Hey, I didn't name their group if you think its cheesey!
Started our first session of SCAP on Wednesday just gone. Here's a link to the campaign write up:
http://www.rodinia.info/campaign.php?id=4
More as we play...
Cheers
Blakey
Hey Blakey
Good luck with your campaign. Apparently you're planning a campaign that is 'loosely' based on SCAP. Browse these messageboards to find tons of suggestions on how to modify this AP.
I see one of your characters is a 'Tercival'. Does that mean he will 'take the place' of Alek Tercival in the story, or is Alek still an NPC?
Hey,
Morgan Tercival is a distant cousin of Alek from Sasserine. He has the "noble" trait thingy from the back of the HC. His background is that he was raised in Sasserine and has been asked to come to Cauldron (with the cleric whose player couldnt' make the first session so who currently has no name) to help out Jenya. On the side his family have asked him to find out whhat has happened to their distant relations the Cauldron Region Tercivals and see (subtly) if there is anything they can do to help.
I need to post about that actually! Thanks for the reminder!
Blakey
[SPOILERS GALLORE!!!!]
We played Session #2 last night. I'm at work now and have no access to be able to update my web page with session notes but a brief description of what happened can be posted here:
The party decided to take Jenya up on her offer of 2,500gp to seek out and return the missing orphans to their home on Lantern Street. Deciding this was a good place to start Morgan and Harley set out there whilst the others finished their cheap lunches at the Drunken Morkoth. The paladin and rogue arrived at the orphanage, and after a brief confusion at the door where Morgan thought Gretchyn, the elderly halfling woman who runs the place, was a small boy, they were let in.
Questioning Gretchyn they were able to find out that the locks were all made for the orphanage by a gnome locksmith called Keygan Ghelve and that he had charged them a fairly large amount of money for them. Harley had a professional check over the locks and decided they were all made by the same person and were in good working order. They had certainly not been forced.
From there the group collected together at the Drunken Morkoth and discussed plans. On the way back Harley dropped into Keygan Ghelve's shop to get a feel for what the gnome was like. He seemed friendly and gregarious enough and his prices seemed expensive but not unreasonable. Back at the inn, it was agreed that Morgan and Braken, the paladin and cleric of St. Cuthbert would question Keygan in an official role as they were representing the Church. At the same time Harley and Camero would go to the library and see what they could find out the malachite hold mentioned in the Divination.
Within 5 minutes of clever and insightful questioning by Morgan and Braken the pair had Keygan shaking and near tears as he burst out that he was really sorry but they had captured Starbrow, his rat! Calming him down they managed to get him to explain in whispers what had happened.
Strange creatures from the dark places below had burst out of the secret door in his shop, taking him by surprise and they had captured his familiar, the rat called Starbrow. They threatened his rat with death unless he helped them. This was 3 months ago. He had been forced to make the creatures 3 skeleton keys which gave access to all the locks in Cauldron which he had made. The three keys were on a silver keyring held by one of the "tall ones". The trouble was one of the "tall ones" was keeping watch in the backroom.
Braken quickly went a few doors down to the Academy and collected Camero and Harley and the four of them burst into the backroom but could see no creature till it lept on them from the balcony above. They quickly laid it low, hitting it over the head into unconsciousness. Packing it up in a chest for removal to the Church they questioned Keygan some more.
He explained that the entrance to Jzaridune, the abandoned gnome complex, lie in his shop under his staircase. The party decided they would need to head down into Jzaridune to find the children as Camero and Harley's research in the academy lead them to believe that the malachite hold which the Divination spoke of was actually the Malachite Fortress, built by dwarves to protect Jzaridune from the Underdark. So they would need to travel through Jzaridne to get to the Fortress.
Interrogating Keygan some more they managed to get a rough map of the place from him and he explained that there was an elevator shaft which connected Jzaridune with the Malachite Fortress. He pointed its location out on the map to them. He had never been down there but knew that dwarves still lived there when Jzaridune was abandoned by the gnomes 75 years ago.
Morgan and Braken took the body of the creature, which was identified as a Skulk by Harley who knew something of these cameleon creatures, in the trunk provided by Keygan all the way across town to the Church of St. Cuthbert where it was placed into Jenya's hands and she was told what they had found out. She said she would give them till sun rise to find out what they could before she would have to let the town guards know. Collecting Gotrek from the Drunken Morkoth the group assembled back at Ghelve's Locks and prepared to enter Jzaridune.
Inside Jzaridune, armed with Keygan's map and folling tunnels burrowed roughly into the walls of the complex, the group managed to bypass all the strange circular doors they came across. They encountered a few more skulks in the complex and were attacked by a strange mechanical automoton which they surmised had been used to dig the tunnels which bypassed the doors.
Before too long and without much event other than a strange room which had been magically made to look like a forest and contained a secret door which was a short cut, they found their way to the round door which they believed led into the elevator room. They had no choice but to go through it so Harkey checked it carefully for traps and was able to ascertain that it had some sort of electrical field protecting it. He tried to disable it and figured that he had succeeded. However when he opened the door, using his picks and tools, the door slid open and suddenly an electrical field sprang up in the doorway!
Beyond the field was an octagonal room, with a wooden floor supported by many chains - clearly this was a plaform which could be used to descend into the depths. There was even a lever which looked like it would be used to lower the platform. And stood in front of the lever were two large viscious looking hobgoblins who threw their javelins wildly at Harley as he stood in the doorway.
Seeing this Gotrek charged into the room, completely uncaring about the electrical field which crackled in the doorway! He came through it singed but otherwise okay and this also brought the field down, meaning the others could pour through. They made light work of the hobgoblins.
As Harley was checking the lever over to see if it was safe Braken heard a strange squeeking noise coming from another area nearby behind another one of these dangerous round doors. The group figured this was possibly Starbrow locked up but as Harley refused, at least for the moment, to risk himself opening another dangerous door, and as he pointed out that the lives of the kidnapped children were far more important than the rat familiar of someone who had helped the children get kidnapped in the first place, it was agreed to head down the elevator first and come back for the rat later.
The group assembled on the platform and Harley threw the lever. With a judder and the sounds of mechanical cogs and wheels crunching the platform began to descend...
Sounds like your group found the elevator a lot sooner than my group. It wasn't until the 5th session adventuring in Jzadirune that my group finally found the elevator. By that time they had explored almost every other room in Jzadirune, trying to find a way down into the Malachite Fortress. Of course that did help them as they were all 3rd level by the time they went down the elevator.
Are your PC's still 1st level? If so I don't know how well they will be able to handle the first couple of encounters in the Malachite Fortress. Even though they were 3rd level the Stone Spike and Ogre still managed to KO 2 out of the 5 PC's in the party. If they were 1st level it is very likely that it would have been a TPK.
Olaf the Stout
The players were clever - they simply asked Keygan what was the way down into the Malachite fortress. He pointed out which room had the elevator shaft.
I am taking the approach of not awarding XP but rather just giving levels when they hit certain parts of the module. This means they levelled up from 1st to 2nd when they descended into Jzaridune and then levelled up when they descended the elevator. 2 levels in one session is unprecedented but they did a great job of being efficient so that's fine.
They will return and search through Jzaridune when they finish in the MF as they want to find the skeleton keys that the gnome made (and because they'd like to explore it for treasure). When they do that they won't advance the story line so they wont level up.
They know that and are happy with the approach.
Cheers
Blakey
Sounds like your group found the elevator a lot sooner than my group. It wasn't until the 5th session adventuring in Jzadirune that my group finally found the elevator. By that time they had explored almost every other room in Jzadirune, trying to find a way down into the Malachite Fortress. Of course that did help them as they were all 3rd level by the time they went down the elevator.
Not to hijack this thread, but the players in my game bypassed Jzadirune completely! The dwarf rogue and the elf ranger both have secret door "radar sense" and a decent Search modifier, so they ended up taking the direct route. I started the party at level 2, so it worked out O.K.; they Bluffed their way past the Stone Spike and Xukasus wasn't a problem after he got hit with Ray of Enfeeblement.
Magma Force? I know the joke has already been made but it does make me think of Dirty Harry.
There was someone else on here that said they had changed the name of the Cagewrights to XIII. While I like the name Cagewrights I like the enigmatic name XIII better. I have changed their name to this as well. Also, if you use delvedeep's alternate storyline the name XIII gives you a bit of a countdown or checklist as bad guys are taken out.
I doubt my players will put this together and think that XIII is in reference to some obscure thing. I once ran a Spycraft game where the evil organization was called The Fifth Agenda and the party thought it was in some way relevant to the game. They have learned to over analyze my name games by now.
The players were clever - they simply asked Keygan what was the way down into the Malachite fortress. He pointed out which room had the elevator shaft.
I am taking the approach of not awarding XP but rather just giving levels when they hit certain parts of the module. This means they levelled up from 1st to 2nd when they descended into Jzaridune and then levelled up when they descended the elevator. 2 levels in one session is unprecedented but they did a great job of being efficient so that's fine.
They will return and search through Jzaridune when they finish in the MF as they want to find the skeleton keys that the gnome made (and because they'd like to explore it for treasure). When they do that they won't advance the story line so they wont level up.
They know that and are happy with the approach.
Cheers
Blakey
That sounds like a sensible approach. In my campaign Keygan Ghelve had never actually been into Jzadirune, he had only heard about if from his father. As such he couldn't give the PC's a lot of specifics when it came to Jzadirune.
Olaf the Stout
[SPOILERS!]
Session 3 - Wednesday 23rd April 2008
Magma Force found themselves in a small octagonal room at the bottom of a long elevator shaft. There was a single wooden, iron-bound door out of the room. Harley the rogue checked it over and pronounced it safe so the dwarf barbarian, Gotrek yanked it open. They got their first real view of the inside of the Malachite Fortress. A long hall spread ahead of them and hanging from the ceiling were some cages of unknown use. Moving into the room to examine the cages they saw in the middle of the room some sort of sculpture which looks almost like a 4 armed human signpost. A bit strange. It was even more strange when the thing annimated and attacked!
The party battered it to pieces in seconds but the noise was enough to attract the attention of a nearby creature. A giant with a filth encrusted falcion stepped out of a nearby room and engaged the party. Luckily for them it appeared he was very unskilled in his sword and was unable to touch any of them before he was overwhelmed by their superior numbers.
Searching the giant's room they found a chest which they opened using a key on his body. It was a horrible filthy place. Worse than that there were no doors from it so they had come to a dead end. Harley quickly surmised that the dwarves were logical and figured their should be a door at the end of the hallway symetrical to the one which came in. A quick search revealed a cunningly cut secret door which was only just detectable.
The group lined up to open it, and Morgan the Paladin of St. Cuthbert pressed in the stud in the wall. The door slid open to reveal a big hall with a large stone statue of a drwarven warrior, draped in metal chains, plus 4 hobgoblins guarding 2 double doors.
Before anyone could react Harvey threw his dagger, plunging it right into the eye of a hobgoblin and felling it. Then the door, on well constructed and balanced hinges, swung closed again - some sort of counterweight mechanism clearly.
The party all looked at Harvey impressed and then Camero the Battle Sorcerer moved to the front to hold the door open, allowing Gotrek and Morgan into the room. All five of Magma Force now piled into the three remaining hobgoblins and would have made swift work of them but as they passed by the statue of the dwarven warrior the chains wrapped over him animated, lashed out and grappled them, half strangling Braken the Cleric of St. Cuthbert! Gotrek and Morgan were also in a long drawn out tassle with the chains but eventually they were overcome.
Looking out of the peep holes in the doors to the north the party saw a bridge over a chasm leading to a large dark cave. Morgan spotted some dwarven runes on the statue but could not read them so Harley, who spoke and read dwarven fluently translated: "Zenith Splintershield, Lord of the Malachite Fortress". Braken had heard of him and told the group a little about the founder of the Malachite Fortress.
As this was going on the dwarf had noticed another secret door in the opposite wall to the one they came in through. After a brief discussion it was decided to head through there rather than the two pairs of double doors.
The secret door lead to a corridor with a guard room off it in which four drunken hobgoblins were surprised and masacred. There was also some sort of strange room with loads of skins and bones in it including a chair made of bones and covered with skins, with a draconic skull atop it. As this room was bring quickly searched Gotrek spotted another secret door in the south. Amazed at his ability to find doors without even searching for them, the others all entered the room. He explained it was his dwarven nature and he could spot typical stone doors like these a mile off.
They opened the secret door to reveal a treasure trove. Three chests, numerous casks filled with coins and gems, armour, weapons, trinkets and more spilled everywhere on the floor. The party entered cautiously and approached the treasure.
Suddenly, this lovely and expensive looking gong exploded into action. A fist shaped protution shot from the gong, striking Morgan and sticking fast to him. The party rushed in to fight this strange gong monster and attacked. Sadly Morgan could not unstick himself and soon Gotrek was stuck fast too, and the two were being crushed by the gongs strange strong arms. Others weren't fairing much better as each time they tried to strike it with weapons their weapons would stick to it! Thinking quickly Morgan managed to get a flask of oil from his backpack. Harley grabbed it and threw it at the gong creature, covering it in oil. Camero, always prepared, grabbed his flint and steel and lit the creature. With a pitiful scream of pain it let go of the adventurers and perished in the flames.
Patching up the party grabbed useful bits of armour and weapons from the pile and a few expensive and portable trinkets, plus some potion bottles and gems. Harley found and disabled a magical trap on one chest and they recovered much treasure.
Of course during this time Gotrek noticed another secret door! Opening this revealed a small square room ahead, with no obvious exits. Expecting there to be a secret door on the other side, Gotrek stepped in - and the floor immediately collapsed under him. He fell about 20' onto some spikes but was not badly hurt. He was a tough dwarf from the Mochican jungles and it would take more to stop him. They searched the pit and then realised that the lever in the treasure vault would close and secure the pit, so they did this and indeed found a secret door on the far side of the pit.
This lead into a room which turned out to have two illusory walls in it and two strange human like automatons with a pincer for one hand and a huge hammer for the other. These each guarded levers. Magma force were hard pressed to overcome these two guardians but eventually did so. Just before they fought them the guardians pulled their levers down. Due to the illusory walls the party did not see what had occurred although they heard a great grinding noise when it happened.
Once the guardians were defeated the party pulled the levers back up and watched through the illusory walls as huge blocks of stone slid back into the walls to reveal more passageways. The party explored these newly revealed passageways, finding two unoccupied cell blocks, each with 14 cells. They showed signs of recent habitation. Magma Force felt like they were getting close!
Moving back into the room they had fought the guardians in they opened the only door leading out, seeing that it lead out to a huge chasm with a walkway down one side and a brigde over the chasm to a door which lead into a large building with windows, from which light spilled.
Suddenly having another inspiration about symetry, rather than going through to investigate the light the party dropped back into the room with the guardians and searched the south wall for a secret door. Sure enough they found one. They set up to open it and found another cell block stretching ahead of them.
From this one though they heard the unmistakable sounds of whimpering...
See you in 2 years, for the end-game!
Is that also when we're going to get that list of magic item values? :-)
Not that I can use them, being a statue and all.
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See you in 2 years, for the end-game!
Is that also when we're going to get that list of magic item values? :-)
Not that I can use them, being a statue and all.
Ah; now, you see...
You've thrown all my calculations out, haven't you?
Splitting everything 4 ways instead of 5 does have it's advantages, of course...
OK; maybe we are bringing you back. Don't move! <chuckle>
Break Enchantment!
I won't need a Fortitude save to come back then (I'm not happy with my luck at the minute). That floating balloon is going to get absolutely creamed when I get back. Ailsa is working on getting my body out of there and preventing a follow-through attack.
You may wish to stay in the courtyard this turn.
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Break Enchantment!
I won't need a Fortitude save to come back then (I'm not happy with my luck at the minute).
I'm sorry? What was that? I can't hear you speaking...
Oh, right. That's because you're not.You can't even scree for help, right now.
You know; it's only natural that you should want to emulate my deep, gravelly voice, but you didn't have to try so literally.
I applaud you going in without your usual dozen CODzilla buffs; it's a pity you suffered for being boulder.
Well, we said we wanted a gritty campaign...
That floating balloon is going to get absolutely creamed when I get back. Ailsa is working on getting my body out of there and preventing a follow-through attack.
Don't worry, we've kicked that rancid bag of dogsick once, we can do it again. I think Ailsa may be a bit busy, though...
You may wish to stay in the courtyard this turn.
Where's the fun in that?
You should know me better than that by now :)Have you mapped your temple and grounds?
If so, mail me a copy. I'd prefer not to teleport into a wall.
I think I'll aim for the outside; I know you've blocked the interior. Plus, all those cherubs give me the creeps. Seriously, that decor freaks me out. Are they baby angels, or dead babies?
Anyway, back to the plot. I think we'd better leave it at that, before we give away any spoilers. I think we've already derailed some poor guy's thread. Sorry!
snip the awful puns :-)
I think Ailsa may be a bit busy, though...
She's got it covered. Hopefully. She hasn't been just sat there for the past 2 rounds.
Have you mapped your temple and grounds?
If so, mail me a copy. I'd prefer not to teleport into a wall.
I think I'll aim for the outside; I know you've blocked the interior.
Haven't mapped it out internally and I don't have e-mail at home. Looks basically like this:
TTTTTWWWWGGWWWWTTTTT
TTTTT_______________TTTTT
TTTTT_______________TTTTT
TTTTT_______________TTTTT
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
The Ws at the top is the wall with a gate in the middle (GG). The _s delinate the courtyard and the Ts show the temple itself.
Plus, all those cherubs give me the creeps. Seriously, that decor freaks me out. Are they baby angels, or dead babies?
No cherubs are on my walls. There is one gargoyle that looks vaguely like a human/dwarf with a look on his face like he's been buggered by the spike he's fallen on top of, but that's as whoop-dee-doo as it goes :-)
Anyway, back to the plot. I think we'd better leave it at that, before we give away any spoilers. I think we've already derailed some poor guy's thread. Sorry!
Quite right. Apologies from me also.
So <cough> getting my thread back on track again...
Session 4 - Wednesday 30th April 2008
Magma Force found themselves in a cell block inside the Malachite Fortress under the city of Cauldron. A quick search of the cells revealed four captives and Harley quickly had them out of their prison. One was a beaten up and surly but handy seeming warrior and the other three were half scared to death townsfolk. The warrior, Krylscar, wanted revenge on his captors and to find his friend Gryffon who was also a prisoner elsewhere in the complex. It was agreed that they would leave the fortress with these prisoners, take them to the church of St. Cuthbert and then get healed up and return ASAP.
Within 30 minutes the group had made their way back through the Fortress, ascended the elevator - after Camero had climbed 200 ft. up the elevator chains to pull the lever and set the elevator in motion again - made their way through Jzadirune, beaten off a skulk who ambushed them, and reached the surface. They spoke briefly to Keygan, who was still at home, his shop locked up and he asked if they had found Starbrow. They explained they thought they kew where he was but had not rescued him yet. Then the group crossed town and took the three townsfolk they had rescued, plus Krylscar, to the church where Jenya was very pleased to see them. The clerics there healed them up and gave them a few more scrolls and potions of healing and encouraged them back into the depths again.
Krylscar following them, keen to rescue his friend, the group returned to the Malachite Fortress without incident. Things had changed in there though - hobgoblin bodies had been recovered from the places they had been stashed and what was left of the treasure that they left bahind had been moved.
Arriving back at the cellblock they discovered it guarded by three hobgoblins who they made short work of. A further captive was now in this locale, a woman called Corystone who agreed to help the party. They gave her back her walking cane that they had found earlier and she unscrewed the handle and drank deeply from the insides, her wounds instantly healing. She said she wanted revenge upon the jalier who had just been torturing her and lead the group forward to the torture chamber. Rushing in the seven adventurers quickly overpowered and slaughtered the two hobgoblins there and the one armed ebon skinned jailer hobgoblin who Corystone took great delight in skewering with the shortsword she had picked up.
It was agreed that it was time to hit the main hallway where the slaves were taken to be sold now, as Corystone and Krylscar told the party that the four kids had been taken off there to be prepared to be sold off.
The party ventured out onto the bridge approaching the main hall and Harley snuck up and had a look. He saw a slave bazaar going on with 4 chained kids being sold by a stout looking plate armoured humanoid to a short ashen faced strange looking dwarf creature. The humanoid's pet, a weird spiny half skeletal dog creature spotted Harley peering in and began to howl. The group collected together ready to fight on the bridge when the door opened and a hobgoblin guard looked out, saw them standing there, looked surprised and alarmed and slamed the door shut.
The group formed up, moved forward and opened the door, charging into the room. There were 6 hobgoblin guards but the first four of these were felled almost as a side issue as the tide of 7 adventurers swarmed into the chamber. Up some stairs was the platemail clad humanoid and his spiney dog companion, plus 2 more hobgoblin guards. Here also were chained the four children.
Braken and Coryston enganged the two hobgoblins, Corystone using magic to put one to sleep and then execute it, whilst Braken held up the other long enough for her to move in behind it and run it through. At the same time two more hobgoblins arrived from the corridors, drawn in by the howling and wailing of the dog. Kyrlscar broke off and charged them both, holding them up and eventually killing one.
Meanwhile the rest engaged the humanoid who turned out to be Kazmojen, a half troll-half dwarf. He wore black platemail and wielded a dwarven urgosh - an axe head at one end and a spikey point at the other. Him and his dog were a fearsome pair. Both picked out Morgan the paladin as their first target but this left everyone else to lay down some serious hurt on them both. The howler went down before it was able to do too much and then with Morgan frantically healing himself, and eventually with Braken's healing aid, the rest were able to take the creature down. Finally Gotrek swung his trusty axe and Kazmojen's head flew from his shoulders.
Morgam quickly rushed to the children to calm their fears and make sure they were okay, as the others rushed to Krylscar's aid cutting down the last hobgoblin guard as it tried to flee.
The battle was over, the children saved and the bad guys were all dead. Or so it seemed.
As the party were searching the dead a figure appeared in the doorway, it was the same ashen skinned dwarf who Harley had earlier spotted haggling with Kazmojen. This creature who Braken recognised as being from the lairs of Hell was flanked by two lemure devils. He asked for his proerty back - the three kids he had bought off of Kazmojen. The party refused, intimidating him and threatening him with what they would do if they came any closer. The creature looked them all over, warned them that he knew who they were and would not forget them and then turned and strolled off into the fortress, his lemure guards trailing after him.
That incident over the party lined up ready to escort the kids to where Krylscar said the other slaves who had not yet been sold were being kept. Suddenly behind them there was a barely audiable 'pop' and everyone turned to see a creature of legend floating before them.
The beholder was about 7 ft. in diameter with one great eye in the center of its body, now shut. Below that was a toothy maw and atop its head were about a dozen stalks, each one of which had an eye on the end. The beholder spoke in a soft, quiet, yet menacing tone. It demanded that the group hand over Terrem, one of the boys, saying he should never have been taken and that the beholder would see that he was returned safely to the orphanage.
Morgan stepped forward, showing his lack of fear of this evil creature and in a nutshell refused to hand over the child. The beholder asked his name and commended him on his bravery but demonstrated the futility of his position by disintergrating a nearby cage holding a fire beetle. Braken then tried to turn the beholder, calling upon the power of St. Cuthbert. The beholder laughed, asked his name and then scolded him for not realising he was no undead menace. Meanwhile Morgan detected evil and sensed that this creature was indeed fairly powerfully evil. Harley tried to find out why the beholder wanted this child and why he could not teleport all of them back to the orphanage. Again the beholder asked for his name, but refused to explain his reasons or to take the group anywhere.
Eventually, having little choice as the beholder disintergrated another fire beetle cage to prove a point, the party handed Terrem over to the fiendish creature, figuring it was best to save three of the children. The beholder and Terrem disappeared with the 'pop'.
Dazed and somewhat overwhelmed by their experience, Magma Force and thei new companions moved quickly through the rest of the Fortress killing off a few remaining goblins and rescuing a few more captives, including Gryffon, the bar keep from the Tipped Tankard Tavern - the friend of Krylscar. They then moved slowly back up through the Malachite Fortress to the elevator room, where one of the dwarven captives spotted a secret door which lead to a room with a lever for operating the elevator. This made getting back up a lot easier.
They passed uneventfully through a few secret passages in Jzadirune and back into Ghelve's Locks where Keygan still waited for them to return. Overjoyed to see so many prisoners returned safely he was still very sad to see that Starbrow, his rat familiar was not among those rescued. Morgan promised to return and rescue the rat the next day however and Keygan appeared molified.
The group escorted to the prisoners to the church of St. Cuthbert where they were warmly greeted by Jenya. Those who had seen the beholder were warned that they should not speak of it for fear of causing a panic in the city and the children were escorted back to the orphanage where it turned out Terrem had been returned safe and sound by a lady in a dark veil. He did not know her and did not think to ask her name. The group stayed for an impromptu party at the orphanage to celebrate their success.
Returning finally to the Church of St. Cuthbert jenya once again thanked them and told them to come back to see her in the morning when they would be given their reward. The party thought about heading out for a celebratory drink but decided that bloodied, battered and bruised as they were a hot bath and a good sleep was called for, so they headed straight back to the Drunken Morkoth and a cosy bed.
Session 5 - Sunday 4th May 2008
The party known as Magma Force awoke on only their second morning in Cauldron to the realisation that within one day of being in the city they had heard about and solved the case of the kidnappings which had been plaguing the town for the last three months. They ate a hearty and happy breakfast, feeling a little smug.
Morgan and Braken went off to the Church of St. Cuthbert to speak to Jenya and to do some praying and helping out about the church and the rest set off into town to sell some of their acquired loot.
At the Church of St. Cuthbert, Jenya once again congratulated the group on their successes of the previous night. She told them that Keygan Ghelve had been arrested for his part in the crimes and was to be tried on Friday. Meanwhile his shop was under guard by the town watch. She also said that she had seen Lord Captain Commander Terseon, captain of the town guard, early that morning and told him of their success. He seemed very pleased and had said he would see about organising a meeting for the group with the Lord Mayor of the city. Braken said that they wanted to return to Jzadirune to rescue Starbrow, the rat familiar, and also just to do some further investigation so Jenya suggested they go see Lord Terseon at the Barracks to ask about being allowed into Jzadirune.
Elsewhere in town Harley and Gotrek visited Skie's treasury and sold off a bunch of their treasure haul. Skie was very interested to hear of their exploits and tales of their successes. She recommended next time they bring proof of the villains demise, like a severed head or something equally graphic.
That lunchtime the group met back in the Drunken Morkoth and there they saw Rhodry and Silus who both looked like they had been beaten up. Asking what had happened it turned out they had gone to the orphanage to ask about the missing children shortly before our heroes had, and on the way back they were jumped by two members of the Last Laugh and beaten up and told not to go poking their noses into the things happening at the orphanage. The group were somewhat concerned about that to say the least. What had the crime syndicate got to do with this whole affair?
After lunch the group went off to the Barracks and visited Lord Terseon, who lived in austeer surroundings in a cottage in the corner of the Barracks. He invited them in, made them tea and listened to their tale. He agreed that they had until the time that Keygan Ghelve was to stand trial - dawn the day after tomorrow - to perform a further investigation of Jzadirune and then called for Sergeant Skylar Krewis to come and show them to Ghelve's Locks and inform the watch there that they were to be allowed in to the shop up until that time.
Then the group returned en masse to Skie's Treasury where they did some shopping. They tried to barter for a discount but Skie explained to them about her "Wall of Heroes" outside the front of the shop and said that though they showed some promise, they were not quite up to getting her special Adventurers Discount just yet. The party spent their well earnt money buying better gear including some magical trinkets.
After lunch Braken went off to the University to see what he could find out about beholders - the answer being not a huge amount, other than they were extremely dangerous creatures. Harley went off to visit with his cousin who lived on Lower Lantern Street and see if he knew anything about the muggings by the Last Laugh on Rhodry and Silus. Harley's cousin Fenby told him to be careful when asking about the Last Laugh and said they'd meet up for a drink that night where he would tell more.
That evening Harley and Fenby met up at the Tipped Tankard Tavern, where Gryffon was working and Krylscar was still celebrating his release from slavery. Both bought Harley a drink. Harley then spoke to Fenby about the Last Laugh and general sculduggery in the city. Harley learnt that the Last Laugh were led by a man known as The Jester. He was a sadistic and very evil, highly trained assassin who was known to laugh maniacally as he killed his victims. In fact it was rumoured that perhaps there were two men who were The Jester, perhaps twins? He was definitely not a man to cross. In addition to the Last Laugh there was also a smaller syndicate known as the Alleybashers and Fenby felt that blood would flow between the two before long. He gave Harley a friendly warning to steer clear of two establishments as well - the Slippery Eel Tavern and Minuta's Board. Both were run down taverns and best avoided if one valued one's health. Harley also managed to get Fenby to pick him up some improved lock picking tools.
The next morning, a Thursday, dawned bright and sunny, a welcome relief from the rain the city had been experiencing recently. It was a hot humid day. The group collected together in the common room of the Drunken Morkoth after breakfast and decided they were ready to return to Jzadirune. They purchased some more lights and then headed back to Ghelve's Locks where they were admitted by the guards.
They made their way straight to where they thought the rat familiar, Starbrow, was being held and Harley opened the series of gear doors which lead there. Opening the last one they found a room with a small chest, upon which sat a silver barred cage and inside was an agitated rat. As they entered the room, the front of the chest split open in a toothy maw and the chest began to speak to them. It was apparently another mimic, similar to the gong they had fought and destroyed below. This one talked to the party and tried to get them to pay it for the rat but they turned this approach on its head, basically intimidating the chest/mimic into giving them the rat and backing off. They gained a little information from the mimic, including the fact that it worked for the leader of the skulks and dark creepers in Jzadirune and that it thought the leader lived in one of the big rooms to the north. It pointed out one on the map where it thought he maybe lived. The group realized that this creature had three skeleton keys to half the locks in the city above so it was vital they find him and get those keys back.
The group then took Starbrow back upstairs and left him in the hands of the guards who fed him some cheese and water. Returning to the gnome city the party made their way north through the enclave towards where they thought the mimic had indicated. Along the way they were ambushed by a small creature Harley identified as a dark creeper. It jumped out of the shadows at Camero, the lantern bearer and tried to grab the lantern from his hands, but it was quickly overcome and slaughtered.
Soon the party found their way to a huge room with two mezanine floors with spiral staircases leading up to them and a massive gear cog suspended from the ceiling on iron chains. The gear glowed with a magical light and the whole room sounded like gears whirring and clanking. The place had the look of a massive room where things were created and Magma Force were put in mind of the fact that Jzadirune was a place where many magical items were crafted in the older days.
As they entered this fascinating place Gotrek's keen senses spotted a strange and hideous creature floating in the air above the right hand floor. It looked like a giant brain with a beak on the front of it, and a dozen tenticles dangling down from below its brain.
Camero wasted no time and chanted words of magic, firing magical darts into its brain. Then it flew down, grabbed Gotrek in a tenticle and easily lifted him off the ground and back up to his lair on the upper floor. The rest rushed up the spiral stairs to attack it but in seconds the creature's tenticles had grabbed Morgan and Harley too. Camero fired more magical darts into it and Braken stepped in past the writhing tenticles and battered the brain into pulp with his new mace. The creature squealed, dropped the three warriors it has grabbed and fell to the floor, dead.
Played Session 6 over the weekend. An entire 6 hour session spent wandering around Jzadirune. It was good fun. Here are the (short) session notes for that session:
Cheers
Blakey
Played Session Seven, the last in Chapter One last week. Only just got around to writing it up.
Session Eight sees the start of Chapter Two tonight...
Played Session One of Chapter Two last night.
It went really well. Party did loads of investigation, put together some clues and came up with "vampire", captured a goblin, determined it was dominated (more vampire clues) and so decided to use PFE to get past the domination for a while. Unable to see any reason that should not I let them question the goblin sneak without the domination effect occurring for a few minutes. It worked well.
On the spur of the moment during the session I decided that Drakthar the Bloodmonger was an old (human) noble vampire of many hundreds of years ago from Sasserine - a legendary figure. The party found that out and think maybe he has "come back" after hundreds of years. They are really scared. But they also know that this Drakthar is a bugbear. So they are not 100% certain what is going on.
I have decided that this Drakthar was the "original" Drakthar the Bloodmonger's first thrall and that when the noble (human) vampire Drakthar was finally killed his thralls were released. This bugbear killed all the other thralls and decided he liked the name Drakthar the Bloodmonger and so assumed his identity.
If the party do more research into the legendary Drakthar the Bloodmonger with reference to bugbears they can find out that the legendary Drakthar had a personal servant who was a bugbear. I'll let them put two and two together...
Looking forward to next week where the party are about to go into Orak's and then should discover Drakthar's Way and much action should happen. This session was almost entirely RPing and a little action.