyondy was conquered by the Empire of Iuz around the time she was born this has caused some problems. This crew of adventurers has been attempting to incite rebellion in one of the provinces so that she can hopefully attain her rightful throne.
Serine can be a very abrasive person, although her heart is in the right place. She is not quite as comfortable about command as some of her companions, but she is smart enough to put them in charge of the tasks that they are best at. If she has good advisors and helpers should could make a good queen, although she has to get her kingdom back first.
The same person as The Journalist plays serine.
Quarion (male elven fighter/rogue/order of the bow initiate)
Quarion is an archer of significant skill and cunning. He is also a master of stealth and cunning. While he is somewhat more fragile than some of his companions, he can pump out an awesome amount of damage in a short time with his bow.
He can be counted as one of the more quiet and unassuming members of the group, but he isn’t afraid to speak up when necessary. He and the Lady Serine are engaged and deeply in love. Recently it was revealed that he is actually of very, very high rank from a nation of elves who have a great dislike for non-elves. Originally the Lady Serine as a servant hired him before the two fell in love.
The Great (male half-elf incarnum user, can’t remember exact classes)
Ah The Great, a man of force, verve and panache. He is an excellent fighter although not quite the most impressive one in the group. He is also an excellent leader, speaker and thinks very quickly on his feet. Unfortunately he can also be arrogant, make that very, very, very arrogant. Those who have heard his exploits have probably come to know him well. He has been instrumental recently in recruiting allies and securing help.
He is the son of a noble elf from an elven city in Furyondy. He is party of an order that taught him how to harness incarnum and is closely associated with a merchant house he is part of. He is a great friend of a dwarf named Belkin and the two of them have recently been working on constructing a fortress as a gift to his order. He has a number of personal followers that he has called to aid the group in their efforts. One of these is a mystical theurge who is his cousin and the love of his life. The two are quite devoted to each other.
Ryzzym (male drow wizard/sorcerer/ultimate magus)
A very random person, and somewhat dangerous to have as a friend. Ryzzym tends to be very hot tempered and prone to doing strange things, as well as being famed for his “friendly fire” incidents. Still he is a loyal companion whose magical abilities are formidable. His personal appearance was somewhat altered due to imbibing some fey wine. Whenever he prepares to cast a spell his hair stands on end and crackles with energy. At all times his eyes are flat black and leak a thick black substance (if you’ve seen Heroes season 2, yes I stole it from there). This plus his race makes him a very, very intimidating individual, although it is usually disguised magically.
Ryzzym’s background is very much tied into the recent history of the Drow. About 60-70 years ago the goddess Lolth was slain. This threw the race into confusion, disorder and eventually civil war. In the mean time sensing a power vacuum most of the other major powers of the underdark attacked. In the end most of the various powers were greatly weakened and the Drow were almost exterminated. Those who were secretly good or neutral (a very, very small minority) united under the leadership of a half-drow woman named Mirri. Ryzzym eventually joined up with these survivors and has slowly followed the path of good. He is however very anxious because his father is likely still alive. His father was a very, very powerful wizard and the head teacher at the wizard’s school in one of the great Drow cities. Ryzzym wonders if and when his father will track him down, and to what purpose.
Bobby and Dave (male gnome wizard and a dagger)
Bobby is a young and outgoing gnome studying the ways of wizardry. He is also very, very good at it. He mainly focuses on illusion spells, but has recently been branching out into other areas of magic. He is also the most unusual looking member of the group. He has very expensive, nicely made clothes and wears a 6000gp non-magical circlet the group found while adventuring. His teeth appear to be made out of platinum, he has small horns on his forehead and he can change the color of his skin at will to anything he can think of. The last few abilities are a result of the same fey wine that changed Ryzzym. As a result most people talking with him for the first time keep expecting to be introduced to hookers, which he would never do. In a fight Bobby relies on spells rather than armor to save him (his AC is 15 I think). Various blur, blink, invisibility and illusion spells keep him mostly out of trouble, along with his tendency to not be a major target until too late.
It’s impossible to talk about Bobby without also mentioning his dagger, Dave. Dave is an intelligent talking dagger. He is also a “drug addict”. To be specific he seems to be addicted to having poison coated on his blade. While poison is on there he acts high, when it isn’t he while sniffle, whine, plead, cajole and doing anything else needed to get it put on. He has a number of powers related to poison, and the ability to guide is user in how to make a lot of different poison (most of which are home brewed and no in the PH). As Quarion once said “He’s the most useful and competent drug addict I’ve ever seen.”
Sandra (female fang dragon)
Sandra is the daughter of the goddess Barbara and a fang dragon named Dimortigon. Thanks to her father’s magic she is full-blooded dragon, and one growing far faster than time would normally allow. Her divine inheritance from her mother helps her as a fighter and spell caster. Her father’s magic also allows her to take the shape of a human, and not even a True Seeing can penetrate the transformation. She is tough and competent fighter, as well as almost the only source of healing for the group.
Sandra recently went through a very dark time in her life. The group she was with led her to do some very evil things and now she seeks redemption. She doesn’t want to be pure as driven snow, just not quite as evil. How far this will take her remains to be seen, especially as a powerful servant of her mother’s has come to the rebellion’s aid and is watching her very closely.
Sandra is the character from the thread It’s Good to be Bad, a Player’s Perspective, which was another game I was running at the same time. Her mother Barbara was a character that the player had in my previous campaign.
Daniel (male half-elf weretiger rogue)
Daniel is the son of the famous adventurers Turin and Ivy. Turin is known as the Lord of Stormwood and very reclusive and dangerous halfling. Ivy was an elf who’s current where about are known only to a few. Daniel himself is very big, tough, strong, sneaky, and skilled and a coward. Despite his cowardice he will occasionally stand his ground when the situation calls for it, but he never likes to. Other than that he is a very playful and quiet individual who likes to clown around in tiger form.
Daniel is a childhood friend of Sandra, since their parents were adventuring partners and very close even after they retired. He never went quite as far down that dark path as Sandra did, but he has no real interest in the light either. His father had a reputation for being a bit of a psychopath despite not being evil, as well as the disturbing habit of eating the hearts of his fallen foes. While Daniel has not yet shown his father’s psychotic tendencies he has shown his father’s liking for the taste of freshly slain hearts.
Daniel is the son of two of the characters from my previous campaign. Ivy was the character of Daniel’s current player and Turin of course was the character of Turin the Mad whom all of you have come to know and love. Turin was I believe the grandson of the character who inspired his current online alias. On an ironic note, Sandra’s player is male and Daniel’s player is female.
TBA (good question)
One of our players is currently between characters. He has posted on the boards as Yoda was Right and is playing is Crew 2 and know there as Ebil M. Once I know what he is playing I will try to post about it.
I will be putting up what the characters have been doing and are currently up to later. I will say this about my GMing style; my goal is to build a story with the group and for everyone to have fun. I very rarely kill characters, although I will sometimes. I will definitely kill characters for gross stupidity without hesitation. In my game I also decided that to receive a True Resurrection you have to have earned the right to one, and so far no one has. This gives the players plenty of incentive to try and stay alive. The game is also high powered, with extra feats, skill points and very good stats. I am also more than willing to allow OGL books. Despite rarely killing characters, characters are very frequently beat to within an inch of their lives. I consider a good fight one in which the players won, but half are unconscious and the rest a picking up their missing teeth.
I would be quite happy to get any sort of suggestions, comments, concerns and advice from all you wonderful people on the boards. I will happily take suggestions and use them if I like them and think they’ll fit the game. Hope you all have fun reading this.
While our friends have had a number of adventures before attempting to start this rebellion, the importance of those adventures pale in comparison to this great undertaking. It began when the King and Queen of the Shield Lands who raised Serine almost as if she was their own daughter asked her to call those companions she could trust to meet with them in secret. Gathering her adventuring companions she and they went to the meeting and were surprised to find the King and Queen accompanied by an old and grizzled looking man. At this point the King and Queen finally related to Serine how she came to be in their care, and who her parents truly are. At this point the group consists Serine, Quarion, The Great, Bobby, Ryzzym and Carinia (mystic theurge played by Ebil M, I may have the name wrong).
The truth revealed was that Serine was actually the daughter of the King and Queen of Furyondy. Merely an hour after Serine was born the King and Queen of Furyondy were killed in a fire that consumed part of the royal castle. It is believed by all that this is the result of foul play on the part of the Empire of Iuz. The fact that the Empire invaded the next day with the help of three of the great noble families of Furyondy certainly supports that. It’s likely that Serine herself would have been targeted for assassination if the Empire had known of her. Unfortunately for the Empire almost everyone who knew of her birth died in the fire that killed her parents. She herself was born with complications and the castle mage personally teleported her over to the Shield Lands where a renowned healer was staying at the castle. They kept her identity secret even from herself in the hopes that she could one day free her people and take her rightful throne. It was also the sole reason that they did not adopt her and proclaim her their heir. They believe now is the time since the Empire was thrown into confusion by the recent death of the god Iuz.
The older gentlemen with them listened to this tale without much surprise. He it turns out is Lord Samuel Geraldon, the last lord of Furyondy. His province is the only part of Furyondy that remains unconquered. This is in part due to the fact that it borders the Shield Lands, but has more to due with the fact that he is a cunning and tenacious warrior and leader. He admits that there is a possibility that the tale is true, especially given Serine’s close appearance to her mother. He also dearly hopes that his people can be freed.
However, Lord Geraldon has a condition attached to his aid and support. First the Lady Serine must prove her worth. He will not lend is support to a cause that cannot win, or a person who cannot leader her people. So first she must lead a rebellion in Windilema, the coastal province of Furyondy, and she must do it without the aid of any troops from the Shield Lands.
The party spends only a few days preparing before setting out for Furyondy. Unfortunately they don’t bother to take any of that time to buy or request such things as Hats of Disguise or up to date intelligence reports. This proves to be something of a mistake because they would have learned that the Empire requires everyone to have travel papers, and extremely useful tidbit. Their path will take them through the area controlled by Lord Geraldon directly into the province of Windilema.
The trouble first begins as they approach the border to Windelima in the form of a barricade across the road. It isn’t much of a barricade, considering it consists of a few trees that appear to have been pulled up by the roots. Behind it is a troop of orcs with spears and longbows commanded by a hill giant. They quite openly fly the banner of the Empire of Iuz. They of course immediately demand to see the party’s travel papers. When no such are forth coming they demand the party surrender.
While a few in the party begin to prepare for battle, The Great has other plans. He proclaims himself to be an author, here to write a book about the great defenders of this border. He is of course sure that such a great and noble leader as the giant would be a major character in the book. The giant starts to preen and smile as The Great lays it on thicker than a 200-horse parade with diarrhea.
The giant is in the middle of offering the party lodging and food for the night and a personal escort into town when disaster strikes. Apparently a very small band of rebels had snuck up on the rocs from behind, and a young mage took advantage of the situation to plaster the lot of them with a fireball spell. This sets off the druid who was hiding in the woods, ready to Entangle the entire party. Which in turn sets of Ryzzym who has a lightening bolt prepped and ready to thrown at the giant. Unfortunately Ryzzym lets fly the lightening both and catches both Serine and The Great who are between him and the giant. This kills Serine’s horse, but since both of them are stuck fast in the vines called up by the druid, neither actually falls down. Instead Serine must sit out the fight on top of a dead horse while wrapped up in vines, not something she appreciates.
Seeing that his friend The Great was struck by the lightening bolt as well assumes treachery and calls his new friend over to where he can protect him. The giant is quite surprised that upon riding over The Great promptly cuts his head off. Ryzzym and the rebel wizard quickly dispatch the rest of the orcs, although the standard bearer proves to be able to dodge almost all of their effects. Unfortunately he is not able to dodge Quarion’s arrows with nearly as much skill.
The few rebels quickly begin talking with the party and the two groups decide to work together. Among the rebels is a champion of freedom named Asmodius (played by the player of Sandra). Their first joint target is brought to their attention by a rebel scout to informs then that he has found a major camp, with roughly four times as many troops as were here. As hasty plan is concocted in which Bobby and The Great will use illusions to appear as wounded orcs and gain entry to the camp, to see what information they can get, as well as be inside the lines to add confusion when the fight happens.
When they arrive at the camp, which has wooden walls similar in construction to the barricades they faced before, they see about 40 orcs, two hill giants and a small stone building. A spellcraft check enables them to realize that the building is due to one of the Leomund’s spells. The orcs have a careful watch set up, which does not worry our party.
Bobby and The Great march up as planned, while the rebels hang back in hiding. Carinia drops and invisibility spell and starts sneaking around to one side of the camp. Quarion in the mean time sneaks up to take sniper position in one of the trees. Had this been all the party’s plan might have worked. Unfortunately both Ryzzym and Serine also decide to sneak up. Ryzzym uses levitation to hide in one of the trees, while Serine places herself at the base of the tree that Quarion now resides in. The orcs in the mean time prove to be better at spotting than either Ryzzym or Serine do at hiding and proceed to start shouting at the tops of their lungs about an ambush.
The fight looks like it should be an easy one until those in the stone house start coming out. The first person to step out is an orc who touches a rod on his belt and rapidly throws down two spells. One member of the group recognizes the spells as Recitation and Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, making the whole camp much more formidable. Shortly after Carinia throws a spell in the cleric’s direction and human steps out of the building. He strips her of her currently active spells, including the invisibility, thanks to a Greater Dispell Magic. Following him out is a pair of Fire Giants. In the meantime the battle at the front of the camp has been joined in earnest. However the orcs are staying together and moving a bit cautiously. Their archery proves capable of riddling Ryzzym with a few arrows, although no others are harmed. Ryzzym manages to ignore the few arrows that come his way and instead concentrates on his Channeled Pyroblast spell. Quarion his still hiding, waiting for a Giant to get close while Serine and Asmodius attack the orcs. In the meantime Bobby and The Great have gone undetected and are only 10 feet from the edge of the camp, actually behind several orcs.
While a few archers and the mage quickly reduce Carinia to unconsciousness, but not before her lightening bolts rake the enemy lines. The cleric strides forward while casting two spells, one of which makes him grow as larger as the giants in the camp. The two fire giants peel off to each deal with one side of the camp. At this point Ryzzym finishes his fully powered up Channeled Pyroblast, which since he miss aimed it lands square on top of Bobby and The Great! While his later attacks are more accurate, he has earned a reputation for “friendly fire” that will be hard to live down. (The player thought it hit a bigger area than it does, so he thought it would do the most good there, oops.) This breaks the illusion spells protecting Bobby and The Great, but they are ready to act in any case. Both of the hill giants have been dispatched by this time, and many of the orcs have died in the ferocity of the fighting.
Quarions bow cuts a hole in the orc line which lets The Great charge him and wallop him mightily. Bobby in the mean time proves his mettle by banish one of the fire giants into a Shadow Well spell. The mage is gleefully throwing spells around; quite happy that at the back of the camp he is not suffering any return fire. The cleric heals him self a bit before laying into The Great brutally, but is not quite able to drop him. The Great returns the favor as Serine rushes in to aid and Quarion adds his deadly hail of arrows.
The remaining fire giant has been moving up cautiously and hangs back just a little expecting to be charged by one of the enemy. This proves to be his undoing as Bobby throws a Phantasmal Killer at the giant, literally scaring the life out of him (I need a 4 on the fort save, seriously a 4! Rolling a 3 just sucks sometimes). The Cleric is only barely holding his guts in, so he retreats back towards the mage healing him some. The mage realizes that the fight is going very badly reaches over, grabs the cleric and teleports them both to safety.
The party is easily able to kill the few remaining orcs, but in just a few moments the fire giant will emerge from the Shadow Well. They surround the spot where he will reappear and prepare to offer him a chance to surrender. Not being an utter moron, he agrees. The Great pulls him aside to talk and quickly discovers that the giant is neutral and more than willing to talk in exchange for him life.
The giant reveals that the leader of the province is a human named Serath, who is some sort of fighter-mage. His second is command is a cloud giant named Laroth, who is a bit tougher than his fellow cloud giants. Most of the demi-human troops are kept at the border out of the cities to prevent trouble. In fact a few of the orc tribes are tired of being under the command of the empire, but don’t have any other good option. In fact the banner bearer of the patrol the group wiped out earlier was the son of one of the unhappiest of the orc chiefs. Carinia points out at this time that she actually stuck his body in a portable hole after he was slain.
The Great is not quite finished with the giant yet, they have one more matter to discuss, employment. The Great actually offers the giant a job working to help construct and maintain the keep that The Great is having built. They manage to hash out terms for both the giant and his wife, who happens to be a sculptor. Before leaving the giant offers one more piece of information. Apparently one of the Empire’s tactic for dealing with those who become too big an annoyance is to round up a group of villagers. Then each day they execute a few of the villagers until someone gives up the local of the rebels they seek.
After hearing this, the group decides that Asmodius and The Great will go talk to the orc chief, taking both the son’s body and all the armor they could collect here. In the mean time the rest of the party will head into town with one of the rebels who lives there. It will take a day to reach town and The Great and Asmodius should be able to catch up the next day.
Oy...I remember all that...good times:)
-cackles- The best part is just around the corner... well the first best part... the other best part has to do with an Elven City!!.. and the best part after that has alot to do with a Dragon. Basically, all the best parts have me in them.
I must make a correction real quick, Bobby is not the character he is the player. The character is named Logan, and will be named such in future posts.
Well our hero’s have split up to cover more ground. Most of the party has headed to town in the company of one of the local residents. He hasn’t been identified as a member of the rebellion yet, which is why his family is alive and his house is in tact. Of course that could change soon.
The one day stay in town starts out peacefully enough. Logan and Carinia decided to settle in and stay put in their host’s house. Ryzzym decided he wanted some alone time so he found an abandoned building to hide out in. Of course Serine decided to go shopping, which gave them a chance to see the condition of the people in the city.
What they found was disappointing. The people of this city were beaten down and broken. They had no hope, no will and would be more likely to turn any sign of hope to prevent their own punishment. (I stressed this several times, not my fault if the players don’t listen.) They also heard rumors that Laroth himself was in town. Serine decided that she must help these people. So she and Quarion walked right into the general store and bought 50 pouches and 10 sheets of paper. Then that night they would sneak out and leave 50 bags of money with notes about the new rebellion that was beginning.
This plan of course was not without its complications. First they thought that since lady Serine was not nearly as skill as Quarion at sneaking around that they would ask Carinia for an invisibility spell. Finding Carinia asleep Serine tried to wake her gently, a bit too gently apparently. Coming only half wake and thinking herself in trouble Carinia threw a spell at Serine which put her to sleep. Carinia then turned back to bed, made her self comfortable and drifted back to sleep. Quarion waited for a while for Serine to come back with her spell, but lacked somewhat in the matter of patience. So after an hour he simply went and completed the task himself.
The next morning was quite eventful as their host woke the party to let them know that there was serious trouble brewing. Sometime during the night some idiot had distributed money and notes around town. Most of these bags of money got turned over to the guard for fear that they might be a caught with them. Of course there was only one store in the entire town where you could buy 30 or more pouches to put the money in. Soldiers had already come by to take the owner of the general store into custody for questioning. This news saw the party and their host fleeing for their lives.
In the meantime The Great and Asmodius were having much better luck with their plans. They managed to find the orc tribe right where the fire giant said it would be and were able to talk their way into an interview with the chief. They presented the body of the chief’s sons to him, but the story they told was quite different than what actually happened.
The Great spun a tale of treachery and deceit. Apparently the Empire was having its human troops slaughter some of the demi-human forces. They had witnessed such an atrocity but were unable to stop it. They did however recover the body of the chief’s son and the weapons and armor of those slaughtered, some of which were of high quality and very distinctive. They presented these to the chief in an effort to get him to agree to sit out this coming war or even aid them.
The chief is not a fool, but in this case he was completely taken in. Ordered a feast for the two honored guests of the tribe and promised that he would not help their enemies in any way. They would also spread the word of what had occurred, but doubted the other tribes would listen. Also as a gift the shaman of the tribe used magic to awaken Kalistophos, The Great’s mount, to sentience.
In the morning the left to find their friends and were intercepted by one of Admodius’ men who told them of what had happened. The new plan was to meet the party South of town as soon as possible.
The Great and Asmodius decided to head into the town itself to see what was going on. They discovered that the general store owner had spilled his guts in short order and been returned safely. The soldiers were making a search for the missing fugitives, who had all been seen entering the town together. Laroth was no longer there, as he had decided that this rebellion attempt was obviously poorly thought out and not at all worth his time. A run in with a corrupt officer plus a few bribes saw the pair leaving town with travel papers for the entire party. It was not longer after they left town that the entire party was together again.
Bloody HELL! I know, that was a bad plan. My first attempt at a "spirit lifting" for the town, which unfortunatly did the exact opposite. Let's just say, the next few plans, well, they were much better thought through...lesson learned...moving on.
Ha... that's because you learned to let me do the planning.
True...;)
Speaking of planning, where is this email that everyone got with the "musts" for the rest of the rebellion. Would you mind sending me a copy at stagemanagerbeth@hotmail.com:) Thanks!
-Beth
The Great and Asmodius finally caught up with their companions about three hours South of the town. As it turns out due to some arguments while the Great and Asmodius were away the lady Corinia decided to depart for parts unknown, severing her association with the group. After conferring briefly the now reunited company head further south to find new allies. Things seemed to be going well until they heard the sound of riders approaching from behind. Turning they saw a force of 10 archers and 10 lancers.
Ryzzym reacted the quickest, dropping a wall of fire directly in front of the line of lancers. The lancers burst through the wall having being unable and indeed unwilling to halt their charge. They brutally smashed into the party, felling the great and injuring several others. The archers were further back and less reckless, so they wheeled to go around the wall on either side. Having spent their moment in the first charge, the rest of the fight was quite short. By the time the archers had gone around the wall almost all of the lancers were down. The archers let fly once before retreating at speed.
Serine was able to reach The Great quickly and pulled him back from the brink of death with her lay on hands. Then they turned their attention to the one prisoner they had taken. He readily spilled his guts about what he knew. It turns out that in their haste to pack Serine and Quarion both forgot minor personal items that the garrison’s mage was using to scry on them. For a hefty fee he agreed to try and find a way of disposing of the items before moving on to greener pastures.
The next morning shortly after the party had set out for the day they head a cry of “Halt.” No one could see where in the tall grass the cry was coming from, but it rapidly became apparent that they were being robbed. Rather than attempting to fight a foe they couldn’t find they decided to talk. After convincing the voice that they were actually enemies of the empire, they discovered why they had such a hard time finding their ambushers. It was a group of gnome archers, most of whom were shorter than the grass around them. Their leader is Pierre a gnomish archer with a personality far bigger than he is. (Think of Edna Mole from the Incredibles, but with a little bit of the French guy from Monte Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail.)
Their new friends let them to a very large town of gnomes. It had been small when the country was first invaded, but it had slowly become a haven for their people in the years since. There they could regroup, ready themselves and figure out what to do next.
It was during their stay here that some very interesting news caught up with the party. Apparently all the demi-humans on the border were in open revolt and troops were being pulled in from everywhere to secure the border. It all started when Laroth discovered that one of the patrols had been wiped out. He tried to contact the local orc tribe and was enraged to discover them wearing the armor of the missing patrol. He and his escort destroyed the orc tribe, but some of them escaped to speak to the other tribes. These tribes erupted in open revolt and now the whole border was in crisis.
So anyone not actually in the game reading this? Please give a shout out so I know I'm not just talking to myself ;).
So anyone not actually in the game reading this? Please give a shout out so I know I'm not just talking to myself ;).
SHOUT.
Don't worry, you're being read. We lurkers just don't announce ourselves very often, because then we wouldn't be lurkers. (Also, most of us don't have anything useful to contribute to other people's campaign journals. Or at least I don't.)
Yeah.. that whole thing with the orcs revolting... that was my doing. Yep. That's why they call me Bryn...... well.. that's not actually what they call me... sometimes.. but not all the time. Orcs put on one hell of a Funeral Ceremony, by the way.. in case you were wondering. Not something I found myself thinking about until around the time of all this going down. But just in case someone else happened to wonder. Now you know.
Making an ally of Pierre and his village was a stroke of luck for our heroes, but not their last. After a day or so in the village a few new friends showed up. Early in her career Serine has adventured with a half-dragon named Sandra. Sandra had apparently been adventuring elsewhere and decided to look up her old adventuring buddy. Along with her came Daniel and Canny. It was actually several days before anyone in the village saw Daniel out of his full tiger form, as he apparently is very playful sometimes. Canny in the meantime presented herself as a cultured young woman, who later displayed great lust. Unbeknownst to the rest of the party Canny was originally a cleric of Ehlonna who was turned into a succubus by a vile concoction. Asmodius had left to resume leadership of his small band.
Serine was quite surprised to discover that her old friend was no longer a half-dragon, indeed she seemed to be human. She also had a curious companion. Apparently just before leaving to seek Serine, Sandra had purchased a dragon egg. The egg hatched a radiant dragon a mere week before they caught up with the heroes. This young dragon was perky, active, curious and completely lacking in both restraint and attention span. Upon seeing a mighty paladin it became absolutely fascinated with her, and pelted poor Serine with questions far too rapidly to answer. The look of shock and almost fear in Serine’s eyes as she attempted to gather her wits about her proved hilarious to all present, except of course to Serine.
With the addition of these new friends, the party decided to split into two groups. The Great and Quarion would go to the city of Keristen. This city had no imperial garrison and was instead only nominally under the empire’s control. However it was an elven city that had come to be known as hostile to all other races. It was thought that he elf and half elf were the only two who might have a chance.
In the meantime the rest of the party would head towards Sendrift. There lived a rather powerful wizard name Carolinus who was known to be hostile towards Serath. They hoped to enlist his aid as well as that of any rebels already in the area.
Setting off South the party quietly traveled through the grasslands for a day before making camp. During the night those awake (most of them thanks to rings of sustenance) heard the quite sounds of several people sneaking around near the camp. They immediately leap up with weapons in hand; calling on light spells to illuminated whatever threat was attempting to sneak up on them. They were quite surprised to see two dozen women and children turn and flee for their lives.
It took quite a bit of persuasion, chasing and some spells to convince the villagers to come to the camp and tell their story. It turns out that these villagers were fleeing the destruction of their village. Occasionally the empire makes examples of a village or two by razing it to the ground and killing everyone. The villagers actually got word of this before the attack came, so they concocted a desperate plan. The men of the village would lay a trail making seem as if the entire village had fled to the South West, in the meantime the women and children would flee in small groups to the East. This way at least some of them might survive.
Hearing this the party was horrified and determined to do something about the matter. They very quickly settled on a plan of action. Daniel and Canny would take care of finding the other groups of women and bringing them into the camp. Serine, Logan, Ryzzym and Sandra would set out to try and catch up to the men before the enemy troops and attempt to stop the slaughter. The radiant dragon hatchling would stay and entertain the children.
Sandra at this point revealed her true form, that of a fang dragon. Her father had used incredibly powerful magic to transform her into a fang dragon, and the same magic gave her the ability to assume human form. In this form she would carry Ryzzym to where the men of the town were very quickly. Serine also summoned transportation in the form of her paladin’s mount Ein. Ein was a huge megatharium that she had rescued while it was still a cub and raised herself. He was more than capable of carrying both Serine and Logan.
The four companions found the men just barely in time. The 60 townsfolk were about to be attacked by 120 soldiers, with two hill giants and four ogres in attendance. The four heroes wasted no time to charging the soldier’s rear, drawing most of the attention away from the townsfolk. The small force that did charge the townsfolk proved to be unequal to the desperate defense the townsfolk mustered.
Ryzzym flew above using magic to launch vicious spells into the soldiers while Logan did the same from the safety of Ein’s back. Serine leapt from Ein’s back to charge the ogres and giants, and Sandra did the same in her dragon form. The fight was vicious and the soldier’s fought bravely, but to no avail against the foursome’s righteous fury. In the end only a handful of soldier’s were able to flee, and thought battered and bruised the heroes remained standing.
Quickly going over to the townsfolk they discovered that while several had fallen only three were beyond saving. They collected the soldier’s weapons and armor and quickly set out to reunite the brave men with their family. Eventually all the groups were brought back together and taken to the gnome village where they might have a chance to hide. All of the men elected to join in the rebellion. A few were sent out secretly to spread the word in the surrounding countryside.
While most of our heroes were busy rescuing frightened villagers, The Great and Quarion had their own mission. Their trip was not uneventful as it turns out.
On the second day of travel they stopped and made camp in a small grove of trees. The trees were ancient and massive, and it seemed a very safe and relaxing place to make camp. This lasted until Quarion started to see something moving out of the corner of his eye. He very carefully informed The Great of this, trying not to call attention to their newfound knowledge. Yet for all their care they simply could not catch sight of whatever shared the grove with them.
While the two of them worked themselves toward a panic, The Great’s newly awakened horse Kalistophos was not idle. He informed the two that their playmate was not hostile and meant them no harm. Apparently the grove was home to a rather shy dryad, not surprising since trees of this size and age are rarely found in the middle of a prairie.
While nothing could convince their host to come out and join them, Kalistophos did pass on some interesting information. Apparently several hours west of here was the abode of an eye tyrant, one that was blind in one eye. This information meant nothing to The Great, but Quarion remembered a conversation he had once had with Ryzzym. He remember both that eye tyrant is a name for a beholder, and that a beholder mage was a beholder who had put out its central eye to gain more magical power. What made this particular beholder mage of more concern was that he was in the employ of the empire. Apparently he could be hired for large-scale battles, at a significant fee of course.
Later in their travels The Great and Quarion ran into a pair of war trolls. Quarion matched bowshots with one while The Great charged with his lance at the other. This was the same lance that had only a week before struck The Great from his saddle. The fight was short but brutal and once they managed to glue themselves back together the two looted the corpses and continued on their way.
They finally reached the city of Keristen without too much further trouble. Once at the gate the guard called on them to identify themselves and state their business and the conversation continued more or less as follows.
Quarion: Here are our travel papers.
Guard: We don’t use those here, too often their forged or someone was bribed.
The Great: That’s good because they’re fake.
Quarion: What?! When were you going to tell me about this?
The Great: I just did.
Quarion: How about when it would have been useful!
Quarion reaches into his bag and pulls out some papers.
Quarion: Here are my patents of nobility.
The Great: What?! When were you going to tell me about this?
Quarion: I just did.
The Great: How about when it would have been useful!
(At this point I had to stop to control my laughter. They managed to switch lines and say them in the exact same tone and expression that the other had used. No practice or anything.)
Upon seeing the name, station and nation on Quarion’s patents of nobility he immediately called for the captain of the guard. The captain then sent one of his lieutenants as a escort to take them to the leader of the city, an elf named Delimar.
Lord Delimar as it turns out had some knowledge of both our heroes’ fathers. Quarion was from a far nation dominated by elven kind. It was somewhat hostile to non-elves and was very well thought of by citizens of the city. Lord Delimar as it turns out was even better informed, knowing as he did that Quarion’s father favored contact with other races and was usually in bitter dispute with the other lord of the land.
Lord Delimar’s knowledge of The Great’s father was even more intimate it turns out. The Great’s father had been an adventurer when he was younger and his exploits had made him a hero of the city. He had left many years ago and only returned occasionally, but his fame was still great. Recently some had expressed disgust for his lust for human women, but he still remained a popular if controversial figure.
Lord Delimar as it turns out wanted very much to help our two heroes on their quest to gain the city’s aid. He himself had been a friend of the former king and queen, having been lord here for the last 87 years. He fondly remembered the peaceful days when the kingdom was prosperous and peaceful. Unfortunately the people of the city were not so enlightened. An evil repressive empire surrounded the city, and as each day passed they were less and less inclined to differentiate between the humans who ran the empire and those that suffered at the hands of the empire.
Lord Delimar promised that if they would give him a week he would gather a council meeting with the lords of the city using Quarion’s name and parentage to convince everyone important to be there. Once at the council The Great would speak and try to gain their support.
Speak he did, at length and with great eloquence. He reminded them of the good times and told them of his companions. He reminded them of his father and promised them his own aid when the battle came. He met the words of those who objected and his eloquence never wavered. In the end he won them over to his side and the city pledged it support to the rebellion.
The city’s support was not without it’s drawbacks. Lord Delimar estimated that it would take mere days for word to get back to Serath of this decision. The city would probably be besieged in no more than a month. He was certain that they could hold out against the siege for at least two months, but no more. The rebels would have to come up with a way to break the siege within that time, or the city would fall.
So anyone not actually in the game reading this? Please give a shout out so I know I'm not just talking to myself ;).SHOUT.
Don't worry, you're being read. We lurkers just don't announce ourselves very often, because then we wouldn't be lurkers. (Also, most of us don't have anything useful to contribute to other people's campaign journals. Or at least I don't.)
Thanks for the shout out. I am hoping to have you all caught up with the action by the next game, which is this Saturday. Last week saw the end of their mission to retake Serine's kingdom, although I won't spoil the details for you just yet. Just stay tuned folks.
So now the Great and Quarion had both completed their mission, but the others had not even arrived at where they would carry out theirs. This led to the interesting quandary of how to meet up again. Ryzzym solved this particular dilemma with the application of two spells. First he used a scrying spell to seek out Quarion, then a teleport spell or two brought all the companions together. This could have been a little better thought out.
Quarion immediately realized that Ryzzym could be a problem, seeing as how he was Drow in the middle of a huge city of suspicious elves. They decided the best thing to do would be to let the lord of the city know exactly what was going on and seek his advice. This was an especially good idea since The Great and Quarion were staying at his house at the time. When he was introduced Ryzzym he took the matter calmly, if none too pleased. He suggested that Ryzzym stay in the house as much as possible. He also recognized Serine’s bloodline from her features, since he once been friends with her parents and even grandparents.
He also filled the party in on an interesting tidbit of information: apparently there was a not very welcome ship in the harbor. Apparently a strange ship captained by a gnoll of all things had sailed into the harbor and demanded anchorage. The harbormaster tried to force him to depart, but was unable to enforce his will on the boisterous captain. Fortunately no lives were lost in the brawl, but broken bones and bruises abound. Perhaps those on the ship could be persuaded to provide aid of some sort.
Most of the party eventually made their way to the ship for one reason or another. Generally looking to buy, sell or trade information and treasure. Ryzzym interestingly enough was the one who attempted to convince the captain of the ship to lend his aid. He promised to do so if they party could show their worth. He proposed to fight two of the party members of their choice and if they could impress them he would lend them his aid.
Ryzzym immediately invited Sandra to help him in the fight and she was more than happy to have the excitement. While there was much speculation over who would join her, everyone was surprised when Ryzzym himself insisted on participating. He also declared that he would use no magic again his opponent, only a few spell to make himself somewhat combat capable.
The fight was short and brutal and in the end both Ryzzym and Sandra lay unconscious on the ground. However they had very thoroughly impressed the captain with their bravery. When he woke them he presented Sandra with a powerfully enchanted belt and Ryzzym with a pair of very strange mounts (half-celestial, minerial warrior, warbeast, advanced hit die dionychus……don’t ask). He also promised to lend his aid to the cause once, and only once. They were to contact him when they wanted his and his crews aid and he would attempt to give it.
Finally after three days and much delay they were ready to leave the city. Fifty elven soldiers went north to join the resistance’s main camp around Pierre’s town. They took with them both of Ryzzym’s new mounts, as the group was trying to maintain some level of anonymity. Our heroes however would travel to Sendrift where the wizard Carolinus lived in an attempted to see what support could be found there.
The trip to Sendrift was short, only a little over a day, and should have been easy and peaceful. However only a few hours after leaving Keristen the party noticed they were being watched. Hiding off the side of the road were over a dozen people set up to ambush passers by. The party almost missed them, until they were just past where the ambush should have been sprung. Seeing this they were more than little surprised and they confronted the watchers.
The bandits turned out to starving farmers who had lost their farms and were being forced to turn their hands to banditry. They were not complete morons so they decided to let the party of adventurers pass unmolested. The party offered them food and shelter in an attempt to rally the farmers to the party’s cause. It worked. In the end they had recruited another two dozen untrained soldiers for the rebellion.
Well I think it may take me longer than I hoped to get things caught up, but that's alright in the long run. The next decent story arc I've got planned for them won't start until after the next session.
Which reminds me good Admiral, you may have to request that Turin III put in a guest appearance very soon, based on our brief conversation on the matter this past weekend. ^_^
Which reminds me good Admiral, you may have to request that Turin III put in a guest appearance very soon, based on our brief conversation on the matter this past weekend. ^_^
To the players, please do not peek:
No Faira! *whining about not knowing what comes next**
Our heroes did finally reach the city of Sendrift where the wizard Carolinus lives. They decided on the simple expedient of walking right up to his town (easy to see since it was at least 4 stories taller than any other building). The climb up the tower let them glimpse laboratories with all sorts of strange concoctions bubbling. Those in the group with some magical experience soon realized that most of the things they were seeing were fake. It was also for some reason impossible to actually enter the rooms.
Carolinus’ study was equally impressive. It occupied one entire floor of the tower and the walls had somehow been enchanted to be transparent from the inside only. Carolinus himself sat behind a well-crafted wooden desk. Ryzzym’s mouth probably watered more than a little as he recognized a crystal ball and a pair of Baccob’s Blessed Books.
Carolinus welcomed the party warmly enough, but insisted on honesty in their dealings, including appearance. He had apparently seen through Ryzzym’s disguise even before they entered the room. Deciding that honest was the way to go they explained their cause and asked for his aid. He was willing to agree, but for a price. After they had reclaimed the kingdom he want to be the new lord of the province of Resast. It was one of the nine provinces in Furyondy, and the family that ruled it before the empire came was no longer around.
Serine was not willing to simply hand over one of her future provinces without getting some measure of the man who would be it’s ruler. Carolinus revealed himself to be a very ambitious sort. He wanted to rule and he wanted money, for his research and other things. That is not to say that he didn’t have some concern for the people. He believed that the happier people are, the more prosperous they are, and the more prosperous they are the more taxes they will pay. He intended to do right by his people, and reap the rewards that came from that. Serine decided that she could live with this, especially since Carolinus would only get paid if they won. So a bargain was struck. Carolinus told them that if they came back tomorrow he could put them in touch with the local resistance.
Upon returning to Carolinus’ office the next day they would a rather prosperous looking man seated with Carolinus. Carolinus introduced this man as Dillan Merolan. Dillan had been running a shipping company for some time now, on that he inherited from his father. Despite the oppression of the empire he was able to stay a float and live comfortably. In large part this was due to being very good at the business, but also because he supplied weapons to the various faction that wished to over throe the empire. Not only could he get them in touch with such people, but also he could quietly slip troops into the area if they could call on aid from the outside.
Like Carolinus, Dillan had his price. He wanted nobility for himself and his family. However he wanted an old, established title, not to simply have Serine declare them nobility when she took the throne. As a merchant he disliked the idea of hanging his reward on whether or not the rebellion succeeded. So if they could find a noble wife for his son, he would lend his aid, but not before.
Serine agreed to attempt this somewhat more reluctantly. She wasn’t willing to force someone into a marriage they did not with, but she would make the effort. The entire group decided to head to the docks to meet the son and see what they had to work with. They were someone doubtful about how much they could do with a son named Maurice.
Maurice as it turned out was not what they were expecting. He was a huge man, well over six feet in height. It wasn’t just that he had a beard; it was that his nose and eyes seemed to peek out from a massive bush of hair. He also smelled as if soap was not a concept he had encountered before. They had their work cut out for them.
After explaining the situation to him, they turned him over to Canny. At first he was not very interested, according to him the prostitutes had worked out well enough. Over the next several days Canny carefully changed his mind using her ability to both charm and suggest, along with her natural beauty. She convinced him to clean himself up, shave and be at least almost polite. In the end he still had a rather abrasive personality, but underneath the beard he proved quite handsome.
In the meantime the task of find a wife was turned over to Quarion. He began tracking down rumors of what nobles in the area might have an unmarried daughter. When doing so he also picked up the rumor that some nobles whose houses were had been crushed by the empire had fled to the city. He decided to follow up on this just in case they could make some new allies this way.
Eventually he and Serine ended up in an abandoned building looking for a former baron. As they stepped forward both of them realized they were facing down a drawn bow. This would probably have been a bit frightening if the would-be archer’s hands hadn’t been shaking so hard. As it was the only way they could be hit was by accident. Since they were in no danger they decided to talk their way out of the situation.
It turns out that the baron and his daughter were in fact hiding out here. The young 17-year-old girl was the only member of the family still alive. They were happy to accept the hospitality and protection Dillan’s house could offer. It was clearer that the baron intended the girl marry as a way to restore the family, regardless of what she might wish. It is fortunately that she and Maurice were a good match, and would soon come to genuinely care for each other.
Now they had secured the aid of Carolinus and Dillan and were beginning to look elsewhere for new allies as the siege of Keristen loomed ever closer.
By this time our little band of heroes has made itself a very big headache for Serath and his rule over this province. So he decides to take steps. The heroes receive word that apparently Serath has take fifty people hostage. He has announced that starting five days after this is announced he will execute ten of them each day until Serine is captured. Predictably this does not sit well with Serine. So she, Ryzzym, Daniel, Sandra, Quarion and Canny all set out to see what they could do.
They arrive at the camp where the fifty people are being held only three days before the executions are to start. In an unusually astute move they decide to scout the place carefully first. They sneak up to a good vantage point and spend some time simply watching the inmates of the camp and their guards. As seasoned adventurers they first notice that the guards are very alert, and more importantly, paying more attention to the surrounding area than to the people they are guarding. This is puzzling and as they are mulling it over they notice something even more important, the inhabitants of the camp are acting weird. Instead of acting like frightened, unhappy or even angry prisoners, they seem calm and collected. In fact the camp itself is laid out like a military encampment, not what you would expect from imprisoned villagers.
They decide they need a closer look, so Cammy and Sandra both approach the camp. Sandra is posing as mercenary looking for work, while Canny presents herself as a whore. Sandra is told to go to the nearby city if she wants work, but Canny manages to convince one of the gate guards that he can spare a few minutes for her to apply her trade. This provides Sandra with enough time to observe the camp up close and her suspicions are confirmed. Whatever their outward appearance the “prisoners” act like soldiers in camp and the guards seem to have no fear of anyone in the camp doing anything like escaping.
Realizing they have been set up, the party decides to try and find where the prisoners are being held. So they head into the nearby city to look for clues. Once there Serine, Quarion, Ryzzym and Canny begin looking for information in the town, while Sandra and Daniel go to try to find work in the local garrison. Once hired Sandra works quickly to establish a reputation for being brutal, ruthless and extremely capable. Considering her abilities she is able to do so in short order. Both groups learn that once a day a man in armor wearing a holy symbol of Nerul leaves the city heading north, he is always accompanied by at least twenty soldiers.
Serine, Quarion, Ryzzym and Canny immediately set in place a plan to follow him the next time he leaves. In the meantime thanks to her reputation Sandra and Daniel are both selected to be a part of the priest’s bodyguards the next time he leaves the city. As the soldiers leave the four heroes notice their two friends in amongst them and follow as carefully as possible.
Eventually the two groups reach their destination, which turns out to be a large stone structure. It appears to simply be an enormous stone box with small holes in it. Ryzzym realizes that it was probably constructed with the stone shape spell and would make an excellent prison that could only be escaped by magic. Of course it was not unguarded. Over a dozen troops came out to meet the approaching group.
At this point the four followers decided to launch their attack. Serine and Quarion fired arrows while Ryzzym and Canny used their magic to strike down whole groups. Quarion’s arrows were especially destructive thanks to a new bow he received in the elven city. It’s powerful enchantment allowed the arrows it fired to literally blow right through those it hit and strike those behind them. Sandra also acted quickly striking down the surprised soldiers around her. Daniel elected to remain anonymous for the time being.
While the soldiers were being decimated the priest strode purposefully towards the group calling on spells that would make him bigger and stronger (divine power and righteous might). Serine abandoned her bow and charged him smiting him powerfully with her holy avenger. Sandra also approached, but elected not to swing, not quite wishing to be the first target of his revenge. Quarion, Ryzzym and Canny continued to decimate the opposing troops, and now even Daniel took advantage of the confusion to down a few.
Now though the priest vented his wrath upon poor Serine. He swung his scythe up, scoring a powerful blow on her shoulder. He second blow was far more cruel, bringing it down he split her open from shoulder to navel, ripping open her lungs and spilling her entrails in the dirt. As Serine fell dead Quarion screamed in rage and charged the priest, forgetting completely about his beloved bow. Between his precision stabs and Sandra’s devastating greatsword the priest was brought low before he could fell any more of the party. (The blow that killed Serine was a crit for 168 damage, gotta love a x4 damage multiplier. The player was not happy.)
Quite a few minutes work by Sandra’s sword produced an opening that the villagers could escape by. Now the group had fifty live villagers and one dead paladin and future queen. They quickly stuffed her body in Canny’s portable hole and started to escort the villagers to the gnome village, which was well on its way to being very, very crowded.
However the dilemma of what to do about Serine’s death remained. They could have her simply brought back with a raise dead or they could seek a god willing to grant a true resurrection. (A note on my games, clerics cannot simply cast true resurrection whenever they wish. A true resurrection spell can only be granted by a god.) They decided to seek the aid of Sandra’s mother or stepfather, more widely known as the goddesses and god Barbara and Ian. A quick trip by teleport put them at a gate to Ian’s plane.
Ian’s plane is a demiplane he created before ascending to godhood. It is large and growing larger all the time. If one is patient enough you can go to the edge of the plane and watch it slowly expand, at the rate of about 1 1/2 inches per hour. It has a huge permanent gate, which can open to one of 15 cities. The city the gate is open to rotates on a fixed schedule. Thank to the fact that he charges a very minimal tax it has become a huge center for trade and its population is large and wealthy. It is also an incredibly safe place thanks to an enchantment that prevents most spell casting, as well as highly trained and skilled guards.
Here they came to petition a god for a true resurrection for their companion Serine. Surprisingly it was actually Ryzzym who was able to convince the god Ian to grant the request. Apparently some unspecified thing that Ryzzym did had pleased the god and so he was willing to do it for them. Sandra also approached both her parents for aid. Ian refused, but Sandra sent along three clerics and forty elite soldiers under the command of Sir Liam. Sandra also sent a message to her real father explaining everything that they had done and were doing and asking for his aid. Just before they left the plane she received a message back from him. While dragons do not normally interfere in wars, he was very interested in one thing her message mentioned. Beholder mages who are paid very, very well tend to have lots and lots of treasure. So she should consider that particular nuisance taken care of. She also sent a message to some of her followers to come to their aid, and her stepfather agreed to provide them a way to get there quickly.
When the party returned with their new reinforcements they discovered that their army had grown some in their absence. Many villagers had flocked to their banner. Two noblemen had also come out of hiding, one of which still had about fifty elite troops. In addition to the troops Sandra’s mother sent, Sandra’s own troops showed up. Earlier in her adventuring career she had used her status as a dragon as well as her physical prowess to take control of a kobold tribe. The former leader of the tribe showed up with 100 kobolds and several suspicious looking casks to lend their aid. For some strange reason the kobold leader and Pierre struck up an instant and deep friendship, discovering strangely kindred souls in very different bodies.
Ten of the member of The Great’s order had also join, three of whom were not known to The Great until they arrived with another member. His own personal troops had also been slipped in thank to the help of a certain merchant. He had several hundred young men sworn to his service, most of them still in their teens. A good dwarf friend of his named Belkin had come with fifty dwarves from his clan. Even The Great’s own love had shown up, a powerful mystic theurge name Arestae (if I got that wrong hopefully he will correct me politely, I suck at names).
Our heroes had now assembled a very great force, nearly a thousand strong, and not too soon. Very shortly Laroth would be setting south for Keristen.
Well, a fairly brief 'guest appearance' by yours truly was entertaining.
Now all the good cap'n needs is to get this journal caught up to speed! ^_^
Too bad I missed out on meeting the Great, that would have been an interesting meeting...
Our heroes at this time received word that at least some of the troops bound for Keristen had started to move. Apparently 500 troops were coming down from further north. These would join with closer troops and move on to besiege Keristen. If the heroes could get troops in place quickly enough to hit these reinforcements it would be an excellent way to reduce the force ready to surround Keristen.
Carolinus was able to provide transport to and from the battlefield through a teleportation circle. Of course the troops could only go through so fast and in limited number. They could not use this to match the quantity of the empire’s troops coming, but they could potentially overmatch them with quality. They gathered the most powerful troops they could and took them through.
Serine herself took command of the 40 elite cavalry that one of the lords had brought with him, as well as the 10 knights from The Great’s order. Sandra was in command of the soldiers her mother sent. Logan command a number of spell casters along with some newer troops. Finally Canny was given command of the 50 elven archers that accompanied the group from Keristen.
Serine told Carolinus to simply pick a spot that the empire forces would pass an hour after they arrived (despite repeated question about what sort of location he should look for, this was all he was ask, so they got an open field). Canny had the idea of hiding her troops under and invisibility sphere with spikes driven into the ground. The rest had no plan at all.
This was a brutal fight sadly lacking in strategy. First the cavalry rode up to hit them, followed by the foot. For fear of leaving their precious spikes the elven archers never moved and were useless for most of the battle. The only thing that saved the day was the shear toughness and quality of the troops used. Any less experienced troops would have been annihilated. However determination did carry the day for the heroes. While most of the empire’s troops survived, they were turned back would prove no threat to Keristen. While many fighting for the rebellion were injured, few died and those that survived were soon healed by the clerics.
However the real force would not be so easily stopped. When they finally moved the Empire sent 2500 troops under the command of Laroth. The forces included several giants in place of siege weapons and a black dragon. This force would be far more difficult to route.
(This fight actually took a very long time because we were play testing some rules for mass combat I had come up with. It didn’t work well. After this I simply used the victory point system.)
Worked well enough, but the time in which it took to complete the battle was a little lengthy. Other then that, the plan worked fine, it just took a little longer then intended:) Nice try Capt'n:)
You'll note that The Great was not mentioned as a leader in this confrontation, and thus the over lack of strategy. Let be known that you should never go into battle without a mostly-crazy half-elf.
I would have to agree with that...question is, will The Great be joining us for our upcoming adventures?...Please inform:)
Before the siege could be put in place a somewhat strange incident happened. Ryzzym used a teleport spell to go back to the drow city he used to call home. There he recruited a number of fighters, rogues and a cleric of Eru. These came on the condition that they would be allowed to establish a town somewhere above ground in the kingdom once it was freed.
This was all well and good, but when they arrived there was a problem. The elven archers from the city of Keristen were, to say the least, reluctant to fight beside and trust the drow. The drow were a little worried, but not surprised by this response. Canny and Serine tried to convince the archers to stay and give the drow a chance to prove their loyalty.
They succeeded in convincing all but the leader whom Canny took aside to try to convince in an unusual way. She teleported both of them to the capital city of the province. There Canny revealed that she was a succubus, but one who was attempting to redeem herself like the drow were. Then she sold herself to empire’s forces there, giving him the profits from the sale and all her items to take back to the rebellion. Despite this strange gesture he refused to tell her companions what became of her, or remain to fight along side the drow. He did however faithfully turn over the money and items to our heroes. It would be some time before they learned what became of Canny.
Finally we come at last to the siege of the city of Keristen. As the empire’s troop set out to encircle the city they split up into three groups. The main body of troops set up camp to the north west of the city where the terrain made defense easier. Two smaller camps set up back from each of the two main gates of the city, one to the southwest and the other to the north. Each of the smaller camps held 200 horsemen and several spell casters. These two groups could keep serve to keep those inside the city penned up long enough for reinforcements to come if need. Our heroes decided that the first order of business was to eliminate those camps.
From inside the city of Keristen they began to dig underground tunnels that would come up inside the two camps. Between 50 dwarven miners and 150 tunnel-loving kobolds, the work proceeded very quickly. Unfortunately the problem with tunnels is that they don’t let a lot of troops out at once. So by themselves they would not be enough. The Kobold revealed that they had brought several casks of a strange chemical that when lit on fire out explode. They had enough to decimate one camp, but only one.
The plan that formed had several parts and required complex timing. First the explosives underneath the first camp would be set off. Then a number of rogues led by Daniel would stampede the horse of the second camp and sow confusion with fire arrows and alchemist fire. Then those in the tunnel would break the surface at the same time that Serine, Logan and other troops would poor through a teleportation circle into the second camp. Finally cavalry would ride out from the gates of Keristen to finish off the second camp. Sandra in dragon form would wait on the walls and take flight once the black dragon took fight, she would carry Quarion and The Great while Ryzzym flew alongside.
At first the plan seemed to go with little trouble, explosions wiped out most of the first camp and the horses stampeded easily. However, our heroes began to suspect something when the dragon took flight almost instantly.
Still they stuck to the plan with Barbara flying Quarion and The Great, with Ryzzym in tow, out to meet the great beast. The battle opens with Barbara literally flinging The Great at the Dragon. The Great avoids plummeting to his death by using a spider climb potion, quaffed on take off, to stick to the back of the monster. Quarion of course opens with a barrage of arrows, counting on his invisibility and sniper shot to allow him to dish out massive punishment. Ryzzym pelts the dragon with scorching rays and other spells.
The battle is short but brutal with the dragon lashing out at his attackers with spells, breath and claws (if I had gotten around to preparing ahead of time like I should have, this would have been a much nastier fight). Brutally wounded and losing altitude the beast finally succumbs to the second of Ryzzym’s attempts to feeblemind it. Rather than taking the now nearly mindless beast prisoner, they simply administer the final blows.
In the meantime Serine, Daniel and Logan are not faring quite so well. Logan and Serine expected to teleport with a number of troops into the camp at the same time that The Great’s troops come boiling up out of the tunnels. Instead they appear in the camp face to face with Laroth himself. The teleportation circle that was supposed to bring in reinforcements is quickly dispelled and the two must now face off against one of the strongest fighters in the army. Laroth’s first set of blows hammer Serine hard, leaving her badly injured. She backs off and uses lay on hands to repair some of the damage done while Logan retreats to the side to harass Laroth with spells.
Daniel in the meantime has shown up after successfully completing his mission. He see a retreating Serine being set on by Laroth and sneaks over to what he hopes is just beside the path Laroth will take to get to Serine. He is almost right. Instead Laroth litterall steps over both Daniel and the log that Daniel is hiding behind. As Laroth strikes Serine again Daniel uses a rapier and dagger to carve out several choice sections of Laroth’s liver. As an enraged Laroth turns to hammer Daniel into unconciousness (only the use of several bennies and a huge con kept him from dieing) Serine smites him viciously.
While the damage done by both Serine and Daniel is brutal, Laroth is tough customer. It is not likely that Serine could have finished Laroth before he would turn her into hamburger, but fortunately the cavalry arrived in the nick of time. After finishing off the dragon the rest of the group heads to reinforce their buddies just as fast as they can. The wounded Laroth quickly falls to their concentrated firepower (again I wish I had taken the time to prepare better).
The party quickly moves to relieve the pressure around the tunnel entrance and the camp is quickly demolished. Seeing that the high commander has fallen and that both camps have been wiped out, the troops inside the city decide it is time to end this siege. Charging out with all their troops the confused and demoralized main camp is quickly swarmed under. Very few of the empire’s troops are able to escape and the siege is broken. All that remains to free the province is to take the fight to Serath and bring him down.
So anyone not actually in the game reading this? Please give a shout out so I know I'm not just talking to myself ;).
We kobold shamans aren't too good at stealth.
So now our brave heroes had one final task in their mission to free this province. They needed to take the capital city and throw down Serath. The question of course was how long to wait before putting the capital under siege, and how long would the siege last.
Each day waiting would mean extra troops as the citizens came to join the rebellion in droves, but if they waited too long reinforcements could arrive. The demi-human rebellion engineered by The Great in the north was almost over. The troops from that would be returning in a month or two and could pick up other outlaying forces as they came. That would give Serath at least 2500 more soldiers, a force equal in size to the one that attack Keristen. If they wanted longer troops might be sent in from other provinces. The party elected to move quickly and planned to stage a major assault on Serath’s capital within the month.
It was not just the citizens who could tell which way the wind was now blowing. The party received word that someone inside the capital wanted to cut a deal, but insisted that one of them come to meet him in person. They decided that someone less well know would be best, so The Great’s fiancée volunteered for this mission. She managed to get to the city before it was completely closed for the coming siege. The person she came to meet turned out to be a wizard referred to as the arms master. This nickname was not due to his skill with weapons, but for his spell casting. He specialized in making normal weapons magical for a short time (greater magic weapon). He was reputed to be able to make 130 weapons, or 50 times that in arrows, into powerful magical items (+5 weapons, he researched a Mass Greater Magic Weapon spell).
His offer was quite compelling. He revealed that his spells do not last quite 24 hours and was willing to say exactly when they would disappear. He would also teleport into their camp just before the fight to cast those same spells to help the rebels. He also had some important information about the town defenses.
His price was somewhat interesting. He wanted a quiet manor and estate to retire to. He also wanted a wife, someone young, pretty, kind, caring and willing to at least pretend to love him. At this point he is a balding, somewhat over weight 45 year old man with bad eyes and a bad back. He was tired of hookers and the usual gold diggers and simply wanted a nice, quiet peaceful life from now on.
Quarion was tasked to try and find a young woman to meet the requirements. He shortly located a pretty young woman who had several relatives that needed to be cared for. This change in station would seem them well taken care of. With his price met the arms master shared what information he had. His spells would run out at midnight and were normally renewed at 4 in the morning. Any time in there the rebels could attack without superior weapons without them suspecting his treason. He also was able to provide the location of Serath’s quarters and where he would normally come out in case of emergency. He knew that Serath had a pet mephit who had some bardic abilities, this mephit could apparently use his magic to turn whole units against each other. Finally he revealed that there was a Kraken waiting in the harbor. The southern gate was close enough to the harbor that it could actually reach the gates and attack any who tried to force them.
The plan proposed by The Great was simple, more or less. For a few days the rebels would make sorties against the southern wall, both by and by night. They would have a small force covering the north gate, enough to block it, but not enough to make a serious attempt to take it. Just before the final attack a large portion of troops would be stationed very close to the north gate. Powerful illusions would hide them from the defenders, and they would be just far enough out that True Seeing, Detect Magic and Arcane Vision would not be able to detect them.
The final attack would come just after midnight. Carolinus would use a gate spell to open a gate to another plane, then from that plane open a second gate to just behind the north gate. The party and several squads of soldiers would immediately rush through the two gates. The soldiers would attack the gate, opening it to the troops hidden outside. In the meantime the party would go and set up an ambush for Serath outside his quarters. Everyone but The Great would be under improved invisibility. Admiral Monkamuck was asked as his one agreed upon task to take out the kraken waiting in the harbor. The soldiers coming in the north gate would be able to sweep the city and the empires troops would be caught in a pincher.
Of course this plan all hinged on them being able to take out Serath so that he couldn’t rally his troops to hold the gate. As the plan unfolded they set up their invisible ambush outside Serath’s quarters and waited. In a few second the door opened and half a dozen soldier’s came out to form a spear line and start to sweep the street. This entire line fell to a lightening arc from Ryzzym.
Before anyone else came out a horrifying sound came from inside the building and what looked snow began to fall in front of the building. The Great was the only under the snowfall and he quickly realized to his horror that it was not snow, but tiny spectral skulls that seemed to sap his strength (dirge is a fun spell). Then Serath and the mephit emerged from the building, surrounded by a ring of soldiers. Serath stood at least 8 feet tall and had unlimbered a very big falchion, while the mephit had a rapier at his belt, he seemed to be in no hurry to draw it. The mephit quickly reached down to his belt and began to run his finger along the rim of a wine glass. The strange hum of the wine glass was soon echoed by a hum in the Great’s own body, a hum that did not end even when he took his hand away from the glass (sonorous hum with body harmonic is a REALLY fun bard combo). Serine charged the soldiers while Daniel suck in along the wall behind the soldiers. Sandra had used her draconic magic to make herself larger than normal (righteous might) and was able to literally attack Serath over the heads of his guards. Serath was gleefully returning the favor as Quarion shot down the soldiers in the Great’s way, who layed into Serath with all his might.
Serath was laying a brutal beating on both the Great and Sandra when Daniel got close enough to begin his usual kidney extraction routine on Serath. Ryzzym and Logan were both throwing spells at every combatant they could, felling soldiers in plenty, but doing little to Serath or the mephit. Quarion’s bow fire shifted over to the mephit after the mephit made his body start to hum like the Great’s was. In an impressive display of insight Quarion shot at the two wine glasses on the mephit’s belt, ending the strange humming coming from them, although the mephit’s displacement prevented Quarion from hurting the mephit itself.
As Serath turned and struck Daniel and The Great to the ground, nearly killing them outright, Serine at last broke through the line of spearmen. Charging heedlessly at him she lifted her holy avenger and smote him with all her might. Already bleeding from a dozen or more places this final blow tore through his chest, ending Serath’s life and tyranny forever. The mephit received only a few more blows before he was convinced he wanted to be elsewhere, and the last the party saw of him was his form retreating into the plane of shadow.
Thus Serath fell, his troops were broken and the city and province both freed from the rule of the Empire of Iuz.
For all my loyal readers I am putting up a new thread about this thread. I'll be using it to provide info on the campaign setting and characters and NPCs within it. It is It's My World, Don't Worry It's "Safe" Here. Hope you all enjoy.
Sorry for the long wait, but I haven’t felt like writing much recently. I hope to change that soon.
Once our heroes had liberated the province previously held by Serath, things fell into place easily. Everywhere through out the kingdom people from peasant to royalty rose in revolt. Several nations including the Shieldlands that had sent some aid in secret now intervened openly. The forces occupying Furyondy were quickly routed and fled back to the empire of Iuz. Thus Serine was restored to her rightful throne and finally given a chance to marry her love Quarion. Or course this did not occur without at least a few complications.
The first thing that came up was between Serine and Quarion. She had expected the two of them to stand as co-ruling King and Queen; unfortunately she never mentioned this to him. As it turns out he was more than a little opposed to the idea. After a long drawn out argument he was named Prince Consort and not given any responsibilities, just the way he wanted it. Speaking of titles, when the kingdom was retaken there were a number of titles and lands left vacant, including rule of several of the provinces. Serine began by offering this titles to several of her companions, a few of whom took her up on it. Sandra was made lord of the Larilon province in the northwest part of the kingdom. At first the Great refused, but his fiancé twisted his arm to force him to accept rule of Hallistar in the southwest. Ryzzym, Daniel and Logan all refused any sort of rulership. Pierre was given rulership of the province they had worked so hard to liberate and Carolinus was given the one he had been promised in exchange for his aid.
Canny was rescued from Serath’s dungeons, but she was not unchanged by the experience. During her captivity Serath apparently realized that she was not originally a succubus. He was working on slowly extracting the poison that had first turned her into a succubus. The process was not complete when the final attack occurred, so she still retained the form of a succubus. However, her mind had been freed of the effects of the transformation and returned to that of a favored soul of Ehlonna. Sadly she still remember the horrible crimes she committed while tainted with evil, it took quite a while for her to recover. To give her a place to recover peacefully Serine gave her a title and estates left empty by the war.
Sandra also ran into a complication of her own. Not long after she accepted rule of Larilon she received a visit by Sir Liam, a servant of her mother’s. An important thing that not many know about the god Barbara is that in addition to be being Sandra’s mother she is a vampire, although one who has redeemed herself (is a deathless rather than undead). Sir Liam himself is something like a vampire, since the only way to save him from the demonic energies that once tainted him was for Barbara to turn him. Sir Liam remains very suspicious about Sandra and her motives and with her assuming control of a large territory; he took it upon himself to make sure of her. The struggle was intense but brief and eventually Sandra succumbed and was turned by Sir Liam. As her new master he gave her two instructions “do not tell anyone that you are a vampire” and “take care of your people and try to be a good ruler”. She must now obey those instructions to the letter. Like Sir Liam and Barbara she is far from a standard vampire. (She is deathless and instead of the normal powers I gave her powers based on old vampire stories and legends).
Ryzzym decided to build himself a tower and open a wizard’s guild near the castle of his good friend the Great. There he continued to research the secrets of spell fire. He also worked to find what happened to his friend Corinia after she left the group. Daniel stayed with Sandra, whom he was thoroughly smitten. He was trying to work up the courage to ask her to marry him. Logan decided to disappear for parts unknown.
The next three years were rather peaceful with only two incidents worth serious mention. The first was that Ryzzym came to a point in his spellfire research where he only need one more peace to complete the puzzle. He needed to either study a spellfire wielder or get the journals of someone who had done so. Unfortunately spellfire is not an ability native to Oerth, which makes it difficult to get either. Fortunately during his research he had stumbled onto the location of a long dead wizard who had had the opportunity to study spellfire in person, or so the legend goes. Combining hard to get information from a number of sources led him to realize that the location he wanted was deep in the mountains northwest of Gorna and exactly how to find it. Of course he assumed that this ancient lab would not be without its guardians.
Gathering his fellow adventurers and even the long missing Corinia he head to the lair. They found it easily enough, although the crack in the mountain that led to it was easy to overlook if you didn’t know what to watch for. The horrid stench wafting up from inside made it easier to locate. Looking down the short tunnel revealed that the place was completely covered in filth and refuse. It seemed as if the walls of several rooms had been knocked down to make one huge room.
Despite their cautious advance most of the party was surprised when a huge form lifted itself from underneath. An Otyugh of immense size charged the party, bringing it’s many tentacles and bite into play. The fight was short, but brutal and eventually the party emerged alive, although not unscathed. Later examinations of the corpse revealed that some sort of experiments on it had mingled its blood with that of a troll, as well as something from far beyond the bounds of reality (half-troll and half-farspawn templates, nasty beastie).
This left them with a room filled with garbage and two doors. One door opened to reveal a decaying bedroom. The bed and wardrobe within crumbled at a slight breeze and proved worthless. The second door revealed a much more interesting room. In this mostly natural chamber were the decaying remnants of a laboratory. In it was a huge dire grizzly with iron arms and legs, apparently a stuffed trophy. Behind the remnants of a tapestry the outline of a wall safe could barely be seen.
Daniel, after getting an appropriate escort, went over to examine the chest. He was able to determine that it was locked and trapped, and that it would only barely be within the limits of his skill to remover the trap. They instead decided to take the easy route of simply pulling the safe out of the wall, and cutting open the back of it. Unfortunately the wizard who placed the trap on it did not think of this, so they were quite safe. Find the notes they came for and a few others, they decided it was time to leave. It took only a little arguing to convince Sandra not to lop of a leg of the stuff bear as a trophy. (If they had they would have take off the temporal stasis that was holding the half-iron golem dire grizzly in place). Ryzzym was able a few weeks later to finally complete his lifelong goal of becoming a spellfire wielder.
The second incident that happened over the three years involved Daniel and Sandra. Daniel finally screwed up his courage enough to try and ask her to marry him, but Daniel as it turns out has some old fashioned ideas. So before asking Sandra he went to find Sandra’s father to ask him if it was all right. It took him a while to finally located the dragon Demortigon, who was quite surprised by the request. Now Demortigon does actually care for his daughter quite a bit, so he decided to look up Daniel’s father before giving his approval.
The rest of the party did not know about any of these goings on until they were all gathered for a bar-b-q Sandra decided to hold at her castle. In the middle of the party a servant came to let them know that a strange halfling was asking to see Sandra. Considering his clothing they would have turned him away, except that they knew their mistress was an adventurer and had unusual friends. Out of curiosity she said for them to bring this halfling to meet her. So in comes the strangest looking halfling they have ever seen. He stands tall for a halfling at 4 ½ feet, but it nearly as broad as he is tall. He squat frame is packed with massive muscles that ripple powerfully as he moves. The servants announce him as “Turin the 3rd”.
Daniel simply greats him as “hi dad.” The visit proves quite polite and eventually Daniel is given permission to ask for Sandra’s hand in marriage. Shortly there after Serine and Sandra got into a heated argument that eventually devolved into a mud wrestling fight which ended in Serine being knocked unconscious. Quarion immediately grabbed his wife’s naked body and hauled her through a gate back to her own castle, where he proceeded to have his way with her. This only took about 5 seconds.
(Turin the Mad was a player in the first D&D game I ran, and he made a cameo appearance using his original character. I hope I can get him to put up his perspective on this session at some point. Don’t ask me why Serine and Sandra decided on mud wrestling, I’m still not sure. I wrote down a very amusing play by play that I will put up just as soon as I can find it. As for Quarion only lasting 5 seconds, well I had him roll a con check to see if he would last long enough for her to wake up while he was busy, and he rolled a nat 1.)
I will do so as soon as time permits. Perhaps one can brow-beat some of your players to electronically put pen to paper and record herein the entertaining events of that session ?
((On a sad note at the time this part of the journal started Quarion’s player was forced to drop the game and The Great stopped showing up. He may rejoin at some point, but I have not heard from him as to what is going on. They will be missed, but the group goes on.))
A few months after the visit by Daniel’s father Sandra received word that some sort of strange boar like creature had attack one of the villages in her province. They had driven it off and were now pleading for her to find it and finish it. To this end Sandra called on several of her friends for aid. Sandra, Canny, Logan, Ryzzym, Daniel and Serine all set out to track this beast to it lair.
Daniel had a rather easy time picking up the beast’s sent with his keen nose. It eventually leads to a cave that the scent entered and left several times. The party quickly surmised that this was the beast’s lair and began to explore the large cave; too bad there wasn’t much to explore. During this Canny was waiting by the door keeping a sort of look out. Her keen ears recognized not a sound, but rather a lack of sound that sent chills down her spine. She immediately used her ability to D-door to vacate her spot at the entrance to the cave. As both she and the beast were invisible this near encounter went unnoticed by the party.
The party was quite surprised when the thing charged into their midst and bite deeply into Sandra. The enchantment on the engagement ring that Daniel bought her was able to keep the beast from picking her up and shaking her like a rag doll. The remaining fight proceeded in a frightening silence as all sound seemed to stop five feet from the creature. It was short and brutal, but eventually the party prevailed.
The party was only able to get its first clear look once the beast was dispatched, and a beast it was. The body and most of the head was that of a boar of immense size, easily sever feet tall at the shoulder. The legs were those of a dog with long claws and the snout was elongated and filled with pointed teeth like a crocodile. Ryzzym promised to take it to his tower and study it in an attempt to find out it origins. His study revealed that someone had taken a dire boar and made several modifications to it, both inside and out. The more Ryzzym studied it the more it tugged at his memories. Eventually he recalled having gone to see his father as a young drow shortly before the fall of Lolth. His father had had a few notes on his desk describing processes similar to what would create this beast. Whether it was made by his father or not one thing was clear, this was something deliberately created and then let loose. So the party set off once again to track down the beast’s creator.
Setting out from the beast’s former lair Daniel tried to locate the oldest trail the beast had made. They followed this for several hours before Ryzzym, Logan and Sandra noticed the presence of a nearby lay line. It was only a very small one, but since it was almost time to make camp they decided to head there to make camp. The lay line was very weak, but in the morning Logan, Ryzzym and Sandra attempted to harness some of its power. One of them got too greedy and fell over in pain, but no major injuries were sustained. As they prepared to set out Daniel noticed something interesting. There was a very, very faint trail left by the beast they had fought before that went along the lay line.
The trail soon led down into a ravine that deepened quickly. Daniel’s sharp eyes were able to make out something hiding in ambush ahead. It seemed to be hiding under the group itself, and they decided to do things the easy way and simply spring the trap. As the Serine and Sandra rushed up to engage the creature they were finally able to get a good look at it when it stood up to meet them. It looked like an enormous scorpion although it’s top half appeared to exactly mimic the shape, color and texture of the group around it. The claws and tail seemed to emerge directly from the group without disturbing the dirt in the least. The two claws dripped a sickly blue substance and the stinger on the tail had been replaced by five long translucent tentacles.
Sandra quickly engaged the attention of the claws, which was fortunate since her new nature made her immune to the strange blue poison. Ryzzym and Serine both found out to their horror that the tentacles on the tail could lash out a great distance, easily 60 feet or more and would deliver a painful shock that would render the victim stunned for a while. Despite it’s formidable abilities the party soon was able dispatch it. Although had it been able to grab and hold Sandra or inflict it’s poison on her, who knows how the fight would have ended.
Some news about the game. First the player of Canny and Corinia was recently told not to come back to the game after storming out. He did have some good reason to storm out, but the other players were no longer interested in gaming with him.
Also I have to say that this D&D game is coming to an end. We plan to finish the current adventure and run one based on Logan's background, then bring it to a close. I plan to try and get caught up on this journal and tell you all the rest of the tales of this groups is going through. This D&D game is well over a year old, and it will probably have been going on for more than a year and a half by the time we bring it to a close.
At that time I will start a new campaign using the Rifts setting. It's one I've long wanted to try running and think it could be fun. The advantage is that several of the players have never played it before and they would be characters brought in by a random Rift knowing nothing of the place before hand. Da Pimp's player and possibly Da Fighter's players will be joining us for this. If you all are interested in a GM and maybe player journal for that game just let me know on this thread. If I get at least a few responses I'll try to make sure to put one up. Hope you all have had fun reading this and will continue to enjoy it for as long as it goes on.
It's a shame that this campaign is approaching an ending, but at least there will be another.
It's a shame that this campaign is approaching an ending, but at least there will be another.
Quite true, and not for the first time. I've been running more or less non-stop for the last 5 years now. The original D&D went 2 1/2, Gurps for about 1 1/2, this for over a year now.... I love GMing and will probably continue for a long time to come. What I refer to as my original D&D campaign was not my first attempt to GM a game, but it was the first one to last more than 3 or 4 sessions. I really do love the creativity and challenge of it.
Well now our heroes are staring at the dead body of one of the strangest creatures they have yet seen. Studying it carefully Ryzzym becomes more and more convinced that it was made by the same person who made the other beast they fought. Assuming that they are on the right trail our heroes continue down the ravine as it passes into ever more rocky terrain. After two days travel they come to the foot of a mountain and the end of the ravine. At this point the walls are over 300 feet deep, but it is only a dozen feet wide. The ravine dead-ends at the mountain, but a huge crack in the mountain appears to give entry into the mountain itself. This is a naturally well-hidden entrance to the mountain since the ravine is hard to spot, and the crack cannot be seen from outside the ravine.
It is however late evening when our heroes get this far, so they decide to stop and rest before entering the mountain. As the party settles into their evening camp they see a large number of strange bat like creatures exit the mountain. The party stares up in wonder, but wisely decide not to draw attention to themselves and the creatures fly off into the night. Eventually dredging up old memories Canny remembers that those were creatures called sporebats. They are actually plants, but have some strange ability to mimic the spell Enervasion. It is likely that the swarm of two dozen could have slain the entire party if they had decided to pick a fight, but fortunately they were headed elsewhere. The creatures return with the light of dawn, but pay the party no more heed than on their departure.
The first cavern the party comes to while exploring the mountain is the lair of the sporebats. The swarm is thankfully asleep and the party takes care not to wake them. They are surprised to find an easy path through the stalagmite and stalactite infested cave. As they quickly head for the other side of the cave several of them notice that the path they are on is not natural. There are places where the stalagmites have been partly or completely removed and the path has been leveled and graded some.
On the far side of the cavern there are three exits, but only one of these has been graded and leveled like the path they have been following. The party makes the easy choice of following the tunnel that shows signs of actually being occupied. It led a short distance to another cavern, this one is very large. The party cannot see far by the light of Serine’s light spell or Ryzzym’s darkvision and the cavern is much too big for them to see the far or side walls. It does however have a nice handy path to follow. The path is not without some perils though.
A short way into the cavern they discover that some of its inhabitants want to come out to play. By this time they have seen so many stalactites in the two caverns that they don’t give them a second though, which they will soon regret. The entire group is taken by surprise as eight stalactites launch themselves from the roof of the cavern at our heroes. What follows is a very hectic fight with creatures that look like stalactites with legs that launch themselves to attack. The things never stay still long enough for the party to get themselves sorted out and organized. Eventually all but one of the creatures is slain while the final one leaps off into the darkness. Of course at this point several people are injured, especially Ryzzym who is nearly dead.
Serine proceeds no further as a magical Sending finally reaches her letting her know that she is need back at her kingdom. (The player decided it was time to retire Serine to running her kingdom and make a new character.) However the rest continue deeper into the cavern. A short time later they find their destination, what is the source of the strange creatures they have been finding. In the middle of the cavern is a 30-foot tall, 10-foot wide tower of adamantine. Ryzzym immediately recognizes it as his father’s home.
The first thing that greeted out heroes upon opening the tower door was a somewhat painful forbiddance. The second was the voice of Ryzzym’s father.
“Welcome my son. I am quite pleased to see that you survived the fall of the drow, and now you’ve sought me out. I’d like you and your friends to see what I’ve been doing here. Do be careful though, some of my pets are very dangerous, and don’t take well to others.”
As Sandra shouted a few insults to try and tempt Ryzzym’s father into coming to face them, the rest examined the room they were in. This first room was 40 feet by 40 feet in the shape of an octagon. This was a little surprising since the outside of the tower was only a little over 10 feet across. It was mostly empty except for a staircase in the middle of the room, which was surrounded by four fleshy pillars. The pillars look like some sort of pink rippling flesh that twitched strangely as they watched. As Sandra carefully approached the pillars a pseudopod struck out with tremendous force, throwing her back into the wall. The party was at a loss as to what to do until Logan noticed that the pillars in the back were not quite as close together as the ones in the front. He found that by walking around the edge of the room and approaching the stairs from the opposite side he could stay just out of reach of the pillars.
On the next floor they were faced with a four-way intersection. East and west led off into darkness, but north and south soon ended in doors. First the group attempted to go west down what appeared to be the longest of the passages. Their patience with the west passage held out for an hour, but by that time they were tired of a featureless hallway. They were both surprised and suspicious when the return trip took less than a minute.
After a few minutes swearing vented their frustration the party turned south to one of the two doors they could see. The double doors opened into a large room, which held a curious sight. Half a dozen creatures were frozen motionless throughout the room, including a human. Careful examination with a detect magic revealed that the room was designed to hold dozens of creatures of different size, ranging from medium to huge, in temporal stasis fields. The party was unsure how to operate the room but a greater dispel magic was sufficient to free the human. It turned out that she was a cleric named May who had been captured by Ryzzym’s father (Serine’s new character). She was more than happy to join with our heroes.
The east hallway quickly led them to a set of stairs going down. After going down the stairs and a short hallway they found themselves in a room with four spiral staircases, two leading up and two leading down. Choosing one of the down staircases at random they found themselves in a short hallway.
Simply entering the hallway is enough to make them feel easy. There is something subtly wrong about this place, as if something was not quite right. The hallway is 50ft long, but the air is hazy which makes it hard to see the room ahead clearly. Only when they step fully into the room can they see what is there. The walls are bare and made of what looks like rusted iron. A strange stone block sits against the far fall, it shape seems to shift slightly each time they glance at it, but no matter the shape there is something horribly wrong and foul about it. On the wall above the rock is a strange symbol that is impossible to make out clearly, but seems to eat into your brain, driving out rational thought.
The party is barely able to shrug off the effects of a symbol of insanity as they step into the room. Ryzzym recognizes this place as a temple dedicated to the drow elemental god. He is rarely worshiped since he is somewhat insane and known for smiting his worshipers almost as often as their foes. Unfortunately he is also an aspect of Tharizdun, the god of madness. Sandra decides to do something about this and uses her sword to cut the stone block in half. This may have been a mistake as a huge tentacle appeared out of the remains of the stone block and lifted her easily.
It’s a brutal fight but the party is eventually able to free Sandra from the tentacles, but not without side effects. The clutch of the tentacle has infected her with some of the strange nature of the far realms. The taint is fairly minor, but very unpleasant. Somehow the room itself has also infected Logan with the same far realms taint. They quickly retreat, but are unsure how to go about curing this taint. (I’m using the taint rules from Unearthed Arcana, but it is far realms instead of evil).
Back at the four-stair room they decided to try the other down staircase. It leads to a damp tunnel that slopes downward into darkness. Eventually the tunnel opens out upon a large lake with an island near the middle. The island has a staircase going up and appears to be the only thing in the room besides the dark water. Logan immediately decides to play around with his polymorph spell by turning into a large squid. Unfortunately this upsets the room’s occupant who surfaces to show at least two dozen tentacles gripping several swords and shields. This would be quite impressive if May hadn’t immediately turned it into a minnow with a Polymorph Any Object. Sandra revealed a new ability by shape changing herself into a fish and she and Logan had a race to see who could find and eat the minnow first. (I hate rolling 3s sometimes.)
The stairs lead up to a landing with a door to the west and a hallway leading south. Examining the door to the west they find that is it very thoroughly locked from this side and airtight. It proves to be fairly easy to get open and reveals a library and workroom with a very faint green haze over everything. The party is more than a little surprised to find that the green mist actual talks to them. It is a strange creature called a Sylthilar that Ryzzym’s father captured. It is quite eager to escape this place and promises the party the use of its services if they can defeat Ryzzym’s father and set it free.
As the party left their new Silthilar friend behind in his rooms, they turned down the hallways to the south. It led but a short distance to a very heavy metal door. Listening closely they could hear a sort of hollow whistling sound from the other side. Opening the door very cautiously they could see that beyond it was a 50-foot hallway with a door on the right at the end. The whistling sound came from a constant wind that flew over dozens of holes in the left hand wall. While most of the others were able to ignore the holes, Logan just could not help himself. Giving into his curiosity he stuck his face in one of the larger holes and promptly had it ripped off by a blade that shot out of the top of the hole. In addition to being extraordinarily painful it severely damaged the mask he usually wears. A quick heal spell took care of the pain, but it ended up taking a regeneration spell to get his face looking pretty again.
The next room proved to be under some sort of magical darkness that prevented any light or dark vision from reaching more than 20 feet. From what little they could see it contained row upon row of small cages. The group entered slowly and only one or two of them heard a very soft click come from the far side of the room. Everyone else was quite surprised when small humanoids appeared out of the shadows to tear at the party with well-placed swipes of their thorn-covered hands. The small green people made no sound even when struck down by blades and magic. Eventually when the final one had fallen they were recognized as a type of fey called Thorns that Ryzzym's father had mutated drastically. The poor things could not help what they did and it was only afterwards that the party noticed the tears that had been running down their cheeks the entire time.
At this point a strange scuttling sound began in one corner of the room, very slowly getting louder and louder. Instantly blades were draw and magic was hurled. However, despite the fireballs that ravaged the area the sound only continued to get louder and louder. At this point Sandra could no longer contain her laughter and quickly fled the rather of her friends as they realized it was a ghost sound spell she had cast.
Finding a door to the south they opened it to discover a disturbing sight. This room was filled with dozens upon dozens of strange body-parts and organs from countless creatures. There were legs, arms, tentacles, and other easily identifiable parts all neatly stacked together. All seemed to be perfectly preserved and ready for experimentation. The party quietly closed the door and went on to explore the door to the west.
This door opened onto a huge laboratory with glassware and pipes everywhere that looked like the results of a glass blower's all comers hiccupping contest. There were quite a lot of notes scattered around the place that Ryzzym quickly snatched up. Against the far wall was a huge series of glass pipes and tanks filled with sand, tunnels and of course ants. Ryzzym was all set to fireball his father's ant farm when he realized that the ants in it were rather strange. They were several inches long, had glowing blue eyes and their mandibles dripped acid. After reconsidering the fireball, the party looked around and realized there were no other exits to this room. So they headed back for the room with four staircases.
Choosing one of the staircases up at random the carefully climbed the stairs. As they neared the top they stopped when Sandra in the lead heard the soft sound of breathing. As she peaked over the edge of the floor she could see that the room was well inhabited. Eight large cheetahs lay sleeping in nests made of chairs, cushions and other pieces of well-clawed fabric. Fortunately for the part all eight of the beasts were asleep, and they decided to leave them that way. Using a silence spell they moved together to the door on the opposite side of the room. They were able to open the door and slip inside without waking any of the sleeping cats.
The next room had three enormous tables that had various straps and restrains build in. On one of the tables the corpse of a colossal scorpion lay, many of it limbs and organs removed. Ryzzym was the first to step outside the silence spell; as soon as he did he could hear the sound of something large and angry behind one of the three doors on the far wall. He immediately threw a wall of ice across that door to make sure whatever was there stayed there.
Logan found at least one fun toy in here. It turns out that there were several stone disks that had been enchanted to hover and fly on command. They were somewhat small and didn't move fast, but Logan found them to quite fun to use as transportation anyway.
Of the three doors on the far side of the room, the right one had been iced over by Ryzzym, so the party elected to try the left one first. It opened onto another room stuffed with body parts and organ. Unlike the other one they found this one includes many parts recognizable as coming from humanoids. There is even one arm and shoulder that are the right size to have come from a child. Logan sees this and claims that it is from a gnome like himself and swears to take down Ryzzym's father.
The middle door opens to a short hallway ending a spiral staircase leading down. Sandra leads the way down the stair and once the final party member sets foot on the stairs a stonewall seals off their escape and the stairs they are on disappear. Only May falls as Sandra is already at the bottoms, Logan is on his floating disk and Ryzzym uses a levitate spell to remain air-born. They can hear the sounds of creatures coming from the door, which prompts Sandra to come up with a cunning plan. First May ascends back up the passage a ways using the spiderclimb spell. Then Sandra casts anti-life shell and opens the door. The open doorway is immediately charged by a pair of pig-like creatures that Ryzzym recognizes as modified Fhorge, hunters native to the outlands. Unfortunately the Fhorges could not reach the party through Sandra's spell, but the party could certainly send spells and May's thrown daggers through the field. The Fhorges prove to be too mindlessly angry to back off and are cut down by the party long before Sandra's spell wore off. (I admit I was impressed, they though of a way to avoid taking any damage at all from the fight.)
The room the Fhorge's were in proved to be both figuratively and literally a pigsty, however the room beyond it was a lab similar to one they found earlier, although lacking the ant farm. This room also had notes that Ryzzym pounced on, as well as a pronounced lack of exits. So they were off back to the staircase room, with only one set of stairs left to try.
This staircase led to a 120-foot hallway with four doors on either side and a door at the end. The party elects to be systematic about it and being with the doors on the right, then try the doors on the left one at a time. The first doors reveals a 30 x 30 room filled with caustic green vapor and walls made of bluish slime. As there is nothing else in there to catch their attention they quickly shut the door and move on.
The next room is made of molten lava and the one past it is filled with smoke. At this point Ryzzym guesses that each one represents and is connected to one of the para-elemental planes. He is proved right when the next room is made of ice. The other side of the hall is similar, but these rooms represent the elemental planes. Only the far door remains, which opens to reveal and spiral staircase leading up.
The next room is 30 foot square room with only one door to the south. The other walls look like they used to have doors that have since been walled off. The one door is a massive affair of iron with dozens of solid looking locks on it, yet it radiates a strange sense of wrongness that turns the stomach to look at. The party wisely decides to leave this alone, yet they are almost out of options for directions. Seconds later they realize they are completely out of directions as the staircase they used to get to he room closes up. Ryzzym's father's voice is once again heard.
"Excellent, I am glad to see you all so resourceful. We must meet face to face, but I find myself rather tired. I shall retire to my chambers, unfortunately I do not have any guest rooms to offer you. Still I wish you a good evening and will see you in the morning."
Having no way to leave the room and nothing else to do, our heroes get what rest they can. Several hours later a stair case grows out of the ceiling to allow them to climb up for a face to face meeting with Ryzzym's father.
Dun dun DUN!!!
great campaign, Cap'n!
The was able to steal several hours of uneasy rest before a spiral staircase lowered itself out of the ceiling to allow them their audience with Ryzzym’s father Amarrall. Before they entered Ryzzym asked his friends to try and take Amarrall alive if possible. As they came to the top of the stairs everyone was in for a bit of a shock, especially Ryzzym, as Amarrall appeared to be only a year or two older than Ryzzym himself. This handsome young drow sat calmly and arrogantly, his cool only cracked for a moment on seeing Logan float up on the hover disk, on a golden throne back by an enormous bodyguard. This hulking gray figure loomed easily 15 feet tall and carried a massive shield. A few in the party recognized a gray render, but it’s strangely boneless look and usual grace hinted at drastic changes under the skin. The octagonal throne room offered few hiding place, but a wall of force was there to keep the party from spring to action immediately. Amarrall turned to address the party as they entered.
“Greetings and welcome, I’m so glad you could finally join me. And I do so want you to join me. Just think of what we could accomplish son. And your friends are so resourceful, I’m sure all of you would make quite excellent allies.”
The party’s silent answer to this was to throw a disintegrate spell at the wall of force and silent, hostile advance. At the party’s hostility the gray render, who Amarrall had affectionately named Bubba, moved to stand directly above Amarrall. Amarrall himself slung a meteor swarm at his son in chastisement only to discover that his son had developed spellfire. He was less than pleased to see his spell disappear, but quite delighted by his son’s accomplishments.
A field that disrupted spells slightly and a reverse gravity were among the spells that the party spent several seconds attempting to immobilize both their opponents with. Amarrall replied with a few avasculate and disintegrate spells, although not to huge effect. In the meantime Bubba proved his worth by intercepting attacks made on his master. He seemed to have been trained to intercept all melee and ranged attacks against his master and even shield him from area effect attacks, albeit at the expense of his own ability to dodge their effects.
Sandra made a surprising offer, promising to join and help Amarrall if he could cure her. He was unsure what she wanted cured and didn’t think it likely he could, but wasn’t one to pass on such a good opportunity. Unfortunately Sandra saw through his quickly uttered lies. She restrained herself to spells at first rather than her devastating sword attacks.
The battle did not truly begin in earnest until several turns later when Daniel, May and Canny finally made it to the top of the stairs. Daniel quickly headed around the side to attempt to hide behind the only cover in the room, the great golden throne. May quickly unleashed the moonbolt spell, which proved able to slip past Bubba’s coverage of Amarrall.
A spell to suppress magic in a small area separated Amarall and Bubba for a few seconds. In that time Canny threw slimewave spell that proved extrodinarily painful. Logan managed to slip past a gap in Bubba’s guard that combined with the moonbolt was able to reduce Amarrall to a strengthless figure. His form instantly seemed to turn to floating dust, which the party recognized as being like that of the Silthilar that they met earlier. The party had no time to celebrate their apparent victory as some healing magic kicked in and restored the strength he had lost.
Restored to fighting ability and pulling himself back together into a solid body, Amarrall appeard to disappear for half a second, and when he returned his magic lashed out at those around him. A delayed blast fireball hammers Logan, May and Canny, sending them reeling. A black sword appeared to strike at Sandra and at the same time a smell black sphere appeared in front of her. She could feel the sphere attempt to suck her in and crush her. His hand shot out and a pair of polar rays brutally struck Sandra and Ryzzym.
The party tried to rally under the assault. A variety of spells were able to slip through Bubba’s guard to harm Amarrall, but to little effect. Sandra focused on removing Bubba from the equation. The party thought they might turn the tied until two more disintegrate spells lash out together. One reduced the poor May to a small pile of ash, while the other hammered Canny. Canny was left a broken wreck, holding on to consciousness by the barest grip.
Luckily Daniel had been forgotten about for most of this fight. His swift movement over to the throne which provided the only cover in the room managed to lose the attention of both Bubba and Amarrall. Realizing that Bubba couldn’t defend against attacks he didn’t know about, he slip from his cover behind the throne and launched three incredibly well aim flasks of alchemist fire. Amarrall screamed as the acid burned into him and for a moment it looked as if he would fall, but he was barely able to maintain his feet and form. As the black sphere pulled Sandra closer to destruction and Amarrall prepared to heal himself Canny, with what would prove to be her last act, threw a Sound Lance that struck the final blow.
As the tiny piece of Amarrall’s body sunk to the ground finally lifeless, Ryzzym found himself overcome with grief. In his pain over losing his father he lashed out at his father’s killer with a fireball spell that finished off poor Canny. Daniel and Sandra worked together to bring Bubba down as Ryzzym slow sunk into grief and guilt over what was wrought here today. Finally the remains of the party was able to pull together and take stock of what scars the battle had inflicted on them.
After the party was able to recollect their wits and take stock of their situation, they noticed something interesting. A spiral staircase had descended from the ceiling. This proved to lead into several other areas of the tower, including a bedroom and study. Two areas or special interest to the party was the control room and the teleportation room. The teleportation room turned out to be part of the material plane, unlike most of the rest of the tower, and was free of the forbiddance spell set on the rest of the tower. Upon seeing this Sandra immediately disappeared for a few hours, and no one was sure where she went.
The control room turned out to be able to magically shift the rooms about, change entrances and exits to an extent and potentially even create new rooms. It was from here that Amarrall had watched the party and shifted the tower to his liking. They were more than little upset to discover that the staircase leading to the throne room could connect to up to four different places, he had apparently waited until they reached the last one to extend it.
They found several fascinating pieces of treasure, including a crystal ball and a Deck of Many Things. Curiosity, greed and peer pressure easily overcame prudence and Ryzzym, Logan and Sandra all elected to draw from the deck. Ryzzym gained jewelry and the services of a young drow fighter for his troubles. Logan was somewhat luckier for while he attracted the unfavorable attention of an outsider, he did gain 4 wishes for his trouble. Sandra decided to be far more daring and claimed five draws as her due, which proved to be somewhat unfortunate for her. First she gained the attention of a hostile outsider, something she was more than willing to live with. Then she received the boon of the vizier and would have an answer to her questions if she wished. However her next three draws proved devastating as the Idiot surfaced again and again. Three times in a row she gained extra draws as her intellect shrunk. Then as if her misfortune was not thorough enough, a single card whisked away every magical item she owned! Much distressed she pulled yet again to find herself in the possession of two wishes, both of which she used to retrieve a small portion of her gear. She called back the wedding ring that Daniel had given her, as well as the belt that she won off a certain sea captain in combat. Her next card was one with which she was already familiar, the idiot yet again appeared under her shaking fingers. It did grant her one final draw, which proved very useful indeed as she had a choice between worldly experience or two more draws. Realizing how much she had lost already, she declined the two draws.
((As a GM I love the Deck of Many Things, despite the downsides to it. I have to say that Sandra’s player handled his misfortune better than anyone else I’ve seen. The idiot came up three times in a row. The first two times the player cut the deck after I shuffled and got the idiot, on the third time he decided not to cut and it turned out to be the top card. He ended up with 9 draws in total, by far the highest I’ve ever seen.))
Well, this campaign has come to a close. The adventure continued for a little while after this, but we never actually finished the story we were working on. The Rifts game has started and had three sessions so far, so I will soon be posting a journal of that, hopefully sometime this week. I can post the remaining few sessions on here if people are interested. I hope you all, and my players, enjoy the Rifts game.
Why the change in venues Capn?
A couple reasons. The two biggest is 1) I feel that I'm getting stale on my D&D game and that it's lost a lot of its flavor at this time, 2) I've thought about running Rifts for years. So when I finally decided it was time to take a break, that's what I went with. I hope the Rifts game goes a very long time, but that depends a lot on the players. So far we are having fun and I think it will go well. But whatever happens I plan to keep running for the foreseeable future.